Tag: LGBTQ+ Literature

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

Posted on August 12, 2025 by - Book Review

I adore Ms. Schwab’s writing, and she has proven to surprise me again and again with her ability to shift gears, and styles, with each release. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is no different.

Queer vampire stories are definitely not new, but Ms. Schwab introduces some new twists that make this novel incredibly enjoyable.

Yes, some folks might get fatigued with all of the time and storyline jumping, but I think it is used masterfully as a story driving device. As we float through time with María, then Sabine, Charlotte, and Alice, we learn the history of how each of their lives was deeply affected before their change.

One thing that I really enjoyed was the way the destinies of these three women unfurled before them, and how their choices and actions molded who they, ultimately, became, and how it really impacted each of the other main characters.

The historical whirlwind was pretty interesting to watch unfold, and Ms. Schwab’s writing style really lends itself to that sort of depth. We’ve seen her masterful world building in her various other novels, so working with a semi-realistic backdrop of modern history was an interesting change.

Overall, I thought it was a very beautifully written book that I devoured quite quickly. Watching the personalities of the characters change was a fascinating exercise in how their sense of humanity drastically changed through each level of adversity. Old fans of Ms. Schwab are going to love it, and I think new fans will be intrigued to dive into more of her back catalog (which I highly recommend).

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

Posted on July 2, 2025 by - Book Review

It’s taken me quite a while to sit down and put my thoughts to electrons on this one. Yeah, I liked it a lot, but Big Swiss is a very very heavy book to digest.

Greta, I guess we will call her the protagonist of this novel, is a quintessential fuckup living with her similarly odd friend, Sabine, in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York.

Because she hasn’t really done anything with her life, Greta lied her way into a job transcribing sessions for Om, another odd character who is a sex coach in Hudson.

Through these transcriptions, Greta becomes infatuated with one of Om’s clients who Greta nicknames “Big Swiss.” For the first part of the book, we learn that Big Swiss is married, a gynecologist, and has never had an orgasm.

Quite on accident, Greta discovers who Big Swiss actually is after recognizing her voice on a chance encounter. Definitely throwing all semblance of ethics aside, Greta then uses the confidential knowledge she has of Big Swiss to formulate a relationship with her that, eventually, turns sexual.

Yeah, like I said, it’s a lot.

Ms. Beagin really nails this one. It’s dark, it’s very mysterious, and there is a lot of tension and conflict that is scandalously entertaining to read. There are not really any likable characters in this novel, and that is what makes it amazing. The dynamic between Greta and just about everyone is absolutely ridiculous. This is a middle-aged woman who probably has never really been herself, and seems to be a wrecking ball through the lives of those around her.

One of the things about Big Swiss that I enjoy very much is how Ms. Beagin approaches language and phrasing. It can be odd, and awkward, but perfectly on point.

Needless to say, I think there are two camps of folks who have read Big Swiss: those, like me, who love the uncomfortableness of it, and those who absolutely hate it.

I say give it a go and see which camp you fall into. Oh, and I’m not even going to go into the insect themes this novel seems to lean on heavily.

Echoes of the Imperium (Tales of the Iron Rose #1) by Nicholas & Olivia Atwater

Posted on March 4, 2025 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review **

It’s the end of the year, and I’m looking for something amusing and Fantasy to pick up to get me into the first bit of 2025. I was perusing synopses, and one caught my eye: pirate goblin with a ragtag group of swashbuckling/steampunk adventurers.

Yeah, I was hooked.

The engaging thing about Echoes of the Imperium is that it hit the ground running and spalled off lore, history, world-building and character development while we were in the throes of getting this adventure going.

William Blair is a goblin who went from being a lowly young cabin boy to the captain of his own airship: the Iron Rose. Wil, and his very eclectic crew have a very unique history and are attempting their best at trying to eke out a living in a post-Imperium world that isn’t always the most sympathetic to their cause.

Wil’s closest friends, and confidants, however, are his ever-supporting crew, and they will do just about anything for their captain.

The real adventure in Echoes of the Imperium kicks of in a two-fold action that gets the Iron Rose in a bit of a pickle. First, Wil agrees to deliver a “no questions asked” shipment of “something,” while, at the same time, takes on a mysterious passenger who seems to need to be getting out of town rather quickly: Miss Hawkins.

