book review · sci-fi

Exploring Otherworldly Tales: A Review of The Ghost Machine, Generations (in the Firefly Series), and My Best Friend’s Exorcism

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A book cover with a dark haired young woman in the background, a man with brown hair in the middle ground, and a black haired woman wearing a necklace in the foreground, with a spaceship in front.
Image retrieved from Goodreads

The Ghost Machine (Firefly) by James Lovegrove
Genre: sci-fi
I read it as a(n): hardback
Length: 336 pp
Her Grace’s rating: 3.5 stars

The crew of Serenity are hired by Badger to ship a device to a client on one of the outer worlds. Mal, though, gets a real bad feeling about it and declines to take it on board his ship. That doesn’t stop Jayne from bringing it on himself. Unfortunately for all, it is a device that attacks brainwaves, sending people into a coma-like sleep in which they have vivid hallucinations. They start out like everyone’s greatest dreams come true, but gradually change to their worst nightmare. Only River seems able to enter into the others’ visions, which she does in a desperate attempt to wake someone up before the ship crashes into a moon. 

I enjoyed this one, even though I don’t remember tons of details about it. It only took me 2 days to read. I liked it because it gave us a “what if” glimpse into what the crew’s secret desires are, though some are not hard to guess. The thing I seriously disliked was that Lovegrove seemed not to know what to do with Shepherd Book and Inara, so he shipped them off on an errand off-ship and they didn’t come back until the crisis was averted. I think he missed a great chance to fill in some of Book’s backstory in particular.

Book cover with a man in brown shirt with brown hair pointing a gun in front of him with a dark haired girl in the background
Image retrieved from Goodreads

Generations (Firefly) by Tim Lebbon
Genre: sci-fi
I read it as a(n): hardback
Length: 281 pp
Her Grace’s rating: 2.5 stars

Mal wins a strange star map in a game of poker and immediately the bad luck begins. Someone else tries to steal it and kill everyone in the process, River gets crazier because of something in the map, and there’s a Big Bad Secret that the Alliance has hidden in orbit around a far-outer planet. But, if the crew can manage to get there and back in one piece, there is a trove of historical relics worth a fortune on the black market. X marks the spot, I guess.

This one wasn’t as well developed as the previous three Firefly books. The characters seemed less complex and we didn’t really get a good view of things from River’s POV, even though she was the main protagonist in this one. Also, if I’m being honest, it was kind of slow. Not much actually happened. Probably my least favorite Firefly book so far, but I still enjoyed it because I will take Firefly in any way I can.

Book cover with a blonde girl with red eyes, owls and bats in the background, a clock tower, and 2 little girls holding hands
Image retrieved from Goodreads

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Genre: horror
I read it as a(n): audiobook
Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller
Length: 10:11:00
Her Grace’s rating: 3 stars

Abby and Gretchen are best friends and have been ever since Gretchen saved Abby’s 10th birthday party from being a total disaster. The girls are inseparable until high school when, after a weekend spent at another girlfriend’s house, Gretchen starts acting strange. She stops washing or changing her clothes, she is cruel, and she dumps Abby in favor of richer friends. Abby eventually figures out that Gretchen is possessed by a demon and sets out to help her. Of course no one believes her.

So I got this one because I thought it would be funny. I mean, the title alone kind of implies humor. Also, demon possession is fucking hilarious. There are people who actually believe it’s real. But it was really not funny. It was a straight-up horror story, which is fine. I don’t usually care for actual horror because I can’t suspend my disbelief. See above comment about people actually believing in demon possession; I am not one of them. So that’s on me for not looking into it further before I got it. 

Mainly, though, it’s a story about friendship, growing up, and changing as you grow, which is a good enough theme. 

