Gorgeous, moving, full of magic and suspense!

Often the second books in series loose the momentum of the first one. This was very much not the case here. It very much upped the stakes on the romance, the magic, the suspense.

The story continues where it left off at the end of book 1 with Malini on her way to the throne and Priya trying to rebuild Ahirniya. We meet a bunch of new characters, often seeing things from their POV. It’s never confusing or too much, rather it creates a very vivid world. It is amazing to me how distinctive and well developed even the minor characters in this series are.

As the story unfolds we see court intrigue and priestly manipulation abound. All the while Malini and Priya and Bumikha and Rao and Aditya try to follow their destiny without losing themselves completely. The author consistently gives us outstanding female characters, they all have different strength and lead a fight to live their lives on their own terms. We see women leading armies and fighting, providing spiritual guidance and wielding magical powers, giving political advise. It is a powerful you-have-a-choice-and-can-be-anything-you-want-to-be message for me and I found it really uplifting.

I loved the writing, loved the magic with all its darkness and demand for sacrifice and how the women try to carve a place for themselves in a world that’s essentially hostile towards them.

While I fully empathise with Malini and Priya and Bumikha and Rao and Aditya, I really found Chandra’s chapters fascinating as well. A villain through and through but with layers, with motivation – a living breathing human being. He is petty and vindictive, with delusions of grandeur but also there are moments where we see him lost and vulnerable and scared while still being very much the bad guy.

The romance between Malini and Priya is intense, facing one too many obstacles, embroiled in power struggles and magic that is too powerful, too demanding, too consuming. I can’t wait to see how things between develop in the next book because they don’t look very hopeful right now.

I am not ready to talk about Bumikha and all that happens with Ahiranya. Avoiding spoilers, I can only say it offers a fascinating take on what gods and monsters are and the choice we make to follow one or the other.

There is no cliffhanger, some plotlines are completed, though the major resolution is forthcoming in the next book. And it promises to be an epic struggle to make things right for everyone.

This is shaping to be an awesome series, one of the best fantasies I have read and I highly recommend it.

CW: violence, dark magic, sacrifice, burning alive, torture

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Title: The Stardust Thief 

Title: The Jasmine Throne (Burning Kingdoms #1)

Author: Tasha Suri

Genre/Themes: Fantasy, f/f romance, Indian setting and MCs

Release Date: 8 June 2021

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Goodreads / Instagram

My rating: 5 Stars

I read the first book in Tasha Suri's previous series, Empire of Ash, and I liked it ok. This one though completely blew my mind. I loved everything in it - the Indian history/mythology inspired setting, the MCs and the secondary characters and all the complex relations among them, the high-stakes suspense plot, the tender f/f romance, the magic elements. 

It's a brilliant, very evocative and complex fantasy with strong f/f romantic elements.

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Note: I am adopting a new rule regarding Content Warnings in my reviews. I will quote them from the author's site if available, adding things on my own discretion is necessary. 

CW: per author's website: 
Explicit violence including immolation and self-immolation
Gender-based violence (this does not include sexual assault)
Homophobia and internalised homophobia
Suicidal ideation
Self-mutilation
Abusive family dynamics
Child murder
Body horror (plant-based, cosmic)
Forced drug use and depictions of addiction/withdrawal

Title: For the Wolf (Wilderwood #1)

Author: Hannah Whitten

Genre/Themes: Fantasy, Fairytale retelling, Romance

Release Date: 01 June 2021

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Goodreads / Instagram

My rating: 5 Stars

Title: The Once and Future Witches

Author: Alix E. Harrow

Genre /Tropes: Fantasy, Witches

Release Date: 13 Oct 2020

Author's links:

My rating: 4 Stars

I absolutely loved this author's debut, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and was very excited to read this one too. In the end reading it was a wild ride, it's a rich, mesmerizing and loudly feminist but also dark, slow at times and disturbing. 

It started a bit slow for me and it took me a while to warm of the the three sisters but after the half mark, it picked up pace significantly and I couldn't put it down till the end.

The author creates a rich world of spells and witching populated with diverse characters, all standing firmly on their own, all of them quite memorable. At the same time there were some dark and painful to read scene for me to read personally

It was truly empowering, there were moments of joy, true friendship and camaraderie. I would say the focus is on building relationships of all kinds - familial, between friends and co-workers, between lovers. 

I appreciate the casual queer rep and the way the author explored racial relations, labour and voting rights. 

There are strong love/romance elements which made the romance reader in me ecstatic. They were not the main focus of the story but they were solidly drawn and made me believe in them and in their HEAs. 

The ending was both unexpected and fitting in a way. It felt right but also made me ugly cry, so there is that and I am not saying anything more in order to avoid spoiling it for other readers. 