Oh, this is very important to know going into this. This world revolves around subservience and worship of the Seelie Fae. That little twist really carries a lot of weight on the history of this realm, as well as to the impending future of survival and conflict.

I’ll cut right to it: I loved this book. The characters were all beautifully developed, and a lot very likable. There were sufficient flaws that helped drive the story along while not being the typical cliches that often get thrown into High Fantasy. The dialogue is very diverse, and random enough to build a nice, tightly woven, story with an excellent variety.

To me, the characters were very autonomous. I never felt that I was on a predestined path, aside from the few parts that were actually intended to be that way.

Echoes of the Imperium is, already, one of my top reads of 2025. I cannot wait for the continued adventures of the Iron Rose, and I’m really dying to see what kind of pickles Wil and his crew can get into going forward.

The epilogue, alone, set the state for much more sinister things rising up in the future. I’m here for it.

Onyx Storm (The Empyrean #3) by Rebecca Yarros

Posted on February 4, 2025 by - Book Review

I’m just going to cut straight to the meat of this. I loved this book, and think it’s the best, so far, of The Empyrean series. I know there are a lot of “hot sports opinions” out there about this book, but that does nothing to diminish the collective impact this story, and this series, have had on readers and booksellers.

Does. Ms. Yarros write “important” literature in the series? Absolutely not. What it is, however, is fun as hell. The tropes and situations are all familiar, but it’s that cozy kind of familiar that leaves the reader fulfilled while not flexing the little grey cells too much. Granted, Onyx Storm, more than the other two, generates quite the flurry of conspiracies and fan theories in its wake. Yes, I have my theories, but I’m not even about to put those in writing on a book that came out two weeks ago, and is still flying off shelves so fast that sellers can’t keep it in stock.

Seeing all three books in the first, second, and third slot on the New York Times Best Sellers list is a force to be reckoned with.

What I do want to talk about a bit is the larger impact of Onyx Storm (or as we call it in my circles: The Dragon Book, Black Dragon Surprise, Dragon-palooza, and many more even more silly).

Ms. Yarros is getting people to read and talk about this. From some circles of readers I’m hearing there is too much war, and not enough sex, and from other circles quite the opposite. What is still happening, though, is that they are reading these books and talking about them. Outside of the weird fandom circles I tend to find myself in, I’ve only really seen that happen about a couple of books/series over the past few years. First of those are the Sarah J. Maas books that seemed to bring all of the Romantasy folks out of the woodwork. If you’ve got a few hours, I’m happy to regale you with how much I dislike those books, and dislike how they still occupy headspace with me, but that’s another discussion. Second have been the Murderbot books by Martha Wells. If you haven’t read them, get on that right now. The third have been Travis Baldree’s Legend & Lattes books. All three of these series (I guess four I am now including the dragons) are so incredibly different, but they are having an impact that I can’t help but enjoy.

Because of this visibility, I now have friends, I had no idea were readers, asking for my recommendations and what I’ve liked over the past couple of years. I’m seeing folks who have been pretty regular in their genre selections branch out and try new things because others around them are talking about it. That kind of behavior is win-win for everyone.

Circling back to Onyx Storm, it’s been very interesting to see how it’s been received, and how it’s being talked about. This book definitely expanded the worldbuilding in a major way, and really pushed emotional limits. Yeah, the Violet/Xaden thing is the main course, but my favorite parts of the series, and especially this book, have been the growth and utilization of the secondary characters. Without Ridoc, for example, this book would probably fall a little flat. Same with the expansion of Aaric’s character.

Yes, there are, allegedly, two more books left in this series, and a million conspiracies floating out around the web as to where we are going next. Hell, Ms. Yarros, herself, said that she hasn’t even started blocking the story yet. Is that frustrating, yes, but just imagine how incredible the community buzz will be when we get our next fix.

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Posted on December 30, 2024 by - Book Review

Imagine eating a book, map, magazine, etc. and being able to retain the information in it? Imagine also that you are part of a not quite human society ruled by rather draconian patriarchs, and daughters are basically passed off to other bookeater families to ensure their lines continue.

