The Hyperspace Enigma Part 2: Fantastic Voyage

Adam Andrews Johnson
Completed 12/26/2025, Reviewed 12/26/2025
4 stars

This book was not quite the hoot that the first one was.  Destination Unknown introduced a lot of silly ship names and scenarios that caused chuckles throughout the book.  This one was a little more serious.  There’s more action and more dire situations.  They are separated by jokes and witty dialogue, but the overall plot takes this book to darker places.   

The first book ended with a huge cliffhanger, so be prepared for SPOILERS for it.  

Our eclectic group of space travelers have been separated.  The sweet android Phentrom who has acquired the ability to love is captured by a bounty hunter while in Bouilla Bay with hunky Captain Suoki and his little pug Frou-Frou, Fonith, and Golvinte.  It’s up to Suoki, Fonith, and Golvinte to track down Phentrom and his abductor.  Stawren and Lyoth are out trying to find Suoki’s ship which was stolen by mutineers and flown through a wormhole which took it outside the known universe.  They rely on research by Stawren’s amazing Aunt Thia who can hack just about anywhere to get information.  She finds the anomalous nebula at the edge of the universe and sends the two there.  They find a hidden planet with an amazing power source and a society of brilliant scientists who send them on a quest to find ingredients for a compound that may be able to help them find the ship.  The list includes one hundred liters of godstrolls blood.  This, and the other ingredients send Stawren and Lyoth all over, meeting strange and dangerous societies, not to mention the whole act of obtaining the blood from these gigantic people eaters.  Action and excitement ensue as the two groups try to pursue their missions and survive the strangeness that they meet along the way.

Unlike the first book, things get dicey right from the beginning.  There are moments of levity here and there, but overall, the seriousness is in the forefront.  One wonderful lighter scene is when there’s a celebration on Boullia Bay at Stawren’s father’s bar and restaurant.  The evening begins with drag queen story time for the children.  After the children are taken to a separate hall to play until they fall asleep, the adults watch the full drag show with a sumptuous buffet.  It’s one of the few times everyone is happy and safe.  

As I was reading this book, I realized the main characters are all Mary Sue’s.  As I described in the last review, they all seem a little too unbelievably perfect.  Lyoth has amazing skill from his past as a career righter of wrongs.  Stawren is an awesome pilot.  Aunt Thia is the hacker from hell.  It’s rather funny when you think about it.  But with the crazy situations that Johnson puts these characters in, they better be unbelievable to get out of them.  So yeah, they’re still rather two-dimensional, but I’ve come to really like them.  And minor spoiler, not everyone gets out of every situation this time.  So the darkness of the plot affects the characters as well.  

I also really liked that the group’s morality comes into question.  They work hard at not killing their enemies willy-nilly, but tough situations call for tough decisions.  They regret what they have to do to save each other and they openly discuss it.  It calls into question the whole Star Wars-y shoot ‘em up space cowboy mythos that began in the first book.  It brings the characters a little closer to being three-dimensional.  One really touching scene has Lyoth trying to deprogram a nineteen-year-old girl who’s just been freed from a dangerous cult.  

I still find the writing to be a little rough.  There’s a lot of telling rather than showing.  Some of the dialogue is a little too plain, with the obvious being stated too often.  And there are an awful lot of really nice, helpful people around the universe.  It’s too good to be true.  But somehow, it all works, and I can’t wait for the next book to be released.  So yes, there’s another cliffhanger, which bummed me out.  But you can be sure that I’ll still keep reading the series.  It is great to have likable characters who keep saving the day in a homo-normative universe.  And Johnson does his damnedest to explain the crazy science in this wild universe he’s created.  I give this book four stars out of five.  

The Hunter’s Apprentice

Lindsay Schopfer
Completed 12/20/2025, Reviewed 12/25/2025
5 stars

This is the (currently) the last book in The Beast Hunter series and it is everything that’s great about this series.  It’s full of creative character development, detailed world building, and is beautifully written.  Reading these books gives me a warm, cozy feeling, even with all the Cthutu-like monsters roaming around.  This time though, instead of being contracted to kill monsters, Keltin and his posse travel the infamous Salt Road to take Jaylocke to see his nomadic people, the Weycliff wayfarers.  Along the way, they have to deal with several monsters, including a flying beast that tries to abscond with a wayfarer child right from the middle of camp.  But also in this book, Keltin shows us his conscientious side, his respect for monsters when they aren’t an active threat to people.  

Keltin’s apprentice Jaylocke receives a letter that the wayfarers are holding a Gathering where events such as infant naming, marriages, and provings take place before the council of elders.  Jaylocke must attend to prove himself a master of his field to be deemed an adult.  It is only as an adult that he can marry the woman he pines for, who already is an adult.  However, he has a rival for her affection who will go through his own proving.  Keltin and Bor’ve’tai accompany him to vouch for his learning, along with the women these two pine for.  Yes, there’s a lot of pining going on.  On the way, they meet up with some big game hunters who want to hire Keltin to help them track and kill some monsters for sport.   Through this and later interactions with the hunters, we learn that Keltin not only has a healthy respect for the monsters, but also refuses to indiscriminately kill them if they are not a clear and present danger to people.  

A lot goes on in this book.  Through Jaylocke’s proving ritual, we learn a lot about his nomadic peoples.  They are somewhat like Native Americans in their roaming, rituals, and decision making.  As for his rival, he’s a quiet nervous young man who unfortunately has three obnoxious and belligerent older brothers.  They show no respect for either Jaylocke or his mentor Keltin and try to ambush both their characters by taking Keltin out on a monster hunt for food.  The brothers get drunk and shoot for sport rather than food, leaving seventeen monsters dead or dying from careless shooting.  Keltin, who shows them the correct way to mercifully kill a monster, is disgusted.  He takes their wagon back to camp, leaving them to return by foot.  The brothers claim Keltin tried to leave them for dead, but not until after the hunter has demonstrated to the elders the brothers’ recklessness.  Then, when Jaylocke doesn’t pass his proving, he finds the big game hunters to lead them on safari to take down an alpha male monster, proving he has what it takes.  This leads to a confrontation between Keltin and two rival alphas.  

Romantic love is also a theme throughout this book.  There’s the thread of Jaylocke wanting to be able to choose the woman with whom he is infatuated.  The woman of Keltin’s longing is also on the trip.  But he is too awkwardly shy to honestly express himself.  And, he just doesn’t get her hints.  There is even sexual tension between Bor’ve’tai and his own love interest, although it’s hard to pick up on them because the Loopi are such a calm, stoic people.  

Another major focus of the book is the society of one type of herding monster.  They are bison-like with many horns used by the males for defense and proving dominance.  One particular herd feeds near the Gathering.  The alpha male is known as the Emperor.  There is a rival male roaming the plains near the Gathering as well which wreaks havoc on one of the wayfarers’ tribes on their way to the event.  Needless to say, we have a lot of interactions with the two males before their final showdown for dominance over the herd which we get to experience with Keltin, Jaylocke, Bor’ve’tai, and the big game hunters.

One last point to make is that despite this being Old West flavored, the featured female characters are not simply damsels in distress.  They all have their gifts and strengths.  Elaine, who loves Keltin, is quite strong and fierce under her outward demure appearance.  The same goes for Bor’ve’tai’s love, though we know that from the previous books as well.  And the women of the wayfarer tribes, like a Native American tribe, also are strong women who play active and prominent roles in leadership, defense, and healing, to say the least.  While the series is very male-dominated character-wise, the female characters are by no means dismissed as subservient and powerless.    

