I read ten books in the month of July, which included three volumes of the historical fiction series that has taken bookstagram by storm; the Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, which was truly a highlight of the month. In addition to bingeing them, I also read the entire Shadow of the Leviathan series by Robert Jackson Bennett, a Sherlock-and-Watson-esque murder mystery in a high fantasy, which I thoroughly enjoyed. AND I found a new five star (and possibly all-time favourite book) that I CANNOT stop thinking about. For the sake of balance, I also read a new thriller/horror book which left me so disappointed, and a YA fantasy romance that somewhat underwhelmed me.
- The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion: Vol. 1 by Beth Brower
Historical fiction / Epistolary
“But my true love is the evening walk, that last hour of daylight that has its way with sunlight, shadow, and soul. That was the case this evening. The lamps were lit, light coming from the houses, and there walked I, alone, and not upset to be so.”
My review: The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion has taken the book community by storm these past months. The first few volumes are very short and digestible, with this one being only around 100 pages. In this volume, we are introduced to Emma and her witty style of diary-writing, chronicling her life in the eccentric neighbourhood of St Crispian’s, London and her interactions with the equally eccentric inhabitants. She has a unique style of narration, something that is entirely her own, and is so tongue-in-cheek that you can’t help but fall in love with her.
While I enjoyed this instalment, I don’t think this alone was enough to entirely win me over to the series. I had seen people say in reviews that you should treat Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 as one, and I echo this. Read together, they’re far more impactful and by the end of the second volume, I was totally enamoured with Emma and her gang.
If you’re interested in picking these up, I would highly recommend the audiobooks. They’re the perfect summery palate cleansers, and I’ve been loving spending time outside painting and sewing while listening (of which, I think, Emma would approve).
- Fable by Adrienne Young (The World of the Narrows #1)
Young adult / Fantasy romance
“I’d crossed the Narrows for a man who’s probably never even loved me. For a dream that would never come true.”
My review: Four years ago, Fable was abandoned on an island filled with thieves and cutthroats by the person she trusted most; her father. Now, she’s earned enough to buy her way off the island and vows to track her father down and prove she is worthy of him. For Fable’s father is the most notorious pirate in the Narrows, and just being his daughter is not enough to earn Fable a place on his crew. Fable enlists the services of a young trader named West and his small crew to sail the treacherous waters of the Narrows in search of her father.
Adrienne Young’s books are always the perfect mix of easy and lovable, and yet I thought this was perhaps too oversimplified? It felt on the younger side of YA, with Fable’s sentiments and inner monologues being repeated often, as though the reader couldn’t be trusted to remember or keep up with the plot.
Fable was an easy-to-root-for main character, although she had her moments when she annoyed me. She alternated between cocky and pathetic, which I felt was probably realistic for a 17-year-old, but the other characters all acted so much more mature which made the difference all the more stark.
I found the plot quite cliche and a little stale – perhaps it’s the sort of thing I’d have enjoyed more when was younger and the rather obvious use of tropes didn’t bother me as much. Instead, probably as a result of my having read a lot of YA series in my time, I could see almost every plot twist coming from the first 100 pages. It reminded me a lot of Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller (which I felt quite ambivalent on) but if you enjoyed that one, you might also like Fable.
Overall, I’ve made the decision not to continue with this series, because I just don’t see the sequel wowing me enough to warrant my time. I’d only recommend to young adults just beginning their reading journey. I’m still a huge fan of Adrienne Young, but maybe her newer adult work is more up my alley – Fallen City, The Unmaking of June Farrow etc. Not a bad book by any means – probably just one I’ve aged out of and are no longer the target audience for.
- Daughter of the Forest by Juliette Marillier (Sevenwaters #1)
Historical fantasy / Fairytale retelling
“You will find the way, daughter of the forest. Through grief and pain, through many trials, through betrayal and loss, your feet will walk a straight path.”
My review: Had Sorcha been born a boy, she would have been the seventh son of a seventh son. As it is, she is the only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters, raised motherless and alongside her six brothers, she forges a deep connection with the forest and becomes a skilled herbalist. But when her father falls under the wicked spell of Lady Oonagh, remarrying and bringing his new wife to the keep, the sorceress sets her sights on Sorcha and her brothers, turning the siblings into swans. Only Sorcha escapes with her life, turning to her ancient forest for guidance. She must weave a shirt of starwort (a nettle-like plant) for each of her lost brothers and place them over the swan’s necks to break the curse, and in the meantime, she must utter nary a word. Sorcha embarks on her ill-fated task, determinedly weaving with broken hands and never crying out, but when her task takes her from Sevenwaters and across the sea to the fortress of a British warlord and her father’s enemy.
