2023 book 145

 Kaye Bellot's Green Year Dragonfly

Oh hello, what’s this, an epistolary cozy fantasy?! Please and thank you! Anyway, this involves a mapmaker who hires a young woman house hunter—which may not sound like a fantastic premise, except that his house is alive and has wandered off. So she and her dog and a friend set off to track it down! The whole thing is told in letters between them, and to various aunts and cousins and meddling mamas. It’s all very sweet and funny, though there are occasional dangers (herds of killer unicorns, zombies, pirates, zombie pirates, etc). But super adorable moments balance that out. Really enjoyable and satisfying. A/A-.

2023 book 144

 Stephanie Burgis' Claws and Contrivances

This is the second book in Burgis' Regency Dragons series, another cute fantasy romance. The younger sister of the protagonist of the previous book is the main character here, living with an adorable madcap family of cousins, when suddenly all these little dragons start popping up! Not to mention a handsome young scholar coming to visit the family (he was in the previous book as well). I did like the romance here, but was annoyed that they never managed to have the conversations they needed to have (my pet peeve in romances). Still, the dragons and various cousins and their adventures kept my interest going and I ended up liking this a lot. A-.

2023 book 143

 Seanan McGuire’s The Innocent Sleep

Obviously after reading the 17th Toby Daye book, I had to dive right into book 18, which comes out a month later and covers the previous book's antics from Tybalt's point of view. In the regular series, Tybalt often talks in an old-fashioned way that I find affected and annoying, but I liked his narrative voice here a lot. I also like that over the course of this series, McGuire has built up a big back bench of supporting characters that can support a whole second novel covering the same events. Though there is eventually some overlap/repeated dialogue which maybe makes it better if you read them a month apart as intended. Lots of great moments in this one, including an epic Costco run. I am super curious about where this series is going next! A/A-.

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

2023 book 142

 Seanan McGuire's Sleep No More

This is the SEVENTEENTH book in this series, good gravy. But actually, it was my favorite in a long time since it’s doing something totally new: everyone is trapped in a remade version of the world after the events of the previous book, and they have no memories of their real lives. Well… not /everyone/. I loved seeing how things went down in this book, and I really enjoyed the characters and seeing weird funhouse versions of them (but the sea witch remains my fave). There's also a novella at the end about what happened to two of Toby's wayward teens during the above. One of these days I’m going to reread this entire series from the beginning and my mind will be blown and just how much this one character has gone through. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 5th.

2023 book 141

 Michiko Aoyama's What You Are Looking For is in the Library

This is a very chill and pleasant series of interconnected short stories all set in the same neighborhood in Japan, where a variety of discontent people find their way to the local Community Center and its library, where the librarian recommends them books that help them make changes in their lives. I found this very enjoyable and mildly soothing, but not overly cheesy/heartwarming. It also made me want to try needle-felting! A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 5th.

2023 book 140

 M.L. Wang's Blood Over Bright Haven

I really liked Wang's previous book, so was super looking forward to this one. But it just didn’t hit the same way. The writing was great, very engaging. The characters and world were really interesting. But the /plot/ was just not super interesting. The main characters are: a woman, the first ever to be a High Mage in their big ol' magical city, and of course all the men are butts to her (and one tries to rape her); and a man from a minority group, a janitor at the magical place, who ends up as her assistant because all the men are butts. And she's bigoted toward him for racial and religious reasons (I did find the religious elements of this interesting). Blah blah. And then she discovers big magical secrets and things get mildly interesting as it goes on, and I did end up liking the end, which was unexpected. But I wanted more of this to be unexpected. B/B+.

2023 book 139

 Brenna Raney's The Meister of Decimen City

Ok, I love novels about superheroes etc and this one was GREAT! It’s about a woman who’s a genius scientist, not a hero or a villain, just doing her thing—curing cancer one day, creating dinosaurs that rampage the city another day (the dinosaurs are actually a huge part of this book, they call her Mom, they are AMAZING AND I LOVE THEM). But now the government has decided maybe she’s a threat and they’ve put her under surveillance, she’s caught up in a bunch of superhero and supervillain AND family drama, and old secrets are catching up to her. Great friendships here, adorable dinosaurs, interesting characters, and a teeny bit of romance—this book was really fun, funny, and action-packed. And moving! Loved this! A/A-.

2023 book 138

 A.G. Slatter's The Path of Thorns

I like Slatter's work a lot, but put off reading this one because I saw it described as horror, which is not my jam. But it’s not really horror, it’s more in the gothic/creepy fairy tale vibe—not scary, per se. Anyway, it’s about a young woman who comes to a manor to be the children's new governess, but she's really there for more complicated reasons. I enjoyed this a lot, especially all the story-telling, but I wished the end was a little bit tighter, or maybe I just wasn’t fully satisfied with how things wrapped up? A-/B+.

