Review - "Iron Cast"

Iron Cast
by Destiny Soria
rating:☆☆☆☆☆
published: 11th October 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

More than anything, she wanted to kiss him. He was so bright and beautiful and vulnerable in the daylight. But she couldn't let herself.

Galley provided by publisher

Hands down, this is one of the best books I've read this year. Perhaps I found it a little slow, up until about the halfway point, and was thinking of rating it only 4 stars, but then it burst into life. There were so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming, and I was emotionally drained by the end.

Iron Cast is set in Boston in 1919, in a world where there exist 'hemopaths' - people with powers to create illusions, manipulate memories, and various other things, based on poetry or music or painting. Following a con where a politician ended up losing $2,000, the use of these powers is outlawed and the Hemopath Protection Agency is set up, ostensibly to register and protect hemopaths, but more often than not they pick up hemopaths and take them to Haversham Asylum. In the city however, there remain clubs where hemopaths put on shows. The main characters, Ada and Corinne, are members of the Cast Iron club, one such place. Then the club owner, Johnny Dervish, is killed and suddenly they are no longer safe.

I honestly don't know how to review this book. It was so amazing and I loved pretty much everything about it. The setting was so unique and interesting - it reminded me a little of The Diviners (but almost in reverse because hemopaths are persecuted in this) and The Great Gatsby (which I hate but love the setting of). Fantasy like this, based in the real world but in the past, is my favourite kind, really.

Beyond the setting, the characters were amazing too. Maybe they could have done with a little more fleshing out. In some cases, it seemed that the reasons behind their doing things (like Corinne moving to the Cast Iron club) were a little bit subtext rather than being explicitly stated (which, I guess is OK as the reader, it's just when she was talking to Gabriel about things that it felt slightly off). Other than that, they were all brilliant, and I probably cried a few times over them but I'm not admitting to anything. I would have liked Corinne and Gabriel to end less openendedly but it made sense in the context of the story, so I'm not complaining too much.

Then there are the plot twists. Not one of them I saw coming - each and every one was a (usually unwelcome) shock. And they went on right to the end. I don't think I've read many books that have had so many twists in such quick succession and I've not been able to see any of them coming.

Overall, this book was amazing and everyone should read it, basically.

Review - "No Master"

No Master, Bounty #3
by Christine d'Abo
rating:☆
published: 27th June 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

To be honest, I can't believe I finished this. I'm not entirely sure why I thought it would be a good idea to read it in the first place (honestly, the sex slave thing was pretty off-putting) but I did and so I read it.

And I wish I hadn't.

It's not that the writing was bad, as with most of these kinds of books which I give one star, because it wasn't. It's better writing than most of the ones I read, although that's not hard because sometimes the writing is flat out awful. The issues I had lay entirely with the plot.

For one, the whole sex slave thing is dodgy from the off. Especially the fact that Zain then has to go back into that environment after having escaped and endure it again. And Korbin doesn't really attempt to make it easier on him. There are the few cursory are you sure you're ok with this's but nothing else.

The mind reading stone is another problem I had. It just makes everything suspiciously easy. No worries that they can't communicate while they're in master-slave disguise (which, again, no thanks. Couldn't it have been the other way round? Also the bit where it's like Zain's all submissive, that he likes it? It doesn't seem all that believable given that he spend a lot of his life as a sex slave being abused by his master...) they can send thoughts to each other's minds (and just wait for it, by the end they don't even need the stone they've strengthened a connection in their mind that means they can do without! I'm willing to suspend belief for a lot of things but this is not one of them).

The final big problem I found was right near the end, at the climax, where Zain is captured by Clayson (his old master) and injected with the drug that works like ultra-Viagra and makes him hard, and then Clayson starts raping him and saying how everyone in his employ is going to rape Zain until he's raw and bleeding and dead. Like I am absolutely not here for shit like this when it's not apparently gratuitous, let alone when it is. It's gross and I really did almost quit reading right there in disgust. Instead I just skipped that scene. Then, a bit later, there's another scene where Clayson comes and beats up Zain and he slams his head repeatedly against the floor, but then two minutes later Zain's alright and walking around just fine. It doesn't make sense.

Just no, basically.

Review - "Villains, Inc."

