The Last Wildspeaker by Ivy Rowan, The Weight of Sunshine by Robin Maguire, The North Doesn't Speak by Clifton Wilcox, and A Duchess With a Secret by Alix Nichols

The Last Wildspeaker by Ivy Rowan 

The Last Wildspeaker is a beguiling YA Fantasy novella with a meaningful subtext about preserving and respecting nature and the environment.

In the village of Brindlewood, Mara Fern can understand animals. While that used to be considered a gift, now it's considered unlucky and could be grounds for accusations of witchcraft. Mara is told to ignore animals’ conversations and to live as normally as possible. This normal front is tested when nature has decided that it will not be ignored. Various animals hint that damaging changes are coming. It comes in the form of the Briarthing, a vine-like plant creature that crowds the forest and nearby village and holds forest spirit Elderhorn in its stems. Mara has to use the powers that she suppressed and retreat into the woods outside her village with companions, Sable, a fox, Hoot, an owl, Corbie, a raven, and Turnip, a goat to find out the root (pun not intended) of this problem.

Any book that explores nature is bound to have a strong grip on setting and this book is no exception. It carries a deep respect for nature through the character interactions and the important prominence of plants and animals to the narrative. When Mara hears the conversations of animals, she realizes that they have human arguments, frailties, and vulnerabilities making them a part of the society around them.

Much of the humor derives from these animal conversations. A squirrel insists on territorial rights for his acorns. Turnip the goat brags about how delicious that he finds the mayor’s declarations are (since he’s a goat that’s not metaphorical). A cat critiques his human’s fashion sense. Chickens argue incessantly. A dog just wants biscuits. 

These conversations could come from humans surrounding her and that’s the point. Animals just want someone to listen to them and take their concerns into consideration. Just because they serve as workers, food, predators, prey, or companions to humans doesn’t mean that they don’t have opinions on how humans run things. 

Mara’s time with her animal companions is the highlight of the book as each character is fleshed out. Turnip is a lazy obstinate goat whose sarcastic barbs and “whatever” attitude provide much of the humor. Corbie the raven insists that he’s a prince and is a complete narcissist who has particular views about his plumage, nest, titles, and self-importance. 

Hoot the owl is, like many owl characters in fiction, very wise but his knowledge is tempered with memory lapses that sometimes result in important information being delayed while he tries to remember it. Sable the fox is a charismatic and courageous team leader but is trying to live up to the very large luminous shadow held by his god-like adopted father, Elderhorn who needs to be rescued. 

At the center is Mara who is now thrown into a situation in which the abilities that she once suppressed are now the keys to saving her village. She is overwhelmed by nature’s chatter but realizes her importance as the current bridge between the village and the forest to find out what is affecting both locations and what must be done,

Not just the animals but plants are affected as well. The Briarthing creeps into the village  and crowds those around them leaving a terrifying and sorrowful presence. Mara investigates the presence and learns exactly what caused this disturbance. She learns that human arrogance and error created their own monsters and now are choking under the consequences. 

It’s not hard to recognize this story as a metaphor for climate change and human-caused destruction towards nature followed by natural disasters as though they were from a planet fighting back.Sometimes the theme is a bit on the nose. 

But it is also easy to see that Mara is supposed to represent us, those who are charged with hearing, listening to, and cooperating with nature to find the solutions that will rescue and benefit all of us. 

 

The Weight of Sunshine by Robin Maguire 

The Weight of Sunshine by Roban Maquire is a deeply poignant and affecting Contemporary Fiction novel about a love story. Oh not a romantic one between lovers. Instead the love story focuses on a long lasting mostly platonic friendship between a man and a woman.

Jackson “Jax” Hart and Nina Welbourne-Rhodes, both from privileged backgrounds, meet in college and maintain a long friendship. Despite debating whether straight men and women can ever be friends and giving into their impulses a few times, the friendship remains constant. Through marriages, job changes, relocations, children, and other massive life changes, Jax and Nina remain constant steadfast presences in one another’s lives.

This is the type of novel that is filled with interesting characters with Nina and Jax as the most developed and fully realized. They have similar backgrounds of wealth and privilege. The type of upbringing where they were born at the finish line and their family names carry a lot of weight. It’s a background that is rich in material goods and economic advantages, but not so in personal experience or individual agency.

 Nina in particular struggles with this as she purposely goes to a different college than intended, chooses an unplanned career trajectory, and lives like other students. It’s somewhat performative as she still retains contact with her family as a family emergency shows and if she gets tired of living a frugal life, she can always go home. But, the fact that she even makes this decision shows a resilient independent need to make her way in the world her own way. 

Jax also shows resilience during his marriage to Penny, a bright but troubled woman. He endures his personal misery while also helping his brother and his friends like Nina with their problems. He is a steady rock for other characters even as his own personal life crumbles. 

In fact it is Nina’s independence and Jax’s endurance that attracts them to each other and keeps their friendship alive. During their reunions, they have insightful conversations about love, life, and death. Their witty dry humor bounces off each other as they are faced with youthful philosophy and adult practicality. 

The book loses its luster during the half-way point when what started out as a platonic friendship becomes predictably romantic. There are some decent moments after this. They continue to support each other. They shine as a duo just as much as individuals, but the set up of a platonic friendship is lost. In trying to prove the point whether a heterosexual man and woman could be platonic friends, it deconstructs it by saying that they can’t because sex, love, and family always inevitably get in the way.

The North Doesn't Speak by Clifton Wilcox 

This is a summary. The entire review is on Reader Views.

The North Doesn't Speak by Clifton Wilcox is a meaningful and chilling historical fiction about the escape to freedom and what such words like “North” and “freedom” meant for slaves in the Antebellum South in the United States.

Elijah and Lila are among the various slaves that reside on a wealthy plantation. They have heard about many escaping and heading North despite the Fugitive Slave Act which requires slaves to be caught and returned to their previous owners. It sounds hard to believe, but Elijah is willing to take that risk and inspires Lilah. They make plans to escape despite capture, abuse, threats, and betrayal. It isn't just a manner of outrunning their captors, but also outfighting, outwitting, outlasting, and outsmarting them as well.

