Ms. Hen reviews Bitter Medicine

 

Bitter Medicine

Mia Tsai

Tachyon Publications

2023

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she heard it mentioned on the best of list of last year on a podcast called SFF Yeah!, which is a sci-fi fantasy book review podcast. She had never read a romantasy novel before, and she had no idea what it would be like. Ms. Hen is a fan of fantasy, but not romance (at all!) so she was in for a big surprise.

Romantasy is a new genre of fiction which combines romance and fantasy. It's a romance novel, but possibly with fantastical elements to it.

This novel is about Elle, a descendent of Chinese medicine gods, who works in a shop that sells magic glyphs and spells. At the beginning of the novel, she has a crush on her customer, Luc, who is a half-elf, who she does not know is a spy. They flirt with each other, and fall in love.

He is sent on a mission to capture a man, Tony, who he does not know is Elle's brother that she is protecting. Elle and Luc spend time together, and get to know each other. Chaos ensues when Luc finds out Elle and Tony are brother and sister. The drama escalates into a life-or-death situation.

Ms. Hen does not read romance novels, and she found the romantic scenes extra graphic! She was blushing under her feathers when she read about Elle and Luc's romance. Ms. Hen is not a hen to become embarrassed about something she reads, but these scenes were so explicit she couldn't help it. 

The intimate scenes were mixed with magic, so Ms. Hen could tolerate them better. It's better for Ms. Hen to think that these characters could never exist in real life, because they are magical creatures.

The person on the podcast described these characters as "cinnamon rolls," and Ms. Hen thinks that is a wonderful way to describe them. She has never heard that term in relation to characters in a novel, but she thinks they are: they are so sweet and good, that Ms. Hen knew there wouldn't be a tragic ending, and everything would work out in the end.

Ms. Hen thinks this is a wonderful novel, and she's happy she decided to delve into the world of romantasy. She thinks this genre isn't for everyone, and she might not read books like this all the time, but once in a while it can be adventurous to try something different.

Ms. Hen reviews The First Bright Thing

 

The First Bright Thing

J. R. Dawson

2023

Tor 

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she saw the author at the Arisia Sci-Fi Con in January, and she was impressed with her presentation. The author did not read from this novel, but she read from an upcoming one, and she was on a panel called Writing Hope, which Ms. Hen thought was a fascinating discussion.

This novel is about a magical circus in the 1920s. The lead character is the Ringmaster, or Rin, and she is in charge of a circus of Sparks, or people with a type of magical power. During the Great War (or the First World War) sparks appeared in people, and they developed a particular power. Ruth's power was that she could jump to anywhere in the world. She jumps to the trenches, to save a young British man, Edward, from being killed.

Rin is married to Oddette, a trapeze artist, and Mauve is the other person who runs the circus with them. They are a family, but Rin is running from The Circus King, who is an evil man. In Rin's circus there is music, and they help people in the audience have better lives. A pair of young twins arrive at the circus, and Jo has the power to conjure images, that can be positive or negative, and they bring out emotions in people.

A lot takes place in this novel. Time travel occurs, and romance, and the fear of the future, when Rin and her friends discover the atomic bomb and the next war, which they do not want to happen. They also fear the Circus King, who will not stop to get what he wants.

Ms. Hen has read other novels about circuses before, and this one reminds her slightly of Geek Love, which is one of Ms. Hen's favorite books. The First Bright Thing is not as dark as Geek Love, it's warmer and more positive, and is a feel-good story, whereas the other is gruesome, and dreary, but they're both about magical circuses.

Ms. Hen thinks this novel has wonderful worldbuilding, and she was swept right in to the alternate history, and the world of magic. The 1920s were a fascinating time, a time of upheaval and change, even though it was one hundred years ago, things happened then which transformed the world today.

Ms. Hen found out that the circus is in her town right now, but she doesn't know if she'll get to go. She thinks this novel is a marvelous escape from the world we live in, to think of problems these characters have, and to imagine possibilities that are endless and hopeful and magical all rolled into one.

