Tag: historical

Many Months of Books: April, May & June

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I’ve lumped April, May, and June together in one post, partly because each month’s offerings were a little slim due to beta-reading, partly because I haven’t been able to dredge the motivation to write anything more complex than a daily To Do list in weeks.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone: Another recommendation from a friend who’s reading tastes often fall in line with my own after I’d asked for the names of some speculative fiction with F/F romantic pairings that didn’t end in tragedy or break-ups (I wanted a HEA people!). Anyway, this novella’s prose is, frankly, gorgeous. The words, the sound of them, the sounds of them strung together, the richness of the metaphors, the similes, the poetry of the prose, all of it had me reading and re-reading lines to enjoy their impact more than once. The romance’s build-up is slow and the approach of two individuals falling in love through letters alone was both brilliant and ambitious and it worked so, so well. The characters themselves are fascinating, and both are products of their individual futures, most times relatably human but other times, almost alien in their perception of the world(s). I did lose track of potential timelines and upthread/downthread a bit, and by nature of the execution, the mental “image” as it were tends to be vague, but that had little impact whatsoever on my enjoyment and appreciation. The texture of it is more short story than novel (a bit like my experience with The Tea Master and the Detective), so the world-building tends to be more snippets and snatches to create atmosphere and immersion as opposed to explaining things (an approach which I enjoy, but I know that not everyone does). The story, the structure, the prose-style, the world-building, all ask for this to be a book read slowly and savored, and I managed that—until the last 40 pages, which I consumed like a vacuum hose.

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie: I’ll admit, I wasn’t planning on reading this. It had been on my shelf for years, but I hadn’t gelled well with The Blade Itself when I read it years ago, and expected Half a King to be much the same. I was wrong. Half a King has echoes of the brutality of The Blade Itself but with characters I actively rooted for, and I enjoyed the central theme of the danger of oaths sworn. I enjoyed it so much, I read the book in a day, something I haven’t done since…er, undergrad (part of this might be due to me being furloughed). I caught two out of the three major twists: one from the start seeing that it was strikingly similar to a plot twist from a Disney movie, one on page 188 because of a seemingly small throw-away line, but the third took me by surprise, yet, I appreciated the subtle layering of hints. I also enjoyed that twist’s structure, the echo-/full-circle nature it lent to the narrative. It was intriguing to me to draw parallels between the myth and legend the characters have for the world, the little snippets that made me fairly convinced that it was a far flung post-apocalyptic earth (some of the elf architecture sounded a heck of a lot like concrete with steel rebar supports, there’s a reference that sounds a lot like radiation sickness, and there’s a bit about a green chip with gold lines made into a necklace that seemed…hmm), and the cyclical nature of Ragnarok, since much of this has a Vikings-esque texture to it.

The Physicians of Vilnoc by Lois McMaster Bujold: More Pen and Des! Yee! I’ve been looking forward to this one since I read a teaser sample of the first third-ish, and then somehow managed to completely miss the release date until I happened to listen to an interview with Bujold conducted by Baen Books, where the release was mentioned. The novella is rather prescient, given that this was released during a real-world pandemic, and is dealing with a fictional one. In that aforementioned interview, Bujold explained that it wasn’t based on Covid 19, but on other historical pandemics (there’s a reference that looks a lot like the Bubonic Plague, plus a few others). Which makes sense, since in order for this to be released in May, the actual drafting would’ve had to occur before the beginning of Covid. Which just means the release of this story coincides with real-world events, which adds another layer to an already excellent tale. As always, highly recommended. Please read these because, truly, they are fantastic and, even when dealing with material as dark as a spreading pandemic, nevertheless uplifting, and I tend to devour them within a day. Also, the idea of a demon gaining its first personality impression from a dog, and how easily that demon is then to 1. train, 2. entertain with the same activity repeated over and over, and 3. communicate with made a great deal of sense. Also appreciated seeing what a more usual method of transferring a demon from one rider to the next, since Pen and Des’ was a bit unorthodox, and most of the demon-ridden sorcerers in The Paladin of Souls are not all that willing to have a demon in the first place.

A Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite: This was an utterly delightful read. I’m a secret fan of regency romance, though incredibly picky since the time period and adherence to prescribed gender roles can be a bit “er, no thanks” for me, but this is the first regency F/F romance I’ve come across (though not by chance; it was recommended during a panel at the online Nebula Conference). Lucy and Catherine’s relationship, as Catherine learns she can embrace her attraction to women and Lucy heals from the heartbreak of her longtime lover marrying someone else, was sweet, passionate, and well-paced (though I quibble a little on what drives them apart for the traditional “lovers are driven apart” stage of a romance—the reunion and climax of the external plot was more engaging for me, though I recognize that without that step, the end wouldn’t have had the cohesion it did). I also loved the budding science field aspect, the combination of hopefulness and sense of discovery with the infuriating dark flip-side of the suppression of women scientists. It does end rather neatly and positively on that point, but this is a romance novel, and the expectation of an HEA precludes defeat. So while real-world history was often far grimmer, this parallel version fits the story it’s telling. And I see the author has another in this series coming out toward the end of July, so guess what one of my August reads will be?

May all of you stay safe and healthy and please, for the love of the all, wear a mask if you go out.

A Month of Books: September

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Swordheart by T. Kingfisher: Another recommendation from someone (else) I know, and I have found a new favorite writer! It reminded me fondly of both The Paladin of Souls and the Penric and Desdemona series by Lois McMaster Bujold, mixed with the laugh-out-loud humor of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld and the whimsy of Princess Bride (the movie more than the book), while being something entirely of itself. And, oh, was this hilarious. To the point that, like Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, I self-banned myself from reading this while at work. Because I have a very loud laugh and I work in a very small library. It’s got romance! And laughs! And swords! And property lawyers (who are heroes)! And some very disturbing things hanging out in trees…

Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher: Because of Swordheart, I needed more by T. Kingfisher. I’m siding with the author and saying this is a kid’s book. Albeit, a somewhat dark kid’s book, but kids tend to like dark anyway (or, at least, I did when I was a kid, so…). Honestly, it’s a cute read. I’d been anticipating funny based off of Swordheart, and this is less laugh-out-loud funny, more wry, but the magic is wonderfully whimsical and I love the idea of an armadillo as a familiar.

All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, and Exit Strategy by Martha Wells: I’m on a novella-spree here it seems, this time, skittering over into sci-fi. I just love the inversion of the idea that if humans were to create sufficiently intelligent AI, that AI would undoubtedly kill us. In All Systems Red, said sufficiently intelligent AI…mostly just wants to be left alone to watch its entertainment dramas. Humans are strange and stressful and difficult to anticipate (and yet, as much as it insists it doesn’t care, SecBot/Murderbot…does; truly, it’s fascinating to pick apart how Wells wrote a character who, ostensibly, desires a bare minimum of human contact and whose only goals are to watch the next episode of its soaps, and yet, manages to make that character extremely compelling). Also, there’s an echo of horror in these (especially All Systems Red and Rogue Protocol, more adventure-thriller for Artificial Condition and Exit Strategy), that eerie kind that I associate more with the creepier Doctor Who episodes, which I very much enjoyed. All Systems Red is an easy novella to binge-read. What am I saying? They’re all easy to binge-read! Case in point, while dog-sitting, I devoured the other three books in the series in a day and a half and am hyped for Network Effect’s release in May of next year. Can’t wait, can’t wait! And, oh, Exit Strategy was an excellent conclusion, though I’m thrilled to learn there will be more.

Why Kill the Innocent by C. S. Harris: While typically I range toward the speculative in my reading tastes, I do so enjoy historical mysteries set pre-modern forensics era*, and this one is a series that I’ve been following for a few years now. The thing I so enjoy about this particular series is the author note at the end, where Harris discusses what parts of the novel were drawn from historical fact, what was supposition, what was entirely fiction, and what was amalgamations of real historical events or people crunched together. This fascinates me. The mystery was one of those where there are so few suspects I kept casting around for that someone that didn’t fit, and though I worked out who was behind it before Sebastian (mostly because of a single development where, if you thought about it, only one character would know that other character intimately enough to successfully frame him), I utterly failed to work out the “why” so it was still a satisfactory mystery.

