If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you probably won’t be surprised that I’m writing about this book. I’ve been a fan of Rachel Neumeier’s work since reading The City in the Lake back in 2011. And I definitely have some unspoken expectations when it comes to her books–themes, types of characters, a general style and set of interests that seem pretty common across the different kinds of stories she writes. The Mountain of Kept Memory is really interesting because it is very much a Rachel Neumeier book–but it also feels a little different, in a way I really liked.

Neumeier’s books nearly always focus on main characters who are resourceful girls and young women. Oressa, daughter of the king of Carastind and one of the two main characters in The Mountain of Kept Memory, certainly fits into this pattern. She’s very good at understanding people and motivations, potential costs and shifting allegiances. Her place in her father’s court is limited, but this doesn’t diminish the fact that she’s an extremely strategic thinker–which is helpful when everything begins to go wrong.

There’s an interesting comparison here to characters like Gen and Miles Vorkosigan. Oressa is also almost hypercompetent, good at sneaking through her father’s palace. But unlike Gen and Miles, there’s a strong suggestion that she’s developed these traits at least partly as a way to survive her father. He holds her future in his hand, and it’s pretty clear that he’s not a safe person to be around. There’s a sense of danger in him that’s more hinted at than shown, but which is very effective.

And both her father’s disregard and her overall vulnerabilities are partly because she’s a girl. There’s one really powerful moment which I unfortunately can’t seem to find again where Oressa realizes that her brother Gulien sees their father totally differently, because he’s been treated totally differently. But since Oressa is a girl and therefore largely despised and expendable, she’s been pushed to the edges and largely ignored.

But over the course of the book, she also finds a way to use her compensations to her and Guilen’s advantage. I loved watching her come to terms with the power that she does have and the shape of it. This idea of strengths coming out of vulnerabilities and the way that plays out was really fascinating to me.

Oressa was certainly the heart of the book for me, although I liked both Gulien and Gajdosik. Without wanting to give too much away, there’s a complicated romance here, which worked pretty well for me once it got past the initial stage. Shifting power and understandings are also very present in the relationship between Oressa, Gulien, and Gajdosik. We see it in the bond between the siblings, and the way their strand resolves, the way power is handed back and forth.

But we also see a question of power and relationship in the Kieba and her guardianship over Carastind. Will she exercise her old promise to keep the country safe, or will she let it fall? There’s a real sense of danger here, a sense that something could go truly and finally wrong. And Neumeier shows an nonhuman sense of the world very well, making it especially fraught. How can you predict what the Kieba will do, when she doesn’t think the way we do?

Overall, there’s a feeling of sharpness and almost horror to the scenes in the Kieba’s mountain. I’m thinking of a couple moments in particular which have really stuck with me. It’s not that there’s never a sense of danger in Neumeier’s other books–indeed, there’s quite frequently a very thorny problem driving the plot. But here it feels heightened in a way that’s really effective.

All in all, this was a book I thoroughly enjoyed, though sometimes in a slightly horrified way. There’s a feeling of familiarity in the political intrigue and family complications, but there are also some interesting turns in the story that made it feel also alive and real.

Book source: review copy from author

Book information: 2016, Saga press; adult fantasy

I haven't lost my mind; I'm only trying to read at least two of them.  

Depending on what I'm in the mood for and how fast the reads go...

Rachel Neumeier is one of my favorite authors, and also a person I very much enjoy. When she offered to send me an ARC of her latest book, The Keeper of the Mist, I was happy to accept. And even happier to read the book, which turned out to be one of my favorites by her! I want say my favorite and it might be true, but I should probably reread City in the Lake and House of Shadows and The Floating Islands and Black Dog. Just to be sure.

I’m not normally great at coming up with succinct pitches for books, but in this case I’ll say: this is great if you’re a character-driven reader, who likes magic, landscapes that are like characters, fantasy politics, and girls being friends. Also, quiet romance and food. (I had to stop in the middle of reading this to make cake. Just to warn you.)

As the book opens, Keri, the main character, has lost her mother and is working to keep her bakery afloat. When the Lord Dorric of Nimmira dies, not entirely unexpectedly, she doesn’t anticipate inheriting anything. But in fact, the position passes to her, bypassing all three of her half-brothers. Her Timekeeper, Doorkeeper, and Bookkeeper are also somewhat unexpected, at least to Keri. Very quickly, they have to face a huge challenge because the Mists that protect Nimmira have begun to fail, meaning the aggressive countries on either side will suddenly realize there was a land hidden from them all along.

There are a number of things I love here. Complicated families to begin with: Keri had never been acknowledged by the Lord and her new position comes as a surprise, at least to her. It also sets up tensions between herself and her three half-brothers. Neumeier deals with this in an interesting and complex way as Keri has to navigate the question of which of her siblings she can trust.

I also love settings where the landscape feels important. This is definitely one and I love the way the three lands are described. There’s a very clear and vivid sense of the way land and people influence each other.

I absolutely loved Keri’s friendship with Tassel, which is perhaps her most un-fraught relationship through the whole book. I totally bought them as longtime, close friends who know and rely on each other. And I appreciated how central their friendship is to the story.

In some ways, this is a sharper book than Neumeier’s previous stories. There’s a lot about being a young woman navigating the world and relationships: the way that others—even and maybe even especially those who care about you—underestimate and misunderstand you. Keri is relatively competent and confident but most of the male characters don’t see that clearly.

Also, her cakes sound amazing and I would like one.

All in all, this is a lovely mix of vivid descriptions, a great depiction of a young woman coming into her own strength, and some subtle and thoughtful commentary on the world.

