Rachel Neumeier
Author of The Floating Islands
About the Author
Series
Works by Rachel Neumeier
Invictus, Part 1: Captive 1 copy
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Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Earlham College (BSc ∙ Biology)
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (MSc|Ecology + Ethology and Evolution) - Occupations
- tutor
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Missouri, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Missouri, USA
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Reviews
The second book in Tuyo series is really a prequel, in which Nikoles, a side character from "Tuyo" becomes out main POV character.
Me: what, no Ryo? Where is Ryo? I want Ryo! But we reconciled quickly, the book and me.
It starts with a traumatic event Nikoles tells about in the previous book. Overpowered by anger and desire for vengeance, he made a wrong decision. Experiencing the consequences from Nikoles’ perspective was very brutal. A bitter conflict between the Lau and the Ugaro is show more brewing.
Enter Aras, Lord Gaur, to handle the situation. It was interesting to see Aras through Nikoles’ eyes (Aras was busy being awesome and clever, of course), and seeing the summer country from a Lau’s perspective. I liked the extra layers and colour it brought to the series.
Nikoles is attracted to competence, I think, and he wants to do right things so badly, after having done the wrong thing. He puts himself forward and starts helping Aras… and telling it like it is:
“But his words could be taken as permission to speak freely, if a man chose to take them that way and had no sense of self-preservation. Nikoles took a breath, straightened his shoulders, looked the scepter-holder in the eye, and said in his most level, matter-of-fact tone, “Lord Gaur, you are being a fool. …”
Aras takes it rather well, but does it his way anyway.
Nikoles’ family connection to the winter country and the Ugaro is a poignant story (and one that I would love to read), and serves as a good plot device in the book’s present. Perhaps there were too many coincidences, but I still liked how it came together.
Nikoles gets lessons in justice; lessons in responsibility; lessons in belonging. It was touching. I loved seeing him being quietly competent as he was adjusting to his new life. I was inhaling the book by this point.
“That was what this solidity was; he recognized it now. It was confidence in his place with Lord Gaur and with this company; a surety that he had come to rest in a place that would become a home.”
I am looking forward to the rest of the series! show less
Me: what, no Ryo? Where is Ryo? I want Ryo! But we reconciled quickly, the book and me.
It starts with a traumatic event Nikoles tells about in the previous book. Overpowered by anger and desire for vengeance, he made a wrong decision. Experiencing the consequences from Nikoles’ perspective was very brutal. A bitter conflict between the Lau and the Ugaro is show more brewing.
Enter Aras, Lord Gaur, to handle the situation. It was interesting to see Aras through Nikoles’ eyes (Aras was busy being awesome and clever, of course), and seeing the summer country from a Lau’s perspective. I liked the extra layers and colour it brought to the series.
Nikoles is attracted to competence, I think, and he wants to do right things so badly, after having done the wrong thing. He puts himself forward and starts helping Aras… and telling it like it is:
“But his words could be taken as permission to speak freely, if a man chose to take them that way and had no sense of self-preservation. Nikoles took a breath, straightened his shoulders, looked the scepter-holder in the eye, and said in his most level, matter-of-fact tone, “Lord Gaur, you are being a fool. …”
Aras takes it rather well, but does it his way anyway.
Nikoles’ family connection to the winter country and the Ugaro is a poignant story (and one that I would love to read), and serves as a good plot device in the book’s present. Perhaps there were too many coincidences, but I still liked how it came together.
Nikoles gets lessons in justice; lessons in responsibility; lessons in belonging. It was touching. I loved seeing him being quietly competent as he was adjusting to his new life. I was inhaling the book by this point.
“That was what this solidity was; he recognized it now. It was confidence in his place with Lord Gaur and with this company; a surety that he had come to rest in a place that would become a home.”
I am looking forward to the rest of the series! show less
The latest addition to the Tuyo series is arguably more of a standalone, with protagonists who haven’t previously appeared in the other books. I was absolutely desperate to read it after Neumeier posted the first chapter a few months ago. Rihasi attends a breakfast, in which her role is like a cross between a waiter and a secretary, and then she enacts a plan to escape her father’s house. It’s an incredibly tense opening, despite -- or perhaps, because -- it doesn’t explain show more Rihasi’s plans nor her fears. It just makes it clear that she has both.