Ms. Hen reviews Hereafter The Telling Life of Ellen O'Hara

 

Hereafter: The Telling Life of Ellen O'Hara

Vona Groarke

New York University Press

2022

Ms. Hen learned about this book, and decided to read it because it's about an Irish immigrant that came to the United States in the 1880s, and that's around the time that Ms. Hen's great-grandparents came to America. It's a woman's story, and it's about a woman who was ordinary, not someone famous or rich, simply someone who did the best she could to get by.

This is a nonfiction book written by Ellen O'Hara's great-granddaughter. She investigates her great-grandmother's life by finding records in New York of when she arrived, when she got married, and her transit records going back and forth to Ireland. The author includes quotes from people about this time period, and the documents where she found evidence of her great-grandmother's life.

Ellen O'Hara arrived in New York, and worked as a servant, one of the only occupations available to Irish women at that time. She saved money, and sent it home to her family. She got married to John Grady, and she had two children, but he disappeared. He left, but she fabricated a story was that he died in a subway accident, which was what Ellen told her family so she would not have the shame of a husband who left her.

She takes her children back to Ireland to live with her parents, because she had no one to help her in New York, and she had to work. She works, and saves every penny, and eventually opens a boarding house for Irish men. She brings her children back to New York twelve years later. She is proud of her boarding house, and she takes care of the young men who stay with her.

This is not the typical book that Ms. Hen reads. It's told through scenes that the author imagines that her great-grandmother experiences, and some poetry, and records and advertisements. Ms. Hen thinks this is a lovely way to write a book, and to try to imagine how these people lived over one hundred years ago.

A lot of prejudice existed against Irish people back then, the English thought they were dirty, and uneducated, but the young women sent money home to their families, and raised Ireland up, and the author proposed that this is what helped Ireland survive, and flourish. Things have changed, and nobody is prejudiced against Irish people now in this country, and everyone seems to have forgotten how things used to be.

Today is Saint Patrick's Day, and Ms. Hen is celebrating quietly, thinking about how much the world has changed, and how it still has a long way to go, and she's grateful that her ancestors came here, and she has had opportunities that America has given her, and she has given herself.

Ms. Hen reviews Yours for the Taking

 

Yours for the Taking

Gabrielle Korn

St. Martin's Press

2023

Ms. Hen does not remember why she chose to read this book, but she had it on hold at the library for a long time. A lot of people wanted to read this novel ahead of her, and she understands why. It's fantastic.

Yours for the Taking is about the environment, and where the world is heading. Everyone knows that the Earth is getting warmer, and we are heading towards major crises, and this novel addresses this in a most interesting way.

This novel is about a woman, Jacqueline Millender, who invests in a place called Inside that will house people in New York City to protect them from the environment. She secretly plans to only let young, educated women into Inside, and nobody knows this except the people working for her. The women who are accepted don't even know, until they get there.

The narrative centers around different characters who are involved in the Inside project. Shelby, Jacqueline's assistant, lives on the space shuttle with her, and leaves her family behind. Ava separates from her girlfriend, Orchid, and moves to Inside, and makes a life there. Olympia is the medical director of Inside, and works as Jacqueline's person in charge of the operation.

Ms. Hen loved this book because it asks so many questions, such as: Where are we headed with environmental issues? What would an all women society look like? Do women need men to survive? Would people be comfortable being trapped inside a place if they knew that would be the only way to survive? What is it like for a child to grow up, and never breathe the air outside or see the sun?

Ms. Hen thinks this is an important novel, and one that should be read and evaluated by the type of people that care about the way the world is headed.

Another aspect of this novel that Ms. Hen adored is the ending - it is not an explosive Hollywood ending, but the type of finale that forces the reader to take a breath after finishing the last sentence. The story will go on, but we don't need to know the end, and it is not wrapped up in a bow. This reminds Ms. Hen of the endings of the stories of Katherine Anne Porter, the type that leaves the imagination running, after the last word. 

Ms. Hen recommends this novel to anyone who is a fan of dystopian fiction, feminism, and imagination. And also hope.

