Publication Date: October 17th, 2023
Read: February 8th - 9th
Rating: 3/5 stars
There’s so much to say about this book, but I’ve already talked about it so much that it almost feels like I’ve already written a review…even though I very much have not.
Here's another cross-posted review of a book I read this month. I think this review has the dubious honor of being the first one star review of this book posted to Goodreads. So...that's fun!
I read an e-arc of Lady Macbeth through Edelweiss pretty much as soon as it was available for me to download, because I was very curious as to how a retelling of Macbeth that makes Lady Macbeth a 17-year-old girl was going to work. And I'm now forced to conclude that it...doesn't work, actually!
Full review below. I feel like there are at least a few spoilers, so proceed with caution if you care about that sort of thing.
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| At least the cover's pretty |
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| Good title, pretty cover, meh book |
Expected publication date: October 31st, 2023
Read: August 18th - 24th, 2023
Rating: 3/5 stars
Did I like it? No. Did I hate it? No. Is it bad? Yes, I think so.
This book sort of glided by with very little emotional investment from me. For the record, I was trying pretty hard to give this book a fair shake. I had just had my expectations way exceeded by The Scarlet Alchemist, a book from an author whose work I had previously disliked, so I was like hey, maybe this trend will keep up. Maybe I'll like this way more than I liked Isabel Ibanez's debut.
Everyone is wrong sometimes.
What the River Knows is the story of Inez, an Bolivian-Argentinian girl whose parents are obsessed with Egypt and spend many months out of every year in Egypt, assisting Inez’s mother’s brother on archaeological digs. Despite how much Inez begs her parents to be brought along, they have never taken her to Egypt. But then they die suddenly, and Inez decides to disguise herself as a young widow and finally go to Egypt in order to find out what really happened to her parents. Through a lot of stubbornness and arguably bad decisions, she manages to convince her uncle to let her come along on an expedition, where she uses her artistic talents to help record their findings. There’s sort of a brewing conspiracy relating to Cleopatra’s tomb, and while she’s trying to figure out what’s going on, Inez is gradually growing closer to her uncle’s Hot Young British Assistant, Whitford Hayes.
Also, this is a historical setting - specifically, we’re in the 1880s - but it’s kind of an alternate history where objects imbued with magic exist and that’s more or less normal.
Maybe it’s because I kept my expectations as neutral as possible, but I didn’t dislike this book as strongly as I disliked Woven in Moonlight when I read it. So that might be a positive. However, I think this book is pretty bad. I think it’s a type of bad that a lot of people could have a lot of fun with, and I don’t want to discount that! But overall I simply think it was bad. I was only barely invested enough to wanted to know what would happen at the end, and when I did know what happened, I was just like, "Okay."
Kerensa, what was bad about it? Well, one thing that made it bad for me, personally, was the main character, Inez. One thing that this book and Ibanez’s debut have in common is that they both have very brash, headstrong, impulsive main characters. Inez is slightly less prone to super-cringy banter than what I remember of WiM’s protagonist, but she sure does love to rush into situations by herself, with absolutely no back-up! If there’s one thing Inez is good at, it’s snap decisions and trusting the wrong people. If there’s one thing she’s bad at, it’s critical thinking. It’s hard to like a character when you feel like she’s impulsive, naïve, and just kind of stupid, without much in the way of endearing or redeeming qualities. I didn’t particularly like Inez.
As for the setting, while it felt like Ibanez had done research into the history of Egypt in the 1880s and other details of the setting, her characters ultimately did not feel grounded in that history. This is true even when she gave them backstories where they had personal emotional connections to real historical figures. The way that they talk and act, and even some of the beliefs that they espouse, just didn’t make me feel like these were characters from the 1880s.
Obviously, there are always questions with historical fiction of how much writers should try to be “historically accurate” versus how much they should modernize, because every modern writer will modernize to some extent. Here, it just felt like the wrong balance was struck. But since I’m admittedly very nitpicky about historical fiction in general, I admit that many readers probably wouldn’t be as thrown by I was by Inez’s uncle declaring that he believes in a fair living wage (I was 2 seconds from google searching if fair living wages were a common subject of debate in the 1880s, but then I restrained myself). And to be fair, I do think that there's leeway for young adult fiction especially to use historical fiction as a way to discuss current social issues instead of perfectly replicating period ones. If that was what was being attempted here, I just found it a little distracting.
