2023 book 238

 Beth Lincoln's The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels

This was a cute middle-grade mystery about a large eccentric family where everyone is named after a random word from the dictionary, and our main character is Shenanigan, so you know she’s getting up to hijinks. This book does get kind of dark—some people are actually murdered—which I was kind of surprised by! But lots of fun characters (lots of queer characters!) and I loved the relationships between the main character and her sisters. Looks like this is the start of a series, and I’ll probably be reading the next one. A-/B+.

2023 book 237

 Helen DeWitt's The English Understand Wool

What an exquisite novella! It’s about a teenage girl, raised in luxury and with the highest of tastes, who we come to see is writing a book about her life, with correspondence from her editor included. My only complaint is that I’d have read like a seven hundred page novel about these people—though of course the power is in its brevity. A.

2023 book 236

 Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver Deals With Death

The plot in this one has so much going on—blackmail, murder, romance, amnesia, etc—that by the time Miss Silver comes around to solve things, I actually had forgotten she’d been introduced earlier on, haha. Lots of murder suspects and an entertainingly dramatic ending. I’m taking a break from these for a moment until the third collection goes on sale for Kindle, otherwise I think I’d just keep going. Perfect for these quiet and lazy winter days. A-/B+.

2023 book 235

 Patricia Wentworth’s The Chinese Shawl

This one breaks the mold a little bit, as it introduces all its characters and sends them to a fancy house for the weekend, where Miss Silver happens to be visiting, and so is on hand when a murder takes place (and once again the local police guy is her former charge!). Lots of young love and shenanigans. The mystery is kind of eh and I did not at all like the way this concluded, but I’m still enjoying this series. B+.

2023 book 234

 Patricia Wentworth's In the Balance

Man, I am tearing through these! It’s interesting that even when the plots are similar—mainly people trying to murder other people because of wills—here, a young woman suspects her husband of nefarious intent—the characters keep things interesting. This one was published in 1941 and mentions the start of the war, I do wonder how later volumes will address it. A-.

2023 book 233

 Patricia Wentworth’s Lonesome Road

Ah, now we finally get more of Miss Silver! In this one, a wealthy woman knows one of her relatives is trying to kill her, but doesn’t know which one, so Miss Silver comes for a visit to suss things out. Fairly satisfying mystery and enjoyable characters and plot, another entertaining story. A-.

2023 book 232

 Patricia Wentworth's The Case in Closed

So like is Miss Silver just a side character in her own series?? I liked this one just like the first one but I would definitely like MORE of the sassy middle-aged lady solving crimes! Anyway, this one involves a young woman whose cousin's husband is in jail for murder, but they’re sure he didn’t do it, and a chance encounter on a train may mean they’re right! I love the characters in this, the protagonist is a teeny bit silly but brave and lovable, and all the other characters are interesting too, just well-drawn. I did solve this mystery fairly early on but the fun is in seeing how they prove it. I am enjoying this series a lot! A-.

2023 book 231

 Patricia Wentworth's Grey Mask

This is the first of the Miss Silver mysteries, though she’s really a minor character—she’s a detective of some sort hired by one of the main characters, who has stumbled on a crime ring that his ex-fiancée seems to be involved with. There’s also a possibly-illegitimate heiress, an eccentric stepfather, various unsavory dudes, and a fair amount of humor. I do hope later volumes have more Miss Silver but this was an entertaining mystery for sure. A-.

2023 book 230

 Glenda Larke's Stormlord's Exile

This was a solid end to this trilogy, and felt like a stronger story than the first two—better plotting and writing. New allies, old enemies, lots of action, a couple queer characters. The end felt a tiny bit rushed but I was honestly tired of battle scenes by then so found that refreshing. A-.

2023 book 229

 Glenda Larke’s Stormlord Rising

I did like this more than the first one, though there is still a lot of dark stuff (sex slavery, death, war, etc) and some of the conflicts feel manufactured. My favorite character from the first book gets a lot more time here which I liked (though unfortunately she is one of the aforementioned sex slaves), and I am still invested in the two main characters. There were some parts that just made me like cringe though, and some obvious things that take too long to be revealed. I do think the magic stuff is cool and I enjoy the politics and plotting. Onto book three. B+.

2023 book 228

 Glenda Larke's The Last Stormlord

Larke's Tangled Lands was one of my favorite books of the year, and here I am finally getting around to another book by her. I didn’t like this one as much. It’s very slow and dark (more than one man threatens to rape the young girl who is a POV character, there's murder, torture, lots of other stuff too) and I almost put it down more than once, but there was always some character or plot point I was curious about. Things improve in the second half as some of the characters finally start to get together and by the end I was actually pretty on board, until the very last scene which had me rolling my eyes. But I guess I’ll keep going with this series bc I am invested in some of the characters. B.

2023 book 227

 Alice Bell's Grave Expectations 

Very entertaining and funny mystery involving a woman who can see ghosts, and is in fact tied to the ghost of her best friend from high school, who died when they were seventeen, and who helps her make a living as a medium. She takes a job for a wealthy college acquaintance at a fancy English country house (my jam!!) but is soon drawn into a murder mystery, assisted by an ex-detective and a cool non-binary teen. The mystery was not /too/ hard to figure out but I loved these characters and their interactions, loved the ending, and really hope this is the start of a series. A-.

2023 book 226

 Dorothy Gilman's Nun in the Closet

I read and enjoyed the first few Mrs Pollifax mysteries (about a New Jersey grandmother who decides to become a spy), so when I found out Gilman had some stand-alone books, figured I’d check them out. This one involves a convent of cloistered nuns inheriting a huge house, and what happens when two nuns are sent off to check it out. This was written in 1975, so they obviously befriend some hippies, and I love it. They also find a guy in the house with gunshot wounds and various other guys are lurking around, so clearly the nuns need to figure out what’s going on! Which is tough, bc they have been totally isolated from the modern world. Anyway, very entertaining, mildly silly, great characters, some dated language, perfect light mystery story. A-.

2023 book 225

 Connie Willis' All Clear

Well, now I see why this won the Hugo and the Nebula! I do also see why a lot of reviewers thought it was too slow. There are a lot of pieces to the plot and they do take a while to move into place. But once they do, whoooooo boy, I was CAUGHT UP. I was EMOTIONALLY INVESTED. There were tears and cheers. Totally beautiful and devastating and so good. I am gonna have to reread all these books together someday. A.

