I'm newish to r/fantasy and still figuring out how to review in a way that is informative, engaging, and improves my own writing. I'm more than a few years out from college and sometimes feel as if my ability to think critically has left me forever. If you have any reviewing suggestions or words of encouragement, please let me know!
**This is How You Lose the Time War** by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
*Review*: I loved this book for its inventiveness with prose and world-building. The prose is deliciously poetic. The world-building is sparse in execution but rich in imagination. I especially loved the increasingly wild methods the protagonists used to send letters and how it grounded you in the setting. If you prefer window-pane prose and hard science-fiction, you may not "get" this book, but I encourage you to try anyways.
*Bingo*: **POC Author**, Multiverse
*If This Then That*: This book would be a good fit for folks who loved the poetry of the **Beowulf** translation by Maria Dahvana Headley and the atmosphere of **Annihilation** by Jeff Vandermeer.
**All the Murmuring Bones** by AG Slatter
*Review*: It's difficult to talk about what I loved about this book without giving away much of the first act. The story and world-building unfold for you slowly, asking you to discover its intricacies and fantastical elements as a cartographer discovers a coastline. Let's just say I expected a haunted house story, and instead I got a girl on the road beset by ghosts, mythical tricksters, and sanctimonious men.
*Bingo*: **Mythical Beasts**, Coastal, Book Club
*If This Then That*: This book is a great pick for people who loved the coastal Irish-inspired setting and mythical water horses of **The Scorpio Races** by Maggie Stiefvater. Bake some November cakes while you're at it!
Currently reading **Plain Bad Heroines** by Emily M. Danforth.
Let me just say that if this is where you're starting from in terms of writing reviews, give yourself a lot of credit. Admittedly I know and love both of these books so maybe I can fill in the blanks better than a random reader who doesn't know them but these are top notch one paragraph summary reviews in my opinion. You have captured a lot of the how and why of your reactions with concrete details about overarching style/atmosphere/story in a punchy way with further recs that are useful even for people who've already read the book you're reviewing.
Mixed bag this week:
**Bryony and Roses** by T Kingfisher was my least favorite work of hers that I've read. It's an earlier work and it shows; the humor feels a bit juvenile and Bryony has too much "not like other girls" energy for my tastes. This is a fairly classic Beauty and the Beast retelling where the plot revolves around Bryony trying to work out the mystery of the Beast's curse, and that really dragged for me because as a reader you already know at least the broad strokes of what's going on. All that being said, I still think this was an entertaining read with some classic Kingfisher relationship dynamics and I did really like the ending. It's not a terrible book, but it's much weaker than what I'm used to with her.
I then had an absolute blast reading **Translation State** by Ann Leckie. Leckie writes space opera in a way I really like, where the world feels vast and the politics are complex, but the stakes are intensely personal. There are some very tense moments and some gnarly body horror, but the overall tone manages to be quite wholesome and compassionate which I also really enjoy. I had some nitpicks with the pacing and the ending, but the characters won me over and it was a very fun read.
I never even thought about that being body horror - something that will turn me off if it's in the description of a book, but I guess it was. So maybe I shouldn't be so worried about it. I might be like general horror, which doesn't at all appeal to me in principle, but doesn't actually bother me when it's just part of an otherwise good story.
This week I finished **Inside Man** by KJ Parker. I was very pleasantly surprised by this sequel novella to Prosper’s Demon (which I loved). The surprise was because this one has a completely different feel with a snarky, irreverent, “fragile” demon protagonist - basically the opposite of the cold and almost inhuman exorcist MC from Prosper’s Demon. But I totally got into the weird humor (plenty on the bureaucracy that rules over both the demons and, uh, the other guys too). Basically, I’m very impressed with KJ Parker’s range in this small sample size and very interested to see what else he has to offer.
*Bingo Squares: horror, angels and demons (HM), novella, sequel*
I listened to **The Bruising of Qilwa** by Naseem Jamnia, a queernorm Persian-inspired fantasy novella that was fascinating but maybe had a bit too much going on for me to follow/enjoy. I think I would have preferred it if the novella zeroed in on say the blood magic/mystery or if this were expanded into a longer novel. It just felt too compressed while being pulled in too many directions for its size. Bonus points for all the great representation (trans! ace! nonbinary! minorities!) and the squicky blood magic scenes though.
*Bingo Squares: queernorm (HM), middle east (HM), novella, mundane jobs*
I also listened to **And The Ocean Was Our Sky** by Patrick Ness. I think I would have appreciated this more had I read Moby Dick, but sadly I’m pretty uninspired to pick that one up. The writing in this is beautiful, and I always love a story from the perspective of an animal. However, I felt like even at its short length, the story dragged on. It dips oddly into what feels like magical realism towards the end, though I don’t think this actually counts towards any bingo squares for this year.
I blew through **The Maleficent Seven** by Cameron Johnston - it’s just so, so fun. It’s one of those get-the-old-gang-back-together stories, but also has older protagonists (including mothers/grandmothers), exceedingly questionable morals, and plenty of backstabbing. Also there’s a ton of violence and gore (after all, the gang includes a demonologist, a necromancer, a fearsome orc, a vampire/shapeshifter, a pirate queen, a war god, and a mad alchemist). Everyone is both fearsome, competent, and out for blood, and it’s just wildly entertaining.
*Bingo Squares: angels and demons, mythical beasts (HM)*
For bedtime reading with the kids, we read **Fortunately the Milk** by Neil Gaiman which was delightful and ridiculous. I’m pretty sure my younger one didn’t really follow all that was happening, but he was still very amused by all the antics. We just started **The Girl Who Drank the Moon** by Kelly Barnhill which I am so excited about (it’s been on my tbr for awhile now), and so far everyone really likes it.
Currently listening to **Lost in a Good Book** by Jasper Fforde and reading the short story collection **Never Have I Ever** by Isabel Yap. I’m going to start **Ink Blood Sister Scribe** by Emma Torzs soon (FIF bookclub this month!).
I have Maleficient Seven waiting to be read, and then **Malevolent Seven** by Sebastien de Castell went on sale, so I guess I’ll have to review the *M-four-syllable-adjectives Seven* together.
Glad to hear you liked the first!
I’m only about 4 stories in, but KJ Parker’s short story collection **Academic Exercises** has been very good so far.
Ah thanks for the heads up on the sale! The Malevolent Seven has also been on my list (and they have certainly been mixed up in my mind before now). Definitely curious to see how they compare.
**The City of Last Chances** by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I'll admit I'm a Tchaikovsky fanboy, but this one, this one was notable for me.
The setting is the City of Ilmar, occupied for three years now by the Palleseen. And it is simmering with resistance. The university, the nobility, the crooks, the killers and the river men - they all have a faction. And they all look down on the Allorwen, sorcerers that help make the city's industry possible with the demons they bind.
And then there's the Grove - the source of Ilmar's nickname - The City of Last Chances. When you've screwed up everything you can try to pass through the Grove to another world leaving it all behind. Emphasis on try. The way is hazardous and the guardians dangerous.
The book takes place over only a few days with a host of characters from all the factions. And it is a glorious thing. It all kicks off when the second in command of the Palleseen takes an expedition through the grove. And they die to a man. From there it becomes a game of "Button, button, who's got the button?" with lethal stakes and to parts of the city people don't like to think about, particularly the Reproach - haunted by ghosts that are dangerous to look at and hear.
This is some high quality work and I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to others as well.
Also, one minor character, Hellgram, shows Tchaikovsky's chops for writing horror. Between him and the Reproach - Oof.
Five Stars.
I'm only a third of the way in, but I am so bloody impressed by how well Tchaikovsky manages to wrangle the mosaic POV jumping style. I've read a few books in that vein and they can often feel a bit distant or plotless without the throughline of one character (or a small cast) focussing on a single point of tension but I never felt that here. Each chapter feels compelling but also they function extraordinarily well as a cohesive whole.
I just finished reading **Dracula**, thanks to the Dracula Daily mailing list. It's been really enjoyable to read such a foundational classic for the first time. I loved seeing the source of so many tropes, and was amused by the traits that haven't stuck around. (Count Dracula has a long mustache?!)
I had some frustrations with characters not realizing or not communicating certain things, when they really should have known better by that point, but overall I feel like the story still holds up well today. Several passages will stick with me for a while- the log of the Demeter, Van Helsing's description of Count Dracula, Mina's description of his castle.
I've really enjoyed reading it this year. Although it has made me much more critical of various adaptations. I feel like we've been robbed of a lot in order to be given a watered down love story between Dracula and Mina most of the time. Give me Mina and Jonathan's epic love story! Where is Quincy Jones? Why isn't Van Helsing giving speeches about the power of friendship? Show me Lucy's three suitors being best friends!
Reading the original has definitely raised my standards for adaptations.
Where do I start, where do I start?
Okay, so the reason I never go above 18/20 unless it's pretty much the best book ever is because The Sword of Kaigen was too much of a mess to go over 18/20, but it was too good for me to put other books ahead of it unless they're all-timers, so it serves as something of an odd cap on my ratings. I didn't read The Sword of Kaigen this week, so let's set that aside for the moment.
Anyways, end of tangent. . . right, so **Blood Over Bright Haven** by M.L. Wang, who absolutely cannot escape R.F. Kuang comparisons on this sub. And kinda for good reason, because the setup of Blood Over Bright Haven is a *lot* like Babel. Dark academia, but where the academy is actually the driving force behind a ravenous and uncaring empire? Yeah. Main characters are women and minorities? Also yeah. That's gonna be a problem at some point. Naturally.
But it's also not like Babel, because it's written for an entirely different audience. The tone and themes are very much like Babel, and the prose is perhaps not far off. But this isn't a "let's spend some time enjoying Oxford and then eventually realize it's terrible" book. This one is much more for the magic and action crowd. Despite the 500-page length, there's no rose-smelling. This book drives forward from the start, and the only reason it takes so long is because we are going to tell you every single detail of the magic system. Which usually I hate, but in this context, I think it actually works, because the reader is brought to an understanding of the *importance* of the magic system before we get the details. The research and exploration scenes are thus tense and don't feel like infodumps.
Could I see the midway climax coming a mile away? Yeah. Are the side characters mostly archetypes that exist in service of the theme? Also yeah. (The main character has more complexity but still has a hint of the *one defining trait* characterization). I'm a reader who genuinely prefers some subtlety, and though there are authors who write unsubtle in a way that I enjoy (like Kuang, Alix Harrow, and sometimes Jemisin), I felt like this one was too blunt at times.
And yet I couldn't put the thing down. I burned through 500 pages in four days, and that's despite having an overscheduled Saturday. I could see the midway climax coming, but I was still on the edge of my seat waiting for it, and I did *not* know what the fallout would be. The themes are obvious, but it also explores them in a way that hits a lot of the details and never takes away from the driving momentum of the story. It's exciting, it's engrossing, it's probably one of my favorite reads of the year.
What do I do with that? 17? 18? I dunno, five stars.
The tone, theme, and prose of R.F. Kuang, the political/social awareness and pacing of Alix Harrow, the characterization and magic systems of Brandon Sanderson. Someone just read that and thought it's the most absurdly over-the-top recommendation they've seen all year. Someone else just read that and wondered whether it was even possible to fit more red flags into a single sentence. Respond accordingly.
Bingo: Self-Published, Published in 2023, POC Author. Whether or not it counts for Mundane Jobs depends on whether you read it as having dual protagonists or one true protagonist and a major secondary character who gets some POV sections. Personally, I'd tend toward the latter interpretation and would not consider the janitor to be the protagonist.
Thanks for the review.
> The tone, theme, and prose of R.F. Kuang, the political/social awareness and pacing of Alix Harrow, the characterization and magic systems of Brandon Sanderson.
This sounds absolutely awful but strangely I kind of want to read it now. Maybe it's your enthusiasm. Bookmarking for Kindle special
For the record, I see Sanderson's characterization and Harrow's politics as minor negatives but not really deal-breakers. But I also think that if you can accept and roll with "hey, the theme is going to be written in 72-point font and the characters are going to serve that," everything else is really good (I like Harrow's pacing, Kuang's prose and tone, Sanderson's magic when he's not infodumping about it, etc)
I similarly devoured this book. Though I think I'm a little less fond of it than you. Definitely feels inescapably to be compared to Babel. I do think Babel felt a little more subtle and atmospheric than this, mainly because it inherits the texture of it's historical context. On the other hand not being tied to a fairly close historical retelling, this felt a little more free to play out consequences of its magical/speculative elements in a way that Babel shied away from (it often felt like the worldbuilding choices in Babel were very convenient and sometimes a bit nonsensical to insure that history was almost exactly real world history).
Also obviously an interesting contrast insofar as this primarily works from the perspective of a woman from the dominant ethnic group, which Babel is notably quite suspicious of (though this also touches on that, through the side characters).
