Review: Red Clocks

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas


Set in a near future US where there are severe restrictions on women’s reproductive rights, we meet several women in an Oregon community who are facing crises. Labeled the biographer, the mender, the daughter, and the wife, their lives intersect and influence each other. Explores the contradictions and complications of women’s hearts and desires. Extraordinary book!

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Review: The Gilded Wolves

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

This alternate history is set in Belle Époque Paris right before the opening of the Exposition Universelle. During this time of technological, scientific, and cultural innovations, the all-powerful Order of Babel still rules through magic and intimidation.

Séverin Montagnet-Alarie, is not just the owner of the most glamourous hotel in Paris, he is also the leader of an elite group of thieves who execute elaborate heists to steal magical artifacts from the ruling families. Séverin and his band of misfits and rogues aren’t just in it for the money, though. They each have a personal reason for pilfering from the ruling class. There is a baker with a mysterious past, a historian who has lost his home, an engineer looking to repay a debt, and a friend willing to sacrifice anything for Séverin. When the Order offers him his rightful inheritance in exchange for finding an artifact, Séverin and his crew begin a hunt that takes them far beyond the glittering homes of the rich and into a world they never expected.

Chokshi has an amazing ability to create immersive worlds and engrossing characters that draw the reader in. This is so much more than just a fun caper, it’s a story about friendship, colonialism, loyalty, and the struggle for power.

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The Splendor Before the Dark by Margaret George

In her first book, The Confessions of Young Nero, Margaret George takes you through Nero's younger years and as a young emperor. The Splendor before the Dark covers Emperor Nero's last four years, beginning with the fire and then ending twenty-three years after his death.This complex and detailed story of Nero's end is reported with passion and insight.  
  
Nero is best known for his debaucheries, political murders, the persecution of Christians, and for the rumor that he "fiddled" while Rome burned during the great fire in 64 A.D. Many people forget that Nero was also an actor, poet, and architect, and supported athletics, in which he himself competed.

Margaret George follows the conviction of Edward Champlin, who, in his book Nero, explains, "I have assumed that his actions were rational--that is, he was not crazy--and that much of what he did resonated far more with contemporary social attitudes than our hostile sources would have us believe." 

The novel is narrated by three characters: Acte, who is Nero's young lover and dearest friend; Locusta, an herbalist who sees Nero's dark side; and Nero himself. In her review, Stephanie Dray says, "Wow! Margaret George--the reigning queen of historical fiction--is back with this epic saga that vividly reimagines the life of young Nero in all its operatic, dramatic glory." Author Diana Gabaldon, of Outlander, says, "Messy lives make good stories." And Nero's life truly is a remarkable story.

"Why have you come?" I ask one of the families, a mother and two children. 

"I have told the children about him,"the woman says. "As this is a lovely day, I thought I would take them here."

"What have you told them?" That he was insane, a tyrant, a monster? That was the official story, peddled by the Senate. "That he was the most remarkable emperor we have had," she says. "He was not a warrior but an artist; he wanted to please the ordinary man, not the aristocrat; he raced chariots!" she laughs. "When shall we have such another?"

"Never, I fear," I say. Never, I know.  -The Splendor before the Dark by Margaret George

   
~Dani