*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of One Extra Corpse – Book 2 of the Silver Screen Historical Mystery series by Barbara Hambly #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #OneExtraCorpsebookreview

I’ve come to thoroughly enjoy Hambly’s outstanding murder mystery series set in New Orleans following the fortunes of freed slave, Benjamin January – see my review of Death and Hard Cider. Indeed, I enjoyed this one so much, I’ve been listening to the audiobook editions of the first four books in the series to date. So when I saw she was the author of this offering, I immediately snapped it up. How could I resist, given that the 1920s is a favourite era?

BLURB: May, 1924. It’s been seven months since young British widow Emma Blackstone arrived in Hollywood to serve as companion to Kitty Flint: her beautiful, silent-movie star sister-in-law. Kitty is generous, kind-hearted . . . and a truly terrible actress. Not that Emma minds; she’s too busy making her academic parents turn in their graves with her new job writing painfully historically inaccurate scenarios for Foremost Studios, in between wrangling their leading lady out of the arms of her army of amorous suitors.

So when one of Kitty’s old flames, renowned film director Ernst Zapolya, calls Emma and tells her it’s imperative he meet with Kitty that morning, she’s not surprised. Until, that is, he adds that lives depend on it. Ernest sounds frightened. But what can have scared him so badly – and what on earth does cheerful, flighty Kitty have to do with it? Only Ernest can provide the answers, and Kitty and Emma travel to the set of his extravagant new movie to find them. But the shocking discovery they make there only raises further questions . . . including: will they stay alive long enough to solve the murderous puzzle?

REVIEW: What immediately struck me with this book is how completely Hambly catches the giddy, hedonistic whirl of parties, assignations and manoeuvring going on. There are actors desperate for better parts… producers and directors desperate to make their current film stand out from the increasing competition… those desperate to keep their film star reputations intact… And in the middle of all this is war widow Emma Blackstone, companion and assistant to her beautiful sister-in-law, Kitty Flint, who parties as hard as the best of them – regularly turning up at the set having not been home the previous night and relying on Emma to get her ready for the day’s filming.

I got a ringside seat at the gossip, the constant affairs and some of the problems with the filming – the hilarious rewrites that Emma is asked to make are a running joke throughout the book. I found the world beguiling and wonderfully glamorous – but beneath the glamour lies a darker tone. Having to sleep with the director and/or producer on whichever film she’s on is part of the job, as far as Kitty is concerned – even as a major star. Filming is intensive with actors taking all sorts of stimulants to keep going – the most common being bootleg liquor, but there are also drug dealers on set. And action scenes are often horribly dangerous, with horses and extras regularly being injured and sometimes killed, with virtually no consequences, as the film industry at this time isn’t held to account.

So when there is a murder during the filming of a major explosion – the studio is determined to pin the crime on the first person who discovers the body. However, Kitty and Emma aren’t so sure. To be honest – the crime and whodunit wasn’t a major consideration for me, as I was dazzled by the vividness of the world Hambly depicts. It rings true, too. Having read David Niven’s wonderful autobiography, The Moon’s a Balloon, I got a similar sense of a hectic lifestyle where people were determined to have a good time, no matter what.

That said, the murder mystery does steadily become more important, particularly after Kitty and Emma are targeted. I found the denouement to be poignant and all too believable. Once more, Hambly delivers a gripping historical drama featuring a likeable protagonist. Highly recommended for fans of 1920s murder mysteries. While I obtained an arc of One Extra Corpse from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc A Day of Fallen Night – prequel to The Roots of Chaos series by Samantha Shannon #BrainfluffNEGALLEYbookreview #ADayofFallenNightbookreview

I listened to the audiobook of The Priory of the Orange Tree back in 2020 – see my review – and have never forgotten the sweep of the story. I hoped that Shannon would write another book in the series, so I was delighted when I saw this arc on Netgalley and even more delighted when I was approved to read it.

BLURB: Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory’s purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother’s past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.

REVIEW: Firstly, let’s get to the business of which way around you should read these books. Obviously, I came to this one having already read The Priory of the Orange Tree – but if you haven’t, then it certainly isn’t a problem. In fact, given the relatively slow, steady build-up of this doorstopper, I think it might be an easier introduction to the sheer scope and power of the world. That said, as the books are set five hundred years apart, each one can also be treated as a standalone.

