iSamwise

I don’t like cozy fantasy, but…

Revisado: 04-10-25

I swore I would never read a “cozy fantasy” and yet here we are. Andrew, what have you done to me???

Quaint Creatures: Magical and Mundane is a charming little book about a giant named Rick with his magical elvish wife who run a pet shop and vet clinic together. The book focuses on small adventures they have of running a business, incidents around town and slowly a larger plot comes into focus as odd occurrences around town are more connected than they seem.

I loved this book. I didn’t know if I would, but this was really delightful. As with his Needle and Leaf books, Meredith knows how to pace his stories well and doesn’t push them farther than they can go.

At the heart of this story is relationship between Rick and his wife Eavalyn. They don’t have a perfect marriage but they have a very good marriage and it was nice to see a relationship so normal and blossoming in a book like this. Seriously I can’t emphasize how much I enjoyed this part of the book. They have disagreements and differences they have to work through, being different races of creatures and all, but they’re very compatible with each other.

Also Ricks assistant in the vet office is the dwarf Hamitch. (A criminally underused name in fantasy if you ask me.) Their banter back and forth was amusing and if I’m being totally honest, Hamitch reminded me of some grumpy coworkers I’ve had.

The plot works as more of a series of vignettes that collage together to make a bigger story. This is exactly what you think you’re getting, with one big exception. Personally I didn’t find this book to be sentimental. My assumption about cozy fantasy books was that they would be syrupy sickly sweet “marshmallows on my maple syrup covered honey slathered chocolate bar” sentimental. Gross. And this book isn’t. While it doesn’t have dealthy demons or quizzical quests, what it does have is the nobility of an everyday life. There is an honor, unglamorous though it may be, in working a normal job, taking care of a family, and loving those around you. This is a good thing. (Think Our Town by Thornton Wilder) Rick tries to do the right thing, tries to love his wife, and helps out those around him. Even if that doesn’t involve slaying damsels or rescuing dragons (….wait a minute….) it does deserve our attention, even if only for two hundred pages.

The book is also quirky and funny. It feels like fantasy zootopia with the sheer variety of creatures and kinds, many of which are colorful and creative. There’s a good bit of culture that’s developed between different races in small but meaningful ways. To be honest, this reminded me of parts of the Dresden Files with the quirky fantasy creatures being dealt with in amusing ways.

I really enjoyed this. I didn’t think this would be my favorite Meredith book (full disclosure I didn’t plan on reading this one, but I thought I’d try something different) but I’m glad I did. Well worth the read and if you give Meredith the $5 or $15 for this book, he won’t waste your time. He will very much make it worth it. This is probably my favorite book I’ve read so far this month.

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Unlike anything you’ve read

Revisado: 04-05-25

So I’ve got a couple of feelings about this book to share. Let’s start with the good.

Mr. Ahmer has a way with words!! When you read indie fantasy you can tell within a page whether or not the author has done their due diligence to ensure that their writing is up to the standard of trad publishing. It’s just something that you know it when you see it. Ahmer has it. Within pages I could tell his writing would be a highlight of this book. Very well written, and very compelling prose.

Also the worldbuilding here is excellent. To me it seemed to have bits of influence from Sanderson and Martin but it truly had its own feeling as well. The concepts of belief, faith, and power were interesting and well explored. One character of prominence deals with self harm and suicidal tendencies. It’s probably the best I’ve seen this portrayed in fantasy. Visceral and not glamorized at all. Very true to life.
The backstory to the world and a lot of the history is good too, and Ahmer does a good job exploring it gradually.

Also the characters in the book are mostly fantastic! (Reasons for some of the negative aspects will be covered later) The dialogue is realistic and sounds great and many characters have distinctive voices! I especially loved the character of Raya and the King character (who’s name I’m blanking on randomly)

Also I said it before but when I say that Ahmer portrays faith well, I mean it. As a person of faith I’m particularly alert to its portrayal in fantasy. (Not looking to be affirmed just looking for a realistic portrayal) Many praised fantasy religions I don’t find realistic or compelling (looking at you Mistborn) However that’s not a problem here. The integration of myth and history is excellent, as well as some truly pagan feeling elements.

The opening 20% is some of the best I’ve read, certainly in indie fantasy, but maybe in general. Killer opening with a really interesting structure.