A retelling of the Grimm fairytale the Six Swans, Daughter of the Forest feels like the old fantasy tales of yore. The prose is tender and lyrical, without ever being too heavy and veering into purple-prose. It’s simplistic, but beautiful, like it is a fairytale an ancestor would tell you over the fire, rather than a retelling of one. It has the whimsy we associate with such fairytales in spades, but maybe more importantly, it has the grittiness too.
For make no mistake, Daughter of the Forest is very much a tale of suffering. And yet, it is simultaneously so full of heart that it’s impossible not to care so deeply for Sorcha; every hardship, every stumbling block she faces feels like a punch to your own gut. Where I occasionally feel like fairytale retellings can often come across either derivative or contrived, this felt like Marillier took the basic premise of the Six Swans and breathed her own life into it. She made it so personally Sorcha’s tale that I often forget it had its beginnings in a Grimm story. The characterisation is perhaps one of the most obvious areas of this – where the original fairytale lumps its players into caricatures, Marillier takes the time to develop each. The time devoted to Sorcha’s six brothers I thought particularly clever, as it gives credence to Sorcha’s determination and making the reader appreciate all the more the deep love she has for them which drives her to endure pain, day in and day out. From the Sevenwaters inhabitants to the British keep – Lord Colum, Lady Oonagh, Lady Anne, Ben, John – they all had such clear motivations and drive, which elevates it above the original fairytale.
Marillier has such a gift in making the reader feel grounded in the setting – whether that be an isolated medieval fortress, an Irish forest, or the firelit halls of Britain. Sorcha is perhaps my favourite heroine I’ve read about – and when I say heroine, I don’t mean the typical badass warrior girl. Sorcha has such a quiet strength. She is dealt some unimaginably crappy hands, but she just gets on with it.
The majority of negative reviews seem to cite its length as a detracting factor – I couldn’t feel more differently. Because Sorcha is unable to speak, a natural consequence is that the story becomes very introspective, very quiet. I loved how much time Marillier took to tell the story. It’s something that I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with in more modern fantasy books – the feel of authors rushing their way through the story, the constant action and adventure without time to get to know the characters in full – which is why I’m reverting more and more to the older fantasy classics. So yes, this might be partially personal taste – if you’re someone who wants their fantasy to move at breakneck speed, then this probably isn’t the book for you – but for me, it was absolutely a selling point. Following Sorcha through such formative ages on her thankless journey to save her brothers, rooting for her every step of the way… I truly could have read another 600 pages of it (and another, and another). I will fall for an epic saga where the characters feel etched onto your soul every single time.
I was actively mourning the prospect of finishing and leaving the characters behind when I neared the end. I appreciated how fleshed out the ending was – again, I think a lot of modern fantasy rushes to conclude everything, whereas Marillier, in her typical fashion, takes her time. It’s hard to believe this is a debut, because it feels so masterfully crafted.
After I finished, I was truly so torn between diving straight into the next one, Son of the Shadows, and letting DoTF marinate. Eventually, I concluded that if I jumped straight into SoTS, I would probably be disappointed because Sorcha and Red aren’t our main characters (*cries*). Each book in the trilogy follows different characters, which is exciting in its own way but also have I mentioned I could read Daughter of the Forest forever and never get tired. It might be my desert-island book (if anyone would imbue me with the sort of determination and perseverance that I’d need to survive a desert island, it’s Sorcha). I know that I will return to the world of Sevenwaters very soon (I actually haven’t stopped thinking about it since and it’s been two weeks, and every other book has paled in comparison. I suppose that’s the curse of a six star book, but it’s one I’ll gladly take.)
If I’ve convinced you to give this book a try, definitely do check content warnings because Sorcha goes through a lot. It’s another point of contention about this book. I personally never felt that any of the violence was gratuitous, and I thought it was explored in a really mindful way, but everyone will have different opinions! Just thinking about everything she endured hurts my heart. Okay, I’m rambling… time for me to go back to daydreaming about sweet, red-haired British lords and yearning for forests and moss. (Seriously. Read this book.)
