Yaddith Times

Back in 2020 (I think) when this amazing epic fantasy novel-in-poems first came out in ebook format, I devoured it & gave it a five-star review on Goodreads & elsewhere. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, it was not available in hardcopy format.

Well . . . we are out of quarantine now, & The Sign of the Dragon has finally been released from electronic-only exile. It is now available in a thick (580+ pages!), well-produced trade paperback, with 40 full-page black & white illustrations by Gary McCluskey.

I can't recommend this Asian-based but multicultural epic too highly, both for folks who love speculative verse & those who simply crave a good story regardless of format. Find it here:

https://tinyurl.com/yckhh26z

Or here :
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-sign-of-the-dragon-mary-soon-lee/1136903418

or wherever you buy your books . . . but if you love immersive, poetic fantasy, do yourself a favor & find it.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


[My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.]

Although this novel presents itself as a fairy tale for grown-ups -- and a very effective one -- the magical land at its heart, Shenandoah, turns out to be the creation of a thirteen-year-old girl. A very gifted, troubled thirteen year-old girl, who was kidnapped several years before the start of this novel. When her younger stepsister (separated by adoption) hires a noted missing-persons expert to find her, he turns out to have his own experience of being lost -- and his own connection to Shenandoah. He also has an artist friend who was lost with him in Shenandoah, but no longer remembers the experience. He does, however, remember how to get them all to one possible entrance.

And we're off!

This was a truly delightful reading experience -- though, like all authentic fairy tales, The Lost Story holds its share of darkness. There is plenty of death and more than a little abuse in the back stories of these characters. The artist -- who turns out to be more than a friend to our missing-persons expert -- has unfinished business with his father. The sisters only want to stay together. No one wants to leave Shenandoah, although it offers little of the security of twenty-first century America. As the plot winds tighter, however, it becomes increasingly evident that wishes do not always come true in this enchanted place. Can a rewrite fix it?

As in Meg Shaffer's previous novel, The Wishing Game, the characters here seem slightly off-center from our reality. This doesn't get in the way of them being immediately sympathetic. There are also several pop culture referents (Stevie Nicks, Firefly, Trapper Keepers) which may not hold up well over time. The spirit of true storytelling, though, is another matter -- and The Lost Story has that in spades.

Recommended for anyone in need of medicine for melancholy.




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Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Thanks to NetGalley for supplying me with an ARC of this novella, in exchange for an honest review.]


This tight, effective combination of urban fantasy and police (paranormal) investigation packs a lot into well under 200 pages. Very little of that is anything I've encountered before in my fantasy reading, which has been centered on Western spirituality / mythology. What I found here was full-on immersion into Korean spiritual tradition. Many of the general problems -- possession, protection from malign sprits, exorcism -- were familiar, but the specifics were entirely new to me. Much of the vocabulary was, as well, which led to much use of my Kindle's Wikipedia function. This worked fine, though a short glossary in some future edition could be helpful..

The plot itself -- which is only one part of this complex and satisfying narrative -- concerns Seoul's only spirit detective, Kim Han-gil. When his work with his department's violent crimes unit leads him to a series of suspicious suicides, he and his bewildered new partner are drawn into the evolving tragedy of a worm spirit infestation. Worse, Han-gil has seen such horrors before. One of them killed his mother, a powerful shaman.

When Han-gil discovers that his mother's last client (whom he blames for her death) is his best hope of cracking the case, the action really begins. The tangled threads of his spiritually complicated past must be woven into a solution his superiors aren't crazy about backing -- and that his partner barely believes in. All this takes place in a modern city, where exorcisms take place after hours in borrowed medical clinics, and consulting practitioners travel at the request of powerful families.

There's a lot of interpersonal drama here, but it never gets in the way of the chills -- which are frequent and occasionally graphic. I had the feeling that there could have been a novel here, or that there was one forthcoming. For now, however, this right-sized Korean occult investigation is a treat for any urban fantasy reader looking for something fresh.




