Book Review: Leave No Trace | Randee Dawn

Leave No Trace by Randee Dawn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lexi has been living in the mountains for the past decade, taken there by her father, who is paranoid about the "sickness" in the world "Outside". Unbeknownst, to him, Lexi has that sickness he's trying to avoid -- she can do magic.
Outside, TJ Furey is an upcoming popstar who mesmerises his audience with his voice. To escape the paparazzi, TJ convinces his manager Tony that he wants to head into the mountains and shoot a bear.
And when city boys go into the mountains to do country boy things, you can bet that things go horribly, horribly wrong.

I'm kinda a little torn about this one. If you've read The Only Song Worth Singing, you'll get vibes of that in the sections with TJ and Stef. It's set in the same world, after all. There's that music magic, what I think are allusions to Ciaran, Mal, and Patrick, the appearance of the various fae, and, of course, the Green Place. But this book tells of a great war between humans and the fae, and how the Green Place is slowly shrinking and dying. I loved those bits.

The bits I didn't really like - and I think this is mostly due to the voice - is Lexi's parts. Which is terrible, because she's one of the main protagonists. She just kinda... annoyed me, and it was hard to gloss that over because her sections were written in first person. So like, 100% in her voice.

My conclusion, overall is that I still love The Green Place and what Dawn is doing with Irish mythology in modern, urban settings, but this one was a little too... rural for me. (I am, unfortunately, a very city girl).

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Caezik SF & Fantasy via Edelweiss. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

  

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Book Review: The Unrepentant: Short Stories | Sharmini Aphrodite

The Unrepentant: Short Stories by Sharmini Aphrodite


I'm reluctant to put a star rating on this one. The stories are tight, hard-hitting. They speak volumes of the era, revealing unspoken biases and grudges that have been passed down through generations, a peek into what the silent minorities in our midst have experienced and continue to experience. These are things young Malaysians should read to understand our histories, where we come from.

Yet, I find myself drifting halfway through the collection. I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, especially around World War 2, and whilst this sort of circumvents my feelings about that specific era, at some point, the stories start to feel seem too similar. Sharmini seems to loop round several times - I can't tell if the stories refer to the same unnamed rebel (insurrectionist?), from different perspectives in different eras - or if it's a different person but with similar histories. I'm a noblebright kind of reader myself; I want a bit more hope in my stories than appear here.

And there are a lot of dark pain points in these tales - The Unrepentant: Short Stories is a visceral exploration of generational loss and sacrifice as well as Malaysia's struggle for independence. History is told by the victors, but in this collection, Sharmini shows us other perspectives and how everyone then, despite their differences in approach and clashing ideologies, were still working towards the same goal: Independence for Malaya.

Stories of note:
The Light of God is a great opening story, capturing me right from the start.
One Hundred Perumals is the voice of a people crying out for justice. There's a mythological feel to this, a creation of a hero of folklore, creating a beacon in the dark.
Atlantic City is an interesting exploration of voice, but with all the hedging going on as the POV character speaks around the main issue, whatever it is, it feels like the core of the story is lost. (It's explained in the Author's Note)
Kamus I like primarily because of its focus on language and intercultural marriages - what it means to marry out of your race, especially when one is a Malay and prescriptively Muslim. This is a uniquely Malaysian problem. How do you choose between your community and the one you love? It's a lose-lose situation, no matter what you decide.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Gaudy Boy via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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The Unrepentant: Short Stories releases on 1 November 2025. Preorder your copy here. (Amazon affiliate link)

Book Review: The Last Tiger | Julia Riew and Brad Riew

The Last Tiger by Julia Riew
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I picked this up because a) it was really pretty and b) it was inspired by true stories from Korean history.

In a classic rich girl falls in love with poor boy story, Choi Eunji and Lee Seung face not just class prejudice, but also racial discrimination - both from within and without. Whilst both of them are Tigers, the rich Choi family are considered race traitors/collaborators for sucking up to the Dragon administration to preserve their family wealth and power.

The POV switches between Eunji and Seung, which provides a well-rounded background to what both of them are facing and the obstacles they have to overcome. From Seung, we understand the struggle to survive - and the hope for a better future - only to be beaten down again and again by circumstances and those in power. From Eunji, we learn that even the rich can be powerless when everything they have is beholden to another party. Her life may seem like a fairy tale to others, but we soon see that one misstep by her father - or her - could end in not just a fall from favour, but death.

Kenzo Kobayashi is an annoyance, and I couldn't quite figure him out. He switched from helping Eunji to betraying her to double-crossing the Dragons so seamlessly, all coloured by Eunji's dislike of him, that it was difficult to pinpoint what exactly about him annoyed me.

