Aurora Vols 1&2 by Red

Aurora Volume 1

Delightful start to a series. Familiar art style as I'm a fan of Overly Sarcastic Productions. Not the best, perhaps, but I like it. I will say, the dark pages were particularly dark, which I'm sure worked better in webcomic form. But yeah. I'm liking where this is going. 

Aurora Volume 2

New characters and world-building and epic battles galore! I am definitely invested in the story of Aurora and can't wait to see how everything fits together for further adventures. We've got a full team together whose dynamics have yet to be completely worked out by the end of this one, but they're getting there. Also the actual abilities of the team are still being explored. On that count, it does seem a little bit random how Dainix and Falst's power sets are explored... what with a god popping in and then Dainix just being really impressed how quickly Falst is healing. I fine with it, just... felt a little weird as I was reading. I know Red's got her magic-system worked out down to the itty-bitty science-y bits (Because I listen to the OSPod), I just have to trust the system by which we as readers are being shown that.

But yeah... I'm enjoying the series so far. Probably going to have to reread in a less spread-out fashion that my first read went to really catch everything. I'm certain I skimmed some stuff... at the same time, every time I grabbed the book to read, I was sucked into longer reading sessions than I meant to have, which tells me the story was good. Dragged me along in a pleasant fashion, even if my brain didn't catch all the details.

I will also say, I hope the next book doesn't have so much happening in the dark. The art is good and I could keep up with what was happening during those scenes a bit more easily this time, but... those bits are really visually dark. 

Tales from the Hinterland by Melissa Albert

Tales from the Hinterland was quite enjoyable. I don't usually enjoy reading anthologies, but something about fairytales, especially these ones, is an exception. Each story had its own vibe and were mostly delightfully dark in the best ways. I really like the illustrations. The red and black prints are quite the vibe. Below are my little reviews of each story.

"The Door that Wasn’t There": Liked it. One of the ones told in the series, though perhaps with more detail? Still good.

"Hansa the Traveler": Huh, neat. I wouldn’t have guessed Hansa’s tale would go like that. The main books made it seem like she was eternally a child. But, I guess cycles and all that… I liked it a lot.

"The Clockwork Bride": Uhm… yeah that was pretty neat, until the end. I don’t think there was enough characterization of Arden as a free spirit to justify that, exactly. But hey, fairytale, right?

"Jenny and the Night Women": Well… that was.. disturbing and gross. There are reasons we don’t spoil children. I was also expecting more from The Night Women, or at least some explanation as to what they actually were... sadly disappointed, but I've got this image in my head of a cross between a vampire and a banshee with a bit of fairy thrown in, if that makes sense.

"The Skinned Maiden": Nice twist on the Selkie story. Delightfully macabre.

"Alice Three Times": Much the same as in the main books, though definitely more detailed. We also finally learn the end of Alice’s tale, which was neat.

"The House Under the Stairwell": Really enjoyed that one. Sort of a cross between a “Beauty and the Beast,” “Twelve Dancing Princesses,” and some sort of more wild folklore. Pretty neat.

"Ilsa Waits": Another tale told in the main series, though fleshed out wonderfully here. I found myself kind of wishing Mort by Terry Pratchett had been more like this, with Mort learning what it actually is to be Death.

"The Sea Cellar": This one was neat. Shades of “Bluebeard” and “The Little Mermaid.”

"The Mother and the Dagger": Lovely and creepy.

"Twice-Killed Catherine": Given the context of this story in the main books, I was really expecting Katherine to be much more blood-thirsty than she ends up being. I did like this one, though.

"Death and the Woodwife": Hmmm… interesting. Quite the chill Death, here. I’m really not certain how I feel about this one, though it does at least seem to have a happy ending.

Favorite Line

"From the port she watched the water smooth into glass and purl into lace and worry itself into great waves beyond the cove."