This book focuses on the parts that many other similar books gloss over or hand wave: how difficult it is to even think about escaping. Many of the characters argue whether escape is even possible. Elijah inspires Lilah and compels her to leave her cruel mistress behind. Other characters prefer the safety of the known surroundings over the fear of the unknown that going north would bring.

Besides talking about running to freedom, there are also moments when characters have to seek the opportunity. Both Lilah and Elijah weigh various risks like searching for the right time and date to disappear and whether they should go alone or together.

Besides conversations and strategy, the characters are hit with treachery and not solely from their masters. That's where Samuel, a fellow slave and an opportunist comes in. He listens in on conversations that hint at escape and manipulates other slaves to report back to him. He is a truly insidious character who is motivated by his own self-interest and preservation. In his drive to survive the monstrous institution, he becomes the monster that the white slave-holding society created.

In focusing on the time before the escape and not as much on the escape itself or answering definite questions over whether it was a success, Wilcox highlights how important it is to leave such oppression. The book reminds us that the road to freedom is painful and dangerous but ultimately worth it.

A Duchess With a Secret (The Montevor Royals Saga) by Alix Nichols 

This is a summary. The entire review is on LitPick. 

A Duchess With a Secret is a halfway decent contemporary romance with an old fashioned historical feel. However, it runs far too long, gets too repetitive, and doesn't accomplish much in the way of deep characters, vibrant setting, or an interesting plot.

Eva Castellane’s daughter, Millie is set to become the Duchess of the fictional country of Rohinn. Eva is prepared to help the 14 year old claim her birthright and advise her to make the transition to leadership run smoothly. Unfortunately, Alex, Eva’s late husband's half brother also has a claim to the title and is prepared to challenge Eva and Millie for it. Eva and Alex’s rivalry turns into a romance just as Eva's history compromises Millie’s ascension before it even starts.

The central conflict between lovers-to-be Alex and Eva is a composite of historical power struggles for leadership and Regency Era enemies to lovers tension. It is verbose, witty, and has its share of dramatic moments. 

Much of the trauma is revealed as Eva discusses her troubled marriage which was quite different from what the public saw. She also reveals a private medical struggle that affects her family and the genetic complications that it can cause for future generations. 

There are moments both individually and as a couple in which Alex and Eva reveal more developed sides. They work stronger together than apart. When they get along, they have great ideas and could decently lead Rohinn as a duo. 

The book plays into the “Enemies-to-Lovers” trope but resolves it early before the characters recognize it. Once realized there isn't anywhere else for the book to go. The plot goes around in circles with the same arguments and conflicts. Once they see the resolution, they get back in the game and show those leadership skills that will guide Millie and Rohinn effectively.

The Quest for Freedom (The Conquest Trilogy Book 1) by Matthew Devitt; Action Oriented Witty Slave Rebellion Fantasy Hints Darker Things to Come

 The Quest for Freedom (The Conquest Trilogy Book 1) by Matthew Devitt; Action Oriented Witty Slave Rebellion Fantasy Hints Darker Things to Come

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: On the surface, Matthew Devitt’s The Quest for Freedom, the first book in The Conquest Trilogy can be taken at face value. A human slave getting tired of mistreatment leads a rebellion against his oppressors. They alert others and armies grow larger and rebellion spreads. One faction of slave owners is toppled leading to victories to come and freedom is on the horizon.

It's a familiar trope and it works well here but there are hints that this is a much more subversive take with more nuanced themes and darker motives than are originally believed.

The plot is set in Affer, a rigid world of species divisions with angels, elves, demons, damned, hybrids, and humans. Once the dominant species, humans have been overpowered by the others. Humans were wiped out and the survivors were forced into slavery. 473 years later, Fletcher Rush decided that he had enough of this mistreatment so he, his best friend Ji, and some new acquaintances band together to rebel against their otherworldly masters. Unfortunately, the other races also have plans of their own.

This series has some interesting touches in world building particularly with the hierarchy among the species. It goes angels, demons, damned, hybrid, elves and humans. It's the kind of structure in which various characters are fighting to retain their status or move upwards. 

Angels behave with indifference and disdain among the lesser races. Demons dominate the lesser species, particularly the humans which they delight in torturing and enslaving. They also probably wouldn't mind taking the highest spot ahead of the angels. The elves are right above humans which does not make them companions with the exception of a few characters willing to go along with the human rebellion.

This structure reminds me of a quote from the book, Little Little by M.E. Kerr. “The fellow on top often does not pick on the one on the ground. They look down at the one on the rung right under them. The one on the lowest rung looks down at the one on the ground.” 

This is at play when we see species look down on others right below them instead of realizing that the whole system is corrupt. It also emphasizes the uphill battle that the humans have to not only rebel against their immediate conquerors but the ones above them to the angels. It's like the smallest doll in a matryoshka/nesting doll set trying to take out the other dolls to become the largest.

Despite being about slave rebellion and containing the dismantling of a series of various higher castes, there is a detached tone to the novel that tries to find humor, mostly dark humor, in this situation. Dare I say it, at times it comes across as light hearted or rather satirical particularly with its lead protagonists, Fletcher and Ji.

Fletcher and Ji act more like a comedy team than rebellion leaders. They are constantly bickering back and forth by mocking each other's actions or doing meta commentary on the plot development. (Ji: I guess you'll just have to wait and witness my unrivaled fighting process for yourself. Fletcher: Damn, I'm sure our enemies are already shaking in fear with those sword skills.)

The humor with the characters' dialogue is reminiscent of satire found in works like M*A*S*H. They are using humor as a means to deflect from the dark situation that they are in. It's a way of retaining their friendship and humanity in the face of what will be an ongoing war with plenty of violence and death.

However, there might be another reason. It may not be just satire within the characters' current incarceration, it may take a more subversive tone that implies there are darker intentions at play.

I wouldn't be surprised if the tone changes in future volumes. The lighter a series begins, the darker it ends.

Fletcher gives some stirring speeches about fighting for freedom which are compelling but also potentially fanatic. There are moments where Fletcher's plans put several people in danger and he is called out about this. Ji and other allies question methods and sometimes the results make the questions completely justified. However these conflicts are hand waved or remain unresolved for now.

Now it could just be Fletcher is a clueless rookie who doesn't know what he's doing but his actions could lead to nefarious motivations. He may have ulterior motives that are less concerned with freeing human slaves and more interested in moving humans back to the top. He might not want to dismantle the hierarchy but reshuffle it. 

