Tag: Hugo Awards

Categories
Fantasy

Book Review: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

So I originally wasn’t going to write a review for Legends & Lattes. I do try to read and talk about a few Hugo nominees every year though and the book fits into that comfort read category for Wyrd & Wonder 2024. So here we are.

Legends was also nominated for a Nebula (best novel 2022 – lost to Babel). It lost the 2023 Hugo Best Novel to Nettle & Bone, a book I loved. (It did win the Astounding in 2023 for best new writer, which technically isn’t a Hugo but many people mentally lump them together).

90% of the time I don’t get along with super hyped books. Especially cosy fantasy because if I want to read cosy, I’ll just go to a sweet romance or general fiction. Which is what Legends is, except in fantasy form.

How many Hallmark movies have I seen with this plot…

  1. Woman gets sick of life doing X
  2. She moves to Y location and opens Z business
  3. She meets someone cute who solidifies her decisions
  4. Something terrible happens that tests her resolve in her life decisions
  5. peaceful resolution

…Many. Very many.

But this book swept the fantasy world so again, here I am. That all said, it’s a perfectly fine book but I don’t think it’s that hype worthy. Cosy is good if you need cosy in your life but to get best novel nominations? 🤷‍♀️

Legends & Lattes has some good aspects like:

  • Coffee & cinnamon rolls
  • Giant cat that might be a demon
  • Building something from nothing
  • Friendships
  • Appreciating people for who they are and what skills they have

It was also absolutely hilarious that no one knew what coffee was. This is where I reiterate that it wasn’t a bad read and did have many good parts

Some of my qualms are:

  • The fantasy characters are pretty much humans with human sentiments (so why are we featuring Baldree for writing non-human characters?)
  • One of the antagonists resolved into a friend pretty quickly
  • I like stakes in my fantasy
  • Generally didn’t hold my attention

My biggest issue is probably all the praise for non human characters I saw, when for all intents and purposes other than size and large teeth, the orc was a human.

Overall it’s not a bad book and I think if I had read it knowing nothing about it, I might have enjoyed it more. I stay away from ultra hyped books for a reason 🤷‍♀️

I think it would be a good one for younger readers. Personally I’d recommend this one for like 12-18 year olds.

Do I think it deserved the award acclaim? Just no, it wasn’t new or innovative or in any way memorable for me.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Bookish Quick Facts:

  • Title: Legends & Lattes (#1)
  • Author: Travis Baldree
  • Published: 2022 by Cryptid then Tor Books
  • Length: 304 pages
  • Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐✨ for fans of .. I guess exactly what the tagline says, “fantasy with low stakes“

Here’s the Synopsis:

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success ― not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won’t be able to go it alone.But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

Thanks for checking out my book review of Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. I purchased my own paperback copy. As always, all opinions are my own ❤️

Categories
Fantasy Science Fiction

Novella Review: Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Well – I finally read my first A-Tchai work. Elder Race seems like a popular place to start, probably because it is 1) free on KU 2) short 3) a 2022 Hugo nominee for best novella. I finished it last month and found an interesting mix of sci-fi and fantasy based on perspective. I’m bringing it back today for the Wyrd & Wonder short fiction prompt bite sized islands – because the mental health theme is so real in this story.

Let’s take a quick look at the novella and I’ll share my thoughts

Bookish Quick Facts

  • Title: Elder Race
  • Series: N/A
  • Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • Published: TorDotCom, 2021
  • Length: 204 pages
  • Rating & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐✨ for a quick intro to his work, for sci-fantasy fans

Here’s the Synopsis:

A junior anthropologist on a distant planet must help the locals he has sworn to study to save a planet from an unbeatable foe.

Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.

But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she’s an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).

But Elder Nyr isn’t a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, and his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon…

-From Am*zon

My Thoughts

So a scientist (a wizard) lives in the mountains in his crashed spaceship (castle) and the people in the nearby village need his magic (science) to help save the region from a demon or monster (a what)?

I love this whole idea of telling the same story from two utterly separate points of view. Nyr is an anthropologist seeing everything with a scientific mind while Lynesse can only see fantasy, magic, like her new companion is Gandalf or Merlin. The language throughout as each tries to each the other of science vs magic is wonderful. Each tries to find the right words and it only convinces the other more deeply into their own perspective.

There is even a whole chapter telling the scifi and fantasy viewpoints side by side.

I think I was a little blindsided at first by Tchaikovsky’s lofty prose and over the top analogies in this novella. Then I got used to it – plus aren’t one’s trapped emotions kind of like caged tigers gnashing at their enclosure? Or is it a more quiet and sad thing?