At the Dark End of the Street by Danielle L. McGuire

I honestly had a hard time staying focused while reading At the Dark End of the Street. I'm not used to reading nonfiction books and really do better with ones that stick to a single narrative thread rather than one with several, as this is. In addition, the popping out from the narrative being told to round out the historical setting and tell other, smaller narratives was distracting to me. That's all structure-related and doesn't actually reflect badly on the subject matter, which I actually believe is extremely important. At the Dark End of the Street highlights a part of history that is largely swept over for most Americans. I know The Civil Rights Movement was barely covered in any of my High School History classes. We learned the names of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. and I'd heard of Malcolm X, but that was pretty much it. Also the time span over which The Civil Rights Movement actually happened is glossed over, so I think this is really the first time I really internalized just how long this shit took and is, in a lot of ways, still taking. At the Dark End of the Street really highlighted all that for me, so I truly thank Ms. McGuire for that.

I found a lot of the content both shocking and unsurprising at the same time. We see a lot of the same shit repeating itself in 2026, just with a different set of non-White people, and hell, with the same set in some cases. Definitely highlighted here was the police brutality that went on. The police have been on power-trips for a long, long time and it's gross. They also seem to be getting away with a lot of the same sort of crimes, too. Definitely not a good look.

I wrote in my notes about the Montgomery Bus Boycott and how it was brushed over in my schooling. I definitely heard about it, but didn't actually learn about it before now. I read about this stuff as an adult and am repeatedly reminded how schooling in the US is just so, so inadequate. We focus on the Revolutionary heroes and maybe a bit more on World War II (thought clearly not enough with the way this country is going at the moment). But the more recent history? Not a damn word.

It is absolutely hilarious (in a very not hilarious way) how White Supremacist men are all fear-monger-y about Black men going after White women and yet have no problem kidnapping and raping Black women. Seriously, wtf, you POS. The cognitive dissonance is astounding.

Somehow surprised and yet not, given how states were about abortion laws before Roe v. Wade was overturned, to learn states also passed laws to nullify Brown v. Board of Education. All of this stuff just makes me shake my head in “wtf are we doing?” and “don’t we have better things to be legislating about?” Ugh.

I’m sorry… “interracial incubi”? And “Armageddon [was] just around the corner.” Because… wtf. I know this shit was deadly serious in the moment, but the lengths White Supremacists went to in their own heads and in real life in order to degrade and stop Black people from voting or from interracial marriage is a fucking joke. So very unserious. And yes, I know the lens I’m looking at it through is as a 30-something white woman in 2026, where some of this shit is still rearing or re-rearing its ugly head… still. So. Fucking. Stupid. Racism is very fucking stupid. The obsession with sex by all of these "morally upstanding" people is also very fucking stupid.

So yeah... I really do appreciate At the Dark End of the Street for teaching me more about a part of history the US just wants to sweep under the rug. I sincerely hope that more people pick up this book and take the messaging to heart. We need to do better and keep moving forward... all I've got is platitudes at this point. Well, that and Listen to Women damnit.

Quotes that Stuck Out

My commentary in blue 

"For surely those who perpetuate these ugly prejudices here are seeking to destroy our democratic form of government just as surely as the Axis forces." - Courier reader 

"This of course will be very bad for the war effort," he argued, "for it is senseless to fight fascism abroad is fascisitc influences are to be protected here at home." - Charles S. Seely 

"Blacks in Montgomery knew better. The city's police force had a reputation for physical and sexual violence. Police brutality plagues the black community." - Narration

     Like I've said, not a great look, historically, for police forces, even if this is specifically referencing Montgomery, Alabama. - Me

 

"Whether that had been a white girl involved or a colored girl, a jury is very reluctant to pass a death sentence or life imprisonment for that charge upon a man" - Mayes McGehee

     I think it's gross how White Men have been getting away with lesser sentences for rape since, ya know, forever. Pisses me off, quite frankly. - Me

"there is no human being on the face of the earth" who had the right to violate or abuse another person, "no matter who you are or where you think you come from or whatever possession or control you have," - Jerry Paul 

 

In Other News

Well, now that I've finished with the heavy subject matter we can move on to a little levity. I finished my Impmon Project over on OviPets. Based on the Digimon of the same name. Tattoos on the face and stomach were done by me in GIMP. Impmon took me approximately 11 months to complete.

