Eat the Rich by Sarah Gailey

Title: Eat the Rich

Author: Sarah Gailey, Pius Bak, Roman Titov

Publisher: BOOM! Studios 2021

Genre: Comics

Pages: 128

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

WELCOME TO CRESTFALL BLUFFS! With law school and her whole life ahead of her, Joey plans to spend the summer with her boyfriend Astor at his seemingly perfect family home. But beneath all the affluent perfection lies a dark, deadly rot… something all the locals live in quiet fear of. As summer lingers, Joey uncovers the macabre history of Crestfall Bluffs, and the ruthlessness and secrecy lying in wait behind the idyllic lives of the one percent. Who can Joey save? Who wants to be saved? And can she even survive to tell the tale? The bold, horrifying psychological thriller from Hugo Award-winning author Sarah Gailey (The Echo Wife, Magic For Liars) and artist Pius Bak (Firefly, The Magicians) with colorist Roman Titov and letterer Cardinal Rae. Collects Eat the Rich #1-5.

Creepy little story where I think it’s going to one way and it goes another. I’ve really become a fan of Sarah Gailey’s work in the past few years. It’s great to see them try something a little different with a graphic novel. I sped through this slim volume in an afternoon simultaneously horrified by the contents and wanting to know more. Very gory commentary of our society and I really enjoyed it.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

Title: Just Like Home

Author: Sarah Gailey

Publisher: Tor Books 2022

Genre: Horror

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories — she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he'd built for his family.

Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting… but who else could it possibly be?

There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.

CW: Body horror, murder, torture

Somehow I snatched up an ebook copy of Sarah Gailey’s newest creation from the library, jumping ahead of almost everyone to read. I purposely did not read the summary to go into the story completely blind. I wanted to just experience the story as it unfolds as Gailey intended it to be. I dove in and was immediately creeped out by the house and the mystery surrounding the family. Vera wasn’t the most sympathetic character and yet I felt that she was oddly compelling to follow. I was immediately interested in the secrets that she was keeping and the ways that those secrets would come out. As the book progressed, I felt like we are getting sucked down into a bottomless hole. I didn’t know where we were going to end up. And by the 80% mark, I was completely scared at how the story was going to end. The story ends up taking a turn into straight horror and specifically body horror. It was the scariest book that I’ve read in quite awhile. I might even have nightmares after this one.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

Title: Magic for Liars

Author: Sarah Gailey

Publisher: Tor 2019

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 336

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Seasonal TBR; Unread Shelf

Ivy Gamble was born without magic and never wanted it.
Ivy Gamble is perfectly happy with her life – or at least, she’s perfectly fine.
She doesn't in any way wish she was like Tabitha, her estranged, gifted twin sister.
Ivy Gamble is a liar.

When a gruesome murder is discovered at The Osthorne Academy of Young Mages, where her estranged twin sister teaches Theoretical Magic, reluctant detective Ivy Gamble is pulled into the world of untold power and dangerous secrets. She will have to find a murderer and reclaim her sister—without losing herself.

Our April book club selection and one off my own unread shelves. I was hoping for another great adventure a la Upright Women Wanted. This one didn’t quite live up to the action and adventure. I loved the setting and the overall atmosphere of the novel. Osthorne and all the weird settings really put me in the spooky mood. I was definitely along for the plot itself. I needed to find out what happened to Capley and whodunnit. My biggest issue was with Ivy herself. She just wasn’t a likable character and I completely understand why. She has a past, but some of the desperation was completely self-inflicted. I could only take so much of the desperation before it really started to grate on me. Overall, I enjoyed this novel, but I think it’s going to be farther down he list of favorite Gailey books.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

Title: The Echo Wife

Author: Sarah Gailey

Publisher: Tor 2021

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 256

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

I’m embarrassed, still, by how long it took me to notice. Everything was right there in the open, right there in front of me, but it still took me so long to see the person I had married.
It took me so long to hate him.
Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be.
And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband.
Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and both Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up.
Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty.

