Review: Rat Queens: Sass and Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe & Roc Upchurch

Title: Rat Queens: Sass and Sorcery

Author: Written by Kurtis J. Wiebe, Art by Roc Upchurch

Information on series: Volume 1 of an ongoing series

Audience: Adult. Very adult.

Rating (scale of 1-5, with 5 being highest): 5

TL;DR: A crazy thrill-ride of blood and feminism.

Longer review:

Betty, Dee, Hannah, and Violet are The Rat Queens, a party of brawling, boozing, sexing, swearing adventurers in the vaguely Euro-fantastic town of Palisade. In this first volume, they defeat an army of orcs and save the town. But the orcs were only there because they were friends of an ogre the Rat Queens viciously murdered. But the Rat Queens only murdered the ogre because the mayor of Palisade sent the ogre to kill them. But the mayor only wanted the Rat Queens dead because they kept getting drunk and starting fights. At first glance, it’s hard to figure out who the good guys are.

Ultimately, we end up siding with the Rat Queens for the simple but very compelling reason that they are a band of complex and flawed but sympathetic characters who, despite all other failings, display a sincere and contagious affection for each other. I cannot stress how rare and enjoyable this is. As a rule, filthy, bloody, drug-fueled adventure comics do not feature an all-female case. Or, if they do, the women are adolescent sex fantasies first and actual characters second. And their stories certainly don’t feature a sincere emotional core.

Rat Queens shows a mix of humor, violence, vulgarity, and heart that is absolutely atypical for fantasy comics, and I suspect it had a rough road to publication. But its reception has been great. It was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2014 (that’s essentially an Oscar for comics) and a Hugo for Best Graphic Story in 2015. It also picked up a 2015 GLAAD Media Award for its LGBT representation (that, more than anything else I’ve said, should quiet your worries about whether a comic with this much crass-ness can also manage some compelling character work).

The series has seen a couple artist changes since it started (for a variety of disappointing reasons that I won’t get into here). For this first volume, all the art is by co-creator Roc Upchurch. First off, his character designs are great. He splashes in modern touches like Hannah’s rockabilly-inspired hair, but melds them with more traditional fantasy elements for a good, consistent aesthetic. All four of the Rat Queens are presented as sexy at times, but they’re far from the chainmail bikini cliche of so much fantasy art.  

Upchurch also does a good job laying out his pages and staging action. He’s got enough restraint and faith in the writing to stick to a fairly simple panel grid when drawing dialogue, which gives more impact to the times he throws the grid out for a splash page or action sequence. As in a movie, action in comics really falls apart without a visual storyteller who can subtly guide the reader’s eye, making sure the follow the sequence of events.

Read-alikes:

• Dungeons & Dragons by John Rogers - This comics series, published by IDW starting in 2010, matches Rat Queens’ sense of fun and adventure, but dials back the adult themes. As you might expect from an official tie-in to a large media property, these comics are very well made but ultimately play it a little safe. Start with volume 1, Shadowplague.
• Skullkickers by Jim Zub - An unlikely pair of adventurers seek gold and glory while facing down ever-more strange and deadly foes. Skullkickers matches the weird humor of Rat Queens but loses the emotional core.
• Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set by Wizards of the Coast - Not a book so much as a box that contains several booklets, some loose sheets, and an assortment of dice. If you’re this far into fantasy about parties of heroic adventurers, maybe you should just take the plunge and give D&D a try. One of the best things about Rat Queens is the bond of friendship between the four leads. D&D is all about cooperating with your friends to tell grand stories and defeat hideous villains.

Review: California Bones by Greg Van Eekhout

Title:  California  Bones

Author:  Greg Van Eekhout

Series:  Book one in a trilogy

Audience:  Adult

Rating on scale 1-5: 4

TL;DR: California Bones  is a combination urban fantasy and caper novel set in dystopian California.

