Sea Queen by Linnea Hartsuyk

Linnea Hartsuyker follows up her 2018 Reading List Award winner, The Half-Drowned King, with another brilliantly written historical novel set in 9th-century Scandinavia. Instead of Ragnvald being the nucleus of the story, the spotlight shifts to his sister Svanhild. If you have not read The Half-Drowned King, it is a tale of uneasy alliances, wars, betrayal, and very rich detail of the inner workings of how Norway came to be.

The Sea Queen is set six years later, and with the passage of time, each character has become more wise, cunning, and cruel. Svanhild marries Solvi, Ragnvald's betrayer, and sails to distant parts of the sea. However, when she gives birth to their son, she becomes torn between supporting her husband in his ambitions (conquering Harald and Ragnvald) and seeking a home for her son. When she is forced to abandon her motherly instinct, it causes the death of her son. Hurt and outraged by her husband's cold reaction, she runs away and finds refuge in her brother, Ragnvald.

This story is a collection of  petty minor kings who have their own view of how Norway should be ruled. Ragnvald, Harald, and Solvi are cruel manipulators, and their rebelliousness is steering them into a full-blown war. Svanhild, just as cunning and wise as the men, outsmarts them all and wins the war for Harald. This is an action-packed novel where Svanhild becomes an independent woman. Linnea's final book in this trilogy, The Golden Wolf, comes out in 2019.

"Forgive me, Ragnvald," she said. "Svanhild, don't," he said. Svanhild ignored him and stepped close to Solvi. She touched his cheek, and that smile faded into a raw expression of longing. "I will let you go," she said, "if you swear by Ran and Njord and all of the nameless gods of wind and sea that you will never seek to reclaim your land or any other land in Norway."

"You will believe my oath?" Solvi asked. The corner of his mouth went up, with an ironic smile that tugged at her chest. "Will you come to me, if Harald mistreats you?" "I will do what seems right," said Svanhild. "That is all." ~The Sea Queen

~Dani Green

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

In his debut publication, Adjei-Brenyah delivers a surreal collection of short stories that reflect the painfully absurd realities of modern society. While some stories read like a dystopian future, others feel much too close to reality. In “Zimmer Land” the narrator portrays a loiterer at an “interactive justice park” where customers mete out their own version of justice with brutal force and little provocation. The title story features a sales clerk in a department store who fights off rabid Black Friday shoppers as they turn the shopping holiday into a brutal fight for popular coats. I read this story on Thanksgiving, and found myself reflecting on it while bombarded by Black Friday sales ads the next day.

In turn funny and frightening, Friday Black is not light reading, but it is amazing story-telling. I cannot imagine anyone who can read this collection without serious introspection and reflection on the systemic racism, lost children, and broken justice system that seem so prevalent in the news. Booklist called it a “resonating wake-up call to redefine and reclaim what remains of our humanity.”

- Portia Kapraun

Lethal White

Robert Galbraith's (aka J.K. Rowling) fourth Cormoran Strike novel is the best one yet. It combines the author's skillful depictions of characters, a complicated plot, and enough heft to make readers dive into the story and not want to come out. At 656 pages, its size might intimidate new readers, but those who have explored the first three Strike novels will eagerly devour this one. Strike's relationship with his former assistant and now partner Robin Ellacott is teased along as the detective agency pursues a couple of new cases; readers can see that there is "something" there, but the attraction is not directly addressed by either character. This growth in the characters' relationship doesn't detract from the plot; instead it enhances the action. The story at first appears to be about one case (a possible murdered and buried child), and then swivels to a blackmail investigation of a government minister, and then twists again when the minister is found dead in a situation that appears (or is made to appear) to be a suicide. This book is a great choice for readers who like smart detective stories, British settings, complicated characters, and a mystery to solve. Highly recommended.

Kelly Currie