Book life in 2024 by Alexandra_book_life ;) - part 3

It's time to start a new thread, I think!

I am about to finish a mystery novel, Malice by Keigo Higashino. It's a good one! More thoughts later :)

Happy new thread!

>2 haydninvienna: Thank you :)

Malice - done!

Some thoughts:

I was captivated. By now, I know that Higashino’s books promise an unconventional mystery, and this one did not disappoint. There is a lot about writers and writing, childhood traumas that come back to haunt us, and evil we cannot explain.

The story begins with the murder of Kunihiko Hidaka, a famous author, whose body is discovered by his wife and his friend, Nonoguchi. Both have alibis. It is up to Detective Kaga to unravel the mystery. Since this is not a “regular” mystery, the readers will know who the murderer is early on. Kaga hunts for the motive behind the crime, navigating a labyrinth of unexpected twists.

The writing is thoughtful and contemplative, with a lot of dialogue and small details that tell so much. There are no action scenes, but the book still reads quickly, and I was hooked from the first chapter. Higashino’s style is understated, as always. I liked how he managed to create a sense that something much darker, a greater evil, is at play than first seems. I was not conscious of it all the way, but this is what kept me on the edge, unable to put the book down.

There are two POV’s: Nonoguchi, who is writing his account of the case, and Detective Kaga, whose notes are dry and concise, but slowly reveal the person behind them. Kaga is meticulous, responsible, and stubborn; he is someone who is merciless when necessary but fundamentally good. There is no evolution for these characters, it’s more about slowly peeling back layers to reveal hidden truths. Kaga’s backstory and his reasons for leaving teaching are heartbreaking. This backstory ties into the murder case in poignant ways.

There were moments that shocked and infuriated me. The final chapter was especially riveting, with Kaga’s restrained yet palpable anger getting under my skin.

Having read several of Higashino’s works, I think that "Malice" is one of his best. I think I liked it as much as Salvation of a Saint, if not more. If you feel like reading a mystery that will keep you guessing until the end, look no further ;)

5 stars!

Happy new thread, >1 Alexandra_book_life:!

>5 clamairy: Thank you thank you :)

I finished Pawn in Frankincense in early September 2023. So traumatized was I that I am starting the next book nearly a year later.

Will there be more heartbreak in The Ringed Castle? I suppose so. Deep breaths, here I go.

>7 Alexandra_book_life: Wow. I've never heard of this series, but it has an absurdly high rating! Now I'm torn. The truth is I would much rather be traumatized by something I'm reading than by reality, which is what has been happening too often lately. Haha... Hope you enjoy it!

>1 Alexandra_book_life: Happy New Thread!

First of all, happy new thread. And as to the trauma experienced at times when reading something immersive, I recall vividly my deeply-felt shock when I hit George R.R. Martin's Red Wedding. I absolutely quit. My son kept nudging me and telling me to keep going. But it really did take awhile.

As you say, take a deep breath.

>8 clamairy: I am enjoying this book very very very much, thank you!

I cannot recommend this series highly enough (all imo, of course), but you need to be prepared to be traumatized. A lot...

>9 Karlstar: Thank you very much :)

>10 jillmwo: Thank you very much :)

I can understand the Red Wedding trauma! I must confess I never warmed to the books, though, I DNF'ed the first one. But I did like the series a lot, up to the last season. My husband was disappointed and refused to watch the last two episodes, and I was ok with that. We must be some of the few people out there who have no idea how the show ended, lol.

>13 Alexandra_book_life: It's fine, the show ended in a stupid way. You're not missing anything.

>14 reconditereader: I suspected as much ;)

Oh, wow. The Ringed Castle - done!

“There is a prospect of employment, entertainment, and riches, but I can guarantee none of it, and least of all your personal safety.”

This goes for both the characters and readers of Dunnett’s books! And I wanted this book to last a very long time. It’s an interesting creature, this fifth novel. It’s a more introspective one, more thoughtful, with more focus on Lymond. The writing is impeccable, with descriptions and scenes that are pure magic. Of course, we were also treated to some great action, tension, heartbreak, and layers of intrigues in a nail-biting plot. But they were all toned down (somewhat) and tamed (a little).

Lymond has emotional damage and baggage aplenty from the previous books. Dunnett decided to put him under a magnifying glass here, and study how he handles it. Or, rather, how he is not handling it. I lost count of all the times I wanted to hit Lymond on the head. With a shovel. The Lymond solution is to deny and destroy his humanity, deny family, deny friends. Throughout the book, people try to save him, in any way they can (sometimes clumsily), while Lymond kicks, bites, and screams “don’t tell me what to do”. Naturally, the latter is put much more beautifully, as verbal arrows to the heart.

If you plan to lose your humanity, then Ivan the Terrible’s court is a great place to do it in. So, Lymond and his men come to the service of the Tsar of All Russia. Violently. Brutally. I wanted to hide under the table every time anyone was talking to Ivan the Terrible. Especially Lymond. They were well-matched, but it was like watching someone trying to cuddle with a wild boar.

I love those Dunnett phrases, though:
“The princes, probing a little now with the chilly delicate probing, might have been empty of all things but malice.”

Dunnett is remarkably clear-eyed about Russia, the Orthodox Church, and the things they make Lymond do, to himself and others. Reading this today, I was thinking how unintended things seep into really good books and take a life of their own.

The English court was as fascinating and poisonous as ever, and I loved Philippa in it. There were so many clever, witty, challenging conversations that made my brain very happy. Philippa continues to meddle, meddle, meddle, with the best intentions in the world. I did want to hit her on the head too. But her intrigue skills are getting better, and I like her character arc very, very much.
Here is Philippa, explaining her meddling to Lymond:
“It’s my business because I love your family and you love your own, stately, self-perpetuated miseries.”

The very poignant ending made me want to grab the next book and take a break, all at once.

5 stars, of course :)

Some Desperate Glory - done!

A book club pick :)

How about an action movie? How about a ride through a far-future universe where Earth had been obliterated in an interstellar war?

Some of the remaining humans live on Gaea Station, a grim and desolate place built from the remains of four space dreadnoughts. Here, the last soldiers of humanity are bred and trained for vengeance against those who destroyed their world.

The story centers on Kyr, a genetically enhanced supersoldier who has been brainwashed from birth to serve and exact vengeance. Her life on Gaea Station is tough, but straightforward, until her brother Magnus disappears, and she is assigned to the Nursery, destined to become breeding stock until she dies. Kyr refuses. She escapes with the help of her brother's geeky friend Avi and a captive alien named Yiso. Once Kyr leaves the only world she has ever known behind, she begins to think about things she has never thought of before. Secrets unravel and realizations hit. What follows is a journey across multiverses and timelines.

Adventures, escapes, dangers, and rescues fly by in quick succession, making it difficult to put the book down. There is also shadowspace technology, which bends time and space, and Wisdom, a god-like AI to end all AI’s. All this sci-fi magic keeps the story going, even if the tech runs on "pure narrativium."

I think that Kyr's character development is what keeps the book together. The reader first sees her as an unlikeable "best fascist girl scout," brainwashed and rigid in her beliefs. Watching her question her conditioning, make bad choices, and ultimately find her strong moral core is fun and satisfying. Kyr's relationship with Yiso, the alien, was touching, as she slowly began to see them as a person rather than an enemy. Unfortunately, the other characters are mainly there to advance the plot and make Kyr react to things. Some of the things they do come out of nowhere (I know, I know, we must think of the plot).

The themes of overcoming cultish conditioning, the abuse of power, and the impact of colonialism are done well for such a fast-paced book. The author does a pretty good job of depicting a fascist society/cult and the psychological manipulation that comes with it. Also, the description of sexual abuse and its consequences is handled with care. However, the balance between these themes and maintaining the action-packed nature of a space opera is not always perfect. Tesh does not address the ethical and psychological implications of certain events. The large-scale destruction that occurs multiple times felt very "videogamey". It might have made me facepalm and cringe, if I was reading slower.

Despite these flaws, "Some Desperate Glory" kept me hooked, and I wanted to know what happened next. Is this book worth a read? Definitely, just don’t expect a sci-fi masterpiece. But you will be entertained!

3.7, rounded up to a weak 4 stars.

P. S. I am puzzled by the Hugo nomination.

>17 Alexandra_book_life: I was disappointed with this one, and agree with a lot of your reservations. I wanted more and better worldbuilding, but it always felt like nothing more than a sketchy backdrop to Kyr's story.

>18 Sakerfalcon: Yes, I expected something more from this book. I think the author's ambitions did not quite keep up with the execution.
It did alright as an action flick ;)

Death's Lady - done!

A warrior from a grim fantasy world needs a psychiatrist.

Daniel has a new patient. She is angry and violent, and refuses to speak. Once she does, she says that her name is Tenai, and tells tragic stories of a different world, where she had waged a vengeful war for 400 years. Daniel thinks these stories are metaphors and symbols, of course. (Fantasy readers: yeah, right, mwahaha.)