Longer review:
Daniel Blackland, a  thief and osteomancer, is hired by a crime lord to break into a supposedly impenetrable stronghold and steal a sword. The sword was made by Daniel’s Father, a powerful magician, and  possesses the magical essence of Daniel himself. Daniel’s Father was killed by the the Hierarch, the ruler of the Kingdom of Southern California. Daniel puts together the best thieves to steal the sword.

When I saw that it was an urban fantasy and a caper I was pretty excited. Since it is a caper book, it is fairly action packed. This book is gritty and a little gruesome (it’s not for the faint of heart).

Read-alikes:
Kraken: an anatomy by China Miéville. This urban fantasy also has group of magicians stealing an object.  (A giant squid fom the British museum.  It also described as gritty.

Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia. This urban fantasy is described as action packed and gruesome.  The main character gets a job hunting monsters because monsters are real.

Dresden Files series  by Jim Butcher. This action packed urban fantasy series has a Wizard private detective as its main character.

Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Title: A Darker Shade of Magic

Author: V.E. Schwab

Information on series: First of Darker shade of magic trilogy, second book expected 2016.

Audience: New Adult/Adult; possibly YA though there is some language and violence, but nothing gratuitous

Rating (scale of 1 – 10, with 10 being the highest): 9.5

Recommended to: Historical fiction readers; fans of political/royal thrillers

Tl;dr:  A gritty urban fantasy set against a backdrop of parallel Londons where dark magic threatens to overtake and destroy everything, and there may be only one person who can stop it.

“Some thought magic came from the mind, others the soul, or the heart, or the will. But Kell knew it came from the blood.
     Blood was magic made manifest. There it thrived. And there it poisoned. Kell had seen what happened when power warred with the body, watched it darken in the veins of corrupted men, turning their blood from crimson to black. If red was the color of magic in balance—of harmony between power and humanity—then black was the color of magic without balance, without order, without restraint.
     As an Antari, Kell was made of both, balance and chaos; the blood in his veins, like the Isle of Red London, ran a shimmering, healthy crimson, while his right eye was the color of spilled ink, a glistening black.” 

Review:
Kell is Antari, which means he possesses special magic that allows him to pass between parallel worlds acting as courier to each of London’s different crowns. There are three Londons to which he travels: Grey, White, and Red. Grey London is the one we know with Parliament and Westminster and the Thames flowing through the city. It is a drab place with no magic, though there are those who believe it exists. White London’s river is called the Siljt and the palace is an icy fortress ruled by evil twins (literally, evil twins). In White London magic is a rare commodity, highly and viciously sought after, hoarded by those in power and taken from others at any cost. Red London has an abundance of magic and its people live in lavish luxury. It is there where Kell lives at the palace with the King, Queen and the High Prince Rhy, and is treated by others as royalty himself, though he doesn’t feel as if he truly belongs. There’s a fourth London, Black, but no one comes or goes from there anymore. When Kell journeys to White or Grey London he returns with small keepsakes and trinkets, amassing a private collection of odds and ends. Like a magpie he hoards these objects, despite Rhy’s warnings that dire consequences will come from Kell’s habit…

Lila has been surviving on her own in White London’s rough streets, stealing to stay alive and dreaming of the high seas. She wants nothing more than to be the commander of her own pirate ship, but she can barely stay afloat on land. When her path crosses Kell’s she knows there are greater adventures waiting, and she will do just about anything to be part of them.

Holland is like Kell; he can travel between the Londons and does so at the behest of White London’s rulers, Astrid and Athos Dane. Unlike Kell, Holland has little freedom even though he is Antari, and is at the mercy of the ruthless Danes who will stop at nothing to satisfy their desire for magic.

 A darker shade of magic will appeal to readers of historical fiction and political thrillers who are perhaps interested in Fantasy but aren’t quite ready to submerse themselves in a completely new world.  Though there are elements of more traditional fantasy, including a new language, the fantastical elements and the magical system are not overly complex.

