fantasy

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

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Started: 8/12/19
Finished: 8/18/19

Another book that was good but one I don’t know if I liked.  It’s a coming of age story, but the framing device was a little confusing…and then I was totally engrossed in the story, and the framing device sort of starts to make sense near the end (most of the story is within the frame, so it doesn’t matter in the moment), but then the very end made NO sense to me.  The book includes an essay by the author about the themes and inspirations, and I can tell you I missed all of that. It did make everything make more sense, and I don’t mean to say that the book didn’t make sense (except for the end, which was confusing), and now I’m not making sense, so I’ll end by saying that this book could be taught in a literature course and the students would get a lot out of it.

Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer

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Started: 8/4/19
Finished: 8/12/19

A gender-swapped take on The Picture of Dorian Gray, but with magic (okay, like explicit magic).  And demons.  And sword-fighting!  I didn’t love it.  It was slow to start, and the two main characters were pretty annoying (they got better), and the demon plot took FOREVER to roll, and the two main characters got the same information from different sources, but the information was identical, and WE, the lucky readers, got to read about it both time, and okay, maybe I didn’t like it, either.  I mean, I didn’t hate it.  But I probably won’t read the sequel.

Cloudbound by Fran Wilde

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Started: 7/28/19
Finished: 8/3/19

Sequel to Updraft, which I enjoyed, but I have nearly put this down more than once.  It’s plenty good, and the main character is a somewhat realistic 20-year-old (which is kind of annoying, but I guess good?). The problem is that I DO want to know how this world is constructed (at the moment, my best guess is that the towers these people live on and fly between are spines on the back of an enormous turtle), but I don’t care enough about the plot to keep reading to find out.

Update: I kept reading, I DID finish it, and I’ll tell you offline what I know about how the world is constructed if you ask nicely.  Also, I don’t plan to read the third one.  These books aren’t bad, but I just don’t care that much.

If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again by Zen Cho

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Started: 7/28/19
Finished: 7/28/19

This was the very last Hugo-eligible story I read, and it took a serious run at the top of my novelette list (I landed on #2 for it, but it was close).  It’s a refreshingly NICE story, and I am moving the author’s novels higher up my to-read list.

The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington by P. Djèlí Clark

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Started: 7/28/19
Finished: 7/28/19

The style of this short story was interesting – like encyclopedia entries – and I appreciate how each of the “donors” affected George Washington, but this was both a little too weird for me (I’m shuddering at the whole teeth thing) and a little not enough.

The Thing About Ghost Stories by Naomi Kritzer

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Started: 7/27/19
Finished: 7/27/19

LOVED this novelette – the style, the voice, the story.  It’s about a woman who has just returned to her academic research after losing her mother (who she took care of for years).  It rocketed to the top of my voting list for novelette this year.

The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat by Brooke Bolander

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Started: 7/24/19
Finished: 7/25/19

I loved the voice of the narrator in this short story.  Same author as the sad elephant novella, but I would never have guessed that.  I feel like the plot is given away in the title, and I’m okay with that.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

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Started: 7/1/19
Finished: 7/8/19

I read this a LONG time ago.  Like, I think I bought it in an airport bookstore on our honeymoon in London in 2000, and I didn’t like it.  I wasn’t ready for Terry Pratchett, and it was my first experience with Neil Gaiman.  This time I was totally ready, reaching for it with both hands and a foot (the other foot was preventing a crawling Jack from reaching for the trash can), and I read as quickly as I could in an era where I’ve lost my free time.  Ridiculous, absurd, and funny.  I am ready for the TV show.

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

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Started: 6/1/19
Finished: 6/7/19

I’ve been meaning to read this one for a year, and then it got nominated for a Hugo and I got it in the voter’s packet, so yay for me!  It’s a story about monsters and monsterslayers in a post-apocalyptic US, set on a Navajo reservation, and it’s pretty great.

The Mislaid Magician Or Ten Years After by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

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Started: 5/4/19
Finished: 5/7/19

The third Cecelia and Kate book was the 2nd best.  Told in letters like the first one, although we get Thomas and James’ POVs, too, which is fun.  Best, though, is what happened to the mislaid magician in the title.  Fun, light, ridiculous, and fun.  (Did I mention it was fun?)

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.

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.