2023 book 224

 Connie Willis' Blackout

I started reading this after I read Doomsday Book, but I couldn’t handle any more stress after that one and put it down for another day (which ended up being this weekend after I saw one of my friends talking about it). Because it is somewhat stressful, involving three time traveling historians who end up stranded in England during WWII, and they don’t know why they can’t get home (neither does the reader). It is also a little confusing, since there are a lot of POV sections (and some name changes?). And also, it’s really the first volume of a longer story so there isn’t really a conclusion (luckily I can jump right into the next book). But still, I liked it a lot? Great characters and I’m so excited to see where their stories go. A-.

Favorite books of 2023!

 Hey! It’s about that time! Here are my favorite books of 2023, alphabetically by author:

T. Kingfisher's Paladin's Faith

Yume Kitasei's The Deep Sky

Naomi Kritzer’s Liberty's Daughter

Glenda Larke's The Tangled Lands

Malka Older's The Mimicking of Known Successes

H.G. Parry's The Magician's Daughter

Ann Patchett's Tom Lake

Brenna Raney's The Meister of Decimen City

Katie Siegel's Charlotte Illes is Not a Detective

Emily Tesh's Some Desperate Glory

2022 book 223

 Alan Sepinwall's Welcome to the OC: The Oral History

If there are three things I love, it’s oral histories, behind the scenes gossip, and DRAMA, and this has all three out the wazoo. It’s also very funny and surprisingly candid about the OC, a tv show I stopped watching during season two (but even after I stopped watching, I still read the recaps on Television Without Pity, which also comes up in here!) but enjoyed reading a whole book about anyway. Lots of cool nitty gritty on how a tv show gets made (I was especially into the chapter on the music), lots of interesting comments from people looking back twenty years later. Perfect read if you’re into pop culture. A.

2023 book 222

 T. Kingfisher’s Paladin's Faith

Hooray for a new Paladin romance book! This one brings back Marguerite, the friend/spy from the first book, as she enlists a couple of paladins to help her track down a missing inventor. Shane is a delightful Paladin hero, but I was honestly more excited to finally get to spend time with the Paladin Wren (AND the mysterious Judith!). And just when you’re thinking this is fairly straightforward for a T. Kingfisher book, Chekhov's demon pops up. Lots of action, cute romance with less pining than some of the other books (which is a plus for me as it feels less formulaic), very intriguing hints at what's to come in this series. A.

2023 book 221

 T. Kingfisher’s Paladin's Hope

The third book in this series has a great m/m romance involving one of the paladins and the helpful doctor from the previous books, who get involved in a murder investigation (led by an awesome gnole) and have to deal with literal death traps! The inevitable late stage romance angst feels very manufactured, but it’s all sorted out quickly (and entertainingly) enough, just in time for a baller cliffhanger ending. Can’t wait for the new book tomorrow!

2023 book 220

 Ann Patchett's Tom Lake

Taking a quick break from paladins to reread this for book club (which is... in half an hour lol) and it was just as good the second time! Just totally engaging writing and characters, about a women telling her three twenty-something daughters /most/ of the story of her early career as an actress and how she came to date a now-very-famous movie star, as they all pick cherries on their family farm in the early days of the pandemic. Very moving and bittersweet.

2023 book 219

 T. Kingfisher’s Paladin's Strength 

The second Saint of Steel book involves a nun searching for her kidnapped sisters, who all share a Secret, and what happens when she encounters one of the paladins and his troops escorting some fancy wine barrels around (but really trying to get info on the creepy things from the first book). Cute romance, more horny pining, lots of action, lots of humor. I do especially love the nun (and all her sisters), great characters.

2023 book 218

 T. Kingfisher’s Paladin's Grace

A new book in the Saint of Steel series is coming out December fifth, so of course I had to reread the first three to get a refresher on the various paladins and various creepy mysteries and various romances! (Really I should have waited a few days to start but I was too excited!) Anyway, in this first one, we are introduced to the remaining paladins of the Saint of Steel, a god who died and all of his followers went mad. The seven remaining are all struggling with PTSD, and yet somehow even with that and with someone leaving decapitated heads around, this is a super cute romance between one of the paladins and a local perfumer, who is caught up in politics. I mean there is so much horny pining and yet I’m rooting for these two goofballs. So entertaining.

2023 book 217

 Linda Nagata's Edges

This had interesting worldbuilding, but I think it was a little too hard sci-fi for my tastes—there was a lot of business with alien spaceship technology that was just super slow. It’s all set in a world where people can sort of create versions of themselves, and then have memories of both selves, unless they get too far away to reunite. So then there’s like a centuries-long spaceship expedition to find out the secrets of humanity's past, and people send versions of themselves and they'll never know what happened to the selves they left behind (and vice versa). I was very into this concept but the plot of the book itself ended up being kind of blah and I really wanted more character development. It’s the first of a trilogy and I don’t think I’ll read the others. B.

2022 book 216

 Waubgeshig Rice's Moon of the Crusted Snow

Woof, this was tense! It’s set on an Anishinaabe reservation in Northern Canada, and the story kicks off when all the power/communications/etc stuff stops working, which is mildly concerning as winter is on its way. And because the communications have failed, they don’t know what happened. But some of them are more prepared to survive without modern luxuries and are planning to make do—and then a white dude from the south shows up asking to be let in. And as a reader you’re just like oh noooooooo. I will say as tense as I found this, I actually think that part of the story needed to be built up a bit more. But I loved the main characters, their relationships, and their desire to connect to their traditions. There’s a companion novel/sequel coming out in 2024 and I’m looking forward to it. A-.

2022 book 215

 Naomi Kritzer's Liberty's Daughter

I honestly thought I was depressed bc I was feeling so meh about reading, until I picked up this book and was immediately into it! Turns out I was just reading books I felt meh about! Anyway, this is I think based on a bunch of short stories of Kritzer's turned into a novel—it reads really seamlessly, anyway. The central character is a teen girl in the near future who lives on the “seastead,” which is a libertarian-founded community out on the ocean, and her father is one of the prominent community members. She has a job tracking things down for people, and thing really kick into gear when, in exchange for a pair of sparkly sandals, she’s asked to find a missing woman. Everything about this was great—the characters, the world-building, the politics. Just super engaging and satisfying. A.

