Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Title: Pride and Prejudice
Series: n/a
Author: Jane Austen
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: Classics
Publisher/Publication Date: Originally published

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Spirited Elizabeth Bennet is one of a family of five daughters, and with no male heir, the Bennet estate must someday pass to their priggish cousin William Collins. Therefore, the girls must marry well—and thus is launched the story of Elizabeth and the arrogant bachelor Mr. Darcy, in a novel renowned as the epitome of romance and wit. Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s masterwork, an entertaining portrait of matrimonial rites and rivalries, timeless in its hilarity and its honesty.

Although I have no formal goals for this year (as far as the blog is concerned), the backlist and classic titles that I’ve wanted to read for years, have been on my mind lately. So far, I’ve read The Shinning, and now I can cross Jane Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice, off my TBR list as well.

I knew of the basics premise of the story, thanks to having seen various adaptations of it (that was years ago, but I’m hoping to rewatch the 2005 one soon), but as is true for most adaptations there was bound to be differences. And I find there is usually value with going back to the source material. All that to say: Pride and Prejudice was a delight to read. Darcy and Elizabeth both, at times, let their preconceived notions, bad impressions, and assumptions about the other guide their actions into misunderstandings. Bingley and Jane had a story of similar circumstances, but from the beginning they had a better impression of each other and were slightly more open about their intentions, but their side of the novel wasn’t without conflict. After all, the relationships and potential marriages—the complicated interpersonal ties between the characters—are what propel the story forward and was a standout when it came to why I found Pride and Prejudice so entertaining.

The story was further supported by a cast of minor characters as well, which made the everyday ordinariness (for the time period) as interesting as the relationships central to the plot. That included (but wasn’t limited to) the other Bennets (Lydia was just messy), Bingley’s sisters, the Collins’, the Lucas’, as well as others.

 
There are a couple more Austen novels that I definitely want to read (Persuasion and Mansfield Park are at the top of my list), regardless, Pride and Prejudice is a new favorite.

The Shining by Stephen King

Title: The Shining
Series: The Shining #1
Author: Stephen King
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: Horror
Publisher/Publication Date: First published January 28, 1977

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Jack Torrance's new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he'll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote...and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.

Admittedly, it’s been some years since I’ve seen The Shining, so some of the details I knew I’d forgotten about, but the more iconic scenes and most of the story I did remember. And, for a very long time, that was as far as my knowledge about the story went. But, as I’ve said on numerous occasions on the blog, some of my favorite kinds of stories—whether horror, fantasy, contemporary fantasy, and even, on rare occasions literary fiction—are ones with settings that are memorable and seem to come alive with as much personality as the characters. And as I’d heard, the book differed from the movie.

I like it better, actually.

The Shining isn’t for the faint of heart, though. It’s a horror novel through and through, and it deals with a variety of dark themes like murder, alcoholism, and domestic violence, just to name a few. Even so, I found the book to be engrossing and the writing style engaging.

One main area where the book is far more successful is how much space King devoted to exploring the interior lives of the Torrances. So, by the time they actually arrived at the resort for Jack’s job as the winter caretaker, there was a clear understanding of who the family was, and it made what happened to them at the Overlook so much worse.

And the Overlook, in all of its sinister glory, was something else. I loved how much detail went into the hotel and its history. I was fascinated by how King managed to make it such a menacing presence with how it encroached on the Torrances in more and more destructive and horrifying ways. It came alive, in a manner of speaking, and in a way that was thoroughly creepy.

I wasn’t particularly scared by anything in it, instead it was more atmospheric and eerie, and this sense of dread just crept up and permeated the majority of the story. There was a tipping point in The Shining, though, where the occurrences gained in intensity, and you just kind of know there wasn’t going to be a happy ending for everyone involved.

But its horror and a tragedy, and I knew what I was signing up for when I sat down to read it.

Thought Corner: Revisiting How To Break Up With Your Phone by Catherine Price Seven Years Later

I first read Catherine Price’s How To Break Up With Your Phone seven years ago (in March), and it was for review. I remember liking this book, even though nonfiction, specifically self-help, isn’t something I typically reach for. Since then, it’s sort of sat on my shelf and become the kind of book I would always look at and think it was time to revisit it, but somehow I never made the time for it (even though its short, coming in under two hundred pages). In 2025, I’ve gotten more reflective about the internet at large, and as a result, I took a detour last month and ended up rereading this book.