The conversations between Tenai and Daniel are riveting and well done. They are emotional and frightening.

“I think I had forgotten until I came here that other people also have memory following at their heels like hounds behind the deer.”
“You give me new eyes, doctor, and I thank you, but how am I to endure this new sight you have given me?”

Tenai’s tentative journey towards peace is a great one to follow.

I really liked the novella between books 1 and 2 of the trilogy, in which Tenai is building a new life for herself. The POV’s are Tenai’s employer and Jenna, Daniel’s daughter. I knew from the blurb that Daniel, Tenai, and Jenna will be transported to Tenai’s world. After this novella, I didn’t want this at all. Why couldn’t everyone just get on with their lives and do the found family thing? Oh, well.

Books 2&3 are full of deadly intrigue and danger. This is a grim and strange world, but there are good people here too. Modern people are out of their depth here, and I liked how the author explored this trope. Daniel and Jenna have to be brave, in ways that are new to them both. At the same time, the author never lets the readers forget the cost of violence.

I liked Jenna’s and Emel’s eventful “roadtrip”!

“How is it,” Jenna muttered to Emel, “that we keep winding up disarmed and surrounded? I think we must be doing something wrong. Next time I want to be the one with the weapons and the superior attitude.”

Coming home is not easy for Tenai – when you are transported back to places where you experienced so much trauma, what happens? There is a lot of darkness and heartbreak, and Tenai has to find her humanity again, more than once.

The ending is very nice :)

Overall, the writing, plotting and storytelling are not as polished as in the Tuyo series. As it sometimes happens with independently published books, there were a few strange sentences and turns of phrase. I didn’t mind. Neimeier excels at character interactions and poignant dialogue, and this is what kept me reading. I don’t think I can recommend these books to readers who are new to Neumeier, though. Read Tuyo books instead! (Then you will probably be able to cut the author a lot of slack, he he.)

I must say that I enjoyed this trilogy a lot more than my previous read – traditionally published and well-edited Some Desperate Glory.

929 pages that were worth my while ;)

4 stars!

>20 Alexandra_book_life: I knew from the blurb that Daniel, Tenai, and Jenna will be transported to Tenai’s world. After this novella, I didn’t want this at all. Why couldn’t everyone just get on with their lives and do the found family thing?

It's distressing when an author pulls apart a nice little grouping, isn't it? I sympathize. One wants to be able to go back and re-capture the happy atmosphere. (Even if the ending of the follow-up did turn out well.)

>21 jillmwo: Thank you :) I was disappointed in a very silly way, despite having expected this, lol.

I still enjoyed the two books set in the fantasy world.

>20 Alexandra_book_life: I’ve got this in my TBR. Been saving it for when I think I’m in right mood for it and when trendier stuff is failing to entice me.

>23 ludmillalotaria: Nice to know! I hope you will enjoy it. You need to be in the right mood for the trendy stuff, too :)

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years - done!

.A book club pick :)

“In an old wardrobe a djinn sits weeping.” This is the kind of first sentence that makes you go “oh, I want to read this.” The writing pulled me in and made me happy, as images formed in my mind, colourful and vivid.

The year is 2014, and young Sana and her father Bilal move into an old, dilapidated mansion on the coast of South Africa. The house had been turned into a tenement building. Father and daughter have tragedies in their past. Their neighbours are hilarious, atrocious, eccentric, and very very human. I liked getting to know them all.

There’s something about the house… It has secrets. No one can tell Sana who had lived in the house before. Sana is curious, she finds strange things, explores and asks questions. The mystery envelops Sana and becomes part of growing-up and dealing with her darkness.
It’s been a while since I read a book where magical realism sparkled so, and felt so natural. There are ghosts, spirits, and strange things reaching out from beyond our reality.

In the second timeline (1919-1932), we follow the story of the family who had lived in the house. For a while, these characters were not as vivid as people in the modern timeline. They bored me a bit. In the latter part of the book, they too began to shine. Saying more would be a spoiler, and I must let Sana uncover the secrets herself. There will be love, heartbreak, horror and grief.

I have to complain, though: I wonder why the Hindi and Tamil words and phrases scattered here and there were not translated? Having them was very nice, but I got distracted every time I had to ask Google for help.

But this is a minor complaint. Shubnum Khan told me a good story and I am grateful.

I’ll just finish with a passage I really liked:

“It is as if the music has seen something in the distance and is jogging towards it with hands outstretched. The notes fall faster like they are racing across a field toward a break in some fence. They run and run and the music leaps off the keys into the air, where it spreads open like a bird in flight.”

4 stars!

>25 Alexandra_book_life: Ah, yes. Having to look things up while reading can rip you right out of that world. Glad you enjoyed it, though.

>26 clamairy: This book was easy to like.

Thank you :)

Penric and the Bandit - done!

Pen and Des! 💖

Roz the bandit spots Penric in a tavern. Look, here is a rich traveller! Penric is seeking a remote temple, where valuable things are hidden. Is Roz interested? You bet. Let’s travel together, gullible person.

Well, the problem is that Roz is trying to con and rob Pen and Des, so who is conning who, really?
Des: “So, what, Learned, you want to run him in Penric-circles till he reforms of sheer exhaustion?”

(Me, having known Penric for 13 books: yes, that would work.)

Adventures ensue. As Roz discovers, Penric’s company is exciting in many ways. “Roz thought he might just start dubbing it all sodding magic. They stared each other down. Roz lost.”

This is a novella of redemption, choices, and second chances. Bujold’s stories are always humane. They make me happy.

5 stars! (Do you even have to ask?)

>28 Alexandra_book_life: I'm so happy to hear they hold up that far into the series!

>29 clamairy: These books are such a pleasure!

Finished another issue of Clarkesworld - Clarkesworld Issue 210

A pretty average issue: there were some good stories, some meh stories, and just one story that I rated above 4.5.

Hello! Hello! Hello! by Fiona Jones - a lovely first contact story. It’s this author’s first published one :) I liked it, 4.2 stars.

Phosphorescence by Ben Berman Ghan - a story about a post-climate apocalypse world in which the privileged are trying to save themselves and the rebels that want a different future. Good stuff. 4 stars.

Nine Beauties and the Entangled Threads by D.A. Xiaolin Spires - a pair of friends are trying to understand why forests are dying and send bots in. There are also themes of family, loss, and friendship. 4 stars.

A Brief Oral History of the Zopilote Dock by Alaya Dawn Johnson - the USA is no more, and some of the new states are white supremacist and dystopian. People are fighting back. This is brilliant and visceral. 5 stars.

One Flew Over the Songhua River by Qi Ran - a story of a family mixed with space exploration. It was alright, but nothing special. 3 stars.

Her Body, The Ship by Z. K. Abraham - a generation ship horror fever dream story. I did not enjoy the writing at first, but I liked how everything came together. 3.9 stars.

Geminoid by Malena Salazar Garcia - a very creepy and terrifying story of androids who are organ donors. 4.2 stars.

Swarm X1048 - Ethological Field Report: Canis Lupus Familiaris, “6” by F. E. Choe - alien intelligences observe and document life on deteriorating Earth and fall in love with a dog. It’s meant to be poignant, but I wasn’t very impressed. 3 stars.

3.4 stars overall, rounded up to 3.5 :)

The Emperor's Soul - done!

I decided to read “The Emperor’s Soul” because I wanted to dip my toes into Sanderson's universe without committing to lots of very-very-very lengthy series. I’m glad I did.

We are in a mighty, but corrupt empire. The world-building is not a primary focus in this novella, but it is clear that Sanderson knows more than he tells the reader – it feels like there is a larger universe beyond the borders of the book, a universe that feels lived-in and real. The writing is not immediately gripping, but it gradually drew me in.

Shai is a con artist, an art forger, and a Forger—a practitioner of a unique form of magic (it resembles programming, which is cool) that can alter reality by rewriting the past of objects and people. When Shai is caught by the imperial officials, she is given an offer she can't refuse: to use her skills to save the emperor, Ashravan, who has been gravely injured. What follows is a difficult, delicate, and dangerous job.

This story is an adventure of the mind – we get to know Shai, while the task she had been assigned transforms her. I really liked Shai’s interactions with one of the emperor’s advisors, Gaotona – they form a bond almost despite themselves.

We dive into forgeries and truth, integrity and honesty. Can something false become a better kind of truth and bring something good with it? That’s an excellent question...

I will look for other books by Sanderson :)

4.5 stars!

>32 Alexandra_book_life: That one is my favorite of his. I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

>32 Alexandra_book_life: I'm with >33 clamairy: on this one. Of everything I've read by Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul is the most exquisitely rendered text. (And I really liked Elantris as well.)