 Read alikes:

• A Study in Silks by Emma Jane Holloway, (see RART review)
• A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Grey
• Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

Reviewer: Jillian Rutledge, Waverly Public Library

Review: Long Black Curl by Alex Bledsoe

Title: Long Black Curl
Author: Alex Bledsoe
Information on series: Third book in series, after “The Hum and the Shiver” and “Wisp of a Thing.”
Audience: Adult
Rating: 4
TL;DR: Exile Bo-Kate Wisby returns to Needsville, intent on uniting the Tufa and bringing them out of hiding and into the modern world. The problem? She doesn’t care how many people she has to murder in order to do it.
Longer review: This is the third book by Bledsoe set in the Tufa community of Needsville, Tennessee. The Appalachian setting brings to mind bluegrass music, the majestic isolation of mountain valleys, and shades of the feuding Hatfields & McCoys, creating the perfect atmosphere for an exiled Fairie community to take root in North American soil.
As has been slowly revealed in the previous two books, the Tufa are an Americanized splinter group of the Tuatha de Danann, cast out long ago for the sins of their leader, Rockhouse Hicks.
In the previous book, the tyrannical Hicks lost much of his former power over the community. While many of the Tufa were happy when this happened, exile Bo-Kate Wisby had reason to be the ecstatic. Rockhouse’s fall from power broke the enchantment that kept the psychopathic Bo-Kate from being able to return.
Bo-Kate is full of fury, and determined to take her revenge on the community that cast her out, stole her voice and separated her from the love of her life. She is more than willing to kill anyone who stands up to her, and leaves a trail of bodies through the community as she tries to win enough support to destroy Needsville, once and for all.

Author’s Website: http://alexbledsoe.com/

Read alikes:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Almost anything by Charles de Lint
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull

Reviewed by: Teresa Dahlgren, Waterloo Public Library

Review: Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

Title: Rosemary and Rue

Author: Seanan McGuire

Series: October Daye

Audience: Teen/Adult

Rating: 5 stars

TL;DR: October Daye, a changeling P.I., is compelled under threat of death to solve the murder of Countess Evening Winterrose.

Longer review: Half-fae private investigator October “Toby” Daye is building her life with her husband and daughter in the mortal world, when a case she is working for her liege goes south, and the bad guys turn her into a fish.

Fourteen years later, the spell has worn off and Toby has reappeared in the mortal world. Her mortal husband and daughter want nothing to do with the wife and mother who they think abandoned them, and Toby wants nothing to do with the Summerlands.

Understandably bitter, Toby is keeping her head down and just trying to readjust to life. But when Countess Evening Winterrose, one of Toby’s few friends from Fairie, is viciously murdered shortly after she calls Toby begging for help, Toby is drawn back into a world she hates.

What makes this book incredible is McGuire’s easy writing style, her well-developed characters, and the depth of her world-building. Once you sink into this book, you’ll have to be dragged out of it. Better yet, there are currently eight books in the series, with at least five more planned.

McGuire is a prolific author, with two series under her own name, and another two under her pen name Mira Grant.

Author’s Website: http://www.seananmcguire.com

Read alikes:

Marie Brennan’s Onyx Court series: Set in Elizabethan London, the first book in this series, Midnight Never Come, follows Michael Deven, a mortal courtier in Elizabeth’s court and Lune, a fairie lady sent to manipulate Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster. Although this book is set in a different time and place than McGuire’s series, there are similarities in the court politics and the interaction between the Fae and mortal worlds.

Kat Richardson’s Greywalker series: Set in Seattle, this series features P.I. Harper Blaine, who, after a near fatal accident, develops the ability to see and move through the Grey – the realm of ghosts, witches, vampires and magic. Like October Daye, Harper Blaine is a tough woman dealing with both real and otherworldly problems.

