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

February 12, 2021 by Zannah Leave a Comment


Started: 2/8/21
Finished: 2/12/21

T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon when she’s writing kids’ books) is one of the guests of honor at this convention I’m (virtually) attending this weekend, so I figured I’d read her next to most recent book before then. I’ve read three before this and loved them, and I love this. I love it when I find a new favorite.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, magic, source: trusted author

When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey

February 3, 2021 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 1/30/21
Finished: 2/3/21

I love Sarah Gailey and everything they’ve written. This is their first YA book – it’s about friends with magic, and it starts dark. The main character is pretty insecure ways that feel real even though they’re not how any of my insecurities work. I’m not totally crazy about how the magic works. I mean, it’s not explained and I don’t think it has to be, but the friends seem to be so convinced that this one thing will work, and I don’t know why they would think that. Except it’s likely they are trying to convince themselves it’ll work. Anyway, I liked it, I enjoyed it, and a lot of things about it were really good. I’m just not sure it’s really good.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: fantasy, magic, physical, source: trusted author, YA

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

August 30, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 8/28/20
Gave up: 8/30/20

It feels familiar at the beginning, and I wasn’t in the mood for another same-old story, but I’d heard good things about it and the premise is fascinating, so I kept going. Then there were hints of something really dark and awful going on that the heroine is going to find out, and okay, I’m interested, but she doesn’t follow up!  Or she’s more interested in the same-old!  Are you kidding me?  And then I found out that it’s the first in a series, so I’m not even going to find everything out by the end of the book, and you know, I’m making up my mind to quit reading as I’m typing this.

Yup, I just read a few more pages and then skimmed a few more and NOTHING IS HAPPENING.  Next!

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, gave up, library, magic, source: Tor.com, The Belles, YA

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

August 22, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 8/15/20
Finished: 8/22/20

I wanted to love this book because I loved the one before it, but I was SO confused by it.  It seemed to be rewriting the first book in flashback, with different characters and different events, and while that does get explained, it was confusing, not gripping.  And then at around 70%, it got 1000 times more fun for me, for reasons I will not explain because spoilers, but that wasn’t enough. And then it ended, and what?  I don’t know what happened.  I don’t understand the world this series is set in.  I love the character of Gideon from the first book, and I really feel for Harrow in both books, and I WILL read the third book because I just have to know, but I was disappointed not to love this one as much as the first.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ancient tech, ebook, fantasy, library, magic, SF, source: Tor.com, space, The Locked Tomb

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark

July 18, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 7/16/20
Finished: 7/18/20

Supernatural detectives in a supernatural version of 1912 Cairo with sky trams and djinn and women’s suffrage as a backdrop.  I would read a whole series about this.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, Hugo nominee, Hugo packet, magic, novella, period, source: Hugo Awards

City of Lies by Sam Hawke

July 5, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 7/5/20
Gave up: 7/5/20

First in a new series that could be really good, but again, I had formatting issues I can’t get past.  It’s a PDF with a watermark across every page that says something like “DO NOT REPRODUCE OR WE WILL COME AFTER YOU”.  The watermark is okay, but a PDF on a Kindle is annoying because I have to keep resizing the pages.  I tried to convert it to a readable Kindle format (Amazon tells you how), and that process put the words from the watermark into the text of the book.  But not in one sentence on each page, no.  No, it broke up the watermark sentence and inserted the individual words into the text, making the actual book unreadable because it made no sense.  I would like to read this book, but I’ll get it from the library or something.  I’m not going to get it done in time for Hugo voting.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, gave up, Hugo nominee, Hugo packet, magic, Poison War, source: Hugo Awards

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

July 5, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 7/5/20
Gave up: 7/5/20

13-year-old goes to space to rescue her older brother, and I am not in the mood.  The writing is good, the premise is good, but the formatting on my Kindle is atrocious (it’s a converted PDF), and the mind of this 13-year-old is not as comfortable to live in as the mind of the 12-year-old wizard was (from my last book).  I’d like to come back to this later, but I’m not going to finish it in time for Hugo voting.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, gave up, Hugo nominee, Hugo packet, magic, SF, source: Hugo Awards, space, YA

Minor Mage by Ursula Vernon

July 5, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 7/2/20
Finished: 7/5/20

Young wizard goes on an adventure!  Light, quick read, good characters.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, Hugo nominee, Hugo packet, magic, source: trusted author, YA

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge

June 25, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 6/23/20
Gave up: 6/25/20

YA, possibly Lovecraftian (at least insofar as it includes monsters in the ocean deeps), with an Artful Dodger-like main character, but it didn’t grab me.  It seems perfectly readable, and maybe I’ll go back to it, but I have a limited amount of time to read Hugo-nominated books, and I don’t want to spend time on this one.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, gave up, gods, Hugo nominee, Hugo packet, magic, source: Hugo Awards, YA

The Winter of the Witch

June 10, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 6/5/20
Finished: 6/10/20

Last in the Winternight trilogy, with a really satisfying ending.  I LOVED this trilogy.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: fairy tale, fantasy, Hugo nominee, magic, physical, Russian, source: my library, source: trusted author, Winternight

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

June 4, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 5/29/20
Finished: 6/4/20

Sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale, which I raved about two years ago.  It came out last year, and I have the third book already, so I am behind.  I flew (using my current definition of “flew”) through this – it’s so good.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: fairy tale, fantasy, Hugo nominee, magic, physical, Russian, source: my library, source: trusted author, Winternight

Magic For Liars by Sarah Gailey

May 29, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 5/23/20
Finished: 5/29/20

I love Sarah Gailey (they are responsible for my hippo cowboy stories), so I am so glad to say I REALLY enjoyed their first novel.  Magic noir!

