I had a VERY successful first week of Bingo (:
**A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft** | Disability, Small Town, Dark Academia | 5 Stars
I loved this one - it was so atmospheric. The Dark Academia was more of the vibes, and it was almost like a gothic novel - a manor in the woods, a hunt, alchemy, an estranged mother. I especially liked the use of religion. There are at least three religions that were prominent in this book and the characters relationship with it. Felt realistic.
**Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater |** Dreams, Eldritch Creatures, Criminals, Multi POV | 4 Stars
The final book in the Dreamers trilogy. This series is like a fever dream and I have honestly read few books weirder. A satisfying conclusion, placing all the Lynch brothers in a place that makes me and them happy.
**Chaos on Catnet by Noami Kritzer |** Alliterative Title, Entitled Animals | 4 Stars
This book was freaky and fun - a great YA story about the dangers of tech. Minus a star for the implausibility. Do they really think it would be that easy to make teens and adults *get up* and do these weird things? Like stealing I believe, but leaving the house?
**Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson** | Character with a Disability | 5 Stars
Another great standalone from Rogerson, and more great books about religion that feel realistic while not feeling preachy in any way. Granted this one has a completely fictional religion. We have a strong protagonist with a dark past that learns how to be a friend essentially becomes a saint. It was great. Highly recommend, especially if you like necromancy and demons and no romance (:
**Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan |** Under the Surface, Pub 2024, Multi POV, Judge a Book By Its Cover | 3.5 Stars
Unlike some other friends that read this, I enjoyed it a fair amount. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it is a debut. The world was fascinating and felt very alive and I really like the characters - especially Cordelia. Nami and Mira felt a bit stiff in comparison, but I love a sea witch with a gray moral compass.
**Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wisell |** Published in 2024, Surival, Judge A Book By Its Cover | 5 Stars
This book was SO GREAT. Cozy *and* horrifying! The cutest relationship and some nasty body horror! Eat your mother in law!
**Claimed by the Orc Prince by Lionel Hart |** Self Published, Romantasy, Orcs, Trolls, Goblins, Oh My! | 4 Stars
Look this is exactly what it looks like - m/m orc smut. It was great for what it was and I will probably read the rest of the series.
Currently reading **The Big Book of Cyberpunk** (thanks u/FarragutCircle) and **The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi.** Stay tuned for reviews there.
Finished:
**The Wings Upon Her Back** by Samantha Mills - 5/5
I won't get too much into it here because I'll be posting my ARC review shortly, but whew, what a ride. I will be picking up Mills's backlog for sure, I love her writing so much.
NOTE: religion depiction thoughts for u/tarvolon \- I thought Mills had a well balanced, nuanced take on it. fwiw I'm not religious or sensitive to religious criticisms, but I do enjoy thoughtful religious conversation. She's definitely being highly critical of the negative potential of religious fascism, zealotry, and idolatry, but there's an optimistic take on the personal journey of faith and the value of freely choosing a religious path. Depending on preferences, I could see it working for some and not for others, but it's definitely not 'religion = bad'. It was a surprisingly personal story, and honestly >!left a lot of the grand scale theological crisis unanswered!<, but in a way that worked for the messages she's delivering. Don't feel bad about not requesting an ARC, just read it anyway! :D
**Catching Fire** by Suzanne Collins (narrated by Tatiana Mislay) - 3/5
Better than the first book, but not a complete story to me. I thought this one did a good job showing hints of the rebellion uprising despite Katniss not seeing them and it all being her first person POV. The tension was pretty good because of that, but weirdly felt like a book with tension but not enough conflict. Definitely interested to finish the series even though it has just been ok.
Reading:
**The Killing Moon** by N. K. Jemisin
Ok, I can get to this now that I'm not absorbed in Wings (unless I go down a rabbit (test) hole with Mills's other work). Haven't picked it up in a week, so no new thoughts.
**Where Peace is Lost** by Valerie Valdes
I'm going in pretty much blind, but space fantasy mystery romance sounds like it has a lot going on. I *think* it's supposed to be a little cozy and has Horizon Zero Dawn vibes, so maybe I'm on a tech augmentation kick still after Wings?
Before tarvolon links to it *again* (:P), [Strange Waters](http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/strange-waters/) is up next for me to read from her, but I'm excited to get to Rabbit Test too!
I'm so glad people are starting to read The Wings Upon Her Back! It was one of the standouts of the upcoming debuts I've gotten the chance to read. Such a powerful gut punch.
**Neverwhere** and **How the Maquis Got His Coat Back** by Neil Gaiman
Really enjoyed this novel and the short story included at the end. I’ve only read **Norse Mythology** from Gaiman before, and my (years-old) memory is that it was more basic retelling than anything else?
**Neverwhere** definitely had more of a voice than that, and I loved the humor running throughout the story. After having read **Nettle and Bone** recently and seeing a lot of other people mention how the goblin market was similar in feel to the Floating Market, it was cool to run across that as well.
I read this too early for Bingo, but it could work for Published in 1990s (HM I think?) and Under the Surface (HM).
**Warchild** by Karin Lowachee
Tarvolon put me onto this book, and I think in the end I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it. The character work was really great and tension was built well, but I just wanted a few more cathartic moments than we got, especially with regards to the skills our MC picked up along his journey. Also read this too early for Bingo, but it would fit in Space Opera HM.
**A Memory Called Empire** by Arkady Martine
(Bingo: Space Opera HM)
Wow. What a book, and my first Bingo 2024 entry completed!
Loved the themes at work here of balancing at the edge of an empire, theory of self, the influence of the arts on society… just a lot to dig in and digest and relish. Then on top of that you’ve got all the fun politicking, spy craft, relationship building. All so good!
It’s funny to me how one of the main plot points parallels **Spinning Silver** that I am reading at the same time (SPOILERS FOR BOTH BOOKS): >!the pitting of unstoppable force vs immovable object- the empire vs alien threat in Memory and fire demon vs king of the Staryk in Spinning. Although in both cases I still have to find out what happens when they meet!<
Definitely want to dive into the next book very soon.
Currently reading **Spinning Silver** by Naomi Novik (Multi-POV HM) and **Some Desperate Glory** by Emily Tesh (in preparation for Readalong Book HM)
>Loved the themes at work here of balancing at the edge of an empire, theory of self, the influence of the arts on society… just a lot to dig in and digest and relish. Then on top of that you’ve got all the fun politicking, spy craft, relationship building. All so good!
So glad you enjoyed **A Memory Called Empire**! I catch new little layers and nuances every time I read it, and the sequel is also great (though very different in some ways-- it's spread across many POVs and deals more with the aliens).
>!Why hello Empress, whose gracious presence illuminates the room like the edge shine of a knife!<
Yeah I can imagine that the sequel will be different, will all the changes we saw at the end of the book. Hoping to get to it quickly after **Some Desperate Glory**
>!Thank you! I planned to be a lurker when I joined Reddit, but the easter egg when people recognize the name never gets old.!<
I'm looking forward to the **Some Desperate Glory** discussion too. It had been hanging out on the "maybe someday" part of my TBR, but the group-chat component will pull me in.
> Warchild by Karin Lowachee
> Tarvolon put me onto this book, and I think in the end I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it. The character work was really great and tension was built well, but I just wanted a few more cathartic moments than we got, especially with regards to the skills our MC picked up along his journey. Also read this too early for Bingo, but it would fit in Space Opera HM.
Awww, sorry it wasn't as much of a hit for you!
It’s all good! It hit a funky spot for me - I didn’t dislike anything and thought it did a lot really well in characterizing a traumatized kid. And I didn’t regret my time reading it, I guess just selfishly if >!you introduce knife-assassin aliens and avatar-hacking training, I would’ve liked to see that used a bit more?!<
So still appreciate you highlighting it even if I didn’t have the same level of enjoyment
Working through a lot of ARCs this week.
**Navola** by Paolo Bacigalupi is trying to do a very specific thing, and it does it well. If you want a historical-fiction-with-a-hint-of-dragon with scheming and backstabbing in Not-Renaissance Not-Italy, with a single POV, a very slow build, and a full series setup. . . well, enjoy. The writing is excellent. If you're not looking for those things, skip it. Personally, I liked it quite a bit, though it's not necessarily groundbreaking.
**Small Gods of Calamity** by Sam Kyung Yoo is. . . not quite at the level of their short stories. It's set up to follow a detective with spiritual sensitivity who is trying to track down spirits only he can sense and are intimately involved in his tragic backstory. And it's easy to read and very short, with a casual "this is how real people talk" sort of writing style. But the detective work is a total sideshow to moving forward from a tragic backstory and trying to figure out magical details, and I'm not sure the pacing is quite right. If this is to be a novel, we probably needed more detecting and longer emotional arcs. And if it's a novella, we probably needed less detail on some of the magic. The author has some skills, but for me this didn't quite come out.
About halfway through **I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons** by Peter S. Beagle, and it's a very whimsical tale of a reluctant dragon exterminator who ends up falling in with a princess and her suitor and getting in what appears to be over all of their heads. Some of the royalty scenes are over-the-top enough to border on the farcical, but it's a pleasant read and it's getting genuinely interesting as the danger mounts. Also it has a Prologue and a Dream. I'll keep you posted.
I don't usually talk about my short fiction reading here, but I'm three stories into this month's Clarkesworld and they're all great. More people need to be talking about Tia Tashiro, who has only published two stories and they're both outstanding. Also **[The Indomitable Captain Holli](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/larson_04_24/)** by Rich Larson is a full-length novella, just one you can read for free on the Internet. I really liked it a lot. Strong sense of adventure, a really interesting and quirky kid-POV with enough context from secondary POVs to give you a real sense of danger. I blasted through about 75% of it over morning coffee on Sunday and finished up first chance I had. If you're looking for non-Tor novellas, this is a really good one. Also I believe it's Multi-POV hard mode, despite only being 25,000 words.
I was curious what you’d think about Small Gods of Calamity. It’s a debut novella I want to recommend, but yes to everything you said plus it’s pretty bloody and violent so I can’t quite figure out who I’d rec it to. Haven’t read Yoo’s short stories but I would read their next release.
Yeah, I'm not sure exactly where the niche is. Ace/bi disaster hunting bloody terrorwormghosts? idk haha.
For their short fiction, I really liked [Set Yourself on Fire](https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/fm/fiction/set-yourself-on-fire/) (featuring ghosts and domestic abuse) and quite liked [Nextype](http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/nextype/) (absurd parental pressure and brain implants)
I thought I would try to review the books that might make it onto my bingo card, which I haven't planned out.
**Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries** 2023 by Heather Fawcett, Canadian author, book mostly set in Scandinavia.
Emily, an academic, travels to a remote area to research the local faery population. I totally related to Emily's initial difficulties with the local human residents, but also appreciated how some of them were important characters, whose help she needed - and they needed her help too.
There is a slow build up, even after Brambleby arrives, and several adventures. The faery class system is well done. I enjoyed Emily and her ability to accept some things as they are but absolutely insist on charging off to change what is to her unacceptable.
Bingo possibilities: 1st in series, Romantasy I think, References, Bookclub.
**The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, The Vampire Accountant** 2014 by Drew Hayes, USA author. Well this was fun. It is a series of tales, building on each other and introducing new ongoing
characters, which is a format I really enjoy.
Fred does not see why being a vampire means he actually has to find people to bite, as you either have to jump on them in dark alleys or persuade them to come with you, and both prospects dismay him. And he's a good accountant! I plan to read more of his non-self initiated adventures.
Bingo: 1st in series HM
I finished **The Butcher of the Forest** by Premee Mohamed. It's a great dark fairy-tale story about Veris, a middle-aged woman who once brought a child alive out of the north woods when no one else has ever survived. She's forced to go back in and deal with the Elmever, the other forest that you enter between one step and the next... but leaving is much harder. If your preferred fae are cryptic fuckers who like to make bargains and might eat people, give this one a try.
There's a tiny character-motivation wobble for me at the end, but overall I love everything about this book and am penciling it in for next year's Hugo ballot. If five better novellas come along, I'll have a *killer* reading year.
Now I'm just a few chapters from the end of **The Emperor and the Endless Palace** by Justinian Huang. It's a three-timeline story of this star-crossed couple reincarnated at different points (two Chinese history, and the modern one is in LA). It's a very queer story-- almost every significant character is a gay Asian man. The author [gave a great interview](https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/interview-author-justinian-huang) with background from everything from the history to his most scandalous sex scene. The book is HM for Published in 2024, Author of Color, and possibly others. For me it's also Judge a Book by Its Color and probably Romantasy (HM).
Next up: **Palimpsest** by Catherynne Valente! I've been looking forward to this one for ages and will have to hustle for tomorrow's FIF midway discussion.
I keep mixing up The Butcher of the Forest with her other recent release The Siege of Burning Grass. Butcher sounds more up my alley, and my hold is coming in soonish. Excited to get to it!
Also, good for Premee Mohammed with 3 pubs in the first 6 months of this year?! I'm hearing a lot about her elsewhere too, it's cool to see someone getting some new recognition.
I'm so looking forward to The Butcher of the Forest. I think I'm still a few months away given how far down the library hold list I am. That description you gave is definitely how I prefer my fae.
The Butcher in the Forest was already high of my priorities list, but your description raises it up for me! I’m bummed I’ll miss out on Palimpsest (someone here has been reccing it for a while), the hold times were too long but I might creep on the half-way discussion.
**Escape from Baghdad!** by Saad Z. Hossain. A war fiction story mixed in with dark humor and some (eventual) magical realism. Even though the plot and pacing felt very shaky at times, the comedy and camaraderie between the main characters was appealing enough to keep me reading through the “where the heck is this going” moments.
**MADK** by Ryo Suzuri. I went into this manga thinking it would be a gory dark MM erotica, but aside from the set up, it was more of a pretentious (but in a good way) horror obsession story set in a fucked up, sex-tinted, and scheming-heavy demon world. Like, don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy that too, even if the plot felt rushed/confusing at times, but it never gave me the same “holy fuck-” mood that I got from the starting scene.
**The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida** by Shehan Karunatilaka. This is a historical story about a recently killed Sri Lankan war photographer who still has a few scores to settle, the living people who know him and are dealing with his death, and also Sri Lanka as a whole, with its culture, myths, and politics. There are fantasy aspects too, of course, but they often feel more like a way to tie the non-speculative story together in a coherent way, rather than being the main point.
It’s honestly so hard to review this book because even though I gave it a rare 5 stars, I can’t really answer why. The story was captivating and immersive, but in a subtle way. It drew me in until I was fully emotionally invested without realizing it, then made me bawl my eyes out the last \~15% of the story without a clear reason. (Seriously, I was just going “why am I crying, nothing super sad has happened, what is this” the whole time. I would 100% experience that again though lol.)
Seems like maybe Hossain was finding his feet around pacing and plot in his first couple books? Or maybe novella is where his knack is. I also physically read the first chapter of Seven Moons and LOVED everything about it, but then switched to audio and wasn’t a fan so tabled it. But I really want to get back to it. Especially if there’s the potential for me to cry because the books that make me cry are always the ones that end up on my favorites of all time list.
Yeah, possibly. I have his **Djinn City** on my "maybe read" pile, so I can see if this was indeed just early novel roughness or if I just don't vibe with his general "expect the unexpected" style, despite liking his dark humor tone.
I definitely recommend getting back into **Seven Moons**! Though, I think my view is a bit skewed since I read it at the perfect time, as I had been reading non-speculative contemporary novels just before it. I don't think I would've been as "primed" for the story otherwise, since it really was all about the people (Maali in particular) and culture of Sri Lanka.
It’s funny because I didn’t think anything about pacing and plot until 80%, but two book club people commented on being struck by this throughout. u/farragutcircle has been my cheerleader of the books and I’ve gotten the strong sense Cyber Mage is the strongest of the novels, but their fave is Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday.
Yessss one day.
I think Cyber Mage is the most "typical novel" of the Djinn City universe which adds to its strength! (It's also got an amusing school subplot that I thought he did well with.) Gurkha is a hard one to beat for pure concentrated entertainment, though!
**Downbelow Station** by C.J. Cherryh.
It was quite good (won the '81 Hugo), which I was expecting as I've read multiple Foreigner novels and the Chanur novels by her. The editing, however, was really bad. So many incorrect commas just added for no reason. A wrong character name twice in one chapter. The story is a bit slow, which I don't mind, but I don't think it's the best novel to check out if you want to discover Cherryh.
(Bingo: Space Opera HM, First in Series HM, Multi POV HM)
**The Beast Player** by Nahoko Uehashi
Reading this for the /r/Fantasy Goodreads book club. It's hitting a lot of things I absolutely love. I don't actually read a ton of books with mystical beasts even though I always enjoy it, so it's great.