I give this book five stars out of five.  It pressed all my good buttons for emotional involvement in the story and the characters.  I was sad this was the last of the books, for now.  I’m on Schopfer’s mailing list, so I’ll be alerted if (when?) another installment comes out.  In the meantime, I still have a huge TBR list to distract me, although I’ll probably find time to read some of his other books 😉

Dangerous Territory

Lindsay Schopfer
Completed 12/16/2025, Reviewed 12/16/2025
4 stars

Another winner in the Keltin Moore Adventures series.  While not as perfect as Into the North, it still holds up the series’ expectations.  The prose is flawless.  I loved the simple act of sitting down and reading it.  The buildup is slow and steady, with lots of character and plot development.  Schopfer carefully creates the physical and emotional environments to give us the motivations and challenges for Keltin’s task, to extricate the family of the girl he loves from inside the closed borders of a fascist regime.  Though this book was written six years ago, it felt very relevant to today.  My only problem with the book was that the ending felt very cinematic, that it would be more successful being depicted on film than described in the book.  Nonetheless, it is still a great reading experience and made me want to jump right into the fourth book.

With his earnings from successfully completing his bounty in the last book, Keltin opens his beast hunting business, aptly named “The Beast Hunter,” with his companions Jaylocke and Bor’ve’tai.  A request comes in for beast removal, and he sends Jaylocke and Bor’ve’tai while he stays to staff the office.  Shortly after, he is approached by the father of the woman he loves.  He asks Keltin to rescue her, his wife, and his two young boys who remained in the country that is now ruled by a Supreme Minister who has closed the borders.  He agrees to go despite his companions still being out on their assignment.  He reluctantly agrees to take on a journalist who wants to nab a firsthand account of beast hunting.  Having been a war correspondent during that country’s earlier war, he doesn’t have much fear of the journey.  Along the way, they meet a man and woman with a beast trained to kill other beasts.  So the four of them and the pet monster attempt to sneak across the border to smuggle out the family.

The coolest thing about the lead up to the action is everything that happens before Keltin’s leaving.  He visits with his sister at the estate where she is the governess.  The family treats her very well and extends that same warmth to Keltin.  Despite his introverted nature, he tries hard to return their hospitality.  He also meets Isaac, the young man with whom his sister has fallen in love.  Now he is faced with the dilemma of taking his deceased father’s role of giving permission to Issac to marry Mary.  This is a huge step for Keltin, and it takes him some time to reconcile the cognitive dissonance he faces.  While this is going on, he struggles with his own feelings toward Elaine, who is trapped in the country with closed borders.  He obviously has loved her since he saved her and her family in the first book, but Keltin is simply not good with feelings.  

As usual, Schopfer does a great job with the new characters that cross paths with Keltin.  From good guys like Ross and Wendi and their pet monster Kull, to the leaders of the secret brotherhood that tries to save the ostracized Loopi and their culture, the characters are multi-dimensional, each with their own distinct voice.  There was only one part where I got a little confused by all the characters at play in the chapter.  But as my regular readers know, this is not uncommon for me when a lot of characters are interacting at once.  

My only criticism was the climax.  As I mentioned above, reading it was not as riveting as the climax of the last book.  I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. last night to finish it but wasn’t as wound up as I was when Keltin and crew were fighting the Ghost of Lost Trap.  Yes, there are lots of monsters chasing Keltin’s charges, but I didn’t feel immersed in the tension and fear.  However, I think it would make for an exciting climax of the film version.  That is the only reason I took off a star, giving this book four stars out of five.  But make no mistake, this is a terrific book in a terrific series.  And yes, I already started the fourth book, at 1:30 a.m. last night!

Into the North

Lindsay Schopfer
Completed 12/11/2025, Reviewed 12/15/2025
5 stars

I chatted with this author at WorldCon in Seattle and picked up his fourth book in the Keltin Moore Adventure series.  I first met him a while ago at Orycon where I picked up the first three.  I really liked the first book, The Beast Hunter, but then stalled on continuing in the series.  Well, having such a wonderful chat with him in Seattle got me reinvigorated and have finally read Book 2.  I loved it.  It really came together for me despite being so long since reading the first.  His prose has a warm, cozy feel, despite being about chasing bloodthirsty monsters in the cold north.  The simple act of reading this book was a pleasure.  I easily slipped back into this wonderfully built world with enough references to his previous adventures to jog my memory without being info dumps.  So glad I finally picked these up again.  

Keltin has returned home from his adventures in Krendaria.  He’s accompanied by his new apprentice.  Jaylocke is a Weycliff wayfarer, from the nomadic tribe who can draw on their ancestors for help.  However, Jaylocke has lost his ability and needs to prove himself to be useful to his clan by learning a trade.  So, he’s hunting monsters.  After a very short stay, the two answer a call for help with the mysterious Ghost of Lost Trap, a monster terrorizing miners who are trying to cash in on the recent gold rush in the frozen north.  In the boomtown of Lost Trap, they meet up with their Loopi acquaintances from the Krendaria campaign.  They work at the Inn where the two are staying.  Bor’ve’tai, who fought with them previously, joins them on their hunt for the Ghost, using his psychic powers to manipulate the weather and his uncanny reading of people and amazing intuition.  The three have regular run-ins with the corrupt Hunters’ Guild that forces everyone to pay protection while providing none, similar to mob protection.  Between the Guild and freezing temperatures, the three try to hunt this seemingly teleporting monster before it completely wipes out the miners and the town.  

Keltin continues to be the brooding beast hunter but works very hard to be more social.  He has developed a fondness for Jaylocke, appreciating his apprentice’s levity.  Keltin has learned to be the patient mentor using everything as a teaching moment.  Jaylocke is fun, but not disruptively so.  He adds a snarky sense of humor that helps alleviate some of the dread of their mission.  Bor’ve’tai is very sweet.  He’s of the Loopi race, the ape-like people who are the target of a lot of discrimination and fear.  But to Keltin and Jaylocke, he’s family.  The theme of fear and hatred between the races of beings is often addressed throughout the novel.   Keltin does his best to be a barrier between that and his Loopi friends.

What I liked best about this book was that it was perfect for the time of year in which I read it.  It’s winter now, and the book takes place in the far north.  I loved being wrapped in my quilt reading about Keltin and crew’s attempts to track and destroy this teleporting killing machine through the snowy forest.  Yes, they come across many bloodied bodies and there’s a lot of bloody trails through the snow.   Still, I felt magically transported to this scary wasteland and felt like I was tracking the beasts along with them.  Even though I didn’t read it in one or two nights, I still felt like I was glued to the book.  In the end, I felt like I was part of their team.  

There are other subplots as well that are carrying through this series.  There’s Ketlin’s sister Mary and their mother.  Mary has become a governess for a wealthy family and their mother has moved in with their uncle.  So Keltin no longer has to support them from his hunting bounties.  There’s also correspondence with Elaine, who he met in the first book.  She’s clearly fond of him, but Keltin doesn’t know how to figure out his own feelings toward her.  Then, in the town of Lost Trap, there are other colorful characters, my favorite was the proprietor of the Inn where they stayed.  She’s a fiercely independent woman who shares many of the same values as Keltin, but is a lot more brash and forthcoming.  I liked them all.  They were as three dimensional as Keltin and his companions.  

I give this book five stars out of five.  This book far exceeded expectations.  Despite being over three years since reading the first book, I slipped right into this terrific world and cozied up to the characters and their journey.  My goal is to finish the books in this series because, well, I waited too long and now just want to devour them 😊

Game Changer

Rachel Reid
Completed 12/8/2025, Reviewed 12/11/2025
3 stars

There were a lot of things to like about this book: the theme, the plot, the spiciness.  There was also one problematic thing, that is, the fairy tale resolution.  Despite the worry and angst about being a closeted gay man in a hypermasculine sport with rampant homophobia, it all works out a little too nicely.  However, that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book.  It just made it more fluff than substance.  But hey, it’s very spicy and the whole Game Changers series has been made into a major HBO Max event.  And, well, yeah, I’ll probably continue the series.  

