Michael Barnes

I was impressed by Kamilah Cole's debut novel in this duology, and I am elated to say the conclusion is satisfyingly wraps the story and these characters tales.

Becky of Becky's Book Blog sums it up well ".. picks up almost directly after the ending of So Let Them Burn. Faron and Elara almost swapping positions, with Faron now being bonded to a Dragon and Elara now the maiden Empyrean. Cole’s decision to flip their roles added an extra dimension to the story, not only allowing for the emotional aspects after the ending of book one, but quite literally putting the sisters in each others shoes. Allowing them to feel the weight each has carried, understand better the stresses both they and their roles put them under. We now see Elara in the role of protector, not simply of Faron, but the entirety of San Irie. She’s in the spotlight more than she ever has been, and now dealing with people who don’t think she should be allowed power at all. And Faron, going from being someone loved and prayed too, to someone everyone believes a traitor. She really grew in this book, acknowledging just how she abused her powers, but also acknowledging her trauma and how the God’s used her at only 12 years old to be the face of a war. I’ll always love these characters for many reasons, but the main one being just how human Cole makes them feel. They each have their flaws, their wants and needs that might not be seen as favourable by those they are trying to help, but what Cole does expertly is make them so real to their ages and the experiences that they have gone through".

For a book with some many characters who have suffered the horrors of war and occupation each dealing or denying have to deal with the trauma and horror and responsibilities for decisions they have to make there is also a lot of suprising heart between these characters.

The plot itself in the second book is more fast-paced especially in the last third of the novel, though allowing for these more introspective character building moments. It is compulsively readable with suspense and tension through the roof. Cole also expands on the already rich world-building here, furthering the lore and landscape of this immersive world. It feels like we could discover plenty more stories. All of this culminates in a brilliant conclusion that is powerful and poignant. As you may expect, it is not clean-cut. The road ahead will be difficult and Cole does not shy away from that.

This Ends in Embers solidifies Cole as a name to watch in the YA fantasy genre with exquisite characterisation and a layered yet deeply compelling plot with plenty to say.

This debut novel, the first in a duology by Kamilah Cole is a Jamaican mythos inspired sapphic young adult fantasy that delivered from beginning to end.

I signed up for this book as a pre-order after one of my favourites authors Xiran Jay Zhao revealed that Cait Corrain author whose debut fantasy novel Crown of Starlight was scheduled to be publish in 2024 had created multiple fake accounts on Goodreads to review bomb other authors of colour. Kamilah Cole's (So Let Them Burn), Bethany Baptiste's (The Poisons We Drink), Frances White (Voyage of the Damned), and K.M. Enright (Mistress of Lies). So I immediately pre-ordered these novels.

Natalie from the Lesbrary summaries the story bits well "…book switches between the POVs of two sisters Faron and Elara Vincent. Faron can channel the power of the gods, which made her the secret weapon of her country’s revolution against the dragon-riding Langley Empire. Faron is fiery, mischievous, and unwilling to play the part of wise and composed chosen-one. Elara is calm, diplomatic, and has felt like she’s been both living in her sister’s shadow while also being charged with “managing” Faron’s hot-headed emotions. At what was supposed to be an international peace summit, Elara ends up bonding with a Langley Empire dragon and the dragon’s other rider, Signey. Elara must then go to the dragon riding academy on enemy ground, both as a spy for her country and to try to figure out if there’s a way to reverse the bond so she can return home to sister. Among battles of gods and dragons, bubbling rage (against colonizers, the gods, the situation), and impossible choices, Elara and Signey find themselves falling for each other. Two badass dragon riders discovering enemy secrets, plotting revenge, and falling in love?"

I also liked the focus on the relationships a moment when the romantasy genre is taking off, I appreciated how in this book, the friendships were treated as equally important. So Let Them Burn is a YA fantasy novel with a lot to offer. Not only does it start at a different point in the story than a more typical novel might have started. There’s a whole unseen YA novel that happens before So Let Them Burn even starts. Where the island of San Irie is fighting the Langley Empire for it’s freedom. This story YA tropes and gives them a fresh viewpoint. If you’re looking for queer YA fantasy with something new to say then I would suggest this book.