The pacing is certainly tighter in this offering – I recall there were moments in TPOTOT when after a big build-up, the keynote scene was delivered at a bit of a gallop. There wasn’t any such unevenness that stood out for me this time around. And the other issue I had with TPOTOT was the manner in which significant character deaths were treated – Shannon clearly hated killing off any of her cast and so we mostly learnt of their demise second-hand, instead of having a ringside seat to the event. Not so in ADOFN – there are several notable deaths, but two in particular stood out as I didn’t see them coming. But they were movingly written and left me with a lump in my throat – which is what you want when someone is tragically and unexpectedly killed.

Once again, I’m left awed at the sheer scale of this book, which comes in at 850+ pages. Epic fantasy tales tend to deal with the political, religious and social pressures caused by major happenings – and this one is no exception. I liked how a particular historic event has been interpreted entirely differently by various cultures, causing friction and religious persecution that fractures the response to the rise of the monsters. I also enjoyed the tenderness and love demonstrated within the same sex relationships, which Shannon writes very well.

Indeed, the characters all sing off the page as each one is clearly nuanced, with strengths and weaknesses that sometimes define them – fatally so, in a few instances – and always made me want to turn the page to learn more. Perhaps the one theme that stood out for me in this book is the treatment of motherhood. In a lot of Fantasy, mothers are often idealised and there is rarely a hint that any mother is anything other than thrilled with their offspring. So I was struck by Shannon’s more nuanced approach – particularly the feelings of poor, trapped Glorian. And given her plight is one that reflected the fate of queens and princesses through History, I found it both poignant and utterly relatable. I also loved the fact that three main protagonists in this book are all at different stages in their lives.

And I haven’t yet mentioned the dragons… the monsters… the battles… the double-crossings and the redemptions. All in all, this is an impressive effort – and since I stopped reading it, it has stayed with me. I’ve even dreamt about it. Highly recommended for fans of epic fantasy tales that provide an insight into a detailed, plausible world through a cast of charismatic and nuanced characters. While I obtained an arc of A Day of Fallen Night from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY NOVELLA arc Spirit Guide – Book 3 of the Madame Chalamet Ghost Mysteries by Bryd Nash #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #SpiritGuidebookreview

I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed the previous two books in this fantasy Gaslamp novella series – see my review of Delicious Death. So I was delighted when I realised the arc for Spirit Guide was also available on Netgalley.

BLURB: Saddled with a bumbling apprentice, a drunk soldier, and a prickly nobleman who won’t explain why he hasn’t paid a proper call, Elinor must decide if the Society is hiding something from her. When the investigation reveals a connection to an old rival, she finds herself going it alone, something Tristan had demanded she not do. Will her dance with ghosts be a permanent arrangement? And when Tristan Fontaine discovers her missing, who will be able to face his wrath?

Elinor Chalamet uses her wits and her ghost-talking skills to hunt for her father’s killer in Alenbonné, a coastal city where ghosts walk at all hours. The third of a six-part gaslamp fantasy ghost mystery series featuring a Sherlock Holmes-like female character in a slow burn romance.

REVIEW: These books are set in a country resembling France in a Victorian-type era. Nash gives further information on the world in her excellent appendix which works really well with novellas, as it provides information without holding up the pace of the story. And in a book of a shorter length, particularly an adventure, getting the pacing spot on is important.

I really enjoy the character progression from one book to the next. And this time around, we see cracks in the normally imperturbable Elinor. When encountering Tristan Fontaine for the first time in this adventure, she is thoroughly fed up at his tendency to seem increasingly attracted to her – only to disappear completely until he needs her on a case, again. Not surprisingly, she isn’t happy with his behaviour. However, she is also fraying somewhat at the edges due to having an apprentice foisted on her that she didn’t want.

I also enjoyed the introduction of a newbie to scene. We are introduced to Elinor in the first book as someone already highly accomplished and it’s only when watching the flailing efforts of Twyla that we appreciate just how adept Elinor is. It’s also fun to learn more about the mysterious Morpheus Society, which has been mentioned in the previous two book. I would add at this stage – if you’re in the habit of crashing midway into series, I don’t advise it with this particular adventure. While Nash is too experienced to allow you to flounder, too much going on here resonates with previous events for you to get the full extent of the story if you’re only starting here.

