Two YA fantasy trilogies to read

While these two authors are newish to me, they are not to most readers and have an established fan base and catalog. They are modern masters of young adult fantasy, providing complex female and diverse characters in the lands that they create. While the two trilogies I am about to talk about are different, the similarities in story and impact from these authors made it seem reasonable to want to compare The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco and the Shadow and Bone trilogy by Leigh Bardugo.

I of course learned about the Shadow and Bone books from the Netflix series. I watched it first and feel in love with the concept, actors, the world and magic, and the six of crows. Enough that I had to read the books, even while burning through the two seasons that are available. 

This part of the Grishaverse that the author has created focuses on the point of view of an orphan name Alina, in a land that is reminiscent of Russia, China, and Mongolia. She is part of the army in her fictional country, a cartographer, about to make her first journey through the Fold. A swath of cursed darkness that splits the land, filled with creatures that even the Grisha (magical humans) have difficulty fending off.

Between the three books, we find that she is not normal, she is like mega special. She becomes intwined in politics, the lore of how the Fold came to be, and a “love triangle” between the Darkling and her fellow orphan bestie, Mal, drives the plot. When this falls through, the love triangle will be replaced by other supporting characters because this is about young love and misreading the obvious! 

I enjoy this series, I do believe for the genres it counts towards, it is well written so much so that I understand my hate for Alina and Mal is because I tend to dislike these type of characters and tropes. The world she has crafted makes up for my disappointment in the fictional characters motivation and reactions to events, the side characters are compelling, and you can tell she tried to think of the different people and prejudices you might see in this steampunky world.

After watching the show and finishing the books, I understand the changes that were made given the amount of episodes they had and the format it was been translated into, however I do believe that it would need three seasons to cover the three books. I thought the actors that were cast did an excellent job bringing their characters to life, even if I still was annoyed by everything that happened.

I want to keep reading the other books in the series, because I am sure I will enjoy the Six of Crows duology more or the other stories I see that are a part of it. A cool world and easy to fall into, I put up with a lot for interesting fantasy stories.

The Bone Witch trilogy used similar terminology but had a foundation in “Filipino witch doctors” and “Middle Eastern folklore.” (Thanks Wikipedia!) I found that the similarities - dark and heavy subject matter when it comes to the magic, the amount of deaths, and the hard decisions that are required of the female main characters - were more prominent in this series. And I didn’t always hate what the characters were doing, so more appealing to me overall.

This story follows a young girl, Tea, whose power is frowned upon and yet sought after. We find that she can raise the dead (cause she is a bone witch) after she resurrects her brother. This makes her important to her kingdom, at time the story will focus more on the political factions and parties in this more “cooperative” world of magic with groups like the dark asha holding court with rulers.

The second book, The Heart Forger, did get me a bit annoyed with the ending. It had me wondering why they just didn’t think to ask certain questions, or realize what was going on until that moment, but with the twists of book three it was forgiven.

The series includes hordes of the undead, necromancy, dragons, sacrifices, and has a more satisfactory ending (if more bittersweet) than Ruin and Rising (the third book in Shadow and Bone). I guess I really a bitch eating cracker level petty about Alina.

The first 4 Novellas in the Murderbot Diaries

In a group book chat, that never went anywhere and had me slipping out of when I realized that book clubs may just be a front for other interests (we weren’t reading books fast enough and it was turning political real quick), I learned about the Murderbot Diaries. I cannot claim credit for finding the author out on my own, and although I am not sure who said they liked it, it is (another) thing that we can both agree on.

The first four novellas are the perfect type of futuristic space style science fiction. Like the Alien franchise, it seems modern to imagine a future in which corporations instead of countries subjugate people via underhanded colonist tactics. There are robots and AI tech, used to maintain control and used as weapons by the corporations. If there is a bad guy in this story, it is the business organizations that control people and manipulate scientists and resources, it is a believable progression and downside to advancements in technology, this is the future of colonialism.