Most of this is speculation so it might not pan out, but it is based on my experience reading similar books and some of Fletcher’s questionable tactics. So for now it's more fact than theory. Let's just say that it wouldn't surprise me if the series takes a darker, more sinister turn. We might see the makings of a hero but we may also see him live long enough to become the villain.

Dance of Demons (Poison and Opium Book 1)by Alyssa Lauseng; Japanese Inspired Setting, Labyrinthine Plot, and Diametrical Duo Accentuate Dark Fantasy

 

Dance of Demons (Poison and Opium Book 1)by Alyssa Lauseng; Japanese Inspired Setting, Labyrinthine Plot, and Diametrical Duo Accentuate Dark Fantasy 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

 Spoilers: Alyssa Lauseng’s Fantasy novel, Dance of Demons has a lot of positive attributes that keep it fresh and unique in a subgenre that can get repetitive with its tropes. It has a magnificent detailed setting inspired by Japanese culture, a labyrinthine plot that engages the Reader with its multiple perspectives and points of view, and it has deutragonists that are diverse in background and worldviews but make a convincing team and are on their way to becoming a charming gay couple. 

In the land of Okara during the time of the Ghiatian Empire, Daisuke, a young slave boy, seizes an opportunity to escape to freedom.  When a military recruiter arrives, Daisuke enlists and heads to Perena where he tries to adjust to a foot soldier’s life. Meanwhile Obito, a member of the Omnito, Imperial Intelligence, is stricken by a devastating loss when Itsuki, his partner in work and life, dies after they uncover a potential conspiracy involving members of Obito’s wealthy and influential family. Obito is partnerless and wouldn’t you know there is a young ex-slave and soldier who rose through the ranks to become an Omnito and is looking for a partner himself. Meanwhile, Lady Shadow, an enigmatic cult leader bonds with Kanashimi, a ruthless demon, to search for magical talismans which will empower her to defeat the Emperor.

One of the most outstanding attributes is Lauseng’s attention to the Japanese inspired setting. Many Epic Fantasies still have their toes in a Eurocentric old world and use European, largely Celtic and Norse, inspired Medieval settings and characters. After a while it gets old, cliched, repetitive, and even slightly xenophobic when authors rely on these tropes. Within the past 40 or so years thanks to the rise of diversity, there are finally Science Fiction and Fantasy novels that aren’t solely bound to European history and literature. Afrofuturism for example is inspired by lore, history, and aesthetics from African countries such as works by Octavia Butler and Nnedi Okorafor. There are many otaku fans of manga and anime all over the world that produce Asian inspired speculative fiction, one of the most prominent being Avatar: the Last Airbender. 

Dance of Demons is set in a fictional world but it is greatly inspired by Japanese culture. The social hierarchy is based on the Feudal era with its imperial court and divine influence of the Emperor. There is a rigid structure which is practically impossible to break from but not unheard of. The Empeor’s rule is total and somewhat suffocating. The imperial court lives an opulent existence that is far away from the people down below so it’s very easy for corrupt officials and abusive slavers to gain prominence and power.

Their deities have names like Hikari (light) and Kuro (black) though have a remote standoffish approach to the mortals underneath, not unlike the human rulers. Characters like Daisuke even question their existence. Then you have those like Lady Shadow that are fanatic in their devotion.

Everything from costuming, art, culture, food, ceremonies, names, and mythology adheres to this certain time and place. While there is no known connection to Earth like in most Epic Fantasy novels, one could be led to believe that a team of Japanese astronauts may have found their way to Perena and took their history and culture with them so their descendents followed that progression. Lauseng is able to simultaneously capture a specific Earth culture and build a fictional world around it.  

The plot is wound by various characters and their motivations. Chief among them are the motives of Lady Shadow. She is an intriguing character driven to near insanity and obsession by power and a desire to rid her world of the Emperor. Her drive to destroy the Emperor comes from a specific place of abuse, degradation, and powerlessness. We get hints of the ruined girl that became the unhinged woman.

Lady Shadow is controlled by Kanashimi but still has enough foresight and manipulation to sway human forces in her favor. This isn’t a case where the demon has more power and is in complete control. It’s more like he has a worthy partner that is his match in cunning and ruthless efficiency plus the ability to gain allies and conspirators in a variety of places. 

There are conspiracies within conspiracies and sometimes it’s hard to find out who is allied with who and how wide these forces are. It becomes clear that Daisuke and Obito are being swayed by forces outside themselves. No matter where they turn, they may end up as pawns in someone else’s design. 

Daisuke and Obito are commendable protagonists as individuals and as a duo. Because of his slave background, Daisuke gains an angry negative view of the world. This view is channeled by his fighting skills that he learned from the military and he brings a street tough don’t mess with me attitude to the Omnito as a spy and assassin. One that suspects everyone but is able to excel in self defense and defense of his colleagues. He is able to discern ulterior motives and has the discipline to know when to fight and when not to. 

Obito is his diametric counterpart in background and experience but similar in goals and motives in making himself an independent mark. Through his family, he had the material goods that Daisuke did not but he is no stranger to being abused and dominated by others. Various family members connive and conspire against one another so Obito doesn’t feel safe around them. 

Unlike Daisuke, Obito keeps his emotions inward and shows an air of quiet indifference. His real emotions for Itsuki are only felt when alone. He is aware of the higher political games that Daisuke is not. He has those airs of suspicion but is strategic and analytical about when he addresses and uses them. 

Like many partnerships, Obito and Daisuke bring out each other’s better qualities. Obito is able to do his part to educate Daisuke in poison making and also in political structure to make him a consummate spy and assassin, while Daisuke frees the emotions that boil up inside Obito so he can actually act on them and become a protective fighting force. The two emerge as partners, best friends, and dance towards an intimate closer relationship.

Dance of Demons is a perfect dance of detail, intrigue, and richness that will please any Fantasy fan. 

