Devon Fairweather is a book eater, a human-like creature who feeds on books and knowledge to survive. Devon Fairweather is a princess, one of the very rare women among The Families, the book-eater clans. But, above all, Devon Fairweather is a mother who will do everything and anything to keep her son, Cai, safe from the Families as Cai is a mind eater, someone who feeds on brains to survive. The men in power want to chain him like a monster for their own benefit and there is no way Devon will allow that. She herself has been restrained by the doctrinaire rules of The Families her entire life—her son will be free, or she will die trying.

In The Book Eaters, we follow the past and present of Devon Fairweather and the perilous journey she had to embark in first to survive as a woman in a man-dominated tyranny and then to snatch her son from the claws of the cult-like society of the book eaters. Sunyi Dean’s debut novel is nothing but outstanding.

Fast-paced, insightful, and inventive, The Book Eaters is definitely a work to keep an eye on. Nowadays, due to the immense number of novels released into the world every day, it is becoming increasingly difficult to come across fresh stories that keep you at the edge of your seat. This one is one of those fresh stories. The twist on the vampire tradition, the poignant social criticism, and the beautiful concept of book-eating are a wonderful combination of the familiar and the unknown that just keeps you guessing over and over again. Information is given to the reader beautifully—in small doses that, even if satiating, will just trap you and make you read just one more page, one more chapter.

It is also important to mention the wonderful blend that the author makes of narration, real fiction—each chapter that is set in the past is introduced with a real book quote, closely linked to what is happening in the novel, such as The Princess Bride, The Scarlet Letter or Rapunzel—and excerpts from a journalistic academic research on book eaters that just reads unbelievably real. Of course, for a work about book eaters, the omnipresence of literature is no surprise, but it is very much appreciated, and the blending of fact and fiction is a true delight. In a way, it adds an extra layer to the overall lore that surrounds the novel, enriching each and every page and giving a whole new meaning to each chapter for the reader to discover.

One could not finish this review without noting that another great point in the narration is that the novel almost reads as an action movie in a way. For the most part it has a certain reminiscence to one of those 1990s/2000s movie where the female lead just kicks ass and has no trouble rescuing herself and those she loves from a patriarchal society, like Underworld or even Resident Evil. Like the main characters from those movies, Devon never takes her eye out of her goal: to protect her son. To be a good mother. To find the cure that will help her and her son be free from the torment of having to torture humans for sustenance. And to cure her own scars.

If this review piqued your appetite, dear reader, please go ahead and consider having this wonderful novel for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. A dash of danger, a pinch of motherly love, a handful of well-rounded and gripping queer characters, and a tablespoon of literary goodness is what you will taste in this delicious concoction. Bon appétit!

The Book Eaters is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of August 2nd 2022.

Will you be picking up The Book Eaters? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book’s content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries.

Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairytales and cautionary stories.

But real life doesn’t always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.

The post Review: The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hello, Cassandra! Congratulations on your new work, Nothing but Blackened Teeth. Could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself first?

Hello! And thank you. Let’s see. God, I’m really bad at talking about myself. I am primarily a writer. I had my start in journalism before branching out to fiction. Somewhere in between, I acquired a career in video game writing. I have two cats, who are probably going to be big enough to eat me one day. I love plants; I absolutely have a green thumb and I’m not ashamed to brag about it. I lift heavy weights and put them down. I like food. I am terrified of goldfish.

What does horror mean to you?

Horror is bump-in-the-night noises, is the creak of a door when no one else is at home; it’s ghost stories told over a campfire, and the sense that someone is watching when you’re walking home alone. It is knowing what it means when you smell frangipani in the dark and therancousness of the getai at home. It is wronged women who will not stay dead, who will not die until they eat everything that ever hurt them. It is eyes constellating a man’s arm, or worms taking over a brain. It is jump scares and parables and the things we can’t stand to talk about without an armor of myth.

Apart from your literary work, you also have extensive experience in the industry of videogames. How do you feel videogames have shaped you as a writer and vice versa?

I’m a recovering pantser (someone who just writes without really outlining anything before that), and part of the reason my tendency to just write chaotically is going into remission is because of video games. Working in the field, it’s hard not to see the importance of creating moments and beats and developing acts in which people can move coherently.

Writing books has definitely made me a huge advocate for editors in game writing. By and large, most studios don’t have in-house editors, and trust the narrative team to edit each other. And to an extent, that can work, but everyone benefits from having a trained editor who is there exclusively to, you know, edit work.

Nothing but Blackened Teeth references the tropes and recurrent elements of horror cinema quite a few times, using them almost as foreshadowing devices. What compelled you towards that medium? And why did you decide on that strategy?

I think it’s just the circles I run in, honestly. Like, last weekend, I was walking through a cemetery with a bunch of friends, and we were all trying to figure out the hierarchy of deaths. Which of us would go first and why. We argued about who would be the final girl. And… that’s just how I’ve been trained to think, I guess!

Nothing but Blackened Teeth is a haunted house story, but also a story about interpersonal relationships gone awry. What came first to you while developing the story? And which of those two storylines were more confronting for you to write?

A little of both. I knew I wanted to write about haunted houses because I was feeling haunted. The book started to take form right after my father’s death, or around — god knows, that was a weird time. And then came the thoughts about the interpersonal relationships, the way we cling onto friendships long after the time we should have put them to rest.

And definitely the throughline with the relationships was a harder one  to wrestle with.

We would love to hear more about what the ohaguro-bettari means to you. Japanese folklore and horror tradition is immensely rich and many tales could serve as inspiration for horror literature, but why did you decide on basing your story on that figure specifically?