I listened to this on audio and the narrator, Emily Woo Zeller, did a good job, as usual. She may not be on my list of very favorite narrators but she is definitely good and I wouldn’t decline to listen to a book just because she’s narrating. 

book review

Unveiling The Earthly Blaze: A Review of Alice Poon’s Kung Fu Duology

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A young Chinese woman in kung fu fighting stance facing off with a dragon
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The Earthly Blaze by Alice Poon
Genre: fantasy
I read it as a(n): digital ARC
Length: 396 pp 
Her Grace’s rating: 4 stars

In The Earthly Blaze, author Alice Poon takes up immediately after the events of the first book of this duology, The Heavenly Sword. Jumping right into the thick of it, Sai’er, who is the earthly incarnation of the goddess Chang’e, and her friends struggle against the forces of Prince Zhu Di, the earthly incarnation of the evil Sky Wolf. The fighters form a sect to network and recruit new members, resist the wicked acts of Zhu Di and his government, and hone their skills in kung fu to aid them in their battles. Along the way, bonds between the group are strained and tested in ways none of them could have foreseen. Adding in betrayals and double agents makes the entire situation all the more fraught, burdening Sai’er, Sanbao, Binhong, Yinho, and the rest of the Sect with wavering morale and uncertainty about who is friend and who is foe.

I enjoyed this book even more than The Heavenly Sword. After reading that first entry, I realized that I actually had No Clue™ about kung fu/ wuxia in general beyond having watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and some Jackie Chan films, and even less about the literary genre. So I set out to learn a few things about it and lo and behold! I was rewarded by my new understanding with an even greater appreciation for the story as a whole and for the wuxia genre specifically. 

This action-packed book was rich in Chinese culture and mythology. I loved the attention to detail throughout. Everything from broad strokes such as landscape descriptions to tiny details such as decorations on a person’s clothes were included and helped to make a vibrant backdrop for the story. It made it feel like I was immersed and part of the action. Likewise, references to various deities and myths enriched the reading experience and, in a couple places, made me go off and look up a myth or character that was previously unfamiliar to me. The worldbuilding overall is excellent, and I also really loved the politics in this. They were complex, at times even labyrinthine, and provided some good insight into the social structures in real-life in earlier times. The legends, politics, and epic martial arts sequences mix together for an explosive adventure. 

I enjoyed getting to know Sai’er better. She was very much a mother figure to the Sect members and they looked up to her. She is not perfect, though, but her flaws and uncertainties make her relatable. It was fun to see how not only Sai’er grew as a person and how her celestial identity was resolved, but also how the others fulfilled their own roles, whatever those happened to be. Everything worked itself out the way it needed to, even when we lost characters along the way or wished that something had gone differently. One sign of a good story, to me, is when an author can take readers where they may not want to go but ultimately where they need to go; Poon does that exactly right.

Finally, a small point that nevertheless made a big difference. There was a recap of book 1 at the beginning! I had read and enjoyed the first book in this duology but, as with the majority of the books I read anymore, I forget most of the things about it as soon as I finish reading. The recap was greatly appreciated and was enough to jog my memory so that I could dive right into this one.

At the end of the day, this duology is a sweeping journey through a world filled with courage, destiny, and cosmic forces colliding in an epic battle of good vs. evil. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves kung fu, Chinese mythology, or just a rip-roaring, action-packed story.

book review

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

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The spirit bares its teethThe Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew joseph White
Genre: historical fiction/fantasy
I read it as a(n): ARC
Length: 384 pp
Her Grace’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars

In White’s version of Victorian England, some people are born with violet eyes. These people can cut through the Veil, opening a portal to the realm of the spirits of the dead. Many of these violet-eyed people, called Speakers, are women who are highly sought as brides, but since this is Victorian England, they are naturally considered too mentally feeble and physically unsuited to handle being a Speaker. That’s a whole lot of bullshit right there. Female Speakers who are deemed to be unfit, or in some other way rebel against the patriarchy, are diagnosed with Veil Sickness and sent away for treatment, similarly to actual Victorian women who dared to have a mind of her own and got sent off for a nice little lobotomy. Such is the lot of Silas Bell, a trans boy railing against a society that doesn’t see his true self and being unable to attend medical school as a result. Silas is sent to Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanatorium for Girls where other wayward females are stashed away until they are “cured,” usually by forced marriage. There’s a code word for “rape” if I ever heard it. While there, Silas learns that Braxton’s has a horrific secret that the headmaster will guard at any cost.

