Katharine Kerr’s The Black Raven
This little sub series is a trilogy instead of a set of four, so there are a lot of pieces in motion in this book, but I have faith Kerr will bring it all together in the third volume. Lots of magic and interpersonal problems, fewer battles and grisly action scenes, so I enjoyed this one a lot. We're now getting backstory on important pieces of jewelry and honestly, I’m here for it. A-.
Katharine Kerr’s The Red Wyvern
Back on my bullshit, reading old fantasy series instead of new library books. This is the start of another sub-series in the Deverry Cycle, and introduces some new characters (including, briefly, one who seems to be in our world, or at least a world with Christianity) before linking them up with some characters from the first series. It does fill in some holes in the flashback timeline and I liked those new characters a lot, but was glad we got to see more of the mysterious magical dwarf island as well. I’ll be honest that I have lost track of a lot of the details of who is reincarnated into who across the many, many timelines at this point, but I just sort of let it all wash over me and eventually it all makes sense. The villains here are all pretty two-dimensional (read: boring) but everyone else makes up for it. A-.
Natasha Pulley's The Kingdoms
I’m not sure why it took me so long to get around to this- it’s one of those books I kept checking out from the library and then getting distracted by other things, even though it had good reviews and I like the author. But hey, I finally read it, and it was good! It centers on a man who gets off a train in a world where Napoleon won his wars and there’s a big French empire in Europe, and he’s like, this isn’t right, but also I have total amnesia??? And it turns out a lot of people have weird amnesiac episodes, and his only clue is a postcard of a lighthouse. Anyway, pretty soon there are some time slips, and mysterious naval officers, and it’s all very compelling, if occasionally confusing. I did wish for slightly faster pacing, or at least for the big reveals to come a bit earlier, and I also wished the sister character was slightly better developed. But this was heartbreaking and joyful and romantic and awesome. A-.
Molly Gloss' Outside the Gates
I’ve never read anything by Gloss before, but I may have to investigate her other stuff, because this was pretty intriguing. It’s about a little boy who is cast out from his town bc he has a mysterious gift (HIS GIFT IS THE ABILITY TO BEFRIEND ANIMALS!!) and has to make his way out in the woods—but he’s not the first person to be cast out. (Not to sound ominous about it! Just the woods are full of scared people with cool gifts.) This has a hopeful sort of vibe, I just wanted there to be more of it! A-.
Erin Entrada Kelly's Lalani of the Distant Sea
I read a good review of this somewhere and at first I was pretty into it—the titular Lalani is a twelve year old girl living on an isolated island, where the mountain is deadly, there’s a mysterious beast, and it’s hard to eke out a living. Lalani loves stories and history and folklore, and I was into her journey! But this book is weirdly violent (mostly toward animals but not entirely), and the other main POV character, her best friend's nervous little brother, is a lot less interesting. I did like the end of this, but it was honestly way more depressing than I expected. B+.
Katharine Kerr's Days of Air and Darkness
I wasn’t very far into this book when I started writing a review, because I was so annoyed about several things! And dang if I didn’t have to delete all of my complaints, because Kerr turned it all around by the end! (I was especially pleased about two dudes kissing after an early scene that had real “no homo” vibes.) I mean I am still losing a little bit of steam with this series; this was all battles and gross enemies and I really wasn't interested in some of the POV characters. Awesome dragon, though. B+.
Katharine Kerr’s Days of Blood and Fire
It’s starting to feel like a Stefon SNL skit up in here, because this book has EVERYTHING! There's elves and dwarves and humans and some other species of being! There’s spirit ghosts! There's little mostly invisible sprites and gnomes! There’s swords and sorcery and magic and mayhem! There's a siege and there’s a magical secret dwarf city! Now there’s even dragons in the mix! It rules. Small note that a young woman who seems to have an intellectual disability (but also has magic powers) is referred to several times as a “mooncalf” which feels like an uncool thing to say. A-/B+.
Katharine Kerr’s A Time of Omens
I’ve reached the point in this series where what which character was doing in which book in which of their reincarnations has started to blur together, and only the most recent set piece is clear in my mind, so no plot summaries here. There’s definitely lots of action and riding around on horses and some cool new characters (I really love the characters in these books) and some cameos from some old characters, plus some dogs. I do hope we get flashbacks to Jill's research trip at some point, because I'm me, and I like scenes of people reading books even more than scenes of people riding around on horses. Another enjoyable volume, perfect escapism. A-.
Katharine Kerr’s A Time of Exile
The second set of books in the Deverry Cycle looks like it’ll be delving into Elven history and lore, and I am psyched! It starts off thirty years after the first series, though there are plenty of familiar faces (Jill and Rhodry are both still central characters). Most of the story in this one, though, is the backstory of the OTHER immortal old magician, which I was hoping would be revealed eventually. So I thoroughly enjoyed this volume. A/A-.
Katharine Kerr's The Dragon Revenant
This was a really satisfying conclusion to the first chunk of books in the Deverry series (there are four different series set in this world, plus one just starting up). Great characters, interesting action, no flashbacks to past lives (I have enjoyed those in earlier books but it was becoming a lot to keep track of) so things flowed a little better. And I really liked the way Jill's story wrapped up. I didn’t know if I’d keep going but I definitely plan to start the next book. A-.
Katharine Kerr's The Bristling Wood
I was super into the third Deverry book for the first chunk--the more modern storyline is interesting, and the flashback storyline finds Nevyn doing some interesting political stuff to bring peace to their war-torn country--but then comes a lengthy interlude where we meet a guy who can charm horses, and you're like, this is so cute, and then it turns out he can ALSO charm WOMEN, and brainwashes the main girl into running away with him and basically he makes her a sex slave. Now, to be fair to the book, this is treated as VERY WRONG AND BAD, it is definitely called rape, but it is still really stressful to read! And the rest of the book is no less stressful after that. I also had a little bit of a hard time remembering who all of the tertiary characters were but that wasn’t a huge deal. I dunno, B?
Katharine Kerr's Darkspell
So I am still interested in these characters/their world/their magic, but this second volume was more unpleasant than the first. We finally meet some of the evil sorcerer types hinted at in the first book, and they’re pretty vile (they can get power through lust and so there is a fair amount of rape, but only of dudes bc they don’t teach women their evil ways). The past life flashback section here was interesting, though also not particularly pleasant, as the main young woman pledges her life to a dark warrior goddess. Lots of riding around on horses and fighting battles, some more important than others. I breathed a sigh of relief every time a character got to take a bath! But we'll plow ahead. B.
