Book Review | Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Dread Nation is a YA historical fiction/horror novel by Justina Ireland.

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

Even though this is a zombie book, I knew going into Dread Nation that it would be light on the horror elements. I think that helped me adjust to the right expectations going into this. Thankfully there was a more to Dread Nation than the zombies.

Dread Nation was very successful at building the story over the course of the entire novel. I love when a book gets better and better and then thoroughly hooks me by the end. That doesn't always make for a quick read, and it did take me a while to get through Dread Nation. I was able to put it down and pick it back up again days later.

By the end, though, I was hooked and anxious for more. I'll be picking up Deathless Divide (the second half of this duology) soon so be on the look out for that review as well!

⭐⭐⭐💫★
3.5/5 stars

Book Review | Blood Countess by Lana Popovic

Blood Countess is a historical YA horror novel by Lana Popović.

A historical YA horror novel based on the infamous real-life inspiration for Countess Dracula

In 16th century Hungary, Anna Darvulia has just begun working as a scullery maid for the young and glamorous Countess Elizabeth Báthory. When Elizabeth takes a liking to Anna, she’s vaulted to the dream role of chambermaid, a far cry from the filthy servants’ quarters below. She receives wages generous enough to provide for her family, and the Countess begins to groom Anna as her friend and confidante. It’s not long before Anna falls completely under the Countess’s spell—and the Countess takes full advantage. Isolated from her former friends, family, and fiancé, Anna realizes she’s not a friend but a prisoner of the increasingly cruel Elizabeth. Then come the murders, and Anna knows it’s only a matter of time before the Blood Countess turns on her, too.

This is the kind of book you can't talk about without spoiling things so I'm going to keep this as short and vague as possible.

Why Did I Read Blood Countess?

The main reason I read Blood Countess is because it's a YA horror novel written by a woman horror author. I'm trying to support these authors and their work whenever I can.

Seeing "based on the infamous real-life inspiration for Countess Dracula" in the book description had me really intrigued. I didn't know much about Countess Elizabeth Báthory going into reading Blood Countess. This is probably a good thing because I didn't have any expectations. I certainly need to know more now, though.

The Strengths

Blood Countess sucked me in right away. I did not want to put it down. Lana Popović's writing is perfectly suited for writing such a romantic and brutal piece of historical fiction.

This is truly a horror story. I worry when heading into YA horror, and I think the gothic, romantic, historical kind has me at my most skeptical. I was not disappointed.

Even though this is the first book in a planned "Lady Slayers" series, Blood Countess can stand on its own. In fact, I have no guesses as to what the sequel and the rest of the series will be about, and that's a great thing.

The Weaknesses

I can see people giving up on this book too soon. The horror is slow to emerge, but it's well crafted.

Final Thoughts

I loved Blood Countess, and I'm so glad I took a chance when I ordered it. I can't wait to continue on with the next book in 2021. I missed out on reading her debut duology Wicked Like a Wildfire/Fierce Like a Firestorm. I will be hunting that series down as well.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5/5 stars

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Book Review | Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Where the Crawdads Sing is a coming-of-age novel by Delia Owens.

A novel about a young woman determined to make her way in the wilds of North Carolina, and the two men that will break her isolation open.

For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. She's barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark.

But Kya is not what they say. Abandoned at age ten, she has survived on her own in the marsh that she calls home. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life lessons from the land, learning from the false signals of fireflies the real way of this world. But while she could have lived in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world--until the unthinkable happens.

I am struggling with writing this review! Five star reads are either super easy to write or really hard. This one is really hard for me to capture and do it justice.

Where the Crawdads Sing caught my eye early in its publication, but I have a hard time fitting regular fiction into my genre lineup. Over the last year, I've seen more and more of my friends falling in love with this book. Thankfully my book club chose Where the Crawdads Sing as one of our monthly reads, and I finally fit it into the mix.

I see why so many people love this book. I'll be honest... the first half of this book I didn't see it. I was enjoying it, yes, but I really feared I was going to be the outlier who just didn't love it. At the halfway mark everything changed for me, and I could see it all by the end. I just needed to give it the room to grow.

Aside from loving the characters and the mystery, there was also science and poetry woven throughout Where the Crawdads Sing. I just loved this beautiful book, and I highly recommend it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Book Review | The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag

The Wolf and the Watchman is a historical fiction novel by Niklas Natt och Dag.

It is 1793. Four years after the storming of the Bastille in France and more than a year after the death of King Gustav III of Sweden, paranoia and whispered conspiracies are Stockholm’s daily bread. A promise of violence crackles in the air as ordinary citizens feel increasingly vulnerable to the whims of those in power.