I wanted something that’d seem menacing but was, really, just kinda playful. Something that, under other circumstances, might have been able to play its little prank and then go on its way. Something that absolutely would not be able to predict what our little wedding party would do.

If you were to participate in a Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai—for our readers: an ancient game where samurais lit a hundred candles for a hundred ghost stories—what would your strategy be to win?

I absolutely would not be participating in one. I write horror. I know what happens when you tease spirits like that!

Almost every horror story has a moral, what would you like your readers to take away Nothing but Blackened Teeth?

Relationships can and should end. Friendships too. We don’t have to hold onto them when they’re not good for us anymore. It’s absolutely okay to say that we’ve outgrown a childhood friend, that we’re different people now. There’s no reason to cling to things when they’ve rotted to poison. It’s okay to let go. Honest.

To finish things up, could you recommend a couple of spooky titles for our readers to pick up this Halloween?

World War Z, Flyaway (which isn’t actually horror, but has a wonderful eerieness to it), The Safety of Unknown Cities.

Finally, what’s next for you?

A short story collection which is rolling out next year, my collaboration with Richard Kadrey, and something else that isn’t even announced yet!

Will you be picking up Nothing But Blackened Teeth? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Cassandra Khaw, Author of ‘Nothing But Blackened Teeth’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

All Eliza Quan had ever wanted since she became part of The Bugle was to be editor in chief for the school newspaper. Being the only person running for the position, her dream was so close she could almost taste it…until Len DiMartile came in to ruin everything. Ex-baseball player and just recent fellow writer for The Bugle, Len takes the team by storm and wins the elections for editor.

But what is the reason behind all that unprecedented support for a practical stranger? Is it his jock charm? Is it her appalling lack of effort for being liked? Is it the inherent sexism present in her school? Eliza is not entirely sure, but she is ready to spill all her feelings into one rage-filled article that she has no intention of publishing. What she isn’t expecting, however, is that her words are about to get leaked, exposing her feelings to the entire school…and no one takes being called out too well.

Michelle Quach’s first work Not Here to Be Liked is an upcoming YA novel that has been widely compared to Moxie and rightfully so. Witty, assertive, and bold, Not Here to Be Liked hits all the marks when it comes to current well-known books that combine feminism, romance, and self-love.

Like Moxie, Michelle Quach’s debut deals with the subtle ways in which sexism works its way into every single aspect of social life: women have to be perfect to achieve their goals, both intellectually and physically. Women have to be pretty, smart, and kind—and women have to keep quiet. But this is the 21st century, and being a complacent woman is obviously outdated. Eliza Quan, our main character, is here to cause a ruckus and many of the girls in her school will join her in her quest for justice. We can only hope you, reader, will join her too.

However, what Not Here to Be Liked truly stands out for is its intersectionality and the focus on the influence of race in feminism. Being Chinese-Vietnamese-American—like Quach herself—Eliza is very aware of the struggles she faces, not only as a woman, but also as an Asian woman. And even if a bit superficial at times when addressing feminist issues, author and main character are adamant when calling out sexism both in and out of their community. Here, Quach takes the opportunity to address another layer of discrimination. She shows how there are different levels of injustice and oppression, because while both black and Asian women are socially overlooked and mistreated, the former are the ones who suffer from sexism and racism the most.

Along with the intertwining of sexism and race, Quach also introduces the reader to the life of Eliza as a second-generation immigrant and how the children of immigrants experience life in the US. She offers a glimpse into the tight-knit communities that people build in an attempt to keep a certain sense of cultural roots, bringing a small piece of their home-countries to their new location to survive the so-called American-dream.

To wrap things up, it is very stimulating to read about a main character who is aware of being unlikeable by society’s standards and yet, never strives to change her ways. For the most part, this is very refreshing to read. Eliza is strong, intelligent, independent… and unapologetically so in a delightfully snarky manner. And yet, she is also self-righteous and tends to judge people by their cover. Those would have been perfectly acceptable flaws for an unlikeable character, if not for her constant harshness towards girly women. And for a novel that mostly revolves around feminist issues, that lack of sorority is quite…disheartening.

Overall, Not Here to Be Liked is a quick read with an easy-going prose for those who want to enjoy a fun, feminist take of the tropes we all have learned to love in the last couple of years. With a couple of unexpected turns, some loveably unlovable characters, and a cute romance doused in bubble tea, Not Here to Be Liked is—despite its title—one novel you’ll have no hard time liking.

Not Here to Be Liked is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up Not Here to Be Liked? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Emergency Contact meets Moxie in this cheeky and searing novel that unpacks just how complicated new love can get…when you fall for your enemy.

Eliza Quan is the perfect candidate for editor in chief of her school paper. That is, until ex-jock Len DiMartile decides on a whim to run against her. Suddenly her vast qualifications mean squat because inexperienced Len—who is tall, handsome, and male—just seems more like a leader.

When Eliza’s frustration spills out in a viral essay, she finds herself inspiring a feminist movement she never meant to start, caught between those who believe she’s a gender equality champion and others who think she’s simply crying misogyny.

Amid this growing tension, the school asks Eliza and Len to work side by side to demonstrate civility. But as they get to know one another, Eliza feels increasingly trapped by a horrifying realization—she just might be falling for the face of the patriarchy himself.

The post Review: Not Here To Be Liked by Michelle Quach appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

An ancient house from the Heian era, haunted by the walled-up corpses of a hundred brides. An expensive trip—a wedding gift—with plenty of booze, food, and ghost stories to tell. A thrill-seeking couple who wants to get married in that very house, surrounded by their closest friends. What could go wrong?

