#bookreview: Reaper of Souls | Rena Barron

Reaper of Souls by Rena Barron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Arrah has magic now, the only one who does. She's the last witchdoctor. She carries the voices of the chieftains and the burden of the murdered tribes. But what if some of them survived? She needs to visit the tribal lands, to try to find them - in hopes that they can help stop the Demon King's impending return. Add politics into that mix, with the acting Almighty One doing all he can to stay in power, and you have a mind-blowing fantasy epic.

Okay, I jumped into this one without rereading the Kingdom of Souls, which may or may not have been a good idea because I don't quite remember anything that happened in the first book except that I liked it (oops). I did reread my review, so that helped a little! This was probably the reason why I floundered a little in the beginning, trying to remember who was who and who did what! I kept thinking, 'there's something more to this, isn't there?' but couldn't remember what.

Reaper of Souls is a story of love and sacrifice, both the sacrifices made for the sake of love, and the love that is sacrificed for the sake of others. Arrah and Rudjek face terrible choices, but so too did the gods themselves. And it is this past immortal drama, full of secrets and stark choices, that has landed all of them in this current predicament.

But oh God (gods?) - and this is really the good part - even with my slow, struggling start, each layer builds on each other, with each fresh revelation, each new twist tying together into this really inevitable ending. Barron keeps you guessing at some parts (ha, and I guessed wrong a couple of times), but she leads you so well that when you reach the end, you can only react in both awe and horror.

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

Note to self: It's a good idea to reread these first two books before Untitled

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#musicmonday: A King and a Kingdom | Derek Webb

Who's your brother, who's your sister

You just walked passed him

I think you missed her

As we're all migrating to the place where our father lives

'Cause we married in to a family of immigrants

My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man

My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood

It's to a king & a kingdom

There are two great lies that I've heard:

"The day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die"

And that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican

And if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him

My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man

My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood

It's to a king & a kingdom

But nothing unifies like a common enemy

And we've got one, sure as hell

But he may be living in your house

He may be raising up your kids

He may be sleeping with your wife

Oh no, he may not look like you think

2020: A Year in Review

I suppose, in keeping with the Joneses, or whoever it is who lives near me (Lees? Oois? Lims? Yims?), I should do a year-end review. I used to do one every year until I got lazy. 

2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016

But since I can't seem to concentrate on getting anything done, I suppose I should have one last hurrah on this year-end thing, then go and read in bed (currently reading: A River Called Time) until the new year dawns. 

Things I Have Accomplished This Year

Writing-related

• Finished final edits for The Weight of Strength, variously known as Berserker and maybe now Amok? Since I decided to localise the term. 
• Also finished two-ish rounds of edits on The Weight of Secrets, also known as Hostage, which I should probably get round to sending off to beta readers.
• Finally rewrote The Weight of Sin, also known as Absolution, during my residency at Rimbun Dahan. 
• Reprinted (!!) Coexist and Dongeng, and distributed them for sale via MPH.
• Edited and published Home Groan: A NutMag Anthology.

(Keep in mind that I haven't actually published anything this year, other than that one short story in the Home Groan anthology. But this also means that I *may* have multiple things to publish next year, funds permitting.)

Reading-related

Here's My Year in Books! I credit the high number to several rounds of binge-reading during MCO.

I suppose my top 5 reads this year would be:

• The Empire of Sand, Tasha Suri
• The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, Zen Cho
• The Last Mystic, Susan Kaye Quinn
• The Skylark's Sacrifice, JM Frey
• ehhh I suppose the last is a tie between Strange Ways, Gray Williams and The House in the Cerulean Sea, T.J. Klune. 

How did I choose these? Well, I went back to see my 5-star ratings in Goodreads this year. The top 3 were obvious choices. Then I discounted those that I liked enough to give 5-stars but wasn't bothered enough about to actually write a review. Then I whittled it down from there. 

Blog-related

These are the top 5 posts for the year, that I'm too lazy to link to. 

And here's my all-time most popular post: Why Your England So Bad?

Other Miscellaneous

• Became the President of the Malaysian Writers Society in November (2020-2022)
• Assumed an editorial role at Penang Art District also in November
• Had a taste of my first residency at Rimbun Dahan in August to September (apply for the 2021 session)

I can't think of anything else to, I guess I'll end it here. 

Have a great 2021, or at least a not-so-awful one. 