Even after six years, How To Break Up With Your Phone retains its timeliness, especially with its chapters about social media, memory, and the way technology intersects with our lives, in both helpful and harmful ways. It’s an excellent book. And, even though this was a reread, I was left with plenty to think about by the end of it (essentially food for thought), because when I thought about it, I’m not sure I fully appreciated everything this book does when I first read it. At least, the topic it covers wasn’t as relevant to me then as it is now, especially when lately I’ve been thinking more and more about how I want to engage with the internet and social media.

For example, at the beginning of 2025, I thought I would dust off my old Instagram account and start posting regularly about books again—even if it was only once a week—since I no longer use twitter to share even links to blog posts. But, then Meta changed its policy, and I was left in the same position as before. I know there are other platforms I could try, but I haven’t done that, especially when I know it’s just as easy to post things like reviews and photos to the blog too.

All that to say, How To Break Up With Your Phone offered plenty of information to engage with independently, but it could also serve as a starting point for conversations.

The Witless Protection Program by Maria DiRico

Title: The Witless Protection Program
Series: Catering Hall Mystery #5
Author: Maria DiRico
Source/Format: Purchased; Mass Market Paperback
More Details: Cozy Mystery
Publisher/Publication Date: Kensington; March 26, 2024

Goodreads

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Mia Carina has steered her Italian-American family’s Astoria, Queens, catering hall, Belle View Banquet Manor, into becoming the borough’s premiere party site, and nothing could make her happier—except her boyfriend proposing. There’s just one presumed-dead obstacle in the way . . .

A strong, independent woman and respected entrepreneur, Mia never imagined she’d pine for a marriage proposal. Yet lately, with her beloved Shane, she’s on tenterhooks. It’s especially surprising, considering Mia’s first husband, Adam, was a philandering grifter, assumed lost-at-sea after a boating disaster. But everyone knows what happens when you assume . . . While working a huge wedding expo in Manhattan, Mia is shocked to spot the man who nearly destroyed her life. The one who’s supposed to be sleeping with the fishes. But she loses him in the crowd. And when it happens again the next day, it’s time for an emergency meeting with the family—and the Family . Because if Adam is alive, Mia is still married . . .Everyone wants Adam dead. Everyone except Mia. She’s dealt with enough police for a lifetime. Mia needs to be a divorcée, not a widow. But someone out there disagrees, and if Mia doesn’t discover who, she may never be free to marry Shane—or anyone else . . .

While compiling a list of 2025 books I wanted to read, I decided to check a couple of the series I was reading and discovered the next book of Maria DiRico’s Catering Hall Mystery series had come out in March of 2024. Titled The Witless Protection Program, it turned out to be the first book I read in the New Year.

The Witless Protection Program felt like a definitive conclusion. It began with a full circle kind of moment, essentially where (or with whom) the series started: with Mia spotting who she believed to be the husband who had vanished (and was presumed dead) after wrecking her life, which, if she was right, presented a variety of challenges for her future plans. As far as cozy mysteries go, it was a page-tuner. There was a lot of “why” and “how,” which needed to be answered, and DiRico did a good job of establishing the circumstances which brought these characters to this point—where tempers threatened to boil over with each new and terrible revelation of just who Mia had been entangled with. She had her family and a solid support system of people willing to go to bat for her as well as a partner who was always in her corner. And they were there every step of the way, as she navigated one of the more personal mysteries of the series. All the while, the story managed to bring together the other threads of the overarching plot and relationship arcs into a somewhat chaotic but also satisfying end.

As an aside, if you’re like me and interested in all of the delicious food the character ate, then you’ll find four recipes in the back of the book, including one for Ricotta Sugar Cookies.

 

Short Stories: The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke illustrated by Victoria Sawdon

I'm taking a brief break from the usual format of Short Stories, to take a look at the new Susanna Clarke story, The Wood a Midwinter, illustrated by Victoria Sawdon.

Title: The Wood at Midwinter
Series: n/a
Author/Illustrator: Susanna Clarke; Victoria Sawdon
Source/Format: Purchased; Hardcover
More Details: Fantasy; Short Story
Publisher/Publication Date: Bloomsbury Publishing; October 20, 2024

Goodreads 

Synopsis from Goodreads...

From the internationally bestselling and prize-winning author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an enchanting, beautifully illustrated short story set in the Strange universe.

"A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They're the same thing really."

Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scott is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees - and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods. One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst - and the path of her life is changed forever.

As my Short Story intro above says, I’m taking a break from the typical format to look at Susanna Clarke’s short story, The Wood at Midwinter, illustrated by Victoria Sawdon. I was very excited to pick this one up, considering how much I adored Piranesi—and I’m slowly working my way through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norwell, which has, so far, been as entertaining as I’d hoped. But, I digress, this post is about The Wood at Midwinter.

