Book review: Nine-Tenths | J.M. Frey

Nine-Tenths by J.M. Frey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Whew, so I put in my name to win an ARC on the strength that I loved Frey's previous books, primarily the Accidental Turn series and Skylark's Saga. I didn't think I would actually *get* the ARC but I did. So yeah, here's me reading a queer romcom I didn't expect to read.

Colin is a disaster person, trying to figure out life at 24. He's coasting along, working as a barista at his best friend's coffee shop, secretly gushing over the mysterious dragon who comes in every morning. Dav is the (secretly disaster) dragon who sits in that coffee shop every morning, staring at Colin without saying a thing. It's like a coffee shop meet cute, except the thing that actually brings them together is more like a tragedy. And absolutely hilarious (for the reader, that is).

But the problem with getting together with a dragon (besides all the secrets) is the fact that under dragon law, Colin becomes Dav's... property. Which doesn't make for good relationships in the long run, even if Dav doesn't subscribe to it either. Unfortunately, he's stuck in the system, one that he can't-and doesn't know how to-change. And OF COURSE, to complicate things even further, all of this has to happen in the Very Public Eye.

Nine-Tenths had a bit more spice than I usually read (which isn't a bad thing, just not what I was expecting) but that aside, I loved this alternate universe where dragons rule the world. WHICH, because the premise is that dragons live a long, long time, allows for the story to both be modern with Instagram virality and paparazzi WHILST ALSO having all that lovely old-time Regency-type trappings like balls and snobby nobles and duels.

The fact that Dav and Colin are trying to overturn centuries of draconic colonisation and pull the British Empire into the modern day makes for very amusing reading. I did struggle a little with the politics and historical figures mentioned because I apparently have 0 knowledge of Canadian history. I don't suppose you really need delve into the details to enjoy the story, but I felt there were some characters or events that were supposed to ping recognition, while I just went "Uh, okay? Whoddat?" (I mean, I know Queen Elizabeth and Robert the Bruce, but the only reason I know Laura Secord is because Frey posted about her online.)

Frey also gets very real about mental health. Colin has pretty severe anxiety caused by the unexpected death of his father, and many of the hiccups in his relationship with Dav stems from trying to navigate around that and finding better ways to cope while in an extremely public and high-stress situation. I also love the fact that Colin has a very solid network of family and friends who actually care for and support him - and that Dav also respects that despite the weirdness of dragon law.

There's some fan-fic, tropish vibes at times, and Frey frames the whole story in a very meta way. The first I enjoyed, the second was intriguing, but not quite it for me. Which, thinking about it, is a bit strange because it was that very self-aware meta fiction thing that really drew me into The Untold Tale.

All in all, Nine-Tenths is a fun read, with some very real, big feelings.

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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Book Review: On Magic and Miracles: A Theological Guide to Discerning Fictional Magic | Marian A. Jacobs

On Magic & Miracles: A Theological Guide to Discerning Fictional Magic by Marian A. Jacobs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The general church approach to fantasy fiction is often one of wariness - and often dependent on the individual pastor and their reading preferences. There are some clearly "accepted" fantasy works, such as CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. But everything else falls in a grey area - traditional fairy tales with elfs and pixies are okay, but Greek mythology may or may not be acceptable, whilst all kinds of Chinese mythology are "obviously evil".

This weird double standard in the church is often related to how "acceptable" a certain kind of mythology and/or culture is, and obviously, whether those particular myths are related to religions currently being practiced. In simple terms, Greek mythology appears more acceptable because it's both white-coded and a mostly dead religion, whilst Chinese mythology often relates to spiritual rituals or beliefs that are still being practiced.

In On Magic & Miracles: A Theological Guide to Discerning Fictional Magic, Marian A. Jacobs delves into scripture to explain what's often seen as "magic" in the bible vs "miracles", with 5 discernment questions to help you tell the difference. This takes up Part 1 of the book - and it's interesting ground to cover. Jacobs brings up both ends of the spectrum: materialism, where all these "supernatural" stuff doesn't exist at all, and overspiritualism (overcorrection?), where EVERYTHING is affected by spirits and demons.