Elinor is in real danger in this book – Nash’s villains are always satisfyingly horrible, but this time around, she actually gets hurt by a particularly nasty antagonist. While I never like seeing my favourite protagonists suffer too much – it was informative to get underneath Elinor’s façade of control. Given there are elements of Sherlock Holmes in her character, it’s important that we see her vulnerability and I think Nash did a very good job of humanising her in this slice of the series. I’m not a huge fan of novellas, as far too often I feel that the pacing or characterisation suffers with the shorter length, but Nash has the writing chops to gauge the story beats absolutely perfectly within the word count. This is a series I’m thoroughly enjoying and looking forward to the fourth book in the series. While I obtained an arc of Spirit Guide from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc Death by a Cornish Cove – Book 2 of A Cressida Fawcett Mystery by Fliss Chester #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #DeathbyaCornishCovebookreview

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Fliss Chester’s first book in this series Death Among the Diamonds – see my review. So when I had the opportunity to get hold of an arc of this second book, I jumped at the opportunity – especially as it’s set in Cornwall, a place I absolutely love.

BLURB: A seaside party at a Cornish mansion with plenty of fizz, what could be more perfect? But something fishy is afoot… a killer lurks among the guests, and only Cressida Fawcett can stop them.

When Cressida Fawcett is invited to stay at Penbeagle House on the Cornish coast for a fancy-dress ball, she is looking forward to sipping rum cocktails clad as a pirate, watching the red-sailed boats go by and relaxing in the sea air with her good friend Dotty. But before they can raise their glasses to toast Cressida’s former flame Lord Canterbury’s engagement, he drops dead in front of the horrified guests.

The local doctor determines that Lord Canterbury was poisoned, and soon Detective Chief Inspector Andrews is on his way from Scotland Yard. But Cressida is dismayed by the murder of the intrepid explorer who once asked for her hand in marriage, and she cannot simply leave the case to the police. Together with Dotty and her little pug Ruby, Cressida searches for clues only to discover that many of the guests have a motive for murder. Did an irate journalist or a bitter fellow explorer send Lord Canterbury on his untimely final journey?

REVIEW: I have cut short the rather chatty blurb, which gives away a major plot twist too many and would definitely spoil your enjoyment. So don’t read it before tucking into this 1920s whodunit. Once again, I was swept away by Cressida’s gung-ho attitude to life – the kind of assurance that comes from being born into a rich, titled family. I also like the fact that she has determined to hang onto her independence and is reluctant to get married. After all, she has an income of her own, a lovely little car that takes her everywhere and the companionship of her adored pug, Ruby – why would she want to throw that all up for a husband?

The beginning of the book sees her zooming around the small, twisting Cornish roads far too fast in the company of her dear little dog and her best friend, Dotty, who is terrified by her very erratic driving. They are off to one of the social events of the year – the annual fancy dress ball at Penbeagle House. However the fun and frolics soon come to an abrupt stop when Cressida’s former suitor, Lord Canterbury, drops dead in the midst of the crowded party. Cressida fears the fit young man has been poisoned and the local doctor in attendance agrees with her.

Cressida summons DCI Andrews from Scotland Yard to come and investigate, but in the meantime, she is determined to do a bit of sleuthing before he arrives. Andrews isn’t as hostile to her interference as you’d think, because there is family history – Andrews went through the war with Cressida’s father. While Lord Canterbury seems an amiable young man, it appears that he had managed to run up a long list of people who have a grudge against him. I liked the list of suspects, which meant there were plenty of red herrings in play. I also like that Chester knows her history of the time – and that while women of a certain class with a drug addiction might not be regarded as ideal, it wasn’t the disgrace you might think. After all, within living memory opiates had been freely available over the counter as medicines for the kinds of nervous complaints common among upper class women, often as a consequence of being very confined within rigid societal expectations. I appreciated Chester’s nod to the darker consequences of those expectations within the story – and liked how she resolved the issue.

All in all, this is an engaging, enjoyable read, full of incident and some humour. Ruby, the little dog, also features constantly. I love how it never crosses Cressida’s mind that her rather spoilt little pug might not be welcomed by everyone. Recommended for fans of cosy whodunits in a 1920s setting, featuring a feisty heroine who could certainly be labelled a flapper. While I obtained an audiobook arc of Death by a Cornish Cove from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc Love Will Tear Us Apart – Book 3 of the Stranger Times series by C.K. McDonnell #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #StrangerTimesbookreview

I’ve loved this series – see my review of This Charming Man. The humour is very British and I particularly appreciated the humorous articles at the beginning of every chapter, so I was delighted when this offering popped up on Netgalley.

