Snakecharm by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

 A Semi-Spoilery Reread Review

So, of the 5 Keisha'ra books (and given, I've not reread the rest in a hot minute), Snakecharm is probably my least favorite. It does have a lot to enjoy, but it just kind of falls flat for me.

That said, if there is one thing Amelia Atwater-Rhodes is good at, it's creating vibes. The legend related in the Prologue is a chef's kiss of vibes. Might just be me recalling my Ancient Egyptian fixation from when I was a kid but... I felt like the vibes of an Ancient Egyptian cult were spot on.

Ultimately, I think Snakecharm suffers from reread-itus. I've reread it enough times that the answers to the mysteries have imprinted themselves on my brain and the "Happily Ever After" of it all just kill the tension. And yes, that is a mild spoiler, but I'm gonna let it be. After all, Snakecharm does have Romance elements and an HEA is demanded by the genre so... yeah. But anyway, the tension was just dead on arrival during this reread. I did, however, have a bit of rage.

I will fully admit that I spent entirely too long reading and sitting with the first couple of chapters and this may have colored my feelings on this issue buuuut... no one tells Danica she might be/probably is pregnant despite talking around it a bunch. Apparently she's too naive to realize this on her own, despite everyone else figuring it out... even Valene in a couple of seconds. Like WTF, ya'll. Just finish your dang questions and tell her already. Geez.

All of that stuff said, Snakecharm is really about expanding the Keisha'ra world. We got a little of it in Hawksong, but now it's in the aftermath and the "What do we do now?" stages. There is a much greater focus on Serpiente society, specifically the dancer's nest, Sha'Mehay. And I did love the looks into the past we got after the Falcons pushed them into research mode. We also get more background into the Falcon shapeshifters, who are much more relevant to the overall story later. It's enough to make us hopefully wary of them, at the very least, for Falcondance. Syfka and Araceli themselves are kind of "meh" characters at this point, though. Syfka mostly just comes off as a bitch and Araceli... well... also a bitch, but a to-the-point one.

But yeah... Snakecharm honestly just felt like filler. A necessary bit of filler, given the rest of the Keisha'ra story, but filler nonetheless.

Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Spoiler Free Reread Review

I'm usually not a fan of Romance and Hawksong is, first and foremost, an Enemies-to-Lovers Romance. However, Hawksong spends a lot more time in the realm of introspection than it does anywhere else, so it doesn't exactly feel like a Romance to me... if that makes any sense. We spend most of the book in Danica's head and she's not super focused on the Romance aspects of her life. She's definitely more concerned with simply stopping a war and keeping it stopped than she is on whether or not her love-interests are interested. Again... if I'm not making sense about this, it's probably because what I'm trying to say is mixed up in my own head.

Anyway, I like Danica as a character. She honestly comes across more Ace to me than anything else. Again, more concerned with stopping a war than the romantic side of things. This also might be because of the "Avian Reserve" aspect of her life sort of saps the outward manifestations of her emotional states. That's a fun bit of world-building that's brought to the fore once she spends more time with Zane among the Serpiente.

I also quite like how the world-building is done through how the people behave, rather than just their surroundings. The Avian Shapeshifters bottle up their emotions and act "properly" rather than, like the Serpents, be very open in thought and deed. I don't know how true this is, as the Hawk's Keep isn't really described in terms of building materials, but I've always kind of envisioned it as made of wood and plaster in contrast to the Serpiente's palace of stone. Not sure why that is, but yeah... Contrasts.

It's also really interesting how these writ-large Shapeshifter societies and kingdoms eventually get whittled down when moving from this series to the main Nyeusigrube series. Rise and fall of civilizations, I suppose. Just something fun to think about when reading and rereading these series.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

So, Percy Jackson. I kind of did this backward. I saw the movie when it came out and then the Disney+ show. Liked both for what they were, even if I didn’t yet have the background of the book to compare them too. I’m also not quite the target audience for the series, though it was good enough to not be an issue. Percy Jackson is right up my alley, really.

I quite like Riordan’s writing style. It carries the story along at a nice clip while still including a good amount of detail. It was fun to see the difference between book and TV show.

I liked most of the characters. I think Gabe and Ares both threw around the work “punk” too often. The gods were well realized, though I definitely had Jason Mantzoukas’ Mr. D in my head. He’s just so perfect.

The Lightning Thief was a nice, easy read for me. Definitely recommended, even if I don’t have a lot of thoughts about it. I look forward to experiencing the rest of the series.

Favorite Lines

     "You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," I reminded him.

     "Those are vegetables." - Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood

"Whoever said death was fair, young miss?"  - Charon

Promises to Keep by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Mostly Spoiler-Free Reread Review

So, Promises to Keep is essentially where the Den of Shadows/Nyeusigrube series ends. It doesn't precisely feel like an ending, nor really a beginning... which will make more sense if you read it to the end. There ends up being a lot going on that both is and isn't properly explained. That's not a bad thing, but... does feel sort of rushed.

