J.S. Fields

Author & Scientist

  • Home
  • Bio
  • Books
  • Store
  • Blog
  • Contact

February 15, 2020

Review: Velveteen vs. The Seasons by Seanan McGuire

This is a review for a third book in a series. To read the review for the first book, click here. For the second book, click here.

Genre: science fiction: superhero

Pairings: f/m, f/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian, trans woman, gender fluid person

Warnings: a hard scene where a jerk reporter pressures Princess on her assigned gender at birth. Handled very well, but may be hard to read for trans readers

Review

In VELVETEEN VS. THE MULTIVERSE, Vel strikes a deal with Santa and the other seasonal spirits in order to get a time do-over from her (more or less) successful attempt to overthrow the Super Patriots.

The deal, of course, came with a heavy cost. Vel must now spend time with all the seasons (except summer, which doesn’t have much interest in her) and allow them to attempt to woo her to their cause. If she declines all of them, she goes back to her reality. If she accepts one, she stays in that holiday, forever.

She had promised. She had taken the gifts that the holidays were willing to offer her. and she had always known that they weren’t free; she’d always known that she would have to pay for them, in the end.

Thus begins the final installment of the Velveteen books, where all of Vel’s chickens come home to roost and the reader gets a very, very deep look at the magical systems behind Santa Claus (winter), Halloween (autumn), and Persephone (spring). The end of the book wraps up the series nicely, with Vel making her choice and the reader getting to see how the ripples of that choice affect all the superheroes they have come to know and love.

What is most interesting about this book however, is how it looks at the rise of governmental legislation in the void of the Super Patriots Inc. While the seasons are intriguing and Vel’s trials entertaining and have the signature harshness of McGuire worlds, the social commentary on the grey areas inhabited by large corporations is the most critical piece to this book. While the Super Patriots, Inc., was responsible for a whole host of violations and moral failings, it did keep the government at large out of the legislation business when it came to superheroes.

She’d read most of the superhuman control legislation, the things proposed by frightened senators who wanted to protect their larger “normal” constituents; the somehow more terrifying things proposed by politicians who were virtually salivating at the idea of living weapons who carried no development cost, who would do as they were told and make “friendly fire” a thing of the past.

In that vacuum, the United States has taken up the legislation game. Readers get to watch the slow slide from what seems a ‘reasonable’ law to what is a clear grab of power and/or fear. The changing political climate over the three years Vel spends with the seasons adds an additional string of tension to the stories, pulls them together, and serves to further entrench Vel into our hearts.

This is not to say that Vel’s time in the seasonal lands isn’t engaging. Her first stop, Winter, is heartbreaking in the best and worst ways. In the previous two books we have seen Vel’s close attachment to Santa Claus, his role as a near father figure, the warmth she gets from her friends there and how she had used Winter as a tether during her time with the Super Patriots. Hence, returning to Winter not as a visitor but as a resident emotional destroys Vel and the reader at the same time–seeing the cruelness of Santa, of the other holiday spirits, of how they need Vel so they must use Vel, despite their fondness of her.

On a more uplifting note, everyone’s favorite lesbian couple does feature again in THE SEASONS, though not as prominently as in book two. But the friendship that grows between Vel, Princess, Jack(ie), Polychrome/Sparkle Bright (or whichever code name you prefer for her), and Victory Anna is everything one wants in found family, especially superhero found family.

The emotional conclusion to the Velveteen series is more than worth the cost of admission, even if you have to scour the internet to find copies to buy. Lucky for you, Vel visited from her Earth to let you know that you can buy the hardback here.

Filed Under: book review Tagged With: lesbian, sci fi, superhero, trans

February 8, 2020

Review: Velveteen vs. The Multiverse by Seanan McGuire

This is a review for the second book in a series. To read the review for book one, VELVETEEN VS. THE JUNIOR SUPER PATRIOTS, click here. To read the review for book there, click here.

Genre: science fiction: superhero

Pairings: f/m, f/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian, trans woman

Warnings: none

Review

Velveteen is back! 

Settled now in Portland, Oregon, as the resident crime fighter, Velveteen almost has her life together. She has a cute superhero boyfriend, a new superhero friend, and a host of low-level villains to fight.

It all goes horribly awry, of course, when Vel wakes up in bed with Action Dude, her childhood crush. In bed. Married. And officially part of the Super Patriots, Inc.

