Books and comics read in July 2020
Sunday, 2 August 2020 19:20![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhatsConsolation Songs ed. Iona Datt Sharma
The Ruin of Kings - Jenn Lyons
Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood - J. Michael Straczynski
The Light Brigade - Kameron Hurley
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water - Zen Cho
The Perfect Assassin - K.A. Doore
Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders - Aliette de Bodard
The Death of the Necromancer - Martha Wells
Consolation Songs (five stars)
(Disclaimer, I know quite a few of the people involved in creating this book.)
I loved this anthology of hopeful sff so much. All of the stories were good and some were wonderful. A few highlights:
Storm Story, Llinos Cathryn Thomas - beautifully atmospheric, and the note of hope at the end felt so earned.
St Anselm by the Riverside, Iona Datt Sharma - does that trademark Iona thing of making you have A Lot of Feelings without being able to quite put your finger on why. <3
This Is New Gehesran Calling, Rebecca Fraimow - the last line of this packed SUCH a punch.
I also particularly enjoyed The Ruin of Kings, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water and Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders, but saying words is hard, etc.
Didn't finish: The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein - Farah Mendlesohn
This seems like a very good book, but I'm just not interested enough in Heinlein to keep going with it. I read enough to work out where to put it on my Hugo ballot, and am calling it there for now.
Amberlough - Lara Elena Donnelly
This is kind of an AU/secondary world take on Cabaret. It's good, but it also very much involves someone essentially handing over his country to fascists in exchange for safety for himself and his boyfriend, and I just hit a point where I... didn't want to read it anymore. It is very clear that this was a terrible thing to do, and we see the consequences and repercussions of this choice both for everyone else in the country, and also for the character responsible, but still. I might go back to it at some point, but for now, I'm out.
The Ruin of Kings - Jenn Lyons
Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood - J. Michael Straczynski
The Light Brigade - Kameron Hurley
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water - Zen Cho
The Perfect Assassin - K.A. Doore
Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders - Aliette de Bodard
The Death of the Necromancer - Martha Wells
Consolation Songs (five stars)
(Disclaimer, I know quite a few of the people involved in creating this book.)
I loved this anthology of hopeful sff so much. All of the stories were good and some were wonderful. A few highlights:
Storm Story, Llinos Cathryn Thomas - beautifully atmospheric, and the note of hope at the end felt so earned.
St Anselm by the Riverside, Iona Datt Sharma - does that trademark Iona thing of making you have A Lot of Feelings without being able to quite put your finger on why. <3
This Is New Gehesran Calling, Rebecca Fraimow - the last line of this packed SUCH a punch.
I also particularly enjoyed The Ruin of Kings, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water and Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders, but saying words is hard, etc.
Didn't finish: The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein - Farah Mendlesohn
This seems like a very good book, but I'm just not interested enough in Heinlein to keep going with it. I read enough to work out where to put it on my Hugo ballot, and am calling it there for now.
Amberlough - Lara Elena Donnelly
This is kind of an AU/secondary world take on Cabaret. It's good, but it also very much involves someone essentially handing over his country to fascists in exchange for safety for himself and his boyfriend, and I just hit a point where I... didn't want to read it anymore. It is very clear that this was a terrible thing to do, and we see the consequences and repercussions of this choice both for everyone else in the country, and also for the character responsible, but still. I might go back to it at some point, but for now, I'm out.