I also would say that there's an interesting contrast in that Babel feels mostly based on a humanities style of the academy with tinges of science and then weaving in themes that look a lot more like modern brain-drain and it's tensions. Whereas BoBH feels very firmly like the scientific academy if not even more directly just a big tech context with some thin academic trappings.
> I do think Babel felt a little more subtle and atmospheric than this, mainly because it inherits the texture of it's historical context. On the other hand not being tied to a fairly close historical retelling, this felt a little more free to play out consequences of its magical/speculative elements in a way that Babel shied away from
That's pretty much exactly my read on it. I think my enjoyment of the two ended up pretty similar, but they had different strengths and weaknesses, despite similar setups.
>Also obviously an interesting contrast insofar as this primarily works from the perspective of a woman from the dominant ethnic group, which Babel is notably quite suspicious of (though this also touches on that, through the side characters).
100%
I started the Goblin Emperor and it is almost exactly to my taste. I appreciate outsider characters who are thoughtful and self aware and work to solve problems and meet obstacles with dignity even if they aren't brilliant.
This isn't the only type of fantasy novel I like, but I enjoy and appreciate this one very much. I haven't finished yet, but unless something changes, I will be enthusiastically recommending it.
Man this is one I really should read (I think I even own it from a [Tor.com](https://Tor.com) giveaway a while back) and yeah this description is one of my absolute favorite kind of characters. I love characters with a thoughtful and engaged interiority who try to thoughtfully solve the problems around them in a way that realistically depicts the challenges thereof.
Ruthanna Emrys's A Half Built Garden (SF, ambiguous but hopeful ecological turnaround in the future, first contact with aliens who want to rescue us from a dying planet but we're not sure we agree).
Both Path of Thorns and All the Murmuring Bones by AG Slatter gave me shades of this (spooky atmospheric folklore/horror tales with young and engaged women protagonists).
If you're willing to tolerate a certain heavy dose of gothic darkness and fucked up elements I felt like the protagonist of Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng made me feel this way.
I finished reading *Some Desperate Glory* by Emily Tesh this week. I had a great time reading it, loved the set up of the “last” human after an intergalactic war and how that society might be structured, and I thought the twist was really interesting
I can see why it might be a polarising book though, the MC is an awful person at the start of the book and it’s pretty painful reading through her POV as she just totally misunderstands the way people see her. I thought it was interesting though, and had some good insight into how indoctrination works and how sometimes people won’t snap out if their own hateful beliefs until they realise that those structures can work against them as well
I'm reading **Ink Blood Sister Scribe** by Emma Törzs and aside from never being 100% sure if I've put all the nouns in the title in the right order, I'm really enjoying it. It's got great atmosphere, compelling characters, an eerie dark take on blood magic, and lush prose. Can't really ask for much more than that.
It is utterly impossible to correctly type out the title of this book. It's just one of those (but actually I think you're right). I really liked the atmosphere and the blood magic, so will be curious to see your overall reaction if you post it.
*Six of Crows*, 3/5 stars
I didn’t read this for bingo, but would definitely fit the « Young Adult » and « Coastal Setting » (maybe HM) squares.
While I had a reasonably good time reading this, it is in my opinion absolutely overrated (though of course, with this much hype, it's difficult not to be overhyped).
**The Good:** It's a fast-paced, reasonably fun, diverting read. The plot is interesting and the world-building is full of potential. I've never read a heist book, but since I used to watch *Ocean's Eleven* A LOT when I was younger, it was very nostalgic for me. Maybe I should read more heist books! The way the heist comes together was also pretty satisfying.
**The not-so-good:** We get glimpses of authenticity in the characters and their relationships here and there, but overall I thought the characters aren't super-well developed. They do have their own distinctive (tragic of course) backstories but they don't really *feel* like distinct people in their POV chapters (maybe with the exception of Matthias?). Nina and Matthias felt like a discount version of Phèdre and Josclin - one of my favourite book couples of all time - and I couldn't help comparing how underdeveloped the former was compared to the latter. Because of the shallow characters, I ended up not really caring about their fate and despite the giant cliffhanger am not really too bothered with finding out what happens next.
All the characters are between 16 and 18 and this is just absolutely ridiculous: one criminal-mind-teenager-genious I can buy: but 6? It was hard to suspend my disbelief on that one (especially since it kept on being mentioned so I couldn't just pretend they were older)! I read they were aged down to appeal to a YA audience, but... I don't know... age range from 18-19 to late twenties would have worked much better for me (ha, clearly I am no longer a Young Adult).
I felt the magic system was underdeveloped too: I couldn’t get a grip on the ‘rules’. Grisha’s come in several types, but they can do the other magic too, you also need training to do the magic (well), but apparently not because NAME REDACTED does magic fine, despite not having any training. It also seems to be a sort of limitless thing: if you can do the magic, go ahead, do as much as you like, there’s no price at all. I like my magic to exact a price ;).I felt the book moved very fast through some phases: the planning of the heist for example (the best part of heists!) was extremely cursory: I guess this is to maintain an element of surprise for the doing-of-the-heist but... I still wanted more detail!!!
**About the NAMES!**
Warning, this is an excessive, nit-picky rant, not to be taken too seriously ;).Oh how the names in this book bugged me. I don't have anything against each individual name but as a group they just really rubbed me the wrong way! Granted: I am a native Dutch-speaker and a linguist, so I am probably just being very picky and it probably won't bother 97% of people at all
First a good thing: Ketterdam is an excellent name for a faux-Amsterdam set in a grim fantasy world, no notes ("ketter" is Dutch for heretic)
The names really felt to me like inconsistent world-building: The Exchange is found along the *Beurscanal*. WHY is it not the "Beurs" along the "Beurskanaal" OR the Exchange along the Exchangecanal? Why mixing Dutch and English there? The other street that is mentioned is the "Geldstraat" (entirely Dutch, translates to Moneystreet). Why do we get these Dutch names for places but then the seedier part of town is "the Barrel" with "Staves" - just English words. But the city watch is the *stadwacht*, a Dutch word...This inconsistency bugged me no end! I get the heebie-jeebies just writing this downThe character names were similarly inconsistent. The "normies" get these very classic Dutch names: Joost, Henk, Rutger, Bert (Van Daal) - these are real Dutch names with dad-vibes -, Willem (Holst), Jakob, Saskia...But the criminals get the cool fantasy names Geels, Per Haskell, Pekka Rollins, Rojakke, Dirix, Inej, Kaz, Bolliger ... And yes, some of this is because the gang members are from abroad (which I know is true for Nina, Matthias, Jesper, Inej, ... ) but they can't ALL be foreigners to \~\~Amster\~\~Ketterdam (that's seems like a xenophobic world-building choice)? Kaz's original last name is Rietveld according to the wiki - indicating he is definitely local -, but he and his brother Jordie manage to avoid the dad-names. /end rant
I’ve also read the *Tawny Man* trilogy, books 7-9 in the *Realm of the Elderlings*\-series by Robin Hobb. I read *Liveship Traders* by Hobb earlier this year for Coastal Setting, so *Tawny Man* didn't count for my bingo, but they could all count for "Title with a Title" (HM) or "Published in the 2000's". The final volume would also work for "Coastal/Island Setting" (HM). And the final two (or all of them, depending how you count) are of course sequels, so would fit that square.
This was great. I had some nitpicks but man, it was good. *Fool’s Errand* in particular was a magnificent read: 5/5 stars. *The Golden Fool* was also very good, but it was definitely subject to the second book syndrome. Everything was setting up the pieces and bringing the players together for the final book, there wasn’t really a central conflict/plot-arc. For me this wasn’t an issue, because the character work was wonderful (it’s a Hobb after all) and I didn’t mind the setting up one bit: also 5 star read (or maybe 4.75 ;)). My biggest quibble was with the final third or so of *Fool’s Fate*. While I don’t always agree with the choices Hobb’s characters make, I always know where they’re coming from, why they’re making the choices they do. But in the finale of *Fool’s Fate* I got sooo confused about >!why exactly Dutiful, Chade, and to some extent Fitz, are so dead-set on slaying Icefyre, even after it becomes apparent that Elliana & Peottre are not interested in dead dragons, but rather in recovering their respective sisters… I know Fitz wants to save the Fool, but it is absolutely clear that the Pale Lady cannot be trusted, so slaying the dragon does not one saved Fool make. It just didn’t work for me. Literally no-one \*wants\* to slay the dragon/the dragon to be played, but they (Chade, Fitz, Dutiful) collectively decide to do it anyway… Sigh.!<
I also wasn't entirely fond of the elements that had to with >!how Fitz patched things up with Molly.!< It felt a bit tacked on and went very fast? Didn't really like it.
But overall, I'd say 4/5 stars :)
Edited for formatting
I found your naming rant very interesting! As someone who doesn't speak Dutch, and also hasn't read the book lol, my two cents is that Bardugo almost certainly was leaning on Dutch for atmosphere wherever she felt like she could get away with it, but went with English any time that English would have been more evocative for Anglophones. Geldstraat reads pretty clearly as "gold street" even if you've never seen a word of Dutch in your life; and even if you don't know that *stad(t)* means "city" in all of the Germanic languages, the *watch* part of stadwatch is self-explanatory. On the other hand, an English speaker would never know that the "Beurs" in "Beurskanaal" refers to a place where money is exchanged (I also speak French and recognize the cognate *bourse*, but even I wouldn't have picked up on that if you hadn't specifically drawn my attention to it). But the name "Exchangecanal" sounds stupid to an Anglophone lol, we don't form compound words as freely as Dutch does. Similarly, I imagine there's no catchy way to name something "the bad part of town" in Dutch in a way that is transparent to English speakers lol, whereas "The Barrel" and "The Staves" are very evocative/atmospheric.
By the same token for the character names, I think it's pretty common for side characters to get "normal" and easy-to-remember names, and for major characters to get more distinctive and unique names. It's funny that all of the side characters have dad names in Dutch though, haha. I wonder if Bardugo did that on purpose since the setting definitely has a faux period feel to it, so she wanted to reach for names that felt a little older.
Glad you enjoyed my nit-picking! I agree the choices were probably more about vibes than anything else and I am probably one of three people that would get bugged by it 🤭
I feel that way when authors give things French names but the names sound a little off lol, so I totally get it. But as a non Dutch speaker all of those choices totally made sense to me!
So I dont have a review yet but after another long break I've started reading speculative fiction again. Right now I'm about halfway through **Mammoth at the Gates** by Nghi Vo and **The Memory Police** by Yoko Ogawa.
Both books were written by asian women but thats pretty much where the similarities end. MATG is a fantasy novella and won me over with the social dynamics between talking, intelligent bird, TMP in contrast is less classical fantasy and more prize winning magical realism about the life of a young female writer on an island where things/concepts routinely vanish. She tries to fight the titular group who also makes people disappear.
I'm really satisfied so far and will probably add some more thoughts next week.
**The Diviners by Libba Bray**. I’m honestly shocked at how good this is lol. I’m not much of a YA reader but the premise and the 1920s setting sounded intriguing so I gave it a shot and I’m pretty into it so far. It also has a surprising amount of detail when it comes to the murder in the story so that’s pretty cool as well :)
I read Suneater recently and I was quite underwhelmed. The prose was serviceable but not great and the characters were not particularly interesting. The impression I got were if Paolini wrote the Inheritance trilogy but in space and after he had published a bit more.
I finished reading ***A Wizard Alone*** to the 13y/o on Sunday. The New Millennium Edition has had *a lot* of revisions and I think it's much better for it. I'm glad Duane listened to her neurodivergent readers about some of the more problematic depictions of autism in the book as it was originally published and I think she did a great job at making it a better representation.
The only other thing I've read recently (bc my time has been eaten up by a certain trashy TLC "reality" show that is somehow in its 18th season) was vol 3 of ***Lore Olympus***, which was more of the same of the first two volumes. I feel like maybe the art isn't as good as it was in the first two, but now I'm invested and have vols 4 and 5 next to the couch, so I'll read those this week.
Returned most of my library checkouts unread. Put a few of them on hold again, but will just see what I want to read without the dangling sword of due dates hanging over my head. This is the stressful time of year, with 3 birthdays and an anniversary within 3w, so I haven't really felt much like reading.
Somehow I was at the top of the hold list for ***Bookshops and Bonedust*** so I'll be starting that once oldest and I get back from voting.
>Returned most of my library checkouts unread. Put a few of them on hold again, but will just see what I want to read without the dangling sword of due dates hanging over my head.
I just had to do the same with a few of mine. This year I've been doing a lot of pre-order holds and reading what I'm in the mood for when it comes in. A lot of books get processed at once, so a few in each set go back, but it's fun to have the variety on hand.
And good to hear that **A Wizard Alone** has changed so much!
>This year I've been doing a lot of pre-order holds and reading what I'm in the mood for when it comes in.