A woman, Merowdis, sits in a forest at midwinter, which was, now that I think about it, very fairy tale-esque of her. She talks to animals, to the bugs, and even to the trees; her loyal animals and, as the title suggests, the wood at midwinter. It’s a conversation between all of them, wherein she laments about her life, what she doesn’t wish to do, and admits to what she desperately wants to have and hold—regardless of the consequences and what she might have to give up to have it. And in a story with a setting like this one, with a quietly magical atmosphere, anything was possible.

The Wood at Midwinter is short but still a delightful little story with an enigmatic character and a wintery backdrop, which featured a nice visual aspect accompanying the prose with Sawdon’s illustrations.

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Raven King
Series: The Raven Cycle #4
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: Fantasy; Young Adult
Publisher/Publication Date: Scholasic Press; April 26, 2016

Goodreads 

Synopsis from Goodreads...                                                                                                                                              All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

Earlier this year, I mentioned one of my blogging related goals was to tackle at least one of the unfinished series that had been on my TBR list for far too long, and one such collection of books was Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle. I know there’s a spinoff trilogy, but my goal was to read all of the initial books—or reread, in the case of The Raven Boys. And now, I finally got around to The Raven King.

“Richard Gansey III had forgotten how many times he had been told he was destined for greatness.”—pg.1

Every story has its beginning and its end. And every page of The Raven King felt like another ending. It was, effectively, the culmination of every plot thread, hint, and pivotal moment that occurred from The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, and Blue Lily Lily Blue. The Raven Cycle has always also been about its characters—the titular Raven Boys and Blue Sargent—as well as boasting of a colorful secondary cast that were given as much care as the core group. The character arcs came full circle in The Raven King too. And it was exciting—an emotional rollercoaster—to say the least, to see how it would all end: the hunt for Glendower, the prophecy that Blue would kill her true love with a kiss, Noah’s true role in all that had happened, and what would become of the places and characters with the threat of a demon and an unchecked (and horribly misguided) quest for influence.

Let me reiterate: The Raven King is a page turner, and it’s easily one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Title: Sabriel
Series: The Old Kingdom #1
Author: Garth Nix
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Harper Collins; January 1, 1995

Goodreads

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Enter the Old Kingdom, a world of dark secrets and dangerous magic.

As a child, Sabriel was sent across the Wall to Ancelstierre to safety. Now eighteen years old, she receives a cryptic and desperate message from her father, the Abhorsen—the magical protector whose task it is to bind and send back to Death those who won’t stay Dead. Fiercely determined to help her father, who is perilously trapped in Death, and save him from the sinister Free Magic entity that has somehow ensnared him, Sabriel must prepare to enter Death herself—and find her destiny. To preserve life, the Abhorsen must enter death.

I haven’t picked up a Garth Nix book in many-many years—the last ones I read were The Keys to the Kingdom with Mister Monday and the following novels. However, one series that has persisted on my TBR list (for just as long) has been Nix’s The Old Kingdom. So in the interest of slimming down that TBR by another book, I picked up Sabriel, the first of that series.

Sabriel was a phenomenal novel, and had almost everything I love about fantasy. There was a good deal of traveling the main character, Sabriel, undertook during her adventure. However, each step of the way presented its own pitfalls, ensuring the story kept a sense of urgency. It was part cat-and-mouse game, part fetch quest, and there was no happy ending guaranteed in a story that dealt with so much death.

The magic had a cool system, essentially necromancy, which required literally stepping into death as well as a set of very particular bells. I loved this aspect of the story and the details that went into developing it. After all, each bell was imbued with a different power—and had varied consequences for ringing them—which only added another layer of detail to a magic system that was already working within a clear set of relatively unique rules.

There were two primary places where the story took place. There’s Ancelstierre, where Sabriel attended Wyverly College, which—although a fantasy country—could have been reality, albeit a historical time period. There were cars, electricity, and even weapons. The Old Kingdom, by contrast, was pure fantasy and entirely bleak; a place that was clearly on the losing side of a conflict. And it was into the horror left behind and the grueling battle against “those who won’t stay dead,” that Sabriel enters as a begrudging player, in the grand scheme of things. She didn’t want the job, more than that, however, she wanted to find her father, the Abhorsen. And her anxiety is part of what propels the story, at least early on, before she gained allies and came to understand the greater danger posed to everything and everyone. As a result, the story had intensity to it, and I enjoyed every second of it.

All in all, I adored this novel, and I’m looking forward to eventually continuing with this series.