Book source: ARC

Book information: 2016, Alfred A. Knopf; YA fantasy

I’m not going to begin with my usual “I don’t like short stories because reasons” disclaimer, because I really don’t think I applies here

This is an excellent short book with three separate stories in it. They’re all very compact, relatively simple stories but, above all to me, every last one of them is really useful and even necessary to the broader plot.

The first story, Christmas Shopping, addresses one of my underlying concerns of the story – the relationship between Keziah and Natividad. These two are the most prominent by far (and, to a degree, the only appreciable) female characters in the series – it is a very male dominated series, especially in major roles even if Natividad is usually the protagonist. Few prominent female characters and those female characters hating each other with the fiery passion of a thousand exploding suns is, alas, a powerful trope

So this story of Keziah and Natividad spending time together is an excellent story. They don’t like each other a great deal, certainly – but this is a rift brought about form vastly different experiences, tastes and lives. Them being together in this story both excellently showcases this while, at the same time, having them build more and more connections, more understanding and approaching, if not friendship, then perhaps mutual respect. It’s all nicely capped with something Keziah taunted Natividad about becoming a joke between them

It also comes with a nice bit of world building shouting back to the major war that defines this series. In all, an excellent story – though I do have a discomfort with how very awed Natividad is of towns and cities. Sometimes her POV gives the impression that Mexico has no great cities and isn’t very sophisticated.

The second Story, Library Work, also brings some really necessary elements to the series. In this case we get to see a lot more of Miguel, Natividad’s human twin brother who is often out on a limb in the world dominated by Black Dogs and magical Pure and vampires. This book helped emphasise his strength – he’s smart, he’s cunning, he’s patient and he is excellently skilled in not only navigating around the dangerous Black Dogs and their uncertain tempers – but also in outright manipulating them for his own well being.

On top of this we have the greater development of Cassie, cambiador, cursed human shifter who, again, is primarily empowered by her intelligence. She and Miguel work extremely well together in their cunning, setting themselves up as a very formidable couple who I really want to see more of. It also set them up as a potential romantic couple which is also excellently defined as much or more by respect of their intelligence than it is by physical attraction.

A Learning Experience brought some attention to Thaddeus and his history as well as, though she didn’t play a huge role, the importance of his wife DeAnn. This is important because they are the only Black characters in the series but also bring some very important lenses to the series by being the only Black Dogs with no connection to the Dimilioc. He gives us an excellent insight both into how Black Dogs outside the Dimilioc manage – but also how the Dimilioc appears and has developed from an outsider’s view.

Read More

While Natividad and her family have found security with Dimilioc and managed to defeat the Black Dog that tore their family apart and killed their parents, they are not safe

The world has changed – in the aftermath of the war with the vampires, Dimilioc is left weakened and surrounded by enemies. Her sanctuary is far from secure and the werewolves are beset on all sides: vampires, rogue Black Dogs and even a suspicious human government all

And it’s into this difficult world that Justin enters – Pure but with no knowledge of the supernatural world he’s part of and he’s not sure what to think of the savage monsters who are “offering” protection… whether he want it or not.

I do love this world setting. The whole concept of the vampires and the war with the werewolves is one that has been done before – but there are many more unique elements to it. The idea that vampires and their mind control managed to hide the supernatural – and with them dead and almost extinct that removes this “Miasma” and exposes all supernatural to humanity. The war against vampires quickly became a war between humans and Black Dogs as the more brutal and savage Black Dog organisations found themselves hunted down as the vampires were

Which leaves the Dimilioc, who value the Pure and try to behave in a civilised fashion without leaving a trail of bodies behind in a difficult position attacked from several sides: the remaining vampires still plot, they’re very understrength after the war, Black Dogs driven out from other countries trying to wipe them out are looking to carve their own territory out of Dimilioc line and, on top of that, the awkward and tentative peace with the human government and a population that is primed to fight after destroying the vampires who are not exactly on the Dimilioc’s side.

This whole, complex world is told excellently through the story. We get to address all of these and make them all work into the story without the story feeling overstuffed or with too many crowded elements which is a challenge in and of itself

At the same time it manages to be a very personal story of Natividad and Justin which is also excellent since both of them shows this world from very different angels. Natividad has always been very much in the supernatural community, even when hiding from it – which gives her a clear view on the world, vampires and Dimilioc. While Justin has lived his entire life as a human so has much less rose-tinted glasses (and much more ignorant view point) to look upon the monstrous Black Dogs. Together they bring a complete picture of the world.

This also really delves into the power of the Pure, their magic, their skills and their role in the world, Black Dog culture and the war against vampires.

I can’t emphasise enough how much is packed into this story – world building, character development, personal stories and so much more. But none of it FEELS full. The book isn’t super-long. It doesn’t feel distracted or overwhelmed or slow – there’s a lot there and I get all this experience and knowledge but don’t feel bombarded. It’s really well written

One thing that hasn’t improved is Natividad’s decision making. Aie aie aie, Natividad if you keep this up we’re going to have to rename the Clary award. I like this character, I want to like her more but my gods if she is not just the poster child for Spunky Agency!

Like most classic Spunky Agency, Natividad is an excellent challenge to the dictatorial commands of the pack leader, Grayson. It’s clear throughout the book and the series that you do what the pack leader says Or Else. I’m not actually sure what “or else” means because while he’s certainly arrogant and unwilling to accept any challenge, Grayson isn’t unreasonable. However, Natividad recognises that, as a Pure, all of that “Or Else” pretty much doesn’t apply to her – and it’s quite refreshing to see the oh-so-common alpha male werewolf commander being questioned and openly ignored by a woman while everyone else must leap to obey.

Read More