 Thanks to partners NetGalley and Macmillan for the digital ARC of Libba Bray’s Under the Same Stars, which will be published on February 4.
I’m a long-time fan of Libba Bray’s work, of the way she’s able to shift between fantasy and historical fiction, incisive cultural and societal commentary and truly hilarious comedy, gorgeous romance and thrilling action. When I saw a promo for her new YA novel Under the Same Stars, I requested it without even reading the synopsis. It was the right decision. Under the Same Stars is historical fiction that weaves between three time periods, three protagonists. First is Sophie, a teenager in 1940s Germany. Sophie and her best friend Hanna are more focused on love and friendship than on the war that increasingly encroaches on their village. They write romantic letters to mysterious pen pals, leaving their notes in the Bridegroom’s Oak that lies in the nearby forest, checking back frequently for responses. Soon, though, they are unable to deny the threats among them and have to decide how they will react to the injustice they see. The second story takes place in West Germany in 1980. The Berlin Wall runs through the city where Jenny Campbell and her family move because of her father’s promotion. Jenny hasn’t been satisfied with herself or her life for a while, but this major change opens up possibilities for her as she happens upon the underground punk scene and, in particular, Lena, who seems to embody all that Jenny wants for herself. As Jenny is drawn into Lena’s world—and drawn to Lena herself—she struggles with the expectations of her parents, her vision for herself, and the demands of her new friends in the face of the wall that looms over them all. Finally, there’s Miles in New York City, at the beginning of the COVID lockdown, during Miles’s senior year of high school. Miles is living alone—one of his mothers was traveling when the lockdown happened, and the other is a nurse who is self-isolating to keep Miles safe. Miles is even more lonely because he and his best friend Chloe hadn’t talked for months, and now the lockdown makes it seem as if they’ll never talk again…until she reaches out for her help unraveling a mystery. Chloe’s grandmother suffered from a stroke and is now in an assisted living home, unable to communicate. But she sent a mysterious package to Chloe with details about her youth in Germany. Miles has taken three years of Germany and, like Chloe, is a huge fan of an investigative podcast, which has inspired Chloe to look into her grandmother’s history . . . with Miles’s help. From here, Bray orchestrates a gorgeous balancing act, one that navigates each teenager’s coming of age, the upheaval of their unique eras, and the decisions they must make for who they want to be in the changing worlds around them. Because there’s always just a little magic in Bray’s books, there’s also a beautiful fairytale that is told and re-told through the novel, transforming as truths emerge and come into focus. Under the Same Stars is a stunning novel that shows, through these characters, how important it has always been to stand up for what is right and to take hold of who they truly are.
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 Thanks to partners NetGalley and HarperCollins for the digital ARC of S. F. Williamson’s A Language of Dragons.
S. F. Williamson’s A Language of Dragons is a perfect read if you love fantasy or history or romantasy (though I wouldn’t call it romantasy, really). This 1923 alternate history is set in a London on the cusp of war. Vivien Featherswallow is a solid member of a Second Class family, privileged to have won a place studying dragon languages and—she hopes—following in the footsteps of her mother, a successful academic. Viv hopes that, by succeeding academically, she can ensure that her family retains their place in the center of society. Viv’s life descends into turmoil in just moments when the adults in her family are arrested as rebels, and the stability that Viv counted on for her cousin, her younger sister, and herself disappears. Viv acts quickly to try to regain some sense of control, landing herself in a tenuous position whose only remedy is agreeing to work for the government that threatens everyone she loves. Williamson plays with British war history, bringing Vivien into a team of rivals stationed at Bletchley Park who are tasked with uncovering truths about each facet of dragon life. As a civil war creeps closer, Viv desperately works to translate the dragons’ echolocation, which her teacher thinks may represent the key to unlocking their secrets. The story unfolds from there, a delicious mix of history with dragons and intellectual challenges and cutthroat academic competition. I loved so much about this book. Viv is a complex character who has made some poor decisions in the past that have betrayed some of the people closest to her, and watching her claw her way toward better decisions is incredibly compelling. The world building is just fascinating, and I appreciated Williamson’s ability to transform historical details around . . . dragons. The dragons themselves add another layer to the central story: they are prickly and independent and just as complex as the human characters at the center of the story. A Language of Dragons is a fantastic debut from Williamson, an author I’ll be following.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Vintage Anchor Books for the digital ARC of Elif Shafak’s There Are Rivers in the Sky. The book is available now for purchase!