 

The City in Glass by Nghi Vo

Title: The City in Glass

Series: n/a

Author: Nghi Vo
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: TorDotCom; October 1, 2024

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

In this new standalone, Hugo Award-winning author Nghi Vo introduces a beguiling fantasy city in the tradition of Calvino, Mieville, and Le Guin.

A demon. An angel. A city that burns at the heart of the world.

The demon Vitrine—immortal, powerful, and capricious—loves the dazzling city of Azril. She has mothered, married, and maddened the city and its people for generations, and built it into a place of joy and desire, revelry and riot. And then the angels come, and the city falls. Vitrine is left with nothing but memories and a book containing the names of those she has lost—and an angel, now bound by her mad, grief-stricken curse to haunt the city he burned. She mourns her dead and rages against the angel she longs to destroy. Made to be each other’s devastation, angel and demon are destined for eternal battle. Instead, they find themselves locked in a devouring fascination that will change them both forever. Together, they unearth the past of the lost city and begin to shape its future. But when war threatens Azril and everything they have built, Vitrine and her angel must decide whether they will let the city fall again.

The City in Glass is both a brilliantly constructed history and an epic love story, of death and resurrection, memory and transformation, redemption and desire strong enough to burn a world to ashes and build it anew.

Nghi Vo’s, The Singing Hills Cycle, is one of my favorite series, so I was interested in checking out her latest story, The City in Glass. Essentially, this is a tale about a ruined city that might rise again from its ashes, a demon, an angel, and the strange tumultuous sort-of fascination/love story between the two.

The City in Glass was engaging from the very first page. It begins with a revelry, the fall of the city, and the demon, Vitrine’s effort to rebuild what she lost. Despite the book’s short length, the actual timespan of the story was hundreds of years with sporadic time skips, which sometimes spanned as long as decades. The book was written incredibly well and with enough detail to give the characters—particularly Vitrine—and Azril a rich history.

A large part of the book was dedicated to—and lingered on—Vitrine’s grief as well as her memories of the people and the place she’d lost. During these flashbacks, it was clear how much she’d loved the city of Azril, following generations of families, shaping the place into what it was before everything ended, like a gardener. Her grief was, for lack of better terms, consuming, and The City in Glass allowed Vitrine to go through these stages. It was messy—she was prone to giving into her rage, lashed out, and wanted to be left alone with memories and ghosts—but it drove home the devastation. The way she wanted to linger in the past reminded me of a short story I read earlier this year (Something Small Enough to Ask For by Anamaria Curtis), and the lesson for that main character was ultimately a similar one. Stay in the past or finally move forward? As character arcs go, Vitrine’s was a good one.

One avenue that I was pretty undecided on (and still am), was how the relationship landed, whether it worked as well as some of the other aspects of The City in Glass or not—especially with the way the story ended. On one hand, I understand Vitrine had to work through her grief and come to terms with the angel’s role in it. While on the other hand, some of the angel and Vitrine’s best moments were when they communicated, when there was this push-and-pull albeit with a sense of burgeoning closeness and understanding (even frustration and anger) with each other. However, I wish there had been more of it, or at least a little more of the angel’s perspective on the situation, particularly before the end.

Despite how conflicted I was about the aforementioned, it wasn’t bad actually. In fact, The City in Glass was thoroughly engaging and enjoyable, and I know I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

 

About the author....

Nghi Vo is the author of the novels Siren Queen and The Chosen and the Beautiful, as well as the acclaimed novellas of the Singing Hills Cycle, which began withThe Empress of Salt and Fortune. The series entries have been finalists for the Locus Award and the Lambda Literary Award, and have won the Crawford Award, the Ignyte Award, and the Hugo Award. Born in Illinois, she now lives on the shores of Lake Michigan. She believes in the ritual of lipstick, the power of stories, and the right to change your mind.

Goodreads     Website     Instagram

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (TorDotCom) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker

Title: Haunt Sweet Home

Series: n/a
Author: Sarah Pinsker
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Paranormal; Novella
Publisher/Publication Date: TorDotCom; September 3, 2024

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...

On the set of a kitschy reality TV show, staged scares transform into unnerving reality in this spooky ghost story from multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Sarah Pinsker.

“Don’t talk to day about what we do at night.”

When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she's truly been deceiving and hiding from all along―is herself.

Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself.

I’ve mentioned SurrealEstate on the blog before. Well, its second season had an episode that was essentially a parody (or recreation) of a ghost hunting show. It was comedic but also told a heartfelt story about the fictional show’s host, a parallel to the interpersonal arc of Luke Roman. The concept was simple: manufactured haunting on a niche show that inevitably encounter a scenario outside of their control. So I’m more than familiar with a setup like that, which was why I was looking forward to Sarah Pinsker’s latest, a novella called Haunt Sweet Home.