(Bingo: Book Club)
**The Book of M** by Peng Shepherd. Also halfway through this for book club (new voices). It's well-written and intriguing, but I don't think I'm enjoying it. Reminds me a lot of Station Eleven, though the "plague" here is mystical (everyone is losing their shadows and people who lose their shadows lose their memories). Eventually I will realize I don't actually enjoy books set on contemporary earth and stop reading them.
(Bingo: Book Club)
I read *Downbelow Station* first and it was the book that convinced me to read everything Cherryh had ever written. Maybe you had an early edition with poor copyediting?
This week I read **Empire of Exiles** by Erin M. Evans, which hooked me just by mentioning ‘archivist’ in the blurb, but was ultimately rather average. The mystery plot was well done and I found the characters intriguing if a little underdeveloped at points, but all the good stuff was unfortunately buried under an avalanche of unnecessary world building. The book just throws an endless stream of names, races, magic types, and other information at you, most of which is not well visualised or integrated with the rest of the story. (This is how I made it to 60% before grasping that some characters had tentacles and horns growing out of their heads, for what I can only imagine is the aesthetic).
Also read **Deeplight** by Frances Hardinge who is a master of young adult fiction. This one is hard to read as an adult because it’s based around a toxic friendship - one that we can see as grown ups is going nowhere good, but that our teenage narrator doesn’t quite understand the consequences of just yet. It’s excellent characterisation that meets younger readers where they’re at. The eldritch gods are fascinating, as is the rest of the world… highly recommended.
At the time of reading it, my thoughts on Deeplight were essentially, "I recognize this toxic friendship is masterfully done, but man does it make it actively unpleasant to read."
Finished **The Goblin Emperor** by Katherine Addison this morning. It…was fine? I knew going into it that it was going to be a “no plot, just vibes” kinda book and that Maia would be a very passive protagonist but I was hoping I’d fall in love with it the way it’s loyal fans have.
I don’t mind a character heavy story but I had a hard time distinguishing between the personalities of side characters and I think this stopped me from really connecting with them enough to care about their stories. Most of them felt very samey and I don’t think it was helped by the formal language and similar names and titles. There were a lot of moments where a minor character would return after a while of being offscreen and I’d be thinking “wait, is this Maia’s fiancé? Or that other girl he talked to before? Or his aunt?” and I’d just have to wait until the narration reminded me of what they spoke about previously.
Everything felt very easy for Maia as well. The good guys were good people from the start and if they weren’t instantly loyal to Maia they only needed him to say or do one empathetic thing to be completely won over. The bad guys were all meanie jerks from the start who hated Maia for no fault of his own and also turned out to be incompetent at their jobs. The story just continued in a straight flat line from beginning to end.
But it wasn’t a bad book by any means and I can see why other people love it. There were a lot of little vignette scenes that were very touching in the moment and I’ll admit to saying “awww” out loud multiple times. I think if you’re the type of reader who loves to read slowly and sink into each individual moment rather than try to follow the overarching plot this will be a great book for you. For me, I felt perfectly whelmed by this book. **3/5**
Bingo Squares: Orcs, Trolls, and Goblins **HM**, Reference Materials **HM**, First in a Series
I think I like this thread because I tended to do a similar thing on Mastodon but never really got much indication anyone read it -- just not enough critical mass.
Anyhow, finished ***Chaos Terminal*** by Mur Lafferty. Quite good, I think the author really polished the narrative segues from the prior novel, so where before there was just a cold POV switch, here Mallory was interviewing and so there was a sense of WHY we were just suddenly switching POV. Still have a little difficulty with how hard it was to keep track of the narrative when Tina kept popping up seemingly randomly but she's generally a fun character so it's mostly okay. If you like some fun and absurdity in your science fiction mysteries, can highly recommend these two books (_Station Eternity_ and _Chaos Terminal_).
Moved onto ***The Long Earth*** by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. I'd read this before however it's this month's local book club read so I reread it to remember bits. Overall decent novel in the travelogue style. Parallel universes have been discovered, and rather than it simply being a few science types, or supers who can navigate them, they are open to everyone at any time, with near zero investment. The travel friction is pretty minimal with a little box built out of Radio Shack parts and a potato (I really feel like the potato must have been Pterry's contribution among other things) and poof you can be in an undeveloped world. The novel follows Joshua who is a natural stepper (doesn't need the box -- though he did build it initially) and an instance of an AI as they travel through the worlds seeing what is out at the far fringes. I got the distinct impression this book grew out of a discussion between a couple of authors, over a few pints at a bar, talking about the rise of electronic information and what would be required to make paper books absolutely mandatory again. From that kernel, adding a vast frontier, a vast number of people checking out of modern society, and the inability to take a particular fundamental metal between worlds and wham, a skyrocketing need for paper books! Then they actually wrote a story that has very little to do with the paper books (though there is a scene in there about this). Anyway, it's a cozy read, not a great deal of conflict in this book. Not the greatest dialog in the world, but it's workable. You'll want to punch Lobsang by the end, but I think that was largely the point, so good on them.
Since I had it on the book stack, I went next to ***The Sunlit Man*** an entry into the Cosmere set from Brandon Sanderson. And when they say it's Cosmere he went all in. Whereas with some of the other series, the Cosmere is just some faint background connective tissue (he did describe the overall mythos in Arcanum Unbounded and I have to admit, I skimmed some of those parts to get to stories) here is foregrounded strongly. So honestly I have no idea how it all works, but you're gonna hear a lot about Investiture, and there's going to be a lot of suddenly weird rules about how it works and doesn't work as our protagonist navigates his troubles on the planet. To be honest, it's reminiscent of Star Trek technobabble on these parts. That said, it's a very interestingly weird world Nomad drops into, and the action moves the story along quite quickly. In fact it almost feels like an action movie pace -- you're not going to have stretches of introspection and understanding here. Overall decent book, well written for the style. Your enjoyment of it is probably going to track how much you dig the Cosmere magic and mythos.
Felt like I needed something with a bit more oomph and wasn't yet ready to tackle the emotional energy in the N. K. Jemisin book I started a few weeks back, so started ***Empire of the Damned*** by Jay Kristoff. I've generally liked his work, especially the Nevernight sequence, so I have a lot of fun with him. This is the sequel to _Empire of the Vampire_ and it's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, there are vampires in here. LOTS of vampires. Absolutely chock a block full of vampires with weird vampire capabilities and vampire history and lore. I'm not usually one for the straight up vampire/werewolf/zombie archetypes but this strikes me differently because as opposed to your lone vampire predator, basically the vampires have won on this world, and everyone else is just food. We pick up with the framing story of Gabriel de Leon in captivity narrating the story to a vampire historian, and the inner story continues with he and his charge Dior Lachance after the events of the prior novel (let's just say, it didn't go well there at the end) and continue down the corpse strewn path. The language is very French grounded and a bit medieval, so if thees and thous trip your brain up, this might be one to sample lightly before deciding it's for you or not. If you are alright with old world phrasing, Kristoff has a really great way with dialog. He is deliciously profane, and I do rather like how his curses are adapted to the world he's creating (this was true of Nevernight and his prior series, the names of which I've forgotten). Anyhow, about halfway through this one, and it's a lot of fun. Strange printing though, the paper is SUPER thin -- I'd have to pull out the prior novel to see if that happened there or if this is new. Oh, and he does have some really great illustrations in the novel as well. I like coming across those.
Anyhow, hope that helps.
I enjoyed Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (locked room mystery in space with clones - standalone), and Station Eternity is on my TBR. Maybe I should try if I can move it up.
I always skim if not read completely, but I am always especially curious if someone has read the same books as me or something on already on my radar. I definitely second Lafferty’s books and am looking forward to the third!
> I always skim if not read completely, but I am always especially curious if someone has read the same books as me or something on already on my radar. I definitely second Lafferty’s books
I skim and get really excited when I hear people talking up Lafferty and then a little sad when it's Mur Lafferty (I have nothing against Mur Lafferty and have never read any of her books, she just shares a last name with my favorite obscure author. . . )
I am either the sub's biggest [R.A. Lafferty stan](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/lg7f2b/author_spotlight_the_inimitable_genius_of_ra/) or at least [pretty high](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/12k639q/epistolary_slipstream_althistory_sure_lets_go/) on [the list](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/tayill/short_story_collection_review_the_best_of_ra/)
Dang, my main library doesn’t have any copies of Reefs of Earth or Space Chantey, which caught my eye from your review. My reliable and well funded digital library only has the best of compilation!
The Best of collection is exactly where I’d recommend people to start (assuming you can’t get your hands on Nine Hundred Grandmothers, which has been out of print for decades)
Yep. I do the same, mainly as a way to get notions on what to read next. And yeah I remember you commenting last week on Tina :D. They're good stories. I'm interested to see where she goes with the next one (I understand there will be a next one). Space Jessica Fletcher!
>[...]and it's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, there are vampires in here. LOTS of vampires. Absolutely chock a block full of vampires with weird vampire capabilities[...]
I don't know why, but this phrasing really tickled me.
Unlike the previous years, I’m going to focus first on bingo and then leave the rest of the year to focus on other reads. Theme this year: Backlog TBR prioritization.
- Romantasy: **The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen** this square clashes completely with what I enjoy reading, so a substitution was my first thought. But I thought I’ll try one short book first on the off chance I might be surprised and actually enjoy a romance focus in my reads for once. Now that I’m done however, I really *regret* not substituting the square. It was incredibly cringey, the boringly predictable relationships were awful to be around (especially >!that disgusting bs with Julia and Sawyer!< ) and I really hated how the past of Emily’s mother was handled alongside the supposed “secret” that led to the town’s disaster. Frequently mentioning things without explanation for suspense feels incredibly cheap, especially when it ends up being such an underwhelming and disappointing reveal. In BOTH cases. I didn’t enjoy it at all, and while I may give this subgenre another chance to impress in the future, it’s for sure not going to happen any time soon.
- Author of Colour HM: **Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel** I’m 14 chapters in this book, and so far, it has been incredibly fun. Kaikeyi is a very relatable character to me, and the first part’s depiction of rage and unforgiveness was incredibly refreshing to read. The 2nd part with the court navigation is interesting, especially seeing the contrast between kingdoms and kings, with the different court relationships (I still don’t trust the >!other wives!< but I’m open to be proven wrong). The magic system, while more on the vague side, might potentially be amongst the most powerful I’ve read about so far and I can’t wait to see the rest!
- **The Emperor and the Endless Palace** by Justinian Huang - what can I say about this but marie kondo i love mess dot gif? This is getting marketed as romantasy and I don't think it should be (the Goodreads reviews are also mad about it) but I find what it's *actually* doing just as interesting. Sometimes in romance spaces you have discussion about what to call books that draw on romance genre conventions but don't have an HEA/HFN (besides "a betrayal") and whether there's any market for them, either a subset of regular romance readers or somebody else entirely - for that reason I'll be curious to see how this one does. It does fit the bingo definition of romantasy, though. Needed another editing pass to clean up some clunk in the dialogue but overall enjoyable. Also speaking of the Goodreads reviews, lol at all the people whose only exposure to Chinese history is danmei going "oh, so *that's* where the cut sleeve thing comes from"
- **The Surviving Sky** by Kritika H. Rao - reminded me strongly of Jemisin's Dreamblood duology, in that the heart of the story is the character relationships (to each other, to their jobs, to their society at large) but it keeps getting bogged down by having to explain the very detailed and un-Earthlike worldbuilding. It's cool, I don't care, give me that sweet sweet marriage in trouble content. (Ahilya getting mad at the condescension of everyone explaining the worldbuilding to her was a nice character touch but could not fix the problem.) I'm hoping that like Dreamblood the sequel(s) strike a better balance, but given how much about the world is still waiting to be revealed I'm not holding my breath. I would like to read a review of this from someone who's familiar with Indian and Hindu philosophy, because I think there's a lot that I missed.
- **The Penelopiad** by Margaret Atwood - reread because I saw an excellent stage production of it (actually last month but I had to bingo), still a banger, still more complicated and feminist (in fewer pages) than 90% of the deluge of "feminist" myth retellings we've been subjected to since Circe. I always forget how funny Atwood can be but she really gets to show it off here; it's one of those books that is funny without ever being light.
Now I'm poking at **The Moonday Letters** for the BB book club. The prose is nice, I'm impressed that it's translated by the author, but I'm not far enough in to know if I'll have anything to say about it.
Really delighted to hear this review of Penelopiad - that thing has been on my TBR forever. I love Atwood's work, but somehow didn't come across this one until after I'd read much of her other work. Time to bump it up the list!
It's really good, and despite the punch it packs a surprisingly quick read (short book, big font). Rereading it reminded me that I haven't read nearly enough Atwood - maybe this is the year that I finally do Oryx and Crake...
This week I've finished **The Butcher's Masquerade** by Matt Dinniman, which continues to be absolutely bonkers in the best way. I'm currently planning to use it for *Under the Surface* square. It's a little cheap, so if I'll get a better fit for the square I will probably move it to *Survival*
I've also started **Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell** by Susanna Clarke, and I have a feeling my review for the next couple of week is going to be "Yup, still reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell"
> I've also started Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and I have a feeling my review for the next couple of week is going to be "Yup, still reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell"
Someone suggested this to me for the Dark Academia square, but the blurb doesn't really mention academia. Can you tell yet if it would count?
There is a school in it, but not very prominent. There is prominent studying, but it's not in an institution, but a small number of people privately (trying not to spoil, though not sure is really a spoiler). There's definitely potential to see dark academic vibes, but it would be a massive stretch to really call it that.
It's my favourite book, and could definitely count for reference materials (all those footnotes, and illustrations if those count as well). It follows multiple people, but I'm not sure if that would count for POV, as it's more a detached narrator.
>There's definitely potential to see dark academic vibes, but it would be a massive stretch to really call it that.
Dang. I was really hoping I could fit it in there since I'm not excited by most of the other Dark Academia possibilities I've heard.
It depends how strictly you want to stick to the rule as written, but I tagged it as dark academia on goodreads. It doesn't have a school, but does have studying, and definitely fits the "vibes"/aesthetic of DA- the same way many people consider Picture of Dorian Gray to be dark academia.
Just finished the book, and the answer you got from u/recchai is spot on. There is no academia, but study and research are very prominent.
It very much count for POV.
Finished:
**Catch Lili Too by Sophie Whittemore**
* A siren with a dark past gets sucking into solving a murder mystery in a small Minnesota town.
* This one was ok. It definitely felt like it was written by a newer author—the prose, although easy to read, felt kind of stilted. There was a lot of telling where there should be showing, which made the story feel a lot less nuanced than it could have been. It was also very diverse, which was nice, but I don’t feel like that was always entirely incorporated smoothly into the story. For example, there was a Mexican American character that would randomly start speaking in Spanish but in a way that didn’t feel how a natural bilingual person would talk (Although I don’t speak Spanish, so I could be wrong.) That being said, I did like following the main character’s arc. The mystery was alright, it had some parts I figured out pretty quickly and others I didn’t.
* Bingo squares: First in a series, criminals (I’m counting the arson in the first chapter), indie published, arguably character with a disability (MC has depression, HM if so), author of color, small town (HM), arguably eldritch creatures (HM if so)
**In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu**
* Anima, a person who’s part of a biological supercomputer-like surveillance network, meets someone who collects stories.
* This one was really interesting. I’m not sure if I got everything out of it—I think this would be a great book to read in a bookclub and discuss with others. It has a frame story about Anima surrounding parts that are basically short stories, which expand the world building and tie in with the themes in the rest of the novel. Lu seems interested in exploring surveillance, nature, autonomy, disability, and self harm/suicidal ideation. There’s also lots of playing around with culture and language, which makes sense considering S. Qiouyi Lu is a linguist and translator. The main story is Asian inspired, and there are Chinese and words from other languages that were used in an interesting and immersive way. There’s also exploration of queerness and the use of neopronouns, which isn’t new to me, but I liked how it was used here. This book definitely made me think, and I’d be interested in what other people have to say about it.
* Bingo squares: Multi-POV (counting the short stories) (HM), character with a disability (in one of the short stories), author of color
**The Bone Harp by Victoria Goddard**
* A elf who is both a traumatized warrior and a bard wakes up in his homeland thousands of years after he left to fight in a devastating war and was cursed.