If Nothing but Blackened Teeth is on your radar, you are in for a ride. Cassandra Khaw, author of Hammers on Bone and These Deathless Bones, brings us this brilliant novella full of psychological horror, guts, and teeth. Thoroughly immersed in Japanese folklore, Nothing but Blackened Teeth is not only a ghost story, but also a fascinatingly illustrative dive into the Japanese literary tradition of the kaidan, as well as its myths, legends, and supernatural spirits. Following the ancient ritual of the Hyakumonogatari Kaidan, where samurais lit a hundred candles for a hundred ghost stories, Nothing but Blackened Teeth combines a hundred forms of horror in its 128 pages. Body horror, psychological horror, gore, lore, monsters, ghosts, and haunted houses, this is an absolute funhouse for the horror junkies.

A remarkable aspect of this novella is that its cultural references are not watered down to fit into the constrains of Western horror. This is magnificently unapologetic and offers the minimal explanation of terms and cultural references, so there is a gorgeous array of Japanese imagery and folklore for the unknowing reader to research and discover. Some allusions, such as the kitsune, the kappa or the tengu—the array of yōkai or malicious spirits that observe the protagonists every move—are easier to locate. Others, like the Ohaguro Bettari, are for some to uncover.

This also makes great use of the setting to create an oppressing, sinister atmosphere. The Henian house where the set of characters are meant to spend the night becomes almost a sentient entity with the passing of time. As our protagonists start to lose their sanity, we can observe how the house begins to breathe and stare and grow sharp, organic limbs to trick their minds and take a bite from their deepest fears and insecurities. But who is the ultimate orchestrator of such a nightmare? The house itself, the Ohaguro Bettari, or the secret feelings and grudges the five friends keep from each other?

All of these elements are tied up together by a gorgeous writing style that almost turns prose into poetry. Wielding the most colourful metaphors and elevated words, Khaw creates a gorgeous contrast between the daintiness of her narration and the raw harshness of the direction the plot takes. But the author doesn’t limit her prose to it, she also grabs the bull by the horns and uses the most predictable tropes of the horror genre to her advantage. In a twisted form of foreshadowing, constant horror film meta-references made by the characters themselves serve as red herrings that lead the reader on until it is too late. And this technique follows through until the climax of the story, where her wonderfully diverse cast of characters allows her to subvert one of the most common tropes of the genre—one that we will not mention to avoid major spoilers—and denounce the mistreatment of non-white characters in horror.

Even if short, Nothing but Blackened Teeth is feast for the senses. Deeply enriching, twisted, and deliciously dark, the upcoming novella is a definite must-read. Let the Ohaguro Bettari and her army of yōkai sink their teeth into you, and try and see whether you’d be able to escape the Heian mansion alive. The adrenaline rush is definitely worth the attempt.

Nothing but Blackened Teeth is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of October 19th 2021.

Will you be picking up Nothing but Blackened Teeth? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Cassandra Khaw’s Nothing But Blackened Teeth is a gorgeously creepy haunted house tale, steeped in Japanese folklore and full of devastating twists.

A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company.

It’s the perfect wedding venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends.

But a night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare. For lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.

And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.

The post Review: Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Shelley! Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hello, and thanks for having me! I spent my errant 20s in one of those poorly-understood expat jobs that led people at parties to ask, “so, are you really a spy?” to which I’m like: have you met me? I have the social skills of a potato. I deal terribly with excitement and adventure in real life. I far prefer sitting comfortably at home in the ‘World’s Most Liveable City’ (that would be Melbourne, Australia), and putting fictional characters through the wringer.

When did you first realise that you wanted to be a writer?

I always wanted to be a writer! I was writing terrible stories and flinging them onto the internet from my teens onwards. I used to be like: I’m going to write Literature and get a Pulitzer Prize one day. I was so dumb I didn’t even realise you have to be American to be eligible for a Pulitzer. But my parents were pretty adamant that being an English major wasn’t something that would lead to, you know, being able to feed myself. So I did other things for a while. And now I’m older and wiser, and I’ve had the epiphany that you may as well write what brings you joy. A commercial romance or fantasy novel may never win a Pulitzer, but you can say as much about the world with one as you can with capital-L Literature.

Which authors did you look up to before beginning to write? Do you feel like their works have influenced your own writing?

I love beautiful prose that’s a reason to read, in its own right. I love descriptions. When I read, I want to travel to another reality. So when I was just starting to write, I was probably following classic travel writing: Wilfred Thesiger, Jonathan Raban, HV Morton. And these days I’m in awe of the great nature stylists: Helen Macdonald, Robert Macfarlane, Olivia Laing. But in terms of storytelling, I’m probably most influenced by fantasy authors like Naomi Novik, CS Pacat, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Holly Black. Their books are this perfect blend of action-adventure and emotional catharsis.

If you could describe She Who Became the Sun using just three emotions, which ones would they be?

Oh, I only need one: shame. This book is all about shame: those whose lives are driven by it, and those who refuse it. Move over, Brené Brown. We Asians know shame.

If you could talk to every reader who picks up your novel, what would you tell them? And what do you hope readers get from your novel?

I’d say: don’t learn history from this book. Seriously, don’t: I’ve taken every liberty imaginable. And it’s not a mainland Chinese TV drama of the kind you’ll see on Netflix. It’s an eastern-western mashup, in terms of both style and themes, and that’s how I intended it. I wanted to write something fun, and escapist, that was also about how what the world views as a weakness can be a strength. But apart from that: I feel like a novel needs to stand on its own. Not every reader vibes with every book, which is the natural way of the world. No amount of me telling people how they should feel about it is going to make them actually feel that.

She Who Became the Sun is a novel that toes the line between history and fiction, as it is based on the Red Turban Rebellion that took place between 1351 and 1368. What approach did you take to find that perfect balance between reality and imagination? And what was the hardest part about the process?

