Wulf's Book Reviews

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire My rating: 5 of 5 stars Not the fantasy of going through the door, but the heartbreak of coming back. Every portal fantasy asks what lies beyond the door. What Seanan McGuire asks instead is what happens after the door shuts behind you, and that shift gives “Every Heart a Doorway” its bruised, peculiar power. » Children have always disappeared under the right conditions. « I went in expecting something wistful and whimsical. What I found was weirder, sadder, and much sharper about loneliness, belonging, and the violence of being told that your deepest truth is nonsense. » Narrate the impossible things. « That line feels like the novella’s method in miniature. McGuire writes with the economy of a fable, but not the emotional simplicity of one. The prose is lean, clean, and surprisingly cutting. Eleanor West’s school is not a cosy sanctuary for charming misfits so much as a halfway house for children who have already found the worlds that suite...

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett My rating: 2 of 5 stars “ But nothing ever happens ” - “Lemon Tree” (Fool’s Garden) I’m going to spoil this rather thoroughly, so proceed with mild caution. Maeve and Danny are the children of Cyril and Elna Conroy. Cyril built a property empire from scratch, taking Danny along to collect rent in cash. Maeve, Danny’s older sister, is mostly sidelined and left in the care of “Fluffy”, the nanny, and the household staff, Sandy and Jocelyn. » “Money,” our father said, nodding. It wasn’t a complicated idea. « Elna is largely out of the picture after leaving, first periodically, soon permanently. While Danny is mostly unaffected due to not even remembering his mother, Maeve is desperate to see her again. A few years after Elna leaves, Cyril marries his second wife, Andrea, who becomes Maeve’s and Danny’s evil stepmother. When Cyril unexpectedly dies, Andrea basically evicts everyone but her own two children, Norma and Bright, from the eponymous “Dutch Hous...

We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart My rating: 3 of 5 stars I’m really torn over this one: I liked Mallory, the queer protagonist of this story, and most other characters were also interesting. For me, the major let-down is the story itself: the first part tells us about Mallory’s affair with a professor, only ever referred to melodramatically as “the woman”, from her college and the affair’s circumstances. I found that mostly… boring. As problematic as this affair is due to power differences, conflict of interest, fairness to others, in the end it’s a “normal” affair - one partner (Mallory) silently hoping “the woman” will leave her husband (which she tells Mallory she won’t), the other hoping for non-disclosure and enjoying the hero worship by a younger person. We then shift to Mallory’s childhood and youth during which she discovers she’s queer. This part is relatable but, again, just not all that interesting. Finally, the story moves a few years forward and Mallory and ...

Damsel by Elana K. Arnold My rating: 5 of 5 stars There’s a dragon in the land, and the prince needs to vanquish it in order to free the fair maiden. They triumphantly return, marry, and live happily ever after. I’ve never really questioned the scenario or really thought about it. With “ Damsel ” by Elana K. Arnold , this changed: The dragon’s lair is actually beautiful. Our damsel, Ama, isn’t all that much in distress - at least until the arrogant, self-serving prick of a prince, Emory, picks her up. As the story proceeded, I grew increasingly uncomfortable about how Ama is treated not only by the prince, but by everyone around her. All of her needs and wishes are dismissed at best, punished at worst. Ama is treated like a vessel; she has no “value” as a person but as a means to an end. (If you’re living in the US right now, Emory, under another name, is your king.) Ama is literally and metaphorically hurt by this, but never broken. In a furious, angry finale, she transcends the conf...