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Cover of HOTEL MELIKOV

HOTEL MELIKOV

by the People’s Party—its deputy leader is a former colleague of his in the fish business—and then by royalists to spy on the other side. Back and forth he goes, double\u002Dtalking his way out of trouble. As part of a group of government officials who disguise themselves in nun’s habits to make it safely to the convent, he is exposed to shocking realities. The actual Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow are not what they seem (the guns are a dead giveaway) and all of the fake nuns don’t seem to be on the same page with each other. The king, who was outfitted as “Sister Karla” to evade detection, is befuddled by the situation. “So, the prisoners are dressed as nuns and the nuns are dressed as prisoners?” he asks. Seeming pumped with helium, ever light on its feet, the novel keeps springing satirical delights and hilariously absurd scenes. It’s a flawlessly entertaining read that raises expectations for the third installment in the series."⭐ 4.7/5(20)

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Cover of HOUSE OF SMOKE

HOUSE OF SMOKE

by becoming the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance. That brought him into an ever\u002Ddeepening appreciation for Black food traditions, and out of that grew the aim of sponsoring “honest conversations about slavery and its legacies” with food as an instrument of healing. Results didn’t quite work out as hoped: Edge found himself challenged by activists such as the Nigerian\u002Dborn chef Tunde Wey, who told him, “You have endorsed and celebrated the appropriation of Black Southern food without consequence.” The denouement finds Edge recognizing the justice of that statement without self\u002Dpity and committing himself to “my ongoing reconstruction.”"⭐ 4.3/5(22)

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Cover of HOUSE OF THE BEAST

HOUSE OF THE BEAST

by her outcast single mother in the countryside, doesn’t know of her station, and has a lonely and isolating childhood, often conjuring an imaginary friend for comfort. When her mother falls terminally ill, Alma manages to send word to her unknown father begging for help, and is met with a powerful vessel of the Dread Beast—the god of death. In exchange for her mother’s healing, Alma agrees to serve House Avera in support of her father’s ascension to First Hand of the Beast, and the girl is whisked away by her father while her mother lies dying. Unaware of nearly everything about the gods and the families bound to them, she discovers the first step in service to the House and its deity is severing her arm in sacrifice to the Beast. Despite her actions, her mother dies, but Alma is forced to continue serving her father’s ambitions anyway. As her grief rages and her father’s betrayal is palpable everywhere in the Avera estate, the flames of revenge are fanned by her once\u002Dimaginary friend, Aster, who reveals himself to be so much more—a spirit that’s taken on human form. With Aster as proof of her strong connection to the Dread Beast, together they devise a plan to prove her worthiness as a vessel of the Beast and challenge her father’s rank. All that’s required is that she train for a Pilgrimage to the umbral plane—a twisted alternate dimension filled with monsters and terror—to kill a star and rise in rank to become the First Hand of the Beast herself. From the opening pages, with Alma’s arm strapped to a fountain and her father standing overhead with a sword ready to give her limb as an offering, the prose strikes hardest when Wong writes visceral body horror. This page\u002Dturning epic continually exposes the monster within each character, pushing them to confront it head\u002Don and fight relentlessly for the good they possess deep within."⭐ 4.0/5(2,117)

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Cover of HOW TO SURF A HURRICANE

HOW TO SURF A HURRICANE

by the company\u003B Miki, a former oil worker who desperately needs money to help his sick father\u003B and Victoria Wood, an innovator in the brand\u002Dnew sport of hurricane surfing, in which pilots of small, specially built watercraft attempt to set speed records in potentially deadly weather conditions. Is it the perfect team to pull off the riskiest corporate heist of all time? Maybe—but only if the weather cooperates. Medema weaves imaginative climate\u002Drelated technologies into his story, from the luxury ski habitats that Miki builds on top of snowdrifts in Alaska to the hurricane seeding that Moro undertakes to ensnare the Pyxis Cloud: “It’s about applying a small amount of leverage and waiting,” he explains. “The government’s been experimenting with this technology since 1947. I’m just the first private citizen to seed one. For all we know.” Hurricane surfing is a particularly inspired creation, as well. Despite some early pacing issues, the premise is a winning one, and readers will quickly find themselves caught in the cyclone of Medema’s story."⭐ 4.5/5(29)

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