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Fabulous Fantasies: West of Wicked and A Master of Djinn

21 Apr

West of Wicked
by Nikki St. Crowe
West of Wicked by Nikki St. Crowe is the first in The Great and Terrible Land series. The second in the series East of Envy will be out in November. The story is a darker and spicier spin on The Wizard of Oz that should appeal to fans of Wicked. Dorothy was abandoned as a young child at a Kansas farm by a loving couple, but she never quite fit in. Now all grown up she is questioning whether to accept the marriage proposal from a handsome friend, when a tornado takes her to a mysterious, gloomy land. She encounters a gorgeous stranger hung up like a scarecrow and a variety of other familiar and new characters as she journeys to find the Wizard. The story is told from multiple perspective which gives a unique perspective on the world and its inhabitants many of whom including Dorothy are hiding intriguing secrets.

A Master of Djinn
by P. Djeli Clark
A Master of Djinn is a spectacular steampunk adventure set in Egypt in 1912 that had plenty of twists and turns that surprised and enthralled me. So often in the past when I would see Egypt depicted in fantasies, it would focus on archeologists and tomb raiders, this story stars Egyptians themselves which gives an insider view of the action that takes place. This was P. Djeli Clark’s first full length novel, but there are additional prequels in this series you can check out, if you enjoy this story. Fatma el-Sha’arawi works for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities. She is surprised (and not particularly overjoyed) when she learns she has been assigned a partner, but she will need all the help she can get when she investigates a secret brotherhood dedicated to a famous historic figure, Al-Jahiz, who had first brought the magical into our realm.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Horror/Thriller Book Club March Pick: The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling

9 Apr

March’s read for the Hoboken Public Library’s Horror/Thriller book club was part unhinged, grotesque imagery, and unreliable sanity. The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling enticed our group with its synopsis hindering the instinctual defenses to survive at any cost.

Book cover for The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling. The design features a pale, textured background with a classical stone archway. Above the arch is a statue of a woman leaning and with her head tilted. Inside the arch is a red, window opening with a dark silhouette of a person standing. The title appears in large red lettering at the top, and the author’s name is written at the bottom.

When you have perhaps one last thread to save your existence, in this case an experimental medical procedure that destroys your immune system so that it can be rebuilt, how many of us would be tempted not to take the risk? That’s the moral conundrum that ticks on every page. 

When that primal instinct comes in play, for me that’s what truly makes the horror genre great, and Caitlin Starling blends an unreliable narrator mixed with imagery and angst of the COVID-19 pandemic all left to fester in a petri dish of suffering and sly corporate slouthing and conniving. 

Some parts are slow, the protagonist gets too in the weeds with her thoughts and her second guessing sometimes goes over the top. Then again, if walls were coming alive and floors eating people all mixed with the hospital living, breathing, and speaking to me, I’d probably be this way, too. 

Margaret (Meg) Carpenter has a severe  immune disorder that has destroyed her insides, allowing her to do very little and maintain almost no relationships (personal and professional). Her life is falling apart and she’s destitute. She will latch onto anything, including her nurses and the nightly cleaning crew. 

My heart was strung tight for the majority of this book, but it also somehow found a way to be thankful – thankful for what hospital staff and the medical community must endure to keep us safe – the terror of dealing with patients that are so sick or in desperate positions that they morph the world around them. 

In the end, it’s a radical commentary on the blending of medical ethics and extreme treatment that blurs the line of how far we may be willing to go in our loss of agency to save our lives.

Interested in the Horror/Thriller Book Club? Please email reference@hobokenlibrary.org, or register for our next meeting by searching under Events on our website.

Have you read The Graceview Patient? What did you think? Comment below.

You can reserve it in the BCCLS system here, or access the ebook and audiobook on Hoopla.

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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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