Weekly Reader: In Freedom's Light by Sharon Gloger Friedman; Moving Historical Fiction About Prejudice and Freedom

 

Weekly Reader: In Freedom's Light by Sharon Gloger Friedman; Moving Historical Fiction About Prejudice and Freedom 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Sharon Gloger Friedman’s Ashes has long been a favorite book of mine since I began this blog. In 2019, it came in second in the inaugural “New Book Alert” countdown and has led to an ongoing interest in reading detailed historical fiction novels about strong independent women fighting to make their voices heard during difficult circumstances and time periods that did not always welcome a woman’s voice or perspective. In Ashes, Miriam, a Jewish immigrant flees with her family from a Russian pogrom, to New York City. She finds work and gets involved in labor unionization during the time of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Miriam’s journey from dutiful daughter to labor activist is compelling as is the terrifying imagery of the fire and the lives lost because of management indifference and negligence.

Friedman set such a high standard for herself that her next book would have to be something else to match Ashes. Luckily, her follow up, In Freedom’s Light, is that something else. While it also tells the story of a fictional Jewish woman emigrating to America and captures a distant time period with great description and detail, it differs in terms of storytelling and characterization. Ashes tells of a tragic event in American history from the point of view of an individual who is greatly affected by the great sweeping changes around her. In Freedom’s Light tells of various events that capture the minutiae and reality of everyday life through several decades and how the characters struggle with conforming or challenging those circumstances. 

In 1785 Valencia, Spain, Anica Amelsem put herself, her husband, Efren and her daughter, Isabel in big trouble for refusing a cut of pork in the marketplace. She is a converso, part of a Jewish family that was forced to convert to Christianity. This practice began during the Inquisition under the reign of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella and even in the 18th century, suspected Jews can get arrested or even executed. (Friedman’s notes state that this was retained into the 19th century). Efren’s family had long ago converted with no ties to Judaism, but Anica’s family continued their rituals and beliefs in private, so private that Anica never even shared them with her husband until now. The gossip and rumors are enough to worry the Amelsems and they decide to flee for America, with Isabel and a loyal servant, Mariana in tow, to find work and live with Efren’s uncle Philip  in Charleston, South Carolina. They are nervous but excited. After all, America just won a war declaring independence from Britain and it is a country of liberty and equality where everyone can worship at any altar they choose and is free to live how they want. Right? Right?

Well wrong. Upon arriving in South Carolina, Anica and Efren discover the less rosy side of the United States when they see Philip’s plantation of slaves. The couple befriend the slaves and speak out against the cruel institution and the abuse inflicted by Philip, his family, and overseer. Anica and Efren discover that the promise of freedom and equality  aren’t evenly handed out to everyone so they intend to use their status to help others receive the benefits of that promise as well. 

It is important that Anica and Efren would understand the slave's plight. Having been marginalized and treated as second class citizens in their country and forced to hide parts of who they are because of prejudice and Anti Semitism, they recognize the racism, hatred, malice, and hypocrisy in a country that does not permit equality to many of the people living there. Sometimes it takes a fellow outsider to understand the problems of the people around them and shine new light when locals are desensitized, apathetic, or actively participating in such problems. 

Anica and Efren immediately show kindness and treat the African-Americans humanely, something that angers Philip and his overseer, Jesse. They only see workers that they bought and now work for them while Anica and Efren see fellow human beings. They take the time to learn their names and relationships and bond with them as friends. For example, when a young boy, Daniel, is beaten by Jesse, Efren physically defends him and makes sure that Jesse will never hurt him again. Efren becomes a father figure to Daniel and he begins to understand his purpose living in his uncle's plantation.

Anica and Efren are in a difficult situation. Since they don’t own the plantation, they can’t free the slaves. They can defend the slaves from abuse, but Philip doesn’t care. He mostly gets drunk and goes to the city to hang out with prostitutes. They could leave, but who would protect the slaves then? Things would be just as bad if not worse than before, because there would always be the fear that they would run to the Amelsems for safety. The only thing that the couple can do is remain for now, befriend the African-Americans at the plantation, defend as many as they can from physical and sexual abuse, agree to turn a blind eye if they escape, and let them know that there are at least two white people that care about them. Efren makes plans for him, his family, and as many new friends as they can, to leave by creating a shipping business independent of Philip’s interests.

One of the most touching relationships in the book is that of Anica and Ruth, one of the housemaids.

Anica befriends Ruth and their bond is so intimate that she shares her Sabbath rituals of lighting candles with her. This bond continues to the point where the two women end up becoming best friends and their young children, Hannah and Benjamin become close friends as well. Even after the Amselems finally leave the plantation, Ruth comes with, not as a slave, servant, or a maid. Instead, she is a free woman,family friend, and honorary sister to Anica. 

It is telling that the book takes place between 1785-1845, between the Revolutionary and Civil War. Through the experiences of Anica, Efren, Ruth, and others we see that transition between 

the United States winning its independence and being torn apart. We see the daily lives of the people and how things like the Fugitive Slave Act, the eventual publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and various other things would eventually lead to the Civil War. None of these things have happened yet, but Friedman’s book provides the fertile ground and environment in which such events could occur. The fertile ground that Isabel, Hannah, and Benjamin's generation will have to struggle with.

Through the characters of In Freedom’s Light, we see a world that is on the brink of having such terms as “freedom,” “liberty,” and “equality” questioned and how within a few decades of the book’s end, there  will be  explosive results between people who are unwilling to recognize freedom in others and those who will defend them. The actions of Anica, Efren, and others show that freedom can be more than words on on an old document. They can be felt, meant, and understood by everyone. 

New Book Alert: Ginger Star: A Prequel (Stuck in the Onesies Series Book Three) by Diane McDonough; Gender and Racial Conflicts Surround 18th Jamaica Historical Fiction

 New Book Alert: Ginger Star: A Prequel (Stuck in the Onesies Series Book Three) by Diane McDonough; Gender and Racial Conflicts Surround 18th Jamaica Historical Fiction 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It's becoming common for me to review two or more books on the same subject. This year alone I have read books about ballet, books set in 2040 California, books in which characters have the ability of lucid dreaming, and fantasies involving magical creatures and beings from countries other than the United States and  those in Europe. It's still rare however when I read two or more historical fiction by different authors that are set at the exact same time frame and feature the exact same historical figures. In recent years, I remember Mistress Suffragette by Diana Forbes and Gilded Summer (Newport's Gilded Age Series Book One) by Donna Russo Morin being one set and Rhapsody by Mitchell James Kaplan and Lady Be Good: The Life and Times of Dorothy Hale by Pamela Hamilton being another. Well now I have another: the early years of the 18th century Caribbean seen through the words of Katie Crabb's Constellation Trilogy and Diane McDonough's Ginger Star: A Prequel Stuck in the Onesies Book Three.

