Raybearer (Raybearer, #1)

Author: Jordan Ifueko
Publisher: Amulet Books
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Nothing is more important than loyalty. But what if you’ve sworn to protect the one you were born to destroy?

Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself?

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TL;DR Review

There are good books, great books, and then the books you shove into everyone’s hands immediately. Raybearer is in that last category. It’s soooo good.

For you if: You like fantasy novels, especially if you want to read more fantasy a la African legends and traditions.

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Full Review

“Uniformity is not unity. Silence is not peace.”

Hello, my friends. May I introduce you to your newest incredible fantasy read? I’d seen enough hype for Raybearer to make me put it on hold at the library, but now, having read it, I can’t believe it hasn’t gotten even more hype. It’s SO GOOD. SOOOOOO GOOD. The writing is elegant and engaging, the characters are *everything*, the world is big and rich, and the story is incredible! Seriously, this book has it all.

Raised isolated from the rest of the world world, eleven-year-old Tarisai is eventually sent to vie for a place on the crown prince’s “council,” a group mentally connected through the prince’s power who advises him and helps him to rule for life. But her mother created her for one purpose — revenge — and it’s not as simple as just refusing her mother’s wishes. Tarisai must desperately search for the strength and freedom to write her own story.

I knew after a single chapter that this book was going to be a new favorite. And I was right. There are good books, great books, and then the books that you message all your friends about and demand they put it on hold at the library right that second. Raybearer falls into that last category — just ask my friends, lol.

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Trigger Warnings

• Confinement

• Child abuse/neglect

Milk Blood Heat

Author: Dantiel W. Moniz
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Set among the cities and suburbs of Florida, each story in Milk Blood Heat delves into the ordinary worlds of young girls, women, and men who find themselves confronted by extraordinary moments of violent personal reckoning. These intimate portraits of people and relationships scour and soothe and blast a light on the nature of family, faith, forgiveness, consumption, and what we may, or may not, owe one another.

A thirteen-year-old meditates on her sadness and the difference between herself and her white best friend when an unexpected tragedy occurs; a woman recovering from a miscarriage finds herself unable to let go of her daughter—whose body parts she sees throughout her daily life; a teenager resists her family’s church and is accused of courting the devil; servers at a supper club cater to the insatiable cravings of their wealthy clientele; and two estranged siblings take a road-trip with their father’s ashes and are forced to face the troubling reality of how he continues to shape them.

Wise and subversive, spiritual and seductive, Milk Blood Heat forms an ouroboros of stories that bewitch with their truth.

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TL;DR Review

Milk Blood Heat is an absolutely fantastic short story collection, sharp and riveting. You should definitely read (or listen to) it.

For you if: You enjoy short stories, or you’re thinking of trying short stories and want to start with something excellent.

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Full Review

First, thank you to Grove Atlantic and HighBridge Audio for granting me advanced digital and audio copies of this book on NetGalley. I’m a big fan of switching back and forth between print and audio, and also listening along while I read the words. This short story collection is freakin excellent, and the audio production and voice acting was also so, so good.

Milk Blood Heat is everything the title promises it to be: sharp, searing, visceral, and human. It’s hard for me not to compare this to Danielle Evans’s The Office of Historical Corrections, because I read them very close to one another. While of course they’re not the same, I do think that if you liked one, you’ll like the other — both collections are just incredibly written and deal with some overlapping themes.

I think my favorite stories were “Milk Blood Heat” (obviously), about two preteen girls who develop a friendship out of a mutual feeling of drowning in the world; “The Loss of Heaven,” about a man who derives his worth from providing while his wife is dying from cancer; “Snow,” about a bartender whose perspective on marriage is tested by a unique patron; and “Necessary Bodies,” about a woman who is newly pregnant but not sure she wants to keep it in a world like ours.

You won’t regret reading this one!

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Trigger Warnings

• Suicide

• Death/grief

• Miscarriage

• Pregnancy

• Cancer

• Sexual assault

The Gilded Ones (Deathless, #1)

Author: Namina Forna
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

The start of a bold and immersive West African-inspired, feminist fantasy series for fans of Children of Blood and Bone and Black Panther. In this world, girls are outcasts by blood and warriors by choice.

Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.

But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity — and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.

Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki — near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire's greatest threat.

Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she's ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be — not even Deka herself.

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TL;DR Review

The Gilded Ones is a fantastic debut fantasy novel. It’s got some tough subject matter, but it’s exciting and intriguing with a lush world and lovable characters.

For you if: You like YA fantasy, especially African fantasy.

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Full Review

“We all have a choice right now. Are we girls or are we demons? Are we going to die or are we going to survive?”

Thank you Delacorte Press for the advanced copy of this book on NetGalley! It comes out on February 9th. I loved it! The Gilded Ones is exciting and fun to read while also dealing with dark and heavy central themes — in a way that feels true without overpowering everything else the book does. It’s also got a great central mystery that I thought was set up well. I really liked it!

The story is about a 16-year-old girl named Deka. When the ceremony to reveal whether her blood is “pure” or not goes wrong, she’s faced with a choice: Remain the subject of persecution and unspeakable violence (those with golden blood can be killed over and over again without permanently dying, and their blood can be sold for a lot of money), or join the emperor’s new army of “demons” and earn a future of absolution. But as she trains for an upcoming battle, it becomes clear that she’s different, even among others with impure blood. As she learns more about herself, she learns that what she’s always believed is only a shadow of the truth.

I found the narrative style in this book to be slightly different from what I’m “used to” — a little more … straightforward? it’s kind of hard to name — but definitely not in a bad way. I think it’s a combination of the YA genre and a West African storytelling style. I settled in quickly and loved the story all the more for it. But it did help me guess smaller plot points before they were revealed. Given that, I was all the more impressed by the book’s final reveal, when all the smaller puzzle pieces were finally put together in a way I hadn’t imagined. The ending was big and exciting and satisfying!