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Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The aftermath of the War in Heaven transported to an Old West mining town with Divinity-powered tech? Count me in, I thought . . . & mainly, I'm glad to have been counted. This is a right-sized (novella) blend of dark fantasy, urban fantasy, weird Western, & murder mystery, with Roanhorse's usual talent for detailed worldbuilding. When a half-Fallen songstress at a high-end gambling den is accused of a horrendous murder, it's up to her faro-dealing sister to rescue her from execution & damnation. She calls in a number of favors (including one from her ex-lover, a demon lord . . . ), does some pretty ill-advised though courageous investigation, & learns things she may have never wanted to know in the process.

So far, so fascinating, right? Where this turned from a marginally 5-star listen to a 4-star for me was in the last hour or so of listening (of a 4 hour, 25 min. audiobook), when the believably flawed heroine started becoming a little too flawed. Maybe this just wasn't what I'd signed my ears up for, but the ending of this one -- though completely believable, in a darkly fantastic way -- wasn't so much an ending as a sad fade-out. YMMV, of course.

I'm not sure this novella would be worth a full credit purchase. However, I recall getting access to it free as part of my Audible membership, & I'd definitely say it was worth the listening time for those who've enjoyed other Roanhorse works (as I have), or simply enjoy weird Westerns.





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Impact Winter Season 2 by Travis Beacham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Continuing Season 1's highly addictive blend of SF, horror, & Buffy style vampire-hunting angst in a dark post-asteroid world, this episodic audio drama is great for car trips with like-minded folks. (But not, perhaps, very young folks. This would carry a solid R rating.)

The plot is nearly impossible to summarize coherently, but suffice it to say that many danging questions from Season 1 (including why Earth got smacked by a life-changing chunk of rock) finally get explained. There are revelations & prophecies, new vampires made, old vampires slain, fight sequences galore, & possibly a little too much melodrama with everyone's personal lives. Even so, this is first-class shadow theater of the mind designed to make the miles roll by -- even if you're stuck in road construction for quite a few of those miles.

Like Season 1, this is available as an Audible Plus free item. The seasons should definitely be listened to in order, & you'll probably be a little confused even with the helpful Season 1 recap provided. Also, I'd be very surprised/disappointed if a Season 3 isn't flapping in the wings -- this had the feel of a middle book.



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The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Three stars only for the world-building here, which is really remarkable. This novel is an early example of the Dying Earth SF trope, & possibly one of the best worked out. First published in 1912, it uses the device of the POV character falling into a dream (here, in some vaguely medieval period) to bring the reader into a tale of the far future days of Earth, when the sun has gone out & the planet is slowly falling into eternal darkness.

Hodgson's choice of a faux-medieval style gets in the way of enjoying a suspenseful trek across a truly weird landscape, but that's not the worst of it -- or at least, it wasn't for me. The Night Land is also -- possibly primarily -- a romance novel, based on the concept of true lovers being reborn again & again, finding each other, losing each other, repeat. Unfortunately, the sexism and physically abusive behavior of the POV character after he finds his Only One had me gritting my teeth for most of the book.

Granted, this was published in 1912, & perhaps Hodgson was attempting to portray the POV character as a man of his medieval era. Or, perhaps, Hodgson's imagination couldn't move far enough past his own time to create a more egalitarian future society. Either way, I as a 21st century female reader had a tough time making it through.

I'd say this one is worth reading for those seriously interested in the origins of the Dying Earth trope, or those who enjoy early weird fiction in general & are curious. Otherwise, though this has been called a "flawed classic," I'd say the flaws are pretty deep. This was my first experience of Hodgson, & it may be quite some time before I try him again. YMMV, as always.





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The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


First of all: readers who haven't read The Island of Doctor Moreau might wish to do so before starting this novel. It's not strictly necessary, but I found myself appreciating many details of Moreno-Garcia's book more for being familiar with the text that inspired it. The differences are at least as important as the similarities, though I'd be committing spoiler if I explained that statement further.

That said, Daughter . . . is a thoroughly enjoyable riff on Wells' tale. Set in the Yucatan peninsula around 1877, it combines fairly fantasy-flavored SF -- &, to be fair, some romance -- with solid historical underpinnings. The title character's viewpoint alternates with that of Moreau's British assistant (possibly a a combination of at least two characters from the original) to explore the perspectives of women & foreign outsiders in this very different corner of the late Victorian world. Moreau's "hybrids" have voices here, too: rather than being monsters or mistakes, they emerge as real people with serious grievances.