BLURB: Love can be a truly terrible thing.

Marriages are tricky at the best of times, especially when one of you is dead. Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?

With Banecroft distracted, the shock resignation of assistant editor, Hannah Willis, couldn’t have come at a worse time. It speaks volumes that her decision to reconcile with her philandering ex-husband is only marginally less surprising than Banecroft and his wife getting back together. In this time of crisis, is her decision to swan off to a fancy new-age retreat run by a celebrity cult really the best thing for anyone? As if that wasn’t enough, one of the paper’s ex-columnists has disappeared, a particularly impressive trick seeing as he never existed in the first place.

REVIEW: I found it a bit difficult to get into this one. That occasionally happens with a much-anticipated book, I’ve discovered. I hated the fact that Hannah had cut and run from The Stranger Times office – and initially, her apparent reason didn’t ring true. I soon discovered there’s a reason for that. So at that stage, I relaxed into this one and went with the flow. Though I would say that if you haven’t read either of the first two books, I’d put this one back on the shelf and go searching for either or both of them. There was a lot of plot to pack into this one, so McDonnell didn’t hang around re-establishing the characters in the same detail as happened in The Stranger Times or This Charming Man.

I liked the fact that Stella had more of a role in this story – she’s always been something of an enigma. But I did find Grace’s unravelling a bit annoying and I wasn’t convinced by it. She’s always been a very efficient office manager and coping with receipts for Petty Cash is one of those bread and butter tasks that has to be done with thoroughness, or the whole system quickly gets out of hand. It simply didn’t make sense to me that Grace would have been so slapdash with the paperwork that accounts for the pennies and pounds running through a working office.

The scenes at the health spa were enjoyable, with plenty of humour. And as ever, the climactic scenes that trip into horrific paranormal played to McDonnell’s writing strengths. What I really, really missed from this arc were The Stranger Times articles that appear at the start of every chapter. They usually make me laugh aloud – but while there was a line identifying what they would be about, they hadn’t yet been added to this edition before it was released to reviewers. I know readers won’t find it a problem and so I’m not critiquing their lack – I’m just having a personal whine, as they are always hilarious.

Overall, I enjoyed this latest adventure from the quirkiest newspaper to hit the streets of Manchester. This book and the rest of the series comes highly recommended if you enjoy your paranormal fantasy peopled by eccentric larger-than-life characters having all sorts of odd adventures with a large dollop of Brit humour. While I obtained an arc of Love Tears Us Apart from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc Sentenced to Death – Book 4 of A Writer for Hire Mystery series by Betty Hechtman #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #SentencedtoDeathbookreview

I thoroughly enjoyed the previous book in this cosy murder mystery series, Making It Write – see my review. So when this one became available, I snapped it up.

BLURB: When writer for hire Veronica Blackstone is asked to write the copy for The Friends of Hyde Park’s annual house and garden tour, she never expects to get involved in a violent death. But that’s exactly what happens when famous author Landon Donte is found dead in his study during a dinner to highlight the tour. With his career on the wane, and apparently having deleted his last manuscript, it looks as though Landon committed suicide. But Veronica isn’t so sure…

It’s true that Landon had many enemies: his rival and neighbor, bestselling romance author RL Lincoln; his put-upon assistant, Brad; even his own daughter! But are any of them capable of murder? Veronica is determined to uncover the truth.

REVIEW: I’d enjoyed the previous book in this series, so was pleased when I saw this one was available. But if you haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading of the previous offerings, don’t let that put you off. There are some series where crashing midway means you’re floundering – this isn’t one of them.

Veronica is a writer for hire, whose first book has had some modest success and she’s trying to finish her second novel – but is suffering a bit from writer’s block. Fortunately, she’s an adaptable soul, who also undertakes other writing gigs. Indeed, the unfolding adventure whereby she assists a go-getting career woman in finding a suitably attractive and rich husband by writing love letters on her behalf is a really enjoyable plot thread.

