Book Review A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher 4.95/5 stars!

 

Published in August 2024, A Sorceress Comes to Call is a Hugo Award Nominee for 2025 in the Novel category. 

I honestly would never have picked this up if it were not for the nomination.  I've had a bit of a block about T. Kingfisher.  The author is recommended highly by one particular bookseller on TikTok, and honestly- I've picked up or read at least 4 other books that the seller loved that I disliked greatly so, I have actually started to sort of actively avoid anything that seller recommends.  And... Kingfisher comes highly recommended.

Well. In this particular instance... WE AGREE.  T. Kingfisher has a writing style that I LOVE. The entire novel flowed right into my brain with very little effort. This isn't because it had a simple premise or a lack of world building.  A sorceress Comes to Call is full of memorable characters, oddly wonderful geese, and a old world-esque magic system.  

As a short synopsis without spoilers- the reader starts with getting to know Cordelia, the timid daughter of a sorceress, or is she just a very controlling Mother? Cordelia needs to marry a rich gentleman for survival and her Mother is insistent on that.  Mother, with the help of a beautiful horse named Felatta, sets both her and Cordelia up at a stately manor where Cordelia will eventually join ranks with other residents to take back control of her life. 

There was not one moment reading that was a chore. 

Out of the three Hugo nominated novels, I have enjoyed this one the most. It's so not Sci-Fi - it really surprised me.  Let me remind everyone (myself included)  that the Hugo is indeed for both Sci-Fi and Fantasy. No matter who comes away with the prize- Kingfisher deserves all the Kudos.  No regrets on recommending this jewel of a novel. 

STATS

First Published  August 2024

Pages: 336

Available as an Audio Book : Yes

Trigger Warnings:  violence, murder, theme of abuse and loss, Supernatural killers, angry birds,

(this is not a full list, read responsibly) 

The rise of the audio book

  As a kid, I don't think I could have imagined that I'd be one day asking readers what format they prefer for reading.  But I recently did and a few of you commented that you really prefer the audiobooks!  I was a skeptic about audio books until I decided just to try one to see what the hype was about, and now, readers - I am a convert. For almost everything- for me the audio book is the winner. 

   As I was growing up- the format was pretty much. 

                      Book

                                        Credit(Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.                                                 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print)

While there were books on tape (yes cassette tapes, or even reel to reel) and some records of books, those were touted for people with visual problems, not for just anyone.  And they were really just a person reading the book - no one "did the voices"  and a full cast type of narration wasn't even imagined.  I don't remember anyone reading audiobooks until fairly recently.  I do recall as a child having one LP where a narrator did read some children's stories, in such a monotone that we just laughed and laughed at it. 

Being a bit curious,  I did a little research - it seems audio books really gained steam in around 2015-2016 though they had long been popular,  and they have continued to take off, sometimes outpacing sales of physical or ebooks.  In 2017  NPR did an excellent short piece of the rise of the audiobook. It seems audible released a device specifically designed for audio book listening.  I searched on line and the only photo associated with this early device was within the NPR article:

So - that looks ridiculous these days!  We can get audio content so much easier because.. we have the mobile phones! When the device was released in 1997 mobile phones really weren't something that people were stuffing in pockets and taking everywhere for purposes of catching Pokemon.  If you had one, THIS is what it looked like:

those antenna... 

No one was really texting, sending fun memes or enjoying "social media" back in those days. We had a device for everything, pagers, a walkman for music, the weird audible thing? (If you had one, please let me know about it), and a phone for talking. So even though Audible was touting the new listener, it seems that...it still took some time for the audio books to really take off. 

Overdrive notes in their blog that 2017 was indeed a year of record growth for audiobooks in schools. 

As children are using audiobooks as tools, they are more likely, I think to continue using them as they grow older. For people like me, they were a bit of a novelty, but for "kids these day" it's just another format. 

 We have great phone apps, with excellent sound quality on our phones, and we can augment the experiences with portable speakers, headphones, use of home speakers/listening devices (like alexa) or for some folks, we can still check out CD's from the library. 

But-  is the audio book going to replace print? 

For me, personally NEVER. 

  While audio is my preferred method of reading most books, I still love having copies of the print version, especially is the cover is something to talk about. if a book is particularly meaningful, I like to take notes in the margins, tab my books and otherwise "make them mine" Books don't require any electricity (unless you need a lamp) or to be charged to run, and if you want to lend to a friend, well- it's a lot easier to lend a book than an audio book. 

In the end, I'm so glad that I have all the options available, though I have to say the Ebook is my least favorite, it is super economical, but no covers, no full cast narration, and it kind of leaves me wondering why? I will also be honest, my geriatric e-reader was bought as a refurbished item and I find it glitchy, I can't easily go back and find something I didn't highlight and even looking for the e-highlights takes a lot longer than flipping through a tag or a dog ear in a physical book.   And as NPR points out, E-readers may not be as sustainable/economical as we immediately assume. 

How do you feel about Audio replacing print?  Would you want to give up those beautiful covers, and your bookshelves?