Kim Harrison’s The Hollows series: Set in a post-epidemic Cincinnati, bounty-hunter and witch Rachel Morgan must contend with elves, vampires, werewolves and demons. This series has a lighter feel than McGuire’s, and is a little faster-paced, but both series have a strong and resourceful female protagonists.

Teresa Dahlgren

Waterloo Public Library

Review: Bone and Thunder by Chris Evans

Title: Of Bone and Thunder

Author: Chris Evans

Information on series: Not part of a series

Audience: Adult

Rating (scale of 1-10): 9

TL;DR: An excellent rendition of a soldier’s eye view of war, Of Bone and Thunder places fantasy features like dragons and wizards into a setting reminiscent of the Vietnam War.

Longer review:  The Kingdom is the world’s preeminent power, but its powerful military confronts a serious challenge when they begin an occupation of Luitox.  Their enemy, the Forest Collective, is almost indistinguishable from friendly Luitoxians, and expertly melt into the jungle which blankets Luitox’s high peaks and wide, swampy river valleys.

        The action follows several narrators, from ground-pounding crossbowmen Carny and Listowk, to rag (dragon) pilot Vorly, and inexperienced thaum (wizard) Jawn.  The novel jumps between narrators, and sometimes significantly forward in time.  Through a series of interconnected episodes, the soldiers recount their experiences while trying to make sense of their part in a conflict that is too large and complicated for them to understand.  Some seek solace in thoughts of home, or by embracing religion or the patriotic rhetoric of their leaders – others turn to apathy, or to drug abuse, or begin to embrace the violent work they have been conscripted to do.

        The world of Luitox feels fascinating and deep, in part because of the obvious, and very well-executed, extended metaphor with American involvement in Vietnam.  It is rewarding to come across historical similarities that the author has taken pains to incorporate, like the racial tension amongst the Kingdom’s soldiers - here between human and dwarf rather than between white and black.  Even the fantasy elements have historical parallels, right down to the whup whup whup sound of dragon wings echoing the rotor blades of Vietnam’s helicopters.

        While there is character development, this isn’t a bildungsroman; no one grows from boyhood to manhood, or rises from humble farmer to world savior.  Further, while the book ends with some resolution for the characters, it contains neither the beginning nor the end of the conflict in Luitox as a whole. The reader’s view of the big picture is restricted to the knowledge that the characters themselves possess.  This will make Of Bone and Thunder completely unsatisfying to people looking for high fantasy, but the book is no less great for that.  Author Chris Evans has created a really intimate and harrowing look at war as seen through the eyes of a common soldier, a perspective that is almost unique in the fantasy genre, and is well worth the read.

Read alikes: The novel’s point of view meant that the first read alikes that sprang to my mind were outside of fantasy.  Here are three books with similar perspectives – the points of view of regular soldiers during war.

Seven Men of Gascony, by R. F. Delderfield:  This is a classic work of military, historical fiction, which follows seven young Frenchmen conscripted into Napoleon’s army.  Through the victories, the horror of the retreat from Russia, and the reckoning of Waterloo, the friends fight to keep each other alive.  A bit older now, the novel shows some age in the more formal-sounding language, but does a far better job than more modern authors like Bernard Cornwell in illustrating the effects of war on ordinary soldiers.

Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi:  Great military sci-fi in which a squad of geriatrics is enlisted to fight humanity’s wars amongst the stars.  Though some characters go on to do big things later in the series, in this first volume they fight for survival and their squadmates as humans try to win colonies from a myriad of strange and sometimes violent inter-stellar races.  

The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien:  Perhaps the preeminent novel of the American soldier’s experience in Vietnam.  Of Bone and Thunder doesn’t include anything similar to O'Brien's interesting musings on the role of story in life, and probably isn’t destined to be a classic, but both books see the war intimately through the eyes of soldiers on the ground, and both have an episodic feel.

If you need a read alike from within fantasy, here are some books with action that falls outside the sword and sorcery fantasy tradition even if they don’t feel quite the same.

