Title: Dead Letter Days Series: Rockton, #7.5; Haven’s Rock, #0.5 Author: Kelley Armstrong Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Publication date: February 20, 2023 Length: 87 pages Genre: Thriller/mystery Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Eric Dalton spent most of his life in Rockton, a hidden town in the Yukon for people who need to disappear. Now that sanctuary is gone, and he’s holed up in a wilderness lodge with his girlfriend, Casey Duncan, and their friends, as they scout for a place to build their own Rockton. When Eric and Casey find a literal message-in-a-bottle, it leads them to the mystery of a woman who went missing decades ago, having never received that vital message. As they investigate that cold case, Dalton must finally lay to rest the ghosts of his own past and make some overdue decisions before he’s ready to step forward in his new life with Casey.
Strictly for Rockton series readers, this tidy novella provide an engaging bridge between the completed series and the spin-off Haven’s Rock series. We’re treated to familiar characters in a new, transitional setting, as they prepare to move to a new town and start fresh, on their own terms.
In other words… if you haven’t read the Rockton books, this novella is not for you! BUT… it’s an excellent series, so consider this my friendly encouragement to go pick up book #1, City of the Lost!
In Dead Letter Days, the plot revolves around two sets of communications, rediscovered years after they were written. The first involves a mystery of a missing woman, which Casey feels compelled to investigate. The second hits much closer to home, as letters related to Eric’s childhood come to light and provide him with much needed explanations and an unexpected opportunity for closure.
The Rockton books are all told from Casey’s point of view, so it’s a treat here in Dead Letter Days to have Eric as the narrator. It’s our first time getting to see the world through his eyes, and it’s fascinating.
As I’ve said, this is absolutely not a stand-alone or an entry point — but it is a terrific read that fans should not miss!
As for me, I’m dying to dive right into the Haven’s Rock series… but I’m going to show just a tiny bit of restraint and hold off until the new year.
We all have those books — books on our shelves, that we know we should read, that we absolutely WANT to read… and yet, somehow, we just never seem to pick them up and actually, you know, read them.
Well, score one for me! I’ve had 84, Charing Cross Road sitting on my shelf for at least ten years now, and this week, the time finally arrived, and I read it all in one sitting!
“84, Charing Cross Road” is a charming record of bibliophilia, cultural differences, and imaginative sympathy. For 20 years, an outspoken New York writer and a rather more restrained London bookseller carried on an increasingly touching correspondence. In her first letter to Marks & Co., Helene Hanff encloses a wish list, but warns, “The phrase ‘antiquarian booksellers’ scares me somewhat, as I equate ‘antique’ with expensive.” Twenty days later, on October 25, 1949, a correspondent identified only as FPD let Hanff know that works by Hazlitt and Robert Louis Stevenson would be coming under separate cover. When they arrive, Hanff is ecstatic – but unsure she’ll ever conquer “bilingual arithmetic.” By early December 1949, Hanff is suddenly worried that the six-pound ham she’s sent off to augment British rations will arrive in a kosher office. But only when FPD turns out to have an actual name, Frank Doel, does the real fun begin.
Two years later, Hanff is outraged that Marks & Co. has dared to send an abridged Pepys diary. “I enclose two limp singles, I will make do with this thing till you find me a real Pepys. THEN I will rip up this ersatz book, page by page, AND WRAP THINGS IN IT.” Nonetheless, her postscript asks whether they want fresh or powdered eggs for Christmas. Soon they’re sharing news of Frank’s family and Hanff’s career.
84, Charing Cross Road is just as wonderful as everyone promised! First off, as soon as I opened the book, I realized that I’d misunderstood what it was about all this time. I thought this book was fiction. It’s not. It’s a selection of the letters sent between the author, a New York freelance writer, and members of the staff of Marks & Co. Booksellers, located in London, spanning the course of over 20 years.
