Books read in April 2020
Saturday, 2 May 2020 13:09![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhatsThe Two Towers - JRR Tolkien
The Return of the King - JRR Tolkien
Nova - Samuel R Delany
A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
Briarley - Aster Glenn Gray
In the Vanisher's Palace - Aliette de Bodard
While We Run - Karen Healey
The Wicked King - Holly Black
Thief of Time - Terry Pratchett
Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells
Exit Strategy - Martha Wells
The Surgeon's Mate - Patrick O'Brian
The Court of Broken Knives - Anna Smith Spark
The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo - Zen Cho
A Memory Called Empire
THIS BOOK IS EXACTLY MY JAM WHY DID I NOT READ IT SOONER
(that's it that's the review)
(ok I do wish there had been some acknowledgement that non-binary people exist in this universe but OTHERWISE V GOOD)
Briarley
In the Vanisher's Palace
Queer retellings of Beauty and the Beast with dragons double feature! It's not actually that fair to compare these two books, as elevator pitch aside they're doing very different things, but here we are.
Briarley is a very straightforward retelling with a few twists - it's WWII England and the protagonist stays with the beast himself instead of trading his daughter. It's sweet and fun, and I liked how it takes care to remember that "love" doesn't have to mean "romantic love" (though the bit where the protagonist talks about how he would never have felt any other kind of love if he hadn't felt romantic love first was... yikes). I did feel a few times like it was about to tip over into implausibility, but it never quite did. I liked it a lot, but I didn't love it.
In the Vanisher's Palace is richer, deeper and more complex, and the chemistry between the leads is excellent. It takes a few elements of the story and spins something very different out of them, something about how to live in a broken world. It's wonderful. I love Aliette de Bodard's writing so much.
(content notes on the latter: consent issues, quite a lot of virus stuff)
Didn't finish: Daughter of the Sun - Effie Calvin
I gave this a try because I'd heard a lot of good things about it, and on the rare occasions that romance DOES work for me, it's a good time. (Also f/f > m/f on that front.) The premise is GREAT and I liked the world, but I really struggled with the stiff prose style, which interfered a lot with my ability to connect with the characters. I put it down a couple of times to read other things, and I think I've reached the point where I'm not going to pick it back up again.
The Return of the King - JRR Tolkien
Nova - Samuel R Delany
A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
Briarley - Aster Glenn Gray
In the Vanisher's Palace - Aliette de Bodard
While We Run - Karen Healey
The Wicked King - Holly Black
Thief of Time - Terry Pratchett
Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells
Exit Strategy - Martha Wells
The Surgeon's Mate - Patrick O'Brian
The Court of Broken Knives - Anna Smith Spark
The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo - Zen Cho
A Memory Called Empire
THIS BOOK IS EXACTLY MY JAM WHY DID I NOT READ IT SOONER
(that's it that's the review)
(ok I do wish there had been some acknowledgement that non-binary people exist in this universe but OTHERWISE V GOOD)
Briarley
In the Vanisher's Palace
Queer retellings of Beauty and the Beast with dragons double feature! It's not actually that fair to compare these two books, as elevator pitch aside they're doing very different things, but here we are.
Briarley is a very straightforward retelling with a few twists - it's WWII England and the protagonist stays with the beast himself instead of trading his daughter. It's sweet and fun, and I liked how it takes care to remember that "love" doesn't have to mean "romantic love" (though the bit where the protagonist talks about how he would never have felt any other kind of love if he hadn't felt romantic love first was... yikes). I did feel a few times like it was about to tip over into implausibility, but it never quite did. I liked it a lot, but I didn't love it.
In the Vanisher's Palace is richer, deeper and more complex, and the chemistry between the leads is excellent. It takes a few elements of the story and spins something very different out of them, something about how to live in a broken world. It's wonderful. I love Aliette de Bodard's writing so much.
(content notes on the latter: consent issues, quite a lot of virus stuff)
Didn't finish: Daughter of the Sun - Effie Calvin
I gave this a try because I'd heard a lot of good things about it, and on the rare occasions that romance DOES work for me, it's a good time. (Also f/f > m/f on that front.) The premise is GREAT and I liked the world, but I really struggled with the stiff prose style, which interfered a lot with my ability to connect with the characters. I put it down a couple of times to read other things, and I think I've reached the point where I'm not going to pick it back up again.
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Date: 30 Jun 2020 06:38 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 Jul 2020 08:43 (UTC)