There's a detailed author's note included to help curious readers with the history. Otherwise, it's easy to simply immerse yourself in the rich storytelling. I did figure out one "secret" in the plot a bit too early on, but having read the original novel fairly recently probably helped. Recommended for historical fiction fans willing to walk on the wild side, as well as SF/fantasy readers looking to expand their cultural horizons.



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Dark Earth by Rebecca Stott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


(Disclaimer: I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Set in the post-Roman days of Dark Age Britain, this story of two very gifted (and, of course, persecuted) sisters walks a fine line between historical fiction and historical fantasy. I spent a long time trying to decide whether magic was or was not real in this narrative, but finally realized that it didn't matter. Magic is real to the people living at this time, in this place -- which has a number of consequences, some of them horrifying.

The area in and around ruined Londinium in 500 AD is a setting I haven't seen used before, which drew me in immediately. I did have trouble at the beginning getting all the people & past events straightened out, because this is the sort of book that drops you in the deep end from Ch. 1. Many clues and background events don't become relevant until much later, which works better for some readers than for others. I was happy to be carried along for the ride, checking the odd tribal names & such which popped up (Wikipedia on Kindle is helpful).

The plot itself is strongly feminist / female-centered, with a whiff of YA. I occasionally felt that it got slightly New Age-y, but YMMA. Isla & Blue, the sisters, are both well-developed characters, though I enjoyed Isla more for her unusual training as a smith -- first as assistant to her father, a Great Smith, then as a cherished but hunted member of a women's community in the ruins of proto-London. Her younger sister Blue is an herbalist, healer, & possible seer -- closer to fantasy stereotypes. A few of the men in the sisters' lives are decent people, but most are drawn in extremely broad villainous strokes.

The final chapters include a rather dissonant paraphrase of Shakespeare (Macbeth, naturally) and a rapid series of shifts forward in time. The author is trying to make a point, & she makes it well, but I wasn't quite prepared for the abruptness.

This has the feel of historical fantasy rather than straight fiction, and might appeal most to readers of Marion Zimmer Bradley and her successors. Solid summer reading for Anglophile fantasy fans.




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Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


[Note: I won an ARC copy through a Goodreads giveaway.]

This ambitious, complex, and mostly fascinating second novel in the Between Earth and Sky series begins immediately after the ending of Black Sun. In the bloody aftermath of the Crow God Reborn's return, a second god-chosen character (a woman, this time) emerges as the Crow God's possible enemy. As the novel progresses, these two circle around each other more & more closely as the collateral damage piles up.

The Mesoamerican world-building continued to intrigue me, though I longed for more details of Roanhorse's magic system. (What we do learn of it, though, makes perfect sense for the background -- almost all magic seems to require the spilling of blood.) I also found the novel's central question compelling: what does happen to a "chosen one," once their god has finished with them? And what, if any, room is left for free will once you've been chosen?

Like Black Sun, this novel comes with an extensive cast of characters at the front -- and once again, it needs to. I found the plot's sharp cuts between characters & situations hard to follow from time to time, though there's at least some suggestion at the end of this one that things are beginning to coalesce.

Also like Black Sun, however, the book doesn't end so much as stop. Given that this is (probably) a middle novel, I'm more than willing to keep going -- but I really, really hope that the third novel offers readers some closure. Roanhorse's characters are so well-drawn, it's almost painful to know so little about how many of them are faring.






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Knot of Shadows by Lois McMaster Bujold

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Learned Penric's investigation into a mysterious not-quite-death discovered at a Vilnoc religious hospital turns into a full-fledged Howdunit (not a typo!) in this latest rightsized tale of Penric & Desdemona. More introspective & melancholy than some in this series, it still delivers the rich mix of fantasy religion, domesticity, & unexpected bits of wisdom readers have come to expect. It is not, however, as fast-paced or action-filled as many of the previous novellas.

Whether this is a full five-star read or not may depend upon how fascinated a given Bujold reader is by the magical theology of her World of the Five Gods. Those who are (& I'm guessing that's most of us) will thoroughly enjoy this deep dive into the topic.

One caution: as with all this series, Knot of Shadows draws heavily on proceeding installments. It should not be approached as a stand-alone.





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