Thus begins Vel’s journey through the multiverse. As with any good superhero story, long-hidden truths get revealed and Vel attempts to right old wrongs (she is a superhero, after all) and bring down the Super Patriots, Inc., once and for all.

Nothing comes without a cost, however. When one evil falls, another rises, and the destruction of the Super Patriots comes with an unimaginably high price tag.

VELVETEEN VS. THE MULTIVERSE is the strongest installment in the Velveteen trilogy. It is also the installment where we spend the most time with Sparkle Brite aka Polychrome, and see part of her romance with Victory Anna (a steampunk refugee from an Earth that never really existed, but who really has the hots for Yelena).

“Torrey’s very tea-oriented,” said Yelena, as she walked Vel toward the kitchen. “She’s from an alternate Victorian England that ceased to exist in a freak accident involving a time machine and a blackcurrant trifle. After spending a few years stranded in parallels without other people, she got very focused on the important things in life.”

Like tea,” said Vel.

“Tea, and shooting people who bother my girlfriend,” said Torrey, walking over with a tray.

It’s also the installment where we learn the full breadth of Vel’s powers and the extent to which the Super Patriots went to hide Vel’s potential from her. It’s a story with an amazing number of twists and turns, filled with robust characters, history, and so, so much comic book lore. Santa remains as concerningly creepy/loving as ever, Princess continues to enchant with her rodents that sew clothes and enchanted mirrors and be the best trans rep: “My name is Carrabelle Miller,” said Princess. “If you want to know what my parents called me, then you’re looking for Scott Miller. But that’s never been my name.”, Yelena’s character development turns her into my hands down favorite character, and Victory Anna is an absolute delight as an additional character who can turn anything into an explosive weapon. Anything.

There’s a final battle that feels satisfying, but opens more doors than it closes. There are promises made that hurt more than they heal, and tragic romances (no gays are harmed). Most questions are answered but in doing so, we lose the structure of our world. Was it worth the cost? We won’t find out until book three: VELVETEEN VS. THE SEASONS.

You can join Vel and her misfit superhero league in paperback here and on audiobook here. 

P.S. This is the volume where McGuire finally has Vel use My Little Ponies in battle. This is the book of my soul.

A herd of brightly-colored plastic horses came stampeding out of the alley, each carrying one or more toy soldiers on its back. Rainbow manes whipping in the wind, they circled the woman in black, and the soldiers opened fire.

Filed Under: book review Tagged With: lesbian, reviews, sci fi, superhero, trans

February 1, 2020

Review: Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots by Seanan McGuire

Genre: science fiction: super hero

Pairings: m/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian, trans woman

Warnings: you might explode from sheer reading joy

Review

At twelve, Velma Martinez manifested the ability to animate toys. Her parents, previously borderline negligent, sell Velma to the Super Patriots, Inc., to be trained as a super hero.

In Velma’s admittedly limited experience, “family fun” usually meant “Mama cries herself to sleep after Daddy passes out run, and Velma and the teddy bears clean the whole placed before morning.

The contract stipulates training until eighteen, at which point Velma (Velveteen) would get to chose to stay with the Super Patriots and become a fully fledged super hero, or return to a normal life.

No one ever leaves the Super Patriots, Inc.

Velma says good bye around nineteen, shucking decades of Marketing brainwashing and severing her few remaining friendships. She can’t hold down a job, however, or get into college, or do anything except hide her powers and hope the Super Patriots don’t find her.

Years later, an unfortunate encounter with some coffee worshipers in a small town force Velveteen to use her powers in public. The Super Patriots immediately try to bring Vel in, by dubbing her a super villain. Vel, of course, is having none of it, and with the help of a bunch of cast off toys, manages to make it across the border to Oregon.

Oregon doesn’t have a super hero extradition agreement and the governor hates the Super Patriots due to the untimely death of her super hero sister, who was sent on a deadly mission far too young. The governor grants Vel a superhero license so she can fight crime within Oregon’s borders, which also, conveniently, keeps her out of the Super Patriots hands.

The Super Patriots have plans, however, and will not give up until Vel is back under their control, one way or the other. They’ll use any thing or any one under their power to get to her, including her ex-best friend (Sparkle Bright) and ex-boyfriend (Action Dude). Vel has friends of her own, however, including a new boyfriend, holiday superheroes, and a mysterious new superhero who manipulates light.

