I went back and forth about the rating on this one. The prose and sense of setting are 4+ stars, verging on 5. The plot is much looser, though, and atI went back and forth about the rating on this one. The prose and sense of setting are 4+ stars, verging on 5. The plot is much looser, though, and at least one major revelation at the end comes out of nowhere and had not emotional impact for me: as a detective story, it's closer to 3 stars.
Things in Jars is sold as the story of Bridie Devine, female detective, as she tries to track down a nobleman's kidnapped daughter. It almost immediately spins into a broader story of how this vanished child is at the center of the connected stories
The characters and atmosphere are great. Jess Kidd can really turn a phrase, so the narration always feels fresh and unusual, like a storyteller is setting the scene instead of just relating what the story's "camera" catches. The many side characters all feel vivid, even if they're only around for a page or two, and I can definitely see the resemblance to Dickens that some other reviewers are citing. Many of these people are flawed or doing terrible things, but they're also memorably real. Bridie smokes a pipe, travels around London in disguise, and cheerfully talks to a ghost in a crowded train car without worrying about looking insane. I would have liked to see her do more actual detective work (it seems like she stumbles across a lot of events without trying), though. It's also hard not to be drawn to Mrs. Bibby, a kidnapper who's unquestionably in the wrong but also talks about her past in the form of cheerful little tales that let the reader see the ugly truth between the lines.
The one shortcoming here for me was the main antagonist. He's sort of a black hole of evil actions, the sort of psychopath who's always been awful for no reason other than innate villainy. Among the sea of nuanced and troubled people, he seems flatter than the rest, with his sheer force of dark personality terrifying Bridie out of all proportion to the cleverness and fighting skills we've seen from her before.
I also enjoyed the way this story sits at the intersection of magic and science, with the characters not necessarily seeing a contradiction between the two. This Victorian setting has room for strange new medical marvels as well as educated medical men seeking out the bodies of supernatural creatures for study, and it all works to make the story feel anchored in the actual time period instead of a glossy distortion of it.
The tension doesn't always live up to the setting, though. One of the last emotional bombshells is more of a wet sparkler, which felt like a waste of suspense. In short: (view spoiler)[after all the suspense and teasing about how Bridie can possibly know Ruby when she doesn't remember him, it turns out that they were childhood friends and he jumped into the water to save her from drowning when she fell in. He washed up somewhere else and they never met again in life. This could have been great if Bridie had been mourning him as one of the people she'd lost, or really if there had been any hints about this, but the lack of buildup around that knowledge is a real mismatch with this heavy pining romance where they've both been yearning for each other and even having little sex daydreams of what could happen if he was still alive. Some people in my discussion liked it, but for me it was a real "sure? I guess?" moment, which is always disappointing in one of a book's closing scenes. (hide spoiler)]
Overall, I think that was interesting and somewhat experimental in the way it coils between the edges of different genres. Like the magical and scientific landscape of the story, this book is hard to pin down in one category. Not one of my favorites of the year so far, but I'd be interested to try more of Kidd's work one day.
//An interesting read with highly distinctive prose and a vivid sense of place. Rating and review to come after the book club discussion at the end of this month.
Content warnings: moderate to severe; (view spoiler)[heavy medical gore, including accounts of surgery without anesthesia, deep wounds, pus, and so on; also includes violence and implied sexual assault against multiple women in the backstory portions. (hide spoiler)]
Other recommendations: -If you're mostly interested in the lore about dangerous creatures in the water, try All the Murmuring Bones. It's more on the pure-magic side of the fence, but it has a similar structure of unsettling old family stories within the larger story. ...more
This unusual story landed as 4 stars for me. It's hard to pin down in categories, but I’d pitch it as historical fiction with a supernatural twist.
ThThis unusual story landed as 4 stars for me. It's hard to pin down in categories, but I’d pitch it as historical fiction with a supernatural twist.
The historical setting of this novel (the wilds of the Montana frontier in 1915) was by far the strongest element for me. You can really tell that LaValle has done his research, and the assorted people in the frontier town of Big Sandy lend weight and texture to this picture of all the people who really built homesteads and lives on the frontier beyond the common image of white families. The first third of the book focuses on Adelaide’s journey to her lonely homestead and is really remarkable stuff, focusing on the interplay of physical and emotional isolation.