His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik:  Very much a military fantasy, even if it is more character driven, Novik introduces dragons into Napoleonic era warfare.  Probably would be really interesting to anyone who enjoyed the dragons and action in Of Bone and Thunder.  But it is pretty evident, even in this first of a nine-volume series, that Laurence and Temeraire are destined to great things and a leading role in their world.

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan: An entertaining mix of mages and muskets.  This first book in a trilogy also follows several different warriors through their battles, and is also a bit of a change from the usual fantasy fighting conventions.  The characters involved, however, are clearly the major players in the overall story, so the feel is more like traditional fantasy.  Chris Evans, author of Of Bone and Thunder, has a trilogy (starting with A Darkness Forged in Fire) that sounds similar to McClellan’s books, but I haven’t read them, so I don’t know.

Review by: By Seth Warburton Ames Public Library

Review: Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente

 Title: Six-Gun Snow White

Author: Catherynne M. Valente

Information on series: Not part of a series

Audience: Adult, though with appeal for some older teens

Rating (scale of 1-5, with 5 being highest): 4.5

TL;DR: A violent, witty novella-length retelling of Snow White set in the Old West written with a very distinctive and lyrical narrative voice.

Longer review: My love of fairy tales brought me to the fantasy section as a child, and served as my gateway to dragons and wizards and all the rest. There is something magical about a well-written retelling that allows you to experience a familiar favorite, as if for the first time.

Catherynne M. Valente has drawn on myth and folklore in many of her award-winning novels and shorter fiction for both adults and younger readers (you might recognize her as the author of the middle-grade The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making). Valente has described her style as “mythpunk” (à la cyberpunk). Her Six-Gun Snow White is, no surprise, a retelling of Snow White set in the American Old West.

What made Valente’s retelling stand out for me was the narrative voice. It’s a distinctive, witty style with grammar and vocabulary that brought the Old West setting and characters to life. This could very easily have become a gimmick, but instead the style helped to underscore what Valente had to say about gender, race, and magic. In fact, this proved to be the sort of book where I found myself going back to reread passages and mark favorite quotes. I’ll limit myself to sharing two here:

“In my experience, folk find it nigh on impossible to call a thing what it is.” (page 10)

“You can tell a true story about your parents if you’re a damn sight good at sorting lies like laundry, but no one can tell a true story about themselves.” (page 69)

It’s a violent, bittersweet story that will appeal most to readers who look for language and style over plot and characters. A taste for dark humor would not go amiss either.

Read alikes:

Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios, & Jordie Bellaire: This graphic novel is another fairy tale set in the Old West, though it is an original tale that rather than a one-for-one retelling. The story is complex, and the artwork is often stunning.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman: Like Valente, Gaiman often draws on folklore and mythology for inspiration in his stories. The mythology in The Ocean at the End of the Lane is familiar in the way that nightmares are familiar. This is also a novella, and the writing is lyrical, though it’s a very different poetry.

Deerskin by Robin McKinley: McKinley wrote some of the first fairy tale retellings I ever read, so it’s possible I’m including this more from nostalgia than for its appeal factors. That said, Deerskin is a dark story of abuse, escape, and recovery lyrically told.

Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Title:  Red Rising

 

Author: Pierce Brown

Information on the Series:  First in a planned trilogy

Audience: Adult, with YA Crossover

Rating: (on a scale from 1-5 with 5 being the highest)  4

TL;DR:  A tale set in a bleak future society torn by class divisions follows the experiences of secret revolutionary Darrow, who after witnessing his wife's execution by an oppressive government, joins a revolutionary cell and attempts to infiltrate an elite military academy.

Longer Review:  Pierce Brown’s debut novel Red Rising has drawn comparisons to The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones.  Full disclosure, I read The Hunger Games trilogy and thought it was okay, and I never finished Game of Thrones.  After reading the book I can see similar themes and story elements in Red Rising, but I feel that the book stands on its own merits. 

