Late January Reviews (2023)

Greetings

Welcome to the Books That Burn Fortnightly Roundup! Releasing every two weeks (one week early for Patrons). Remember to head to Transcripts That Burn for all available transcripts of the podcast.

Recent Reviews

Reviews forthcoming for BREAKABLE THINGS by Cassandra Khaw, PALADIN'S STRENGTH by T. Kingfisher, and LIONES RAMPANT by Tamora Pierce.

SERVANT MAGE by Kate Elliott is Fantasy, with queer character(s), marketed as Adult. Fellian is a Lamplighter in forced service, freed by a group of rebel Monarchists who want her help for a specific task. Told in Third Person with Single POV.

TRAITOR'S MOON by Lynn Flewelling, book 3 of Nightrunner is Fantasy, with queer character(s), marketed as Adult. Seregil and Alec travel with a delegation to Seregil's former homeland. Told in Third Person with Ensemble POVs.

IN THE HAND OF THE GODDESS by Tamora Pierce, book 2 of Song of the Lioness is Fantasy marketed as Young Adult. Alanna is still diguised as Alan, now a squire, gets more active intervention from the Goddess in her path to knighthood. Told in Third Person with Ensemble POVs.

DWELLERS by Eliza Victoria is Fantasy/Mystery, with queer character(s), marketed as Adult. Two brothers inhabit new bodies after a car accident, then find a corpse in their basement. Told in First Person with Single POV.

PALADIN'S GRACE by T. Kingfisher, book 1 of The Saint of Steel is Fantasy/Mystery/Romance, with queer character(s), marketed as Adult. Stephen has been three years without his god, ever since the god died on the longest day of the year. He meets Grace, a perfumer who needs his help when she's falsely accused of murder. Told in Third Person with Dual POVs.

THE WOMAN WHO RIDES LIKE A MAN by Tamora Pierce, book 3 of Song of the Lioness is Fantasy marketed as Young Adult. Alanna is a white savior to the Bazhir, desert-dwelling nomads. She also figures out her relationship with Jon. Told in Third Person with Ensemble POVs.

DNFs

I didn't finish ROYAL ASSASSIN by Robin Hobb. This series has always been more Nicole's thing and I don't like where the second book goes.

BTB 2023 Reading Challenge

For 2023 I'm hosting a reading challenge that lasts the whole year. January's prompt is New Beginnings, to read a book where the main characters have never met before (or with a multicolor cover). Our patrons voted for The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake. This ended up being a DNF for me, that review is forthcoming.

Current Reads

I'm re-reading HARROW THE NINTH by Tamsyn Muir and THE DREAM THIEVES by Maggie Stiefvater. I'm also working my way through A RESTLESS TRUTH by Freya Marske and FOUL LADY FORTUNE by Chloe Gong.

In Case You Missed It

This time last year I read SOULSTAR by C.L. Polk, the final book in The Kingston Cycle.

Pluggables and Podcast News

If you're looking for a place to buy any of the books I've reviewed, please consider our Bookshop page (if you use our links to purchase any books we get a small commission). Let us know if there's a category you'd like to see curated and we'll see if we can get some titles together.

The 2023 prompts are now available from the annual reading challenge! It runs from January 1st to December 31st this year. Find info and links here.

As for the podcast, hopefully you're enjoying our most recent episode, THE STORYTELLER'S DAUGHER by Cameron Dokey. If you'd like to receive episodes early, as well as bonus content, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Patrons receive this newsletter one week early, as well as a list of upcoming podcast episodes.

Patrons pledging $20 or more each month receive a bonus episode. Patrons pledging $50 or more can vote once per month on what we'll cover in the podcast. You can find all of those polls here. Patrons at any level receive the booklist with our planned episodes for up to three months at a time.

Thanks for reading, the next roundup will be in two weeks!

-Robin

Co-host of Books That Burn

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