Did I mention there are dragons.

This is the fourth in the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal which began in 2018 with The Calculating Stars. I have enjoyed reading each with its blend of technical details of how in 1952

a meteorite strikes the eastern seaboard of the United States. Climate change from the disaster will make the Earth uninhabitable within decades and so the world begins to embark on a plan to build habitats off earth.

The previous books have seen lunar landings, a moon platform, a Mars landing and now in the 1970s the first steps of establishing a habitat on Mars.

The satisfactions of these novels for me is seeing how the technological achievements may exceed our own but catching up on the social issues which our world has worked through with the sexism faced by our protagonist Elma York, mathematician and pilot with attitudes I wish we could believe were left in the eras covered by the books. The racism so heightened as major plot driver in the previous novel with its repercussions a major factor in this book. One of the crucial points in this novel is trying to support scientists, engineers, etc from a coalitions dispart nations all while 43 minutes from communication of earth.

I look forward to reading more about this future.

This reads as a very confident and assured writer, I was so impressed to discover this was a debut author. I signed up for this book as a pre-order after one of my favourites Xiran Jay Zhao revealed that Cait Corrain author whose debut fantasy novel Crown of Starlight was scheduled to be publish in 2024 had created multiple fake accounts on Goodreads to review bomb other authors of colour. Kamilah Cole's (So Let Them Burn), Bethany Baptiste's (The Poisons We Drink), Frances White (Voyage of the Damned), and K.M. Enright (Mistress of Lies). So I immediately pre-ordered these novels.

The worldbuilding and the mythos of how magic works in the contemporary greater Washington, D.C., metro area id intricate and interesting, but it's the family and relations between the characters is a real strength. Leading off by the protagonist Venus’ mother, the formidable Clarissa Stoneheart, used to be the Love Witcher. From Kirkus review "She broke her pledge to only brew love potions, lost her magic as a consequence, and then turned her attention to teaching Venus, the new Love Witcher, “her 3-B philosophy…Get your bag, brew, and bounce.” When Clarissa is murdered, Venus is tested to her limits as she fights external forces by using her calling (her magical ability to brew) for political gain while also struggling to quiet the deviation (or trauma-inflicted corruption of her calling) that infects her. The deviation, which she calls It, can give Venus access to immense power, but she’s still haunted, in more ways than she realizes, by the first time it was uncaged, when she was 15. Patient readers will eventually encounter unexpected twists and turns that provide an exciting and satisfying ending.

A young adult novel very much in demand at my library. When it was chosen at the previous bookclub a month back I was No 12 on the list. By the weekend before book club I was down to No 6 which speaks to its popularity for a book published in 2005.

More lyrical than I expected - haven't read much WWII set in Germany literature. My exposure has been more Thomas Keneally 'Schindler's list', Primo Levi's 'If This Is a Man', and Art Spiegelman 'Maus'.

I was intrigued by the use of a philosophical, sentimental, melancholy grim reaper as the narrator, giving it a more resonant 3rd person perspective. Death was able to provide some of the more reflections, “I am haunted by humans.” "I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race—that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.

This big, (552 pages depending on edition and font size) expansive novel is a leisurely working out of fate, of seemingly chance encounters and events that ultimately touch, like dominoes as they collide. The writing is elegant, philosophical and moving. I have read a few reviews that recommend it is to be read slowly and savored. Sorry not really my thing but I can understand why it was so well regarded.

I think Bill Capossere at Fantasy Literature website said it best

"Cutesy tag lines for a review of The Empire of Gold (2020), S. A. Chakraborty’s concluding novel for her DAEVABAD trilogy of humans, djinn, and water elementals, sort of write themselves:

“Chakraborty strikes gold with the final novel in … ”

“Chakraborty is on fire with her newest … ”

“Come on djinn, the water’s fine … ” .

The Empire of Gold is a fully satisfying conclusion to this excellent trilogy, even though there are definitely moments that many fans won’t like for whatever reason. But, as a whole, what matters is that this feels like a bittersweet close one that is both deserved and earned, for both good and ill. And that is something to be celebrated .