Hechtman doesn’t put her foot to the floor with the pacing, so the murder is uncovered by a steady build-up of clues as Veronica gets on with her life. So to really get the best out of this whodunit, it’s necessary to enjoy Veronica’s character and become suitably engrossed in the details of her daily routine. The author’s smooth writing style and strong characterisation meant I found this an easy, enjoyable read, as Veronica discovers the ongoing tensions between those neighbours willing to open up their homes and gardens.

If I do have a niggle, is that her relationship with Sam is plain irritating. Either they have a thing, or they don’t. And they’re now of an age that they both should know one way or another – so all the will they/won’t they business that went on seemed rather forced, given their maturity.

However, it isn’t a dealbreaker – and I’d be very happy to read another book in this entertaining series. While I obtained an arc of Sentenced to Death from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc Before I Sleep – Book 24 of the Bill Slider series by Cynthia Harrod Eagles #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #BeforeISleepbookreview

No… I haven’t managed to get hold of all twenty-three of the previous books in this entertaining series – but I have read and thoroughly enjoyed, Cruel as the Grave, Old Bones, Shadow Play and Headlong. So it was a no-brainer that I’d request an arc for this re-release by the excellent Severn House publishing company.

BLURB: The clock is ticking for DCI Slider when a woman goes missing. Can he find her – and does she even want to be found?

Felicity Holland is missing. She left her handsome West London house to go to her weekly pottery class and didn’t come back. She’s a mature, sensible woman with a stable home life and a happy marriage – no reason to abscond. Her distraught husband is convinced she must have been snatched.

DCI Bill Slider and his team know that when a woman goes missing, you have to move fast if there’s to be a hope of finding her alive. But with no evidence of foul play – nothing to go on at all – where do you even start looking?

The clock is ticking. But as Slider tries to retrace the last known movements of Felicity Holland, he is led ever further down a dark and twisted path into the secret past of this beautiful, enigmatic woman.

REVIEW: Once again, the pages flew past on their own as I was engrossed in this police procedural whodunit from the first page. DCI Bill Slider is all about getting the job done – and that involves keeping himself and his team from attracting too much attention from Them Upstairs. So when a worried husband insists the police start looking for his missing wife – and rings up the Commissioner of the MET to ask that it’s done, he isn’t thrilled when he’s the one who gets the job. Because said husband is a successful author, who happened to go to school with the Commissioner, who’s also a fan of his writing.

Initially, everyone on the team is exasperated that their precious time is being taken up with this annoying case, that is bound to be trivial – and but nonetheless put in their best effort to get it sorted out as fast as possible. After all, some 95% of missing spouses either return, or let their half know where they are within three days. But when those days trickle by and Felicity still hasn’t shown up, despite Slider’s diligent enquiries, the team’s speculations become a whole lot darker.

I love Harrod Eagles’ easy style – she knows her main characters inside out and it shows. There is a lot of banter amongst the team, much of it funny enough to have me laughing aloud. And while this isn’t a gritty, blood-soaked affair, neither would I class it as a cosy anything. Harrod Eagles’ writing might not be unduly graphic, but neither does she ever let us forget that a beautiful, vibrant woman has disappeared – and is likely not going to be seen alive again.

I have also read sufficient books in the series to enjoy watching Bill’s happiness with his second marriage. So many protagonists in police procedurals are dogged loners, living on takeaways and constantly staying late at the office, that I enjoy his happy domestic circumstances and sociability.

I did get a little fed up about halfway through, when I knew exactly what was going on – and probably who’d done it. Although it wasn’t a dealbreaker, I was a little disappointed that the normally well-constructed and twisty plotting I’d become used to enjoying was thinner this time around. Until, it turned out – while I was right about some of it, I didn’t know who’d done it after all. And as events moved forward, I realised that I wasn’t supremely clever – and probably that guess happened just when the author wanted it to. So yes… the plotting is every bit as twisty and well-constructed as usual. And so heartbreakingly poignant that I finished the book with a lump in my throat.

In short, a thoroughly satisfying read and highly recommended for fans who like their police procedurals featuring a likeable protagonist and a memorable victim who certainly didn’t deserve what happened to her. While I obtained an audiobook arc of Before I Sleep from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10

Review of NETGALLEY NOVELLA Delicious Death – Book 2 of the Madame Chalamet Ghost Mysteries series by Byrd Nash #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #DeliciousDeathbookreview

I enjoy Byrd Nash’s writing – see my review of A Spell of Rowans. And since I became ill with Long Covid, I’ve been tucking into Gaslamp fantasy tales as I thoroughly enjoy the vibe and historical backdrop.

