For He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll

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IFor He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll

I tend to review dark books but now I want to recommend this short (54 pages on Kobo) 5 star fantasy where the main characters are cats. This isn't a cozy, the stakes are much higher, it’s a battle of good vs evil. It is only available as an ebook as of this date. And is not that  cover fantastic.

In 1757, the poet Christopher Smart was confined in St. Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics and he was accompanied by his cat Jeoffry. Smart was a real 18th Century poet, who was sent to a lunatic asylum, and had a cat named Jeoffry. The rest is fantasy…perhaps.

Smart led a dwild early life and Satan helped him out. Now the devil has come to collect: Smart is to write a poem that will bring about armageddon. The great Jeoffry, ruler of the asylum, a  warrior cat who fights  the imps that torture the inmates, has no intention of letting Satan interfer with his human. After losing a fierce, bloody battle with Satan, Jeoffry asks Black Tom, Polly, and Nighthunter Moppet to help him save his human.

For He Can Creep is funny, heroic, and poignant. It is a story of loyalty and courage, taking a stand against evil. NO cats die in case you were worrying. Carroll wonderfully describes the smug, superior attitude of the great Jeoffry. In the poem “For I will consider my cat Jeoffry”, Smart describes Jeoffry and Carroll brings the poem to vibrant life to create this fantasy:

From the poem:

For he keeps the lord’s watch in the night against the adversary

For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electric skin and glaring eyes

For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.

Booktuber @ChanelChapters reviewed this book, on her YT channel and, like her, “I would follow Jeoffry into a battle, into a sunbeam, into hell itself.” Look for the “haunted housewives & heroic cats” post on her channel. Here's a link — haunted housewives & heroic cats | short books reading vlog | all under 200pgs

I’m sure even non-cat people will admire Jeoffry but as a cat person I was like “hell yeah Jeoffry I want a cat like you looking after me”. I recommend reading Smart’s poem, he really knows his cat. 

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinsom

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why aren’t there any fantasy books with forensic accountant protagonists?”. Well this 2015 release will satisfy that need. As a young girl Baru is recruited to attend a school of the Imperial Republic of Falcrest (aka The Masquerade from the masks worn by its officials). If successful she will join the ranks of its civil service. Baru is a savant and distinguishes herself. But Falcrest has assimilated her homeland and killed one of her fathers for his “unhygienic” sexual relationship and she vows to bring down the republic from the inside. With her formidable math skills, she is dispatched to the province of Aurdwynn as Imperial Accountant of Aurdwynn. Aurdwynn comprises 13 duchies and culturally resembles feudal 15th/16th century Europe. She initially thinks of this posting as an insult to her abilities but soon realizes it is a step toward her goal of bringing down the Imperial Republic. If you think that auditing financial records sounds dry and boring, you’d be wrong.

Baru is a well developed and sometimes likeable character. She is unafraid to exercise her power and her methods are often brutal and with disregard for the people involved. Her single-minded aim of taking over the Republic is always foremost in her plans.

Besides accounting, this book has everything you’d want in a fantasy (for me at least): strong female protagonist, politics, power struggles, intrigue, treachery, betrayal, sacrifice, and really terrific battle scenes. The Imperial Republic’s brutal enforcement of heteronormativity is also threaded throughout the story.

Baru is playing the long game so we aren’t entirely sure she’s headed but the story is never boring or confusing. There are 2 more books in the series available which I will be reading and I think a 4th is in the works.

This is a well written, exciting story with an interesting plot and compelling characters, a couple of which you might actually like. Baru is not someone I would want to be on the wrong side of and being her friend is as dangerous as being her enemy. I still rooted for her.

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

Bright Haven is a city with familiar technology powered by magical energy siphoned from the Otherrealm. It is protected from the Kwen, the outside, by an energy barrier. Outside, the Blight strikes, seemingly at random, and causes living things to messily and painfully come apart. Within the city, it is believed that the Blight is a sickness brought upon the Kwen inhabitants because of their degeneracy and refusal to accept the recognized religion.

Sciona Freynan is a female mage with the single minded goal of becoming a high mage and achieving power and glory. She passes the exam and earns the white robes as the first female high mage. Unfortunately, the ranks of the high mages is very much a misogynistic boy’s club. To humiliate her, Tommy (or Thomil), a Kwen refugee and janitor, is assigned as her assistant. But Thomil is smarter and quicker than the other mages imagine and he and Sciona become a team. Together they uncover a secret that could bring down Bright Haven and destroy everything Sciona believes.

Sciona isn’t a particularly likable character. Her thirst for power and glory is unfortunately combined with a naivety of the real world and that leads her to do and say dumb things and make poor decisions.

The magic system is pretty neat. The mages siphon energy from the Otherrealm and use it perform actions using what we recognize as computer programs. I really enjoy how the author builds the magic system and it makes it more real.

The story went in a direction I didn’t expect and I was sad at the end.

Blood Over Bright Haven is a well developed and entertaining stand-alone novel with interesting, if at times cardboardy, characters. I hesitate to call it a fantasy because the magic is grounded in what I know from my previous profession. But it has magic and mages so fantasy. I think it would be perfect for someone dipping their toes into fantasy for the first time.

You might be interested in Henrik Ibsen’s play, An Enemy of the People, for a classic companion read.

The Rainfall Market by You Yeong-Gwang

Serin is a Korean school girl who desperately wants a ticket to enter the mysterious market that is only open during the rainy season. She wants to escape the soul crushing poverty she and her mother suffer. People write to the market describing their unhappiness with their life and if deemed worthy, receive a ticket. Sarin receives a golden ticket allowing her to observe multiple possible lives before choosing one.The market (bigger on the inside) is inhabited by a community of Dokkaebi (Korean goblins) who will sell a ticket holder a globe containing a possible life.. Accompanied by a spirit guide cat, Issha, Sarin attempts to find the life that will make her happy.

“The author set out to write a light, fun read that was still packed with meaning…that left readers with a lingering sense of warmth”. She succeeds. Sarin is a sensitive, empathetic girl but she also has a kid’s naivety when it comes to thinking what would make her happy. The world within the market is fun to explore and the Dokkaebi are eccentric and amusing . The story is very good and has humor and some peril. The message isn’t heavy handed and is pretty clear: what you think you want may not be what you need; and maybe happiness is closer to home than you think. And it does leave you with a warm feeling that lingers.

The book can be read both by adults and young persons. I know I would have loved it in middle school. There are some scenes that would have had me howling and had me sniggering today.. The Dokkaebi make their goods from things they harvest from humans such as the essence of human words, forgotten human memories, the sweat and tears humans shed in pursuit of their goals. and this is part of the message: look at all the things that make us humans. It can be read and enjoyed as a cozy fantasy but it will also appeal if you're down or wondering about your life and how it could have been different.

I wish I had a kid to read it with. Maybe that’s what would be in my globe.