Promises to Keep combines all the elements from the stories that came before and the characters. It gives Token of Darkness an actual reason for being (which I had forgotten on my last reread) as, it turns out, Promises to Keep deals rather heavily in the Elementals that were more properly introduced in Token of Darkness. I was highly interested in the inner-workings of the Nyeusigrube magic system and Promises to Keep managed to explain it better than any of the other books. The power scaling from Token of Darkness's Samantha to what Jay deals with in Promises to Keep is all the more impressive considering Samantha was just a weak Elemental and nearly killed a girl.

I also quite enjoyed Jay as a character. He was a bright spot in All Just Glass and is definitely more fleshed out here. He's a relatively light, fun character, as Nyeusigrube characters go. Just what this story needed. His relationship with Brina was very interesting. I like them as a pair.

I do confess that I had a fondness for Xeke and Rikai from well before I read them in these pages. Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' website in the early 2000's had some message boards in which she would essentially roleplay her characters with users. It was good fun and endeared me to Xeke and Rikai. It was definitely fun to finally see them in the pages of Nyeusigrube proper.

I am largely satisfied with the ending... or multiple endings. We get to check in on a few of the more prominent Nyeusigrube denizens, see how they're doing post-Elemental shenanigans. I won't spoil any of that. It really did feel like a good send off (or just a stopping point) for the world and its characters.

2014 Review

Favorite Lines

"Do not disturb except in case of unexplained life-threatening injuries. It would suck if the healers let him die because her left a badly worded note." - Jay Marinitch Narration

"You live comfortably in one of the wealthiest nations in the world," Brina said, voice clipped. "You live on the bones of your own ancestors, who were eradicated by the expanding white populations. The food you eat, the clothes you wear, the toys you buy are often made across the oceans by nameless, faceless workers living in conditions you would find intolerable." - Brina di'Birgetta

"Cat pee never lies." - Xeke

Token of Darkness by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Token of Darkness is really just a whatever story. Although listed as a Den of Shadows book, it's pretty well divorced from the rest of the series. There are zero links back to any characters or settings. The only thing it has in common with the rest of the Den of Shadows is the world it inhabits. It doesn't even really feel like a Den of Shadows book, if that makes sense. Like... the feeling I get picking up any of the other books just isn't there with this one.

It was kind of fun getting to see how human sorcerers (those not born with innate magic) dealt with magic and the supernatural in this world. Kind of. It wasn't at all fleshed out. Elementals are apparently a thing. They can be summoned and maybe controlled but... eh. Human telepaths are also a thing... which I think we kind of knew but... again, eh.

Token of Darkness I guess satisfactorily ends, but really feels more like a petering out, which I never enjoy. I'm really not sure what, if anything, is going to end up happening with Cooper and Samantha. It's all up in the air and just... more eh.

The Big Meow by Diane Duane

I DNF’d this about halfway through. It was alright, but the pacing was like rubbernecking through traffic and I hate that. I’m not interested enough in what happens to Rhiow and the crew to continue torturing myself getting through the slow parts.

Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire

Well this was fun. I somehow skipped Aftermarket Afterlife and didn't realize until after I'd written my review of Installment Immortality... which means I had some of the bones of Aftermarket Afterlife already in my head as I was reading. I knew about Jane and the Covenant plan and essentially how things worked out, I just didn't have the details. Getting those details was, as usual with McGuire's writing, quite the ride.

Aftermarket Afterlife captures the chaos around reunions, death, and danger among a family that's part biological and part found and very much spread out. Mary's the perfect vehicle for that. I cannot imagine how she managed to do some of that stuff and serve the Crossroads at the same time before Annie put the anima mundi back in charge. Just the insanity of bouncing between family members... whew. I could never.

I definitely cried during part of this book, though it wasn't exactly a part that should probably have had tears involved... I dunno. I'm a sucker for community coming together and honestly, the big family Zoom-call did it. Just at the beginning of the main plot, go figure. Aftermarket Afterlife is truly an ensemble piece that kind of felt like a finale (though obviously I knew it wasn't). I loved getting to see the disparate groups of Price family members just doing their thing, for the most part.

I only have a couple more notes. Leonard Cunningham was giving me big Gaston (Disney's Beauty and the Beast ) vibes. I could definitely hear Annie rolling her eyes at him. The further world-building of the Twilight and ghost-y stuff was kind of fun. Love me some world-building. But yeah. Aftermarket Afterlife was definitely solid and a good read.

