Welcome back to another month of what I've been reading! To tell the truth, I was in Paris for five days at the beginning of the month with no Wifi except what I could scrounge up at restaurants and cafes so I read a lot of trashy fantasy romance. I'm going to save all of you some time and not list every single one here, but if low-budget ACOTAR is a vibe you need more of in your life, send me a message or leave a comment and I will gladly share the un-edited, un-curated reading list with you (along with a contract to be signed in blood that you won't laugh at any of it). Anyway, here we go!
Table of Contents
The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
Gideon the Ninth // Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The Raven Spell by Luanne G. Smith
Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
The Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce
Protector of the Small Quartet by Tamora Pierce
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
In the second novel of Stephen King's bestselling fantasy masterpiece, Roland of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger, encounters three mysterious doors which open - for Roland, and Roland alone - to different times in our world. He must draw the three who should accompany him on the road.
In 1980s New York, Roland joins forces with defiant Eddie Dean. The second door leads to the 1960s and conflicted civil rights activist Odetta Holmes. The final door reveals Jack Mort, a deadly serial killer, in the 1970s. Mort is stalking Jake, the young boy Roland met in Mid-World.
As titanic forces gather, a savage struggle between underworld evil and otherworldly enemies threatens to bring an end to Roland's journey toward the Dark Tower.
Okay, whoever writes the summaries needs to slow their roll because this is literally book two of seven. Roland's journey isn't ending any time soon, friends. Now if you were here last month, you saw my thoughts on book one, The Gunslinger. You can go refresh your memory if you want - I'll wait! Good? Cool.
I was so much more invested in the second book, literally night and day. I read this in about five and a half hours the morning I was scheduled to have our little roommate discussion group (listen, if you know anyone with ADHD, you get it). I'm definitely more of an ensemble cast person, because I loved the addition of the three new characters foretold by the man in black's tarot reading at the end of book one. Seeing Roland's reaction to all the different technology and people he comes across adds a lot more humor than we see in the previous book, and the new characters all react in different ways to what's happening to them, so there's a lot more variety in the way the story progresses.
Gideon the Ninth // Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The Emperor needs necromancers.
The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.
Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.
Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.
Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.
Of course, some things are better left dead.
I mean really, you don't even need the summary for this one. Just the phrase "lesbian necromancers in space" should be enough for you. I read both of these books (the first two of Muir's four-book Locked Tomb series) at least two years ago and fell in love with the first book but really struggled to get through the second book so I thought it only fair to try again.
The first book, Gideon the Ninth, is a wildly fun, sarcastic, enemies-to-grudging-allies-to-friends-to-what-even mystery with plenty of magic, science, and good old fashioned butt kicking. There's murder, there's intrigue, there's spirit raising, there's skeleton armies, there's Gideon's sassy comebacks and Harrow's blank stares in response. The way the relationship between Gideon and Harrow develops and the way they come to an understanding is just perfectly done and it doesn't change any core personality traits for either one. They both begin to understand and accept each other just as they are, which just makes my heart feel all the warm fuzzy feelings.
The second book, Harrow the Ninth, was definitely better this time around. I think it helps to just give it a reread regardless because there's a lot that you'll miss the first time around. There's a reason for every decision Muir made in this book, from the 'repeated flashbacks but everything's slightly different' to the occasional second person POV chapters. The lore is strong with this one, so don't feel bad about consulting the glossary or even a Wiki entry periodically. You'll probably see at least part of the big plot twist coming, but let me tell you that the bigger plot twist for me happened in the fifteen pages of bonus content that Muir released with the later editions. (I'll just say that I was wondering what had happened to that particular dead body.)
You can probably read Gideon the Ninth on its own and ignore everything else if book two proves to be just too confusing, but with the third book coming out later this year, it may be worth it to just go for broke and add all three to your list.
