Jessica Strider

Illustrated Edition, Translated by Dora Nussey from the third French edition, published in 1913; 1958

Pros: tons of information packed into 400 pages, goes over all the main sources and stories depicted on French Gothic cathedrals, lots of great illustrations

Cons: can be dry in parts, occasionally expresses prejudices

I read this in university for one of my Medieval Studies courses and was lucky enough to find a used edition. The book is now out of copyright and can be read for free via Archive.org (available in black and white and with off white pages) https://archive.org/details/cu31924020506865 OR https://archive.org/details/religiousartinfr00mluoft - Always download the pdf version of old books. The ebook version tends to get messy when there are page headings and footnotes and become difficult if not impossible to read).

Though old, this is still one of the best studies of 13th Century French cathedral art and its interpretation written. In contract to some of his contemporaries and predecessors, M. Male attempted to explain the figures in sculpture and stained glass using texts produced by the middle ages. By doing so, he clarifies and corrects several misinterpretations of characters and stories.

He writes the book using the organizational style taken from Vincent de Beauvais' Speculum Maius (The Great Mirror), which explained how everything from history to nature was a type for Christ and spiritual things. It is separated into four parts: the mirror of nature, the mirror of instruction (or doctrine), the mirror of morals, and the mirror of history. The final book is further subdivided by Male into the Old Testament, the Gospels, Apocryphal stories, Saints, secular history, and the end of times. Through these categories, the whole of the cathedrals is laid bare for the reader.

Male assumes a familiarity with the stories of the Bible, though he does detail the stories enough that even those unfamiliar with it should be able to follow along. The wealth of information contained here is incredible, and if you go in not knowing Bible characters or Christian saints, you'll leave knowing a lot about them.

There are a lot of great illustrations and photos, though their placement leaves a little to be desired, as you sometimes have to flip ahead or backwards to find the photo of what he's talking about.

The book mentions some of the renovations that had been done by his time and lamented the damage done to the monuments in the past during the iconoclasm and French Revolution, but of course he had no way to anticipate the even worse damages to come with World War II and acid rain. So the book preserves some images of things that were already gone by his time (he reproduces some illustrations from older works) and that are now gone or reproduced today. In a few instances the names he attributes to people aren't what they're deemed now, either due to more research or to misinformation. In a few other instances, he has information about windows and sculptures that no longer exist (as with two black windows in Chartres that he attributes to particular saints).

The book can be a bit dry and academic at times, but it's worth pushing through those parts. And if you're worried you won't be able to, skip ahead to the chapter on the Saints and the one on the end of the world, as both were fascinating.

The author on a few occasions expressed some of his own prejudices against peoples of the past. These aren't obvious, but there are a couple of disparaging remarks (I specifically remember one about Ethiopia and one about India).

My other complaint is that he references books that still haven't been translated into English, meaning if you don't read Latin you have no way of reading these works yourself. I'd dearly love to read some of his sources, especially the Speculum Maius, Glossa Ordinaria by Walafrid Strabo, the sermons of Honorius of Autun, Traditiones Teratologiques by Berger de Xivrey, and more. Perhaps because of this, there are a few places where Male quotes an ancient text and it's left in the original language with no footnote telling you what it means.

Despite the age of the book and the few complaints, it really is an amazing book and highly recommended for anyone interested in art history, the middle ages, and saints.

Pros: interesting world, complex protagonist

Cons: protagonist didn't consider consequences

A year ago Aileana Kameron's mother was killed in front of her by a fae. No longer the social debutant she once was, XX now fights the fair folk at night, social engagements notwithstanding. But her reputation is suffering and her father's patience is almost gone. Soon she will have to choose her future, or have it decided for her.

While I sympathized with Aileana's history, I didn't particularly like her as a character. Her desire to kill the fae was treated very much like a drug addiction and it was hard seeing her losing her life to this obsession. I really liked her mechanical tinkering and would have enjoyed learning more about her various inventions. I was surprised by how little she thought about the consequences of her actions. Her reputation aside, the fact that she throws a bomb at monsters on a bridge in one scene with no thought of what destroying the bridge means for the city (or what kind of destruction her bomb could do in general before using it) showed how young and unprepared she was.

I liked that her best friend played a decent role in the book, and that female friendship was seen as an important factor in her life (something that's often overlooked in SFF in general).

The book is set in an alternate Scotland, where the fair folk are real but most people don't believe in them anymore. Only a few people, like Aileana can see them (with or without aid). The city felt like a vibrant place and the descriptions were very nice.

The romance aspects came up late in the book and were fairly subdued. So subdued in fact that I was actually shipping the wrong couple and was left surprised by the protagonist's choices near the end.

The book ends in a cliffhanger, and it's been a long time since I've read one of those. It was a very exciting scene so I turned the page in anticipation of the climax only to find the glossary.

It was an engaging story, fast paced with a fair amount of action.

Pros: quite thorough in some areas, decent number of images, very interesting subject matter

Cons: fair amount of repetition, some sections could have been fleshed out more

This is the third book in Russell's history of the devil, following The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity and Satan: The Early Christian Tradition. It examines the development of the history and figure of the devil during the middle ages, considering issues like when and why he fell, what he looks like, what his powers are, his role in the fall of mankind and its subsequent salvation by Christ, and whether God is ultimately responsible for the devil's actions.

The book has 11 chapters: The Life of Lucifer; The Devil in Byzantium; The Muslim Devil; Folklore; Early Medieval Diabology; Lucifer in Early Medieval Art & Literature; The Devil and the Scholars; Lucifer in High Medieval Art & Literature; Lucifer on the Stage; Nominialists, Mystics, & Witches; and The Existence of the Devil. The book also has an essay on the sources used, a bibliography and an index.

Due to the nature of the topic and how people and institutions wrote either building on the past or opposing the writings of others (writings that were deemed heretical), there's a fair amount of repetition. It's really interesting seeing the slow development of ideas. The book focuses mainly on the timeline of the fall of the devil & the evil angels (at the time of creation, sometime later) and the image and powers of the devil.

I'd have liked longer chapters on the Muslim devil and Byzantium as I don't know as much about those areas of belief and his examination of them was very superficial.

The book includes a decent number of black and white photographs to help visualize the subject matter.

The section on witches was interesting as it focused on how preachers kept the fire and brimstone ideas of the devil alive even as theological discourse around evil was slowly letting ideas of the devil fade in importance.

The book pointed out a lot of interesting information about how Christian thinkers in the middle ages approached ideas of evil, the devil and God's omnipotence. Despite the level of repetition, it's a fascinating book.

Pros: very detailed analysis, excellent overview of the history required to understand the author's thesis, lots of images

Cons: some images are of poor quality, some ideas/terms could have used a bit more explanation

It's become conventional knowledge that the trade windows at Chartres and other cathedrals were donated by members of the trade guilds that are depicted. Williams has done a thorough job in this book, published in 1993, of refuting that claim.

The book is separated into 5 chapters, with an additional introduction and epilogue. There are 4 colour plates and 151 black and white plates. There are extensive notes and a bibliography. Chapter 1 briefly examines the literature that's been written about Chartres cathedral with regards to its stained glass (dating and program), specifically focusing on interpretations regarding the trade windows. Chapter 2 goes over the historical circumstances in Chartres around the time the cathedral was built. It details the tensions between the chapter, the bishop, the count and the townspeople (including a riot in 1210). Chapters 3-5 are analyses of windows dealing with bread, wine, and money changers in that order. They each go over what other historians have said about the windows, the historical context of those trades (bakers, tavern keepers, and money-changers) then analyzes each window that shows those trades comparing them to others within the cathedral, to those from other cathedrals, and ancient Roman works.

Williams points out very quickly that there are few if any contemporary records supporting the idea the trade windows were guild gifts. Her very thorough examination of the interrelationships of power, and how bread, wine & money (that is the cash economy as well as monetary gifts to the cathedral) were incorporated into liturgical practice within the cathedral as well as the liturgical year (in terms of taxes and ‘gifts'). The book also examined how practices changed over time (for example, how the Eucharist was given less often to regular people and eulogy bread was passed out instead).

There were a lot of black and white images, including several useful maps and floor plans of the cathedral showing where the various windows were located in the building. Some of the window photos were of poor quality so it was hard to see what the author was describing (though this is probably due as much to the state of the windows at the time the book was made).

I did find that a few terms and ideas could have used a bit more explanation. For example, the author seems to assume that the reader knows that bishops were appointed from outside the Chartres chapter rather than voted on by the canons, which likely added to the antagonism between him and the canons.

I learned a lot about church practices and how various groups in society related to each other. It's a great reminder that people have always been complex and relationships never easy, especially where power and money are involved.

If you're interested in the middle ages, medieval art, cathedrals or liturgical practices, this is an interesting book and, I think, proves the point the author is making. It's given me a lot to think about with regards to how I read church windows.

Pros: detailed analysis, lots of explanation

Cons: lots of necessary repetition

This is the second in a series of books on the evolution of the devil in Christian thought, following The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity. There are 8 chapters: The Devil, The Apostolic Fathers, The Apologetic Fathers and the Gnostics, Human Sin and Redemption: Irenaeus and Tertullian, Mercy and Damnation: the Alexandrians, Dualism and the Desert, Satan and Saint Augustine, Conclusion: Satan Today. There is also an essay on the sources used by Russell.

Given that each group of theologians built on what came before, the book contains a lot of repetition. Several later authors expanded on Origen's theory of the cosmos and redemption before it was declared heretical. Russell does a good job of explaining sometimes convoluted mythologies (like those of the Gnostics and Manicheans) so that you can see how their beliefs coloured that of Orthodox Christians.

Each chapter deals with a stage in the development of Christianity, including how the believers at that period understood Creation, the Fall (of angels and mankind), and Redemption (whether through Christ's sacrifice or via tricking the Devil). It's interesting to read the various theories and how they shifted and grew over time into the ideas we're familiar with today.

While it's an older book, first published in 1981, the scholarship is solid, with then current references and a lot of page notes explaining certain concepts in more detail.

If you're interested in the development of the devil and hell, how theological discourse changes over time, or simply in the history of Christianity as a whole, this is an interesting read.

Pros: realistic setting and characters, pretty artwork

Cons: ending is simplistic

In a future where your Ranked app scores decide where you can live, what restaurants you can enter, and how ‘cool' you are at school, being at the bottom sucks. When the app is hacked and the scores of Averee and her mom drop suddenly, Averee faces prejudice at school while her mom's job is in jeopardy. A friend's idea to find the app's founder sounds impossible, but just might be Averee's only hope.

Averee is a 5 issue, self-contained graphic novel. The artwork is full of colourful pastels and simplistic backgrounds, letting the characters and plot be the focus. It's easy to grasp the kind of world an app like Ranked would create, so little world-building was required. Having said that, the cattiness of some schoolgirls is very realistic and sells the setting.

I liked the friendship between Averee and Zoe, whose rank has always been low. Their arguments and resolution feel natural for their age. I also liked the budding relationship between Averee and Luke, the awkwardness of trying too hard while hoping it's not obvious you're trying too hard.

The plot is well paced across the 5 issues, and while the ending seemed a little simplistic (I feel like the trio would face more consequences for what they did), I did like the resolution.

Pros: interesting protagonist, tense action, compelling mystery

Cons: somewhat frustrating opening

Grace Park is the Orbiter on the spaceship Deucalion, a psychologist sent to monitor the crew on their mission to scout out a newly discovered planet and prepare it for colonization. Her role, her standoffishness and the fact that she not a conscripted member of ISF makes her something of an outsider among the crew, fitting in more with the androids on board. Things immediately start going wrong when they arrive at the planet. Facing mistrust and paranoia, Park has to figure out what's going on before it's too late.

The opening's a bit slow as you're introduced to a lot of characters, settings, and history. It's also frustrating as you've only got the information that Park is privy to (with the exception of some emails at the start of some chapters), so it takes quite a while before you both begin to understand what's going on. That slow opening pays off at the half way point when the tension ramps up and it becomes very hard to put the book down.