The correspondence starts with a request for certain books, but builds from there to establish a more personal connection between the author and her main correspondent, Frank Doel, as well as Frank’s wife, their neighbor, and other members of the bookstore staff.
The letters begin in 1949, as England is still suffering under post-war shortages; Helene Hanff’s Christmas gifts of meat and eggs do wonders for the bookstore staff’s morale, and their grateful notes back to her are heartwarming and endearing.
84, Charing Cross Road is a lovely, simple book about finding friendship through a love of books. It’s sweet without being cloying, often very funny, and touching as well.
To all those who’ve encouraged me to read this book, now I know why! I loved it. What a treasure.
Published: 1970 Length: 97 pages Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
It’s fun to see how many covers and versions there are of this book! Sadly, it does not appear that an e-book version is available in the US. Still, the book covers are quite fun to compare and enjoy:
There’s also a movie version (1987), starring Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft — can’t wait to check it out!
This was another of those weeks where quiet time was hard to find — so rather than trying to get through a full novel, I kept my audiobook listening limited to short stories and novellas. The results were mostly positive! Here’s a quick round-up of what I listened to and what I thought:
Renowned author Peter S. Beagle returns to the world of The Last Unicorn in this resonant and moving two-novella collection, featuring the award-winning “Two Hearts” and the brand-new “Sooz.”
The Last Unicorn is one of fantasy’s most revered classics, beloved by generations of readers and with millions of copies in print. Revisiting the world of that novel, Beagle’s long-awaited Hugo and Nebula-Awards-winning “Two Hearts” introduced the irrepressible Sooz on a quest to save her village from a griffin, and explored the bonds she formed with unforgettable characters like the wise and wonderful Molly Grue and Schmendrick the Magician.
In the never-before-published “Sooz,” the events of “Two Hearts” are years behind its narrator, but a perilous journey lies ahead of her, in a story that is at once a tender meditation on love and loss, and a lesson in finding your true self.
The Way Home is suffused with Beagle’s wisdom, profound lyricism, and sly wit; and collects two timeless works of fantasy.
I read Peter S. Beagle’s classic fantasy tale The Last Unicorn about a year ago, and loved the characters, the setting, and the storytelling. There’s also a lovely graphic novel version — out of print and hard to find at a reasonable price, but fortunately, my library had a copy.
The Way Home, published in 2023, is a bind-up of two novellas. Two Hearts was originally published in 2006 (and won both the Nebula and Hugo awards); Sooz is a new work published for this edition.
Two Hearts is lovely. It’s the story of nine-year-old Sooz, who’s brokenhearted by the losses inflicted on her village by a marauding griffin — and with perfectly reasonable nine-year-old logic, decides that the only solution is to go find the king herself and ask him to come save the day. Sooz’s journey takes her to King Lir, introduced in The Last Unicorn as a young prince. Here, he’s an old, old man who spends most of his time dozing on his throne… but dons his armor one last time because a brave girl asks him to. Two other familiar characters, Schmendrick and Molly Grue, add warmth and comfort to the story. It’s all quite wonderful.
Sooz works less well. In this novella, Sooz is 17-years-old, and discovers on her birthday that her parents had another daughter before she was born — a beautiful little girls named Jenia who went off to live with the faeries (or “Dreamies” as she calls them) and never came back. Sooz knows in her heart that it’s her destiny to find Jenia and bring her home. What follows is a quest into a land of magic and terrors, in which Sooz finds a true ally, loses parts of herself, and comes to terms with who she herself truly is.
To be honest, Sooz drags quite a bit. The audio narrator does a very nice job with the tone and the characters, and creates a dreamlike experience for the listener, but the story itself is very drawn out, and I struggled to pay attention on and off throughout the story.
[SPOILER]: There’s a rape scene (more implied than graphic, but it’s clear what’s happened) that in my opinion is completely unnecessary and very out of place in a fantasy tale. The story can hold darkness without adding in sexual assault. I was disturbed that the author felt this was something that needed to be included — surely, some other sort of bad experience could have befallen the character to shake her up and make her realize the danger she was in.