Katharine Kerr's Daggerspell
Hooray, I found another giant fantasy series authored by a woman to get completely lost in! So this is an entertaining first volume, classic swords and sorcery stuff. It’s set in a Celtic-inspired world where souls reincarnate, and centers on a man who caused a tragedy four hundred years ago, and the gods are keeping him alive until he makes things right for the souls involved. The other POV character is a young girl who is the reincarnation of his lost love interest, but that never gets gross (he has to teach her magic for his mission to end and he often gives her “grandfatherly pats” on the head). I should note that the stuff that goes wrong in the past /does/ get gross (this was originally written in the 80s but incest was bad then too), so warning for that. Anyway, I don’t care about any of the romances, but the magic is cool, so let’s see how volume two goes. B+.
Rebecca Kauffman's Chorus
Kauffman is great and these big ensemble books, so no surprise that her latest, about a large Virginia farming family in the first half of the twentieth century, shines. The story bounces back and forth in time and each of the seven children and their father have assorted POV sections (I did get confused about the chronology a few times but it wasn’t really relevant to the meat of the story), kind of moving toward and away from the suicide of their mother. I got Jane Smiley vibes from this (particularly her Hundred Years trilogy). Really strong writing here, though I did wish for more character development from a few of the siblings. Still, excellent stuff. A/A-.
Rebecca Podos' From Dust, a Flame
Ok, now HERE is a book for which I am the target audience, as it is super queer AND steeped in Jewish folklore. Our protagonist is teenage Hannah, who's spent her childhood with her mother and older brother moving every few months. When she wakes up one morning with very weird eyes, and wakes up every morning after that with a new non-human feature, her mother vows to find help. But she doesn’t come back. Now it’s up to her and her brother to solve the mystery, find out their family history, and save the day—with the help of a pink haired girl who knows a lot about Jewish history (heart eye emoji). Great characters, great story, I really loved seeing my culture in this way. Parts of it toward the beginning were a little too Judaism 101 explainer for my taste, but not every reader is a giant Jewish nerd like I am, sooooo, shrug. I really enjoyed this. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in March.
I hope the ARC isn’t the final version, because there was a right to left issue with a crucial Hebrew word and the letters are reversed in the copy I have.
Talia Hibbert's Get a Life, Chloe Brown
We wanted to read something on the lighter side for book club this month, and this series gets good reviews, so here we are. I can only read romance novels sporadically, especially hetero ones, because sometimes I find them too formulaic, all the same plot beats, lots of insert tab A into slot B (this book is very horny). Anyway, our heroine is a chronically ill black woman from a wealthy family (I did like her relationships with her relatives), our hero is her white building superintendent, an artist, who she enlists to help her with the bucket list she makes after a near death experience. There was a cat, so that adds some bonus points, but I would maybe rather have read a novel about her glamorous grandmother and her yoga instructor girlfriend? This was cute and I was rooting for the couple but also I didn’t totally buy it. A-/B+.
Justina Ireland's Ophie's Ghosts
Not sure how I missed that Justina Ireland wrote a book set in 1920s Pittsburgh, but you bet I grabbed it from the library as soon as I found out! Things actually start down in Georgia, where the titular Ophelia is awakened by her father and warned to grab her mother and run--only it turns out that it's actually her father's ghost, and the lynch mob that killed him is on their way to burn down the house. (The death and fire both happen off-page.) So now she and her mother are off to relatives in Pittsburgh, working for a rich old white lady, still dealing with racism, but now also dealing with all the ghosts Ophie can see. And eventually, solving a murder. The pacing was a little slow in the middle, but things pick up in a big way toward the end, and I loved the little tribute to the Hill District. Satisfying and lovely wrap-up. A-.
Rosemary Kirstein’s The Language of Power
The fourth book in this series is top notch, as our steerswoman reunites with old friends, makes new ones, has some adventures, encounters dragons, does research, etc. Again, great characters and really good pacing in this one. This ends in a way that is honestly pretty satisfying, though the author has been working on two more books for the last several years, and I do hope they’re released someday.
Rosemary Kirstein’s The Lost Steersman
I like the first half of this more than the second; the first finds out steerswoman in a small town, dealing with a poorly maintained archive and getting to know the locals. Lots of great new characters. But when demons start invading, she comes to some unpleasant truths. The second half is slower and sort of grim and sad. I mean it is still interesting, just not in a fun way?
Rosemary Kirstein's The Outskirter's Secret
The second Steerswoman book finds our Steerswoman and her lady warrior friend on a journey to uncover the source of the mysterious jewels, making friends with the local nomadic tribes and maybe uncovering a few more answers along the way. Normally I’m not super into fantasy novels where people are just walking around all the time, but Kirstein makes it pretty compelling. Really great characters and a fascinating story, for sure.
Rosemary Kirstein's The Steerswoman
What do you do when you have eight books checked out of the library? Start rereading an epic fantasy series instead, of course! I kept thinking TikTok broke my brain and I didn’t have the attention span for novels anymore, but I just reread this all in one sitting so clearly I can still hang with a good story. Anyway, it is the story of the titular steerswoman, part of a group of mostly women who are basically mobile librarians/encyclopedias, wandering around spreading information and learning new things. But when our heroine starts trying to learn about a weird piece of jewelry, she catches the attention of the wizards, who hoard their magical secrets and want to stop her investigation! This was just as good the second time, lots of adventure and friendship and it somehow even makes me interested in MATH.
Rachel Hartman's In the Serpent's Wake
Normally when a new book in a series by an author I love comes out, I'd reread its predecessor, but in this case, Tess of the Road deals pretty heavily with learning to process your trauma, and I just wasn't up for it. Luckily there is a lengthy sea shanty at the beginning of this one that serves as a recap! (I don't usually read lengthy poems in books, my eyes glaze over, but it was useful here.) Anyway, this story finds Tess on a scientific expedition to find a giant dragon (and hopefully help her non-giant dragon friend), with a side mission of spying on some colonization/war efforts on the way. As usual, Hartman does the unexpected, which means is the first book I was actually interested in the whole way through in quite a while. Now, I did occasionally wish things were slightly subtler, and a lot of this boils down to privileged people learning to sit down and shut up, but at least that’s a good message. Content warning for a lot of mentions of rapists. A-.
Alaya Dawn Johnson's Trouble the Saints
So the world building here is really interesting—certain people (all minorities) born with magical hands that give them various powers, and the story starts off strong with a white-passing Black woman gifted at throwing knives, working as an assassin for a (white) mobster on the eve of WWII. But things get more muddled as the POV shifts to her boyfriend (his hands can detect threats), and then to a friend of theirs who is a dancer and oracle. Parts of this are very powerful and moving (the ending, oof), especially the examination and condemnation of racism, but the middle parts are just kind of all over the place. B+.