This superlative novel speaks directly to the trauma of not being seen or valued as one’s authentic self. Even today, many of us know the rage, fear, and despair of living in a society that would see us hidden away, eliminated, and which perpetuates a very deliberate erasure of the things that hold meaning for us. White, himself a trans man, has woven a delicate web of a novel, drawing on current events and lived experience, to craft an exciting plot, complex worldbuilding, and memorable characters who readers are bound to care about deeply. Historical details such as Victorian social mores add to an already intense and vivid story.

A quick warning: there are some gory quasi-medical scenes. Maybe skim over those if you are squeamish. I’m not and felt that the gore added intensity to the plot as well as an additional layer of desperation and hopelessness that makes you want to burn everything to the fucking ground.

I recommend this with the greatest enthusiasm. Fuck the patriarchy, friends!

Weirdly, my daughter is reading White’s debut book, Hell Followed with Us, for a project in her English class. Neither of us realized we were reading the same author until we both, at the same moment, looked at each other’s books while sitting on the couch and said, “holy crap, I’m reading his other book right now!”

This review was originally published on the Historical Novels Review website, minus the swears. 

historical fiction

The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall

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Baskerville HallThe Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall by Ali Standish
Genre: historical fantasy/YA
I read it as a(n): ARC
Length: 336 pp
Her Grace’s rating: 2 out of 5 stars

The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall by Ali Standish mingles elements of the historical Arthur Conan Doyle and his most famous series, Sherlock Holmes into a steampunk-influenced adventure that’s reminiscent of a jaunt through Hogwart’s. A young Arthur Conan Doyle, living hand to mouth with his sisters, mother, and alcoholic father in Edinburgh, jumps at the chance to improve his family’s fortunes when he is offered a spot at an exclusive boarding school, Baskerville Hall. When he arrives – by airship! – Doyle settles in and quickly establishes himself as one of the most promising students currently in residence. When a series of break-ins, thefts, and threatening appearances by shadowy figures occur, events conspire to put Doyle’s education and life at risk.

This book will surely appeal to many young readers, but adult readers will wonder how the fuck Sherlock Holmes ended up in Hogwarts. At times, it felt as though the author were merely replacing names from Harry Potter with ones from Sherlock Holmes and dusting her hands off afterward. While that Potteresque aspect of the book might be forgiven since a lot of fantasy is pretty derivative anyway, it is harder to overlook the fantasy aspects as a whole. “Fantasy” isn’t usually what readers expect from anyone with the name Sherlock Holmes attached to it, so this book felt very out of alignment. The Sherlock Holmes series lends itself well to steampunk, no argument with that at all, and author Ali  Standish does a good job incorporating components of that genre into this novel. However, I was expecting a logic book. Where’s my damn logic book? In other words, it lacks the investigative style and logic that is associated with Sherlock Holmes and expected in any retelling of the great detective’s stories. 

To give credit where it is due, the story is filled with interesting and well-crafted characters. Real people such as Doyle himself mingle with his fictional characters such as Dr. Watson, creating an intriguing cast. I loved the diversity in the people the best. They’re not all homogenous and bland; they are vivid and have personalities that are deeply developed, given the relative shortness of the book and its targeted age level.

Younger readers will no doubt be thrilled with this story, but I don’t think it would appeal very much to many well-read adults.

This was originally published on the Historical Novels Review website. That review was nicer, though it said basically the same thing as here.

book review

The Prince and the Coyote

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The prince and the coyoteThe Prince and the Coyote by David Bowles
Genre: historical fiction
I read it as a(n): ARC
Length: 424 pp
Her Grace’s rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Set in 1418, pre-Columbian Mexico, a young nobleman comes of age in a time of tremendous upheaval. The Mexican national hero, Nezahualcoyotl, a dreamer and poet as well as the Crown Prince of Tetzcoco (modern Texcoco), is sent to an elite school to learn the many duties of being a royal. His world is shattered when an uprising, led in part by his illegitimate half-brother, leads to the deaths of all of Nezahualcoyotl’s family and sends Nezahualcoyotl himself into exile. Complex political strategy, military brilliance, and sheer stubborn determination to reclaim his throne keep Nezahualcoyotl going as he forges new alliances and fights for his rightful throne.