In short, I would recommend this book with the caveat that you need to be in the right headspace for it. 

CW: abuse, torture, difficult childbirth, burning at the stake, sexual harassment

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In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.

Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.

Review 

What a thrilling adventure this book has been. It’s a debut full length novel for the author and a truly magical fantasy, engagingly written and it had a huge impact on me. 

It's a portal fantasy about exploring other worlds and finding your place in them. There is a moving side love story which I absolutely enjoyed, there are even two of them if you ask me. 

I don't want to go into details of the plot, so I will focus more on what I loved and how this book made me feel. 

January is such a great character, I loved seeing her grow and change and become her own person. There are lots of adventures, some dark undertones but no true horror elements. 

At the heart of it for me this is a powerful story about love and wandering and storytelling. I feel I like I have highlighted most of the book, so many passages spoke to my heart - about the power of the words, the importance of change, the sense of (not)-belonging, love - between partners, in the family, among friends. 

The first half was somewhat slow-paced, more about setting the stage and the second half was full of adventure and action. There were lots of twists and turns to plot and found myself unable to put the book down. 

The writing is exquisite, it made me cry and broke my heart but also made me happy and hopeful. And that epilogue, it’s a thing of beauty. 

CW (as per the author and my own interpretation of the text): Abuse - physical and psychological; manipulation; violence against animals; forced hospitalization in mental hospital; mind control; racism; sexism; self-harm imagery (without intent to self-harm); violence; colonialism.

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This is not a regular feature but I just started a book with an awesome first paragraph that I just need to share. Here is the start of Ten Thousand Doors of January, debut fantasy with a dash of romance from what I hear, by Alix E. Harrow. And that cover, it's stunning, isn't it? 

When I was seven, I fond a door. I suspect I should capitalize that word, so you understand I'm not talking about garden-or common-variety door that leads reliably to a white-tiles kitchen or a bedroom closet. 

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Title: The Affair of the Mysterious Letter

Author: Alexis Hall

Genre/Themes: Queer SFF take on Sherlock Holmes

Release Date: 18 June 2019

Author links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

My Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb 

Review 

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My guest in today's New and Debut is Nem Rowan, author of Witcheskin, trans m/m fantasy with a bit of horror thrown in, which was just released by LT3 press. Come meet the author and learn what books he likes to read and write.

Following the disappearance of his father, Owen returns to the Welsh village where his parents grew up to live with his mother and her boyfriend. While pursuing the mystery of cattle mutilations in the area, he meets Maredudd, an old friend of his mother's, and learns something about his parents that they've never told him...

Purchase links: Publisher / Amazon

Author bio and links

Nem Rowan lives in Wales with his wife of 13 years and his two German Shepherds. He enjoys studying mythology, the occult and British folklore, and is an avid bird-watcher. He is also fascinated by psychology and the dynamics of diverse romantic relationships. Nem’s characters are facets of his own personality and he uses writing as a means of exploring his own psyche, sexuality and persona. However, he believes that a story with a sad ending isn’t worth writing!

Website/ Twitter

The Highlander, mm fantasy romance about Elves by Kasia Bacon comes out tomorrow. Read on to learn more about the book and its author, together with a short excerpt. Enjoy!

Title: Half

Authors: Eli Lang

Genre/Themes: MM fantasy romance

Release Date: 13 Feb 2017

Author links: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

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My rating: 3 Stars

Blurb

Living between worlds has never been comfortable, but it’s where I’ve always fit: between human and fey, illness and health, magic and reality.

I’ve spent the last six years looking for a cure for the nameless sickness eating me up. If I believed there was one out there, I would keep searching. But there isn’t, so I’ve come back home, where my past and present tangle. Come home to live . . . and to die.

But my father insists I meet Kin. He’s a healer, and determined to help, even though I’m not so hopeful anymore. But Kin isn’t what I expected, in any way. He sees me, not my illness. He reminds me of what it’s like to be alive. And I can’t help falling for him, even though I know it isn’t fair to either of us.

Kin thinks he has the cure I’ve been looking for, but it’s a cure that will change everything: me, my life, my heart. If I refuse, I could lose Kin. But if I take it, I might lose myself.

Review

This is a debut novel and I was drawn to the premise of an urban fantasy with faeries and the while I enjoyed a lot of things in the story ultimately it was an OK read for me.

I loved the writing style, it's very lyrical, poetic and reminds me a bit of Alexis Hall's writing which I absolutely love.

Eli Lang tells a tender love story, subdued and quiet and in a way I missed there being a stronger conflict at the center of it. The mood was melancholic and self-reflective throughout the story and while I liked it and also felt it was too much at times.