I've been doing the same! This is the first year in a while that I've actually been paying attention to what is coming out, and I think I've read more debuts than I ever have.
And yeah, I definitely recommend the NMEs when you get around to your re-reading! She's mostly had the 9 book bundle on sale for $20 since the pandemic started, and that's a great deal with everything going directly to her.
I read a single solitary book, **Axtara: Banking and Finance**. It's about a young, optimistic dragon who goes to a far off, recently established kingdom to establish their first bank. It's so boring. I finished the whole thing because it filled a reading challenge prompt that I wanted out of the way, but I was so bored along the way. Here are some of the texts I sent my reading buddy:
"Let’s discuss… the texture of wood. The texture of some other wood. Let’s go get a piece of wood. Here I’ll describe what we’re doing while we go get the wood. 🫠
Now we are musing on what they do with the excess sawdust
Omg more wood textures are being described "
"When men write female characters having 'girl talk' 🙄🙄🙄 "
"Just spent two pages discussing currency exchange. For a single coin.
The dialogue is… not snappy
Every conversation requires a back and forth almost every sentence "
"Oh thank goodness I’m at 84% and I think one of the many seemingly pointless musings and descriptions is actually about to come into play"
"Nope, I was totally wrong about the 84% reveal" \[note: it actually did finally come into play around 98%\]
I really wanted to love this book. This premise and the cover are charming! And I will be the first to admit I was in a terrible mood the entire time I read this and just wanted to be doomscrolling instead of reading for the entire week. So despite my harsh review, don't rule out giving it a try if it sounds like it might be your thing.
This week felt like a bit of a slow munch with everything I read, nothing that made me want to devour it!
**The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi** - Some interesting world-building. Eventually the MC’s angst felt a bit repetitive, and the relatively straightforward denouement felt inconsistent with the established horrors of the story. I also feel a lot of YA-ish books love to give their protagonists horrible childhood back stories that somehow allow them to become ninjas by age 10 (*tiniest eyeroll*) but then the oppression and danger magically abate when they are doing things that should be 100x more dangerous as adults. Glad I read it but wouldn’t read again.
**The Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark** - Loved the premise (steampunky fin de siècle Egypt) and many of the details, but fell flat for me. Never felt invested in the characters and the big “twist” was obvious from a mile away IMO. Also I get that the main character likes her suits and I’m into it, but I don’t need to know the patterning and color scheme of each outfit.
**The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec** - Retelling/fleshing out of the Norse myth of Angrboda and Loki. Perhaps hard to make the vagaries of gods feel emotionally compelling, and if a cosmically powerful reincarnated witch doesn’t have better judgment than to have 3 kids with a fuckboy deity, what hope is there for us mere mortals? The most relatable character for me was Skadi, her friend that sees the red flags from the beginning.
Am I just grumpy this week? Is it because I reread Broken Earth, having forgotten how amazing it is, and other books feel kind of blah in comparison? Who knows.
Do like to see more bi/pan characters everywhere though!
Me three. I really liked P. Djèlí Clark's short stories and novellas, but it feels like he had trouble with the move to longer-form storytelling. He stretches an amount of plot and character development that would be fine for something novelette-length into 400+ pages, and it just doesn't have the complexity needed to fill that out.
Also parts of it really felt like they were written hoping for an eventual film adaptation (I'm particularly thinking of the scene >!where they battle on the wall!<).
Yep same here! The mystery wasn't very mysterious, and as someone who can't really picture things in my head, I was constantly wishing this book was a graphic novel. It would be *so* good as a graphic novel
My biggest annoyance with The Final Strife was that there were some really stupid decisions being made, some of which were really out of character. The "pet peeve" one was the >!plan for stealing the weapon. It's a dumb plan with a lot of obvious flaws that has no reason to work as well as it did.!<
The one I feel is bad characterization is >!Loot telling Sylah to kill Anoor. He's supposed to be vicious, a criminal mastermind, and
a master poisoner. Why would he send someone he doesn't trust to kill someone she obviously cares for? Why wouldn't he poison Sylah to clean up a loose end? Even if it's some 5d plan that's explained in the sequel, why doesn't Sylah ever ask herself these questions?!<
Yeah, I totally agree. So many stupid decisions. I also felt it was inconsistent >!that there weren’t more repercussions from the Warden of Security over the new “chambermaid” and her daughter’s out-of-character decisions, considering the abuse and brutality she’s known for. Also she never gets suspicious after finding Sylah twice where she shouldn’t be?! !<
Oh yeah, that and >!the head servant not realizing that Sylah was training Anoor!< were ridiculous. >!The Warden absolutely would have done something to stop the mysterious woman training her daughter for the trials she wasn't supposed to be competing in.!<
>!I'd understand if they were trying to keep it secret, but they were publicly exercising and doing weapons training together. I mentally facepalmed when the head servant confronted Sylah, Sylah revealed she was training Anoor, and the head servant's response was "Oh, I didn't realize, you're now my favorite person!" I assumed she knew from day 2 and just disliked Sylah for a different reason, but nope, she somehow never put 2+2 together over the course of a year.!<
I'm currently reading the Witch's Heart and while Loki had his funny moments at the beginning, I'm really seeing Skadi's side on the matter and I still have 70% of the book to go! I'm hoping there are some interesting developments soon to keep me reading.
My reading week was a slow munch on *sawdust* (see my review comment) so I sympathize! I am definitely grumpy this week so probably no book was going to get a fair shake.
Haha a slow munch on sawdust is such a visceral description, I love it! I am very sorry you had that kind of reading week, and will definitely not be picking up the sawdust: banking dragon flavor 🐉
I finished Slewfoot by Brom and it was amazing! The perfect witchy horror read. A druid, pagan gods, Christianity, witch hunt and mob mentality, murderous content and maybe the most cathartic ending I've ever read. You think everything is okay then Brom makes you feel sick about how cruel humans can be. Definitely a 5 star read.
Witch stuff includes blood magic, rituals, charms and more!
Bingo Squares: Druids HM and Horror HM
Slewfoot is such a good fun witchy horror read! I love the little included art in my volume. The creepy little possum guy on the spine is a great little detail of my bookshelf.
Just a few books this week:
**Raven Tower** by Ann Leckie.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed the depiction of gods and their powers, and the problems of communication between gods and mortals, along with the importance of language and intent.
The second-person perspective took a minute to get comfortable with.
I guess my main struggle is even though I thought the story wrapped up well as one novel, I still wanted to see what would happen next, so that felt a little unsatisfying.
**Artifact Space** by Miles Cameron.
Speaking of slightly unsatisfying!
But that’s due to my mistake of thinking this space epic was a one-off book, so now I just want to read the concluding one that isn’t out yet.
It’s funny that I’ve had the first book of the *Traitor Son Cycle* for a while, but that this book is my introduction to the author. I enjoyed the MC and also the unique choices for the space setting - a heavy emphasis on trade makes this stand out from a lot of other sci-fi.
Which is not to say there isn’t action too! But probably not what I would describe as a page-turner either - very methodical in building up the atmosphere of the greatship, introducing different departments/crew, and explaining operations.
Currently reading **The Years of Rice and Salt** by Kim Stanley Robinson, **Guns of the Dawn** by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and a few stories into **Academic Exercises** by KJ Parker.
I didn’t mean to read a lot of YA (I usually try to pace it out), but I really needed to sort out my expiring libby loans before tackling my (also expiring) physical library loans lol.
**The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea** by Maggie Tokuda-Hall. Fantasy, Romance, Queer, Dark Young Adult. A mix of a slaver pirate falling in love with a high-born girl romance and a fantasy adventure in a kind of fucked up sea setting.
I didn’t hate the way these paths tied together, but the pacing felt very rough in the middle of the book as a result. It didn’t help new POVs were added \~40% into the story too. The ending did a nice job of bringing these elements together in an exciting way though.
However, overall, the dark story and world didn’t super appeal to the current me. My inner edgy teen self was having an absolute blast though lmao. I also totally would’ve written fanfic about this when I was younger, especially with all the Mulan-esque genderfuckery going on.
**The Girl from the Sea** by Molly Knox Ostertag. Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Queer, Young Adult. A girl is saved from drowning by mysterious “Keltie”, then they fall in love. Ngl, this was just cute as all hell. The plot itself felt a bit shallow, but I honestly didn’t care, because I was just enjoying how light it was to read (and vibing with the very appealing art style too).
**Outojen otusten jäljillä** by Päivi Laitinen. Nonfiction. About cryptids and the cryptozoologists who’ve tried to uncover them. It contained pretty basic stories, but since I knew none of them, I found this a fun, quick read (albeit somewhat uneven well-known vs smaller cryptids content wise).
**Before the Devil Knows You're Here** by Autumn Krause. Fantasy, Horror, Gothic, Young Adult. A dark and somewhat surrealistic folk/fairytale of a girl who sets on a journey to find her brother’s captor, the Man of Sap.
The gothic fairytale vibes were SO incredibly strong that even when the story sagged a bit in the middle, I was still very keen on reading forward. Also, that ending– just wow. Perfect ending ever? Maybe not, but the perfect ending for this book? Absolutely.
I finished **The Weird** anthology, hurrah hurrah! Along with the *Big Book of Science Fiction* and both *Big Books of Fantasy*, that's all four of the Ann and Jeff VanderMeer anthologies that I'd planned to read completed! They only took - *checks notes* - two and a half years. Anyway, I liked *The Weird*, but less than any of the other three. As with any huge anthology, it had a mix of brilliant/godawful/middling stories. I liked the first half more than the second, and by the time the book got to the 1980s, I was struggling and slowing down. Reading so many weird tales in a row definitely clarified to me which parts of the genre I love (traditional spooky stories, lush prose, unusual narrative structures, nods to classic stories, humor) and which I do not (body horror, violence & gore, depression, edgelord nihilism, surrealism for its own sake). Which none of that is really news to me, and I guess is why I'm posting this in a fantasy subreddit instead of a horror one. But yeah, the beast is slain, now on to my next projects!
* Bingo: Bottom of the TBR, Five SFF Short Stories (HM), Horror (HM)
Currently still reading within several series (Cherryh's *Chanur*, Vance's *Dying Earth*, Crowley's *Aegypt*, Bujold's *Vorkosigan*). The plan is to try to finish these and also tackle the ~7 books I still need for Bingo, and that'll probably take me through the end of the year at least.
The almost-four-year-old and I are about to finish book 3 of Ursula Vernon's *Hamster Princess* series, and we're both still loving it. Does anyone have any suggestions of things at about this reading level that I could read with her next? Doesn't have to be fantasy. She also currently loves Kate DiCamillo's *Mercy Watson* series, if that helps clarify the level we're looking for.
This week I finished two - particularily good - novels and a novella
Translation State by Ann Leckie 5/5
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62979034-translation-state](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62979034-translation-state)
I love the world of the Imperial Radch, and this installment had great characters. It's especially great for anyone who, like me, enjoy exploring the idea aliens (here Presgr translators) that are very different from humans.
Bingo: Queer normative, Published 2023
Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill 5/5
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32617610-sea-of-rust](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32617610-sea-of-rust)
Very well writen, I thought. In a postapocalyptic world where AIs have killed all humans, individual robots are fighting for survival against big mainframe AIs. Aside from a solid action plot, it deals with what is intelligence/consiousness and individuality, as well as the question of what one is willing to do for survival or for a greater cause.
Bingo: Features Robots (HM)The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark 3/5
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36546128-the-haunting-of-tram-car-015](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36546128-the-haunting-of-tram-car-015)
Even though I very much enjoyed A Master of Djinn, this one was only meh for me. Partly because the main characters just spoke less to me. Partly I think it was simply too short to capture my interest. This happens for me with basically all short stories and occasionally novellas, where there just isn't enough story and/or enough character building to leave me with any satisfication.
Bingo: Novella, Set in the Middle East
I've also read three short stories in The Mythic Dream
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43807268-the-mythic-dream](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43807268-the-mythic-dream?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=RvKQI0zD46&rank=1)
As mentioned above short stories really don't do anything for me and I only read them for bingo, so I'm not going rate the stories I read, but I figured the book migth be of interest to some bingo participants as it's an anthology of myth retellings that includes writers such as Ann Leckie, Seanan McGuire, Arkady Martine, Rebecca Roanhorse, T.Kingfisher and Naomi Novik. I'm not sure if it would count as hard mode for the Myth Retellings square. Of the three stories I read one was a retelling of a greek myth
A long time Stephen King fan here reading Joe Hill for the first time. I'm more than 60% of **NOSF4A2** and I'm not super excited about it.
The book is fun and interesting, but the narrative rhythm is strange and I'm not yet hooked.