Here’s where we get to the not so good.
Ahmer messes with the structure as it goes along. It takes to about the 50% mark before we get a clear grasp of who the main characters are because of how they’re introduced and how he jumps between POVs. In theory this shouldn’t be a problem necessarily, but the six or seven POVs combined with at least three layers of flashbacks, all of which get combined with each other leave us with a bit of an emotional muddle. I had a hard time feeling a strong emotional attachment to some main players because of how lopsided their POVs felt.

Also the general plot is very unclear for much of the book (once again because of that structure issue). I’m sure the plot becomes more clear after book two, but because of the way we jump around it’s hard to track what threads are tying into other parts.

That first 20% of the book has basically one consistent structure that it goes with combining a few POVs with a chronicled flashback, and that excited me. As POVs and layers of flashbacks got added it felt like it stalled some of the momentum.

To some this is a mountain out of a molehill, but for me it really knocked the book down a star. I expect to read book 2, but I’m not sure when. I do recommend this book for the reasons I list above, and it’s likely that the wonky structure threw me more than it will for most. It may be that the odd structure is just sloppy, but Ahmer’s excellence in so many other areas make me think it’s more a product of his ambition as a writer. (That’s much better btw. Haha) Check it out if you get a chance!

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Like historical fiction but fiction is the history

Revisado: 04-05-25

A++ Cover!!!

Elevator pitch. Pride and Prejudice meets Frankenstein.

But really there is a large gap of ambiguity in Frankenstein. John Kessel noticed that, and noticed that it takes place shortly after P&P, and thus the idea of this book was born.

This is not the most earth shattering book you will read, but it’s deeply thoughtful. Kessel shows that he knows both texts very very well, and he expands on the themes that are within both.

He also plays with one of the fundamental questions and issues in Mary Shelly’s original novel. Frankenstein’s monster is a monster because he was created by a man and not by a man and a woman. He has no mother or wife figure in his life. This book really looks at that deeply, without corrupting anything about the original.
Great book and I highly recommend it. It reads like a secret history novel (Tim Powers) or reads a little bit like an Into the Woods type of mashup, but it’s excellent. Kessel also knows the language of the time and writes like a current writer would have. This creates a feeling of verisimilitude that makes the book work very well.

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HobbitysortaVIBE

Revisado: 04-05-25

Thrice is a novel that follows a needle maker named Jovan who has a mysterious past history of violence but now seeks to make a living as a humble tradesman. However he also is looking after a four year old lad he calls "Leaf" who is much more alert and coherent than you would expect from his age. He also might just have something a little bit magic about him. The novel covers Jovan as he and Leaf try to evade those who want to capture the boy, or who seek to harm them for any other reason. It takes many twists and turns, but that's the basic set up.
King Solomon tells us that there is nothing new under the sun, and if you hear the two sentence, non spoiler pitch for this book, you could spend three minutes naming other books and movies that sound similar. Whether it's The Road, Logan, True Grit, The Witcher, Shane, even portions of Book of the New Sun.
But here's the important thing, King Solomon is right. (shocking I know). In many ways, ideas are cheap, it's more about what you do with them. But also, no matter how many times this basic idea for a plot is used, it's incredibly effective. (Especially as a dad I can say that stories of a father protecting his kids will always work for me.)
Meredith really adds his own style when it comes to the style and setting. This setting feels like it's a the full fleshed out world that the Brothers Grimm only gave us a snapshot into. It's very Scandinavian in tone, and I loved that.
This is also very much...how do I describe this? Tradesman fantasy? Yes that's what we'll call it. The only other book I can think to call this off the top of my head is The Name of the Wind. (And yet this book is very very different from NOTW. I'm mainly speaking about tone and setting.) There's a lot of attention given to tradesmen and their work. Money doesn't magically appear, it must be earned. When you're bartering with a crotchety innkeeper there's actual stakes because, as a reader, we have a good idea of the stakes. They don't have an unending purse.
Meredith also writes with a sophistication that's better than 80% or more of indie fantasy I've read. His writing voice is excellent and improves the way the story comes across. But it's also full of personality! He uses what I call the Birnam Wood principle. When Tolkien watched the play Macbeth and it seems as though the woods come alive and begin to move, he noted that it would have been so much more exciting if the woods had actually been alive and moved! Thus the Ents were born. Without giving spoilers, Meredith does a similar thing when it comes to one of the major side characters.

