Trauma in SFF Blog
-
Sweet Vengeance by Viano Oniomoh
Joy needs a deal with a demon to bring an end the man who’d ruined her life. Malachi needs a deal with a human so he can remain in the mortal realm, far from the sentries looking to drag him back to his sect in hell. It’s a match seemingly made in heaven. Except, Malachi Continue reading
-
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
Summary Two warriors shepherd an ancient god across a broken land to end the tyrannical reign of a royal family in this new epic fantasy from the author of The Vanished Birds. The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold Continue reading
-
Weyward by Emilia Hart
Summary I am a Weyward, and wild inside. 2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great Continue reading
-
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (The Raven Cycle #1)
Summary It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive. Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon Continue reading
-
Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold (Vorkosigan Saga #1)
Summary When Cordelia Naismith and her survey crew are attacked by a renegade group from Barrayar, she is taken prisoner by Aral Vorkosigan, commander of the Barrayan ship that has been taken over by an ambitious and ruthless crew member. Aral and Cordelia survive countless mishaps while their mutual admiration and even stronger feelings emerge. Continue reading
-
The Bone Harp by Victoria Goddard
Thrice-cursed bard and warrior-elf Tamsin wakes up in Elfland after what might or might not have been his death, healed and hale for the first time in millennia. Somewhat confused but not entirely unhappy with this turn of events, he sets off in the hopes of finding a way home … A standalone tale of Continue reading
-
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
So What’s It About? Dr. Cliff Miyashiro arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue his recently deceased daughter’s research, only to discover a virus, newly unearthed from melting permafrost. The plague unleashed reshapes life on earth for generations. Yet even while struggling to counter this destructive force, humanity stubbornly persists in myriad moving and ever Continue reading
-
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
So What’s It About? In her forest-veiled pagan village, Évike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. The villagers blame her corrupted bloodline—her father was a Yehuli man, one of the much-loathed servants of the fanatical king. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to Continue reading
-
Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid
I’ve adapted the Lady Macbeth-focused parts of Ava Reid essay for a review of this book alone. It casts Lady Macbeth as Roscille, a French teenager and unwilling bride to Macbeth. She has to use her intelligence to try to carve out her survival in the violent world of the patriarchy while generally following the Continue reading
Charlotte Kersten 