Probability Sun by Nancy Kress

Probability Sun was definitely less segmented than Probability Moon, which made being more interested in one part versus the other less of a thing. It did, however, present some interesting ethical quandaries. We also found out more about the Fallers, but not significantly more. Probability Sun was entertaining enough and it was kind of nice to know what Enli got up to once she returned to Shared Reality.

I honestly think the humans were in the wrong, stealing the artifact out from under the Worlders’ noses. We’re a damn shady people when we wanna be. It was damn lucky the Worlders didn’t actually know what they had or that it even existed. That they now have to deal with the complete disappearance of Shared Reality is kind of horrible. Not that I think basically being hive-minded was a fantastic thing, but it’s what they knew and, as Ann pointed out a bunch, adapted to deal with.

Moving on to the Faller stuff with Marbet… Grafton was an idiot. I understand you don’t want the Faller to kill itself, but how the hell is it supposed to communicate when you’ve basically taken away body language and it doesn’t speak our language? So dumb and ultimately short-sighted.

I thought Capello and his girls were an interesting addition. Bit of color in an otherwise very adult-centric narrative. Essa was also a fun addition. I like that Enli’s basically become her surrogate mother. I think it’ll do them both good in the long run.

Speaking of the long run, I don’t at present have any desire to read the third book in this trilogy. I feel like Probability Sun left off at a fairly good place. Maybe not the best, but satisfying enough.

In Other News

I finished 2, count 'em 2!, OviPets projects since the last one. We have the Diver Cat and Lavendeer. Both original critters designed by me and not based off anything else. Well... the Diver Cat is based off a previous project of mine, but other than that... Yay!

 

The Night Country by Melissa Albert

The Night Country is honestly not as compelling as The Hazel Wood. It's not bad, but the feeling I had while reading The Hazel Wood just doesn't exist with The Night Country. I think that's as it should be, The Hazel Wood feeling as complete as it did in the end and all. While The Night Country picks up where The Hazel Wood left off, I don't feel like The Night Country is as necessary to the whole story as it would like to think. It was a fun enough romp through the next steps in Alice and Ellery's stories. I did enjoy meeting Sophia and getting her story and the story of The Night Country in universe. I also really loved Edgar and his bookshop. I would like to go to there. I just wasn't as drawn into the world as I was with The Hazel Wood.

I did have a single note as I was reading: "Be sure" always, always that refrain. Every fairytale world. Walk through the door, take the power offered you, be sure. When I said The Hazel Wood has Seanan McGuire vibes, I wasn't expecting the second book to throw "Be Sure" in my face. It's not bad, and McGuire doesn't have the rights or whatever to the phrase, but damn.

But yeah... The Night Country had some enjoyable bits. The characters from The Hinterland are, ya know, a mixed bag of weird and wonderfully creepy. I hope to get to know some of them better when I read Tales From the Hinterland. But for now they're just set-dressing in Alice's story.

Favorite Lines

"If you poke around too long in the dark, you've only got yourself to blame for what you find." - Alice Prosperpine

"A book is always a door." - Iolanthe 

 

 The Boy Who Didn't Come Home

I was expecting and Ellery Finch post-The Hazel Wood story. This is not that. This is his story during The Hazel Wood. It has the same feel I was missing in The Night Country. I definitely enjoyed it.

Probability Moon by Nancy Kress

I wasn't sure what to expect with Probability Moon. I don't read a lot of sci-fi and my last foray led to a DNF so... yeah. I actually enjoyed Probability Moon.

I found this exploration of reality quite interesting, if not compelling at times. I definitely feel like a society in which everyone shares the same reality is problematic af, as Bazargan knows and David can't quite understand, especially in terms of introducing such a thing to humans. The fast that it managed to be home-grown on World is definitely a slightly different animal. There don't seem to be any, shall we say, large personalities taking over the entire mechanism, like I and Bazargan imagine there would be for humans. I do wonder how prevalent mental illness is on World, given they literally kill anyone who doesn't share reality, especially if they never develop empathy. It also isn't explored how Worlders deal with scientific advancement aside from the brief foray into the antihistamine thing... would head-pain prevent delving too deeply into the science or what?

