2018 book 180

Alice Oseman's Radio Silence
I am perpetually grateful to friends who recommend good books to me, especially ones I would not have discovered on my own. I actually like the little description blurb here so will copy and paste for your viewing pleasure:

“Frances Janvier spends most of her time studying. 

Everyone knows Aled Last as that quiet boy who gets straight As. 

You probably think that they are going to fall in love or something. Since he is a boy and she is a girl.

They don’t. They make a podcast.”

I liked this A LOT, it touches on fandom and friendship and families (good and bad), on fitting into society's boxes, on love and creativity. Just an unexpectedly moving story. A/A-.

2018 book 179

T. Kingfisher's Swordheart
The latest from Kingfisher (pen name of Ursula Vernon) is set in the same universe as her Clockwork Boys series, but works fine as a standalone. It has all the things I always love in her works--adventures, adorable and awkward romance, and most of all, hilarity. This one centers on a 36 year old widow who has inherited some money, and now her relatives are scheming against her. When she draws a sword for reasons, a magical soldier guy appears, now her sworn protector! Obviously murder, mayhem, and religious sects ensue. And it's awesome! This is the first in a trilogy and I CANNOT WAIT to read the other two, please release them IMMEDIATELY, thanks. A.

2018 book 178

Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn
It’s the fiftieth anniversary of this book this year, so I have been reading the occasional thinkpiece, which of course made me want to reread the book! It’s funny that it’s fifty years old, because it feel fresh every time I read it. Is that because the movie and book were the formative media of my childhood (and still my best beloved) or because the writing is just that good? I mean, it IS that good! Funny, bittersweet, unusual, and full of heart.

2018 book 177

Chelsey Johnson's Stray City
I think I say this every month, but the best thing about book club is forcing my friends to read my favorite books and discuss them with me! And this will one hundred percent be on my list of favorite books of 2018. It’s a beautifully written story about queer communities, identity, love, family, and music, not to mention Portland in the 1990s. I love everything about this. A.

2018 book 176

Barbara Hambly's Dragonsbane
Here is an interesting thing about this book—the official description makes it seem like the story of a young man who seeks out a famous slayer of dragons, and goes off with him and a witch woman on a journey back to his homeland—BUT the main character is actually the witch! This was written in 1985 (and so has some 1985ness going on) but a lot of the themes are still relevant today—stories vs history, women being torn between families and their own desires/careers/magical powers, how easy it is to stoke up bigotry, etc. Really compelling, even if the writing style is a bit slow. I got a bit of a Last Unicorn vibe (maybe bc I have been reading articles about the 50th anniversary of that book), though this story is crueler and more violent. I loved that witch though. What a great character. A-.

2018 book 175

Courtney Summers' Sadie
Summers' latest novel centers on a nineteen year old girl whose little sister was murdered, and the killer was never caught--but the titular Sadie is convinced she knows who it was and sets out to get revenge. Meanwhile, a podcast is narrating the story of the girl's death and Sadie's subsequent disappearance. Sometimes framing like that can feel gimmicky, but it worked for me here. I will say this is a grim, dark, and tense story, though a very compelling one. But very grim and dark. A-.


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Content warning for child abuse.

2018 book 174

Stephanie Burgis' The Girl With The Dragon Heart
The sequel to Burgis' The Dragon With The Chocolate Heart is cute, but not quite as good as its predecessor.  In this one, the fairy royals come for a visit and the crown princess enlists the best friend of the girl from the first book to act as a spy. She isn’t very . . . measured in her approach and I found it mildly frustrating. Just didn’t hit the heights of the first in the series, for me. B.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.

2018 book 173

Agatha Christie’s At Bertram's Hotel
This is a later (the Beatles are mentioned) and somewhat lesser Miss Marple story. For one thing, she’s not in it enough; the central figure is the Chief Inspector, and she helps a little. For another, the mystery itself is kind of all over the place and not too hard to figure out. Still entertaining enough, but not one of her stronger works.

2018 book 172

Tansy Rayner Roberts' The Shattered City
The second book in the Creature Court series is more of the same, but it feels duller and more repetitive here. I thought about just stopping several times while reading, but I didn’t have anything else I wanted to read, so slogged along with a sigh. I mean, it's interesting enough, I just think it could have used a tighter edit. I am not sure if I’ll read the third. B.

2018 book 171

Jaclyn Moriarty's The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars
I swear, there is no author who writes such consistently charming books as Jaclyn Moriarty. This is a follow-up to Bronte Mettlestone, set fifteen years earlier (but featuring several familiar characters). It's the same sort of hilarious, sweet, and action packed story, narrated in turns by a boy from the local orphanage and a girl from the local ritzy boarding school, who . . . Well, that would be a spoiler. Suffice it to say there are adventures and magic afoot. Great and delightful stuff. A.

2018 book 170

Tansy Rayner Roberts' Power and Majesty
I no longer remember why I backed this author's Kickstarter that gave me the Creature Court trilogy (of which this is the first) and a new novella in the series. Anyway, it's nice to have a big hunk of a story to read, though this does lean into the dark fantasy stuff (lots of violence, erotic blood-sucking, chaos and mayhem, etc. A content warning for rape and associated trauma, not to mention abuse and torture, seems appropriate here too). In this world, cities are protected by magical people who can transform into animals, and they're all decadent hedonists with weird power struggles. A young seamstress had this power but it was stolen from her; now, years later, the thief has died and her powers have been restored, and she (and her friends) are thrust into this shadowy world. I liked the human characters in this a lot; the magical people were mildly annoying in that melodramatic way. If this was slightly less grim, I’d love it, but instead I just liked it a lot and am looking forward to the next one. B+.

2018 book 169

Makiia Lucier's Isle of Blood and Stone
This is a sort of fantasy-mystery hybrid and I LOVED IT! So eighteen years ago, the two little princes were kidnapped, along with the king's mapmaker, and everyone else at their picnic was slaughtered. A man from a neighboring kingdom confessed, saying their king was behind the kidnappomg, but everyone taken drowned in a shipwreck, leading to war and chaos. But now two maps have been discovered that indicate the mapmaker did not die that day, and his now-grown son and the king's (lady) spy cousin must figure out what the heck happened, who was behind the terrible event--and are the princes still alive? The villain is not too hard to puzzle out, but I found the story very satisfying anyway, and the characters were all extremely well drawn. I can’t wait for the follow up! A/A-.

2018 book 168

Eugenia Kim's The Kinship of Secrets
This book is a sequel to Kim’s The Calligrapher's Daughter, which I read like eight years ago and in fact have no memory of reading, so it works fine as a stand-alone. It takes place from the 1950s to the 1970s and centers on two sisters—one, the elder, who was brought to America with her parents in the late 40s, and the other, who was left behind with family but then is stuck there through the war years and beyond. Sections of this are told in letters and diaries, but they appear seemingly at random, and it’s a little bit of a jarring shift in the narrative each time. I also thought the back half felt a little bit rushed. Still, an engaging and interesting read. I liked the relationship between the sisters a lot. B/B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.

2018 book 167

Jaclyn Moriarty's The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone
I am rereading this delightful book because the second in the series is on its way to me! It's about a ten year old girl whose parents, who have been away her whole life adventuring, have been killed by pirates, and their will forces her to go on a series of adventures (to deliver gifts to her many aunts). This book has it all--eccentric and adorable relatives, water sprites, magic, helpful librarians, dragons, and a bunch of bad-ass ladies (and children). I can’t wait to see what the second book brings!