Taste the Books: Review Morsels #23 The Seanan McGuire by Any Other Name Edition

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. 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.

This time I have three Seanan McGuire books, because I just love her and I buy plenty of her stuff...Only one of them was published under her real name though - the other two are, respectively, part of her A. Deborah Baker and Mira Grant productions (brand new the first, well-established the second). I have to admit that two of these books I found less brilliant than her usual, but still worth checking out even if you aren't a fan (which, counterintuitively, I suspect caused me to be less lenient LOL).

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

(Wayward Children #6)

★★★

An intersex girl finds a new family in a world of centaurs and other equines, where she's fated to play the hero at an unknown price.

***

Probably the weakest installment in the Wayward Children series so far, the one where both the lead intro and the overall morals are most didascalic (though someone might argue for the same thing happening in Down Among the Sticks and Bones - but the characters there came more alive for me) and the supporting cast least rounded. The second half does pick up, building on themes of destiny and human/beast divide. In the end though, the connection between questioning humans and a world that seems to call to them more to satisfy its needs than to cater for theirs comes across a bit muddled. Still worth it for the "there's no right way to be a girl" theme variation and the mythical-equine universe.

Full review to come (Goodreads pre-review)

Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker

(The Up-and-Under #1)

★★★

Two kids who don't know each other and couldn't be more different if they tried cross a strange wall for equally different reasons, only to get thrust into an Oz-like world where they will need each other to make it home...eventually.

***

After seeing it referenced multiple times in Middlegame, I thought OTWW would be more groundbreaking - and relevant, if in hindsight. It WAS enchanting and entertaining, with two quirky leads and at least one memorable side character (the Crow Girl), but it didn't feel, you know, SPECIAL, or an essential companion to Middlegame like I thought it would turn out to be. It felt very reminiscent of the Oz world (except for the metaphors/morals), a tad too much for it to be a tongue-in-cheek homage, and with antagonists who could have been fleshed out more, even within a short page count. Also, to me there was a power imbalance issue about the two protagonists, because even if you are (or the kid you used to be was) a rule-follower and/or someone who finds comfort in routine, it's so much easier to love free-spirited, courageous Zib than Avery. Not to mention, as someone who loves curls (the wilder the better) and wears her hair permed because it embodies the REAL me, I personally felt vindicated by Zib's attachment to her unruly mane, and by how Baker/McGuire seems to understand that your hair (or in cases like mine, your hair of choice) is a huge part of your personality. It's almost like Zib's hair were a third protagonist in the story, and heck, it felt so GLORIOUS to have a character own her "frizzy" hair for once.
In short, a MG version of the Wayward Children series, only with characters not looking for their door (unless you think Zib was, to an extent) and a focus on overcoming your differences and thus forming a life-saving bond.

Note: since this mini review turned out to be longer than my usual ones, and the book itself is so short, I decided not to write a standard review later. I also plan to do the same for the next books in the series.

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

(Rolling in the Deep #1)

★★★★

After an expedition to the Mariana Trench ends tragically, but leaving a trail of mysteries in its wake, a second ship sets sail for the same spot in order to prove the existence of mermaids, and even the most fervent believers will have trouble to keep their wits (and their lives) about them, once reality smacks bites them in the face...and a lot of other body parts.

***

Rated 4.5 really.

A breathless, yet nerdy adventure, that will give you nightmares and quench your thirst for alternate-but-believable science at the same time. As usual, Grant/McGuire excels at writing complex, tridimensional characters, no matter if heroes or villains or (mostly) morally grey/simply human ones. (Also, name another book where mermaids and even dolphins get their POV chapters). As usual with her, diversity is well-represented and understood, from queer to deaf to autistic characters and more. As usual with her, this is a world you can buy into. And while horror and tension grow and people die gruesomely - or do science in the face of it - there's still space for a romance (or two, if you count the two killers in love. Or three, if you count the two exes with a complicated relationship) and a sciencey, nightmarish, mind-blowing twist.

Full review to come. (Goodreads pre-review)

So, have you read/are you planning to read any of the above? And if you have, what do you think of them? Do you post mini reviews? Do you like to read them?