This is a great book for the Wyrd & Wonder comfort theme because a huge topic in Elder Race is depression and how the scientists manage it. Nyr can erect an actual shield around his feelings so that it’s all just cold, hard logic in his mind, but eventually the fear and feelings boil over and he has to experience everything, all at once, and come back to himself naturally. It’s a long night when he finally chooses to confront it and I thought this whole exploration was a lovely theme.

I loved the setting and descriptive language too. There isn’t purple prose but A-Tchai does a good job putting images in my head, which is useful for the comic horror part. What would it be if there wasn’t a little true mysticism somewhere? The novella got a little dark at the end but I loved the journey and reading the dual perspectives along the way. I’m all about unlikely friendships and was rooting for Lynesse to be accepted by her village and Nyr to find a balance between his teachings and his heart.

Would definitely recommend for fans of mental health themes and novellas that compare science to fantasy! I haven’t read the 2022 Hugo Novella winner (by Becky Chambers) but this one could have deserved the win.

Have you read it? What did you think? What A-Tchai should I read next?

Categories
Fantasy

Book Review: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

I accomplished two goals with reading this book. One was to absolutely maximize the three free months I got from Kindle Unlimited, and the other is to at least sample one or two of the Hugo winners from each year. Take it for what it is that I’m one of those people who, while occasionally still enjoying the winners, tends to take the awards for more of a warning than a recommendation. I sometimes enjoy cozy, and can get behind books like Nettle & Bone, but are they really Hugo worthy? Well…

Let’s see the book facts and then I’ll talk about it

Bookish Quick Facts

  • Title: Nettle & Bone
  • Author: T. Kingfisber
  • Publisher & Release: Tor Books, 2022
  • Length: 262 pages
  • Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ for fans of dark faerie tales, sibling bonds, familiar companions

Here’s the Synopsis

This isn’t the kind of fairy tale where the princess marries a prince.It’s the one where she kills him.

Marra — a shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter — is relieved not to be married off for the sake of her parents’ throne. Her older sister wasn’t so fortunate though, and her royal husband is as abusive as he is powerful.

From the safety of the convent, Marra wonders who will come to her sister’s rescue and put a stop to this. But after years of watching their families and kingdoms pretend all is well, Marra realizes if any hero is coming, it will have to be Marra herself.

If Marra can complete three impossible tasks, a witch will grant her the tools she needs. But, as is the way in stories of princes and the impossible, these tasks are only the beginning of Marra’s strange and enchanting journey to save her sister and topple a throne.

From Am*zon

My Thoughts

My my, the princess kills the prince? Thanks synopsis headline for spoiling that. This is why I don’t read synopses usually 🤣

Anyway, back to the book. As you can see by my rating, 4.5 stars, I liked Nettle & Bone quite a bit for what it was. There’s a bone dog that’s utterly just an amazing dog, who does all the normal dog things, and a chicken who may or may not be poasessed by an actual demon. Those are the animal companions on this journey.

We meet Marra who is completing three “impossible” tasks to secure the help of a bone witch to free the other princess from her abusive husband. As cute and hilarious as the animal familiars are, they do balance out a much darker and very real storyline of martial domestic abuse and the powerlessness that family can feel to intervene.

But, is Marra powerless? She is determined and resourceful. She’s got the most powerful bone witch and at least one fairy godmother helping to set things right in the king’s castle. Not to mention that the old ladies bicker like hens and it’s also hilarious. 

So there’s a lively mix of darkness and light in this story but Kingfisher never lets you forget that it’s a dark faerie tale. Some terrible things happen in the catacombs and to Marra’s sisters, even if it’s balanced with a cantankerous old lady or two and the antics of a demon chicken.

I do love the bonds formed, whether maternal & familial, sisterly, or found family. Nothing like watching two old crones become.BFFs.

I like it. The romance is very minimal (if any) which makes me like it even more. But is it Hugo Best Novel worthy? Nebula shortlist worthy? Wellll.. I probably read it four weeks ago and had to jog my memory, but it came back pretty quickly. I feel like these awards should celebrate memorable books of good literary quality (more about this when I talk about Legends & Lattes soon).

Is Nettle & Bone living rent free in my head? No. Will it impact people involved in domestic violence situations? Probably. If I think about books with awesome animal familiars and determined main characters, will I consider this one? Sure. I also think that a lot of magic and good things were packed into a 262 page novel and if nothing else, I do love brevity and a less talented writer would have made this a much longer story, but it delivered everything a faerie tale should.

Verdict: Kingfisher at least deserved the short list if not the win.

If Babel hadn’t been eliminated this year, I don’t know what would have happened.

What are your thoughts on the book and situation?

Thanks for checking out my book review of Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisber. Currently (as of writing) the book is available on Kindle Unlimited and as always, all thoughts are my own 🖤