And We’re Back. Again.
I know, I know. That’s what she… er, I said. Listen, once more, I cite life, the universe, and everything. And when I say “everything” this time, I really do mean everything. But I’m still here and still reading, which is, if anything, even more important to my survival that it’s ever been and since I know many of you feel the same way, I’m going to make an effort to spread the good words as close to every week as possible.
In case you’re new here or you’ve forgotten how I roll, I’m not a reviewer who’s going to give you a synopsis and then a list of likes or dislikes (those are extremely useful but they’re also easy to find). My reviews are going to tend to focus on what I liked about a book, why I think it stands out, and why I think it’s worth spending some of your precious free time on. I only review books I like; that’s a range in and of itself; I do critique but I don’t get nasty. Books that don’t float my boat don’t get reviewed because very few books are objectively bad; it’s far more likely a give story simply wasn’t for me. If you have questions, feel free to email and ask.
Got it? Good. Let’s go.
The Whistler by Nick Medina (9/16, Berkley)
There are many reasons Nick Medina’s books always jump to the front of my queue (sorry April-August, I’m coming back for you, I promise). I have no idea how this man writes so well so fast but his third book, The Whistler, delivers on all of those reasons in a tighter and even more intense story that had me so wound up I jumped scared (what, I’m a writer, I can make up words) when my cat’s tail went by in my peripheral vision while I was reading.
The horror: a sort of Indigenous gothic that balances on a knife blade between Shirley Jackson and Stephen Graham Jones, that fine line between hallucinatory and in-world reality that leaves you wondering if monsters are lurking in the bushes or, in this case, whistling from them, or it’s all in the character’s minds, products of their guilt, shame, and terror. Do we find out? Yes. And no. Which is what makes it fun. And scary as hell.
The characters: fascinating, flawed, and human. You’re never sure exactly what to think about them. They learn. They change. They grow. They twist. Do they deserve their punishment? That depends on your view of justice. And that leaves you wondering what your view of justice says about you.
The story: Never what you think it’s going to be. Always a tribute to those who are lost and hidden and forgotten.
Medina always finds time and space to talk about missing and murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, whether or not they’re directly related to the story. After I read his first novel, Sisters of the Lost Nation, I started looking up statistics on those groups and… if you haven’t you should. You won’t believe the numbers, especially when you remember that what you find are only the cases that are reported. A little information goes a long way; I had always planned to be cremated after death but I’ve switched my plans and am now having my remains donated to a body farm so that its breakdown can be studied by forensic scientists. That at least, will give the families of women and girls who have already gone missing some closure in the worst of cases. As to what we can do now? Those of us who have privilege need to start advocating for funding and resources aimed at both prevention and partnerships that Indigenous communities are requesting for aid. The next four years are obviously going to be rough but it’s our job to listen and assist where it’s wanted, to put mechanisms in place for when things swing back in the right direction.
The Whistler: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9780593820407
Sisters of The Lost Nation: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9780593546864
Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
I actually listened to this one and the readers were phenomenal so if you enjoy audiobooks at all, I recommend that format. If not, I’m sure that you’ll still be howling with laughter the way I was. Like, seriously, people would have been staring if I had been in public. Which, whatever, I don’t care, don’t threaten me with a good time. Also, no, I haven’t seen the movie yet, yes, I’ve heard its very much an adaptation, and that’s fine with me, I love Bong Joon Ho and I can see where his amazing brain would have a great time with a story like Mickey 7 so I trust him.
The fact that I say I was legit laughing out loud probably has you assuming Mickey is a sci-fi comedy. That is correct but go in knowing that it is dark comedy. Extremely dark. Jokes about murder abound as does actual murder. Mickey watches himself die a lot. He has jokes about watching himself die He has jokes about how awful humanity is. His best friend is a complete asshole. The colony he lives in has a murder hole (aka the corpse hole). Sometimes people get shoved down the corpse hole for using more than their fair share of resources because, as Commander Heironymous Marshall likes to remind Mickey, the colony has finite resources and sometimes, proteins are proteins and people need to eat (yes, he means exactly what you think he means).
Are there some triumph of the human spirit moments? Absolutely. Deep thought? I mean, yeah, The Ship of Theseus comes up several times and Mickey meditates more than once on whether or not each copy of him is him or a separate individual. People fall in love, hate their jobs, make assumptions that prove wrong, lie, cheat, steal, outthink each other, survive, learn, and snark. Above all, they snark. Yes, humanity, it seems, will always survive purely out of the desire to continue to be obnoxious. And dang, is it fun to read.
So much fun that I started the second book, Antimatter Blues on audio immediately.
Mickey 7: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781250875280
Antimatter Blues: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781250322012
Peerless Vol. 1&2 by Meng Xi Shi
Your honor, I present two of the bitchiest bitches who ever bitched and fuck me, do I love them.
Cui Buqu and Feng Xiao are spies. They are spies for the same Imperial Court but Cui Buqu heads the bureau that answers to the Empress while Feng Xiao is a deputy director of the bureau that answers to the Emperor. They’re about equal in power and influence. They both go to great lengths to keep their identities secret. They meet when their cases overlap and Feng Xiao takes Cui Buqu prisoner, planning to torture him for information in his guise as abbott of a local monetary.
Whoops.
Once things are straightened out, the duo spends most of their time bitching at each other about everything. Literally everything. Their spare time is spent plotting to out-maneuver one another so that their respective bureaus get credit for solving the murders and brokering the treaties they eventually remember they’ve been assigned to solve and broker. Lest you think them fools, know that they are not: Cui Buqu, while sickly, is peerless (see what I did there) in intelligence and wit and Feng Xiao is beautiful, a master martial artist, and no slouch in the brain department himself, which he is happy to tell anyone who will listen at every opportunity.
The story is fun, as decent spy thrillers always are, with double and triple crosses that aren’t painful to keep track of and Peerless is, at least in the first two volumes, much more linear than many of its danmei shelf-mates (looking at you MDZS and ERHU). But my favorite thing about it, if my intro didn’t make it clear, is the dialogue, especially the banter. Peerless has banter and sight gags for days and having taken three years of Mandarin, I know humorous dialogue and narration, really humor at all, are incredibly difficult to translate, so kudos to whoever is working on that and to Meng Xi Shi for the original. I thought Priest was funny (I mean, Priest is funny, have you read Zhen Hun?) but the fact that when Cui Buqu and Feng Xiao get so annoyed at each other they can’t take it any more they find a public spot to yell about the increasingly depraved things they’ve supposedly done to one another (they haven’t actually, but have clearly thought hard about it)? Comedy gold. When Cui Buqu sticks his hand in a corpse’s mouth and “forgets” to mention it until after he’s already touched the ever fastidious Feng Xiao? Amazing. Feng Xiao as Cui Buqu’s horny wife? Couldn’t enjoy it more. Feng Xiao letting Cui Buqu hit the ground when he faints because he’s covered in blood instead of catching him because, ew, not my robes? I laughed for 20 minutes. It’s all in the word choice, the flow, the imagery, and I’m very happy to have Vol. 3 in my hands.
I hope they do this until they die.
Yes, I did peek at the end of Vol. 3 and until proven otherwise, that’s just some weird foreplay.
Peerless Vol 1: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9798888438183
Peerless Vol 2: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9798891602632
Peerless Vol 3: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9798891605879
MDZS Vol 1: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781648279195
ERHA Vol 1: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781638589297
Zhen Hun Vol 1: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781638589365
That’s the news for this week. Hope you find something you like! Book talk soon.