When Mickel Cardell, a crippled ex-solider and former night watchman, finds a mutilated body floating in the city’s malodorous lake, he feels compelled to give the unidentifiable man a proper burial. For Cecil Winge, a brilliant lawyer turned consulting detective to the Stockholm police, a body with no arms, legs, or eyes is a formidable puzzle and one last chance to set things right before he loses his battle to consumption. Together, Winge and Cardell scour Stockholm to discover the body’s identity, encountering the sordid underbelly of the city’s elite. Meanwhile, Kristofer Blix—the handsome son of a farmer—leaves rural life for the alluring charms of the capital and ambitions of becoming a doctor. His letters to his sister chronicle his wild good times and terrible misfortunes, which lead him down a treacherous path.

In another corner of the city, a young woman—Anna-Stina—is consigned to the workhouse after she upsets her parish priest. Her unlikely escape plan takes on new urgency when a sadistic guard marks her as his next victim.

Over the course of the novel, these extraordinary characters cross paths and collide in shocking and unforgettable ways. Niklas Natt och Dag paints a deliciously dark portrait of late 18th century Stockholm, and the frightful yet fascinating reality lurking behind the powdered and painted veneer of the era.

I'm so glad I read The Wolf and the Watchman. I came across it many times while looking for upcoming releases. The title and the cover kept pulling me in, but the historical fiction genre is what kept pushing me back out. When Atria Books offered me a copy and compared it to Patrick Süskind's Perfume, I decided to take a chance. Again, I'm so glad I did!

The comparison to Perfume is accurate. Niklas Natt och Dag has a similar voice to Süskind, and the content was oh so dark. The Wolf and the Watchman is exactly the kind of historical fiction my horror loving heart wants to read.

I have no idea how to review historical fiction, but I do know I enjoyed the heck out of this book. I love the voice, I loved the characters, I loved how consistently uncomfortable it made me.

The Wolf and the Watchman is a beautiful book, too. I tweeted out this picture of the inside, and Hand Made Maps let me know they were the company that created the beautiful interior map.

I just opened my copy of The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt Och Dag. I love maps. ❤️🗺️ #amreading pic.twitter.com/IzsbjAE8Ol

— Jen | Book Den | LOHF (@BookDen) February 26, 2019

It's still early in the year, but it's pretty safe to say The Wolf and the Watchman will land on my list of favorites for the year. Niklas Natt och Dag is a Swedish author, and I can only hope we are treated to more translated work from him in the future.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Review copy provided by publisher

Reviews | Homegoing, Lowriders in Space, Gertie's Leap to Greatness

These three books are all outside of my usual genres/reviewing norm so I decided to showcase them together in one post.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

The unforgettable New York Times best seller begins with the story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indeliably drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day.

Effia and Esi are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast’s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia’s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.

I took a leap out of my comfort zone reading Homegoing.

Homegoing is Yaa Gyasi's debut novel. It follows the lineage of two sisters from Ghana. Homegoing is basically a book of short stories with each story focusing on a different family member. The timeline of the book spans hundreds of years, but there is a familial thread connecting all of the stories.

Homegoing has received tremendous praise and has been nominated for several book awards. As for my personal taste, I can liken reading Homegoing to watching most Academy Award winning films - I can see what all of the fuss is about, but it's not really my thing.

6/10: Good Read

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Lowriders in Space by Cathy Camper

Lupe Impala, El Chavo Flapjack, and Elirio Malaria love working with cars. You name it, they can fix it. But the team's favorite cars of all are lowriders—cars that hip and hop, dip and drop, go low and slow, bajito y suavecito. The stars align when a contest for the best car around offers a prize of a trunkful of cash—just what the team needs to open their own shop! ¡Ay chihuahua! What will it take to transform a junker into the best car in the universe? Striking, unparalleled art from debut illustrator Raul the Third recalls ballpoint-pen-and-Sharpie desk-drawn doodles, while the story is sketched with Spanish, inked with science facts, and colored with true friendship. With a glossary at the back to provide definitions for Spanish and science terms, this delightful book will educate and entertain in equal measure.

I found Lowriders in Space in the Texas Bluebonnet Award section of my library. I recognized it from other awards lists and knew I had to scoop it up. This was such a fun graphic novel. The first thing that struck me about Lowriders in Space was the colors used in the graphics. I didn't realize until reading the artist's note at the end that the drawings were all done with red, black, and blue ball point pens. I'm going to have a hard time in the office tomorrow not spending time creating Raul the Third style doodles.

My 10 year old thought Lowriders in Space was weird and confusing. I, on the other hand, really enjoyed the humor and the creative depiction of the lowriding culture. I look forward to seeing what they do in the next installment.