Her plan involves disguising herself as a young man, hiring a mercenary as a bodyguard and travelling across the summer lands to Gaur and the one person she trusts will believe her enough to see justice done. Gaur is the last place the mercenary Kior wants to go but, concerned that this runaway youngster otherwise might hire someone unscrupulous, he agrees to go some of the way.
What follows is a difficult and dangerous journey, with some twists I half-anticipated and some twists which took me by surprise. I couldn’t put this down!
I like this story so much. I like the trust that develops between Rihasi and Kior, along with appreciation of each other’s respective abilities. (I like how quickly Kior suspects Rihasi’s disguise, both because that seemed realistic and because it’s a different approach from some other “girl disguised as a boy” stories I’ve read.) I like the way both of them are fiercely determined to do the right thing, despite the challenges in their path, despite the knowledge that success will come at a high personal cost.
Thematically, it fits right in with the rest of the series. It’s interesting to see more of the summer country, too, and from different perspectives.
That said, this could be a standalone -- it doesn’t require familiarity with the previous books and while there are references to events from Tasmakat, I don’t think those references “spoil” Tasmakat -- and I suspect most of them wouldn’t be very memorable if one doesn’t have the context that comes with reading Tasmakat. Of course, if one was already intending to read the Ryo books (Tuyo, Tarashana and Tasmakat), then it makes most sense to do that first. But otherwise I do think this could work as an introduction to this world.
If the Sun had intended to pour down justice with his brilliant light and heat, he would have done so long before this. As a girl, Rihasi had been willing to pray and to wait for the Sun to make an accounting. Then, finally, waiting had become unconscionable.
That decision had not exactly given her courage. But Rihasi had decided she did not need courage: she only needed meticulous planning and a calm expression.
Her plan involves disguising herself as a young man, hiring a mercenary as a bodyguard and travelling across the summer lands to Gaur and the one person she trusts will believe her enough to see justice done. Gaur is the last place the mercenary Kior wants to go but, concerned that this runaway youngster otherwise might hire someone unscrupulous, he agrees to go some of the way.
What follows is a difficult and dangerous journey, with some twists I half-anticipated and some twists which took me by surprise. I couldn’t put this down!
I like this story so much. I like the trust that develops between Rihasi and Kior, along with appreciation of each other’s respective abilities. (I like how quickly Kior suspects Rihasi’s disguise, both because that seemed realistic and because it’s a different approach from some other “girl disguised as a boy” stories I’ve read.) I like the way both of them are fiercely determined to do the right thing, despite the challenges in their path, despite the knowledge that success will come at a high personal cost.
Thematically, it fits right in with the rest of the series. It’s interesting to see more of the summer country, too, and from different perspectives.
That said, this could be a standalone -- it doesn’t require familiarity with the previous books and while there are references to events from Tasmakat, I don’t think those references “spoil” Tasmakat -- and I suspect most of them wouldn’t be very memorable if one doesn’t have the context that comes with reading Tasmakat. Of course, if one was already intending to read the Ryo books (Tuyo, Tarashana and Tasmakat), then it makes most sense to do that first. But otherwise I do think this could work as an introduction to this world.
Rihasi said, “I do care about [being arrested]. I just don’t intend to let that stop me.” Everything she’d been thinking about incentives came back to her, and she smiled a little, ruefully. “I don’t think my father or my brothers understood me very well.” She looked down at the book on her knee. Then she picked up her stylus and turned it over in her fingers. “They thought of me the way I think of this stylus: as a useful tool filled with ink, suitable for making calculations and balancing accounts. Only I didn’t like the accounts I was expected to balance. Someone had to step forward. But no one could. Then… I saw how to do it. Once I saw that, how could I not take that first step? And once I took the first step, I couldn’t even think of stopping.”show less
This is a direct sequel to Tuyo, again narrated by Ryo. I loved it (and have had a surprisingly difficult time trying to articulate everything I liked to my satisfaction).