Kip works at the counter at a smoothie shop.  He has a history degree, lives with his parents, and is working food service to survive in New York City.  One day a stunning man walks in and orders a blueberry smoothie.  There’s some flirting and banter, but neither makes a move.  Then Kip finds out the guy was Scott Hunter, the immensely popular, most eligible bachelor and center for the NY hockey team.  Scott’s team wins that night and he returns the next morning for another smoothie.  Like many in sports, he is superstitious and begins a new ritual.  Eventually, after hinting around while flirting with Kip, they hook up.  However, Scott is very closeted, fearing the loss of his job and corporate sponsorships.  But they attempt to see each other.  Of course, they fall in love, but Scott’s fear of coming out publicly puts a heavy strain on their relationship.  Kip must deal with being an out man dating a terrified closeted man.  

I have to give props to this book for dealing with homophobia in sports.  Scott’s fear is palpable.  Being with Kip has made him happier than he’s ever been in his rags to riches life.  But he can’t fathom coming out publicly when he is worshiped by the team, the city, and the media.  This cognitive dissonance is real, not only for the rich and famous, but for many people.  Kip, on the other hand, struggles with going back in the closet for his boyfriend.  This is a tough compromise when you have tasted the freedom of being true to oneself.  I thought his dissonance was well played out as well.

My biggest issue is with the ending.  There’s some acceptance and some rejection.  This story takes place at the end of the 2000’s, so it is possible that the outcome could be very rosy.  However, given today’s atmosphere where the dictator in chief wants to make supporting LGBTQIA+ people a political crime, I can’t help to think there would be more backlash for someone in the spotlight like Scott.  

I give this book three stars out of five, mostly because of the ending.  While the book is fairly well written, it mostly suffers from being a little too sweet.  At the same time, I do enjoy a spicy, gay, happy ending book.  It just doesn’t have the depth the I’ve come to expect from the M/M supernatural romantasy genre.  I know there’s a lot of fluff out there, and this is one of them.  Side note: after watching episode one on HBO, I’m finding the actors in the streaming series give the characters more depth.  I’ll watch the series on streaming, and yes, I’ll read the rest of the books.

Heavenly Tyrant

Xiran Jay Zhao
Completed 12/4/2025, Reviewed 12/5/2025
2 stars

I returned to this sequel after reading Iron Widow.  I restarted it, not trusting my memory and judgement of the first two hundred pages from my original attempt.  It began well, making much more sense having the full background on Zetian, the MC.  However, I found most of the book to be tedious filler to get to the end goal.  It spends most of its time in her head, rehashing all her fears and neuroses every time someone spoke with her or whenever something happened.  Then at the end, I found out that this is a trilogy and groaned.  I don’t know if I have it in me to get through another iteration of Zetian’s mental state.  This book was nominated for the 2025 Lodestone Award, which is the non-Hugo award for YA novel at WorldCon.

For the plot summary, be forewarned of SPOILERS for the first book.

So in this book, Zetian returns with the Emperor, who she revived after over two hundred years in a deep freeze to prevent his death by the pox.  She claimed the title of Empress at the end of the last book.  She is both loved and hated by the people.  The Emperor sees the benefit of keeping her around for the revolution he started before being put to sleep.  He declares that he will marry her, ensuring her title and begins a kind of cultural revolution, putting to death the oligarchs who kept the poor downtrodden and abused as well as the counterrevolutionaries.  His ultimate goal, like Zetian’s, is to bring down the gods who are in orbit around the planet, controlling and punishing them for deviating from the heavenly edicts.  While they wait to strike, Zetian convinces the Emperor to make many radical changes to society, including elevating women from being nothing more than the property of men.  In addition, he tries to consummate their marriage, but Zetian wants no part of it.  She also discovers the true nature of the alien Hunduns and the purpose of their war with them.  The majority of the book is Zetian’s mental gyrations over every interaction with the Emperor and the people around her as the plot slowly progresses toward the attempt to attack the gods.  

By about page 100, I had it with Zetian.  I couldn’t stand all the time we spent in her head.  She is the narrator again and she goes on and on and on about her hate for the Emperor, men, the oligarchs, and the existing cultural paradigm.  That all worked well in the first book.  Here it is simply tedious.  Every interaction with the Emperor is the same, rehashing her same issues of revenge and the terror of trust, sex with the Emperor, and pregnancy.  There were some good parts, like her starting a non-profit to help women and her softening the Emperor to repeal the witch hunts and death penalty for the rebels.  She does learn a lot about what makes a revolution successful and how to lessen its heavy hand.  Amazingly enough, the Emperor actually listens to her.

What struck me as most interesting about her is that she is self-aware.  In response to how to act as Empress, she says, “Becoming likable.  Now that is the most daunting challenge I’ve ever faced.”  Regarding the Emperor, “It shouldn’t be possible to drift off to sleep in the arms of someone who represents so much of what I hate, but the throne room is very cold and he is very warm.”  And the brilliant realization, “Every oppressor, through their denial of humanity, sows the seed of their own destruction.”

The Emperor is interesting.  It is hard to tell if he is good or bad.  He shares many of the same values as Zetian, but he’s also quick to anger and retribution.  It’s difficult to tell if we can trust him since we only see him through Zetian’s lenses.  Yizhi, who featured prominently in the first book, appears in this book, though not to the same extent.  He is elevated to the Emperor’s secretary.  Of course, he can no longer be in a relationship with Zetian.  In addition, she feels she can no longer completely trust him.  This creates a lot of tension in the book, adding to the tension with the Emperor.  Shimin, the third person in the polyamorous relationship between Zetian and Yizhi, seems to be with the gods being kept alive after nearly dying at the end of the first book, apparently like a hostage to control Zetian’s wild, reforming nature.

This book makes many good points, but it’s all lost in the delivery.  Zetian is only 18 or 19, but after everything she’s gone through, she should have matured at least a little.  She is still the bitter, angry child who won’t grow up.  The only positive is the help she provides women through her non-profit.  Granted, she has to constantly fight the public’s perception of her as a usurper, and she does learn a little from some of the people around her, but it wasn’t enough to get me to empathize with her like I did in the first book.  I give this book two stars out of five.  The prose and world building is fine.  The themes are good.  But in the end, I was just so glad to be done with it.

Sisters of the Vast Black

Lina Rather
Completed 11/28/2025, Reviewed 11/28/2025
4 stars

I had a tough time getting into this “nuns in space” novella.  It’s only 160 pages, but it took me the first sixty to get into the story.  Then I was completely sucked in.  I have a fondness for rebellious nuns, and specifically, radical lesbian ex-nuns with guitars, having been friends with several throughout my life.  They take the Gospel message seriously, providing good works and focusing on peace and justice.  This completely replaced the image I had of nuns from my experience in Catholic school as mostly being castrating and abusive, perverting the Gospel for conformity and punishment.  The story began feeling conformist but jumped into a battle against an oppressive new government colluding with the Church for galactic control.  

The book begins with introductions to the sisters of the Order of St. Rita on their living, breathing space convent, the Our Lady of Impossible Constellations.  They travel in space providing services to those in need.  Despite their call to live open, honest lives, they all have secrets.  Mother Superior has a dark past associated with the destructive revolution on Earth.  Now she hides aboard the Our Lady in a vow of silence so as not to give away her true identity.  Sister Gemma, the ship’s maintenance-biologist, has a secret love on another ship.  Other nuns have varying gifts and inner demons as well.  They are all arguing about the theological implications of allowing the ship to follow its own instincts to mate.  Some of the nuns want to preserve its virginity because it is a consecrated entity.  Amidst this contact, they answer a call from a new colony to perform some marriages and baptism and to bless the colony.  Some time after their visit, they get a desperate call from that same colony that they have been infected by the horrible plague and need help.  However, a priest sent by the new pope to bring the Order under rein refuses to allow it, opting for proselytization over service, sending them into a conflict about following the Gospel message or kowtowing to the whims of the oppressive Church-backed government. 