The stories are told from the perspective and internal dialogue of self proclaimed Murderbot, a security cyborg robot who hacked their own governor module after a job in which they inexplicably took out a mass amount of people. A logical response to a nonsensical event, that allowed them to develop an anxious personality and a taste for serial soap operas. 

The length of each story is so quick, and yet easy for most people to understand the future and characters that the author has imagined. Of the first four stories in the series the only real dud is the third one, but I could see it as somewhat needed to drive the action and drama of the series.

With the start of the story All Systems Red, we get a feel for the personality and humanity of the main character. Set up as a space thriller, there are mysterious events and a lot of action. Up to this contract that they took, no one was aware that Murderbot was doing their own thing (mostly watching the tv via feeds). 

This first novella in the series also introduces the interactions that Murderbot has with their clients, of the humans that we get to know this group plays a role later on in the story so there is flavor and dynamic to their interactions that makes you want to see Dr. Mensah creep up again.

But so far, it is their interactions with other bots and the characters introduced that are not human that I have grown attached to, and is probably the real reason why I keep on with the series. In the second novella, Artificial Condition, Murderbot has separated from Dr Mensah, as they are still unsure of the doctors intentions and if humans can be trusted. In their escape they come across ART,  in the research transport ship they have stowed away on, and this tech is giving me series side kick sass that makes me want to demand a full series on ART cause they have main character energy! ART is here with the quips and the first hand observational knowledge to call out that Murderbot is not fooling anyone. I may have been remiss to see this part of their journey end, and maybe that is why I was not so into the next batch of humans and tech that is Rogue Protocol.

Rogue Protocol is not badly written and it is needed to get us to the events that is in book three/was mentioned in the first book, it just did not have the character interactions I have come to expect with the other novels. This is a new group of humans, a different AI personality and maybe like Murderbot I didn’t get the whole “Miki is happy being pet style slave bot” story that was going on. While this may have been better wrapped into the other books that I loved, I did finish it and kept up with the series. My last read being novella four.

Exit Strategy brings the story back to Dr. Mensah and the question of whether they can be trusted, and I was pleased. Murderbot is a relatable character in their anxiety, response to human interactions, and self doubt, but as an intelligent and logical character: even when they make the wrong assumption or misread the interactions their internal dialogue make sense of their missteps in a way that I wish I had in my life. 

From this point in the story, the novellas become full fledge novels, but I am invested and have high hopes for the rest of the series. I do wonder how it will end, since I feel that with this type of character and universe, it could be ongoing. Something that I would not be averse to, give us more ART!

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

Whoa, whoa, whoa! 2 posts in less then 24 hours?! That is right, because I have a lot of books that I need to catch the internet lurkers who stumble onto this page, up on. Have I done my taxes though, have I cleared out my inbox, taken care of all the life chores that are never-ending, answered texts from months ago? No and this is not about this.

This is about some real shit, Parable of the Talents. The internet had informed me that this series is taking place in our present and near future, that Octavia E Butler is a science fiction goddess, perfect, awe-inspiring and worthy of all worship for her stories and her message. And they were right, after reading the first novel in the series, even though it is a hard story, I had to move onto the only other book she completed within it before she became too depressed by what she was researching and writing. 

She was onto something and she used the best of her abilities to give us some hope, even while predicting the political and environmental challenges we will face. Written in 1998, this book takes place in 2032, and made me feel uncomfortable as to how close our society is to these “made ups” events. Systematic racism, ineffective police and government, the erasure of social safety nets like education and welfare services, all goes hand in hand with the widespread housing, famine and water shortages that her characters face. 

Not all the characters we have come to love and care for in the first novel makes it, and that is because things have not changed around them even if the Earthseed movement is making huge gains in changing the thinking and mindset of those participating in it. The story still focuses on Lauren and comes from her diaries and recollection, but now we have some view points from Bankole and their daughter. It is though the introduction of Asha Vere’s voice that the writer tries to tackle residential schools and what happens when children are “rehomed” from loving parents who are not allowed to lift themselves and their families out of poverty, but are punished for arbitrary reasons by their government. 