#bookreview: Captain Arnold and Other Tales of the Abnormal | Arthur M. Doweyko

Captain Arnold and Other Tales of the Abnormal by Arthur M. Doweyko
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

You know that feeling when you finish reading a story and you're kind of left wondering... what really happened there? Sometimes that feeling is one of wonder and open possibilities. Sometimes, it's just a vague feeling of disconnect, like there was something that you were supposed to get, but you missed. 

Captain Arnold and Other Tales of the Abnormal was a mix of both for me. The short stories were amusing and intriguing--and some unsettling and scary--but there were quite a few that left me feeling like I would have liked them more if I could just...get...whatever "it" was.

Several that I quite liked:
Nothing to See Here
Billy and the Time Machine
What Goes Around
The Translator
Retirement
The Zoo
Son
Lost and Found

8/17 - not quite that bad a ratio.
The collection includes Doweyko's original art, so that's pretty cool, I guess.

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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#musicmonday: Kuasa SalibMu | NDC Worship

#fridayflash: Regrets (excerpt) from #homegroan: A #nutmag anthology

Catherine Chong stood in the middle of the road on Puncak Bukit Mutiara and stared at the house in front of her. It was a squat, blocky thing that didn’t look like much from the outside—standing at road level, it appeared to be a very small single-storey house with a tiny front porch.

She frowned at it, then checked the address again.

It was the right house…

But it wasn’t what she’d expected to see, not with the vague memories she still held of this place. It was supposed to be huge, palatial. Three-storeys high, a wonderland she and Julia had roamed, going from room to ever larger room, conquering balconies that overlooked the sea, snuggling in the white wicker swing.

Maybe it’s bigger on the inside. Catherine snorted as she stepped off the road and approached carefully. It’s not a Tardis.

Walls spread out on both sides, blocking the rest of the house and its grounds from sight. That, at least, felt right. 

She knocked on the door. A minute later, Catherine slapped her forehead. Obviously, no one was going to answer because no one was currently living there. She had the keys in her pocket. Still, her school friends had once told her it was courtesy to knock anyway, to let any spirits living in there know you were entering. Catherine wasn’t sure if she believed in spirits, or if that rule applied to anything other than hotel rooms. She dug in her pockets and pulled out the keys.

A soft “hello” still slipped off her tongue as the door creaked open to a mid-sized room with sagging racks and shelves. For a moment, she was transported back into the past, a seven-year-old clinging to her mother’s hand as she visited a new school friend for the first time. Julia had been sitting in the wicker swing, her twin, James, perched somehow on its rounded back, both staring with identical large, brown eyes.

She blinked.

The swing now lay on the floor, the sad, rusty chain dangling from the ceiling.

Catherine stepped in without taking off her shoes or closing the door. Despite the still-bright daylight, the interior of the house was rather dark. She fumbled along the wall until she found the light switch. There was a faint fizzle and then nothing. With a sigh, she pulled out her phone from her pocket and turned on the torch.

The room didn’t open out to a bigger living room; it led instead to a circular stairway heading downwards.

Of course, you dummy.

She’d remembered the three floors right, just not the direction. The house went downwards, not up.

Catherine hesitated at the top of the stairs, looking down into the dark hole that gaped before her. She glanced at her phone. It was already six in the evening. If the house was already this dark now, she didn’t want to be inside when the sun set without a proper torch, or working lights. She made her way back out of the house, turned off the phone torch, then locked up.

“I’ll be back,” she said aloud, though she wasn’t sure who she was speaking to—herself or the house. Maybe both.

---

Check out our NutMag blog tomorrow for another excerpt!

Want to get your hands on a copy? PREORDER NOW for special rates and packages! 

#bookreview: Domesticating Dragons | Dan Koboldt

Domesticating Dragons by Dan Koboldt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Noah Parker needs to get into Reptilian Corporation - the genetic engineering firm headed by inventor Simon Redwood that has cracked the code to hatching real-life dragons. Or, well, synthetic reptilian predators designed from genetically-engineered reptilian genomes, but who wants to say all that?

So. Dragons.

And with his biological simulator plus an added behavioural module, Noah can help the company design family-friendly pet dragons to replace the dogs they lost in the canine epidemic. On the side, Noah's hard at work trying to find a way to secretly use Reptilian's resources and advances in genetic sequencing to help fix one problem that's close to his heart... besides dodging scrutiny for, uhm, Octavius.

Domesticating Dragons was an enjoyable read. Koboldt put his training as a geneticist to good work, but as he assured me, it's not SO hard-sciencey that you can't follow along. It's not all about the dragons, though - what drives Noah is his loved ones, especially the welfare of his brother Connor. And it's not just family. Noah comes across as a guy who just... cares for people in his own way, whether it's his team at work - working collaboratively and sharing credit - or that slightly annoying roommate of his ex who's fighting him for the top spot in their geocaching race.

