Book Review: The Diamond Device | M.H. Thaung

The Diamond Device by M.H. Thaung
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Picked this up free at Glasgow 2024.

The Diamond Device is a fun steampunk adventure? Mystery? thingamabob. Genre definitions are hard. There are British class vibes (impoverished lord trying to pretend he's doing fine, his last household servant is more loyal to him and his family than to her own friends), cosy mystery vibes (neither Alf Wilson nor Richard Hayes are detectives, and yet they must help the police solve this mystery without creating an international disaster), and all round fun shenanigans.

Alf Wilson is pulled into a lot of things he doesn't want to do out of a sense of duty and honour, and overwhelming concern for his sister and mother. Lord Richard Hayes is desperately trying to find enough money to pay his property taxes whilst pretending that everything is fine! And obviously getting a job is not going to cut it, just because of his title. It makes for a very interesting pairing as they both try to navigate each other's foibles.

The Diamond Device was a breeze to read, and I was captured from the start. The plot is twisty enough to keep you on your toes - you think the kidnapping is solved at the 50% mark, but ohoho! More complications crop up!

The one thing that didn't quite sit well was the Hayes' parents very odd lack of concern for him. In some ways, it felt inevitable that they would have to come appear sometime, but after all the explanations, I found myself going, "You knew all that and yet you just... didn't do anything?"
It also felt like Richard accepted their reasoning much too easily and calmly, like, sure, everything's fine now because he found them again.

Anyway, there is book 2 (The Sapphire Solution) so I may proceed on to that after I'm done with my current read.

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Book Review: Here Lyeth | Johanna Frank

Here Lyeth by Johanna Frank

Set in a 17th century German-speaking setting, Here Lyeth is a tale of witch trials, murder, redemption, and the afterlife.

Meginhardt (or, well, his spirit) is taken through time and space to resolve his personal issues before his entrance to the afterlife which, in this story, is a literal spiritual kingdom with God as King (they pray to King, instead of God). Lexxie's world is shattered when she discovers that she was stolen as a baby - and the man and woman she grew up calling father and grandmother are not her biological family. The story follows Meginhardt's search for approval and Lexxie's search for her true family, with the separate strands gradually intertwining as you follow the threads back to Vereiteln Dorf.

Honestly, Here Lyeth was difficult book for me get into, mostly because it is linguistically confusing. Frank uses archaic sentence structures, I suppose to reflect the era, and she also drops in German words to reflect the setting. Actually, despite the German words dropped in here and there (which, did you know, the Kindle can pull up a translation for you if you don't want to refer to the glossary at the end?), a lot of the dialogue sounded very Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn to me, which pings Southern American - though I am neither American nor German, so maybe I am the problem lol.

AND THEN, when the angelic beings and time travel comes into play, a whole bunch of anachronisms make it through because, I guess, angels live outside of time and speak in modern-ish language. This only made sense when I read the previews of her other two books, which are set 300 years later in the modern era, so I guess she was maybe trying to make sure the angels sounded the same? Frank puts Here Lyeth as the first in the A Lifeline Fantasy Series, but is actually the third book to be published.

At any rate, Lexxie gets very little sympathy from me from the start because she is a Too Stupid To Live character. Unfortunately, that is probably a necessary characteristic for the story to go anywhere. If you don't mind Very Dumb Decisions, you may actually like her. She is kind and compassionate but hello, she is willing to throw away a wonderful, loving family because *tantrum* you are not my REAL father!!! BLOOD IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVERYTHING ELSE. She doesn't press for answers, even though she has time and opportunity, which leads to...

ANNOYING NON-COMMUNICATION TROPE, where neither Harmon nor Grossmutter bother to explain anything, even though they know Lexxie is about to self destruct by going back to the village they once deserted in search of a father they KNOW isn't going to live up to her starry-eyed dreams which...

Okay, I understand some irrational decisions by seventeen year old girls but... to push through when everyone says it's stupid and dangerous and she has never left the home or interacted with Real Life People before... is a next level of unbelievable. The adults in this story aren't being very responsible or mature either.

Meginhardt, on the other hand, is a wishy-washy teen who changes his mind every other page, and is so set on trying to return to his body even though he is many years dead that it doesn't even make sense after a while. He's a classic example of a person who is rebellious just because, and doesn't listen to sense JUST BECAUSE, and no one can change his mind or reason with him because he'll do anything just to spite you JUST BECAUSE. Even if he wanted to in the first place. Boys, amirite.

I feel like maybe I am too urban and too old to understand these small village, isolated teens.