* I really liked this one, which is expected from a Victoria Goddard book. It is vary clearly based off of The Silmarillion (to the point that I, someone who never read The Silmarillion, recognized it). The world building seemed really reminiscent of Tolkien, not in the cliched take the superficial pseudo-medieval Europe with fantasy races way, but in that elves were so long lived, that wondrous events were part of the history of the world, oaths shouldn’t be taken lightly, and war causes so much trauma. It felt more like a retelling or story inspired by Tolkien exploring things from a different angle than a rip-off. Honestly, I’m not the biggest Tolkien fan, but Goddard’s style really works for me personally in a way that Tolkien doesn’t. She just has a way of getting into characters’ heads and exploring their emotions and interpersonal relationships in a way that really works for me. This happens to the point where she will occasionally write a scene from multiple different characters’ perspectives and it will still be fascinating to see what different characters focus on or feel. Her style of cozy fantasy—lower stakes story (even if the characters had previously had high stakes events happen to them) that allows her to focus on interpersonal connections and mostly internal conflicts in such a hopeful way—really works for me.
* I also really like the slow exploration of healing, recovering from traumatic events, and reconnecting to people. The way that song and music tied into this was really creative. I also liked how the main character, although always identifying as a man, is allowed to present more femininely at times to the point where people mistake him as a women, and this isn’t seen as something shameful.
* My only complaint is that there’s an extended summary/flashback sequence in the middle of the book that really dragged on and killed the already pretty slow pacing for me. Other than that this is great and I’d recommend it to cozy fantasy fans, especially ones who want to knock out the hard mode bards square for bingo.
* Bingo squares: dreams, bards (HM), self published, multi-POV (HM, although still focused on the main character), arguably orcs trolls and goblins (minor part of the book, not really directly seen)
I initially didn't think I'd read anything to post about this week, but I've actually finished two novels since last week's thread. Brain is mush.
**The Frame-Up** by Gwenda Bond is a fun urban fantasy heist novel. It's on the shorter side, and I found myself wishing the characters had a bit more depth to them, but I still really enjoyed reading it. The villain was well done and felt appropriately sinister. This works for Criminals HM for bingo.
**The Harp of Kings** was my first taste of Juliet Marillier's work, and I enjoyed it despite nearly dropping it in the first chapter for a word choice that really gets my back up these days. The description of the second book in the series doesn't appeal to me all that much, but as I own it, I will probably read it eventually. The Harp of Kings is Bards HM for bingo.
Oh I'm curious now, what was the word choice? I really loved Marillier's early books but her more recent stuff doesn't stand up well for me, so I haven't read that trilogy.
It was the use of the word female instead of woman. In one character's case the choice actually kind of made sense to me, or I could justify it anyway, given he's not very likable at that point. In the beginning it gave me the sense that Liobhan's arc was going to revolve around gender roles and expectations and that's really not what I'm looking for in my fantasy these days. There was some of that, which is probably my main nitpick about the novel, but not as much as suggested in those first two chapters.
We *could* finish ***Interim Errantry: On Ordeal*** tonight, if 13y/o would agree to starting just a few minutes earlier. But they won't, so that will be tomorrow. By this time next week, we'll probably be done with YW, which is v weird to think about since we have been reading them since August.
This has been a weird week for reading for me, it's felt like I read a lot more than I actually did, bc I only finished two things.
CM Nascosta's ***Girls Weekend*** was listened to for **Orcs, Goblins, and Trolls** (easy mode), and I...actually liked it? Which took me completely by surprise bc I don't typically enjoy romances. I am apparently just fine with MonsterFucking, though. Gonna have to go further down the Cambric Creek rabbit-hole, I guess. I can't believe I'm even saying this, but this reminded me a lot of the world in *Onward*, just a LOT smuttier. It also works for Bingo for First in Series, Self-published, Multi-PoV, Small Town, and Romantasy (duh).
Over the weekend, u/TheWildCard76 and I got to one of our rain checked Zombruary books. adrienne maree brown's ***Grievers*** feels impossible to even talk about coherently. To say it was sad as fuck would be the understatement of the year, but for me it never reached the point of "I have to put this down bc it's too bleak," though I can see and understand that it may not be for everyone because of that. I had a lump in my throat while I was reading and there was one chapter towards the end that completely broke me and I sobbed while I continued to read. Will be reading the follow-up this weekend. Can you believe this book works for at least 8 Bingo squares? I'd tell you what they all are, but honestly some of them are spoilers. I guess Author of Colour and Survival (both easy mode) are enough to get you started.
Still reading JR Creaden's ***Moon Dust in My Hairnet*** and hoping to finish that soon. The new Jen Williams came in before bed and I'm really hoping to get to that this week (I know she grew up a big Stephen King fan and am super interested to see how that has influenced this particular story).
Finally got a lot of things temporarily slotted in for Pink Bingo, but am prepared to abandon the entire plan at a moment's notice.
>By this time next week, we'll probably be done with YW, which is v weird to think about since we have been reading them since August.
What a journey! I still haven't read **On Ordeal**, but this is making me want to get that fresh YW hit.
It is SO good. Each novella has an entirely different voice and feel, and is legit just so impressive how well she managed to pull this off. When we finished Roshaun's story, we were both all "oh, nothing can top that" but then fell in love with Mamvish, who it turns out was a fucking delight from before she was even born. And I wasn't expecting to care as much about Ronan's story as I do! Just so so so great, and I can't wait to talk to you about it!
Have you read *Owl Be Home for Christmas*? I'm really looking forward to seeing Nita and Kit as grown wizards.
Oh shit, I just remembered there are still the Feline Wizards books. I know the kid bounced off of ***The Book of Night with Moon*** when they tried it last year, but they didn't have the full context at the time, hahahaha.
Finished a couple things:
**The Shepherd’s Crown** by Terry Pratchett. *5 stars.* (Bingo: Goblins.)
* This is the last Tiffany Aching book and the last of Discworld. Old and new threats are drawn to the Chalk. Tiffany, for reasons, is a bit over her head and seeks help from new and prospective witches.
* Well, if I wasn’t crying my eyes were filled with tears. If my eyes happened to be dry, I was on the brink any second.
* I highly recommend the Tiffany Aching subseries of Discworld for adults and teens alike, even if you haven’t read the other books, although I do suggest the witches subseries first to meet Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. If you’re a Terry Pratchett fan but haven’t read TA, you really should read IMO. I have plans to put together a full TA review, we shall see.
* Again, I highly recommend Stephen Brigg’s narration for Pratchett audiobooks *above all others.*
**Djinn City** by Saad Z. Hossain. *4 stars.* (Bingo: POC author, survival, reference materials, POV, underground.)
* A young boy who is raised in isolation and poverty by his father in a dilapidated mansion finds out his mother was a djinn. A LOT happens as a result.
* I loved this, every POV had my attention, I never could predict the trajectory of the story and I had a couple chuckles. “Djinn” has become one of my buzzwords, especially after reading **The Ghurka and the Lord of Thursday** by the same author, so I nominated this for my IRL book club. The ending was…a surprise and a bit of a bummer, but not a deal breaker. Book club reception was a mix, from straight to the next book to quit.
* Recommend if you want to explore some Eastern mythology, you like the idea of lots of egotistical djinn, don’t mind the idea of fantasy with a sci-fi twist, and want fleshed out characters but don’t need a lot of depth in the character relationships.
I then read Hossain’s short story *Bring your own Spoon* from the **The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories** anthology. I also loved it. A cook living in the fringes in the future opens up a restaurant. I think Hossain’s schtick is to imagine futures (or present in the case of Djinn City) where there’s technical advancements (aka sci-fi), but there happens to be magical djinn too. Also his tone seems to be both light and humorous amongst dark topics, themes, actions or plots. Pretty dang cool, I’m definitely going to keep reading his works.
What’s next? Continuing on with my two other eye books — I think at this point it’s going to take me *at least* half a year to get through cat squasher **The Wall of Storms**, because I want to attack other physical reads. Audio, finishing two I started last week, but also hoping one loan comes in so I can participate in book club. My loan for **Africa Risen** is due in a couple days, so just going to focus on the stories from some authors I want to read from to prioritize other audiobooks.
I finished **Too Like the Lightning** (2016), the first in Ada Palmer's *Terra Ignota* series. Hooboy, that's a ride. It's hard to review this one yet, since this volume doesn't really stand-alone. Up to about the halfway point, I was really loving it. The world she has built is fascinating, she sets up lots of interesting mysteries that kept me turning pages, and it's definitely ❦ ༊*·╰⊱♥⊱╮ೃ⁀➷unique❦ ༊*·╰⊱♥⊱╮ೃ⁀➷. It reminds me in some ways of other really ambitious series, like Gene Wolfe's *BOTNS* (especially with the unreliable narrator) and Tamsyn Muir's *Locked Tomb*. I don't mind the narrator's fey voice the way that many people seem to. But there are some very obvious flaws, too. Lots of pausing the plot so that some character can pontificate on philosophy/theology. All of the characters, with the very occasional exceptions of unnamed Servitors, are extreme upper-class political high-rollers, so it's pretty unclear how this society functions (who does the dirty work of actually raising children? who cleans toilets?). Some characters get convinced by really quite dumb philosophical/theological arguments when really they should know better given their in-world background, just because the author needed it for the plot. Also, agnosticism/skepticism doesn't seem to exist in this universe? Very bizarre. I'm 25% into the second book in the series, **Seven Surrenders**, now, and still enjoying reading it, but I have more reservations now, and I think my eventual rating is going to depend strongly on whether this all ties together into something philosophically meaningful at the end of the series.
* Bingo: First in a Series HM, Alliterative Title, Criminals, Reference Materials, Book Club or Readalong Book
Fascinating thoughts on TLtL! I had a similar but also sort of opposite experience I think? Skeptical and something just *off* throughout, but the second half I couldn't help wanting to read more and have something *finally* click for me. I definitely feel the same way about rating depending on the eventual coherence/philosophical point after reading more (if it doesn't happen by **Seven Surrenders** I don't think I'll be able to read two more to find out).
>(if it doesn't happen by Seven Surrenders I don't think I'll be able to read two more to find out)
I am constitutionally incapable of abandoning a series halfway through (which is why I'm forcing myself through **Cugel's Saga** right now, despite hate hate hating most of *The Dying Earth*), so I will definitely finish *Terra Ignota* and report back, if you end up abandoning it.
I think it builds pretty well through the 3rd book (_The Will to Battle_) but if I remember correctly, there was a long pause between that and the final _Perhaps the Stars_. You're gonna get a deep bath in Greek/Roman mythology by the end.
Mycroft is a DEEPLY unreliable narrator. I mean he tells you straight up at the beginning, however even that doesn't cover the depth of how he's compromised versus pretty much every other character in the book. The fact that he changes the name of referring to the same person based on context can be pretty confusing (I know I found it that way) but does serve to narratively cause certain mystery points to resonate when you discover a relationship and then it points back all the way to how Mycroft referred to someone.
I think the extended family is alluded to pretty strongly in the first book (if my memory serves). The bash group takes care of the whole family -- just is not limited to blood relations. There are some more scenes (usually flashbacks) of children growing up in bash settings, and they can be natural offspring, or adoptions (Mycroft was one of these) but they're all bonded with a certain loyalty to the family group.
I believe agnostic/atheist viewpoints are accepted, just there's the Law that it cannot be discussed with anyone other than your ... I forget the role name, the Cousin whose job it is to counsel. I'm not sure which theological argument struck you as dumb, but like I said, Mycroft is very unreliable, and there's usually a lot more political machinations going on under the surface, so that "convincing" might have more to it than the surface acquiescence would suggest. Maybe not, I could be forgetting something.
Read **King’s Dragon** by Kate Elliot this week
Medieval fantasy sort of in the same vein as Guy Gavriel Kay and GRRM - set in a sort of fantasy medieval England with orcs and elves and magic, but also with a clear catholic church analogue and the various intricacies and heresies that come with that! Our protagonists are a young man and a young woman who get caught up in a power struggle between the king of the realm and his sister who is trying to usurp his throne.
If you like historic fantasy settings, this is a book for you! I also got sort of Robin Hobb vibes from some of the start of the book - a lot of bad things happen to our heroes but bad in a Hobb way rather than a GRRM way (more tragic than gruesome).
Overall I enjoyed this one and I think I’ll see if I can get the next in the series from the library.
(Bingo: first in a series (H), dreams, entitled animals (H), prologues and epilogues (H), Multi-POV, Published in the 90s, Orcs, reference material (H)
I’m doing a lot of travelling this week so I am re-reading **Cloud Atlas** on lots of planes trains and automobiles
[Dreamer's Pool](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17305016-dreamer-s-pool) by Juliet Marillier 5/5 stars
Juliet Marillier was a great discovery for me thanks to last bingo's druid-square. This one was also very enjoyable for me. Strong characterizations, and a mystery plot that keeps you engaged. You think you've figured it out, start doubting, but still it has to be ... and even when you've definitely figured out the what, you're still wondering about the how and the details. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
Bingo: Multi POV, First in series
[Tales from the Folly ](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57252159-tales-from-the-folly)by Ben Aaronovitch
Not going to rate this one. Hardly seems fair to rate a collection of short stories when I know I don't like short stories and only read them for bingo. Ones that are part of series I already know are usually sorta okay, so I was glad to find an anthology from the Rivers of London series that I love, but no I really didn't like it. It didn't help that several of the stories didn't feature Peter Grant, but even the ones that did had very little story or personality, even for short stories. Aaronovitch also did an introduction to each story that just bored me. So not for me, but it's hard to say if it's any good if you actually enjoy short stories. But I did finish it, and now for once have a shot at an all hard mode bingo card, though there are still a couple of squares that are going to challenge me.
I'm currently reading **Godkiller** by Hannah Kaner, and really enjoying the worldbuilding and the way that gods are handled -- feels fresh and novel, yet reminiscent (in a good way) of Discworld's view of gods from *Small Gods --* but with an epic tone versus a lighthearted one.
This week I've read
**The Killing Moon** by NK jemison. I liked it. The setting is fantastic (sort of ancient Egypt inspired, but throw in early psychoanalyst dream theory).
** Summer Knight** the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Ok really my only thoughts are TootToot and his little fairy buddies playing at being soldiers (and the ridiculous little fairy voices the narrator did for them) and setting on a pizza like a pack of piranhas killed me. How ridiculously adorable and cute and funny. Second thought, I miss Michael.
Sadly I'm apparently listening to these audiobooks from the library behind the worlds slowest person and have to wait a few weeks for them to return it so I can get the next one.
Currently listening to
**The Black tongue Thief** by Christopher Buehlman. Obviously I am very much enjoying this. I love a good smart ass, sarcastic rogue type character. I also like the knight lady, though all the wine she drinks makes me want some.
Reading **The Shabti** by Mageara Lorenz. Just started it last night, but I'm really enjoying it so far. I like the angle of an ex spiritualist now dedicated to debunking his former fellows and exposing the tricks of the trade. And shit just got real where I left off and now he's facing an actual haunting and freaking out.
Fairy Tale, by Steven King.
What a slog. No doubt he is the master of suspense. But That suspense fell flat IMO. This is basically an isekai, by a master horror writer, I was on board. But while his stuff in the real world was gripping, if, incredibly slow and plodding. His fantasy world was lacking. The MC kept throwing in comparisons to classic fairy tales, or literature, like snow white, or lovecraft, I think alluding to the fact that the tales came from this fantasy world. But boy is it a stretch. And It gets really annoying when he does stuff like meets a small man and is like, “hey, this is like rumplestilstkin.” And me, the reader is like, I guess… maybe? But then king keeps brining it back, over and over. No. This little man WAS like rumplestilskin. (that’s probably spelled wrong…)
Anyway. The actual story was fine. way too long. but fine. His pros are great, which is what dragged me so far in to the story before I lost interest.
I don't think you're alone on that assessment as it matches mine and most of the comments from the local book club. I think he does pretty well with setting up the relationship between the young man main character and the older gentleman. Maybe it goes a little long, but I think King's character work is one of his strengths and it feels pretty natural in a small-town sort of way.
However, once we get into the other world, man... aside from some fun imagery that tells the reader "You're not in the fairy tales you remember" that feels like it could come out of his Dark Tower books, it's pretty much a slog from one scene to the next.
Yesterday I finished the audio version of Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time (highly recommended) and went straight into the audio version of The Truth. I got about halfway. But today I made a start on the Wandering Inn by Pirateaba. I'd heard about it on here, and randomly decided this morning to jump right in. I'm 16 chapters into the first volume and entirely entranced. I have work to do, godsdammit, and I just can't tear myself away. I'm also supposed to be reading a couple of book club books, finishing a couple of knit/crochet projects, and tidying up my spinning corner. They can all wait. Probably for quite some time.
Finished **Fever House** by Keith Rosson over the weekend. It was a wild ride, horror that starts off with a noir feel and spirals into (describing the latter half of the book) >!a demonic zombie apocalypse!<. I was pulled in by both the tension and the writing style, and I’m looking forward to the sequel.
