2022 book 109

 Ruthanna Emrys' A Half-Built Garden

Giving this book a big FUCK YEAH, now let me try and tell y’all about it! So it’s set in 2083, and the world is mainly run by a series of environmental collectives, who've been turning around the damage from you, know, ~hand waves~, though there are still some nation-states and corporations hanging around (the latter on their own private islands). Anyway, our protagonist sees some weird environmental readings in the Chesapeake Bay and she and her wife take a walk with their baby and discover… an alien ship chilling in the water. And the aliens want to rescue humanity from their broken planet. And suddenly she's one of the main spokespeople for ALIEN DIPLOMACY. Also, pretty much everyone in this book is queer in some capacity and most of the main characters are Jewish! A Passover Seder is significant to the plot! Now there is a lot going on here, lots of explorations of alien culture and future earth culture, maybe it’s a little slow at times, but I totally loved all of it, just super fascinating and HOPEFUL and cool. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. A. 

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on July 26th.

2022 book 108

 Olivia Atwater's Small Miracles

This was SO EXACTLY what I was in the mood to read that I bought it and read it all immediately. I was really in the mood for queer fantasy books and this fit the bill and then some! I enjoyed Atwater's Regency-era fantasy books, but this is playing more in the Good Omens sandbox, as a former-guardian-angel-turned-fallen-angel-of-petty-temptations (I agree that having one more chocolate should not be a sin), after losing a bet, has to try and tempt a certain woman into doing some petty sins so heaven can make sure she’s enjoying life a little. So this is MOSTLY fluffy, lots of baked goods, lots of angel-related antics, but does deal with some serious topics, which gives the story needed weight. But it is just delightful and funny and well-written, which makes it super enjoyable. Also, thank you for having angels that prefer the Jewish interpretations of scripture. 😹 A. 

2022 book 107

 Ursula LeGuin’s The Dispossessed

I should have put this book down for another day—I picked it up because I was like “ooh perfect escapism” but it’s kind of all about political philosophy and this was not the week to find that enjoyable. No grade.

2022 book 106

 Maggie Shipstead's The Great Circle

So this was on a zillion best-of lists and has been nominated for a lot of awards, but it took me forever to get around to reading it, and it didn’t totally work for me. It’s about a famous lady pilot who mysteriously disappeared decades ago, and the troubled actress who's going to play her in a movie, who has some odd similarities to her role. The first half of this had some slow parts (also a lot of sexual assault, content warnings galore) and I was more interested in the actress and her drama (I have read /too/ many books about lady pilots and do not need so many airplane details), but even as things picked up for the pilot's story in the second half, the actress' story became tiresome (learn to live without a man already). I could have done without the more “literary” sections (the shroom-addled meditation on LA was a choice) and I felt like a big reveal was seeded early on that never came to be, but maybe I misunderstood. Mixed feelings on the ending, too. B.

2022 book 105

 Stephanie Burgis' The Raven Heir

I’m generally a Burgis fan and her latest is no exception—it’s a middle grade fantasy about a girl (who can shapeshift into any animal!) raised with her family in an isolated and enchanted forest, until an army comes to call because one of them is the heir to the throne, but she’s a triplet so they don’t know /which/ is the heir. Magical adventures ensue! A lot of the story beats are predictable here, but I liked the characters and the writing enough that it didn’t bother me. I did wish the end was slightly less melodramatic but a fun and satisfying story nonetheless. A-.

2022 book 104

 Alexandra Rowland's The Lights of Ystrac's Woods

I like these novellas Rowland's been putting out, telling all these interesting little stories in this much larger world (this one references the one with the dueling theatre troupes but they all work find as stand-alones). Anyway, not much to the plot here, as a woman who’s pledged to the wilderness god accompanies a dude pledged to the god of poetry etc on a trip through the woods, but I really loved their encounters along the way. Very cool stuff in this one. A/A-.

2022 book 103

 Becky Chambers' A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

If you liked the first Monk and Robot book, then you will love their further adventures interacting with a wide variety of futuristic humans! If you maybe wished there was a little bit more to the story, you will feel that same vague sense of dissatisfaction with this one. It is a very PLEASANT and INTERESTING book! I even learned things about nature and enjoyed the philosophical discussions! But the end makes it clear there is more story on the way and I just would like a teensy bit more of a wrap-up. Still, the central relationship here is very sweet and there are some absolutely hilarious moments in this one. I look forward to this being part of a complete series. A-.

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

2022 book 102

 Becky Chambers' A Psalm for the Wild-Built

I was in the mood for something chill but satisfying, and wanted to reread this before the sequel comes out, so here we are! I don’t feel like summarizing the plot so I’ll just say it is about a monk and a robot who encounter each other in the wilderness, have philosophical conversations, deal with an existential crisis, and become friends. It’s very sweet, I am looking forward to their further adventures.

