TOP PICKS – November 2024
Welcome back to 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.
A big thank you to Nils for coming up with this feature, and our contributors for taking part!
Let’s find out what the team has read this month…
Beth: The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by H. G. Parry
I’ve had an excellent reading month with a nice mix of things. I started the month by finishing The Righteous by Dave Wragg; if you’ve not read that duology yet, and you love gritty politicky fantasy, you need to read it! I’ve read another Christie this month, and I’ve buddy read the second Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice, with Nils. I’ve even fit in a re-read of a favourite from last year, A Midwinter’s Tail, for book club.
In amongst all that though, I was utterly transported by my second ever H. G. Parry novel, The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door, and for that it absolutely has to be my Top Pick. It’s set just after WW1 and follows Clover, whose brother is struck by a faerie curse in the war. This is how they discover the world of magic, and Clover manages to get a scholarship to study in the secret magical university Camford. It’s not as dark as Dark Academia, but there’s far more at stake than what you’d necessarily find in a Light Academia; it brings the best of both worlds together in a vividly portrayed tale that I loved.
Dorian: Saint Death’s Daughter by C. S. E. Cooney
Man, I had two books this month that were 1) and 1a). Both were so good! I’ll say the 1a) was SERVICE MODEL by Adrian Tchaikovksy. It starts out feeling like Terry Gilliam was running Murderbot through a Paranoia game, but grows darker and more philosophical as it goes. The story features a valet-robot slowly realizing the world has fallen apart and trying to find his way through the disintegrating remains of civilization. It’s funny, poignant, often biting, and says a lot about both the nature of consciousness and where morality comes from. Also, it has absolute A+ banger similes and metaphors all over the place.
But just edging it out for me was Saint Death’s Daughter by C.S.E. Cooney. I’ve written a longer review, but here are some excerpts:
“Every sentence is scrumptious. You can’t/won’t/shouldn’t skim over even a single line. Some lines you’ll want to read twice, just for the joy of it.”
“SAINT DEATH’S DAUGHTER is a fantasy tale about a kindly but determined necromancer named Miscellaneous “Lanie” Stones whose life is constantly complicated by family, by politics, by love, by circumstance, and by an inconvenient allergy to violence… For me, the two main things that made the book such a joy were the characters and their relationships, and the language. Oh, goodness, the language! I could feel Cooney absolutely reveling in her words, rolling around in them, making them dance and sing, and tweaking them right on the nose when appropriate.
“The tone is unlike that of anything I’ve ever read: fizzy and light-hearted despite a plethora of death-imagery, including some pretty gory, violent stuff. But…it’s hopeful, flamboyant, and full of unironic delight, even in its objectively darkest moments.”
“…The writing is so damned good. I first read Cooney’s short story collection Bone Swans, and then her novella Desdemona and the Deep, and it felt decadent to get to enjoy her prose-crafting for a full 475 pages.”
Hil: The City in Glass by Nghi Vo.
This month I’ve managed to read a few books despite Real Life throwing a few curve balls. The first was the book club read: A Midwinter’s Tail by Lili Hayward, which is a cosy fantasy based in the Scilly Isles, with elements of found family and folklore. It’s a “warm cinnamon bun with a mug of hot chocolate on a cold day” kind of read.
The second was Strange Beasts by Susan J Morris: a delicious melange of Bram Stoker, Conan Doyle via Phantom of the Opera. Excited for the next one (if there is a next one!)
My pick of the month is The City in Glass by Nghi Vo. I loved the textures in the writing of this book. The descriptions are lyrical, and follow a demon as she endures the utter obliteration of her city by angels. Her revenge is exquisite and poetic. The story is so very well crafted, you shouldn’t wait before reading it.
Cat: Tradwife by TC Parker
For once, this month’s pick is easy. It’s Tradwife by TC Parker – a fast-paced novella told in almost-found-footage documentary style.
We investigate the aftermath of a British community formed in the style of idealised American far-Right and 1950s living… but which suffered terrible unsolved murders. It’s a quasi-dystopian whodunnit, but one where there is no shortage of blame and a whole lot of justified anger.
