2023 book 201

 Melinda Taub's The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch

Generally I am opposed to Jane Austen retellings/reworkings, but this has been getting some great reviews and I do like books about witches, so figured I’d give it a shot. And I did actually like it!! I mean it’s not Pride and Prejudice, but it is very entertaining and I liked the narrative voice a lot. The story is told in a long letter Lydia is writing, explaining the events of P&P from her point of view, except there's magic (Kitty was originally a cat!), interspersed with discussion of her current life, and more magical adventures. Mostly satisfying and definitely fun. A-.

2023 book 200

 Naomi Alderman's The Future

Well, I’ll say this, Naomi Alderman has a knack for writing interesting and timely novels. This one involves tech billionaires, cults, apocalypses, survivalists, lesbians, and internet message boards. I thought I knew where it was going and was psyched, then it zigged and zagged a little, but it ended up in a great place. Totally engrossing. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on November 7th.

2023 book 199

 Leonie Swann's Three Bags Full

I read a good review of this years ago and added it to my to-read list, but every time I considered buying it, I’d be like, it’s a book about a flock of sheep investigating the murder of their shepherd! And would read something else. But somehow people on Bluesky organized a book club around it, and if Tressie McMillan Cottom is reading the sheep mystery, then I also am reading the sheep mystery! And actually, it was pretty great? I loved the writing and the narrative voice and each and every sheep. I did find the mystery's solution to be unsatisfying, but everything else about this was so good that is almost didn’t matter. Hooray for sheep! A/A-.

UPDATE: I went to add this to Storygraph and I READ IT BEFORE BACK IN 2007! 

2023 book 198

 Rachel Neumeier's Invictus: Crisis

This is the second half of the story started in Invictus: Captive, and I kind of wish I'd waited to read that one so I had read the story as a whole, since a lot of the details/characters were hazy. But I remembered the major stuff, and soon the plot was moving quickly enough, and involving new characters, that it didn’t even matter. (I will at some point reread both these books and think that'll be an awesome time.) This has sort of similar themes to the author's Tuyo, but sci-fi, and honestly I’m not mad about it. Great characterization, interesting outer space diplomacy and politics, some funny parts, totally enjoyable. A/A-.

2023 book 197

 Rebecca Makkai's I Have Some Questions For You

I thought this was GREAT when I first read this, which is why I assigned it to book club, but I was NOT in the mood to reread it right now, for no particular reason. Sometimes you’re just not in the mood! But of course as soon as I forced myself to start I was totally drawn in by the narrative voice. And this totally holds up to a reread, though it's funny which parts I remembered clearly and which I’d totally forgotten. Very compelling and satisfying story, again.

2023 book 196

 Victoria Goddard’s At the Feet of the Sun

I knew I would like this more the second time I read it, when I wasn’t so impatient to find out what was going to happen and could just relax into the story. And I think it flowed better for me this time too, though there are still a couple slow parts (metaphysical journeys into the soul etc) and I find Rhodin's turn into a conspiracy theorist obsessed with psychic dinosaurs to be weird. But still very enjoyable, perfect escapism, SO MUCH happens and as always I am eager for even more!

2023 book 195

 Victoria Goddard's The Hands of the Emperor

Despite several new books being out from authors I like and a frankly never ending to-read pile, I reread this one this week for comfort reasons. It’s great airplane reading, totally engrossing even though I’ve read it SEVERAL times before. It was a perfect time for me to read a book about family, community, friendship, and good governance.

2023 book 194

 Juliet McKenna's The Green Man's Gift

In this volume, our protagonist is off to Wales to investigate a supernatural being who is seducing/kidnapping/torturing young men. I really liked the folklore aspects of this one and found it more engaging than some of the others. Great new and returning characters, and as always I learned a fair amount about woodworking and home repair. The next book comes out in a week and I will definitely be reading it. A-.

2023 book 193

 Juliet McKenna's The Green Man's Challenge

I did like this one better than the last one, it had some cool stuff going in with giants, chalk horses, and wise women who can turn into hares. It got a little slow toward the end but was pretty entertaining. There is a short story from the protagonist’s boss' perspective at the end which is pretty unnecessary but does add some interesting lore about ghosts into the world. B+.

2023 book 192

 Juliet McKenna's The Green Man's Silence

This one introduces some interesting new supernatural characters, but the plot is pretty boring. The protagonist goes with his new love interest to visit her mom, and of course they get caught up in shenanigans, but it's just like, there’s a guy up to no good and they have to watch him and stop him. I still enjoy the characters a lot so I’ll keep going with this series, but I didn’t enjoy this one as much. B.

2023 book 191

 Juliet McKenna's The Green Man's Foe

Ok, this does seem to be a series about a guy who rights supernatural wrongs, and I liked this one a lot! The protagonist takes a job from his friend/boss' brother at the Green Man's urging, and has to figure out what’s VERY wrong with the local lake, what the Aleister Crowley wannabe hanging around is up to, and fix it all. Some cool new characters with cool new abilities are introduced, and I’m enjoying seeing this world expand. I definitely like it better when there aren’t serial killers (though there is some dark stuff in this one too). A-.

2023 book 190

 Juliet McKenna's The Green Man's Heir

This was an interesting start to a series, about a man whose mother is a dryad, which means he'll live an extra long time, and can also see magical creatures. For the first half, he gets caught up in a mystery involving a serial killer, and I was like, this is fine but I don’t want to read a series about magical serial killers. But in the second half, he teams up with a woman who also has dryad blood to battle a different supernatural threat, and I found that much more engaging. It ends in a place that makes me curious about what comes next, too. So we'll see how book two goes! B+.

2023 book 189

 Lev AC Rosen's The Bell in the Fog

The second book in Rosen's historical mystery series about a gay ex-cop PI in 1950s California (after Lavender House) finds our protagonist setting up shop in a queer nightclub, desperate for cases to earn his keep. And then an old Navy buddy-slash-ex-boyfriend shows up, because he’s being blackmailed. Of course things are not that simple, the PI has to reckon with his past, etc. I wasn’t really into the mystery as a mystery, but this may be one of those series that is more interested in atmosphere and characters, and those it does super well. If Rosen writes another one, I’ll read it. A-.

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

2023 book 188

 Martha Wells' System Collapse

YEAHHHHHHHH IT'S NEW MURDERBOT!!!!! Ok, this picks up just where Network Effect leaves off and I don’t want to be spoilery, so I’ll just say Murderbot is having adventures with new and old friends, and dealing with some unprocessed trauma (what else is new). This starts off slow and tense, but eventually there’s lots of action, some diplomacy, and even a smidge of creativity. I just really enjoy this series so much and am very excited about where things might go next. A.

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

2023 book 187

 Martha Wells' Network Effect

Ughhhhhh the first full-length Murderbot novel is SO GOOD, full of action and heart and humor and friendship and alien technology! AND the return of ART, who I love. Very satisfying all around and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

2023 book 186

 Martha Wells' Fugitive Telemetry 

I’m reading these in chronological order instead of publication order, since I think the story flows better that way (and since I know the new one is set just after Network Effect). Anyway, in this one, Murderbot is recruited to help solve a murder! As usual, very fun and action packed and satisfying.