2022 book 101

 Mary Robinette Kowal's The Calculating Stars

I binged For All Mankind over the past week and was jonesing for more stories about alternate space races, so decided to give this series a try. But like, if you’re going to call your series LADY ASTRONAUTS, you need to introduce lady astronauts sooner than 2/3 of the way through (or maybe I am just spoiled by For All Mankind). Things start strong, with a giant meteorite wiping out a lot of the east coast, and the protagonist and her husband are Jewish, which obviously I am here for, and it’s all super compelling! Even the math talk is interesting! But it kind of bogs down in the middle, spinning its wheels with the protagonist's issues with anxiety and with her awareness of being a clueless white lady. It’s weirdly repetitive and boring? There are so many secondary characters with the potential to be interesting but there is no real character development for any of them. By the end I didn’t even care if any ladies went to space. Not sure I’ll read the next one. B.

2022 book 100

 Juno Dawson's Her Majesty's Royal Coven

So this was a mostly very fun read, set in a world much like our own but with witches (and warlocks), some of whom are part of the government. The story here is set in England, about a group of women who were all inducted as witches together when they were girls, and now one is the head of the titular governmental coven, one has started her own, more inclusive coven (she's a black lesbian), one is a country vet, trying to stay out of things after a witch civil war, and one is a mother of two hiding her witchiness from her husband, but then her daughter starts showing powers. Ugh there is a lot of backstory in this. Anyway, the plot kicks off when a young trans girl with super witch powers is discovered, and the head government witch turns out to be a terf and also thinks the poor kid is going to bring about the apocalypse. So everyone has to team up to fight the transphobic authorities! I will say I enjoyed reading this a lot, I really liked the (nice) characters and their friendships, but I found parts of the ending to be somewhat upsetting (as intended). This is the first of a trilogy and you gotta have a cliffhanger, but that one sank my stomach. A-/B+.

2022 book 99

 Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

I’ll read anything Zevin writes, and this one I could have gulped down in one sitting had bedtime allowed. It’s about two young ppl in the 90s, Sam and Sadie, and the video games they creates together, and their friendship, and their pain. The pop culture references were right on track for me (the characters are a few years older than I am and I played many of the referenced games), which always helps. Lots of feelings and messiness and love in this one. I had some mixed feelings in the lead up to the ending, but really liked how it wrapped up. A/A-.

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

2022 book 98

 Garth Nix's Terciel and Elinor

I have no idea why Nix decided we needed a prequel about Sabriel's parents, since we already know how their stories turned out, but I did end up really liking Elinor as a character (especially her time at the girls' school), and was glad we got to know her. My issue here is that once again the last like third of the book is everyone getting ready to fight a Big Bad, except it’s a Big Bad we already know, and so we already know how that turns out too. So it is just a slog to get through to see where things wind up. Not super fun. B.

2022 book 97

 Garth Nix's Goldenhand

The fifth book in this series picks up where the third left off (though the fourth becomes relevant), but I thought it was one of the weakest entries so far. There are two parallel POVs—Lirael, doing Abhorsen things, reuniting with Nick; and a young nomad woman on a journey to bring Lirael a message from her long-dead mother. I still like all the characters but the plot here was basically nothing—gotta defeat another Big Bad—and the increased focus on romance was weirdly awkward (except at the very end when it was funny). I did like seeing the librarians again. B.

2022 book 96

 Garth Nix's Clariel

The fourth book in this series is set a few hundred years before the previous three, telling the story of a young Abhorsen relative who only wants to live a solitary life in the forest, but her family has moved her to the capital, where soon she becomes a political pawn. And I would have loved a book about her dealing with all the politics, and her interesting finishing school, and making friends, and putting jerks in their place. But the book goes in several unexpected directions, which at first is really interesting, but when you see where it’s going to end up, it's a really big bummer. B.

2022 book 95

 Garth Nix's Abhorsen

This is wrapping up everything that happened in book two, so parts of it are a tiny bit slow as everyone is just journeying around trying to save the world, etc. Solid ending though. A-/B+.

2022 book 94

 Garth Nix's Lirael

Ok, I liked this one much more! The protagonists are a girl being raised in the clan of seers, and I got into her story pretty quickly when she starts training to be a magical librarian and then creates a magical dog (yeah!), and then the son of the woman from the first book, who is reluctant to follow his mother's footsteps (but has other interesting talents). I will say that some things are answered/resolved, mainly involving the main characters, but the novel definitely feels like a part 1, because none of the big plot points are addressed, which is weird? A-.

2022 book 93

 Garth Nix's Sabriel

Still in the mood to read fantasy series for escapism, I figured I’d give this one a go (I have read this first one before, but years ago, and didn’t remember anything about it). Anyway, it’s about a girl whose father is the Abhorsen, a necromancer who makes sure the dead stay where they belong—except he’s gone missing. This book is kind of slow to start and I wished Sabriel had more of an interior life, but there is a mysterious cat with powers, cool lore and worldbuilding, etc. I mean it’s all kind of creepy with undead monsters and all, but I’ll give the next one a shot. B+.