The book begins with a mystery but parts in the middle felt very much like a horror novel. The action is fast and explanations limited (though eventually you do learn enough to understand what's really going on).

Park is a challenging protagonist as she has a limited range of emotions. It's easy to understand why she's ostracized by her peers, but seeing her actions from the inside helps the reader empathize with her. I did find it a little strange that a 13 member human crew could make a 3 floor ship feel crowded and full of ‘cliques', but those early complaints faded as the action ramped up. I enjoyed seeing Park's friendship with various androids as the book progressed.

It's an interesting book. Definitely worth pushing past the opening to see where the book goes. The ending felt right, though it left unanswered questions.

Pros: faithful translation that mentions prior work done on the text, lots of textual notes and introductory pieces to help with comprehension, lots of interesting information about life in the middle ages

Cons: medieval writing tends to be dry and I found it hard to read more than a few pages at a time without a break

This is a translation of the French medieval household book Le Ménagier de Paris. It consists of an introduction, which includes background information, what life was like in Paris at the time of it's writing, and a gloss of the Tale of Griselda. The text itself consists of several parts talking about good conduct (prayer, behaviour, dress, chastity, virtues & vices, obedience to one's husband, etc), horticulture, choosing servants, hawking, menus, and recipes. There are introductory passages every few sections so you have a good idea of what the book will discuss next, as well as excellent page notes (many of which detail translation decisions) and a very useful glossary of culinary terms to help with the last 2 sections of the book and a bibliography.

The premise of the text is that of an older husband writing a book for his new young wife so that she will be properly trained and able to manage a household for her second husband after the author's death. The book goes into a fair amount of detail regarding some items (there are a lot of recipes and detailed information on the virtues & vices, breaking down the various ways people sin and how it's important to confess). There are also some long morality tales about how it's important to obey one's husband and be long-suffering, even if your husband tries your patience or tests you.

I found it very interesting what a woman in 14th C Paris was expected to know, even if it's unknown if the author's ‘young wife' actually existed. The cooking section mentioned where to buy certain ingredients and how much they cost. The hawking section was very detailed about how much work was involved, all of which had to be done by the person intending to fly the hawk (so servants couldn't train the bird for you). The moralistic tales are fairly long winded and get boring after a while. The Tale of Griselda is kind of infuriating as a modern reader and even the author's response to it implies he doesn't agree with the husband's actions, but thought it was worth including anyway.

I wish the author had finished his planned book and included the games and entertainments he'd intended. I think those might have been quite interesting to learn about.

There's a lot of great information here, but you'll probably have to read it in small doses to stay engaged. The translators did a fantastic job of keeping the language easy to understand, but medieval texts tend to be on the dry side.

Pros: good worldbuilding, interesting magic system, complex characters

Cons: a bit slow at times

When the artisan Arlyn Albainil receives word that his cousin Xandra named him executor of his testament he knows something's up. The White Council wants to open Xandra's practitioners' vault, the place magic users keep their most important - and dangerous - work. But Arlyn knows what Xandra kept his his vault - the godstone - is a powerful artifact too dangerous to be released. So he enlists the help of the village practitioner, Fenra, to seal the godstone away forever.

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding and learning how modes worked. There were a few confusing moments as the characters understood what was happening as they passed between modes in a way that wasn't explained to the reader, but I caught on quickly. I also liked the complexity of magic and learning that there were other planes of existence.

Fenra was a great character, compassionate but also pragmatic. I loved watching her relationship with Elvanyn develop. While her age is never given, it's clear she's not young, and her actions show the careful consideration of someone with a good deal of experience behind her.

The story was told from the three protagonists' points of view, with the character named at the start of each section so it was very easy to keep track of whose thoughts you were sharing.

The pacing is slow but steady, doling out information at a good rate to keep you interested and with some tense scenes as the godstone comes into play.

Though the author is working on a sequel, The Godstone works as a standalone, wrapping things up nicely at the end.

I really enjoyed the book and if you like old school fantasy, you should give it a try.

Pros: gets you quickly up to speed with regards to the events of book 1, interesting characters, some ethical dilemmas, hard SF, variety of conflicts

Cons:

After building the base on Mars and surviving XOs attempted assassinations, Frank cuts at deal with the company to impersonate Lance Brack and help the NASA astronauts arriving in a few months with their mission. But XO has others secrets on Mars, and they intend to keep their malfeasance unknown on Earth.

No Way picks up immediately after the end of One Way. If it's been a while since you read the first book, the author does an excellent job of reminding you of the ending and the more important elements within the first few chapters of book two.

Frank is a sympathetic protagonist despite his past. He faces a lot of ethical dilemmas before the NASA crew arrive, and a few more afterwards. The crew themselves face some tough decisions later in the book.

I appreciated that the conflict was a mix of man vs nature, man vs himself, and man vs man. The book is well paced, with sections where things are going well followed by tense chapters where things go very wrong.

Descriptions of life on Mars circle around the constant danger, the monotonous scenery, and the utter excitement of being on an alien planet. While I personally can't vouch for the scientific accuracy of everything that happens, the author is a rocket scientist with degrees in geology and planetary geophysics.

There is some thematic overlap with The Martian, though the tone here is more serious. If you like survival stories, or Mars, this is a fantastic book.

Pros: lots of illustrations, sticks to verifiable history, engaging

Cons: images of a few discussed cards not included

Note: I received a review copy of the ebook from Netgalley and therefore cannot comment on the removable Sola-Busca tarot cards or fold-out tarot timeline that the physical book comes with.

The History of Tarot Art takes you on a journey of the most influential tarot decks. After a short introduction there are 12 chapters on specific tarot decks, followed by a chapter that showcases several contemporary decks. Then there's a quick epilogue and an appendix where the authors explain how to do a tarot reading and provide 2 spreads for beginners.

Each chapter talks about the history of that deck, who the artist was and why the deck was created. In a few cases other artworks by the artist are included so you can see their general style. The artists also explain the wider influence of the decks and offer a few suggestions of other decks you might like if that style of art speaks to you.