Overall, I’d say that Two Hearts is absolutely worth a listen, especially for anyone who’s read and loved The Last Unicorn. I’m on the fence about Sooz. There are some interesting elements, but it just didn’t hold my interest as a whole, and that one scene makes it difficult to say that this is a story I’d recommend.
Penguin Audio: 5 hours, 22 minutes Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Sally has recently left an unfulfilling job to volunteer at a living history museum, where she is assigned to the Death House. Every day, she dons Victorian mourning garb and describes traditional funeral services to tourists. It sounds depressing as hell, but for Sally, it’s less depressing than her tepid marriage to her childhood sweetheart.
This becomes all too clear when she accidentally travels through time and space to a liminal world where the ghosts of the living history museum haunt its grounds. There, she meets and falls hard for Victorian-era pretty boy Nathaniel. Their heady, romantic encounters douse Sally in the sad reality that her marriage is anything but and leave her tempted to join Nathaniel permanently in his realm.
Is Sally’s marriage literally a fate worse than death, or is there another way altogether?
When I stumbled across an audiobook short story by Rachel Harrison — author of such fantastic books as Black Sheep, Sharp Teeth, and Cackle — I knew I had to give it a listen. What fun! In this quick, tightly drawn tale, a disaffected young woman dresses up in Victorian mourning clothes to give living history museum tours, then accidentally finds herself in a ghost-filled limbo on the same grounds. Sally and Nathaniel fall instantly in love, and he proposes to her on the spot, but there really is only one way for Sally to stay with him forever. Is it worth it?
This ghostly story is eerie and has some great supernatural elements, but is also terrific in the way it shows a young woman recognizing the stagnation of her married life and the need to take control of her own destiny. Definitely worth checking out!
Audible Original; 47 minutes Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
An android who knows nothing besides his work in a factory is given one final week to explore the world before he is forced to undergo mandatory reprogramming in this bittersweet precursor to TJ Klune’s In the Lives of Puppets.
This was a funny choice for me, because I didn’t love In the Lives of Puppets as much as I expected to (given that I’ve been head over heels for everything else I’ve read by TJ Klune). And if I didn’t love the novel, why would I expect a better outcome with its prequel?
But all’s well that ends well: I’m so happy I decided to give Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! a try.
The story is fairly straightforward: Douglas is an android who’s faithfully carried out his factory work and followed all the rules for the ten years of his existence. For his final week before being rebooted, he’s granted a pass that gives him the freedom to leave the factory and explore life in the world of humans. As he spends time in parks and streets and markets and more, he sees birds and colors and people, hears music and starts to dance, and reads countless books — including a hidden book of philosophy by René Descartes, which gets him thinking about who and what he is.
This story is sheer joy — it has plenty of sadness too, but the writing is gorgeous, and it’s exhilarating to see the world from Douglas’s point of view. The audiobook narrator rocks. A highly recommended listening experience.
Macmillan Audio: 1 hours, 27 minutes Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
It takes nothing less than a fateful natural disaster to throw two opposites together in a ground-shakingly charming short story by the New York Times bestselling author of Drunk on Love.
This Valentine’s Day, Daisy Murray has her heart set on binge-watching rom-coms. Instead, an earthquake traps her inside a bakery with its impossibly rude and insufferably handsome owner and head baker. They already have a history: she’s always smiled, he’s always scowled. Where better to finally get to know each other than amid the disaster? Then again, they have no choice. Besides, it could have its sweet, undeniable, and unpredictable perks.
Jasmine Guillory’s Drop, Cover, and Hold On is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting. Let’s make a date of it.
I don’t know that I have much to say about this short story. The synopsis says it all! Main character Daisy gets trapped inside her favorite bakery — alongside the very hot bakery owner — when an earthquake hits. She thinks he hates her… but maybe his scowly face has distracted her from realizing that he always has her favorite pastries available on the days she usually stops in?
This story is sweet (ha!), flirty, and fun. It won’t rock your world (earthquake pun time!!), but the description of the baked goods hooked me almost as much as the chemistry between the characters. It’s a fun, quick listen.
Audible Original: 1 hours, 5 minutes Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Not too bad for a week when I didn’t think I’d have time for audiobooks! I don’t usually gravitate toward short stories, but this week, this selection was just what I needed.
Title: Even Though I Knew the End Author: C. L. Polk Publisher: Tor Publication date: November 8, 2022 Length: 136 pages Genre: Fantasy Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
A magical detective dives into the affairs of Chicago’s divine monsters to secure a future with the love of her life. This sapphic period piece will dazzle anyone looking for mystery, intrigue, romance, magic, or all of the above.
An exiled augur who sold her soul to save her brother’s life is offered one last job before serving an eternity in hell. When she turns it down, her client sweetens the pot by offering up the one payment she can’t resist―the chance to have a future where she grows old with the woman she loves.
To succeed, she is given three days to track down the White City Vampire, Chicago’s most notorious serial killer. If she fails, only hell and heartbreak await.
In this noir-ish novella, Helen Brandt is a private investigator who specializes in occult-related crime scenes. She’s also a woman who, years earlier, sold her soul in exchange for her mortally-wounded brother’s life.
With only days left before her bargain comes due, all Helen wants is private time with the woman she loves. But when a particularly gruesome murder takes place, she’s pulled into a battle between demonic forces, powerful magicians, and fallen angels.
As a novella, the action by necessity is fast-paced, and the storytelling moves quickly from one set-piece to another. I’m not that big a fan of stories about bargains with the devil or battles between angels and demons, but what really sucked me in was the love story and the desperate need for just a bit more time.
The title comes from Helen’s thoughts about The Great Gatsby, and the essence of love and hope:
Jay Gatsby knew a lot about hope. Hope felt a little painful, on account of it not being a sure thing. In fact, there was almost no hope for him, which made that tiny flashing light all the more precious. I’d read this book a dozen times, two dozen. I always held my breath, waiting for Daisy to come to him. Jay hoped every single time, and I hoped right along with him, even though I knew the end.
A week after finishing this short but powerful story, I couldn’t tell you the specifics about the outcome of the murder plot… but I absolutely remember how Helen and Edith’s love story made me feel. Even when the end is inevitable, even when a deal with the devil is coming due, Helen will savor every moment, because every moment with the woman she loves is worth much more than the pain of thinking about losing it.
Title: What Moves the Dead Author: T. Kingfisher Publisher: Tor Nightfire Publication date: July 12, 2022 Print length: 176 pages Genre: Horror Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
From the award-winning author of The Twisted Ones comes a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.
What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.
Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.
I’m convinced that the coming apocalypse will be the work of killer fungi. There are certainly enough works of horror fiction to back me up! What Moves the Dead further cements my belief that fungi are the creepiest life form there is. Prove me wrong!
What Moves the Dead is a twisted retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. As in the original, the main character is summoned to a dark, disturbing, decrepit mansion located on the shores of a dark, scary tarn (lake), where a childhood friend cares for his dying sister and seeks companionship and support in their looming disaster.
In What Moves the Dead, Poe’s unnamed narrator is replaced by Lieutenant Alex Easton, a retired “sworn” soldier from the country of Gallacia, who once served as Roderick Usher’s officer during wartime, and who even earlier was close friends with Madeline Usher. Alex is shocked and horrified at the sight of the siblings, who appear gaunt, withered, and years older than their actual age. Madeline truly does seem to be on the verge of death, and Roderick appears unwell himself. The entire house and surrounding countryside (and that darned tarn) seem menacing, perhaps even poisonous.
Alex arrives at the house to find an American doctor already in residence, whose brashness eventually gives way to common cause. Dr. Denton doesn’t quite know what’s ailing Madeline either, but she does appear to be on the point of death.
Alex also meets Eugenia Potter, an Englishwoman whose chief passion in life is mycology (and who fumes against the stupid men-only rule of the English scientific societies of the time). Alex, Denton, and Potter all share the belief that something is wrong, not just with the Ushers but with the natural world too. What’s up with all the strangely-behaving hares in the area?
This short work is delightfully, deliciously creepy! The house is moldy, there are awful looking mushrooms all over the grounds, and the lake is stagnant and gross and seems too terrible to want to be anywhere near. I’ve read enough creepy fungi horror stories to have a pretty good sense of where the story would end up, but it was so much fun getting there, and the author still managed to surprise me time after time with all the crazy, strange, awful details.
Beyond the horror plotline, other delights await. Alex’s background in Gallacia is too good to reveal in a review, but trust me when I say that the explanations of how the Gallacian language adapts gender and pronoun formations based not just on biology but also on station in life, age, and other factors is absolutely wonderful and so fascinating. I’d read a whole book just about that!
Miss Potter is a secondary character, but she’s lots of fun, as is the reveal of who her one of her family members is. (I’m not telling!)
When I requested a review copy of What Moves the Dead, it was based on (a) how much I’ve loved everything else I’ve read by this amazing author and (b) the gorgeously creepy cover (*shudder*). I hadn’t realized at the time that this book would be a retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher — I actually didn’t know that until I started What Moves the Dead and happened to finally read the Goodreads blurb.
At that point, I took a small detour to read Poe’s story, which isn’t very long (the edition I read was 36 pages). I’m glad I did. It gave me great context for What Moves the Dead, and made it really fun to compare and contrast the two versions of the story, especially the character portrayals, the explanations, and the outcomes.
Note: The Fall of the House of Usher is easy to find online at no cost! Here’s one resource, and there are free versions available for Kindle too.
What Moves the Dead is an excellent read, perhaps not for the squeamish — but if you enjoy creepy, understated horror, definitely check it out!
In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Elder Race, a junior anthropologist on a distant planet must help the locals he has sworn to study to save a planet from an unbeatable foe.
Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.
But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she’s an adult (albeit barely) and although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).
But Elder Nyr isn’t a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, for his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon…
This stunning, inventive, beautifully crafted novella is a living, breathing embodiment of Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
In Elder Race, Lynesse Fourth Daughter, daughter of the queen of Lannesite, takes the forbidden trail up the mountain to the Tower of Nyrgoth Elder, the revered sorcerer who has not been seen for generations. Lynesse is not taken seriously by her mother or older sisters, all of whom prefer to focus on trade and diplomacy rather than indulge Lynesse’s flights of fancy. But Lynesse has heard refugees from outlying lands plea for help after their towns and forests were overrun by a demon, and she’s determined to take action, even if her mother won’t.
That’s the opening set-up of Elder Race. It feels like the start of an epic quest, and hurray for girl power too!
Stop reading here if you want to avoid spoilers completely, because there’s a doozy coming…
Ready?
The next chapter is told from the perspective of Nyrgoth Elder… and it turns everything upside down. It turns out that his name is really Nyr Illim Tevitch, and he’s not a sorcerer. Nyr is an anthropologist with Earth’s Explorer Corps, and he’s there in his remote outpost to study and observe the local populations.
Thousands of years earlier, Earth sent out generation ships to colonize planets throughout the universe. And some thousands of years after that, groups of scientists followed to check on how the colonies turned out. Nyr was a part of one of these expeditions, and after his fellow scientists were recalled to Earth, he was left behind, the sole member of the expedition remaining to continue their studies.
The problem is, he hasn’t heard back from Earth in centuries. Nyr stays alive through advanced science, including long periods of sleeping in suspended animation. He last awoke a century earlier, and broke one of the cardinal rules of anthropologists by getting involved with the local people. His mission is to study and report; by mingling with the people, he’s potentially contaminating the study.