More annoying were the ways that the characters would invoke the idea of restrictive social mores, and then simply ignore them. Inez will observe that it’s improper for her to be going around un-chaperoned, but then she keeps doing it, and there are virtually no consequences, outside of other characters being kind of annoyed at her for being improper. There’s no real sense that Inez’s reputation or social standing will suffer from all the scandalous things she does, and she kind of shrugs off the possibility as if it doesn’t really matter. She spends a good chunk of the book calling Whit “Mr. Hayes,” and then decides of her own accord that they’re friends, and she gets to call him “Whit,” now. He doesn't even want her to call him Whit!
I guess my real issue here is, don't bring up the possibility of social disgrace if it's not something you're actually interested in exploring or worrying about. This is already an alternate history, so in theory it could be a version of the 19th century where it's fine for a young woman to do all the things Inez does. If you're going to say, "Oh no, I'm unchaperoned!" then maybe that should actually feel like there are tangible consequences to it? Even if they're acknowledged as being unfair consequences? I don't know, man.
Moving on. In general, I did not love the dynamic between Inez and Whit. I was sort of interested in the beginning, and I felt like they actually had pretty good banter and an interesting dynamic. But for so much of the middle of the book, it feels like that dynamic stagnates. There’s a lot of back and forth from Inez where she’s wondering if Whit likes her, worrying about him apparently being engaged, telling the reader that they’re getting closer without showing us much, and then wondering again if he likes her. This was not enough to sustain my already very mild interest. I got to a point where I was very ready for some real progression on either the relationship or the plot, and then nothing happened on either front. For like, a good chunk of the middle of this story, it felt like nothing was happening.
The conclusion was fine. I mean, it was very silly, but not much sillier than everything that preceded it, I guess. The twist at the very end was, as previously mentioned, a little bit interesting. But I won't be reading the next book.
Ultimately, I think a lot of people will probably have fun with this. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of them. I didn't hate it, but I'm left very...whelmed. Like her bestie Rebecca Ross, I think Isabel Ibanez just isn't for me.
Expected publication date: October 3rd, 2023
Read: August 11th
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
This is my favorite book I've read so far this month. Which is kind of a surprise, considering I hated Keeper of Night, Kylie Lee Baker's debut.
But sometimes people improve! This book, to me, is a massive improvement compared to Keeper of Night. It has quite a few of the same elements - a deeply flawed protagonist who yearns to belong, a focus on an unjust and merciless world, and more than a sprinkle of blood and gore. But here, it really, really worked for me. Maybe it helps that before this I read four really mediocre books, but I enjoyed The Scarlet Alchemist immensely.
The easiest way for me to describe this book is to say that it's A Deadly Education meets Fullmetal Alchemist, with the added note that Kylie Lee Baker was apparently inspired to write it after reading The Poppy War. It's visceral and bloody, but there's also a duck named Durian. It's the story of a girl who wants to burn the world down, but it's also the story of a girl who wants to be wanted.
The Scarlet Alchemist is about Zilan, a self-taught alchemist in an alternate Tang China who dreams of becoming a royal alchemist. Her cousins, Wenshu and Yufei, are her closest companions and her accomplices in her secret and illegal side hustle where she raises the dead. The three of them have been saving and studying for years so that they can one day go to the capital and get work as government officials (or as a royal alchemist, in Zilan's case). Zilan has to fight against classism and prejudice at every step of the way, but she fights tooth and nail to get a position as a royal alchemist.
Meanwhile, gentle prince Li Hong is fending off assassination attempts at every turn, and begs Zilan to resurrect him, if he ends up dead.
