I’m sharing another instalment of my Mini Review Mondays, the most recent of which was the other week. In case you haven’t seen any of my previous posts, I do ‘mini’ reviews of books that I’ve previously read and am now ready to share my full thoughts about.
First up, I’d like to talk about Sisters of Sword and Shadow by Laura Bates. Thank you to Simon & Schuster Children’s UK for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
This afternoon Cass’s older sister will be married. Soon she will be too. Gone will be days of running through fields and feeling the earth between her toes. So when a beautiful leather-clad woman rides up and offers to take her away, Cass doesn’t hesitate to join her.
Cass is introduced to the Sisterhood of Silk Knights – a group of women training to fight and working to right the wrongs of men. Cass is drawn into a world of ancient feuds, glorious battles, and deadly intrigue, where soon discovers she holds a power that could change the destiny of her sisterhood.
‘An interesting thing happens, when a man is defeated in combat by a woman.’
‘He tells nobody.’
Publication Date: 9th November
TW: death, murder, violence, blood, injury, sexism, misogyny, burning, grief, sexual assault, sexual harassment
My Thoughts:
Sisters of Sword and Shadow is a fantastic beginning to a new YA fantasy series focused on female empowerment through a fresh retelling of the Arthurian myths.
This was a quieter and slower building YA fantasy that I really enjoyed.Bates really spends time creating these three-dimensional characters and making you so invested in their story. Doing this allows you to lose your heart gradually to the Sisterhood of Silk Knights and feel yourself align with their cause. This is such an epic and empowering take on knighthood, while also meaning every moment is fraught with tension. Their discovery would be disastrous. Bates also ensures that this danger is prevalent, with extreme measures having to be taken to protect the group. There are some impactful political and social throughlines that are as relevant today as they have ever been.
This is a book where every action has an eventual consequence and that reckoning is often deadly. It is dirty and gritty, but also so character focused and weaving in some thought provoking discussions around morality, the ability to change and the idea of legacy. Also, the fighting sequences in this were amazing. From the training fights to the real battlefield, they were brutal and you could practically feel the dirt spray from the ground. I loved that Cass had to slog and work to get better, rather than instinctively know everything. She is a great protagonist, with that youthful hopefulness and desire to be something other than the preconceived notion of what a woman is. Bates gives you some intriguing hints about where she might be heading next in her development. When I first picked this up, I didn’t know this was the start of a series but boy am I hooked and excited to see where Bates takes this next. That ending certainly allows for some interesting possibilities.
Sisters of Sword and Shadow is an excellent balance of action-packed sequences and quieter, more character focused moments.
Also, I’d like to talk about Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen by Sarah James. Thank you to Sourcebooks UK for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Perhaps the best place in 1943 Hollywood to see the stars is the Hollywood Canteen, a club for servicemen staffed exclusively by those in show business. Murder mystery playwright Annie Laurence, new in town after a devastating breakup, definitely hopes to rub elbows with the right stars. Maybe then she can get her movie made.
But Hollywood proves to be more than tinsel and glamour. When despised film critic Fiona Farris is found dead in the Canteen kitchen, Annie realizes any one of the Canteen’s luminous volunteers could be guilty of the crime. To catch the killer, Annie falls in with Fiona’s friends, a bitter and cynical group-each as uniquely unhappy in their life and career as Annie is in hers-that call themselves the Ambassador’s Club.
Solving a murder in real life, it turns out, is a lot harder than writing one for the stage. And by involving herself in the secrets and lies of the Ambassador’s Club, Annie just might have put a target on her own back.
Publication Date: 7th December
TW: murder, death, addiction, homophobia, racism, exoticization, toxic relationship, injury
My Thoughts:
Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen exposes the grit beneath the gilded glamour of Hollywood stardom in this tense, twisty historical thriller.
This is a murder mystery infused with the glamour, glitz and seedy underbelly of 1940s Hollywood. Here everything is a facade and every move is to serve an ulterior purpose. The aesthetics are exuberantly conveyed, creating a real sense of atmosphere that pulls you in. Like the starlets, image is everything here. There is always something lurking beneath the surface. It creates a suspenseful, paranoid vibe where everyone is sharpening their knives. Of course, this marries well with a slick mystery that takes you down plenty of rabbit holes and off on wild goose chases.
At the centre of it all, we have our catty and conniving group. Annie is sucked into the Ambassador’s Club and indeed the seductive clutches of the Hollywood machine itself. You can see how corruptive and influential it is, reflecting in the themes of addiction. Secrets are just another currency to trade. This jars with the incessant search for a perfect image, leading to plenty of motives and misdirections. I really enjoyed discovering the complexities of Fiona’s character as well and how much more she had going on than the surface level we initially encounter.
Also, I was pleasantly surprised with the queer representation in this, completely catching me off guard and being as normalised as queer representation in a historical novel set in the 1940s could be. It was wonderful to watch them just be as flawed and fractured as everyone else on display here. Most of the relationships are extremely toxic entanglements, with plenty of scandal and secrets wrapped up within them. This makes for some fascinating and evolving character dynamics throughout the book.
Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen made for a glossy and tense mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
A Short Book Lover 
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