When Lynesse and her companion Esha show up at his tower, there begins a remarkable story of cultural differences and miscommunications. The early colonies on the planet were rudimentary, starting life over without technology. Their culture is agrarian and feudal and deeply superstitious. Anything unexplainable is attributed to magic and demons and sorcerers. And so even when Nyr tries to explain himself, the language gap between the cultures makes it literally impossible for him to translate the term scientist — every word he tries to use comes out as some form of magician or sorcerer or wizard.
“It’s not magic,” he insisted, against all reason. “I am just made this way. I am just of a people who understand how the world works.”
“Nyrgoth Elder,” Esha said slowly. “Is that not what magic is? Every wise man, every scholar I have met who pretended to the title of magician, that was their study. They sought to learn how the world worked, so that they could control and master it. That is magic.”
As their quest proceeds, Nyr goes against every principle of his training, as he realizes that he can actually serve a different purpose:
I am only now, at the wrong end of three centuries after loss of contact, beginning to realise just how broken my own superior culture actually was. They set us here to make exhaustive anthropological notes on the fall of every sparrow. But not to catch a single one of them. To know, but very emphatically not to care.
I can’t even begin to explain how gorgeously crafted this slim book is. Particularly mind-blowing is a chapter in which Nyr tells Lynesse and Esha the story of how his people came to the planet millennia ago. On the same page, in parallel columns, we read Nyr’s science-based story and right next to it, the same story as it’s heard by Lynesse in the context of her own culture and language. It’s a remarkable writing achievement, and just so fascinating to read.
Also fascinating is Elder Race‘s treatment of depression and mental health, which for Nyr is managed through the use of advanced technology that allows him to separate from his feelings — but not permanently. He can shut off feeling his feelings, but is still aware that they’re there, and can only go so long before he has to let down the wall and experience the emotions that have been walled away. The descriptions of dealing with depression are powerful, as is the way he explains knowing the depression is waiting for him, even in moments when he’s not living it.
I absolutely loved the depiction of a tech-free culture’s interpretation of advanced scientific materials and equipment, and the way the books chapters, alternating between Lynesse and Nyr’s perspectives, bring the cultural divide to life.
Elder Race is beautifully written and expertly constructed. The balancing act between science fiction and fantasy is just superb. This book should not be missed!
Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.
Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.
Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!
San Francisco in 1940 is a haven for the unconventional. Tourists flock to the cities within the city: the Magic City of the World’s Fair on an island created of artifice and illusion; the forbidden city of Chinatown, a separate, alien world of exotic food and nightclubs that offer “authentic” experiences, straight from the pages of the pulps; and the twilight world of forbidden love, where outcasts from conventional society can meet.
Six women find their lives as tangled with each other’s as they are with the city they call home. They discover love and danger on the borders where mystery, science, and art intersect.
How and when I got it:
I bought the Kindle edition in 2018.
Why I want to read it:
I’d almost forgotten about this one! Luckily, I happened to be skimming through the books in my Kindle library and saw it there.
This is a novella published by Tor — and I tend to really like their selection of novellas. Always something new and different to enjoy!
I can’t quite get a grasp on what this story will turn out to be based on the synopsis — but appealing aspects include a) San Francisco b) 1940s setting and c) some sort of fantasy/magic element. I’m ready to be surprised, and look forward to reading it!
Title: A Spindle Splintered Author: Alix E. Harrow Publisher: Tordotcom Publication date: October 5, 2021 Length: 128 pages Genre: Fairy tale/ fantasy Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
It’s Zinnia Gray’s twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no one has lived past twenty-one.
Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia’s last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.
USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow’s A Spindle Splintered brings her patented charm to a new version of a classic story.
THIS is the way to write a novella — short, sweet, spare, and totally on point.
In A Spindle Splintered, we meet Zinnia Gray on the cusp of what she’s sure will be her last birthday. Thanks to her rare genetic condition, her death is inescapable, and as she explains to people who ask her about future plans, she’s just running out the clock.