2023 book 137

 Cat Rambo's Devil's Gun

So I loooved the first book in this series, but liked this one a little less. I am still into all the characters and their inter-relationships, and I LOVE the ship, who is hilarious in this one. But the plot is kind of all over the place, one plotline is a bummer, and the ending is not super satisfying because it’s clear another book is on the way. THAT BEING SAID, I will definitely read that book, because I am invested in everything at this point! I think this one laid out a lot of things that will be really interesting, it’s just very second-book-in-a-trilogy. B+.

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

2023 book 136

 Cat Rambo's You Sexy Thing

I’m rereading this because a sequel is coming out soon, and anyway do I need a reason to reread a fun (mostly fun) sci-fi space adventure?? This one involves a bunch of former soldiers who have escaped that life and now run a restaurant, but when their captain receives a mysterious package and then their space station is attacked, they end up on the run in a bio-ship with a very interesting personality (I will once again say that spaceships with personalities are my FAVE thing), encountering space pirates, etc. Very entertaining.

2023 book 135

 Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age

Rereading this for book club and it was just as fun the second time! I really NEED this to be a movie. Think of it: a modern day Now and Then, as four sixty-year-old retired lady assassins have to figure out who’s put a hit on them and why, with flashbacks to their early training and missions! Ok, only the dual role part is really Now and Then but tell me you wouldn’t watch the heck out of that.

2023 book 134

 Ellen Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword

I do love this book, which is set like 20 years after this first one, and centers on the Mad Duke of Tremontaine's niece as he takes her in and trains her to be a swordsman (swordswoman?). I love her character arc, I love the portrayals of teen girls as silly but passionate and loyal, and I LOVE the end. Just wickedly satisfying.

2023 book 133

 Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint

Sometimes you’re just in the mood to reread a super queer fantasy novel involving a lot of sword fighting and even more politics. I mean, I’m often in that mood, but nothing else I started was striking my fancy and so here we are! I love this story about an infamous swordsman, his mysterious and troubled boyfriend, and the intrigues they find themselves caught up in. So fun.

2023 book 132

 Katie Williams' My Murder

Here’s another one for the more literary book clubs—it hits on a couple different genres (mystery, sci-fi elements), has some discussion-y points to make about true crime, etc. I don’t know that I liked it /enough/ to reread it for my book club down the line, but I did like it. It’s about a young woman who was murdered, but it’s the near future I guess, and some people can be replicated, so a clone with her memories is living her life (and going to a support group with the other victims of the serial killer that got her). I did enjoy the narrative voice here, which I think balances things really well. I also thought the ending was fitting but still somehow feel bummed after reading this. B+.

2023 book 131

 Rachel Neumeier’s Tasmakat

This is the conclusion to the main trilogy in the Tuyo series (though there are other books set in the world and more are forthcoming), and it was a very satisfying conclusion indeed. I enjoy the length and depth of these books for really getting caught up in a whole new world, and this one goes to some interesting new worlds for sure. This may be the first time I was actually excited to read a book that is a basically a long-ass journey! Neumeier is so good with pacing and character moments. I am gonna have to reread this whole series soon to really take it all in. A.

2023 book 130

 Elizabeth Acevedo's Family Lore

Acevedo's latest is her first novel for adults, and it’s great! I think more literary-minded book clubs will be ALL over this (which I mean as a very high compliment). It’s about four sisters from the Dominican Republic, now in New York, and their adult daughters, and what happens when one of the sisters decides to throw herself a living wake. This is unsettling, since all the women have slightly magical gifts, and hers is the ability to predict when someone will die. I loved all the relationships between the women, and the side notes from the anthropologist daughter who's doing family interviews. Some characters were better developed than others, but of course there were a lot of them so that’s inevitable. I did wish for a little more from the very end, it felt a little abrupt, but overall an enjoyable story for sure. A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on August 1st.

2023 book 129

 M.A. Carrick's Labyrinth's Heart

Solid conclusion to this series, though I didn’t like this one /quite/ as much as the first two. There’s just a little too much going on—all the plot points and mysterious backstories that have been hinted at before ALL come into play here, and some great characters get sidelined because of it. I also had some mixed feelings about a major plot point toward the end. Still, some cool moments and I love all the friendships between the major characters and how vital those friendships are. I was just less into this for some reason. A-.

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

2023 book 128

 M.A. Carrick's The Liar's Knot

Seriously, I am honestly mad I never read these books sooner, because they are SO GOOD. I forgot to mention in my review of the first one that Carrick is actually a pen name for two authors working together, Marie Brennan (author of the Lady Trent books, among others) and Alyc Helms (who I've never read, but will be checking out), and they are firing on all cylinders together. The pacing is *chef's kiss*--secrets the reader knows are revealed in a timely manner, miscommunications are cleared up, etc. But there is just so much good stuff here, with balancing secret identities and dealing with corruption/politics, and friends and family, and various forms of magic, and even a little romance.... I love all three of the main characters and all their friends and allies and can't believe how packed with awesome this series is. A.