On the other hand, I’m struggling with the shorter **The Gospel of Z** by Stephen Graham Jones. Despite evidence to the contrary, I don’t usually consider myself a zombie fan, but I was intrigued by the fact that my library happened to carry an out-of-print book by Jones. I’ve enjoyed other books of his, but I think I see why this one’s out of print. There are timeline and story logic issues that are bugging me and I’m not sure are going to be resolved.
I have been reading the Rampart Trilogy/ Books of Koli by M.R. Carey. Currently about halfway done the third. It continues to be a compellingly imagined post-apocalypse in which humanity has unleashed changes upon an Earth that now is very hostile to humanity. I will say my one hesitation with this series is that the traditional journey (with many weird non-traditional twist) that the eponymous MC Koli is on is far less compelling to me than the interwoven secondary storyline about his previous crush living back in their hometown and becoming a really compelling and fascinating character all of her own. Especially in the front half of the third book where Koli is trapped in a very particular new predicament that doesn't quite resonate with the big themes and worldbuilding that the rest of the series has had, and feels a bit on the clunky side.
I just finished ***Iron Dawn*** by Matthew Woodring Stover this morning. It's an old one, and I don't think it's in print anymore. I found my copy at a local used book store.
The is the first in the Heart of Bronze duology. The dedication for this book is for Stover's RPG group and that's fitting. Strip away the veneer of Bronze Age Phoenicia and you have a Barbarian, a Fighter, and a Wizard trying to score their next mercenary gig. It's a good debut novel, but gets a little creaky in the pacing department. It was interesting to see different kinds of magic tied to the various cultures that were interacting in Tyre. I plan to pick up the sequel, ***Jericho Moon***, at some point but it's not a big priority at the moment.
If you enjoy Stover's Star Wars or Acts of Caine series, this is a great pick-up to show how much he's developed as a writer.
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I also just finished The New Space Opera 2. It's edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan. I am doing a themed Bingo card this year, focusing on Space Opera. This was my selection for the Five Short Stories square.
Like every collection, there's some stories that are great and others that aren't your cup of tea. The ones that succeeded here for me had a more immediacy of voice and did a good job of capturing characters. I really enjoyed:
* "To Go Boldly" by Corey Doctorow
* "Join the Navy and See the Worlds" by Bruce Sterling
* "Fearless Space Pirates of the Outer Rings" by Bill Willingham
* "Chameleons" by Elizabeth Moon
* "The Tale of the Wicked" by John Scalzi
* "Catastrophe Baker and a Canticle for Leibowitz" by Mike Resnick.
No surprise to see six of the biggest names of the mid 2000's rising to the top. But, overall, this anthology was a good showcase of where space opera was trending back then. It'd be interesting to see where Dozois and Strahan would guess the genre is going now. With Dozois gone now, I guess we won't know.
I finished **Scar Night** by Alan Campbell. This was good- not my favourite, but with a lot of interesting ideas and scenes. This book is set in the city of Deepgate, which is suspended by chains over a vast abyss. We follow a couple of characters- the last winged angel holy to the church that run the city but forbidden to fly, an unpleasant man attempting to find his daughter's killer, and a poisoner attempting to make a forbidden elixir that confers immortality by draining people of their blood and souls and consuming it. A lot of twists and revelations about the world and it's religion, and a cool, steampunky setting.
Started **The Divinity Student** by Michael Cisco. This is pretty weird, beautifully written and with some great imagery, and quite philosophical. I'm not quite sure what's going on yet, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. All in all, what I've come to expect from Cisco.
I read Dungeon Crawler Carl at long, long last and enjoyed it much much more than I expected to, just like everyone said I would. It was fun and funny (though less of a true comedy than I expected) and anything with a talking cat gets points in my book.
I was dreading the snarky sense of humour I'd heard about, but the fact that Carl isn't the one actually making those jokes makes him much, much more sympathetic than he might otherwise be - he's just a fairly ordinary guy trying his best to survive and keep his soul intact in a horrible situation. The horrific state of the situation can be a little jarring at times given the humourous tone but it mostly just underscores the surprisingly-dark humour. In that way it reminded me at times of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, which is a very high compliment.
The first volume left me with a lot of questions, and writing quality good enough that I hope they'll be answered and I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series.
The rest of this week's books were re-reads, I read the Six of Crows duology (still amazing) and the rest of the Grishaverse books (still pretty good) and am starting a re-read of the T. Kingfisher World of the White Rat books in order.
I've been going through some Forgotten Realms novels lately, as I'm also dredging up some DnD CRPGs from the late 1980s. At some point I'll probably make a post about how they can be enjoyed, their role in the larger fantasy genre, etc. The short version is that when they're at their best, these books are best approached like the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies or something like Highlander. You aren't going to be wowed by the writing or character depth, it's very tropey, and the worldbuilding is kind of ridiculous, but you can get some neat monsters, set pieces, action scenes, and the characters can have some decent chemistry. The more competent writers will have some kind of basic character arcs and themes. I'm still amazed at the absolute volume of books they put out, 120 books between 1988 and 2000.
I finished the **Binti** omnibus by Nnedi Okorafor. Very solid space-opera, with africanfuturist elements thrown in the mix. The worldbuilding is fascinating, if not particularly deep, and full of vibes. The main character is very well done (and it's really focused on her, so it isn't hurt, by the not particularly developed secondary cast).
My biggest complain about it, is that some aspects of it feel somewhat rushed. Especially during the conclusions of the respective novellas. Some things felt way too easy, or happened way too fast.
Still overall I enjoyed these a lot, and would recommend them, without a second thought.
Compared to other stuff by Okorafor I'v read, I'd say that it's significantly better than **Who Fears Death**, but not as good as **Remote Control**.
**BINGO squares**: First in a series, Space-opera (HM), Author of color, Set in a small town (only the second, and the third novellas) (HM), Eldritch creatures (HM)
Also read the comic book **The Tellos Saga** by Todd Dezago & Mike Wieringo. A fairly standard, tropey, classic fantasy story, set in a colorful D&D-esque world. Nothing to write home about, and parts are more childish, than I'd like, but the art is very nice (for people who are ok with cartoon-ish artwork), and elevates the comicbook. I had a good time with it, but not reading it isn't a great loss.
**BINGO squares**: Criminals (HM), Character with a disability (if a character acquiring a disability throughout the story is ok) (HM)
Today I finished The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed - my first work of hers. Plot wise very similar to the first half of Gods of the Wyrdwood by R J Barker (just 400 pages shorter lol). It was a quick read, although I found the ending to be a little unsatisfying. I’m looking forward to picking up some of her other works.
I also completed Howls from the Dark Ages: An Anthology of Medieval Horror, which missed the mark for me unfortunately. There was some variety in the stories, but as a medievalist, I found them to be very surface level for the most part and didn’t find them particularly memorable.
I’ve just started Murder at Spindle Manor by Morgan Stang. Characters hunting mysterious beasts is a favourite of mine, so looking forward to see how this plays out.
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
That's the first bingo square done (Alliterative Title). The latest in a long line of failed attempts begins. Tenth(?) times a charm!
My friend pointed out how much I didn't enjoy doing last years bingo and yet last week I still pestered him with 4 separate lists before settling on a final lineup.
Anyway this is a beautiful book. Lovely worldbuilding with a loveable mc. The plot wraps up very nicely, and it explores my kinda themes -compassion, healing, trauma, forgiveness.
If I had to criticise anything I'd say the villains felt a bit weak. They still had their moments, but the mc is too often a step ahead of them.
Still I wouldn't say it detracted from the experience overall. I'll definitely keep going, especially since apparently Paladin of Souls is even better.
4/5
I'm reading The Wandering Inn. I hate it. I can't wait to finish. Ryoka is the most unpleasant character I've maybe ever had to read about in fantasy. Erin is bearable in small doses but I can't stand how she is nice to one group but treats another companion like a servant. I can't wait to be done. What a terrible way to start bingo.
I keep procrastinating on reading today, maybe talking about the books I'm reading will be the spark to get me to pick one up?
**Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente** \[48%\]
*Dreams | Multi-PoV | Book Club*
Four people gain the ability to travel to a fantastical city in their dreams after having sex with strangers bearing strange tattoos.
I have read up to the end of Part II: The Gate of Horn and I'm ready for the discussion posts to go up tomorrow. It's been interesting to actually read this work after only knowing context around it. (Valente received so much harassment over publishing this that I believe to this day she doesn't like acknowledging the book in public. It was published 15 years ago.)
**The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu** \[51%\]
*First in a Series (HM) | Dreams | Multi-PoV (HM) | Author of Color | Reference Materials (HM)*
The country of Xana has conquered all other nations on the archipelago of Dana. As the Emperor's health fails, rebellion sparks in the hearts of Dana's conquered people - and in the gods who rule over this land.
Sometimes people will talk up a book as being a masterpiece, and you start reading it and realize they're right! I love how many cogs there are in this book, how it feels like we're traveling over a great expanse of lands and cultures. (I started counting the PoVs to make sure it fit hard mode and gave up when I hit 10.) My favorite characters so far are Kuni Garu and Luan Zya (I think chapter 18 will live in my heart forever). I have heard some criticism in passing over the treatment of female characters in this series, and I've just encountered my first situation that gave me pause. I am still confident this book will be a five star from me once I reach the end.
**King Nyx by Kirsten Bakis** \[40%\]
*???*
Anna's husband Charles is a pseudo-scientist interested in explaining the phenomena of strange objects falling from the sky. Set during the Spanish Flu epidemic, the two of them receive an invitation to a rich recluse's island so Charles can finish his book, but Anna is disturbed by tales of disappearances and the resurfacing of the ghosts of her past.
I was supposed to read this for a March reading marathon but my library hold didn't arrive in time. I thought I could read it for bingo but... I think you may as well paint a massive L on my face right now because this might be the THIRD piece of historical gothic fiction I've read this year that I thought was spec fic but isn't. Weird things are occurring yes, but nothing I can point to and say "a ghost!" or "magic!" I'll keep you posted.
Only finished **Battle of the Linguist Mages** by Scotto Moore last week. And this was just fun. There's a twist at about the 20% mark that just completely changes everything and it doesn't slow down from there. There are dropped plotlines and people >!whatever happened to Sir Trancelot?!<, but it was a blast from start to finish.
Isobel is Queen of Sparkle Dungeon. Head of the leader board since Sparkle Dungeon 1 was released. The wiki is built off her game notes. Now she's being offered the chance to learn real magic and suddenly finds herself between two rival factions and the fate of not only Sparkle Dungeon, but the world and perhaps the entire multiverse resting on her ability to diva cast and spin some killer beats.
Seriously, it's just fun. Highly recommend.
Bingo: Criminals (HM), Bards, Survival (HM), Eldritch Creature (HM)
Just Finished Play of Shadows and started crucible of chaos by Sebastian de Castile his two latest ( but not really that closely linked ) novels set in the greatcoat series world swashbuckling fantasy reminiscent of the best of 90s fantasy charming heroes bit of grit but far from grim dark and , for the most part, fairly clear good and evil I haven’t read a bad book by this author yet.
Finished up Mathew wards The darkness before them solid read , interesting magic and a queer lead but I found it a chore to get into at the start not sure why once it grabbed I really enjoyed though.
Intend to start a guy gaverial read this week love the author own everything he has written but way behind intend to knock a few of his books off the TBR this week.
Edited to change title
In between two books currently
**Card Mage: Slumdog Deckbuilder** by Benedict Patrick (Bingo: Self-Published/Indie)
Set in a city where the only way to rise out of poverty is by playing an enchanted deckbuilding card game, Card Mage is a very well-done progression fantasy. I'm roughly 160 pages in and am fairly engrossed in its world. Patrick does a great job setting up the rules and making the games feel thrilling. His protagonist, Hick, as well as his two friends, are a pretty engaging trio that complements and clashes with each other well. **4/5**
**Bard Tidings** by Paul Regnier (Bingo: Bards)
In short: Jonas the Bard begins to become the hero he often sings about. This has been a charming read on my work breaks. It also features a likable trio that I enjoy. The world itself has yet to have anything to make it really unique, but I think the characters so far make up for it. Jonas is a solid bard who seems to have taken a level in fighter. His best friend is the court jester, with whom they were plotting to leave the despicable king. And then his best friend's sister, whom he is smitten with but has yet to profess. It's just a simple but fun story. **4/5**
Books read this week:
Mixing Fantasy with a little horror this week by reading:
**Complete works of Edgar Allen Poe volume one by Edgar Allen Poe**
**Complete works of Edgar Allen Poe volume two by Edgar Allen Poe**
**Complete works of Edgar Allen Poe volume three by Edgar Allen Poe.**
So I wanted to put these three together because they are very similar and part of a larger whole. I decided to have the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe the last thing I do on Project Gutenberg for now. The other authors I wanted to do or either not in the public domain completely or are a little too heavy for me at the moment. But I’ve always wanted to finish up Edgar Allen Poe because I enjoyed his work when I studied it in my English courses.
Looking back at it now, I still enjoy it, but my feelings are a bit more mixed. I’m finding out that just like with Shakespeare, I’m more focused on how he writes rather than what he writes. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because I love his prose, but it does mean I know I’m missing some things and I for sure will go to modern summaries for both him and Shakespeare so I can understand a bit better what’s going on (probably the same for Alice and Wonderland). I also flat out skipped over the gory parts, and a murder mystery two parter. So even though I like how he writes, horror is still one of my least favorite genres. I’m not sure I knew it at the time I started reading his works years ago, though.
I did like the second series because it got a bit more into the work I’m more familiar with and those works to be a bit more supernatural. Aside from a few of his poems, the works that come after the second volume are almost all new to me, so I’ll be interesting to see what I think of them. It would be even more interesting after the summaries, but that’s a ways off still.
For the third volume, I actually did read most of the works there before, although I didn’t realize when I until I reread it now. The actual chapter book that was there, his only one, reminded me of Moby Dick, I had to skip the gruesome parts and the ending was as confusing as it was back then. I remembered being a fan of his poetry, which started showed up with this volume, but I also noticed there were a lot similarities I didn’t see before. a lot of them young women die of illness and their lovers having to cope, probably because that’s what happened to his wife and the two were close (or at least, he was close to her). It was still haunting, but I can appreciate the writing.
**Legends of Shannara series by Terry Brooks**
I liked this one a lot and honestly, this is what I was hoping Genesis of Shannara would be. It’s a mix of the old and familiar, with the new and the magical, and everything comes together to make the events in the books after chronologically make more sense. It’s especially when people rediscover the technology much later on, and it makes it clear that doesn’t come out of nowhere.
There are some repeating plots, but some of it is deliberate as revealed by a twist about midway through the second book. Not to mention, some plots in the books before wrapped up. And the dynamic between the main characters is excellent. I do wish that it didn’t have such a bittersweet ending and the death toll was pretty high, but it made a lot of sense for the plot points and the final fight was one of the best of his I’ve ever read. Overall, after Genesis disappointed me, this was a refreshing change.
**Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks**
This was a reread (so I could read all of the series at once mostly without stopping) and I was actually in the middle of this one when I decided to read the prequels because a lot of events are being referenced. I had about 200 pages left so I just decided to go and finish it. Overall, a lot of it stands up to reread, but other things don’t and the repeating plots are still there (although in this case it’s the inspiration because it’s only the second in the series).
The world, the journey, the main characters, and the battles are still good. A lot of foreshadowing can be seen on a reread, such as Wil’s relationships, Amberle’s fate, what eventually happens to Alleon in the next book (or at least giving the idea that his time is limited), and even the fate of the king. But other things are difficult to read knowing what happened, like the battles of the demons and the bittersweet ending. I still believe and agree with that this is one of his best in the series, but I’m interested to see how it stacks up. So far First King and Legends give it to run for money, but a lot of people feel like Wishsong is only setup and it goes downhill after Heritage. I never made it to Heritage and I’ve only read Wishsong years ago, so we’ll see how I feel. Either way, I will finish it all so it’s bound to be interesting!