This one’s not without its trigger warnings: confinement, plenty of blood and death, and others. But as usual with well-written YA, I was so impressed that it managed to tackle these topics without feeling like a heavy book overall.

All in all, a fantastic debut. I’ll be over here, eagerly awaiting the second book!

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Trigger Warnings

• Violence/blood

• Torture/confinement

• Rape/forced prostitution

• Death/grief

• Child abuse

Kink: Stories

Author: R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell (editors)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Kink is a groundbreaking anthology of literary short fiction exploring love and desire, BDSM, and interests across the sexual spectrum, edited by lauded writers R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell, and featuring a roster of all-star contributors including Alexander Chee, Roxane Gay, Carmen Maria Machado, and more.

Kink is a dynamic anthology of literary fiction that opens an imaginative door into the world of desire. The stories within this collection portray love, desire, BDSM, and sexual kinks in all their glory with a bold new vision. The collection includes works by renowned fiction writers such as Callum Angus, Alexander Chee, Vanessa Clark, Melissa Febos, Kim Fu, Roxane Gay, Cara Hoffman, Zeyn Joukhadar, Chris Kraus, Carmen Maria Machado, Peter Mountford, Larissa Pham, and Brandon Taylor, with Garth Greenwell and R.O. Kwon as editors.

The stories within explore bondage, power-play, and submissive-dominant relationships; we are taken to private estates, therapists’ offices, underground sex clubs, and even a sex theater in early-20th century Paris. While there are whips and chains, sure, the true power of these stories lies in their beautiful, moving dispatches from across the sexual spectrum of interest and desires, as portrayed by some of today’s most exciting writers.

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TL;DR Review

Given the editors and lineup of contributors, it comes as no surprise when Kink is exactly as good you expect it’s going to be.

For you if: You’re interested in short stories that explore humanity. And you are OK with sexual content, even when it is heavy and dark.

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Full Review

Listen, you don’t really need me to write a review here. All you have to do to know how good this collection is is read the list of contributing writers. This is a group of some of the most INCREDIBLE literary voices of our generation. Carmen Maria Machado? Brandon Taylor? Alexander Chee? ROXANE GAY? You don’t need me, lol.

BUT here I am: Yes, this book is as incredible as you’re expecting. Yes, these stories are moving and squirmy and steamy and emotional and raw and human all the other adjectives you’re expecting. Full stop.

I could call out every single story for different worthy reasons, but I do think that my favorite (as painful as it is to even have to choose a favorite) was “Scissors” by Kim Fu. It was about a woman who was the object in a live show of suspense, where her stage partner acted like she might cut her with scissors and then made the audience think that she was fooling her into believing violence. The reading experience was somehow JUST like being in that audience, like when you watch a stunt show with swords. You KNOW it’s staged and that she’s safe but like…what if she’s not??? You hardly dare to breathe the whole time. But like…in a short story. INCREDIBLE.

Anyway, please read this daring, artful collection of stories about how the deepest parts of our humanity can be revealed in our most intimate moments. Maybe just don't read it in public. 😉

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Trigger Warnings

• Sexual content, including sadomasochism and consensual violence

• Sexual assault/rape

• Deadnaming

Bride of the Sea

Author: Eman Quotah
Publisher: Tin House
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

During a snowy Cleveland February, newlywed university students Muneer and Saeedah are expecting their first child, and he is harboring a secret: the word divorce is whispering in his ear. Soon, their marriage will end, and Muneer will return to Saudi Arabia, while Saeedah remains in Cleveland with their daughter, Hanadi. Consumed by a growing fear of losing her daughter, Saeedah disappears with the little girl, leaving Muneer to desperately search for his daughter for years. The repercussions of the abduction ripple outward, not only changing the lives of Hanadi and her parents, but also their interwoven family and friends—those who must choose sides and hide their own deeply guarded secrets.

And when Hanadi comes of age, she finds herself at the center of this conflict, torn between the world she grew up in and a family across the ocean. How can she exist between parents, between countries?

Eman Quotah’s Bride of the Sea is a spellbinding debut of colliding cultures, immigration, religion, and family; an intimate portrait of loss and healing; and, ultimately, a testament to the ways we find ourselves inside love, distance, and heartbreak.

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TL;DR Review

Bride of the Sea is a beautiful debut about belonging, culture, and family; a vivid story following three unforgettable characters over the course of many years.

For you if: You like stories that span decades.

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Full Review

“At night, lying on a thin mattress next to his brother with the book-hard pillows he wasn’t used to anymore, Muneer wanted to put his hand into his chest and pull his whole heart out. He tried. He placed his fingers against his sternum and pressed harder and harder until it hurt and his fingers seized up and he had to go outside to stretch them out and moan with pain and grief because he might wake up his brother if he stayed inside.”

Bride of the Sea is a truly beautiful debut. Eamon Qotah has crafted a rich, sweeping, emotional story about three sharply defined and unforgettable characters. I enjoyed this book very much — thank you to Tin House for the review copy.

The three main characters are Muneer and Saeedah/Sadie, who are briefly married, and Hanadi/Hannah, their daughter. A few years after Muneer and Saeedah divorce and he moves back to Jidda, Saudi Arabia, Saeedah disappears with Hanadi. Over the course of decades and across oceans, the book alternates through the three characters’ perspectives as Muneer never gives up on finding his daughter, Hannah seeks belonging and family, and Sadie reckons with the world she’s created for herself.

I’m a sucker for beautiful prose and characters who carry the reader through both heartbreak and joy. I loved all three of them in their own way — Muneer with his big heart, Sadie with her individualism and drive, and Hannah with her fierce determination to be her own person.

This also may be the first book I’ve read that takes place (partly) in Saudi Arabia. You can feel Quotah’s love for the country and for Jidda, even as characters push back against or resist some of the particularly conservative or patriarchal aspects of its culture.

All in all, a really lovely debut. If you like books that span decades and deal with themes of family, culture, and identity, pick this one up.