Favorite Lines

"Torturing racists is a moral obligation," - Sally Price

 

"Yeah, no. Forgiveness isn't an obligation. It doesn't get to be. You forgive someone when you want to, or when the anger gets too heavy yo carry around anymore. No one gets to tell you it's time. Time may never come." - Rose Marshall

 

"Saying 'sorry' isn't like casting a magic spell. Even if you do it with all the sincerity in the world, it doesn't fix the things you broke. It doesn't undo what you did." - Jane Harrington-Price

 

"No one chooses who their parents are going to be, or what species they're going to be born as. People are just people. It's what they do that matters, not how they're born." - Mary Dunlavy

 

    "What have I told you about throwing knives at everything that startles you?" I asked.

     "That it's antisocial and doesn't make me a very good neighbor," she replied.

     "And what did you just do?"

     "Threw a knife at my babysitter." - Mary Dunlavy & Antimony "Annie" Price

"Dreaming of You in Freefall"

Honestly a very fun novella, despite Verity's grieving. Well... also because of it. The image of a dragon offering a hug and getting covered in snot is funny. Lots of dragon stuff plus Verity being a badass, definitely worth the read.

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

I really don't have any deep thoughts about A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. It was really good, really cute, and made me cry (or at least get choked up and teary). I thought the message about war and the age at which you can be shoved into it was quite strong. I enjoyed the magic system. The creativity aspect was probably my favorite bit. But yeah... no really deep thoughts. Just a good book.

Favorite Lines

(The crawfish the worst. You can get the frogs with a broom, but you have to call a priest in for a zombie crawfish.) - Mona

     “Battle can-can,” said the Duchess wisely. “Very old tactical maneuver. Used to defeat the waltzing berserkers of West Quillmark, as I recall.”

     “You just made that up.”

     “Well, obviously.” - The Duchess & Harold

To Visit the Queen by Diane Duane

A Spoiler-Free Reread Review

I had a lot more fun with To Visit the Queen than I did with The Book of Night with Moon. I’m not sure exactly why this is, but *much shrugging.* I found To Visit the Queen to be delightful. A good mix of time travel and alternate universes, I think.

There is a lot of details concerning the gates and the time travel aspects of the plot. Like, a lot. I didn’t find it particularly mind-numbing, though I may have read it and immediately forgotten most of it. I like the detail, though, makes things more grounded, I think. Gives the reader something to look up later, if they wish, or just kind of go with.

To Visit the Queen also scratched a bit at my Anglophile brain. Very Doctor Who vibes, if I’m honest. (Probably also why I can hand-wave the techno-babble) Rhiow and the team spend just enough time running around London, or bits of it anyway, to amuse me. And, of course, things being centered around Queen Victoria was also a draw.

I also appreciated the fallout surrounding Rhiow’s human. It’s nice to have some follow-through as opposed to just “Rhiow’s human’s dead now and her partner doesn’t want the cat, so Rhiow’s a free agent now” kind of a thing. Duane’s good at the grief follow-through. It’s a big theme of the Young Wizards series more-so than this one, but I like that it’s there nonetheless.

I did remember about Arhu and Siffha’ah’s relationship from my reread, so I did spend a bunch of time wondering when that was going to come to a head as I didn’t remember the exact details. Same with Auhlae’s whole thing. I also remembered Artie, after he showed up. I won’t say more about that stuff, though, as it does spoil things.

Overall, To Visit the Queen was quite good. Definitely not prefect, but perfectly enjoyable.

Favorite Lines

"Telling it won't help," he said. "You've got to ask nicely. Most things in the Universe react positively to that. Sass them, and they get stubborn." - Urruah

     "You are little angels of God."

     "Please, madam," Arhu said, "don't get confused. We're cats." - Queen Victoria & Arhu

The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige

I did like The Wicked Will Rise more than Dorothy Must Die. However, it was still pretty middling.

I liked Polychrome and Bright, they were interesting. Wish we’d gotten more with them. Polychrome has a mad-scientist bent that I liked a lot. Heathcliff and his whole schtick made me smile.

Lulu and the monkeys were just kind of “meh.” Lulu kind of reminded me of King Louie from The Jungle Book. She had the same kind of manic energy… well, it’s a manic energy apparently shared by most everyone in Oz.

I think the Pete/Ozma dilemma was the most compelling part. Of course Amy’s the only one in the camp of “Pete’s a person,” which sucks for Pete.

The fight scenes honestly had my eye glazing over. They weren’t hard to follow or boring, exactly, just… things were happening quite quickly, even too quickly for Amy to have a good handle on, I think. Not to mention the whole “the Darkness is taking you over Amy” thing. Bleh.

The ending of The Wicked Will Rise was satisfying enough for me to feel comfy calling it quits here. I was rolling my eyes at the Wizard’s revelations but otherwise, I felt it was just whatever. A hook for the next book, like the ending of Dorothy Must Die. It honestly feels like this story would have been served better by being one long book as opposed to stretched out over the three. That said… I won’t be reading the last one. Not for me.