Look, I've lived in the trenches of the latter - with "pastors" declaring that even wearing clothes with an animal image can imbue you with the spirit of the animal - and I live in Asia - where it's very obvious that the spiritual realm exists. So whilst I feel like Jacobs is balanced in her treatment, she does cater a more to her (intended) Western audience, with its unthinking acceptance of Western cultural practices as part of Christianity. There's a focus on New Age, pagan lifestyles, and occult practices, with interviews with ex-witches, and everything else swept mostly under a general "Eastern religions".

Part 2 looks at how the 5 Discernment Questions should be applied to fiction, with consideration to literary conventions and author intentions as well as the final message of the story. And how, at times, you need to READ THE WHOLE BOOK before you can judge whether something is good or bad. Many stories start with a not-ideal situation and bad characters with the goal of ending in a good place and evil defeated or bad characters given a redemption arc. And in recent days, with our poor comprehension skills and outrage culture, many readers write off something from the start without understanding the whole thing. This happens very often in uber-Christian circles, where you're not even supposed to depict evil - when the point of some stories is to point out that EVIL IS EVIL. It concludes with an example of how Jacobs herself applied the framework to the Harry Potter series, the series that pretty much divided the church about fantasy works back in the day.

Side note: Critical reading is important, people!

While Jacobs says it's not really a book for parenting, it does phrase an entire chapter on "how to choose good fantasy books for your kids" vs discerning good reading material for yourself. Which, I mean, you can apply to yourself, but it does have a bit of a parenting vibe lol. This isn't an issue, I just found it funny.

Overall, On Magic & Miracles doesn't tell you what you should or shouldn't read (or write!), but offers a framework to think about what you're reading - as with any theological guide, it comes down to spiritual discernment of what's good and beneficial for you. It's a solid work to look at for general theological principles, and is not a "what books am I allowed to read" list.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from the B&H Publishing Group. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Book Review: DOSA Files: Tales from the SVR Universe, Volume 2 | HL Burke

DOSA Files: Tales from the SVR Universe, Volume 2 by H.L. Burke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another interesting return to the SVR universe!

I loved "Civic Duty" by Amber Gabriel, which showcases Elam Bentley, previously known as the Rubber Bandit, in his bid to go straight. However, leaving supervillainy also means doing jury duty...which turns out to be not as boring has he expected! (Gabriel has also just published Stretched Thin, a novella about Elam, which you should totally check out.)

"The Fluffy Guardian" by K.L. Miracle was a heart-warming read, about a sable deep undercover who's learning that maybe he's gotten it all wrong. Maybe he can be part of a family again.

"London Bridge is Falling Down" by C.O. Bonham follows Violet Revelt from Volume 1, and creates a super-involved family adventure.

"Cloudburst" by Talitha Renae Borstad is another heart-wrenching one, with two siblings trying to stay together despite their powers.

These are the four that I loved the most, but all the nine stories were great reads.


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Book Review: The Moonlit Maze | Zoë Marriott

The Moonlit Maze by Zoë Marriott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm beginning to think that timeslip novels are just not for me. In concept, it's cool, but for some reason, there's always something that leaves me not-quite-satisfied.

What's there not to love about this story? There's modern-day Juliet (Jude) Stewart inheriting a cottage in a cozy British village giving her enough money to turn her life around and a chance to catch her breath. There's young Lady Xanthe Kearsley in the 1920s torn between her betrothal to horrid cousin Jonathan (who will inherit all her father's possessions due to entailment) and wanting to live her life on her own terms.

Two separate, entrancing stories, connected by space (Winterthorne) and somehow bleeding through time. I should have loved it, but...

In Elaine Chiew's The Light Between Us, I felt I couldn't quite grasp how the two protagonists were connected by time travelling letters with a fancy mathematical theory, so I quite appreciated the simplicity of this connection through time - and even the lack of any solid explanation. There's a mystical quality to how Jude keeps dreaming of Xanthe, and how Xanthe catches glimpses of Jude at odd times.

There's enough in both timelines to keep me going - rooting for Jude as she tries to figure out her future and being angry on Xanthe's behalf because she's stuck in a society with little options. And Jonathan is a manipulative abuser being enabled by Xanthe's parents - there, I said it. You want to believe that Xanthe will overcome, that Jude will somehow find a way back in time to help her...