 Both feature sailors, pirates, the slave trade, and both involve characters questioning and rebelling against the standards of the day. They are so similar, that it really isn't fair to compare them. I am not accusing anyone of plagiarizing, just sometimes ideas strike more than one person at a time. 

There are some interesting aspects that each author focuses on. Both focus on the dehumanization of slavery but they also take different approaches on how others are treated. Crabb also writes about the struggles affecting gay men and lesbians in the 18th century and how they often had to conform to societal standards, exile themselves (in this series' case to the seas), or face imprisonment or death.

She takes some looks at gender roles and the status of women in this time period but it definitely is sidelined for the LGBT perspective.

McDonough however puts her emphasis on race and gender roles. Many slaves and free blacks made communities of their own despite threats from the approaching white slavers and colonials. The book also looks at the roles of women in this Caribbean society and how they also fight for their rights and independence.

The book begins with Amari, a young Ghanaian man in a friendly hunting competition. Unfortunately, he and his friend, Kwasi are kidnapped, taken to a slave ship, and then separated. Amari  is injured and cared for by Ronnie Shepherd, the cabin boy and an indentured servant. The two become friends and Amari learns that Ronnie has been keeping a secret. Ronnie is actually a woman disguised as a boy to escape a troubled abusive home life. When the two reach Jamaican shores, Amari rescues Ronnie from being raped and the two make their escape. They reach an estate where a wealthy woman, Adria, helps them hide and covers for them. Adria invites them to stay on her family's estate, Ginger Star. Unfortunately, she has a secret of her own. She's unmarried and pregnant. 

Since The Constellation Trilogy spends a lot of time at sea, the Reader doesn't really get to explore the beauty of the Jamaican island. McDonough more than makes up for that. Adria’s first description of Jamaica is beyond lovely. McDonough wrote, “Small white caps broke over the reef that was outside the cove. The sea went from royal blue to crystal-clear aqua as it closed in on the shoreline. (Adria’s) gaze landed across the cove on a waterfall that spilled into the sea with fresh water from one of the eight rivers in and near Ocho Rios.” The book also explores the local flora and fauna and the local names for them such as ginger star for heliconia and doctor bird for hummingbird. 

McDounough captures the contradictions of an island of immense beauty and the ugly times which occur there: the buying and selling of human beings, the theft of land and resources by outsiders unwilling to share them with the people who were there first, and the fact that those in authority are so willfully corrupt and ignorant to what’s happening around them that the only way to uphold true justice and liberty is to break the law and become a pirate.

McDonough creates some memorable characters who live on the different sides of the socioeconomic and racial scale that inhabit her settings and makes them real. They are more than just microcosms of their society but individuals that live within it. 

The four strongest and best characters in this book are Amari, Ronnie, Adria, and another character whom I will mention later. After he escapes. Amari joins the Maroon community of escaped slaves and indigenous Tainos. They fight against colonists and rebel against the white government that had been forced upon the island. Amari later marries, adopts a son, and becomes a leader of his community. Because he befriended Ronnie and Adria, he is able to be a bridge between the white and indigenous and black communities of the island and to achieve diplomacy in the Maroons’ desire for recognition and independence. Amari still fights against the slavers and colonists when he has to, but he is also willing to work with and talk to his white friends to encourage cooperation. Also, during this time, the Maroon community grows with more slaves leaving plantations to live lives of freedom in which they can declare their own agencies. 

Adria is on the side of those white colonists and she shows kindness and charity towards those around her, white, black, and indigenous. She is mostly sheltered and kept in a very restricted upper class home where she is expected to marry, have children, and lead the servants and household. Adria  is in a more vulnerable position than Ronnie or Amari and is unable to physically fight, but her strength is in her gentleness and generous spirit. One of her greatest moments occurs long after she gives birth and she is separated from her child. When she learns the whereabouts of her child, the Reader expects her to strike out angrily and accuse those around her of kidnapping them, even kidnapping the child herself. Instead she sees the little one is happy and well cared for. Even though she admits that she gave birth, the little one’s real parents are the ones who raised them. 

Ronnie is another one in a peculiar position that puts her between worlds. Even though she is a woman, she spent time working on ships so can see the pirate’s perspective. She reverts back to her female identity, works in a store and sees other women taking charge of their own destiny. As a former indentured servant, she saw first hand the abhorrent treatment that black slaves suffered and speaks against it even after she enters a romance with a white plantation owner. She retains her friendship with Amari and Adria and helps stand against the institution of slavery. She has survived on her own for a long time, so is very strong willed and knows her own mind.

As I mentioned this book is set during almost the exact same time span as The Constellation Trilogy and many of the historical real life figures appear in both, one in particular. While she is glimpsed very briefly in Sailing by Carina’s Star, she is an important figure in Ginger Star and takes part in the plot in a huge way. She is Anne Bonney, one of the few female pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy. In Ginger Star, she is a former friend of Ronnie’s who  encouraged the younger woman to follow her own path of donning men’s clothing and taking to the seas. 

One of the most interesting things about Bonney’s appearance in Ginger Star is that this book offers a few theories as to why she disappeared from history. In reality, her husband Calico Jack Rackham was executed and she was scheduled to be executed as well, but she claimed pregnancy so she was released. That was the last known record of her, no one knows where she went upon her escape, if she escaped, or when and where she died. Ginger Star cleverly fills those gaps by giving Bonney a more decisive end to her story while still being true to her crafty, adventurous, fighting spirit.

Ginger Star is a very different book from The Constellation Trilogy even though it covers the same time period. It captures great beauty in setting, ugliness in inhumanity, and courage and spirit in the various individuals that dwelled in that time and place. 

