Rutabaga's Reads 2023: Part 5

Time for the first YA compilation post of 2023! This set contains two familiar authors and one that’s new-to-me. Are you familiar with any or all of them? What have you been reading?

Blade Breaker (June 28, 2022) by Victoria Aveyard.

*This is the middle novel in a trilogy.*

Allward is a world divided. The Companions^ have just won their first battle, forcing the kraken back to its monstrous world, but they’re far from winning the war. They travel over Allward from the vast desert of Ibal to the wine-laden prince of Trec and back to Galland. They encounter the Tempestborn, Hell Mel’s vessel. Meliz an-Amarat. Corayne’s mother. They’re angling to close another Spindle, but they’re waylaid by time, monsters and assassins. Allies are needed, but who can the Companions trust when they’re the most wanted individuals in the entire Ward? Because anyone out there could take Corayne - dead or alive, according to the posters plastered around - to the power-hungry Queen Erida of Galland (out to conquer all of the realms of the Ward) and her prince consort, Prince of Old Cor Taristan. Taristan is seemingly invincible with power granted to him by What Waits, the Torn King of Asunder who waits to be free of Asunder, hence the reason Taristan and Ronin, the wizard priest, are looking for more Spindles to tear open. Conquering the entire Ward looks easily possible for Erida and Taristan with the Ashlanders of Asunder, an army of skeletons and rotting corpses. It should also be easy to track down Corayne and/or Konegin, her scheming cousin, yet they both continue to elude them. The Companions and their allies, including Dom’s Vederan cousin, Ridha, a princess of Iona and daughter of the Monarch (Isibel), must rally the world against a common enemy with their wickedly unstoppable army. The fate of Allward rests on the edge of a blade.

            Reading this epic fantasy is to read chaos. It’s not that it’s disjointed; there is simply so much going on all the time. Aveyard volleys amongst multiple character perspectives, and even though each voice is distinct, there are too many perspectives (six). My heart wasn’t really into reading this 578-page YA novel, and I know this affected my attitude toward it. Still, it is a masterpiece of fantastical proportions that schemes with realm takeover and brims with violence, survival and treacherous journeying. It is easy to feel hatred toward the evil antagonists of the story and want to rally allies for the Companions. The world is richly-imagined, the plot busy and complex, the characters deeply flawed but also doggedly resistant. The diversity of skin tones and inclusion of queer and nonbinary characters is casually represented and easily accepted. The pace of this middle novel in the Realm Breaker trilogy is relentless, the adventure unceasing.

            Book 1: Realm Breaker

            ^The Companions

            +Corayne an-Amarat: Teenager, the daughter of a pirate and a Corblood heir she never knew, with the world on her shoulders

            +Andry Trelland: Formerly a Gallish squire, now a fugitive as much as Corayne, has an honest face

            +Domacridhan: Of the Vedera, an immortal of Iona, who grieves

            +Sorasa Sarn: An Amhara Guild assassin, outcast, who will face her past, and it will be ugly

            +Sigaalbeta Bhur Bhar a.k.a. Sigil: A bounty hunter of the Temurijon, a broad woman whose resting face is also fierce

            +Charlon “Charlie” Armont: A fugitive priest with a remarkable talent for forgery

            +Valtik: An old sorceress with mighty power who sings to herself a lot, usually in Jydi, talks in rhyme

Girls of Fate and Fury (Nov. 30, 2021) by Natasha Ngan.

*This is the final novel in a trilogy.*

*There is a trigger warning.*

Papers (Paper caste) are fully human and are unadorned with no animal-demon features. Of all the castes, they’re the most mistreated. Paper Girls are nothing more than pieces for the king to use and discard, to be “good little cut-out girls with nothing but reams of blank pages in place of hearts.” Lei has been forcibly returned to the Hidden Palace, a place with opulent walls that house the scars of trauma and tragedy and is ruled by the sadistic Demon King of Ikhara. While allies work to figure out how to get her out of the palace, Lei determines to stay until she can free the other Paper Girls, save the Demon Queen (Shala), figure out how to remove the magic cuff and its counterpart or at least nullify it, and kill the Demon King. The last time Lei and Wren saw each other was amidst a furious battle, and they’d had a heavy conversation in which painful things were said and a divide was rent. But the thing about being apart, both in significant peril, means they miss each other like a piece of them is actually missing. The showdown is coming. How many allies will give their lives to bring down a Demon King? “Fire in. Fear out.”