Anyways, back to dragons, I went into this thinking, what, haven't we learnt from Jurassic Park yet? And it seems we have. Reptilian Corporation takes safety of their dragons veeerrryyyy seriously even if their owners don't (the customer service call logs are hilarious!) and if we were anywhere close to this in the real world (are we? I have no clue), we might actually have a chance to get our own little pet dragons. How fun!

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

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Domesticating Dragons releases on 5 Jan 2021! You can preorder your copy now. :D

#bookreview: Payoh | Jim Tan

Payoh by Jim Tan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was bored and didn't want to read something long, so I picked this up while surfing PNM on Libby. It's a pretty quick read (Libby tells me I finished it in 1 hour 50 mins) and, other than a few bombastic words assigned to the pompous Leonardo Owl, a really easy read. It's shelved in YA, at any rate.

Payoh is about JG Chan, a retired professor, and how he met the food court cleaner, Alphonsus Goh, at the first Changi Prison Writing Workshop. Interspersed between JG's narrative and musings is Alphonsus's novel, "Payoh".

We are less equal only because we allow ourselves to be
Goh's "Payoh" reads like a modernised, Singaporeanised retelling of Animal Farm in some ways, where a community of birds take over a protected bird sanctuary from the humans. They set up a leadership team. Which turns into a political party. And then... well, it's not hard to predict.

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Coming Soon - Home Groan: A #NutMag Anthology! #mywriterspenang

 

We're launching Home Groan in 20 days! 

I'm especially excited since I have technically been working on this since 2019. Really. The first iteration of this project started as a combined writing workshop + writing retreat + anthology for MYWriters Penang and was written as part of my Writers at Work assignment for my MA. (P/S, I got an A okay!)

Since then, we had to split the workshops & retreat (ultimately funded by Chevening's alumni fund) from the anthology project (now in its funding period). 

Home Groan features 22 authors and 3 illustrators, all with strong, tangible links to Penang--in fact, only 3 of them are "Honorary Penangites", and for quite a few of them, this is their first story or poem in an anthology! 

We're raising funds at the moment and have various digital and print "rewards" for you to choose from, so if you have money to spare, do grab your copy now! If you have no money to spare, or you don't read (why not?!) you can still help us by sharing our funding page. 

We launch in 20 days. SEE YOU AT THE LAUNCH! 

---

A deity laments her lost loves. A pickpocket steals more than just money. A young man wrestles with the colour of the homes he builds.

In Home Groan, we take a deep look at Penang. From idyllic beaches to dangerous jungle, reflections on the past to current issues, island living to mainland life, we explore our beloved home state in both prose and poetry, spinning tall tales and telling it as it is.

This is your Penang. This is your home. Come groan with us.

#bookreview: A Castle Awakened | Sharon Rose

A Castle Awakened by Sharon Rose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A mysteriously abandoned castle claimed by an usurping foreigner. An injured lady who refuses to divulge her identity. Strange-looking monsters that threaten their safety. Lord Tristan Petram has finally found lands he can claim as his own--but it's hard to say if he can hold on to it. Beth has found temporary safety--but at what cost?

Filled with intrigue, A Castle Awakened offers an entrancing read for anyone looking for a medieval-style adventure. The first novel in the Castle in the Wilde trilogy, Rose offers a clean, slow-budding romance full of Honour and Virtue and Very Complicated Circumstances. There's an underlying current of mystery and political manoeuvring throughout the novel, all very subtly done.

Whilst the style of the prose is slightly archaic, inline with the eurocentric medieval setting, the narrative itself looks quite deeply into cultural clashes and misunderstandings. Both Tristan and Beth misread each others cues, judging the other's actions by their own standards, without realising that what one does and says means something totally different to the other. Rose delicately reveals this layer by layer, uncovering more mystery and surprising twists the more you get absorbed into their world.

The prequel, A Castle Sealed, was a great jump into the trilogy, and I'm looking forward for the next book, A Castle Contended, as well!

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


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#musicmonday: Truth Be Told | Matthew West

#bookreview: When You Had Power | Susan Kaye Quinn

When You Had Power by Susan Kaye Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When You Had Power is a story of found family in a post-pandemic world.