Ms. Hen reviews We Are the Crisis

 

We Are the Crisis

Cadwell Turnbull

Blackstone Publishing

2023

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel, because she had read the other one in this series, and she remembers loving it. She understands that these two books are the beginning of the Convergence Saga.

It had been a while since Ms. Hen had read No Gods, No Monsters, so she had a difficult time remembering which characters were which, and what happened in the other novel.

This novel is about different groups of characters, one of which is Ridley and his pack of werewolves. Ridley owns a bookstore. Also, there is Dragon, a child dragon, who was kept in a dungeon for many years. Another character is Alex, whose mother was a vampire, and whose mentor trained her to be a spy.

The characters work to rid the world of prejudice of monsters. Monsters are everywhere in this world, and all types exist, werewolves, witches, vampires, and woo-woos. Some of the novel takes place in the Virgin Islands, and the characters try to make the area better for each other, but they do not always succeed.

Ms. Hen thinks this is an important novel, because it's about prejudice and racism of all types of creatures, some of which whose abnormalities are not visible right away. The monsters have to be in hiding, and they do not have a community, but they try to find others to help each other from the oppressors, and create better lives for themselves.

This novel ended like the previous one, with a violent climax. Ms. Hen thinks this is inspired by cinema, and not necessarily novels. Ms. Hen doesn't think there's anything wrong with a fight at the end, but she thinks that sometimes books should be more derived from literature than movies and TV.

Some of this novel takes place in the Boston area, and Ms. Hen thought it was charming that Dragon went shopping at BJ's in Medford, which is right near where she lives. A great sense of place runs through the entire novel, whether it's in Boston, or the Virgin Islands, or North Carolina. 

Ms. Hen adored this book, and she can't wait to read the next one. Monsters can be all around us, they could be our neighbors and coworkers, but we might never know, and if we do become aware, we should not be afraid of them, but accept them as they are, and let them live their lives.

Ms. Hen reviews This is How You Lose the Time War

 

This is How You Lose the Time War

Amal El-Mohtar

Max Gladstone

Saga Press

2019

Ms. Hen does not know how she decided to read this novel, but she had it on a post-it note on her desk for a long time, so she decided to buy it. She knew she must have read about it, or listened to a podcast about it, but she does not remember.

This novella is written by two people, which Ms. Hen thinks is interesting. It's an epistolary book, which means it is written in letters. The entire book is not letters, some are sections in third person, but it is a conversation between two people, Red and Blue, and they are agents in a time war.

Red and Blue send letters to each other, and they receive them in unique ways. One is through the rings of a tree, an another is delivered by a Canada goose. 

They travel through time, and avoid each other, but pine for each other at the same time. Lots of images of nature appear in this book, birds and insects and flowers. Ms. Hen loved the description of birds, because she is a fan, being one herself.

A statement in the book spoke to Ms. Hen because it is something she has been thinking about, "It's not that I never noticed before how many red things there are in the world. It's that they were never any relevant to me than green or white or gold. Now it's as if the whole world sings to me in petals, feathers, pebbles, blood." Ms. Hen has noticed the red things in the world recently, and how they pop out in her vision. She thinks this might happen to a lot of people.

This novel reminds Ms. Hen of other works, like the fairy tale novels she has read recently, such as A Spindle Splintered. It also reminds her of Doctor Who, of course, because of time travel.

Ms. Hen thinks this novel is charming and beautiful. It's short, but sometimes Ms. Hen likes to read things that are fast. This book is about love through time, and despair and desperation. Ms. Hen believes this book would delight the right type of person, one with Ms. Hen's impeccable sensibilities. 

 

Ms. Hen reviews Master of Poisons

 

Master of Poisons

Andrea Hairston

Tor

2020

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she saw the author at the Arisia con in January, and she thought she was so fantastic Ms. Hen decided she wanted to read a book by her. The author did a reading from her forthcoming book, and Ms. Hen was impressed by her presentation.

This is different from the novels Ms. Hen usually reads. MASTER OF POISONS is fantasy. Imagine LORD OF THE RINGS with Afrofuturism, climate issues, and pirates, and that's this book.

