A well told story with a cast of interesting strong women who will seek their own fortune and protect their families above all others. This was a great read.

Vivid characters, fast paced action, take no prisoners storylines. This book is a weird western treat with plenty of feminist pizazz. Loved this take on an increasingly popular genre. Even if you don’t like weird western, you’ll find a piece of yourself here.

In the end I really enjoyed SMOKE AND OTHER STORMS, but it was difficult to get into at first. The main problem is that there's very little to distinguish the voices of the two narrators, so I didn't even realise there were two until a few chapters in. Once I realised that and checked the chapter titles to ensure I knew who was narrating, it made a lot more sense and I was able to get into the story.

I enjoyed the mystery and felt the diary snippets added a lot of necessary context, though I still don't understand why one of the diary authors made the choices she did. The ending felt a bit rushed and I wished we'd learned some key facts leading to one of the character's deaths earlier, as it would've made it more suspenseful and really hammered home the emotional impact.

I'll likely read the sequel if I come across it, but it's not one I'll be actively waiting for. That being said, I understand this is the author's first book and if she's able to correct some of these issues I'm confident that I'd love her next ones.

Really enjoyed this book—super entertaining, and the characters and plot were very well-developed. Found myself staying up to finish it, and I cannot wait for more from JL Delavega!
4/5 stars

When I received this ARC, I wasn’t sure what to expect. A few pages in and I couldn’t believe what I was reading; trains that run on crystals? Double Shadows? A Fantasy Western?
A few more pages in and I couldn’t put this book down! Having a multigenerational female girl gang narrating the story was fantastic. The world building was great, I wanted to know more about the Tov Shadow Nation, the unexplored areas of the Rim, who Moira was before she was sold to Hannah.
I can’t wait for another book in the series!

Thank you to NetGalley, J.L. Delavega, and City Owl Press

SMOKE AND OTHER STORMS is in a category of its own, which I've termed: Literary Feminist Weird Western Science Fiction. Okay, technically this is not the Weird version of the American West "as we knew it" (a subgenre I adore), but when you read, you will see that its desert-and-mountains-and-mining-and-rocks setting is akin, if not identical, to the American Wild West in the 19th century, even to the Westerners' disdain for eastern city rubes.


It's also strongly and strikingly feminist (I loved that!) and also strongly on the side of supporting Differences and Divergence, so resounding cheers for the promotion of these themes. This is a rereader for certain, and excitingly, Book One in a Trilogy! Can't wait!

The snapshot for this book sounded like a really neat mashup. It was to be an exciting supernatural western with a touch of outlaw family. The premise itself is a neat idea but the execution fell a little short. In the beginning, the dialogue and the style of writing is very cut and choppy. For a time, it seemed to work a little in the sceneries’ favor by adding a Stephen King’s “Gunslinger” feel, but it wasn’t consistent. Also, major details about the family had the potential to be really exciting had they actually been explained. It’s always hard to see something with great potential fall just a bit short.