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Trigger Warnings

• Kidnapping

• Islamophobia

• Pregnancy

The Bluest Eye

Author: Toni Morrison
Publisher: Vintage Anchor
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl, prays every day for beauty. Mocked by other children for the dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, she yearns for normalcy, for the blond hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally fit in. Yet as her dream grows more fervent, her life slowly starts to disintegrate in the face of adversity and strife.

A powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity, Toni Morrison's virtuosic first novel asks powerful questions about race, class, and gender with the subtlety and grace that have always characterized her writing.

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Full Review

“I had only one desire: to dismember [the white baby doll]. To see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, but apparently only me.”

I am not fit to “review” a Toni Morrison novel, so here are my impressions instead. I am unsurprised to be blown away, but I’m extra floored that this was her first novel. The maturity in her prose is unparalleled.

The Bluest Eye alternates through several points of view, but the main one comes from a young Black girl named Claudia. The plot, however, revolves around another young Black girl named Pecola, who we learn in the first chapter becomes pregnant with her abusive father’s child. We also get glimpses into each of Pecola’s parents’ backstories, as well as several neighbors from the community.

I knew that this book would be heavy and heartbreaking, and it was. But I found myself nearing the end, waiting for the hammer to drop. And just when I stopped expecting it — drop it did. Things that impressed me to my knees: the return to the marigolds, the use of the children’s book text, the tiniest moments of prose that cut like knives.

I can’t wait to continue my journey through Morrison’s fiction.

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Trigger Warnings

• Pedophilia and statutory rape

• Miscarriage

• Domestic abuse

• Racism and racial slurs

The Light Brigade

Author: Kameron Hurley
Publisher: Saga Press
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Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

From the Hugo Award­­–winning author of The Stars Are Legion comes a brand-new science fiction thriller about a futuristic war during which soldiers are broken down into light in order to get them to the front lines on Mars.

The Light Brigade: it’s what soldiers fighting the war against Mars call the ones who come back…different. Grunts in the corporate corps get busted down into light to travel to and from interplanetary battlefronts. Everyone is changed by what the corps must do in order to break them down into light. Those who survive learn to stick to the mission brief—no matter what actually happens during combat.

Dietz, a fresh recruit in the infantry, begins to experience combat drops that don’t sync up with the platoon’s. And Dietz’s bad drops tell a story of the war that’s not at all what the corporate brass want the soldiers to think is going on.

Is Dietz really experiencing the war differently, or is it combat madness? Trying to untangle memory from mission brief and survive with sanity intact, Dietz is ready to become a hero — or maybe a villain; in war it’s hard to tell the difference.

A worthy successor to classic stories like Downbelow Station, Starship Troopers, and The Forever War, The Light Brigade is award-winning author Kameron Hurley’s gritty time-bending take on the future of war.

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TL;DR Review

The Light Brigade is an exciting, well-written smart puzzle of a sci-fi military thriller. That’s not my usual genre, but I really liked it!

For you if: Talk of aliens doesn’t turn you off a book.

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Full Review

“They said the war would turn us into light.
I wanted to be counted among the heroes who gave us this better world.”

“Military sci-fi thriller” isn’t my usual genre — in fact, “military” and “thriller” are usually anti-Deedi signals. But this one was nominated for the Hugo and people seem to really love Kameron Hurley, so I decided to give it a shot! I’m glad I did. Once I settled into it, I was totally sucked in — and VERY impressed, given that Hurley (successfully) used one of the most notoriously difficult devices in fiction. (Telling you what it is would be a bit of a spoiler, but trust me.)

The story is about a person named Dietz, whose family was killed in a mass attack and decided to join the corporate military (this world is fully ruled by a handful of powerful corporations). Soldiers are sent to the war on Mars to battle against the people who colonized it years ago and then went dark. They get there via “drops,” in which their mass is transformed to light and then reassembled. But then Dietz’s experience with the “drops” is…not quite what was expected. And, as you can imagine, neither is pretty much anything else, either.

One really cool thing about this book: the treatment of Dietz’s gender. There are only two moments, by my count, in which anyone genders Dietz. Otherwise, it’s left ambiguous. This works because in Hurley’s universe, gender norms are also not really a thing, nor are assumptions about sexuality.

It did take me a bit to sink into this book for two reasons: First, the talk of “aliens” and “martians” felt a little cheesy, but that’s probably because I don’t really read sci-fi as much. Second, the first 25% or so was really, idk, bro-ish? It was military training time. Lots of swearing and showboating and bodily functions. But once the training period ended, I fell RIGHT in and LOVED the rest.

Ultimately, this book was smart and masterfully planned/plotted, exciting and intriguing. A giant, fast-paced puzzle that was a pleasure to journey through. I really enjoyed it!

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Trigger Warnings

• Gore/violence

• Death/grief

The Office of Historical Corrections

Author: Danielle Evans
Publisher: Riverhead
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

The award-winning author of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self brings her signature voice and insight to the subjects of race, grief, apology, and American history.

Danielle Evans is widely acclaimed for her blisteringly smart voice and x-ray insights into complex human relationships. With The Office of Historical Corrections, Evans zooms in on particular moments and relationships in her characters’ lives in a way that allows them to speak to larger issues of race, culture, and history. She introduces us to Black and multiracial characters who are experiencing the universal confusions of lust and love, and getting walloped by grief — all while exploring how history haunts us, personally and collectively. Ultimately, she provokes us to think about the truths of American history — about who gets to tell them, and the cost of setting the record straight.

In “Boys Go to Jupiter,” a white college student tries to reinvent herself after a photo of her in a Confederate-flag bikini goes viral. In “Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain,” a photojournalist is forced to confront her own losses while attending an old friend's unexpectedly dramatic wedding. And in the eye-opening title novella, a black scholar from Washington, DC, is drawn into a complex historical mystery that spans generations and puts her job, her love life, and her oldest friendship at risk.

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TL;DR Review

The Office of Historical Corrections is a collection of absolutely masterful stories that buzz with life and echo with resonance.

For you if: You like really really great literary short stories. (Or you think short stories “aren’t for you.”)