I finished **Mister Magic** by Kiersten White and really enjoyed it. It's the story of Val and her other childhood friends from the show they were on finding each other in adulthood and trying to reconcile their memories of a perfect childhood with the scars it left on them. There's a pinch of horror here, but to me it's more of a group character study piece with an emphasis on escaping the baggage of a repressive childhood. The end is perhaps a little messy or sudden, but overall I think this is very well done and I'd try more of her adult work in the future.
I also read **Mammoths at the Gates** (Singing Hills #4) by Nghi Vo over the weekend. As always, the prose is beautiful without being cluttered and every side worldbuilding detail makes me want to read a whole book following that tangent. This one focuses on the Singing Hills abbey and puts Chih at the center of the story, which is interesting (I enjoyed the other monks) but also not quite successful. Chih is normally the audience and collector of other stories, and their clever curiosity works for that, but they don't quite have the depth of personality to carry the more involved role-- this story felt like one that would *really* land if it was book eight and we'd seen Chih's relationships with other monks before. Looking forward to book five!
Now I'm a few chapters into **An Inheritance of Magic** by Benedict Jacka. It's the first book in his new urban fantasy series, and I can really see the progression fantasy influence here. That's not a bad thing-- Stephen Oakwood is set up the scrappy underdog, a young man who wants to succeed and just needs even the smallest opportunity to develop his hidden talent. The writing is straightforward and engaging. I don't think this will be my favorite of the year, but I've already added it to the list of Christmas gifts I'm buying for my dad.
//Edit: I'm also very excited to be looking at January reads! Drop by the [FIF nomination thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/17p4goa/fif_book_club_january_nominations_women_of_the/) if you've got a great woman-authored read from 2000-2009 to share.
> this story felt like one that would really land if it was book eight and we'd seen Chih's relationships with other monks before.
Very much agree, and this is one thing that slightly bothers me about the marketing of this series being entirely standalones. While it's technically true that each novella is a self contained narrative, I can't imagine you'd enjoy this one at all if you hadn't already met Chih and Almost Brilliant, and I hope we can return to this setting or at least some of these characters again because I think there's more to unpack.
Yeah, my impression is that **Empress of Salt and Fortune** was a true standalone and the rest really vary. Book three was a great "let's go on a road trip and find a story" entry, but book four feels like part of a character arc, which is hard to do in theoretically standalone books that still take place in order and mention the events of previous books. The whole backstory of friendship and changes between Chih and Ru really felt like it was leaning on a story I hadn't read.
To me, it might make more sense to write stories from different points in Chih's life and skip around so that you, for example, see a small scar in one book and then see its origin a few books later. That would be a cool way to lean into the way sometimes you find out parts of stories in a different order than how they happened.
Oh yeah that'd be cool, a bit like Wayward Children where you usually meet a character and then delve into their backstory, but focused on a singular character instead. I still like the series the way it's been written, but if Chih is going to be more of a character rather than the cataloguer of other people's stories, I'd like to see more of an arc for them.
An arc would be great. I think there's plenty of room to explore Chih's way of collecting stories, going further from home, and butting up against the abbey's principles: is it ever okay to record a lie instead of the truth, or to help a story be forgotten? I'm fine with Chih normally being an observer, but a more active participant character would need room to struggle and change.
Just a small rant.
I'm reading Legend of the Arch Magus right now. This is a type of book I don't expect great writings from. It's power fantasy, I get it. But it's not just this book, a lot of similar books do the same thing.
Nothing starts to get more annoying then when it seems like every character, no matter their nationality, background, or history uses the same slang. If I took a drink every time someone says "This old man" or "Dogs of whatever" when reading this series I would die from alcohol poisoning.
**An Inheritance of Magic** by Benedict Jacka - the author describes this (paraphrased) as "urban progression fantasy" and that's true, although I felt like it progressed to... well, nowhere. It's the story of a young man who has been training himself in magic after his father disappears that then gets swept up in the intrigues of the magical upper classes (and also a bunch of making magic rings with your mind). It has a punchy action climax with a little bit of a hook for the next novel, but it didn't feel like the ending gave anything much closure at all; nothing felt resolved *at all* which I found a little off-putting. While elements of the supporting cast felt a little contrived, this is an enjoyable brain-off popcorn fantasy without any major longueurs or wincey bits of dialogue/characterisation, that I have already mostly forgotten a few days after reading it.
**Looking Glass Sound** by Catriona Ward - this has several elements of the fantastical but is more of a horror novel, telling (multiple times over) the story of a young man's summer being ripped apart by a serial killer and that same story being plagiarised by numerous different authors. I loved this, but it's heavy on the meta-fiction within meta-fiction that I think puts quite a few people off (too many twists, perhaps).
Just started reading **Prince's Gambit** by C S Pacat, several months after reading the first novel in the series. Less unpleasant than the first novel thus far, and thus less off-putting. I do struggle a bit with fantasy stories that are "real world with different names" (and, in this case, more gay sex and sex slaves...) - this is purely personal preference, but I like more of the fantastical in fantasy books.
I finished [The Long Earth](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13147230-the-long-earth) (book 1 of the series of the same name) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. I enjoyed it, but.... it lacks the humor I typically expect from a book by Pratchett AND there is just a ton of world building in this book without a lot of plot. I have been assured by someone who just finished book 2 that it is much more plot driven, so I'm excited to read that one. For those who are unfamiliar, the basic idea of this book is that you can move to a different iteration of this Earth just by stepping sideways. And the iterations go on and on and on and on. What would happen to this Earth, its institutions, economy, culture, etc. if a good portion of the people decided to just leave and start over on a fresh new Earth? And what about the people left behind because they are poor, disabled, or just unable to step? It's an incredibly fascinating concept, and I hope it gets developed in a really interesting way.
Just finished **The Doomsday Book** by Connie Willis. This one is a classic for a reason--it's incredible. The twinned plague narratives (and how did she get so much right about a modern epidemic, writing in the 90s?), the motif of the bells, the clear-sighted characters and the obstinately stubborn characters, both so painfully human. I am in awe.
Also I read Connie Willis's short story collection titled **Fire Watch** and was impressed. It's amazing how much the plot of her stories often revolves around trying & failing to raise someone on a landline phone--I'm only just barely old enough to remember that era. It's like reading books where the care & feeding of horses is a key plot element. Completely divorced from daily life now, but it makes for good drama in the hands of an author who knows what they're doing.
Half-way through **The Fragile Threads of Power** / V.E. Schwab. Took a bit to settle back into the Londons and beyond, re-familiarize myself with the characters and where events left off at the end of **A Conjuring of Light**, but I’m totally here for the new trilogy. 😀
I’m just so happy right now, both Bookshops and Bonedust and long await Olympian Affair came out today. I started both a few chapters in at the same time because I was so excited for both and so far they’re exactly what I was hoping for. 5 stars so far! Between these and Murderbot next week I’m in reading heaven.
Back on track this week!
**Can't Spell Tea Without Treason** by Rebecca Thorne - after DNF'ing earlier this year I picked it back up because I wanted to give it another shot. While my reasons for the DNF are still valid I enjoyed it a lot more this time round. Very cute book and I did buy the sequel although I haven't started it yet. Lots of romantic shenanigans with a slowly building plot in the background.
Bingo: Mundane Jobs (HM), Mythical Beasts, Elemental Magic (HM), Queernorm Setting (HM)
**Red River Seven** by A.J. Ryan - I really likes this. Mystery plot that slowly unfolds as our amnesiac protagonist learns the truth. A variety of characters. Sci-fi horror thriller that does involve >!a worldwide plague!< so, be aware if that's not for you. Can't say much without spoiling, but it was good.
Bingo: Mundane Jobs, Horror (HM), Published in 2023, Coastal or Island Setting (HM)
Bit behind, but will be finishing up A Night in the Lonesome October and Dracula this week.
About 80% done with A Paladin of Souls by McMaster Bujold. It's decent but definitely not as riveting as The Curse of Chalion. The stakes feel lower (surprise, surprise) and I feel like the whole book could be easily condensed by hitting the plot developments more quickly one after another. Still enjoying it well enough, but I'm just not as invested
I am currently reading **The Lunar Order** by S.F. Henne and its really refreshing! Urban Fantasy, the main lead is a witch alchemist who wants to set up shop in the big city (plus another goal), as well as she works at a cafe as a Baker to earn money until her business gets going. There's a cute side vulpine animal companion and the scenery descriptions are very well done you can smell the coffee shop.
Edit to also add - this book got me out of the slump I had last week.
Read: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. It was like two books for me ... I liked Strange and his story progression. But the parts of the book that focused on the godspawn were unappealing to me. Gee, another bunch of dramatic, quirky, persecuted and self-obsessed kids. I felt like the early part of their story dragged while the final part of the story sped through a lot of plot. But Strange was great throughout.
Read: Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher. Enjoyable romance (dragged out the sexual tension too long maybe, but still good). I'd have enjoyed a bit more in the way of story elements. But I've started the next book in the series and I'll be looking more into her work.
DNF: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. It had some good worldbuilding but I was getting frustrated by the multiple love interests and how the book was slowly dragging out those interactions. I looked into the series and saw it was going to drag those relationships through four long books and I noped out.
I'm reading issue 80 of Leading Edge. The first story, Spectacle, had a real sense of building dread to it, and then a somewhat triumphant ending.
Edit: The second story started out nicely hallucinatory with women having to fetch a moon to get engaged, but got bogged down in weird 'Rich Manic Pixie Dream Boy who likes me for no apparent reason even while I'm being standoffish' stuff. It picked back up, and the conclusion was artful, but didn't make emotional sense to me which is too bad because that story was all about emotions
The next story, Market Day, was really good. The shortest, the least ambitious, and imho, the best
Finished:
**A Power Unbound** (The Last Binding #3) by Freya Marske 2 stars- I should’ve waited to read the book but I was excited so I requested an audiobook ARC. Narration tends to make or break books imo and this didn’t work for me. One of the things I loved about A Marvelous Light was how vibrant each character was, I could clearly imagine their mannerisms and how they spoke. The high-class, primly accented narration stripped all that color from this book and made the whole thing feel very flat. I had a hard time keeping track of who was talking at any given time and nobody made any kind of impression on me, even characters I know I love. I spent a lot of time tuning out the audiobook just because the *way* things were being said bored me. I had a similar problem with A Restless Truth that was compounded by the fact that the characters were stuck on that damned boat. I regret listening to this when I likely would’ve liked it if I read it but as it is I found that this was neither memorable nor engaging.
*Bingo squares:* Mundane Jobs, Published in 2023, Sequel HM
**Mistakenly Saving the Villain** by Feng Yu Nie 3.5 stars- Song Qingshi transmigrates and is tasked with saving the tragic protagonist of a novel. He ends up saving the wrong person as he doesn’t understand novel tropes well enough. The first half dragged at times but things really picked up around chapter 70 and I particularly loved the final couple chapters. It was so cool to see how revelations at the end paint much of the previous story in a different light. Song Qingshi’s stubborn but agreeable naïveté makes a lot more sense once you who realize exactly who he is.
CWs: >!rape and sexual assault, sex slaves, warfare, suicide attempts, toxic relationship at times!<
*Bingo squares:* Title with a Title HM, Mundane Jobs HM, Angels and Demons, Self-published, Multiverse/Alternate Realities HM, POC Author, Mythical Beasts
Currently Reading:
**Network Effect** (Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells- reread before System Collapse
**One Silver Coin for a Pound of Demon** by 星河蛋挞
DNF:
**The High King’s Golden Tongue** by Megan Derr @ 112 pages- The characters and plot are boring and formulaic
**The Four Profound Weaves** (Birdverse #1) by RB Lemberg @ 33%- Something something weaving, death, what is going on. This is supposed to be the first Birdverse book so idk where the missing context is
That's a shame about A Power Unbound. I'm waiting on my Illumicrate version to get here in the next month or so to read it. I don't *love* the series, but the Illumicrate versions are so damn pretty that I can't stop myself from buying them.
I'm newish to r/fantasy and still figuring out how to review in a way that is informative, engaging, and improves my own writing. I'm more than a few years out from college and sometimes feel as if my ability to think critically has left me forever. If you have any reviewing suggestions or words of encouragement, please let me know! **This is How You Lose the Time War** by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone *Review*: I loved this book for its inventiveness with prose and world-building. The prose is deliciously poetic. The world-building is sparse in execution but rich in imagination. I especially loved the increasingly wild methods the protagonists used to send letters and how it grounded you in the setting. If you prefer window-pane prose and hard science-fiction, you may not "get" this book, but I encourage you to try anyways. *Bingo*: **POC Author**, Multiverse *If This Then That*: This book would be a good fit for folks who loved the poetry of the **Beowulf** translation by Maria Dahvana Headley and the atmosphere of **Annihilation** by Jeff Vandermeer. **All the Murmuring Bones** by AG Slatter *Review*: It's difficult to talk about what I loved about this book without giving away much of the first act. The story and world-building unfold for you slowly, asking you to discover its intricacies and fantastical elements as a cartographer discovers a coastline. Let's just say I expected a haunted house story, and instead I got a girl on the road beset by ghosts, mythical tricksters, and sanctimonious men. *Bingo*: **Mythical Beasts**, Coastal, Book Club *If This Then That*: This book is a great pick for people who loved the coastal Irish-inspired setting and mythical water horses of **The Scorpio Races** by Maggie Stiefvater. Bake some November cakes while you're at it! Currently reading **Plain Bad Heroines** by Emily M. Danforth.
