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Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

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Started: 4/14/19
Finished: 4/17/19

The first in a series of mysteries set in Venice that I picked up because Jo Walton says they’re wonderful and I trust her.  For some reason she recommends starting with book 2 (she’s on book 22 (!) and the author is still alive), but I started with book 1 because what kind of monster do you take me for?

I enjoyed it, even though this was one of the more disturbing motives – definitely not a cozy mystery.  Maybe Jo Walton’s recommendation about starting with book 2 was a typo.

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

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Started: 4/7/19
Finished: 4/9/19

Steampunk fantasy novella set in post-Civil War New Orleans.  I’m not always a fan of stories that use gods to fuel the magic system (capricious gods that act like children annoy me), but I liked it this time.  Details built an alternate New Orleans without a lot of exposition, and the characters were well done.

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

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Started: 4/7/19
Gave up: 4/7/19

This is hard to admit, but I gave up on Dandelion Wine.  I love Ray Bradbury, but I couldn’t read this.  It’s an ode to small-town life before the Great Depression.  Remember when boys were boys and men were men and small towns were great and aren’t little brothers wonderful and gosh, summer lasts forever, and MAYBE if there had been a plot!

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

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Started: 4/6/19
Finished: 4/7/19

The writing in this book was painful, but also felt painfully real and accurate for a coming of age/coming out story told from the perspective of a teenager.  I have diaries from around then (a little younger, but still), and MAN are they painful to read now in exactly the same way.  I got over the wincing discomfort and enjoyed this one.

Tiamat’s Wrath by James S.A. Corey

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Started: 4/1/19
Finished: 4/6/19

Book 8 in the Expanse series.  Even though it’s been over a year since I read the last one (Dec 2017), I was able to jump right in with no refresher.  I think book 4 and maybe book 2 are the weakest in the series so far – this one falls squarely in the middle for quality, and a little higher for emotional kicks.  It’s the second to last book, and it feels like it.  I’m not ready for the last one, but I don’t have to be for a while yet.

The Cold Between by Elizabeth Bonesteel

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Started: 3/27/19
Finished: 4/1/19

Space military!  Kind of.  It’s the military part that threw me a bit. They all have military ranks and a chain of command, but the way they interact and feel about each other is NOT military.  I couldn’t decide if it meant the author just didn’t know what she was talking about, but then it occurred to me that their mission is a bit more Star Trek than military, and that shift made it work for me.  I liked it.  Planning to read more in the series.

The Last Thing She Told Me by Linda Green

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Started: 3/21/19
Finished: 3/22/19

I’m not sure who recommended this book, but whoever it was, I don’t trust them anymore.  It’s not bad – the writing is better than the last one I read – but it’s disturbing and it really hammers you over the head with the “men are horrible and it’s women who bear the brunt and feel shame their entire lives” message.  I’m not arguing the point, but goodness some awful things happen, and I wasn’t really prepared for that when I started reading.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss

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Started: 3/17/19
Finished: 3/21/19

First in the Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series, we have Dr. Jeckyll’s daughter teaming up with Holmes and Watson in 1890s London to find the murderous Mr. Hyde and get the monetary reward because poor Miss Jeckyll is dead broke.  The book is being written by a character we don’t meet (in the narrative, anyway) until much later in the book, but we know she’s writing it right away because the other characters have conversations with her about the narrative, within the narrative.  It’s loads of fun.

Update: NOPE. It started out fun and interesting, but the writing style got really irritating (although not the interruptions from characters – that was still mostly fun).  It’s full of exposition, all tell and no show, and it’s all happening in the dialogue, which makes the dialogue really clunky and painful to read.  It’s a pity.  I really wanted to like this book.

The Dark Days Deceit by Alison Goodman

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Started: 3/13/19
Finished: 3/16/19

Last in the Lady Helen series, we move the action to Bath and OH the drama and the men fighting over Lady Helen (even though she’s betrothed!) and the SECRETS and the clothes and poor Darby, and oh yes, fighting the big bad nasty demon-types.  And I knew it, I KNEW it, and I’m not going to tell you what I knew because spoilers, but it’s nice to be right.

This was fun. I’m bummed there’s no more.

The Dark Days Pact by Alison Goodman

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Started: 3/10/19
Finished: 3/13/19

Second in the Lady Helen series, we move the action to Brighton and Lady Helen has to dress like a man (gasp) and keep secrets from the duke who wants to marry her while also trying not to be attracted to the earl who may have murdered his wife (but clearly did not).  Also, there’s magic and power and killing nasty demon-types.

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

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Started: 3/6/19
Finished: 3/9/19

This is the first in a trilogy about a Regency period noblewoman with parents who died scandal-ridden, who, as she turns 18 and starts her first season in London, finds out she’s got this supernatural power to fight nasty demon-types, and she might just have to save the world (but not in book 1).  And of course, her mentor is a smoldering earl accused of murdering his wife.  Such fun!

The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman

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Started: 3/1/19
Finished: 3/6/19

This is a post-apocalyptic world where nearly all white people died and the people who live die by the time they’re 20 (of what sounds like the plague), so the world is populated by kids.  The language is all dialect or pidgin, hard to get used to, but you get there.  It’s told in the first person, so that language is all you get.  It’s sometimes hard to remember that the main character is only 15. At other times, it’s painfully obvious and terribly sad that they’re all just children.  I was having trouble deciding if I liked it, or even if I thought it was good, and since I finished it over a week ago and I can’t let it go, I think that’s a yes on both counts (although I’m not crazy about the VERY end).

Baking Bad by Kim M. Watt

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Started: 2/22/19
Finished: 3/1/19

A cozy mystery set in present-day England with dragons.  It’s cute, it’s lightly humorous, it set up a lot of background stuff so I’m hoping for a full series (there’s one sequel, Christmas-related), and even though the whodunit part wasn’t that hard to figure out, I still very much enjoyed it.

Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh

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Started: 2/18/19
Gave up: 2/22/19

I couldn’t get into this story.  It started with so much exposition, and when we finally got into some characters’ heads, I was relieved and then disappointed.  It’s slow-moving, and the depiction of an alien race (native to a planet humans settled on) strikes me as vaguely racist, so it’s unpleasant to read.  Add to that the abundance of unnecessary commas and I had to walk away.

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

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Started: 2/7/19
Finished: 2/14/19

I liked the opening framing device more than I liked the rest of the story, although it was interesting.  I didn’t love it – I feel like there were so many more stories to tell here, and the one tertiary story the author included basically only had an end.  It was missing the beginning and the middle, which took all of the emotion (which I was clearly supposed to feel) out of it.