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Full Review

“But what did it matter what she deserved, faced with the hilarity of one more person telling her glibly that better was out there when she was begging for mediocrity and couldn’t have that?”

Wow. Wowowow. The Office of Historical Corrections deserves all the hype it’s gotten — it’s an absolute standout short story collection. In fact, during a recent book club meeting, we contemplated which of the stories we’d most like to see developed in a novel. My answer was that Danielle Evans is so good at this form, and these stories and novella are so perfectly paced and crafted, that I wouldn’t choose any. This is how these stories belong.

I listened to this collection on audiobook, which was a really great way to experience them. The voice actors did a great job, and these stories are electric enough to feel super self-contained and immersive. They deal with tough subjects that are hard to look at and away from, but through the lens of beautiful, complete characters who could feel like they could literally walk off the page.

The titular novella, in particular, is excellent. I find myself still thinking about it. So, too, with several others (really, all of them), but especially “Why won’t women just say what they want?” and “Boys Go to Jupiter.”

If you think that short story collections “aren’t for you,” I challenge you to try this one. And if you already know you love short stories, this one is definitely not to be missed.

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Trigger Warnings

• Racism (hate crimes, racial slurs, white supremacy, etc)

• Death and grief

• Cancer

• Gun violence

This Mournable Body (Nervous Conditions, #3)

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga
Publisher: Graywolf Press (US edition)
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

A searing novel about the obstacles facing women in Zimbabwe, by one of the country’s most notable authors

Anxious about her prospects after leaving a stagnant job, Tambudzai finds herself living in a run-down youth hostel in downtown Harare. For reasons that include her grim financial prospects and her age, she moves to a widow’s boarding house and eventually finds work as a biology teacher. But at every turn in her attempt to make a life for herself, she is faced with a fresh humiliation, until the painful contrast between the future she imagined and her daily reality ultimately drives her to a breaking point.

In This Mournable Body, Tsitsi Dangarembga returns to the protagonist of her acclaimed first novel, Nervous Conditions, to examine how the hope and potential of a young girl and a fledgling nation can sour over time and become a bitter and floundering struggle for survival. As a last resort, Tambudzai takes an ecotourism job that forces her to return to her parents’ impoverished homestead. It is this homecoming, in Dangarembga’s tense and psychologically charged novel, that culminates in an act of betrayal, revealing just how toxic the combination of colonialism and capitalism can be.

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TL;DR Review

This Mournable Body is a poignant finish to Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions books. It’s a searing look at colonialism with a narrator I feel I could reach out and touch.

For you if: You want to read more literary fiction by and about African people.

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Full Review

“You feel you are creeping up over the edge of a precipice and that this cliff beckons you; worse, that you have a secret desire to fall over its edge into oblivion and that there is no way to stop that fall because you are the precipice.”

I read This Mournable Body because it was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize. I read Nervous Conditions and The Book of Not just before this one, too. It’s hard to review just TMB and not the trilogy as a whole; people say that you can read TMB as a standalone, but now that I’ve read them all and spoken to people who did, I would definitely recommend reading them all.

TMB picks up where the last book left off: with Tambu living in a hostel, unemployed. In this book, we follow the next stage of her life as she continues to seek better for herself but crumbles under the weight of the pressure she and the world put on her, rises again, crumbles again. It’s frustrating and full of weight, heartbreaking and illuminating.

It’s important to note that I am so far from this book’s intended audience as to render my opinions almost useless; this is a story told by a Zimbabwean woman for Zimbabwe. It’s about colonialism, for an audience sill grappling with relatively recent colonization. It’s about duality, and racism, and the definition of self in a world that holds no space for you. And so while there were some moments that felt slower or less accessible to me, that is likely not the case for readers in the actual intended audience, which is glorious and fascinating and the beauty of literature.

I am really, really glad that I read these books, and I recommend them.

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Trigger Warnings

• Sexual assault

• Mental illness and institutionalization

• Domestic abuse

• Miscarriage

• Racism, appropriation, degradation

A Sky Beyond the Storm (Ember Quartet, #4)

Author: Sabaa Tahir
Publisher: Razorbill
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

***Description is spoiler for An Ember in the Ashes, A Torch Against the Night, and A Reaper at the Gates***

Prepare for the jaw-dropping finale to the beloved New York Times bestselling series.

The long-imprisoned jinn are on the attack, wreaking bloody havoc in villages and cities alike. But for the Nightbringer, vengeance on his human foes is just the beginning.

By his side, Commandant Keris Veturia declares herself Empress and calls for the heads of any and all who defy her rule. At the top of the list? The Blood Shrike and her remaining family.

Laia of Serra, now allied with the Blood Shrike, struggles to recover from the loss of the two people most important to her. Determined to stop the approaching apocalypse, she throws herself into the destruction of the Nightbringer. In the process, she awakens an ancient power that could lead her to victory—or to an unimaginable doom.

And deep in the Waiting Place, the Soul Catcher seeks only to forget the life—and love—he left behind. Yet doing so means ignoring the trail of murder left by the Nightbringer and his jinn. To uphold his oath and protect the human world from the supernatural, the Soul Catcher must look beyond the borders of his own land. He must take on a mission that could save—or destroy—all that he knows.

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TL;DR Review

A Sky Beyond the Storm is absolutely everything I hoped it would be and more. An incredible conclusion to what’s now solidified as an all-time favorite series.

For you if: You have ever loved a fantasy book! (And you read the first three already lol.)

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Full Review

Hello, my name is Deedi and I am a RAGING PASSIONATE MESS. (In a good way.) And I finished the book a week and a half before writing this review, lol. There’s only one way to describe this series: a plot and character masterpiece. I don’t say that lightly. It’s truly one of the best series I have ever read.