>33 clamairy: Thank you! Nice to know :)

>34 jillmwo: Great :) People have recommended both Elantris and The Final Empire to me as my next Sanderson.
What do you think, clamairy, jillmwo? :)

>36 Alexandra_book_life: The Emperor's Soul is set on the same planet as Elantris so it's a natural next step if you want to learn more about the world you just read.

>36 Alexandra_book_life: What >37 Narilka: said.

>37 Narilka: >38 clamairy: Sounds good, thank you :)

Currently reading: Checkmate, being the last book of Lymond Chronicles.

I'm sad because the series will come to an end. I'm sad because I will never experience these books for the first time again. I'm happy because there will be rereads. I'm happy because of the sheer reading pleasure.
17% in, so I have a lot left to read, yay :)

Let me share some quotes:

“Adam had reminded him that the French court was notorious for licence, and had hinted that Lymond’s offences in Madame la Maréchal’s eyes were partly to do with her husband. Her husband, Danny gathered, had not been offended: rather the contrary. The same appeared to be true of Messrs the Vidame, the Marquis d’Enghien and the Prince of Condé.”

"To escape them would be a miracle. To try to escape them with wit and grace and all that civilization could add to an occasion essentially barbarous was her care, her delight, and her intention."

>40 Alexandra_book_life: I really need to get to this series. It sounds like my kind of historical fiction.

>41 libraryperilous: I hope you will enjoy it! :)

I am still making my way through the drama of Checkmate.
Coming across this was delightful:
(this is one character being quite exasperated by another)

He lay in bed, worrying.
Elephants gave you less bother, any day.

#thereisalwaysanelephant

Yay.

>43 Alexandra_book_life:
I am so proud of your Elephant Awareness.

>44 pgmcc: Thank you :))) I do try.

Finished Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands

Some thoughts:

I loved Kate Beaton’s Hark! A vagrant and Step Aside, Pops, I have them both in my bookshelf.

This memoir is very different. The year is 2005. Kate has student loans and no job to pay them with. So, oil sands of Alberta it is, because this is where the money is. This is the side of Canada you will not see in tourist guides, I suppose. (In 2019, National Geographic described it as “the world’s most destructive oil operation”.)

The drawing style and the storytelling are excellent. They hit you, both visually and reading-wise.

The work camps are tough. There is loneliness, there is isolation, the work is hard. And the men outnumber women 50 to 1. The sexism and the harassment are so casual, the gendered violence is always there, underneath the surface. We see toxic masculinity hurting everyone, no matter the gender. Kate thinks a lot about whether it’s the people who are twisted or if it is the place that twists them. There’s no answer.

This is a difficult book to read. Terrible things happen, and how the trauma effects Kate is chilling to watch.

And when Kate decides to speak up about some things… “And listen, you knew this was a man’s world when you came, it’s not always nice.” Well, aren’t we grateful for nice and understanding management. It makes you furious.

Sometimes you fight back with humour:

“Are those your… feminine products…”
“They are.”
“Do you want to… close your bag.”
“No, I like how they make men uncomfortable.”

There is also kindness, precious instances of friendship, support, and the beauty of Northern Lights. It’s not a black and white world.

The author’s afterword is written with sorrow and love.

4.5 stars

A Matter of Oaths - done!

A book club pick that I couldn’t quite embrace ;)

This book was endorsed by Becky Chambers, one of my favourite authors, so I ended up suggesting it for my book club.

This is a space opera, set in a universe with two interstellar empires locked in low-grade war. There is also a Guild of “webbers”, those who operate “the web”, controlling space ships via a mind-machine link (a trope that I like very much). The Guild is supposedly independent, offering its services to both empires.

Bhattya, a famous patrol ship, is looking for a new officer. Enter Rafe, a talented webber. It seems that he had done something nasty ten years ago and had his identity wiped as punishment. He needs a new commission, and can’t get one. Bhattya’s crew can’t possibly want him, and Rafe’s personality isn’t helping matters. Of course, Rallya the commander is curious. Of course Rafe gets the berth, come on. We want a book to happen, don’t we? Naturally, Rafe’s backstory is not what is seems, so we’ll get reveals, assassination attempts, space battles, spies, kidnappings, daring rescues and stakes going up, up, up. The pacing is uneven, however. The first half of the book drags, and it took me a while to get fully engaged. But once the plot picks up, it becomes more fun. Unfortunately, the latter half of the book also features the most boring and undramatic space battle I ever had the privilege to read about. Also, there are too many coincidences and things left unexplained.

Rafe, the main POV character, is intriguing as he regains his memories and uncovers his true identity. However, the other characters, feel flat and serve primarily to drive the plot forward. The book wants to be a character-driven story as well as a fast-paced space adventure, and it doesn't work. But there is a lot of banter that was very enjoyable:

“Why do I have this insane urge to duck whenever I am in the same room as these two?” Vidar asked Joshim in a loud whisper.
“That’s not insanity. That’s self-preservation,” Joshim answered.

Published in the 1980s, the novel is ahead of its time, depicting a queernormative society with a lot of sexual freedom. Most of the cast are POC, and the commander of Bhattya is a woman in her 60s— a rarity in sci-fi even today. There is a but: this is a case of the author having great ideas, but the time she was writing in/conditioning/something else was preventing her from writing about them without sometimes leaving the reader with an icky feeling. For example, referring to somebody’s partner as “your pretty boy” is not ok.

When it comes to world-building, I think that there is too much of it for such a short book, everything is crammed in. The building-blocks fit together clumsily, and as a reader, I wanted more detail and explanations. This story would have benefited from being told over several books, more leisurely, with more time to explain and get the action right.

In summary, the author tries to do many things, and only succeeds in some areas. I would probably cautiously recommend this one anyway, for being progressive for its time and as an entertaining read.

This is either a very weak 4 stars or a strong 3 stars. I’ll go for 3.5.

>47 Alexandra_book_life: Interesting. It sounds like it was groundbreaking, but I will probably skip it.

>48 clamairy: I don't regret reading this book, but it's perfectly all right to skip it :)

I finished another Clarkesworld - Clarkesworld issue 211

A very nice issue, with mostly good to excellent stories! I was very pleased with it.

The Lark Ascending by Eleanna Castroianni - a robot household assistant takes care of a family and their memories. Good one! 4.3 stars.

An Intergalactic Smuggler’s Guide to Homecoming by Tia Tashiro - Does everything the title promises! Fun! 4.5 stars.

The Indomitable Captain Holli by Rich Larson - irreverent adventures with high stakes, involving two self-sufficient skyscrapers in an apocalyptic wasteland; the skyscrapers are run by glitchy AI’s. Fun, scary, really good. 4.7 stars.

The Arborist by Derrick Boden - a team of terraformers is making a planet ready for human refugees. This one raises ethical questions that I’ve seen in sci-if countless times. Not my kind of story. 3.7 stars.

The Rambler by Shen Dacheng - a walking bridge! Quirky and quite lovely. 4.5 stars.

Occurrence at O1339 by Kelly Jennings - a first contact story, with a twist. Cool, fun, funny. 4.5 stars.

The Oldest Fun by Natalia Theodoridou - strange and dark. I don’t know what I think of it, but 4 stars it is.

4 stars overall :)

Checkmate, Part V, Chapter 9:

"What about it, Archie? No elephants."
"You'll not have noticed," said Archie Abrnethy. "But there havena been any elephants since Stamboul, and I've had that many backsides in my face since, that I've never missed them."

I love these characters, but I think they're wrong: #thereisalwaysanelephant

I finished Checkmate!

I’m done. Oh. A confession: I was reading the book slower than I could have. Yes, life happened. But I was also scared shitless of the ending, whatever is was going to be – because I know Dunnett by now, and because I didn’t want the series to end.

First, let me tell you about Dunnett character arcs. The characters climb, overcome, develop in amazing ways. Once they have climbed to a top of some kind, the author puts up a foot and kicks them from behind. You watch the flight down, gloriously rendered. Sometimes, unexpectedly, there is someone there to catch them. Sometimes there isn’t.

In this book Dunnett takes every cliche of a historical romance novel, dresses it up beautifully, then throws it in the reader’s face, laughing maniacally. It wasn’t at all what I expected, not after the emotional complexity of a very different kind in the previous books. This is what Dunnett is about, I suppose: subverting every expectation and breaking your heart in the process.

The above doesn’t mean that this novel is not complex – the intrigues, the court shenanigans, the adventures, the military campaigns are all great. And so is when the characters are being their own worst enemies. Yes, I am looking at you, Lymond, I have my shovel and I will not hesitate to use it.

Dunnett is so good at creating a rich tapestry. It is wonderful when viewed from a distance. And when you look closer, you find scenes and chapters that are pure genius. I loved: the assassins in the fog in Lyon; Lymond playing an apple-seller; the Antique Triumph staged for the heroes of Calais by the City Fathers of Paris – what a delicious disaster.

Lymond coming to terms with… everything is an interesting, emotional, and very bumpy journey. I have to say that his family’s closets must be very crowded. All those skeletons! Hear them snap their jaws at each other. Snappity-snap.