Yes, that was a long plot summary.  For a novella, it packs a lot of information.  I think that may be part of why it took so long to get into it.  It also took a while to get into the idea that the nuns were living inside a living creature genetically developed to fly through space and house humans.  Quite the conceit to wrap one’s head around.  And then to be dumped in the middle of a heated debate about allowing the ship to reproduce, it kind of made my head explode.  But it all came together after the first third when I finally suspended disbelief.  I also got into the more when the secrets of the nuns were made more clear and more specific.  And yes, at least one of the nuns is lesbian 😊.  That made me happy.  

Mother Superior was a very interesting character.  It takes a long time to unravel her past, considering that she only communicates through sign language and is even spare with that.  Somehow, she escaped the massive bombing of London at the beginning of the revolution that radically changed life on Earth.  And while dealing with being head of this Order in a state of disarray, she seems to be experiencing the onset of Alzheimer’s.  Her mind gets unstuck in time and she panics, forcing her translator to figure out what’s going on with the slurred signing.  But you get the sense that she was a powerful force back on Earth and has been using that skill as the leader of the Order.

It is through Sister Gemma that we get the complete picture of the spaceship creature.  It has interesting little details, like the moss that grows around standing feet to help stabilize the person in zero-g and acceleration.  There’s also an intimate moment between Gemma and the ship when she goes into its reproductive area to observe the eggs being produced and to read the communications with her girlfriend from another ship.  It is because of the ovulating ship, Gemma falling in love, and Mother Superior’s Alzheimer’s that we learn of the conscience conflicts of the other featured nuns in the story.  This personal conflict sets the stage for the decision they all must make whether to answer the call of the plague infected colony or follow the new orders of Rome by acceding to the new priest on board.

I ultimately really liked this book.  It is the in-person book club selection for December.  Being so short, I may try to reread it before book club to get the full impact of its beginning.  I give this book four stars out of five.  It felt really good to read about nuns making the radical choice to follow Jesus’ message rather than the Church’s nationalist mandate.  It warmed my heart during this time of spiritual despair over current events.  

The Hyperspace Enigma Part 1: Destination Unknown

Adam Andrews Johnson
Completed 11/27/2025, Reviewed 11/27/2025
4 stars

This book was a hoot and a half.  I bought it at Beaverton Pride last June at the author’s booth, along with its sequel.  He was an hysterical guy and I thought his books would be too.  This one certainly is.  It’s not great literature, but it’s excellent fluff.  Imagine an out-of-control Star Wars in a queer-normative universe with tons of puns, glorious drag queens, hunky gay mandroids, tough lesbian bounty hunters, people-eating giants, abducted children needing to be saved, a ton of space pirates, and a lot of “pew pew” (laser gun battles).  Everything, including the plot, is outrageous and fabulous.  I read this in two days and wished I had brought the sequel with me on my Thanksgiving vacation because it leaves you on a cliffhanger. 

The story begins on a spaceship that’s an all-male “reverse harem.”  One mandroid named 5NTR0M  (pronounced Phentrom) experiences a programming snafu and experiences real falling in love with Lyoth.  The ship’s computer declares him a danger to the crew and needs to be decommissioned for study.  But when that fails, the compassionate captain chooses to place the two lovers to a cozy island world, away from nasty computers that want to harm Phentrom.  However, they are abandoned there when a mutiny happens.  They discover that the planet has become a haven for space pirates.  They meet Stawren and her father Jintrin, who runs a drag bar.  Stawren, Lyoth, Phentrom, and a few others decide to lead a revolt to wipe the space pirates off the planet.  It turns out Lyoth is not just a lover, he has quite the heroic past.  Then they discover the mutiny plot and pursue the ship to save the captain and the faithful crew.  This leads them to a prison lab at the end of the known universe, an unreliable wormhole, and a plot to overthrow the governments of the known universe.  

Yes, it’s all very silly, but it’s also very enjoyable.  The characters are rather wooden, but still somehow, very sweet.  For most of the book, they are all unbelievably amazing at getting out of jams and leading rebellions.  Things don’t get dicey for them until very end, during the lead up to the cliffhanger.  One of my favorite scenes is when a bounty hunter tries to capture Phentrom at the drag bar and it turns out Priestess the drag performer is the bounty hunter’s boyfriend.  He humiliates him into surrendering up Phentrom, throwing enough shade for an episode of Drag Race and threatening to withhold sex.  It’s quite hysterical.

There were times when I thought the writing was clunky, with statements like, “They had a great time,” or “They really enjoyed themselves.”  But I forgave the author those unnecessary obvious statements because the overall effect of the romp is just so fun.  I think if I was a hardcore reviewer, I would say this is maybe a three-star book.  But I also like to support the indie writers, especially in the LGBTQIA+ community.  So I give this book four stars out of five.  To me, a fun, fluff novel is just as worth the investment as serious genre literature.  The escapism is worth it to me.  It is more fulfilling than a 600 page, dark, depressing, heavy handed space opera.  And I must say, the world building is absolutely terrific!

Baldr's Secret Mate

Blake R Wolfe
Completed 11/26/2025, Reviewed 11/26/2025
4 stars

This third and final volume in the Mated to the Viking Alpha series is a surprisingly terrific ending to the trilogy.  The plot closely resembles that of the second book, Loki’s Enemy Mate.  However, it also provides a stunning conclusion to the conflict between the three brothers and Tyr, the maniacal leader of the rival pack.  I was impressed by the imagination of the author and his ability to incorporate Norse mythological concepts besides the characters’ names.  Yeah, it’s still a spicy M/M romantasy, but it transcends the mundane for an exciting climax.  It almost relies on a deus ex machina.  I won’t explain how because of spoilers, but I will say that the conclusion is more powerful than I expected.  

In the last book, we discover that Tyr is grooming and abusing a boy witch with amazing but uncontrolled chaotic powers as a secret weapon to destroy the brothers and their pack.  Unbeknownst to Tyr, Baldr, the third brother who is part werewolf part witch, has been visiting the boy, named Mist.  Every day, Baldr sits outside the dome and keeps Mist company, reading science fiction and fantasy and telling him about his pack.  He does this because Baldr has visions of his impending death and Mist is part of that vision.  In the process, Baldr gets the strong sense that Mist is his fated mate.  The two fall in love, but of course they hide it from each other, as they have no way to break through the dome.  After a devastating attack on the spa, Baldr finds his mother’s spell book and finds a way to cut into the dome to free Mist.  But Tyr catches them in the act and Baldr opens a portal into which they escape.  They end up in a different dimension.  The two must find a way back to their home dimension and put an end to Tyr’s rampage against the brothers.

Baldr is the gentlest brother of the three.  Having a different mother than Thor and Loki, and being part witch with terrible visions of the future, Baldr has developed into a kind, sensitive werewolf.  His flaw is that he believes he can’t allow himself to fall in love because he has seen his own death in the battle against Tyr.  He keeps this info from Mist, hoping to prevent him from being hurt when Baldr’s death comes about.  However, when he and Mist escape from the dome into the other dimension, they can’t help the natural progression of their love for each other.  The strength they derive from their mating helps them survive getting back home where they try to put together a plan to end Tyr’s tyranny once and for all.

I have to say that I was surprised and pleased with the plot of these books.  What I first thought would be silly, sexy fluff turned out to be very satisfying.  Yeah, the spicy parts are good, but ultimately, you want art.  While not as prosy as, say, Fourth Wing, this trilogy was well thought out and integrated Norse mythology more than just using the names of the gods.  The characters have depth and inner conflict and embody the characteristics of the mythical beings they are named after.  Even Tyr, the violent sociopath, turns out deliciously evil in how he manipulates the fear in all the good characters.  I give this book a surprising four stars out of five.  While not a literary masterpiece, it is surprisingly well constructed with a terrific ending.  For full enjoyment, I suggest if you read these books, look up all the names of the characters as you come across them.  It will give you insight into the characters’ personalities, motivation, and flaws.  This was definitely a good find.   

Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir
Completed 11/23/2025, Reviewed 11/25/2025
5 stars

Like The Martian, this book was an exercise in using science to solve problems in space.  While The Martian was engineering-based solutions, this book was based on pure science.  It’s perhaps the reason that I absolutely loved this book.  It was thrilling and fast-paced.  The characters were multi-dimensional.  And it was a book of hope.  It’s a first contact novel where both the human and the alien person cooperated to solve an apocalyptic problem affecting both their home planets.  It didn’t follow the trope of the alien being superior or inferior.  Instead, the human was better at pure science and the alien was better at engineering the solutions.  I found it an exhilarating experience.  This book was nominated for a 2022 Hugo Award.

Ryland Grace wakes up with almost total amnesia.  He doesn’t know who or where he is.  His two companions are dead, desiccated to mummy-like remains.  In the first 50 or so pages, he wanders around trying to piece together what’s going on.  Through a long series of sudden flashbacks, he finds out his name and that he is on a spaceship to figure out how to stop tiny organisms from feeding off the sun, which is causing quick cooling on Earth.  Once he gets close to the destination star, a star that seems to have those organisms without suffering any loss, he spots an alien craft.  He approaches the craft and sees a creature inside.  Through a series of gestures, he approaches.  The alien builds a tunnel between the crafts.  When they meet, they do so between a wall to separate their atmospheres.  The alien lives in an ammonia heavy atmosphere twenty-nine times that of Earth.  They slowly learn to communicate.  The alien speaks in music and uses touch and perhaps something sonar-like to see.  Grace uses a spreadsheet and music software to create a rudimentary dictionary as they communicate with music and touching through the wall.  Once they’re successful, Grace discovers the alien, whom he names Rocky, is there for the same reason.  Together they try to find the solution, Grace with his superior science background, and Rocky with his excellent engineering skills.  But as Grace’s memory continues to return, he finds out the devastating truth of his involvement in the mission.

The progress of the relationship between Grace and Rocky is amazingly well-crafted.  Weir wrote a near perfect first contact story.  They find a way to communicate despite the vast differences in their makeup and senses.  They are nearly equal in intelligence.  Each knows some things the other doesn’t.  And both are willing to give their all to find the solution that will save their home planets.  It was interesting that both are in similar circumstances.  The other two crew members on Grace’s ship died during the journey while in medically induced comas.  Rocky came with 23 other crew members and all of them died for unknown reasons.  Grace figures out why they died, having more knowledge of the dangers of space travel.  Rocky, on the other hand, is the better engineer, having the knowledge and equipment to create the solutions Grace proposes.  Rocky also is the better linguist, figuring out how to speak in idiomatic American English through his musical language.  It’s all quite remarkable and believable how they come to a partnership with a common goal and eventually become friends.

I also found the use of the amnesia to justify the flashbacks to be masterful.  It spread the info dumps over the course of the plot with Grace and Rocky, eventually revealing an amazing twist that could completely derail Grace’s motivation to succeed.   Flashbacks can be clunky.  Here, they were perfect.  They also introduce other characters from Earth, from the early days of the discovery of the organisms to the launching of the Project Hail Mary spacecraft.  The major character handling the crisis was named Stratt.  She was basically made a god-like program manager by the UN, forcing the project to move forward regardless of the cost in money, resources, and lives.  She has a great statement later in the book that when this is over, she’s probably going to jail for her iron fist approach and reckless spending.  However, it’s all justified in that she has to make this happen to save the Earth.  

I give this book five out of five stars.  I was completely sucked into Grace and Rocky’s psyches.  Though the book is narrated in first person by Grace, Rocky was just as loveable.  And the ending is incredibly uplifting.  I won’t give it away, but it’s awesome.  This book is very readable, with easy prose and science told in layman’s terms.  I CLEP’ed out of college biology 45 years ago but still understood everything that was going on.  I read this for online book club and it had 100% agreement on liking the book, which is very unusual.  Some people pointed out some flaws, but I thought they were far overshadowed by the spirit and execution. 2022 was a year with some excellent nominees for the Hugo Award.  I wouldn’t have minded at all if this book had taken the award.  

300,000 Hits!!

Wow, I can’t believe I got another hundred-thousand hits in less than six months!  For all the real people out there reading my blog, Thanks So Very Much!!  I’ve been cranking through an awful lot of books.  Having been unemployed now for just over four months, I have a lot of extra energy to devote to reading.  As promised, I’ve started on some gay romantasy, alternating with more reputable titles😂.  And I’m getting through books I picked up at Seattle WorldCon...which was awesome!  Well, I did get sick, probably COVID even though I never tested positive for it.  I’m still planning to go WorldCon next year in Anaheim and Montreal in 2027.  

Anyway, thanks again to my loyal followers.  I hope this blog gives you some ideas for your own reading pleasure.  

Loki’s Enemy Mate

Blake R Wolfe
Completed 11/18/2025, Reviewed 11/23/2025
3 stars

Second book in the Mated to the Viking Alpha series.  Another spicy M/M romantasy featuring the second werewolf brother Loki.  This book began more seriously than Thor’s Unexpected Mate and ends with an intense cliffhanger.  The overarching plot is more complex than I expected.  I have to give the author props for coming up with tragic family dynamics that make this short novel better than simple erotica.  The prose is straight forward and the enemies to lovers trope is well done.  

At the end of the last book, Loki left the family to get revenge on Tyr by himself against Thor and Baldr’s wishes.  He can’t handle that Thor has mated with a descendent of werewolf hunters.  He goes to confront Tyr who is out with his son Heimdall.  Tyr commands Heimdall to kill Loki.  During the fight, the ground opens up below them, leaving them trapped in a cave.  Tyr just walks away.  When they recover, they begrudgingly cooperate to escape.  In the process, an attraction between them grows, realizing they are fated to be mates.  Once consummated, they realize they have to compromise over what to do with Tyr.  Loki wants him dead, but Heimdall doesn’t, being his son.  And we know Tyr isn’t going to accept their relationship.  So they must come up with a plan to punish Tyr without killing him so that they can bring the two families together.

I was impressed by how well the author got Loki to go from angry, bitter, and grieving to realizing how he let his emotions put a wall between himself and his family.  The softening process takes most of the search for an exit from the cave.  It’s slow, steady, and more believable than I expected.   Heimdall, on the other hand, is quite the sensitive soul.  He cries easily and allows himself to feel his emotions.  Despite blindly believing in Tyr, he also undergoes a transformation.  He comes to recognize his father is not a good person, and is in fact, a brutal, narcissistic murderer.  But cognitive dissonance remains, which is what softens Loki’s drive for vengeance.  

Most of the action takes place in the cave.  It’s quite claustrophobic for the characters and the reader, as they try to avoid gaping holes in the floor while looking for an exit, all with a single cell phone’s flashlight feature.  This book is just over 200 pages, but it takes its time with changing belief systems and plotting ways to stay together as mates, despite what their families may say.  I give it three stars out of five.  It’s intense and sensitive and occasionally fun.  I’m looking forward to the next book wrapping everything together.  

Brigands and Breadknives

Travis Baldree
Completed 11/17/2025, Reviewed 11/17/2025
4 stars

This is the official sequel to Legends and Lattes.  Baldree’s other book, Bookshops and Bonedust, was a prequel.  This book features Fern, the owner of the bookshop in the prequel.  She has a foul mouth and is discontented.  This is her accidental exploration of what she does and does not want to do with the rest of her life.  It’s another cozy fantasy, although there’s more action than in the first two.  I didn’t feel very engaged with it until the end when I wished it would go on.  I think books about discontent make me feel discontent, even with the book itself.  It is almost meta, where I have the same feelings of the main character to the point that I stay as disengaged as they do.  This book was just released and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.  I really like Baldree’s prose.  I think he has become the epitome of the cozy fantasy genre, the way I feel that TJ Klune has become the epitome of cozy LGBTQ+ fantasy.