T. Kingfisher’s Swordheart
Sometimes you just want to reread something fun and chill, and this has way less death and dismemberment than the author's other fantasy romances. ;)
Seanan McGuire's Middlegame
I’d actually never read this before, because McGuire can be hit or miss for me, and I knew this was connected to her Wayward Children books, which I’m not particularly into. But this works fine as a standalone, about a group of creepy alchemists who are experimenting on children, leading to a pair of gifted twins who are separated but keep finding each other again (which gets a little repetitive at a certain point). I liked all the business with the resets a lot, and was invested in the characters, but did think things got a bit muddled toward the end. Apparently a sequel is forthcoming, which I will maybe read? B+.
Donna Barba Higuera's The Last Cuentista
I consider it a sort of moral victory that I checked this out of the library five days before it won the Newbery. ;) I don’t even remember what review or mention prompted that, but talk about serendipity! And I think this might be my favorite Newbery winner since When You Reach Me (which is one of my top five favorite books of ALL TIME, so high praise here). Anyway, it’s set in the 2060s, and focuses on a twelve year old girl whose family has been selected to go on a generation ship to a new planet, because Earth is about to be destroyed by a comet. And she’s expected to be a scientist like her parents, but she wants to be a storyteller like her grandmother! Of course, that turns out not to be the biggest issue, as all their plans quickly fall apart. So this is at once a kind of sci-fi thriller AND a story about the power of stories and culture and family. A hard combo to pull off and the author does it with aplomb. Super good. A.
Claire Kann's The Marvelous
Rereading this for book club and I don’t mind a bit! I loved it just as much the second time and in fact just reread the whole thing in one sitting. How can you not love a book whose main characters are three girls of color (two queer!) who are part of a group trying to solve a game of puzzles for a million dollar prize! I don’t know if book club will be as into it (one book clubber thought it was “horror” and though there is one scene I personally found horrifying, it’s really a fun YA mystery/thriller). I just find all three narrators super compelling, even if the puzzle aspect is not up to like Westing Game levels (but what could be?).
Linda Nagata’s Days of Storm
I’ll be honest, I didn’t find this to be a very satisfying conclusion. It hit all the expected story beats, matched all the expected characters up romantically, but it totally felt that way while reading, like it was going through the motions. Not much else to say. B.
Linda Nagata's The Long War
Solid second book in a trilogy (though it ends kind of abruptly, but second books often do). Our main characters are split up in this one, so we get to meet a bunch of new characters, learn a bit more about the society/history, see some cool new spirits, etc. I am invested in the story but also kind of wish there was a little more to it? Still, I’m excited to see how things wrap up. A-.
Linda Nagata's The Snow Chanter
This is an interesting start to a trilogy, set in a world full of gods/spirits, some of whom are friendly toward the local humans, and some who are not, including one who has created monsters to destroy them. So our main characters are a teen boy, raised as a warrior, on a quest with his older brother and cousin, and a young woman who's on a quest of her own. Lots of magic and action and intriguing characters that I was pretty invested in. Definitely reading the next one. A-.
Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven
I haven’t actually read this since it first came out, but since I recently watched and loved the miniseries, I decided to revisit the source material. Of course then I was just mentally comparing all the changes. (I think most of the changes the tv show made were great and added a lot of emotion and human connection, but the book isn’t the lesser for not having them.) Anyway, totally holds up, still a powerful piece of literature, can’t wait to read her upcoming new one.
T. Kingfisher's Nettle and Bone
This isn’t actually out for a couple of months, but if you think I was going to wait to read the new and much-hyped Ursula Vernon book, you got another think (thing? Which is it?) coming. And this was sooooo good and so satisfying. She's playing with fairy tale tropes, but in her trademark dark and creepy and cool way. We start with a youngest of three, who's grateful to have been send off to live in a convent, except then she discovers her elder sister's prince husband is actually an abusive murderer, and is determined to rescue her. Soon impossible tasks, bone dogs, and fairy godmothers are all in the mix, and it's GREAT. I just really loved these characters, and this isn’t a romance (though there is a teeny bit of romance), so it breaks the mold of the author's recent books (don’t get me wrong, I love those books, but it’s nice to read something more surprising). I just found this really satisfying, which is the best thing a book can be. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in April.
Lina Rather's Sisters of the Forsaken Stars
I should have reread the first book in this series before starting this one, because all I remembered was that it was about nuns in space and that I liked it a lot. And I think this one does an okay, but not great job of reminding the reader of the plot and re-introducing the characters. The other issue here is that this doesn’t have much plot of its own to speak of—the nuns' actions of the first book seem to have started fomenting a rebellion, they have two new people aboard, and one former nun is on a different spaceship starting a new life. But it’s a novella, none of these stories have any space to develop, the new characters are given short shrift (which is a major detriment to the plot), it’s all just kind of frustrating. I would have read a whole book about the wild liveship colony and there are like three pages. I just didn’t care about anything that was happening because I wasn’t invested in any of it. I don’t know how differently I’d feel if I had reread the first one, but I think the plot issues/lack of character and plot development are still a major problem. B.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on February 15th.
Joanne Harris' Gentlemen and Players
So it turns out Harris (author of Chocolat and several books about Loki) also has a mystery series set at a boys' school in England, which is pretty up my alley! The story is narrated from two POVs—one, an aging and mildly crotchety Latin teacher: the other, someone who’s gotten hired as a new teacher under a false name in order to bring the school down for Reasons (I correctly guessed who this was early on so was a bit frustrated the reveal came so late). There isn’t any murder or anything until close to the end, but information as to what the heck is going on is doled out at an ok pace, and the Latin teacher provides important context. It felt like it took a really long time to read though? Like this could have been edited down a bit to be more fast-paced. I might read the next one and see how it goes. B+.
Xochitl Gonzalez's Olga Dies Dreaming
This is one of those books that I was into while I was reading, but was never eager to pick back up again. It has really engaging characters—the titular Olga, a Puerto Rican-American woman who works as a wedding planner for wealthy New Yorkers; and her older brother, a hot young congressman (who the wealthy white New Yorkers call “the Latino Obama”). Their stories—dealing with job stress, family stuff, secrets, guilt, romance, etc—are interspersed with letters from the mother who left them when they were teens because she wanted to pursue her revolutionary ideals. I did enjoy this for the most part, though wished parts of it were a little more subtle (on the other hand, some parts were fairly hilarious), but had really mixed feelings about the ending. I might make my book club read this, I feel like this will be a hot book club book this year. A-/B+.
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Content warning for rape.
Ursula K. LeGuin's The Other Wind
Now /that/ is how you wrap up a series. As soon as I picked up what LeGuin was throwing down, I was like OH OF COURSE YES, she took all these strands from books written like thirty years apart and wove a beautiful effing tapestry of a story. There are dragons, and a kitten. There is love and sacrifice and friendship and magic. Tenar is freaking hilarious and I love her. I was rooting for every character and for their whole world. So satisfying and so well-done. Excellent in every way. A.