With Philippa, I’ve come a long way: from screaming “Philippa the brat!” at the book to “Go, Philippa, you’re awesome!” She is awesome in this book too – but a lot less so after dissolving into a love-sick sacrifice. I have a bone to pick with Dunnett for reducing her to trauma and a single emotion. Well, there is always this:

“Your self-esteem has had a lifetime of steady attention,” said Philippa abstractedly.

“You haven’t enough artillery, have you?”
“Against you or the Germans?” said Lymond.

“My dear man,” Philippa said. “It seems to me that you have no spirit left but the spirit of resentment.”

The melodrama, did I mention the melodrama? It’s intense. My dramameter broke. (Do I send the bill to the Dorothy Dunnett Society?) Dunnet’s writing makes it work. Amazingly, she also makes the soap opera events and reveals of the last chapters work. Satisfying, I tell you.

A few more favourite quotes, and I am almost done, without having said half of the things I want to say:

“You cannot love any one person adequately until you have made friends with the rest of the human race also. Adult love demands qualities which cannot be learned living in a vacuum of resentment.”

“If one believes in God, but has learned not to pray, one offers only, in silence, one’s apologies, and then asks the spirit to do what it can.”

“More than your death I fear mine; because you would be left here to mourn for me. More than your love I want peace for you; so better your need of me died, then it should become unendurable.”

And now I want to go back to the beginning and reread the whole thing!

This series is a milestone in my reading life :)

5 stars. Naturally.

>52 Alexandra_book_life: I definitely need to put this series on my TBR list. I'm almost afraid to, though...

>53 clamairy: This is a series that asks a lot of its readers. The reward is worth it, though ;) (I think...)

>54 Alexandra_book_life: Sounds like the perfect Winter weather read. Like many people I have a tendency to read some fluffier stuff in the Summer.

>55 clamairy: I think it would be a good fit for winter!

This Charming Man - done!

The staff of The Stranger Times is back! They can teach everyone a thing or two about how to get more chaos in your life. Banecroft the boss in being himself again:
“You’ve all got until I come back from having a pee to get what we will laughingly refer to as your thoughts in order.”

There is a plot afoot. It involves vampires, and vampires don’t exist, according to the people belonging to the shady magical side of reality. So, what’s happening? Our intrepid journalists investigate and get themselves into various messes. Actually, I am against vampires in my fiction (I find them both too scary and too uninteresting), but I can make an exception for The Stranger Times. Oh, and DI Sturgess is also back (how nice), investigating vampires.
I liked Cog, a new character – he is cursed with only telling the truth. He is hilarious, I’d love to see more of him.

The balance between the scary supernatural stuff and the sarcastic humour was done better here than in the first book. I appreciated that.

The solution to the mystery was not that interesting, I thought, but it was certainly fitting. The way there was fun, though!

The ending makes you want to read the next one in the series. I will, I will, I promise.

A few more quotes:

“What kind of idiot takes advice from a drunk person, even if that person is themself?”

“Hannah could now also add being laughed at by a dog to her ever-expanding list of new experiences.”

“As always, your hilarity is matched only by your personal hygiene.”

P.S. Banecroft’s blunderbuss is named Chekhov. This is delightful.

4 stars :)

>57 Alexandra_book_life:
These books are great fun.

>57 Alexandra_book_life: Yes, definitely better than the first one. I'm glad you enjoyed it, too. The third one is even better, IMHO.

>57 Alexandra_book_life:
Hear! Hear! to what >59 clamairy: said.

>58 pgmcc: >59 clamairy: I am looking forward to reading the rest :) Thank you!

Glorious Exploits - done! Somebody mentioned it here at the pub, and I am very grateful. I hope you know who you are, it was an excellent BB :)

A book club pick :)

Irreverently written, fun, poetic, heartbreaking, tragic and hopeful historical novel. It is inspired by a few lines in Plutarch: after the disaster of the Sicilian expedition during the Peloponnesian wars, the Syracusans put their Athenian prisoners in a quarry, to slowly die; the prisoners got food if they could recite a few lines from Euripides.

.“Let’s go down and feed the Athenians. The weather is perfect for feeding Athenians.”
That’s Gelon and Lampo talking. Their dialogues are a hoot, especially in the beginning of the book, and yet we are in a rough world, a terrible place. These are not perfect people, they are not epic heroes. They are just very human and it feels good to read about them.

They come up with a plan: let’s stage a production of Medea in the quarry, starring the prisoners. While we are at it, let’s throw in The Trojan Women as well. (This is when I think of the orchestras of Auschwitz and shudder. I think the author understands this.)

"Fear not, for I come not to torment, though you do deserve tormenting. I come to engage you in a theatrical performance!”

“… sit and listen to this starved bastard, half his body covered by rocks, and as we listen, something happens. The voice and words blend so that what he is blends, and he becomes two things at once, a starving Athenian, yes, but something else, hidden, then rising.”

There is both horror and beauty in that first rehearsal. This book is about many things; the power of art and what it can do to and for people is one of them. As the play takes shape, something marvellous begins to happen.

I liked the subplot with Lampo and Lyra. This is not romance, but it’s as good as it can get, at that time and place, in this bad situation, with these people.

It’s impressive how Ferdia Lennon makes his irreverent style become poetic and beautiful. The description of the performance is brilliant. The tragedy on stage is followed by a tragedy in real life (this can’t be a surprise; so, it’s not a spoiler, I think). Then we land in an impossible, crazy fever dream, full of heartbreak and hope.

At the very end, we meet Euripides, who “… believed the world a wounded thing that can only be healed by a story.”

This is a good book. Read it.

5 stars!

>57 Alexandra_book_life: BB for me!

>62 Alexandra_book_life: That cover alone is worth a belly laugh! I did some dredging and I can't find any mention of it in this group, but it looks as though a bunch of people in the 75 Book Challenge group have read it.

>63 majkia: Happy to hear it! I hope you will like it:)

>64 clamairy: The cover is brilliant!

I might have seen it mentioned in the 75 Book Challenge then, I dive into it sometimes :)

>62 Alexandra_book_life: I already knew I wanted to read this but your review has made that desire even stronger. I will getting this as soon as it's released in paperback.

>67 Sakerfalcon: Nice to know! I hope you will enjoy it :)

Eclipse by Keiichiro Hirano - done!

A strange and satisfying novella. It has a style that I am not used to in Japanese fiction – the sentences are long, flowing, colourful. You will need to absorb them slowly and patiently.

Eclipse reminded me of The Name of the Rose – that is, if the latter was a fever dream. In 1482 a young Dominican priest scholar named Nicolas is traveling through France, looking for a complete manuscript of
Corpus Hermeticum. Nicolas believes that his mission in life is to reconcile Christianity to “pagan” philosophy. There is a lot of such dichotomy and duality in the book - Christian vs pagan, mind vs body, sin vs God, world of flesh vs the divine, female vs male, etc. Can we meld and reconcile?

Nicolas has a habit of thinking deeply about everything he sees. There is a lot of theology and Christian philosophy that an unwary reader might drown in. (I had to quickly refresh my memory on Thomas Aquinas and Willian of Ockham.)

For no particular reason other than curiosity, Nicolas decides to stop at a remote village to visit an alchemist. His interactions with the villagers are very nicely written, and the descriptions are beautiful.

“… we passed three young women who had come flying out of the building. They were all dressed in long white gowns whose hems, flipping in the wind, were like clumps of earth kicked up by galloping horses.”

There is another Dominican there, an inquisitor who carries Bernard Gui’s Inquisitor’s Manual everywhere with him. (Hello again, The Name of the Rose.)

The geometrical layout of the village might carry a deeper meaning and there is a bridge where people have seen ghosts. Nicolas’ first meetings with Pierre the alchemist are powerful and poetic.

Then we go into a territory which is very weird, very disturbing, and impactful. Horrible things happen. There might be a hint of an explanation at the end, but this is up to the reader to determine.

Having finished, I am left with the feeling of wonder and a conviction of having been elsewhere.

This is not a book for every kind of reader. But I am glad that I have read it.

P.S. The preface summarises the plot in great detail. I realised this in time and skimmed forward in panic, as I wanted to go in blind. You’ve been warned :)

Huge thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!

5 stars

>69 Alexandra_book_life:. Sounds interesting, albeit rather dark. Did the publisher indicate whether this a new translation of the work?

>70 jillmwo: It has never been translated into English before, apparently.

In Japan, it made quite a stir when it was published in 1998 and won the Akutagawa prize.

Paladin's Hope - done!

Crazy murderers! Deathly traps! Danger! Banter! Awesome gnoles! Adorable romance!

I think this might be my favourite book in this series so far. I am happy that Galen got a book. (I am keeping my fingers crossed for each paladin to get a book.) I love Galen, and it was about time he got paired off.