BLURB: Thwarting an assassination wasn’t on the menu. Elinor’s holiday is ruined when a poisoner targets a royal guest. What’s even more irritating? The duke thinks he can solve the case before she can.

In the southern town of Vouvant, Elinor’s goal was to eat rich food at the Winter Revels, but an attempt on the king’s life implicates her favorite chef. Between saving a young society lady and solving the problem of a widower who grieves too much, she has her hands full.
Trained as a medium by the elite Morpheus Society, Elinor Chalamet uses her skills to aid the police while she hunts for her father’s killer.

The second of a six part gaslamp fantasy ghost mystery series featuring a strong female character in a slow burn romance.

REVIEW: I hadn’t had the pleasure of reading the first book in the series – indeed, I wasn’t aware that this was the second book until I opened it. But I decided to plunge in, anyway. And I got away with it, as at no stage was I foundering. I always enjoy reading tales featuring strong-minded, experienced protagonists who know what they’re doing – and Elinor Chalamet is just that. The era is sort of Regency and the setting is very loosely based upon Europe at that time, with the country an approximation of France. I liked the appendix at the back with the cast of characters and details of the world – it’s a growing trend that works well, particularly in shorter books where there often isn’t the length to add all those reminders throughout the story without coming across as repetitious.

There is plenty of humour within the story – in addition to some poignant moments, as befitting a tale where ghosts who cannot cross into the Afterlife are somehow stuck, often due to a trauma or unhealthy emotional tie. Nash’s smooth prose style kept the story barrelling along at a nice clip and the very slow-burn romance (my favourite sort!) simmered gently without impeding the mysteries – there’s more than one enigma to solve in this eventful tale. All in all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable tale, well written and executed in a length that is technically challenging. And best of all – there are five other books to get hold of and enjoy in this entertaining series. Yippee! While I obtained an arc of Delicious Death from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc The Luminaries – Book 1 of The Luminaries series by Susan Dennard #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #TheLuminariesbookreview

I thoroughly enjoyed Truthwitch and Windwitch, so I was delighted when I was approved for an arc.

BLURB: Hemlock Falls isn’t like other towns. You won’t find it on a map, your phone won’t work here, and the forest outside town might just kill you.

Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, the ancient order that protects Winnie’s town—and the rest of humanity—from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night. Ever since her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor, Winnie and her family have been shunned. But on her sixteenth birthday, she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials and prove herself true and loyal—and restore her family’s good name. Or die trying.

But in order to survive, Winnie enlists the help of the one person who can help her train: Jay Friday, resident bad boy and Winnie’s ex-best friend. While Jay might be the most promising new hunter in Hemlock Falls, he also seems to know more about the nightmares of the forest than he should. Together, he and Winnie will discover a danger lurking in the forest no one in Hemlock Falls is prepared for. Not all monsters can be slain, and not all nightmares are confined to the dark.

REVIEW: This is a major shift from the Witchlands series that Dennard has been working on, though I recognised many of the same strengths in the writing. Firstly, Winnie is a gutsy, appealing character. Having spent the last four years being officially shunned by everyone in Hemlock Falls, she has the courage and resilience to still come back fighting. That said, such a hammering from erstwhile friends and relations leaves it mark – and when public attitudes suddenly shift, I was pleased that Winnie is still struggling with her anger at the betrayal. I quickly found myself entirely in her corner and willing for her to prevail as I liked and sympathised with her.

That said, I was a bit flummoxed at her particular habit of clicking her front teeth – the only people I’ve ever come across who did such a thing wore dentures. And on several occasions I was pulled out of the story by wondering exactly how much noise they made and how exactly she did it. I was a bit surprised that such a mannerism survived the editing stage, to be honest, as it’s sufficiently rare to be distracting and rather an off-putting habit.