After that point, we widen to include the whole town, both the people at the center and those on the margins. Everyone seems to be on amiable terms at first, but there’s a constant tension around the way some characters have the money and social power to make life dangerous for the others at a moment’s notice: it’s all rich with subtext, shown beautifully rather than over-explained. I also appreciated Adelaide’s characterization. Right from the first chapter, when she burns her family home in California and leaves forever, she’s a pragmatic and compelling lead character.
A lot worked for me, but I just felt a sense of distance from most of the characters (and am already forgetting half their names despite finishing this only a week ago). LaValle does a good job keeping the narrative moving with short, tightly-written chapters creating a real sense of momentum, but that means we get little slivers of focus time on people who turn out to be quite important to the end of the story. I would have liked to see some slower sequences exploring the precarious lives of people like Bertie (the only other black woman Adelaide has seen since coming to Montana) and Fiona (Bertie’s partner, a Chinese woman who’s in a precarious social position). They provide useful services to the town, like running a good bar or doing laundry, but it’s clear that their positions are precarious, and I would have liked to see more of that uneasy back-and-forth before the action kicked in.
I did appreciate (view spoiler)[one piece of trans representation (hide spoiler)] that caught me off-guard: it’s the kind of thing that I would have noticed sooner in a novel with a modern setting, but I bumped into old assumptions about the time period. LaValle excels at this casual, non-preachy approach to diversity by just showing people who were around and how they dealt with the surrounding culture, without lectures or apologies about who they are. As the narrative says in multiple places, “history is simple, but the past is complicated.”
The main thing holding this back for me was the revelation of what’s in the heavy chest that Adelaide brings as virtually her only luggage on this strange journey. The suspense around that question is absolutely fantastic for the first third of the book, but then it’s revealed (key plot point) (view spoiler)[that the box contains a ravenous dragon, and later revealed again that the dragon, Elizabeth, is in fact Adelaide’s twin sister; after some negotiation, the two are on good terms and end the book by leading a town of other unconventional lone women together. It works a lot better than When Women Were Dragons for me because the small scale of this event (just Elizabeth and one other dragon we know of who was killed at birth) fits better with our history than thousands of dragons reshaping everything all at once (hide spoiler)]. It’s a cool idea, but one that left me wanting to go back to the suspense. Thematically, I do like the way it ties into the book’s overarching material around born family, found family, the interplay between love and obligation, and choosing a community. It’s just a step too far away from the historical fiction nature of the rest of the story for me personally, but other readers may find it to be a better fit.
I’m also on the fence about the ending. It’s interesting, but not quite a tonal match with the rest of the book. LaValle says in the acknowledgements that he chose it after consultation with his wife, who’s also a writer, in response to women’s real-world struggles, and that’s fine… but I think the connection to the rest of the book is somewhat patchy. Parts of this story will stick with me, but I think they’ll mostly be the wild, mysterious first third to half of the book rather than the conclusion.
Overall: I'd recommend this one, particularly if you're in a historical fiction mood, but I wish it had been a bit longer and gone deeper into some of these characters' heads. LaValle is definitely an author to watch.
// An interesting read, probably somewhere around 3.75 to 4 stars. LaValle excels at bringing these lesser-known historical details to light, but the speculative elements were a bit shaky for me and I wanted more from the secondary characters. Very well-chosen writing style, though. RTC....more
After some reflection, this feels like about 4.25 stars for me. I try to let my impressions settle for longer before most reviews these days, but my sAfter some reflection, this feels like about 4.25 stars for me. I try to let my impressions settle for longer before most reviews these days, but my short library hold technically ended yesterday.
What works for me above all is that this story feels fun. The light framing device of a scribe recording this story says this in the first pages:
This tale will sound unbelievable. What proofs and documents could be collected are reproduced, but when it came to the nakhudha, this scribe felt it best to let Amina speak for herself. To resist the urge to shape and couch But for the sake of honesty, another truth will be confessed. Her adventures are not only being told as evidence of God's marvels. They are being told to entertain.