When it comes to history vs fiction, I think you have to be clear at the outset what kind of story you’re telling. I was never telling a story about those specific historical events. I wanted to tell a story about individuals within a system that denies them aspects of their personhood— whether that be their sexuality, or their gender, or even their right to life. It’s a story about contemporary identity, and the history is just a frame. So with that in mind, I never had any compunctions about changing what I needed to change to best serve the themes. I turned one historical figure into two characters who each exemplified one aspect of the original. I created a major character out of nothing, because I needed a specific kind of foil for my protagonist. I compressed the timeline so that plot events tracked at the same pace as the character arcs and relationships. That wasn’t so hard. The truly challenging part was creating characters who were strong enough, epic enough, to be worthy of the world-changing events they were inciting. I’m always a bit ‘meh’ about Chosen One stories where you have to work hard to suspend your disbelief about some pissy teenager’s ability to save the world. (Yes, Luke Skywalker, I’m looking at you.) It was hard coming up with a characterisation for Zhu that was both plausible as a world-conqueror, and likeable. Relatively speaking.

Desire and wanting are some of the central topics of She Who Became the Sun. Why do you feel it is important to acknowledge these feelings?

There’s so much misery in the world because of people being told, don’t want what you want. It’s part of the human condition to want. I’m not just talking sexual desire, but any kind of desire. The desire to be, or do, or have, or to experience. You can’t cut it out of people. You can tell them not to want something, you can even get them to believe it, but that desire is still going to be there on some level. Relegate it to the subconscious, but it’ll come out in all sorts of other ways that will be detrimental to everyone involved. The characters in She Who Became the Sun are constantly being told they shouldn’t want this or that. Even Zhu Yuanzhang, who says, “well, fuck that” and goes and pursues her wants anyway, does it in the most ruinous way because of how the world is set against her. As a society, we really need to stop with the endless moralising and just let people want what they want. What are we all so goddamn afraid of?

If you had to recommend a book that matches the personalities of your main characters, which ones would they be?

For Zhu Yuanzhang and her unquenchable drive for greatness: Mary Renault’s classic Fire From Heaven, which covers the early rise of Alexander the Great. For General Ouyang’s destructive self-hate: H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, specifically the parts about the sad, cruel, closeted life of TH White.

Finally, what’s in store for you in the future?

Before the pandemic, I used to answer this question by saying, “I want to level up! I want to do a Madeline Miller, and write the Circe to my The Song of Achilles.” Ha! The hubris. As for many writers I know, 2020 crushed the creativity out of me. Now I just want to write something—anything. What I know for sure is that I’m done with imperial China. Maybe I’ll write a romance for a change of pace. Maybe it will even have a happy ending.

Will you be picking up She Who Became The Sun? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Shelley Parker-Chan, Author of ‘She Who Became The Sun’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

A few years ago, Grishaverse fans could only dream about getting a TV or movie adaptation of our favourite literary world. As the Grishaverse expanded from the Shadow and Bone trilogy to the Six of Crows and the King of Scars duologies, Leigh Bardugo’s creations made us crave for our favourite characters to come alive. Now, in 2020, we finally have it, so if you happened to miss the news, go watch the Shadow and Bone series on Netflix NOW!

Directed by Eric Heisserer and produced by Leigh Bardugo herself, Shadow and Bone is everything we could have ever asked for and a little more. It is not common for an adaptation that diverts from the original story to please the fans, but the Netflix production is equally faithful and innovative, creating something entirely new yet familiar for the fans. Combining the plot of the first novel in the Shadow and Bone trilogy and some of our favourite crows from the Six of Crows duology, the TV series is a true gift both for fans and newcomers.

Of course, when we learned that Shadow and Bone would merge the trilogy and duology together, we expected some major—quite scary—changes. However, we, in fact, had nothing to worry about. The adaptation does include a few changes here and there, but the two sagas are combined seamlessly without barely affecting their individual storylines. Namely, while Alina’s storyline unravels, our beloved Dregs—yet to be joined by Nina, Matthias, and Wylan—are on a mission across the Fold to kidnap the Sun Summoner.

In any case, there is no doubt that immense love and admiration for the original works was the driving force of the show, because even the smallest details—even the new ones—are nods to the books. For instance, one example that completely blew our minds away was that, in the TV series, the Crows infiltrate the Little Palace as part of a theatrical troupe. And how does Alina escape the palace in the book? See for yourselves.

While new fans will not need to have read the books to fully understand the story, the series has plenty of little nods to the books and the smallest details will make readers smile. Did you catch the copy of the Istorii Sankt’ya? Or the image of Sankta Lizabeta? Or the copy of Shadow and Bone in Ravkan? Let us know if we missed something because the series is bursting with fantastic references and we are sure there are many more to uncover!

Along with the faithfulness to the plot, the cast is always the most difficult part for the production to nail. But, once again, the attention to detail and nuance was outstanding. Every single actress and actor completely took their role by storm. From the secondary characters, such as Nadia, Fedyor, or Zoya, to the protagonists, all of them absolutely nailed their roles. Ben Barnes as General Kirigan beautifully and flawlessly captured the ins and outs of the Darkling’s mind, while Archie Renaux gave Mal a much more complex and eye-catching personality than the one in the books. This could only be expected, as the characters in the series are free of the constrains of the book’s first-person narration.

Of course, we could not miss to mention the stellar interpretation of Jessie Mei Li who is the very embodiment of Alina’s resilience, wit, and kindness. We could not have hoped for a better group of actors.