7/10: Recommended Read

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Gertie's Leap to Greatness by Kate Beasley

Gertie Reece Foy is 100% Not-From-Concentrate awesome. She has a daddy who works on an oil rig, a great-aunt who always finds the lowest prices at the Piggly Wiggly, and two loyal best friends. So when her absent mother decides to move away from their small town, Gertie sets out on her greatest mission yet: becoming the best fifth grader in the universe to show her mother exactly what she'll be leaving behind. There's just one problem: Seat-stealing new girl Mary Sue Spivey wants to be the best fifth grader, too. And there is simply not enough room at the top for the two of them.

Oh, Gertie. This book broke my heart into a million wee pieces. It's really a wonderful book, though.

Gertie wants to be the best fifth grader that ever lived. We begin the book with Gertie creating her "what I did on my summer vacation" story. By her fifth grade year she was well aware that these stories were a competition, and Gertie needed to be the best! Gertie didn't count on there being a new girl in class this year - a new girl from California who knows movie stars.

Gertie's Leap to Greatness follows Gertie's fifth grade year and her struggle to be the best.

This book is adorable and horrible all at the same time. Kids can be so cruel to one another, and growing up is such a struggle. By the time I learned why Gertie needed to be so great, I was just a mess of broken pieces.

This is the type of children's literature that stands the test of time. I saw elements of my own childhood in the pages. I saw some of the struggles my own children are going through in school with their teachers and their peers. If you are looking for an excellent book for your kids or you happen to be like me and you've never outgrown reading kid lit, there's a lot to experience in this one little book.

7/10: Recommended Read

Review copy of Gertie's Leap to Greatness provided by publisher

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau | Book Review

Thank goodness for Nancy Bilyeau's The Crown. (And for Becky at No More Grumpy Bookseller.)

I've been very much in the mood for a Da Vinci Code type of book lately. I still haven't read Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol so I put the audiobook on hold at my library. Wouldn't you know when it was my turn, I had too many digital copies of various things checked out, and I had to let The Lost Symbol go to the next person. I was in mourning about it, but Becky came to my rescue. She recently posted a review for The Crown on her blog. As soon as I read her review, I knew I had the answer to my Da Vinci Code craving! I also watched both National Treasure movies last week. I had it bad.

Book Description

In this debut historical thriller, an aristocratic young nun must find a legendary crown in order to save her father’s life and preserve all she holds dear from Cromwell’s ruthless terror.

When novice nun Joanna Stafford learns her rebel cousin is condemned by King Henry VIII to be burned at the stake, she makes the decision to break the sacred rule of enclosure and run away from her Dominican Order in Dartford to stand at her cousin’s side.

Arrested for interfering with king’s justice, Joanna, along with her father, Sir Richard Stafford, is sent to the Tower of London. Joanna’s father is brutally tortured by Stephen Gardiner, the Bishop of Winchester who leads the Catholic faction bent on saving England’s monasteries from destruction. In order to save her father, Joanna must submit to Gardiner’s will and become a pawn in the struggle between religious extremes. Gardiner forces Joanna to return to Dartford Priory with a mission: find the long hidden crown worn by Saxon King Athelstan in AD 937 during the historic battle that first united Britain. Gardiner believes the crown itself to possess a mystical power that will halt the Reformation.

Uncovering only dark betrayals and murder at Dartford, Joanna flees with Brother Edmund, a troubled young friar, and with time running out, their hunt for the crown leads them through royal castles, to Stonehenge, and finally to the tomb of the mysterious King Athelstan under Malmesbury Abbey. There Joanna learns the true secret of the crown, a secret tracing all the way back to Golgotha and the Relics of the Passion. Now, as Cromwell’s army of destruction advances, Joanna must finally determine who to trust and how far she is willing to go to protect a way of life that she passionately loves.

Review

The Crown is a debut novel?! Nancy Bilyeau has some serious skill. This was truly a fantastic novel.

The characters had a lot to do with my enjoyment. Joanna was such a wonderful character. She evolved so much as a person through the course of The Crown. I can't wait to meet her again in The Chalice which thankfully has already been published. All of the characters in The Crown were so flawed and so passionate.

Oh, and the history in The Crown. I'm not even a fan of historical fiction really, but I'm totally singing the praises of the history in The Crown. Even though Joanna's story is fictitious, it is intertwined with real historic figures, places, and events. The amount of research that went into writing The Crown is very apparent.

If you enjoy thrillers with a lot of depth and research behind them, I recommend reading The Crown. I highly, highly recommend The Crown to anyone who loved The Da Vinci Code.

8/10: Great Read