Oh, but there’s a twist. Not all children born are book eaters. Some come out as mind eaters: which is a source of great shame for The Family.

This is the premise of Ms. Dean’s The Book Eaters. We follow the story of Devon, a young woman who is desperately trying to find some resolution to sticky situation of having a mind eater child, and has escaped The Family.

I’m not sure who recommended this marvelously dark novel to me, but I loved it. There is oodles of intrigue, espionage, and a fair amount of unbridled panic, as Devon tries to find a hidden family that could have the Redemption she needs to help her son.

One of my favorite things about this novel was Ms. Dean’s use of flashbacks to help flesh out Devon’s education and situation. Through this, we learn that what has been accepted as the history of record regarding certain events definitely isn’t.

While she is a wild and unruly character, it is very easy to sympathize with Devon. She is definitely a victim of her own circumstances, and, honestly, not very likable throughout most of the story, but does develop a sideways sort of redemption when everything goes down towards the end.

I would definitely love to read another novel set in this particular universe.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers

Posted on July 15, 2024 by - Book Review

Typically I kick off my book reviews with a quick synopsis of the plot, the major characters, and a teaser into what to expect. This book, much like the others that Ms. Chambers has written, is different.

As someone who reads a whole hell of a lot of hard sci-fi as well as (probably) too much grimdark, there arises the need, sometimes, for palette cleansers: books that have impact, but don’t really provide a lot of stress on the reader while also remaining incredibly engaging. Kudos to Ms. Chambers for being a master of the genre.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet starts out the story of Rosemary Harper. She’s a tad wrapped in intrigue, and, seemingly, attempting to escape a life into a new one of semi-anonymity. She joins the crew of the Wayfarer and gets thrown into a wildly unique, but calm group of crew members who also seem to operate as a defacto family while crazily boring wormholes through space to link distant planets to the galactic core.

Yes, all of the characters in this book are incredibly important, but I feel like it would be a disservice to the readers of this review to take away the small joy of being introduced to each one.

The thing I found most interesting about this book was the way each crew member deals with stressful situations and/or conflict. There are definitely some interesting quandaries in this book, and some very unique philosophies, politics, and moralities in play.

This is wildly simplistic, but I saw each little roadblock as a guided meditation. Every snapshot was going to have a nice little wrap-up, and a lesson learned. It’s just refreshing.

Now I’m on to book two in the series, and wondering if I maybe should space these out a bit to maximize the soothing effect.

The Atlas Complex (The Atlas #3) by Olivie Blake

Posted on April 29, 2024 by - Book Review

I really really don’t know what to think of this one. On one hand, the way this, highly anticipated, series-ender wraps up is annoying as all hell, but on the other hand, it is probably one of the most realistic resolutions to such a fantastic series of untenable situations I have read in a very long time.

Let’s go back to the beginning of the story to summarize how we arrive at The Atlas Complex.

Atlas Blakely is the caretaker of an elite organization known as the Alexandrian Society. Under his care, six of the most talented and hardcore magical academicians in the world are brought in to be considered for initiation. During this time (through The Atlas Six and The Atlas Paradox), alliances are formed, broken, re-formed, and severely tested. Secrets come out related to each of the six (and a few more), and more and more information is discovered about the Alexandrian Society as a whole.

Shit gets really real, and every indicator generally points towards a significant denouement in book three.

Well, here we are at book three and the story starts to twist and turn into something that seems right in alignment with what the reader had been expecting from the previous two books: and then just flat out fizzles.

Like I said at the beginning, this could either be the most intentional setup for reflecting the actual nature of humanity in that nothing really happens given the extreme situations our characters are put in, or it could have just been a happy accident due to a plot that spiraled out of focus.

I have all respect for Ms. Blake’s ability to world-build and weave together multiple story lines, so I really didn’t see myself coming to the end of this series really not giving a damn about what was going to happen to any of characters. And I mean any of them. There are “mysterious” disappearances that seem like convenient rugs to sweep inconsistencies under, and there is a general apathy writ large, that makes me really want to re-evaluate my feelings about the previous two books.

There was a ton of potential energy built up in the first two-thirds of this massive story that I waited to be converted to kinetic, but it just didn’t ever happen. The balloon deflated in a sad “poof” and the reader was left holding a dead piece of limp rubber.