As great as this book and series is, it is dark. I thought the first book was difficult what with the murder, rapes, raids, lack of support, racism, the tactics that are used to force others into legal slavery, and so on, but this book does not hold back either and adds to the traumas that we are facing. What balances it out is that the critical voice comes from the daughter. Mother and daughter relationships are always fraught, but especially when there is generational trauma involved it is much easier to lay blame on the one who gave birth to new life in a miserable existence. I was left seeing where both Lauren and Asha Vere were coming from, and I was left wondering if I could ever survive a fraction of what they went through.

This is my favorite dystopian science fiction series of all time, even if the series ended prematurely and before it makes it to the stars. 

Book one and two were the framework to show that earth was too far gone to be anything but the launching pad to trying to achieve a Utopia in space. I think it it meant to be full of reality and our current day monsters (the president is Texan governor Andrew Steele an uncanny combo in my mind of Governor Abbott and our ex despot Trump) so we can feel the initiative to try hard when it comes to who we allow to be elected and why the funding of science exploration should not be left to the cults or private companies (no matter how well meaning they are). 

I will admit that I am a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to this story, I see Earthseed as the only acceptable cult and I am okay with their privatization of space so they can escape even though cults are NOT okay and Elon Musk’s Mars shit gets on my nerves - let the real scientists motivated by ethics and thirst of knowledge get things done…because her writing is that good.

I mean how can anyone top that?

Blood Colony and My Soul to Take

Listen. Look. I know. What am I doing with my life and time? Reading, barely functioning, and just not writing. If I wasn’t physically down from the illness and plagues that the kids dragged in from the outside, I was mentally down because of all the obvious reasons. I have a lot of writing to catch up on.

I finished a couple of series, the one I most proud of finishing is the African Immortals by Tananarive Due. So far there are four titles, with the last two being Blood Colony and My Soul to Take. 

The series starts with the story of Jessica, a young black journalist who is marred to an older charming and respected professor of Jazz, David, and the secret he is keeping from her about his past. The second book is about the consequences his lies and withholding had on their family, and is focused on how Jessica can live with the trauma of becoming an immortal like David. It explains more of the brotherhood while also giving a counter approach to the blood gift - Jessica and her sister want to help those in need with the only true miracle their world has ever known - healing blood.

These last two books focuses on the child that Jessica and David conceive in their immortal blood state. (I am trying to not give any real spoilers!) Fana is special, unique, and powerful, but by the end of the story you can see how she is also a product of her parents and the people who raised her. 

As someone terrified of death and aging, any vampire story is enticing, but what I like most about this series is that is a unique take on immortality. While Blood Colony focuses on the healing aspect of blood, you will not find that this group is feasting or craving it. The lore of “who was the first” and “how did they gain immortality” is important because it should make us question what is true and how much is this about the powerful writing out the fate of the other characters involved.

It uses Christian stories to explain the magic in the universe, and plays on the idea of who is chosen and how much of that is a blessing or a curse. If you can’t tell, I love when stories incorporate any type of Christian mythology within it to humanize or give perspective, so seeing more of these elements in the last two novels was perfect.

As the story shifts in tone to the religious and the occult, the social commentary about race, health, inequality, and wealth disparity (within context to their blood) is not diminished. It has grown to say something about both the illegal drug and legal pharmaceutical industries and gives us a brandname for the blood “Glow”.

Both books keep up the globetrotting thriller tone that I have to expect with this series, and have introduced some new locations like Mexico. This becomes important for the last book, Fana has some loose ends to tie up after the promises she makes in Blood Colony. Since it ended as a cliff hanger, I felt compelled to read My Soul to Take as soon as I felt up for it so I could see how she would deal with the position she was in.