Elif Shafak’s There Are Rivers in the Sky features the elements that I’ve loved in so many of her books: a touch of magic, multiple generations and eras, and different threads that ultimately weave together. The novel begins with a drop of rain and King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia, a cruel king whose legacy affects the lives of many, including Arthur, born in a sewer in Victorian England; Narin, a Yazidi girl in Turkey with a disorder causing deafness; and Zaleekah, a hydrologist whose crumbled marriage leads her to take a new life direction. As the narrative shifts between their stories, Shafak explores the impacts of climate change, of poverty and inequity, of ignorance. Her writing is simply gorgeous, both on the sentence level and in the ways it peels back the layers of the characters’ connections. There were moments when the whimsy of the raindrop didn’t work for me, occasions when I felt as if the pace of the narrative could have been a little faster. Ultimately, though, this one ranks in the top half of Shafak’s books for me, driven by her exploration of the cycles that spin through human history.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of Eloisa James's Viscount in Love. The book will be published on July 23!
I jumped on the chance to read Viscount in Love, drawn in by my previous experiences reading Eloisa James’s fun, feminist spins on regency romance. Viscount in Love fits right in. Torie Sutton is a bit of an outcast from her society—she’s never fit in the way her sister, Leonora does. Leonora is devoted to meeting others’ expectations, to following the rules and making a good match. And she’s succeeded in all of the above, nailing down an engagement with Viscount Dominic Kelbourne. Leonora, by contrast, doesn’t care much about fitting in and has had to accept others’ low opinions of her, driven—at least in part—by her inability to read. (It becomes clear early on that she has a reading disability, though this is of course before those were diagnosed.) When Dominic Kelbourne’s sister and her husband are killed, he’s left with their twins who are rebels and outcasts in their own right. And Leonora is having none of it. So, left without a partner, Dominic moves on to finding a caretaker instead—and Torie is the perfect candidate. Torie, though she deeply loves the twins, wants to be more than a nanny, and her resistance and Dominic’s persistence make for a fantastically fun historical romance.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the digital ARC of Wendy Chen’s Their Divine Fires. The book will be published on May 7!
Wendy Chen’s Their Divine Fires comes in at only 256 pages, but that length is deceptive: this is a sprawling, multi-generational tale of three generations of Chinese women that takes the reader from 1917 Liuyang, China to 2009 Massachusetts, United States. Chen’s novel, inspired by the experiences of her own ancestors, begins with the story of a young girl, Zhang Yuexin, living with her family, including her two brothers, in Liuyang. Yuexin is devoted to her oldest brother, so when he cuts his traditional braid, angering her parents, Yuexin cuts her hair, as well. This initial symbolic event sets the stage for unrest: the family is broken when her oldest brother leaves to join the Revolution, setting them on a path that will have unexpected effects on them all. After her brother leaves, Yuexin’s young life is again altered forever when she saves Tan Haiyang, the young son of a local wealthy lord. He stays with the family while Yuexin’s father, a doctor, cares for him. Yuexin and Haiyang form a strong connection, but once he returns home, it seems likely that they’ll never see each other again, driven apart by the distance in their families’ situations. The only hope is that he felt the connection as strongly as Yuexin did. The narrative captures the effects of this Revolution, the ways that its aftermath cycles through the generations, moving through the Cultural Revolution of the 70s to the diaspora who make their way to the United States. Chen’s writing is stunning, and her sense of character is so vivid. Watching the way that early generations appear again later, the ways that ancestors affect their descendants, offers powerful commentary on the cycles of history. Despite the depth and power of its content, Their Divine Fires is a propulsive read, and I can’t recommend it enough.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the digital ARC of Sara Raasch and Beth Revis's Night of the Witch. The book will be published on October 3!
I absolutely loved Sara Raasch and Beth Revis's Night of the Witch, which uses a historical foundation to delve into the world of witches, witch hunts, and hexenjägers (hunters). The book opens in fourteenth century Germany with the decimation of Fritzi’s village as her mother, friends, and family are killed or imprisoned. Fritzi herself escapes after her mother hides her—against her will—in the basement, as Fritzi listens to the sounds of destruction and terror. When she realizes that her young cousin has been taken by Dieter Kirch, the head hunter, she vows to get her back, following the pack of hunters to the city that is their headquarters. Alternating chapters tell the story of Otto, a hunter who is Dieter’s second in command. Otto’s father was one of the earliest hunters, and his heritage has led him to the heights of the fervor. The hunters are plotting a spectacle, the burning of 100 witches, and Otto takes a small group out to arrest his sister, Hilde, to make her a part of the group. That’s where he meets Fritzi, who hears the ruckus and steps in to save Hilde. The writing and characterization here are gorgeous, and both Fritzi and Otto are nuanced figures who wrestle with their own responsibility in the face of their society’s manic attacks on anyone who lies outside the narrow path available to its citizens. Raasch and Revis raise questions about women’s power, about obligations to one’s community and the greater good, about the role of religion in morality. This is the first book in a series that I’ll definitely be continuing.  Thanks to partners NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for the digital ARC of Lauren Blackwood’s Within These Wicked Walls in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on October 19!