The Masters of Poisons, or Djola, is a man who is captured on a pirate ship, and performs evil deeds. He drinks seed to forget his troubles, but makes friends along the way. Awa, a young sprite is training to be a griot, or storyteller, tries to learn to perform her work the best she can. The two meet each other eventually, and try to save the empire.

The characters go to a place called Smokeland, which is a type of fantasy world where things are not real. Dead people can live there, and people can slip in and out, and magic happens. Ms. Hen thought this reminded her of the Other World that exists.

Ms. Hen likes that some chapters are from the point of view of animals. The reader hears from a dog, a horse, and an elephant, which Ms. Hen thinks is charming. Ms. Hen believes that animals have opinions similar to humans, and their voices should be heard.

The prose in the novel is exquisite. Each sentence is like a poem. It reminded Ms. Hen of reading MOBY DICK, which Ms. Hen considers one long prose poem about chasing a whale.

Ms. Hen thinks this is a difficult book to read, but it's worth it. It's difficult because the prose is so lush, one could sink in it, and not be able to get out. Ms. Hen recommends this if you want to get lost in another world.

Ms. Hen reviews The Kid Mobster

The Kid Mobster

Michael Decicco

2017

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel, because she met the author at an event, and he found out she wrote reviews, and he gave her his book. She likes reading young adult novels at times, as her readers know, so she decided to try out this book.

This novel is about a high school senior named Eddie who works as a courier for a company that services banks. He is saving money for college, but he decides he needs to make more money. He starts to work at a call center for a man named Mederick, and his business raises money for the police and fire departments.

Eddie works with a group of strange people, and his ex-girlfriend's sister, Ruth. They call people and try to make money. The office moves to a different location, and Eddie doesn't understand what is going on, because he is young, and nobody spells it out for him in the beginning. Mederick is part of the mob, and the people who surround him are shady.

One of the good aspects of this novel is the character's voices. They sound like the low-down wise guys that are on TV about mobsters. Ms. Hen could hear what the characters were saying, and she knows what these people are like. These are the types of people that Ms. Hen stays away from, wheelers and dealers, and the kind that will crush a person if they get in their way.

But the character Eddie is too innocent and unbelieving to accept that his coworkers are scumbags. He almost succumbs to their depths, but he learns his lesson, that if something seems too good to be true, he should beware.

Ms. Hen likes to look for chickens or eggs when she reads a book, and there is a place where the characters eat eggs, or would like to, "Heading their way, I felt angry, and I drooled as I passed a case full of rich-looking cakes and pies and booths with steaming plates of bacon and eggs and pancakes..." Ms. Hen always thinks that eggs are enticing, and even though Eddie could not afford breakfast that day, she knew he enjoyed eggs when he could. Mederick was not kind to Eddie, who should have known better, but mafia types are not nice people, no matter how much they have, they want more, and they will do whatever they can to get it.

Ms. Hen enjoyed this novel. It is not her usual cup of tea, but she likes to dive into different types of worlds sometimes. She can imagine this novel as a TV show, with the wise guys cracking at each other. Everyone has to learn life lessons somehow, and Ms. Hen believes Eddie will never make the mistakes again.
 

Ms. Hen reviews Do You Dream of Terra-Two?

 

Do You Dream of Terra-Two?

Temi Oh

Saga Press

2019

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she researched African science fiction novels, and this one came up. She checked it out of her local library.

This novel is about a group of teenagers who study to go to another planet, Terra-Two. A special school outside of London trains students to compete to go to another planet someone discovered one hundred years ago. 

The idea is that they will get to the planet in twenty-two years when they are in their forties, and can colonize the new planet, and prepare it for other travelers.

This novel is an alternate history novel. In this timeline, people have already been to Mars in 2012, and Britain has a space program.

The teenagers go to space, but one of them, Ara, commits suicide before the mission. Everyone is devastated, and they have to find a backup crew member, which turns out to be Jesse, who had the same specialization as Ara, horticulture.

The crew travels slowly through the solar system. Six beta members and the adults on the crew work together. They have problems, but they find solutions, or at times they don't.

Ms. Hen enjoyed this novel, but there were a couple of problems. She had a difficult time imagining the area of the ship they were on. It is large, but she didn't understand the spacial differences between the quarters, and what they looked like.