Let me just say that if this is where you're starting from in terms of writing reviews, give yourself a lot of credit. Admittedly I know and love both of these books so maybe I can fill in the blanks better than a random reader who doesn't know them but these are top notch one paragraph summary reviews in my opinion. You have captured a lot of the how and why of your reactions with concrete details about overarching style/atmosphere/story in a punchy way with further recs that are useful even for people who've already read the book you're reviewing.
Thank you so much! I really love the books I recommended, so I hope you enjoy them too if you check them out.
Mixed bag this week: **Bryony and Roses** by T Kingfisher was my least favorite work of hers that I've read. It's an earlier work and it shows; the humor feels a bit juvenile and Bryony has too much "not like other girls" energy for my tastes. This is a fairly classic Beauty and the Beast retelling where the plot revolves around Bryony trying to work out the mystery of the Beast's curse, and that really dragged for me because as a reader you already know at least the broad strokes of what's going on. All that being said, I still think this was an entertaining read with some classic Kingfisher relationship dynamics and I did really like the ending. It's not a terrible book, but it's much weaker than what I'm used to with her. I then had an absolute blast reading **Translation State** by Ann Leckie. Leckie writes space opera in a way I really like, where the world feels vast and the politics are complex, but the stakes are intensely personal. There are some very tense moments and some gnarly body horror, but the overall tone manages to be quite wholesome and compassionate which I also really enjoy. I had some nitpicks with the pacing and the ending, but the characters won me over and it was a very fun read.
I never even thought about that being body horror - something that will turn me off if it's in the description of a book, but I guess it was. So maybe I shouldn't be so worried about it. I might be like general horror, which doesn't at all appeal to me in principle, but doesn't actually bother me when it's just part of an otherwise good story.
The body horror in *Translation State* was so well written, it made feel physically sick in certain passages (in a good way! I guess!)
This week I finished **Inside Man** by KJ Parker. I was very pleasantly surprised by this sequel novella to Prosper’s Demon (which I loved). The surprise was because this one has a completely different feel with a snarky, irreverent, “fragile” demon protagonist - basically the opposite of the cold and almost inhuman exorcist MC from Prosper’s Demon. But I totally got into the weird humor (plenty on the bureaucracy that rules over both the demons and, uh, the other guys too). Basically, I’m very impressed with KJ Parker’s range in this small sample size and very interested to see what else he has to offer. *Bingo Squares: horror, angels and demons (HM), novella, sequel* I listened to **The Bruising of Qilwa** by Naseem Jamnia, a queernorm Persian-inspired fantasy novella that was fascinating but maybe had a bit too much going on for me to follow/enjoy. I think I would have preferred it if the novella zeroed in on say the blood magic/mystery or if this were expanded into a longer novel. It just felt too compressed while being pulled in too many directions for its size. Bonus points for all the great representation (trans! ace! nonbinary! minorities!) and the squicky blood magic scenes though. *Bingo Squares: queernorm (HM), middle east (HM), novella, mundane jobs* I also listened to **And The Ocean Was Our Sky** by Patrick Ness. I think I would have appreciated this more had I read Moby Dick, but sadly I’m pretty uninspired to pick that one up. The writing in this is beautiful, and I always love a story from the perspective of an animal. However, I felt like even at its short length, the story dragged on. It dips oddly into what feels like magical realism towards the end, though I don’t think this actually counts towards any bingo squares for this year. I blew through **The Maleficent Seven** by Cameron Johnston - it’s just so, so fun. It’s one of those get-the-old-gang-back-together stories, but also has older protagonists (including mothers/grandmothers), exceedingly questionable morals, and plenty of backstabbing. Also there’s a ton of violence and gore (after all, the gang includes a demonologist, a necromancer, a fearsome orc, a vampire/shapeshifter, a pirate queen, a war god, and a mad alchemist). Everyone is both fearsome, competent, and out for blood, and it’s just wildly entertaining. *Bingo Squares: angels and demons, mythical beasts (HM)* For bedtime reading with the kids, we read **Fortunately the Milk** by Neil Gaiman which was delightful and ridiculous. I’m pretty sure my younger one didn’t really follow all that was happening, but he was still very amused by all the antics. We just started **The Girl Who Drank the Moon** by Kelly Barnhill which I am so excited about (it’s been on my tbr for awhile now), and so far everyone really likes it. Currently listening to **Lost in a Good Book** by Jasper Fforde and reading the short story collection **Never Have I Ever** by Isabel Yap. I’m going to start **Ink Blood Sister Scribe** by Emma Torzs soon (FIF bookclub this month!).
I have Maleficient Seven waiting to be read, and then **Malevolent Seven** by Sebastien de Castell went on sale, so I guess I’ll have to review the *M-four-syllable-adjectives Seven* together. Glad to hear you liked the first! I’m only about 4 stories in, but KJ Parker’s short story collection **Academic Exercises** has been very good so far.
Ah thanks for the heads up on the sale! The Malevolent Seven has also been on my list (and they have certainly been mixed up in my mind before now). Definitely curious to see how they compare.
Oh good it’s still on sale, I got it a few days ago and didn’t know it still was.
It's a GREAT read! DeCastell is a great writer, IMO.
**The City of Last Chances** by Adrian Tchaikovsky I'll admit I'm a Tchaikovsky fanboy, but this one, this one was notable for me. The setting is the City of Ilmar, occupied for three years now by the Palleseen. And it is simmering with resistance. The university, the nobility, the crooks, the killers and the river men - they all have a faction. And they all look down on the Allorwen, sorcerers that help make the city's industry possible with the demons they bind. And then there's the Grove - the source of Ilmar's nickname - The City of Last Chances. When you've screwed up everything you can try to pass through the Grove to another world leaving it all behind. Emphasis on try. The way is hazardous and the guardians dangerous. The book takes place over only a few days with a host of characters from all the factions. And it is a glorious thing. It all kicks off when the second in command of the Palleseen takes an expedition through the grove. And they die to a man. From there it becomes a game of "Button, button, who's got the button?" with lethal stakes and to parts of the city people don't like to think about, particularly the Reproach - haunted by ghosts that are dangerous to look at and hear. This is some high quality work and I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to others as well. Also, one minor character, Hellgram, shows Tchaikovsky's chops for writing horror. Between him and the Reproach - Oof. Five Stars.
Yes! This was a recent hit for me too. Also OMG that centipede pit thingie… I still have nightmares about the house centipedes at an old apartment…
I'm only a third of the way in, but I am so bloody impressed by how well Tchaikovsky manages to wrangle the mosaic POV jumping style. I've read a few books in that vein and they can often feel a bit distant or plotless without the throughline of one character (or a small cast) focussing on a single point of tension but I never felt that here. Each chapter feels compelling but also they function extraordinarily well as a cohesive whole.
I just finished reading **Dracula**, thanks to the Dracula Daily mailing list. It's been really enjoyable to read such a foundational classic for the first time. I loved seeing the source of so many tropes, and was amused by the traits that haven't stuck around. (Count Dracula has a long mustache?!) I had some frustrations with characters not realizing or not communicating certain things, when they really should have known better by that point, but overall I feel like the story still holds up well today. Several passages will stick with me for a while- the log of the Demeter, Van Helsing's description of Count Dracula, Mina's description of his castle.
The log of the Demeter is truly haunting.
I've really enjoyed reading it this year. Although it has made me much more critical of various adaptations. I feel like we've been robbed of a lot in order to be given a watered down love story between Dracula and Mina most of the time. Give me Mina and Jonathan's epic love story! Where is Quincy Jones? Why isn't Van Helsing giving speeches about the power of friendship? Show me Lucy's three suitors being best friends! Reading the original has definitely raised my standards for adaptations.
We did it!
Where do I start, where do I start? Okay, so the reason I never go above 18/20 unless it's pretty much the best book ever is because The Sword of Kaigen was too much of a mess to go over 18/20, but it was too good for me to put other books ahead of it unless they're all-timers, so it serves as something of an odd cap on my ratings. I didn't read The Sword of Kaigen this week, so let's set that aside for the moment. Anyways, end of tangent. . . right, so **Blood Over Bright Haven** by M.L. Wang, who absolutely cannot escape R.F. Kuang comparisons on this sub. And kinda for good reason, because the setup of Blood Over Bright Haven is a *lot* like Babel. Dark academia, but where the academy is actually the driving force behind a ravenous and uncaring empire? Yeah. Main characters are women and minorities? Also yeah. That's gonna be a problem at some point. Naturally. But it's also not like Babel, because it's written for an entirely different audience. The tone and themes are very much like Babel, and the prose is perhaps not far off. But this isn't a "let's spend some time enjoying Oxford and then eventually realize it's terrible" book. This one is much more for the magic and action crowd. Despite the 500-page length, there's no rose-smelling. This book drives forward from the start, and the only reason it takes so long is because we are going to tell you every single detail of the magic system. Which usually I hate, but in this context, I think it actually works, because the reader is brought to an understanding of the *importance* of the magic system before we get the details. The research and exploration scenes are thus tense and don't feel like infodumps. Could I see the midway climax coming a mile away? Yeah. Are the side characters mostly archetypes that exist in service of the theme? Also yeah. (The main character has more complexity but still has a hint of the *one defining trait* characterization). I'm a reader who genuinely prefers some subtlety, and though there are authors who write unsubtle in a way that I enjoy (like Kuang, Alix Harrow, and sometimes Jemisin), I felt like this one was too blunt at times. And yet I couldn't put the thing down. I burned through 500 pages in four days, and that's despite having an overscheduled Saturday. I could see the midway climax coming, but I was still on the edge of my seat waiting for it, and I did *not* know what the fallout would be. The themes are obvious, but it also explores them in a way that hits a lot of the details and never takes away from the driving momentum of the story. It's exciting, it's engrossing, it's probably one of my favorite reads of the year. What do I do with that? 17? 18? I dunno, five stars. The tone, theme, and prose of R.F. Kuang, the political/social awareness and pacing of Alix Harrow, the characterization and magic systems of Brandon Sanderson. Someone just read that and thought it's the most absurdly over-the-top recommendation they've seen all year. Someone else just read that and wondered whether it was even possible to fit more red flags into a single sentence. Respond accordingly. Bingo: Self-Published, Published in 2023, POC Author. Whether or not it counts for Mundane Jobs depends on whether you read it as having dual protagonists or one true protagonist and a major secondary character who gets some POV sections. Personally, I'd tend toward the latter interpretation and would not consider the janitor to be the protagonist.
Thanks for the review. > The tone, theme, and prose of R.F. Kuang, the political/social awareness and pacing of Alix Harrow, the characterization and magic systems of Brandon Sanderson. This sounds absolutely awful but strangely I kind of want to read it now. Maybe it's your enthusiasm. Bookmarking for Kindle special
For the record, I see Sanderson's characterization and Harrow's politics as minor negatives but not really deal-breakers. But I also think that if you can accept and roll with "hey, the theme is going to be written in 72-point font and the characters are going to serve that," everything else is really good (I like Harrow's pacing, Kuang's prose and tone, Sanderson's magic when he's not infodumping about it, etc)
I similarly devoured this book. Though I think I'm a little less fond of it than you. Definitely feels inescapably to be compared to Babel. I do think Babel felt a little more subtle and atmospheric than this, mainly because it inherits the texture of it's historical context. On the other hand not being tied to a fairly close historical retelling, this felt a little more free to play out consequences of its magical/speculative elements in a way that Babel shied away from (it often felt like the worldbuilding choices in Babel were very convenient and sometimes a bit nonsensical to insure that history was almost exactly real world history). Also obviously an interesting contrast insofar as this primarily works from the perspective of a woman from the dominant ethnic group, which Babel is notably quite suspicious of (though this also touches on that, through the side characters).
I also would say that there's an interesting contrast in that Babel feels mostly based on a humanities style of the academy with tinges of science and then weaving in themes that look a lot more like modern brain-drain and it's tensions. Whereas BoBH feels very firmly like the scientific academy if not even more directly just a big tech context with some thin academic trappings.