Along with how World's shared reality mechanism, we also get a glimpse into how future humans might deal with some of these things via chemical alteration. That isn't delved into as much, though it does play a large part in David's character arc. I had twigged he wasn't exactly neurotypical to begin with... he was just too set in certain mind-sets regardless of his chemical alteration thingy... didn't imagine he was a bad off as it turned out he was, but... yeah.

Enli's progression was honestly something I think she needs to have a very frank but obviously very private discussion with one of the priests about. Figuring creatures without a shared reality into Worlder reality just seems like something that should be done. Understanding that a creature could be that different from you and still function or be "real" just seems like an overall good thing. Maybe that's a very human-centric thought process but when the consequence with basically "death to anyone without a shared reality"... seems like a not-great way to go about life in a universe full of such different people. I do hope Enli finds someone to talk to about that at some stage in her life without being forced into "unreality" again.

I was much less invested in the space part of the plot. It felt like more or less bog-standard sci-fi space stuff. The characters dealing with that weren't developed as much and not very interesting as a result. Setting up the weirdness of the artifact coupled with the one buried in World was vaguely interesting, but only vaguely. I am kind of wondering if the Fallers have a similar kind of shared reality thing to the Worlders and just decided that everyone outside of them is unreal and worthy of death as a result... seems like it's either that or they're like Daleks. If you're not a Faller, you're unworthy of life. Actually, yeah... space-faring Worlders who haven't accepted the idea of multiple realities would act exactly like Fallers have done. So... that's a thought I came upon while writing this review.

That's one of the things I actually quite like about Probability Moon. It's thought-provoking. I don't know that I'll be sitting with these thoughts for a long time, but they're there and making my brain itch. 

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

I don't think I've had a book grab me like this one did for a long while. It's not my usual cup of tea, but it hit the spot and then some. Wilder Girls brings together the coming-of-age school girl story with some X-Men-ish-ness thrown in with Government conspiracy with dystopian plague in such an intriguing way. I had a hard time putting it down, to be honest. I also went on a bit of a rant about something Hetty finds out to my Boyfriend earlier today which my perspective on turned out to be wrong about, given what's revealed later in the book. It was one of those "well that definitely changes things" moments. Almost a blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing. Definitely safe to say I was not expecting what eventually went down.

The last time I read a school-based post-apocalyptic type story, it just ended up being really bleak. Wilder Girls initially had the same kind of vibe, but I think I'm overall hopeful for Hetty and her friends at the end. Probably misplaced, knowing the circumstances they're technically heading into, but I don't feel like it was all for nothing. Hope really runs through the entire novel. Hope for a cure, ultimately, but other bits of hope, too. Reese, hoping her father is still alive; Hetty hoping to find Byatt after she disappears; even Byatt hoping somewhere along the line to get back to her friends...

Of course, there's also the through-line of the Government conspiracy aspect. I twigged fairly early on the Government was using the girls of Raxter as an experiment. For what, I wasn't super sure about, but you don't just quarantine an island and slowly cut that island off completely while still feeding the inhabitants for a reason. And of course it was a bunch of girls they decided to experiment on. Part of that was the bad luck of proximity, but still... innocent, disposable girls shouldering the terrible things the Tox did to them without any explanation whatsoever. I couldn't figure out why the food and general supply situation was so fucked, though. That didn't make any sense. Couldn't even be bothered to send more than the bare minimum and apparently can't be bothered to make sure the girls are kept in some modicum of comfort while actively suffering... but that's also explained later, so I feel vaguely better about it.

There's a quote from Jeff VanderMeer on the front of my copy of the book talking about the emotion packed into the book. There is, at that, though it's not overwrought. It's very tightly controlled and doesn't at any point feel forced. If anything, it feels as though the characters are just burnt out while being in shock at the same time. They've seen too much death and dealt with too much pain while at the same time being so isolated, even among their peers. None of it feels like too much, while at the same time feeling like a lot. I honestly don't know how else to describe it.

I won't say I had fun, exactly, but Wilder Girls definitely gripped me. It's been a hot minute since I finished a book in under 24hrs. Definitely a fantastic read.