I first read books 1–3 of the Ember Quartet in 2018. I reread them over the past two months, alongside a few bookworm friends, to prep for the launch of Sky. And first of all, let me just say that rereading these books was an absolutely incredible experience. I actually don’t think you can get a full appreciation of how carefully and lovingly plotted these books are on a first read. As you reread, you pick up on things that you never would have noticed or understood the first time around. The number of times I texted my friends with exclamatory moments of awe re: a moment of foreshadowing was … a lot. Now that I know that and I’ve read the last one, I feel like I need to reread them all again just so that I can get the full effect.

So to say that I had high expectations for this book is a massive understatement. I was secretly nervous that there was no way it would be able to live up. But friends, we are now unsurprised that live up it did, and more. WHAT A FREAKIN ENDING. I took notes and jotted down theories and reactions as I read, and there are so many all-caps sentences, photos of quotes, moments of joy and sadness, awe and rage and love and WOW. I cried very hard, both in grief and in happiness. Sabaa I can’t say too much here because I’m not about the spoilers life, but wow.

All I can really say is that whenever someone asks me for a fantasy series recommendation in the future, this one is going to be the very first one I mention. Probably forever. Read it. Kthxbye.

UGH.

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Trigger Warnings

• War violence and death

• Death of a loved one

• Severe grief

• Genocide

Interior Chinatown

Author: Charles Yu
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

From the infinitely inventive author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe comes a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.

Willis Wu doesn't perceive himself as a protagonist even in his own life: He's merely Generic Asian man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but he is always relegated to a prop. Yet every day he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He's a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy — the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. At least that's what he has been told, time and time again. Except by one person, his mother. Who says to him: Be more.

Playful but heartfelt, a send-up of Hollywood tropes and Asian stereotypes, Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu's most moving, daring, and masterly novel yet.

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TL;DR Review

Interior Chinatown is a creative, funny, moving, uniquely told story about race, immigration, and the roles that are cast for us — by others and ourselves.

For you if: You want a big-hearted but hard-hitting book in a fun format.

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Full Review

“I’m guilty, too. Guilty of playing this role. Letting it define me. Internalizing the role so completely that I’ve lost track of where reality starts and the performance begins. And letting that define how I see other people. I’m as guilty of it as anyone.”

This book. Holy moly was it good! I can absolutely see why it won the National Book Award last year — it’s super creative, it’s warm and quite funny, it’s smart and hard-hitting and emotional too. It’s rare that a book comes around that makes you think wow, that was really brilliant and truly unique — but this one does it.

This is a satirical novel about a man named Willis Wu, who’s working his way up the ranks of Generic Asian Men on a cop drama called Black and White. His ultimate dream — the dream of everyone he knows — is to become Kung Fu Guy. (His father was Kung Fu Guy once, but now he’s just Old Asian Man.) In his quest to climb ever higher up a ladder with no top, he’s forced to confront the fact that the roles he plays are cast just as much by himself as by society itself.

First of all, you absolutely have to listen to the audiobook of this one as you read along. It was extremely well voiced and produced, and it added a TON to my reading experience. Truly, don’t miss it. Hats off to Joel de la Fuente for his performance.

This book is so fun to read, and you definitely just have to go with it. Parts are written like a film script, parts in prose. It blends “reality” and metaphor, switching between them to create something that’s not quite linear or logical but super moving and effective. And it’s funny! And the ending — a dream-state court scene — is one of the best I’ve read in a really, really long time.

At its heart, this is a book about race and immigration, the futility of comparing one group’s experience with racism to another’s, holding onto your heritage while breaking out of stereotypes, family, love, identity, confidence, history, and so much more. It’s also a relatively short book you can read in a few hours. Which you absolutely should do.

“There once was a little girl who was —
You pause. Unsure of what to say next.
This is a key point in the story.
The next word, and whatever you say after that, will determine a great many things about it, will either open up the story, like a key in a lock in a door to a palace with however many rooms, too many to count, and hallways and stairways and false walls and secret passages, or the next word could be a wall itself, two walls, closing in, it could be the limits on where the story could go.”

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Trigger Warnings

• Racism and stereotyping

• War violence (brief mention)

The Book of Not

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga
Publisher: Ayebia Clarke Publishing
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

A sequel to Nervous Conditions, this is a powerful and engaging story about one young woman's quest to redefine the personal and political forces that threaten to engulf her. As its title suggests, this is also a book about denial and unfulfilled expectations and about the theft of the self that remains one of colonialism's most pernicious legacies. The novel disrupts any comfortable sense of closure to the dilemmas of colonial modernity explored in Nervous Conditions and as such is a fitting sequel.

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Review

The Book of Not is the sequel to Nervous Conditions, a modern African classic. It picks up shortly after Nervous Conditions left off, with a striking opening scene from the midst of Rhodesia’s fight for independence from British colonizers. From there, we follow Tambu back to school through her graduation and just beyond, a journey in which her ambition and desire to be seen are blocked again and again by the color of her skin.

As with Nervous Conditions, the pacing and prose take concentration and patience. But I found it to be worth it — this book is a look right into the heart of the individual and systemic racism of that period of colonization. Tambu believes that achieving tangible goals is the primary driver of her worth — but she’s holding herself to unforgiving and impossible standards set and reinforced by racism, playing by the rules of a game rigged against her. No matter how well she does, she will never be recognized for it, but what can she do but keep going? What’s a schoolgirl against the forces of white supremacy and colonization? And so all she can do is keep trying, however futile. It was heartbreaking and frustrating and revelatory to witness her internalization.

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Trigger Warnings

• Bullying

• Racism

• Bulemia (mentioned)

The Center of Everything

Author: Jamie Harrison
Publisher: Counterpoint Press
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Set against the wild beauty of Montana as a woman attempts to heal from a devastating accident, this generational saga from the award-winning author of The Widow Nash is a heartfelt examination of how the deep bonds of family echo throughout our lives.

For Polly, the small town of Livingston, Montana, is a land charmed by raw, natural beauty and a close network of family that extends back generations. But the summer of 2002 finds Polly at a crossroads: a recent head injury has scattered her perception of the present, bringing to the surface long-forgotten events. As Polly's many relatives arrive for a family reunion during the Fourth of July holiday, a beloved friend goes missing on the Yellowstone River. Search parties comb the river as carefully as Polly combs her mind, and over the course of one fateful week, Polly arrives at a deeper understanding of herself and her larger-than-life relatives.