2023 book 214

 S.L. Huang's The Water Outlaws

I’ve seen this on a few best-of lists and it seemed intriguing, inspired by classic martial art stories and about a group of mostly-women bandits. And there were some very cool characters and some cinematic fight scenes, but I also thought it had some issues with pacing and didn’t service all of the characters well. The main characters are a woman martial arts instructor who's sentenced to prison bc a powerful asshole gets mad at her, but she escapes and joins the bandits, and her friend who somehow gets roped into a government scheme to make magical bombs (more or less) (that storyline dragged a lot). I really wished we'd gotten to see more of some of the other characters, particularly the enthusiastic monk/adopted sister. I will also say one of the plotlines involved a lot of torture and there’s some cannibalism for no real reason, so this was a little bit darker than I usually go for (also an attempted rape, if we're listing content warnings). An interesting story though. B+.

2023 book 213

 Andrea K. Host's Gratuitous Epilogue

I wasn’t initially planning on rereading this after the main Touchstone Trilogy, but as the title suggests, this novella is mostly very sweet and chill (with the occasional big alien attack), everyone getting married and having babies and going on shopping trips and finally communicating with Earth. A very satisfying wrap up.

2023 book 212

 Sharon Shinn's Whispering Wood

Shinn's latest is a return to the Elemental Blessings series, so I was super psyched for it! And I mostly liked it a lot—the main character is the new king's sister, come to the city for the coronation and persuaded to stay even though she’s grumpy about it. And she was great, and I loved her gradually opening up and getting caught up in the politics. But the whole time I was like, maybe this is the first book in the series that won’t have a romance, bc the love interest is her childhood friend, and I would have liked to see a book about friends! (I was also not into him as a love interest at all until the very end.) I wonder if this is the end of the series, bc there’s now been a book for each of the major elemental categories, but there’s also definitely room for more (I secretly hope for lesbians in the next one—there are several queer women side characters). B+.

2023 book 211

 Andrea K. Host's Caszandra

Satisfying and action-packed conclusion to this trilogy (though it does have a full Gratuitous Epilogue novella and other assorted stories). SO MUCH happens and I enjoyed every page.

2023 book 210

 Andrea K. Host's Lab Rat One

I do really love the narrative voice in these, to the point that a) I don’t at all mind how much of the story is a teen girl fretting about the boy she likes and b) her discovering her abilities doesn’t feel Mary-Sue-ish, bc she’s so cranky and afraid about it. This one also adds in the hilarious element of a tv character being based on the main character. Very satisfying and action-packed.

2023 book 209

 Andrea K. Host's Stray

I’m sure I have said this on here before, but sometimes I hit a reading slump where everything I start just isn’t working for me (even if it’s part of a series I was reading) and the only fix is to reread something I know I like. So here I am trading one YA series for another, but this one is soothing instead of irritating me. In this first volume, an Australian teen walks through a wormhole onto another planet, struggling to survive until she's rescued by space people with special abilities. It’s told as a diary and it’s very engaging, funny and moving. 

2023 book 208

 Tricia Levenseller's Daughter of the Pirate King 

I read this several years ago and always meant to get back to the series, but the third one was released this week which reminded me to actually do it. Still a fairly enjoyable story, if a bit slow to start, but I do like a sassy girl pirate. I remain pretty meh on the romance but the sequel should involve MORE girl pirates which I am here for.

2023 book 207

 Juliet McKenna's The Green Man's Quarry

The latest book in the Green Man series finds Dan and his friends on the trail of a murderous panther, introduces more interesting new things from folklore, and seems to be laying the ground for bigger mysteries to come. I am very intrigued by where things ended and hope the next book comes out soon! I’m pretty invested in the characters and their world at this point. A-.

2023 book 206

 Sharon Shinn's Unquiet Land

Now, if the new one in this series was coming out tomorrow, I’d have timed this perfectly, but alas,,not for another week! This one isn’t my favorite, though it does have some great moments—it involves the spy from the previous book returning home, starting a shop to do some undercover work on some foreign dignitaries, and trying to reconnect with the daughter she gave up at birth. I do like her love interest as a character but I really don’t like the romance in this one, it’s all very overwrought. The daughter is cool though, and I like when the protagonist gets to do spy stuff.

2023 book 205

 Sharon Shinn’s Jeweled Fire 

I do love this third volume of the Elemental Blessings series, which focuses on the second princess dealing with the politics of a foreign court—and then with a murder mystery! There is of course a romance but the other stuff is much more at the forefront—and interestingly, the other POV character is a woman sou who works for the princess' father, and not a love interest (the romances in this series have all been straight so far, but several of the secondary characters are queer in some manner). But court intrigues are my jam and this book has a ton of them.

2023 book 204

 Sharon Shinn's Royal Airs

The second Elemental Blessings book is set a few years after the first and has two POV characters—the oldest princess from the previous book, who is now running a shelter/soup kitchen, and a young man who makes a living playing cards in a bar, who rescues one of the other princesses. This one is a little more romance-focused, but there’s still a lot of political intrigue, action, revelations, flying machines, etc, to balance it all out. 

2023 book 203

 Sharon Shinn's Troubled Waters

Shinn is releasing a new book in this series in like a week and a half, and I meant to wait a bit before starting a reread, but patience is not really once of my virtues (and this book is full of virtues, called blessings, that can reveal much about a character and their path, and honestly I want to reach into a bucket of coins and see what my blessings are). Anyway, in this first one, a young woman is supposed to marry the king, but instead runs away to make her own life, and is eventually caught up in all sorts of political intrigues (and a little romance) as she discovers her inheritance. I’ve read this a few times and always find it satisfying.

2023 book 202

 Jaclyn Moriarty’s The Secret of Lillian Velvet

The latest in the Kingdoms and Empires series involves a lonely little girl in Australia, who receives a pickle jar full of gold coins on her tenth birthday and suddenly finds herself bouncing in and out of another world, where she encounters various Mettlestones (so nice to see all those characters again), tries to save a little boy, and gets involved in all sorts of magical shenanigans. Beautiful, sweet, and a little bit sad, like a lot of Moriarty's work. But whatever she writes, I’ll be reading. A.

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. 

2023 book 185

 Martha Wells' Exit Strategy

Another fine Murderbot adventure, as our protagonist goes on a rescue mission and reunites with some old friends. Not much to say about this one except that it is another fun ride.

2023 book 184

 Martha Wells' Rogue Protocol

The third Murderbot book finds our protagonist on a research mission, and somehow once again reluctantly making friends and trying to protect them. This one is not my FAVORITE, but it is obviously still entertaining! 

2023 book 183

 Martha Wells' Artificial Condition

The second Murderbot book is even better than the first, because it introduces ART, a very smart sentient spaceship friend for Murderbot! There’s also more action and intrigue as Murderbot investigates their past, takes a job with some humans, and once again has gross feelings. So entertaining.