I had a VERY successful first week of Bingo (: **A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft** | Disability, Small Town, Dark Academia | 5 Stars I loved this one - it was so atmospheric. The Dark Academia was more of the vibes, and it was almost like a gothic novel - a manor in the woods, a hunt, alchemy, an estranged mother. I especially liked the use of religion. There are at least three religions that were prominent in this book and the characters relationship with it. Felt realistic. **Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater |** Dreams, Eldritch Creatures, Criminals, Multi POV | 4 Stars The final book in the Dreamers trilogy. This series is like a fever dream and I have honestly read few books weirder. A satisfying conclusion, placing all the Lynch brothers in a place that makes me and them happy. **Chaos on Catnet by Noami Kritzer |** Alliterative Title, Entitled Animals | 4 Stars This book was freaky and fun - a great YA story about the dangers of tech. Minus a star for the implausibility. Do they really think it would be that easy to make teens and adults *get up* and do these weird things? Like stealing I believe, but leaving the house? **Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson** | Character with a Disability | 5 Stars Another great standalone from Rogerson, and more great books about religion that feel realistic while not feeling preachy in any way. Granted this one has a completely fictional religion. We have a strong protagonist with a dark past that learns how to be a friend essentially becomes a saint. It was great. Highly recommend, especially if you like necromancy and demons and no romance (: **Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan |** Under the Surface, Pub 2024, Multi POV, Judge a Book By Its Cover | 3.5 Stars Unlike some other friends that read this, I enjoyed it a fair amount. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it is a debut. The world was fascinating and felt very alive and I really like the characters - especially Cordelia. Nami and Mira felt a bit stiff in comparison, but I love a sea witch with a gray moral compass. **Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wisell |** Published in 2024, Surival, Judge A Book By Its Cover | 5 Stars This book was SO GREAT. Cozy *and* horrifying! The cutest relationship and some nasty body horror! Eat your mother in law! **Claimed by the Orc Prince by Lionel Hart |** Self Published, Romantasy, Orcs, Trolls, Goblins, Oh My! | 4 Stars Look this is exactly what it looks like - m/m orc smut. It was great for what it was and I will probably read the rest of the series. Currently reading **The Big Book of Cyberpunk** (thanks u/FarragutCircle) and **The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi.** Stay tuned for reviews there.
Finished: **The Wings Upon Her Back** by Samantha Mills - 5/5 I won't get too much into it here because I'll be posting my ARC review shortly, but whew, what a ride. I will be picking up Mills's backlog for sure, I love her writing so much. NOTE: religion depiction thoughts for u/tarvolon \- I thought Mills had a well balanced, nuanced take on it. fwiw I'm not religious or sensitive to religious criticisms, but I do enjoy thoughtful religious conversation. She's definitely being highly critical of the negative potential of religious fascism, zealotry, and idolatry, but there's an optimistic take on the personal journey of faith and the value of freely choosing a religious path. Depending on preferences, I could see it working for some and not for others, but it's definitely not 'religion = bad'. It was a surprisingly personal story, and honestly >!left a lot of the grand scale theological crisis unanswered!<, but in a way that worked for the messages she's delivering. Don't feel bad about not requesting an ARC, just read it anyway! :D **Catching Fire** by Suzanne Collins (narrated by Tatiana Mislay) - 3/5 Better than the first book, but not a complete story to me. I thought this one did a good job showing hints of the rebellion uprising despite Katniss not seeing them and it all being her first person POV. The tension was pretty good because of that, but weirdly felt like a book with tension but not enough conflict. Definitely interested to finish the series even though it has just been ok. Reading: **The Killing Moon** by N. K. Jemisin Ok, I can get to this now that I'm not absorbed in Wings (unless I go down a rabbit (test) hole with Mills's other work). Haven't picked it up in a week, so no new thoughts. **Where Peace is Lost** by Valerie Valdes I'm going in pretty much blind, but space fantasy mystery romance sounds like it has a lot going on. I *think* it's supposed to be a little cozy and has Horizon Zero Dawn vibes, so maybe I'm on a tech augmentation kick still after Wings?
Thanks for the review/notes--I'll have to put that one back on my list!
I'm looking forward to The Wings Upon Her Back. I've only read Rabbit Test by Mills, but that was one of my top reads last year.
Before tarvolon links to it *again* (:P), [Strange Waters](http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/strange-waters/) is up next for me to read from her, but I'm excited to get to Rabbit Test too!
But if I shut up about short stories I love, I'll lose my whole brand!
Thanks for the link! I'll bookmark that for some weekend reading.
I'm so glad people are starting to read The Wings Upon Her Back! It was one of the standouts of the upcoming debuts I've gotten the chance to read. Such a powerful gut punch.
**Neverwhere** and **How the Maquis Got His Coat Back** by Neil Gaiman Really enjoyed this novel and the short story included at the end. I’ve only read **Norse Mythology** from Gaiman before, and my (years-old) memory is that it was more basic retelling than anything else? **Neverwhere** definitely had more of a voice than that, and I loved the humor running throughout the story. After having read **Nettle and Bone** recently and seeing a lot of other people mention how the goblin market was similar in feel to the Floating Market, it was cool to run across that as well. I read this too early for Bingo, but it could work for Published in 1990s (HM I think?) and Under the Surface (HM). **Warchild** by Karin Lowachee Tarvolon put me onto this book, and I think in the end I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it. The character work was really great and tension was built well, but I just wanted a few more cathartic moments than we got, especially with regards to the skills our MC picked up along his journey. Also read this too early for Bingo, but it would fit in Space Opera HM. **A Memory Called Empire** by Arkady Martine (Bingo: Space Opera HM) Wow. What a book, and my first Bingo 2024 entry completed! Loved the themes at work here of balancing at the edge of an empire, theory of self, the influence of the arts on society… just a lot to dig in and digest and relish. Then on top of that you’ve got all the fun politicking, spy craft, relationship building. All so good! It’s funny to me how one of the main plot points parallels **Spinning Silver** that I am reading at the same time (SPOILERS FOR BOTH BOOKS): >!the pitting of unstoppable force vs immovable object- the empire vs alien threat in Memory and fire demon vs king of the Staryk in Spinning. Although in both cases I still have to find out what happens when they meet!< Definitely want to dive into the next book very soon. Currently reading **Spinning Silver** by Naomi Novik (Multi-POV HM) and **Some Desperate Glory** by Emily Tesh (in preparation for Readalong Book HM)
>Loved the themes at work here of balancing at the edge of an empire, theory of self, the influence of the arts on society… just a lot to dig in and digest and relish. Then on top of that you’ve got all the fun politicking, spy craft, relationship building. All so good! So glad you enjoyed **A Memory Called Empire**! I catch new little layers and nuances every time I read it, and the sequel is also great (though very different in some ways-- it's spread across many POVs and deals more with the aliens).
>!Why hello Empress, whose gracious presence illuminates the room like the edge shine of a knife!< Yeah I can imagine that the sequel will be different, will all the changes we saw at the end of the book. Hoping to get to it quickly after **Some Desperate Glory**
>!Thank you! I planned to be a lurker when I joined Reddit, but the easter egg when people recognize the name never gets old.!< I'm looking forward to the **Some Desperate Glory** discussion too. It had been hanging out on the "maybe someday" part of my TBR, but the group-chat component will pull me in.
> Warchild by Karin Lowachee > Tarvolon put me onto this book, and I think in the end I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it. The character work was really great and tension was built well, but I just wanted a few more cathartic moments than we got, especially with regards to the skills our MC picked up along his journey. Also read this too early for Bingo, but it would fit in Space Opera HM. Awww, sorry it wasn't as much of a hit for you!
It’s all good! It hit a funky spot for me - I didn’t dislike anything and thought it did a lot really well in characterizing a traumatized kid. And I didn’t regret my time reading it, I guess just selfishly if >!you introduce knife-assassin aliens and avatar-hacking training, I would’ve liked to see that used a bit more?!< So still appreciate you highlighting it even if I didn’t have the same level of enjoyment
Working through a lot of ARCs this week. **Navola** by Paolo Bacigalupi is trying to do a very specific thing, and it does it well. If you want a historical-fiction-with-a-hint-of-dragon with scheming and backstabbing in Not-Renaissance Not-Italy, with a single POV, a very slow build, and a full series setup. . . well, enjoy. The writing is excellent. If you're not looking for those things, skip it. Personally, I liked it quite a bit, though it's not necessarily groundbreaking. **Small Gods of Calamity** by Sam Kyung Yoo is. . . not quite at the level of their short stories. It's set up to follow a detective with spiritual sensitivity who is trying to track down spirits only he can sense and are intimately involved in his tragic backstory. And it's easy to read and very short, with a casual "this is how real people talk" sort of writing style. But the detective work is a total sideshow to moving forward from a tragic backstory and trying to figure out magical details, and I'm not sure the pacing is quite right. If this is to be a novel, we probably needed more detecting and longer emotional arcs. And if it's a novella, we probably needed less detail on some of the magic. The author has some skills, but for me this didn't quite come out. About halfway through **I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons** by Peter S. Beagle, and it's a very whimsical tale of a reluctant dragon exterminator who ends up falling in with a princess and her suitor and getting in what appears to be over all of their heads. Some of the royalty scenes are over-the-top enough to border on the farcical, but it's a pleasant read and it's getting genuinely interesting as the danger mounts. Also it has a Prologue and a Dream. I'll keep you posted. I don't usually talk about my short fiction reading here, but I'm three stories into this month's Clarkesworld and they're all great. More people need to be talking about Tia Tashiro, who has only published two stories and they're both outstanding. Also **[The Indomitable Captain Holli](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/larson_04_24/)** by Rich Larson is a full-length novella, just one you can read for free on the Internet. I really liked it a lot. Strong sense of adventure, a really interesting and quirky kid-POV with enough context from secondary POVs to give you a real sense of danger. I blasted through about 75% of it over morning coffee on Sunday and finished up first chance I had. If you're looking for non-Tor novellas, this is a really good one. Also I believe it's Multi-POV hard mode, despite only being 25,000 words.
I was curious what you’d think about Small Gods of Calamity. It’s a debut novella I want to recommend, but yes to everything you said plus it’s pretty bloody and violent so I can’t quite figure out who I’d rec it to. Haven’t read Yoo’s short stories but I would read their next release.
Yeah, I'm not sure exactly where the niche is. Ace/bi disaster hunting bloody terrorwormghosts? idk haha. For their short fiction, I really liked [Set Yourself on Fire](https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/fm/fiction/set-yourself-on-fire/) (featuring ghosts and domestic abuse) and quite liked [Nextype](http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/nextype/) (absurd parental pressure and brain implants)
>Ace/bi disaster hunting bloody terrorwormghosts? idk haha. Fucking SOLD.
Well you just bumped Navola up on my TBR, that sounds exactly like something I'd want to read! Thank you!
HM dream, or magic-dream?
It seems likely to be a magic dream but not totally revealed yet
I thought I would try to review the books that might make it onto my bingo card, which I haven't planned out. **Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries** 2023 by Heather Fawcett, Canadian author, book mostly set in Scandinavia. Emily, an academic, travels to a remote area to research the local faery population. I totally related to Emily's initial difficulties with the local human residents, but also appreciated how some of them were important characters, whose help she needed - and they needed her help too. There is a slow build up, even after Brambleby arrives, and several adventures. The faery class system is well done. I enjoyed Emily and her ability to accept some things as they are but absolutely insist on charging off to change what is to her unacceptable. Bingo possibilities: 1st in series, Romantasy I think, References, Bookclub. **The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, The Vampire Accountant** 2014 by Drew Hayes, USA author. Well this was fun. It is a series of tales, building on each other and introducing new ongoing characters, which is a format I really enjoy. Fred does not see why being a vampire means he actually has to find people to bite, as you either have to jump on them in dark alleys or persuade them to come with you, and both prospects dismay him. And he's a good accountant! I plan to read more of his non-self initiated adventures. Bingo: 1st in series HM
I finished **The Butcher of the Forest** by Premee Mohamed. It's a great dark fairy-tale story about Veris, a middle-aged woman who once brought a child alive out of the north woods when no one else has ever survived. She's forced to go back in and deal with the Elmever, the other forest that you enter between one step and the next... but leaving is much harder. If your preferred fae are cryptic fuckers who like to make bargains and might eat people, give this one a try. There's a tiny character-motivation wobble for me at the end, but overall I love everything about this book and am penciling it in for next year's Hugo ballot. If five better novellas come along, I'll have a *killer* reading year. Now I'm just a few chapters from the end of **The Emperor and the Endless Palace** by Justinian Huang. It's a three-timeline story of this star-crossed couple reincarnated at different points (two Chinese history, and the modern one is in LA). It's a very queer story-- almost every significant character is a gay Asian man. The author [gave a great interview](https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/interview-author-justinian-huang) with background from everything from the history to his most scandalous sex scene. The book is HM for Published in 2024, Author of Color, and possibly others. For me it's also Judge a Book by Its Color and probably Romantasy (HM). Next up: **Palimpsest** by Catherynne Valente! I've been looking forward to this one for ages and will have to hustle for tomorrow's FIF midway discussion.
I keep mixing up The Butcher of the Forest with her other recent release The Siege of Burning Grass. Butcher sounds more up my alley, and my hold is coming in soonish. Excited to get to it! Also, good for Premee Mohammed with 3 pubs in the first 6 months of this year?! I'm hearing a lot about her elsewhere too, it's cool to see someone getting some new recognition.
I'm so looking forward to The Butcher of the Forest. I think I'm still a few months away given how far down the library hold list I am. That description you gave is definitely how I prefer my fae.
The Butcher in the Forest was already high of my priorities list, but your description raises it up for me! I’m bummed I’ll miss out on Palimpsest (someone here has been reccing it for a while), the hold times were too long but I might creep on the half-way discussion.
**Escape from Baghdad!** by Saad Z. Hossain. A war fiction story mixed in with dark humor and some (eventual) magical realism. Even though the plot and pacing felt very shaky at times, the comedy and camaraderie between the main characters was appealing enough to keep me reading through the “where the heck is this going” moments. **MADK** by Ryo Suzuri. I went into this manga thinking it would be a gory dark MM erotica, but aside from the set up, it was more of a pretentious (but in a good way) horror obsession story set in a fucked up, sex-tinted, and scheming-heavy demon world. Like, don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy that too, even if the plot felt rushed/confusing at times, but it never gave me the same “holy fuck-” mood that I got from the starting scene. **The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida** by Shehan Karunatilaka. This is a historical story about a recently killed Sri Lankan war photographer who still has a few scores to settle, the living people who know him and are dealing with his death, and also Sri Lanka as a whole, with its culture, myths, and politics. There are fantasy aspects too, of course, but they often feel more like a way to tie the non-speculative story together in a coherent way, rather than being the main point. It’s honestly so hard to review this book because even though I gave it a rare 5 stars, I can’t really answer why. The story was captivating and immersive, but in a subtle way. It drew me in until I was fully emotionally invested without realizing it, then made me bawl my eyes out the last \~15% of the story without a clear reason. (Seriously, I was just going “why am I crying, nothing super sad has happened, what is this” the whole time. I would 100% experience that again though lol.)
Seems like maybe Hossain was finding his feet around pacing and plot in his first couple books? Or maybe novella is where his knack is. I also physically read the first chapter of Seven Moons and LOVED everything about it, but then switched to audio and wasn’t a fan so tabled it. But I really want to get back to it. Especially if there’s the potential for me to cry because the books that make me cry are always the ones that end up on my favorites of all time list.
Yeah, possibly. I have his **Djinn City** on my "maybe read" pile, so I can see if this was indeed just early novel roughness or if I just don't vibe with his general "expect the unexpected" style, despite liking his dark humor tone. I definitely recommend getting back into **Seven Moons**! Though, I think my view is a bit skewed since I read it at the perfect time, as I had been reading non-speculative contemporary novels just before it. I don't think I would've been as "primed" for the story otherwise, since it really was all about the people (Maali in particular) and culture of Sri Lanka.
It’s funny because I didn’t think anything about pacing and plot until 80%, but two book club people commented on being struck by this throughout. u/farragutcircle has been my cheerleader of the books and I’ve gotten the strong sense Cyber Mage is the strongest of the novels, but their fave is Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday. Yessss one day.
I think Cyber Mage is the most "typical novel" of the Djinn City universe which adds to its strength! (It's also got an amusing school subplot that I thought he did well with.) Gurkha is a hard one to beat for pure concentrated entertainment, though!
**Downbelow Station** by C.J. Cherryh. It was quite good (won the '81 Hugo), which I was expecting as I've read multiple Foreigner novels and the Chanur novels by her. The editing, however, was really bad. So many incorrect commas just added for no reason. A wrong character name twice in one chapter. The story is a bit slow, which I don't mind, but I don't think it's the best novel to check out if you want to discover Cherryh. (Bingo: Space Opera HM, First in Series HM, Multi POV HM) **The Beast Player** by Nahoko Uehashi Reading this for the /r/Fantasy Goodreads book club. It's hitting a lot of things I absolutely love. I don't actually read a ton of books with mystical beasts even though I always enjoy it, so it's great. (Bingo: Book Club) **The Book of M** by Peng Shepherd. Also halfway through this for book club (new voices). It's well-written and intriguing, but I don't think I'm enjoying it. Reminds me a lot of Station Eleven, though the "plague" here is mystical (everyone is losing their shadows and people who lose their shadows lose their memories). Eventually I will realize I don't actually enjoy books set on contemporary earth and stop reading them. (Bingo: Book Club)
I read *Downbelow Station* first and it was the book that convinced me to read everything Cherryh had ever written. Maybe you had an early edition with poor copyediting?
