Ridgecrest Books Opening in Shoreline, WA, Quote of the Day, Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires Comes to TV, When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A Parker, The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, Ocean's Godori by Elaine U Cho, and Rook by William Ritter

Hello book friends! July is almost over, and as we make our way into the month I like the least (hotter than the devil's backporch and no real holidays and a lot of people die at the end of the summer), I'm reading up a storm and sipping tea indoors whilst avoiding broiling like a lobster in the sun. Anyway, here's some book news and reviews to distract you all from the heat and humidity.

 

Shoreline, like Everett, used to be towns that were considered crass and crappy stopovers for sailors and others looking to get drunk and have a good time. It's only been in recent history that Shoreline has cleaned up its shore and its image and has tried to become more family-friendly. I think this new bookstore is yet another step in the right direction.

 

Ridgecrest Books Finds Footing in Shoreline, Wash.

Since opening in Shoreline, Wash., this spring, Ridgecrest Books has been finding its footing and getting to know its community, the Seattle Times reported https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscVDek7gI6a5kdhpyHw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6mXDJLwpoMLg-gVdw.

Co-owners Becky Merilatt and Kevin Roberts officially opened the

bookstore in April. Located at 512 NE 165th St., Ridgecrest Books

carries a variety of new and used titles for readers of all ages,

alongside puzzles, journals, and other nonbook items. Its event

offerings include a monthly book club, children's storytime sessions,

and author readings. The shelves have been designed so that almost

everything is at eye level, and in the store's children's section, the

floor is higher to make sure kids can see things at eye level, too.

Both co-owners have prior experience in bookselling. Merilatt has worked

at Elliott Bay Book Company as well as at Secret Garden Books, where

Roberts also worked. Roberts told the Times: "When Becky told me she's

always dreamed of opening up a bookshop, the time was right and the

location was right and we decided to go for it."

Merilatt described the store as residing in a "pocket" of local

businesses within a "very residential area." While not many people

outside of the area know about it, the "neighborhood is so supportive of

its businesses."

So far, the children's section and the science fiction section have done

very well, which was expected; the owners have been pleasantly surprised

with how well translated fiction and small press titles have done.

Standout titles include Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang

Bo-reum, Ocean's Godori by Elaine U. Cho, and There's Always This Year

by Hanif Abdurraqib.

This is TRUE! Yet another reason why Maple Valley can never lay claim to being a cool community...we have no bookstores. The closest one is 20 minutes away in Enumclaw.

Quotation of the Day

"One of the biggest joys for me, in my long career of publishing

twenty-something books, has been meeting the independent booksellers. It

doesn't matter if you're in Houston, or Wichita, or Mobile, or

Nashville, or Miami, or Portland--you get the point--If there's an

independent bookstore, there's a cool community, because the independent

bookstores serve those communities.

"The support I've gotten from indie booksellers is kind of unprecedented

and it embodies the spirit of the yellow bus. It fills her with joy when

she is serving others. And I feel like independent booksellers do that

same thing. They get joy when they put a book into a customer's hand."

--Loren Long, author.

 

I read this book a long time ago, and found it to be amusing and kind of like a cross between Steel Magnolias and Buffy the Vampire Slayer...plenty of Southern charm with a Southern sensibility, like a better breed of True Blood (which is a horrible rip off of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse mysteries).  I can hardly wait to see it come to the small screen on HBO.

 

TV: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

A comedy series based on Grady Hendrix's 2021 bestselling novel The

Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires has landed at HBO, with the author writing alongside Danny McBride and Edi Patterson (The Righteous Gemstones). Deadline reported that the project "was previously in development at Amazon with Patrick Moran's PKM Productions but has now moved to the Warner Bros. Discovery premium network without Moran's involvement."

 

When The Moon Hatched by Sarah A Parker is a mammoth adventure romantasy (romantic fantasy), full of the requisite tortured female protagonist and the brooding obsessed male protagonist who make out but don't have actual sex until the end of the book or halfway through the second book in the series, which seems rather mean, considering readers have to wade through 700 pages of excruciating detail about every emotion that both have, and every yearning lustful gaze. YAWN. I have a strong feeling Parker read Sarah J Maas's Court of Thorn and Roses series, and decided to write her own fanfic version of same, while adding even more horror, torture and darkness, just to titillate those Maas readers who've already danced this dance several times. Even the author's prose is a rip off of Maas, who has her Fae characters call men "males" and used specific language to describe the world around the characters so it was similar to a watered down Tolkien novel. Here's the blurb: 

The bestselling phenomenon, When the Moon Hatched, is a fast-paced fantasy romance featuring an immersive, vibrant world with mysterious creatures, a unique magic system, and a love that blazes through the ages.