A battle between good and evil lurks on the horizon. Will Vel and her friends be enough to stop Marketing? Will Vel ever get rid of her domino mask? Who is this mysterious new super hero??

VELVETEEN VS. THE JUNIOR SUPER PATRIOTS is both fun and serious, whimsical, joyful, and cruel. Working off the premise that super powers have always been among us and it is only a recent upswing in occurrence that has lead to a need for corporations and governmental control (all due to a large batch of irradiated maple syrup, apparently), McGuire shows us a world not dominated by epic battles between super heroes and super villains, but by kids in goofy spandex costumes and the corporation that would control them. It pairs bunny costumes, talking toys, lobster boys, and witty dialogue, with the brutal truth of marketing, child labor, and child exploitation.

 

“KICK THEIR ASSES!” shrieked Velveteen, who, after a long day of driving, detours, and idiots, was glad to finally have something to smash.

“DO YOU OPPOSE ME?!” demanded The Claw.

“Oh, David.” Velveteen sighed, and slapped her palms together over her head. “Grow up.”

And that’s when the bear-shaped bouncy castle kicked his ass.

 

In many ways it is fantasy. In even more ways it is not.

VELVETEEN carries all the classic super hero tropes–calling them out, naming them, integrating them–and then in a very McGuire fashion, turns them to her own use. The goofiness of super hero names (what will poll well with the public?). The reasons for the constant outfit changes (more opportunity to buy toys!). Why the goofy poses (learn to strike your best pose on your best side, for the constant media!).

Throughout all of it is Vel, former child superhero, now emancipated adult, who just can’t get her life together. A child star with no future, but an (adorable?) ability to bring ratty old teddy bears and such back to life. Vel is instantly relatable and instantly charming, and it is impossible to not get swept into a world that feels so similar to our own–almost certainly because McGuire stuck in just enough truth that every action sequence, ever emotion, every silly costume, resonates.

If you ever had a toy you wished would come alive and play with you, you need this book.

If you ever looked at a washed out child start and wondered what happened?, you need this book.

If you really love superheroes, you need this book.

To begin your training with the Super Patriots, Inc., you’re a bit SOL. These books were print only and a limited run. Book one is sold out but available online for free.

Click to read the reviews for books two and three.

 

Filed Under: book review Tagged With: lesbian, sci fi, superhero, trans

April 28, 2019

Review: Fruits of the Gods by William C. Tracy

Genre: fantasy (high/epic)

Pairings: f/f, f/m

Queer Representation: cis lesbian, trans, cis gay men

Warnings: (as listed on the book jacket) abuse, rape, mutilation, torture, incest

Implied Tropes Later Subverted (but important to note anyway incase of trigger): lesbian after rape, magical travelers, Kill Your Gays

Review

Disclaimer – I worked as a CP and sensitivity reader for this book. I am more intimately familiar with its content than most books I review

Sisters Belili and Kisare, born slaves, find a magical box with a strange seed while out working one night. Determined to change their fate, the sisters escape from the orchard and, with the help of another group of outcasts, learn to use their own magic to bring back the gods who once ruled the land.

Epic fantasy is rare in small press, which is why I always get so excited when I find it.

FRUITS is a blend of the grit from GAME OF THRONES and the regimented magic system of any of Brandon Sanderson’s work. It paces much more along the lines of STARLESS by Jacqueline Carey, and has elements seen in many small press SFF titles, such as deeper introspections.

The POV is pretty tight for epic fantasy, juggling only between Bel and Kisa. This takes out the elements I find most irritating in epic fantasy–the constant head hopping–and allows for a steady pace as the sisters move from journey to final showdown at the palace.

The secondary characters get ample ‘screen’ time in the book, from the charismatic Hbelu, prince of the Asha-Urmana, to the delightedly subversive Ligish–a slave turned spy. Keeping with epic fantasy tropes, the good people versus villains are clearly delineated, and our villains are the mustache-twirling level of evil that can be really nice to read–especially when they get their just desserts.