I was completely blown away by the premise of this novel. I went into it with very little knowledge (just that it was about clones) and that was definitely the way to go. We immediately meet Martine and start to unravel what happened in the past. From there, we start to understand what is going to happen in the future. And things become very complicated. While the plot was fast moving, I kept coming back to the characters and our understanding of what makes someone human. I found the comparison between Evelyn and Martine to be fascinating. I loved following along as they each wrestled with a lot of self-reflection. I’ve read a few reviews that were not happy about the long scientific passages. I found myself skimming those passages but understanding that the focus on the scientific procedures was how Evelyn dealt with the many revelations and and new situations. I’m still thinking about all the implications of this novel. Another win for Sarah Gailey! I have to put their other books onto my short TBR.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

Title: Upright Women Wanted

Author: Sarah Gailey

Publisher: Tor.com 2020

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 171

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Ebook

“That girl’s got more wrong notions than a barn owl’s got mean looks.”

Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her—a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda.

The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.

So Sarah Gailey is most definitely going on my must read author list. I love how they write with fun classic tropes turned on their heads. On the surface, this is a story of a post-apocalypse(ish) world where a resistance faction has risen up with the aid of traveling librarians. Sounds like a typical scifi book. But Gailey really focuses on the relationships of the characters and explores gender and identity in this strange world. They did similar things in River and Teeth and Taste of Marrow and I am totally on board of this! This short novella really packs a punch. I wanted so much to see the the further adventures of Esther and Cye along with the resistance. I wanted to learn more about the world they live in. I wanted to meet more interesting characters. Maybe we will get another book set in this world from Gailey.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Taste of Marrow by Sarah Gailey

Title: Taste of Marrow (River of Teeth #2)

Author: Sarah Gailey

Publisher: Tor 2017

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 192

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Finishing the Series; Monthly Motif - Diversify Your Reading; Literary Escapes - Louisiana

A few months ago, Winslow Houndstooth put together the damnedest crew of outlaws, assassins, cons, and saboteurs on either side of the Harriet for a history-changing caper. Together they conspired to blow the dam that choked the Mississippi and funnel the hordes of feral hippos contained within downriver, to finally give America back its greatest waterway.

Songs are sung of their exploits, many with a haunting refrain: "And not a soul escaped alive."

In the aftermath of the Harriet catastrophe, that crew has scattered to the winds. Some hunt the missing lovers they refuse to believe have died. Others band together to protect a precious infant and a peaceful future. All of them struggle with who they've become after a long life of theft, murder, deception, and general disinterest in the strictures of the law.

I finally picked up the continuation of the story started in River of Teeth and I really enjoyed it. I loved Gailey’s reimagining of Louisiana complete with domesticated and feral hippos. I loved reading about the parallel journeys of Houndstooth, Archie, Adelia, and Hero. Thankfully we also get many appearances from their hippo companions and a reappearance of some interesting side characters. Definitely a good little read!

River of Teeth

• #1 River of Teeth

• #2 Taste of Marrow

• #3 ???

Next up on the TBR pile:

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Title: River of Teeth (River of Teeth #1)

Author: Sarah Gailey

Publisher: Tor 2017

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 178

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: I Love Libraries; Seasonal Series - Under 300 pages

In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true.

Other true things about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two.

This was a terrible plan.

Contained within this volume is an 1890s America that might have been: a bayou overrun by feral hippos and mercenary hippo wranglers from around the globe. It is the story of Winslow Houndstooth and his crew. It is the story of their fortunes. It is the story of his revenge.

This is one of the books that has been getting random buzz around the book blogs. Randomly I saw it on our library's New Books shelf and snapped it up. I ripped through this slim novella with the speed rivaling those feral hippos. I love the combination of alternate history and western-style  dime novel. So much fun! Unfortunately this volume ends on quite a cliffhanger. Guess I'll just have to find the second volume. 

River of Teeth

• #1 River of Teeth
• #2 Taste of Marrow
• #3 ???

Next up on the TBR pile: