Book Review:: Whale Fall | Elizabeth O’Connor

In the years between the Great Wars, two unexpected things happen on a remote Welsh island: a whale washes ashore, and two English stenographers arrive. For a young girl who knows nothing outside of her island, it seems like the chance of a lifetime.

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor Book Cover

Manod is an island native, along with her sister and her father. Life on the island is hard, but the people there are not afraid of hard work and difficult conditions. This is what the visiting ethnographers seem to be most interested in, and Manod agrees to help them understand her island and her people.

This is a beautiful, concise novel about the converging of cultures, exploitation, and the possibility of The Unknown.

I thought it was a very powerful story about a young woman coming into herself and deciding what it is she wants from life, sometimes trusting where she naught ought, and helping others where she’s able.

Elizabeth O’Connor comes from a background in short stories, and I feel like it shows, in the best way. It is written in a way that is clear and detailed, while also using symbolism and allusion to keep some things open to interpretation. This is her debut novel and I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next!

Details

Title:: Whale Fall
Author:: Elizabeth O’Connor
Genre:: Historical Literary Fiction
Publisher:: Pantheon
Length:: 224 pages
Audio Length:: 3h 50m
Audiobook Narrator:: Dyfrig Morris, Gabrielle Glaister, Gwyneth Keyworth, Jot Davies, & Nick Griffiths
Audiobook Publisher:: Random House Audio
Published:: May 7th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Elizabeth O’Connor | Penguin Random House
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

The Cheesemaker’s Daughter | Kristen Vukovic
Daughter of Ruins | Yvette Manessis Corporon
What the River Knows | Isabel Ibanez
The Familiar | Leigh Bardugo

Book Review:: Babylonia | Costanza Casati

Ancient history fascinates me. Getting to read such vibrant and extensively-researched fictional interpretations like this one is such a treat.

Babylonia by Costanza Casati Hardcover Book Cover

Babylonia is the story of a girl who came from nothing. Less than nothing, some might argue. Semiramus was born into shame, but by mercy of the gods, she survived. She became a young woman beaten down by hardship with only her own wits to rely upon. They serve her well as she navigates her fate in the ancient Assyrian Empire.

Because of her hard upbringing, Semiramus never takes anything for granted. She knows what it is to suffer and to live in squalor, so when she comes to the greatest city in the Empire and gets to live in a palace, she doesn’t get complacent. She also has no fear. She befriends slaves and wild leopards. She does not let the King’s mother or the court’s spy master intimidate her. She trains with weapons like a soldier with her husband, and then by herself.

Babylonia by Costanza Casati Paperback Book Cover

When the army comes home from their siege at Balkh begging for more troops, Semiramus volunteers to come as one of the climbers. She does not take no for an answer, her husband and her King need help, and she is not one to sit idly by. Then, when there, she sees an opportunity the King’s advisors did not, and it leads them to great success. This clever act of bravery is yet another turn in her story that leads her down a more complicated and treacherous path she could never have anticipated.

This novel is beautifully immersive and speckled with immaculate detail. The names, the rituals, the exhibitions, battles, the dramas…I loved every minute of it. She is an example of making lemonade out of a few raggedy lemons and the importance of taking control of your own destiny. She is a strong woman in a time of strong women, and an absolute pleasure to read about.

I am so grateful to the publisher and netgalley for granting me an early review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Details

Title:: Babylonia: A Novel
Author:: Costanza Casati
Genre:: Mythological Fiction
Publisher:: Sourcebooks Landmark
Length:: 448 pages
Audio Length:: 16h 21m
Audiobook Narrator:: Ayesha Antoine
Audiobook Publisher:: Recorded Books
Published:: January 14th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Costanza Casati (Author of Clytemnestra) | Goodreads
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

The Cheesemaker’s Daughter | Kristin Vokovic
The City in Glass | Nghi Voh

Book Review:: The Familiar | Leigh Bardugo

The Familiar is a sweeping historical fantasy novel of survival, deception, resourcefulness, cunning, and resilience.