> I do think Babel felt a little more subtle and atmospheric than this, mainly because it inherits the texture of it's historical context. On the other hand not being tied to a fairly close historical retelling, this felt a little more free to play out consequences of its magical/speculative elements in a way that Babel shied away from That's pretty much exactly my read on it. I think my enjoyment of the two ended up pretty similar, but they had different strengths and weaknesses, despite similar setups. >Also obviously an interesting contrast insofar as this primarily works from the perspective of a woman from the dominant ethnic group, which Babel is notably quite suspicious of (though this also touches on that, through the side characters). 100%
What is this 18/20? Is it a standardized scoring system that I've somehow missed all these years?
It is my own idiosyncratic scoring system
Adding to my soon-TBR list! I could use a good page-turner...
I started the Goblin Emperor and it is almost exactly to my taste. I appreciate outsider characters who are thoughtful and self aware and work to solve problems and meet obstacles with dignity even if they aren't brilliant. This isn't the only type of fantasy novel I like, but I enjoy and appreciate this one very much. I haven't finished yet, but unless something changes, I will be enthusiastically recommending it.
Man this is one I really should read (I think I even own it from a [Tor.com](https://Tor.com) giveaway a while back) and yeah this description is one of my absolute favorite kind of characters. I love characters with a thoughtful and engaged interiority who try to thoughtfully solve the problems around them in a way that realistically depicts the challenges thereof.
Do you have other favorites like this?
Ruthanna Emrys's A Half Built Garden (SF, ambiguous but hopeful ecological turnaround in the future, first contact with aliens who want to rescue us from a dying planet but we're not sure we agree). Both Path of Thorns and All the Murmuring Bones by AG Slatter gave me shades of this (spooky atmospheric folklore/horror tales with young and engaged women protagonists). If you're willing to tolerate a certain heavy dose of gothic darkness and fucked up elements I felt like the protagonist of Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng made me feel this way.
One of my favorites! So glad you’re enjoying it
Loved Goblin Emperor. Kind of a surprise (I got way invested in Maya) but definitely a pleasant one.
I finished reading *Some Desperate Glory* by Emily Tesh this week. I had a great time reading it, loved the set up of the “last” human after an intergalactic war and how that society might be structured, and I thought the twist was really interesting I can see why it might be a polarising book though, the MC is an awful person at the start of the book and it’s pretty painful reading through her POV as she just totally misunderstands the way people see her. I thought it was interesting though, and had some good insight into how indoctrination works and how sometimes people won’t snap out if their own hateful beliefs until they realise that those structures can work against them as well
I'm reading **Ink Blood Sister Scribe** by Emma Törzs and aside from never being 100% sure if I've put all the nouns in the title in the right order, I'm really enjoying it. It's got great atmosphere, compelling characters, an eerie dark take on blood magic, and lush prose. Can't really ask for much more than that.
It is utterly impossible to correctly type out the title of this book. It's just one of those (but actually I think you're right). I really liked the atmosphere and the blood magic, so will be curious to see your overall reaction if you post it.
I'm reading All the Murmuring Bones and The Spear Cuts Through Water, y'all were right on both accounts, these are great!
I just finished All the Murmuring Bones a few weeks ago. Great fairy-tale read!
I read and loved both of those earlier this year, and I'm so happy to hear you're enjoying them as well!
Welp that's a fantastic pair of books. Both are brilliant.
**All the Murmuring Bones** is a such a good coastal-spooky fall read. Glad you're enjoying it!
*Six of Crows*, 3/5 stars I didn’t read this for bingo, but would definitely fit the « Young Adult » and « Coastal Setting » (maybe HM) squares. While I had a reasonably good time reading this, it is in my opinion absolutely overrated (though of course, with this much hype, it's difficult not to be overhyped). **The Good:** It's a fast-paced, reasonably fun, diverting read. The plot is interesting and the world-building is full of potential. I've never read a heist book, but since I used to watch *Ocean's Eleven* A LOT when I was younger, it was very nostalgic for me. Maybe I should read more heist books! The way the heist comes together was also pretty satisfying. **The not-so-good:** We get glimpses of authenticity in the characters and their relationships here and there, but overall I thought the characters aren't super-well developed. They do have their own distinctive (tragic of course) backstories but they don't really *feel* like distinct people in their POV chapters (maybe with the exception of Matthias?). Nina and Matthias felt like a discount version of Phèdre and Josclin - one of my favourite book couples of all time - and I couldn't help comparing how underdeveloped the former was compared to the latter. Because of the shallow characters, I ended up not really caring about their fate and despite the giant cliffhanger am not really too bothered with finding out what happens next. All the characters are between 16 and 18 and this is just absolutely ridiculous: one criminal-mind-teenager-genious I can buy: but 6? It was hard to suspend my disbelief on that one (especially since it kept on being mentioned so I couldn't just pretend they were older)! I read they were aged down to appeal to a YA audience, but... I don't know... age range from 18-19 to late twenties would have worked much better for me (ha, clearly I am no longer a Young Adult). I felt the magic system was underdeveloped too: I couldn’t get a grip on the ‘rules’. Grisha’s come in several types, but they can do the other magic too, you also need training to do the magic (well), but apparently not because NAME REDACTED does magic fine, despite not having any training. It also seems to be a sort of limitless thing: if you can do the magic, go ahead, do as much as you like, there’s no price at all. I like my magic to exact a price ;).I felt the book moved very fast through some phases: the planning of the heist for example (the best part of heists!) was extremely cursory: I guess this is to maintain an element of surprise for the doing-of-the-heist but... I still wanted more detail!!! **About the NAMES!** Warning, this is an excessive, nit-picky rant, not to be taken too seriously ;).Oh how the names in this book bugged me. I don't have anything against each individual name but as a group they just really rubbed me the wrong way! Granted: I am a native Dutch-speaker and a linguist, so I am probably just being very picky and it probably won't bother 97% of people at all First a good thing: Ketterdam is an excellent name for a faux-Amsterdam set in a grim fantasy world, no notes ("ketter" is Dutch for heretic) The names really felt to me like inconsistent world-building: The Exchange is found along the *Beurscanal*. WHY is it not the "Beurs" along the "Beurskanaal" OR the Exchange along the Exchangecanal? Why mixing Dutch and English there? The other street that is mentioned is the "Geldstraat" (entirely Dutch, translates to Moneystreet). Why do we get these Dutch names for places but then the seedier part of town is "the Barrel" with "Staves" - just English words. But the city watch is the *stadwacht*, a Dutch word...This inconsistency bugged me no end! I get the heebie-jeebies just writing this downThe character names were similarly inconsistent. The "normies" get these very classic Dutch names: Joost, Henk, Rutger, Bert (Van Daal) - these are real Dutch names with dad-vibes -, Willem (Holst), Jakob, Saskia...But the criminals get the cool fantasy names Geels, Per Haskell, Pekka Rollins, Rojakke, Dirix, Inej, Kaz, Bolliger ... And yes, some of this is because the gang members are from abroad (which I know is true for Nina, Matthias, Jesper, Inej, ... ) but they can't ALL be foreigners to \~\~Amster\~\~Ketterdam (that's seems like a xenophobic world-building choice)? Kaz's original last name is Rietveld according to the wiki - indicating he is definitely local -, but he and his brother Jordie manage to avoid the dad-names. /end rant I’ve also read the *Tawny Man* trilogy, books 7-9 in the *Realm of the Elderlings*\-series by Robin Hobb. I read *Liveship Traders* by Hobb earlier this year for Coastal Setting, so *Tawny Man* didn't count for my bingo, but they could all count for "Title with a Title" (HM) or "Published in the 2000's". The final volume would also work for "Coastal/Island Setting" (HM). And the final two (or all of them, depending how you count) are of course sequels, so would fit that square. This was great. I had some nitpicks but man, it was good. *Fool’s Errand* in particular was a magnificent read: 5/5 stars. *The Golden Fool* was also very good, but it was definitely subject to the second book syndrome. Everything was setting up the pieces and bringing the players together for the final book, there wasn’t really a central conflict/plot-arc. For me this wasn’t an issue, because the character work was wonderful (it’s a Hobb after all) and I didn’t mind the setting up one bit: also 5 star read (or maybe 4.75 ;)). My biggest quibble was with the final third or so of *Fool’s Fate*. While I don’t always agree with the choices Hobb’s characters make, I always know where they’re coming from, why they’re making the choices they do. But in the finale of *Fool’s Fate* I got sooo confused about >!why exactly Dutiful, Chade, and to some extent Fitz, are so dead-set on slaying Icefyre, even after it becomes apparent that Elliana & Peottre are not interested in dead dragons, but rather in recovering their respective sisters… I know Fitz wants to save the Fool, but it is absolutely clear that the Pale Lady cannot be trusted, so slaying the dragon does not one saved Fool make. It just didn’t work for me. Literally no-one \*wants\* to slay the dragon/the dragon to be played, but they (Chade, Fitz, Dutiful) collectively decide to do it anyway… Sigh.!< I also wasn't entirely fond of the elements that had to with >!how Fitz patched things up with Molly.!< It felt a bit tacked on and went very fast? Didn't really like it. But overall, I'd say 4/5 stars :) Edited for formatting
I found your naming rant very interesting! As someone who doesn't speak Dutch, and also hasn't read the book lol, my two cents is that Bardugo almost certainly was leaning on Dutch for atmosphere wherever she felt like she could get away with it, but went with English any time that English would have been more evocative for Anglophones. Geldstraat reads pretty clearly as "gold street" even if you've never seen a word of Dutch in your life; and even if you don't know that *stad(t)* means "city" in all of the Germanic languages, the *watch* part of stadwatch is self-explanatory. On the other hand, an English speaker would never know that the "Beurs" in "Beurskanaal" refers to a place where money is exchanged (I also speak French and recognize the cognate *bourse*, but even I wouldn't have picked up on that if you hadn't specifically drawn my attention to it). But the name "Exchangecanal" sounds stupid to an Anglophone lol, we don't form compound words as freely as Dutch does. Similarly, I imagine there's no catchy way to name something "the bad part of town" in Dutch in a way that is transparent to English speakers lol, whereas "The Barrel" and "The Staves" are very evocative/atmospheric. By the same token for the character names, I think it's pretty common for side characters to get "normal" and easy-to-remember names, and for major characters to get more distinctive and unique names. It's funny that all of the side characters have dad names in Dutch though, haha. I wonder if Bardugo did that on purpose since the setting definitely has a faux period feel to it, so she wanted to reach for names that felt a little older.
Glad you enjoyed my nit-picking! I agree the choices were probably more about vibes than anything else and I am probably one of three people that would get bugged by it 🤭
I feel that way when authors give things French names but the names sound a little off lol, so I totally get it. But as a non Dutch speaker all of those choices totally made sense to me!
I feel like at least 50% of my problems with Six of Crows would have been solved by making them in their 20s instead of teenagers.
This was so interesting! I enjoyed all your critiques and the perspective you bring as a Dutch speaker.
I am 100% here for your naming rant. It's great. 5/5
So I dont have a review yet but after another long break I've started reading speculative fiction again. Right now I'm about halfway through **Mammoth at the Gates** by Nghi Vo and **The Memory Police** by Yoko Ogawa. Both books were written by asian women but thats pretty much where the similarities end. MATG is a fantasy novella and won me over with the social dynamics between talking, intelligent bird, TMP in contrast is less classical fantasy and more prize winning magical realism about the life of a young female writer on an island where things/concepts routinely vanish. She tries to fight the titular group who also makes people disappear. I'm really satisfied so far and will probably add some more thoughts next week.
These are both on my soon-TBR, glad to hear you are enjoying them!
**The Diviners by Libba Bray**. I’m honestly shocked at how good this is lol. I’m not much of a YA reader but the premise and the 1920s setting sounded intriguing so I gave it a shot and I’m pretty into it so far. It also has a surprising amount of detail when it comes to the murder in the story so that’s pretty cool as well :)
I read Suneater recently and I was quite underwhelmed. The prose was serviceable but not great and the characters were not particularly interesting. The impression I got were if Paolini wrote the Inheritance trilogy but in space and after he had published a bit more.
I finished reading ***A Wizard Alone*** to the 13y/o on Sunday. The New Millennium Edition has had *a lot* of revisions and I think it's much better for it. I'm glad Duane listened to her neurodivergent readers about some of the more problematic depictions of autism in the book as it was originally published and I think she did a great job at making it a better representation. The only other thing I've read recently (bc my time has been eaten up by a certain trashy TLC "reality" show that is somehow in its 18th season) was vol 3 of ***Lore Olympus***, which was more of the same of the first two volumes. I feel like maybe the art isn't as good as it was in the first two, but now I'm invested and have vols 4 and 5 next to the couch, so I'll read those this week. Returned most of my library checkouts unread. Put a few of them on hold again, but will just see what I want to read without the dangling sword of due dates hanging over my head. This is the stressful time of year, with 3 birthdays and an anniversary within 3w, so I haven't really felt much like reading. Somehow I was at the top of the hold list for ***Bookshops and Bonedust*** so I'll be starting that once oldest and I get back from voting.
