New queer paranormal found family fiction!
Reviews and Comments
Interests: climate, science, sci-fi, fantasy, LGBTQIA+, history, anarchism, anti-racism, labor politics
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Sally Strange wants to read Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E. M. Anderson
Sally Strange reviewed Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
A decent follow-up to Boneshaker but with a slow start
3 stars
I will say, first off, that the final scenes at the end are thrilling.
The slow start that I mentioned has to do with us getting to know a new character, a young widow who's a nurse in a Confederate hospital. In this alternate timeline, the Civil war lasts for decades instead of 4 years. She journeys across the continent from Tennessee to Seattle, and along the way, she gets a bit of anti-racist education. My main critique is that the author takes too long to make it clear to the reader that she's not trying to build up sympathy for the Confederacy, and there's one moment where Nurse Mercy stops herself from calling a Black character she's just met the n-word, but Priest doesn't stop herself from writing it out. It's just my opinion that if it's inappropriate for the character to speak aloud to a Black character, then …
I will say, first off, that the final scenes at the end are thrilling.
The slow start that I mentioned has to do with us getting to know a new character, a young widow who's a nurse in a Confederate hospital. In this alternate timeline, the Civil war lasts for decades instead of 4 years. She journeys across the continent from Tennessee to Seattle, and along the way, she gets a bit of anti-racist education. My main critique is that the author takes too long to make it clear to the reader that she's not trying to build up sympathy for the Confederacy, and there's one moment where Nurse Mercy stops herself from calling a Black character she's just met the n-word, but Priest doesn't stop herself from writing it out. It's just my opinion that if it's inappropriate for the character to speak aloud to a Black character, then it should be inappropriate for the author to speak to her readers, which is what she did.
Other than that, it's a decent travelogue with steampunk adventure and dashes of horror. Train enthusiasts will especially appreciate it.
Sally Strange reviewed The Chromatic Fantasy by H.A
Sally Strange reviewed Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (The Clockwork Century, #1)
An interesting steampunk world to explore
4 stars
Swashbuckling middle-aged mom of a teen boy battles zombies in steampunk Seattle. What's not to love? Satisfying ending in that the battle with the Big Bad isn't easy but also isn't the book's main attraction and doesn't get dragged out.
Sally Strange finished reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (The Clockwork Century, #1)
Sally Strange finished reading Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
Excellent adventure writing; it's a bit slow to build up but the final showdown on the rails through the Rockies is campy steampunk excitement. The protagonist being a Confederate nurse counts against it, unfortunately; her journey to racial tolerance includes her thinking but not saying (and thus telling the readers but not the Black character) the n-word about a Black character. I say, if she wouldn't say it to a Black person in 1887, then surely the author should not say it to her readers.
Sally Strange wants to read Galactic Hellcats by Marie Vibbert
Sally Strange started reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (The Clockwork Century, #1)
Sally Strange stopped reading The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells
Sally Strange stopped reading Everyday Trauma by Tracey Shors
Sally Strange started reading Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase
Learn a bit about physics and a lot about the culture of science
5 stars
Besides learning that the eumelanin molecule itself is a fascinating thing that could be the building block of successful tech that integrates with human bodies, I also learned about Mauna Kea, racism and sexism in scientific institutions, and Afro-Caribbean spirituality. Definitely recommend. You might not learn as much about physics as you expect, but that's OK. The rest of it is just as important. Maybe more so.
Sally Strange finished reading The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Sally Strange reviewed Blood Trials by N. E. Davenport (The Blood Gift Duology, #1)
Sci-fantasy with heavy-handed social commentary
3 stars
I wanted to like this book more. A brash young woman challenging racism and sexism while trying to simultaneously conceal and learn to use secret goddess-given powers? Advanced technology along with gods and goddesses answering prayers or creating monsters? Sounds great in theory. The problems arise with the execution.
First, the protagonist, Ikenna, is exceptionally dense. OK, she's grieving the unexpected death of her grandfather, but that's no excuse to simply take the word of the very first person who suggests that his death wasn't accidental as to who the responsible parties might be and fixate on murdering those people for the first 2/3 of the book. She repeatedly misses obvious clues that she's being played. I am not one of those people who solves mysteries ahead of the conclusion of a mystery book, but even I could see it coming. She trusts and distrusts completely and suddenly, based on …
I wanted to like this book more. A brash young woman challenging racism and sexism while trying to simultaneously conceal and learn to use secret goddess-given powers? Advanced technology along with gods and goddesses answering prayers or creating monsters? Sounds great in theory. The problems arise with the execution.
First, the protagonist, Ikenna, is exceptionally dense. OK, she's grieving the unexpected death of her grandfather, but that's no excuse to simply take the word of the very first person who suggests that his death wasn't accidental as to who the responsible parties might be and fixate on murdering those people for the first 2/3 of the book. She repeatedly misses obvious clues that she's being played. I am not one of those people who solves mysteries ahead of the conclusion of a mystery book, but even I could see it coming. She trusts and distrusts completely and suddenly, based on little to no evidence, and with predictably bad results. It was frustrating.
Second, there's a jarring contrast between the book's YA tone and its horribly brutal events - Mareen, the republic that Ikenna reveres even though she wants to reform it--wantonly slaughters its would-be soldiers in training in the name of making those left at the end more fit to fight.
Third, the heavy-handed nature of the social critique of racism and sexism. An odd choice was the author's seemingly deliberate avoidance of the words "race" and "racism" to describe how the light-skinned Mareenians view the dark-skinned Khanaians with contempt and hatred--only to throw the word "racism" right in there close to the end.
With all that said, the inventive setting and the fast-paced action are lots of fun. And when the plot stops dragging and we finally get the big twists at the end, Ikenna did manage to surprise me with her avoidance of the traps laid out by her many enemies. Read it, but keep your expectations low and you'll have a good time.