It’s no secret: I like house stories (or stories involving houses). It’s why a show like SurrealEstate was so appealing, and Haunt Sweet Home fell into that same category. It combined home renovation and supposedly haunted properties into the titular show, while also shaping up into a narrative of self-discovery for the story’s main character, Mara Billings.

Mara started things but never committed; she often thought of herself as the black sheep of her family and was uncertain of her future and struggled with building connections with others. So when she gets the opportunity to work for her cousin’s niche show as a production assistant for the night crew, she’s hopeful it’ll be the thing to stick. It wasn’t an easy job. However, half the fun of the story for the reader, was watching the scenarios unfold/ the show being filmed as well as how Mara would handle being so far outside of her element, with a secondary cast also navigating a cut throat environment. Mara was sympathetic but also at times abrasive. However, I liked the nuance of Pinsker’s characterization of Mara. She almost haunted the narrative, even when she wasn’t fulfilling the role of a ghost. So when the inevitable confrontation happens, the proverbial shoe drop, when she could no longer run from herself, the emotional payoff was just chef’s kiss.

In Haunt Sweet Home the houses were secondary while much of the page space was devoted to a great ghost story and an exceptional character exploration. I highly recommend this one!

 

About the author....

Sarah Pinsker is the author of over fifty works of short fiction, two novels, and one collection. Her work has won four Nebula Awards (Best Novel, A Song For A New Day; Best Novelette, "Our Lady of the Open Road," Best Novelette, "Two Truths And A Lie," Best Short Story, "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather,"), two Hugo Awards ("Two Truths And a Lie" and "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather"), the Philip K Dick Award, the Locus Award, the Eugie Foster Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Award, and been nominated for numerous Nebula, Hugo, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. Her fiction has been published translated into almost a dozen languages and published in magazines including Asimov's, Strange Horizons, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Uncanny and in many anthologies and year's bests. Sarah's first collection, the Philip K Dick Award winning Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea: Stories, was published by Small Beer Press in March 2019, and her first novel, A Song For A New Day, was published by Penguin/Random House/Berkley in September 2019. Her latest book is We Are Satellites, published in May 2021. Her second collection, Lost Places, will be published by Small Beer Press in March 2023. She is also a singer/songwriter with four albums on various independent labels (the third with her rock band, the Stalking Horses). She lives in Baltimore, Maryland and can be found online at sarahpinsker.com and twitter.com/sarahpinsker.

Goodreads     Website 

Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (TorDotCom) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you! 

Devil is Fine by John Vercher

Title: Devil is Fine
Author: John Vercher
Source/Format: Celadon Books; Paperback ARC

More Details: Literary Fiction; Contemporary Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Celadon Books; June 18 2024

Goodreads     Celadon (Book Page) 

Synopsis From Celadon:

Reeling from the sudden death of his teenage son, our narrator receives a letter from an attorney: he has just inherited a plot of land from his estranged grandfather. He travels to a beach town several hours south of his home with the intention of immediately selling the land. But upon inspection, what lies beneath the dirt is much more than he can process in the throes of grief. As a biracial Black man struggling with the many facets of his identity, he’s now the owner of a former plantation passed down by the men on his white mother’s side of the family.

Vercher deftly blurs the lines between real and imagined, past and present, tragedy and humor, and fathers and sons in this story of discovery—and a fight for reclamation—of a painful past. With the wit of Paul Beatty’s The Sellout and the nuance of Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, Devil Is Fine is a darkly funny and brilliantly crafted dissection of the legacies we leave behind and those we inherit.

When I finished reading Devil is Fine by John Vercher, I had so many initial thoughts that it made it difficult to summarize what I felt about it. And I didn't even know where to start.

So I guess I'll start with the story. It revolves around the unnamed narrator's identity and the throes of that. While it mostly seemed to pertain to his professional life and having to deal with owning a plantation, it was also carefully woven into a story about a man dealing with grief and somehow coming to terms with where he is in life. Of course it was not a smooth road since there were odd and disconcerting experiences along the way. He was aided by the occasional words of wisdom from the more frequent characters, Freddy and Clarence. A bar owner and frequent bar customer respectively, their own life and experiences tended to add a different angle to what the narrator was going through. On the flip side, there were a lot of times where I wondered just why he was doing what he was, but some of that was answered much later on.