FRUITS has trigger warnings, and with good reason. Some caustic themes are explored in the narrative, and some problematic tropes are presented (and then subverted), including a ‘kill your gays’ fake out (unreliable villain diatribe, don’t worry, no queer people actually die!), a ‘caravanner’ stereotype, dealt with through larger worldbuilding, a piece of which is quoted below:

(here Kisa describes the ‘camp’ of the Asha-Urmana (caravaners), which is nothing of the sort)

The construction was finer than the master’s house, and the boards on the upper portions of the dwellings were coated with a clear varnish that kept the original glow of the wood. The stone at the base looked like polished marble, and Kisare wondered where they quarried it. The stone at the Aricaba orchard was gray and drab granite. This marble fit together so tightly she could see no crack between the blocks. The streets were similarly made of flat fitted stones. 

It’s worth noting, however, that the rape and incest portions take place entirely ‘off-screen.’

For queer content, the book has a nice romance line for Bel and Ligish, though they do meet through a shared trauma, so keep those trigger warnings in mind. Queerness is canon in the world, and plenty of instances are described through basic worldbuilding, such as:

“Once we get you better clothes and a little paint for your faces, you will have half the population of Karduniash falling over you.” She leaned in closer. “And I’m not just talking about the men.” She laughed at Kisare’s expression, but Bel looked thoughtful. “The capital is a lot different from a mountain orchard.”

One of the major secondary characters is a trans woman, and her identity is neither brutally revealed (so help me if I read another ‘clothes get ripped off and oh so-and-so is a different gender oh my! book I will scream), nor more than a blip on anyone’s radar. Gender as a whole is dealt with well, and I am particularly fond of the scene below, where Bel is trying to figure out which of the ruling twins is the man and which is the woman:

“So this is the pretty one,” the one on the right said. Belili used the last of the prunus juice, held under her tongue, to look at the person’s throat. Female. Then the other was the male twin.

I’m a sucker for a clearly defined magic system (which is why I read Sanderson), and the fruit magic tied to hair color really worked for me. Like any good magic system, the benefits and drawbacks are well defined, and it is a delight to watch Bel and Kisa discover not only their own colored hair (all non-magic people are blonde in the book and slaves’ hair is bleached weekly to hide any magic hair they might possess) but their ability to wield the godfruit.

The sisters’ interactions, from loyalty to bickering and back again, came across as particularly authentic. Though the two must rely on each other to survive, old slights still crop up and, as they are worked through, help round out the characters. It’s also really nice to see an epic fantasy lead set that isn’t a m/f love interest set, or a group of men/elves/orcs/dragon slayers, whatever. And even with two female leads there is no backbiting and cattiness–just two sisters who need each other, love each other, but also really don’t like each other sometimes. Just like real life.

Lovers of Brandon Sanderson’s MISTBORN trilogy, GAME OF THRONES (yes, there is incest between twins!), and epic fantasy that doesn’t need a whole new language to function, will enjoy FRUITS OF THE GODS.

You can get your own malus fruit and join in on the adventure here by preordering!

Tracy’s website

Tracy’s Goodread’s page

 

Filed Under: book review Tagged With: fantasy, gay, lesbian, reviews, trans

March 3, 2019

Review: An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows

Genre: fantasy – portal fantasy

Pairings: f/f

Queer Representation: pansexual, cis lesbian, cis gay, aromantic, agender, trans

Warnings: none

Review

Saffron Coulter, a mild-mannered but angry sixteen year old girl from Earth, has had enough. Between the sexual harassment from the boys at her school to the uncaring faculty, Saffron’s biggest wish is that someone would just stand up to all the BS. Someone other than her, that is.

During a particularly nasty encounter with a schoolboy, Saffron is saved by the unknown Gwen, a woman with a mysterious past. Saffron ends up following Gwen to a more secluded area of the school–mostly to thank her–when a portal opens. And Saffron, being done with boys and high school and Earth, hops right in.

What follows is a twisting, engaging if not sometimes confusing, adventure through Kena–a magic using world teetering on the brink of war. Gwen, the worldwalker Saffron followed through the portal, must bring her up to speed on a very complex social hierarchy and several religions lest Saffron get herself killed through simply existing. As happens in these types of books, Saffron soon becomes ensconced in the war and ends up a key player in the final battles.

Format

I have mixed feelings about this book. The beginning is strong, and Saffron a sympathetic protagonist. Her motivations for going through the portal make a lot of sense and her first day or so on Kena has a lot of strong action. The setting is delivered well, the secondary characters are charming and delightful and cruel, and enough tropes are employed to help the reader feel comfortable in the world before they have a lot of information.