Those of you who follow me know that I love a new version of a classic, and I’m particularly a sucker for a Jane Eyre retelling, so when I saw that there was a Jane Eyre retelling set in Ethiopia with a fantasy twist, I requested immediately. Wow, did Lauren Blackwood’s Within These Wicked Walls satisfy my every hope and expectation! This book does what the best retellings do: it takes its source material as inspiration and then spins out a new story and a new world. Here, the Jane character is Andromeda, a debtera—a type of exorcist—who can cleanse homes of the Evil Eye. In desperate straits after her mentor cast her out, Andromeda takes on a job at which ten other debteras have failed. She’s employed by the mysterious Magnus Rochester who lives in near-solitude at the far end of a desolate desert. All but a few servants and the nanny who raised him have abandoned him, apparently scared away by the curse no one can defeat. We experience the story through Andromeda’s eyes, and what a fabulous protagonist she is. Like Jane, she’s been raised in unusual circumstances, and her values differ from those of her world. She calls herself plain but cares little about her appearance. Instead, she values her strength and skills in her profession and communicates with a blunt honesty that shocks Magnus. He, in turn, is lacking social graces after having grown up as an outsider from his family and from society, so for a while, their bluntness seems to put them at odds. And then, of course, things change. I loved SO much about this story. Andromeda’s narrative voice is so much fun—I love her strength and her defiance of convention. Watching Magnus meet his match in Andromeda is so satisfying, and their chemistry is great. I also, however, appreciated the secondary characters: Saba, the silent and mysterious woman who takes joy in helping others; Jember, the debtera who raised Andromeda, whose complexity I found to be appealing; and even Kelela, the beautiful young woman who is Andromeda’s rival for Magnus’s affections. Most of all, I reveled in Blackwood’s development of the magic behind the curse that Andromeda is fighting. The way it manifests throughout Magnus’s estate is haunting and imaginative and creepy: it preys on characters’ compassion for others and on their unique weaknesses, and watching Andromeda strategize the best way to fight each new Manifestation shows her intelligence, her perseverance, and her strength. I was shocked to find out that Within These Wicked Walls is Blackwood’s debut, and it is certainly a confident, brilliant first novel. I can’t wait to see what she tackles next.  Thanks to partners NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Roaring Brook Press for the digital ARC of Jennifer Mathieu’s Bad Girls Never Say Die in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on October 19!
I’m a huge fan of Jennifer Mathieu’s Moxie, which is a fabulous feminist YA novel—we had a great discussion about that one on Unabridged Podcast!—and of S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders (though it’s been a while since I read it! Stay gold, Ponyboy). So, when I saw that Mathieu had a new book coming out that flipped The Outsiders to a female perspective, I was All. In. Did it work? Well, here’s what I loved. As in Moxie, Mathieu builds a compelling protagonist, a fifteen-year-old named Evie who struggles with the limited expectations of her 1964 Houston, Texas, society and of her mother and grandmother. They are thrilled that Evie’s sister is married, even though it means that she moved far away and is so, so lonely. They make it clear to Evie that she should aspire to do the same. But Evie wants more from her life. She wants choices. She wants to have friends who are tuff. She wants to think there’s a possibility that she can leave Houston. With her best friends—Connie, who is the toughest of them all; Juanita, Evie’s sweet neighbor; and Sunny, whose sweet sincerity has led her into a controlling relationship with her boyfriend—Evie has started skipping school and wearing makeup and defying anyone to challenge her group. I loved this part of the book, where we see exactly why Evie loves her friends so much, how much she wishes she could regain the close relationship with her mom and grandmother without limiting herself again, and the way Evie yearns for more without always being able to articulate exactly what “more” is. Then, everything changes. And Evie is caught up in a situation that being tough can’t get her out of. Mathieu beautifully depicts this world. There’s a huge disparity between the “tea sippers” of upper-class Houston and Evie’s own, lower socio-economic realm. Evie is a fabulously complex character, and we feel her connection to her friends, who step up to support her as much as they can. But at a certain point (and I can’t say much more without spoilers), I felt like the book became focused on unfurling certain plot elements—often connected to its origin story—to the detriment of its rich characters. While the book certainly shares some elements with The Outsiders, it was most successful for me when it stepped out on its own, exploring Evie’s life and the limitations she defied, again and again. Overall, though, this book is worth reading, and I would recommend it to students—this could be a foundation for many important discussions.  Thanks to Partners NetGalley and Catapult for the digital ARC of A. K. Blakemore’s The Manningtree Witches in exchange for an honest review. The book is out on Tuesday, August 10!