- The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion: Vol. 2 by Beth Brower
Historical fiction / Epistolary
“Our conversation was very June and very Afternoon, meaning it meandered like a honey bee.”
My review: After enjoying but not loving the first volume of the Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion, I still decided to continue with the series, and as I said earlier, I think people are very right in saying that you should treat the first two volumes as one book. I know this series is being traditionally published and they’re publishing the first two volumes as one book. I think the longer you spend with the characters, the more you grow to love them (I’m currently on Vol. 4 and can confirm that my enjoyment is only increasing with every book).
The characters are more developed than the brief snapshot we received of them in Vol. 1, and we begin to understand their backstories and motivations, as well as the core members of Emma’s ragtag crew beginning to form. There were definitely a few moments where I gave an ‘unladylike snort’ as Aunt Eugenia might term it.
So whimsical and just delightful. My only complaint once again is the length – I could read pages upon pages of Emma’s life in St Crispian’s – but there are eight volumes in total for me to devour.
- A Snake Among Swans by Hannah Kaner (The Wing and the Ways #1)
Epic fantasy
‘For the queen to rise, the swans must fall.’
My review: A Snake Among Swans is a new epic fantasy from the author of Godkiller, crammed full of political intrigue, courtly manoeuvrings and morally ambiguous characters who very much toe the line between good and evil. At its heart, it is a tale of two women, Tilde and Elise, whose lives have both been shaped by the warmongering that has torn Tilde’s kingdom apart. The disgraced Merogian princess, eaten alive by rage at the death of her two siblings and father, forges a marriage alliance to her aged conqueror King Liran. Pledging vengeance for her country, she schemes to slay the swan king in their marriage bed. Only, when Tilde and her retinue arrive at court, she discovers that it might not be that simple; Liran’s death would simply set into motion a fierce and brutal succession war and the end of the Merogian line. Instead, Tilde finds herself in a foreign court surrounded by enemies who would rather see her dead than bear the king a son. The only person half-sympathetic to her is the king’s daughter Elise, ever-loyal to her family but finding herself torn between brothers jostling for her father’s throne.
There is a hint of magic in the kithwood, whose whispers Tilde has heard all her life, but the focus is very much on the court and the characters. There is a part of me that wishes the forest magic had been more developed but I suspect this is something we’ll see more of in subsequent books. This book is definitely a slow burn – and I don’t just mean that with regards to the romance. The plot requires patience (and quite a lot of brain power too, I admit. The dramatic personae listed at the start was very much needed as there are a lot of players.)
Speaking of the romance, it is very minimal… but the crumbs we got! I am a sucker for a really complex, very often toxic relationship in my high/epic fantasy – another that comes to mind is Saffron and Levan in Silvercloak (even more so in the sequel Turncloak). I like my lovers to be on opposite sides of wars and factions, battling between their loyalty to their family/country/ideology and their heart, and this is very much where Elise and Tilde’s relationship lies.
This is a dark, realistic depiction of a kingdom torn apart by war. It’s visceral, often uncomfortable, and Kaner’s writing does credit to the heavy subject matter. If you’ve been craving an atmospheric medieval fantasy, this will satisfy in spades. Kaner has clearly put a lot of thought into the word building – everything from the clothing, food and religion reflects the contrasting cultures of the kingdom meshed together. And I didn’t even realise this was a fairytale retelling until the very last chapter, which is always testament to an author’s skill at breathing new life into reimaginings. (Side note: I’ve read two retellings of the Six Swans fairytale in the month of July completely by accident – this and Daughter of the Forest, of which I also have a review up on the blog if you’re interested. I think the only other retelling I’m aware of is Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim, so maybe I need to end the month with that, just to complete the triad?)
If you enjoyed the grittiness of the Poet Empress, I think you’d similarly enjoy this. As I’ve mentioned, it was heavy on the political intrigue – I need to make a post about some of my favourite books that are heavy on political intrigue, because I seem to have read tons lately! But this one is definitely worth the investment in my opinion.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the digital ARC! A Snake Among Swans is out September 8th.
- The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion Vol. 3 by Beth Brower
Historical fiction / Epistolary
“Does he read?” “Oh, I expect not. How else would one remain so incredibly stupid?”
My review: Continuing my journey into the world of St Crispian’s with Emma! I think this third instalment was where I really fell in love with this series. The romance becomes a slightly fuller part and I loved it. There are a lot of candidates for Emma’s heart (who can blame the men of London?) and I’m so intrigued to see where it goes.