There, on page 3, was when I knew Chakraborty had taken a step up since The City of Brass. This tale bursts with enthusiasm for Middle Eastern folklore and for all the varied, richly drawn people who live and sail along the Indian Ocean. It's also just enjoyable to read because it's full of gorgeous cities, sea chases, magical creatures, prison breaks, chilling villains, and all the dramatic swashbuckling that I love to see in fantasy. Chakraborty says in the author's note that she wanted the story to be historically believable, and for me that generally worked.
The characterization of Amina al-Sirafi also really clicked as a step up in the author's skills. When our story opens, she's a retired nakhudha (ship owner/ captain) who retired from the sea to raise her daughter. It's been ten years of a quiet life, and she loves her family, but she misses who she used to be, and that yearning draws her back out to sea when the mother of an old crewmate comes knocking with one last job. Amina is a weathered, full-grown adult, and it was such a breath of fresh air in comparison to fresh-faced protagonists stepping out into the world for the first time. Her history and regrets shape how she faces the world, and she's trying to be better-- it's great to see her struggle with her old habit of drinking too much, and to use her Muslim faith to help guide her actions. Many characters of faith come off as sanctimonious or shallow, but Amina acknowledges that she's done bad things in the past (and occasionally in present) and simply has to hope that changing her ways and hoping God is merciful is enough.
So, with all that praise for the main character, why isn't this five stars for me? It mostly comes down to structure and secondary characters. Amina's old crew is full of interesting people, but I wanted more depth to them beyond the few shorthand traits that we get to establish them as individuals. They're funny, but each supporting character gets maybe one really good scene exploring their ambitions or regrets and otherwise is more just along for the ride.
Light pagecount/ ratio stuff here if that's a spoiler for you: I very much enjoyed the "getting the crew back together" portion of the book because there are some great scenes there, but it takes about 60 pages for Amina to take the job and 135 pages from getting the first crew member back to all setting sail together. They're together for about 145 pages, separated for about 80 pages due to a side quest of sorts, then reunited for part of a chapter before Amina goes off to a dramatic showdown alone. The story ends with all the survivors together for a chapter or so, but overall it seems like 40% of the book is getting everyone together to do the job only for Amina to spend a lot of time elsewhere, separated from these people. I know you don't need to have every member of a group in every scene, but it doesn't leave as much space as I would have liked for actually developing these people who were (and are) so important to Amina.
There are also some small wobbles for me in language. Most of the dialogue feels evocative of this medieval period, but some lines feel too modern. The internal monologue in particular sometimes has a modern-snark rhetorical question style. The word "creepy" is also used an odd amount despite dating to the 1800s (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti...). I'm not here to nitpick every word choice (time and translation means authors have to pick and choose), but lines like "Stop watching me sleep. It's creepy" could have come right out of a story of today and threw me out of the scene. It's all little things like that, isolated lines or very modern attitudes (the scribe's opening litany about the role of women in stories rode that line for me), but it broke immersion just enough to be distracting.
All that said, this is a strong book and I'll almost certainly try the next book in the trilogy.
A tip of the hat to the interior designer as well-- the map and other flourishes like the boats as chapter headings, wave art between sections, and corner art for side stories are fantastic. This is really going to lend itself to special editions. I will also mark this as 2023's first guess that this will definitely be on next year's Hugo ballot. The author's Daevabad series was nominated last year, and this has had a mix of great publicity and positive reviews. 2024 update: I'm happy to have been right about this guess! It's great to see this as part of Hugo readalong discussions.
//4 and a bit stars for me. This was tremendously engaging and fun, much better than Chakraborty's previous series-- I'll most likely be continuing with Amina's adventures. There are some minor issues (I would have liked more depth on the secondary characters and a few confrontations are softballed), but overall I quite enjoyed this one. RTC.