Ursula K. LeGuin's Tales of Earthsea
The fifth Earthsea book is actually five different stories, filling in some of the backstory and history of the characters and the world. I was most interested in the ones about the history of the wizards' school, and how it seems to have lost its original purpose, which ties into the last story (which I assume will have some relevance for the final novel), about a young woman trying to figure out her way. There was only story one I wasn’t super into, and even that one related to how the world is misunderstanding its magic/how wizards ought to be. I’m very curious about how this will all wrap up. A-/B+.
Ursula K. LeGuin's Tehanu
Just imagine a bunch of excited sputtering here, because I LOVED this book. It returns to Tenar, now a farmer's widow with grown children (the book acts like she is middle-aged bordering on elderly, but she’s forty, lol), who’s adopted a badly abused and burned child, when Ged comes back into her life. The story itself is entertaining, it moves quickly, lots of fascinating characters, but what’s REALLY interesting here is the focus on women's feelings, their place in society, their anger. I LOOOOOOOOVE annoyed adult Tenar. I love a fantasy novel so focused on the domestic sphere (and I love how neatly Ged fits into the domestic sphere!). This was GREAT. A.
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Content warning for mentions of rape/abuse.
Ursula K. LeGuin's The Farthest Shore
The third Earthsea book is a bit darker than the first two, as Ged, now the highest mage in the land, takes a young prince on a journey to find out why the world's magic is going missing and why people seem to be sinking into depression and insanity. And maybe the journey has another purpose too. I’m not super partial to books where people are journeying around all the time, but this has some cool dragons, and I like older Ged a lot (the prince is fine, the usual YA character learning and growing etc). Solid all around. A-/B+.
Ursula K. LeGuin's The Tombs of Atuan
My last read of 2021! This is the one Earthsea book I’ve read before, though I disagree with my past assessment, and liked it much more this time. The protagonist is a young girl, taken from her family and raised to be the priestess of an old, dark religion, one that seems in danger of being usurped. I just found her journey much more compelling this time around, and liked Ged much more too. Some really beautiful writing in this one, A-.
Ursula K. LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea
I haven’t read much by LeGuin so have decided to rectify that! I actually have tried to read this one before, but the protagonist is such a brat for the first few chapters (I think “sullen” is the word used to describe him most) that I gave up on it. But I am reading this whole series so had to plow ahead, and he does get much better. The back half is kind of a slow psychological quest that I was personally not super into (catch the freaking shadow already!!), but I did like how it all wrapped up. All the main characters and good guys are people of color and all the baddies are white, very progressive for a book written in the 60s! Also, some good bro friendships. B+.
Lisa Lutz's The Accomplice
I’ll read anything Lutz writes, but this wasn’t my favorite of her books. It centers on a man and woman who have been best friends since college, and then his wife gets murdered and the police are looking into them. This is interspersed with flashbacks to their college days, when she’s hiding a big secret about her past, and there are hints that something bad is going to happen. One mystery resolves in a much more satisfying manner than the other (I mean, I can’t spoilt it, but COME ON), but the ending here is weirdly bleak. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, I was just not in the mood for bleak tonight. B.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on January 25th.
Fonda Lee's Jade Legacy
I came into this third volume pretty pessimistic about the fates of the main characters here, and wondering how on earth Lee would craft a satisfying conclusion. I will say she does the latter fairly well, but there are some BRUTAL parts along the way. It’s all still very exposition heavy but compelling characters make up for that. Pretty entertaining series, in all. B+.
Fonda Lee's Jade War
Lots of interesting character and plot developments in this second volume, though it was even more exposition-y than the first! There were so many lengthy descriptions of wars that their foreign allies were involved in and my eyes kept glazing over. That is balanced out with plenty of action scenes, nice character moments, and badass women. I'm definitely interested in seeing how Lee wraps this up. B+.
Fonda Lee's Jade City
This is an interesting start to a series, and I’m ready to dive into the next one for sure. It’s an Asian-influenced fantasy gangster sort of story, centered on the siblings of one of the country's powerful ruling crime families, as they deal with their plotting rivals and their own personal issues. I found all these characters compelling and the story definitely took some turns I wasn’t expecting. There are some interesting hints about pressure from foreign allies/adversaries and other political machinations. I didn’t love the end of this particular volume but I am still excited to see where things go next, B+.
Jaclyn Moriarty’s The Astonishing Chronicles of Oscar from Elsewhere
The fourth Kingdoms and Empires book is another narrated in turns by two children- here, Imogen, the eldest of Bronte's girl cousins, and the titular Oscar, a boy from our own world who stumbles into theirs while looking for a mysterious skate park. Soon he’s part of a quest along with Imogen, her sisters, Bronte, and Alejandro, as they try and track down the pieces of a missing key and save an Elven town. Another really fun and satisfying adventure with a killer ending. Moriarty is so good. A/A-.
Jaclyn Moriarty’s The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst
I think this makes me cry more than any other Moriarty book, for a variety of reasons! The narrator is one of Bronte's girl cousins, the middle one, who’s dealing with an odd new teacher, and trying to solve various magical mysteries and secrets. It also is kind of about depression and neglect and gaslighting? Interspersed with all the magical adventures and mysteries, of course. Really solid ending on this one, ties everything together perfectly.
Jaclyn Moriarty’s The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars
The second book in the Kingdom and Empires series is actually a prequel to the first one, focusing on a group of children who have to team up to save the day, even though they are bitter rivals—one set is from the local orphanage, one from a snotty boarding school, and the story is narrated in turns by a student from each. (The bickering between the narrators is pretty funny.) And of course some familiar faces from the first book do pop up. Action-packed, bittersweet, great story.
Jaclyn Moriarty's The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone
A fourth book in Moriarty's very fun middle grade series just came out, so why not reread the first three for funsies? Moriarty is one of my favorite authors and this book is funny, action packed, moving, and clever. It centers on the titular ten-year-old Bronte, whose parents have been off adventuring her whole life, only now they’ve been killed by pirates, and now their will sends her on a journey across various kingdoms to deliver gifts to her many aunts (and have adventures along the way). Just a really fun read with a great narrative voice.
Cat Sebastian's Hither, Page
This turned out to be a seasonally appropriate read, as it’s set just before Christmas, in a small town in England in 1946. Our heroes are the local doctor (with severe PTSD) and a spy sent to investigate a murder. Great secondary characters here—I especially liked the elderly lesbians and their sassy teenage ward—and a pretty satisfying mystery. I did like the two main characters and their building romance was cute, but the end felt a bit rushed, romance-wise. Still, a nice cozy winter read. A-/B+.
