The complete works of Homer.

Here comes the boy again, they’d murmur.
The one with leaves in his hair.
The one that always smells like the sun and growing things.
The one who wears sun-kisses on his cheeks and dirt beneath his nails.

I really enjoyed how this story was just the right balance of cozy and creepy. Here we have a town on the edge of the woods with local traditions built around the presence of a horned monster in the forest, except no one really believes in the monster anymore; a young town outcast/hermit living on the very edge of the woods with his dog and his vegetable garden; and of course, one day the hermit gets a bit lost among the trees and finds out that the monster is in fact real. What follows is a short and sweet cottagecore tale that involves walks in the woods, baking, gardening, and growing pumpkins despite the neighbor's objections.

Styx, the monster, also hits that balance very well. On one hand, he is super sweet and considerate with Ellis. On the other hand, he's also very much a primal force of nature with a possessive streak. The relationship was fun to follow for the most part, although there was an aspect to it that didn't feel balanced to me at all. I'm not sure if this is one of my trademark "I'm too ace for this shit" moments, or if it was indeed not clear at times whether the romance was heading in a "first and foremost, the man and the monster are going to get to know each other, slowly dispensing the awkwardness" direction or in a "don't trust the first chapter, this is actually erotica" one. Not saying allosexual people can't think about sex and feelings at the same time or anything, but I think that probably "at the same time" is key. Meanwhile, Ellis was kind of swinging between "the monster is a person and I want to get to know that person" and "the one interesting thing about the monster is his dick and I'm going to think of nothing but his dick" :D

All in all, I really liked the vibes here and might pick up the full-length novels from this series sometime.

“I’ll distract them. You run that way. They want me, not you.”
“Why?” Bell seizes his shoulder. “Tell me why they want you.”
“Later,” Rakos snaps. “Just go.”
“Oh, fuck you,” Bell snaps back—and stays.

Such a fun read! I love it as much as the first installment, and I'm eager to continue the series. Bell and Rakos were so charming together. Both were also kind of dreadful at maintaining their fake identities/concealing the fact that those identities were fake, but hey, they tried! And I can forgive them for being willing to ignore certain persistent coincidences and weird discrepancies about each other. When you catch feelings and really don't want to think about reasons to keep things casual, that kind of happens. :D 

I absolutely adored the balance of tropey romance and fantasy adventure here. This book truly has it all: awesome banter, believable relationship development, some really hot scenes that were very much part of that development, the leads becoming their best selves around each other... and also magical combat, precarious escapes, tense pursuit scenes with dragons, engaging travel, cutthroat court intrigue, and plenty of excitement in general. All the good stuff I love so much about the fusion of romance and fantasy. My favorite part was seeing Bell deal with all that adventure, passion, and character growth while having chronic migraines. I really liked that while his migraines are triggered by exposure to magic among many other things and that Rakos can help him deal with that specific trigger, the problem itself isn't magical and there's no magic cure. Not that I would wish migraines on anyone, even a fictional character. Just... it's always great to see characters with familiar chronic health issues thrive and grow and end up in a good place.

It was also absolutely lovely to see Julien and Whisper again. So often in romance series where the couple changes each book, the protagonists of previous novels sort of fade into the background to become ever-static models of good relationships. It's nice to see this isn't happening here. While neither Julien and Whisper take super active part in the plot, they clearly continue to exist in the world, they're present, their actions and reactions to the book's events matter, and from the glimpses we get into their continuing relationship, they are still growing together. Aww. What's not to love?

I also continue to enjoy the worldbuilding here: the magic system, how queernorm the setting is, how adoption is treated, how sex work is treated as just another profession, the turbulent political landscape, and all the magical beasts. The big telepathic cats from Prince and Assassin were fun; now how about a teleporting ferret? I'd love a blinkmink pet! Okay, well, that's a lie. I'm probably way too much of an anxiety goblin to have a pet that can be anywhere any moment. But I'd love it if one of my friends could have one for me to play with. 

Oh, and speaking of the political landscape: the whole mystery/intrigue here was really tense and exciting, and I'd love to meet Prince Vana again under better circumstances. But this part of the story also contained the one letdown, slightly reminiscent of the problem I had with the subplot about Whisper's sister in book 1. I really, really wish Irenka's storyline played out differently. <spoiler>It looked so promising at first, and then it continued looking promising albeit precariously, and then it took the most predictable "curse-your-sudden-but-inevitable-betrayal" path possible. Ugh. Why couldn't her role be more ambiguous?</spoiler> That's really the only reason this isn't a complete five-star mark for me, but it's come so, so close.

Now excuse me, gotta go buy Tavia Lark's entire fantasy romance backlog.

Is there anything in this scenario that feels heterosexual or well-adjusted to you?

Well, this was a trip, and I loved practically every minute. It's a messy story of grief and codependency, and while Andrew isn't the most likable MC I've ever met, to put it mildly, I also found him incredibly relatable. To tell the truth, no character in this book was 100% likable (Riley came closest?), but plenty of them made me feel for them and kept me intrigued. Sam in particular was a great character to follow throughout the story as he revealed more and more of himself, like piling back layers of an onion. And West's subplot, although rather small, was one of my favorite things about the book. And then there's Eddie, who exists in the plot purely as a memory full of contradictions, never to be resolved. 

The writing style here really stuck with me. It's incredibly... sensory? Tactile? There's sure a lot of emphasize on bodies—Andrew is constantly aware of his own muscles and bones, and everyone around him—and physical sensations in general. It was interesting to see how the author focused on all the physicality and through that brought emotions to life. I'm usually the opposite, both in how I write and how I perceive the world, and I'm also not a super visual reader, but the prose here really pulled me into the story and the setting and made me experience some scenes as though I were watching a movie.