Villains, Inc
edited by Tan-Ni Fan
rating:☆☆☆
published: 15th June 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Overall rating is averaged from individual ratings

When Shadows Touch Mountains by Helena Maeve ★★★★

This was a solid one to start the anthology off with. It's basically the story of King Arthur, or part of it, but with the reader seeing things from the side of Mordred. It's told from the point of view of Kirth, a man who killed his father and was handed over to a slaver, who subsequently hands him over to Mordred in an attempt to gain favour.

This is one of those ones that works very well as a short story. It felt a bit like a snippet of a longer story, and my one big issue with it was that it wasn't longer. It could easily be a whole book in itself (which I would happily read...).

There was one point where the skip between locations seemed a little abrupt, and there could have been something spent on the time in between, but that was about the only part where I felt it could have been improved.

I loved the inclusion of polyamory, too. It was a nice departure from all the monogamous relationships, and also a great way to avoid those pesky love triangles.

Strait of Monsters by Stephanie Rabig ★★★

More like 2.5.

To be honest, I was a little bored by this one. It told the story of Chryssa, a member of a crew who's ship gets wrecked by Scylla and Charybdis, and who ends up surviving after she is marooned on Medusa's island. Here, she falls in love with Medusa, and decides to stay. That's about all there is to the plot - minus the bit where Perseus shows up to try kill Medusa, and then Chryssa and Medusa fly off on Pegasus to save Andromeda.

I'm not entirely sure what it was lacking for me, though perhaps the characters were a bit flat and unrealistic. I did love that Chryssa was trans though, there is that.

Famished by Cassandra Pierce ★★

This one was just plain weird. There was this house with a basement of dead monks' ghosts who ate people and the owner of the house was perfectly willing (with the help of his creepy butler) to feed them. Until someone he's attracted to shows up at which point he's like hell no.

Again, it was kind of boring and the writing wasn't great. The clubbing scene was kind of strange, and almost didn't fit with the rest of the story. Also, Clive's "big secret" wasn't actually that shocking in the context of the story. I mean, what's one poxy little murder when your boyfriend regularly feeds people to ghosts?

There was also a stifling case of instalove, made even worse by the fact that it's a short story. And the scene where Clive confesses he's gay, he brings it up by saying "I'm not like other blokes...". Sorry to break it to you, bud, but you're not that special.

Then also, this line: "Clive went on hunching his hips and massaging Blaylock's silky throat muscles."

Vinc by Michelle Chow ★★★

Never did I think I would somewhat enjoy a story about a weresalamander, but here I am, proven wrong. It's a little light on the plot, but it was nice to see that there is no instalove whatsoever (thank you, thank you). All that happens is that they start dating, which is loads more realistic than most stories.

I thought perhaps that this story needed a little more context in it as well, because it's light on that too. Like, why are people suddenly becoming infected with this were-virus? Where did it come from?

There was also a magical mystical know-it-all vet, who told the main character to "find his anchor". Teen Wolf much?

Good Things by Sumi ★

This is by far the worst story of the whole anthology. It was about an incubus who suddenly realises that women don't do it for him, he's in fact gay. Which would be OK, but the whole incubus/succubus thing is steeped in dubious consent, and that made this story very uncomfortable.

The whole Erigus/Jeff thing is gross. For one, it's hugely dubious consent, bordering on rape almost, and Jeff does bring that up at one point, but it's never mentioned again. Erigus spends a whole scene mocking Jeff still being a virgin, and the fact that he has a girlfriend even though he's gay. And then, he offers to take Jeff to Hell to be with him forever (which he eventually does to once Jeff's girlfriend-now-wife dies because why not). Just generally, it's pretty messed up.

There's also some pretty dubious comments about Jeff's ethnicity like: "Erigus liked fucking Asian guys because they usually had barely any hair." and "I'm a total lightweight. Asian." O-k-a-y.

Mandelbrot by A. D. Truax ★★★★★

This one was by far my favourite of the whole anthology. It's about Evander, the secret boyfriend of the city's hero, who keeps getting kidnapped by the "villain" who actually just wants to get the hero's attention but it's not working. It reminds me quite a lot of Hero by Perry Moore, which is a great book, and a Disney/Pixar film I can't recall the name of, and probably this story rescues the anthology for me.

Again, it works well as a short story, but equally feels like it could be a longer story too. The characters are great, and the plot is just right for a short story - it doesn't try to fit too much in, but also doesn't skimp on it. I would say, read this anthology just for this story, because it's one of the (few) highlights.