Unhappy where she is, Fern sells her bookstore from her sleepy coastal home in Murk in hopes that Viv, the Orc owner of the Legends and Lattes coffee shop, will welcome her and help her start a new bookshop in Thune.  However, Fern quickly becomes restless again.  She has a night out drinking with Cal, the handyman, revealing her dilemma and gets quite drunk.  She tries to wander home but ends up passed out in a parked carriage.  Next thing she knows, she’s riding with the legendary Astryx, a thousand-year-old elf with a long, storied past as a mercenary and bounty hunter.  Astryx has captured a goblin named Zyll who is wanted in a town about three days away.  With Thune already being a day and a half behind them by carriage, Fern reluctantly agrees to go with them rather than try to walk back alone through the dangerous woods.  This time away gives Fern the opportunity to reflect on her life choices and determine if she really wants to go back to the bookshop in Thune and Viv’s generous circle of friends.  However, Zyll is being pursued by other bounty hunters, putting the party in continuous danger.  

Fern is quite an interesting character.  She’s depressed with no sense of what will satisfy her restless longing for something else.  Astryx is famous throughout the land.  Fern has read many stories about Astryx’s exploits and is excited to be part of an adventure.  But again, she questions her decision to remain in the party once they begin encountering danger.  However, she more or less bonds with the aloof elf, becoming a sort of squire, although she doesn’t exactly feel worthy. She’s exhilarated and terrified with each attack on the party.  She constantly questions herself and her motives, but is always intrigued by Astryx, Zyll, and the other creatures they meet.  

Astryx is larger than life and two dimensional to Fern, but there’s more to Astryx than meets the eye.  It takes a while, but her depth comes forth as the bond between the two women tighten.  While I thought Astryx was pretty cool, I found Zyll to be much more fun and entertaining.  The goblin wears a patchwork jacket with tons of pockets.  Zyll regularly reaches into her pockets which are much deeper than they appear and retrieves something that the party needs to escape their pursuers.  She feigns not speaking the common tongue and surprisingly disappears from the carriage, free from her bonds, only to return later with her hands once again tied together.  Zyll is a mystery, but fun and amazing to the reader and Fern and Astryx.  She has a penchant for stealing silverware and kitchen utensils.  Her antics and insights made the moroseness of Fern and the aloofness of Astryx seem tolerable and humorous.  

Besides Zyll, comedy arises from the talking sword and breadknife.  Nigel and Breadlee, respectively, were imbued with sentience during forging and are powerful weapons.  However, they are also overly chatty and stuffy with foppish egos.  Nigel prides himself by being the sword of Astryx while Breadlee, a former sword diminished to a breadknife, is jealous of Nigel and wants to be the primary weapon of the elf.  They provide commentary that’s both hilarious and annoying.  Fortunately, Baldree knew how to use them in the right amounts throughout the narrative so that they weren’t as obnoxious to the reader as they were to the main characters.  

I basically saw the end coming, though the adventures and self-discovery were a good journey for me as the reader as well as for the three main characters.  Though I had trouble getting into the story in general, I didn’t want it to end as much as Astryx and Fern didn’t want it to end.  Despite being chased by dangerous bounty hunters trying to steal or kill Zyll, the book is still a cozy fantasy.  I enjoy Baldree’s prose and the universe he created.  I give this book four out of five stars.

Thor’s Unexpected Mate

Blake R Wolfe
Completed 11/11/2025, Reviewed 11/16/2025
3 stars

Fun M/M supernatural werewolf romantasy that easily engaged me.  It’s not as profound as the TJ Klune Green River series featuring Wolfsong, but it held its own.  It’s cute and steamy with an interesting story.  The prose is decent and the world-building a bit unusual.  But I enjoyed it and will read the rest of the series.  

Flynn has moved to Fenris to live with his grandmother for a while.  She’s a feisty widow living in the mountains.  She’s somewhat estranged from her daughter but gets along great with Flynn.  Flynn is out to his grandmother, who loves and supports him.  He often goes on hikes on the mountain to have some alone time, but Grandma always warns him to watch for wolves.  However, there haven’t been wolves on the mountain in years.  What is there, though, is a sprawling spa for the well-to-do.  On one hike, Flynn takes a fall and hurts his leg.  Before he passes out, he sees a great white wolf approach him.  It turns out to be Thor, the alpha of a pack of werewolves.  Thor and his brothers own the spa.  Flynn wakes up at the spa and is being healed by Thor.  The moon goddess has revealed to Thor that Flynn is his fated mate, despite not being a werewolf.  This causes commotion with the brothers, the rest of the pack, and most importantly, the evil alpha of a rival pack who is out to kill Thor.

The most unusual thing about this book is that Thor and his brothers own a fancy spa.  Their father recognized that to survive in the present, they must adapt and interact with humans.  The spa generates income so the pack can live “normal” lives instead of scavenging out in the wild like their rival clan.  That clan eschews anything modern and human.  Thor continues the family legacy of adaptation, especially in light of his fated attraction to Flynn.  

Like most M/M supernatural romantasies, the male characters are generally physically amazing.  Flynn is a twunk (hunky twink) and Thor is a hot daddy bear.  What made Thirsty stand out for me was that the gay main character is a little chubby.  It’s more realistic and the characters more complex.  This book is a very basic gay male sexual fantasy.  It’s not bad, just a little too typical.  As for character development, I was surprised that it was pretty decent.  There’s a big twist about Flynn’s ancestry which caught me off guard, and it enhanced the story nicely.  

I give this book three stars out of five.  It’s fun, quick paced, steamy, and exciting.  It ends rather nicely without a cliffhanger, but it is obviously set up to be a series.  I recommend this to anyone who likes steamy gay romantasy and werewolves.  Note:  my DnD character is a gay werewolf 😊

What Stalks the Deep

T Kingfisher
Completed 11/10/2025, Reviewed 11/16/2025
4 stars

Third in the Sworn Soldier series, this book was pretty good, but again, like What Feasts at Night, not as perfect as What Moves the Dead.  This novella is very creepy, as it mostly takes place in an abandoned coal mine.  Kingfisher’s prose once again is the star as it makes the exploring of the cave so very claustrophobic.  The past books were nods to Poe and local folklore.  This one is a nod to the Chthulu mythos.  It’s a satisfying read.  It just didn’t grab my whole being.

Alex Easton, the gender fluid soldier from Gallacia, and her trusty companion Angus begrudgingly sail to America at the request of James Denton, the doctor whom they befriended in the first book.  Denton’s cousin Oscar went missing in a coal mine in West Virginia. The mine had stopped producing coal a while ago and has been rumored to be haunted.  Oscar’s companion survived but is now living in an alcoholic stupor in the town near the mine.  So Denton, Easton, Angus, and Denton’s Boston companion John Ingold retrace Oscar’s steps and find mysterious lights and slushing sounds.  They also find that there has been a recent spate of gruesome deaths nearby that may be linked to the missing Oscar.

I love the characters of Easton and Angus.  It turns out that Easton is somewhat claustrophobic.  When crawling through tight spaces, their inner dialogue alone gets them through the ordeal.  Angus continues to be a wonderful companion who almost always can anticipate Easton’s needs.  I like the fact that no one can pinpoint his age or nationality.  I picture him as kind of a big daddy bear.  Denton was harder to appreciate this time.  I like him in the first book, but here, he’s less level-headed.  I guess that’s appropriate considering he holds onto the hope that Oscar is still alive.  Still, I felt like he was too irrational for the situation.  I really liked Ingold.  He was obsessed with the science behind the cave and the strange findings within.  He’s described as a person who is not just content with an answer but must continue to drill down into the details to learn as much as possible.

