Author: Matt Doyle
Release Date: May 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-947139-03-9
Cover Artist: Natasha Snow
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Word Count: 56000
Sex Content: N/A
Orientation: Lesbian
Identity: Cisgender

​RATING: 4.5 stars

When I was studying English Extension as a Year 12 student, we spent the year focused on a genre study of crime fiction. One of our set texts was Marele Day's The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender, a gritty urban crime fiction written in a very traditional style, but with a unique (for the time) female protagonist. The reason I bring this up, is that I couldn't help thinking about that book quite a lot whilst I was reading ADDICT. You need to ignore the GoodReads ratings of Day's book, because it's been skewed heavily by resentful teenagers who were tired of the book after studying it. It's dated now (over 30 years later), but Harry Lavender infused pre-WWII crime fiction conventions with fresh, contemporary elements of gender, as well as a real sense of place, with the city of Sydney treated as a character in its own right.

Matt Doyle's ADDICT, though a rather different beast from Harry Lavender, is intelligent and fresh in much the same way Day's book was in the late 80s. A crime is committed and, of course, as time goes on, our detective is led through a series of twists and turns to finally lead her to a thrilling conclusion, where all the puzzle pieces fall into place - a satisfying conclusion is provided, as you'd expect from a detective story.

Set in the near future, Addict combines the engrossing, tenebrous elements of 1930s noir crime fiction with the spectacle and possibility of science fiction. Cassie Tam is, in many ways, a traditional sleuth protagonist, right down to the glock, the dingy apartment, and the social isolation. But Cassie also has a metallic gargoyle as her security guard, and has to delve into the nefarious world of technology addiction as a means to solve the case at the heart of the story. Her client also happens to be a Tech Shifter, someone who uses specially designed machinery to transform into an animal as a form of escapism. Cool, right?

The characters are engaging and memorable, slowly building relationships and inviting us into their psyches. Given this is the first story of a series, the characterisation has been handled well. There's a sweet romance developing by the end of the book, but it hasn't been explored so much as to make subsequent books almost pointless, Doyle has left space to move with the romance -- a wise move, I think!

Setting and atmosphere are amongst the strongest elements of ADDICT. By the end of the novel, I felt connected to the city of New Hopeland. I understood its history, its evolution, and its almost fetishist underbelly, where even crime is driven by zealotry. I'd have no reservations recommending this book!

​You can buy an ecopy here, and a paperback here.

Genre: dark fantasy (YA)

Pairings: f/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian, possibly NB lesbian, general nonbinary (several varieties unclassified)

Warnings: none

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review

Half human half faerie Sadie is part of a resistance to stop humans from  operating on newborn fae, removing their ability to Dream. It’s only through dreaming that new dragons can be born from faerie trees although, amusingly, it is dragon blood, injected into the skull of a newborn, that takes away this ability. Sadie managed to avoid ‘slicing’ as an infant, and she and her dragon play a significant role in the resistance until new Controller, Evelyn, takes control of the faerie forced labor camp and challenges everything Sadie believes about humans, and love.
 
General

Enbies, dragons, magic, and lesbians? Yes, please! The (gorgeous) cover of LUNAV is another easy selling point, although between the fireflies, soothing colors, and back blurb, the book sells itself as more sword and sorcery fantasy (or even romance fantasy) than dark fantasy. And the book is dark. Not gory or gritty, but definitely dark. The first half of the book is dedicated to bringing the reader into the world and the atrocities taking place against the fae. Talking about downed trees as ‘bodies,’ loggers as butchers or murderers, and the general tension revolving around every slicing of a newborn makes for a very engrossing world, and keeps tension high. There was a slightly steep learning curve in the first chapter with the new words (a glossary is provided in the back of the book, which of course I forgot to look for until the last chapter), but after I got the hang of the dictionary I was solidly hooked. There was some redundancy early on, but it didn’t detract too much from the narrative.
 