Because of her condition, Zinnia has tried to accelerate as much of her life as she can, finishing high school and then college early, getting a degree in folklore, never forgetting that for all her life, she’s been in the process of dying. And maybe because of that, fairy tales in general and Sleeping Beauty in particular are her obsessions.
Even among the other nerds who majored in folklore, Sleeping Beauty is nobody’s favorite. Romantic girls like Beauty and the Beast; vanilla girls like Cinderella; goth girls like Snow White.
Only dying girls like Sleeping Beauty.
In a moment of utter weirdness, Zinnia pricks her finger on the spinning wheel her best friend Charm (short for Charmaine) has set up for her birthday. Suddenly, Zinnia finds herself between worlds, finally landing in one in which an impossibly beautiful princess is calling for help. Primrose is a more traditional version of a Sleeping Beauty, cursed at birth to fall into a 100-year slumber on her 21st birthday — but thanks to Zinnia’s intervention, her doom seems to be avoided, yet she’s left to face a different sort of doom, getting married off to the perfect prince, much to her dismay.
Primrose and Zinnia set off on a quest to break both their curses, but nothing is really as it seems. The story culminates in a terrific action sequence and ends with plenty of surprises, while also leaving the door open for further tales.
I love the writing, the characters, the inventiveness of the storytelling, and the overall attitude and tone. I don’t always get along with novellas, often feeling like I’ve been left without the full picture and that I’ve read a synopsis rather than a full story. That’s not the case in A Spindle Splintered.
This novella reads just like a fairy tale, plus the modern elements make the characters relatable and bring humor even to totally grim (Grimm?) situations.
“Well, Harold,” I say gently. “They’re lesbians.”
(I’m not going to provide any context for that quote — just know that it’s perfect and made me laugh.)
The book has beautiful woodcut illustrations from the traditional Arthur Rackham versions of the story. You can see some of these here — scroll down to get to the woodcuts. These illustrations enhance the magical fairy tale elements of the story, and make the entire book feel classic, even in the more contemporary scenes.
I loved A Spindle Splintered, and can’t wait for the next book in the author’s Fracture Fables series,:
A Mirror Mended To be released June 2022
A Spindle Splintered is a delight. Don’t miss it!
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Title: The Album of Dr. Moreau Author: Daryl Gregory Publisher: Tordotcom Publication date: May 18, 2021 Length: 176 pages Genre: Science fiction Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Daryl Gregory’s The Album of Dr. Moreau combines the science fiction premise of the famous novel by H. G. Wells with the panache of a classic murder mystery and the spectacle of a beloved boy band.
It’s 2001, and the WyldBoyZ are the world’s hottest boy band, and definitely the world’s only genetically engineered human-animal hybrid vocal group. When their producer, Dr. M, is found murdered in his hotel room, the “boyz” become the prime suspects. Was it Bobby the ocelot (“the cute one”), Matt the megabat (“the funny one”), Tim the Pangolin (“the shy one”), Devin the bonobo (“the romantic one”), or Tusk the elephant (“the smart one”)?
Las Vegas Detective Luce Delgado has only twenty-four hours to solve a case that goes all the way back to the secret science barge where the WyldBoyZ’ journey first began—a place they used to call home.
This book is so weird… and I loved it.
In The Album of Dr. Moreau, we meet the WyldBoyZ — the world’s most adored boy band, who sing in perfect harmony, have killer dance moves, and have the physical appearance of very interesting animal/human mixes. These five pop stars are genetically engineered animal-human hybrids, and they’ve taken the world by storm.
As the book opens, their ethically-challenged, manipulative manager Dr. M. has been found brutally murdered in his Las Vegas suite after the Boyz’s final tour performance and blow-out afterparty. Who wanted Dr. M. dead, and who had opportunity? As Detective Luce Delgado quickly establishes, all of the Boyz had motive, and any one of them could have had access.