I found this a satisfying conclusion to this fantasy romance duology. While the focus of book one, CONSORT OF FIRE, was largely on the developing relationship between Ash, Sachi, and Zanya, this second book puts the brewing world politics more front and center. Our main characters and the rest of the gods in the Court of Dreamers are gearing up for a war on two fronts, and they’re fighting with every tool in their arsenal. There’s politicking to be had at royal banquets, training of latent magical gifts, and a truly impressive climactic battle scene on the scale of gods. Whilst there were fewer spicy scenes they were longer and more intense more Scotch Bonnet than Habanero I'd say.

I have read that Kit Rocha's is planning more stories in this world one focusing on Aleksi, the god known as the Lover. Certainly some of the characters in these stories were intriguing and the world building interesting enough to carry more stories.

Only 398 pages which for romantasy is more manageable than many (a work colleague put it to me "you'll finish it in 3 days"). The world building is sumptuous and on the Scoville scale of spicyness it's about a Habanero with the added bonus it's queer AF. Penned by cult-favourite writing duo Kit Rocha (Bree Bridges and Donna Herren who started out writing as Moira Rogers) in a world dominated by Sarah J Maas and Rebecca Yarros.

The sitch

For three thousand years, an ancient dragon god has protected the borders of the Sheltered Lands. In return, he makes only one demand: every one hundred years, the mortal ruler must send their heir to serve as his consort…for as long as they can survive.

Sachielle of House Roquebarre is the thirty-first consort to be sacrificed to the monster who guards the world. She is young, beautiful—and she has three secrets.

First: she’s a disposable orphan trained in seduction.

Second: her handmaid, Zanya, is an assassin and the only person she has ever loved.

Third—and most dangerous: she’s cursed. Sachi and Zanya have five weeks to murder the Dragon. If they fail, the mortal king’s curse will steal not just Sachi’s life, but her very soul.

The Dragon has only one secret: he is nothing like what they have been told.

The second book of a series can be a bit of a let down, but no so kingdom of copper. If anything the world is richer for you having the first, the characters consistently developed and expanded and a genuine concern because of how much you have come to care about them. Except the ruler F* that guy.

A satisfying and epic conclusion to the trilogy. I enjoyed this novel especially because after the climatic cathartic third act Marvel battle the story continues, not just an epilogue but for a number of chapters. We got to see not just how all the players are recovering but instead of focusing on how societies and government are restructured we focus on the characters we have been following through these three books and get to see them find some resolution.

This novel won a metric frack tonne of awards, positive reviews and effusive praise. I can see why after I read this rich Middle Eastern fantasy, the first of a trilogy and the author Chakraborty’s intriguing debut.

"On the streets of 18th-century Cairo, young Nahri—she has a real talent for medicine but lacks the wherewithal to acquire proper training—makes a living swindling Ottoman nobles by pretending to wield supernatural powers she doesn’t believe in. Then, during a supposed exorcism, she somehow summons a mysterious djinn warrior named Dara, whose magic is both real and incomprehensibly powerful. Dara insists that Nahri is no longer safe—evil djinn threaten her life, so he must convey her to Daevabad, a legendary eastern city protected by impervious magical brass walls. During the hair-raising journey by flying carpet, Nahri meets spirits and monsters and develops feelings for Dara, a deeply conflicted being with a long, tangled past. At Daevabad she’s astonished to learn that she’s the daughter of a legendary healer of the Nahid family. All the more surprising, then, that King Ghassan, whose ancestor overthrew the ruling Nahid Council and stole Suleiman’s seal, which nullifies magic, welcomes her. With Ghassan’s younger son, Prince Ali, Nahri becomes immersed in the city’s deeply divisive (and not infrequently confusing) religious, political, and racial tensions. Meanwhile, Dara’s emerging history and personality grow more and more bewildering and ambiguous". -Kirkus review

In this syncretic, nonderivative and incredible backdrop, Chakraborty has constructed a compelling yarn of personal ambition, power politics, racial and religious tensions, strange magics, and terrifying creatures, culminating in a cataclysmic showdown that I did not see coming.

Can not wait to follow this in the next novel The Kingdom of Copper.

Second books in a trilogy have a challenge, especially with such a debut to follow.