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo Book Cover, Old Medieval European Sleeve holding a chain with a scorpion peeking out from under it

Luzia has a gift for magic. She sings the songs of her ancestors, and God, or something like it, answers. It’s little things that help her in her daily life as a scullery maid: multiplying beans, mending small tears, or restoring burnt loaves of bread. Harmless things. Until her mistress begins to suspect her and devises a plan to use her magic to win friends and favor. Word spreads quickly of the maid who can wield magics, and soon the great Victor de Paredes becomes her patron for a contest to become the King’s champion. Politics are powerful, and everyone, even the greatest men in the land, are beholden to the whims of the King. Even Victor. But he’s feeling lucky, and Luzia’s gifts are real. Paredes sends Guillen Santangel to foster Luzia’s talents, to teach her to harness and hone them into something the King cannot deny. As the contest progresses, the stakes ratchet ever higher, and instead of just winning the King’s favor, it becomes clear her own fate is not the only thing on the line in this contest.

The setting is 16th century Spain, in the throes of the Inquisition, where heretics are being persecuted and often burned. Luzia’s parents are both dead, and her ambitious aunt is the only family she has left. Unlike most women of her rank, Luzia can read and write, which makes her existence as a servant even more droll. She wishes for finer things, but also knows there is danger in the spotlight, especially in times like these. She is a strong female lead who knows when to pick her battles, and ultimately creates her own path forward despite the advice flying at her from many directions.

The characters in this book are something special. Each of them are unique in their own authentic way. They are each driven by their own selfish motivations, which I feel is a very difficult thing to pull off and their stories follow through to endings they (mostly) deserved in a tingle-inducing finale.

I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by Lauren Fortgang and man, did she do an incredible job. I found it so immersive to hear all the words I might’ve otherwise not known how to pronounce perfectly spoken so beautifully and naturally. Sometimes a narrator really adds to the reading experience, and I feel like The Familiar certainly falls into that category.

It may not be a page-turner, pacing-wise, but if you go into it with patience, Leigh Bardugo will weave you a story that is captivating, rewarding, and really quite romantic.

If you are a fan of V.E. Schwab, specifically The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, I feel like you will certainly find value in this book. I found myself thinking of Addie’s story frequently while reading. I might even recommend this for people who really loved the Outlander series. The Familiar is not as spicy, but there is something similar about the complex characters woven within a historical context. This is the only thing I’ve read so far by this author, and I’m looking forward to reading Six of Crows now more than ever!

Details

Title:: The Familiar
Author:: Leigh Bardugo
Genre:: Historical Fantasy
Publisher:: Flatiron Books
Length:: 387 pages
Audio Length:: 12h 57m
Audiobook Narrator:: Lauren Fortgang
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: April 9th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

What the River Knows | Isabel Ibanez
Daughter of Ruins | Yvette Manessis Corporon
The Haunting of Maddy Clare | Simone St. James
Heartless Hunter | Kristen Ciccarelli

Book Review:: Daughter of Ruins | Yvette Manessis Corporon

Historical fiction isn’t something I read often. Not unlike sci-fi/fantasy novels, it requires a higher level of effort from the reader than other genres. It can be slower to suck you in, demanding patience as the story threads weave themselves together. But if you’re lucky, as the pieces dance and settle into their places, you’ll be left with an intricate tapestry that takes your breath away. Daughter of Ruins stands in testament of that truth. It serves as a beacon to how powerful the genre can be.

Daughter of Ruins Yvette Manessis Corporon Book Cover

Demitra is a motherless daughter brought back to her father’s home country of Greece after losing his wife in America. She uses drawing as a coping mechanism in her childhood loneliness, sketching Italian soldiers of the World Wars where they find leisure on the Greek beaches. Then the war takes a turn and the once lithe and eager bodies are piled high and lifeless. There are many hard lessons like this one in store for Demitra as she navigates the world, and this book follows her through many trials and tribulations through her life, though it is not all hardship. Her journey takes her from Greece to America and back again, and all the while she is developing into the woman she was destined to be.

I think the story captured the life of a young woman so well. It was a difficult time in Greece, and a difficult time for women. Though she had no direct maternal influence, there were many strong women mentors in Demitra’s life. With an artist’s curiosity she observed the world around her, turning her wisdom and unique understanding into art.

I am still quite stunned by the intricate structure of this novel. Demitra uses many figures of Greek mythology to analogize the human lives around her and translates them into her art. She dives deep into her understanding of the gods before she draws them, and though they are done with simple materials, her art has a depth that is undeniable by those who witness it.

This is an emotional book. There is grief and sorrow and growth and healing and hope and faith and passion and curiosity and pain and confusion and determination and love. There is tenderness and betrayal. There is scheming and outsmarting and deceit and compassion. There is everything under the umbrella of human emotion, because this is a human story.