As for the plot, if I had to describe the story in one word, I'd pick "liminal." Andrew spends pretty much the entire thing stuck between things. The past and the present/future. His memories of Eddie and the true legacy Eddie left him. The orderly cut-throat academic world and the wild freedom of nighttime drives with the bad crowd. The sunlit summer in the real world and the cold land of the ghosts. Grief has a way of trapping you in the moment, in that empty page between chapters, especially when you're grieving someone you had a weird codependent relationship with, doubly so when they abandoned you even before they died, and Mandelo captures the feeling masterfully while also crafting a great southern gothic horror story. There are so many nested secrets here, the mystery Andrew investigates and the one he keeps from the reader, as well as the things he doesn't understand about himself that everyone else does. Also, I'm torn between wanting a sequel, because I so much want to know how Andrew and the people around him fare now that his amber bubble is burst and the next chapter begins, and being completely, utterly, 100% satisfied with the final scene.

For all of my praise, however, there are aspects of the book that won't let me five-star it. For once, the story is incredibly masculine. That in itself isn't a flaw; such stories have their place. But literally all the women in the plot only exist to drive the male characters' storylines further, in a variety of ways. They're pretty much all more plot devices than characters, tools that resolve plot questions, trigger events, or bring forth necessary revelations while exhibiting zero character traits that aren't 100% relevant to their role in the plot. That's a stark and unpleasant contrast to the way more nuanced handling of male characters, and it didn't sit well with me. Like, come on. This has good trans rep, this has decent poly rep that compares and contrasts healthy and unhealthy dynamics in a throuple, but somehow female characters get this odd treatment? Why?

Another part I wasn't fully satisfied with was the dark academia aspect. The academic parts of the book were so often pushed to the curb or just briefly summarized without proper focus, and considering how crucial that part of the story turned out to be for the main plot resolution, that was just... weird. Finally,  for me it felt like the author went overboard with all the substance abuse. At some point, all the mentions of drugs and alcohol started feeling like they were just there to make the story darker and edgier.

PS: I'm kind of convinced that Lee Mandelo had my favorite Placebo song (Kings of Medicine) on repeat while writing this, because if not, then how?

The author states that the short story from which this book originally springs was a tribute to Shirley Jackson. I think she would have been honored, and I was strongly reminded of her story The Lottery as I dove into these pages. He also says that this may not be all there is, or all there will be to this story. That may explain why I am left with questions that I hope will be answered someday.

Who are these people? When are these people? Where are these people? What made them come here and what makes them stay?
I have no idea! The descriptions of the women and how they are dressed had me picturing them in my mind like something out of Little House On The Prairie. The villagers keep to themselves and the outside world is shunned. They live what seems to be a very primitive lifestyle, but in modern times, with superstition cloaked in religion. There is running hot water, indoor plumbing, and fragrant bath salts, but no phone, internet, or tv. It seemed more like a cult than a community, in that the leaders do as they please while preaching strict rules at everyone else.

Once a year The Man In The Field arrives, and as is his custom he stands there, feet planted firmly in the earth, face turned away from everyone. Nobody has ever seen his face, but they know that he demands a sacrifice, in return for which they will receive a bountiful harvest. Some people view this as a time to rejoice. There will be festivities and a feast to mark the occasion. Others face it with mixed feelings of fear and resolve. Our main character, Mother Tanner, and a few of her friends have started to feel that there is a definite wrongness in their way of life

I had a dreadful feeling when I suspected what the sacrifice was likely going to be, but that did not make it any less upsetting when it occurred. Horror, for me, is always at its best when it can stir up emotions and make me feel something. I don't need blood or gore, but I need someone to care about and someone to hate. The Man In The Field delivered that in spades. I was upset, I was enraged, I was gut-punched and disgusted. I felt at times hopeful for my favorite characters one minute and terrified for them the next.

The ending left me with more questions than I had when I started, yet I loved this book so much that I have to give it a 5 out of 5 stars. Even if I do hope the author will be haunted by dreams of Mother Tanner until he is inspired to write a sequel.

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications for the advance copy.

A quick, fun epic fantasy story

The Liberator is a fairly quick, self-contained epic fantasy story. In true epic fantasy style, a Chosen One must travel to the Forgotten Lands to free a goddess and save the world. The story, although “generic” in its bones, was well-told, with a unique set of deities and some interesting lore. I had some nitpicks about the writing: the prose is very plain and can be repetitive at times; the plot moves very quickly in places and due to the speed, it seems like characters are unrealistically accepting of some pretty dramatic revelations; the dialogue can be a bit choppy or unnatural in places; there are also some typos and instances of the wrong word being used, although it was usually pretty obvious what it was intended to be (e.g. “executor” is used instead of “executioner”). Aside from my complaints regarding dialogue, the characters were engaging, and I enjoyed the journeys they undertook. History of the world is given to the reader as chapter openers in the form of excerpts from in-world books or letters. Although this isn’t a new idea, I felt that it was executed well, and gave a broad understanding of the world and lore without feeling like a lecture.

Readers who like a simple epic fantasy would enjoy this. It’s a fun story in the traditional style and world, but with some twists and unique elements. Readers who get bogged down in details, or who appreciate very simple prose would likely enjoy this, too. It would possibly be appropriate for younger readers due to its simple style, depending on your views on violence and assassination as a career. Violence and sex, while both present in this book, aren’t ever gruesomely detailed or drawn out in long scenes, so readers who prefer avoiding those might check out this book.