Weaving together the past and the present, from the shores of Long Island Sound to the landscape of Montana, The Center of Everything examines with profound insight the memories and touchstones that make up a life and what we must endure along the way.

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TL;DR Review

The Center of Everything is a beautiful family saga with an intriguing mystery (or two) thrown in. I enjoyed it and I’m glad I read it.

For you if: You like books with family trees printed in the front.

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Full Review

First, thank you to Counterpoint Press for sending me a finished copy of this book. The cover is stunning and I really enjoyed it.

The Center of Everything is part family saga, part literary mystery that takes place in a small town beside a raging river in Montana. The protagonist is a woman named Polly, who is still recovering from a recent head injury and finds her attention span altered. When a beloved young woman disappears on the river after kayaking with friends, the whole town jumps in to search for her. Meanwhile, we jump back in the time of Polly’s childhood, living with her grandparents and the young son of family friends, leading up to her discovery of a different drowned body.

There’s a lot this book does. It examines family, memory, community, love, parenthood, and more. The characters are beautiful and round and compelling. There are also a lot of them — in fact, there’s a family tree printed in the front — and I was pleasantly surprised that they were easier to keep track of than I’d expected.

I did find myself a little frustrated by the pacing and less engaged than I’d expected to be, but that definitely could have been a me-and-my-mindset-at-the-time problem, not a book problem. In fact, the book’s central mysteries were subtly compelling, one feeling inevitable and one pulsing in the background. Also, there was a heartwarming little twist at the end that I was kicking myself for not anticipating.

If you’re a sucker for contemporary family sagas, pick this one up. I think you’ll like it a lot.

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Trigger Warnings

• Death and grief

• Rape

• Dating violence

• Murder

• Doctors not believing women

• Parental neglect

• Suicide

Nervous Conditions (Nervous Conditions, #1)

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga
Publisher: Seal Press (original 1988)
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Tambudzai dreams of education, but her hopes only materialise after her brother's death, when she goes to live with her uncle. At his mission school, her critical faculties develop rapidly, bringing her face to face with a new set of conflicts involving her uncle, his education and his family. Tsitsi Dangarembga's quietly devastating first novel offers a portrait of Zimbabwe, where enlightenment brings its own profound dilemmas.

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TL;DR Review

Nervous Conditions is a feminist postcolonial novel set in what’s now Zimbabwe. It reads like the classic it is, but with a sharp voice and unforgettable main character.

For you if: You want to learn more about colonial African history and culture.

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Full Review

“Nyasha knew nothing about leaving. She had only been taken to places — to the mission, to England, back to the mission. She did not know what essential parts of you stayed behind no matter how violently you tried to dislodge them in order to take them with you.”

Nervous Conditions, Tsitsi Dangarembga’s debut novel published in 1988, is a modern African classic. It takes place during the British colonial rule of Rhodesia in the 1960s (which won its independence and became Zimbabwe in 1980). It’s written from the perspective of Tambudzai (“Tambu”), a fiercely independent and stubborn Shona girl who grew up on her father’s farming homestead before her uncle, who led the local mission school, offers her the chance at education. Over the following few years, she develops a close relationship with her headstrong cousin Nyasha, pursues her education like a bloodhound, and begins to understand more about herself and how the world works.

While the prose is a bit dense and the pace is a little slow — it definitely reads like a classic — I can absolutely see why this book is so acclaimed. Tambu is one of the most vivid narrators I’ve ever encountered, and her voice is unforgettable. She tells the story for herself, not for you, and that makes all the difference. This book is revelatory from a feminist perspective, especially given (but not only because of) the year it was published. Dangarembga’s presentation of patriarchy, colonialism, the duality of identity, tradition and duty, and more is absolutely excellent.

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Trigger Warnings

• Fatphobia and body hatred

• Anorexia and bulemia

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

Author: Deepa Anappara
Publisher: Random House
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Three friends venture into the most dangerous corners of a sprawling Indian city to find their missing classmate.

Down market lanes crammed with too many people, dogs, and rickshaws, past stalls that smell of cardamom and sizzling oil, below a smoggy sky that doesn’t let through a single blade of sunlight, and all the way at the end of the Purple metro line lies a jumble of tin-roofed homes where nine-year-old Jai lives with his family. From his doorway, he can spot the glittering lights of the city’s fancy high-rises, and though his mother works as a maid in one, to him they seem a thousand miles away.

Jai drools outside sweet shops, watches too many reality police shows, and considers himself to be smarter than his friends Pari (though she gets the best grades) and Faiz (though Faiz has an actual job). When a classmate goes missing, Jai decides to use the crime-solving skills he has picked up from TV to find him. He asks Pari and Faiz to be his assistants, and together they draw up lists of people to interview and places to visit.

But what begins as a game turns sinister as other children start disappearing from their neighborhood. Jai, Pari, and Faiz have to confront terrified parents, an indifferent police force, and rumors of soul-snatching djinns. As the disappearances edge ever closer to home, the lives of Jai and his friends will never be the same again.

Drawing on real incidents and a spate of disappearances in metropolitan India.

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TL;DR Review

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line is a moving story about tragedy and class in India. The plot moves slowly, but it sparkles with character and voice.

For you if: You like character-driven novels that confront reality and aren’t afraid of grief.

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Full Review

“We need ghosts more than anyone else, maybe. Because we are railway station boys without parents and homes. If we are still here, it is only because we know how to summon ghosts at will.”

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line was longlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize, which is what landed it in my lap. This is exactly why I love reading literary prize lists — they help me read books that I might have taken years to prioritize otherwise. I really liked Djinn Patrol, and I’m glad I read it.

