2022 book 17

 Alaya Dawn Johnson's Trouble the Saints

So the world building here is really interesting—certain people (all minorities) born with magical hands that give them various powers, and the story starts off strong with a white-passing Black woman gifted at throwing knives, working as an assassin for a (white) mobster on the eve of WWII. But things get more muddled as the POV shifts to her boyfriend (his hands can detect threats), and then to a friend of theirs who is a dancer and oracle. Parts of this are very powerful and moving (the ending, oof), especially the examination and condemnation of racism, but the middle parts are just kind of all over the place. B+.

2022 book 16

 T. Kingfisher’s Swordheart

Sometimes you just want to reread something fun and chill, and this has way less death and dismemberment than the author's other fantasy romances. ;)

2022 book 15

 Seanan McGuire's Middlegame

I’d actually never read this before, because McGuire can be hit or miss for me, and I knew this was connected to her Wayward Children books, which I’m not particularly into. But this works fine as a standalone, about a group of creepy alchemists who are experimenting on children, leading to a pair of gifted twins who are separated but keep finding each other again (which gets a little repetitive at a certain point). I liked all the business with the resets a lot, and was invested in the characters, but did think things got a bit muddled toward the end. Apparently a sequel is forthcoming, which I will maybe read? B+.

221 book 14

 Donna Barba Higuera's The Last Cuentista

I consider it a sort of moral victory that I checked this out of the library five days before it won the Newbery. ;) I don’t even remember what review or mention prompted that, but talk about serendipity! And I think this might be my favorite Newbery winner since When You Reach Me (which is one of my top five favorite books of ALL TIME, so high praise here). Anyway, it’s set in the 2060s, and focuses on a twelve year old girl whose family has been selected to go on a generation ship to a new planet, because Earth is about to be destroyed by a comet. And she’s expected to be a scientist like her parents, but she wants to be a storyteller like her grandmother! Of course, that turns out not to be the biggest issue, as all their plans quickly fall apart. So this is at once a kind of sci-fi thriller AND a story about the power of stories and culture and family. A hard combo to pull off and the author does it with aplomb. Super good. A.

2021 book 13

 Claire Kann's The Marvelous

Rereading this for book club and I don’t mind a bit! I loved it just as much the second time and in fact just reread the whole thing in one sitting. How can you not love a book whose main characters are three girls of color (two queer!) who are part of a group trying to solve a game of puzzles for a million dollar prize! I don’t know if book club will be as into it (one book clubber thought it was “horror” and though there is one scene I personally found horrifying, it’s really a fun YA mystery/thriller). I just find all three narrators super compelling, even if the puzzle aspect is not up to like Westing Game levels (but what could be?). 

2021 book 12

 Linda Nagata’s Days of Storm

I’ll be honest, I didn’t find this to be a very satisfying conclusion. It hit all the expected story beats, matched all the expected characters up romantically, but it totally felt that way while reading, like it was going through the motions. Not much else to say. B.

2022 book 11

 Linda Nagata's The Long War

Solid second book in a trilogy (though it ends kind of abruptly, but second books often do). Our main characters are split up in this one, so we get to meet a bunch of new characters, learn a bit more about the society/history, see some cool new spirits, etc. I am invested in the story but also kind of wish there was a little more to it? Still, I’m excited to see how things wrap up. A-.

2022 book 10

 Linda Nagata's The Snow Chanter

This is an interesting start to a trilogy, set in a world full of gods/spirits, some of whom are friendly toward the local humans, and some who are not, including one who has created monsters to destroy them. So our main characters are a teen boy, raised as a warrior, on a quest with his older brother and cousin, and a young woman who's on a quest of her own. Lots of magic and action and intriguing characters that I was pretty invested in. Definitely reading the next one. A-.

2022 book 9

 Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven

I haven’t actually read this since it first came out, but since I recently watched and loved the miniseries, I decided to revisit the source material. Of course then I was just mentally comparing all the changes. (I think most of the changes the tv show made were great and added a lot of emotion and human connection, but the book isn’t the lesser for not having them.) Anyway, totally holds up, still a powerful piece of literature, can’t wait to read her upcoming new one.

2022 book 8

 T. Kingfisher's Nettle and Bone

This isn’t actually out for a couple of months, but if you think I was going to wait to read the new and much-hyped Ursula Vernon book, you got another think (thing? Which is it?) coming. And this was sooooo good and so satisfying. She's playing with fairy tale tropes, but in her trademark dark and creepy and cool way. We start with a youngest of three, who's grateful to have been send off to live in a convent, except then she discovers her elder sister's prince husband is actually an abusive murderer, and is determined to rescue her. Soon impossible tasks, bone dogs, and fairy godmothers are all in the mix, and it's GREAT. I just really loved these characters, and this isn’t a romance (though there is a teeny bit of romance), so it breaks the mold of the author's recent books (don’t get me wrong, I love those books, but it’s nice to read something more surprising). I just found this really satisfying, which is the best thing a book can be. A. 

