The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson. 5/5.
This is a elegant, whimsical, history-rich, and satisfying novel of a young concubine and her best friend, a magical mapmaker, who escape the court of their sultan and the Inquisition with the help of a crafty djinn. The characters are well-drawn and complex, and the world–of courts, travelers, cities, seas, and islands–Wilson creates is a detailed and full of nuance and depth. There are surprises and unforeseen twists, and the ending is also a beginning that will keep readers thinking about the book for a long time.
Toil & Trouble by Tess Sharpe; Jessica Spotswood. 5/5.
This is a great collection of stories about witches, and not just the usual old-white-lady-doing-evil-deeds kind. The witches in Toil and Trouble are children, widows, teenagers, students, skateboarders, artists, city-dwellers, priestesses, farmers, and more, and their magics are as unique and interesting and fresh as they are. I loved this and am recommending it to anyone ages about 8 and up.
Virgil Wander by Leif Enger. 5/5.
A luminous, beguiling, charming book. Virgil Wander drives his car off a cliff in his small Midwestern town; saved by am acquaintance, his new life becomes one of wonder and discovery. Virgil’s brush with death leaves him with missing adjectives but new people in his life, including the widow, son, and father of the town’s most famous resident, who vanished a dozen years before; the town’s celebrity, an unsettling and manipulative man; and others. The entire novel is like a poem, something to be read and re-read and savored.
Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar. 5/5.
Using the Kabbalah’s concept of sefirot, or mystical and creative forces that change the world, as a framework, Tidhar creates multiple tantalizing and richly detailed worlds through which his characters slip. Following three characters who have slipped between various worlds, in which a Jewish homeland has been established in differing places and through differing means, the novel is both a mystery and a meditation on the appeal of “what-ifs” and “might-have-beens” to readers, writers, and politicians.
Night and Silence by Seanan McGuire. 5/5.
This series just gets better and better. In this newest installment, faerie knight October Daye deals with the estrangement of her lover, the kidnap of her daughter (yes, again, but wait–it’s actually ok and not totally trite!), and learning some new family history. Although the kidnapping of Gillian, Daye’s daughter, was a previous plot point, in this episode the kidnap leads to changes in Daye’s world that I never expected and that work remarkably well with the series universe and previous plotlines. We also get introduced to a new character who begins as a threat and becomes…a possible future ally, and we get lots of the Luidaeg, who is one of the best characters in any fantasy world.