In the introduction the authors make it clear that they are only including verifiable history, no ‘fakelore'. I really appreciated the amount of research that went into this book and how ideas about tarot developed from playing cards to cards for divination purposes.

There are a lot of illustrations in the book, mostly specific tarot cards from the decks discussed and recommended. In a few places the authors spoke about specific cards that did not show up in the book, which was unfortunate. There were also a few places where the formatting of the book meant the authors spoke about one specific card, like the sun card, and a different deck's sun card appeared on that page, which was a bit confusing.

It's fascinating to see how styles changed over time and how various artists created their own decks to address the fact that the current decks didn't speak to them or show them as practitioners (so feminist and more inclusive decks that made the esoteric content more accessible).

On the whole this is a fantastic book if you're interested in the art and history of tarot cards.

Pros: interesting characters, great world-building, unique

Cons:

AIs fly ships, and AIs have never failed in flight.

When first mate Michelle ‘Shell' Campion is woken after the last bridge-jump to the Bloodroot colony, 10 years into her mission, she finds the starship Ragtime's AI reduced to its basic operating system and 31 colonists missing from their sleeping pods. This is not the way the now acting captain foresaw her first mission going.

Bloodroot sends an investigator in answer to Shell's distress call to find out what's happening on the quarantined ship, but murder is just the start of the mysteries he uncovers there.

The world-building is great. While most of the action takes place on Ragtime, I loved Lagos station and learning about the Lambers. I also appreciated that the human characters were considerate towards the AI, even asking what pronouns they prefer.

The plot begins with the mystery of how the colonists died, but that's quickly overshadowed by the weirdest series of events as things on Ragtime quickly spiral out of control. You're not going to figure out ‘who dunnit', or foresee any of the other twists that come completely out of left field, but the ending explains why everything happened, which I greatly appreciated.

The pacing can be on the slow side at times, reflecting the actualities of space travel and communication. Having said that, the characters never have enough time to solve a problem before the next one comes up, making the story feel claustrophobic, rushed, and tense.

The characters are intriguing and unusual. Shell is calm and collected even under the worst pressure. Fin hates space though he's excited to be practicing his trade again after screwing up his last assignment. Joké is... unique and kind of fun.

This is a different kind of science fiction novel, something the author mentions in an afterword at the end of the book. So if you want something outside the norm give this a try.

Pros: excellent overview, covers all the crusades, good supplementary material

Cons: superficial coverage can leave gaps in knowledge

This is a short but comprehensive record of the crusades, from what led up to the calling of the first crusade, to how modern nations have looked back on them. In addition to dealing with each crusade and what happened between them, the book also has an excellent chronology, a few maps, and appendices of the various popes and secular rulers of some of the principle nations involved. There are 14 chapters, with an additional introduction explaining what the crusades were and an epilogue. While there are scant details of each crusade, the author is careful to note the various horrors each side perpetuated and how each side was impacted by the crusades (so you get some idea of how Jews, heretics, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Catholic Christians, etc. reacted. The one group that got very little input were the Eastern European pagans, who are mentioned in later chapters but there isn't much information about how they reacted to the crusades beyond what battles they were involved in).

There isn't much detail for each crusade, the length of the book necessarily forcing the author to cover each one briefly, but the author does an excellent job of covering the basics and more. In some cases it's easy to skip over some of the more horrible aspects, as they could get a single line - like the fact that some crusaders resorted to cannibalism to survive the first crusade. Having said that, I was impressed by how much information was crammed in. The book provides an excellent overview of the crusades as a whole after which you can easily pick up a book on a specific crusade/period to get more in depth information, knowing the broad strokes of the movement.

If you're interested in the crusades and want a book that covers it all, this is a good one.

Pros: interesting politics, fascinating magic system, fun characters

Cons: too short

Fellian is rescued from her indentured servitude by a group of Monarchists who need her help as a Lamp - a fire mage. But are the Monarchists really any better than the liberationists that overthrew them years ago?

This is a novella so you're not getting the in dept world-building you might be hoping for. It's a bit of a shame as the world is interesting and I'd have loved to learn more about the politics and magic. I loved the idea that human magic is caused by demon-wraiths nesting in their bones. The politics were complicated and messy as expected when a revolution has recently occurred.

Fellian asks a lot of questions, annoying her companions but giving the reader vital information. She's clever and resourceful. Her team is an interesting mix and I enjoyed their dynamic.

The book is fast paced and compelling.

This is a quick, enjoyable read.

Pros: great premise, interesting characters

Cons:

Mickey Barnes is the expendable for the Niflheim beachhead colony, which means if there's a dangerous job, he's the one doing it. So it's not surprising that when his seventh iteration falls into a deep hole he's left for dead. Unfortunately when he makes it back to base a new copy of himself is sleeping in his bed. Multiples are the biggest taboo, so the Mickeys must hide what they are even as trouble is brewing with the planet's indigenous lifeforms.

This book was a lot of fun to read. It's quick paced and engaging, with Mickey7 including important incidents from his past while narrating the events of the present.

I went from thinking of Mickey7 as a decent guy, then kind of a jerk, then back to being a decent guy. Some of his history paints him in a bad light though it seems dying multiple times has improved his character somewhat. I really liked Nasha and thought their relationship was great.

The book poses some interesting ethical questions without delving too deeply into them or dwelling on them for long. It's mostly a lighthearted read.

The world-building was great. There was a lot more explanation about the larger universe than I expected, with Mickey explaining things about life on his homeworld, Midgard, and some of the other colonies (successful & failed).

The ending ties together all the various narratives Mickey throws at you. I especially loved how his study of history gave him insight into how to think of the native species.

If you like easygoing, sometimes humorous, sometimes serious SF, give this a go.

Pros: lots of photographs, interesting information

Cons: superficial, some chapters could have used more depth

This is a general guide on medieval gardens, specifically in England, that consists of 13 chapters, a conclusion and a quick listing of medieval gardens in England that can be visited. The chapters are all fairly short and to the point. They are: Evidence of Medieval Gardens, Influences of European Medieval Gardens, Monastic and Sacred Gardens, Secular Gardens, Medieval Garden Features, Water in the Garden, Parks and Pleasure Parks, The Plants of the Medieval Garden, The Medieval Gardener, The Gardener's Tools and Equipment, Cultivation Techniques, The Medieval Gardening Year and Making your own Medieval Garden.

