Books and comics read in May 2019
Tuesday, 4 June 2019 15:30![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhatsEmpire of Sand - Tasha Suri
Hellblazer: The Devil You Know
Monstress: Awakening
City of Lies - Sam Hawke
Rosemary and Rue - Seanan McGuire
A Local Habitation - Seanan McGuire
An Artificial Night - Seanan McGuire
Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing - Ursula K. Le Guin with David Naimon
Late Eclipses - Seanan McGuire
One Salt Sea - Seanan McGuire
Ashes of Honor - Seanan McGuire
Chimes at Midnight - Seanan McGuire
The Winter Long - Seanan McGuire
Empire of Sand
I liked a lot of things about this book: the world was interesting and well realised, I enjoyed spending time with the main character, Mehr, and it had some great things to say about freedom and about the choices it's possible to make in constrained circumstances. But the romance just didn't land for me and so the second half, which relies quite heavily on the reader being invested in the romance, ending up falling a bit flat. I would rather have spent more time on Mehr's relationships with other women: we keep almost getting some really good stuff, but it's never quite on page for any significant amount of time. (I would also have liked it if there were any queer people in this book at all.) That being said, the premise of the next book in this world sounds great and if it's not as romance-y as this one, I'll definitely give it a try. (Also standard me vs romance disclaimers apply here as ever.)
City of Lies
This was a great read - twisty and exciting, a solidly realised world, excellent characters and some good examination of privilege, ignorance and hurt. It also seemed pretty great to me on the disability front: both point of view characters are disabled (one chronically ill, one with OCD and anxiety), and their disabilities and the way they lived with and managed them felt very convincingly part of the fabric of their lives, rather than overwhelming tragedies and/or obstacles to heroically overcome.
It did do that thing, though, where there's a fair bit of queer representation in the minor characters, and it's clearly a queer-friendly world, but by a ~staggering coincidence both of the sexual/romantic relationships between the major characters, the ones that get all the narrative focus and exploration and development... are m/f. (I didn't like either of them but as we know that doesn't mean much.)
...and then the Hugo packet arrived, containing, among other things, the entire set of Toby Daye books, and I fell headfirst into a reread. A few caveats aside, I love these books so much.
Hellblazer: The Devil You Know
Monstress: Awakening
City of Lies - Sam Hawke
Rosemary and Rue - Seanan McGuire
A Local Habitation - Seanan McGuire
An Artificial Night - Seanan McGuire
Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing - Ursula K. Le Guin with David Naimon
Late Eclipses - Seanan McGuire
One Salt Sea - Seanan McGuire
Ashes of Honor - Seanan McGuire
Chimes at Midnight - Seanan McGuire
The Winter Long - Seanan McGuire
Empire of Sand
I liked a lot of things about this book: the world was interesting and well realised, I enjoyed spending time with the main character, Mehr, and it had some great things to say about freedom and about the choices it's possible to make in constrained circumstances. But the romance just didn't land for me and so the second half, which relies quite heavily on the reader being invested in the romance, ending up falling a bit flat. I would rather have spent more time on Mehr's relationships with other women: we keep almost getting some really good stuff, but it's never quite on page for any significant amount of time. (I would also have liked it if there were any queer people in this book at all.) That being said, the premise of the next book in this world sounds great and if it's not as romance-y as this one, I'll definitely give it a try. (Also standard me vs romance disclaimers apply here as ever.)
City of Lies
This was a great read - twisty and exciting, a solidly realised world, excellent characters and some good examination of privilege, ignorance and hurt. It also seemed pretty great to me on the disability front: both point of view characters are disabled (one chronically ill, one with OCD and anxiety), and their disabilities and the way they lived with and managed them felt very convincingly part of the fabric of their lives, rather than overwhelming tragedies and/or obstacles to heroically overcome.
It did do that thing, though, where there's a fair bit of queer representation in the minor characters, and it's clearly a queer-friendly world, but by a ~staggering coincidence both of the sexual/romantic relationships between the major characters, the ones that get all the narrative focus and exploration and development... are m/f. (I didn't like either of them but as we know that doesn't mean much.)
...and then the Hugo packet arrived, containing, among other things, the entire set of Toby Daye books, and I fell headfirst into a reread. A few caveats aside, I love these books so much.