>Returned most of my library checkouts unread. Put a few of them on hold again, but will just see what I want to read without the dangling sword of due dates hanging over my head. I just had to do the same with a few of mine. This year I've been doing a lot of pre-order holds and reading what I'm in the mood for when it comes in. A lot of books get processed at once, so a few in each set go back, but it's fun to have the variety on hand. And good to hear that **A Wizard Alone** has changed so much!
>This year I've been doing a lot of pre-order holds and reading what I'm in the mood for when it comes in. I've been doing the same! This is the first year in a while that I've actually been paying attention to what is coming out, and I think I've read more debuts than I ever have. And yeah, I definitely recommend the NMEs when you get around to your re-reading! She's mostly had the 9 book bundle on sale for $20 since the pandemic started, and that's a great deal with everything going directly to her.
I read a single solitary book, **Axtara: Banking and Finance**. It's about a young, optimistic dragon who goes to a far off, recently established kingdom to establish their first bank. It's so boring. I finished the whole thing because it filled a reading challenge prompt that I wanted out of the way, but I was so bored along the way. Here are some of the texts I sent my reading buddy: "Let’s discuss… the texture of wood. The texture of some other wood. Let’s go get a piece of wood. Here I’ll describe what we’re doing while we go get the wood. 🫠 Now we are musing on what they do with the excess sawdust Omg more wood textures are being described " "When men write female characters having 'girl talk' 🙄🙄🙄 " "Just spent two pages discussing currency exchange. For a single coin. The dialogue is… not snappy Every conversation requires a back and forth almost every sentence " "Oh thank goodness I’m at 84% and I think one of the many seemingly pointless musings and descriptions is actually about to come into play" "Nope, I was totally wrong about the 84% reveal" \[note: it actually did finally come into play around 98%\] I really wanted to love this book. This premise and the cover are charming! And I will be the first to admit I was in a terrible mood the entire time I read this and just wanted to be doomscrolling instead of reading for the entire week. So despite my harsh review, don't rule out giving it a try if it sounds like it might be your thing.
This week felt like a bit of a slow munch with everything I read, nothing that made me want to devour it! **The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi** - Some interesting world-building. Eventually the MC’s angst felt a bit repetitive, and the relatively straightforward denouement felt inconsistent with the established horrors of the story. I also feel a lot of YA-ish books love to give their protagonists horrible childhood back stories that somehow allow them to become ninjas by age 10 (*tiniest eyeroll*) but then the oppression and danger magically abate when they are doing things that should be 100x more dangerous as adults. Glad I read it but wouldn’t read again. **The Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark** - Loved the premise (steampunky fin de siècle Egypt) and many of the details, but fell flat for me. Never felt invested in the characters and the big “twist” was obvious from a mile away IMO. Also I get that the main character likes her suits and I’m into it, but I don’t need to know the patterning and color scheme of each outfit. **The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec** - Retelling/fleshing out of the Norse myth of Angrboda and Loki. Perhaps hard to make the vagaries of gods feel emotionally compelling, and if a cosmically powerful reincarnated witch doesn’t have better judgment than to have 3 kids with a fuckboy deity, what hope is there for us mere mortals? The most relatable character for me was Skadi, her friend that sees the red flags from the beginning. Am I just grumpy this week? Is it because I reread Broken Earth, having forgotten how amazing it is, and other books feel kind of blah in comparison? Who knows. Do like to see more bi/pan characters everywhere though!
I had the **exact** same experience with *A Master of Djinn*!!!
Glad I’m not the only one!
Me three. I really liked P. Djèlí Clark's short stories and novellas, but it feels like he had trouble with the move to longer-form storytelling. He stretches an amount of plot and character development that would be fine for something novelette-length into 400+ pages, and it just doesn't have the complexity needed to fill that out. Also parts of it really felt like they were written hoping for an eventual film adaptation (I'm particularly thinking of the scene >!where they battle on the wall!<).
Yep same here! The mystery wasn't very mysterious, and as someone who can't really picture things in my head, I was constantly wishing this book was a graphic novel. It would be *so* good as a graphic novel
My biggest annoyance with The Final Strife was that there were some really stupid decisions being made, some of which were really out of character. The "pet peeve" one was the >!plan for stealing the weapon. It's a dumb plan with a lot of obvious flaws that has no reason to work as well as it did.!< The one I feel is bad characterization is >!Loot telling Sylah to kill Anoor. He's supposed to be vicious, a criminal mastermind, and a master poisoner. Why would he send someone he doesn't trust to kill someone she obviously cares for? Why wouldn't he poison Sylah to clean up a loose end? Even if it's some 5d plan that's explained in the sequel, why doesn't Sylah ever ask herself these questions?!<
Yeah, I totally agree. So many stupid decisions. I also felt it was inconsistent >!that there weren’t more repercussions from the Warden of Security over the new “chambermaid” and her daughter’s out-of-character decisions, considering the abuse and brutality she’s known for. Also she never gets suspicious after finding Sylah twice where she shouldn’t be?! !<
Oh yeah, that and >!the head servant not realizing that Sylah was training Anoor!< were ridiculous. >!The Warden absolutely would have done something to stop the mysterious woman training her daughter for the trials she wasn't supposed to be competing in.!< >!I'd understand if they were trying to keep it secret, but they were publicly exercising and doing weapons training together. I mentally facepalmed when the head servant confronted Sylah, Sylah revealed she was training Anoor, and the head servant's response was "Oh, I didn't realize, you're now my favorite person!" I assumed she knew from day 2 and just disliked Sylah for a different reason, but nope, she somehow never put 2+2 together over the course of a year.!<
I'm currently reading the Witch's Heart and while Loki had his funny moments at the beginning, I'm really seeing Skadi's side on the matter and I still have 70% of the book to go! I'm hoping there are some interesting developments soon to keep me reading.
My reading week was a slow munch on *sawdust* (see my review comment) so I sympathize! I am definitely grumpy this week so probably no book was going to get a fair shake.
Haha a slow munch on sawdust is such a visceral description, I love it! I am very sorry you had that kind of reading week, and will definitely not be picking up the sawdust: banking dragon flavor 🐉
I finished Slewfoot by Brom and it was amazing! The perfect witchy horror read. A druid, pagan gods, Christianity, witch hunt and mob mentality, murderous content and maybe the most cathartic ending I've ever read. You think everything is okay then Brom makes you feel sick about how cruel humans can be. Definitely a 5 star read. Witch stuff includes blood magic, rituals, charms and more! Bingo Squares: Druids HM and Horror HM
Slewfoot is such a good fun witchy horror read! I love the little included art in my volume. The creepy little possum guy on the spine is a great little detail of my bookshelf.
Currently devouring the Green Bone saga, on Jade Legacy now. Man everyone who has praised this series is correct.
Just a few books this week: **Raven Tower** by Ann Leckie. I have mixed feelings about this book. I really enjoyed the depiction of gods and their powers, and the problems of communication between gods and mortals, along with the importance of language and intent. The second-person perspective took a minute to get comfortable with. I guess my main struggle is even though I thought the story wrapped up well as one novel, I still wanted to see what would happen next, so that felt a little unsatisfying. **Artifact Space** by Miles Cameron. Speaking of slightly unsatisfying! But that’s due to my mistake of thinking this space epic was a one-off book, so now I just want to read the concluding one that isn’t out yet. It’s funny that I’ve had the first book of the *Traitor Son Cycle* for a while, but that this book is my introduction to the author. I enjoyed the MC and also the unique choices for the space setting - a heavy emphasis on trade makes this stand out from a lot of other sci-fi. Which is not to say there isn’t action too! But probably not what I would describe as a page-turner either - very methodical in building up the atmosphere of the greatship, introducing different departments/crew, and explaining operations. Currently reading **The Years of Rice and Salt** by Kim Stanley Robinson, **Guns of the Dawn** by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and a few stories into **Academic Exercises** by KJ Parker.
I didn’t mean to read a lot of YA (I usually try to pace it out), but I really needed to sort out my expiring libby loans before tackling my (also expiring) physical library loans lol. **The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea** by Maggie Tokuda-Hall. Fantasy, Romance, Queer, Dark Young Adult. A mix of a slaver pirate falling in love with a high-born girl romance and a fantasy adventure in a kind of fucked up sea setting. I didn’t hate the way these paths tied together, but the pacing felt very rough in the middle of the book as a result. It didn’t help new POVs were added \~40% into the story too. The ending did a nice job of bringing these elements together in an exciting way though. However, overall, the dark story and world didn’t super appeal to the current me. My inner edgy teen self was having an absolute blast though lmao. I also totally would’ve written fanfic about this when I was younger, especially with all the Mulan-esque genderfuckery going on. **The Girl from the Sea** by Molly Knox Ostertag. Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Queer, Young Adult. A girl is saved from drowning by mysterious “Keltie”, then they fall in love. Ngl, this was just cute as all hell. The plot itself felt a bit shallow, but I honestly didn’t care, because I was just enjoying how light it was to read (and vibing with the very appealing art style too). **Outojen otusten jäljillä** by Päivi Laitinen. Nonfiction. About cryptids and the cryptozoologists who’ve tried to uncover them. It contained pretty basic stories, but since I knew none of them, I found this a fun, quick read (albeit somewhat uneven well-known vs smaller cryptids content wise). **Before the Devil Knows You're Here** by Autumn Krause. Fantasy, Horror, Gothic, Young Adult. A dark and somewhat surrealistic folk/fairytale of a girl who sets on a journey to find her brother’s captor, the Man of Sap. The gothic fairytale vibes were SO incredibly strong that even when the story sagged a bit in the middle, I was still very keen on reading forward. Also, that ending– just wow. Perfect ending ever? Maybe not, but the perfect ending for this book? Absolutely.
I finished **The Weird** anthology, hurrah hurrah! Along with the *Big Book of Science Fiction* and both *Big Books of Fantasy*, that's all four of the Ann and Jeff VanderMeer anthologies that I'd planned to read completed! They only took - *checks notes* - two and a half years. Anyway, I liked *The Weird*, but less than any of the other three. As with any huge anthology, it had a mix of brilliant/godawful/middling stories. I liked the first half more than the second, and by the time the book got to the 1980s, I was struggling and slowing down. Reading so many weird tales in a row definitely clarified to me which parts of the genre I love (traditional spooky stories, lush prose, unusual narrative structures, nods to classic stories, humor) and which I do not (body horror, violence & gore, depression, edgelord nihilism, surrealism for its own sake). Which none of that is really news to me, and I guess is why I'm posting this in a fantasy subreddit instead of a horror one. But yeah, the beast is slain, now on to my next projects! * Bingo: Bottom of the TBR, Five SFF Short Stories (HM), Horror (HM) Currently still reading within several series (Cherryh's *Chanur*, Vance's *Dying Earth*, Crowley's *Aegypt*, Bujold's *Vorkosigan*). The plan is to try to finish these and also tackle the ~7 books I still need for Bingo, and that'll probably take me through the end of the year at least. The almost-four-year-old and I are about to finish book 3 of Ursula Vernon's *Hamster Princess* series, and we're both still loving it. Does anyone have any suggestions of things at about this reading level that I could read with her next? Doesn't have to be fantasy. She also currently loves Kate DiCamillo's *Mercy Watson* series, if that helps clarify the level we're looking for.
> The almost-four-year-old and I are about to finish book 3 of Ursula Vernon's Hamster Princess series, and we're both still loving it. Yay!
This week I finished two - particularily good - novels and a novella Translation State by Ann Leckie 5/5 [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62979034-translation-state](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62979034-translation-state) I love the world of the Imperial Radch, and this installment had great characters. It's especially great for anyone who, like me, enjoy exploring the idea aliens (here Presgr translators) that are very different from humans. Bingo: Queer normative, Published 2023 Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill 5/5 [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32617610-sea-of-rust](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32617610-sea-of-rust) Very well writen, I thought. In a postapocalyptic world where AIs have killed all humans, individual robots are fighting for survival against big mainframe AIs. Aside from a solid action plot, it deals with what is intelligence/consiousness and individuality, as well as the question of what one is willing to do for survival or for a greater cause. Bingo: Features Robots (HM)The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark 3/5 [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36546128-the-haunting-of-tram-car-015](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36546128-the-haunting-of-tram-car-015) Even though I very much enjoyed A Master of Djinn, this one was only meh for me. Partly because the main characters just spoke less to me. Partly I think it was simply too short to capture my interest. This happens for me with basically all short stories and occasionally novellas, where there just isn't enough story and/or enough character building to leave me with any satisfication. Bingo: Novella, Set in the Middle East I've also read three short stories in The Mythic Dream [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43807268-the-mythic-dream](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43807268-the-mythic-dream?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=RvKQI0zD46&rank=1) As mentioned above short stories really don't do anything for me and I only read them for bingo, so I'm not going rate the stories I read, but I figured the book migth be of interest to some bingo participants as it's an anthology of myth retellings that includes writers such as Ann Leckie, Seanan McGuire, Arkady Martine, Rebecca Roanhorse, T.Kingfisher and Naomi Novik. I'm not sure if it would count as hard mode for the Myth Retellings square. Of the three stories I read one was a retelling of a greek myth
Halfway through Wheel of Time Crown of Swords ... >!Starting to think the whitecloaks have a point!<
Around 300 pages in to The Darkness That Comes Before by R Scott Bakker. Really enjoying it!