The new element in the last book is Fana’s love for a musician name Phoenix. We get a taste of a pop icon and what her music could do when combined with Fans’s abilities. Ever since Anne Rice opened me up to the idea that a made up character could be in a made up band and that could be important for the made up story, I have respected anyone else who makes use of their imagination and attempts this.

For my complaints, I would say why did this story have to end?! And if these are just cliff hangers, as I hope with the last book, then why did she have to right such good ones because I need to know what is going on next with Johnny, Fana, and Michel. I also have the usual complaint against Fana for some of the choices that were made, but that has more to do with me thinking I know better and that I would make better choices in the same circumstances (delusional or just regular old Virgo energy?). I know those are not real complaints, they are made up ones in attempt to say this series is perfect the way it is. Unless it is complete, in which case one more book please?!

The Book of Etta and The Book of Flora by Meg Elison

I love the push for more diverse writers in modern publishing. While I have always thought I was a diverse reader, what I am exposed to is limited to what publishers think will appease to a mass audience. I have been reading more science fiction and literary fiction from women and BIPOC authors, because there are more and more publishers giving chances to none white male authors. 

And I love it.

Through her series Meg Elison does something that I wished for with a recent trilogy I read (Wool, Shift, and Dust), she gives voice to not just hetero women but also to queer and trans people. Which given the story she is telling seems to be a given, but is really a testimony to how good Meg Elison was with creating this dystopian world.

The Book of Etta is the second in the series stared with The Book of the Unnamed Midwife. A devastating flu kills most of the population, but especially women and female children. With societies collapsed, it focuses on the wasteland that is now America and how women and children are treated. The first book covers the initial events and foretells what to except. The Book of Etta picks up with one of the secret women cities/societies and what it means to be a queer woman (and maybe be even a trans man) in a society where reproducing and being a women is sacred if not a curse.

The entire series is graphic, but not in a way to re-traumatize readers, just to be realistic to why people are acting they way they are. The first book was so depressing that I had to sit on it for a year before I moved on. It is very much in tone like The Road. It is clearly a discussion of women’s rights and how quick the right we have is taken away in dire circumstances. There is no other way to convey the fear and urgency without including the different type of abuse the characters within the story face. 

As we move onto The Book of Flora, knowing the story was going to end and having immersed myself in the first two novels, I think most readers can see the reveal at the end. This book is important because it is filled with the guilt and turmoil of the trans experience. While I cannot say I know what that must be like, I can appreciate how she imagines it and tries to tell a story that is outside of her norm. It gave me the opportunity to contemplate what queer people may face in the remnants of a broken down society that didn’t accept them in the best of times. I also learned shit. This series had me googling something with each one and being very mind blown emoji about it.

A short review, that is vague because I do not want to spoil it. This is all to say, this series is worth it and one of the few apocalyptic books that depends on reality and science (and not magic or religion) to tell a dark story that wraps up with an ending that is neither bitter or to impossibly beautiful and perfect. 

The Living Blood by Tananarive Due

I am in some type of mood where the second book of the series seems to be hitting the spot. Maybe this is a new phase of my life, or just a coincidence. Since this book series is about supernatural events of course I am quick to declare not a coincidence - totally a sign of something!

The Living Blood is the second book in a series by Tananarive Due that was started in the 90s. My husband, who is not a reader, clocked this when I mentioned that the main male character so far has been described to look like Blair Underwood (so much so that he was tied to the movie adaptation and referenced in the book itself). 

The other way the time period is noted is that Tananarive Due does not limit herself to one genre when telling her story. It is clear that this is an epic thriller that is cross continental, and while it may be fantasy with some science fiction, it is also a way for the writer to tell a scary story via a black woman’s perspective. Even before the events that kick off the black lives moment, she took the horror of the civil rights movement to write some of the most terrifying torture scenes that I have read in a long time.