Taking oft-repeated wedding vows, Quinn builds a near-future dystopia struggling through frequent pandemics, energy problems, and climate plagues, where families are formed around a legal vow of care: for better, for worse; in sickness and in health . And Lucia Ramirez desperately wants this--a family that she has chosen and has chosen her in return--in a place where she can use her power engineer training to make the world a better place. But one day into her new job and she's already embroiled in a mystery that threatens to rip the dream apart.

The start of new series, what Quinn labels as HopePunk, feels like a shift from her previous high-stakes, high-action series. Yes, there is danger, but it's more of a slowly looming shadow than a sharp, swift avalanche. And maybe it's more menacing for that. Because when you push missing turtles and threatening bosses aside, what Lucia wants is what so many of us are looking for: safety in a family that accepts us and cares for us as we are, troubles and all. Especially during troubles.

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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When You Had Power is now available on Amazon! 

#musicmonday: Psalm 45 (Fairest of all) | Shane & Shane

#musicmonday: The Day That I Found God | Switchfoot

v

The morning comes like an enemy soldier

I feel the weight across my shoulders

I feel the shadows getting colder

But that ain't you

This noose ain't getting any looser

I get so fearful about the future

I hear the shame of my accuser

But that ain't you

I found strength but it wasn't what I thought

I found peace in the places I forgot

I found riches ain't the things that I had bought

I found out

The day I lost myself was the day that I found God

I get caught chasing my own illusions

I get so lost in these confusions

I keep on looking for my own solutions

But that ain't you, that ain’t you no

My enemies weren't the ones I had fought

My liberties weren't the freedoms I had sought

What I learned weren't the lessons I'd been taught

I found out the day I lost myself was

The day that I found God

Where is God out in the darkness?

Cause the voices in my head ain't talking honest

They're saying maybe you made us then forgot us

But that ain't you, that ain’t you no

And all I know is that I still don't know a lot

I don't know how it ends I'm in the middle of this plot

Yeah and I found grace for the man that I am not

Yeah, I found out the day I lost myself

Yeah, I found out the day I lost myself

Yeah, I found out

The day I lost myself was the day that I found God

#bookreview: The Girl and the Ghost | Hanna Alkaf

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't quite know how to review this book.

On one hand, I enjoyed it--it is unabashedly Malaysian, it plays deeply on feelings of friendship and betrayal, loss and grief--yet, on the other hand, I put it down after the first half to go do something and I had no real desire to pick it up again to finish it off. And I really don't know why.

It's not the creepy/horror factor. However horrible or terrible the original creatures are (and are hinted to be), Pink doesn't stray too far from being just mischievous. Suraya's grandmother and the Pawang are people of power and who do nasty, evil things, but it's not described much in the book; it's MG, after all.

Maybe it's just because it's MG and I haven't read an MG book for a long time?

(It could just be my current reading mood; it probably IS just my current reading mood.)

Whatever it was, Suraya is the loner who finds a friend in the pelesit her grandmother bequeathed her. Then Jing comes into her life, and with this talkative new girl full of Star Wars references, a rift opens between Suraya and Pink. A story of friendship and bonds, light and dark, set against the backdrop of a Malaysian kampung and small-town life. Slight shades of Gaiman's The Graveyard Book towards the end, plus a super-touching ending.

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#musicmonday: The Spirit vs. The Kick Drum | Derek Webb

Cycling through the old CDs.

Yes, CDs.

--

I don't want the Father, you know I want a vending machine

I don't want the Son, you know I want a jury of peers

I don't want the Spirit, you know I want the kick drum

#bookreview: A Castle Sealed | Sharon Rose

A Castle Sealed by Sharon Rose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an amusing old-style novella of Lord Tristan hearing about a mysterious secret castle and then digressing to find it, despite the stories of terrible beasts and adventurers who never return. There's an odd formality to the writing style, which works most of the time.

The story is so heavily focused on Tristan's adventures, that the two chapters featuring Beth felt a little shoehorned in. I suppose it's important to find out who she is and why it matters, but I think the novella could have been fine on its own without ever introducing her.

But seeing as this is a prequel novella leading on to the main course... it does pique your interest!

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

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#bookreview: Chosen | T. Sae-Low

Chosen by T. Sae-Low
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Chosen picks up where Genesis ends: the two Chosen (or Candidates) must further hone their powers and prove their worth to their respective nations.

Sae-Low takes you back into the fantastic where gods and monsters still walk the earth. Is the Black truly evil? Or is he just misunderstood? Do the Ancients really want what’s good for humankind, or are they playing by their own obscure rules? The Vicedonians and the Renzai fight for land and dominance, using difference of beliefs as an excuse—but what if there’s something more—something bigger—that hides behind the name of religion? And in the midst of it all, a new enemy arises.