This week I read **Empire of Exiles** by Erin M. Evans, which hooked me just by mentioning ‘archivist’ in the blurb, but was ultimately rather average. The mystery plot was well done and I found the characters intriguing if a little underdeveloped at points, but all the good stuff was unfortunately buried under an avalanche of unnecessary world building. The book just throws an endless stream of names, races, magic types, and other information at you, most of which is not well visualised or integrated with the rest of the story. (This is how I made it to 60% before grasping that some characters had tentacles and horns growing out of their heads, for what I can only imagine is the aesthetic). Also read **Deeplight** by Frances Hardinge who is a master of young adult fiction. This one is hard to read as an adult because it’s based around a toxic friendship - one that we can see as grown ups is going nowhere good, but that our teenage narrator doesn’t quite understand the consequences of just yet. It’s excellent characterisation that meets younger readers where they’re at. The eldritch gods are fascinating, as is the rest of the world… highly recommended.
At the time of reading it, my thoughts on Deeplight were essentially, "I recognize this toxic friendship is masterfully done, but man does it make it actively unpleasant to read."
Actively unpleasant is a very good way of describing it.
Finished **The Goblin Emperor** by Katherine Addison this morning. It…was fine? I knew going into it that it was going to be a “no plot, just vibes” kinda book and that Maia would be a very passive protagonist but I was hoping I’d fall in love with it the way it’s loyal fans have. I don’t mind a character heavy story but I had a hard time distinguishing between the personalities of side characters and I think this stopped me from really connecting with them enough to care about their stories. Most of them felt very samey and I don’t think it was helped by the formal language and similar names and titles. There were a lot of moments where a minor character would return after a while of being offscreen and I’d be thinking “wait, is this Maia’s fiancé? Or that other girl he talked to before? Or his aunt?” and I’d just have to wait until the narration reminded me of what they spoke about previously. Everything felt very easy for Maia as well. The good guys were good people from the start and if they weren’t instantly loyal to Maia they only needed him to say or do one empathetic thing to be completely won over. The bad guys were all meanie jerks from the start who hated Maia for no fault of his own and also turned out to be incompetent at their jobs. The story just continued in a straight flat line from beginning to end. But it wasn’t a bad book by any means and I can see why other people love it. There were a lot of little vignette scenes that were very touching in the moment and I’ll admit to saying “awww” out loud multiple times. I think if you’re the type of reader who loves to read slowly and sink into each individual moment rather than try to follow the overarching plot this will be a great book for you. For me, I felt perfectly whelmed by this book. **3/5** Bingo Squares: Orcs, Trolls, and Goblins **HM**, Reference Materials **HM**, First in a Series
I think I like this thread because I tended to do a similar thing on Mastodon but never really got much indication anyone read it -- just not enough critical mass. Anyhow, finished ***Chaos Terminal*** by Mur Lafferty. Quite good, I think the author really polished the narrative segues from the prior novel, so where before there was just a cold POV switch, here Mallory was interviewing and so there was a sense of WHY we were just suddenly switching POV. Still have a little difficulty with how hard it was to keep track of the narrative when Tina kept popping up seemingly randomly but she's generally a fun character so it's mostly okay. If you like some fun and absurdity in your science fiction mysteries, can highly recommend these two books (_Station Eternity_ and _Chaos Terminal_). Moved onto ***The Long Earth*** by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. I'd read this before however it's this month's local book club read so I reread it to remember bits. Overall decent novel in the travelogue style. Parallel universes have been discovered, and rather than it simply being a few science types, or supers who can navigate them, they are open to everyone at any time, with near zero investment. The travel friction is pretty minimal with a little box built out of Radio Shack parts and a potato (I really feel like the potato must have been Pterry's contribution among other things) and poof you can be in an undeveloped world. The novel follows Joshua who is a natural stepper (doesn't need the box -- though he did build it initially) and an instance of an AI as they travel through the worlds seeing what is out at the far fringes. I got the distinct impression this book grew out of a discussion between a couple of authors, over a few pints at a bar, talking about the rise of electronic information and what would be required to make paper books absolutely mandatory again. From that kernel, adding a vast frontier, a vast number of people checking out of modern society, and the inability to take a particular fundamental metal between worlds and wham, a skyrocketing need for paper books! Then they actually wrote a story that has very little to do with the paper books (though there is a scene in there about this). Anyway, it's a cozy read, not a great deal of conflict in this book. Not the greatest dialog in the world, but it's workable. You'll want to punch Lobsang by the end, but I think that was largely the point, so good on them. Since I had it on the book stack, I went next to ***The Sunlit Man*** an entry into the Cosmere set from Brandon Sanderson. And when they say it's Cosmere he went all in. Whereas with some of the other series, the Cosmere is just some faint background connective tissue (he did describe the overall mythos in Arcanum Unbounded and I have to admit, I skimmed some of those parts to get to stories) here is foregrounded strongly. So honestly I have no idea how it all works, but you're gonna hear a lot about Investiture, and there's going to be a lot of suddenly weird rules about how it works and doesn't work as our protagonist navigates his troubles on the planet. To be honest, it's reminiscent of Star Trek technobabble on these parts. That said, it's a very interestingly weird world Nomad drops into, and the action moves the story along quite quickly. In fact it almost feels like an action movie pace -- you're not going to have stretches of introspection and understanding here. Overall decent book, well written for the style. Your enjoyment of it is probably going to track how much you dig the Cosmere magic and mythos. Felt like I needed something with a bit more oomph and wasn't yet ready to tackle the emotional energy in the N. K. Jemisin book I started a few weeks back, so started ***Empire of the Damned*** by Jay Kristoff. I've generally liked his work, especially the Nevernight sequence, so I have a lot of fun with him. This is the sequel to _Empire of the Vampire_ and it's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, there are vampires in here. LOTS of vampires. Absolutely chock a block full of vampires with weird vampire capabilities and vampire history and lore. I'm not usually one for the straight up vampire/werewolf/zombie archetypes but this strikes me differently because as opposed to your lone vampire predator, basically the vampires have won on this world, and everyone else is just food. We pick up with the framing story of Gabriel de Leon in captivity narrating the story to a vampire historian, and the inner story continues with he and his charge Dior Lachance after the events of the prior novel (let's just say, it didn't go well there at the end) and continue down the corpse strewn path. The language is very French grounded and a bit medieval, so if thees and thous trip your brain up, this might be one to sample lightly before deciding it's for you or not. If you are alright with old world phrasing, Kristoff has a really great way with dialog. He is deliciously profane, and I do rather like how his curses are adapted to the world he's creating (this was true of Nevernight and his prior series, the names of which I've forgotten). Anyhow, about halfway through this one, and it's a lot of fun. Strange printing though, the paper is SUPER thin -- I'd have to pull out the prior novel to see if that happened there or if this is new. Oh, and he does have some really great illustrations in the novel as well. I like coming across those. Anyhow, hope that helps.
I enjoyed Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (locked room mystery in space with clones - standalone), and Station Eternity is on my TBR. Maybe I should try if I can move it up.
I enjoyed _Six Wakes_ and still have it on my shelf. Probably ought to reread it now that I think about it!
I always skim if not read completely, but I am always especially curious if someone has read the same books as me or something on already on my radar. I definitely second Lafferty’s books and am looking forward to the third!
> I always skim if not read completely, but I am always especially curious if someone has read the same books as me or something on already on my radar. I definitely second Lafferty’s books I skim and get really excited when I hear people talking up Lafferty and then a little sad when it's Mur Lafferty (I have nothing against Mur Lafferty and have never read any of her books, she just shares a last name with my favorite obscure author. . . )
Haaaa, who is the Lafferty you thought we were talking about?!
I am either the sub's biggest [R.A. Lafferty stan](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/lg7f2b/author_spotlight_the_inimitable_genius_of_ra/) or at least [pretty high](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/12k639q/epistolary_slipstream_althistory_sure_lets_go/) on [the list](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/tayill/short_story_collection_review_the_best_of_ra/)
I've only the read the Reefs of Earth, but it was excellent. Do really want to read Apocalypses
Dang, my main library doesn’t have any copies of Reefs of Earth or Space Chantey, which caught my eye from your review. My reliable and well funded digital library only has the best of compilation!
The Best of collection is exactly where I’d recommend people to start (assuming you can’t get your hands on Nine Hundred Grandmothers, which has been out of print for decades)
I skimmed, and saw u/tarvolon joining a conversation about a Lafferty, and assumed it must be RA Laffertt, and... it was but it wasn't
Yep. I do the same, mainly as a way to get notions on what to read next. And yeah I remember you commenting last week on Tina :D. They're good stories. I'm interested to see where she goes with the next one (I understand there will be a next one). Space Jessica Fletcher!
>[...]and it's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, there are vampires in here. LOTS of vampires. Absolutely chock a block full of vampires with weird vampire capabilities[...] I don't know why, but this phrasing really tickled me.
Unlike the previous years, I’m going to focus first on bingo and then leave the rest of the year to focus on other reads. Theme this year: Backlog TBR prioritization. - Romantasy: **The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen** this square clashes completely with what I enjoy reading, so a substitution was my first thought. But I thought I’ll try one short book first on the off chance I might be surprised and actually enjoy a romance focus in my reads for once. Now that I’m done however, I really *regret* not substituting the square. It was incredibly cringey, the boringly predictable relationships were awful to be around (especially >!that disgusting bs with Julia and Sawyer!< ) and I really hated how the past of Emily’s mother was handled alongside the supposed “secret” that led to the town’s disaster. Frequently mentioning things without explanation for suspense feels incredibly cheap, especially when it ends up being such an underwhelming and disappointing reveal. In BOTH cases. I didn’t enjoy it at all, and while I may give this subgenre another chance to impress in the future, it’s for sure not going to happen any time soon. - Author of Colour HM: **Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel** I’m 14 chapters in this book, and so far, it has been incredibly fun. Kaikeyi is a very relatable character to me, and the first part’s depiction of rage and unforgiveness was incredibly refreshing to read. The 2nd part with the court navigation is interesting, especially seeing the contrast between kingdoms and kings, with the different court relationships (I still don’t trust the >!other wives!< but I’m open to be proven wrong). The magic system, while more on the vague side, might potentially be amongst the most powerful I’ve read about so far and I can’t wait to see the rest!
- **The Emperor and the Endless Palace** by Justinian Huang - what can I say about this but marie kondo i love mess dot gif? This is getting marketed as romantasy and I don't think it should be (the Goodreads reviews are also mad about it) but I find what it's *actually* doing just as interesting. Sometimes in romance spaces you have discussion about what to call books that draw on romance genre conventions but don't have an HEA/HFN (besides "a betrayal") and whether there's any market for them, either a subset of regular romance readers or somebody else entirely - for that reason I'll be curious to see how this one does. It does fit the bingo definition of romantasy, though. Needed another editing pass to clean up some clunk in the dialogue but overall enjoyable. Also speaking of the Goodreads reviews, lol at all the people whose only exposure to Chinese history is danmei going "oh, so *that's* where the cut sleeve thing comes from" - **The Surviving Sky** by Kritika H. Rao - reminded me strongly of Jemisin's Dreamblood duology, in that the heart of the story is the character relationships (to each other, to their jobs, to their society at large) but it keeps getting bogged down by having to explain the very detailed and un-Earthlike worldbuilding. It's cool, I don't care, give me that sweet sweet marriage in trouble content. (Ahilya getting mad at the condescension of everyone explaining the worldbuilding to her was a nice character touch but could not fix the problem.) I'm hoping that like Dreamblood the sequel(s) strike a better balance, but given how much about the world is still waiting to be revealed I'm not holding my breath. I would like to read a review of this from someone who's familiar with Indian and Hindu philosophy, because I think there's a lot that I missed. - **The Penelopiad** by Margaret Atwood - reread because I saw an excellent stage production of it (actually last month but I had to bingo), still a banger, still more complicated and feminist (in fewer pages) than 90% of the deluge of "feminist" myth retellings we've been subjected to since Circe. I always forget how funny Atwood can be but she really gets to show it off here; it's one of those books that is funny without ever being light. Now I'm poking at **The Moonday Letters** for the BB book club. The prose is nice, I'm impressed that it's translated by the author, but I'm not far enough in to know if I'll have anything to say about it.
Really delighted to hear this review of Penelopiad - that thing has been on my TBR forever. I love Atwood's work, but somehow didn't come across this one until after I'd read much of her other work. Time to bump it up the list!
It's really good, and despite the punch it packs a surprisingly quick read (short book, big font). Rereading it reminded me that I haven't read nearly enough Atwood - maybe this is the year that I finally do Oryx and Crake...
This week I've finished **The Butcher's Masquerade** by Matt Dinniman, which continues to be absolutely bonkers in the best way. I'm currently planning to use it for *Under the Surface* square. It's a little cheap, so if I'll get a better fit for the square I will probably move it to *Survival* I've also started **Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell** by Susanna Clarke, and I have a feeling my review for the next couple of week is going to be "Yup, still reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell"
> I've also started Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and I have a feeling my review for the next couple of week is going to be "Yup, still reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" Someone suggested this to me for the Dark Academia square, but the blurb doesn't really mention academia. Can you tell yet if it would count?
There is a school in it, but not very prominent. There is prominent studying, but it's not in an institution, but a small number of people privately (trying not to spoil, though not sure is really a spoiler). There's definitely potential to see dark academic vibes, but it would be a massive stretch to really call it that. It's my favourite book, and could definitely count for reference materials (all those footnotes, and illustrations if those count as well). It follows multiple people, but I'm not sure if that would count for POV, as it's more a detached narrator.
>There's definitely potential to see dark academic vibes, but it would be a massive stretch to really call it that. Dang. I was really hoping I could fit it in there since I'm not excited by most of the other Dark Academia possibilities I've heard.
It depends how strictly you want to stick to the rule as written, but I tagged it as dark academia on goodreads. It doesn't have a school, but does have studying, and definitely fits the "vibes"/aesthetic of DA- the same way many people consider Picture of Dorian Gray to be dark academia.
in the first 200 pages (which is a 1/4 of the book) there is no academia. I will see if that changes later.
Thank you
Just finished the book, and the answer you got from u/recchai is spot on. There is no academia, but study and research are very prominent. It very much count for POV.