I have seen her and this series compared to Anne Rice, and I have also seen that Stephen King has given his quote/seal of approval for her writing. I kinda see the Stephen King endorsement as more fitting. This story is scary in the way that pet cemetery is scary. What would a parent do to save their child’s life? 

It is a “vampire novel” that takes place in South Africa and Ethiopia, all over the African continent in a way most white horror novels take place in Europe. It was written by a black woman and it is not the tired plot (though I do love it) of a talented young thing being selected by a hot vampire for intense sex the rest of their live. There is substance and this story is original enough that I could see it being a point of reference for writers the way that Anne Rice is. But I still insist that her writing is more like Stephen King, just the right amount of description and tons of fast moving action in comparison.

Without giving away too much: Jessica is a black American woman who comes from a strong family and has support after the devastating events that proceed this in the first book: My Soul to Take. Traumatized, changed by those events, and after learning that her husband was hundreds of years old by means of secret brotherhood of Ethiopian immortals, Jessica must start to find a new normal. At the same time, a father in America whose son is dying of leukemia, is chasing a magical cure whatever the cost. 

The appeal of horror novels is that it can scare you on so many levels, superficially and with its deeper meanings.

This book imagines what healing blood would mean to a good but also naive black woman who has suffered personal loss. She would want to save as many children as possible from preventable deaths. It makes me think how few books imagine a world without illness, cancer, or AIDS. I think that is the real taboo, and imagining a cure for some specific illness can be trite. It is easier for writers to imagine characters dying from a made up disease than to imagine a world where we could do something about AIDS and how that would look like. Reality is easy and dreams can seem so lofty and childish. This book embraces the naivety of the main character Jessica and helps drives the plot and actions. It works. 

I would say the trigger warning is that this book is about reality - the fear of losing a child and the physical acts of racism that cannot be escaped. Most of the main and supporting characters are black, wealthy, educated, strong people, needed in their communities, and there is a range in appearance (some lighter than others). Removed of its fantastical elements, this could still be a news story of how Dr. Lucas Shepherd was treated during a protest or how Sarah was found as a passenger in a car during a run in with cops. There is torture, but this is the reality within Tananarive Due’s writing, making this book feel close to a place we inhabit today.

Anyway I loved it, I want to read the rest. I want to read all her other books. I am now a huge fan.

Everything horror that I read in October

Maybe it was the season, the cumulation of depressing current events, or I am just in that way - but I felt as everything I read could have been horror related in October. To try to group this flimsy observation into a single post, I would like to pick apart my recent reads til I find the tiniest example that could be used to bolster that opinion.

Yellowface was the first real ghost story that I read in October. It was a good stepping stone for how I would end my month, more humor than dark it is a clear example of satire. I think if you are a writer then the scariest part of the book is to realize you could be any of the shitty characters, this is a tale about the publishing industry, our current response to social media disasters, and how racism can still make bank. At times I was convinced that it would turn into a modern American horror classic to be revered like Poe or Jackson, but it is so much more. 

I am not trying to buy anymore books, so I of course bought several more. I have picked up Babel so I can read more from R.F. Kuang. With each book that I finished recently, I was very tempted to pick this up, but it is fine to languish on my tbr shelf a little longer.

I listened to the audiobook version of Minor Detail. It is a fictional story based on real events, of a young Palestinian bedouin girl who was raped by the Israelis during the taking of Palestine in the 1940s. This novella is unsettling in how the author takes you there and is a ghost story of sorts as well. Horrific for the truth and how current events proves the fictional portion was not an exaggeration but a prediction based on observations. 

These next two were mothers day gifts from my husband, he swooped up a themed table at Book People and we were clueless to the mother horror journey I was about to embark. I appreciate the gifts but they may be too close to reality when it comes to female writers articulating the common horror shared among women when it comes to families, trauma, and motherhood.