Marissa Levien's The World Gives Way
I’ve been meaning to read this one for a while, and was reminded to actually do so by a couple of year end lists. I saw someone describe it as “optimistic post-apocalyptic, like Station Eleven” and I’m going to go ahead and disagree a little. See, it’s the story of a young woman, a contract worker (basically an indentured servant/slave), who will gain her freedom when their GIANT SPACESHIP makes it to a new planet, except then her wealthy employers tell her the ship is broken and can’t be repaired and everyone is going to die realllll soon, and then they kill themselves. So she goes on the run with their little baby (it kind of makes sense in context). It’s also the story of the rookie cop assigned to find her. And the story of a world that is literally falling apart. Sooooo some parts of this are pretty bleak. There are also some really beautiful moments. I would not use the word “optimistic,” however. A-.
Another weird year where I didn't read half the books I meant to read, stuck mostly to genre fiction, and did a lot of rereading. That being said, I did read some 2021 books that I loved, so here they are, in alphabetical order by author:
Monica Byrne's The Actual Star
Louise Erdrich's The Sentence
Claire Kann's The Marvelous
T. Kingfisher's Paladin's Strength and Paladin's Hope
Cat Rambo's You Sexy Thing
Rainbow Rowell's Any Way the Wind Blows
Miriam Toews' Fight Night
And here are three books I read this year that I LOVED that came out earlier than 2021:
Jordan Ifueko's Raybearer
Darcie Little Badger's Elatsoe
Elizabeth Moon's Remnant Population
Victoria Goddard’s Plum Duff
As usual, Goddard totally subverts my expectations of where she’s going with this series, as most of the plot here involves Greenwing and Dart getting ready to celebrate their winter holidays with their families and friends. But the stakes are raised yet again! Along the way we get more insight into their religion, several kittens are named, a unicorn gets a sweater, there are a lot of hugs, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. A/A-.
Victoria Goddard’s Love-in-a-Mist
After the major events and revelations of the previous book, this one takes on a story of a smaller scale: a murder at a snowed in manor house! Of course there is also a BABY UNICORN, an invisible butler, a blackmailer, and a couple of burgeoning romances! Plus some burgeoning political situations. Mr Dart gets to shine a bit more in this once which is nice, and now I will wrap up this review to start reading the brand new book six!
Victoria Goddard’s Blackcurrant Fool
God, I love this book. Not just because it’s the continuing adventures of Jemis and friends, as they take a road trip, encounter old friends and foes, check out a rival college, etc, but because I WILL NEVER GET OVER THAT THE PLOT HINGES ON LITERARY ANALYSIS. Poetry saves the day!! There are also interesting magical adventures and some great moments of catharsis. Everything about this book rules.
Victoria Goddard’s Whiskeyjack
The third Greenwing and Dart book has more awesome magic, friendship, action, and feelings, along with finding out a lot more about Jemis' family, about local smuggling rings, and about interpreting poetry. This also has an ending that I really love. I also really appreciate the sort of dryly hilarious narrative voice that has occasion to arise in this one. So good.
Victoria Goddard's Bee Sting Cake
The first book in this series is fun and entertaining, but this one is where it starts to get GOOD. Dragons, riddles, baking contests, long lost relatives, people frozen in time….Great pacing, great humor, great friendships, just great fun.
Victoria Goddard's Stargazy Pie
A sixth book in this series just came out, so obviously I'm doing a whole reread (perfect cozy reads for December). I've read this book many times but love it every time, because how can you not love a book full of man feelings, mysterious pies, secret societies, complicated families, bookstores, magic, and friendship?! These books are also very funny. Now, could the plotting here be a little tighter, yes, for sure, but sometimes it’s nice to read a shaggier sort of story and spend more time in the world. I am certainly here for shaggy and sweet stories.
Cat Rambo's You Sexy Thing
Y'ALL THIS WAS SO GOOD. Just everything I love in a sci-fi book all smushed together! It’s about an ex military captain and her multi-species crew, who now run a restaurant on a space station, and they’re getting ready for a big important restaurant critic to pay a visit, when things go haywire, and they find themselves on a living ship with a mind of its own (spaceships with feelings are MY FAVORITE). Adventures, yummy food, and space pirates ensue! (Note that stuff with the space pirates gets pretty grim but otherwise this is a very fun book.) This is ripe for a sequel and if one ever comes out, I will be reading it for sure. A.
Anne Ursu's The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy
I don’t have strong thoughts about this one, it was a pleasant enough read with great themes/messages and an interesting throughline about women's crafts, but I was never super invested in what was going on. I think it needed more character development from the secondary characters and maybe a little more to the climactic bits toward the end? The reveal is kind of grim but at least the book does acknowledge that these kids are traumatized by it. It did make me care about embroidery though. B/B+.
Alison Evans' Euphoria Kids
I gotta keep investigating Australian authors, because some of my recent faves are coming out of there. This was so good! It’s about a teenager who grew from a seed in their mothers' garden, who wishes for friends, and then they meet a girl made of fire (and later on the pair encounters a nameless boy). There are witches, and coffee shops, and fairies, and art class, and all three kids are trans/non-binary and kind of nerdy, and it was all just delightful. More books like this please. A/A-. (Did you like House at Cerulean Sea? This has those vibes, but I liked it much better.)
Margaret Mahy's The Magician of Hoad
This was an interesting and somewhat odd fantasy book, following three children—a boy gifted with magic, a prince, and a noble girl—as they grow up being used as pawns in various political machinations. Some parts of this I figured out and some parts surprised me, and it always seemed to zig when I thought for sure it would zag. But in a satisfying way! Really cool characters (especially the magician) and unusual antagonists. A-.
Margaret Rogerson's Vespertine
I don’t really feel like trying to explain the plot here, as it’s tied to the (very interesting and cool) world-building, so I’ll just say it’s mainly about a girl who wants to be a nun in this fantasy religion, but then she gets possessed by one of the most powerful spirits, except he’s chill and wants to help her save the day from bad magic! It’s like Penric and Desdemona (yay!), but not really funny. Except this makes everyone believe she’s a saint, and she’s bad at dealing with people and does not WANT to be a saint. Eventually she begrudgingly (and adorably) makes friends and allies and they fight the bad magic etc. There are hints of a burgeoning romance for later books. This was hella fun, I’m psyched to see what she and her spirit get up to next. A-.