Another thing I noticed was the writing. It's in first person and begins shortly before the burial of the narrator's son, Malcolm. From the beginning to the end, the main character often thinks of and addresses him while chronicling his ongoing life. Sometimes he would wonder what Malcolm would say if he was there during a conversation, for example. Along with the main character's musings, it is mainly through occasional chapters in between that showed who Malcolm was growing up. I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about these chapters at first. But, about half way through, I felt it both added to and left breathing room from the tension that was building throughout the book. Some of that was also probably from the general back and forth of the current time and various past memories from the narrator's own life and experiences.

Speaking of that tension, I was constantly on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. Some of the story was predictable for me. But there were parts that weren't at all. The conclusion and ending are an examples of both of these feelings. Based on a few pages of conversations beforehand, I had thought that a particular scene was going to go a certain way. But I was wrong. Instead it was rather mundane (for the lack of more spoiler-y but probably better words I could use). It is at this point the character growth is fully realized with many truths coming to light. Even being a little sad and grim, overall it definitely felt more in line and satisfactory with the way the bulk of the story was written. So I was somewhat happy to be wrong. As for the last pages, the end? Well, it was a tear jerker.

As a whole, I truly liked Devil is Fine. The surreal nature of it, dialogue, complicated relationships, and even the tougher, more serious tones mixed with some lighter ones. All that to say, it became a page turner and I really enjoyed reading it.

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy of this book from Celadon Books for this review. Thank you!

Note: this review was originally posted on Toile, Think, Go (HERE)

Short Stories I Read In June

It’s the Twenty-Ninth of July. So it’s time to talk about the short stories, podcast episodes, and miscellaneous posts I read or listened to in June.

An Otherworldly Cat Tells You the Secrets of the Universe by Megan Chee (Lightspeed Magazine; June 2024; Issue 169)

An Otherworldly Cat Tells You the Secrets of the Universe by Megan Chee is a delightful story about cats essentially being cats with a speculative twist. Told by a cat, as the title suggests, the narrative conveys, well, the secrets of the universe from the perspective of the felines who can move freely to all of its corners. That included everything from space faring to living alone on strange planets. I liked this one.

Loneliness Universe by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny Magazine; Issue Fifty-Eight)

The next and last short story I read in June was was Eugenia Triantafyllou’s latest, Loneliness Universe. I love this one. Initially, it’s about two people—former friends who’d grown apart—Cara, and the story’s narrator, Nefeli, attempting to meet at a bus stop. Things don’t go as planned, because even though they’re in the same place, they might as well be worlds apart. What followed was an incredibly tense and atmospheric story, as Nefeli experienced a puzzling and terrifying phenomenon. Despite the urban setting, there was a feeling of isolation, which further heightened the atmosphere I liked what the author did with this story as well as the commentary on the relationships between people, cherishing time and whatnot, in a story which showed how everyone was, in theory, still close together, but also alone in their own separate universes. So in that way, the title was very fitting. Loneliness Universe is a good one.

From around the web…

• Read an Excerpt From Jordan Ifueko’s The Maid and the Crocodile [Reactor Magazine; June 20, 2024]

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Title: The Familiar
Series: n/a
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Source/Format: Purchased; Hardcover
More Details: Fantasy; Historical Fiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Flatiorn Books; April 9, 2024

Synopsis from Goodreads...

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position. What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor. Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

It’s no secret: I love a good standalone. And one of my most highly anticipated book releases of the year was Leigh Bargugo’s new historical fantasy novel, The Familiar. Set in Madrid during the “Spanish Golden Age,” this was a story of curses, magic, and ambition; part tragedy and part romance. And I loved every second of it.

Luzia Cotado was ambitious and hungry and wanted more than her life as a scullion: the ability to freely express her intelligence, and most of all comforts and ease unlike what her life had been to that point. While Luzia would admit that her position made her a good actress—able to hide her true self behind a façade—she was kind of resentful toward it. The family she worked for, the Ordõnos, didn’t help with her pessimism, particularly (and especially in the beginning of the novel) Doña Valentina’s habit of taking out her discontent—with her married life and with her social prospects—on the people who worked for her. As the first sentence of chapter one states: “If the bread hadn’t burned, this would be a very different story.” But I’m so glad it wasn’t, because without the circumstances, there would’ve been no story. And without (even the tragic aspects later on) there would’ve been no romance and none of the the interpersonal dramas happening alongside the high stakes schemes. And those were among the most notable highlights of The Familiar.

If you can’t tell, I adored the characters.

Luzia could be witty, but she was also in a situation involving political machinations, which left her as a fish-out-of-water, if not right out trapped and (again) subservient. Some of what occurred was due to her ambition, though. She wanted to win to change her life, regardless of the consequences. Her “little miracles” were dangerous to perform; she lived in a time of strong adherence to religion as well as under the threat of attracting the notice of the Inquisition.