On their part, The Crows completely stole the show. Kit Young, Amita Suman, and Freddy Carter were everything we could have dreamed of and we cannot wait to see more of them. All three portrayed our beloved characters so perfectly that it almost felt like being reunited with long lost friends. Jesper’s charm, Inej’s strength, and Kaz’s ruthlessness and care for his friends, it was all there and they are a joy to watch. A special mention to Freddy Carter is needed, who was able to transmit a million emotions without dropping Kaz’s characteristic angry façade. And Amita Suman’s portrayal of Inej’s faith is also beautifully fascinating to watch.

When it comes to Danielle Galligan’s and Calahan Skogman’s Nina and Matthias, it might be too early to judge, as they barely make an appearance on the show. In any case, their scenes are taken almost frame by frame from Six of Crows so their relationship will be an absolute delight for fans.

The series still could improve, however. For one, the plot feels a bit rushed at times. It is quite the feat to portray an entire book in one single season, and that is something that slightly hinders the overall narration of the story. Relationships might feel a bit rushed, especially for those who have not read the books, and character development is not as rewarding for those who have. There are also a few unfortunate remarks towards the Shu—people from the nation of Shu-Han, a region with Chinese and Mongolian influences—that felt a bit too harsh, especially taking into account that, in the books, we had the joy of a fantasy universe where—thankfully for people who have to suffer it every day—racial discrimination was non-existent.

To conclude we could not finish this review without mentioning the absolutely outstanding work around the creation of the settings. Ravka and Kerch come alive in the streets, buildings, and open fields of Budapest. The small background details are definitely a wonderful way to immerse the viewer into the world of the Grishaverse. Hand in hand with the setting and props, the costume design is to die for. The embroidery of the keftas, their rich colours, the worn of the soldier’s uniforms or the details on the Dregs’ clothes are just a sight for sore eyes.

Overall, Shadow and Bone is a wonderful adaptation, that gives newcomers a chance to discover the world of the Grishaverse and offers fans of the novel new material to enjoy. Let us pray to all the saints that Netflix decides to renew the show for season 2, because we still have so many things to unravel in the Grishaverse. We need Wylan and Nikolai and Tolya and Tamar and so many other characters that we just need to see come alive in the show. Here’s to more episodes to enjoy in the future, more stories to discover, and more Grisha magic to witness. In any case, let us say that until then: No mourners, no funerals.

What did you think of Shadow and Bone? Tell us in the comments below!

The post TV Review: ‘Shadow and Bone’ Season 1 appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

We chat with Krystal Sutherland—author of Our Chemical Hearts and A Semi-Definite List of Worst Nightmares—about her latest dark and gritty novel. Learn more about the three Hollow sisters, the Halfway, and the writing process of this stellar author. But be careful, she might plant some love seeds in your heart and you will not be able to escape!

Hi, Krystal! Congratulations on your new novel, House of Hollow; we absolutely adored it! First of all, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m an internationally published author of novels for young adults. My first book, Chemical Hearts, was published in over twenty-five countries and was adapted into a movie starring Lili Reinhart that came out last year. I’ve lived on four continents and currently call London home (I’m trying to get back to Australia though – get me off Plague Island!).

House of Hollow is a novel that relies heavily on sensory descriptions to immerse the reader into the world of the Hollow sisters. If you had to describe your new novel by its smell, what would it be like?

It’s smoky, earthy and green – but there’s an undercurrent of rot and decay.

The atmosphere and tone of House of Hollow take a completely different direction from what we saw in A Semi-Definite List of Worst Nightmares. Do you feel like your writing process has changed along with those as well? In which way?

I’ve always read and written about the supernatural; I actually wrote three unpublished manuscripts before Chemical Hearts, which were all fantasy and/or thrillers. I’ve never enjoyed creating anything as much as I did House of Hollow, because it’s the kind of book I’ve been trying to write for a decade: lush, dark, eerie. After publishing two books, I finally felt like I was good enough as a writer – that I had the necessary toolkit – to do the story justice. It felt like coming home!

The Halfway—the liminal place between life and death—and its effects on the human body are a truly enthralling, but what is the inspiration behind it? And how did you develop it as a concept?

Like the characters themselves, The Halfway as a place developed slowly over multiple drafts. I didn’t decide that it was a place between life and death until the very last draft, when my editor said that it reminded her of Hell in the Robin Williams movie What Dreams May Come. It was at that moment that everything clicked for my. It seems so obvious, in retrospect, that it’s a kind of limbo. Those instants of epiphany are my favourite part of the writing process.

Out of the three Hollow sisters—Grey, Vivi, and Iris—who was the hardest to shape as a character? And who do you identify the most with and why?

I’m probably most like Iris, who’s quiet and studios and keeps her head down. Vivi and Grey were a lot more fun to write though! They’re dream girls. They’re the women I wanted to be when I was growing up. Vivi is rough and wild and heavily tattooed. Honestly, she’s borderline feral, a ball of walking chaos. Grey is the opposite: The height of glamour and the embodiment of control. I think Grey is the most morally grey (and appropriately named) character in the book, so she was probably the hardest to shape, because she’s balancing on a knife’s edge between relatable and monstrous.

The three sisters’ powers and beauty are both a great weapon and a curse, because while they make things easier for the girls, they also bring the worst out in people. Could you expand a bit on that? Is it possible to translate it into current social issues?

The way these three sisters look – and their reactions to their beauty – is very much a commentary on how we treat women and girls in society. All three of them are very aware of their beauty and the dangers that come along with it. Grey has weaponized it; Vivi has tried to rebel against it; Iris is uninterested in participating in it to the point that she doesn’t wear perfume in case it’s interpreted as some sort of invitation. Together they are very much a critique of the “she was asking for it” cliché that we hear time and time again after women are assaulted.