Motherthing introduced a science term I had heard but never conceptualized until it was used to show the extremes the main character Abby goes to find the comfort she deserved as a child. With a dirtbag mom, but a funny and loving husband Ralph, Abby is primed to be the best daughter in law. Too bad Laura has her own shit and makes her depression a curse they must now live through. Domestic horror with a lot of taboo and jarring scenes, it is hard to know if the ending is happy or even resolved. Happy Mothers days indeed.

Just Like Mother is a surreal take on our current time or world or reality, however you want to see it. Taken separately - the different sensationalist elements that make up the story (for example a motherhood cult lead by killer women, a young woman with a deranged past reconnecting with her cousin after all these years, a series of unfortunate events that could not possibly be related but so clearly are to everyone else…) could be pulled from fucked up headlines and stories out there. This book had me thinking “don’t do that, don’t trust her Maeve, why are you going back there,” but still I read on and was traumatized.

I read the second in a series I started last year, it wasn’t until The Living Blood that I understood the beauty of the series. This novel is one that could be hard to describe because it can be classified under several genres. Overall, the tone to me was classic thriller and horror. This series based on immortals has so far followed Jessica, a successful journalist with a big heart for social justice and family, as she learns her husband and children are not what she thought. This book does have violence and should be avoided by anyone grossed out by the concept of blood.

I like V.E. Scwhab. I think as a writer, the stories and the technique are amazing and well written but I just like it. I worry that I almost border on feel apathy to what I am reading. Gallant is a hard word for me to say and most least favorite of the books by this author that I have read. It does fit the tone as it is a haunted house story similar to Motherthing, this is about family and curses and ghosts that call us back home. And yet, eh. And also, a well written ghost tale.

Carmilla is the most tasty of all the reads. I was skeptical about its history, a vampire story that predates Dracula? A novella written in the 1800s that is about tantalizing lesbians? It is all those things, a classic horror read that I am ashamed I did not know about sooner.

My final read that scared the shit out of me was another second in the series The Book of Etta. This series about an illness that wipes out most of the population leaving few survivors and even fewer women is disturbing in the ways you can imagine. The first book is so hard to read, it is not a surprise to me that I had to wait awhile to brave the second one. Even though it is full of despair and misunderstandings, the fact that a woman writer gave voice to this nightmare and also did not ignore how much of an impact this would have on all identities and genders makes this second story one that I am glad I attempted to read. The darkest of all the books, somehow seems to me the one that had more hope in the end.

So far The Book of Flora has been crushing that.

A month that felt like nonstop dread and I was grateful that I had the chance to read all the words that I did.

Scythe, The Thunderhead, and The Toll by Neal Shusterman

I try to jot down notes throughout my reads on my phone, this is a new habit I am building as a mother and an aging person born in the nineteen hundreds. I was used to scribbling aggressively in cursive when a thought came to me, because back then I was able to stop what I was doing in order to transcribe my thoughts. But then I had a family. 

And also there was that one time I tried to write for a local blog and the much younger tech bro who was recruiting my free and desperate labor was like “Whoa pen and paper!” when I pulled out of my journal from my bag several years ago. I still have many journals and always carry my current one on me, I just hide it in my outdated carpet bag of shame, only those who know me best are aware of my lame habit (so you).

If this combined review for all three books seems disjointed - the above paragraphs are my attempt to explain that. I read all three within a couple of weeks, but also with other novels in between. Overall, I enjoyed them all and am regretting ignoring this recommendation for as long as I did. (Which is to say was at least a couple of years.)

Initial impression is that this is novel about a fucked up dystopian future society in which we have conquered death and have not been conquered by an all knowing AI. Two teens, male and female, are selected in an unusual apprenticeship to become one of the Scythes responsible for keeping the population within manageable means. You follow their journey and are introduce to a potential future - if aging and death were working the way we would want it to - within our control.

