TOP PICKS – July 2023
Welcome to this month’s Top Picks!
Every month, we’re going to share with you our favourite reads of the month. We’ve rounded up our contributors and asked them each to recommend just one favourite read of the month. Somehow, we’ve reached the end of yet another month!
A big thank you to Nils for coming up with this feature, and our contributors for taking part!
Nils: The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem
This month was all about Women in SFF and I came across two absolute gems by debut female authors. The Revels by Stacey Thomas was a dark witchy historical fantasy set in 1645, dealing with knot magic, witch-hunters and witch trials. Thomas’ prose was exquisite from beginning to end, she created this atmosphere of tension, melancholy, and propriety which really helped to immerse me into the time period and then keep me hooked as we meander through a story where no character is safe from facing interrogation for witchcraft. The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem equally blew me away, and I’m choosing this as my top read of the month because the world building and the addition of Egyptian mythology in this book was incredible. The story follows Sylvia, who is the lost Heir to the Jasad Throne, as she conceals her forbidden magic and hides from the Nazahl army who are hunting her. Sylvia became one of my favourite female characters as she is presented as morally grey and heavily flawed, just how I like them. She is not evil though, but after witnessing the massacre of her entire family, seeing her Jasadi race hunted and executed, having faced trauma and betrayal at every turn, has inevitably left her scarred. You can read my review here:
Theo: To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
OK, this month I’ve got three books by women authors but only one of them published. I was lucky enough to get to beta-read Teresa Frohock’s next novel A Cygnet Moon and it is already a stunning tale of magic and intrigue so I am curious how, and how far Teresa can polish it still further. However, I also got an ARC for Anna Smith-Spark’s A Sword of Bronze and Ashes which is due out on 12th September. Once again Anna gave us her characteristic fluid prose and exotic imagery in a tale of myth, mayhem and motherhood! My third read was the only one of the trio that you actually find on your booksellers’ shelves now – which I guess gets it my top spot for July. The book is Becky Chambers To be taught if Fortunate. I’ve heard a lot about Becky Chambers writing and how it is gently hopeful sci-fi rather than pure crash bang wallop space opera. To be taught if Fortunate certainly met that expectation and all in the handy compactness of a novella length book. Reading in hardcopy rather the endlessly annotatable kindle version, meant that my copy is full of dog eared pages and scrawled pencil marginal notes to the effect “nice line” or “beautiful” or “love it.” The conflict is more situational than personal (or even environmental) but the prose is elegant and the narrative drew me on turning pages and finishing the book all in a day.
Beth: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
I’ve had a great reading month reading all female authors for Women in SFF! I’ve discovered two new-to-me authors (T. Kingfisher and H. G. Parry), I’ve re-read a book I loved for bookclub (Ithaca by Claire North), and I’ve rounded up a spicy trilogy (Freya Marske’s) that has gone from strength to strength!
My top read of the month though was also my shortest one – the short and extremely sweet Sleeping Beauty retelling Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher. I’ve never read anything of hers before, but have heard plenty and expected great things – I was not disappointed! I absolutely adored Kingfisher’s were-toad fairy Toadling, as well as her spellbinding fairy-tale narrative voice. This is clearly an author well versed in the laws of this tradition who is able to wield them with confidence to tell an achingly beautiful story you won’t expect.
Beth’s review | Pre-order here
Julia: Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher
July, the month of celebrating Women who wrote fantastic SFF! I’ve finished 17 books, and a lot of them would be worthy of mentioning… To name a few:
Darkrise and Darkfall by ML Spencer for being a brilliant, though really dark conclusion to a great series.
Necessity of Rain by Sarah Chorn for almost poetic prose and an amazing inclusive cast.
A Case of Possession by KJ Charles for having a super steamy gay romance that even my black heart found addictive.
Claws and Contrivances by Stephanie Burgis for the cutest and bravest tiny dragons there are.
But as always Beth is strict and says I can only choose one, just one book! So complaining all the way, I shall make a choice and tell you all about Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher!
Again a book with much more romance than I’d usually ever read, but it’s the rather amusing sort, and I simply love the quirky main characters so much, I was instantly hooked. A master perfumer with a somewhat mysterious past, and a paladin who loves to knit socks who lost his god. Both sort of broken and dealing with trauma, but still trying to be good and make the most of things.
Kingfisher just manages to balance dark topics and humour in a way that just works perfectly for me, and I can’t wait to get my eyes on the next books in this world!
What was your favourite read of the month? Share with us in the comments!
