If you like sapphic stories of scrappy underdogs taking down the powers that be; high-stakes, women-centered mech battles; princesses who rescue themselves; small-town mechanic girls with lots of gumption to make it in the big city/off-world arena; potential long-lost-friends-to-sapphic-lovers setups; or sexy lady spies, definitely give this a shot.
After going full Tazmanian Devil on Sager’s first 4 books, I couldn’t fully differentiate between them, and, much like Taz, I was left with the overwhelming need to spit all my takes out at once. Here they are. Spoilers: in Sager’s worlds, white isn’t just the default…it’s the only option.
An interesting enough first half that spiraled out of control and ended with some squicky YA tropes. I was massively disappointed.
This book positively DEMANDED my attention. From the portentous inverted title to the punk fantasy-horror synopsis, I was primed for greatness, and that’s precisely what I got.
The book is fucking dazzling. Read it (as long as you’re ok with a rape-revenge plot that’s truly empowering and not some misogynist torture porn shit or self-abnegating morality play.
This delightful sequel to The Tea Dragon Society is actually a prequel that gives us an extra-long peek into the world of the tea dragons when Erik and Hesekiel, who are old men in book one, were just starting out as an adventuring couple. It focuses on Erik’s nibling, Rinn, and an ancient village guardian Rinn wakes up and befriends (the full-sized dragon Aedhan).
This book contains one of the sweetest and most endearing YA romances that I’ve read in a very long time. Overall, it was a joy to read, despite its heavy themes at times. Garrett manages to weave a glorious wish-fulfillment plot about young Black (bisexual) women taking down a powerful serial sexual abuser with a joyful Black-movie-star-meets-brilliant-plus-sized-journalist romance. It gives Black love AND Black-led-and-centered justice. I LOVED it, and it’s so needed.
This was my first CJ Tudor book, and I stayed up most of the night to finish it, so it clearly worked for me, on the whole. The ending was more satisfying than most thrillers I’ve read, though it did suffer from contemporary-thriller syndrome, where there practically have to be more twists than pages. Some of these twists were fun, some were ridiculous, and some were problematic, but there were definitely A LOT of them.
Here, as with The Chalk Man, Tudor’s still ‘doing’ Stephen King in some ways, but prime King was rarely this bleak. The whole damn setting and tone were bleak as fuck, and I definitely don’t read thrillers OR horror for bleak shit.
Reading this is like experiencing the most perfect, anxiety-free day: laying on a blanket outside in the shade of a massive tree, grass everywhere and wind gently blowing; or cuddling up in the Fall with a cat [or six…], a blanket, and some herbal tea; or sitting in front of the fireplace in the middle of winter with the smell of gently burning embers lulling you to sleep. If you’re into calm, quietly funny stories with true cottagecore vibes, or if you like weird friendships developed over lengthy conversations, read this.