Meanwhile, the case is complicated by the WyldBoyZ’s wild celebrity, as well as by their rabid fan base, referred to as zoomies (which true fans consider offensive — they prefer zoomandos, thank you very much). Zoomies dress in elaborate animal costumes, so as Luce and her colleagues review the video footage from the party, it’s pretty much impossible to tell who’s who beneath the unicorn, gopher, chipmunk, and other furry costumes.
As Luce investigates, we get to know each of the Boyz, and learn more and more about their backstory, where they came from, and what they’ve had to endure. I absolutely loved her interviews with the band members, seeing their personalities, their habits, and their quirks… and how not weird she tries to make it as she’s sitting and having a conversation with a human-pangolin hybrid, as one example.
This book is short, but so jam-packed with goodness that there’s no wasted space. I was entertained and hooked from page one, and adored every moment. The wacky idea of a human-animal-hybrid boy band is so out there, and it’s perfect.
I happen to have read The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells last year, and that made reading The Album of Dr. Moreau extra amusing as a point of comparison — but don’t worry if you haven’t read the Wells classic. It’s not necessary for enjoying this book, since they don’t really have anything to do with one another except as a passing reference… but if you’re curious, it’s worth checking out.
The Album of Dr. Moreau is so much crazy fun. My only complaint: I really, REALLY, want to see a video of the WyldBoyZ in action. Please, someone, make it happen!!
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Title: Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower Author: Tamsyn Muir Publisher: Subterranean Press Publication date: November 30, 2020 Length: 216 pages Genre: Fantasy Source: Purchased Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
When the witch built the forty-flight tower, she made very sure to do the whole thing properly. Each flight contains a dreadful monster, ranging from a diamond-scaled dragon to a pack of slavering goblins. Should a prince battle his way to the top, he will be rewarded with a golden sword—and the lovely Princess Floralinda.
But no prince has managed to conquer the first flight yet, let alone get to the fortieth.
In fact, the supply of fresh princes seems to have quite dried up.
And winter is closing in on Floralinda…
The idea of the princess rescuing herself isn’t exactly new anymore, thanks to the (incredibly welcome) surge in grrl-power fairy tale retellings. Still, in the hands of Tamsyn Muir, this princess story feels fresh and so, so entertaining.
Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower is a slim book (with a wonderful cover!), but it’s jam-packed with humor and adventure (and all sorts of guts and gore, but in a FUNNY gross way).
A witch has imprisoned the beautiful princess at the top of a tower. It’s a classic concept — princes will come, battle their way to the top, and win the lovely princess (and a rocking golden sword). The problem is, the very first flight is guarded by a fearsome diamond-coated dragon, and for the first several days, all Floralinda can hear from way up in her tower is the crunch-crunch-crunch of prince bones. Eventually, the princes stop coming, and Floralinda’s tower prison starts to feel dismal.
Joined by a wayward fairy named Cobweb, Floralinda is spurred into action. If the two of them don’t do something about it, she’ll be stuck in the tower forever — and the magically regenerating bread and oranges that felt like a treat at first are just not enough to sustain a princess forever.
Floralinda and Cobweb begin to battle their way down the flights of the tower, crafting weapons and poisons, using their wits and their muscles (Cobweb assigns Floralinda a workout regimen) to defeat sirens, goblins, giant rats, and sorts of other ghastly, deadly adversaries.
I love how Floralinda sheds her princessy exterior, becoming grimier and tougher, turning her silk gown into bandages and her curtain rods into spears, turning into a warrior without ever really meaning to. The relationship beween her and Cobweb is funny and sweet, even though Cobweb spends most of her time hating on Floralinda (even while making sure she’s got the weapons and training needed to kill all the monsters that stand between them and freedom).
Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower is a funny delight, and I’m so glad I treated myself to a copy. I think I’m the last person on the planet who hasn’t read Gideon the Ninth yet, but now that I’ve read this short treat by Tamsyn Muir, I definitely want to read her full-length works too.
Bookshelf Fantasies 