Who Slays the Wicked by C. S. Harris: And because I’m on a historical mystery kick, book 14 of the series! I’m very behind on these. Anyway, this one is almost an opposite of the previous. With Why Kill the Innocent there was a dearth of suspects, in Who Slays the Wicked, they’re practically teeming. While I wish the red herring suspect wasn’t so obviously a red herring (that Sebastian insisted on suspected for no other reason than it served the plot), the final twist was ultimately satisfying and made a disturbing amount of sense. I’m pleased it went that route, and looking forward to the next one (Who Speaks for the Damned, April 2020).

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett: On a whim, I watched the BBC mini-series adaptation on Amazon, and had the sudden urge to compare/contrast the book to the show (because that’s how my mind works?). BUT I realized I hadn’t read the book in years so cue reread! I hadn’t realized just how subtle stuff is in this one, particularly the sections with Vetinari and the business meetings. I see why, for the show, they gave Adora Belle Dearheart more emotional beats, and transferred some of Moist’s a-hah! moments to other characters. I also see why some of the side-plots with the clacks towers were lessened or removed, so for a more in-depth viewing, definitely read the book (in some ways, it’s like Lord of the Rings; the adaptation alone works wonderfully, but reading the book adds a whole ‘nother layer of nuance). As for the end, the show is more cinematic and dramatic (which, of course) and the book, less so. But the book brings up character conflict right at the end that I hadn’t been expecting and, I think, forgot was there. Still. It’s Discworld, therefore, Sir Terry Pratchett, therefore, absolutely brilliant. Still one of my favorites.

Finder by Suzanne Palmer: More sci-fi! This time, with overtones of a western with an almost Macgyver-esque way of approaching problems (How do you disable space security drones? Answer: vibrating dildos, tennis balls, sticky candy, and foil. How do you fool a gangster into flying a spaceship in your path? Answer: a very fancy suit and a bundle of junk covered in lots of lights). Midway through, the story took a somewhat unexpected jink and there was an extended almost-side quest that didn’t, initially, seem to fit BUT it all comes together rather neatly in the end, and the final bit of trickery Fergus uses is brilliant. Trust that the middle does, in fact, link up with everything else is all I can say. I’m hoping there’s a book two (which it seems like there is; it’s labeled as book one), but Finder also stands alone fairly well. There’s a lot of unanswered questions at the end, which feels like setup for a series (a trilogy, at least).

*My theory for my favoring mysteries set pre-modern forensics is that it tends to be more about talking to people and putting together clues than necessarily putting together evidence. Also, I like reading fair-play mysteries more than mysterious thrillers, personally, because I like to try to work it out myself (I’m usually right about half the time but rarely work out the underlying motive before the characters do). I also love speculative mysteries, but those are a bit rarer to find (especially ones where the murder isn’t a stepping stone to a more traditionally epic plot).

Two Months of Books: June & July

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An Illusion of Thieves by Cate Glass: *Inarticulate squealing noise* READ IT. Read it now. Okay, so this is by one of my all-time favorite writers, though under her pen name, and I have been waiting for a new book from her for years. And it was definitely worth the wait and then some! As a caveat, I do note that it starts off slowly, building the characters and showing them gaining the skills they’ll need later for the heist, but it means I got to enjoy Romy’s voice and narration that much longer. The world is richly detailed and a joy to submerge myself into, the characters are a fascinating delight to get to know and magnificently flawed, and there’s a lining of hope trimming this magic-heist adventure fantasy. Also, it’s just a hell of a lot of fun to read. Counting down the months to the release of book two, A Conjuring of Assassins! (As a side-note, the cover art for book two was just released and it’s as gorgeous as the art on book one.)

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon: The more I read this, the more I came to the realization that this book wasn’t for current-me. Teenager-me would’ve not only have devoured this book in days, but it would’ve gone down as one of my ultimate favorites that I’d carry with me well into adulthood. Adult-me is, unfortunately, too genre-savvy: I called too many of the twists, the conventions, the setups, and I was very rarely surprised, but because of the natural distance of an epic narration, I wasn’t emotionally invested enough that I didn’t care. It’s a very long book to feel ‘meh’ over. Perhaps this is a side-effect of being a writer and a student of story structure, perhaps epic fantasy of a traditional, Tolkien-esque style no longer interests me the way it once did. I would, however, recommend this to readers who love the epic fantasy structure, who adore the genre and its tropes, and want something different (because this book with it’s many female characters subverts that worn, tired “men on a quest to save the world, the only women are servants and walk-ons and maybe that princess” story that is so, so common) OR readers who are just coming to epic fantasy, and aren’t well-versed in the expectations and characterizations of the genre.

