Tangles by Seanan McGuire
Started: 8/12/22
Finished: 8/12/22
Short story by an author who never misses. I want more (which is the best and worst feeling I can have about a short story). Dryads (kind of?) and magic and getting lost in a forest.
fantasy
Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinsker
Started: 8/11/22
Finished: 8/11/22
Short story by an author I LOVE, and I LOVED this story. The premise is that the lyrics to a traditional ballad are posted online, and the action happens in the comments. It’s great, and everyone should read it. (Also, it won the Hugo Award for short stories this year.)
That Story Isn’t the Story by John Wiswell
Started: 8/11/22
Finished: 8/11/22
Creepy, sad, uplifting sometimes, but also not the story you think it’s going to be (see title).
L’Esprit de L’Escalier by Catherynne M. Valente
Started: 8/10/22
Finished: 8/10/22
I think I just don’t like Cat Valente, which is a shame. I feel like I should, but I keep striking out. Hello, another depressing story.
Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard
Started: 8/6/22
Finished: 8/7/22
A sad one – this poor character just wants to be loved and is only being used by everyone around her.
Colors of the Immortal Palette by Caroline M. Yoachim
Started: 8/6/22
Finished: 8/6/22
A novelette about art and immortality and it didn’t really speak to me.
Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
Started: 7/31/22
Finished: 8/2/22
Another installment in the Wayward Children series, another heartbreaker. I love these books.
Mr. Death by Alix E. Harrow
Started: 7/31/22
Finished: 7/31/22
A devastating short story that came through for me at the end. If it hadn’t, I will fully prepared to abandon Alix Harrow, despite how much I have liked her books and stories.
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
Started: 7/20/22
Finished: 7/31/22
I’ve read a short story in this universe, so a novel was welcome. It’s a mystery, set in an alternate Egypt with magic. The writing was a little stilted, maybe self-conscious, but it was easy to ignore for the story. I’ll just hope it gets better with the next one.
The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller
Started: 7/10/22
Finished: 7/20/22
I picked this up because the author wrote an article I liked, and wow, I did not know what to expect. And I did not know what was happening, and I finished it and still did not know some of it, and it was so so good. I would like to read more of this, please.
Jade City by Fonda Lee
Started: 6/20/22
Finished: 7/3/22
Industry and politics and families and war and magic. You know, basically The Godfather. Pretty good.
The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta
Started: 3/25/22
Finished: 3/29/22
I enjoyed this book – it’s a really cute queer YA love story about a teenager in a bakery. It’s set in Austin, and the Austin-love felt a little much in the beginning, but either it settled down or I let it go – not sure which. Anyway, I will NOT return this book to the library until I have copied out nearly every recipe. They sound really really good, and I want to try them.
Unnatural Magic by C.M. Waggoner
Started: 2/13/22
Finished: 2/19/22
First book in a series where many of the aristocracy are trolls, others are human, and lots of people do magic. Loved the romance, enjoyed another character’s ambition, but it felt a little weird when the two plotlines merged.
No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull
Started: 2/3/22
Finished: 2/8/22
This book was a LOT. It’s the first in a series (didn’t know that when I started it), and I cannot WAIT for the next one. It was a little hard to follow, not because it didn’t grab my attention (because boy did it), but because there are a lot of characters and a lot of factions, and I wasn’t clear on all of them until the very end. It was only published four months ago, so I have NO idea when book 2 will come out, and I’m sure I will need a refresher by then. I am for sure going to read his debut novel (The Lesson) while I’m waiting.
Little Free Library by Naomi Kritzer
Started: 11/18/21
Finished: 11/18/21
If only this were a true story! Link: https://www.tor.com/2020/04/08/little-free-library-naomi-kritzer/
Two Truths and a Lie by Sarah Pinsker
Started: 11/17/21
Finished: 11/17/21
Creepy and interesting, like many of her short stories. Link: https://www.tor.com/2020/06/17/two-truths-and-a-lie-sarah-pinsker/
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
Started: 11/14/21
Finished: 11/15/21
I like good stories about someone realizing they had underestimated someone, or completely misunderstood who they were in the first place. Particularly when EVERYONE was wrong. Good stuff.
Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
Started: 11/8/21
Finished: 11/12/21
Next in the Wayward Children series, nominated for a Hugo like all the others because, well, it’s good. This wasn’t my favorite, but I’m happy to see the series move forward. I like the installments that serve as backstories to characters we’ve met, too, but knowing there’s a big picture arc is satisfying to me.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Started: 10/28/21
Finished: 11/7/21
First in a series, YA, some of it was predictable, and some of it was very not predictable, and I liked it a lot.
The only thing I wasn’t crazy about it a thing that a lot of YA books do: the characters, teenagers all, never act like teenagers. Or, not never, but even kids faced with a ton of responsibility are still going to act like kids sometimes. I don’t think these kids did. So I was occasionally taken out of the story when I remembered that, hey, this character who said he made a super-serious decision “years ago” is only 18 right now, and then it turns out he made this super-serious decision when he was 12. Uh huh.
That aside, I really liked it, and I LOVED where it took the plot.
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
Started: 10/13/21
Finished: 10/31/21
I’ve been meaning to read something, anything, by Roger Zelazny, and I just haven’t gotten around to it. An article on Tor.com pointed me to this, which is broken up into one chapter per day of the month of October. The article’s author reads it, one chapter a day, every October, so after playing a little bit of catch-up (since I didn’t start on the 1st), I did, too, and I REALLY enjoyed it. It’s easy, it’s funny, and it’s Halloween-y. I might buy it and do this every year.