Death, grief, and loss are very much constant elements in your novels, and House of Hollow is no exception. Why do you feel it is important to talk about these negative feelings to accept them as one more part of life? What do you hope your readers learn from it?

Those are the stories I’m most drawn to – and I think others are drawn to them as well, because we’ve all experienced grief and loss, or at least we all know we will experience grief and loss at some point. They are among the rawest of human emotions. I think reading about death in literature both a) helps us to work through our own losses and b) prepares us for losses we may experience in the future. My partner was quite sick with COVID in December/January. At the time, I was reading Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, which is about the grief of a child dying from plague. It was honestly miraculous to read my exact feelings there on the page, like the book had been written exactly for me exactly when I needed to read it. (My partner is fine now by the way!)

To wrap things up, if each of the Hollow sisters could recommend a book to our readers, which would they be?

Grey would recommend something obscure and slightly pretentious, so probably Daemonologie by King James VI of Scotland. Vivi would recommend something underground and difficult to acquire: let’s say the mysterious Tales from the Hinterland from Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood (except it’s now a real book – and not that hard to find anymore!). Finally, Iris would recommend a contemporary YA, since she has no interest in the supernatural: You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson and Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo are her jam.

Finally, what’s in store for the future?

I’m working on the draft of my fourth YA novel right now – and a horror movie screenplay! I’ve always been interested in screenwriting, so that’s something I’ve been pursuing in London.

Will you be picking up House of Hollow? Tell us in the comments below!

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In this Q&A, we chat with Akemi Dawn Bowman about her writing process, main themes, and influences of her new novel. Keep an eye on this amazing start of Akemi Dawn Bowman’s latest duology, because we definitely cannot wait for the next part!

Hi, Akemi! Congratulations on your new novel! It’s been some time since we last had a chat with you for the release of Harley in the Sky. How have you been doing since then?

Thank you so much! I’ve been pretty exhausted, to be honest. It hasn’t been easy juggling work and family during these weird times, but I think there’s a lot of people feeling the same way. Animal Crossing has definitely been a light in the darkness, particularly when it comes to helping with burnout in the evenings!

You have said that The Infinity Courts is a combination of your love for robots and Jane Austen’s novels. But if Jane Austen herself could give us a summary of your latest novel, what would she say?

Ooh, that’s a good question. I sort of think the whole “artificial intelligence hacking into the afterlife” aspect might be a LOT for someone who lived during a time when they were still sending letters by messenger. She’d probably find the concept very out there! But I think she might pick up on the social commentary, and certainly the romance. Maybe she’d refer to it as, “A study of humanity that takes place in a strange, celestial world.”

You have quite a few books now published, but The Infinity Courts is your first dive into the world of sci-fi. Do you feel like you changed anything during the writing process to adapt to the different genre?

My roots have always been in sci-fi/fantasy—it’s what I’d written my whole life up until STARFISH, and that was after I’d found my agent. If anything, I think writing contemporaries has been what changed my writing. They helped me find my voice, and my love of writing character studies. I think that’s carried through to THE INFINITY COURTS for sure. But I definitely enjoyed having so much freedom to let my imagination run wild! I had more notes written down than usual simply due to the worldbuilding, and I stuck to an outline slightly more than I normally do. Writing this one felt a bit like escapism to me. I love my contemporaries, but they’re so much like abstract diary entries that they can feel quite heavy to work on. This one was less pressure, and more fun!

Ophelia, the AI queen that rules over Infinity is definitely a cautionary tale for us to treat Siri/Alexa better, but how did you come up with such an idea? And what do you expect readers get out of the book overall?

I’m someone who definitely says “please” and “thank you” to any AI, and my brain naturally anthropomorphizes them for sure. But I don’t think I set out to write a cautionary tale—to me, it was always more about lifting a magnifying glass to this idea of “moral righteousness.” Who gets to decide what’s right and wrong? What are the gray areas? Is it possible for people to have fundamental disagreements and still respect each other? And probably a million more questions that had been rattling around in my brain. I hope this book will remind readers how important it is to ask questions, and be unafraid of using their own voices—even if that means making missteps along the way. We learn best by making mistakes, and I think sometimes people forget that, especially in this era. But mostly I just want readers to enjoy Nami’s adventure in the afterlife! Having a biracial character who looked like me who also got to do all the cool, tropey things other characters were doing in books would’ve meant the world to me growing up. I’m so glad I got to write the book I always wanted, and I hope that joy comes through the pages.

What is the aspect of The Infinity Courts that you enjoyed the most writing? Why?

I loved creating the world of Infinity. The courts, and princes, and creatures… It was all just so much fun. There are no real limits in this world, and so it felt like someone lifted the gate in my imagination, and I just had the freedom to do whatever I wanted. It was the first time I felt creatively recharged in a long time.

How did you come up with the four Courts of Infinity —Victory, Death, Famine, and War—and their princes? Could expand a bit on their influences?

The princes and courts were loosely inspired by the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. Ophelia had access to google—she literally knows everything about human history. Since AIs in this world can’t create anything new, everything she has made is inspired or based on things from the human world. I loved the idea that she’d be ending humanity by creating “four horsemen,” or in this case, princes, who would each play a part in taking down humans. I’m excited for readers to learn more about them as the story unfolds!

You said yourself that writing truthfully and honestly about emotions is a big part of your work and it shows. In the case of The Infinity Courts, there are times where the reader is able to empathize with both humans and Residents—the AIs who took over the afterlife—and that is no easy task. For you, which were more difficult to write and shape in terms of their emotional landscapes and motivations: humans or AIs? And which character posed the biggest challenge?