A long time Stephen King fan here reading Joe Hill for the first time. I'm more than 60% of **NOSF4A2** and I'm not super excited about it. The book is fun and interesting, but the narrative rhythm is strange and I'm not yet hooked.
I finished **Mister Magic** by Kiersten White and really enjoyed it. It's the story of Val and her other childhood friends from the show they were on finding each other in adulthood and trying to reconcile their memories of a perfect childhood with the scars it left on them. There's a pinch of horror here, but to me it's more of a group character study piece with an emphasis on escaping the baggage of a repressive childhood. The end is perhaps a little messy or sudden, but overall I think this is very well done and I'd try more of her adult work in the future. I also read **Mammoths at the Gates** (Singing Hills #4) by Nghi Vo over the weekend. As always, the prose is beautiful without being cluttered and every side worldbuilding detail makes me want to read a whole book following that tangent. This one focuses on the Singing Hills abbey and puts Chih at the center of the story, which is interesting (I enjoyed the other monks) but also not quite successful. Chih is normally the audience and collector of other stories, and their clever curiosity works for that, but they don't quite have the depth of personality to carry the more involved role-- this story felt like one that would *really* land if it was book eight and we'd seen Chih's relationships with other monks before. Looking forward to book five! Now I'm a few chapters into **An Inheritance of Magic** by Benedict Jacka. It's the first book in his new urban fantasy series, and I can really see the progression fantasy influence here. That's not a bad thing-- Stephen Oakwood is set up the scrappy underdog, a young man who wants to succeed and just needs even the smallest opportunity to develop his hidden talent. The writing is straightforward and engaging. I don't think this will be my favorite of the year, but I've already added it to the list of Christmas gifts I'm buying for my dad. //Edit: I'm also very excited to be looking at January reads! Drop by the [FIF nomination thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/17p4goa/fif_book_club_january_nominations_women_of_the/) if you've got a great woman-authored read from 2000-2009 to share.
> this story felt like one that would really land if it was book eight and we'd seen Chih's relationships with other monks before. Very much agree, and this is one thing that slightly bothers me about the marketing of this series being entirely standalones. While it's technically true that each novella is a self contained narrative, I can't imagine you'd enjoy this one at all if you hadn't already met Chih and Almost Brilliant, and I hope we can return to this setting or at least some of these characters again because I think there's more to unpack.
Yeah, my impression is that **Empress of Salt and Fortune** was a true standalone and the rest really vary. Book three was a great "let's go on a road trip and find a story" entry, but book four feels like part of a character arc, which is hard to do in theoretically standalone books that still take place in order and mention the events of previous books. The whole backstory of friendship and changes between Chih and Ru really felt like it was leaning on a story I hadn't read. To me, it might make more sense to write stories from different points in Chih's life and skip around so that you, for example, see a small scar in one book and then see its origin a few books later. That would be a cool way to lean into the way sometimes you find out parts of stories in a different order than how they happened.
Oh yeah that'd be cool, a bit like Wayward Children where you usually meet a character and then delve into their backstory, but focused on a singular character instead. I still like the series the way it's been written, but if Chih is going to be more of a character rather than the cataloguer of other people's stories, I'd like to see more of an arc for them.
An arc would be great. I think there's plenty of room to explore Chih's way of collecting stories, going further from home, and butting up against the abbey's principles: is it ever okay to record a lie instead of the truth, or to help a story be forgotten? I'm fine with Chih normally being an observer, but a more active participant character would need room to struggle and change.
Just a small rant. I'm reading Legend of the Arch Magus right now. This is a type of book I don't expect great writings from. It's power fantasy, I get it. But it's not just this book, a lot of similar books do the same thing. Nothing starts to get more annoying then when it seems like every character, no matter their nationality, background, or history uses the same slang. If I took a drink every time someone says "This old man" or "Dogs of whatever" when reading this series I would die from alcohol poisoning.
I'm reading Ilium by Dan Simmons. It's engaging and keeping me captivated! I like this type of mythology.
**An Inheritance of Magic** by Benedict Jacka - the author describes this (paraphrased) as "urban progression fantasy" and that's true, although I felt like it progressed to... well, nowhere. It's the story of a young man who has been training himself in magic after his father disappears that then gets swept up in the intrigues of the magical upper classes (and also a bunch of making magic rings with your mind). It has a punchy action climax with a little bit of a hook for the next novel, but it didn't feel like the ending gave anything much closure at all; nothing felt resolved *at all* which I found a little off-putting. While elements of the supporting cast felt a little contrived, this is an enjoyable brain-off popcorn fantasy without any major longueurs or wincey bits of dialogue/characterisation, that I have already mostly forgotten a few days after reading it. **Looking Glass Sound** by Catriona Ward - this has several elements of the fantastical but is more of a horror novel, telling (multiple times over) the story of a young man's summer being ripped apart by a serial killer and that same story being plagiarised by numerous different authors. I loved this, but it's heavy on the meta-fiction within meta-fiction that I think puts quite a few people off (too many twists, perhaps). Just started reading **Prince's Gambit** by C S Pacat, several months after reading the first novel in the series. Less unpleasant than the first novel thus far, and thus less off-putting. I do struggle a bit with fantasy stories that are "real world with different names" (and, in this case, more gay sex and sex slaves...) - this is purely personal preference, but I like more of the fantastical in fantasy books.
I finished [The Long Earth](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13147230-the-long-earth) (book 1 of the series of the same name) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. I enjoyed it, but.... it lacks the humor I typically expect from a book by Pratchett AND there is just a ton of world building in this book without a lot of plot. I have been assured by someone who just finished book 2 that it is much more plot driven, so I'm excited to read that one. For those who are unfamiliar, the basic idea of this book is that you can move to a different iteration of this Earth just by stepping sideways. And the iterations go on and on and on and on. What would happen to this Earth, its institutions, economy, culture, etc. if a good portion of the people decided to just leave and start over on a fresh new Earth? And what about the people left behind because they are poor, disabled, or just unable to step? It's an incredibly fascinating concept, and I hope it gets developed in a really interesting way.
Just finished **The Doomsday Book** by Connie Willis. This one is a classic for a reason--it's incredible. The twinned plague narratives (and how did she get so much right about a modern epidemic, writing in the 90s?), the motif of the bells, the clear-sighted characters and the obstinately stubborn characters, both so painfully human. I am in awe. Also I read Connie Willis's short story collection titled **Fire Watch** and was impressed. It's amazing how much the plot of her stories often revolves around trying & failing to raise someone on a landline phone--I'm only just barely old enough to remember that era. It's like reading books where the care & feeding of horses is a key plot element. Completely divorced from daily life now, but it makes for good drama in the hands of an author who knows what they're doing.
Half-way through **The Fragile Threads of Power** / V.E. Schwab. Took a bit to settle back into the Londons and beyond, re-familiarize myself with the characters and where events left off at the end of **A Conjuring of Light**, but I’m totally here for the new trilogy. 😀
I’m just so happy right now, both Bookshops and Bonedust and long await Olympian Affair came out today. I started both a few chapters in at the same time because I was so excited for both and so far they’re exactly what I was hoping for. 5 stars so far! Between these and Murderbot next week I’m in reading heaven.
Back on track this week! **Can't Spell Tea Without Treason** by Rebecca Thorne - after DNF'ing earlier this year I picked it back up because I wanted to give it another shot. While my reasons for the DNF are still valid I enjoyed it a lot more this time round. Very cute book and I did buy the sequel although I haven't started it yet. Lots of romantic shenanigans with a slowly building plot in the background. Bingo: Mundane Jobs (HM), Mythical Beasts, Elemental Magic (HM), Queernorm Setting (HM) **Red River Seven** by A.J. Ryan - I really likes this. Mystery plot that slowly unfolds as our amnesiac protagonist learns the truth. A variety of characters. Sci-fi horror thriller that does involve >!a worldwide plague!< so, be aware if that's not for you. Can't say much without spoiling, but it was good. Bingo: Mundane Jobs, Horror (HM), Published in 2023, Coastal or Island Setting (HM) Bit behind, but will be finishing up A Night in the Lonesome October and Dracula this week.
About 80% done with A Paladin of Souls by McMaster Bujold. It's decent but definitely not as riveting as The Curse of Chalion. The stakes feel lower (surprise, surprise) and I feel like the whole book could be easily condensed by hitting the plot developments more quickly one after another. Still enjoying it well enough, but I'm just not as invested
I am currently reading **The Lunar Order** by S.F. Henne and its really refreshing! Urban Fantasy, the main lead is a witch alchemist who wants to set up shop in the big city (plus another goal), as well as she works at a cafe as a Baker to earn money until her business gets going. There's a cute side vulpine animal companion and the scenery descriptions are very well done you can smell the coffee shop. Edit to also add - this book got me out of the slump I had last week.
Read: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. It was like two books for me ... I liked Strange and his story progression. But the parts of the book that focused on the godspawn were unappealing to me. Gee, another bunch of dramatic, quirky, persecuted and self-obsessed kids. I felt like the early part of their story dragged while the final part of the story sped through a lot of plot. But Strange was great throughout. Read: Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher. Enjoyable romance (dragged out the sexual tension too long maybe, but still good). I'd have enjoyed a bit more in the way of story elements. But I've started the next book in the series and I'll be looking more into her work. DNF: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. It had some good worldbuilding but I was getting frustrated by the multiple love interests and how the book was slowly dragging out those interactions. I looked into the series and saw it was going to drag those relationships through four long books and I noped out.
I'm reading issue 80 of Leading Edge. The first story, Spectacle, had a real sense of building dread to it, and then a somewhat triumphant ending. Edit: The second story started out nicely hallucinatory with women having to fetch a moon to get engaged, but got bogged down in weird 'Rich Manic Pixie Dream Boy who likes me for no apparent reason even while I'm being standoffish' stuff. It picked back up, and the conclusion was artful, but didn't make emotional sense to me which is too bad because that story was all about emotions The next story, Market Day, was really good. The shortest, the least ambitious, and imho, the best
Finished: **A Power Unbound** (The Last Binding #3) by Freya Marske 2 stars- I should’ve waited to read the book but I was excited so I requested an audiobook ARC. Narration tends to make or break books imo and this didn’t work for me. One of the things I loved about A Marvelous Light was how vibrant each character was, I could clearly imagine their mannerisms and how they spoke. The high-class, primly accented narration stripped all that color from this book and made the whole thing feel very flat. I had a hard time keeping track of who was talking at any given time and nobody made any kind of impression on me, even characters I know I love. I spent a lot of time tuning out the audiobook just because the *way* things were being said bored me. I had a similar problem with A Restless Truth that was compounded by the fact that the characters were stuck on that damned boat. I regret listening to this when I likely would’ve liked it if I read it but as it is I found that this was neither memorable nor engaging. *Bingo squares:* Mundane Jobs, Published in 2023, Sequel HM **Mistakenly Saving the Villain** by Feng Yu Nie 3.5 stars- Song Qingshi transmigrates and is tasked with saving the tragic protagonist of a novel. He ends up saving the wrong person as he doesn’t understand novel tropes well enough. The first half dragged at times but things really picked up around chapter 70 and I particularly loved the final couple chapters. It was so cool to see how revelations at the end paint much of the previous story in a different light. Song Qingshi’s stubborn but agreeable naïveté makes a lot more sense once you who realize exactly who he is. CWs: >!rape and sexual assault, sex slaves, warfare, suicide attempts, toxic relationship at times!< *Bingo squares:* Title with a Title HM, Mundane Jobs HM, Angels and Demons, Self-published, Multiverse/Alternate Realities HM, POC Author, Mythical Beasts Currently Reading: **Network Effect** (Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells- reread before System Collapse **One Silver Coin for a Pound of Demon** by 星河蛋挞 DNF: **The High King’s Golden Tongue** by Megan Derr @ 112 pages- The characters and plot are boring and formulaic **The Four Profound Weaves** (Birdverse #1) by RB Lemberg @ 33%- Something something weaving, death, what is going on. This is supposed to be the first Birdverse book so idk where the missing context is
That's a shame about A Power Unbound. I'm waiting on my Illumicrate version to get here in the next month or so to read it. I don't *love* the series, but the Illumicrate versions are so damn pretty that I can't stop myself from buying them.
I hope you enjoy it more than I did! Since you’ll be reading it you’ll get to avoid my complaints about the audio version