The Creators did not expect their beloved dragons to sail skyward upon their end. To curl into balls just beyond gravity’s grip, littering the sky with tombstones. With moons. They certainly did not expect them to FALL.

As an assassin for the rebellion group Fíur du Ath, Raeve’s job is to complete orders and never get caught. When a rival bounty hunter turns her world upside down, blood spills, hearts break, and Raeve finds herself imprisoned by the Guild of Nobles—a group of powerful fae who turn her into a political statement.

Crushed by the loss of his great love, Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. Now on a tireless quest to quell the never-ebbing ache in his chest, he is lured by a clue into the capitol’s high-security prison where he stumbles upon the imprisoned Raeve.

Echoes of the past race between them.

There’s more to their story than meets the eye, but some truths are too poisonous to swallow.

The blurbers lie when they claim the magic system is unique (and fast-paced...HA). It's not, trust me. If you've read any of Maas's books or Seanan McGuire's October Daye series, you've already read about how magic works in the world, several times. There's nothing new here under the moon, and again, the author rips off a lot of different fandoms, including GRRM's dragons from Game of Thrones and the heroine from ACOTR and McGuire's long-suffering, eating disordered Toby Daye. All of these women have in common horrible parents, (or parents who abandoned them at a tender age), being raped/whipped and physically/mentally tortured/abused by men or one particular evil man throughout the rest of their childhood, and then being honed into a killing machine by some kindly guy who takes pity on the beaten/starving waif and sends her out to assassinate bad guys. Of course, the female protagonist always hates herself, for some odd reason, and is, though she's barely skin and bones, massively attractive to men far and wide because she's "independent and spirited" and small enough that they can fulfill their pedophilic fantasies by drooling over the petite starveling. Insert shudder of disgust here. While it wasn't at all original, I did find the narrative compelling enough to wade through all 700 pages, though the ending wasn't terribly satisfying. I'd give this turgidly plotted, poorly edited book a B-, and recommend it to anyone who has it bad for SJM and GRRM's works.

 

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett is a fantasy mystery derived from the style of Sherlock Holmes but with an Asian influence and a Rapancini's Daughter-esque poisonous plants story arc that will keep you guessing right up until the plot twist in the final chapters of the book. Here's the blurb: A Holmes and Watson–style detective duo take the stage in this fantasy with a mystery twist, from the Edgar-winning, multiple Hugo-nominated Robert Jackson Bennett
In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible.

Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana’s brilliance. Din is at turns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior—but as the case unfolds and he watches Ana’s mind leap from one startling deduction to the next, he must admit that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect. 

The is the second of Jackson Bennett's books that I've read, and while his prose is clean and militant, his plots seem to meander until suddenly you're on a roller coaster full of twists and turns to the end. I honestly thought that I knew where the whodunnit was going until the final few chapters, which surprised the heck out of me. I also have to say that while Ana Dolabra was a wierd and wonderful Holmes, the story really rested on the shoulders of Dinios Kol, who was the most fascinating character in the book, because he seemed young, inept and idealistic, but was still a tough pragmatist when it counted, and in the end, he got the job done, despite all the double-dealing BS around him. The poisonous plant extract that literally turns people into tree food was a riveting MacGuffin that seemed bizarre but simple to understand, at first. It was only later that readers realize that there are monsters outside and inside the walls of this world, and that the problem isn't the monsters, it's the people that use them to rise in this caste-driven society.  I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to anyone who likes odd detective duos on magical worlds.