One little thing that really bothered me was the strange love triangle between Jude and the two men in Winterthorne, where for a moment it was like Jude HAD to fall in love with one or other of them because a woman cannot just be friends with a man!!! Marriott resolves this as part of the plot, but it was just very annoying while it was happening.

The ending itself - and its revelations - felt satisfying to me. Like yes I'm glad it resolved that way.

I want to say I loved this story. And yet... like I said, maybe I'm not configured to really enjoy timeslip stories, the same way time travel and multiverses give me a headache (looking at you, Avengers: Endgame).

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

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Sounds like something you'd like to read? The Moonlit Maze releases tomorrow, 5 June. Preorder from Amazon! (Affiliate link)

Book Review: Queen of Mercy | Natania Barron

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

Oh, such a brilliant, brilliant ending to The Queens of Fate Trilogy.

I think it's been noted somewhere that while you can read the second book, Queen of Fury, as a standalone, you really need to have read both that and Queen of None before you read this one as all the overarching threads and events in those books culminate in this one. (I did a re-read of Queen of None after reading this to remind myself of some key points, since I'd forgotten who Nimue was, lol)

Queen of Mercy begins ten years after Queen of Fury, and everything that Anna Pendragon set into motion in Queen of None is now bearing fruit. The glimpses we had of Morgen le Fay were varied and scattered in the earlier books, her true motives unclear, but here, we finally get to see from her perspective. We struggle with Morgen as she fights to retain her magic and protect Carelon in the wake of the loss of Vyvian du Lac, amidst a struggle for supremacy between the rising Christian faith and the dying old (magic? pagan?) ways of Avillion.

With each successive book, Barron increases the POVs - and here, whilst Morgen is the primary focus, there's a lot going on elsewhere. Morgen's daughter, Llachlyn le Fay, returns to court, along with Galahad - Lanceloch & Anna's son - and Percival - a squire who is purportedly a random king's bastard - and kicks off a quest for a new graal. Gawain & Hwyfar find themselves swept up in court events again in their bid to protect their young cousins, whilst Queen Mawra and Lanceloch scheme against Arthur in the background. It almost seems too much is going on, but Barron weaves it all together so tightly that you don't actually get overwhelmed.

Whilst it's a story of consequences, it's also one of redemption. Morgen faces her past and redeems it, finding peace with all the things that had been done to her and all the things she'd been compelled to do to others. Barron's Arthurian world is a bleak one for noble women, but she also shows how the women close to Arthur (Anna, Hwyfar, Morgen) find ways to shift things in their favour. There's also growing support from their loved ones - Bedevere, Gawain, Coel - as they learn to understand and depend on each other.

And because I'm always interested in representations of faith in novels, Barron presents a growing Christianity which is corrupt in its grasping for power, with adherents who are in it mostly for what they can get. Not much is said about the source of magic - its representation of good and evil is primarily based on what it is used for - though it's set against Christianity as a clash of religions/gods. In the midst of this, there is a beautiful passage from Galahad that encapsulates a true, pure encounter with God perfectly, at least in my mind. Barron mentions something in her afterword about her struggles with Christianity, so make of that what you will.

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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Other books in the series:

Book 1: Queen of None 

Book 2: Queen of Fury

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Wanna get hands on a copy?

Amazon affiliate link: Queens of Fate Series page

PBAKL GIVEAWAY

I'm procrastinating HARD, so I decided to revive a very, very old method of building my mailing list, which has been languishing for a while.

I mean, I'm also in the midst of refreshing my e-book freebie (the very thing I'm procrastinating on), so here's how you get a headstart on it! 

Do the six (6) things on this rafflecopter (embedded below) for entries to win paperback & ebook copies of the Absolution series! If you've ALREADY got The Making of a Jurusihir, which was launched at last year's PBAKL, you can already do like three tasks. Note that each task completed gives you a different number of entries... 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Besides the procrastination and the mailing list shenanigans, I'm also doing this because I had last minute plans to do a Meet & Greet at PBAKL which were derailed by the ASEAN summit because the actual (paid) work meeting that was being scheduled is now deferred. So now I sad. lol

Anyway, everyone else benefits and I get to send out some books to new readers.