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: fantasy, magic, mystery, physical, source: trusted author

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

April 19, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/12/20
Finished: 4/19/20

I’ve read a couple of this author’s YA books and liked them a lot -they were a pair of heist stories, and I always like a good heist.  This one…I’m not quite halfway and seriously considering quitting.  Premise: the secret societies at Yale are all real and do real magic, and a young woman who can see ghosts is recruited to the watchdog society.  It was a little slow to start, but it was going fine once I got into it, and then there was a really horrifying scene made so much worse for the fantasy elements, and shortly after that there was a really gross scene, and I’m just not sure.  It’s on the horror side of fantasy – not creepy-scary, but maybe a bit body-horror scary.  Maybe I’ll see how I feel about it in the morning.

Update: I kept reading and found I couldn’t put it down.  Nothing else as horrifying or gross happened and the action picked up.  It ended with a setup for the next book, but it’s not a cliffhanger and could work as a standalone.

Update 6 months later: I was reminded of the horrifying scene, and I am horrified all over again and NOT in a good way.  I wish I hadn’t remembered it.  I don’t feel good about this book.  Definitely not for me.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: Alex Stern series, ebook, fantasy, horror, Jo Walton Reads, library, magic, source: Tor.com, urban fantasy

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason

April 12, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 4/1/20
Finished: 4/12/20

I thought this was a standalone, and I was excited to recommend it to you all you people who don’t want to start a new series when only the first book is out…but then I found out it’s the first book in a new series, and it’s the only one out.  But it’s so good!  Fun, funny, magic and sci-fi combined.

Also, new update: there are only supposed to be two books, and the second one is due out in October of this year.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: duology, ebook, fantasy, library, magic, SF, source: Tor.com, The Thorne Chronicles

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

April 1, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 3/27/20
Finished: 4/1/20

The last book in the psychics/witches/preppy school boys/etc. series that I like entirely too much.  It’s about time something happened.  I mean, stuff has been happening in all of the other books to move the story forward, but this thing they’ve been working toward since the first book is FINALLY HAPPENING.

The ending is good, it’s both unexpected and expected, and I feel like it happened a little too quickly.  I’d realize I was 80% done and think there’s NO WAY it can be done in only the pages remaining.  But it was, and it was good and yay.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, library, magic, source: trusted author, The Raven Cycle, YA

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

March 27, 2020 by Zannah 2 Comments

Started: 3/26/20
Finished: 3/27/20

A Green Man story, but completely different from any other Green Man story I’ve ever read.  Really good, and it has a sequel…which isn’t out yet, but it’s due out in June!  And there are only supposed to be two, so anyone worried about getting stuck in the neverending wait that comes with a new series can stop worrying.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, Green Man, Greenhollow Duology, Hugo nominee, magic, novella, source: Tor.com

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

March 26, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 3/19/20
Finished: 3/26/20

I LOVED this book.  It’s super-weird, but the main character is hilarious (I laughed a LOT and had to force myself to stop reading parts out loud to John), and I LOVED it.  So excited to read the next one when it comes out (THIS SUMMER!!).  Queer necromancers in space.  With swords.  And hilarity.  And death (because necromancers).  Also lots of drama – despite the funny character, it is NOT a comedy. I got this from the library, but I need to own it.  And re-read it.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ancient tech, ebook, fantasy, Hugo nominee, library, magic, SF, source: Tor.com, space, The Locked Tomb

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

March 4, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 2/26/20
Finished: 3/4/20

Third book in The Raven Cycle (witches, psychics, magic, prep school boys, etc.), and it’s a really good continuation of the story.  We get more forward movement, more characterization, more good storytelling, AND it has teenagers being teenager-y and grown-up and all over the place in what feels real, despite the magic.  I am waiting impatiently for the 4th book to be available from the library.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, library, magic, source: trusted author, The Raven Cycle, YA

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

February 18, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 2/14/20
Finished: 2/18/20

Second book in the trilogy with psychics, witches, magic, ghosts, and prep school boys, and it started with a swerve that took me by surprise in a very good way, and I liked this book a LOT.  Also, turns out it’s not a trilogy, it’s a…tetralogy?

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, library, magic, source: trusted author, The Raven Cycle, YA

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

January 23, 2020 by Zannah Leave a Comment

Started: 1/18/20
Finished: 1/23/20

First in a trilogy with psychics, witches, magic, ghosts, and prep school boys, and I liked it far too much.

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Posted in: What I've Been Reading Tagged: ebook, fantasy, library, magic, source: Tor.com, The Raven Cycle, YA
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