Piper is a doctor. He is a lich-doctor, to be exact. That means that he is a forensic pathologist in a fantasy universe, and deals with terrible things on a daily basis. I want to give Piper a hug.

“He didn’t mind living people, he was perfectly happy to meet them and talk to them and even work with them, but corpses never, ever asked stupid questions.”

The city guard finds a body in the river. And another. And another. Due to various circumstances, Piper, Galen, and Earstripe the gnole go off to investigate. Earstripe is awesome and cool, and I hope to see more of him in later books. (Please, dear author?)

The three go through many scary things together. The book gets pretty dark. But it wouldn’t be T. Kingfisher if there weren’t lots of chuckle-worthy dialogues and situations. I had so much fun. Galen and Piper are adorable and I loved them together. Naturally, according to the ancient tradition of romance novels, it takes them forever to figure each other out. (“He cannot possibly like me” and “I might put people in danger, so I’d better not get close to anyone” go on and on and on.) Things do get steamy.

While we go through the romance process, there are many fun quotes to enjoy:

“Generally it takes longer for me to make a fool of myself in front of good-looking men. I’m getting more efficient.”

“No, no, I love it when handsome men hug me for not being dead.”

Are you in any doubt about the destination? Well, the ending is very nice, with a cliffhanger in the epilogue :)))

4.5 stars :)

>72 Alexandra_book_life: Another one to look forward to. Glad you enjoyed it so much!

>72 Alexandra_book_life: I need to bump that series higher up in my priority. It sounds fun.

>73 clamairy: It was a feel-good book :)))

>74 Narilka: It is a lot of fun!

I also think it's a good idea to space out these books a bit. The romances might blur together otherwise ;)

Mercy of Gods - done!

A book club pick, and a very dark space opera

A team of brilliant researchers on the planet of Anijin are embroiled in very familiar and unsettling academia politics. If you ever had anything to to with research, these opening chapters might give you unwelcome flashbacks.

The narrative shifts gears quickly, as the alien race known as the Carryx invade. It’s chilling and harrowing. Many die, many are captured. Humans are shipped to the colossal ziggurat-like world-cities, where prisoners of many species all work for the Carryx. (They are all together in the same place! Breathing the same air! I have yet to read a space opera where anyone has an immune system! But I digress.) The insectoid Carryx have a terrifyingly utilitarian view of the universe and subjugate or destroy other beings based on their “usefulness”. The research team is reunited and must navigate a deadly and alien place. They don’t understand how the Carryx think. They are traumatized. Their traumas change them. They must make horrible choices.

I think that the characters, while well-written, are vehicles for the plot and the book’s themes rather than people that always feel real. Still, it is easy to root for them. I found Dafyd most interesting – he observes, he has ideas, he has to face moral dilemmas. It seems that he will have a significant role in the rest of the series. My favourite character was the alien swarm, though!

This is my first book by James S.A. Corey. It didn’t make me want to rush out and buy the famous Expanse series, but I am interested to see where this particular story is going. I still have some questions about things that didn’t quite make sense…

Quotes I liked:
“If there was a war coming, it would find them gardening.”

“The revelation was so obvious now that he had it. Even in prison, people indulged in affairs or fell in love. Even in prison, he could be surprised by moments of unexpected beauty.”

4 stars

Catching up on LT, I very much enjoyed your thoughts on the Lymond series. I also felt it was a milestone. I have two more Nicolo books which I intend to finish this year. So challenging, so satisfying!

>78 littlegeek: "Challenging and satisfying" is a great description of Dunnett's books!

Thank you very much :)

Good luck with the Niccolo books. I am looking forward to your thoughts on those!

I finished another Clarkesworld :), Clarkesworld 212

An interesting issue, with mostly good stories and two 5 star ones :)

Fishy by Alice Towey - a little robot helps a bereaved daughter with her inheritance. Cute, very nice! 4 stars.

The Portmeirion Road by Fiona Moore - oh, another story about Morag, how nice. (See Clarkesworld 207) Morag tries to help a sick child and wonders if her robot is sentient. I hope Fiona Moore writes more of these stories! 4.4 stars.

In Which Carruth is Correct by Carolyn Zhao - time loops, regrets, and family. Interesting! 3.8 stars.

The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video by Thomas Ha - a haunting, poignant story of memories and truth, set in a believable near future. Excellent! 4.7 stars.

The Texture of Memory, of Light by Samara Auman - a story about grief, regrets, memory, choices and future tech. For me, something was missing. 3.5 stars.

The Blinding Light of Resurrection by Rajeev Pasad - a story about an unhinged doctor, his wife and their friend. Interesting, but unconvincing. 3.6 stars.

The Weight of Your Own Ashes by Carlie St. George - an alien with multiple bodies is coming to terms with having died and many other things. Absolutely lovely! 5 stars.

Our Father by K. J. Khan - unexpected things had happened during a generation ship’s journey. Poignant, packs a punch in a few pages! 5 stars.

4 stars overall :)

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins - done!

The title is priceless. Unfortunately, this is not a Djinn book.

Here we are in Tal Abisi, a port city in a fantasy world, with all that this entails. It’s an interesting and unique place that I liked very much.

In this universe, there are guilds of assassins that serve a goddess. The assassins are dead (as in dead-dead) and reanimation sorcery is at work. They are not zombies, mind you, they look nice. Sometimes they forget to blink, though. The goddess of assassins is very particular about contracts, so some people are off-limits. (Is the author trying to justify writing a fun book about assassins?)

Eveen the assassin has yet another job to do. Do I need to tell you that it doesn’t go as planned? There is a lot of action! Lots of fighting! Lots of complications! Lots of mysteries! Lots of hilarious dialogue! Lots of black humour!

Case in point: “Her pain threshold would make a masochist blush.” (There are a few advantages to being a dead reanimated assassin.)

There are cool details, such as that Eveen loves to read “Terribles”, which are the penny dreadfuls of this universe. This is hilarious. Also, I don’t know why their gods speak patwah, but I loved it.

I should have had a lot of fun! I expected to have fun. My problems were:

☹️ The book is dark. The cruelty is too casual. This doesn’t always mesh together with the humour. The hilarity started to feel repetitive and grate on me about 30% in.

☹️ When badass undead assassins talk like a clique of high school girls, it gets annoying fast. This makes the supposedly dramatic scenes look ridiculous.

☹️ There was too much world-building crammed into 200+ pages; too much info dumping, too many “oh, by the way” things appearing out of nowhere. Messy.

I loved this author’s Djinn books, so I am hoping to read more of them. This one had a lot of potential, but left me with a strange aftertaste. Many other readers felt differently, so you might like it better than I did :)

3 stars

>77 Alexandra_book_life: That one sounds very interesting, thanks!

>82 Karlstar: You're welcome! I liked it, and the book club discussion was really nice (we all liked it!)

The Daring Young Man on a Flying Trapeze - done!

“If I have any desire at all, it is to show the brotherhood of man.”

I had heard of Saroyan, but in a vague way. So I was very pleased to see a new edition of his short stories on NetGalley.

The setting is the Great Depression. Saroyan is very male-centric in his stories – considering my “usual” reads, I thought it was almost refreshing. A change in perspective is one of the many reasons to love reading, I suppose. I did make sure to go through only a few stories a day, so that I wouldn’t overdose on young men.

Saroyan handles words with such dexterity! Everything is so simple, yet poetic. The writing is quietly explosive, warm, humane, whimsical, incredibly sad. The stories are all very short, they are fragments, vignettes. They are virtually plotless. Some of them are mesmerizing streams of consciousness. There are snapshots of tramps, beggars, prostitutes, flower peddlers, gamblers, struggling young writers. But ultimately, all the stories are about the miracle of being alive.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to review 26 stories, so let me just mention a few.

“The Daring Young Men on the Flying Trapeze” - a young man is starving to death. He is looking for work, but there is no work. “If the truth were known, he was half starved and yet still there was no end of books he ought to read before he died.”

“Seventy Thousand Assyrians” - an aspiring writer goes to get a haircut, watches people and thinks about many things. “I hadn’t had a haircut in forty days and forty nights, and I was beginning to look like several violinists out of work.”

“Love, Death, Sacrifice and so forth” – this one tells the plot of a Hollywood movie (probably a well-known one, unseen by me). It is satirical, funny and sad all at once. “All I know is this: that suicide is not an orderly occurrence with symphonic music.”

“A Curved Line” - a guy goes to an evening art class. Another mixture of whimsical and sad things. (The story is also rather “male-gazey”. Oh well). “The thing that worries me is that my great-grand-children are going to have to listen to “The Blue Danube Waltz” too.”

“A Cold Day” - a young author is freezing by his typewriter. “The man you write of need not perform some heroic or monstrous deed in order to make your prose great.”

Reading these gave me a feeling akin to happiness, despite so much heartbreak. As I looked up from the book after each story, everything and everyone grew sharper, more colourful, more here.

Thanks a lot to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-book!