Both main characters, Luke and Kin are interesting and well developed. The focus falls on Luke and his struggles to come to terms with his fate which leads to a lot introspection, thoughts on life and death, im(mortality), the meaning of love. I very much enjoyed how the author explored the complexity of human relations, the difficulty of building and maintaining meaningful connections with the people around.

The romance between Luke and Kin was something I really liked in the story. There was an easy, natural flow to it with the inevitable setbacks and both characters making mistakes and trying to overcome them. We see two people coming together and learning to be together and making compromises and ultimately respecting the decisions the other persons makes.

A major plot in the story was Luke's relationship with his sister and I felt it overshadowed the main plot at times. There was a lot of going back and forth in both relationships (Luke and Kin; Luke and his sister) and some repetition which I found annoying. This affected the flow of the story as a whole making go all too slow at times, nothing much happening.

I was the drawn to the (urban) fantasy setting  and found it interesting but in the end it felt underdeveloped. I was left wanting to learn more about the world of the different faeries.

The ending is a bit unconventional when it comes to romance though it was fitting and came as not surprise. It's a sort of HFN ending, not too optimistic but focused on the now and enjoying the good things while they last without thinking much of the future.

Despite the issues I had with this story, still I found it to be a very tender, imaginative romance beautifully told. It was not quite the right book for me but I loved the author's writing style and I want to read more of her books in the future.

Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / Kobo  / Riptide

Title: The Mutt: An Order Short Story

Author: Kacia Bacon

Date of publication: 20 Jan 2017

Genre/themes: Fantasy mm romance, elfs, short story

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Pinterest

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My rating: 4 stars

Blurb

Review

This is the debut work of Kasia Bacon, a short story introducing the fantasy world inhabited by elves and humans of her upcoming mm fantasy The Order.

It's a quick read which I found rather engaging. The world building is really detailed and atmospheric. I likes the easy flow of the story and found the writing really beautiful. We don't see much of the characters but what we do see makes me excited learn more about them. Things between then start off mostly as sexual attraction but there is the promise of a lot more happening in the future.

I have a minor quibble with certain elements in the sex scene but it's more a matter of personal preference and not any fault on the author's side.

The glimpses in the side characters, as well as potential conflicts in the upcoming novel are lovely and intriguing.

Overall, this is a great introduction into an interesting mm romance set in an intriguing and richly developed (even withing the confines of the small size of a short story) which I'm intrigued to read.

Two hundred years after the first spontaneous genetic mutation occurred, the world has accepted the idea of superpowers. Damon Kelly, bright, hard-working, kind-hearted, and yet lacking any mutation, is deeply involved in the powered community, writing his dissertation on superpower genetics. He’s got his work, he’s got his friends, and he’s got a new love interest, the handsome and sexy Eli Emmert. Just when everything seems like it’s falling into place, however, a new supervillain emerges in the city, and Damon finds himself swept into his orbit. Will he figure out how he attracted the villain’s attention before it’s too late, or will he succumb to the peril? 

I'd been in a bit of a book slump when I came across Peril semi-randomly on a new releases list. The blurb sounded intriguing, the cover art is kind of cool, it was well priced, so I decided to take a chance on it. I'm really glad I did so, because while I had a few reservations about it, I really enjoyed the book.

Starting out with the technical aspects, which really are the reason this is knocked down below 4 stars. Lorin is a new author - this is only her second book - and it does show. The plotting is a little all over the place, most notably in terms of the sheer number of crises suffered by the main character, Damon. He's a scientist, not an action hero, and the fact that he gets into life or death situations no less than four times in the book is a little too damsel in distress, and a little too over the top. Similarly, the pacing is slightly clumsy, with the middle half of the book dragging and the final parts arriving in something of a rush. On the plus side, Lorin's technical command of writing is good. Well put together sentences, free-flowing dialogue, and the occasional nice turn of phrase. Also well proofread for a self-published title. All of these are a pleasant change from some of the poorly written stuff I've read from established names in the m/m field recently, so kudos to Lorin for that.

Turning to the substance of the book, one think that I think is important to highlight is something Lorin states outright in their blog bio: "In the J.E. Lorin universe, there are no “coming out” stories, as homosexuality and bisexuality are not considered unusual. The intent is to create fun, action-filled, dramatic romance stories for those readers who’ve been longing to see such stories with two male leads." Peril delivers on this approach, and it's something I really appreciate. While coming out and dealing with homophobia are obviously (still) major issues in the LGBT community, I feel like they are sometimes focused on as the defining experience of being queer, and they're just not. So much of being queer is just living your life, part of which is having a different orientation or gender identity than the norm. And what we see here is a superhero story and a romance with two male leads. That's it. And it really is quite refreshing.