After the smoldering intensity of the first book, Lei and Wren’s relationship quickly took a turn for the worse in the second book. Lei was still committed, but Wren distanced herself. She didn’t want to reveal their relationship to her father, and also didn’t appreciate Lei’s questions about her father’s intentions for the rebellion. And yet there’s also an ex that immediately pulls Wren’s attention once they come back into contact. Both of these story lines are not bad relationship story lines in general, necessarily, but they were not what I was expecting from the tone of the first book.

There is also the typical second book of a dystopian trilogy “everything gets unbearably worse” happening, but it’s not just the rebellion’s prospects of winning that seem dim.

There is much traveling to secure allies, politics the art of the possible is not how Lei understands you change the world for the better, however her lover and partner Wren was raised in these politics, and they struggle to reconcile these different beliefs.

There are also some large discoveries that I don’t want to spoil, but that change things dramatically. Lei miss identifying a sister to Wren leads to some pretty messed up results.

The conclusion is very cliff-hanging and I would recommend before starting this novel have a copy of the Girls of Fate and Fury to continue reading.

Another fun breezy tale for those who enjoyed the previous novel 'You can't spell treason without tea' everything is there to enjoy for them in this story. Please not the two primary characters Kianthe and Reyna spend much of the story separate and we lose some of their charming interactions but it does means we are introduced to other engaging characters. This may be as a result of something the author experienced in response to the first book and acknowledged on the first page .....

"To the people who gave me one-star reviews because the first book 'had lesbians.' I doubled the lesbians in this one. Just for you."

and in the next book Tea You at the Altar a wedding. Everyone loves a wedding in Romantasy.

his is a warm-hearted (rather than cosy) novella about burnout, being trapped in a job you hate and just the daily grind of being a small cog in a big machine. It’s told in the second person which some dislike but I think work in this story.

Our protagonist is a journeyman wizard, but throw away any preconceptions you might have about what that looks like – their life is basically first line customer service/tech support. They jump at a call that could get them out of the office for day but find a demon sharing the body of the teenager who made the call, and he doesn’t want to leave any time soon!

The burgeoning friendship between Shine/Wang Ran and our protagonist is sweet, as they try their best to help, and find a new joy in life. At a new friendship, along with their colleague Nathaniel, and new possibilities when you’ve been stuck so long at the same thing that you don’t see any way out.

It packs a lot of depth (and sweetness) into its short length. I'm interested in reading more by Em X. Liu a Chinese diaspora writer and physician born in Tianjin and currently living between Toronto and Vancouver.

I was immediately impressed by Girls of Paper and Fire as in the first pages it includes trigger warnings and a list of support services. The author herself in these pages warns readers that the book deals with issues of violence and sexual assault, allowing readers to decide before even starting to read if this is the book for them. Seeing it at the beginning of this book gave me confidence these topics would be handled respectfully.

There is internalized misogyny throughout the story dealt with genuinely, treating all parties as people who have value despite their flaws. Girls are not written off as merely jealous or petty — they are given reasons for the ways in which they act.

The protagonist, Lei, goes through character development throughout the story. She’s extremely likable despite some frustrating qualities. You want her to succeed. She’s strong and courageous, but also weary and at times frightened. First and foremost she is human, making human choices and thinking human thoughts. Because of it, she sometimes does things that infuriate you. Like with all the characters, it’s refreshing that she’s allowed to have flaws and make mistakes without immediately being labelled a failure or worthless by the narrative. She’s allowed to grow and learn.

There is all so some spice in the primary relationship.

Certainly looking forward to reading the next novel in the trilogy Girls of Storm and Shadow.

As a science fiction/Fantasy/horror author Darcy Coates, with an extensive bibliography has been on my radar for a while especially given she lives in the Central Coast of Australia with "her family, cat, and a collection of chickens. Her home is surrounded by rolling wilderness on all sides". I selected Parasite out of her back catalogue as it ticks a lot of my preferred boxes, Science Ficiton, Interstellar Space, Aliens and Pandemic models…

As I was reading it its style reminded me of World War Z with its shifting view points in a series of discrete encounters in a larger narrative. This made sense when I realised this novel is actually five short stories/novellas tied together by an alien invasion throughout a distant human-populated system united under an entity called Control.