5 stars :)

>84 Alexandra_book_life: You and I had similar thoughts on that book, but you expressed them much better!
This was my reaction to the read.
"Saroyan has a gift for articulating the thoughts and emotions which the rest of us have worked hard to bury. I especially appreciated his ability to explore the darkest corners of the human mind and still find good in the world and in life."

>85 MrsLee: Oh, I am so happy we both liked it! Thank you so much :)

I think I would like to read more Saroyan.

>84 Alexandra_book_life: You picked some great quotes! I'm sure we can all relate to this “The Daring Young Men on the Flying Trapeze” - a young man is starving to death. He is looking for work, but there is no work. “If the truth were known, he was half starved and yet still there was no end of books he ought to read before he died.”

>87 Sakerfalcon: Oh yes, I agree.

There were many great quotes in this book, it's a pity I couldn't pick them all :) Thank you!

Love Will Tear Us Apart - done!

Another entertaining book in The Stranger Times series!

Familiar characters are here, there are mysteries to solve, ghosts, underground tunnels, supernatural beings, a sinister organisation, weird magic, some pretty terrifying things, and dramatic rescues. And let’s not forget the banter and the humour. These are all great ingredients, and the author mixed them well :)

For the first 15 chapters or so, I had no idea what was going on. It was obvious that Banecroft was not well (or rather, a lot less well than usual). Hannah had suddenly quit The Stranger Times, gave up on her friends, and went to a cult-like rich people retreat. Then things began to make sense (of course). I liked the reveals here a lot better than in This Charming Man. So far, each book in this series had been slightly better than the previous one.

There was too little DI Sturgess, but I was happy to see both Cogs (the guy cursed to tell the truth) and Zeke the dog again.

There isn’t a lot more I can say without spoiling, except that I had a lot of fun and will be reading the next book.

A few quotes:

”Classic just means old, and the reason it’s British is that nobody else in the world ever wanted to buy such a thing.”

“It feels like we’re on our way to dispose of a body and I am worried that it might be mine.”
“Hmmm”, said Betty. “When you put it like that, it sounds bad, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. So where are we going?”
“A graveyard.”

“In the absence of any better weapons, she snatched up her hairbrush and brandished it above her head, ready to unleash some serious haircare.”

4 stars :)

I was on my way to pick up my son after school, and thought I would just quickly dive into the library to return Love Will Tear Us Apart.

"I am not planning to borrow any books at the moment", I said. "There is plenty of reading material on my kindle, including a book club book." It was no use, of course. "I'll just glance at the shelves, it can't hurt..." So I came away with Life After Life and Welcome to Hyunam-Dong Bookshop :)

>90 Alexandra_book_life:
Life After Life is sitting on my bookshelf patiently awaiting my attention. I like Kate Atkinson’s books.

>91 pgmcc: That's good to know! I haven't read anything of hers before.

>90 Alexandra_book_life:. The ones on your Kindle are there as back-up in case of armageddon. Always pick up fresh material.

>93 jillmwo: But of course! :))) That's excellent advice, thank you!

I finished another Clarkesworld, Clarkesworld 213 :)

A wonderful issue! There was only one story here that I had issues (ha ha) with.

Twenty-Four Hours by H. H. Pak- there is a war, but there is love too. Very good! 4.8 stars.

Our Chatbots Said ”I love You,” Shall We Meet? by Caroline M. Yoachim - the future of online dating! Fun and humane story. 4.7 stars.

Artistic Encounters of the Monumental Kind by S.B. Divya - street artists have an adventure. Cool! 4.8 stars.

The Reflection of Sand by Tan Gang - future technology, the ideas of artefacts and memories, enlightenment and Buddhism. Very interesting, but there are too many ideas in one story, it felt disjointed. The writing felt strange, maybe it is a translation issue. 3.7 stars.

Himalia by Carrie Vaughn - a story of leaving home, not leaving home, of coming home. Very good! 4.4 stars.

Bodies by Cat McMahan - of cloning and clones. This is a debut short story, and it is excellent! 4.6 stars.

Off Track by Luc Diamant - school shenanigans ensue when students can carry their personal weather around with them. Delightful! 4.8 stars.

4.5 stars overall :)

I just finished Soviet Milk.

A book club pick!

This was emotionally harrowing, but I am glad that I have read it.

Grandmother, mother, daughter – they are three generations living through the Soviet oppression of Latvia. There are tragedies, broken lives, and for some there is a struggle to build a life despite everything.

The book is written in alternating voices of mother and daughter, creating a haunting duet. Everything feels surreal, with so many things left unsaid. Reading was like finding your way in a suffocating fog. The hypocrisy of being a good Soviet citizen is suffocating, yes: “Soviet absurdity of parallel lives.” People grow unmoored, unhinged.

A different pen might have written a story about a mental illness. Nora Ikstena chose to make an overarching metaphor out of it. I respect this choice. Overall, the book is heavy on metaphor of the “hitting a reader hard on the head” variety. That poor hamster! And Jesse’s duality (what a great character it was) was there for a reason. I am usually not fond of such things, but here, they were fitting and right. They were all part of a claustrophobic whole.

Definitely recommendable.

”It was a tranquil November, the kind that stirs an ache for the past.”

4 stars.

>89 Alexandra_book_life: I'm so glad you enjoyed this one.

>90 Alexandra_book_life: Life After Life is a doozy. I loved it, and I hope you do too!

>97 clamairy: Thank you! I am looking forward to the next Stranger Times book. My library doesn't seem to have it, unfortunately, so I'll see what I can do...

It's nice to know that so many at the pub enjoy Kate Atkinson's books :)

I just finished Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop

So wholesome!

This is a novel full of love for bookshops, books, reading, and people. Yeongju is burned out and leaves her old life behind to open a bookshop. Her bookshop becomes a place for healing – not only for her, but also for the people it brings together. Minjun the barista; Jimi the coffee bean supplier; Jungsuh with her knitting; Seungwoo the blogger; Mincheol the confused teenager… etc. I loved them all. They all have backstories. They are all there for each other, helping each other heal and grow.

I loved the many details sprinkled throughout the book - the handwritten notes Yeongju slips into every book in the bookshop, the book club meetings, the coffee geekiness. They make this book come alive.

At first, I thought the writing felt clunky and simplistic, but it drew me in. Then I began to feel the Korean hiding behind the English and things fell into place. I really liked that some Korean words were not translated (only transliterated), so I had to look them up. It was fun. Glimpses of South Korean society, attitudes, customs were interesting. I thought that there were lots of things between the lines during some conversations that somebody from South Korea would probably pick up on but I did not. It was a bit like seeing a butterfly fly by out of the corner of your eye. You almost see it, and then you don’t. It was a nice feeling.

The chapters are strung together as a slow sequence of events. You might think that this novel is plotless, but every chapter is a piece of a puzzle. Once you take a couple of steps back, you see the whole. I thought it was nicely done.

This book made me very happy.

“Often, she read in search of something. However, she didn’t always know exactly what she was looking for when she turned the first page.”

“A good novel, to Yeongju, was one which would bring her to places beyond her expectations.”

“A life surrounded by good people is a successful life.”

5 wholesome stars :)

>99 Alexandra_book_life: Oh, that sounds wonderful. I think I'll add it to to my teetering OverDrive wishlist. I suspect I will need something calming around the second week of November.

>100 clamairy: I thought it was a healing kind of book!

I've read another issue of Clarkesworld, Clarkesworld 214 :)

A very nice issue, with mostly good stories :)

Every Hopeless Thing by Tia Tashiro - humanity has spread all over the Solar system. Sometimes scavengers come to Earth, a dead planet. One of them discovers something. This is the second story by Tia Tashiro I’ve read in Clarkesworld this year, and I want more. 4.6 stars.

I Will Meet You When the Artifacts End by Amal Singh - loss, hope, and love on a generation ship. Wonderful! 4.8 stars.

The Best Version of Yourself by Grant Collier - Do you want to be happy forever? This is a debut short story and a very creepy and interesting thought experiment. 3.8 stars.

Stellar Evolutions in Pop Idol Artistry by Em X. Liu - pop idols of the far future! Who do you want to be? 4.4 stars.

Aktis Aeliou, or The Machine of Margot’s Destruction by Natalia Theodoridou - you might suppose that this is a First Contact story. It is more than that, of course, and it is dark and magnificent. 4.6 stars.

The Happiness Institute by AnaMaria Curtis - philosophical and creepy story about happiness and the aftermath of war. 3.9 stars.

Born Outside by Polenth Blake - a scary and humane alien invasion story. 4.5 stars.

4 stars overall :)

>99 Alexandra_book_life: That sounds like a good one, I will keep it in mind.

>103 Karlstar: I hope you will enjoy it too :)

Today I found a lot of cheese on sale! So this evening we had brie, morbier and naturally, Saint Agur :)))

On the book side, I am struggling with my current book club pick, Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes. It's supposed to be a fun romp across the galaxy, but the humour falls flat, I don't like the writing, and it's too YA for my taste. I will probably rant about it in due course...