Darcie Little Badger's A Snake Falls to Earth
It wasn’t planned to spend thanksgiving weekend reading a book by an indigenous author (I actually assumed I’d have finished this before thanksgiving, but I just didn’t do a ton of reading this past week), but now I feel like I should have planned that and will do that going forward. ANYWAY this was another awesome book by Little Badger, about young Nina, a Lipan Apache girl growing up in the semi-near future, interested in storytelling, and specifically in understanding the stories of animal people told by her great-grandmother; and Oli, one of the aforementioned animal people, a young snake setting out to try and be independent (I was very wussy about this book and kept putting it down as Oli got into scrapes—he loses the blanket his mother gave him!!—but a review assured me he soon makes friends and has more /fun/ scrapes, so I got back into it). Eventually these two characters intersect and then things start to get really good, as they all try to save a friend and a home. Y’all, this was so good and hopeful even as it deals with the ravages of climate change and creepy people hunting animal people. I loved this. A.
C.L. Polk's Witchmark
I tried to read this when it first came out, but I have realllllly limited patience for steampunk (no one cares about your gas lamps and your aether!) and couldn’t get into it. But I liked Polk's most recent book a lot, and decided to go back and give this series a shot. And it was mostly really fun, except for the grim parts! The main character is a doctor, returned from the war (it’s basically a fantastical version of historical England) working with veterans, hiding from his past, hiding his MAGIC, etc, and then he’s thrust into a murder investigation with a cute guy who can see his magic, etc. I thought the world building here was really interesting—cool stuff with gender, interesting magic, took some turns I didn’t expect. Things do end on a bit of a cliffhanger and I do think I’m interested enough to read it. B+.
Laura Lam's Goldilocks
So this starts off really strong, about a young woman in the near future, part of a team of five women WHO HAVE FREAKING STOLEN A SPACESHIP FROM NASA! See, they were supposed to be the crew of the ship heading to a habitable planet (because Earth is a mess), but then politics and misogyny came into play and they were replaced. But no one is taking their spaceship to space except them! This is interspersed with flashbacks to the protagonist's younger days, early career, her relationship with her adoptive mother (also the captain of their mission). Things bog down a little in the back half as there's a little too much focus on her love life, and then they find out the captain is being shady in ways that are completely ridiculous and unbelievable. So it didn’t end up being the story I thought it was, and it wasn’t really a satisfying conclusion. On the plus side, two of the lady astronauts are a married couple and one is a POC (maybe more? I sort of lost track of things a little bit, there are so many planets and corporations that all have names that are last names and all of the astronauts go by last names). Anyway, this was fine, I just was expecting something else. B.
Phyllis Ann Karr's Frostflower and Thorn
I had read another book by this author that fell into the quiet fantasy sort of category, and I was hoping for more of the same here. We start with grumpy, rude, crude warrior Thorn, pregnant and trying to afford an abortion, when she encounters sorceress Frostflower, who offers to speed-grow the fetus and adopt the child, as sorcerers must be virgins to access their power and this is her only way to have a child. So here I am hoping for an odd couple sort of story where they road trip around and have adventures in babysitting, except they keep bringing up that whole virgin thing and soon the entire book is just suffused with dread. And it’s a slow paced book so the dread is just always THERE. Content warning for rape and torture by a dude who is creepily gentle about it all bc of his creepy religion, and when I tell you I spent the rest of the book praying for him to die painfully…. I don’t know why I kept reading except to ensure they got away from him. And also there’s a sequel which I am hoping doesn’t involve any rapey farmer priests. B-.
Patrice Kindl's A School for Brides
After reading Keeping the Castle, I of course has to dive right into the sequel, which finds one of the stepsisters from the previous book running a finishing school. This one has a little more going on in terms of getting several more couples together, plus a jewel thief, several other shady characters, a giant dog, and a couple of babies, so it isn’t as tight a story. Still a fun and charming read.
Patrice Kindl's Keeping the Castle
My book club is split between Jane Austen lovers and ppl with no interest in Jane Austen, so I thought I’d try and split the difference with a slyly funny but cute take on a Regency romance. Our protagonist is a very pretty young girl who knows she must marry for money, to maintain their family's crumbling castle for her baby brother. So when a new young lord comes to town, she’s ready! But of course in a comedic novel things are never that simple, especially with step-sisters, cousins, and new friends in the mix. Not to mention a PUPPY. This book is just a lot of fun.
Connie Willis' Bellwether
Willis is kind of hit or miss for me (though her hits are big hits!), so when I saw someone mention this as a fun light book I decided to check it out. It’s sort of a corporate satire, about a social scientist studying trends who encounters a chaos theorist at work. It does have a sort of archly amusing vibe, but there is an undertone of crotchety “kids these days” that didn’t really work with a thirty year old protagonist (she is weirdly mad about anti smoking initiatives?? Like public health concerns aren’t a fad! And she brings this up a LOT). This was written in the mid 90s so is hilariously dated at times. I enjoyed reading this, it was like a workplace screwball comedy, but it didn’t one hundred percent work for me. B+.
Laurie Marks' Air Logic
Woof, this ending to this series is a stunner, like bad things happen in this book but this whole series has that sort of optimism I like in my fantasy worlds. Rebuilding a society, slowly changing hearts and minds, the occasional magical storm helping things along, unusual magical children trying to save the day….I love everything about this.
Laurie Marks' Water Logic
These books are kind of weird and philosophical, but somehow still really engrossing? This one adds magical time travel to the mix and makes it work. The characters and their struggle to figure out how to rebuild their society are both compelling.
It’s hard to to a plot summary of a book like this, because on the one hand there is SO much going on, and on the other, nothing much really happens? Lol. Anyway, our core group has officially formed a family, but the pressures on them to fix the world might be threatening their unit. We also have a couple new pov characters from the other side of things. Can they work together to find a peaceful solution? Will this book make you hungry because one of the new characters is a cook? I can at least answer that, and the answer is yes.
Laurie Marks' Fire Logic
I had started a couple new books and couldn't get into them, and I'd been wanting to reread this series, so there we go. Strong start for sure--compelling characters (pretty much all are gay), found family elements, a world at war, interesting magic/divination stuff. Parts of it are a little dark (references to rape and torture, plus all the war stuff), and there is a section where a character tries to get off of a strong and fatal drug. But it ends on an optimistic note that has me eager to keep going.