A fast, well-crafted straight forward tale of the monstrous alien infiltrator infection and the humans who after setbacks learn to rally and begin to defeat the threat. Nothing wrong with that. My sole caveat is that ends with a "the war had only just begun…". So whilst I don't think there is any likelyhood of a continuation of the story so it can leave a reader a bit unsatisfied.

A contemporary science fiction centred around the premise "It's 2035, and for the last nine years Pearl has worked as a technician for the Apricity Corporation, a San Francisco company that's devised a machine that, using skin cells collected from the inside of a subject’s cheek, provides “contentment plans” for those seeking happiness. (The firm’s name means the feeling of warmth on one’s skin from the sun.) The machine’s prescriptions veer sharply from the benign to the bewildering, telling one of Pearl’s clients to “eat tangerines on a regular basis,” “work at a desk that receive[s] more morning light,” and “amputate the uppermost section of his right index finger.” “The recommendations can seem strange at first…but we must keep in mind the Apricity machine uses a sophisticated metric, taking into account factors of which we’re not consciously aware,” Pearl reassures the client contemplating going under the knife, in a speech she has memorized from the company manual. “The proof is borne out in the numbers. The Apricity system boasts a nearly one hundred percent approval rating. Ninety-nine point nine seven percent.” Never mind the .03 percent the company considers “aberrations.”

But this does the story a disservice as the focus is the characters, throughout the story we see the next narrative development through a different character, sometimes returning to them in later chapters and their significant developmental steps. Her husband, Elliot, an artist, has left her for a younger, pink-haired woman, Val, who has her own secrets—yet Elliot persists in his feelings with Pearl. (ugh Elliot, my least favourite character we all have known and Elliot) Her teenage son, Rhett, has stopped eating, perversely finding contentment in dissatisfaction and self-denial. We others who all undergo significant self-awareness and growth, except maybe Elliot who remains essential Elliot (sigh).

I am interested to read others reactions to the conclusion which I found abrupt but satisfying, others it seems not so much.

I'm going to read this story as a metaphor for why the Large Language Models like Chatgpt, Copilot, Grok and others not a solution (mainly because they aren't)

I'm using the genre tag cosy fantasy as its how the book is marked and it certainly has the feel of it. Similar to United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart 1964 Jacobellis v. Ohio when asked to describe his threshold test for obscenity "I know it when I see it".

"Undying loyalty to a sociopathic queen can get pretty old. For Reyna, a palace guard, the final straw comes when a potential assassin holds a knife to her throat and she finds that Queen Tilaine doesn’t care whether she lives or dies. Decades of fealty collapse in an instant, and truthfully ...Reyna doesn’t care either. She’s finally free to escape the palace grounds and never look back, to travel to the ends of the earth and open a tea shop/bookstore. Reyna and her girlfriend, Kianthe, have dreamed of combining their favorite pastimes into a solid income and living a life free from royal obligation and bloodshed. But Reyna isn’t the only half of the couple who will need to escape Tilaine—Kianthe is the Arcandor, the Mage of Ages. Kianthe wants no part of the Queendom, nor any role in the Magicary; she’d rather act on her own to decide what duty she owes the world’s magic. Reyna and Kianthe flee the Queendom in the night and arrive just south of dragon country in a backwoods town named Tawney, meeting charming locals and uncovering an abandoned barn perfect for their tea- and bookshop. As Reyna and Kianthe embrace their independence, they tackle threats of dragons, Queen Tilaine’s spies, and commands from the ancient Stone of Seeing, all while openly and patiently navigating their newly public relationship. Thorne’s novel encompasses all the wonders of fantasy—pet griffons, vengeful dragons, and a bloodthirsty monarch—while capturing the heartwarming moments of a blossoming romance. Side characters, including a nonbinary diarn crushing on a young lord, add to the whimsy as Thorne deftly weaves a closed-door, cozy romantasy.

A sweet fantasy brews little conflict". _Kirus reviews

and if you think that pun above is out of place I can assure you that they are exactly as many puns in this story as you would expect given the word play in the title. I am looking forward to reading more of this world.