The human motivations were probably a bit harder. I think readers will pick up fairly quickly that not every human thinks the same, just like in real life. The humans have a lot of obvious layers—and in the case of Nami, a huge difference in opinion. Ophelia was the biggest challenge to write though, because she is essentially the “voice of the AIs” when readers first meet her. She speaks for all of them, whereas the humans are introduced as individuals united by a common goal, rather than created for one.

Free will, choice, and self-determination are some of the most recurring themes in the novel. In Infinity, there are no limits to what is possible, but many of the characters, both human and AI, are trapped by either tangible or intangible cages. Is there are reason why you decided to construct that interesting paradoxical opposition?

I think most humans have felt trapped in some way. Whether it’s society’s expectations, or just generally feeling unable to be yourself/do what you want to do, it’s an aspect of life that most of us figure out ways to deal with or manage. And some people view the afterlife as a place that represents real “freedom,” where they can finally be at peace. I wanted to explore that a bit, and kind of question not only what freedom really means, but also what it costs—and if it’s even possible.

To wrap things up, all of your books feature some form of art —painting, music, trapeze performances, or even metalworking— and it tends to have a central part in the lives of your characters. Could you recommend three books where art has a similar weight?

THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER by Emily X.R. Pan, AN ENCHANTMENT OF RAVENS by Margaret Rogerson, and AMERICAN BETIYA by Anuradha D. Rajurkar. They all feature artists and are absolutely beautiful books.

Finally, without spoilers, what can readers expect from the second part of the duology? Do you have any other work in store for the future?

The second part of Nami’s story will see her venture further into the world of Infinity. There will be some familiar faces, but also some new ones, and I think readers will definitely be seeing a new side to Nami. She has something to prove this time around, and also a lot of unfinished business! (Avoiding spoilers here of course.) I also recently got to announce that it’s a trilogy, so there’s a third part of the story still to come (and write). I’m thrilled to be able to take readers on this expanded journey, and cannot wait for them to meet Nami and watch her grow over three books. I also have my first middle-grade novel coming out at the end of June. It’s a contemporary called GENERATION MISFITS, and it’s about a middle-schooler who desperately wants to make friends and ends up meeting a group of misfits through a shared love of J-Pop. Out of all my books, it’s the one that feels most like a warm hug!

Will you be picking up The Infinity Courts? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Akemi Dawn Bowman, Author of ‘The Infinity Courts’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

From the fascinating mind of Krystal Sutherland—author of Our Chemical Hearts and A Semi-Definite List of Worst Nightmares—comes a brand-new novel that will creep on into your heart like the weeds in a garden. Dark, surreal, and visceral, House of Hollow will not leave anyone who reads it indifferent. We already knew that Krystal Sutherland is an artist when it comes to mixing reality and fantasy to a perfect, whimsical equilibrium, but this time, she has hands down outdone herself. Raw, mysterious, delicate, beautiful, revolting, engrossing…many adjectives could describe House of Hollow and yet, none would do it enough justice. You will just have to see for yourself, dear reader.

House of Hollow follows the story of three sisters—Grey, Vivi, and Iris—who disappeared into thin air when they were little only to suddenly come back almost as completely different people. With their hair turned white and eyes black, the Hollow sisters became a mystery surrounded by thinly-veiled power and the smell of lush greenery. Their mystery, however, is also one for Iris to unravel, as she does not remember what happened to them…or the lives they had before.

This novel is quite a hard one to categorise: a mixture of urban fantasy, mystery, thriller, and fairytale, Krystal Sutherland combines all of the best bits and pieces of each and every genre to create something new and magical. Something that almost feels alive. Very much like A Semi-Definite List of Worst Nightmares, Sutherland maintains her gorgeous, characteristic atmospheric style; one that almost reads like a dreamscape. But while the one she used for her 2017 novel was light and breezy, the atmosphere of House of Hollow resembles the essence of a nightmare. The pages of this book are filled to the brim with flowers, dead things, and raw power, portraying a world where everything is just not quite right—that certain sense of liminality that is so hard to put your finger on.

Whimsical, twisted, and organic, House of Hollow conjures the strength of nature, death, and decay to paradoxically bring the Halfway—the place between life and death—to life. This novel lays Sutherland’s formidable descriptive prose bare. Through her masterful use of adjectives, metaphors, and imagery, the author is able to stir up the most primal emotions on the reader. We are not lying when we say that you can almost smell the forest, flowers, and decomposition while reading this novel. It is truly mind-blowing: the rotten smells will make you gag and the beauty of the clothes Grey makes will leave you daydreaming about them for days. And beware of the man with the skull on his head, because he will also end up haunting your dreams. Like an insect running up and down your every limb, Krystal Sutherland is able to make your skin crawl with her words alone, while keeping a firm grip on her beautiful imagery.

Of course, that is not all. House of Hollow also explores the familial ties that bound most people together through thick and thin, especially siblings. This topic, she has already explored before, but, this time, sisterhood becomes the driving force of the novel, along with self-discovery, the management of grief, and learning to fend for oneself. Furthermore, Sutherland also explores the curse of beauty. How, as a woman, being beautiful has its advantages, but it mostly puts you in a constant state of danger. Through the magic of compulsion that the Hollow sisters wield, Sutherland seems to create a poignant analogy for the female boundaries, appearance, and sexuality: in our current society, they are nothing but a double-edged sword. For the Hollow sisters, this reality is amplified and made painfully aware to them in different, yet overlapping ways. All of these elements are additionally tied up by an outstanding set of morally-grey characters that, despite doing the most gruesome things, are impossible to hate.

So, what are you waiting for? A perfect pick for fans of Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle saga, House of Hollow is a standalone novel that you will not be able to put down until you have all the answers, hidden deep into the forest of the Halfway. Take a leap of faith and follow the Hollow sisters into their trip to the past to search for answers. Let the flowers of death and grief consume you, and uncover the truth of the three Hollow sisters. Proceed with caution, though, Grey, Vivi, and Iris are rather keen on getting under the skin of anyone who dares to cross their path.