The world building in this novel was exceptional. Bowles took great pains to create a living, breathing world that appeals to modern readers. The labyrinthine politics involved in the relationships between the various city-states of Mexico at the time are fascinating. That aspect of the novel was certainly the strongest. The battle scenes, though sometimes feeling a little rushed, were exciting and detailed. Learning more about the weapons and battle tactics of this time period was intriguing and made me want to learn more. Similarly, I appreciated learning about daily life for this region and time period.

I have two minor quibbles: the book is marketed as a YA but because of the complexity of the plot, it definitely reads like an adult novel. I think a lot of younger readers would be bored with this.

Also, even though the story quickly grabbed my attention, I was almost undone by the names. While I appreciate, and usually insist upon, historical accuracy, this might be an instance where it would be acceptable to shorten some names to make this book more readable, even if that isn’t technically accurate. It would have been so much easier to read and keep straight all the characters if they were actually called Fasting Coyote or whatever the translation of their name would be. 

Overall, The Prince and the Coyote is a gripping, enjoyable epic through a period of history that the U.S. largely skips right over. Warmly recommended. 

book review

To Be Taught, If Fortunate

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To Be Taught, If Fortunate

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Genre: SF
I read it as a(n): audiobook
Narrator: Brittany Pressley
Length: 4:30:00
Her Grace’s rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

This novella tells the story of 4 astronauts who volunteered for a decades-long mission to explore other worlds. Because of the distances, travel between planets would be done by the ship so the crew could be in suspension. They don’t explore in hopes of finding a planet to terraform. Instead, each time they wake up in orbit around a new planet, they have different bodies that are adapted to the planet’s environment. They send their research home to Earth, which changes drastically in between their sleep cycles, even though to the crew, they only left a few months ago.

So this was the first anything I ever read by Becky Chambers. I fucking loved it. One of my coworkers said that I needed to read Chambers’ debut novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I have actually had it sitting on my shelf for a few years and have gotten around to it yet. To Be Taught…was a book club selection and I’m really glad it was. It will be the impetus I needed to finally read Chambers’ other books. 

I thought that altering the humans’ bodies to fit the planet rather than the other way around was a cool idea. I would think it would be so much easier to do that than to terraform a whole planet just for 4 people. 

The worldbuilding, history, and character development were all phenomenal, especially considering that this was such a short book. I listened to the audio version which was only 4.5 hours; the print version is 153 pages. The crew were all diverse and had a distinct voice within the story. I thought it was all very nicely done.

I also loved the title. It is a quote from NASA’s Golden Record, the recordings from Earth that were sent out with the Voyager 1 and 2 space probes. Specifically, it is from the then-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim, who wrote, “We step out of our Solar System into the Universe, seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of this immense Universe that surrounds us, and it is with humility and hope that we take this step.” I can hardly even write the words down without tearing up. Look what we can do when we put aside petty irrelevancies like religion, skin color, sex, or geographic boundaries. Imagine what we could do if we eliminated all these superficial limitations and really became a true global society.

Cosmic Cliff of the Carina Nebula (JWST)

book review

Horrid

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913zauwpqyl._sl1500_Horrid by Katrina Leno
Genre: horror
I read it as a(n): hardback
Length: 326 pp
Her Grace’s rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Seventeen-year-old Jane North-Robinson and her mother Ruth have to move to Ruth’s hometown in Maine after the death of Jane’s father. Jane didn’t even know there was a house in Maine for them to live in, but considering how her dad managed to lose all their money before he died, she is grateful enough that her mother inherited it, even though it meant leaving her own hometown of LA. When they arrive, though, the house is in shambles. Fixing it up takes a little time but it’s coming along and Jane is prepared to do hard work to help. What Jane isn’t prepared for is the fact that the house seems to be haunted.

