Book Reviews and Mentions: Jackie Fraser, Kristin Cashore, KJ Charles

I hope this good-book streak of reading I'm in keeps going! I've been reading a lot lately, almost all winners, and it helps make up for the frustrating times when I dislike one book after another. 

I mentioned in passing a good book I read recently by Jackie Fraser, and I liked it enough to get another of hers out of the library, this one called The Bookshop of Second Chances. I liked this one as well! It's set in Scotland, and again features a character in her 40s, which I found a nice break from the young things. Turns out I like a bit of been-there done-that for a change! (I suspect I may be aging out of reading about characters who don't know who they are, if that makes sense. Or maybe this is a blip, who knows.) Her two main characters have a better idea of what they want and don't want, and I'm there for it. I'm sorry that these two are the only ones she's written, so far at least; I hope she does more.

Now, I have been able to read two more advance copies of new books, which is exciting for me, and I liked both of them--it's so nice when that happens!

The first is There Is a Door in this Darkness, by Kristin Cashore (thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for the ARC); it comes out in June (I'll report this then, as a reminder).

The publisher describes it thusly: 

A magic-tinged contemporary YA about grief and hope from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of the Graceling Realm novels.

Wilhelmina Hart is part of the infamous class of 2020. Her high school years began with a shocking presidential election and ended with a pandemic. In the midst of this global turmoil, she also lost one of her beloved aunts, a loss she still feels keenly. Having deferred college, Wilhelmina now lives in a limbo she can see no way out of, like so many of her peers. Wilhelmina’s personal darkness would be unbearable (especially with another monumental election looming) but for the inexplicable and seemingly magical clues that have begun to intrude on her life—flashes of bizarre, ecstatic whimsy that seem to add up to a message she can’t quite grasp. But something tells her she should follow their lead. Maybe a trail of elephants, birds, angels, and stale doughnuts will lead Wilhelmina to a door?

I have read Cashore's fantasy books, the Graceling series, which I highly recommend, but this one is regular fiction (mostly: see 'seemingly magical' above), and in fact it's pandemic fiction, which I emphasize as I know it may not appeal to all readers. I do think that a year or two ago, I wouldn’t have been able to read about this time period, with first the political upheaval and then the pandemic, but at this point, though certain things made me wince in vivid memory, I was able to focus on Wilhelmina and what growing up in this time had done to her and those around her. (I wonder how readers will feel about it in 10 or 20 years?)

I liked the touch of the inexplicable—is it magic? How else to explain it?—while still feeling fully real-world. And how people you love can drive you crazy—a theme that still resonates in my life! After I finished reading this, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Definitely recommend. 

The second book is Death in the Spires, by KJ Charles (thank you, Storm Publishing, for the advance copy), an author I was familiar with, as I mentioned last month, from seeing her on panels with other authors I love (such a good recommendation, isn't it? Hey you, next to Martha Wells and Ursula Vernon/T Kingfisher and Malka Older? Bet I'd like yours too). It officially comes out April 11, but the author reports that copies are appearing in the world now.

They describe it like this:

The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered.

1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth.

Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer?

As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby's killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?

Some secrets are better left buried…

(That's a little long, but I feel it's worth reading.)

I really liked it! I was a little concerned that it might go back into the past storyline and stay there, which seemed like it might have been heavy-handed given we know from the start that Toby will be killed, but it fact she leavened scenes from the past into Jem's present investigating in a way that really supported the plot, and I thought it was very well done.

I don't read a ton of mysteries these days, so I don't know how it stands up to the genre, but I really liked it---what more can one say?

Also, I don't think this is too much of a spoiler, but when some of the characters pile into a 'motor car' and go racing off, the line "Jem feared she was doing well over thirty miles an hour" made me laugh.