2023 book 182

 Martha Wells' All Systems Red

I LOVE MURDERBOT! I’m doing a Murderbot reread in anticipation of the new book, so obviously I made it this month's book club pick (most of us had read it before and were psyched to revisit, hopefully everyone else likes it too). Anyway, a grumpy protagonist who refuses to admit they have feelings and just wants to be left alone to enjoy pop culture? Relatable. Great action and pacing here too, just a fun story all around. 

2023 book 181

 Sharon Shinn's Summers at Castle Auburn

I have the post-vaccine fever today so reread this in between naps, such a great coming of age fantasy story with a very likable protagonist, learning the complexities of court politics etc. 

2023 book 180

 Lois McMaster Bujold’s Ethan of Athos

I remembered that I hadn’t read all the books in the Vorkosigan series; this one was basically a stand-alone so I had skipped it, so yay, a new book for me! This centers on a doctor from an all-male planet (with weird ideas about women); when their shipment of ovarian tissue (necessary for having new sons) is tampered with, he has to go off-world to get more. Where he immediately runs into Elli Quinn, who's on a job for Miles, and gets sucked into adventures very much against his will. Pretty entertaining stuff and I liked the way it ended. A+/B+.

2023 book 179

 Tanith Lee's Louisa the Poisoner

Y’all, I have no idea what to think or how to feel about this book, except that when I was done I kind of wanted to slow clap. The main character is the titular Louisa, who’s been raised in a swamp by her witchy aunt, who one day brews up a rare and undetectable poison. So Louisa immediately poisons her, and sets out to find a fortune. Lots of poisonings ensue, and an ending I didn’t expect. Very dry, dark humor here. A-.

2023 book 178

 Rachel Neumeier's Tuyo World Companion

I do think it's a little odd that the author put out basically a reference book about her Tuyo universe when she isn't done writing books and the information is bound to change, but clearly I bought it anyway! Because there's a new novella in here! With the Kindle table of contents being clickable it's pretty easy to skip around to the parts you want to read (the interview with the author is worthwhile) or just go right to the novella, which involves one of the young men who’s been a secondary character in a bunch of the other stories, a friendly raid on another tribe, and father-son dynamics. Very satisfying story. A/A-.

2023 book 177

 Adam Mansbach's The Golem of Brooklyn 

So this author has written plenty of novels and co-written humorous non-fiction with Dave Barry, etc, but is probably most famous for writing “Go the Fuck to Sleep,” and I wasn’t sure what to expect here, but I love golems so I figured I’d give it a try. I did almost put it down at one point when The Golem (who has learned English from watching Larry David) is like “why am I here, what crisis is facing the Jews” and his stoner creator is like “I dunno, intermarriage? The Israel/Palestinian conflict?” and I was boiling with rage because like, this book wasn’t written five years ago, and even if it WAS written five years ago, the Tree of Life shooting had already happened! In MY hometown! Antisemitism is on the rise in a scary way, so go fuck YOURSELF, stoner guy!

But like otherwise I was enjoying this mildly ridiculous Jewish-themed dad-fic kind of book, and one of the other main characters is a formerly Hasidic lesbian, and I hardly ever get Jewish lesbian characters, so I stuck with it. Jewish lesbian and golems, in one book? Ok, you get another chance. And she does bring up Charlottesville, and The Golem is ready to stomp some antisemites at another planned rally. But things do not go according to plan. 

This book was kind of weird? Some good character development, some cardboard cutouts (I could have done with way less of the POV of the white supremacist cop). I liked when the author/The Golem brought in bits of Jewish history. The Golem was GREAT all around and the end of this was legitimately interesting. But I have no idea who the audience is for this! Besides, like, me. Lol. A-/B+.

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

2023 book 176

 Rachel Neumeier’s Invictus: Captive

This is the kind of sci-fi book that is my JAM. It involves a guy from one group of people being rescued from a big space accident by a group of people that aren’t exactly his enemies, but there is a tense political situation. Except everyone has ulterior motives (this is clear to the reader and the information is doled out at a good pace), so there’s almost a spy games sort of feeling to things. Neumeier is doing one of my favorite things she does here, where there’s a sort of cross-cultural clash, but everyone is trying to make things better. This is the first of a duology and the sequel is out next month, and I am very excited to see where this story goes next. A.

2023 book 175

 Minerva Cerridwen's The Dragon of Ynys

This was a cute lil fantasy book about a knight in a village who is forever making the local dragon return what he stole, but when the local baker goes missing, the knight, the dragon, and the baker's wife team up to track her down. And have some other adventures too. Now, this is aimed at a younger audience, so the messaging about acceptance and identity is hammered home a little heavily (most of the characters are queer in some capacity), but still very sweet and chill. Cozy fantasy for sure. A-.

2023 book 174

 T.E. Kinsey's Death Beside the Seaside

As the title indicates, this volume finds our heroines on holiday at the seaside, but the other guests at their hotel are an odd assortment of international travelers. Soon they're tasked with finding a missing scientist but things quickly get out of hand. Another really fun adventure with some really likable characters, but I think I am going to save the rest of the series for a later date so I don't burn out on them. A-.

2023 book 173

 T.E. Kinsey's The Burning Issue of the Day

The fifth book in this series finds our heroines asked to investigate when a suffragette is arrested for arson and murder, but her friends are convinced she’s innocent. This turns into a pretty complicated case (though I did correctly peg the killer pretty early on) with lots of antics from a large crew of compatriots. This series is so fun. A-.

2023 book 172

 T.E. Kinsey's A Picture of Murder

The fourth book in this series has a very implausible mystery involving a bunch of filmmakers and actors visiting the town, but I still love all the characters here and enjoyed it anyway. We also get some more detailed backstory on our heroines and it looks like that will come into play in upcoming books. A-.

2023 book 171

 T.E. Kinsey's Death Around the Bend

The third Lady Hardcastle book finds our heroines accompanying Lady Hardcastle's brother to a friend's estate for a weekend of car racing adventures, except someone dies when one of the cars is sabotaged! Lots of great characters in this one, the writing is just really lively and fun. I did correctly guess most of the solution but it was still entertaining watching it all play out, especially with all the side stories going on. Really feels like a full world. A/A-.

2023 book 170

 T.E. Kinsey's In the Market for Murder

The second Lady Hardcastle book finds our intrepid amateur detective heroines enlisted by the busy police to investigate the possible murder of an unpleasant farmer—not the mention the mysteries of the stolen rugby trophy and the ghost that appears during a seance! Another very pleasant and funny story, I am really digging this series so far. A/A-.

