Let's Take A Dark Trip
I had a conversation at Capclave about how kids are remarkably tolerant of dark fiction. This week’s batch of reviews includes the darkest YA novel I have ever read, darker than YA horror and, yes, darker than Iron Widow. Full blown grimdark.
It also includes a paranormal demon romance I quite, quite liked, and a linked collection of D&D style fantasy.
Review: Rainier’s Legacy by Chad Corrie
CW: Fantasy racism
So, first of all, this isn’t a novel…but was handed to me as one. It’s a collection, albeit a decent one, about the adventures of a bard named Corwyn in a rather D&D-esque world.
My biggest problem is the treatment of halflings as larcenous, unreliable, etc, that feels not like a stereotype but…the only halflings we see arelarcenous and unreliable. As anyone who reads my stuff knows, I’m not a huge fan of stereotyping species in that way because it always just feels like racism you can get away with because fantasy.
It’s unfortunate, because it made me less able to enjoy the bits of the book that didn’t contain Evil Thieving Halfings
Corrie does build a somewhat interesting world, if based on rather typical fantasy tropes. If you just want to read that kind of thing, this is a good book to pick up, but it doesn’t bring anything new to the genre. I enjoyed bits of it, but not others.
(The stories are linked and in chronological order, but the author makes no attempt to “fix them up” into a novel).
I received a copy of this book for review and award consideration purposes.
Review: As The Sparrow Flies by Chad Corrie
CW: Cannibalism, religious fanaticism
Usually, YA isn’t this grimdark. Corrie decides to break that rule in a book that…yeah. It’s grimdark. We first meet Elliott, a squire in a religious army bent on converting the entire planet by the sword. And they’re not the worst people you meet.
On top of that, the world has already been hit by one meteor and they think there’s another on the way. The Pyri think they are going to save everyone’s souls by converting them. The Laromi, who eat people…well…they know they’re going to die, so who cares.
The Marauders are trying to bring back the old Empire, but this world is just too screwed up.
Which leaves the Sojourners, who are looking for the Veiled City and are basically…Jews cum Roma cum Amish. They’re the only people here who aren’t completely messed up and evil.
Religion is, in some ways, the enemy here…or is it? Really, this book is about the things people do after the apocalypse…and with the fear of another one to come.
Which based on the ending, yeah, it’s probably coming.
If you’re up for something really, really dark, check this out…it’s nicely paced and decently written. However, I wouldn’t give it to your kids unless they’ve read something similar or you read it first because it might be nightmare fuel for some adults.
(I appear to be over my grimdark aversion. I do have one huge problem, though. Everyone on this planet speaks the same language? Not likely!)
I received a copy of this book for review and award consideration purposes.
Review: A Sinister Love by Spencer Hixon
I have to admit a bit of a soft spot for “Christian mythology presented as bureaucracy” stories that goes back all the way to Screwtape Letters, which Hixon admits is an inspiration for this book. I could see it. Bruce H. McGraw’s Demon Holiday is another fun take on this.
Hixon’s take is different from McGraw’s, but equally entertaining. Scribble, an imp, is trapped working in Purgatory…as dreary for her as for the souls struggling their way to heaven. Until they decide to replace her with an AI.
An evil one, of course. Scribble is fallen, but she’s not a bad person. Her sin, it turns out, is cowardice. After being replaced, she’s reassigned as a Sinister…the demon on somebody’s shoulder, arguing with their Dexter (guardian angel) and fighting with them for their soul…not through direct violence, but through the little whispers. She’s not supposed to be capable of falling in love with her client.
Who’s depressed, which both she and his Dexter want to fix.
Yup.
This book is about mental illness, at its heart. It’s about grief and depression and anxiety and fitting in…and not fitting in. There’s a love triangle, which I could have done without, but other than that I found this book decidedly…just plain fun.
This book is being marketed as a paranormal romance and I would definitely recommend it to fans of that genre…the romance is solid and the obstacles are both internal and external. Scribble is an interesting heroine and her viewpoint is the right choice for the book. I’d definitely read the sequels…I’m not typically into paranormal romance, but again, I’m into Hell As Bureaucracy and it ticks that box too.
I received a copy of this book for review and award consideration purposes.
(Now somebody write one of these but make it queer…oh great. I don’t need any more ideas).