The first few chapters give background on how we know what little we know, and what types of gardens were grown. I enjoyed the later chapters more as they got more specific regarding the types of plants you could find and going over individual tools that gardeners used.

I wished some of the sections were fleshed out more. It felt like just as you got into a topic and wanted to know more of the deeper details the chapter ended. I can understand that there's limited information but the author worked on medieval gardens at the Prebendal Manor and I would have enjoyed hearing more about things he learned from practical experience trying out medieval tools and techniques. For example, the chapter on making your own medieval garden simply mentions having a water source and gives some general advice. There's no sample layout with ideas of what plants fit well together. I'd have loved to see a few photos from the gardens he maintained, including what he chose to grow where).

There is a good number of colour photographs illustrating what the author is discussing. I enjoyed the mix of the author's photos and images from medieval sources, misericords and manuscripts. Not every tool got an image, and in some cases, like the spud, I would have appreciated a photo to better understand the tool as I've never heard of it before and the description left me somewhat unsure of what it looked like.

If you're new to medieval gardens this is an excellent primer that goes over the basics and then some. If you've read a couple of books on the topic already, some of the later chapters may still hold useful information for you.

Pros: fascinating magic and mythology, interesting characters, great world-building

Cons:

Miscellaneous ‘Lanie’ Stones is the first necromancer born in over 100 years in the city of Liriat. Her family has been the right hands of the ruling Brackenwild family since the founding, acting as royal executioners and assassins. Which makes Lanie’s allergy to violence a challenge to manage. So she’s raised by the family’s revenant, Goody Graves. After a series of events leaves her older, sadistic sister Nita in charge, Lanie’s life changes. As she grows both in wisdom and power, Lanie struggles to live up to the expectations of the past and forge her own future.

Lanie is a wonderful character, surprisingly kind and loving despite her limited human contact and dysfunctional home life. Necromancy is usually depicted as evil and gross, so seeing Lanie’s pure joy in her power and love of the creatures she reanimates is nice to see. I also loved this depiction of the goddess of death.

The larger cast is a mix of nice and terrible characters. Nita is simply horrifying, willing to use her power of fascination to force people to do her will. I had real sympathy for Mak and the abuses he suffers. Canon Lir was intriguing, and the friends Lanie makes later in the book were a lot of fun to hang out with.

The world-building was great, with several distinct cultures represented. I was impressed with the depth of detail given to each culture, making them feel very real.

The story is slow moving at times, giving you the chance to really get to know the characters and world.

The ending left me feeling melancholic. This is the first book in a trilogy so while a few story threads are tied up, there are some major threads left unresolved. It’s an ending that I had to sit with for a few hours to better understand and appreciate.

It’s a great book that does some unique things.

Pros: excellent writing, courageous, tight ending/

Cons: the supernatural aspect isn't as scary as the historically accurate parts/

Eutopia takes place in the early 1900's when the eugenics movement was becoming popular with a certain type of people. Mrs Frost, an agent of the Eugenics Records Office finds her nephew is the sole survivor of a plague ravaged frontier town. She brings him with her to Eilada, Idaho, where an industrialist has started what he intends to be a utopic community./

But not everything's rosy in paradise. The town's black doctor, Andrew Waggoner, has had a run in with the Ku Klux Klan and discovered that his colleague, Dr. Bergstrom has been keeping a ‘Mr. Juke' in quarantine. The more Dr. Waggoner learns of Dr. Bergstrom's actions and who, or what, Mr. Juke is, the more imperiled his life becomes./

Because Mr. Juke's family is coming to get him back./

For a novel that has such a horrifying supernatural creature at the heart of it, the true terror of the book was contained in the historically accurate parts. It's hard to be afraid of made up monsters when the Klan and practicing eugenicists show up. Indeed, when you see the unrepentant Mrs. Frost and delusional Dr. Bergstrom own up to their crimes, no fictional monster could possibly stand up to the horrors humans are willing to perpetrate on each other./

I call this novel courageous because Mr. Nickle focuses on a period of history most people pretend didn't exist. The eugenics movement died after the holocaust showed the end result of such thinking. But denying that sterilization happened in other nations (including Canada and the U.S.), as painful as it is to admit, denies the injustices done to people in the past due to racism and elitist thinking. And allows the possibility of repeating such things. Fiction allows us to examine issues we'd rather not, in the safety of the present, when we hope such occurrences will never be allowed to happen again. In this way it reminds me of Blonde Roots, by Bernardine Evaristo, which flips history so Europeans are enslaved by Afrikaans. It shows how racism can go both ways and only the conquerors decide what is right and who are the elite./

People will find reading this book uncomfortable, for the subject matter and the liberal use of the ‘n' word. We have whitewashed our history and no longer want to acknowledge the attitudes and language of the past. Even the subtle put downs black men faced, like using Dr. Waggoner's Christian name when addressing him, rather than his title, are accurately represented in this book./

The ending is tight, bringing all three plot lines together in surprising ways. It's an ending that is both satisfying, and thought provoking.

Pros: thought-provoking, characters are three dimensional, shows war for what it is

Cons: Southside people accept Nik's story too readily, some names are mentioned without context so when they're mentioned again it's hard to remember who the person was

For Parents: minor swearing, violence (not excessive, but it's a war situation, so: assassination, bombs, beatings, minor torture etc.), no sexual content

Seventeen year old Nik's brown skin marks him as a Southsider, though he's attended school on Cityside since he was 5. His intelligence has him earmarked for the Internal Security and Intelligence Services (ISIS), so no one understands why they pass on recuiting him. When the school is bombed he's suspected by ISIS of collaborating with the enemy. In an attempt to leave the city with friends from school, one of them is kidnapped by Southsiders and Nik and a girl team up to get him back. Knowing only the language and anti-Southside propoganda, the two have no idea what they're walking into.