Absolutely gripping and perfectly timed, I haven’t stopped thinking about this since I gulped it down. Absolutely compelling.
Nils: The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne
This month my favourite read comes from one of my all time favourite authors— The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne. I expected to absolutely love this conclusion, I expected it to be thrilling but Gwynne also managed to deliver many things I did not expect!
The world of Vigrið is split in two, those in Lik-Rifa, the Dragon God’s host, and those fighting alongside Elvar and Ulfrir, the Wolf God. This is it, this is the last stand our characters will make. Will a mad god rule or will freedom be won?
The battles were intense and amazing and I just had a bloody good time seeing how the story unfolded. If you’d like to know more you can read my review here:
Jonathan: Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand
I cannot believe it’s nearly the end of the month and the year. Ed: I KNOW RIGHT
But this month I do want to give a shout out to Elizabeth Hand’s superlative Wylding Hall. It’s the account of Windhollow Faire, a fictional band in the 1970s UK acid folk scene who are sent to the crumbling country manor Wylding Hall to record their Liege & Lief masterpiece, only for their doomed lead singer to become embroiled with the fae.
The whole thing is framed as a rock documentary, with interviews from the surviving band members and their friends. It’s beautifully written and deeply uncanny, and could not be more laser targeted towards my taste if it tried. Wonderful stuff.
Kat: Under the Earth Over the Sky by Emily McCosh
I’ll start by shouting out The Shetland Witch by Kate Macdonald because she’s my lovely mother and it’s a singularly pleasing experience reading something written by a family member and seeing a million different facets of them in the novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the romp through Shetland with our witchy protagonists and the Greek gods that have landed on their doorstep.
However, my favourite read of this month has to be Under the Earth Over the Sky by Emily McCosh. My review is already out and this was such a refreshing, ethereal take on fae and a wholesome exploration of familial ties. I cannot recommend this enough to readers who enjoy lyrical writing and want to experience an otherworldly novel.
Kat’s review
Theo: Miserere: An Autumn Tale by Teresa Frohock
I’ve just finished an ARC of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s latest release Shroud with a central story spine about two scientists trapped in a women-against-the-environment struggle that would be if the Martian had been set on an cloudily opaque world like Venus, but at an orbital radius like Saturn’s.
Of course being Tchaikovsky, this strange world is populated with almost incomprehensible aliens. At the same time the human society that spawns our accidental explorers is both deeply flawed and an all too recognisable extrapolation of our own.
However, I’ve also read Teresa Frohock’s fully revised and updated version of her debut novel, Miserere: An Autumn Tale which is more of a portal fantasy. As I mention in my review, Frohock’s novels (a bit like Mercedes M Yardley’s) are difficult to categorise in an industry that loves to pigeon-hole. However, I enjoyed the revised version even more than the captivating original with its trio of protagonists – crippled Paladin Lucian, tormented ex-lover Rachael and crazed twin sister Catarina. Throw a teenage earthling Lyndsay who has fallen through the veil between Earth and Woerld and you have a heady mix of characters facing their own tortuous circumstances.
So on balance, my pick for this month is Miserere!
Read Theo’s review on Monday!
Vinay: Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
I had planned November for the month to catch up on Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive with the 5th book (Wind & Truth) out in December. My current re-read progress stands at book 3 (Oathbringer) with book 4 to be finished in 10 days.
I had read all the first 3 books before and still found the re-reads an exhilarating experience – I wonder what magic Sanderson has to craft a 1000 pager tome packed with so much lore, developments and action and still have quite minimal bloat. The problem with going through the massive re-read is it pretty much is all encompassing and reduces the scope for the other books.
My ARC shelf is positively wailing at the destruction of my well laid out reading plans. That said, my top pick of the month is Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan – a bit of Ratatouille meets the Bear meets the Masterchef in an Indian cuisine inspired futuristic cooking sage. This is a layered book that packs an entertaining story amidst commentary that is relevant for the turbulent political times that we live in
Vinay’s review | Available now
What was your favourite read of the month? Share with us in the comments!
Top Picks will return in the new year!