In some desperation, I am about to dilute it by another mystery by Keigo Higashino, Newcomer. At least I know it will be clever!

>105 Alexandra_book_life: Oh... Morbier. I'm so happy for you! That cheese, which is one of my favorites, has gotten almost impossible to get over here now for some reason. I ordered it on iGourmet.com a few years ago, but I haven't seen it on there since.

Well I just did some Googling, and the French seem to have made it impossible for morbier to be produced in any area but one. And because it's aged less than 2 months and it's made from raw milk, it can no longer be sold in the United States.:o(

>106 clamairy: What a pity you can't buy morbier any more!
Is there any chance that the rules might change? Probably not... :(

Chilling Effect - done! (Finally!)

A book club pick!

Sorry, I forgot to turn my brain off.

First things first: when a book promises me psychic space cats, it should deliver. The cats are introduced in a fun scene in chapter 1. There are 20 of them. For the rest of the book, they do absolutely nothing, except show up a couple of times, purr and sit in people’s laps. That alone is two star-worthy!

The rest? We have a badass captain Eva Innocente, her ship, her crew, and their adventures in a standard far future universe with loads of sentient species, spies, mafia, secret organizations, and dangerous alien artifacts. I usually enjoy such a fun romp through the galaxy, but this time I have so many complaints I hardly know where to start.

🤦‍♀️ The plot is a mess. There is too much going on, and it reads more like a series of incoherent episodes. The twists are ridiculous. Let’s throw this in! And now that! And now this jumps out from behind the corner! I am not who you thought I was! Groan. I was booooored.

🤦‍♀️ Tech appears out of nowhere for comedic purposes.

🤦‍♀️ The romance is ridiculous, with embarrassing dialogue. The dialogue that it supposed to be funny? It’s not funny.

🤦‍♀️ The characters are all 16, probably. Yes, I know that the book told me they were adults. No, they are 16, with a suitable emotional and intellectual range. (The book is labelled as YA, it should have told me something.)

🤦‍♀️ There is a lot of Spanish thrown in. I thought it was fun at first. By the end of the book, I was wailing “if I hear anyone say “comemierda”, “comiendo mierda”, or “no te jodas tanto”, I will scream, I swear!”

🤦‍♀️ Silly pop culture references might have been cool, but they are lost in the overall plot mess.

🤦‍♀️ Characters also let out breaths they hadn’t realized they were holding. Authors, please stop doing this.

🤦‍♀️ That maniac unkillable galactic emperor that keeps chasing Eva across the galaxy, showing up when you least want him – just because Eva turned him down at a bar? Beyond ridiculous. What kind of galactic emperor would pick up girls at a seedy bar on a seedy space station? (Palpatine would never… This book had stupid Star Wars references, now I want to do this too!) Also, many die as collateral damage in the pursuit. Eva feels kind of bad about this, but, you know… plot requirements.

😆 Eva has to do assignments for space mafia (yeah, she has to). She suddenly grows more morals after watching a todyk orgy. (Todyk are intelligent dinosaurs. I would read a book about the todyk instead of this one.) “Dinosaur sex, she thought. That is a hell of a place to draw the line.” Eva was supposed to kidnap one of the todyk. So this is a touching moment, lol. This is the only episode I laughed at and liked.

😆 Oh, there was another good line: “They don’t make ancient mystery doors like they used to,” Eva murmured.”

2 stars. One star for dinosaur group sex, one star for all the rest.

>108 Alexandra_book_life: Ouch. At least there were some funny bits. Maybe you shouldn't let that person pick a book again for a very long time.

>109 clamairy: Those funny bits are the reason I gave this two stars and not one :D
The person in question is very nice and had picked good books before, so... :)

>96 Alexandra_book_life: I have this one on kindle. I've read a couple of books from that publisher (Pereine Press) and they have both been harrowing but extremely good.

>99 Alexandra_book_life: This is also on my kindle TBR! There have been a lot of Japanese and Korean novels set in bookshops and libraries translated recently, and I am here for this trend!

>108 Alexandra_book_life: I agree completely with your reaction to Chilling effect. This was a massive disappointment for all the reasons you cite. Especially the lack of psychic space cat action.

>108 Alexandra_book_life: and >111 Sakerfalcon: Can you imagine a literary agent looking at her client and noting that the lack of psychic space cat action is what's keeping them from being a best-selling author? ;>)

>111 Sakerfalcon: It's nice that you have both Soviet Milk and Welcome to Hyunam-Dong Bookshop. I hope you will like them :) I'd love to read more books set in libraries and bookshops!

I am looking forward to the book club discussion about Chilling Effect. It should be... interesting, to say the least.

>112 jillmwo: Ha ha :) "Put more psychic cat action in your books!" That's great advice for aspiring authors :D

Newcomer by Keigo Higashino - done! It was such a relief after my latest book :)

Every mystery by Keigo Higashino does something interesting, something unexpected. The structure of Newcomer was wonderfully done. There is a murder investigation, but we only see glimpses of it. The mystery is intriguing, of course, and I was hooked. But this book is about everyone caught in the aftermath of the murder – chance witnesses, friends, family.

Kaga goes from place to place in the neighbourhood – a rise cracker shop, a traditional Japanese restaurant, a china shop, a clock repair shop, a pastry shop… He talks to people, we see them, learn their stories. He solves their mysteries as an aside in his investigation. Thus Kaga leaves a trail of people coming to terms with things, somebody finding closure, somebody becoming a better person, families discovering secrets that bring them closer together. It is by turns tragic, poignant, touching, and sweet.

I loved Kaga here, even more than in Malice. Higashino let the readers see him from the point of view of so many characters. He came alive, and I admired him so. Clever, humane, cunning and ruthless when necessary.

“He said that the detective in question was very sharp, very eccentric, and, to top it off, very stubborn. I imagine he was talking about you, Detective Kaga?”

I didn’t think about what Kaga looked like in Malice, it was an unnecessary thought for that book. Here, one of the characters remarked that he has a face fit for a samurai tv-drama. From then on, every time Kaga appeared on the page, I thought of Toshiro Mifune. Such fun!

The most touching and wonderful thing about this book is Kaga’s attitude to his work, what he wants to make of it, and what justice means to him.

“Oh, I am investigating the murder; of course I am. But my job as a detective should go beyond that. People who are traumatized by a crime are victims, too. Finding ways to comfort them is also part of my job.”

I am so happy that Keigo Higashino’s books exist.

5 stars

I finished The Seventh Bride :)

I love hedgehogs too.

This is T. Kingfisher’s take on the Bluebeard story, she took a theme and restructured and reimagined it.

Rhea is fifteen, a daughter of a miller. She is suddenly engaged to a lord named Crevan – he came out of the blue and asked for her hand. Something isn’t quite right. Lord Crevan is creepy and weird, but you don’t turn down lords, do you? The family’s helplessness was written very well.

“It was as if the words they spoke were weaving a kind of net, a net of normalcy and propriety and sanity, around a situation that was anything but.”

Crevan invites Rhea for a visit to his manor before the wedding takes place. Everything around her gets darker and stranger. It’s a good thing she met that hedgehog!

“She was still going somewhere terrible, but she had a hedgehog, dammit.”

As in every self-respecting fairy tale, Rhea has to do impossible tasks “or else I’ll marry you.”

The way the hedgehog helps her with the first task is absolutely delicious. I smiled and said “only in a T. Kingfisher book!” Rhea is a very nice character who learns to be brave, but she didn’t have as much agency as I would have liked. Stuff just happens to her and she gets help when she needs it. It is fitting for the fairy tale feel, but in general, I expect want more from T. Kingfisher. All the other characters were much more intriguing.

The ending was nice, but felt a bit rushed. Still, I am satisfied. This was a spooky read with a touch of humour – perfect for Halloween.

A few more cool quotes:

“Potatoes were, for some reason, more prone to fits of random magic than other vegetables.”

”...when your future husband is a mad sorcerer, following a hedgehog sometimes seems like a good option.”

“I would follow this hedgehog into the mouth of hell.”

4 stars :)

>116 Alexandra_book_life: I haven't read T. Kingfisher yet. My feelings from other reviews and comments were that perhaps the writing was a bit more on the horror side than I prefer. But hedgehogs? I may have to try this one.

ETA: Put a mark on your gun barrel, I bought it on Amazon, using my accumulated points, so zero cost. :P

>117 MrsLee: I am not a horror reader, but I do like T.Kingfisher! So I hope you will enjoy her books. (I do want my BB to be a nice one!) It is always great to get a free book, so yay.

>108 Alexandra_book_life: Thanks for taking one for the team! Though the book was horrible, your review was awesome :)

>117 MrsLee: and >118 Alexandra_book_life: I hope there's only a smidgen of horror in The Seventh Bride, a mere frisson. I started to read it as my bedtime book last night.

