March Reviews

Happy March! It's officially spring! Which means soon I'll be sitting outside in the sun to read instead of bundled up inside. I cannot wait.

Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Sanderson

Whoops, I actually finished this book at 11:30pm on February 29th, but by then I wasn't going to write another review and add it to my already published post, so we're just going to tack it onto the top of this one.

Jak has been training his entire life for this moment: he is the final claim before the terrible monster his ancestors cursed is freed. He will either be killed by the monster or kill the monster himself. But Marius isn't quite the monster that Jak had been told he was, and the closer they get to the blood moon, the closer they grow to one another. But only one of them can survive the final night, and Jak is no longer sure who he wants it to be.

It's been a minute since I've read a vampire story, and I forget how fun it can be to see what lore authors choose to use or discard, and what they'll add in from their own worlds. Sanderson's vampire is very traditional in the sense that Marius drinks blood, can't be in sunlight, and is very strong. He's a classic stoic character with a tragic past who's true character is much softer than anyone suspects, which I do love in a love interest.

Jak makes for a good narrator, an outsider coming into the castle and giving the reader a chance to learn about Marius right alongside him. He has magic too, with it's own rules and whims, so that was interesting as well. 

I was a little disappointed in the spicey bits, but I have high standards for written sex scenes and this book was fine. It was more about the plot and the relationship progression than the sex, which I appreciated with so much world and curse building.

Overall this was an entertaining read, though I am on the fence over whether or not I want to read more of Sanderson's work. We'll see what the other plots look like.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

My neighbor showed up at my apartment one day and said "you have to read this book" and I said "Okay!" and holy shit, I get it now, I also want to go to everyone I know and say "you have to read this book."

After Miryem takes over her father's moneylending business as a shrewd businesswoman, her family's life goes from poverty-stricken to well off. But an ill-timed statement draws the attention of the magical Staryk king, who demands she turn his silver to gold. But that's only the first test Miryem faces, and the challenges only grow from there. It'll take her family, the new tsarina, her own shrewd and clever mind, and several other unlikely allies to make it through the winter alive.

I had no idea what to expect from this Rumpelstiltskin adaptation, and the story just grew bigger every time I thought it must surely be done. There's magic and superstition and deeply proud cultures (both Jewish and Russian on top of the Fae kingdom) that grow from what originally seems to be a story about monetary fairness. 

Miryem is a brilliant protagonist, but she isn't the only one. The story also follows the duke's daughter Irina, who's father is determined to marry her to the demon ridden tsar, and Wanda, a poor neighbor who comes to work for Miryem to pay off her father's debt. There are a few other perspectives that jump in as needed, but those three girls seem to be the main voices. And they're all so different but so expertly interwoven and beautifully narrated. 

It's hard to talk about this book without spoilers because So Much Happens, and it twists in ways you can't imagine, new terrors and wonders introduced at every corner. But I'm obsessed with this book and the brilliant story woven within it. The worldbuilding in the Staryk land was magical, and I love the complicated riddles and bargains that govern their world and how clever Miryem navigated them. Miryem, Irina, and Wanda all were clever and strong and creative to solve the problems in their path, and I can only be delighted with how their stories turned out.

If you like adaptations, cold fairy tales, or just general brilliant magical storytelling, you will like this book.

The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake

Devastating.

10/10 will never be the same.

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

Holy shit. This book gripped me in an iron fist and would not let me go.

Clytemnestra, sister of Helen and child of Sparta, has always known that she will be a powerful queen. She never expected it to be through a marriage to someone she loathes, but Clytemnestra is patient. She can bide her time until judgment comes calling, and then she will be the one holding the knife.

I feel like I would describe this book as being in the same vein as Madeline Miller's Circe or Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad. It's angry and desperate and proud, just like the title character.

I knew part of Clytemnestra's story from reading The Odyssey in high school and The Iliad in college, but this took a much MUCH closer look at her life and choices. I already knew she was entirely in the right for killing her husband, I just didn't know how much pain she had endured at his hands.

Reading this book was as painful as it was poetic. I cried at several points, both for Clytemnestra's grief and the pure rageful injustices she faced. She is an incredibly powerful and complex character, but honestly I find her motives extremely understandable and completely justified. 

The book stretches from when she is a small child growing up in Sparta, through her first marriage and tragedy, to her time as queen of Mycenae before Agamemnon left for the Trojan war, his long absence, and his subsequent return and murder. Her loss is consequential, and with each terrible thing that Agamemnon does to her she just grows more and more vengeful, more angry. It's a long time to follow, and though there are two time jumps, it's still a lot. Not for the faint of heart.

I don't really know what else to say about this except that it's a phenomenal look at a woman wrongfully vilified by mythology for killing a man who deserved it.

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake

Not gonna lie, I picked up this book because of Olivie Blake's name AND the gorgeous art in the edition I got, but it was every bit as good as her other books I've read.

Fox D'Mora was raised by death, but he is still a mortal. When his godfather is captured by a demon who wants to gamble at his tables, Fox is pulled into a game he has no desire to play. With the help of a vampire, ghost, reaper, angel, demon, and demigod, he may have a chance at becoming the master of death.

I will admit, this was a bit of a five foot book. I may be using that term incorrectly, but I believe it's a story where the characters don't physically move very far and it's a lot of flashbacks, conversation, or emotion driven scenes. The characters converge and then go to the game, which is most if the physical movement they do. But the book is full of flashbacks and meaningful conversations and memories, all of which enrich the small movements the characters perform so much. It's brilliantly and gorgeously written, and god does Blake have a way of really carrying you through character's emotions, especially betrayal and grief.

I had the thought a few times while reading this that it almost felt a little bit like Good Omens, in terms of the presence (and general incompetence) of heaven and hell, and with some of the humor. Blake it witty, especially with her character descriptions and dialogue, and I laughed through so much of this book. I might go so far as to say I liked it better than the Atlas series, though that could just be because all the characters in this one got a (spoilers) happy ending. 

The cast of characters in this was rich and vibrant, and I was delighted by every single one of them. Blake is very good at managing a big cast while still giving everyone the page time they need to seem fully fleshed out. It was also full of a wide variety of creatures, which really serves to set Fox apart as a mortal as well as give everyone more depth and desire. 

I really, really liked this book, and can easily see myself reading more Olivie Blake in the future.

And that's it! See you guys next month!

Literary recommendation: A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

Media recommendation: I've been slowly working my way through Dimension 20: Fantasy High Junior Year, so if you have Dropout access I would recommend it so highly