Inspired by real events, the book takes place in a metropolitan area of India, primarily in a sort of slum neighborhood where the main character, a young boy named Jai, lives. When one of his classmates goes missing — and then more and more children start to disappear — Jai summons all his knowledge from watching police shows and recruits his two best friends to help him solve the case. This takes them all over the city, giving readers the opportunity to witness and reflect on issues of class, education, policing, Islamophobia, mob mentality, family, grief, and more.

This book is beautifully written, and it’s a particular triumph in character and voice. Jai is such a vivid narrator, one we love implicitly and root for vigorously. We see his neighborhood and journey through eyes wide open — as we read, we truly are him in a way that not all first-person novels achieve.

I did think that the pacing was a bit slow, and I spent time wondering what the purpose of different scenes was. I think that’s because I really expected it to be driven more by the novel’s central mystery of the missing children. And indeed, whenever I got to one of the chapters that showed what had happened to them right before they were snatched, I became a lot more invested. But by the end, I realized that even though it’s a mystery, it’s really more about setting and character than plot.

I may reread this someday; I think it’s the kind of book that will give you a little bit more every time you read it.

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Trigger Warnings

• Alcoholism

• Kidnapping

• Child abuse

• Death of a child / grief

• Islamophobia

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Author: TJ Klune
Publisher: Tor Books
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.

Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.

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TL;DR Review

The House in the Cerulean Sea is like a Pixar movie: a story that will squeeze your heart with great characters and a warm and fuzzy ending.

For you if: You want to read something that feels like a hug.

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Full Review

“‘We get trapped in our own little bubbles, and even though the world is a wide and mysterious place, our bubbles keep us safe from that. To our detriment.’ She sighed. ‘But it’s so easy because there’s something soothing about routine. Day in and day out, it’s always the same. When we’re shaken from that, when that bubble bursts, it can be hard to understand all that we’ve missed.’”

I’m late to the House in the Cerulean Sea party, but holy guacamole am I glad I came! Everything you’ve heard about this book is true: that it’s warm and fuzzy, that it feels like a hug, that it’s the perfect book to read to escape from the world, especially right now.

The story is about Linus, who for years has kept his nose down at his terrible desk job evaluating orphanages for magical children. Then Extremely Upper Management puts him on a special assignment to an orphanage at the outskirts of the country. The children there — and the caretaker, Arthur — are of an extra-special variety. What follows is a story of waking up to joy, resisting hate, trusting your heart, and found family.

Truly, this book feels a lot like a Pixar movie, with the most lovable characters ever, the most beautiful life lessons, and an ending that leaves you as a mushy pile of warmth on the floor. It’s also got that whimsical feeling of a cartoon. I loved it and will probably re-read it any time I need a little bit of joy.

“Hate is loud, but I think you’ll learn it’s because it’s only a few people shouting, desperate to be heard. You might not ever be able to change their minds, but so long as your remember you’re not alone, you will overcome.”

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Trigger Warnings

• Child abuse

• Confinement/forced isolation

• Xenophobia

Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)

Author: Rebecca Roanhorse
Publisher: Saga Press
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Resistance Reborn comes the first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.

A god will return
When the earth and sky converge
Under the black sun

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

Crafted with unforgettable characters, Rebecca Roanhorse has created an epic adventure exploring the decadence of power amidst the weight of history and the struggle of individuals swimming against the confines of society and their broken pasts in the most original series debut of the decade.

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TL;DR Review

Black Sun is the start of what promises to be an excellent high fantasy series, with expert world-building and fiercely lovable characters. I think the majority of the series’ action is yet to come.

For you if: You enjoy modern-style epic fantasy, and/or you want to read more fantasy by Indigenous authors.

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Full Review

“Usually,” Xiala said carefully, “when someone describes a man as harmless, he ends up being a villain.”

I bought Black Sun as soon as it came out, but it took me a couple of months to get to it. I knew I’d love it, I just had to squeeze it in. Friends: I was not disappointed. This is the kind of compulsively readable epic fantasy I love, with a big, gorgeous, political world filled with culture; characters as deep as the ocean; and plenty of adventure with promise for more.

This is the first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, and it’s an epic fantasy inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas. We have a few main characters: Serapio, whose mother set into motion the process of turning him into the vengeful Crow god; Xiala, a sailor and captain from a magical, persecuted people, who loves to get herself into trouble with drink and women; Naranpa, a young visionary who, despite her lower-class birth was risen to the position of Sun Priest; and Okoa, son of the recently deceased matron of the Carrion Crow clan. As we approach the “Day of Convergence” (a full solar eclipse on the winter solstice), their fates hurtle toward one another with unstoppable force.

Black Sun’s main purpose is definitely to build out this beautiful, intricate world and introduce us to these rich characters in order to tee up the rest of the books. There’s a lot of information to learn, but I found the world-building to be smooth and effective and not overwhelming. It’s also exciting and super adventurous, although I think the majority of the action in this series is yet to come in this series. (Although just a heads up that some of the scenes are a little more bloody than average.)

Another thing I really loved: Several characters in this book have a third gender, one that uses the pronouns xe/xir. This detail was weaved in so naturally, presented without commentary, without making it a thing. I have never read a book with characters that use any pronouns outside of she/her, he/him, or they/them. It was really well done.

This is a book about destiny, and pride, and home, and power, and class, and revolution. I don’t know when the next book is going to be published, but I can’t wait.

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Trigger Warnings

• Parental abandonment/neglect

• Blood and violence

Leave the World Behind

Author: Rumaan Alam
Publisher: Ecco
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong

Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older black couple — it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area — with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service — it’s hard to know what to believe.

Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple — and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?

Suspenseful and provocative, Rumaan Alam’s third novel is keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped — and unexpected new ones are forged — in moments of crisis.

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TL;DR Review

Leave the World Behind is a masterfully paced, unsettling novel about how everyday people might react when the world starts to end.

For you if: You appreciate the craft of literary fiction.

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Full Review

“They had asked themselves questions when they decided to have children — do we have the money, do we have the space, do we have what it takes — but they didn’t ask what the world would be when their children grew.”