New Book Alert: Sailing by Carina's Star (The Constellation Trilogy Book 2) by Katie Crabb; Dramatic Confrontations Abound as Family and Loyalty Lines Are Redrawn

 

New Book Alert: Sailing by Carina's Star (The Constellation Trilogy Book 2) by Katie Crabb; Dramatic Confrontations Abound as Family and Loyalty Lines Are Redrawn

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The previous volume of Katie Crabb's Constellation Trilogy, Sailing by Orion's Star, ended with Rene Delacroix, a wealthy Captain's white son, Frantz Seymour, the biracial son of Captain Delacroix's deceased first mate, and Auden Carlyle, Rene and Frantz's gambler friend ran away from their Jamaican homes of abuse and slavery and joined the pirate crew of Ajani Danso, AKA, Robin Hood The Merciful. Nicholas Jerome, Captain Delacroix's current first mate and surrogate son, angrily vowed that he would find them no matter how long it took.

The second volume, Sailing by Carina's Star, continues to redefine the terms of family and friends and puts the characters in situations that change and mature them.

In this volume,Jerome, now a Lieutenant in the English Royal Navy, is making a name for himself as a pirate catcher. However, one crew seems to slip from his grasp. A reunion with his long estranged Romany mother, Tiena, does not soften Jerome. In fact, it only makes him more determined to find Rene and the others. He owes it to Michel Delacroix, now Commodore of the East India Company, a man that Jerome considers his father.

Meanwhile, Danso's crew has grown. Besides Abeni, his female quartermaster and best friend, Rene, Frantz, and Auden, he also has Abeni's daughter Flora, Danso's nephew Jahni, and new crew members, Chema Guerra, Elliot Roux, Benoit Martel, Marc Favreau, and Eli Matos. Rene, Frantz, and Auden have become experienced sailors, so much so that rumors spread about the three young pirates, particularly a fair haired one on Robin Hood's crew. Danso's crew and legend grows so much that when he gets a new ship, the Saiph to accompany his Misericorde, the vote is unanimous to make Rene the consort captain, Frantz the sailing master, and Auden as quartermaster. In fact, Rene gains quite a reputation of his own and names such as Robin Hood's Devil, The Red Devil, Lucifer, and (his favorite) The Morning Star.

This book sees a huge age lift for many of the young characters. Jerome and the boys ended the previous book in their late twenties and mid teens respectively. In this volume Jerome is approaching forty and the young men are now in their twenties. With that aging comes great change and maturity and the desire to cling to old values or completely break away from them. 

After Delacroix and Jerome have been promoted, they have moved away from personally involving themselves in the slave trade, though still condoning it. One hopes that their final encounter with Danso, Abeni, and particularly Rene and Frantz shook them up enough to open up some humanity in them, but realistically they are more concerned with catching pirates and have one major project at a time to work on. 

In fact, Jerome has regressed considerably in character. In the previous book, he was determined to follow Delacroix’s orders and maintain what he considered law and order on the high seas; however he still showed glimpses of being a good person at heart. He spent time teaching Rene about sword fighting and telling sea stories to him and Frantz. He treated Delacroix like the father that he desperately needed. He sometimes fought inward battles between what he personally believed and what his orders were, with orders always coming first.  Now those flashes of humanity are gone.

Instead the years of regimentation, rules, and regulations have taken their toll turning Jerome into an unremorseful, bigoted, hateful, tool of the British Navy. When he reunites with his mother, instead of having a tearful embrace (like Frantz does when he reunites with his missing mother, Chantal), he yells at her and turns her away. He thinks of her as a stain on his reputation (because he believes that if word gets out that he’s half-Romany, he would be removed from his position at the very least and imprisoned at the very worst). Even though there is brief talk of him getting married, Jerome is a Navy man through and through. While he is still a loyal surrogate son to Delacroix, his ambitions and his remorseless behavior have made him completely monstrous and no longer identifiable.

Rene, Danso, and the other pirates on the other hand have become stronger in terms of character and their relationships with each other. Besides being a brave and effective leader who has earned the respect of his crew, Danso has become a father figure to his men and women. He worries when the younger members are on their own missions and is protective of them. He doesn’t have children of his own, but he treats Rene, Frantz, Auden. Jahni, and Flora like his own. 

He also encourages them and knows that he can’t keep them sheltered forever which is why he lets them crew the Saiph because he trusts them. Unlike Delacroix who was well meaning but wanted to keep Rene sheltered, Danso knows that the young people in his care will face the world on their own and he might as well prepare them for it. 

Abeni also comes into her own, becoming a fierce and loyal first mate. In a couple of chapters, Danso becomes incapacitated and unable to captain. Abeni has to fill in and does so becoming proactive and assertive instead of the more diplomatic Danso. She also obtains a love interest in the patient and kind, Eli. 

The other pirates also become stronger in various pages as a family, crew, and individual characters. Their circle expands to include many other pirates and civilians who are on their side. Real life characters like Edward “Blackbeard” Teach, Sam Bellamy, Anne Bonney, Mary Read, and “Calico '' Jack Rackham encounter the Misericorde crew giving their “arrs” of approval. Danso and Abeni’s former crewmates, lovers Collins and Robins, help them and later they return the favor. After Jerome rejects his mother, Tiena, the Misericorde gang not only accept her but introduce her to Frantz’s mother, Chantal, who hires her to work with her. Even Rene’s mother, Astra Delacroix remains where she is in her stately home in Kingston but remembers how she helped the boys escape to the Misericorde. She states to her husband and her father that she would rather the boys remain pirates than return to a life of imprisonment for Frantz and misery for Rene.

Similar to Fearghus Academy: Precarious Gems, one of the ways to show the characters’ developing maturity is to explore their romantic interests and pair them up. Besides Abeni and Eli, new pirates  Eliot and Benoit become a couple, as do Flora and Auden. While Rene and Frantz are best friends, their previous relationship was clearly one of deep emotion and platonic pairing. This is finally the volume where they confess their love for each other and become an out and proud couple that men like their fathers were afraid to become. The feeling from the Reader is less “I knew it” than a relieved “Finally!” when the duo confess their love. 

Of the characters, Rene is the most developed. In the first volume, he was a wide eyed kid drawn by the adventure of the high seas and piracy. He left Jamaica as a stand against the slavery institution that his grandfather, father, and Jerome represent. His humanity and his love for Frantz were more important than that. 