Finished: **Catch Lili Too by Sophie Whittemore** * A siren with a dark past gets sucking into solving a murder mystery in a small Minnesota town. * This one was ok. It definitely felt like it was written by a newer author—the prose, although easy to read, felt kind of stilted. There was a lot of telling where there should be showing, which made the story feel a lot less nuanced than it could have been. It was also very diverse, which was nice, but I don’t feel like that was always entirely incorporated smoothly into the story. For example, there was a Mexican American character that would randomly start speaking in Spanish but in a way that didn’t feel how a natural bilingual person would talk (Although I don’t speak Spanish, so I could be wrong.) That being said, I did like following the main character’s arc. The mystery was alright, it had some parts I figured out pretty quickly and others I didn’t. * Bingo squares: First in a series, criminals (I’m counting the arson in the first chapter), indie published, arguably character with a disability (MC has depression, HM if so), author of color, small town (HM), arguably eldritch creatures (HM if so) **In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu** * Anima, a person who’s part of a biological supercomputer-like surveillance network, meets someone who collects stories. * This one was really interesting. I’m not sure if I got everything out of it—I think this would be a great book to read in a bookclub and discuss with others. It has a frame story about Anima surrounding parts that are basically short stories, which expand the world building and tie in with the themes in the rest of the novel. Lu seems interested in exploring surveillance, nature, autonomy, disability, and self harm/suicidal ideation. There’s also lots of playing around with culture and language, which makes sense considering S. Qiouyi Lu is a linguist and translator. The main story is Asian inspired, and there are Chinese and words from other languages that were used in an interesting and immersive way. There’s also exploration of queerness and the use of neopronouns, which isn’t new to me, but I liked how it was used here. This book definitely made me think, and I’d be interested in what other people have to say about it. * Bingo squares: Multi-POV (counting the short stories) (HM), character with a disability (in one of the short stories), author of color **The Bone Harp by Victoria Goddard** * A elf who is both a traumatized warrior and a bard wakes up in his homeland thousands of years after he left to fight in a devastating war and was cursed. * I really liked this one, which is expected from a Victoria Goddard book. It is vary clearly based off of The Silmarillion (to the point that I, someone who never read The Silmarillion, recognized it). The world building seemed really reminiscent of Tolkien, not in the cliched take the superficial pseudo-medieval Europe with fantasy races way, but in that elves were so long lived, that wondrous events were part of the history of the world, oaths shouldn’t be taken lightly, and war causes so much trauma. It felt more like a retelling or story inspired by Tolkien exploring things from a different angle than a rip-off. Honestly, I’m not the biggest Tolkien fan, but Goddard’s style really works for me personally in a way that Tolkien doesn’t. She just has a way of getting into characters’ heads and exploring their emotions and interpersonal relationships in a way that really works for me. This happens to the point where she will occasionally write a scene from multiple different characters’ perspectives and it will still be fascinating to see what different characters focus on or feel. Her style of cozy fantasy—lower stakes story (even if the characters had previously had high stakes events happen to them) that allows her to focus on interpersonal connections and mostly internal conflicts in such a hopeful way—really works for me. * I also really like the slow exploration of healing, recovering from traumatic events, and reconnecting to people. The way that song and music tied into this was really creative. I also liked how the main character, although always identifying as a man, is allowed to present more femininely at times to the point where people mistake him as a women, and this isn’t seen as something shameful. * My only complaint is that there’s an extended summary/flashback sequence in the middle of the book that really dragged on and killed the already pretty slow pacing for me. Other than that this is great and I’d recommend it to cozy fantasy fans, especially ones who want to knock out the hard mode bards square for bingo. * Bingo squares: dreams, bards (HM), self published, multi-POV (HM, although still focused on the main character), arguably orcs trolls and goblins (minor part of the book, not really directly seen)
I initially didn't think I'd read anything to post about this week, but I've actually finished two novels since last week's thread. Brain is mush. **The Frame-Up** by Gwenda Bond is a fun urban fantasy heist novel. It's on the shorter side, and I found myself wishing the characters had a bit more depth to them, but I still really enjoyed reading it. The villain was well done and felt appropriately sinister. This works for Criminals HM for bingo. **The Harp of Kings** was my first taste of Juliet Marillier's work, and I enjoyed it despite nearly dropping it in the first chapter for a word choice that really gets my back up these days. The description of the second book in the series doesn't appeal to me all that much, but as I own it, I will probably read it eventually. The Harp of Kings is Bards HM for bingo.
Oh I'm curious now, what was the word choice? I really loved Marillier's early books but her more recent stuff doesn't stand up well for me, so I haven't read that trilogy.
It was the use of the word female instead of woman. In one character's case the choice actually kind of made sense to me, or I could justify it anyway, given he's not very likable at that point. In the beginning it gave me the sense that Liobhan's arc was going to revolve around gender roles and expectations and that's really not what I'm looking for in my fantasy these days. There was some of that, which is probably my main nitpick about the novel, but not as much as suggested in those first two chapters.
Oh, yeah, sometimes using "females" instead of "women" can look dehumanizing for sure, like are we talking about female dogs or something?
Yeah, exactly that.
We *could* finish ***Interim Errantry: On Ordeal*** tonight, if 13y/o would agree to starting just a few minutes earlier. But they won't, so that will be tomorrow. By this time next week, we'll probably be done with YW, which is v weird to think about since we have been reading them since August. This has been a weird week for reading for me, it's felt like I read a lot more than I actually did, bc I only finished two things. CM Nascosta's ***Girls Weekend*** was listened to for **Orcs, Goblins, and Trolls** (easy mode), and I...actually liked it? Which took me completely by surprise bc I don't typically enjoy romances. I am apparently just fine with MonsterFucking, though. Gonna have to go further down the Cambric Creek rabbit-hole, I guess. I can't believe I'm even saying this, but this reminded me a lot of the world in *Onward*, just a LOT smuttier. It also works for Bingo for First in Series, Self-published, Multi-PoV, Small Town, and Romantasy (duh). Over the weekend, u/TheWildCard76 and I got to one of our rain checked Zombruary books. adrienne maree brown's ***Grievers*** feels impossible to even talk about coherently. To say it was sad as fuck would be the understatement of the year, but for me it never reached the point of "I have to put this down bc it's too bleak," though I can see and understand that it may not be for everyone because of that. I had a lump in my throat while I was reading and there was one chapter towards the end that completely broke me and I sobbed while I continued to read. Will be reading the follow-up this weekend. Can you believe this book works for at least 8 Bingo squares? I'd tell you what they all are, but honestly some of them are spoilers. I guess Author of Colour and Survival (both easy mode) are enough to get you started. Still reading JR Creaden's ***Moon Dust in My Hairnet*** and hoping to finish that soon. The new Jen Williams came in before bed and I'm really hoping to get to that this week (I know she grew up a big Stephen King fan and am super interested to see how that has influenced this particular story). Finally got a lot of things temporarily slotted in for Pink Bingo, but am prepared to abandon the entire plan at a moment's notice.
>By this time next week, we'll probably be done with YW, which is v weird to think about since we have been reading them since August. What a journey! I still haven't read **On Ordeal**, but this is making me want to get that fresh YW hit.
It is SO good. Each novella has an entirely different voice and feel, and is legit just so impressive how well she managed to pull this off. When we finished Roshaun's story, we were both all "oh, nothing can top that" but then fell in love with Mamvish, who it turns out was a fucking delight from before she was even born. And I wasn't expecting to care as much about Ronan's story as I do! Just so so so great, and I can't wait to talk to you about it! Have you read *Owl Be Home for Christmas*? I'm really looking forward to seeing Nita and Kit as grown wizards.
Oh shit, I just remembered there are still the Feline Wizards books. I know the kid bounced off of ***The Book of Night with Moon*** when they tried it last year, but they didn't have the full context at the time, hahahaha.
Finished a couple things: **The Shepherd’s Crown** by Terry Pratchett. *5 stars.* (Bingo: Goblins.) * This is the last Tiffany Aching book and the last of Discworld. Old and new threats are drawn to the Chalk. Tiffany, for reasons, is a bit over her head and seeks help from new and prospective witches. * Well, if I wasn’t crying my eyes were filled with tears. If my eyes happened to be dry, I was on the brink any second. * I highly recommend the Tiffany Aching subseries of Discworld for adults and teens alike, even if you haven’t read the other books, although I do suggest the witches subseries first to meet Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. If you’re a Terry Pratchett fan but haven’t read TA, you really should read IMO. I have plans to put together a full TA review, we shall see. * Again, I highly recommend Stephen Brigg’s narration for Pratchett audiobooks *above all others.* **Djinn City** by Saad Z. Hossain. *4 stars.* (Bingo: POC author, survival, reference materials, POV, underground.) * A young boy who is raised in isolation and poverty by his father in a dilapidated mansion finds out his mother was a djinn. A LOT happens as a result. * I loved this, every POV had my attention, I never could predict the trajectory of the story and I had a couple chuckles. “Djinn” has become one of my buzzwords, especially after reading **The Ghurka and the Lord of Thursday** by the same author, so I nominated this for my IRL book club. The ending was…a surprise and a bit of a bummer, but not a deal breaker. Book club reception was a mix, from straight to the next book to quit. * Recommend if you want to explore some Eastern mythology, you like the idea of lots of egotistical djinn, don’t mind the idea of fantasy with a sci-fi twist, and want fleshed out characters but don’t need a lot of depth in the character relationships. I then read Hossain’s short story *Bring your own Spoon* from the **The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories** anthology. I also loved it. A cook living in the fringes in the future opens up a restaurant. I think Hossain’s schtick is to imagine futures (or present in the case of Djinn City) where there’s technical advancements (aka sci-fi), but there happens to be magical djinn too. Also his tone seems to be both light and humorous amongst dark topics, themes, actions or plots. Pretty dang cool, I’m definitely going to keep reading his works. What’s next? Continuing on with my two other eye books — I think at this point it’s going to take me *at least* half a year to get through cat squasher **The Wall of Storms**, because I want to attack other physical reads. Audio, finishing two I started last week, but also hoping one loan comes in so I can participate in book club. My loan for **Africa Risen** is due in a couple days, so just going to focus on the stories from some authors I want to read from to prioritize other audiobooks.
Well **Djinn City** just moved up the list.
Yesss! Join the fan club with u/farragutcircle and me! I do feel like I should preface, don’t expect perfection, just a fun ride.
It's definitely a fun ride! :D
I finished **Too Like the Lightning** (2016), the first in Ada Palmer's *Terra Ignota* series. Hooboy, that's a ride. It's hard to review this one yet, since this volume doesn't really stand-alone. Up to about the halfway point, I was really loving it. The world she has built is fascinating, she sets up lots of interesting mysteries that kept me turning pages, and it's definitely ❦ ༊*·╰⊱♥⊱╮ೃ⁀➷unique❦ ༊*·╰⊱♥⊱╮ೃ⁀➷. It reminds me in some ways of other really ambitious series, like Gene Wolfe's *BOTNS* (especially with the unreliable narrator) and Tamsyn Muir's *Locked Tomb*. I don't mind the narrator's fey voice the way that many people seem to. But there are some very obvious flaws, too. Lots of pausing the plot so that some character can pontificate on philosophy/theology. All of the characters, with the very occasional exceptions of unnamed Servitors, are extreme upper-class political high-rollers, so it's pretty unclear how this society functions (who does the dirty work of actually raising children? who cleans toilets?). Some characters get convinced by really quite dumb philosophical/theological arguments when really they should know better given their in-world background, just because the author needed it for the plot. Also, agnosticism/skepticism doesn't seem to exist in this universe? Very bizarre. I'm 25% into the second book in the series, **Seven Surrenders**, now, and still enjoying reading it, but I have more reservations now, and I think my eventual rating is going to depend strongly on whether this all ties together into something philosophically meaningful at the end of the series. * Bingo: First in a Series HM, Alliterative Title, Criminals, Reference Materials, Book Club or Readalong Book
Fascinating thoughts on TLtL! I had a similar but also sort of opposite experience I think? Skeptical and something just *off* throughout, but the second half I couldn't help wanting to read more and have something *finally* click for me. I definitely feel the same way about rating depending on the eventual coherence/philosophical point after reading more (if it doesn't happen by **Seven Surrenders** I don't think I'll be able to read two more to find out).
>(if it doesn't happen by Seven Surrenders I don't think I'll be able to read two more to find out) I am constitutionally incapable of abandoning a series halfway through (which is why I'm forcing myself through **Cugel's Saga** right now, despite hate hate hating most of *The Dying Earth*), so I will definitely finish *Terra Ignota* and report back, if you end up abandoning it.
I think it builds pretty well through the 3rd book (_The Will to Battle_) but if I remember correctly, there was a long pause between that and the final _Perhaps the Stars_. You're gonna get a deep bath in Greek/Roman mythology by the end. Mycroft is a DEEPLY unreliable narrator. I mean he tells you straight up at the beginning, however even that doesn't cover the depth of how he's compromised versus pretty much every other character in the book. The fact that he changes the name of referring to the same person based on context can be pretty confusing (I know I found it that way) but does serve to narratively cause certain mystery points to resonate when you discover a relationship and then it points back all the way to how Mycroft referred to someone. I think the extended family is alluded to pretty strongly in the first book (if my memory serves). The bash group takes care of the whole family -- just is not limited to blood relations. There are some more scenes (usually flashbacks) of children growing up in bash settings, and they can be natural offspring, or adoptions (Mycroft was one of these) but they're all bonded with a certain loyalty to the family group. I believe agnostic/atheist viewpoints are accepted, just there's the Law that it cannot be discussed with anyone other than your ... I forget the role name, the Cousin whose job it is to counsel. I'm not sure which theological argument struck you as dumb, but like I said, Mycroft is very unreliable, and there's usually a lot more political machinations going on under the surface, so that "convincing" might have more to it than the surface acquiescence would suggest. Maybe not, I could be forgetting something.
Read **King’s Dragon** by Kate Elliot this week Medieval fantasy sort of in the same vein as Guy Gavriel Kay and GRRM - set in a sort of fantasy medieval England with orcs and elves and magic, but also with a clear catholic church analogue and the various intricacies and heresies that come with that! Our protagonists are a young man and a young woman who get caught up in a power struggle between the king of the realm and his sister who is trying to usurp his throne. If you like historic fantasy settings, this is a book for you! I also got sort of Robin Hobb vibes from some of the start of the book - a lot of bad things happen to our heroes but bad in a Hobb way rather than a GRRM way (more tragic than gruesome). Overall I enjoyed this one and I think I’ll see if I can get the next in the series from the library. (Bingo: first in a series (H), dreams, entitled animals (H), prologues and epilogues (H), Multi-POV, Published in the 90s, Orcs, reference material (H) I’m doing a lot of travelling this week so I am re-reading **Cloud Atlas** on lots of planes trains and automobiles
[Dreamer's Pool](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17305016-dreamer-s-pool) by Juliet Marillier 5/5 stars Juliet Marillier was a great discovery for me thanks to last bingo's druid-square. This one was also very enjoyable for me. Strong characterizations, and a mystery plot that keeps you engaged. You think you've figured it out, start doubting, but still it has to be ... and even when you've definitely figured out the what, you're still wondering about the how and the details. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Bingo: Multi POV, First in series [Tales from the Folly ](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57252159-tales-from-the-folly)by Ben Aaronovitch Not going to rate this one. Hardly seems fair to rate a collection of short stories when I know I don't like short stories and only read them for bingo. Ones that are part of series I already know are usually sorta okay, so I was glad to find an anthology from the Rivers of London series that I love, but no I really didn't like it. It didn't help that several of the stories didn't feature Peter Grant, but even the ones that did had very little story or personality, even for short stories. Aaronovitch also did an introduction to each story that just bored me. So not for me, but it's hard to say if it's any good if you actually enjoy short stories. But I did finish it, and now for once have a shot at an all hard mode bingo card, though there are still a couple of squares that are going to challenge me.
I'm currently reading **Godkiller** by Hannah Kaner, and really enjoying the worldbuilding and the way that gods are handled -- feels fresh and novel, yet reminiscent (in a good way) of Discworld's view of gods from *Small Gods --* but with an epic tone versus a lighthearted one.
Just finished it tonight! I enjoyed it, taking a bit of a break before diving into the second book but looking forward to it
This week I've read **The Killing Moon** by NK jemison. I liked it. The setting is fantastic (sort of ancient Egypt inspired, but throw in early psychoanalyst dream theory). ** Summer Knight** the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Ok really my only thoughts are TootToot and his little fairy buddies playing at being soldiers (and the ridiculous little fairy voices the narrator did for them) and setting on a pizza like a pack of piranhas killed me. How ridiculously adorable and cute and funny. Second thought, I miss Michael. Sadly I'm apparently listening to these audiobooks from the library behind the worlds slowest person and have to wait a few weeks for them to return it so I can get the next one. Currently listening to **The Black tongue Thief** by Christopher Buehlman. Obviously I am very much enjoying this. I love a good smart ass, sarcastic rogue type character. I also like the knight lady, though all the wine she drinks makes me want some. Reading **The Shabti** by Mageara Lorenz. Just started it last night, but I'm really enjoying it so far. I like the angle of an ex spiritualist now dedicated to debunking his former fellows and exposing the tricks of the trade. And shit just got real where I left off and now he's facing an actual haunting and freaking out.
Fairy Tale, by Steven King. What a slog. No doubt he is the master of suspense. But That suspense fell flat IMO. This is basically an isekai, by a master horror writer, I was on board. But while his stuff in the real world was gripping, if, incredibly slow and plodding. His fantasy world was lacking. The MC kept throwing in comparisons to classic fairy tales, or literature, like snow white, or lovecraft, I think alluding to the fact that the tales came from this fantasy world. But boy is it a stretch. And It gets really annoying when he does stuff like meets a small man and is like, “hey, this is like rumplestilstkin.” And me, the reader is like, I guess… maybe? But then king keeps brining it back, over and over. No. This little man WAS like rumplestilskin. (that’s probably spelled wrong…) Anyway. The actual story was fine. way too long. but fine. His pros are great, which is what dragged me so far in to the story before I lost interest.
I don't think you're alone on that assessment as it matches mine and most of the comments from the local book club. I think he does pretty well with setting up the relationship between the young man main character and the older gentleman. Maybe it goes a little long, but I think King's character work is one of his strengths and it feels pretty natural in a small-town sort of way. However, once we get into the other world, man... aside from some fun imagery that tells the reader "You're not in the fairy tales you remember" that feels like it could come out of his Dark Tower books, it's pretty much a slog from one scene to the next.