It’s chock-full of witticisms like the one in the quote above, and also brimming with whimsy. For example, personal belongings have a habit of going missing in St Crispian’s and reappearing in the lost-and-found of the local cafe, the Read and Write. There is also the rumour of a ghost haunting the denizens, of whom Emma (to her great frustration) has yet to catch a glimpse.
Again, the audiobooks are superb and just such a delight to listen to. If I had to pitch Emma M Lion, it would be as Jane Austen but with a hint of PG Wodehouse’s humour and charm. I’m nearly finished Vol.4 and am relishing the longer instalments as the series gains momentum, so prepare to see that in my August wrap-up. I might have to do a full series review at some point.
- The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Shadow of the Leviathan #1)
Epic fantasy / Murder mystery
“So instead of committing robbery, I made tea.”
My review: Dinios Kol is assistant to investigator Ana Dolabra, renowned in equal measure for her genius and her madness. In Din’s homeland, the lazy canton of Daretana, admittedly not much stretches Ana’s talents, but when one of the Empire’s foremost officials is murdered in an opulent estate, Din and Ana are duly called in to investigate the case and survey the scene. Or rather, Din surveys the scene, as one of Ana’s many eccentricities is her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times. It is fortunate for Ana then that Din is an Engraver, meaning he has been magically altered by the Empire to possess a perfect memory.
Yet even Ana is stumped when the murder weapon turns out to have been a tree, spontaneously sprouting from the official’s body. Even in the Empire, where the weird and the wondrous abound, such a thing has never before been heard of. As Din recounts everything he’s witnessed with perfect accuracy and Ana begins to make deductions that astound him, it becomes clear that this plot is far bigger than Daretana. Indeed, it stretches west, to the Empire’s capital and their famed sea walls – towering defence structures built to keep out the leviathans that threaten to destroy everything the Empire has built every wet season.
This story might begin life as a strange, unexplained murder, but it takes Ana and Din to the centre of the Empire’s corruption. The worldbuilding is exquisite – the first 100 pages are quite heavy with information, but once I fully understood everything, I found myself so impressed with the world. It feels like Robert Jackson Bennet has thought out every minute detail of the way this society functions. I thought the concept of a world that relies so heavily upon plants and organic matter was so interesting, as well as how the Empire and its citizens cope with the constant threat of total destruction that the leviathans pose.
Ana and Din have a real Sherlock-and-Watson dynamic to them, which I enjoyed immensely, along with a bit of the flair and flamboyance of Benoit Blanc. If you enjoyed the Raven Scholar and the meshing of a classic murder mystery plot within a complex high fantasy world, I can almost guarantee you’ll love this.
- A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Shadow of the Leviathan #2)
“This work can never satisfy, Din, for it can never finish. The dead cannot be restored. Vice and bribery will never be totally banished from the cantons. And the drop of corruption that lies within every society shall always persist.”
My review: It has been a few months since Din and Ana solved the curious case of the spontaneously-sprouting tree, but there is to be no reprieve. For in the northerly canton of Yarrowdale, an Empire official has mysteriously disappeared into thin air from a seemingly impenetrable room. But when his corpse is found days later, it becomes clear that foul play is afoot. In this crafty killer, Ana may have met her match.
Which is terrible news, because as Ana and Din investigate further, it becomes clear that the killer is targeting the high-security compound a mile off the coast of Yarrowdale, known as the Shroud. A living, breathing organism where the Empire’s greatest minds dissect and experiment upon the corpses of dead leviathans, it is notoriously volatile and deadly.
I will say that, of the three Ana and Din mysteries RJB has released, this was the weakest and my least favourite – which is not to say at all that it was a bad book, but rather that the other two were just so strong. I thought this dragged somewhat in the middle section, and the plot was more overcomplicated than it needed to be – possibly 100 pages too long. However, the plot was the only part of this that I didn’t think was as strong; everything else, the characters, the setting, the world-building, was just as fantastic as I’ve grown to expect.
Once again, RJB uses a fantasy setting to explore some real themes of our own world through the lens of Din and Ana. This time, it’s the cost of empire, cultural clashes and the consequences of rogue medical experimentation, which is also talked about in the author’s note.
As usual, Ana and Din were delightful to read about. I love both of them, but truly every time Ana is on page, she practically bursts out of the page. Her charisma and distinctive personality adds such levity to the heavy plot, and she’s such a genius. I look forward to her Benoit Blanc-esque explanation of how the murder occurred every book.