A Study in Honor by Claire O’Dell: This is a fascinating re-imagining of Holmes and Watson that takes the original source material and (brilliantly) turns it on its head. In A Study in Honor, civil war has broken out in a near-future USA, and Captain Janet Watson, after losing her left arm (a problem if you’re a surgeon), has been discharged and sent, unmoored, into civilian life in Washington D.C. with a fritzy robotic arm that doesn’t fit and few prospects. One thing leads to another, and she encounters Sara Holmes, who is brilliant, baffling, and has an air of secrets and danger. I usually don’t read near-future sci-fi, preferring mine space-faring and operatic in scope, but as disturbingly possible a future as O’Dell paints, it’s also not entirely dystopic (though, erm, leans more heavily in that direction). It’s fantastic, and I look forward to reading book two (The Hound of Justice). Highly recommended.

Swift for the Sun by Karen Bovenmyer: Pirates! Swashbuckling! Romance! Adventure! Also, I find it fascinating to look at how romances differ for their marketing demographic. In a straight HEA romance, it’s usually marriage that’s the end goal. In this M/M HEA romance, it’s not just marriage. It’s also acceptance, discovering others who are like yourself, and finding a safe space to be. That’s what makes this a HEA end. Similarly to the contemporary romance a few months ago, historical romance is usually not my jam, BUT I appreciated how much diversity there is in this. It’s a pleasant change to most romances, especially historical romances that are usually viewed through a straight, white (almost always female) lens. My one minor quibble (and seriously, it’s minor) is how much the two characters who look like brothers remark on this similarity, and I quibble this only because (I want to say) most people do not have an accurate mental picture of what they themselves look like, particularly facial features and maybe hair. I can see comparing skin color just ’cause you can hold your arm up next to the other person, but not faces. It’s an observation I would’ve personally preferred be something only other characters remarked on, but this is a quibble.

A Month of Books: May

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Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik: I absolutely loved Uprooted and I’ve been a Temeraire fan for years, and though I should’ve read this ages ago, I’d been on hold for the e-book of Spinning Silver through my library for months before I finally got my hands on it. It’s a very different read from Uprooted; they’re more like two standalones loosely connected thematically, not book one and book two. The world-building and incorporation of Russian fairy tales and folklore was exquisite, and the approach to the storytelling voice-style fits that almost oral-tradition feel. It also had so many moments where clever characters did clever things and I went, “YES! They’re doing the thing!” The one… well, quibble, I had was the use of six first person viewpoint characters. At first, when it was alternating between Miryem and Wanda, there was such a difference in their voices, it wasn’t difficult to know who was who, but as the novel continued, new PoV characters were introduced, and by the end, there were a total of six. None of these shifts are marked in any way other than a scene or chapter break (so no little helpful character names at the top, like in The Kingdom of Copper). It’s a novel that you need to take your time reading. While it isn’t long (especially not when held up beside The Priory of the Orange Tree) skimming or reading quickly is a fast track to confusion. Pace yourself. That said, definitely worth the wait.

From Unseen Fire by Cass Morris: I attempted this one after I first got it last summer, and it didn’t click with me. Back at it again, and I finally realized why I’d struggled with it the first time: I was reading the book wrong. See, I’d walked in assuming it’d be more like a fantasy political thriller with assassinations and world-changing magic and the constant threat of brewing war. And while there are elements of that here, that isn’t what this book is. It’s a fantasy of manners. This is Pride & Prejudice with a dash of Downtown Abbey in a fantastical alternate history Rome. And, thus, the stakes are very, very different. The first time around, I couldn’t understand why there was so much focus placed on Latona and her relationships with her family, or Sempronius and his scheming and hiding, but this time, understanding what kind of book this was completely shifted my expectations and how I approached it. Like Spinning Silver, it is a more ponderous read.

