Virginia Black’s No Shelter But the Stars
I’m not really into enemies-to-lovers as a plot, but it kind of works here because these two women are ACTUAL enemies, the only survivors of a spaceship battle, stranded on a fairly inhospitable moon, and they have to work together to survive. I did think this bogged down a bit in the middle, and the political stuff was pretty basic, but it was a solid romance! I’d read more stories set in this world. B+.
Leslye Penelope’s The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass
Interesting novel about a young Black woman whose twin sister disappeared when they were teens—and no one remembers but her. Her sister is even gone from their family photographs, and she lives in a world where her sister never existed. Now it’s a few years later and she’s determined to figure out what happened, with the help of a cute PI. This is all interspersed with transcripts of audio tapes from their father about his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam as well as the missing sister’s old computer diary/messages/emails. It’s pretty clear at a certain point that all this stuff is connected, though I was kind of amazed at the one big reveal (and mildly impatient waiting for another). I also wasn’t expecting this to turn into a Y2K action thriller? It definitely lost me toward the end as things became increasingly bonkers, but a fun concept. B+.
Richard Osman’s We Solve Murders
I probably should have read something Important for book 200, but a) I didn’t remember what number I was on, and b) I wanted to read a fun mystery! The second book in this series just came out, which reminded me I never read the first one. It’s very entertaining with great characters, centering on a woman who works for an elite protection agency (currently guarding an amazing author who’s pissed off a Russian oligarch), when suddenly former clients are getting killed and it’s clear she’s being framed. So she calls in her beloved father in law, a former cop turned PI in a small town in England (the kind of PI who finds lost dogs and checks insurance claims) to help figure out who the real killer is. He’s fine with helping, as long as he gets back in time for pub trivia. Very funny and action-packed, I has a couple quibbles with the end but enjoyed this a lot. A-.
Marissa Lingen’s A Dubious Clamor
What a GREAT book! Sometimes novellas feel rushed or incomplete but this is the perfect length for this story. Which involves a young woman who was once cursed to be a harpy, but the spell was broken and now she helps people with magical problems. When one of her friends comes to her with a magical sword that is trying to control him, she needs all of her friends and allies (and her harpy ex girlfriend) to save the day. Great friendships and family relationships here, and I loved the mentions of Gilbert and Sullivan. I am probably the target audience for a book like this but I ATE IT UP. Definitely will be keeping an eye out for more by Lingen. A.
Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warsong
The last book in this series was kind of a slog. Lots more POV sections should have livened things up, but the villains are especially unpleasant, and the story keeps referring to things I didn’t know about, as though I missed an entire book. (This annoyed me so much that I just stopped typing and spent a bunch of time reading all her other book descriptions and I’m pretty sure I have to read an entire other trilogy to see what I missed—no thanks.) There are also a lot of typos and other errors. I did enjoy all the non-evil characters (especially the middle aged gay exes!) but the pacing for this was just really weird. B.
Elizabeth Vaughan’s WarDance
The romance here is between Simus, the smart and funny Black warrior, here taking on more of a leadership role, and Snowfall, a Black warrior-priestess (the warrior-priests have largely been antagonists to this point, but she’s on board for the changes our characters want to make). The focus here is mainly on all the inter-tribal political stuff (plus some external political stuff AND magical threats as well), which is great, because although I really liked both these characters, I wasn’t super invested in their romance. It really feels like an afterthought, just occasionally awkwardly inserted in. I am looking forward to seeing how everything plays out in the final book! B+.
Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warcry
So it looks like the last three books in this series continue the ongoing storylines but each has a new couple/romance at the center, which is fine, but I was kind of eh about this couple—the former protagonist’s childhood friend (a dude) and the woman warrior who was healed in book one. He wants to be a serious/married couple! Her people rarely do that! Etc. There are a lot of court politics and intrigues though, which I love. There’s an attempted rape, which I could have done without. And there are some hints of mystical happenings that will presumably play a role in later books (and everyone is still trying to get the cute gay couple back together—why don’t THEY get a whole book). B+.
Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warlord
Very entertaining third volume as our protagonist makes it to the center of the nomadic lands and has to prove herself. There is an awesome moment where she has to let various other warlords court her and one is a sexy lesbian—and she is kind of into it! (She’s from a society where queerness is not okay and the nomads have no issues with it, and it’s pretty clear that getting two specific dudes together is going to be a thing in later books and she’s gung-ho about it.) Anyway, very fun. A/A-.
Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warsworn
Interesting second volume of this series as they begin their journey to the Plains, but are waylaid by events beyond their control, exacerbating the inter-tribal tensions. Otherwise it’s mainly all character development, which I enjoy. I was very annoyed about one specific death. I am intrigued to see where things go in volume three. A-/B+.
Elizabeth Vaughan’s Warprize
T. Kingfisher mentioned this book in a recent Reddit AMA, and I do enjoy a fantasy romance that's the start of a six-book series! This involves a woman, the younger half-sister of the (sucky) king--she's trained as a healer and insists on also treating their prisoners of war--and then her brother's forces are defeated and the Warlord they've been fighting demands her as tribute for peace. I loved her learning about their culture/sharing hers, lots of fun characters there, and I like that there are some politics going on (politics/culture clashes are my FAVORITE). I also liked the romance! This is more of a fantasy novel with romance than a romance novel in a fantasy world, which I personally prefer. I did find some of the writing at the beginning to be clunky, and the villain doesn't feel super fleshed out, but I liked this a lot. Looking forward to book two! A-.
Shannon Sanders’ The Great Wherever
I’m not sure if I can describe this in a way that will explain how good it is—it’s the story of a Black woman who’s inherited part of the old family farm in Tennessee, and goes to visit it and meet the other owners, her cousins, and it’s also the story of the family ghosts who live on the farm, and also the story of their whole family. Like a generational drama, but often funny, and narrated by a ghost who died in the Obama years. Really well-paced with its reveals and super moving but also hopeful? Adding this to my list for my book club. A.
John Steinbeck’s East of Eden
I was mildly peer-pressured into reading this because of the upcoming miniseries with Florence Pugh as Cathy—I have read a bunch of Steinbeck, but this one was new to me. It lives up to its reputation as a classic American novel! It was super fascinating and I now want to read a million essays about it—on how it portrays women, on Lee (what an interesting and amazing character, especially as written by a white guy in the 1950s), on all the Cain and Abel stuff, etc. I will gently point out that “timshel” is all wrong, but I did love the image of all the Chinese scholars learning Hebrew to translate that one line. General warning for racist language, including a character who is just called The N-word. Looking forward to seeing Zoe Kazan’s take on all of this.
Lydia Millet’s Fair Ones
Millet’s latest is interesting, sort of two novels in one, each narrated by one of a pair of friends. The first half is narrated by Mara, in the months after the shocking death of the third friend of their trio. And the second half is narrated by Jen, a year or so after that. Great takes on being a forty-something woman, dealing with friends and aging parents and jobs and New York lives, sad and hopeful at the same time. Side note to locals, one secondary character is a UNC professor and the Cradle gets a mention, very random and delightful (it seems Millet went to UNC for undergrad and did a Master’s at Duke). A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.
Naomi Novik's The Golden Enclaves
What a great conclusion to this series! I think I've liked it more on each reread--not that I ever DIDN'T like it, but there is a LOT going on and parts of the end confused me the first time I read it. Also, I was so IMPATIENT to know what was going to happen the first time I read it! It's hard to just enjoy and experience when you're in that mindset. But yet, lots happens, and it ends up being awesome. Now I'm going to reread the Scholomance story in Novik's collection Buried Deep.
Naomi Novik’s The Last Graduate
With a lot of trilogies, the second book feels like a place-holder, just kind of setting the pieces for the grand finale. But Novik was clearly like FUCK THAT, I’m raising the stakes and showing the importance of friendship and community and working together (her shorter fiction also does this very well!). It’s my favorite of the series for sure, it just fills me up with good feelings.
Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education
I was in one of those moods where I had a ton of new books to read and yet wasn’t in the mood for any of them, which means it’s time to reread a best-beloved book like this one. I just really vibe with an angry and grumpy heroine with a secret soft side learning to make friends and allies and saving the day in her deeply unpleasant magic school. Also, it’s funny as hell. Satisfying every time.