This being another novella, it’s hard to explain too much without spoilers.  But the creature stalking the deep is surprisingly well described, despite being very esoteric.  And I did like that there was a good creature and a bad creature.  It made for a thrilling ending.

I give this book four stars out of five.  It’s really good, but not for the claustrophobic.  It spends a lot of time in the mine and there’s quite a bit of body horror.  But if you are into horror, I think you’ll be satisfied with this.  T Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon is one of my favorite authors these days.  I’ll continue reading this series and I’m sure I’ll read more of her other works in the future.  

Long Live Evil

Sarah Rees Brennan
Completed 11/9/2025, Reviewed 11/12/2025
4 stars

I found this book highly entertaining.  It’s about a woman who is transported into her favorite book.  However, she ends up as the major evil female character.  It’s a great riff on the nature of good and evil.  She tries to advance the plot without being totally bad, but the plot keeps adjusting to the changes she makes.  The writing is terrific, and the author throws a lot of great snarky commentary.  I found it a fast, exciting read.  My only complaint is that I thought this was a standalone book.  Instead, there’s an incredible cliffhanger.  I nearly threw my e-reader across the room!  Argh!  Well, I’m sucked in now and will have to read the sequel when it comes out…in SIX MONTHS!

Rae is a twenty-year-old with stage four cancer.  One night, a woman appears and gives her the option to jump into her favorite fantasy series.  Her mission is that if she finds a special flower which only blooms once a year, she will be cured of the cancer.  Until she does, she’s stuck in the fantasy world.  Rae agrees and finds herself in the body of the villainous Rahela who is to be executed the next morning.  She joins with her mistrusting maid and her sketchy, possibly psychopathic guard to find a way out of the execution.  She succeeds, but then she has to navigate the plot to make sure everyone who hooks up does and who succeeds does.  The problem is that she is known as the Beauty Dipped in Blood, an unreliable, promiscuous, and generally evil person.  So no one trusts her.  However, she does find another person who is also from the real world.  That person works with her to get to the magical flower.  But nothing goes as she remembers from the book and chaos ensues.

Rae is quite the impressive character.  When she first enters the fantasy world, she’s excited about being the villain, although she has to survive and get past the execution order.  She pretends to be an oracle and proceeds to give away the end of the book.  That gets her past the first day, so she has fun with it all.  The problem is, she doesn’t view the other characters as real since she is in a fictional universe.  The other characters’ lives don’t matter and has a flippant view of their deaths.  All that matters to her is that the plot continues.  In reality, this is the definition of psychopathic behavior.  However, things do start to become real to her.  So when her interference to make the plot progress changes the plot, it affects the characters around her and she begins to have feelings about them.  And, as it progresses, they go from being cardboard to multi-dimensional.  It’s an interesting evolution of Rae and the reader.

As for those side characters, the Cobra is probably the most fun.  Flamboyant and superficial, he seems to have his hand in everything.  Emer, Rae’s maid, is one of the most interesting.  Besides Rae, we get narrative POV from her, so we witness firsthand her transformation from cardboard to real.  Oh yeah, and she wields an axe.  There are so many fantasy stock characters in the story, it’s quite fun.  It’s almost like it’s the author’s “Game of Thrones” but sprinkled with meta and snarky comments throughout.

I’d like to share a few of these comments:

“Rae had always assumed Anonymous [the author of the book inside the book] was a woman trying to avoid being pigeonholed.  Sometimes women writers got discussed as if they ran a fictional vampire dating agency, while clearly men writing green, bare-breasted tree women burned with pure literary inspiration. “

“She believed he wasn’t a monster.  He lacked empathy, went into a dissociative state and killed people serially, that was all.”

“Rahela’s lady mother had many uses for men.  They could be seduced for state secrets, married for money and estates, and poisoned to relieve one’s feelings.”

“He was the Emperor, so she would love him when he went through blood and fire and character development.”

These had me rolling on the floor.  But there’s a lot of seriousness as well.  Mainly, what really is good and evil?  This may make it difficult for some people to read.  For me, I found that some of the characters being deliciously evil made it more fun.  I think it also has a message about the fluidity of identity as well as that appearances may be deceiving.  This is evidenced by the Rae and others who were real people sent to the fantasy world.  Their characters obviously changed when they entered their bodies.  And of course, it changes the other characters’ reality as well.  

I give this book four out of five stars.  I found it fun and fascinating.  Watching the characters react and change around her was an impressive feat.  I guess there’s a big craze for this kind of meta fantasy in Japan.  But this was new for me, so I was entranced.  Next comes the long wait until the sequel comes out.  Ugh!

Thirsty

Lucy Lehane
Completed 11/2/2025, Reviewed 11/3/2025
4 stars

Very engaging M/M vampire-human, enemies to lovers, urban romantasy.  What I liked best about it was the exploration of other supernatural communities.  Well, and yes, the romance.  One of the main characters is not a traditional hot male, but rather a bear: bearded and a little chubby.  But the physical wasn’t as important as the emotional connection, and I really appreciated and honored that.  This book is very readable.  It’s also fun and silly at times, while tackling the issues of blood family, found family, honesty, and intent.  This isn’t going to win any awards, I don’t think, but I just might win Lehane an army of fans.

Charlie writes an advice column called the Wise Old Crone.  It’s been losing readership now that other advice columns are tackling the recent coming out of the supernatural community.  Charlie has no knowledge of vampires, werewolves, poltergeists, unicorns, trolls, and the like.  One day, he runs into Lorenzo, a man who dated a friend of his in college.  Charlie advised her to end the relationship with Lorenzo because she wasn’t that into him.  Now, five years later, Lorenzo still carries the grudge against Charlie.  Lorenzo confronts him, demanding to know why he did it, and if it was because he was a vampire.  Charlie didn’t know he was a vampire and tries to apologize, but sees an opportunity.  He convinces Lorenzo to answer questions about vampire-human relationships in exchange for running errands for him during daylight hours under the guise of it being for a “research paper” for Charlie’s dissertation.  Lorenzo begrudgingly accedes. Soon the two are attending supernatural functions of all types. With this information, the Wise Old Crone column becomes a hit and of course, the two slowly develop feelings for one another.  But can this relationship last when it is based on Charlie’s lie?

I was impressed with the character development of both Charlie and Lorenzo.  Charlie is simply a charming guy.  He loves life and helping people.  Lorenzo is terse and solitary.  Over two hundred years old, he’s bored with his vampire life and would rather have nothing to do with Charlie, or most people for that matter.  Charlie slowly falls for Lorenzo, but tries to keep it casual knowing that their relationship is based on the “research paper” lie.  He stresses over this and won’t admit he’s falling in love.  Lorenzo finds his heart opening up to Charlie despite his resentment over his old girlfriend’s rejection.  Charlie’s innocence and sense of wonder tug at Lorenzo.  But he too has a secret, besides the fact that he rarely opens his heart to anyone.  The play between falling in love and cognitive dissonance is very well played throughout the story.

The cast of side characters is also wonderful.  Lorenzo lives in a big house with a troll, a human possessed by a poltergeist, and a unicorn in human form.  They each have their own quirks and add color and humor to the story.  Lorenzo takes Charlie to a werewolf wedding, a druid initiation ceremony, and succubus/incubus art opening, among others.  Almost every chapter is chock full of new supernaturals for Charlie, and the reader, to learn about.  

I only had a few minor complaints about the book.  First, the narrative is third person, alternating between Charlie and Lorenzo per chapter.  Sometimes, it was hard to remember whose perspective was being told, even though the two characters are very different.  Second, the resolution was awfully quick.  I thought it could have played out a little more.  Still it was satisfying and a little surprising.