Brown has created a richly detailed fantasy world that takes place in a dystopian future, on Mars.  There is a distinctive class system, based upon colors.  Darrow is a Red, the lowest class on Mars.  The twist is that Darrow doesn’t actually live on Mars, he lives in Mars.  Reds are miners, they were sent to Mars to work below the surface in an attempt to make the planet habitable for humans because Earth is dying.  This process has been going on for generations.  The majority of Reds have been kept in the dark about the fact that there is a thriving community on the surface, they still believe that what they are doing is important for the future of colonization on Mars.  The life expectancy of a Red is very short due to the dangerous nature of their jobs. As a result, Reds marry quite young.  Darrow, and his wife Eo, are teenagers, 15 or 16 years old. Through a series of events, including the execution of his wife, Darrow ends up living on the surface with a rebel organization called the Sons of Ares. This organization is determined to bring down the elite Gold ruling class by any means necessary.  Darrow is reinvented and gains admission to the Institute, an elite military academy where the Gold families send their teenagers. 

Far from a posh school where students are pampered, the Institute is brutal.  Essentially every child at the academy is fighting to survive.  In order to do so they must create alliances, betray friends, commit unspeakable acts, including killing the other students.  While this is similar to The Hunger Games, it seemed more violent.  Everything that happens at the school is manipulated by the Gold ruling elite.  Politics play a huge role, and power can change in the blink of an eye.  It will take every ounce of strength and wit for Darrow to survive. If his subterfuge is discovered, he will be killed immediately.  Even if he isn't discovered his life is constantly in danger.  Red Rising walks a fine line between YA and Adult.  While the main protagonist (and antagonists) are teenagers, what happens in the book, in terms of violence and political intrigue, is decidedly adult. 

Darrow is a sympathetic hero initially, as the book progresses and he has to make difficult decisions, he becomes less likeable. He has to survive the academy in order to infiltrate the upper echelon of the Gold class.  Along the way he loses pieces of himself and at times even he is shocked and disgusted by his behavior.  The Darrow we meet at the beginning of the book is very different from the Darrow at the end of the book, but I found myself still rooting for him to survive and succeed.  The story starts slow and the transformation of Darrow before he enters the Institute drags on a little bit too long.  Once he enters the school the story moves at a much faster pace.  If you haven’t read Red Rising yet, you are in luck.  Golden Son, the second book of the trilogy was released in January.  You won’t have to wait a year, like I did, to find out what happens after the conclusion of Red Rising.  Given the success of The Hunger Games movies, I’m sure it will come as no surprise that Red Rising has been optioned as a movie by Universal Studios. Whether the project moves beyond the “in development” stage remains to be seen. 

Why the 4-star rating?  As I said earlier, the beginning of the book is slow.  Brown also uses slight differences in language to differentiate between the classes.  At times that was confusing.  Additionally, there are so many characters introduced as the story progressed, I found it difficult to remember who was who, and why they were important. That being said, I can't wait to read Golden Son. 

Readalikes:

Wool by Hugh Howey 

In a future toxic landscape, a community that lives in an underground silo is rocked by the desire of Sheriff Holston, who has upheld the group's rules for years, to go outside, setting in motion events that kindle the fire of revolution. Like Red Rising, the protagonists in this fast-paced, dystiopian science fiction book question the authoritarian government and find out that only through bloody rebellion can they achieve a better world.

Mind Storm by K.M. Ruiz 

Centuries after an apocalyptic nuclear war, the world's survivors compete for dwindling resources as the wealthy secretly plan to depart for another planet, while soldier-slave Threnody Corwin uses her super-powers to rise against a syndicate that is murdering her fellow psions. For those interested in bleak, gritty, far-future worlds where members of the oppressed underclasses challenge the ruling elite.  

Review by: Amy Muchmore, Carnegie-Stout Public Library