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Blog Archive
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2021
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July
(17)
- SPFBO: The Fourth Depletion & Semifinalist Update ...
- Blogtour: Interview with B.T. Keaton, the author o...
- THE JASMINE THRONE by Tasha Suri - Review
- Project Hail Mary by Andrew Weir
- Interview with Andy Giesler, the auhtor of The Not...
- The Dying Squad by Adam Simcox review
- She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan review
- SPFBO: The Third Diminution & Semifinalist Update ...
- A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers - Review
- The Astounding Antagonists by Rafael Chandler review
- Windborn by Alex S. Bradshaw
- Blogtour: Interview with Anela Deen, the author of...
- Guest Post: How embracing all my favorite tropes s...
- SPFBO: The Second Reaping & Semifinalist Update (b...
- Blogtour: Interview with Damien Larkin the author ...
- Interview with Michael R. Fletcher & Clayton Snyde...
- Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim - Review
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▼
July
(17)
“Before I can get a word in edgewise, Doctor Rathbone pulls my nose hard to the right with a scientific but feral yank.”
OFFICIAL AUTHOR WEBSITE
Order the book HERE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Andy Weir built a two-decade career as a software engineer until the success of his first published novel, The Martian, allowed him to live out his dream of writing full-time. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of such subjects as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. He also mixes a mean cocktail. He lives in California.
FORMAT: Published by Ballantine Books on May 04, 2021 | 496 Pages | Book design by Caroline Cunningham
ABOUT ANDY: Andy has been a library page, dairy science programmer, teacher, technical writer, and healthcare software developer. He’s schooled in computer science, philosophy, and library science, and grew up in a town in Ohio Amish country. He’s a husband, father, and nonprofit web developer living in Madison, Wisconsin. The Nothing Within is his first novel.
Find Andy online: Website, Facebook,
Order The Nothing Within: Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Audible
I am happy to return for my third SPFBO. I’d like to think that this part of the contest would get easier but every year the quality is upped a notch and it’s just as difficult as it was the previous year.
Official Author Website
Order A Psalm for the Wild-Built HERE
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered.
But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
They're going to need to ask it a lot.
Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Sibling Dex is at a crossroads in their life. They’ve taken up the calling of a tea-service monk, a person who travels from village to village, offering comfort and tea to anyone who wants it. If you need a shoulder to cry on, a person to vent to, or a quiet corner to meditate, Dex is ready with tea and a willing ear. But Dex can’t help but feel that their life is still missing something. But when they make an impulsive decision to take a new route, they didn’t expect to come across a robot, something no one has seen in two centuries. One day the robots woke up and decided to leave humanity to figure out their own existence, and they’ve been gone ever since. But this robot has come in search of what they think is a straight-forward question: What does humanity need?
A Psalm for the Wild Built is one of those books where not a lot happens, yet you still feel utterly content after reading it. Becky Chambers, queen of “slice of life” sci-fi, manages to perfectly capture an emotional state that I think many can identify with: that sense that nothing is really “wrong” with your life, and yet you still feel like it is lacking something. You go through the motions with your job, wondering why there’s an emotional hole that never quite fills. Chambers is just excellent at somehow snaring an emotional essence and distilling it into her writing, and I identified with Dex in a way I haven’t with other characters for a while.
Chambers also excels at creating idyllic visions of the future, where on the whole people are decent and humanity has figured out some big picture questions like how to best live in balance with the environment. This aspect is part of what contributes to the cozy feel of A Psalm for the Wild-Built. The conflict doesn’t come from other people, it comes from the characters wrestling with existential questions that are plaguing them. Dex and their eventual robot acquaintance cover a lot of topics as they converse, always in a way that feels natural and not like a textbook analysis of a problem. This little novella offers food for thought about ecology, personhood, the importance of comfort, and more, all within a conversation between two characters.
CONCLUSION: A Psalm for the Wild-Built is an intimate story of one person’s journey through the wilderness seeking answers. It’s quiet but never dull, and easily flies by in an afternoon. It’s a perfect escape from our chaotic world and offers a hopeful glimpse of a world that doesn’t have all the answers, but gives you the space to try and find them on your own.
ABOUT ANELA: A child of two cultures, this hapa haole Hawaiian girl is currently landlocked in the Midwest. After exploring the world for a chunk of years, Anela Deen hunkered down in Minnesota and now fills her days with family, fiction, and the occasional snowstorm. With a house full of lovable toddlers, a three-legged cat, and one handsome Dutchman, she prowls the keyboard late at night while the minions sleep. Coffee? Nah, she prefers tea with a generous spoonful of sarcasm.