I had the opportunity to attend the launch event for Helen Phillips’s The Need, which Rumaan Alam moderated, and I really enjoyed it. So I was eager to read Leave the World Behind no matter what — then it was nominated for the 2020 National Book Award, and it jumped to the top of my list. I wasn’t disappointed.

The story is about a young family who rent a big, fancy house in the middle of nowhere on Long Island for vacation. Everything is gloriously normal until the owners of the house, an elderly Black couple, show up in the middle of the night. A mysterious blackout had hit the entire Northeast, and they came home seeking solace. Somehow, the lights are still on at the house, though cell and TV service is gone. While they all wait for news and the strange events escalate, the two families dance around one another, seek comfort from one another, and begin to band together.

This book is atmospheric and quietly unsettling. It’s about where normal, everyday people will be and what they’ll do and how they’ll react when the world starts to end. It’s about trust and distrust, the ways we uphold and break down social norms in the face of the unknown, and so much more. It’s also an absolute masterclass in writing tension. There was one particular scene in which the Washingtons arrive home, when everyone in the room is sort of dancing around one another and nobody is communicating the information that we, the readers, have, and I wanted to shake them all so they’d just TALK ALREADY.

If you’re a fan of literary fiction, with craft and character centered instead of plot, I think you’ll like this one. The audiobook version is also very well done!

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Trigger Warnings

• Racist microaggressions

• A missing child

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)

Author: Tamsyn Muir
Publisher: Tor Books
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won't set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon's sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.

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TL;DR Review

Gideon the Ninth is as fun as “Lesbian necromancers in space” makes it sound! It’s definitely not perfect but I think it’s worth reading, and I’ll be reading book two for sure.

For you if: You are looking for more queer sci-fi/fantasy in your life!

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Full Review

Her adept said: "I'll keep it off you. Nav, show them what the Ninth House does."

Gideon lifted her sword. The construct worked itself free of its last confines of masonry and rotten wood and heaved before them, flexing itself like a butterfly.

"We do bones, motherfucker," she said.

Gideon the Ninth — described with the promising words “Lesbian necromancers in space!!” — is super hyped, and it was nominated for the Hugo. Readers seem to either love it or find it disappointing, with no in between. Well, I’m that in between. At the end of the day, though, I thought this book was imperfect but really, really fun, and I’m definitely planning to read the second one soon.

The disappointing first half: I struggled with the first half of the book. The opening chapter is fun and sets the stage well, with a foul-mouthed, sarcastic, fierce main character. But from there, it really gets bogged down. The world-building is not great — information was presented without much explanation. It asked too much of the reader as we “listen in” on world-building conversations — which is a lot of pressure and also distracting to try to remember it all. I felt like I was left by the author to sink or swim, to just keep up.

Also, certain things felt like they were done for the plot’s sake without being true to the character, like Gideon’s willingness to take a vow of silence around all the other houses. Why would she do that? I also felt that the mystery and suspense was built sloppily. Multiple times, a character was interrupted right before they were about to say something important — like “I can only conclude that the murder happened by…” and then NO ONE went back and demanded that they finish their thought when the interruption passed. Even to solve a murder!! It was totally unrealistic and just felt sort of lazy.

Finally, I was so incredibly tired of Gideon and Harrow being enemies. It just went on WAY too long. Basically, I struggled with it until things finally picked up in the second half.

The great second half: There was one specific moment — a WHAT THE ACTUAL EFF moment — where I knew I’d hit the part where it was about to get good. I could have used that plot escalation at like the 25% mark instead of the 60-ish% mark, but it’s all good. Once we hit that point of no return, I was absolutely sucked in. Things moved fast, characters started growing and changing, central questions were answered, and evil plots were uncovered. The ending completely surprised me, and I need to know what happens next. I’ll be reading book two very soon, and I’m hoping it carries over the energy that the second half of this book built.

TL; DR: Set aside your critical eye, read this one for fun, and stick with it. I think it’s worth it.

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Trigger Warnings

• Violence and some gore

Other Words for Home

Author: Jasmine Warga
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

Click above to buy this book from my Bookshop.org shop, which supports independent bookstores (not Amazon). You can also find it via your favorite indie bookstore here.

Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

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Cover Description

Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.

At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting school in the US — and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises — there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.

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TL;DR Review

Other Words for Home is a middle grade novel written in verse, told from the perspective of a young Syrian girl who comes to live in the US. And yes, it’s as beautiful and moving as it sounds.

For you if: You want to read more novels written in verse, and/or novels about xenophobia and Islamophobia.

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Full Review

“Just like I am no longer
a girl.
I am a Middle Eastern girl.
A Syrian girl.
A Muslim girl.

Americans love labels.
They help them know what to expect.
Sometimes, though,
I think labels stop them from
thinking.”

This was Malala’s December book club pick with Literati. It probably wouldn’t have landed on my radar without them, but I’m so glad it did! This was a quick, moving, beautifully told story that will stick with me.

Other Words for Home is a middle grade novel written in verse. (That alone would catch my attention.) It’s written from the perspective of a preteen named Jude, a young Syrian girl who comes to live in the US. (Sign me UP for this book.) The story starts in Syria, where she lives with her mother, father, and brother. When political tensions escalate and her mother becomes pregnant, she and Jude go to live with Jude’s uncle near Cincinnati. There, she finds a cousin who’s also growing into herself, a new best friend, acceptance and prejudice, and even a place in her own spotlight.

This book is everything I love about well-done middle grade — heartwarming and resonant, a hug and a statement. I learned new things about Jude’s culture, and I saw new experiences through her eyes. I hope it reaches so, so many young people. But this one will stick with me, and I think it will stick with anyone — young people and adults alike.

FYI, I received this book for free in my capacity as a Literati ambassador. I also borrowed the audiobook from the library to listen along while I read, and it was beautifully performed.

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Trigger Warnings

• Xenophobic and Islamophobic words and actions

• Family members who are missing

• Pregnancy and childbirth