Ryo is still a “tuyo”, given to Lord Aras as an indication of the cessation of war between their peoples. Ryo’s people discover that the Tarashana, on the other side of the mountains, have disappeared and request Aras’ assistance in investigating. What follows is a journey into the unknown, full of difficulties and show more danger in that way that good fantasy quests so often are. Very tense!
I was impressed with the way this story explores the challenges of justly judging people who have committed a serious transgression, of balancing mercy with customary punishments (and with an understanding the reasons for, and the limitations of, such customs). Each time, the way both Ryo and Aras are involved is different, and the stakes are increasingly personal for Ryo. This means Ryo gains a more nuanced and multifaceted perspective, but also gives the events of the novel thematic cohesion.
“I have been thinking many hard things of you because you would not agree with me about your law and your duty to your king and what you should do regarding that problem. Now that there is this problem and the matter is one of Ugaro custom, I see that your decision is more difficult than I understood. I was wrong, and I apologize.”
He answered quietly, “I’ll accept your apology if you wish, but I don’t agree you have anything to apologize for, Ryo. You weren’t actually wrong. Sometimes there’s nothing right to do.”
There are times when Ryo chooses to do what he believes is right even though he expects to face serious consequences for it. I liked how these moments reveal Ryo’s character -- his thoughtfulness, his compassion, and his awareness that having a fair and supportive family is a privilege not everyone has.
The Ugaro remind me somewhat of the Aiel from The Wheel of Time. It’s common for fantasy cultures in one book to somewhat resemble those in another book, but it’s very unusual that anything reminds me of the Aiel. There are enough significant differences that the similarities don’t seem derivative (and the scope and tone of this story is different from The Wheel of Time’s epic prophesied chosen-one narrative, too). But I wanted to read more about the Aiel, and I’m really pleased to discover other stories exploring a somewhat-similar culture. show less
Ryo is still a “tuyo”, given to Lord Aras as an indication of the cessation of war between their peoples. Ryo’s people discover that the Tarashana, on the other side of the mountains, have disappeared and request Aras’ assistance in investigating. What follows is a journey into the unknown, full of difficulties and show more danger in that way that good fantasy quests so often are. Very tense!
I was impressed with the way this story explores the challenges of justly judging people who have committed a serious transgression, of balancing mercy with customary punishments (and with an understanding the reasons for, and the limitations of, such customs). Each time, the way both Ryo and Aras are involved is different, and the stakes are increasingly personal for Ryo. This means Ryo gains a more nuanced and multifaceted perspective, but also gives the events of the novel thematic cohesion.
“I have been thinking many hard things of you because you would not agree with me about your law and your duty to your king and what you should do regarding that problem. Now that there is this problem and the matter is one of Ugaro custom, I see that your decision is more difficult than I understood. I was wrong, and I apologize.”
He answered quietly, “I’ll accept your apology if you wish, but I don’t agree you have anything to apologize for, Ryo. You weren’t actually wrong. Sometimes there’s nothing right to do.”
There are times when Ryo chooses to do what he believes is right even though he expects to face serious consequences for it. I liked how these moments reveal Ryo’s character -- his thoughtfulness, his compassion, and his awareness that having a fair and supportive family is a privilege not everyone has.
The Ugaro remind me somewhat of the Aiel from The Wheel of Time. It’s common for fantasy cultures in one book to somewhat resemble those in another book, but it’s very unusual that anything reminds me of the Aiel. There are enough significant differences that the similarities don’t seem derivative (and the scope and tone of this story is different from The Wheel of Time’s epic prophesied chosen-one narrative, too). But I wanted to read more about the Aiel, and I’m really pleased to discover other stories exploring a somewhat-similar culture. show less
A warrior from a grim fantasy world needs a psychiatrist.
Daniel has a new patient. She is angry and violent, and refuses to speak. Once she does, she says that her name is Tenai, and tells tragic stories of a different world, where she had waged a vengeful war for 400 years. Daniel thinks these stories are metaphors and symbols, of course. (Fantasy readers: yeah, right, mwahaha.)
The conversations between Tenai and Daniel are riveting and well done. They are emotional and frightening.
“I show more think I had forgotten until I came here that other people also have memory following at their heels like hounds behind the deer.”