Content warnings: moderate to severe; (view spoiler)[threats of rape, discovery of mutilated corpses, mild body horror, genre-typical action violence. (hide spoiler)]...more
This is a quick little read of a novella, only 94 pages in my paperback, but I still found my attention wandering. Some of the magical scenes are charThis is a quick little read of a novella, only 94 pages in my paperback, but I still found my attention wandering. Some of the magical scenes are charming, and some of the characterization stands out, but this landed as something I wanted to like more than I actually enjoyed.
Stylistically, this feels like a slice-of-life story, but it's more of a randomly selected slice than those stories often are. Julia has recently been expelled from boarding school, but she's not particularly reeling from that shock. Simon shows up at a new student for Julia's mother, but his characterization is somewhat muted and sidelined in favor of broader discussions of magic and family. Together they uncover some dark secrets about Julia's uncle, but the details are muddled and the stakes feel low. The threat to family ties could have been compelling, but Julia's friendship with her cousins is barely shown and there's no "let's get this out in the open" confrontation. It's something of a coming-of-age story for Julia, and it's fine on that character study front, but there's little in the way of a character arc or Simon or momentum for the story in general.
Many of the individual elements are great-- I particularly enjoyed how Simon, the secondary lead, allows his Judaism to inform his practice of magic, though I wanted to see more of his journey than the scraps we get from Julia's perspective. There are also some lovely scenes of magic transforming the environment, doing things like creating endless liminal spaces where Simon and Julia discuss things that are uncomfortable in the normal world. In a longer story with more room for Simon and Julia to commiserate about their lives as closeted queer people in the 1920s, I think that magic-as-other-space could have worked beautifully.
The ending also didn't quite land for me. Spoilers: (view spoiler)[Julia learns that her mother has been working magic for years so that Uncle Vee is never alone with anyone vulnerable who he could hurt, only with consenting adults. It seems to be keeping people safe, including his children, but it also leaves him in a socially powerful position and means that he's free to prey on people again if Julia's mother (Lady Aloysia) dies or fails to constantly maintain the magic that binds his interactions with others-- in the meantime, he's still a glittering, adored social figure surrounded by potential victims. It's an interesting idea, but one that ignores all the emotional harm abusers can do in shared settings and a workaround that seems awfully fragile. Julia's big growing-up moment is learning about the harm he's done and no longer acting like a child as his adoring niece, but his behaviors are still constantly boundary-leaning even towards his own niece, giving the sense of someone who will abuse again the moment anyone's guard slips. (hide spoiler)] And that's all somewhat down to reader preference, but it left me feeling unsatisfied.
Overall, this feels like a decent introduction to this world or a prequel story about Julia's teenage years once she's the adult protagonist of a longer series, but I'm not sure it holds up well on its own.
Content warnings: moderate; (view spoiler)[backstory elements of murder, child abuse, sexual abuse, and period-typical homophobia. All violence is offscreen/ implied, but it still colors the story. (hide spoiler)] // Some lovely scenes, but I'm not sure they hang together in the most coherent way. RTC.
Other recommendations: -The closeted queer 1920s scene reminds me a bit of Siren Queen, which paints a haunting picture of silver-screen Hollywood....more
4 to 4.25 stars for me. Nghi Vo has a talent for casually beautiful sentences and for establishing an unforgettable atmosphere-- if you want a set of 4 to 4.25 stars for me. Nghi Vo has a talent for casually beautiful sentences and for establishing an unforgettable atmosphere-- if you want a set of old-Hollywood dark fairy tale adventures, this is an absolute gem. My only real issue was the structure. In the author's note, she mentions that this was the first book she wrote and that it needed to recover from being three novellas in a trench coat, and to me, that showed. The book is divided into three acts, each of which could be a satisfying novella but doesn't gel perfectly with the other two. I'm glad I read it, but there's sort of a soft-focus style to the writing that already has me forgetting details. Longer review to come.