I liked this book so much. I don't know where to start. I loved how angry and lonely and determined Zilan was at every step of her journey. I loved how, despite how dark this story is, ultimately Zilan is determined to do whatever she can to make things better and make things right. I think that kept me invested when things could have gotten too grim to bear. There’s a lot of thematic emphasis on how it should be the responsibility of those who have power to change unfair circumstances and improve society. Zilan is constantly frustrated when powerful people are telling her that they can't change or improve the injustices she sees and lives with every day. She's not content to not try. I really liked that about her.
The magic in this book was also really cool. Alchemy uses different kinds of stones to cause various transformations. It felt well-developed and there were some really good set-ups and pay-offs with how Zilan uses alchemy that had me really really excited.
Overall, this is definitely a tense and high-stakes book with a lot of blood and corpses, but also a lot of fire and heart. I really liked it, and I'm looking forward to the next installment. I hope Inkyard Press closing won't impact the publication of the next book too badly.
Content warnings borrowed from Storygraph below cut:
The Memoirs of Lady Trent meet Howl's Moving castle in this utterly
charming fantasy about academics studying faeries in a remote
Scandinavian village. I loved every second of this book, from the
tromping around in the wintry forests to the sweet (and snarky) moments
between Emily Wilde and Wendell Bambleby.
The characters in this
book are spectacular. You immediately get a sense of who they are as
people and also quickly get attached. I enjoyed Emily's independence and
slight stodginess, but I also liked seeing her melt a little as she
realizes that people care about her and she cares about them in return.
Wendell was a delight. Charming even at his most annoying or outrageous,
he was just so much fun to read about and I loved the chapters (or
rather, journal entries) we got from his perspective. Fans of Howl
Pendragon or Nikolai Lantsov will find a lot to appreciate with Wendell.
I also really liked the side characters, like Poe (Poe!!!), Shadow,
Lilja, Thora, and Aud. Even the characters with less page time felt
fully fleshed out relative to their roles in the story.
I also
want to add that I felt like I could tell that Heather Fawcett had
written middle grade books before this, but not in a bad way at all.
Reviewers will sometimes say that a book feels middle grade when they
think the writing is bad or the characters are juvenile. I don't really
agree with this, as middle grade is a wonderful genre full of great
writing. The friendships and relationships between the characters just
had a particular charm that I associate with middle grade and I enjoyed
it a lot in this story. I don't think this book is juvenile or poorly
written at all, though. I want that to be very clear. IF anything, this
just means that the book might appeal to a broader audience.
The
faerie world and lore were definitely a big draw for me to this book and
I think it was executed perfectly. The blend of actual faerie
interactions, folklore stories (whether real or invented by Fawcett, I
couldn't tell, and liked them either way), and visits to the faerie
realm itself were perfect for me. This book made me both want another
five books about Emily and Wendell (and a movie, while we're at it) and
to go look up stories about faerie interactions myself. The research and
care Heather Fawcett put into the faerie lore of this book really shone
through and it was a delight to read.
In conclusion, all I can
really say is that I'm obsessed with this book and come January I'll be
recommending it to everyone on possibly the most flimsy of
justifications. I've already begun telling my friends and family to read
it when it comes out, and my bookseller friends to read it sooner if
they can! This book is definitely a new favorite of mine and it has
definitely inspired me to read more of Heather Fawcett's work (and to
eagerly await future Emily Wilde books).
I will say, at least one
review I've seen (from the School LIbrary Journal, no less) recommends
this book for fans of Sarah J Maas. I assume that's because both this
book and ACOTAR have faeries in them, but...I have to say, the faerie
kings Fawcett writes in this book are very, very different from Maas'
high lords. Very different. If I were going to compare this book to any
other faerie book, I would choose Holly Black's folk of the air series,
but even then, I think the tone and focus of this book is quite
different from Folk of the Air.
That being said, I certainly
wouldn't DISCOURAGE SJM fans from reading this book...I wouldn't
discourage anyone from reading this book, I just don't want people to
expect SJM-style romance from a book whose main couple reminds me much
more of Howl and Sophie, if Howl was very good at sewing. This is
definitely a book for the cozy fantasy crowd.