The last rafflecopter option asks you to share your favourite Malaysian book/author. Looking forward to hearing about them!

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Some T&Cs: 

• The ebook giveaway is open internationally, so you can try your luck wherever you are! 
• However, the paperback giveaway is restricted to MALAYSIAN ADDRESSES. 

Book Review: OBJECTS OF DESIRE: 10 Malaysian Chinese Short Stories in Translation

OBJECTS OF DESIRE: 10 Malaysian Chinese Short Stories in Translation by Lee Hao Jie


Interesting things I have learnt about Mahua, which I think is different from English lit:
- naming the main protagonist is, apparently, almost unheard of. OMG like 8/10 stories do not name the MC and sometimes not even the other characters T.T And one of them, I'm not actually sure if the MC was named or not, so maybe that's 9/10 lmaoooo
- the writers reference English classics, which is interesting, because I wouldn't expect any English works to reference Chinese lit!
- there are a lot of stories around memories and losing the past. Maybe this is an outflow of how Malaysian Chinese feel like we're slowly losing our culture to time and modernisation.
- also a lot of family feels.
- maybe also a preoccupation with death... idk, I feel like only 2 stories don't mention death (or a dead person) in any form.

How Mahua is similar to English literary short stories:
- the writers have an obsession with affairs, sex, and the penis. 
- some of them have really weird endings? Like what? What am I supposed to get from this? Is this story even complete? IS THIS A FEVER DREAM.
- these are the same reasons I rarely read (or write) in the "literary" genre lol.

Anyway, notable stories, or stories I thought were really strong:
Xia Mei’s Clock by King Ban Hui, Yee Heng Yeh (Tr)
This is the story where the title comes from:

“At one point, he had swiped through the photos of these girls who, through the way they dressed, presented themselves as objects of desire on the website. Whoever they once were had been reduced to just their name, age, body measurements, and nationality.”

Xia Mei’s Clock is a pandemic story, where interpersonal connections are fraying and time has lost its meaning. The protagonist (also unnamed, unless that stray mention of ‘Xing Ye’ towards the end is his name?) requests for a human prostitute at the clock hotel instead of a silicone doll. Yet as the story slips from the protagonist, to Xia Mei, then back again; and as COVID rages and time skips; there’s an underlying surrealness to the story, making you question if Xia Mei is actually human.
As much as I thought this was a really iffy premise, this is a solid story on connection, the male loneliness epidemic, and the ravages of time.

Our Years on the Mountain Top by Tew Pak Ching, Lai Suk Yin (Tr)
If I had to make a snap judgement on Mahua based on this book, it would be the fact that Malaysian Chinese writers are somehow obsessed with penises. This heartwarming story of sibling love (and rivalry) as well as a mother’s sacrifice for her children (both evident in the mother and grandmother in this story) is framed by the very strange peeing competition in the morning, and the younger sister’s preoccupation for looking at her brother’s pee-pee. Like why.

Yesterday’s Sunken Fragrance by Chan Yeong Siew, Foo Sek Han (Tr)
A chance look at a Malaysian news headline reveals the truth behind the long silence from Liu Chen Xiang’s lover, Ma Yao Han.
Actually, the most exciting thing about this story is that finally, finally EVERYONE IS NAMED. It’s a weird thing to note, because like a predominant writing advice in English is to name your characters upfront and all these stories so far have gotten away with having a lot of unnamed characters. But I digress.
Yesterday’s Sunken Fragrance dwells in memories and loss, and also secrets and the grief that comes from them. It’s bittersweet, and yet also tinged with practicality as Chen Xiang says her goodbyes in the city she’s long left behind.

Panas by leemuzmuz, Ooi Yining (Tr)
Panas is a hard-hitting story of sexual assault in school, flitting from her present trauma to the past events that created them. It’s a painful look at how the perpetrators are often protected and victims told to just suck it up and move on. And that last haunting question: would none of this have happened if she were a boy?

All in all, this was a fascinating exploration of literature that I would normally never read, either because of the genre or because of the language.

Looking forward to the next in the series!

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