Sidhe, Star, and Shaman Warriors (original) (raw)

Ashes of Honor, by Seanan McGuire – Still in mourning over the death of her lover and loss of her daughter, October Daye finds out that her friend Sir Etienne had a changeling daughter with a mortal woman, and that the child has gone missing. It turns out she has the ability to teleport to greater distances than most pureblood fairies, and it’s tied in with a plot by one of the Cait Sidhe to overthrow the King of Cats and the former Duchess of Dreamer’s Glass to colonize Annwn. There’s also some development in Toby’s relationship with Tybalt, the current King of Cats.

Chimes at Midnight – The next book in the series has Toby discover a surge in goblin fruit addiction, and when she complains to the Queen of the Mists about it, she finds out the Queen is in on it. She banishes Toby, and for good measure has someone hit her with a goblin fruit pie that turns her more human. Our hero learns that the Queen is illegitimate, and the true heir is in hiding, so she helps to launch a revolution. This is the third McGuire book I’ve read that references Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, the others being Tricks for Free and In an Absent Dream.

Kirby Art & Style Collection, edited by Joel Enos – I have a few different video game art books now, and it seems to be a trend that they showcase concept art, not actual in-game graphics. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate seeing the concepts; some of them are amazing. It’s just that I also like to see how they fit into the games themselves. That’s not really a point against this book, just a personal preference. The volume showcases art from all of the main series Kirby games released up to that point, plus promotional material for concerts, restaurants, and merchandise. I haven’t played that many Kirby games, but as you’d expect, it’s all really cute. I love group scenes like this.

King Dedede looks so proud of his cello playing, and Kirby’s conductor outfit not really fitting him is a nice touch.

Pahua and the Soul Stealer, by Lori M. Lee – A new author to the Rick Riordan Presents label, Lee writes about the mythology of the Hmong people, a southeast Asian ethnic group with their own legends. I can’t say I knew anything about them before reading this, but I guess that’s part of the point. The eleven-year-old Pahua Moua is a girl with the strange ability to see spirits, including a cat spirit named Miv whom everyone she tells assumes is an imaginary friend. When a bridge spirit steals her brother’s soul, she teams up with a shaman warrior in training named Zhong. The two of them don’t get along at first, but they become friends during the course of their journey. Pahua discovers that she’s the reincarnation of a great shaman hero, and an evil god wants her to free him. A lot of the stories from this series play out similarly in many ways, but that’s not really a criticism so much as an observation on narrative structure.

This entry was posted in Art, Authors, Book Reviews, Food, Hmong, incryptid, Kirby, Magic, Mythology, october daye, Relationships, Rick Riordan, seanan mcguire, Video Games, Wayward Children and tagged annwn, ashes of honor, cait sith, cats, chimes at midnight, christina rossetti, fairies, goblin fruit, goblin market, king dedede, kirby art and style collection, lori m. lee, pahua and the soul stealer, shee yee. Bookmark the permalink.