In the second volume, he is less wide eyed and innocent. He is someone who has killed to defend his crew and is unafraid to do so again. Thanks to Jerome’s teaching, he is quite the swordsman (as Frantz is aces with firing guns), and will fight with a vengeful fury. In fact his fair hair, red coat, and angry fighting style are what earned him the nicknames of the “Red Devil” and “Lucifer the Morning Star.” (Because he “looks like Satan before the Fall and fights like him after” legends say). He takes the insults that his grandfather gave him like “monster” and “devil” and turns them around to take pride in them as someone who will fight like a demon for those he cares about.

 One mark of Rene's maturity is his ambivalence about accepting the captaincy. Ever since he was a boy he and Frantz shared the dream of Rene becoming captain of a ship and Frantz being his navigator. While he proves himself as a great sailor and teammate to Danso and the rest of the crew, he is at first reluctant to take the consort captaincy. He doesn’t dodge the possibility of leadership, in fact takes the lead in small groups. But the offer of becoming a captain awakens not only his old ambitions but memories of the abuse inflicted from his grandfather and the indifference from his father. He is afraid of becoming like them. It takes Frantz’s declaration of love and unshakable faith for him to accept the captaincy and the reputation that comes afterwards of becoming the “Red Devil.”

Sailing by Orion’s Star had plenty of suspenseful chapters of the crew nearly getting caught but escaping. Since Sailing by Carina’s Star is darker, they aren’t always so lucky. Some get caught and their rescue takes a tremendous toll on their numbers. It also ends with a cliffhanger in which some are put in the worst position possible and face imprisonment, exile, or the gallows. 

With the characters maturing and the situation becoming darker for the characters, the third part of the Constellation Trilogy should be a final decisive climactic ending for the characters and the new families that they have formed in the ashes of the old ones.

Weekly Reader: Sailing by Orion's Star (The Constellation Trilogy Book 1) by Katie Crabb; Engaging Seagoing Adventure About Piracy and Slavery

 

Weekly Reader: Sailing by Orion's Star (The Constellation Trilogy Book 1) by Katie Crabb; Engaging Seagoing Adventure About Piracy and Slavery

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: What's better than reading the next volume of a great series? Reading the first volume of a new great series. Here we have one.

Sailing by Orion's Star is the first volume of Katie Crabb's Constellation Trilogy. It is a high seas adventure involving pirates, slavery, and makes some great commentary about racism, sexuality, and what it really means to stand against deplorable institutions and become a hero.

In 17th century Jamaica, Ajani Danso and Abeni escape from a slave and prison ship getting past a young seaman, Nicholas Jerome. They end up on a pirate ship, eventually becoming Captain and Quartermaster of their own ship. Meanwhile, Jerome was removed from his old position and has been hired by Captain Michel Delacroix, a kind captain who treats Jerome like a younger brother. Jerome bonds not only with Delacroix but also the Captain's son, Rene and Frantz, Rene's best friend. 

As Rene and Frantz mature, their friendship intensifies and they become at odds with Jerome's and Delacroix's inaction with and involvement in the slave trade. 

There are so many great things about this book. In the first outing, Crabb hits it out of the park. There are plenty of moments of great sword fighting and narrow escapes that would be at home in a Pirates of the Caribbean film. There's a great moment when Danso and Abeni, fresh in their pirate careers, help slaves escape from a ship and give the escaped slaves the option of returning to their countries of origin or becoming part of their crew. This adventure helps cement their reputations as the Robin Hood and Maid Marian of the High Seas. 

Danso and Abeni's story is fascinating especially in the heart wrenching chapters when they reunite with family members lost in the slave trade. There is no doubt that despite being pirates, they are the good guys. They are fighting against a horrible dehumanizing institution that though legal was far from moral or ethical. 

The other interesting aspect to this story is the relationship between Rene and Frantz. It's fascinating watching them grow as innocent children to teens questioning and outright rebelling against something that they know is not right.

Rene starts as a naive kid who admires his father and thinks that he could do no wrong. He loves traveling with him and learning sword fighting from Jerome. He loves to hear about sea stories, tales of monsters, sirens, and of course pirates. He collects the stories in a book, including those of Danso and Abeni, Robin Hood and Maid Marian, unaware that they are closer to his father and his crew than he thought.

Rene also hates his abusive maternal grandfather who is the Governor of Kingston. He thinks he owns everything and everybody and isn't above striking and beating his own grandson into submission. No wonder Rene prefers the seas to land. 

There is another reason that Rene prefers his life on the seas: so he can be with Frantz. Compared to Rene's wealthy family with a French naval captain and his English wealthy wife, proper by 17th century standards, Frantz's family is very unconventional. He is the biracial son of Delacroix's first mate and best friend, Lt. Seymour and Chantal Mensah, a black woman from the Gold Coast. 

Unlike the Delacroixs who have to act like the correct couple even when they are at odds, Seymour and Chantal are really loyal and in love with each other but laws prevent them from being together. It's a truly heartbreaking cruel moment when Seymour and Chantal are separated forever but it intensifies Frantz and Rene's friendship as Rene tries to be the substitute family that Frantz needs. 

 The governor seeks a few times to personally attack or sell Frantz because of who he is. Delacroix turns a blind eye and Astra, his wife, only lets her real thoughts known in secret. Rene and Frantz are more upfront and are argumentative against Frantz's and the other slave's mistreatment. If the old song is right that children must be taught carefully to hate, Rene and Frantz are taught carefully to love. And love they do.

In fact, as the two boys become teenagers, their friendship evolves into romance. They become a duo who would do anything to stay together. Their convictions against slavery cause them to see the people around them, especially Delacroix and Jerome, as participants in dehumanizing people around them. They want to escape and fight against slavery even if it means leaving everyone that they know behind and facing the unknown of the seas, perhaps towards a very famous crew of pirates.

The other interesting thing that Crabb does is shows how slavery dehumanizes everyone, those that are captive and those that are doing the catching and transporting. If the pirates are the good guys, then the navy and officials are the bad.

This is embodied in Delacroix and Jerome. Delacroix is at first portrayed as a loving father to his crew and to his son. He never exhibits corporal punishment towards anybody and while nonchalant about the slave trade absolutely will not transport them. His friendship, and at one time more, with Seymour keeps him grounded and steady, giving him something of a backbone. Astra also has a higher moral compass than her husband's. Even though she can't say what she feels aloud, she is able to help escaped slaves covertly. They and Rene's admiration keep Delacroix's darker feelings in check for a while.

