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Books and comics read in October and November 2023
Sunday, 3 December 2023 21:58The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi - Shannon Chakraborty
The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire Part One
Masquerade in Lodi - Lois McMaster Bujold
Can't We Just Print More Money? - Rupal Patel and Jack Meaning
A Day of Fallen Night - Samantha Shannon
Circle of Magic: Briar's Book - Tamora Pierce
Fake Law: The Truth About Justice in an Age of Lies - The Secret Barrister
Lords of Uncreation - Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire Part Two
Paladin's Hope - T Kingfisher
Island of Whispers - Frances Hardinge
The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part Three
S.W.O.R.D. Vol 1
Captain Carter: Woman Out of Time
Magnificent Ms Marvel: Destined
Magnificent Ms Marvel: Stormranger
Magnificent Ms Marvel: Outlawed
Ms Marvel: Beyond the Limits
Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth - Natalie Haynes
The Helios Syndrome - Vivian Shaw
American Hippo - Sarah Gailey
A Theory of Haunting - Sarah Monette
The Dance Tree - Kiran Millwood Hargrave
A Power Unbound - Freya Marske
Shadow Baron - Davinia Evans
A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women - Emma Southon
Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era - Sophie Aldred and Mike Tucker
Untethered Sky - Fonda Lee
Bishop's Opening - RSA Garcia
The Madness: A Memoir of War, Fear and PTSD - Fergal Keane
I had covid in the middle there (shout out to my library for getting a ton of comics in ebook format, which kept me going when I didn't have the brain for prose), hence no post last month!
I loved this! It's a delightful romp with a strong thread of figuring out who you want to be, and how to balance that with the fact that your decisions affect other people. The main character, a middle aged pirate dragged out of a quiet retirement with her young daughter for One Last Job, and thereby confronted by the fact that she loves adventuring, tackles this most obviously, but it comes through for other characters too. Goodreads reckons it's the first in a trilogy (though I think it does work as a standalone) and I am EXCITED.
A Day of Fallen Night
I thoroughly enjoyed Priory of the Orange Tree, so I had high hopes for this prequel, but unfortunately it turned out to be a bit of a dud. It all felt really flat and underdeveloped, and a lot of the arcs basically went nowhere, possibly due to the constraints of it being a prequel? I also kept feeling like it was constantly swerving away from the stuff I was interested in exploring in favour of pointless runarounds. It wasn't completely without merit (I finished it, after all) - there were some nice moments and some interesting ideas, and a few characters I was at least a little invested in, but overall, a frustrating reading experience.
A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women
OK, first of all, the US title is much better (A Rome of One's Own), this one's a bit Ronseal, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment at all. Southon charts the course of the Roman Empire via the lives of her 21 women, persuasively arguing that this is a much better way to look at it than through lists of emperors and battles. Which is not to say those things don't feature, but Southon makes the case that we can tell a lot about Rome via how these women lived and were treated. Her prose is chatty and irreverent, but I could feel the weight of scholarship behind it, and I enjoyed it very much.
Untethered Sky
This novella, about a young woman bonding with and training a roc to hunt monsters, was fantastic. Fonda Lee is great at creating characters and worlds extremely economically, so it felt dense and rich in the way novellas don't always manage for me, and the plot is exactly the right size for the length. I loved it, highly recommended.
The Madness: A Memoir of War, Fear and PTSD
As the title suggests, this is a lot, but it's also a really compelling read, with a clear and compassionate prose style that worked incredibly well. Keane doesn't belabour the horrors he experienced and encountered, because there's no need, they speak for themselves
Didn't finish:
The Surviving Sky - Kritika Rao
This had some really cool worldbuilding and centred on a couple who've been married for over a decade, which I thought sounded interesting. When we meet this couple, their marriage is on the rocks, and we're supposed to root for them to rebuild their relationship, which could have been great if it wasn't for the fact that the husband seemed... pretty terrible. When we meet him, he's spent seven months giving his wife the silent treatment, but has decided that he just HAS to talk to her now, so he uses his magical abilities and the societal power they give him (and which she does not have) to muscle his way onto the important expedition she's about to set out on, even though she asks him not to. He then proceeds to lecture her about how busy he's been and how important he is, and how worthless her own work is. According to Goodreads their reconciliation is a big part of the rest of the book, and maybe he sees the error of his ways, but I just couldn't face it. Which is a shame, because I liked the female main character a lot and the world seemed potentially really interesting!