I think my one criticism of the book is that at random times, often in speech, they seem to lapse into a kind of modern (teen?) slang which feels a little out of place with the setting. Still, since this is a YA book, maybe that was meant to resonate better with its intended audience.

All in all, I enjoyed reading The Last Tiger.

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Book Review: Elsewhere | Gabrielle Zevin

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Liz Hall gets hit by a car, dies, and goes to Elsewhere, where she is supposed to age backwards until she is born again.

Elsewhere is mostly about coming to terms with death and grief. Liz grieves for the things she will never experience in life: turning sixteen, prom, falling in love, learning to drive - all the things one associates with adulthood. The themes may seem heavy, but the writing itself is light, dealing with Liz's denial and anger in ways that aren't too over-the-top and yet full of teenage angst. I mean, how else do you accept you're dead when you wake up on a ship with no memory of what happened?

But as Liz soon finds out, she can still have most of those longed-for experiences in Elsewhere, once she lets go of her past life on Earth. It won't be exactly the same, but living is what you make of it, no matter where you are. She even gets more than she bargained for, with heartbreak thrown into the mix!

There's no twist ending to this. You know from the start that when Liz ages down young enough, her story in Elsewhere will end, rather like another death, but culminating in a new birth.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Farrar, Straus and Giroux via Edelweiss. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Book Review: Writers of the Future, Volume 41

L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 41 by L. Ron Hubbard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another great anthology of upcoming SFF writers and illustrators!
I enjoyed all the stories in this one, though nothing really stood out to me this round.

Quite a few focused on time travel and time skips - and heavier on the scifi - which could be a reason why. "Storm Damage" by T.R. Naus was easy enough to follow but "Blackbird Stone" by Ian Keith, however, kind of did me in. lol.

Peeling back genre trappings, each story seems to be interrogating human behaviour. "Storm Damage" tests if the keeper of time travel will be able to put public good and the safety of the world above personal glory. "Ascii" by Randyn C.J. Bartholomew considers whether killing one man to save the future is justified. "Karma Birds" by Lauren McGuire envisions a dystopic world where violence is met with instant karma, whilst "The Rune Witch" by Jefferson Snow has Jindei standing alone between the villagers and the demon Shijai.

If I were to pick my top three stories, I think the ones that I enjoyed the most were "The Stench of Freedom" (Joel C. Scoberg), "The Rune Witch (Jefferson Snow), and "A World of Repetitions" (Seth Atwater Jr.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Galaxy Press via Edelweiss. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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The Absolution Series is in the Beloved SFF Sale!

So sometime last year, C.O. Bonham nominated Amok for the Beloved SFF Sale... I didn't get to participate then because I wasn't reading my comments (whoops), but Noor reached out to me to ask if I'd like to join them this year! 

There are over 100+ recommended books on sale, each with a recommendation by someone who loved it! It also includes over 50 additional books, including sequels (or complete series) that are also on sale. Many of these are also available wide or as KU books. 

SO.

Amok is on sale at 99 cents (or whatever the equivalent it is in your currency) on KDP and whatever platforms that go through D2D - PLUS the other two books in the series are on sale at $2.99!

So that's the whole series for like $7, as the Amazon Series page tells me. Ain't that a steal?

The sale runs from 7 to 11 August 2025, so go CHECK OUT ALL THE BOOKS AT THE BELOVED SFF SALE!

(And get mine too, if you were waiting for that discount!)

P/S Have you signed up for my newsletter to get your free ebook yet? 

Book review: The Killer Question | Janice Hallett

The Killer Question by Janice Hallett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Picked up this ARC from Edelweiss because I loved The Christmas Appeal. The Killer Question is written in a similar format - through emails, texts, police transcripts, and so on - so knowing what to expect made it easier to orient to the book. I do think that the underlying premise/framing of this one - Dominic Eastwood trying to pitch the bizarre story of his aunt & uncle and their pub to Netflix - made a lot more sense than a KC sending notes from a cold case to his ex-students to solve.

Sue and Mal Eastwood run a rural pub called The Case is Altered, and their one big draw is the weekly quiz nights, that Mal sets himself. Then a body is found in the nearby river, and a new team starts winning all the quizzes all the time. Tensions start running high - more for the quiz than the dead body. At the same time, Dominic includes transcripts of a police operation Sue and Mal were caught up in before their retirement, with the implication that both events are closely realted.

It's a bit slow in the beginning as you get to know Sue and Mal and the various quizzers at this quaint little pub, but snowballs (avalanches?) from the mid onwards to the end as secrets are revealed. Had some suspicions about what was going on at The Case is Altered, but did not expect that final twist!

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Atria Books via Edelweiss. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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