 

Ocean's Godori by Elaine Cho is a science fiction/romance/cozy space adventure that was so well written and plotted that I could not put it down. It's one of those books you pick up and begin reading in the morning, and before you know it, 8 hours have gone by and it's supper time and you're aching because you've finished yet another book that you never wanted to end (and you really, really have to go to the bathroom). I find myself flummoxed by the fact that this is Ms Cho's debut novel. Where has she been hiding all this storytelling talent over the years? The book is somewhat similar to Martha Well's "A Prayer for the..." books, with some Blade Runner (the original film from the 80s) and a bit of Star Trek's space family  and Firefly's ship full of misfits added in for good measure. Here's the blurb: Becky Chambers meets Firefly in this big-hearted Korean space opera debut about a disgraced space pilot struggling to find her place while fighting to protect the people she loves.

Ocean Yoon has never felt very Korean, even if she is descended from a long line of haenyeo, Jeju Island’s beloved female divers. She doesn’t like soju, constantly misses cultural references, and despite her love of the game, people still say that she doesn’t play Hwatu like a Korean. Ocean’s also persona non grata at the Alliance, Korea’s solar system–dominating space agency, since a mission went awry and she earned a reputation for being a little too quick with her gun.

When her best friend, Teo, second son of the Anand Tech empire, is framed for murdering his family, Ocean and her misfit crewmates are pushed to the forefront of a high-stakes ideological conflict. But dodging bullets and winning space chases may be the easiest part of what comes next.

A thrilling adventure across the solar that delivers hyperkinetic action sequences and irresistible will-they-won't-they romance alongside its nuanced exploration of colonialism and capitalism, Ocean’s Godori ultimately asks: What do we owe our past? How do we navigate our present while honoring the complicated facets of our identity? What can our future hold? 

First of all, I must say that Ocean Yoon is my heroine forever and always. I loved her strong heart and smart sensibility and her refusal to give up on those she loves, no matter what the circumstances. Secondly, sexy Korean fashion and design? Yes, please! Though I was a bit put off by Teo and his childish weakness, eventually he grew a spine and was able to help, instead of harm the situation. I also liked the Spock-ish Sasani doctor who provided a perfect foil to Ocean's reckless desire to save everyone else, even at the cost of her own life. And of course the rebel crew, captained by the leonine Phoenix was a hilarious lightening agent for all the battle scenes. I don't want to ruin the ending, but I will say that I would read anything else that Elaine Cho writes without hesitation. I'd give this marvelous space adventure an A, and recommend it to anyone who liked Firefly, or Blade Runner, or any of Martha Well's wonderful sci-fi. Get on board this ship and hang on for the ride of your life!

Rook by William Ritter is a stand-alone British/American historical mystery/fantasy novel set in the world of his famed book Jackaby, which I read and loved. This particular story takes place after Jackaby has (SPOILER) passed on his aura and ghost-seer powers on to the female protagonist, Abigail Rook, who is having a hard time controlling these new powers when she needs them most. Here's the blurb: This standalone adventure set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Jackaby series brims with humor, heart, and—of course—a hefty dose of supernatural mayhem.
 
Abigail Rook never intended to be the mortal bridge between the human and supernatural world. But now, the power of the Sight--and all the chaos that comes with seeing the essential truth of everything, every human, fairy, werewolf, enchanted slip of paper, and municipal building, at all times--is hers alone. With this overwhelming new gift, she should be able to solve crimes and help New Fiddleham, New England find calm in its supernatural chaos. 

The only problem? She has no idea what she’s doing.
 
And New Fiddleham isn't waiting for Abigail to be ready. Local witches and other magical beings are going missing, as tensions between human and supernatural residents curdle into a hatred that could tear the city apart. Abigail's fiance, Charlie, works alongside her to unravel the magical disappearances, but as a shapeshifter, he's under threat as well. Then Abigail's parents appear, ready to take her back to England and marry her off to someone she's never met. Abigail has no choice but to follow her Sight, her instincts, and any clues she can find to track a culprit who is trying to destroy everything she holds dear.

This tantalizing ebook reminded me of the PBS series "Miss Scarlet and the Duke" with the added dose of the Sookie Stackhouse supernatural mysteries by Charlaine Harris and a dash of the Maisie Dobbs mysteries by Jacqueline Winspear (that series has just ended, and I will miss it desperately). Ritter's prose is rich and sumptuous without being too fancy, and his plot glitters with good humor and compassion.  I remember how much I enjoyed Jackaby, and now that I've read his latest novel, I'm looking forward to more books in this world/series. All in all I'd give it an A-, and recommend it to those who like bantering British-style crime-solving duos with a supernatural bent.