 In most trilogies the first book pulls you in, but fizzles out on the story and momentum as it moves on. It gets trapped in trying to get back to the same incredulous setup that was the premise of the first book, even if the characters had spent the entire first book escaping from said hellscape. This series does not fall into that trap.

As a series, it does a good job of setting up the events, how such an unbelievable premise would work, and integrating serious plots and motivations for the characters. All three books work, make sense, and overtime let you in on the scene. I would get lost in the worlds.

Even when I think I know where it is going, there is still a surprise to the set up and use of popular tropes seen in this genre by use of deflection and sleight of hand. This is a new world and future from a talented writer, Neal Shusterman can answer questions about how this works, while keeping the story moving along with his action sequences very well. 

The writing is built on conversations and following different characters POV, leading to this being a quick read. But do not be mistaken, the execution is astounding and come from an amazing imagination. It starts off dystopian but is a science fiction novel at heart. Speaks of AI, where technology could lead us potential, ethics, how power and people will always be corrupt no matter the utopia presented. It speaks to racism, borders, gender binaries, biases, religion, politics, and institutions. 

It is a good series because I feel it is optimistically realistic, for the most part. Which is a weird thing to say since it is about death, ethics and morality, amongst other serious and complex subjects. Plus when the death gets going in some of the books it gets going and is final. There is not a complete happy ending, but there is closure.

For readers who are willing to give young adult books a chance, this is the style book that you will be able to love and recognize for what it is. I believe this is one of those situations in which because the main characters are young adults, this is why it is grouped in science fiction and marketed to teens. This is not just a young adult novel, do let that limit you from reading it.

So in summation, one of my favorite young adult series in a long time. I loved and love it and think you might as well.

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

The thoughts you are about to stumble through is meant to be more for those who have already read the book or series. There are some spoilers, which I think are needed if this is something you would like to get into. 

I fell for Anne Rice and vampires in high school, like all the cool kids do. After I read every book involving Lestat, while listening to the Queen of the Damn soundtrack on repeat on my discman, I needed to move up in my addiction to her other novels. My mother had the second book, and not knowing what it was about or that I was reading out of sequence, I picked it up. I enjoyed it, but this was also the first time that I thought Anne Rice was kind of fucked up.

Nearly two decades later, the beauty that is the AMC show Interview with the Vampire brought me back to the series, just like before. Clearing the mental cobwebs I moved from The Mayfair Witches show to buying the first book in the series. While I believe that the movie, show, and novel for Interview with the Vampire are all beautifully written in their own ways and are amazing adaptations, The Mayfair Witches show does not hit the same way. The book is much better.

With that being said it does not change the following trigger warnings: incest, pro-life, rape, and child sexual abuse. 

I am a bit iffy on the racism, it is a white woman writing a time period that a lot of other white people idolize for all the wrong reasons. If you feel it is racist, I can see your point. And if you do not really think about those things… like maybe you should?

The causal racism, leaves me feeling confused. But maybe that it the point. It is honest to what white people were thinking about in that time period in the south, even liberal ones. The racial slurs the white characters use, and their interactions with those of color, belays the attitude that others don’t concern or impact them. 

I love Anne Rice but it fucking unsexy. This is not a steamy book and I feel that it was written to be so. Especially knowing now that she also wrote bondage erotica under a different name. I found this out reading a friends copy while she was attending her UT classes, hanging out in her room at one of the UT dorms across the street from the mall. AND YOU BET I JUDGE HER WHEN SHE CAME BACK (even though I was wrong to do so). 

I believe she did write it to voice some people’s fantasies. I have to remember the time period. of when she wrote it, the time period for my high school experience, and how I think now. I was a product of a toxic environment and time, I have fetishized paleness or leaned into what plays for the male gaze, over exploring what I really enjoy. No one is born with a healthy sexual appetite and a woke mindset so they can avoid the pitfalls of racism, sexism, and ableism - it all has to be learned. It is just easier for us to learn how to be fucked up, racist, sexist, and ablest.  