2023 book 169

 T.E. Kinsey's A Quiet Life in the Country

Hat tip to Christine, who recommended this series to me when I said on social media that “I want to read a mystery where someone dies at a fancy house in England!!” This series centers on the widowed Lady Hardcastle, who has an unusually adventurous background, and her longtime lady's maid/friend/bodyguard (the narrator, and a delightful narrative voice), whose background is also unconventional. They’ve just retired to the country in 1908 England and soon come across a body while on a walk in the woods (but don’t worry, someone DOES die in a fancy house!). The mystery resolves kind of quickly, but I really enjoyed all the characters and look forward to more of these. A/A-.

2023 book 168

 Janice Hallett's The Appeal

I enjoyed Hallett's The Twyford Code, and this has a similar cool framing device: it’s all emails and texts, mainly between the people in a small dramatic society about their upcoming play, with the occasional sidebar from two lawyers who are reading said correspondence. I will say this is a little bit slow to start, because while it’s clear something shady is going on, it’s not clear why lawyers are involved until like 2/3 in. And the framing device wobbles toward the end, as their boss sends them additional correspondence and clues to help them figure it out. But the characters are pretty gripping (I said “oh my god, you are SUCH a PSYCHO” out loud at least twice) and I did enjoy seeing the mystery unravel (and being right about a couple things). B+.

2023 book 167

 Margaret Rogerson’s Mysteries of Thorn Manor

This was a VERY CUTE story about the main characters from the previous book being magically locked inside their house, and they have to figure out how to break the spell in time to host their ball! Lots of sweet and funny moments, discovering hidden rooms full of murderous clothing, etc. A-.

2023 book 166

 Margaret Rogerson's Sorcery of Thorns

I liked Rogerson's Vespertine a lot so am finally getting around to trying one of her earlier books. I didn’t like this one as much but it had some cool moments. The main character is a girl who’s been raised in a library full of magical, maybe evil books, but when someone starts sabotaging the magical libraries, she’s drawn into a bunch of adventures. Which makes this sound really fun, but it’s darker than that. I loved the main character and wished we saw more of her with her best friend. The male hero and his demon were also great characters, I wished the romance had been toned down a little bit but it was fine. Some of the writing was just overly dramatic, but that is often the case with YA fantasy. There is a sequel novella which I will check out because apparently it involves a magical house, and I like those as much as I like spaceships with personalities. B/B+.

2023 book 165

 Beth Brower’s The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, vol. 7

Hooray for a new one in this series! I do love the irrepressible Emma and the scrapes she and her motley assortment of friends get into. Lots of exciting stuff in this volume as aunts come to stay, the Season begins, romance is negotiated, journals are bound, and some secrets of the past are revealed. Very chill and enjoyable. A-.

2023 book 164

 Cat Sebastian’s The Missing Page

Sometimes you are in the mood to read a historical mystery and then you remember you never read the sequel to Hither Page! Cat Sebastian to the rescue! Anyway, in this one, the adorable post-war couple are trying to find out what happened twenty years earlier when one's cousin disappeared, supposedly in a swimming accident. Very satisfying mystery, great characters, just what I wanted to read. A/A-.

2023 book 163

 Martha Wells' Wheel of the Infinite

I was excited to read a Martha Wells book I hadn’t read before, but this one was somewhat impenetrable. Interesting world and characters but the plot was pretty slow, just everyone wondering what mysterious people are trying to destroy their world. And there were so many interesting hints of politics (religious and secular) but it’s frustrating to read something where everyone is clueless, including the reader. B.

2023 book 162

 John Scalzi's Starter Villain

Most important thing first: this book has maybe the BEST fictional cats I have ever read. (Related: this book also has maybe the best cover ever, do click the link to see.) I mean it is a very fun action movie of a book, wherein a thirty-something schlub's very wealthy parking garage mogul uncle dies, and he’s the heir, but of course the parking garage business is just a cover for some high level villainy and soon he's got other villains coming for him! Very fun and highly entertaining, lots of humor, but the cats are *chef's kiss*. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on September 19th.

2023 book 161

 Heather Rose Jones' Daughter of Mystery

Well, this was interesting, and in many ways up my alley. It’s a historical fantasy, set in 1800s Europe, centering on two young women—one, who inherits a ton of money and property from her godfather, including the other young woman, who he’s had trained as a duelist (shades of Ellen Kushner). There’s lots of interesting magic (which is tied into Catholicism somehow) and politics, and scholarship, and then it turns out both girls are lesbians and are into each other. Score. But it’s not really written with the framework of a romance novel until near the end. I wanted to get into a series and this one has four books, but it looks like each one focuses on a different pair of ladies. On the one hand, this one had a lot of other stuff going on and I was into the characters, but also I want a big ol' epic series and I’m not sure that’s what this series is. We'll see, I guess! A/A-.

2023 book 160

 Rachel Neumeier’s Winter of Ice and Iron

I’m still catching up on Neumeier’s backlist of books and this one was entertaining! All sorts of gods and magic and family drama and politics in a world I found very interesting. GREAT characters, including a princess and a Duke who end up teaming up to try and take down an evil power that threatens both their lands. I really enjoyed this until the end, which I wasn’t into for some reason. Just kind of all over the place. A-.

2023 book 159

 Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers

I wanted to reread this, so obviously I made it this month's book club pick. And as I texted to Christina, who was ahead of me on her reread, “I remembered it was gutting but didn’t remember it was GUTTING.” Absolutely beautiful book but, yeah, kind of gutting! There are two storylines—one focuses on a group of gay men (and one's little sister) in 1980s Chicago, as they’re being decimated by AIDS, and the other features the little sister thirty years later, in Paris looking for the daughter she hasn’t seen in years. I am still a little weepy so I’m going to wrap this up now.

2023 book 158

 Sarah Beth Durst's Race the Sands

Durst can be hit or miss for me, but I’d heard enough good things about this one that I figured I’d try it. And it’s interesting, with great characters! It’s set in a world where people are reincarnated into animals based on how good (or not) they are, and the most evil people turn into monsters that are then raced for sport for some reason (like horses). The main character is a single mother who trains said racers and has to have a winning season, and ends up with a brand new monster thing and a brand new rider (also a POV character). The thing is that the first half of this is kind of slow, especially since it’s obvious to the reader what’s going on. I did like the politics/intrigues aspects of the story, and things picked up in the second half, but the end was kind of eh. But like I said, great characters and very atmospheric. B+.