ANYWAY. Frank hit all my pet peeves in main characters, but I did enjoy the world that she built. Avondale sounds like a lovely village to grow up in. Vereiteln Dorf gave me the chills, but is very believable as a village under the control of a purity-obsessed priest and a money-grubbing treasurer. The witch hunts and blind belief feels especially real in the current climate.

The Kingdom, or afterlife, follows a very traditional Christian interpretation of heaven. There are heavenly beings, some of which have wings. The gates to the kingdom are guarded, and only the worthy are allowed in - rebels are kept out. The spirits of the departed live there, and perform various roles for the King (God), and the constant push is for the redemption of everyone. There's the imagery of the stones in the river of life which hold your true name that you get to see when you arrive - which feels like it's taken right out of Revelations.

While this story was not for me, you'll probably like it if you like historical fiction (especially around witch hunts and rustic locations) and Frank Peretti books (most of which I also found irritating lol) but with less overt spiritual warfare of the angel-battle kind. There are some Tilly by Frank E. Peretti vibes, I think, though it's been a while since I read that.

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

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Book Review: Queen of Fury | Natania Barron

Queen of Fury by Natania Barron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OMG like... I liked Queen of None well enough, (oh look I gave it 4 stars), but this one... I figure you could skip the first and just READ THIS. (Well, assuming you have a core knowledge of Arthurian legends.)

Hwyfar is fire and fury and everything you would want in a Queen. Of course, King Arthur can't have that because then she would challenge him and his authority too much. So he marries her sisters instead (in succession, not at the same time, lol). But Hwyfar is still a Princess of Avillion in her own right, not just Arthur's jilted bride, and when she's done wallowing, she finds a way to rise to her true calling and protect her homeland.

There's a dual POV in this one, so you're following both Hwyfar of Avillion and Gawain of Orkney, which is brilliant in this (okay, maybe a little tropish) tale of fated lovers, treason, and magic, especially since both parties present a very different persona to the world than they truly are/feel. There's interweavings of the tales of the green man (Green Knight?) and the lost kingdom of Lyonesse, cults with corrupt magic, and a navigating of forbidden love because King Arthur is a self-absorbed, insecure man who cannot abide anyone better than him nearby for fear that they will rise up and take his throne. Even if it's his own nephew.

Content warnings: I have to add that this is 100% NOT a clean read. A key theme in the magic of this story is the concept of "carioz" or partners, and the exchange of power or energy in this pairing worked out via a lot of blood and sex.

It's a marked shift from Anna Pendragon's story, where the protagonist herself is hidden in the shadows - and stays there. Here, Hwyfar is meant to be relegated to the background, but she steals the reins for herself, taking command of her own destiny. It's still very much a period piece though, showcasing what she can (or cannot) do within the constraints of a misogynistic, chauvinistic society - especially if she wants to balance agency with respectability. There's also that pesky thing about family loyalty and how all they want to do might break the peace of the kingdom since they're both from royal families.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Solaris/Rebellion Publishing via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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 Apparently you can preorder Queen of Fury here. It releases in December! Read my review of Queen of None here. 

Book Review: To Weave the Wind | Sharon Rose

To Weave the Wind by Sharon Rose
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ever since Devron's time in To Form a Passage, the ties between Dirklan Province below and the rest of Welcia above have been kept alive through the half-year opening of the dome and a formal exchange of representatives. Princess Fanteal's grandfather is the Prime Minister of Dirklan, her mother is Dirklan's Ambassador to Welcia, and now it's Fanteal's turn to take her place as the Royal Ambassador to Dirklan. She's supposed to have the guidance of her grandfather, a canny politician who has planned out the transition... except when the time comes, he's dead and a new, desperate Prime Minister has been installed in his place.

Misunderstandings abound. Fanteal is assured she will have a year to choose a suitable husband, but everyone in Dirklan assumes she will marry the Prime Minister's son. What Fanteal is trained for is to be an ambassador, yet all her suitors - sons of various Dirklan Governors - assume that she will be nothing more than a trophy wife. Most important of all, Fanteal is a powerfully gifted wind weaver, but what Dirklan really wants and needs is a streamer to restore the trade cataracts.

To Weave the Wind is a fantastic read that weaves all the usual political drama about kingdoms and thrones and backstabbing, unscrupulous usurpers with a gentle enemies-to-friends-to-lovers storyline. There's plenty of ambition and pride to go around, but there's also honour, loyalty, and integrity, exemplified in the Mikkaels - the new Prime Minister and his son, Jaikon. Rose makes good use of cultural shifts between those who live above and below ground to build up these misunderstandings - especially when there is a huge communication barrier in the form of an entire swath of rock that prevents either group from going up or down except through the dome.