Cherie Priest's Grave Reservations
So this is your fairly typical paranormal/fantasy mystery, wherein a cop whose life was saved by a psychic travel agent enlists her help in solving a cold case, and she agrees, hoping he'll in turn help her solve her own cold case/tragic past. Funny/quippy writing, fine characters, the mystery itself is okayyyyy, but I could not get past my suspension of disbelief! Not that she was a psychic, or even that she was a millennial travel agent, but that a cop would do . . . any of this. I did like her whole psychic karaoke thing (but found the descriptions of the gay bar owner to be off-putting). Looks like this is the start of a series; I might read another one if I was in the right mood. B/B+.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s Knot of Shadows
This ended up being an apt story to read on Halloween, because it turned out to be a sad ghost story. Things start with a dead body being fished out of the harbor, except then…. he wakes up. And Pen gets called in, only to discover the guy is possessed by a ghost, but not his own ghost. And it just gets stranger and sadder from there. So this is /satisfying/, but not /fun/ in any way, and it kind of suffers in comparison to the whole fleshed out novel that precedes it. A-/B+.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Assassins of Thasalon
This is actually a full length novel (the others in the series are novellas), which is good, because it’s an interesting story and it’s nice to spend a little extra time with everyone getting JUSTICE! Anyway, someone tries to assassinate Pen's brother in law with sorcery, which starts to unravel a whole magical plot and his god is NOT happy about it. Soon he's off on a road trip with a saint and a new student to try and save the day! Just a really solid and fun story all around, lots of badass ladies and a cute puppy, what's not to love.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s Masquerade in Lodi
This is another flashback of a novella, but a much more enjoyable one, as Pen and a young woman saint try and track down a runaway demon during a festival. There’s a minor mystery element, the plot moves quickly, and it’s all very CUTE. Super satisfying.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Physicians of Vilnoc
This is another one that isn’t fun or funny at all, but at least the pacing is better. It involves Penric getting involved in a mysterious contagious illness up at his brother in law's army barracks, and trying to solve what’s causing it and keep everyone alive. It’s fairly grim. I don’t really say it much in these reviews, but I do really like the religious system in these books, and there are some cool glimpses of it here. Doesn’t really offset the grimness, though.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Orphans of Raspay
I remembered liking this one less than the others in the series, and that proved to be the case on a reread as well. It involves Penric on a ship that’s captured by pirates, where he encounters two little girls (the titular orphans). But like, the whole time they’re about to be sold into slavery (sex slavery, it’s implied, in the case of the little girls) and it’s slow and upsetting. Like, the other books in this series are FUN and FUNNY, this is just “how will we avoid a terrible fate” for basically the whole book.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Prisoner of Limnos
Ok, I definitely think it’s more satisfying to read these in chronological order as opposed to publication order, because this one jumps right back to Pen courting the young widow. He’s not having much success, but when she finds out her mother has been imprisoned for political reasons, she comes right to him for help planning A PRISON BREAK! (She’s imprisoned in a convent but it’s still pretty dramatic). This one introduces some cool new characters and is pretty funny to boot. But it definitely is a better read as part of a series with Penric's Mission and Mira's Last Dance.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric’s Fox
Well, it turns out Amazon and Goodreads disagree on the reading order for this series; Goodreads choose publication order, where Amazon goes chronologically (doesn’t Amazon own Goodreads??). So I definitely read it in Amazon order last time and am accidentally doing Goodreads order this time, making this book a flashback. It’s set just after book two, and finds Penric teaming up with a couple characters from that book to solve the murder of a sorceress—and find her missing demon. Solid plot and satisfying for sure.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s Mira's Last Dance
As mentioned, this one immediately follows the previous book, with Pen (and Des) on the run with his love interest and her brother, which leads to Pen in disguise as a courtesan (with the help of one of Des' previous personalities). It’s all really funny and kind of sweet and there’s good dramatic tension, but still not resolution on the romance.
Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric's Mission
I actually thought this storyline came a bit later than the third book, because it’s the one where Pen meets his love interest, but then I remembered that whole thing plays out over several books. Anyway, it’s several years after book two and Pen has been sent on a mission to see if he can be an effective spy, only things go wrong basically immediately. Good thing he has a smart ol' demon living in his head and the accompanying magical powers! Great characters as always, if a slightly unsatisfying end (because, as I mentioned, the next few books are basically all one story).
Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric and the Shaman
The second Penric and Desdemona book picks up a few years later, with Pen now fully qualified and working for the local princess/archdivine (am I the only one who would have enjoyed a book with Pen and Des in seminary?), when he’s enlisted to help search for a fugitive and solve a magical mystery. Great characters and humor, as always, plus some good dogs!
Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric's Demon
I was in the mood to reread the Penric and Desdemona novellas, and when I went to look up the reading order, it turns out a new one came out last week! So that worked out very nicely. This first one is a strong start to the series, as a likable but inexperienced young man encounters a dying woman on the road—and ends up with her powerful demon (and the experiences of the 12 women the demon previously possessed). Shenanigans ensue as Pen learns about his new powers and everyone tries to figure out what the heck to do with him. Good times.
Makiia Lucier's Year of the Reaper
I really enjoyed Lucier's first two books, so was psyched for her third, a stand alone. And I also really enjoyed this one! It's set in a place where two countries have been at war for over fifty years—until a princess from one country marries the king of the other. And out protagonist is a young noble who was kidnapped and imprisoned, and has returned home after three years to find said married couple in residence at his brother's estate. But soon there are all sorts of assassination attempts aimed at the new queen—and the little baby prince—and he can’t help getting involved. Especially since the king's little sister (a historian!) is in the mix too. (Just when I was worried about how heteronormative this was, it's revealed that the brother is gay). Anyway, the assassin's identity is pretty easy to figure out, but it’s still interesting to see how things will play out, and the plot and characters are satisfying. Content warning for lots of plague deaths and references to torture. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on November 9th.
Louise Erdrich's The Sentence
So I always love whatever Erdrich writes, but man, I LOVED THIS. It's a bit of a departure in that it’s not set in Erdrich's usual fictional world—BECAUSE IT'S SET IN THE MF-ING BOOKSTORE THAT SHE OWNS IN REAL LIFE! Are you kidding me?! I am pretty sure all the characters are fictional (except for, you know, the owner Louise, who appears here and there in the background), and probably her store is not actually haunted by a very annoying deceased customer? Aaaaanyway, the protagonist and narrator is Tookie, who gets a job at the bookstore after being released from prison (her sixty year sentence was commuted), and at first you’re like, this is going to be a fun and sweet book! Tookie has an interesting personal life and their coworkers are an amazing cast of characters! And then you get to a heading that reads “February 2020” and the realities of the past year and a half hit you in the face like a brick (not just Covid—the bookstore is in Minneapolis, and the sadness of the George Floyd murder and the protests play a part). Not to mention the ghost going from annoying to slightly more sinister. And yet Erdrich somehow brings it all home. So good. A.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on November 9th.
Darcie Little Badger's Elatsoe
I made book club read this, which of course meant I had to reread it so it would all be fresh in my mind! And it totally holds up to a rereading—all the clues to the mystery are there, but there are also just so many details about the world and characters to notice too. Not to mention crying about ghost dogs (I grew up with a springer spaniel so am especially invested in Kirby). Such a great book.