I was also enchanted to see in the acknowledgements the honest, grateful thanks Rebecca Thorne expressed to Travis Baldree for this inspiration that this story draws on for his 'Legends & Lattes' and 'Bookshops & Bonesdust' novels and if you enjoyed these then I think you will enjoy reading Rebecca Thorne's Tomes & Tea Cosy fantasies of which this is the first.

It was the world setting in this that I found intriguing, a contemporary Philadelphia where the climate apocalypse we have all seen coming is now here and getting worse. The terrible storms, tornadoes that have destroyed houses, flooding, fever season as a common place consideration, but this is the background- setting the place

A story centered on a titular festival of misrule and fiesta, protagonist character is gradually peeled back, making her captivating if mercurial, compelling if occasionally duplicitous. She is both strong and vulnerable, and the more the narrative progresses, the more charismatic and compelling she becomes.

Kirkus reviews described it as "A near-future version of the U.S. entranced by mutual aid organizations–turned–secret societies and caught in a slow-burn environmental catastrophe that’s unsettlingly plausible, and her depiction of the aftermath of sexual assault is complicated in its rage and compassion. The novel’s pacing is electric, its worldbuilding seamless, and the magic that slowly reveals itself feels truly strange and captivating—a considerable feat".

Set over just one night, but with many flash backs to expand our understanding of character's and motivations the plot’s five-part structure has a traditional unity of time and place that serves only to contrast the chaos of the action.

I would have liked to spend more time with some of this fascinating cast of women (the male characters, not so much)

An new twist on the deal with the devil story which I found a pleasant change from the usual way these tales go. The last time I hit such a refreshing reinterpretation of the bargain of Faust was Ryka Aoki's 2021 Novel Light from Uncommon Stars.

A respectable faction of a bookclub I read with said positive things about this novel and I can certainly add my voice to the chorus.

Anyone already a fan of V.E.Schwabs need read no further and add this one to their To-Be-read- Ziggurat immediately. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a dark fantasy romance with queer protagonists and a cast of shadowy, ephemeral characters spanning centuries and continents. If you are into vampire books, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue just might scratch that itch. Although Addie is not a vampire, the story includes such vampire tropes as immortality, agelessness, and a cruel sire.

The historical periods span 300 years and I always enjoy those stories which we see our world change through our protagonist and Addie is a smart and experienced character who learns to over come the challenges and how she wins a victory for her lover means even though it does not conclude the story for her I am satisfied she will succeed in the end.

This is the first book by Alexis Henderson I have read and I found it so engaging I will seek out her other works such as The year of the Witching and Academy for Liars.

House of Hunger is set in a world where the upper class literally feed on the blood of lower-class women they enlist into their service. Its a suprisingly refereshing take, as they are not vampires in the sense of '..the children of the night" but the rich feed on the blood of the young to keep their viltality and health. Our protagonist Marion is a bloodmaid in the House of Hunger, an infamous and ancient clan of vampiric aristocrats. Surrounded by debauchery and hedonism, Marion is quickly swept away by her new mistress, Countess Lisavet. Marion’s blood keeps Lisavet healthy, and Marion is drawn in by Lisavet’s magnetic pull, but soon she realizes that things might not be as they appear. Suddenly, bloodmaids begin to go missing, and questions begin to arise about what exactly happens once a bloodmaid has outlived her term at the House of Hunger.

Whilst I struggled a bit to continue in the middle of the story the resolution was dramatic consistent and satisfying.

Sunny Moraine's horror novella is a brilliantly creepy story of an unfolding 'pandemic' apocalypse of a violent rage spread by eye contact. But this is no CDC zombie uprising survivalist story (not that there is anything wrong with that love your work Last Of Us) but a first person perspective of a young woman Riley, who has left the city to huddle in the small house her grandparents owned, somewhere in the country. While lots of humans have died—more accurately, killed each other and themselves—there is enough infrastructure left that she can order groceries via her computer. When the story opens, Riley throws her still-functioning phone into the lake. She herself isn’t quite sure why, except for a feeling that there is literally no one to connect with.