>120 jillmwo: I don't recall much horror in The Seventh Bride, but the thing about Kingfisher is that even when there's horror, there's also humour. Thinking about one of the Paladin books, described as "a love story with severed heads." That and awesome characters, like Hester in A Sorceress Comes to Call.

>119 Narilka: I did my best! Sometimes can be a lot of fun to rant about horrible books. Thanks a lot :)

>120 jillmwo: There wasn't that much horror, imo. A touch of spookiness, maybe. And just like >121 tardis: said, there is always humour in her books.

The Forger's Requiem - done, phew.

I believe I was promised a literary thriller?

As I was browsing NetGalley, I saw something about rare books, forgeries, and Mary Shelley. Let’s press that “request” button at once!

Ok, so somebody wakes up buried alive, but manages to get out, with amnesia and injuries. “When he tried to scream, his screams were just ideas of screams.” Me: That’s a lot of screams in one sentence! I wonder how this particular read will go…

The guy that got buried alive is named Henry Slader. He is a literary forger who ran afoul of another forger (Will) and his daughter Nicole (who is a talented forger too, what a surprise). Everyone has skeletons in the closet, and lots of family and other secrets will come to light during the course of this book. After revealing that he isn’t dead after all, Slader sort of blackmails Nicole to help him with various forgeries, as well as the forgery of a lifetime – “newly discovered” letters of Mary Shelley. A retired detective, Pollock, shows up, as a cold case, the murder of Nicole’s uncle that happened twenty years ago, will not let him rest. Etc, etc, etc.

There is an interesting story here. Somewhere. Buried deep.

It is buried beneath:

😩 the writing that I could not stomach
😩 unnecessary details
😩 telling without showing
😩 meandering plot
😩 stuff happening out of the blue
😩 hanging threads explained in “oh, by the way” sentences
😩 romance that is just suddenly there
😩 literary allusions badly glued on (what kind of person quotes Emily Dickinson when going to dig up a grave to check if the supposedly dead person is still there???)
😩 the excruciating boredom I felt while reading

When Nicole went to London to do research on Mary Shelley for her forgery project, the book became better for a short while. These pages belonged in a better novel. Reading about Mary Shelley was interesting, and I would like to read more at some point. There was that, at least.
Finishing the book was a chore! I am glad it was short.

Thanks a lot to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

2 stars

>124 Alexandra_book_life: That's interesting. I have read the first two in that trilogy and found that, while there were parts that made me wriggle a little in discomfort, they were sufficiently interesting to get me past the dark aspects. Sorry to hear that the final segment doesn't live up to expectations.

>125 jillmwo: It's nice that you thought the first two books more interesting! This one felt very unpolished and rushed, unfortunately. It worked fine as a standalone, since I haven't read the other books in the trilogy.

>116 Alexandra_book_life: It was fun, right? Not her best, but still entertaining. I just love the humor.

>127 clamairy: It's not my favourite Kingfisher, but I am still glad I read it. It was fun, and a perfect Halloween read.

>128 Alexandra_book_life: Exactly!

The Book That Wouldn't Burn - done!

A book club pick :)

Who wouldn’t love a huge mysterious library?

The world is fascinating, there are characters to root for, the plot is twisting and turning, and the writing is mostly excellent.

We follow two stories, first in parallel, then as they converge, diverge, converge again.

Livira is a child of the desert, her settlement devastated by enemies. She is rescued and brought to Crath, a city of wonders and progress. The knowledge comes from a labyrinthine library, with an infinite number of books. Livira – talented, curious, fierce – becomes a library trainee. The library holds many mysteries and strange creatures inhabit it. There are hints of many worlds, of civilizations rising and falling in cycles, and the library being both a blessing and a curse.

Evar and his siblings are trapped in a vast chamber of a library. They grew up there, raised by two mysterious artificial beings. They are the last remnant of their people, that had fled into the chamber long ago.

This book is about many things: generational trauma, how knowledge can be used and abused, racism and hatred. It is also a love letter to books and reading.

There is a lot of world-building! Things are revealed gradually. By the time I was half way through, I began to wonder whether the book was too long for the story it wanted to tell. Then the plot sped up, and dramatic reveal after dramatic reveal and plot twist after plot twist began to jump at me. Exciting! Towards the very end, though, the narrative began to feel episodic, with things happening too suddenly. The writing and the dialogue took a slight turn for the worse. But this unevenness is not a major complaint. I still love the library, I want to have answers to my unanswered questions, and I want to know what is next for Livira and Evar.

And lastly, some quotes and lovely details:

“Where are you going?”
“To break some more rules.”

“It’s always the books you don’t have that call to you, you know that. Not the ones already on your shelf. They can wait.”

“A good book invites the reader in,” Livira said. “The writer is only half the equation.”

The epigraphs to every chapter are quotes from real and imagined books. The imagined ones are from worlds that are echoes of ours. Could Enanald Byten, who has written over 3000 books, including “Six Go On and On” be Enid Blyton? And there is something from a book written by a Copper Davidfield, lol. The characters mention Babran Cartlode the author... One of the characters has a cat named Wentworth. This is all quite delightful!

Now I am looking forward to getting my hands on the rest of the trilogy and the short stories set between book 1 and 2. Yay.

4 stars :)

>130 Alexandra_book_life: Ohh, golly. That one might be a serious BB. Can I just read the first volume as a stand-alone? Or does it end on a cliffhanger? Trilogies require commitment.

>130 Alexandra_book_life: Oh, that does sound good. Mark Lawrence used to be part of this group back before he hit the big time. I have yet to read anything of his.

>130 Alexandra_book_life: Hit taken. And both the Brisbane and Logan library systems have it.

>131 jillmwo: I am afraid the ending is a cliffhanger! But I find that I can wait a bit before I dive into the second book.
Still, I hope you will like this BB ;)

>132 clamairy: That's cool! I'd like to read more by him, I think.

>133 haydninvienna: Good, good. I hope you will enjoy it :)

>130 Alexandra_book_life: I was drawn to this when it first came out, and I have it on kindle. Now I really need to read it! I loved Lawrence's Red sister trilogy.

>137 Sakerfalcon: Oh, I am glad to hear that you liked his other books! I wish you happy reading :)

I finished Life After Life!

Wow.

This is a unique novel. I’ve read about people being reborn or trying out different lives before, but never like this. Ursula is born in 1910. She dies. She is born again. She dies again… She is born again. The author replays the same events for us in different ways, from different perspectives, over and over again. Sometimes there is a new twist, a new thing happens and Ursula’s life twists in turn. The reader also sees characters from an unexpected angle. And the book is unputdownable. This takes skill. This takes courage, and complete trust in your readers.

It made me think about how fragile the path of an individual fate is, how small things can have enormous consequences.

The characters have life, colour, love, kindness, humour, resilience, bravery, nastiness, awfulness, cruelty. There is so much tragedy. I have spent this week not really living my life, even when I wasn’t reading – I was reliving the Blitz over and over again. I was in Berlin in 1945. This is what good historical fiction, should do, pull you on, giving you a sense of time and place. I feel wrung out.

This book somehow made me a different (better?) person – like a gear inside me, moving slightly. Click.

The ending is precious.

I adored the writing. It’s remarkably humane. Some quotes:

“Hugh blinked at such blunt terminology falling from the lips of his recently virginal bride. (One presumed. One hoped.)”

“A little whimsy never hurt anyone.”
“Strictly speaking though,” Hugh said, “can a house be a corner? Isn’t it at one?”
So this is marriage, Sylvie thought.

”Bridget seemed to spend a lot of time trying to cheer Clarence up. Ursula supposed she was rehearsing for marriage.”

“You should go home, dear,” he said, “the rain’s stopped,” as though it were the rain that had spoiled her night and not the Luftwaffe.

5 stars. Naturally.

>139 Alexandra_book_life: This is the only Kate Atkinson I have read to date. I loved it. There needs to be more Atkinson in my future!

>139 Alexandra_book_life:
I have it on my shelf. I understand it was great and put her on the literary map.

>139 Alexandra_book_life: I am so glad you enjoyed this one as much as I did. I would revisit it, but I don't want to live through the Blitz again, just yet. I do have A God in Ruins on my Kindle, but I haven't been able to face it yet.

>140 ScoLgo: I also need more Atkinson in my future!

>141 pgmcc: "put her on the literary map" - I can certainly see why!

>142 clamairy: Thank you! I took a look at A God in Ruins, but I don't think I'll put myself through it, not just yet.

>139 Alexandra_book_life: Okay, Life After Life was a bona fide BB. I tend to read Atkinson sporadically, but I hadn't been aware of this particular title or the twist you've described. It sounds interesting and I'm taking note. (As in Here, o loving spouse of mine, you're giving me this one for Christmas...)

>146 jillmwo: I'm happy to hear that! I hope the spouse takes note ;)