Books read in October 2022
Tuesday, 15 November 2022 17:07![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhatsKaikeyi - Vaishnavi Patel
Be the Serpent - Seanan McGuire
Secrets of the Stormforest - LD Lapinski
Because Internet - Gretchen McCulloch
The Leper of Saint Giles - Ellis Peters
Notorious Sorcerer - Davinia Evans
The Obsidian Tower - Melissa Caruso
Eyes of the Void - Adian Tchaikovsky
The Return of Fitzroy Angursell - Victoria Goddard
The Queen of the High Fields - Rhiannon A Grist
Africa Is Not A Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa - Dipo Faloyin
Her Majesty's Royal Coven - Juno Dawson
This was incredibly fun! Disaster bi sorcerer just trying to earn enough money to buy himself some more magic lessons accidentally ends up caught up in the fate of the city, shenanigans ensue. Lots of good stuff about power, class and opportunity - all of the four main point of view characters are in some way trying to figure out what they want from their lives and how to get that, and the book is very clear on how all their choices are constrained by the circumstances they're in, but also on how big a role class and money play. I loved it.
Didn't finish:
This was an enjoyable YA novel, but I'm just not really feeling YA at the moment, unfortunately. It had some great things, mostly the casual diversity and the intriguing setting, but overall it felt weirdly low stakes despite the threat of death hanging over our heroes - I think for me the characterisation and worldbuilding weren't quite there to make the premise feel as high stakes as it should have. I did really love Thomas's previous book, though, so this was probably just a mismatch between what I wanted from the book and what it was trying to do.
Nophek Gloss - Essa Hansen
I don't know if I just wasn't in the mood for this, or if I was put off by the really brutal thing that happens very early on, or if it was because I was reading it in a sweltering tube and feeling a bit sick, but I really bounced off this. It was a bit grimmer than I usually prefer, which on its own might have been fine, but I was also struggling with the slightly overcomplicated prose style (goodness knows I love writing that isn't just functional, but not when parsing it out is getting in the way of what it's trying to say). It also really felt a couple of times like the adults in the book were rushing the fourteen year old protagonist into making massive, life changing decisions, and I just really did not enjoy reading that.
Be the Serpent - Seanan McGuire
Secrets of the Stormforest - LD Lapinski
Because Internet - Gretchen McCulloch
The Leper of Saint Giles - Ellis Peters
Notorious Sorcerer - Davinia Evans
The Obsidian Tower - Melissa Caruso
Eyes of the Void - Adian Tchaikovsky
The Return of Fitzroy Angursell - Victoria Goddard
The Queen of the High Fields - Rhiannon A Grist
Africa Is Not A Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa - Dipo Faloyin
Her Majesty's Royal Coven - Juno Dawson
Notorious Sorcerer (four stars)
Notorious SorcererThis was incredibly fun! Disaster bi sorcerer just trying to earn enough money to buy himself some more magic lessons accidentally ends up caught up in the fate of the city, shenanigans ensue. Lots of good stuff about power, class and opportunity - all of the four main point of view characters are in some way trying to figure out what they want from their lives and how to get that, and the book is very clear on how all their choices are constrained by the circumstances they're in, but also on how big a role class and money play. I loved it.
Didn't finish:
The Sunbearer Trials - Aiden Thomas, Nophek Gloss - Essa Hansen
The Sunbearer Trials - Aiden ThomasThis was an enjoyable YA novel, but I'm just not really feeling YA at the moment, unfortunately. It had some great things, mostly the casual diversity and the intriguing setting, but overall it felt weirdly low stakes despite the threat of death hanging over our heroes - I think for me the characterisation and worldbuilding weren't quite there to make the premise feel as high stakes as it should have. I did really love Thomas's previous book, though, so this was probably just a mismatch between what I wanted from the book and what it was trying to do.
Nophek Gloss - Essa Hansen
I don't know if I just wasn't in the mood for this, or if I was put off by the really brutal thing that happens very early on, or if it was because I was reading it in a sweltering tube and feeling a bit sick, but I really bounced off this. It was a bit grimmer than I usually prefer, which on its own might have been fine, but I was also struggling with the slightly overcomplicated prose style (goodness knows I love writing that isn't just functional, but not when parsing it out is getting in the way of what it's trying to say). It also really felt a couple of times like the adults in the book were rushing the fourteen year old protagonist into making massive, life changing decisions, and I just really did not enjoy reading that.
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Date: 15 Nov 2022 22:30 (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Nov 2022 20:41 (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Nov 2022 00:39 (UTC)I want to live in Vangavaye-ve (if I got that right) but I'm sure there will be other places in the nine worlds just as beguiling.
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Date: 26 Nov 2022 12:32 (UTC)Me too, I do like seeing the same world through different styles!