Also, some of the novel reads like a teenage romance. Romance usually shows up in sci-fi, but here it seems like it's poured on thick.

The characters are well-drawn, and the plot moves along well, and surprises occur, which Ms. Hen appreciates.

Ms. Hen liked this novel, but it's not the best she's ever read. But it's a great recovery novel from DEATH'S END, which she just finished, which was very heavy, whilst this was charming and light, and refreshing, though not perfect.

Ms. Hen reviews Death's End

 

Death's End

Cixin Liu

Tor Books 

2010

Translated by Ken Liu

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she wanted to finish the trilogy. She took her time reading all the books because they are dense and take a long time to read. Even so, she enjoyed them.

This novel is the third in the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. In this book, the reader follows Cheng Xin through time as she hibernates and goes into the future.

A man who she knew in college, Yun Tianming, buys her a star, because he has some money, and he was dying. The stars are on sale as a type of joke, to see if anyone is foolish to purchase something they could never truly own.

Nobody knew at the time that would give great power to Cheng Xin in the future after she awakens from hibernation. She has great wealth, and is voted to be the Swordholder, the person in charge of the Earth's defense.

She does not succeed as the Swordholder. Instead, the Trisolarans demand that everyone on Earth relocate to Australia.

Cheng Xin becomes a pariah, but Earth recovers. Many events occur in this novel, and Ms. Hen does not want to reveal the whole thing.

This novel is romantic, but in a twisted way. It proposes the idea that love can conquer all, but the outcome is not what the Ms. Hen expected.

This trilogy is a depiction of what would happen if aliens came to Earth, and wanted to take over. In reality, they would not be the pleasant aliens we know like E.T. or Mr. Spock. They would be like the Trisolarans, and they would come to steal our resources and enslave humanity.

The ending of this novel is trippy and psychedelic, like 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY. Ms. Hen doesn't know if she quite understands it, but it's about the end of the universe, and the beginning of a new one.

Ms. Hen believes these books are important, and will tell us a lot about humanity, and how it would be able to handle an alien invasion. She's excited to see the Netflix series, to see how the first book is depicted. Ms. Hen is a forward-looking hen, and she looks to the stars for her dreams.

Ms. Hen's Top Ten

 

Ms. Hen's Top 10 2023

Ms. Hen discovered when she was reviewing the books she had read this year, it was difficult to come up with the top ten. Usually she has an excess of wonderful books that she has enjoyed, but this year her list was deficient.

Ms. Hen thinks that the world has problems, and there's nothing anyone can do. Between those not respecting other people, violence and war, all around misery, not to mention the environmental crisis, and utter desolation of the human race, she thinks that anyone who tries to be happy or positive is borderline ridiculous. 

She doesn't want to feel this way, but she does. She still enjoys making herself laugh, however, because that is the only thing that gets her through each day.

The Top Ten:

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

http://mshenreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2023/02/ms-hen-reviews-mists-of-avalon.html 

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

http://mshenreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2023/05/ms-hen-reviews-exhalation.html

The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

http://mshenreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2023/06/ms-hen-reviews-three-body-problem.html

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

http://mshenreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2023/07/ms-hen-reviews-penelopiad.html

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu

http://mshenreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2023/07/ms-hen-reviews-hidden-girl-and-other.html

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

http://mshenreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2023/08/ms-hen-reviews-how-high-we-go-in-dark.html

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

http://mshenreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2023/09/ms-hen-reviews-convenience-store-woman.html

House of Leaves by Mark D. Danielewski

http://mshenreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2023/11/ms-hen-reviews-house-of-leaves.html

A Modern Mephistopheles by Louisa May Alcott

http://mshenreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2023/12/ms-hen-reviews-modern-mephistopheles.html

Julia by Sandra Newman

http://mshenreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2023/12/ms-hen-reviews-julia.html

Ms. Hen hopes 2024 will be better for everyone, but she's not counting on it. She wants to work on finding better books to read.

Happy New Year!

All the best,

Ms. Hen

(S.O.)