Where I struggled was with the swapping third to omniscient voice and the number of characters who got to wield either or both.

In some places, the POV switch is indicated by a line gap. In some the head hopping happens simply between normal paragraphs. There never seemed to be a reason for why narration changed, and it didn’t seem to follow the character with the most agency or interesting happenings, either. Due to the sheer volume of characters that were allowed a POV, I soon lost interest in a sizable section of the world.

The amount of time spent in Saffron’s head is excellent, and helped pull my interest back in every time she was on page. However, the extensive worldbuilding and political mechanics were beyond the scope of one book or at least, beyond the scope of Saffron’s understanding and therefore also beyond the reader’s.

Because I was so invested in Saffron and Zech (a younger girl who ends up in a sort of mind-meld with Saffron) I persisted through the book. The back third was mostly delightful, and the action, especially when the group hit the queen council and Zech and Saffron had to go through trials, was by far the best part. The final battle as well was very well done and the book had a fantastic, melancholy-but-still-happy ending.

It is saying something, however, that I skimmed pages and pages of this book, and almost the entire princess storyline (after her introduction, when it was clear she would only be annoying) and still felt like I didn’t miss anything. The ending made perfect sense and the final battle was still very compelling. As AN ACCIDENT OF STARS skims close to high fantasy, I wonder if it wasn’t shooting for world-as-character levels of description, and just fell a bit short.

Some excellent parts

I enjoyed that Saffron is Australian, which isn’t a POV I get to see a lot of in mainstream fiction. The racism of the teachers and Saffron’s own internal racism are addressed on page, and that was wonderful. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a fantasy that called out the implicit bias of its characters so directly:

“Not seeing Viya as a queen because she’s not white is racist,” she whispered into the pillow. “I’m being racist.”

British racism was also touched upon:

She didn’t say, ‘the police wouldn’t look for me when I vanished, because they didn’t think a missing black woman mattered.’ She didn’t say, ‘my parents convinced themselves I’d run off with a boy I was too ashamed to bring home, and when I came back, the second thing they asked was if I’d had an abortion.’

The trans rep was also fantastic, which isn’t surprising since the author is genderqueer. The ‘alikrevaya’ (trans) are seen as a natural variance and allowed to declare themselves however they wish. The worldbuilding of a culture of trans acceptance was so seamless that it actually took me a few pages to realize what the author was talking about. Also, they have sex-affirmation magic. Fantastic.

“It means she was born with her body and spirit in conflict, so the priests of Kara used the sevikmet to reshape her.”

“Bodies are bodies, and hearts are hearts. The priestess hood admits women only, though flesh plays no role in such determinations;”

Overall, AN ACCIDENT OF STARS is strong portal fantasy with solid queer rep and a sweet f/f line. The action scenes in particular stand out, although the book would have benefitted from some tighter 3rd limited.

To go through your own portal to Kena, buy the book here in print and here in ebook.

~~

Hey readers! Did you know you can subscribe to this blog? Don’t miss out on review Sunday and Ardulum Wednesday ever again! Look on the right sidebar for the grey box that says ‘Get my blog posts via email,’ enter your email, and hit subscribe. It’s that easy! (if you can’t see it, just scroll down a bit.)

Filed Under: book review Tagged With: agender, aromantic, fantasy, gay, lesbian, nonbinary, pansexual, portal fantasy, reviews, sci fi, trans

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 6
  • Next Page »

NEWEST BOOK RELEASE

NEWEST BOOK RELEASE

Blog Posts

Review: RUST IN THE ROOT by Justina Ireland

September 25, 2022

Genre: fantasy: alternate history / high fantasy (upper YA) Pairings: f/f to f/nonbinary Queer Representation: cis … [Read More...]

Review: OF DEMONS AND COAL by Thomas Gondolfi

September 23, 2022

Genre: fantasy: alternate history / low fantasy / steampunk (blends the three) Pairings: f/f Queer Representation: … [Read More...]

Get My Blog Posts Via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 18 other subscribers

Keep In Touch

  • Twitter

Other J.S. Fields Sites

Good Reads
Patreon

Other Links

  • 17th Shard Writing Group
  • Reading Excuses Facebook Page

Copyright ©2016 · J.S. Fields