The basic plot here is quite simple: boy meets boy, boy gets repeatedly attacked by supervillian, boy tries to keep relationship with hot boyfriend going in the midst of all this drama, boy tries to work out who supervillain is and why it keeps attacking him. Around this, though, we have really nicely drawn characters. Damon has a tragic past involving his sister, which has ongoing implications for his relationship with his parents. Eli, the hot boyfriend, has shared caregiving responsibilities for his nieces and nephew (his brother's wife has died). There are a few well drawn friends in there too, who are more than two dimensional support players. They "who's the supervillain" mystery is not a total headscratcher, but neither is it super obvious. As noted above, it's not completely flawless, but it largely does the job in terms of keeping the plot moving. It really is the adorable romance between Damon and Eli, and their interactions with their families, that keep my attention here, though. Without this good characterisation the book would just be a mediocre superhero story. With it, it's a promising early effort from an author whose next book I'll be looking forward to. Recommended for superhero nerds and those into urban fantasy or light SF.

Title: Malachite (Paladin Cycle #1)

Author: Kirby Crow

Genre: High fantasy, M/M 

Synopsis

Marion Casterline is the highwarden of Malachite, an ancient, beautiful city floating in a shallow sea. In the aftermath of a brutal gang war, there is finally peace in the city, and new life every year through the sacred ritual of Aequora. Through Aequora, exiles, outlaws, and orphans can become citizens of Malachite. This ritual is vital to the city's survival, because Malachite is populated only by males. 

Jean Rivard grew up in the Zanzare slums at Marion's side. As boys, they were branded into the violent Teschio gangs ruling the criminal underworld of Malachite. Known in the slums as the Prince, Jean became a spy, an assassin, and Marion's lover. As men, they worked together to destroy the Teschio and crown Kon Sessane as magestros of the city, only to drift apart after the battles were won: Jean to the Black Keep, Marion to the grand halls of the Consolari. 

When Marion announces his engagement to Kon's son, Jean is hurt and resentful. Marion is leaving him and their past behind in every possible way. Marion also believes that he's starting a new life, but when a charismatic rebel leader kindles a revolt in the slums, he realizes that the only man who can prevent war from devouring the city he loves is his very own prince. 

This is my first book by Kirby Crow and can also be considered my first try of M/M high fantasy. I was curious to read this story after seeing the blurb and I absolutely loved the cover. 

This is a well written, complex story and while I loved some elements in it, there were others that made me feel uneasy and uncomfortable. 

This is the first book in a new series and as such there is a lot of world building and scene setting. It felt a bit overwhelming at the beginning though I appreciate the complex and quite intriguing world Ms Crow has set on creating. 

There is a love story at the heart of the this book but I'd classify it as high fantasy with strong romantic elements rather than a fantasy romance. 

The plot moves between the present and past while telling the story of Marrion and Jean  and young Tris who has become part of their lives quite unexpectedly and his presence provoked profound changes in both older men. 

I wasn't sure how I felt about the romantic relationship initially but by the end of the book I was totally convinced that they all ended at the right place for them. It was a very moving and satisfying journey in terms of romance. I admit the casual attitude towards sex, the multiple partners they (well, in fact, just Jean) entertained throughout the story was not my favourite element in it but at the same time it did not bother me too much. It is a matter of personal preference and attitude towards love and sex, not a weakness of the story. 

My biggest issue with this book is the way women were presented/erased from the fantasy world Ms Crow created. This bit of my review might have some spoilers, so if that bothers you, please keep it in mind and proceed with caution. There are no women in Malachite, or rather we are led to believe so initially. There are other kingdoms run be women and they are all presented as vicious, aggressive (humiliating, mistreating, raping the men, sending them in exile). It all felt misogynistic and hurtful to me. later on, Tris' mother is briefly mentioned and the way I see it, once again we have a woman presented in a negative light - not loving, caring enough to stay on the island (in hiding) and be with her son. The treatment and presentation of women as whole was problematic for me. It's a plot line that will hopefully be further developed in the next books and I hope things will go in a more positive light, but they didn't quite work for me here.

To be completely honest I feel somewhat ambiguous about the whole society in Malachite. I read it as imperfect and deeply problematic but I'm not sure if that was the author's message or she wanted to present it as a good/better alternative to the other matrichal society mentioned in the book and our present-day society. It could my failure to grasp the author's intentions but it could equally be a weakness of the author's writing not making the situation cleat enough. I keep going over and over that and still have not fully made up my mind how I feel about it. 

Overall, I'd say Malachite was an interesting read, thought-provoking and entertaining at the same time. I loved the writing - strong and highly imaginative. Despite my issues with some elements in the story, I'm curious how this series will continue and would love read the next book.