            I don’t recall if each book contains a trigger warning, but this one does and is right to. It states: “Please be aware that this book contains scenes of violence and self-harm, and references to sexual abuse and trauma recovery.”

            The final novel in the Girls of Paper and Fire trilogy is epic and reading it brings a near-constant rush of adrenaline. Ikhara is a world of magic, but also one of the Sickness, Qi draining, meaning magic is ebbing. It’s glittering and elegant, but also brutal and blood-soaked. The world-building is lush, but the world is toxic. There is wonder and violence, the action sequences so frequent that it can be hard to catch one’s breath. It is a trilogy with a strong LGBTQIA+ pairing. The story can unfold as tenderly as new love, but usually cuts as sharp as a blade or a demon’s talon. Ngan’s writing is impressive, but be aware that it’s a brutal story and is not a walk-in-the-park to read. The battles are climactic and heavy, the story full of fire, but themes of overcoming trauma and the fierceness of love – friendship, too – run satisfyingly deep.

            P.S. My favorite throughout the trilogy has been Kenzo. Moon caste. He’s a wolf demon. Young Lill is a close second. She’s a doe-eared demon.

            Book One: Girls of Paper and Fire

            Book Two: Girls of Storm and Shadow

When You Wish Upon a Lantern (Feb. 14, 2023) by Gloria Chao.

*This is a standalone novel.*

Chicago teens Liya Huang and Kai Jiang are Taiwanese Americans living in Chinatown. Their families are feuding, like the Capulets and Montagues or the Hatfields and McCoys. No. Wait. They’re like Cowherd and Weaver Girl¹ – Niúláng and Zhīnǚ – and the magpie bridge. Liya and Kai have been friends since they were children with their parents’ businesses next door to each other (Liya: When You Wish Upon a Lantern; Kai: Once Upon a Mooncake). They share an alley, much to the anger and chagrin of Mr. Huang, who is very vocal about what he thinks of those Jiangs! Kai is not like his father or his older brother, not that Mr. Huang can be convinced. Liya’s avoided Kai for months, ever since the boba incident, in which she vomited all over their shared table. So. Humiliating. It’s when Liya discovers that her family’s lantern store is struggling that she goes to Kai and shares a secret: she and Nǎinai are the ones that secretly fulfilled the wishes people wrote on their sky lanterns. Her grandmother has since passed away from cancer. Liya wants to return to the wish-granting that her Nǎinai started, which Liya stopped once she passed away, and put plans into action to save the store. With Liya and Kai working together and rekindling their friendship, might something more bloom? Or will their feuding families make the way impossible, ruining any wishes they have for one another?

            In this culturally rich YA story with alternating points-of-view, cringe moments, laugh-out-loud dialogue and insecurities to navigate, my first novel from Chao is as luminous as a floating lantern and as golden as a mooncake. It’s easy to ship Liya and Kai, for they’re so obviously meant for each other. Duty to family is a present, natural theme, though Kai’s brother’s treatment of him and referring to him as “Poop Son” had the mama bear in me roaring (though I’m not a mom, nor a bear). There are barbed words, but mostly this narrative pulses with warmth and the magic of first love. It’s charming and heartfelt with a deep connection to their community. To read this is to be seamlessly immersed in traditions and folktales that are folded into the narrative just so. “May your wishes find the light!”

            Sugary sweet lines that made me chuckle: “...Kai is a hot baker. He’s a cinnamon roll who can make cinnamon rolls.” (--Stephanie Lee to Liya, p. 213)

            ¹ The mythology is significant to me, because Cowherd and Cloud Weaver (a.k.a. Weaver Girl) are included in “Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies,” which is the book I finished right before this one.