Plot

We’re not presented with a solid through line at the start of the book, but the strength of the world and the tension in the resistance brings the reader well into the middle of the book before you realize you’re not quite sure where the book is going (but I was pleased enough to be along for the ride). Luckily the romance line picks up about three quarters of the way through and from then on, the book moves with more purpose.

Generally, the plot revolves around the human reaction to a ‘plague,’ which wiped out a significant portion of the population. To prevent against further outbreaks, the king has mandated the end of Dreaming (which he believes is related to the plague). Of course, killing dreaming in humans is one thing, but in faeries, means no more dragons, and a lack of general empathy all around. Several resistance missions during the book are well done and move the plot forward in increments, although an overarching goal is lacking.
 
Characters

Sadie is a very sympathetic narrator, and it was easy to slip into her POV. She will resonate with anyone caught between two worlds, and not able to belong to either. The secondary characters, especially Sadie’s mothers and brother, are rounded out and endearing. The love interest, Evelyn, was fairly flat at the start but once the romance line really got going, she became my favorite character. Interestingly, I think this book could have benefited from being in third instead of first, and having two POVs (Sadie AND Evelyn), since Evelyn’s POV (which we get through a Dream from a faerie) is compelling and deliciously complex. I’m guessing this is a first in a series, so it will be interesting to see if perhaps we get a POV switch in the next book. I’d love to follow Evelyn on her adventures as she returns to the king.
 
Queer Stuffs

So much in-world queer! While the main romance line is lesbian, Sadie’s mothers are also in a f/f relationship. There is tons of nonbinary rep, from an acknowledged third gender, to no gender being assumed of children until they grow enough to make their own decisions. An interesting set of neopronouns was used in the book: que, which I was unfamiliar with but quickly loved.
 
Generally, this book could best be described as heavily atmospheric–something you read for that sense of place, to be immersed in a world you love. It had a lot of parallels to THE GOLDEN COMPASS in terms of darkness, but wraps you into the world much like SUNSHINE.
​
You can buy LUNAV in paperback here and ebook here.

REVIEWED BY ANON.

Category: Romance
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Word Count: 65000
Pages: 175
Sex Content: N/A
Pairing: FF
Orientation: Pansexual
Identity: Cisgender

REVIEWED BY REBECCA
​RATING: FIVE STARS

I thoroughly enjoyed this very palatable fantasy story from Effie Calvin. Written in third person through two different perspectives, the story follows two women who have found themselves engaged to be married for the sake of political stability and magical protection against dragon invasions. What's not to love about that kind of plot? Esofi has always known she would marry the heir of Ieflaria and the thought has never really bothered her, but when her betrothed, Albion, dies unexpectedly, Esofi's vision of the future needs to shift as she becomes engaged to his younger and less responsible sister, Adale.

The world-building is quite rich, particularly the spiritual aspects of Calvin's imaginative world. It took me a little while to understand the different deities, but it wasn't a chore, and I had a decent grasp of the mythology by the end. I did wonder at Esofi's attitude towards science, in that I expected part of her character growth to include her becoming more open to alternative perspectives about healing, but that plot point didn't seem to go anywhere - but this is a series and you can't address every little idea in the first book.

The political, social, and religious situations are fascinating and there's plenty to explore throughout subsequent books. But at the same time, I felt quite satisfied with the self-contained story in Book 1. There was a good balance between descriptions of settings, character interactions, and action sequences. I usually take quite a while to finish books because of my children and my work commitments, but I finished this one quite fast because I kept putting off other things in life to read, having been pulled right in.

Personally, I would have liked to see a little more of the resolution between Esofi and Adale towards the end - as it seemed there would have been some "off page/screen" interactions after the climax and I felt slightly left out having not seen at least the discussion where they resolved (or didn't? Won't ruin it all for you) their conflicts. I'm guessing the unicorn played a part, but I'm not sure. This is a minor point of personal preference though, and everything is wrapped up very effectively.

Overall, The Queen of Ieflaria is an engaging, turbulent story set within a rich and imaginative fantasy world that I easily fell in love with. I'm keen to see what other books this author will write in future.