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A hobbity type of adventure

Revisado: 04-05-25

These books are for the readers who have ever wanted a novel about hobbit adventures around the shire. It is that type of book.

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Magnificent narration

Revisado: 01-14-25

Fantastic play that’s performed by three excellent voice actors. This is probably my favorite thing that I’ve encountered from Cormac McCarthy. It’s that good!

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Fantastic slow burn Dothraki inspired fantasy.

Revisado: 01-07-25

The first thing to say about this book is that it is a self published book and absolutely in no way reads like one. I’ve read enough self pub that sometimes within a single paragraph you can tell that they didn’t have enough editors or passes at it for the writing to feel smooth and professional. If I didn’t know that Tori had self published this, I wouldn’t have figured it out from the text itself.

Overall this book reminded me STRONGLY of two other books. It reminded me a lot of A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham and the Dothraki portions of A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin.

The GoT comparison is easy as one of the main plots here deals with a nomadic, Mongol style tribe of horse folk. However the Daniel Abraham comparison is a bit more nuanced. It comes down to the tone of the book and the pacing. The whole time I was reading this I thought to myself “people who love A Shadow in Summer would love this book too (Allen)”. The political back and forth, the plots within plots, the deliberate pacing as things are slowly revealed, etc.

It definitely is a book one, and so there’s a lot of things that don’t come together by the end, but it leaves me excited for how things will go in book two!

If I had to give a negative there are three things I’d say, and they’re all minor.
First I didn’t love the audiobook. It’s not bad (and believe me, self pub books having an audiobook lends TONS of credibility to the work) but it’s not amazing. The reading is ok but even some of the side characters had more memorably distinct voices than main characters. (And there were some technical goofs. Repeated phrases, different audio levels, etc. ) Not horrible but I’ll be physically reading book two personally.
Secondly 70% of the worldbuilding is fantastic (like more believable than many mainstream fantasy books I’ve read) but some of the lore was confusing and some things I felt a bit lost in. Maybe that would’ve better if I’d physically read it.
Last of all is a REAL nitpick and it’s the audiobooks fault, but not because of the reader. Hear me out. There’s a deity character that I believe is also supposed to be the sun that’s called “Aqatar” which is pronounced exactly like ACOTAR the acronym for A Court of Thorns and Roses. So that was distracting a bit, but it did make me laugh. Haha.

Despite my nitpicks, this is a great book. The ending was fantastic and Tori is a remarkably polished author who I definitely plan on reading more of!!

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Best in the series

Revisado: 11-12-24

Demon in White is popularly seen as the best book in Sun Eater. Not anymore. Disquiet Gods is the most boss, weird, epic book in the sequence and for the first time I now must wait for the next book.

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Brilliantly Narrated Philosophical Fantasy

Revisado: 10-14-24

This is likely the best self published fantasy novel I’ve gone through. In many ways this’ll be a review of two parts since I primarily went through this on audiobook.

The Way of Edan tells the story of a nation with a powerful organized religion run primarily by wizards who manufacture a holy war as an excuse to invade several neighboring countries.
While this is going on a seemingly simple village boy named Dayraven has what should’ve been a fatal encounter with an elf that awakens a strong magic he never knew lay inside him.
What follows is a story that is told beautifully and deliberately that takes its cues, not just from Tolkien but also from many sources even older, especially Beowulf. One thing that the author, Philip Chase, has been very transparent about is that just like Beowulf and The Lord of the Rings, the Edan books are written as a lament, specifically for the past. However despite many of the classical trappings the writing itself is very modern. Chase writes with beauty and elegance, but also a brutality and harshness that could make even a George RR Martin fan squirm.
To many people this first volume will seem very classic, but if they write it off, or dock it a star for its familiarity then for my moneys worth, they’re taking a shallow reading. Chase is laying the foundation for a series to come that I eagerly await. This first book is executed very well on a technical level, and personally I greatly enjoyed it.

Now…as for the eagerly awaited audiobook……….

Allen Walker (known as The Library Allenxandria on YouTube) is the audiobook narrator and does a fantastic job. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and Walker is up there with the absolute best of narrators! The story is also easy to follow on audio and that’s in no small part to Walkers distinct characterization and voices for the various characters.

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A worthy follow up

Revisado: 07-10-24

A great follow up to the first novel that ends in a gripping way, leaving you begging for the next volume immediately.

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