House of Hollow is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of April 6th 2021.

Will you be picking up House of Hollow? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow has always been strange. Something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were children, something they can’t quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats.

Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar. But when her eldest sister, Grey, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister’s ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind.

As Iris retraces Grey’s last known footsteps and follows the increasingly bizarre trail of breadcrumbs she left behind, it becomes apparent that the only way to save her sister is to decipher the mystery of what happened to them as children.

The closer Iris gets to the truth, the closer she comes to understanding that the answer is dark and dangerous – and that Grey has been keeping a terrible secret from her for years.

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A hero’s journey is always worth telling. A myriad of adventures, people to save, and evil villains to defeat; we all know how the story goes. But, what happens after their quest is fulfilled? Why do heroes’ lives seem to end once they have saved the world? And what happens when they grow old and people still hold them to the standards they met on their youth?

All these questions are explored thoroughly in Sarah Beth Durst’s latest novel, The Bone Maker, released March 9th 2021. In this standalone fantasy novel, we follow Kreya in her quest to bring her husband, killed in the battle against an evil magician, back to life. But that is just the beginning of the story. In her journey, she rekindles her relationship with not only her former crew of heroes—Zera, Marso, Stran, and her husband himself, Jentt—but also with one of her biggest enemies, who…surprisingly might be seeking redemption?

To begin with, the magic system is quite exciting. Divided into three guilds, Durst creates a bone-based type of magic that reads both as creepily eerie and darkly fascinating. Of course, due to the rather macabre form of magic, several ethical and moral barriers arise. Where does one set their limit? Is it okay to practice necromancy only once if it is to bring a loved one back? And should you make these decisions regardless of what the dead person may think?

Sadly, both the magic system and the fantastic environment of the novel seem a bit shallowly explored. As a result, the worldbuilding is a bit sparse and does not allow the reader to create a fully-fledged mental picture of the surroundings and background of the story. Of course, writing a standalone fantasy novel with an average page number is quite complex as it does not allow as much room to focus on small details as a fantasy saga or a lengthy fantasy book. To a certain point, that lack of exploration is understandable, especially considering the careful attention paid to the characters’ relationships, as we will discuss later.

Nonetheless, The Bone Maker is an astoundingly refreshing exploration of the tradition of the hero’s journey, as it is not common to see heroes go through maturity. Leaving your heroic past aside is one difficult task when people are writing songs and legends about you, and for Kreya, becoming a hermit is the only way to do so. Zera, on the other hand, relishes on her fame and past. Stran has swiftly moved on to become a father and Marso is completely broken. All of them show the many outcomes of the passing of time, and all of them are lacking something: each other.

The way the five heroes interact with each other is definitely the novel’s greatest strength.  The five getting back together is so organic and realistic that you just can’t help but root for their relationship to flourish again. Friendly banter, brief moments of shock at how much they all have changed, but also instants of easy connection…the constant comparison of their past and present relationships show how they all adapt to each other again as a team and embrace both the traits they knew and the new quirks they developed over time. And still, the five of them still work together as the cogs of a clock. Their bond is so strong that some of them only begin to learn to manage their grief and heal from the trauma of war once they all come back together; and that is one powerful message to send.

Through the character development of Kreya, the main character, we also come to understand what it truly means to trust your intuition as you grow older, but also to compromise with other points of view. Time and experience truly make you wiser and for Kreya, that is an eye-opening revelation. While the five members of the crew seem to be stuck in the past, the only way for them to become better heroes is to accept the passing of time and understanding that their new lives—even if not ideal—add that little something that they lacked when they were younger.

All things considered, The Bone Maker is quite a fun read and a great way into the fantasy world for those who are not quite used to the characteristic density of the genre. As a light read that still maintains the best traits of high fantasy, Sarah Beth Durst’s latest novel is a great pick for older and younger readers alike as it shows that age is no impediment to life, but an asset of wisdom and experience. Life does not end at 25, on the contrary: maturity turns heroes into human beings. So, get ready. Test the limits people will reach to save a loved one and discover whether you would be willing to cheat death by killing another person… for your loved one to live. For fans of Morgan Rhode’s Falling Kingdoms saga, The Bone Maker is a wonderful, entertaining novel you don’t want to miss.

The Bone Maker is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of March 9th 2021.

Will you be picking up The Bone Maker? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

From award-winning author Sarah Beth Durst, a standalone epic fantasy set in a brand-new world of towering mountains and sparkling cities, in which a band of aging warriors have a second chance to defeat dark magic and avenge a haunting loss.

Twenty-five years ago, five heroes risked their lives to defeat the bone maker Eklor—a corrupt magician who created an inhuman army using animal bones. But victory came at a tragic price. Only four of the heroes survived.

Since then, Kreya, the group’s leader, has exiled herself to a remote tower and devoted herself to one purpose: resurrecting her dead husband. But such a task requires both a cache of human bones and a sacrifice—for each day he lives, she will live one less.

She’d rather live one year with her husband than a hundred without him, but using human bones for magic is illegal in Vos. The dead are burned—as are any bone workers who violate the law. Yet Kreya knows where she can find the bones she needs: the battlefield where her husband and countless others lost their lives.

But defying the laws of the land exposes a terrible possibility. Maybe the dead don’t rest in peace after all.

Five warriors—one broken, one gone soft, one pursuing a simple life, one stuck in the past, and one who should be dead. Their story should have been finished. But evil doesn’t stop just because someone once said, “the end.”

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