- A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett (Shadow of the Leviathan #3)
“It is an inarguable truth that most people are absolutely enthralled by dead girls.”
My review: This third instalment takes Ana and Din to the rural canton of Sapirdad, where almost all the food is farmed for the Empire’s consumption. The two main families, the Buravs and the Armentas, are on the verge of civil war after the daughter of Burilis Burav was found dead – and her murderer was presumed to be the only surviving son of the Armentas. He sits in prison, his hands wet with Burav blood, but he can neither explain how it got there nor deny his guilt.
As Ana and Din arrive on the scene, their immediate concern is assuaging the all-out war that the two ranching families are on the brink of, but they soon suspect that the crime goes far deeper than Burav’s murder and Armenta’s imprisonment, possibly having to do wit the successive tragic deaths of three Armenta siblings in the past years.
After the second book took a bit of a dip in quality (in my opinion), I am so pleased to announce that we’re so back! This was phenomenal and I was hooked the entire time. As usual, Robert Jackson Bennet tackles such real-life themes within his entirely fantastical world, which is something I love to see in fantasy. This time, it’s food consumption and the drastic impact over-farming and agriculture is having on the planet. I love how RJB takes us to a different region of the Empire in each book – it makes everything seem so new and fresh but also familiar, and also gives him an opportunity to do fun things with plot and setting.
Now I’ve finished this series, I’m going to really miss Din and Ana – I need the fourth book immediately (I could actually do with a new Din and Ana mystery every couple of months or so). I definitely got the feeling from this book that RJB is going to continue writing in the Shadow of the Leviathan series, which I am so so happy about.
- We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
“When things felt right, it only meant there was so much more that could go wrong.”
My review: This read was admittedly a bit out of left-field – I had been planning to save it for autumn/winter but the site where I get a lot of my audiobooks from (aside from Audible) was closing down, so I had to bump this up the TBR. This follows Eve, who, along with her partner Charlie and their dog, have just bought a house in the remote Pacific Northwest. One night when Eve is home alone, a family knock on the door. The father, Thomas, explains that he used to live in that house as a child, and asks Eve’s permission to let him and his family look around.
Intensely reluctant but feeling like she can’t very well say no, Eve lets the family in. But as the family outstays their welcome, Eve begins to suspect they are preying on her social anxiety. And when Thomas’s haunting tales of his childhood within these very walls begin to echo Eve’s reality, she begins to lose her grip on reality – or is she?
It’s a great premise, made even better by the not-entirely-right family and the urgency and panic Eve’s POV conveys. I found the first half of this book so intriguing and I couldn’t put it down. But around the halfway point, it lost me, as the plot became too far-fetched and farcical. There were a lot of tangents that seemingly had no impact on the plot and, as far as I can determine, were there purely for spooky vibes? For instance, there are a lot of interludes between the main chapters of police reports – things like sightings of people wandering in the forest or kids that have played pranks on the house and come back scarred – or Reddit posts from conspiracy theorists that proceeded to have no bearing on the story. There’s another house deep in the woods where Eve runs into a creepy old man, who is never mentioned again.
There is no satisfying conclusion or plot reveal to speak of. I hate when I read an entire thriller mystery, attempting to puzzle out the strange goings-on, only to be told that it was supernatural. Don’t get me wrong, I like a supernatural horror as much as the next person, but when I’m going into a book with no expectations of magical realism or supernatural occurrences, to have the entire plot explained as much feels like such a letdown. Yes, the author built suspense masterfully, and maybe it was that high level of suspense which made the letdown so great.
I have to give kudos to the writing in the first half, because I genuinely had goosebumps at times and Marcus Kliewer did such a good job of building that tension to a boiling point. Unfortunately, I feel like my enjoyment of this book has been overshadowed with just how disappointed I was with the ending.
That’s my July wrap-up! I’d expect to see my August wrap-up dominated by Emma M Lion next month, as I plan to continue devouring the series (as soon as my audiobook hours renew…) I’m also hoping to get through some ARCs I have on my TBR – Under the Iron Sky by A.T. Emerald, A Viper Among Kings by Sydney Olivia and Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske to name a few, but we’ll see how many I actually get to.
What have you been reading in July? Let me know in the comments your favourites or any recommendations <3
Discover more from missfantasyfiction
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.