Find Anela online: Website, Twitter, Instagram
In The Jaded Grove by Anela Deen; Published: March 21, 2021 by Literary Wanderlust; Genre: Portal Fantasy; Pages: 330; CW: Violence, Trauma, Torture, Grief, Death of a loved one (in the past – not on the page); Diversity Tags: Author of color (biracial), POC rep (Filipino MC), Queer secondary characters
Guest Post: How embracing all my favorite tropes saved my mental health in 2020 (by Virginia McClain)
Official
Michael R. Fletcher Website
Official
Clayton Snyder Website
Order Norylska Groans over HERE
Today
we have the dual pleasure of welcoming Clayton
Snyder and Michael R. Fletcher as
part of the Norylska Groans blog tour
organized by Storytellers On Tour. Be sure to checkout all the other spots
highlighted below and grab a copy of this standalone story. I’ll be reviewing Norylska as part of my SPFBO lot in a
few weeks. So be sure to check that out as the book is an excellent combination
of low fantasy, crime & ultra-violent action.
Official Author Website
Order the book HERE
FORMAT/INFO: Six Crimson Cranes was published on July 6th, 2021 in the US by Alfred A Knopf Books for Young Readers. It is 464 pages split over 40 chapters. It is told in the first person from Shiori's point of view. It is available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Princess Shiori has a secret: she can use magic, something that her people believe is only used by demons and those who work with them. Shirori’s kept her secret for years, until the day Shiori and her stepmother Raikama each discover the other’s magical abilities. To ensure Shiori can never tell another person of her secret, Raikama turns Shiori’s six brothers into cranes and places a curse on Shiori: for every word she speaks, one of her brothers will die. Magically transported to a far corner of the empire, Shiori finds herself alone, unable to speak, and enchanted so that no one can recognize her as the princess. But every curse can be broken, and Shiroi won’t rest until she finds a way to break this one – even if she has to steal from a dragon to do so.
Six Crimson Cranes is a wonderfully enchanting East Asian fairy tale retelling with a fierce heroine that will win your heart. Shiori may not be able to talk for most of the book, but that doesn’t make her an idle protagonist. She’s constantly working towards ending the curse, whether that’s scraping together a living as a maid at an inn or stealing magic roots from a dragon. She’s not perfect: she’s impatient and can get into trouble, but never in a way that makes you aggravated at the character. And Shiori never finds a task beneath her. If she has to scrub dishes or work with plants that burn her hands, she will. Whatever helps accomplish her goal.
The author does a wonderful job of balancing Shiori’s inability to speak out loud with the need to drive plot and character growth forward. The first person POV gives Shiori an internal monologue, and an enchanted paper bird can communicate with Shiori telepathically, giving her a way to talk through her problems with another character. But these workarounds never come at the expense of the tension that exists with the knowledge of what will happen if Shiori ever talks. It’s a testament to how well Lim crafted the story that every time I put Six Crimson Cranes down, I found myself unwilling to speak, because my brain had internalized that speaking out loud was a danger. And it isn’t just words that can kill her brothers; uttering a single sound can trigger the curse as well. That makes some of Shiori’s ordeals extra fraught, as she can’t yell out a warning or shout in sudden shock.
I also really enjoyed the mysteries that help drive the story forward. Shiori eventually arrives at the keep of an allied warlord, one whose political situation is tied to that of Shiori’s family. So while Shiori is trying to find out why Raikama cursed her and how to break that curse, she’s also drawn into unraveling a plot within the keep itself, one that is connected to a larger plot in the empire.
Tying it all together is a slow burn romance in the background. It’s not the dominating thrust of the story, and it’s slightly predictable, but in a way that makes it all so satisfying when it comes together. You know what’s going to happen and you get to have a big ol’ cheesy grin when it finally does.
CONCLUSION: Six Crimson Cranes is a worthy first half of a duology, and has absolutely hooked me for the sequel. Those who enjoy YA fantasy (or really fantasy at all) should give this a read without hesitation. My only small complaint is that I wish that more time was spent with Raikama to better explore her character and motivations, but the author still accomplishes a great deal in the small time spent with the character. Six Crimson Cranes has a fantastic set-up for book two, and honestly it cannot get here soon enough.