2023 book 157

 John Scalzi's The End of All Things

I have said on this blog many times before that I love sentient AIs, and I especially love spaceships with feelings. But y’all…. this is not what I meant! In the last book, we found out that the bad guys were stealing ships and killing their crews and using their pilot's brain to run the whole ship, and the narrator of the first part is one such brain in a box spaceship. I was very invested in that character and was annoyed when the next POV started, even though it’s a character I like. Like the previous book, this one is interconnected stories, but four novellas this time (so we see the spaceship again). I have mixed feelings on how that worked to wrap up this series, and how it’s used to try and address the moral ambiguities of the organization that a bunch of the characters work for. Still, a quick read and a fairly satisfying end to the series. A-.

2023 book 156

 John Scalzi’s The Human Division

This was an interesting entry in this series—it’s sort of a bunch of interconnected stories or vignettes, mainly involving some diplomats and their spaceship crews (including Harry Wilson, glad to see him again). I did enjoy this a lot (I love stories about diplomacy) but wished we had gotten more of a resolution—it’s somewhat unsatisfying to know for an entire book that someone is sabotaging stuff but never to find out who. A-.

2023 book 155

 John Scalzi's Zoe's Tale

I was a little bummed when I started this, because the third one lands in such an interesting place, and this one goes back to retell all those events from Zoe's POV. And I like Zoe as a POV character, I just wanted to know what happens NEXT! But I pretty quickly got into it, bc Scalzi tells a good story. Lots of dumb teen moments, moving moments, bittersweet moments, cool alien moments. A/A-.

2023 book 154

 John Scalzi's The Last Colony

The third book in the Old Man's War series is set several years later, and finds John and Jane in charge of a brand new colony--but it's called Roanoke, which is maybe a clue that things aren't going to be easy. And they sure aren't! All sorts of new political problems pop up and there are some really interesting and exciting moments. And a banger of an ending. This series is really fun. A/A-.

2023 book 153

 John Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades

The second book in this series was also very fun, taking on new enemies, traitors, and science! The main character is a brand new member of the Special Forces, and Jane from the first book is prominent as well. Again, a good balance of action and character moments, I’m really enjoying these. A/A-.

2023 book 152

 John Scalzi's Old Man's War

I wanted to read a fun sci-fi series and several people whose tastes I trust have recommended this over the years, plus I like what I’ve read of Scalzi's stuff, so here we go! This has a wild premise: when people on earth turn 75, they can enlist in the space army, who will turn them young again so they can fight aliens and thus colonize far off planets. But actually I loved all this? A good mix of outer space science stuff, friendships, battles, action, etc. I really enjoyed the narrative voice. I was mildly sad that everyone named their personal brain AI stuff like “asshole” when obviously I would have named it after a pet. But that’s not really a quibble. Can’t wait to see what happens next. A/A-.

2023 book 151

 Lauren Groff's The Vaster Wilds

I made a noise sort of like “waaaaaahhh” when I finished this book, it’s very beautiful but also like omg. It’s the story of a teenage servant girl, an English colonist in the 1600s, who flees sickness and starvation and runs into the winter wilderness with a sack full of useful things, her faith, and her intelligence. Now this is a survival story so some parts disturbed my delicate vegetarian sensibilities. And things are often grim, and tense. But it’s still lovely and dreamlike, somehow. But also, grim and tense. Interesting balance there. I am very curious about how people will respond to this. A/A-.

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

2023 book 150

 Katy Watson's A Very Lively Murder

I was in the mood for a mystery, so decided to check out the sequel to The Three Dahlias, which I liked a lot. This one is set on the … set … of the new Dahlia movie, and our three actresses are once again on the case when one of them starts receiving death threats. I will say I was very entertained while reading this, but the mystery ends up being fairly unhinged, not in a good way, so I was left feeling vaguely disappointed. I do still love the characters, though, and would definitely read another one in this series. B/B+.

2023 book 149

 Patricia McKillip’s Harpist in the Wind

This series ended up not being my jam. This third one is more like the first, very slow-paced and with most of the action taking place in one guy's head. Some interesting moments for sure but just a slow, dreamlike kind of book. Kind of exhausting. B.

2023 book 148

 Patricia McKillip's Heir of Sea and Fire

OK, I did like this one more! It has much zippier pacing, and I thought the storyline was more interesting--young women on a mission! The characters are also a lot more dynamic. The second half focuses more on one of the young women learning about her heritage and powers and is a little slower, but still enjoyable, and the end is really intriguing. I’m curious about how this series will wrap up. A-

2023 book 147

 Patricia McKillip’s The Riddle-Master of Hed

I didn’t love this the first time I read it, but I never did read the sequels and I’m running out of unread McKillip books! So I made my way through this again and still found it fairly impenetrable. It’s about a young prince from farming country who has a great destiny, but he’s reluctant to accept it, mainly bc a lot of people are trying to kill him. He has magical adventures and learns cool stuff and eventually journeys to his destination, but it’s all very slow and the end is a confusing cliffhanger. I’m hoping the sequels will be more up my alley.

2023 book 146

 Ann Patchett's Tom Lake

Hooray for new Ann Patchett! This one is set in the early days of the pandemic, and involves a woman and her three twentysomething daughters, picking cherries in their cherry orchard, as the mother tells them stories about her life when she was a young actress, and how she briefly dated an actor who later became very famous. I will say I probably missed some literary allusions here, being generally unfamiliar with both The Cherry Orchard and Our Town (which features prominently), but it didn’t affect my enjoyment at all. The narrative voice immediately drew me in and I was hooked the whole time and just wanted to give all these women hugs (and some other characters too—Joe!). So good and so completely satisfying. A.

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+.

2023 book 118

 Connie Willis' The Road to Roswell

The word for the first half of this book is WACKY, and the word for the second half is SLOW. I actually enjoyed the wackiness—this book is about a young woman who’s flying out to her best friend's wedding, and it turns out the best friend's fiancé is a UFO nut, and the protagonist thinks it’s all very ridiculous, but then she is actually abducted by an alien. And various kidnappings and misadventures ensue! But I do think this would have benefited from being shorter, especially in the last third. It just felt like it was spinning its wheels. It was clearly going to be a rom-com, so let it be a rom-com! I also found the very end confusing, like I was missing some of the text. I dunno, B.

Jeopardy!

 We interrupt this book blog to say: WATCH ME ON JEOPARDY ON THURSDAY JUNE 29th!