The story focuses on their search for the boy in Southside. There are elements here that are hard to believe at first, as the two are obviously unaware of local customs and the girl's language skills are minimal (I'm calling her ‘the girl' to avoid spoiling the first 75 pages of the book more than necessary). Nik lands in a position where he's privy to sensitive information, something that's hard to credit given his refusal to give more than his name and place of origin (one real, the other a lie). When his high intelligence is revealed, the characters start to question how a barely educated teen (as would be the case if his story were true) broke encrypted codes and then just accept his information with only a little hesitation.

That issue aside though, the book is brilliant. The pacing is fast, though the characters don't know how to go about looking for the boy, enough is happening with regards to Southside politics that the book never drags. Soon enough the teens learn information of value and events spiral out of their control as they're drawn deeper into a faction war among the Southsiders.

The political manuverings and history of the war are interesting, though the history isn't dealt with in as much detail as this reviewer would have like. Higgins' world-building is solid, with a bloody past, religious rituals, class and economic troubles, etc. It's obvious she's considered aspects of society that are never fully mentioned, but season the story nonetheless.

The characters are all three dimensional, with often tragic pasts, reasons for their actions and motivations, and difficult decisions to make. Though the book is from Nik's point of view, there are several strong female characters, and several characters of colour (including him). Discussion of race doesn't come into the book much, beyond Nik's fitting in better - with regards to looks - on Southside than his companion. But it is somewhat problematic as Citysiders are described as being predominantly white, while Southsiders are mixed (easterners being white and southsiders being black). This reviewer would have liked learning more about where the Southsiders came from (it's explained that they're refugees coming up from the South and East but Nik doesn't know more than that). Instead, class distinction is used for the reason for the hostilities between Southside and Cityside. And when it comes to positions of power, men and women are treated equally - on both sides.

The only problem with the characters, beyond the Southsider's easy acceptance of Nik, was that a few of them, like Commander Vega, are occasionally referred to by their first names rather than their titles. It's realistic, but the extra names were hard to remember. Similarly there were a few times when a character was mentioned briefly by name and then mentioned again a few chapters later and it was hard to remember who they were referring to.

While many teen dystopian books take a sort of Stockholm syndrome approach, with the protagonist learning that their way is wrong and the other side's better, this one does something different, and more realistic. It shows how both sides in war use propoganda to control their people. It brings home how ideology, fanaticism and the belief in one's cause can blind people to the reality of war - that people are dying. War is horrifying and no amount of ‘an eye for an eye' will bring it to an end. The book is about how regular people - children even - get dragged into the fighting, as the war kills their loved ones, destroys their homes, limits food and medicine, and leaves them with nothing but ashes. It's about the choice every person in a war torn area makes, to continue the fighting in an attempt to utterly defeat the enemy or to try to work towards peace.

This theme, that both sides in a conflict can be evil, was used in Mockingjay (by Suzanne Collins). In that book, the rebel leadership is shown to be just a bad as the learders of Panem. Putting them in charge would not have changed anything but whose kids competed in the Hunger Games.

We're used to having one good side and one evil side when we think of war. The idea that both sides do evil things is something we prefer to hide and forget. Everyone knows that the Axis in World War II did horrible things. But how many attrocities did the Allies commit? There were internment camps, boats full of Jews turned back at North American ports, with nowhere left to go but back to Germany. There was rioting and rape. Horrific bombs were dropped not only on Hiroshima, but also on Nagasaki. This novel acknowledges that by the end of hostilities, neither side in war is ‘right', regardless of who started it and why. It's a bold position to take and the message of the book really hits home. War is evil and there has to be a better way.

It's a powerful, moving story. And this reviewer can't recommend it enough.

Pros: wide variety of dystopian worlds, protagonists of diverse races and sexual orientations

Cons: in several of the stories the characters are in lower class/servile roles to white people,

For Parents: no language, minimal violence, one story hints at sex but there are no descriptions, three of the stories have positive GLTBQ content

This is a great collection of stories. Not only do they feature people of colour in lead roles, there are also several positive portrayals of gay/lesbian teens in worlds where their choices are normal and accepted by those around them as such. Each of the dystopian worlds depicted is very different, with some ending with hope and others less optimistic. I was a little disappointed that a few of the stories cast their coloured protagonists in subservient roles, as I expected this anthology to give a more hopeful viewpoint regarding race in the future (much as it does do for its GLTBQ characters). But there's a lot to love about this collection, including the fact that a portion of the proceeds from the book are going to the Carl Brandon Society's Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund. If you or your kids are into dystopian fiction, this is a must for your bookshelf.

*** “The Last Day” by Ellen Oh - It's the 15th year of the war between the East and the West and two 12 year old boys are working to help provide for their families in rural Japan.This is a very powerful alternative history. If you've read Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse or seen the Studio Gibli film Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no Haka), you'll know where this story is headed.* “Freshee's Frogurt” by Daniel H. Wilson - A frozen yogurt worker gives a police report about the domestic robot that malfunctions and attacks him and his co-worker.

It's not mentioned in the collection, but this story comes from Wilson's Robopocalypse. I was unable to finish that novel due to inconsistencies between the frame stories and the narratives they're retelling. For example, this story is told after the fact, as a police report, yet for some reason the narrator is using present tense language which, I'll admit gives the story more immediacy, even though it makes no sense. At one point the narrator says, “Man, I hope he's out of it” after watching his co-worker get injured. The problem is, this happened sometime in the recent past, and no longer applies to where the narrator (or his co-worker) is now.

The story itself is well written, if designed to be part of a larger narrative.

*** “The Uncertainty Principle” by K. Tempest Bradford - Iliana can tell when a change is coming, but she's the only one afterwards who recognizes that the world is different.This story reminded me of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven. The writing is great and the story interesting. The protagonist is feisty and proactive. The world-building is necessarily limited. I'd love to see this fleshed out as a novel, detailing what's changed as Iliana becomes old enough to know the history, etc. from previous timelines.** “Pattern Recognition” by Ken Liu - David and the other boys and girls at the Volpe Ness School are taught that the Outside world is a horrible, desolate place. Inside the compound, the kids work on pattern games during the day, even as he wonders more and more about the outside world.