Guillén Santángel was brooding, enigmatic, and dangerous. He was the familiar the title referred to and was compelled to do the bidding of an ambitious, cunning, arrogant, and cruel man. He and Luzia were a little alike, in that they desired freedom from their circumstances.

The question was what had to be given up to achieve those aims.

Valentina was the most surprising for me. I didn’t expect to like her character as much as I did. She was an instigator, but she was also sympathetic. She, like Luzia and Santángel, hungered for more. And a pivotal part of her story was discovering if what she always insisted she wanted would still hold true by the end of The Familiar.

The tournament was fairly standard and involved some intrigue, particularly between the competitors and their patrons. There was genuine talent and fraud mixed together, and alliances were murky and never what they first appeared to be. And with the large personalities of the characters, it made it interesting.  

All in all, The Familiar was everything I was hoping it would be, and it’s easily one of my favorite books of 2024 so far.

Short Stories I Read In April

It’s the twenty-ninth of May. So it’s time to write about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in April.

The God, Descendant by Amanda Helms (Uncanny Magazine; Issue Fifty-Seven)

The first piece I checked out in April was flash fiction by Amanda Helms called The God, Descendant. It’s a story about two gods, either rising or falling, who were locked in a seemingly never ending cycle inherent to their natures and names—only passing one another occasionally. Most of the story is contemplative, as the narrative is firmly rooted in the perspective of the Falling God. It’s a conversation between the two, as they questioned the state of, well, rising and falling, just as much as it was also about the answers (solution) they eventually arrived at. This was a relatively simple story, but I enjoyed it.

Afflictions of the New Age by Katherine Ewell (Uncanny Magazine; Issue Fifty-Seven)

The next short story I read was Afflictions of the New Age by Katherine Ewell. The story excels at atmosphere and certainly knew how to set up a scene, because it does start with a narrator who may or may not be reliable as well as a series of questions by authorities, which hinted at the overarching mystery of the situation (how the opening scene came to be). It doesn’t take long, however, for the narrative to delve into the context and implications behind the title. The prose and storytelling were simply engrossing, and I enjoyed the melancholic impression left by Afflictions of the New Age. After all, it’s a story of cures and illnesses as well as the unforeseen consequences of finding a way to live forever—but of losing one’s perception of time as well as a linear grasp on the order of memories in the process.

The Oldest Fun by Natalia Theodoridou (Clarkesworld Magazine; Issue 211; April 2024)

Next, I decided to see what Clarkesworld was publishing in April, and I ended up reading Natalia Theodoridou's The Oldest Fun. The quickest way I can sum up this story is: a deadlier form of Jumanji. The narrative implies the game is far older than what one might think, and it pulls in players in a way that can feel reminiscent to the classic movie. The Oldest Fun is, in the end, it's own tale with its own implications and context. I liked this story, particularly for the writing style and the smart twist toward the end—which made it memorable.

From around the web…

• Black Futuras: How Three Pop Divas Adapted the Image of Metropolis’ Maschinenmensch [Kristen Patterson; Tor.com; March 26, 2024]: A really great essay on Metropolis (1925), its iconic robot, and the modern interpretation of the meaning of the character by artists like Beyoncé and Janelle Monáe.
• Print Run Podcast Episode #169: We're Just a Bunch of Guys
• Considering the Perfect Knits of Coraline [Michelle Jaworski; Tor.com; April 11, 2024]: This is a nice article that discusses some of the miniature textile work done for the stop-motion adaptation of Coraline (2009), specifically for the titular character's iconic attire. 

Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages by Frances & Joseph Gies

Title: Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages
Series: n/a
Author: Fances & Joseph Gies
Source/Format: Purchased; Paperback
More Details: Nonfiction; History; Medieval Technology
Publisher/Publication Date: First published January 1, 1994

Synopsis from Goodreads...

In this account of Europe's rise to world leadership in technology, Frances and Joseph Gies make use of recent scholarship to destroy two time-honored myths.