Where To Form a Passage is a story of visions and dreams and trusting in God (or, well, Ellincreo), To Weave the Wind is a story of restoration. Dirklan, for all that its Keepers speak against idols, has fallen away from true worship. They have covered up the vision wall that once saved them, saying that visions are a thing of the past. They have suppressed the gifts of the wind weavers, putting restrictions on them because they are not deemed 'useful'. They ignore certain gifts, even those of formers, who don't fit into what the current leadership can do.

Yet who is to say that a gift from Ellincreo isn't useful? Or that He isn't sending something unusual that will be useful precisely for such a time as this?

(Hmm, in saying that, there really were some Queen Esther vibes...)

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from the author. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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To Weave the Wind is available directly from Sharon Rose's website or from Amazon. You may as well get To Form a Passage while you're at it! :) You probably don't need to read the first one to understand the second as they're not directly linked, but it's pretty cool to see the things you read in the first book become a myth/legend in the second. (Paperbacks were available at time of review, hopefully ebooks will be too by the time this posts!) ((No I'm not paid for this, I just like these books lol))

#bookreview: DOSA Files: Tales from the SVR Universe | HL Burke

DOSA Files: Tales from the SVR Universe, Volume 1 by H.L. Burke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved it!

This is a compilation of 10 short stories written by 10 authors in H.L. Burke's supervillain rehabilitation universe. Which means that all these stories feature redemption in some form - whether it's a kid being provided guidance before (or while) they get too deep into trouble, or adults being given a second chance to do the right thing. Orrrr supervillains who "accidentally" do the right thing because at heart they're actually still good human beings deep inside.

There's quite a range of stories here, from sweet romances to slice-of-life, action to... something of a heist so there should be something for every kind of reader. The overarching theme seems to be "everyone can be a hero to someone else, even if you think you/your powers are useless", which, obviously, is a good message to take away.

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#bookreview: Closet Full of Time and Other Dark Tales | Susan Kaye Quinn

Closet Full of Time and Other Dark Tales: by Susan Kaye Quinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Closet Full of Time and Other Dark Tales is a collection of five short stories about a dark, AI-filled future and its consequences for human livelihoods. In these stories, Susan Kaye Quinn takes you to a future where humans have to sell themselves to the tech overlords for various reasons, or find their realities being distorted by the manipulation of digital archives and records around them.

I've been following Quinn's work for a long time and have loved her recent hopeful climate fiction. This collection feels darker than those, but still has that hopeful - or at least bitter sweet - taste at the end that reminds you that a vital part of our humanity is our ability to band together to make things better for ourselves. (Though, it's usually other humans on the other side who are using AI for nefarious reasons.)

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from the author. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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#Bookreview: Wind in Trees | Arthur M. Doweyko

Wind-In-Trees by Arthur M Doweyko
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After an asteroid strike and viral outbreak that leaves the earth devastated, Henry Wind in Trees may be the only human left alive. And yet... he's not entirely human. In an effort to save him from the virus, Henry's brain was transplanted into a cyborg body. Now, Systems is coming to complete the job and give him a fully artificial brain as well. Wind in Trees is the story of how the last Lakota Sioux native American discovers the truth behind Systems and the apocalypse as he travels through America with his wife's ghost, his robot aide, and an alien.

Overall, Wind in Trees has a bit of a rough start because there are some strange timeline jumps (Chapter 1 should honestly either be deleted or called a prologue) and extended flashbacks, but once you get into the meat (i.e. the actual timeline), it's quite an enjoyable read. It's listed as "sci-fi/action-adventure" on the publisher's page, but honestly, it's a lot of broadly spec fic things at once. The beginning itself has supernatural/horror vibes because of Elizabeth's ghost; yet it's quite dystopic because civilisation as we know it has been destroyed. There's also the interweaving of myth with a Lakota legend forming a core motif: if the old woman (or Elizabeth) ever finishes knitting the blanket, the world will end (again?).

In accordance with the meme that humans will bond with anything, Henry bonds with Seth the robot, often treating it as if it were also human. He also forms a friendship with Anth, even though the alien is part of the advance party that's preparing earth for colonisation. It's these bonds, and his strong relationship with Elizabeth, that provide answers to the many questions and conflicts that Henry faces.

The novel seems to be asking the question, "What would you do if you were the last person on earth?" Dowekyo's answer seems to be "befriend every other living being to not be alone", but I think the true answer should be: Not let your wife finish the blanket, obviously.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from the author & publisher. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Wind-In Trees can currently be pre-ordered from Amazon or Kallisto Gaia Press.