This was an unfortunate case where the title describes the novel as a whole.

This book was a pretty typical haunted house type of story – old, crumbling house, ghosties, dark New England atmosphere, and a whole town who knows the deep, dark family secret that Jane’s mother won’t tell her. It was minimally creepy in parts but overall it was fairly predictable. The idea of the novel was interesting but the execution of it wasn’t the greatest. I think my biggest issue is that allllll of the characters were catastrophically underdeveloped and they all slid right into your typical YA cliches. 

I’m not sorry I read it or anything. I just had higher expectations and found it to be quite dull. That was particularly disappointing because I had high hopes based on that absolutely gorgeous cover! Yes, I judge books by their covers. This one was amazing and so I thought the story should have corresponded to that.  Alas. 

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Catch-up reviews

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Romeo + JulietRomeo and Juliet by David Hewson
Genre: Historical fiction
I read it as a(n): audiobook
Narrator: Richard Armitage
Length: 11:05:00
Her Grace’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Hewson took the Bard’s play and turned it into a narrative historical fiction. I loved the touches of actual history, such as talking about the Borgia Pope or the occasional outbreak of bubonic plague. Beginning with this story, or reading it in tandem with the play, would make it so much more fun for high school students just learning about Shakespeare. That, and let them swear all they want if they use only Shakespearean swears. 

I listened to this as an audiobook and now I would listen to Richard Armitage read the phone book if that was all that was available. 

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Genre: SF
I read it as a(n): audiobook
Narrator: Mary Robinette Kowal and Will Damron
Length: 30:00:00
Her Grace’s rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I really wanted to love this book but I only mostly liked it. I really enjoyed the first three-quarters or so of it. All the parts where they were figuring out the logistics of getting as many people off Earth as they could before the Hard Rain began. I liked the complexities of the politics and the more sciency aspects of the story. Once the plot jumped ahead in time, though, I lost interest. I didn’t like the characters as much then and felt that ending the novel before the time jump would have made it ambiguous and generally better.

The Invisible HourThe Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman
Genre: magical realism
I read it as a(n): hardback
Length: 252 pp
Her Grace’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars


Alice Hoffman does it again – a magical and lyrical story about a woman just trying to do the best she can for her child. Problem is, she gets sucked into a cult, which is not good for anyone. Her daughter takes stock of the life she leads and makes her own decisions from there. It is full of Hoffman’s typical atmosphere of magic hovering just at the edge of your vision. I loved it so much.

A Stitch in Time by Andrew Robinson
Genre: SF/ Star Trek DS9
I read it as a(n): audiobook
Narrator: Andrew Robinson
Length: 12:28:00
Her Grace’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This may very well be a perfect audiobook. Andrew Robinson, who authored and narrated this, also played Garak. So having him be Garak while reading Garak’s story to us is just *chef’s kiss* to this Trekkie. 

Screenshot 2023-10-16 160640

Second Self by Una McCormack
Genre: SF/ Star Trek Picard
I read it as a(n): hardback
Length: 305 pp
Her Grace’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars


Another terrific story and it happened also to feature Garak. I didn’t realize when I started reading it that he was in this one. So I accidentally had a Garak readalong of some kind. This one was a wonderful insight into Raffi’s character. I liked the dual timeline and how it resolved at the end, though McCormack went and killed one of the best characters in the book and that made me sad.  

Girls and Their Horses by Eliza Jane Brazier
Genre: contemporary/mystery
I read it as a(n): hardback
Length: 400 pp
Her Grace’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars


Toxic horse rich person environment on full display! I burned through this book – I am an adult lady who loves horses and horse books – but even if it wasn’t about horses, the writing style made it imminently readable. I enjoyed the mystery, lowly finding out who the dead person was in the barn and who killed them. I figured that all out before the end, though whodunnit was easier to figure than whohaditduntothem. 