I give this book four stars out of five because it is terrific fluff.  I love a good romantasy.  The angst isn’t too deep, but the passion is powerful.  I particularly loved Charlie’s desire to be bitten for the increased intimacy while fighting his reluctance over his lie about the advice column.  And I loved Lorenzo’s slow turn from hermit to recognizing found family.  A very satisfying book even if it is a little silly.  

Cemetery Boys

Aiden Thomas
Completed 10/31/2025, Reviewed 10/31/2025
4 stars

This was a very sweet story.  It features a trans teen boy from a Latinx community where the women can heal people, and the men can release earthbound spirits to the afterlife.  As a trans boy, the main character wants to prove that he can perform the tasks of the brujos, but his father, one of the community’s leaders, won’t let him.  Immersed in mystical Latinx magical culture, this story of identity and belonging was one of the most heartwarming stories I’ve ever read.  However, I had trouble getting pulled into the story until the last one hundred pages, even as the relationship with the main character and the spirit of a gay teen boy develops. I’m not sure why, because I loved the protagonist, his best friend, the love interest, and the development of the other characters.  There’s also a murder mystery amidst all this, but I still found it hard to get into.  Despite my inability to connect with the story, I think this book may well end up a contemporary classic of YA transgender and Latinx experience.

Yadriel wants to prove himself a brujo, a male witch.  He and his best friend Maritza, a bruja with a strong, non-traditional approach, secretly perform the ritual that affirms him as a brujo.  His first task is to summon the soul of a missing and presumed dead cousin Miguel.  Instead, he summons a gay teen named Julian.  Horrified at their mistake, he tries to cut the tether to what’s keeping Julian on Earth, but it doesn’t work.  Julian convinces the pair to not release him until he can make sure his friends are okay.  Over the next few days, Yadriel and Julian slowly become close.  As they help him with his bucket list, they find out that other kids besides Miguel and Julian went missing and no one has leads.  But Julian’s spirit must be released before he becomes violent and mindless.   Yadriel knows what he must do but now doesn’t want Julian to leave.

Yadriel is a great main character.  He’s a typical teen trying so hard to be loved by his family and appreciated by his peers.  But of course, as a trans kid, he has self-doubts and a negative self-image.  His supportive mom died a few years back and his father doesn’t understand.  He has an uncle, Tio Catriz who understands not fitting in because he did not inherit the magic of the family.  He provides Yadriel with the support his father and older brother do not give.  Yadriel tries his damnedest to prove he’s a brujo.  When he summons Julian instead of Miguel, his self-doubt returns.  However, Julian provides him with subtle support, affirming him as a boy.  Maritza is also great as the sassy friend who doesn’t take nonsense from anyone.  Despite being a bruja, she won’t use animal blood for rituals and covers for Yadriel as he helps Julian in the few days they give him before trying to sever his tether.  She also sees the obvious that Yadriel and Julian are falling for each other, despite Yadz’s denials.

Julian is a tough character to like initially.  He’s the bad boy of the neighborhood, mostly because of a quick temper and general misunderstanding by most people, including his brother Rio.  Julian and Rio had a big fight before Julian disappeared, and Rio believes Julian ran away from home.  On the other hand, he was not in a gang and didn’t do drugs, but hung out with a small group of other teens on the margins of the community.  They were his chosen family.  As the story progressed, I found myself loving Julian almost as much as Yadriel.  I thought the rest of the characters were well developed.  Thomas does a great job of making them multi-dimensional, infused with the Latinx culture of East LA.   

Despite all these positives, something kept me from becoming completely enmeshed in the story.  It just seemed lacking through the first two-thirds.  Maybe it was the teen dialogue, or perhaps the lack of urgency with finding the missing kids.  That’s why I give this book four stars instead of five.  I think that a teen reader would find this book terrific.  It captures the trans and gay experiences accurately and presents lovable characters.  It deals with other issues, including homelessness and immigrant deportation.  The last hundred pages kept me reading late into the night.  I just wish the first part did as well.

Iron Widow

Xiran Jay Zhao
Completed 10/25/2025, Reviewed 10/27/2025
4 stars

I tried to read the sequel first when I was reading the 2025 Lodestar nominees (for YA novel) in the Hugos.  I found it incredibly hard to follow with an unlikeable main character.  I was running out of time before the voting deadline.  I ended up DNF’ing it, totally frustrated.  I thought I’d give it another chance by reading the first book and then attempting the sequel afterwards.  Well, to my surprise, Iron Widow was terrific.  It’s been described as a cross between Pacific Rim (which I never saw) and The Handmaid’s Tale (which I read in the 80’s).  So in reading this, I had no preconceived notions.  Now I know why the main character can be grating, what the technology is, and how the world came to be in this situation.  It's based on a Chinese society, complete with a Great Wall and oppressed and abused women.  It's kind of a downer but it makes you root for the main character.  This book was nominated for quite a few YA novel awards in 2021 and 2022.  

Chrysalises are giant robots piloted by older boys and copiloted by older girls.  They use their minds and yin and yang energies to control the Chrysalises in the war against the mech aliens that are constantly attacking beyond the Great Wall.  Wu Zetian’s older sister was such a copilot who was killed in battle.  Many girls die as the boys will often completely use their copilots’ psychic energies, leaving a human husk.  Zetian is very bitter and wants revenge on the superstar pilot responsible for her death.  She gets selected for the Chrysalis force, testing very high on the psychic scale.  She’s paired with the superstar pilot and kills him in their psychic link, winning the battle herself.  As punishment, she’s paired with Li Shimin, who has scored higher than anyone else but is also a known family murderer and has sucked the life out of all his female copilots.  Instead of a monster, she finds an alcoholic who hates being a pilot, killing girls, and his life.  Together with Shimin and her best friend from home, the sexually ambiguous, well-bred Gao Yizhi, the trio set out to find the truth about why these girls must die, why they can’t pilot the Chrysalises themselves, and the nature of the aliens, truths which would undermine the whole misogynistic social order.

This is a very dark book with a very dark protagonist.  Zetian was abused by her father and forced to have her feet broken and bound in the traditional way.  Every step she takes is terribly painful.  With this horrible background, she was already predisposed to anger and bitterness.  This only escalates when her only joy in life, her sister, is killed, turning her into a revenge machine.  It’s tough liking her at the beginning of the book, but as her childhood is revealed, we understand what formed her into this bitter and rageful young woman.  Yizhi, her best friend, loves her, though Zetian knew she could never reciprocate since she was on a suicide mission.  But when she joins the force, Yizhi does as well as a strategist.  He becomes rather obsessed with Shimin’s story and finds a way for the three of them to share quarters so he can keep them safe.  Yizhi is a kind soul, someone to offset Zetian’s intensity.  

Shimin is a very interesting character.  We find out he too is a kind soul.  He used alcohol to keep himself numb after killing his soul mate in a battle.  One point I didn’t mention above is that a Chrysalis’ pilot and copilot are also sexual partners so that they form an even deeper bond for their psychic yin/yang connection.  When he meets Zetian and finds out that his soul mate didn’t have to die, he joins her crusade to overthrow the status quo.  However, he is jealous of her closeness with Yizhi, creating a complicated love triangle.

The relationship of the three is at first distracting but becomes an integral part of the story.  It gives them the strength to fight the aliens and against the injustices toward woman.  Of course, they meet roadblocks the whole way, not only from the military officials, but from parents and even their peer pilots and copilots.  The young women copilots who you think would be supportive of Zetian are defensive and uncooperative.  Yizhi’s father backs the Shimin/Zetian pair financially to influence the military into protecting them.  But even he has his own agenda in supporting them and it doesn’t line up with the trio’s mission.  It’s all very messy but very realistic.

I think the book can be hard to follow.  There are many characters and the book moves at a very fast pace.  But if you stick with it, I think you’ll be rewarded with intriguing world building and philosophy, not to mention a delicious twist at the end.  I give this book four stars out of five and am ready to take on the second book, Heavenly Tyrant.