“You give me new eyes, doctor, and I thank you, but how am I to endure this new sight you have given me?”
Tenai’s tentative journey towards peace is a great one to follow.
I really liked the novella between books 1 and 2 of the trilogy, in which Tenai is building a new life for herself. The POV’s are Tenai’s employer and Jenna, Daniel’s daughter. I knew from the blurb that Daniel, Tenai, and Jenna will be transported to Tenai’s world. After this novella, I didn’t want this at all. Why couldn’t everyone just get on with their lives and do the found family thing? Oh, well.
Books 2&3 are full of deadly intrigue and danger. This is a grim and strange world, but there are good people here too. Modern people are out of their depth here, and I liked how the author explored this trope. Daniel and Jenna have to be brave, in ways that are new to them both. At the same time, the author never lets the readers forget the cost of violence.
I liked Jenna’s and Emel’s eventful “roadtrip”!
“How is it,” Jenna muttered to Emel, “that we keep winding up disarmed and surrounded? I think we must be doing something wrong. Next time I want to be the one with the weapons and the superior attitude.”
Coming home is not easy for Tenai – when you are transported back to places where you experienced so much trauma, what happens? There is a lot of darkness and heartbreak, and Tenai has to find her humanity again, more than once.
The ending is very nice :)
Overall, the writing, plotting and storytelling are not as polished as in the Tuyo series. As it sometimes happens with independently published books, there were a few strange sentences and turns of phrase. I didn’t mind. Neimeier excels at character interactions and poignant dialogue, and this is what kept me reading. I don’t think I can recommend these books to readers who are new to Neumeier, though. Read Tuyo books instead! (Then you will probably be able to cut the author a lot of slack, he he.)
I must say that I enjoyed this trilogy a lot more than my previous read – traditionally published and well-edited Some Desperate Glory.
929 pages that were worth my while ;) show less
Daniel has a new patient. She is angry and violent, and refuses to speak. Once she does, she says that her name is Tenai, and tells tragic stories of a different world, where she had waged a vengeful war for 400 years. Daniel thinks these stories are metaphors and symbols, of course. (Fantasy readers: yeah, right, mwahaha.)
The conversations between Tenai and Daniel are riveting and well done. They are emotional and frightening.
“I show more think I had forgotten until I came here that other people also have memory following at their heels like hounds behind the deer.”
“You give me new eyes, doctor, and I thank you, but how am I to endure this new sight you have given me?”
Tenai’s tentative journey towards peace is a great one to follow.
I really liked the novella between books 1 and 2 of the trilogy, in which Tenai is building a new life for herself. The POV’s are Tenai’s employer and Jenna, Daniel’s daughter. I knew from the blurb that Daniel, Tenai, and Jenna will be transported to Tenai’s world. After this novella, I didn’t want this at all. Why couldn’t everyone just get on with their lives and do the found family thing? Oh, well.
Books 2&3 are full of deadly intrigue and danger. This is a grim and strange world, but there are good people here too. Modern people are out of their depth here, and I liked how the author explored this trope. Daniel and Jenna have to be brave, in ways that are new to them both. At the same time, the author never lets the readers forget the cost of violence.
I liked Jenna’s and Emel’s eventful “roadtrip”!
“How is it,” Jenna muttered to Emel, “that we keep winding up disarmed and surrounded? I think we must be doing something wrong. Next time I want to be the one with the weapons and the superior attitude.”
Coming home is not easy for Tenai – when you are transported back to places where you experienced so much trauma, what happens? There is a lot of darkness and heartbreak, and Tenai has to find her humanity again, more than once.
The ending is very nice :)
Overall, the writing, plotting and storytelling are not as polished as in the Tuyo series. As it sometimes happens with independently published books, there were a few strange sentences and turns of phrase. I didn’t mind. Neimeier excels at character interactions and poignant dialogue, and this is what kept me reading. I don’t think I can recommend these books to readers who are new to Neumeier, though. Read Tuyo books instead! (Then you will probably be able to cut the author a lot of slack, he he.)
I must say that I enjoyed this trilogy a lot more than my previous read – traditionally published and well-edited Some Desperate Glory.
929 pages that were worth my while ;) show less
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