I taught Arthur Miller’s The Crucible for a long time at the school where I used to teach, so I’ve dug into the Salem witch trials more than once. Parts of them still resonate: misogyny and class conflict, greed and corruption, and (of course) witch hunts both literal and metaphorical. Miller saw in the witch trials an allegory for the McCarthy trials and the obsession with unearthing communists in 1950s America, and they definitely can stand in for many modern obsessions. A.K. Blakemore’s The Manningtree Witches deals with witch trials in a 17th century English town, and while I’m sure there’s symbolic resonance there, too, it’s the sheer humanity of her novel that struck me. Through much of the book, the voice and point of view we’re following is that of Rebecca West, the daughter of a single mother who has spurned any chance of popularity by her irreverence, her cruelty, and her refusal to follow the rules of the town. Rebecca is more willing to please than her mother, but she’s got strength and independence of her own. Rebecca’s voice is vibrant and funny and wicked; her intelligence is apparent, as is her search for identity and love and comfort and companionship. When a stranger moves to town and begins asking questions about some animals who’ve died, some women who’ve miscarried, a boy who falls ill, it doesn’t take long before the town begins to catch his fervor, and, as always, it’s mostly women—and mostly single women—who are the focus. Rebecca loves her mother but doesn’t always like her, and so at first, the scrutiny satisfies her own cruel thoughts that result from her mother’s casual unkindness. But soon, Rebecca realizes that the accusations are insidious, weaving their way through the minds of the townsfolk. The events of the novel follow a familiar pattern, but their execution makes this a new and unique account. Blakemore builds brilliant characters who are trying to find small bits of happiness despite difficult circumstances, who revel in their friendships with other women who live lives similar to theirs. The writing is fantastic (I marked so many quotations!), and Rebecca feels just absolutely real. This is a confident, compelling debut novel, and I’ll definitely be looking out for Blakemore’s next book.  Thanks to Partner NetGalley for the digital ARC of Roshani Chokshi’s The Silvered Serpents in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on Tuesday, September 22, 2020.
***PROCEED WITH CAUTION: SPOILERS FROM BOOK ONE, THE GILDED WOLVES, APPEAR. Roshani Chokshi’s The Silvered Serpents focuses again on the crew of Séverin as they come back together for another heist. After being driven apart by the loss of one of their own in book one, their trust has been fractured. Séverin is desperate to find The Divine Lyrics, a book that can make him a god, able both to protect his friends and to become impervious to being hurt by them or by their loss. Laila, too, wants to find the book--she believes it’s the only thing that can keep her alive. Enrique is desperate once again to prove himself: he has lost confidence since separating from his friends, unable to make his mark as an academic. And Zofia is ready to quit so she can be with her dying sister . . . until Séverin convinces her otherwise. As in The Gilded Wolves, the strengths here for me are the diversity of the group, who each come from different races, different countries, different classes, and different religions. Their disparate talents and ways of thinking mean that they can each contribute a unique strength to the group--and, of course, their magical talents are different, as well. The world here is one of a series of magical houses, unified in asserting their own superiority but also in competing against each other for new treasures and wealth and prominence, and each of the protagonists wants (or needs) something from the ruling class who runs the houses. There’s a cinematic quality to so many scenes within the novel--I love the different locations that Choskhi imagines so beautifully--and I like each of the characters and the personal challenges each is undergoing, as well. Shifting between the four points of view works well for me. I did wish for more from Séverin’s sections. I empathized with his grief, which has made it difficult for him to interact with his friends the way he used to, but I didn’t completely believe the personality change he underwent, and I wanted more from his chapters, which were my least favorite. I found Laila, Enrique, and Zofia each to be more believable and more nuanced. Overall, Roshani Chokshi’s The Silvered Serpents is a compelling story, a worthy sequel to The Gilded Wolves. |
AuthorI'm Jen Moyers, co-host of the Unabridged Podcast and an English teacher. Archives
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