Hello and welcome to my August 2023 Short and Sweet review roundup, and another trio of recent(ish) reads to talk about. After missing June’s roundup entirely and opting for an Aconyte-only approach in July, it’s back to business as usual this time – I’ve picked out an Age of Sigmar novel from Black Library, the first book in a recent fantasy series that I’d been meaning to read for ages, and then something a little different involving an octopus. These are all books that for one reason or another I haven’t wanted or been able to write a full review for, but I still want to talk about!
Godeater’s Son by Noah Van Nguyen
The debut Black Library novel from Noah Van Nguyen, Godeater’s Son is the story of Heldanarr Fall, a man torn between his hatred of the God-King Sigmar and his disregard for the Chaos gods. In the burning deserts of Aqshy, Fall is set on the path of war by the death of his sister and the cruelty of the Azyrites who have pushed his people aside. As he gathers warriors to his banner he grows in power, striking back at the Azyrites and raising the ire of even the terrifying Stormcast Eternals, but he’s forced to wrestle with his desire to cling to his people’s old ways, and the pressure of the gods worshipped by his new followers.
There are some really interesting concepts here, in particular the impact of colonialism with the Azyrites as the occupiers, and Aqshy really comes to life with some cool locations and ideas. Thematically it’s a book with a lot of possibilities, especially when you also factor in Fall’s determined rejection of all gods. But for me it tried to do far too much, rushing to cram too many ideas into a single story and as a result ending up with characters I didn’t really believe in and a plot that didn’t engage me. There’s a lot of narrative convenience at play here, not to mention odd pacing both in-universe and for the reader, and Fall seems to swing between a simple tribesman and an educated, erudite warrior.
Personally I’d have preferred to see this story told over two books, to give more time for really digging into its themes and building up Fall’s character over the course of a longer journey. It’s a bold attempt to do things you don’t often see in BL stories, but it falls down by just not delivering a sufficiently strong narrative. Every review I’ve read or comment I’ve seen has been positive though, so clearly I’m in the minority, but for Age of Sigmar stories exploring regular human characters of a Chaos persuasion wrestling with their place amongst gods and demigods I’d say read The Red Feast or Blood of the Everchosen instead.
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Book one in the Drowning Empire trilogy, The Bone Shard Daughter is an enjoyable fantasy tale of bone magic, betrayals and rebellion, set in a Southeast Asian-inspired world of migrating islands and a failing empire. It’s told across multiple viewpoints, primarily: Lin, daughter of the ailing Emperor, desperate to prove herself and earn her father’s love; Jovis, a smuggler searching for his lost wife; Phalue and Ranami, a pair of lovers trying to make things work despite being from opposite ends of society. As they all work towards their goals, they’re each caught up in a movement, a rebellion, that inexorably gathers speed.
I liked this a lot, with the exception of Phalue and Ranami’s parts which felt out of place, their decision-making hard to really believe and their stories simply not that interesting in comparison with everything else that was going on. It’s good to see a prominent lesbian relationship in a comfortably queernorm world, but they felt almost like a pair of characters dropped from a YA novel into an adult story. Still, the rest of the book was great – cool magic, a fascinating setting I wanted to keep learning about, a pacy plot, and an enjoyable sense of bigger things lurking just around the corner. Oh, and also Mephi – Jovis’ mysterious animal companion who completely stole the show.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
A warm, gentle and ultimately uplifting tale of family, friendship and…an octopus named Marcellus? This is nominally the story of Tova Sullivan, a widow living in a small town in Washington State, quietly grieving the loss of both her husband and son, and keeping herself busy by working evenings cleaning in the local aquarium. There she befriends Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus with a penchant for escapology and a unique perspective on humans in general, and Tova in particular. Despite being confined to the aquarium, and being…well, an octopus…Marcellus is determined to reward Tova’s friendship and help her find a way to heal, but the real problem is that time is running out, and Marcellus knows it.
I came across this essentially by accident (long story, for another time), and read the online sample expecting it to be some kind of speculative story…which I guess it is in a way, given that some of it is told from Marcellus’ perspective. It’s a long way off fantasy though, which I think helped it feel like a real breath of fresh air for me – although Marcellus’ scenes were probably my favourite! It’s very much an easy read, but there’s nothing wrong with that, and if you’re on the lookout for something heartwarming – but occasionally heartrending – then you could do a lot worse than this. Just be prepared to want to learn a lot more about octopuses having read it!
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That’s all for this Short and Sweet roundup – if you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading and I hope you found that interesting! I’ll be back soon with another review roundup and more books to talk about, but in the meantime if you have any comments about these roundups, or if there’s anything else you’d like to see me cover, do let me know. You can drop me a line in the comments below, or find me on social media.
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