Mercy Rule by Tom Leveen
Genre: YA
I read it as a(n): hardback
Length: 436 pp
Her Grace’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars

When I first bought this book, I had thought it was a horror since the other books my Tom Leveen I’ve read were horror. So I was a bit confused at first. But it didn’t matter because this is one of the best, most anxiety-making books I read this year. Told from multiple points of view, it is the events and wind-up to a school shooting. Every character was unique and well-crafted – they were all individual people, not one of whom was a blank or someone you could confuse with another. I liked most of them, except a couple that maybe you weren’t supposed to, and one in particular was my very favorite. Heartbreaking book, but a very necessary story to read. 

book review · historical fiction

Daughter of Black Lake

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daughter of black lake

Daughter of Black Lake by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Genre: historical fiction

I read it as a(n): hardback

Length: 320 pp

Her Grace’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Set in the 1st century CE, Daughter of Black Lake centers on a small village to the northwest of Londinium. The Roman invasion is in process, though the villagers don’t really seem to care much. Most see it as an opportunity to make some money by trading with a nearby outpost town. When an unhinged Druid, Fox, comes along, trying to incite the tribesmen to band together and rise against the Romans, things get dangerous. One woman, Devout, and her daughter, Hobble, find themselves in the middle of a power struggle between the Druid and the leader of the village, in part because of Hobble’s ability to See the future. Devout, though, also has secrets of her own that may destroy the peace of the village and doom Fox and the rest of the Druids’ plans to overthrow the perceived shackles of their oppressors. 

At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book. It felt like a lot of not much was happening. But the characters were deeply developed and I got invested in their stories. Then Fox came along and I wanted to see what would happen with him. He was a hateful character, which was weird for me since I usually really like Druid characters. Of course, the Druid figures in other stories I’ve read were more like Merlin or Gandalf, so naturally I would like them. Fox, not so much. He was a fundy zealous dick. 

I liked Hobble a great deal. She was a healer, like her mother, and had vast knowledge for such a young girl. I cared less about her ability to see the future, especially since it was never really explained why she had the ability. Fox wanted to use her ability to help rally the tribes to the Druids’ cause and go to the aid of the Iceni queen, Boudicca, but Hobble couldn’t do that. She could see that the Romans were going to kick their asses. And historically, they did. Boudicca came damn close to winning but in the end, she didn’t. 

I really liked the writing style. It was almost dream-like. It felt similar to The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro, but I didn’t care for that story and I did like Daughter of Black Lake. Maybe comparing it to The Mists of Avalon would be more accurate. At any rate, I really liked this one. It’s certainly making my favorite books of 2023 list. 

book review

Catch-Up Post

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the impossible fortress

The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak

Genre: YA / 1980s nostalgia-fest

I read it as a(n): hardback

Length: 285 pp

Her Grace’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars

On a quest to boost one of the Vanna White Playboys from the local convenience store, Billy, computer and gaming nerd extraordinaire, meets Mary, who kicks his ass at programming. Over the course of a few months, they bond over their desire to program a video game to enter into a contest, hoping for the chance to win the badass new computer that the first-place winner will get, which puts even Mary’s Commodore 64 to shame. And Billy discovers that, despite getting teased by his friends for Mary being overweight, Mary is awesome and he really likes her.

An homage to the 80s, this YA novel explores the friendships made in our teens, revisits the excitement we all felt when the first video games were coming out, and generally made me miss being a kid for a minute. 

 

the wife upstairs

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins 

Genre: mystery

I read it as a(n): hardback

Length: pp

Her Grace’s rating: 3 out of 5 stars

A contemporary retelling of Jane Eyre, only made into a murder mystery, with a different ending, and not one really likeable character. There wasn’t a lot of surprise to this one and although I didn’t hate it, it was a solid meh for me. 

 

the year of less

The Year of Less by Cait Flanders

Genre: nonfiction/lifestyle

I read it as a(n): paperback

Length: 189 pp

Her Grace’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A book on one woman’s year of embracing minimalism, mostly through not buying anything she doesn’t actually need. What works for one person may not be for another, but I enjoyed reading about her experiences and picking up a few new tips along the way. I will be implementing some of those tips into my own evolving minimalism practice.