This premise - of a school of kids kept separate from a post-apocalyptic world - has been explored in several teen novels (Eve by Anna Carey comes immediately to mind), but it's the ending of this story that makes it unique.

** “Gods of the Dimming Night” by Greg van Eekhout - It's the third winter without a summer in San Diego, and 17 year old Edward is out begging for work to help his family survive when he sees the flyer for a NorseCODE medical study that pays well.Interesting use of Norse mythology. I liked the author's definition of heroism at the end.* “Next Door” by Rahul Kanakia - Aakash's family squats in the garage of a family of strangers. But unlike most of the strangers who wear implants, this father and son are aware of the hoards of street people around them. When Aakash and his boyfriend see the son of his stranger family trying to break into the conservatory, they wonder if their dream of having their own pest free place to squat is finally within reach.

A very unique dystopian world, with gross overcrowding and a huge bedbug problem. Definitely not a world I'd want to live in. The story's a little bittersweet with an open ending.

* “Good Girl” by Malinda Lo - Kyle looks pureborn despite her mixed blood, allowing her to live above ground. She meets Nix in a basement leading to the tunnels to ask if her brother, who disappeared the previous year, lives there now, and finds something unexpected.Another bittersweet story about forbidden love and survival in dangerous circumstances. Well written but the ending's a little depressing.* “A Pocket Full of Dharma” by Paolo Bacigalupi - Wang Jun is a beggar boy in old Chengdu. When he's witness to a murder, he ends up with an object that men will kill - and die - for.

Kind of long, the story moves around a lot, with Wang meeting up with various people, trying to figure out what to do with the object. Very little is told about the interesting living architecture that is slowly growing over the city into luxury housing or the plague that crippled the boy. Still, it has its moments.

* “Blue Skies” by Cindy Pon - The unnamed narrator kidnaps a you girl for ransom. You, the haves, live in helmeted suits, with purified oxygen, water and food. This provides them longer lifespans than the rest of the human race. The story ends a bit abruptly, but I found the characters very interesting and the have/want conflict familiar, if taken to extremes.** “What Arms to Hold Us” by Rajan Khanna - Ravi drives a golly, a mechanical mining machine controlled via a crown powered by the mineral they're digging, primosite. But Ravi dreams of someday moving on from the mines, like his older brother.

Minimal world building doesn't detract from the emotional punch of this story or the hopeful ending.

** “Solitude” by Ursula K. Le Guin - Serenity's mother is a scientist who, when the inhabitants of Eleven-Soro prove to be enigmas to the previous Observers, decides to use her children as a means of learning how the society works. Growing up as one of the natives, Serenity has more of a connection to her new home than her mother's people.

This is a great story about learning from other cultures and accepting that one people's way of seeing the world isn't every people's way of doing so. It's a longer story and while it covers a lot of time, it's interesting for its characters and world building.

Pros: fascinating caste system, excellent world building, interesting characters, quick paced

Cons: the romances seem to happen fast and are, given the environment, a little unrealistic

For Parents: no sex, no language, minimal violence


Kayla is a GEN, a Genetically Engineered Non-human. Her right cheek is tattooed with her DNA mark, where anyone can use a datapad to access her annexed brain and where the details of her job will be stored when she's given her work assignment. That assignment will be based on the skill set her gene-spliced animal DNA gives her (enhanced upper body strength) on her fast-approaching 15th birthday. She'll be taken from her nurture mother and friends and spend the rest of her life working for true and lowborns. All according to the Infinite's will. Her best friend, Mishalla, has already been assigned to a sector far away. But unknown to Kayla, Mishalla's been diverted from her assigned place to work at a crisis creche closer to home. There, Mishalla befriends a lowborn and slowly becomes aware that there's something strange about the creche as children appear and are taken away at an alarming rate. When Kayla is finally placed, she stumbles across a conspiracy that could help her people, or get her brain reset.

Karen Sandler's Tankborn is a thought-provoking YA science fiction that's very fast-paced and brilliantly executed. You're thrown into the world, having to figure out terminology via its usage rather than through information dumps. And while the plot isn't hard to follow, there's a lot of underlying themes that lend themselves to discussion (with regards to using religion to control people, the morality of creating a race of genetically engineered slaves, etc.).

One of the most fascinating aspects of the novel is the caste system. The story takes place on Loka, a planet colonized by humans. Where you fall in the hierarchy is determined by what job your ancestors had on the colony ships – trueborns being subdivided depending on their wealth and lowborns being those who agreed to work for their passage. The interesting thing is that skin colour is generally a means of telling people of different statuses apart, with high-status trueborns being mostly dark skinned with black hair. People with lesser statuses have either really dark or paler skin. Even GENs vary in skin tone across the spectrum. This setup allows for discussions of racism without it becoming a strictly ‘white' vs ‘black' issue. In other words, Sandler presents it as a complex issue without simple answers.

Tankborn has romance but no sex, and the violence is kept to a minimum. The romances are fun, even if Kayla's seems a little fast given her and her beau are from completely different castes. I suspect that his great-grandfather's influence notwithstanding, a trueborn would require more time to get used to the idea that GENs should be treated with respect and are equal to humans after a lifetime of being told otherwise. The characters are interesting and their problems/concerns realistic given their circumstances.

Tankborn is a highly recommended, thought-provoking YA novel from a new imprint dedicated to diversity.

Pros: engaging story, feisty protagonist

Cons: fairly predictable, created swear words are more distracting than useful

For Parents: non-graphic gun and knife violence, torture scenes, some kissing, fake swearing

Eden is a closed world created when humanity was on the brink of destruction to save at least a few people until the ruined world was again fit for habitation. Rowan is a second child, illegal in Eden. Hidden by her family, she's finally going to get a new identity and eye implants that will let her become a part of society. But she'll also have to leave her family - and never return or see them again. In a fit of anger, she climbs the walls of her family home and escapes to the outside world, for a few hours of freedom. What happens during those hours creates rippling consequences that haunt the days that follow.