Content warnings: moderate; (view spoiler)[there's a lot of background horror around the bargains that the studios make (including mutilation like scarring or limb removal) as well a plenty of allusions to sexual assault, but it's generally offscreen or not graphic. Also note period-typical homophobia and racism. (hide spoiler)]...more
After sitting with my thoughts for a minute, I'm still comfortable with about 3.5 stars for this story, rounded down for some messiness in the executiAfter sitting with my thoughts for a minute, I'm still comfortable with about 3.5 stars for this story, rounded down for some messiness in the execution of the second half. The historical fiction elements are interesting: the story focuses on Hazel Sinnett, a young noblewoman in early-1800s Edinburgh trying to become a surgeon. Those scenes really shine. Unfortunately, the romance and the poorly-grafted supernatural elements don't quite fit the frame, and I don't think that this fits the "gothic tale" marketing at all-- morbid elements alone do not a Gothic story make.
Some light spoilers mixed in here, generally for things that are already in the blurb.
The real love story here is between Hazel and the field of medicine, but we also need to have a flat romance subplot with Jack. This might work better if he was less bland, but he's just a poor corpse thief with a heart of gold. He really respects Hazel, and he has very beautiful grey eyes that are described constantly. If he has other traits, they're well hidden.
The story rushes from Jack and Hazel being acquaintance-friends drawn together by convenience to a deep and passionate romance, and it just wasn't very convincing. There's a bit of kissing and Jack makes a romantic speech about how beautiful she is, but the arc also reeks of "not like other girls," with Jack telling Hazel she's unlike any girl he's ever met and silently marveling at how beautiful she is without the benefit of the stage makeup he sees while working at a theater. The only sympathetic female characters are a helpful servant and two minor characters who Hazel helps with medical problems-- anyone of her social rank is stupid and/or bitchy, and no other women in the book, regardless of social status, are on her intellectual level. I think I'm just less interested in Very Special Genius stories these days.
I generally do like the flow of the prose. It's a very readable story, leaning into the strengths of a tighter story structure, and I flew through it over the course of a sick weekend. Unfortunately, the ending is messy in a way that's both predictable and strange. It's predictable in that the villain and that villain's motivations were predictable from quite early on in the story, but weird in that the story veers into near-supernatural/sci-fi elements in the final act. Bizarrely advanced science can be fun, but this is almost completely unexplained in a way that makes the story feel like speculative fiction only on a technicality.
I also enjoyed the historical setting and glimpses of primitive medical treatments that we get when Hazel disguises herself as a man to attend lectures, though I think it falls down in some details. Writing in this historical period and exploring the constraints placed on women who couldn't inherit property directly or work in many fields is interesting, but I'm frustrated when a story wants the constraints for window dressing without exploring them. Hazel is left alone with a few servants when her mother and younger brother go on holiday and she fakes illness to stay behind and attend surgical classes, which is fine as a way to get the parents out the picture... but the weight is all toward her doing exactly what she wants in their absence, with only one servant ever complaining and being told "I think you'll find with my mother gone, I'm the lady of the house." Even when she's sneaking out at all hours (getting horses prepared at midnight to leave with a strange boy), no one seems concerned with her safety or reputation, even if letting her be hurt or disgraced could lead to them being dismissed without references.
The number of servants also seems to fluctuate, with two being happy to basically have the castle to themselves while Hazel is out in one scene, but also a cook, a scullery maid, and apparently a staff of people to clean and manage the stables who aren't specifically covered-- but where's a housekeeper, steward, or head servant making sure everyone gets paid on time? There was a missed opportunity here to explore Hazel's social rank and relationships with servants who like her but are also concerned about reporting to her parents. The castle is about an hour's ride south of the city, which is somehow close enough for people to stop by unexpectedly (and for Hazel's patients to make the walk when she starts treating the poor), but far enough away that she's running a basement hospital for weeks without rumors of that spreading through society or anyone writing to her mother. Either reputation and scandal matter or they don't, and the way Hazel is never afraid for her future makes this feel like a modern girl-power story in an old-fashioned dress. (The occasional eye-rolling and modern turn of phrase like "lulled me into a false sense of security" don't help with that impression.)
Most of the logical questions didn't stick out until the end or after I was finished, which is a compliment to the flow of the story, and I'm always a sucker for "woman dresses as a man to infiltrate a man's field/industry." Recommended if you have a specific interest in that trope, early surgical history, or Edinburgh; otherwise, it's a decent YA adventure with a strong first half bogged down by a mediocre romance and choppy ending.