2023 book 117

  Makoto Shinkai and Naruki Nagakawa's She and Her Cat (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori)

Once again forcing my book club to read whatever I’m in the mood to reread! I will be interested to see how they respond to this melancholy-yet-hopeful book of interconnected Japanese stories narrated mainly by cats (and the women they love who love them). 

2023 book 116

 Rachel Neumeier’s Door Into Light

I did enjoy this sequel quite a bit, but there was a lot going on! Several of the main characters find themselves in the enemy country, while the others are dealing with political upheavals (ie violent coups) at home. I did appreciate that one of the other sisters was a POV character this time, especially as it was the “practical” one. I was mildly annoyed that every character had a (straight) love interest, but romance wasn’t a big focus so I can’t really complain. Lots of magical battles and regular battles and diplomacy, all of which I liked, but I did wish towards the end things were a little tighter. Still, a very entertaining read, Neumeier is a really interesting author. A-/B+.

2023 book 115

 Rachel Neumeier's House of Shadows

Somehow I had completely missed the existence of this book and its sequel, so I was excited to get to treat myself to more by Rachel Neumeier! This one involves eight sisters who, after their father's death, have to figure out how to make money. One of the older girls goes off to get trained as a sort of courtesan (this is a respectable and fancy thing in this world) and one of the middle ones ends up apprenticed to a mage. The latter is one of the POV characters, along with a young woman who works where the courtesans are trained, and a sorcerer from an enemy country who gets drawn into an assassination plot. Lots of interesting characters here, and I loved all three of the protagonists. AND there were very cool cats! Lots of magical adventures and humor. I could easily have read this in one sitting if I hadn’t had to go to sleep! Can’t wait to check out the sequel. A/A-.

2023 book 114

 Glenda Larke's The Tangled Lands

YALL I LOVED THIS BOOK. It's about what happens when sorcerers from one kingdom plot to steal the newborn heir from another kingdom, and the heir's father refuses to negotiate. A chunk of the story is told from the POV of a young man in jail for treason. In the back half, a thirty-five year old woman comes into her own. (All of the characters in this are great, but she is one of my new FAVES.) There is magic and there are ancient gods and goddesses. There are fast friendships and lots of humor. Every moment of this delighted me. I will be reading more by Larke ASAP. A. 

2023 book 113

 Yume Kitasei's The Deep Sky

I do love a sci-fi mystery story, and this one was stellar (pun mildly intended). It’s set on a spaceship bound for a new planet, crewed by 80 women/non-binary people/trans men (bc they’re intended to start the repopulation process on the way), when an explosion goes off! Now the ship's alternate, the only crew member without a specific job (but with plenty of self-esteem issues!) has to figure out if it was sabotage, and if so, who was behind it, and why. This is interspersed with flashbacks to her childhood in a future version of earth that isn’t doing too hot, and to her years of training for the mission. Lots of great characters and relationship dynamics, an interesting mystery, and really engaging writing. I can’t believe this is a debut, and I can’t wait to see what Kitasei writes next. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on July 18th.

2023 book 112

 T. Kingfisher’s Nettle and Bone

Still occasionally rereading some T. Kingfisher as a lil treat, and this may have been even better the second time (and I loved it the first time!). A wonderful fantasy adventure featuring a thirty-year old princess determined to save her sister from an abusive husband with the help of a bone dog, a witch, a warrior, and a fairy godmother. Lots of magic and adventure and occasionally creepy moments, because that’s how Kingfisher rolls, but SUCH a good story.

2023 book 111

 Bess Kalb's Nobody Will Tell You This But Me

It’s been a looooong time since I read any non-fiction,but Christina read this recently and said it reminded her of the way I talked about my Bubbe, and I’ve been thinking of my Bubbe a lot lately because of the whole thing where I’m going to be on Jeopardy next week (she was still alive when I first auditioned several years ago and was SOOOO excited, she was planning a watch party for all the old Jewish ladies in her building and was going to have shirts made). Anyway. So this is the story of Bess Kalb's grandmother, told in her own voice as imagined by Kalb, interspersed with voice mails and actual conversations they had. It’s not a full biography, but more the story of their relationship, which was very moving, and reminded me of both of my grandmothers. Very funny and heartbreaking. A/A-.

2023 book 110

 Simon Jimenez's The Spear Cuts Through Water

Look, I can’t explain the plot of this book easily (though it’s not hard to understand when you’re reading it), so I’ll just say this is an excellent fantasy novel involving stories and storytelling, complicated families, young (queer) love, battles, magic, history, ancient goddesses, and more. Some funny scenes, some dark scenes, many moving scenes. A very cool and satisfying read. A/A-.

2023 book 109

 Nghi Vo's Siren Queen

This is one of those books I kept checking out from the library and not getting to, and finally did, and can’t believe I waited this long! It’s a story about classic Hollywood, but a classic Hollywood that’s full of dark fairy magic, and the Chinese girl who dreams of being a star. It’s also very queer! I enjoyed this a lot, just thought the end felt a little rushed. A-.

2023 book 108

 Grace Curtis' Frontier

So this is about a woman who crash-lands on earth in an escape pod, except the people on earth think all the people who went to space are sinners and they hate advanced technology. So she has to survive all that, and all she wants is to get a message to her girlfriend. The first half is sort of vignettes of her encounters, and I was interested, but things get moving more as it goes on and I became much more invested. GREAT ending. A-.

2023 book 107

 Ashley Poston's Seven Year Slip

After reading a bunch of kind of sad mysteries, I wanted something on the lighter side—this is just about the only time I read romance novels lately. I’ve never read anything by Poston, but several friends recommended her previous book to me, and this one has time travel shenanigans—very up my alley. Anyway, our heroine is a late-twenties book publicist, grieving the recent death of her aunt, third-wheeling it with her best friends (a lesbian couple), and moving into her aunt's apartment that she inherited. And her aunt always told her stories of the apartment being magical, but she’s still shocked to suddenly find herself seven years in the past, with a hot dude aspiring chef come to stay for the summer. The romance is cute, I liked the characters well enough, I did enjoy the narrative voice, but there were just so many things to nitpick! And I don’t want to nitpick! It just made me want to rewatch The Lake House, the ne plus ultra time slip story. I might still read this with my book club, I think it will be a hit with that group. B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on June 27th.

2023 book 106

 Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night

I’ve been rereading this whole series just to get back to this one, but I enjoyed it a lot more the last time I read it. It’s another one where when you know the mystery's solution, it’s just kind of a depressing read. That is one hundred percent balanced out by Harriet writing and researching and hanging out at Oxford, and by her relationship with Peter. But I think I’m going to stop my rereading here.