2023 book 127

 M.A. Carrick's The Mask of Mirrors

Y’all, this book was like 800 pages long and every second was AWESOME, so many storylines and characters and STUFF going on! The protagonist is a young con woman attempting to scheme a place in a noble family, but soon she is caught up in magic and mysteries and magical mysteries! There is also a crime lord trying to move up in society and a vigilante from legends who fights the nobles/colonizers! Plus great friendships and also a super queer society. Very interesting and satisfying read, can’t wait to see what happens in book two. A. 

2023 book 126

 K.B. Wagers' The Ghosts of Trappist

I had some of the same problems with this third book as the previous one—the interpersonal relationship stuff is just soooo heavy-handed. This would have been much zippier and more fun if some of those scenes were cut down. I did like the plot in this one, which involves creepy ghost spaceships and also some business with one of the characters' robot dog, who is more developed an AI than he should be (you know I’m a sucker for an AI with feelings, and a DOG??? YES!!). I enjoyed when the characters were dealing with all that. But I felt kind of meh about the ending and was glad to be done. B/B+.

2023 book 125

 K.B. Wagers' Hold Fast Through the Fire

I didn’t like the plot in this one as much as the previous one, because it involves a secret investigation, and half the characters are lying to the other half, and there are a lot of dramatic conversations about it. So many dramatic conversations. But once everyone is all clued in and working together, things improve, and I liked the second half a lot. Great action, and I still enjoy all the characters. Looking forward to volume three. B+.

2023 book 124

 K.B. Wagers' A Pale Light in the Black

This is the start to a sci-fi trilogy and it was a lot of fun, balancing a lot of different elements that kept things moving and made them more interesting. The focus is on a small spaceship crew, part of a small branch of the military, and their adventures near Jupiter, plus a new crew member trying to bond with the team. But they eventually realize one of their cases is part of a much larger mystery that they have to solve. Also, there’s some sort of hugely popular military sporting event they have to train for. I liked that it has so many things going on and it all felt well-balanced. Some of the new crew member's family stuff was mildly melodramatic but otherwise this was great. A/A-.

2023 book 123

 T. Kingfisher's Thornhedge

This is Kingfisher's take on Sleeping Beauty, except the heroine is a little fairy who can turn into a toad, Sleeping Beauty is locked up for a reason, and the guy coming to check things out is a sweet Muslim knight (I think during the age of the Crusades) who wants to investigate an old legend. Sometimes sad and occasionally grim but overall a lovely story. I don’t think this book needed to be longer, but my favorite Kingfisher books tend to be a little meatier. Still, I did really like this. A/A-.

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

2023 book 122

 Katie Siegel's Charlotte Illes Is Not a Detective

This is the story of a twenty-five-year-old queer Jewish woman, living at home with her mother, spinning her wheels—except once she was a famous child detective. And now her brother's girlfriend is receiving creepy notes, and she agrees to look into it—but of course is soon drawn into a bigger mystery. And is dealing with her relationships with her two best friends, who she’s sort of been ghosting! I loved the narrative voice here, just really engaging and fun. The mystery was adequate, but that's fine because the characters are where this really shines. Apparently the author is a TikTok person, but I hope this is successful enough that she can write some sequels, because I was really into this. A.

2023 book 121

 Naomi Kritzer's Freedom's Sisters

This was a perfectly fine conclusion to this series, mostly satisfying, I wished for more from the ending/epilogue for sure though. I did like that Tamar (the protagonist’s blood sister) gets to be a POV character in this one. Lots of interesting and unexpected moments, even if things felt a bit pat toward the end. B+.

2023 book 120

 Naomi Kritzer's Freedom's Apprentice 

Solid second volume, as the protagonist and her blood sister set off on a quest to try and right some wrongs. The middle dragged a little but I think was necessary, information-wise, but this was an entertaining and action-packed outing for sure. I’m psyched for book three. A-/B+.

2023 book 119

 Naomi Kritzer's Freedom's Gate

I have really enjoyed Kritzer's recent works, so decided to try one of her older series—this book came out almost twenty years ago. So as expected, great writing, I was drawn in immediately, and I loved the focus on adopted sisterhood. But it was not always a pleasant read. So this takes place in a fantasy version of a country colonized by the Greeks, and the protagonist is a half-Greek daughter of a former slave (but she’s free) who works for the local important Greek guy. And she’s assigned a job to go undercover as a slave in a harem so she can pose as an escaped slave and run away and join/spy on some bandits. But of course she’s raped, and her friend there is a fourteen year old who’s been a sex slave since she was ten. So like, major content warnings for all of that and I had a hard time with it. I was also a bit annoyed at how the protagonist stays loyal for so long when her boss is clearly nefarious (to the reader) but that made sense in context. And I loved how this ended and am looking forward to book two! But yeah, content warnings galore, B+.