Olivie Blake's The Atlas Six
This is one of those books TikTok is all over, but I hadn’t been impressed with several of their other buzz books so was like eh. But then Tor snapped this series up and since I usually like their books, I was like, sure, I’ll give it a shot. And it was awesome! It’s about six people (mostly in their twenties but a couple seem to be early thirties), powerful magicians, who are selected to try out to be part of an elite secret society descended from the library of Alexandria (who hoard its knowledge! So rude!). But only five will make it through…. Obviously some of the characters work better than others, but the plot and the magic and the tension keep things moving. Great reveals near the end. The only bummer is having to wait for the sequel. A/A-.
Ovidia Yu’s The Frangipani Tree Mystery
I was in the mood for a cozy mystery now that it feels like fall, and wanted to start this series about a young woman working for the police in Singapore in the 1930s, but this first volume is just the meandering road that gets her the job. She’s mission educated and on the verge of being assigned to work as an assistant/housekeeper to the local (British) police inspector, but ends up working as the nanny to the acting governor’s mentally impaired daughter after her previous nanny dies a mysterious death. The characters here are pretty underdeveloped, partially to try and throw in some red herrings, but the plot is pretty obvious. The writing itself is weirdly inconsistent and repetitive. The setting is interesting and I was interested in the protagonist and her friends and family (who are barely in this) but this book was not a satisfying mystery at all. B/B-.
Freya Marske’s A Marvelous Light
So this was pretty much my jam, being a mashup extraordinaire: a queer historical magical mystery! One hero is assigned a new government job as punishment—the liaison to England’s magical community. Except he did not know magic existed! And now bad dudes are after him (and cursing him) because of something his predecessor did! Enter his magical counterpart (and love interest), a scholarly sort who is like, let’s go to my family house so I can research your curse etc. adventures and romance ensue (honestly I would have liked this a bit more if it was a magical mystery with some romance and not a romance set in a magical mystery). Great characters, interesting families and side characters, mentions of bad ass ladies, totally calls for a sequel (which I assume will involve one of the side characters falling in love while further unraveling things, I’m rooting for it to be one of the women, perhaps the very competent secretary??). A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on November 2nd.
Michelle Sagara's Cast in Shadow
I fully admit that I've had a hard time starting this series because of its name: The Chronicles of Elantra. Because I DRIVE AN ELANTRA. How did no editor put a stop to this?? The car definitely predates these books! Anyway, this weirdly has like an urban fantasy feel re: characters and plots, but set in a high fantasy world. Our protagonist has a Sad and Mysterious childhood backstory (and magical tattoos of unknown origin), but now works for a branch of local law enforcement, where she's assigned to work a case with a dude from her Sad Past and also with a Dragon person (this world also has lion people and eagle people, among others, it rules). But the case is related to her Sad Past and she is the key!!!! Ok, I know I sound facetious, but this was actually a fun read, I will definitely check out more in this series. B+.
Helene Tursten's An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed
The sequel to An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good is not humorous, but is still entertaining, if in a more uncomfortable way. It finds our 88-year-old protagonist traveling from Sweden to South Africa, reminiscing about some of her past murders (new to the reader) along the way, but then she's just hanging out with a tour group on safari for most of it. Eventually some violence does occur (justified), but the end reeks of white saviour-ness (I don’t know how much of these attitudes are because this is by a Swedish author). I am still kind of rooting for the policewomen to nail her. B+
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book is available now.
Tamara Shopsin's LaserWriter II
This is an interesting little novel about a young woman who gets a job at an Apple repair shop in 1994. There is not much plot to speak of (though there are some undercurrents), but it’s very evocative of a specific time and place. I enjoyed the characters and the bits about the history of Apple computers, but could have done without the scenes where printer parts talked to each other. Cool interstitial graphics, very nostalgic. A-/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
T. Kingfisher's Paladin's Hope
Yay! It’s another romance in Ursula Vernon's paladin series! Of course this means that we immediately start with people investigating a dead body, because the romance is between a paladin and the local forensic pathologist (but like the fantasy world version), who has the power to see how people died. Solid plot, really interesting as the duo teams up with a gnole to investigate a series of bizarre murders (as always, I am here for the gnoles). The romance was super cute, I was rooting for these two dudes pretty hard, and if the late turn towards melancholic self-pity to cause conflict feels formulaic, well, this is technically a romance novel, lol. It works out in a supremely satisfying manner, for sure. A.
Jordan Ifueko's Redemptor
So I did not love this as much as its predecessor. I felt like the pacing was a little off—like it only got good three quarters of the way in, and before that the protagonist is just plagued with self doubt, literally haunted by demon children, and making all the obviously wrong choices. I did really like that last quarter, but all of that stuff should have come a lot earlier! B+.
Jordan Ifueko's Raybearer
I often have limited patience for YA fantasy books—awkward or melodramatic writing, too much focus on romance, etc—but y’all, this was GOOD. It was so good that I refused to wait the estimated two weeks for my library hold on the sequel, and straight up bought it before I was even finished with this one. It’s centered on a young girl whose mother conceived her as a weapon/pawn in her political games—but she is determined to resist her mother's orders, and to find her own path. I really enjoyed the narrative voice here, even if she occasionally wallows in self pity. ;) This goes all sorts of unexpected and interesting places, lots of fascinating political and cultural stuff, idealism, feminism, great friendships and bonds, magic, a mystical leopard, just so much to love here. Really good stuff, A.
Diana Wynne Jones' Eight Days of Luke
I recently discovered this book existed and was psyched to read a new (to me) Diana Wynne Jones story! It was a nice pleasant read, about a boy named David with unpleasant relations, who meets a mysterious boy named Luke, who is obviously Loki, and gets involved in a quest to keep him free. I definitely wanted more from the ending, like another chapter at least, but this was pretty fun. A-/B+.
Aden Polydoros' The City Beautiful
This book should have been my catnip—queer, historical, VERY Jewish fantasy? I mean, yes please! But it didn’t totally work for me. Maybe because it’s a lot darker than I usually go for—I’m fine with dybbuks, but serial killers and serial child rapists are not fun to read about. I also did not enjoy reading the several lengthy anti-Semitic speeches where villains talked about how Jews are vermin. So content warnings all around, I guess. Anyway, this is the story of young Alter Rosen, whose father died on the way to American (1890s Chicago, to be precise) and now he is struggling to get enough money together to bring his mother and little sisters over. And then his friend (and crush) is murdered, and weird stuff starts happening, and a cocky thief from his past turns up…. Parts of this are a little slow, parts are kinda upsetting. I was one hundred percent here for loud socialist downstairs neighbor Raizel, a wannabe journalist. It was interesting to see which Jewish phrases/concepts were specifically defined and which were left to context (or I’m just a nerd about these things). I wanted to love this, and did love how rooted in Jewish history it is, but it was just a little too dark for my tastes. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