So now, as a more healthy version of myself (who will hopefully continue to grow and evolve) I say with ally my conviction that one of the main characters and love lead, Michael, ain’t shit. Some of the thoughts she gives him is gross and leads me to side eye Anne Rice for writing him that way. But what Wytch or Vampyre book doesn’t have horrendous sex scenes written by women that makes you go “damn” while you clutch your pearls? 

It is also clear how heavy Catholicism plays on her foundation, because the pro-life scenes are rough. As we all know with J.K. Rowling, women can have some really shit and regressive opinions when given a platform to write. That is not fair though, Anne Rice is still a more skilled, intelligent, and innovative writer. 

On that thought, like the consumer that I am, I would die for Universal to acquire the Immortals universe and plop the right next to Hogwarts in the park. I can see myself, and other millennials, stumbling out of the castle through the gift shop taking a turn into the French Quarter heading towards the young, attractive, would be actors performing songs from The Queen of the Damned soundtrack in the Admiral’s Arms. Though my body was never made for Aaliyah’s outfit, I and many others would be heading over to pay top dollar for a costumed version to shove ourselves into. 

If you like Anne Rice, you will enjoy this book though. It has all the elements that she is known for, descriptive, well researched, and even through the boring or gross bits, you are transported to wherever the characters are.

On page 258, she plays with us in a way that made me appreciate that she was able to write all of this even with her dubious plot choices. We see Anne Rice describe herself and her writing style via a comment on Petyr van Abel’s style. I became more forgiving because of this, with a quick paragraph I was in love again with the technique. It also helps that this is where the real meat of the book starts. 

It is a thick book, and I have so many other novels to clear off my to be read list. I will be buying the second novel, to do a re-read, at some point. This is a series that I need to finish as I find it hard to believe that the show will come to completion or be able to swing their storylines back to what as in the original series. 

Shift and Dust by Hugh Howey

These are my thoughts:

1. I am not going to be getting rid of the books anytime soon. 

2. For me personally, this series was the kind of writing that made me say, “well if he could do it and get published then I could.” 

3. I read that it started off as a short story. That the first novel (or maybe the whole series?) was requested from readers to elaborate on that idea and that the author worked on it while you know working a real job that is demanding and paying the bills. This makes sense if true.

I want to start by saying, I will probably read more from this author in the future. There are just some elements of this series that I would not have made or attempted to write. It is amazing that he has a community interested in his idea and his work. It is amazing that he kept at it and finished three books. These are all goals that any writer would wish to achieve. 

These are the reasons why it was not for me:

1. Around chapter 80 in Shift I was very much “why would you do that?” about the whole thing. This happened in each book. There are certain actions the characters take to drive the plot that seems narrowing, frustrating, and hard for me to understand the motivation or logic behind it and the world.

2. In Dust it was pretty much immediately, but chapter 32 really stands out as to me as being eye rolling.

3. The story was very heterosexual in that there is no gayness and the romance or love between characters was lacking in chemistry. Not to spoil the set up of the novels but Shifts really ignores a concept of sexuality and society that is everywhere. Basically there is a lot of men and not a single comment, story, or motivational plot point around the possibility that any of them are gay - be it open or closeted. 

4. To go in more on the lacking of chemistry: all the characters are flat. Regardless of sex, villain or hero status, how interesting or invested I should be in them they all seemed to be part of the same hive mind in this universe and I was not in tune with it as others might be. Nobody had main character energy, it was the literary equivalent of NPC.

5. Also it was too much math to be that illogical. I am horrendous with math, and time progressing is not something I like to think about, but if my understanding of the timeline is anywhere near close to accurate that was a lot.

Should you read it? I guess if you are into the story idea or show. 

Should you watch the show? Totally up to you! I am going to. Already there have been changes. (Do I think it is going to drive the plot forward in a way that will make me say they did it better? Hell no!) This is one of those situations where the book is better, but who knows maybe I could be wrong.