The Baker and the Bard by Fern Haught, 147 pages.
There are reviews of the first and second part of this trilogy on this blog. After the middle part of the trilogy took the main characters to different parts of the world of the Meridian, it was great that this book has them all converging in the same climactic battle. This series is consistently full of intrigue as leaders and gods vie for power, characters try to understand cryptic prophesies, and they discover hidden magic within. Serapio, the Crow God Reborn, and Xiala are such captivating main characters. Balam is a great tormented villain hungry for power. Naranpa, Iktan, and Okoa are the major supporting characters, who are fully brought to life. I enjoyed that the world building is bigger than the city of Tova, which was the focus of the first book. I love that the characters continue to be three-dimensional with faults and heroic aspects. There is a lot of action, exploration of gruesome darkness, and also love stories.
Jazz pianist August Kitko is prepared to die. Giant space robots are heading toward Earth with destruction on their minds, Gus just screwed up a fledgling relationship with pop star Ardent Violet, and they're both performing at a rich guy's apocalypse party, so being ready to die is kind of OK in that situation, right? But then one of the robots, Greymalkin, hears Gus riffing on the piano during Greymalkin's inexplicable fight with another robot. Suddenly, Gus is kidnapped by Greymalkin, who turns out to be one of a handful of rebel robots who are NOT bent on wiping out humanity, and Gus's musical stylings fit so well with the robots' method of communication, so why not co-opt him as an unwitting translator?
I realize that's a LOT to process in one paragraph, and considering all of that happens in the first two chapters, it's also a rough way to start the book. However, once I got past those first two chapters, things settled down and the story became a lot more about sacrifice, love, music, mental health, and humanity and less about space robot fights (though there's still plenty of that too). I love White's Salvagers trilogy (starting with A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe), and while this one isn't quite up to that standard yet, I'm definitely curious to see where Gus and Ardent's story goes.
The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta, 352 pages.
Syd works at the Proud Muffin, a bakery and queer meeting space in Austen. Baking brownies at work to get all of the emotions out after a bad break-up feels like a good idea, until everyone who eats the brownies has their own break-ups. Now Syd and genderfluid bike delivery person Harvey need to make and deliver specially crafted magical baked goods to fix the couples' problems before they shut down the separation of the owners shuts down the bakery.
This book was super fun and extremely joyful. Also, several of the recipes provided at the end of every chapter sound delicious and I'm definitely planning on trying a few. I love the idea of magical baking, especially magical baking that's centered on putting your emotions into what your making, because I feel like it's only half a step off from reality. Also, I love the colorful community that Capetta builds in this book, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that I enjoyed the large supporting cast almost as much as I enjoyed the protagonists. This is definitely a book I would recommend.
River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey, 114 pages.
In 1910 a bill was proposed that sought to fix America's meat shortage by importing hippopotamuses into the bayous of Louisiana, fixing an invasive plant problem at the same time. This extremely fun fact is the basis of Sarah Gailey's delightful novella, River of Teeth, which takes this idea and runs with it. Then again, I'm not sure there's any way to take the premise "hippopotamus cowboys" and make it not fun.
The novella follows Winslow Houndstooth and the team of ne'er-do-wells he gathers to fulfill a government contract to take care of the feral hippo problem. Said crew is extremely diverse and fun to watch. Every one is a character, and not just in the sense that they're in a book. The story reads somewhere between revenge tale and heist, with other elements thrown in to keep things exciting. This story is what I would describe as a romp, often with high-stakes and lots of adventure. I would absolutely recommend it.