Yes, I definitely needed to read this book to get some closure on some dynamic characters I’ve enjoyed over the past couple of years, but I really really wish they’d been given the opportunity to make a better choice than the seemingly overwhelming “I don’t care.” that trended in the last parts of the book.

Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1) by Rebecca Yarros

Posted on March 1, 2024 by - Book Review

Well, I finally caved in and read the dragon book everyone has been raving about for the past year. I fought picking it up because I find a large portion of what is pitched as “romantasy” just awful to read. This book was so hyped by my reader friends who fawn over Sarah J. Maas’ stuff, so it was definitely near the top of my “just not going to ever get there” list.

Then I started hearing from some other reader friends of mine that it was a book that I would definitely enjoy, and very much of the ilk of some of my other favorite authors. Cue the torment.

Soooo, I broke down and gave it a go.

Let’s be real about Fourth Wing. By and large it has an overarching plot that telescopes itself like crazy from the first few chapters. It hits the standard YA-ish tropes of rivals to lovers and “bad boy with a heart of gold” pretty damn hard, but it’s a really really really fun read. Ms. Yarros really knows how to flesh out very likable, and very hateable characters with ease, and she’s really not afraid of throwing weakness out there and exploiting it.

Violet’s journey at Basgiath War College to become a rider is definitely a rollercoaster with more than a smattering of death and destruction. I started getting some Pierce Brown PTSD because of the ease at which Ms. Yarros kills of characters: some expected, some unexpected.

In addition to the harrowing journey that Violet is taking to become a rider, there is a larger political storm that is brewing in this book. There are subtle hints that facts are being hidden or redacted, and that there is a bigger issue getting ready to rear its head. That’s the depth of writing that keeps me absolutely sucked in.

So yes, I’m now a Fourth Wing fan, and I jumped right in to Iron Flame, so expect my thoughts on that one soon. If anything, I just want to learn why Ms. Yarros loves using “subluxated” so damn much.

We Are the Crisis (Convergence Saga #2) by Cadwell Turnbull

Posted on February 28, 2024 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review **

I’ve been waiting for this book for a long while. No Gods, No Monsters took up a lot of my headspace, and I really needed Mr. Turnbull to move some of these characters along for the sake of my sanity.

I was not disappointed in the slightest.

The thing about Mr. Turnbull’s writing, especially in this Convergence Saga is that you can’t help but get very very invested while also being completely lost as to where you are, and who you are dealing with.

Continuing on a couple of years after No Gods, No Monsters, We Are the Crisis continues with how the world is reacting to the revelations of the “Boston incident.” Monsters are now known to the general public, but there is a massive political debate over what rights monsters should have (if any), and a human-supremacist group, Black Hand, is committing more and more atrocities against monsters and monster supporters.

On the flip side, there is a pro-monster activist group, New Era, who is working to build a cooperative network between monsters and humans, but there is also an even more esoteric bit of subversion going in within New Era perpetuated by the cosmic elements we were introduced to in No Gods, No Monsters.

All of the tensions from all sides — and there are a lot of sides — seem to be pressing together into a Gordian knot situation that seems both hopeful and hopeless at the same time.

Much like the previous book, We Are the Crisis is one that is going to require re-reading and analysis to fully follow what is going on. While it is very complex, it is amazingly entertaining. I read almost three quarters of it in one sitting: it’s that captivating.

This series is very important in regards to how it approaches civil rights, and the concepts of autonomy and free will. Mr. Turnbull deftly glides between story lines and locations while building up a slow pressure that comes to a head in a way that, while everyone saw coming, nobody expected.

The Midnight Kingdom (The Dark Gods #2) by Tara Sim

Posted on January 12, 2024 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review **

I wanted to love this book so much. The City of Dusk was an amazing read that really set the scene and executed superbly. The Midnight Kingdom, though, not so much. The world building continued to be amazing, but the readers are really torn in different directions with the spread out story. Just when I would get engaged with one of the arcs, the perspective would change to another character arc, and I’d have to build up the momentum again.

For those who can just sit down and consume a book in a few days, this is probably a good read for you. Honestly, I ended up having to take written notes, and that’s just not very conducive to an enjoyable read.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.