I didn’t find Chosen as exciting as Genesis—I guess there’s only so much outa you can take before it hits a maximum enjoyment level. However, there’s a lot of character development in this one. Sae-Low obviously believes in the “throw them in the deep end” school of learning, if the way things unfold are any indication. Magical monsters, dark shadows, strange illnesses, mystical seers, dragons, and hidden treasures all make an appearance to force them to grow and change.

This is actually where the Vicedonian empire grows so much more interesting. Renzai already kind of stands for “good”—Raden’s growth is really more about how he gains super moves, retrieves his magic weapon, and learns to trust in The One. But the fracturing Vicedonia is filled with conflict—between father and son, between brothers, within the council itself, and between “trueborn” Vicedonian people and the conquered Gokstads that have been absorbed into the empire. Mebbe I just like the colonised rising up against their colonial masters, eh.

Anyways, still a fun read though the war is far from over!

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

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Read my review of Genesis here!

#bookreview: Green World Gray | Marianne Modica

Green World Gray by Marianne Modica
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How much history depends on one person? And how much of our future depends on our actions today?

Will and Halia Horace discover that every time Mom goes into the closet and exits in some kind of spaced-out bliss, she’s time-travelling to the past. But why? And how? Between Mom’s teary-eyed insistence on keeping their baby stuff and Dad’s drive to clear out the junk in the basement, it’s a mystery they have to solve to keep their family from falling apart. But that’s just the beginning. Faced with alternative futures that range from great to okay to really bad, Will and Hal have to figure out how to fix their family—especially when it’s their mom’s environmental work (or lack of it) that influences the future and there’s someone in the time stream who’s trying really hard to prevent it.

Green World Gray takes you on an exciting time-travel adventure filled with both fancy tech and sinister people. It explores the concept of watershed, where certain events or periods mark a turning point in a situation. Modica also emphasises that everyone is a watershed—we don’t know what things we do may influence the future. Even if we don’t become famous, it could be the small things we do that influence someone else, causing a ripple effect of change in our society.

I especially love the dynamics between the siblings. Thirteen-year-old Will is awkward, socially distant, and only cares about science—but he loves his family enough to do the things he dislikes in order to help both his mother and sister. Fifteen-year-old Halia doesn’t always understand Will, but when she’s faced with the opportunity to just forget about time-travel and live her life normally, she doesn’t. Because Will is now miserable—and the only time he was really happy and engaged was when he had access to the tech in the future. And it’s this willingness to sacrifice for each other’s happiness that really makes the difference.

Green World Gray is an excellent story on family, love, and working together to build a better world.

Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. I was given the book with no expectation of a positive review and the review is my own.

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#bookreview: The Skylark's Sacrifice | JM Frey

The Skylark's Sacrifice by J.M. Frey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW. If you started reading Skylark’s Song, you HAVE to read Skylark’s Sacrifice right to its heart-wrenching ending. I mean, I don’t see how you can stop.

Robin Arianhod is free. She can’t return home, but she’s doing what she can to bring the Klonn down by sabotaging their supplies and causing chaos from within their own borders. Her enigmatic captor is dead… or is he? Robin nearly gets captured, Coyote nearly dies saving her, and so she bolts to the only safe refuge she can think of—with the Klonn rebellion. With them, the tables are turned—her captor becomes her prisoner, and the Skylark gains new meaning.

Skylark’s Sacrifice is a twisting kaleidoscope of shifting loyalties, cultural clashes, and unexpected yet inevitable revelations. All the symbolism that Frey has layered in from the start of Skylark’s Song gains additional weight and unexpected importance. There’s so much that Robin (and the reader) has missed because she isn’t Klonnish, and so much that Rosa and the Coyote cannot understand because they are not Sealie. Yet as they work towards the same goal—to end the war—they need to start trusting each other.

Threaded through the story, and yet integral to it, The Skylark and the Coyote’s fraught courtship reads like a bittersweet fairy tale; they battle both the world around them and each other, always second guessing the other’s actions, and their true motives. Does Coyote truly love her? Or does he only want WINGS? Does the Skylark truly love him? Or is she just trying to use him to end the war so she can go home? Which one must give up their cultural identity and beliefs or can they find a gentle balance between the two?

But most of all, does falling in love with the enemy mean you are a traitor to your self and country?
Skylark’s Sacrifice delivers a sharp emotional punch. You gotta steel yourself for this one.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from REUTS Publications via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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