The Raven Spell by Luanne G. Smith
After a nearly fatal blow to the skull, traumatized private detective Ian Cameron is found dazed and confused on a muddy riverbank in Victorian London. Among his effects: a bloodstained business card bearing the name of a master wizard and a curious pocket watch that doesn’t seem to tell time. To retrieve his lost memories, Ian demands answers from Edwina and Mary Blackwood, sister witches with a murky past. But as their secret is slowly unveiled, a dangerous mystery emerges on the darkened streets of London.
To help piece together Ian’s lost time, he and Edwina embark on a journey that will take them from the river foreshore to an East End music hall, and on to a safe house for witches in need of sanctuary from angry mortals. The clues they find suggest a link between a series of gruesome murders, a missing person’s case, and a dreadful suspicion that threatens to tear apart the bonds of sisterhood. As the investigation deepens, could Ian and Edwina be the next to die?
So despite the fine print at the top of the cover, I completely did not realize until about halfway through that this was written by the same author as The Vine Witch trilogy from last month! It seems to take place in the same universe, although a different city and decade, and there are definite similarities in tone. I thought this was a better mystery than The Vine Witch, but where that book had a completely predictable ending, this one didn't make a ton of sense. For instance, one character is revealed as a ghost but I find it hard to believe that multiple powerful witches/wizards wouldn't have had a single clue before the Big Reveal.
Despite that, I greatly enjoyed the rest of it and will keep an eye out for The Raven Song, which will be released later this year.
Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
This story, all four books, is about the making of a hero. It’s also about a very stubborn girl.
Alanna of Trebond wants to be a knight of the realm of Tortall, in a time when girls are forbidden to be warriors. Rather than give up her dream, she and her brother–who wants to be a mage, not a knight–switch places. She becomes Alan; Thom becomes a student wizard in the school where she would have learned to be a lady.
The quartet is about her struggle to achieve her goals and to master weapons, combat, polite behavior, her magic, her temper, and even her own heart. It is about friendships–with the heir to the throne, the King of Thieves, a wise and kindly knight–and her long struggle against a powerful enemy mage.
She sees battle as a squire and as a knight, lives among desert people and tries to rescue an independent princess. Singled out by a goddess, accompanied by a semi-divine cat with firm opinions, somehow she survives her many adventures to become a most unlikely legend.
I was obsessed with everything Tamora Pierce in middle school, and I'm gonna be dead honest with you - the reason I came back to it after so long is because of a fanfic I read. You'll get more info down in the Fanfic Honorable Mentions section because that monster of a fic series takes a while to get through (yet somehow still manages to leave you wanting more). This is also kind of a cool series to read going into Pride Month because I found out recently that Tamora Pierce tweeted she thinks Alanna would identify as genderfluid, although the language/terminology didn't exist back when this was first published.
Keeping in mind that this was written for a young young adult audience, this series fills me with nostalgia! Is it perfect? Of course not, but it's fun, features a kick ass female heroine, and led to numerous other series also featuring nuanced female characters (and let's be real, all you want once you find a book you love is fifty more just like it so this ticked all of my boxes).
The Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce
All the orphaned Daine wants when she comes to Tortall is a job. What she finds is magic in many forms, an ongoing war with creatures from legends and nightmares, a new home and, eventually, her unknown father.
Hired by the Queen’s Riders to help with their horses, she learns her knack with animals is a rare magic which helps her to communicate with the animal kingdom.
With that discovery she becomes the student–then friend and sometimes protector–of the great mage Numair. He also helps her to develop her second magical skill, the ability to sense the presence of the immortals, fabled creatures who have come to mortal lands after a long imprisonment.
All these changes in Daine’s life bring her new human friends as well as animal ones: Tortall’s rulers, Alanna the Lioness, the heir to the throne of imperial Carthak, a pygmy marmoset, and the badger god. Often she comes into contact–and sometimes conflict–with Stormwings–half human, half steel birds; dragons; spidrens–giant furred spiders with human heads and an appetite for human flesh; griffins; and the clawed, winged horses called hurroks.
Daine is kept on the move as she grows into adulthood and her power, coming to terms with her world and her strange, mixed parentage.
