Taste the Books: Review Morsels #54 Joshua David Bellin et al., Codie Crowley, Dawn Kurtagich

Intro

Hello beauties!

Welcome again to my own brand of mini reviews! I never thought I'd do minis, until I recapped a few of my long reviews in some digest post in 2014, and then guest-posted some shorties for a blogging event in 2015. And Karen from For What It's Worth started praising my short recs/recaps 😊. Just to be clear,  I'm NOT taking a break from writing long reviews - no such luck LOL (though for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/I don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis). But while I'm making up my mind about a new book I've read, I might as well give you the short version 😉. Just be warned - this feature will be VERY random!

Note: all the mini blurbs (in italics) are of my own creation.

Lora Senf: "The Losting Fountain" (ARC Review)

Title: The Losting Fountain [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None (so far...but a continuation of the story is implied)
Author: Lora Senf [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Creative premise. Rich, fascinating worldbuilding. Deceptively simple - but as a matter of fact expertly crafted - prose.
Cons: Lacks that extra ingredient that makes you bond with the characters on a visceral level. One twist is easy to anticipate. While the story doesn't end on a cliffhanger, there are a number of loose threads left for a sequel to pick up (if you prefer your books to be self-contained).
WARNING! Blood and gore, death/animal death, suicide (off-page), child abuse (off-page), injuries/mutilations, burns, near-drowning, body horror, bugs.
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy a creative portal-fantasy-adjacent world with quirky characters.

Blurb: Ember, Miles, and Sam have been called home - only home is a place none of them have ever been before. The choices they make will not only determine their own futures but will also have vast and permanent consequences - they will either restore a cosmic balance or destroy the dams that separate two worlds, ending them both. Hidden below the surface, the world of the Fountain is vast: unexplored and unmapped and full of wild things. There are other entities as well, entities that haunt and hunt in the Fountain, because it rewards nearly as often as it punishes, and it has been punishing the greedy and merciless and cruel for a very long time. The borders between our world and the world of the Fountain are already porous. If the balance between them is upset and control of the Fountain is lost, the consequences will be rapid, merciless, and world-ending. For Ember, Miles, and Sam, all from different times, what starts as a journey to take control of their lives quickly becomes a quest to save - or destroy - both worlds, depending on whom you ask. (Amazon excerpt)

Review:  First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Union Square & Co. for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

ITS OWN MAGIC

I'm always on the hunt for books that bring something new to the table, so I decided to give The Losting Fountain a chance - based both on the synopsis and on Seanan McGuire's endorsement by way of a blurb. I'm pleased to say that this novel is, indeed, a fresh spin on the portal fantasy genre (though in an oblique way, since the island where the Fountain resides can't be accessed from your average portal) and the teen heroes/chosen ones trope. If the Fountain is slightly reminiscent of the Shop Where Lost Things Go from Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, Senf does something entirely different with the premise by having the Fountain act as a moral compass: from time to time, it calls to people who have lost something and gives them the chance to retrieve it, but if they get greedy and try to take other things that didn't use to belong to them, the Fountain punishes them and...recycles them for other purposes. At the same time, it serves as a defense, preventing nightmarish creatures from another dimension from creeping into our world (and into any when, which adds an exciting layer to the plot). There's a complex (though not overwhelming) magic system at play with regards to the Fountain and the island, and while I was a little frustrated by some half-explanations, I suppose they have a rhyme and reason in a story that purposefully leaves some threads hanging in view of a possible sequel. [...]

Ryan La Sala: "Beholder"

Title: Beholder [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Ryan La Sala [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2023
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Imaginative, ambitious, pull-no-punches. The writing flows effortlessly and draws you in.
Cons: Relies on two distinct supernatural threads that never really come together. The rom-com moments don't always fit the rest of the narrative.
WARNING! Death/parent death, murder/massacre, fire/fire injury, body horror/eye horror, impalement, strangulation, self harm/intrusive thoughts/suicidal ideation. And of course, giant spider-like creatures...
Will appeal to: Those who like creative eldritch horror with a healthy dose of gore. Those who don't mind a (queer) romance subplot in it.

Blurb: Athanasios “Athan” Bakirtzis has a secret: a hereditary power that allows him to rewind the reflection in any mirror, peering into its recent past. Superstitious Yiayia calls the family ability a curse, and has long warned him never to use it. After being invited to a penthouse soiree for New York’s art elite, Athan breaks his grandmother’s rule during a trip to the bathroom, turning back his reflection for just a moment. Then he hears a slam against the bathroom door, followed by a scream. Athan peers outside, only to be pushed back in by a boy his age. The boy gravely tells him not to open the door, then closes Athan in. Before Athan can process what’s happening, more screams follow, and the party descends into chaos. When he finally emerges, he discovers a massacre - and Athan's mysterious savior is nowhere to be found. Something evil is compelling people to destructive acts, a presence that’s been hiding behind Athan’s reflection his whole life, watching and biding its time. Soon, he’s swept up in a supernatural conspiracy that spans New York, of occult high societies and deadly eldritch designs. If beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, what can it do to us once it’s inside? (Goodreads excerpt)

Review: As of today, I've read all La Sala's books except Be Dazzled, because contemporary romance is not my thing. I really enjoyed his debut novel Reverie, and I flat-out loved The Honeys, so I was very excited to immerse myself in the world of Beholder, and I didn't expect anything short of brilliance from it. Which, on a level, I got...but I didn't love this book as much as the author's previous offerings. With that out of the way, let's get to the review proper...

QUITE A SIGHT

There's no denying it: Ryan La Sala knows how to write - and has quite the imagination, not to mention, a real flair for horror. He endows the protagonist of Beholder with a unique power (rewinding reflections in mirrors) that, while making for an exciting premise and a series of chilling scenes, at the same time ties in with themes of appearance vs. true self and perception vs. perspective. He amps up the nightmare by adding a second supernatural threat that you won't see coming - and a brilliant one at that - plus he draws on the Greek Evil Eye myth, though it's largely reimagined for the occasion. The story moves at a good pace, despite the romantic/comedic interludes - it even manages to incorporate a coming-of-age arc to no detriment of the horror, mystery, magic, conspiracy and action mix that makes up the bulk of the narrative. Oh, and of course, as always with La Sala, it's unapologetically queer, with a protagonist that identifies as pansexual and a gay (I suppose) love interest. Last but not least, the author employs an intriguing writing device: he alternates Athan's 1st-person-POV chapters with a series of mysterious 2nd-person-POV ones (though to be honest, they don't stay mysterious for long...it's easy to fathom whose perspective they're from, once a certain "incident" occurs). [...]

Offbeat Offline: November 2024

Welcome to Offbeat Offline, where I bring you up-to-date with what went on in my life during the month just gone, give you a sneak peek of my next shenanigans, and share my favourite posts of late!

What happened last month to yours truly? A colonoscopy, hair drama and reviewer's block. I was too tired and angry to sit and produce words...or pursue my housekeeping plans. It was the weirdest, most misspent month. I accomplished nothing and I'm not even rested because of it...