I will not soon forget this story. Demitra and Maria and Elena and Aphrodite and all of those who weave in and out of these pages. I listened to this as an advanced listeners copy from netgalley and the publisher and I have nothing but great things to say about the incredible narrator Alex Sarrigeorgiou. Phenomenal work. There is something special about the story of a woman coming into her own. I hope you will read it.

Details

Title:: Daughter of Ruins
Author:: Yvette Manessis Corporon
Genre:: Historical Fiction
Publisher:: Harper Muse
Length:: 416 pages
Audio Length:: 12h 24m
Audiobook Narrator:: Alex Sarrigeorgiou
Audiobook Publisher:: Harper Muse
Published:: October 8th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

The Cheesemaker’s Daughter | Kristin Vukovic
The Weight of Ink | Rachel Kadish (no review on the blog as I read it years ago, but another sweeping historical fiction tale I think you’ll love if you liked this book).

Book Review:: What the River Knows | Isabel Ibanez

When a book lists The Mummy as a comp in the blurb, you know your girl’s gonna pick it up. That’s as far as I got in the description (I love going in blind), and it was everything I’d hoped and more. There is something so intriguing about ancient Egypt, and when you add a touch of actual magic, you get What the River Knows.

What the River Knows Isabel Ibanez Book Cover

Young Argentinian Inez Olivera’s parents spend half of every year in Egypt, working alongside and funding archeological digs there. They’ve never let Inez make the treacherous journey so far across the globe with them, but when Inez receives a letter that the two of them have been lost in the sands of the desert, she sneaks away from her family in Buenos Aires and steals away to Egypt to meet her uncle, who worked with them there. Inez is determined to find out the truth of what happened to her parents, their lives in Egypt, and whatever she can about the magic ring her father secretly sent to her before he died. Between her tight-lipped uncle who tries to push her onto an Argentina-bound boat every chance he gets, and his handsome rogue ‘aide’ he sets to mind her the rest of the time, Inez has to scheme to find out the secrets her parents kept from her, and the rest of the world. Meanwhile, her uncle is in a race to discover the tomb of Cleopatra before his biggest rival, and the ring Inez’ father sent her might just be the key he needs to do it.

This book is a grand adventure with stakes that reliably rise ever higher the whole time, down to the last line (which had my jaw on the floor). It reads like nineteenth century historical fiction, if there were magic rings, and magic sandals, and magic neckties back then. I absolutely loved the tangled webs of secrets and lies that build and build and leave you wondering if what you think you know is the truth, or just another deception. It was seriously compelling, but the pacing was maybe slower than some readers might prefer. Inez takes time to describe the things around her, which adds to the complexity of the world and gives the novel a rich, complete flavor.

The best part, perhaps, is our heroine. Inez is a spunky, resourceful woman in a time when those of her gender had very little power, if any at all. A book like this doesn’t work well with weak or arrogant main characters, and luckily, Ibanez gives us a smart, cunning woman we can trust to act rationally with the information she has. With so many trying to hide their truths from her, anything less would have been torturous to endure.

Did I mention the will-they-won’t-they slow burn forbidden romance plotline? Inez and Whittford Hayes, her uncle’s ‘aide’, are undeniably attracted to one another, but life isn’t that easy, and when she doesn’t know who she can trust, the tension is utterly delicious. Every little moment that betrayed their feelings I ate up with relish, including probably the shortest chapter I’ve ever seen:

Bloody hell.

Whit

I consumed this story as an audiobook narrated by Ana Osorio & Ahmed Hamad. Ana, especially, impressed me. There are several accents to juggle, and in general she handled it gracefully. It was a real pleasure to listen to.

The worst part? Having to wait until November for the sequel. The ending has you begging for what happens next. Masterful storytelling, honestly — and I cannot wait for more! So if you’re looking for a little more mystery and adventure in your life, What the River Knows will certainly scratch that itch.

Details

Title:: What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)
Author:: Isabel Ibanez
Genre:: Historical Fantasy
Publisher:: Wednesday Books
Length:: 404 pages
Audio Length:: 16h 36m
Audiobook Narrator:: Ahmed Hamad & Ana Osorio
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: October 31st, 2023
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

Divine Rivals | Rebecca Ross
Ruthless Vows | Rebecca Ross