Unfortunately, Delacroix loses those good influences one by one either by other's actions or his own. At first he is inattentive and ambivalent to slavery, not personally liking it but accepting it in the background. Then he compromises his morals under duress and threats of removal of power. He kowtows to the institution and participates in transporting slaves. This is an anguished moment when Rene no longer sees the hero that he once idolized but a weakling who would rather capitulate than fight against something that he knows is wrong.

Jerome is another character who changes for the worse. He is the first pov character in the book and is portrayed sympathetically during Danso and Abeni's escape. He is a minor sailor in over his head and has a family history of his own that he doesn't want to admit. He is half-Romany on his mother's side. That lineage could enslave or imprison him so he keeps it a secret. (One of the few redeeming moments that Delacroix has later in the book involves Jerome letting his guard down enough to tell the captain about his family and Delacroix still understands and accepts him). 

Jerome starts creating a surrogate family with Delacroix as his father and Rene as his brother. He enjoys the sword fighting lessons as much as Rene does and clearly sees Delacroix as the standard of someone he wants to be like. However, he too is caught between the standards of the day and his own morals. His reactions towards the slaves' mistreatment amounts to being glad that he doesn't have to go through it so he maintains silence.

Jerome also hates pirates because he sees them as irredeemable criminals regardless of their motives and also because he knows that he helped create Danso and Abeni's legend. His black and white views of piracy and slavery and adoration of the captain motivate him to turn his conscience off. He goes from being naive to a cold navy man who accepts commands no matter how harsh and violent they are. He becomes someone who left his conscience at the door and is the archetypal soldier, or sailor in this case, who is "just following orders." His descent into villainy is felt in the final pages as he actively rejects the good man he once was to become the hateful villain that he is becoming.

Sailing by Orion's Star is a great start to a tremendous series. If the second volume is like the first, there is some rough waters ahead for the characters, but the Reader will find some smooth sailing.

 

Weekly Reader: Servitude by Costi Gurgu; Grim and Suspenseful Science Fiction Thriller Set in a World of Legal Human Trafficking

 

Weekly Reader: Servitude by Costi Gurgu; Grim and Suspenseful Science Fiction Thriller Set in a World of Legal Human Trafficking

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Servitude by Costi Gurgu is another one of those Science Fiction novels that can be labeled under the file marked, "Current Times Taken to Extreme Levels." It depicts a world in which people are taken from the streets for minor offenses and forced into Servitude, in other words taken forcibly and sold into slavery in a process that is perfectly legal and sanctioned by the government.

In this book, frighteningly set in the near future of 2046, Blake Frye, a police detective and his TV producer wife, Isa decide to take a random vacation to London. Unfortunately, this is not a pleasurable holiday. As they see the sights, they are caught in various riots protesting the Servitude program. (The Servitude program is extremely active in Britain and is only being considered in the United States, so far). They see people being taken away such as the parents of two small children, who are arrested for being in debt. 

It's enough to disgust the emotional and newly pregnant Isa. Blake however has ulterior means to make this trip. Isa got into some trouble with a documentary that she made which discussed potential trafficking in the U.S. and called some elite billionaires to task for benefiting from it. Blake has to meet an informant to learn whether his wife is in trouble and what could be done to protect her. Unfortunately, all of Blake and Isa's worst fears are confirmed when they return to the U.S. and come face to face with some mysterious people that take Isa away. While Isa tries to survive her captivity and Blake is driven to rescue her, we are given flashbacks to the issues that Isa explored in her documentary and the elites' fury at being caught in taking part and controlling this deplorable institution.

Servitude is a very intense book on how people reinterpret guilt, innocence, and punishment to fit their needs. Gurgu captures what happens when the 1% seize that power and control over the people under them. Well, I mean more so than now.

 In Servitude, the multibillionaire who controls the Servitude program in the U.S. is William Wilmot, a tech mogul who uses Servitude to silence his enemies. When Isa's documentary about human trafficking names Wilmot specifically as a beneficiary to this secret organization, Wilmot and his equally conniving daughter, Gabriella definitely have her and her colleagues on their list.

There are a few real-life obvious inspirations for Wilmot, many moguls who use their money and connections to get away with the worst crimes and still have people that will defend them. They are the types who will control a media outlet under the guise of fighting for free speech and then use ruthless hypocritical tactics to silence those who oppose them.

 We've seen them all and we know them all. In the United States, nothing speaks louder than money and in Servitude, money controls other people's freedom.

Blake and Isa are the honest courageous people who would speak out against such horrors. The opening chapters show this. Even though it's set in London, the tension and ramifications are pretty clear. This is happening out in the open what is being done in the United States in secret and it's only a matter of time before it's in public in the U.S. It gives the Reader a sense that soon there will be nowhere to hide.

We also peer into Blake and Isa's characters as well. Isa is anguished and protective of the children. It's easy to see why with her pregnancy and documentary. After studying cases of families left in this situation and worrying about bringing another child into a world that allows such things to happen, her maternal instincts are in full overdrive. She would do anything to protect those that she cares about: her husband, two parentless children, and in a later chapter, her colleagues. 

Blake too reveals much about himself in this early vacation. Even though he knows what he and Isa might see, they go anyway. He is someone who works hard to get the right information to protect and later find his wife. He also knows how to find that information by asking certain people and researching what is needed. He will sacrifice his own freedom to protect people like Isa.

Besides the story about Isa's captivity and Blake's rescue attempts, we are treated to flashbacks in alternating chapters. They serve to provide much needed explanation for the documentary, the Fryes, and the people for and against them.

The flashbacks are pretty clever in that they reveal some interesting information about the main plot. One character appears to work for one side. Then in the flashbacks, one line reveals that they are a different character from another side and had their name changed and appearance altered.

 This is a pretty impressive feat because in the main plot, he's a cypher and lover to one character. Then in the flashbacks, this character appears to be an unlikeable coward who would throw anybody under the bus. Instead that is a front, until it is revealed how deeply involved they really are to the situation at hand, what their true personality is, and where their loyalties lie.

Servitude is one of those terrifying Science Fiction books. Terrifying because we are standing on the edge of what could happen, so we can keep it from happening.