__

A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in April.

2022 book 7

 Lina Rather's Sisters of the Forsaken Stars

I should have reread the first book in this series before starting this one, because all I remembered was that it was about nuns in space and that I liked it a lot. And I think this one does an okay, but not great job of reminding the reader of the plot and re-introducing the characters. The other issue here is that this doesn’t have much plot of its own to speak of—the nuns' actions of the first book seem to have started fomenting a rebellion, they have two new people aboard, and one former nun is on a different spaceship starting a new life. But it’s a novella, none of these stories have any space to develop, the new characters are given short shrift (which is a major detriment to the plot), it’s all just kind of frustrating. I would have read a whole book about the wild liveship colony and there are like three pages. I just didn’t care about anything that was happening because I wasn’t invested in any of it. I don’t know how differently I’d feel if I had reread the first one, but I think the plot issues/lack of character and plot development are still a major problem. B.

__

A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on February 15th.

2022 book 6

 Joanne Harris' Gentlemen and Players

So it turns out Harris (author of Chocolat and several books about Loki) also has a mystery series set at a boys' school in England, which is pretty up my alley! The story is narrated from two POVs—one, an aging and mildly crotchety Latin teacher: the other, someone who’s gotten hired as a new teacher under a false name in order to bring the school down for Reasons (I correctly guessed who this was early on so was a bit frustrated the reveal came so late). There isn’t any murder or anything until close to the end, but information as to what the heck is going on is doled out at an ok pace, and the Latin teacher provides important context. It felt like it took a really long time to read though? Like this could have been edited down a bit to be more fast-paced. I might read the next one and see how it goes. B+.

2022 book 5

 Xochitl Gonzalez's Olga Dies Dreaming

This is one of those books that I was into while I was reading, but was never eager to pick back up again. It has really engaging characters—the titular Olga, a Puerto Rican-American woman who works as a wedding planner for wealthy New Yorkers; and her older brother, a hot young congressman (who the wealthy white New Yorkers call “the Latino Obama”). Their stories—dealing with job stress, family stuff, secrets, guilt, romance, etc—are interspersed with letters from the mother who left them when they were teens because she wanted to pursue her revolutionary ideals. I did enjoy this for the most part, though wished parts of it were a little more subtle (on the other hand, some parts were fairly hilarious), but had really mixed feelings about the ending. I might make my book club read this, I feel like this will be a hot book club book this year. A-/B+.

_

Content warning for rape.

2022 book 4

 Ursula K. LeGuin's The Other Wind

Now /that/ is how you wrap up a series. As soon as I picked up what LeGuin was throwing down, I was like OH OF COURSE YES, she took all these strands from books written like thirty years apart and wove a beautiful effing tapestry of a story. There are dragons, and a kitten. There is love and sacrifice and friendship and magic. Tenar is freaking hilarious and I love her. I was rooting for every character and for their whole world. So satisfying and so well-done. Excellent in every way. A.

2022 book 3

 Ursula K. LeGuin's Tales of Earthsea

The fifth Earthsea book is actually five different stories, filling in some of the backstory and history of the characters and the world. I was most interested in the ones about the history of the wizards' school, and how it seems to have lost its original purpose, which ties into the last story (which I assume will have some relevance for the final novel), about a young woman trying to figure out her way. There was only story one I wasn’t super into, and even that one related to how the world is misunderstanding its magic/how wizards ought to be. I’m very curious about how this will all wrap up. A-/B+.

2022 book 2

 Ursula K. LeGuin's Tehanu

Just imagine a bunch of excited sputtering here, because I LOVED this book. It returns to Tenar, now a farmer's widow with grown children (the book acts like she is middle-aged bordering on elderly, but she’s forty, lol), who’s adopted a badly abused and burned child, when Ged comes back into her life. The story itself is entertaining, it moves quickly, lots of fascinating characters, but what’s REALLY interesting here is the focus on women's feelings, their place in society, their anger. I LOOOOOOOOVE annoyed adult Tenar. I love a fantasy novel so focused on the domestic sphere (and I love how neatly Ged fits into the domestic sphere!). This was GREAT. A.

__

Content warning for mentions of rape/abuse. 

2022 book 1

 Ursula K. LeGuin's The Farthest Shore

The third Earthsea book is a bit darker than the first two, as Ged, now the highest mage in the land, takes a young prince on a journey to find out why the world's magic is going missing and why people seem to be sinking into depression and insanity. And maybe the journey has another purpose too. I’m not super partial to books where people are journeying around all the time, but this has some cool dragons, and I like older Ged a lot (the prince is fine, the usual YA character learning and growing etc). Solid all around. A-/B+.