2023 book 105

 Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors

This is an interesting one, since it takes place over the course of like a year, which is unusual in a mystery novel. The mystery itself involves a long-ago jewel theft and the discovery of an unknown body in the graveyard. There is also a lot of business involving bell-ringing and waterways. I will say I remembered most of how this played out, and usually it’s fun to see how the pieces come together, but it somehow wasn’t the case for this. I definitely liked it more the first time I read it. 

2023 book 104

 Dorothy Sayers' Murder Must Advertise

Peter Wimsey goes hilariously undercover as a copy-writer at an advertising agency in this one, to figure out if an accidental death was really an accident. The mystery in this one is fine, but it’s the characters and the settings that make this so entertaining (aside from a very lengthy description of a cricket match, but maybe some people like that sort of thing).

2023 book 103

 Dorothy Sayers' Have His Carcase

I did skip one in this series that I didn’t enjoy last time I read it, which was fine, because that one didn’t have Harriet and this one does! The mystery starts with Harriet on a walking tour, in fact, finding a freshly dead body on a beach. Soon Peter is coming to town to help her and the local police figure things out. Lots of funny scenes in this one, and I really love Harriet. The mystery kind of drags but is interesting also? Like there is a VERY lengthy scene involving decoding a cipher but I love that sort of thing. Just a lot going on with a somewhat abrupt ending. 

2023 book 102

 Dorothy Sayers' Strong Poison

Heck yeah, it’s the introduction of Harriet Vane to this series in a story that’s a total banger. Harriet, who writes mystery novels, is on trial for murdering her ex, and Peter is determined to prove her innocent (and marry her, if possible). It’s not too hard to guess who actually did it, but watching Peter figure out how to prove it is very compelling. This one also has some really funny parts. I do love Peter.

2023 book 101

 Dorothy Sayers' The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

I really like this one—a super engaging mystery, involving trying to determine the exact time of death of an elderly man whose sister died the same day, for will-related reasons. Lots of twists and turns, and Peter is clever and sympathetic. Plus, no one says anything randomly racist! A winner on all fronts.

2023 book 100

 Dorothy Sayers' Unnatural Death

This Peter Wimsey mystery centers on the death of an elderly woman with cancer, but her doctor is convinced she was murdered by her niece. Except nothing suspicious turns up on the autopsy, and everyone thinks the doctor is wrong. Except Peter, who is on the case! With the assistance of a hilarious new associate, Miss Climpson! Very fun and satisfying story, minus the n-word being dropped a bunch of times and a couple bits of antisemitism. Gotta love those 1920s mysteries. 

2023 book 99

 Dorothy Sayers' Clouds of Witness

The second Peter Wimsey book finds Peter trying to solve the case when his brother the Duke is arrested for murdering their sister's fiancé. Awkward. Plenty of red herrings keep the plot moving, though there are some sections that drag a little. The Dowager Duchess remains my fave.

2023 book 98

 Dorothy Sayers' Whose Body

I read this article recently, which made me want to revisit the Peter Wimsey books! Unfortunately I didn’t remember the plot of this one—where Lord Peter is assisting on two cases, a missing wealthy Jewish businessman, and an unknown body discovered in an acquaintance’s bathtub—and that allllll the characters are cheerfully and casually antisemitic (as wealthy British people WERE, at that time). So, that’s not fun. It’s still an interesting mystery, though, even remembering most of how it played out. And I do like Peter as a character.

2023 book 97

 Fran Wilde's The Book of Gems

I found this one to be somewhat frustrating. It starts off well enough, with a young academic on her way to the Valley her family is from (home of the magical gems), to track down the missing mentor who stole her research. But it kind of just goes in circles. I actually think this would have benefited from being shorter, since most of the back half is just one argument going around and around. It was tiresome. B.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on June 20th.

2023 book 96

 Fran Wilde's The Fire Opal Mechanism

This is a short novel instead of a novella, but still feels kind of underdeveloped, even compared to the first one. I did enjoy the plot a lot—a mysterious group is taking over in all the countries and destroying books and universities, claiming to be democratizing knowledge—and one librarian and a thief are all that can stop them. But I really needed more character development! Interesting connections to the first book, though. A-/B+.

2023 book 95

 Fran Wilde's The Jewel and her Lapidary

Honestly kind of a heartbreaking story here! It’s about an isolated kingdom with magical gemstones, and what happens when the ruling family is betrayed and the only survivors are the youngest daughter and her companion, who can hear the stones. This novella was very interesting, but I did wish there was more to the story! There are two more related books and I’m looking forward to seeing the world fleshed out a little more. A-.

2023 book 94

 T. Kingfisher’s A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

I’ve read this book several times (rereading it for book club this go-around) and it's excellent every time! I don’t know how the author manages to always mix magic and whimsy and humor with sadness and the occasional gross/morbid, but she does and it WORKS. If you haven’t read this, it’s the story of a fourteen year old girl who works at a bakery and has bakery magic (she can get dough to not burn and make gingerbread men dance), but when a dead body turns up in the bakery, she’s drawn into a world of political plots, assassins, and war. But with a gingerbread man sidekick and an angry sourdough starter, of course. I am curious to see how book club will react to this, but I personally love it every time.

2023 book 93

 Anne Berest's The Postcard

The articles I’d read about this book made me think it was a memoir about a French Jewish woman investigating the stories of her family members who were murdered in Auschwitz, but it’s actually a work of autofiction. About a French Jewish woman investigating the stories of her family members who were murdered in Auschwitz. And part of me gets that, because she tells their stories, which must be at least partially imagined, very beautifully. But part of me found it distracting, wondering if the letters and e-mails that appear in the current timeline are “real.” (I was also very distracted by Passover being described as “the Jewish Easter,” which is wrong on a LOT of levels, but that’s not relevant really.) Anyway, things kick off when the author's mother receives a postcard listing the names of HER mother's immediately family (parents and siblings) who all died at Auschwitz, and so the author is determined to figure out who sent the postcard, and why, assisted by the research her mother has done over the years, all while interrogating her own non-observant Jewish identity. I found the historical portions, and the investigation, very moving, and I cried several times. Some of the author's thoughts on her identity were less interesting (though were relevant thematically), and I’m not sure why she included a scene of her grandfather being horny at an opium den. Anyway, I’m not grading a Holocaust book, I’m not sure this one is breaking new ground on Holocaust stories (it is very well told), but I think the examination of the survivors and their descendants and how they live (or don’t) with everything was very powerful.