The City of Brass

OK! New Year! I'm gonna do this blog thing!

But for real, I had good reasons for not writing over the past few months, so sorry about all the amazing books you've missed hearing about. But it's fine! I'm back! And I've already read 4 books this year!

The first one I'm going to talk about is The City of Brass BECAUSE IT WAS AWESOME, OK?! I've seen it around, but haven't heard as much chatter about it as I have other books. It could be because everything I follow is YA centric, and this is technically adult fantasy (even though really, it could totally be YA; one of the two POVs is 16 and the other is 20 so really, it's just a technicality, much like Queen of the Tearling).

So, a summary:

It's the Napoleonic era and Nahri is a con-woman/healer/thief. Nahri has been on her own a long time, so she had to get creative to survive. She's learned how to spot a mark, how to read people, and how to swindle them. And she makes a decent living from it. But what she really wants is to be a doctor. See, Nahri has a special talent: she can sense what is wrong in a body and sometimes, she can even heal it. She also has a gift for languages. She can understand/speak any language once it's spoken to her. But there is one language she knows that she's never heard anyone else speak. She assumes it must be the language from her homeand, but she has no idea where that is or who her family is.

One night, she's performing a healing, and during her chanting, calling on a warrior for healing (for effect, because you know, words have no healing powers),  someone appears. A man who swears a lot and is very angry to have been summoned by a human. The problem, as he discovers, is that Nahri is not fully human. She's half Daeva (djinn {shafit}), which is an abomination all its own.

This warrior is Darayavahoush (Dara), and ancient Daeva who was once turned into a slave and served humans for hundreds of years. He doesn't know how she summoned him, but he knows the safest place for her is the City of Brass, where the djinn live.

In the City of Brass, Ali is a second son, prince who is raised to be something similar to a head of security for the nation. He will protect his kingdom with his life, never marry or have a family. His father is the king, and is testing him. For he knows Ali has sympathies and questionable loyalties. Not everyone is treated equally in The City of Brass, and Ali wants that to change. So he's secretly been funneling money into an anarchic organization--not so they can bring the government down, but rather, so they can help the half human, half djinn (shafit) members of their society who are so mistreated.

There is so much happening in this book, and it's all so well plotted and the world building is just magnificent. It deftly tackles racism, the meaning of justice, good and evil, all while building complex relationships between the characters.  Everyone in this book is so fleshed out. They are all morally gray (Nahri preys on the gullible to make her living, Dara started a war that killed thousands of innocents, and Ali executes a good man because he was told to). And that's just the main characters. The supporting cast is similarly well thought out and it was simply delightful. I can't wait for the mext book, because it's going to delve into secrets that I know were kept in this one.

So, basically--read it. Tell me what you think when you do (even though I will likely have forgotten half the story by then bc I have THE WORST memory).

P.S. The cover of this book is beautiful, so when you see it, I don't  know how you can resist it unless you're some kind of monster.

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo

I was blown away by how good Genio Lo is!

First: Chinese mythology! So fresh and welcome!

Second: Badass heroine!

Third: Spectacularly hilarious!

Genie Lo is a Chinese high school student who is preoccupied with beefing up her college apps to get into an Ivy League school. She's also freakishly tall, which makes her stand out. And to top it all off, the new transfer student walks into class and claims her in front of everyone.

At first, I was like No! We don't need an aggressive male love interest! I thought we were past that.

And we are! That was not what was happening (though Genie punched him for it anyway).

Turns out, Genie is powerful. Like, tear down the gates of heaven powerful. And Quentin (the new kid) needs her help to stop the demons that are breaking into this dimension. Obviously, Genie thinks this kid is crazy.

But then she meets a demon. And she's one of the few beings on Earth who can actually help defeat them. As Uncle Ben said, with great power comes great responsibility. And she can't just ignore the evil demons going around trying to eat people. The problem is, how is she supposed do stop them and get into an Ivy League School?

There are so many good things about this story. Genie has a strong friendship with a girl named Yunie, even though she can't tell Yunie anything about why she keeps ditching study sessions to spend time with Quentin. (And it's not to make out). The relationship between Genie and Quentin grows slowly and perfectly. Most of the time, Genie is royally pissed off at Quentin. He kind of invades her life and she resists every step of the way. Unfortunately (in her eyes, not mine) he is gorgeous and she feels alarmingly pulled toward him. Finally, the book is just stinkin hilarious! I read so many scenes out loud to Joe because I kept laughing and I wanted to share with him what was so funny. And I want to share with you what is so funny! But then you won't be pleasantly surprised as I was and I feel like it would just diminish your reading experience if you decide to read it.

So go read it so we can talk about it!

Freya

Freya was a fun, light read. I wouldn't put it at the top of your to read pile, but it was enjoyable. I remember how excited I was when it came in--I mean, Norse mythology, a pretty and colorful cover (which I wish I had taken a picture of!), and a thousands year old goddess as the main character! That sounds right up my alley.

Freya is living in a mental hospital, and has been for 30 years under the name Sara. She influences the staff to sort of forget how long she's been there, to not ask questions about her past and her paperwork. As the goddess of love and battle, apparently that's one of her abilitites. Since we all know gods get their power from their worshippers, Freya thinks she's found a perfect solution to living in a modern, skeptical age. Tell the other patients that she's the goddess Freya and they start believing in her. Thus, more power.

But (there's always a but) one day she has a visitor. She has not had a visitor in 30 years because no one knows she's there. It's a man named Garen, who says he works for an organization that recruits ancient gods to work for them. They go out and round up gods and goddesses to keep tabs on them and keep them from being destructive. What's in it for the gods? Why, a steady diet of worshippers--people who believe in you and increase your power.

Obviously,  Sara (Freya) says no. And that was the wrong answer. Garen tries to kidnap her. She (barely) escapes and runs off with one of the staff--she needs a driver. You probably wouldn't be able to drive if you'd stopped doing it for 30 years too. She tells Nate, the kidnapped staff member, the truth about herself, mostly because she needs help adjusting to life in the 21st century. Nate (barely) believes her, but is convinced once she gets him to fall in love with her for a moment. (She tells him she's going to do it and then lets him out of it). She makes Nate her high priest and he becomes one of her worshippers. I love the dynamic between these two for a couple of reasons. First, they don't fall in love. I think that's pretty important considering she's the goddess of love. Second, they flirt ALL THE TIME, but you can kinda tell it's just who they are--not because they're actually making moves or want to be together romantically. At least I hope that continues to he the case because I really liked their dialogue together--it was clever and funny and without romantic tension.

Together, they decide the best place for her to hide from Garen would be Disneyworld. (Oh boy did that make me happy!!) She gets a job as a princess, using her limited powers to expedite the process, and finds out that those little, dreamy, starry-eyed kids count as worshippers! They have faith in her! Thus, she gets a power boost. (I thought that was cleverly done!)

Anyway, lots of other stuff happens-Action! Kidnapping! Revenge! Lava! (No, seriously, lava!) Apparently this is going to be a trilogy. Makes sense because there were some unresolved things at the end. But guys--I don't know how to keep up with all these great books coming out. Can someone like these reviews so much that they decide they want to pay me to read full time so I can keep writing them? Can that be a thing?