Chronologically following the Song of the Lioness quartet, this series helps flesh out the Tortall universe while giving us a few familiar faces along the way. This series more explicitly continues the trend of 10-13 year old main characters growing up throughout the series and then getting together with explicitly stated much older men, which is one of the only things that makes me raise an eyebrow higher than Numair Salmalin is tall. I suppose it could be explained away as being accurate to the medieval lifestyle, but if you have a fantasy world where magic exists and people can talk to animals, I think it's reasonable for people to fall in love with someone their own age. The fact that Numair is also Daine's teacher and guardian for most of the series only adds to my reservations, which is really disappointing because I really like him as a character.
Aside from that, I really like Daine's transforms over the course of the series from a distrustful, self-isolated young girl to someone who has a great community of friends and chosen family who she trusts to have her back and to share her thoughts and secrets with. I especially love her relationship with Onua and how Onua treats her with compassion, respect, and patience even when Daine is still skittish and doesn't want to let herself depend on or open up to anyone.
Protector of the Small Quartet by Tamora Pierce
Keladry of Mindelan has spent her whole life wanting nothing more than to follow in the footsteps of her hero, Alanna the Lioness. Finally old enough to enter training for knighthood, she soon discovers that being allowed to train even though she’s A Girl doesn’t make things easier.
At every turn, Kel is forced to prove herself, not only to her teachers, but to her fellow pages and squires. Her relentless sense of justice and her inability to turn away from someone in need makes as many enemies as allies. With the return of dangerous magical creatures from the Realms of the Gods, and the looming threat of war, the Protector of the Small has a hard road ahead.
Okay, don't crucify me for this but technically I finished the last book June 2nd. I make the rules here, so I'm giving myself credit for it for May. If you don't like it.... Too bad!
For some reason, I seem to recall this series being at the bottom of my list back in the day, but rereading it now I think it's actually one of the better adventures in the Tortall universe! The contrast between Kel and Alanna's experiences in training to be a knight are vast, but I love how Kel insists on wearing a gown to dinner so that her teachers and classmates never forget that she's a girl. There's just so much chutzpah and sass in that single action. There's a lot more 'show don't tell' in this one - we really get to see how hard Kel works to prove to herself and to the world that she deserves to be a knight.
We also finally have an age-appropriate romance (!) with a boy who was just a couple of years ahead of her in page training. I thought the way sex and sexuality were discussed in this series was a big improvement on previous books (although I assume being published more than 15 years after the first Song of the Lioness book has something to do with that).
Kel's devotion to her friends and to the residents of the refugee camp in the last book show that there's much more to Kel's decision than just wanting to prove that girls can be knights. She also has a deep sense of justice and equality and the value of every living being. In my eyes, this is where Keladry shines brighter than Alanna. Where Alanna comes across as bored with the noble lifestyle, being a bit of an adrenaline-seeker, and rejecting what's expected of her because she just likes swords and archery, Kel wants more opportunities for girls and to keep people safe. She faces immense prejudice for (in my opinion) much more noble reasons. Kel is also a notable exception as a main character in that Alanna and Daine were both magic users, whereas Kel has not a single drop of magic. That doesn't stop her from collecting a menagerie of animal sidekicks, but they are always with her because of their own choice and devotion, rather than because she has any sort of control over them.
.....I think I have a lot of feelings about Keladry of Mindelan. 🥺
Fanfic Honorable Mentions
The Rigel Black Chronicles (The Pureblood Pretense, Book 1) by murkybluematter - Okay listen. You don't even have to care about Harry Potter. This is just amazing on its own merit. Drawing from Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness Quartet, Harriett Potter dreams of going to Hogwarts, but in an AU (alternate universe) where the school only accepts purebloods, the only way to reach her goal is to switch places with her pureblood cousin—the only problem? Her cousin is a boy. The first four books are complete and the fifth is in progress. (But for real, please read this one and then message me so we can scream about it together.)
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