The story unfolds from her personal view and so you wonder how much of this is real and how much is it Riley's decent into the madness.

And I don't care what anyone says crows are creepy, nothing ends well if a crow is your herald of change.

I read and enjoyed Yume Kitasei's debut novel The Deep Sky and this story confirms her as a science fiction author who writes a compelling tale. This is a thrilling anti-colonial space heist to save an alien civilization. One blurb which I thought summed it up nicely by the Author Veronica Roth "Come … for Indiana Jones-style outer space heist adventure, stay for the sensitively drawn characters and thoughtful exploration of other forms of life far beyond our own"

I've seen it described as "a feminist retelling of Carmilla" which surprised me as I had always thought of J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 novella of Lesbian Vampires (published 25 years before Bram Stoker's Dracula) was pretty darn feminist. Le Fanu's story doesn't demonize the love between the two women, the relationship between Carmilla and Laura seemed honest and features no intervention from men. Society’s starkly negative view of gay people in England at the time makes this a highly progressive story. The classism and racism however….

Anyway Kat Dunn's (an author I am now keen to explore their back catalogue after reading this) Carmilla is now in the Parthenon of this sapphic icon. My heart appropriately belongs to Netflix's Castlevania's Carmilla Queen of Styria. Another favourite is from Theodora Goss' 2018 novel 'European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman' is my third. Camilla in this novel is more an element of nature than a character, it's this version of Laura sorry Lenore that shines for me.

Initially I did not find Lenore an engaging character which is a problem as so much time in her head. She was so full of the faults and failings of anyone in the horrible misogyny and classism of this time and place. Situated in a number of essential nineteenth-century contexts: her husband Henry’s steelworks and the consequences of industrialisation for the working class, Lenore’s role as housewife and house manager, and the intricacies of social graces in this period.

Also for those that need a heads up there are some spicy scenes in the novel.

But then around halfway through the book Laura has her coming of rage moment. The realisation that for all her efforts, planning organising and sheer willpower to forge herself safety she isn't safe. She then realises she was never safe. And this is a glorious moment that propels her agency forward.

From then on I am cheering for Lenore, and some might find the resolution contrary to what has gone before I believe it is an elegant and clever acknowledgement of all the author's evocation of the culture. And of course contrary to the trope no gays are buried in this one.

"The others are waking up.” was a phrase that gave me a delightful chill when I read it.

"In Madeleine Roux’s Salvaged, Rosalyn Devar works as a salvager, going out to “dead” spaceships to clean up the bodies. It’s a cruddy job for someone as highly-educated and competent as she is, but she left her father’s company and walked away to somewhere she could be anonymous and alone. She had been attacked by a co-worker and her father did nothing about it because he couldn’t afford to fire the man. Now a suit from the salvaging company has taken some sort of interest in her. There have been several dead ships recently that seem a bit too similar, so he wants her to keep her eyes open on her next trip out. In return, he won’t fire her for drinking on the job! When Rosalyn makes her way out to the latest dead ship, she finds that not all of the crew is actually dead–and there’s a mysterious alien fungus that has spread out over the ship.

The crew of the ship Roz is checking out is pretty interesting. Rayan is a young scientist who’s trying to analyze the fungus. Misato is an older scientist who came along on the working equivalent of taking a vacation. Edison is the weary captain, and Piero is a security officer who comes across as unusually violent. All of these people think that Roz seems familiar, but none of them know why. Some of them seem to want to stop Roz, while others try to help her. They all make reference to “Foxfire” or “Mother,” and both words seem to refer to the fungal growth.

There’s scientific discovery, human minds fighting against an alien influence, secrets, betrayal, a murder mystery, and more. Mother wants to be found, and Roz and the crew have to stop that from happening–otherwise her influence could spread across the known universe. Speaking of the universe, the worldbuilding is great. Earth is slowly being evacuated due to terrible weather and dwindling resources. The book doesn’t spend too much time on that, just including enough information to set the stage. There’s also great creativity in how the ship is used throughout the plot". -Heather Errant Dreams

A few reviewers have mentioned that science fiction is not a genre that Madeleine Roux has written in before but her usual work in the horror genre has stood her in good stand here. I will certainly seek out more of her work