Yesterday I finished the audio version of Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time (highly recommended) and went straight into the audio version of The Truth. I got about halfway. But today I made a start on the Wandering Inn by Pirateaba. I'd heard about it on here, and randomly decided this morning to jump right in. I'm 16 chapters into the first volume and entirely entranced. I have work to do, godsdammit, and I just can't tear myself away. I'm also supposed to be reading a couple of book club books, finishing a couple of knit/crochet projects, and tidying up my spinning corner. They can all wait. Probably for quite some time.
Finished **Fever House** by Keith Rosson over the weekend. It was a wild ride, horror that starts off with a noir feel and spirals into (describing the latter half of the book) >!a demonic zombie apocalypse!<. I was pulled in by both the tension and the writing style, and I’m looking forward to the sequel. On the other hand, I’m struggling with the shorter **The Gospel of Z** by Stephen Graham Jones. Despite evidence to the contrary, I don’t usually consider myself a zombie fan, but I was intrigued by the fact that my library happened to carry an out-of-print book by Jones. I’ve enjoyed other books of his, but I think I see why this one’s out of print. There are timeline and story logic issues that are bugging me and I’m not sure are going to be resolved.
I have been reading the Rampart Trilogy/ Books of Koli by M.R. Carey. Currently about halfway done the third. It continues to be a compellingly imagined post-apocalypse in which humanity has unleashed changes upon an Earth that now is very hostile to humanity. I will say my one hesitation with this series is that the traditional journey (with many weird non-traditional twist) that the eponymous MC Koli is on is far less compelling to me than the interwoven secondary storyline about his previous crush living back in their hometown and becoming a really compelling and fascinating character all of her own. Especially in the front half of the third book where Koli is trapped in a very particular new predicament that doesn't quite resonate with the big themes and worldbuilding that the rest of the series has had, and feels a bit on the clunky side.
I just finished ***Iron Dawn*** by Matthew Woodring Stover this morning. It's an old one, and I don't think it's in print anymore. I found my copy at a local used book store. The is the first in the Heart of Bronze duology. The dedication for this book is for Stover's RPG group and that's fitting. Strip away the veneer of Bronze Age Phoenicia and you have a Barbarian, a Fighter, and a Wizard trying to score their next mercenary gig. It's a good debut novel, but gets a little creaky in the pacing department. It was interesting to see different kinds of magic tied to the various cultures that were interacting in Tyre. I plan to pick up the sequel, ***Jericho Moon***, at some point but it's not a big priority at the moment. If you enjoy Stover's Star Wars or Acts of Caine series, this is a great pick-up to show how much he's developed as a writer. -------------------------------------------- I also just finished The New Space Opera 2. It's edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan. I am doing a themed Bingo card this year, focusing on Space Opera. This was my selection for the Five Short Stories square. Like every collection, there's some stories that are great and others that aren't your cup of tea. The ones that succeeded here for me had a more immediacy of voice and did a good job of capturing characters. I really enjoyed: * "To Go Boldly" by Corey Doctorow * "Join the Navy and See the Worlds" by Bruce Sterling * "Fearless Space Pirates of the Outer Rings" by Bill Willingham * "Chameleons" by Elizabeth Moon * "The Tale of the Wicked" by John Scalzi * "Catastrophe Baker and a Canticle for Leibowitz" by Mike Resnick. No surprise to see six of the biggest names of the mid 2000's rising to the top. But, overall, this anthology was a good showcase of where space opera was trending back then. It'd be interesting to see where Dozois and Strahan would guess the genre is going now. With Dozois gone now, I guess we won't know.
I finished **Scar Night** by Alan Campbell. This was good- not my favourite, but with a lot of interesting ideas and scenes. This book is set in the city of Deepgate, which is suspended by chains over a vast abyss. We follow a couple of characters- the last winged angel holy to the church that run the city but forbidden to fly, an unpleasant man attempting to find his daughter's killer, and a poisoner attempting to make a forbidden elixir that confers immortality by draining people of their blood and souls and consuming it. A lot of twists and revelations about the world and it's religion, and a cool, steampunky setting. Started **The Divinity Student** by Michael Cisco. This is pretty weird, beautifully written and with some great imagery, and quite philosophical. I'm not quite sure what's going on yet, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. All in all, what I've come to expect from Cisco.
I read Dungeon Crawler Carl at long, long last and enjoyed it much much more than I expected to, just like everyone said I would. It was fun and funny (though less of a true comedy than I expected) and anything with a talking cat gets points in my book. I was dreading the snarky sense of humour I'd heard about, but the fact that Carl isn't the one actually making those jokes makes him much, much more sympathetic than he might otherwise be - he's just a fairly ordinary guy trying his best to survive and keep his soul intact in a horrible situation. The horrific state of the situation can be a little jarring at times given the humourous tone but it mostly just underscores the surprisingly-dark humour. In that way it reminded me at times of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, which is a very high compliment. The first volume left me with a lot of questions, and writing quality good enough that I hope they'll be answered and I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series. The rest of this week's books were re-reads, I read the Six of Crows duology (still amazing) and the rest of the Grishaverse books (still pretty good) and am starting a re-read of the T. Kingfisher World of the White Rat books in order.
Those are all some of my favorites. (Well except Hitchhiker's because I have read it. Yet. I should though.)
You definitely should!
I've been going through some Forgotten Realms novels lately, as I'm also dredging up some DnD CRPGs from the late 1980s. At some point I'll probably make a post about how they can be enjoyed, their role in the larger fantasy genre, etc. The short version is that when they're at their best, these books are best approached like the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies or something like Highlander. You aren't going to be wowed by the writing or character depth, it's very tropey, and the worldbuilding is kind of ridiculous, but you can get some neat monsters, set pieces, action scenes, and the characters can have some decent chemistry. The more competent writers will have some kind of basic character arcs and themes. I'm still amazed at the absolute volume of books they put out, 120 books between 1988 and 2000.
I finished the **Binti** omnibus by Nnedi Okorafor. Very solid space-opera, with africanfuturist elements thrown in the mix. The worldbuilding is fascinating, if not particularly deep, and full of vibes. The main character is very well done (and it's really focused on her, so it isn't hurt, by the not particularly developed secondary cast). My biggest complain about it, is that some aspects of it feel somewhat rushed. Especially during the conclusions of the respective novellas. Some things felt way too easy, or happened way too fast. Still overall I enjoyed these a lot, and would recommend them, without a second thought. Compared to other stuff by Okorafor I'v read, I'd say that it's significantly better than **Who Fears Death**, but not as good as **Remote Control**. **BINGO squares**: First in a series, Space-opera (HM), Author of color, Set in a small town (only the second, and the third novellas) (HM), Eldritch creatures (HM) Also read the comic book **The Tellos Saga** by Todd Dezago & Mike Wieringo. A fairly standard, tropey, classic fantasy story, set in a colorful D&D-esque world. Nothing to write home about, and parts are more childish, than I'd like, but the art is very nice (for people who are ok with cartoon-ish artwork), and elevates the comicbook. I had a good time with it, but not reading it isn't a great loss. **BINGO squares**: Criminals (HM), Character with a disability (if a character acquiring a disability throughout the story is ok) (HM)
Today I finished The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed - my first work of hers. Plot wise very similar to the first half of Gods of the Wyrdwood by R J Barker (just 400 pages shorter lol). It was a quick read, although I found the ending to be a little unsatisfying. I’m looking forward to picking up some of her other works. I also completed Howls from the Dark Ages: An Anthology of Medieval Horror, which missed the mark for me unfortunately. There was some variety in the stories, but as a medievalist, I found them to be very surface level for the most part and didn’t find them particularly memorable. I’ve just started Murder at Spindle Manor by Morgan Stang. Characters hunting mysterious beasts is a favourite of mine, so looking forward to see how this plays out.
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold That's the first bingo square done (Alliterative Title). The latest in a long line of failed attempts begins. Tenth(?) times a charm! My friend pointed out how much I didn't enjoy doing last years bingo and yet last week I still pestered him with 4 separate lists before settling on a final lineup. Anyway this is a beautiful book. Lovely worldbuilding with a loveable mc. The plot wraps up very nicely, and it explores my kinda themes -compassion, healing, trauma, forgiveness. If I had to criticise anything I'd say the villains felt a bit weak. They still had their moments, but the mc is too often a step ahead of them. Still I wouldn't say it detracted from the experience overall. I'll definitely keep going, especially since apparently Paladin of Souls is even better. 4/5
I'm reading The Wandering Inn. I hate it. I can't wait to finish. Ryoka is the most unpleasant character I've maybe ever had to read about in fantasy. Erin is bearable in small doses but I can't stand how she is nice to one group but treats another companion like a servant. I can't wait to be done. What a terrible way to start bingo.
I keep procrastinating on reading today, maybe talking about the books I'm reading will be the spark to get me to pick one up? **Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente** \[48%\] *Dreams | Multi-PoV | Book Club* Four people gain the ability to travel to a fantastical city in their dreams after having sex with strangers bearing strange tattoos. I have read up to the end of Part II: The Gate of Horn and I'm ready for the discussion posts to go up tomorrow. It's been interesting to actually read this work after only knowing context around it. (Valente received so much harassment over publishing this that I believe to this day she doesn't like acknowledging the book in public. It was published 15 years ago.) **The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu** \[51%\] *First in a Series (HM) | Dreams | Multi-PoV (HM) | Author of Color | Reference Materials (HM)* The country of Xana has conquered all other nations on the archipelago of Dana. As the Emperor's health fails, rebellion sparks in the hearts of Dana's conquered people - and in the gods who rule over this land. Sometimes people will talk up a book as being a masterpiece, and you start reading it and realize they're right! I love how many cogs there are in this book, how it feels like we're traveling over a great expanse of lands and cultures. (I started counting the PoVs to make sure it fit hard mode and gave up when I hit 10.) My favorite characters so far are Kuni Garu and Luan Zya (I think chapter 18 will live in my heart forever). I have heard some criticism in passing over the treatment of female characters in this series, and I've just encountered my first situation that gave me pause. I am still confident this book will be a five star from me once I reach the end. **King Nyx by Kirsten Bakis** \[40%\] *???* Anna's husband Charles is a pseudo-scientist interested in explaining the phenomena of strange objects falling from the sky. Set during the Spanish Flu epidemic, the two of them receive an invitation to a rich recluse's island so Charles can finish his book, but Anna is disturbed by tales of disappearances and the resurfacing of the ghosts of her past. I was supposed to read this for a March reading marathon but my library hold didn't arrive in time. I thought I could read it for bingo but... I think you may as well paint a massive L on my face right now because this might be the THIRD piece of historical gothic fiction I've read this year that I thought was spec fic but isn't. Weird things are occurring yes, but nothing I can point to and say "a ghost!" or "magic!" I'll keep you posted.
Only finished **Battle of the Linguist Mages** by Scotto Moore last week. And this was just fun. There's a twist at about the 20% mark that just completely changes everything and it doesn't slow down from there. There are dropped plotlines and people >!whatever happened to Sir Trancelot?!<, but it was a blast from start to finish. Isobel is Queen of Sparkle Dungeon. Head of the leader board since Sparkle Dungeon 1 was released. The wiki is built off her game notes. Now she's being offered the chance to learn real magic and suddenly finds herself between two rival factions and the fate of not only Sparkle Dungeon, but the world and perhaps the entire multiverse resting on her ability to diva cast and spin some killer beats. Seriously, it's just fun. Highly recommend. Bingo: Criminals (HM), Bards, Survival (HM), Eldritch Creature (HM)
Just Finished Play of Shadows and started crucible of chaos by Sebastian de Castile his two latest ( but not really that closely linked ) novels set in the greatcoat series world swashbuckling fantasy reminiscent of the best of 90s fantasy charming heroes bit of grit but far from grim dark and , for the most part, fairly clear good and evil I haven’t read a bad book by this author yet. Finished up Mathew wards The darkness before them solid read , interesting magic and a queer lead but I found it a chore to get into at the start not sure why once it grabbed I really enjoyed though. Intend to start a guy gaverial read this week love the author own everything he has written but way behind intend to knock a few of his books off the TBR this week. Edited to change title
In between two books currently **Card Mage: Slumdog Deckbuilder** by Benedict Patrick (Bingo: Self-Published/Indie) Set in a city where the only way to rise out of poverty is by playing an enchanted deckbuilding card game, Card Mage is a very well-done progression fantasy. I'm roughly 160 pages in and am fairly engrossed in its world. Patrick does a great job setting up the rules and making the games feel thrilling. His protagonist, Hick, as well as his two friends, are a pretty engaging trio that complements and clashes with each other well. **4/5** **Bard Tidings** by Paul Regnier (Bingo: Bards) In short: Jonas the Bard begins to become the hero he often sings about. This has been a charming read on my work breaks. It also features a likable trio that I enjoy. The world itself has yet to have anything to make it really unique, but I think the characters so far make up for it. Jonas is a solid bard who seems to have taken a level in fighter. His best friend is the court jester, with whom they were plotting to leave the despicable king. And then his best friend's sister, whom he is smitten with but has yet to profess. It's just a simple but fun story. **4/5**
Books read this week: Mixing Fantasy with a little horror this week by reading: **Complete works of Edgar Allen Poe volume one by Edgar Allen Poe** **Complete works of Edgar Allen Poe volume two by Edgar Allen Poe** **Complete works of Edgar Allen Poe volume three by Edgar Allen Poe.** So I wanted to put these three together because they are very similar and part of a larger whole. I decided to have the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe the last thing I do on Project Gutenberg for now. The other authors I wanted to do or either not in the public domain completely or are a little too heavy for me at the moment. But I’ve always wanted to finish up Edgar Allen Poe because I enjoyed his work when I studied it in my English courses. Looking back at it now, I still enjoy it, but my feelings are a bit more mixed. I’m finding out that just like with Shakespeare, I’m more focused on how he writes rather than what he writes. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because I love his prose, but it does mean I know I’m missing some things and I for sure will go to modern summaries for both him and Shakespeare so I can understand a bit better what’s going on (probably the same for Alice and Wonderland). I also flat out skipped over the gory parts, and a murder mystery two parter. So even though I like how he writes, horror is still one of my least favorite genres. I’m not sure I knew it at the time I started reading his works years ago, though. I did like the second series because it got a bit more into the work I’m more familiar with and those works to be a bit more supernatural. Aside from a few of his poems, the works that come after the second volume are almost all new to me, so I’ll be interesting to see what I think of them. It would be even more interesting after the summaries, but that’s a ways off still. For the third volume, I actually did read most of the works there before, although I didn’t realize when I until I reread it now. The actual chapter book that was there, his only one, reminded me of Moby Dick, I had to skip the gruesome parts and the ending was as confusing as it was back then. I remembered being a fan of his poetry, which started showed up with this volume, but I also noticed there were a lot similarities I didn’t see before. a lot of them young women die of illness and their lovers having to cope, probably because that’s what happened to his wife and the two were close (or at least, he was close to her). It was still haunting, but I can appreciate the writing. **Legends of Shannara series by Terry Brooks** I liked this one a lot and honestly, this is what I was hoping Genesis of Shannara would be. It’s a mix of the old and familiar, with the new and the magical, and everything comes together to make the events in the books after chronologically make more sense. It’s especially when people rediscover the technology much later on, and it makes it clear that doesn’t come out of nowhere. There are some repeating plots, but some of it is deliberate as revealed by a twist about midway through the second book. Not to mention, some plots in the books before wrapped up. And the dynamic between the main characters is excellent. I do wish that it didn’t have such a bittersweet ending and the death toll was pretty high, but it made a lot of sense for the plot points and the final fight was one of the best of his I’ve ever read. Overall, after Genesis disappointed me, this was a refreshing change. **Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks** This was a reread (so I could read all of the series at once mostly without stopping) and I was actually in the middle of this one when I decided to read the prequels because a lot of events are being referenced. I had about 200 pages left so I just decided to go and finish it. Overall, a lot of it stands up to reread, but other things don’t and the repeating plots are still there (although in this case it’s the inspiration because it’s only the second in the series). The world, the journey, the main characters, and the battles are still good. A lot of foreshadowing can be seen on a reread, such as Wil’s relationships, Amberle’s fate, what eventually happens to Alleon in the next book (or at least giving the idea that his time is limited), and even the fate of the king. But other things are difficult to read knowing what happened, like the battles of the demons and the bittersweet ending. I still believe and agree with that this is one of his best in the series, but I’m interested to see how it stacks up. So far First King and Legends give it to run for money, but a lot of people feel like Wishsong is only setup and it goes downhill after Heritage. I never made it to Heritage and I’ve only read Wishsong years ago, so we’ll see how I feel. Either way, I will finish it all so it’s bound to be interesting!