Myth One: that Europe's leap forward occurred suddenly in the Renaissance, following centuries of medieval stagnation. Not so, say the Gieses: Early modern technology and experimental science were direct outgrowths of the decisive innovations of medieval Europe, in the tools and techniques of agriculture, craft industry, metallurgy, building construction, navigation, and war. Myth Two: that Europe achieved its primacy through Western superiority. On the contrary, the authors report, many of Europe's most important inventions--the horse harness, the stirrup, the magnetic compass, cotton and silk cultivation and manufacture, papermaking, firearms, Arabic numerals--had their origins outside Europe, in China, India, and Islam. The Gieses show how Europe synthesized its own innovations--the three-field system, water power in industry, the full-rigged ship, the putting-out system--into a powerful new combination of technology, economics, and politics. From the expansion of medieval man's capabilities, the voyage of Columbus with all its fateful consequences is seen as an inevitable product, while even the genius of Leonardo da Vinci emerges from the context of earlier and lesser-known dreamers and tinkerers.

Every so often I need a break from even my favorite genres of fiction, and, more often than not, I fill the void with nonfiction, as a pallet cleanser. Sometimes it’s true crime (Cult of We), history (Daughters of Chivalry, Meet Me by the fountain: An Inside History of the Mall), or science with a focus on nature (Entangled Life, The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, The Brilliant Abyss). I’ve once again returned to the subject of history with my latest nonfiction read, Frances and Joseph Gies’s Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages.

“A spirit of otherworldliness and a preoccupation with theology were perceived as underlying a vast medieval inertia.” Page 1

The book sets out to disprove that notion, and does so in a very technical manner. The bulk of the chapters break down the Middle Ages into chunks, either by “early Middle Ages” or by dates such as for example “900-1200” or “A.D. 500-900.” And it goes into detail about the notable achievements and the way the technology—such as the waterwheel, armor, weapons, bridges, cathedral building, and advances in textile manufacture, ship building, and navigation—were invented and found their way into different corners of the medieval world through various channels (trade was often mentioned). It often revealed the fascinating processes—and ingenuity—behind actually making these inventions (or improving on earlier discoveries) and how they were applied for practical purposes.

Some of my favorite passages had to do with cathedrals, paper, the printing press, and early clocks. But there was much-much more than that, and all of it was interesting to read about.

And, even though some of the descriptions could be frank and sometimes a little dry, overall I enjoyed this book for the sheer volume of information it had. And I’d recommend it for anyone who is curious about the subject.

 

About Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

**Note: There may be mild spoilers for book one and two.**

I’m steadily making my way through The Raven Cycle (not the spinoff series). And, with Blue Lily, Lily Blue, I’m officially over halfway done, and all that’s left is The Raven King. If you want to know what I thought about the prior installments (The Raven Cycle and The Dream Thieves) click HERE and HERE. But I digress.

The best way I can sum up Blue Lily, Lily Blue is: change, balance, and the power of three. On a specific note, the characters struggled with coming to terms with the changes in their lives. They were growing up and considering what their lives would look like after high school, after the quest for Glendower was over. And while some of the interpersonal plotlines were resolved in The Dream Thieves, its ending left the familiar cast in a…less than ideal spot. There was their new ally—Mr. Gray, the reformed (reforming) former hit man—which was good. But what was less good about it was: Maura was missing. The “how” and the “where” were answered fairly early, but that didn’t lessen the impact Maura’s absence had on the residents of 300 Fox Way and her daughter, Blue. And with a new obstacle arriving in town to, once again, shake things up—with a motivation that was pure acquisitive and vengeful—Blue Lily, Lily Blue was exciting.

“”This is the corpse road,” she said, aligning her body with the invisible path. As she did, she could feel something inside her begin to hum agreeably, a sensation very much like the satisfaction that came from aligning book spines on a shelf.”—page 1

I wouldn’t call it a cat and mouse chase, exactly, but the present, aforementioned, danger had a way of looming in the background, casting a cloud over the story. There was a sense that time was running out, for the characters, for their hunt for Glendower.

The series has always been gradually building toward something. In The Dream Thieves, the conclusion of their adventure—including the prophecy about Blue and her kiss and the implication of seeing Gansey on the corpse road—didn’t feel as pressing as they do here. The clues were portent, which ramped up the tension. And, for a story that is largely driven by its characters—and the way they inhabit and influence the world in the books—that was a good thing.

On the other hand, the series has also been about searching for the impossible and finding magic in unlikely places. I appreciate the meticulous detail and care given toward weaving together the folklore and Welsh mythology with the respective powers possessed (or lack thereof) by the characters. It wasn’t, of course, without its own particular and gut-wrenching brand of pitfalls and unpredictability. But for me, the reader, however, it was fun to follow the characters as they explored new locations.

I’m still enjoying The Raven Cycle and am looking forward to the conclusion. So I know it won’t be long before I read The Raven King.

About the book...

The third installment in the all-new series from the #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs. The trick with found things, though, is how easily they can be lost. Friends can betray. Mothers can disappear. Visions can mislead. Certainties can unravel.