The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire Part One
Masquerade in Lodi - Lois McMaster Bujold
Can't We Just Print More Money? - Rupal Patel and Jack Meaning
A Day of Fallen Night - Samantha Shannon
Circle of Magic: Briar's Book - Tamora Pierce
Fake Law: The Truth About Justice in an Age of Lies - The Secret Barrister
Lords of Uncreation - Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire Part Two
Paladin's Hope - T Kingfisher
Island of Whispers - Frances Hardinge
The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part Three
S.W.O.R.D. Vol 1
Captain Carter: Woman Out of Time
Magnificent Ms Marvel: Destined
Magnificent Ms Marvel: Stormranger
Magnificent Ms Marvel: Outlawed
Ms Marvel: Beyond the Limits
Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth - Natalie Haynes
The Helios Syndrome - Vivian Shaw
American Hippo - Sarah Gailey
A Theory of Haunting - Sarah Monette
The Dance Tree - Kiran Millwood Hargrave
A Power Unbound - Freya Marske
Shadow Baron - Davinia Evans
A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women - Emma Southon
Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era - Sophie Aldred and Mike Tucker
Untethered Sky - Fonda Lee
Bishop's Opening - RSA Garcia
The Madness: A Memoir of War, Fear and PTSD - Fergal Keane
I had covid in the middle there (shout out to my library for getting a ton of comics in ebook format, which kept me going when I didn't have the brain for prose), hence no post last month!
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi (five stars), A Day of Fallen Night (two stars), A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women (four stars), Untethered Sky (five stars), The Madness: A Memoir of War, Fear and PTSD (five stars)
The Adventures of Amina Al-SirafiI loved this! It's a delightful romp with a strong thread of figuring out who you want to be, and how to balance that with the fact that your decisions affect other people. The main character, a middle aged pirate dragged out of a quiet retirement with her young daughter for One Last Job, and thereby confronted by the fact that she loves adventuring, tackles this most obviously, but it comes through for other characters too. Goodreads reckons it's the first in a trilogy (though I think it does work as a standalone) and I am EXCITED.
A Day of Fallen Night
I thoroughly enjoyed Priory of the Orange Tree, so I had high hopes for this prequel, but unfortunately it turned out to be a bit of a dud. It all felt really flat and underdeveloped, and a lot of the arcs basically went nowhere, possibly due to the constraints of it being a prequel? I also kept feeling like it was constantly swerving away from the stuff I was interested in exploring in favour of pointless runarounds. It wasn't completely without merit (I finished it, after all) - there were some nice moments and some interesting ideas, and a few characters I was at least a little invested in, but overall, a frustrating reading experience.
A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women
OK, first of all, the US title is much better (A Rome of One's Own), this one's a bit Ronseal, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment at all. Southon charts the course of the Roman Empire via the lives of her 21 women, persuasively arguing that this is a much better way to look at it than through lists of emperors and battles. Which is not to say those things don't feature, but Southon makes the case that we can tell a lot about Rome via how these women lived and were treated. Her prose is chatty and irreverent, but I could feel the weight of scholarship behind it, and I enjoyed it very much.
Untethered Sky
This novella, about a young woman bonding with and training a roc to hunt monsters, was fantastic. Fonda Lee is great at creating characters and worlds extremely economically, so it felt dense and rich in the way novellas don't always manage for me, and the plot is exactly the right size for the length. I loved it, highly recommended.
The Madness: A Memoir of War, Fear and PTSD
As the title suggests, this is a lot, but it's also a really compelling read, with a clear and compassionate prose style that worked incredibly well. Keane doesn't belabour the horrors he experienced and encountered, because there's no need, they speak for themselves
Didn't finish:
The Surviving Sky - Kritika Rao
The Surviving Sky - Kritika Rao
This had some really cool worldbuilding and centred on a couple who've been married for over a decade, which I thought sounded interesting. When we meet this couple, their marriage is on the rocks, and we're supposed to root for them to rebuild their relationship, which could have been great if it wasn't for the fact that the husband seemed... pretty terrible. When we meet him, he's spent seven months giving his wife the silent treatment, but has decided that he just HAS to talk to her now, so he uses his magical abilities and the societal power they give him (and which she does not have) to muscle his way onto the important expedition she's about to set out on, even though she asks him not to. He then proceeds to lecture her about how busy he's been and how important he is, and how worthless her own work is. According to Goodreads their reconciliation is a big part of the rest of the book, and maybe he sees the error of his ways, but I just couldn't face it. Which is a shame, because I liked the female main character a lot and the world seemed potentially really interesting!