The other strength of this story is the forest and the monsters that reside there. This terrifying place constantly creates unpleasant creatures who are highly dangerous and the Luminaries are designated families whose task it is to keep them sufficiently culled so they don’t leave the forest and spread out to attack everyone else. I enjoyed the range of monsters, who Winnie obsessively studies and draws, so we also get to discover them and their methods of killing. Winnie wants to become a hunter and has to pass three trials in order to succeed at this demanding role, but is very much hampered because while her family were shunned, she wasn’t able to train using the excellent facilities and equipment to make her sufficiently formidable. I think Dennard gets away with her workaround – I was pleased that Winnie didn’t end up being some kickass heroine who was able to march into the forest and take down a dangerous beast with hardly any problem.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and while the slow-burn romance wasn’t an aspect of the book that particularly drew me in – it was well handled. However, I do have a major grizzle that has knocked a point off my original score – and that was the very abrupt ending. Reading a digital copy meant I wasn’t completely aware of how far through the book I was. And when I suddenly swiped the page to be confronted with the back matter, I wasn’t best pleased. Chiefly because not a single one of the major dangling plotpoints are resolved. I am aware that we do have a complete story arc for Winnie, but that didn’t appear to be the narrative engine powering the plot, so I felt both wrong-footed and more than a little dissatisfied with the sudden ending. That said, I did enjoy the world sufficiently that I definitely want to discover what happens next. While I obtained an audiobook arc of The Luminaries from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #TheTerraformersbookreview

I read and enjoyed Autonomous – see my review. So when I saw this offering pop up on Netgalley, I immediately requested it and was glad to get a copy.

BLURB: Destry is a top network analyst with the Environmental Rescue Team, an ancient organization devoted to preventing ecosystem collapse. On the planet Sask-E, her mission is to terraform an Earthlike world, with the help of her taciturn moose, Whistle. But then she discovers a city that isn’t supposed to exist, hidden inside a massive volcano. Torn between loyalty to the ERT and the truth of the planet’s history, Destry makes a decision that echoes down the generations.

Centuries later, Destry’s protege, Misha, is building a planetwide transit system when his worldview is turned upside-down by Sulfur, a brilliant engineer from the volcano city. Together, they uncover a dark secret about the real estate company that’s buying up huge swaths of the planet―a secret that could destroy the lives of everyone who isn’t Homo sapiens. Working with a team of robots, naked mole rats, and a very angry cyborg cow, they quietly sow seeds of subversion. But when they’re threatened with violent diaspora, Misha and Sulfur’s very unusual child faces a stark choice: deploy a planet-altering weapon, or watch their people lose everything they’ve built on Sask-E.

REVIEW: In common with many sci fi authors, Newitz is highly critical of the capitalist economic model. It’s a system that Newitz roundly critiques in both Autonomous and The Terraformers. In this far, far future adventure – Ronnie has helped design a pristine planet to resemble Earth before Humanity came along and spoilt it. And now she needs it to make a profit… Of course, she hasn’t got her own hands dirty – carefully designed workers with all sorts of modifications have been the ones toiling away to ensure the planet’s eco-system keeps ticking over as perfectly as possible. Destry is one such worker and in the opening section of the book, is a main protagonist.

I loved the modified, cyborg animals, particularly Moose, who is Destry’s Mount and can carry her anywhere she needs to go, because Moose can also fly. However, he has a limiter on his brain so that he can only speak using single-syllable words. Though at least he can express himself about a wide range of subjects – Blessed models are built with a limiter in their brains so they can only talk about their work, even though they have the intellect to understand and have opinions on so much more.

Essentially, this is a story about a class struggle that spans centuries, set upon a beautiful world that is in the process of being settled with the aim of making the corporation owning the land the maximum amount of money. And although that might sound like a bleak premise, the book isn’t. Newitz has given us a beautiful world which she depicts with great vividness with all sorts of quirky creatures peopling it. Along with dear old Moose, I also rather fell in love with Scrubjay, a flying, talking train. Yep – I know it sounds like a bonkers episode of Thomas the Tank Engine, but I was able to suspend my disbelief sufficiently to get thoroughly caught up in the story. In amongst the anger at the exploitation and inevitable rebellion and bloodshed, there are lovely moments of working together, companionship, love affairs and the sharing of food.

I came away from reading this one with a smile on my face – and a sense that being alive, with friends and family to love and share food with, living on a planet where there is so much beauty, in a body that is my very own – makes me very fortunate. Highly recommended for fans of sci fi colony adventures with a strong environmental message. While I obtained an audiobook arc of The Terraformers from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10