If you've read a lot of dystopian YA none of this will be particularly new to you. The story runs in fairly predictable ways. The characters are generally what makes these books different and Rowan is a wonderful protagonist. She's willful and determined, scared when out of her depth but able to push past her fear. She causes a few of her own problems, so it's a good thing she's resilient. Making her bi, or at least uncertain about her sexuality (without making a big deal out of it) was wonderfully refreshing. I liked both Lark and Lachlan as supporting characters, though Lark's got my vote if the story develops more of a romance in later books.

The story is quick and engaging. The world is well constructed. I thought it clever that there's a fair amount of pre-Eden history but no Eden history. It gives the author options for the following books and I'm curious what he'll do.

I found the created swear words rather distracting and unnecessary. Instead of coming off as expletives, they confused me and bumped me out of the narrative.

There's a fair bit of violence including two torture scenes. Nothing is particularly graphic, and most of the violence has either a detached sense to it or is accompanied by the protagonist questioning the need for it and how the world should be better than this. There are a few kisses, but no other sexual content.

While this isn't highly original, it is a fun, quick read that will have you turning pages. It's set-up for a series, and leaves you interested in the world and what's going to happen next to the characters.

Pros: quick, intense read; sympathetic protagonist who shows development; powerful, thought-provoking climax

Cons: very abrupt ending

For Parents: 1 swear word, some kissing, minor violence

Kayla and her family have moved back to the small island in the Canadian Maritimes where she grew up, after spending 5 years in Toronto. Her decision to become less stand offish comes at the wrong time as an unknown virus begins to spread around town. Her microbiologist father and the other doctors are at a loss as to how to stop the growing epidemic.

Written as journal entries by 16 year old Kayla to her former best friend Leo, off the island studying, the book chronicles the viral epidemic from the confusion surrounding the first few cases to an intimate knowledge of loss and despair. As time passes and the virus is no closer to being cured, a gang causes increasing problems and the death toll mounts.

Short entries make for a quick read. The protagonist is a sympathetic young woman who always feels out of place among others, constantly aware of how they treat her. As the book progresses she learns more about herself and others, as the town deals with the problems that arise.

The climax is especially thought provoking and intensely powerful. Which makes the ending that much more abrupt. There's little denouement and no wrap up at all.

Still, it's a great journey and a very well written YA book otherwise.

Pros: well drawn characters, interesting world, some great twists, thought provoking

Cons: despite his job, Erin's father seems clueless regarding her intelligence and snooping

For Parents: no swearing, no sexual content, little violence (a few people get punched / hit with items, but nothing graphic)

Logan's been paranoid since his older sister died during her Pledging. His thirteenth birthday, and the day of his own Pledging, is only a few months away and he's terrified of the same thing happening to him. But Pledging means getting his Mark. And only the Marked can hold jobs and buy things. Then he discovers that his paranoia is justified, and his entire life changes.

Erin doesn't want to leave Beacon for Spokie. But her dad's been transferred there for his job doing ‘government work', whatever that means. Her decision to snoop into her father's private papers opens her eyes to his purpose in Spokie; to stop a man kidnapping local children before they can take the Pledge. She decides that the sooner this man is caught, the sooner she can return home.

The two kids team up to keep Logan from being the next to disappear.

Swipe tells of a future where global war has caused such problems that large parts of the US, Canada and Mexico - now called the American Union - are uninhabitable. There are no religions. The AU and the European Union are close to creating a Global Union. Part of this new union required the Marking of all AU citizens. Indeed, the only way to be a citizen and benefit from its privileges requires getting the Mark. Those who choose not to get the mark are either servants, have someone with a Mark to support them or live in slums.

The world has some interesting new technologies to replace the more wasteful items of today. Few people use paper anymore, tablets being mainstream. Similarly, since air travel is now so expensive and cars the luxury of the super rich, people cross the country (if they need to) by magnetrain and get around cities by electrobuses and rollersticks (a device the size of a skateboard with a handle that works like a segway).

Logan is a great character. He's introduced as the boy who cried wolf, being convinced for years that someone's watching him. He's neither popular nor friendless. He's a pushover until he finds a reason to fight back.

Erin on the other hand is very brave and bold, coming up with new plans for how to catch the kidnappers. Not always good plans, mind you, she's only 13, but she is quite clever.

The book has some great twists, heading in directions I didn't expect. I especially liked that there were no easy answers for the protagonists. They make mistakes and at the end they each make decisions that work for them - and their view of events. The book is fast paced and a quick read.

My only complaint was with how long it took Erin's dad to figure out what she was up to. He seemed surprisingly clueless as to her keen intelligence.

A great book for adults, teens and maybe even younger kids - with some interesting discussion possibilities.

Pros: some interesting twists, great characters


Cons: somewhat predictable

Antonina Beaulieu is a rich 19 year old from the country, joining her cousin and his wife, Valerie, in the city of Loisail for the Grand Season. Quick to speak her mind and unable to remember proper city etiquette or the names of important society members, Nina also has telekinetic abilities, her poor control of which has caused her problems in the past. When she meets the telekinetic performer Hector Auvray at a party, they quickly grow closer and her dreams of a romantic marriage seem assured.

But Hector has a past with Valerie, the beautiful woman who criticizes Antonina's failings at every turn. And his attentions towards Nina aren't what they seem.

For the most part the book's plot follows the traditional category romance beats. Set in a fantasy world that mimics the late 1800s/early 1900s, it reminded me at times of Jane Austen's Persuasion and at others of Mary Robinette Kowal's Shades of Milk and Honey.

The characters were wonderful. I started off the book liking everyone, even people I probably wasn't supposed to. Though I knew Hector's initial interest in Nina wasn't real, I still liked him and thought that having your heart broken by a ‘good' guy is better than some alternatives. I even felt some pity for Valerie, forced to marry someone for money to help her family despite having met the love of her life. The personal motivations and actions of the characters felt honest and the fallout of their decisions, earned.

While telekinesis isn't a major part of the story, it does come up fairly often and it's great seeing Nina learn more control over her abilities.

I really enjoyed this.