I think this would have been better as a straightforward historical novel that leaned into the medical horror elements. It also would have been fine with no romance, or with a purely tragic end rather than the current open one, but I see that there's a sequel planned. I'm almost interested in where the plot goes, but not at all in the romance, so I doubt I'll continue on-- there's a lot of "I enjoyed this element, but" in my impressions.
Content warnings: moderate to severe; (view spoiler)[the story involves surgery and corpse theft, so be prepared for things like the smell of rotting flesh, corpse maggots, and primitive surgery (including body parts being removed from impoverished people without their consent) . I wouldn't call most of it very graphic, but this is probably a bad pick if you're squeamish about organs and blood on the surgical sawdust. (hide spoiler)]
Other recommendations: -If you're interested in the medical angle and want a story that leans more into gothic sensibilities and sorcery, give The Path of Thorns a try. It's a much darker tale (and adult rather than YA), but there's a similar thirst for knowledge and urge to help patients.
// Original review: 3.5 stars, rounded down for an ending that seemed both predictable and bizarre. Good premise, though, and the prose moves along well. RTC....more
4 to 4.25 stars for me. I really wasn't sure about the first quarter of the book, but the story slowly finds its feet and begins to shine. Memorable s4 to 4.25 stars for me. I really wasn't sure about the first quarter of the book, but the story slowly finds its feet and begins to shine. Memorable stuff, lots of grand historical-tragedy detail, great setting-- glad I read this one. RTC...more
Unfortunately, this one didn't have that same sparkle: it's okay popcorn reading, just not much more than that. The best element by far is the stage magic, both the little mechanical details and the psychology of directing the audience's gaze and mood: the book would have been stronger with much more of that.
I enjoyed myself for most of the book, but I wasn't riveted and it's not great at maintaining consistent stakes. The shapeshifter elements and the murder mystery don't quite gel. Some deeper worldbuilding would help, I think-- the whole Traders/ Sylvestri/ Solitaires classification system is interesting but shallow. Traders trade forms, Sylvestri have a connection to the forest, and Solitaires are... everyone else, apparently. What's the proportion of Solitaires to the others? Why are they called Solitaires? Are there magical-race wars? To what extent has history diverged from what we would expect, given the very different (and friendlier) black/white race relations? We just don't know.
I would also have liked to see the book steer more firmly in one direction in terms of tone and audience. At times there's a light YA tone that's what I went in expecting, especially with the illustrated chapter headings. At others, it's trying to be more of a grim adult experience, but it's just too rooted in the coming-of-age experience inherent in (view spoiler)[Thalia learning that she's a Trader and then learning to control her powers. (hide spoiler)]
The ending was also a bit too neat and cutesy. A magic act framing a drawing room scene to address a murder is a great idea in theory, but most of the characters presented don't seem like the type to show up in a mini-theater and wait quietly for speeches and tricks to draw out a confession.
My biggest issue with the book, though, is one of underdeveloped stakes around Thalia's identity. (view spoiler)[Thalia learns that she's a Trader: neat! All Traders show signs of transformation when they're children, but Thalia didn't until she was twenty-one. There is never a good explanation for this. Most Traders spend years mastering their control of their two forms before their ordeal: Thalia takes about a week to jump in and do it. There is never any attempt at an explanation for her speed and skill. The ordeal itself is also less than compelling: for Thalia and her friend Nell, it's "travel a distance in your animal form and then change back," which is less an ordeal and more an errand. There's no suspense that she'll get stuck in her animal form or face serious danger along the way. (hide spoiler)] After those letdowns near the end, the last chapter is full of hooks for a sequel, but I just can't bring myself to care.
Other recommendations: -If you like this type of setting but want a little more comedy, just read Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. -If you want something at about this level of seriousness and a similar magical aesthetic, try A Matter of Magic by Patricia C. Wrede. It nails historical magical details and navigates nicely between social comedy and conspiracies without getting too bogged down on either side. -For a more Victorian setting and a smooth bridge between comedy and supernatural adventure, go for Soulless. It's more on the steampunk side, but great fun....more
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