Weekends Required by Sydney Landon: My coworker has been trying to convert me to this series for ages. She and I sometimes… well, it’s not buddy-reading, more like competitive see-who-can-finish-first buddy-reading for certain romance series, and this is one of her absolute go-to favorites. So I’ve given it a whirl and have found that it’s not my cup of tea. I don’t read much contemporary romance, preferring more speculative in my raunchy fiction, and with this one, I might’ve been too aware of it as a story to sit back and let it take me on an adventure. Storyteller-brain was too preoccupied with analyzing the structure and dialogue and anticipating plot twists, that I didn’t sink in very well into the experience overall and wasn’t emotionally invested (at least, not in the right way). There were also some choices that I, on a personal level (not as a writer, but as a person), disagreed with, and I often disagreed with the handling of said issues. It’s a very quick read, though. In future, I think I’ll stick to my paranormal romances with vampires and werewolves or my fantasy romances with a side-order of swashbuckling adventure.

Not so many books this month. I’m beta-reading a friend’s awesome novel, and I may have binge-watched all four seasons of Lucifer, which kinda ate my reading-time. Which just means…more books next month!

A Month of Books: March

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Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling: Technically a reread, but it’s been almost ten years since I read the series originally, so things have kinda blurred. In some ways, it still holds up well. In others, it shows its age (published 1997!). Still, it’s fun, and very classic sword & sorcery. And I hadn’t realized it took two books for Alec and Seregil to kiss! In my memory, they were together much sooner, and I hadn’t realized how much of a slow-burn romance it was between the two. I also had a sort of perverse fun trying to spot the seams, since I know the first book (Luck in the Shadows) and the second (Stalking Darkness) were originally one long book that was split and reworked as two books, and sections were expanded in both.

Written in Red by Anne Bishop: How have I not read this series yet? How has it flown beneath my radar for so long? It’s on the shelves at the library I work at! Aaaah! I have been looking for an urban fantasy/high fantasy fusion, which has the feel/elements of an urban fantasy but with high fantasy pacing and world-building approach. This is… this fills a whole in my reading-life I didn’t know I had. That said, it’s not paced like your typical urban fantasy novel, which can be off-putting if you’re expecting the more thriller-esque approach that’s common. This is a slower story, with longer pauses and moments that linger on the everyday. I love, love, love how the shifters are portrayed, where behaviors that are associated with their animal forms bleed over into when they’re human (and occasionally vise-versa). They’re not, say, just humans that turn into wolves. Being a Wolf informs how they view the world in almost every aspect. It’s refreshing and different and lends itself to some moments of humor. BUT the monsters of this world are still monsters; their choice meat is human. Also, an alternate history where the supernatural isn’t just known to the world, it’s shaped the world.

Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop: Squeezing this one in ’cause it’s still technically March and I finished it this morning. More of all the stuff I enjoyed in Written in Red, with more world-building and development, and after that conclusion, I’m curious to see where it goes next. Spoilers, but certain influential people have been robbed of their future-seeing victims, the Humans First and Last movement is gaining momentum and there’s an awful lot of discontent between the terre indigene and the humans, Simon is becoming more human, Meg is becoming more Wolf, and I’m very concerned for Monty’s daughter. Oh, and every time I think this series has revealed the ultimate antagonist, I’m surprised to find it isn’t, and I’m starting to suspect that each book’s end will set up the central antagonist of the next.

Prisoner of Midnight by Barbara Hambly: I’ve been waiting for this one for a few months. It does exactly what I want from a James Asher Vampire novel: mystery, spies, sleuthing in bank records, vampires, and WWI. The vampires in this one are definitely monstrous. They are no longer *quite* human, don’t pretend to be human, and are horrifyingly self-absorbed, selfish, and narcissistic, with little care for anyone but themselves (’cause that’s what makes a good vampire, seeing that  they have to murder someone every few nights to maintain their existence). There’s a mystery element in this one that I’d been expecting to come full circle and… didn’t, but I’m not sure if it was meant to be a red herring or a dropped plot point. The end… the end looks suspiciously like a series end. Totally did not see that coming, but I’m left wondering, where could this possibly go next? In some ways there’s closure but in others… we still have a little over a year till the end of WWI, and at least one character is still marooned on the Front.

The Devil You Know by P.N. Elrod: Also technically a reread, but after the unpleasant, scary vampires of Prisoner of Midnight, I wanted some fun, butt-kicking vamps instead (though there’s not much butt-kicking till the end). The contrast between Jack and Barrett is just so darn fun to read. This is one of those series with characters I could watch sitting in a room doing nothing except talk about the weather, and I’d still be entertained.