Books read in 2021 📚 log(book)

Second part of a delightful fic. The rapid setup continues – it doesn't obviously lead anywhere yet, except into romance, but the romance is grown-up and delightful and so I won't complain. Continues the general competency porn.

Of a Linear Circle - Part I

by Flamethrower · published 2017 · read 2021-12-24

Really decent fanfic: The brother of Salazar Slytherin mysteriously falls from his portrait, while Harry Potter has gone missing after is 4th year at school. Nizar, the protrait, continues to oust Umbridge, be a teacher, correct everybody about history, and be pretty badass – with the help of a Severus Snape, whose backstory is kinda neat.

Last First Snow

by Max Gladstone · published 2015 · read 2021-12-20

I keep enjoying the Craft Sequence stuff, even when the lessons are so on the nose it's kinda meh. This is the gentrification one, which is good because we get backstory for Temoc, the priest, and a bit more insight into the King in Red. It's not as strong as the other books, even though I enjoyed the characters more, but hey, what can you do.

Too Like the Lightning

by Ada Palmer · published 2016 · last read 2021-12-06

For me, this was a five star books, plain and simple, but I completely understand why it would be a 0-, 1-, 2-star book for others. It's pretentious at times. It wants you to have classical knowledge of ancient Rome and 18th century France. It plays on that knowledge, and knowledge of literature in 18th century France explicitly. At least it explains lots of the in-jokes, so it's not terribly arrogant in choosing its readership, but the pretentiousness is there. The storytelling is great, full with an apologising, opinionated actor-narrator, with intermezzi by other characters. That said, I loved it. I loved the world, the 24th century world that consits of lots and lots of non-nation based groups (and some nation based ones), and seven major orientations everybody chooses (or becomes a blacklaw, which is fine, too): The Masons who have resurrected ancient Rome, the Humanists who have a flexible democracy, the Mitsubishi super clan who are focussed on land ownership, the Brillists who go ahead and analyse anyone and everyone, the Cousins who are something like the priests of a world that prohibits organised religion, the Europeans, based around a borderless idea of old nations, and the Utopians who are everywhere, especially in space, on the moon, and terraforming Mars. We get a complete, complex world, with penal systems, laws, cultures, capital punishments, regular people, and … special people of all kinds. Emperors, kings, convicts, gods, …Wow. And then it just ends in the middle of it all. sigh

Bitter Seeds

by Ian Tregillis · published 2010 · read 2021-12-03

★☆☆☆☆

Nazis, but they have supermen, vs British war mages who will gladly sacrifice children. Unpleasant all around. Nobody is sympathetic, nobody is even interesting, everybody is terrible, and I haven't met flatter characters in ages. Didn't enjoy anything about it.

Lore Olympus

by Rachel Smythe · published 2021 · read 2021-12-01

Web comic reader here, but I re-read the book after I got it, and it's carefully laid out, well-done, and I've already made two friends read it. Persephone and Hades, reimagined.

An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors

by Curtis Craddock · published 2017 · read 2021-11-25

Faux-Bourbon France fantasy in a world where a weird magical faux-Christian religion has the nobility consist of mostly vampires (France), mostly teleporting mirror walkers (Spain) and various other descendents of "Apostles". It's all very swashbuckling.

A Kiss With Teeth

by Max Gladstone · published 2014 · read 2021-11-22

Max Gladstone short story: Sweet in its way (which is not a thing Gladstone does, usually), but nothing special.

The Cold Between

by Elizabeth Bonesteel · published 2016 · read 2021-11-19

Genuinely enjoyable space opera with a bit of mystery and romance, where everybody has a brain, and a character, motivations and grievances, and different opinions on each other (which is nice with multiple POV characters).

Beowulf

by Maria Dahvana Headley · published 2020 · read 2021-11-13

Confession: this is my first time reading Beowulf, in any translation. So of course I picked a new, modern, controversial one: what else? Maria Dahvana Headley had previously written The Mere Wife, Beowulf with Grendel's mother as protagonist, and she has some very intriguing criticism of longstanding translation traditions.

The Limits of Organization

by Kenneth J. Arrow · published 1974 · read 2021-11-12

Didn't finish this book, my brain isn't sufficiently economist-shaped. I even tried to read it twice this year, so I'm declaring this an unsuccessful attempt. Still, some very rough and unedited notes on what I read before giving up:

The Book Nobody Read

by Owen Gingerich · published 2004 · read 2021-11-09

Tenured professors are just built different or something. The object of the book is Copernicus' "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres", which Prof. Gingerich set out to see all extant versions of (first and second editions, that is), and to compile a list of them including who they belonged to over the ages, and of their respective annotations.

A Marvellous Light

by Freya Marske · published 2021 · read 2021-11-05

Comfort ~~food~~ read. But for real, what is it with fantasy novels about gay magicians in Victorian England, where the lower-class magician falls for the upper-class non-magical nobility? Not that I'm complaining.

The Last Wish

by Andrzej Sapkowski · published 1993 · read 2021-11-04

Finally catching up with some European fantasy – I haven't watched the show, but I've played some of the games, and I'm generally aware of what's going on in-universe. I knew the book was fairly episodic going into it, which might have been a problem otherwise.

The Girl Who Was Plugged In

by James Tiptree Jr. · published 1973 · read 2021-11-01

James Tiptree Jr., predicting influencers in a world where advertising is forbidden. Interesting worldbuilding, but the story felt repulsive, maybe because it was so intentionally superficial? I don't like superficiality any more just because there's a meta.

Dealing with Dragons

by Patricia C. Wrede · published 1990 · read 2021-10-31

A sweet, sweet book: Princess Cimorene can't be bothered with pesky princess stuff, because she'd much rather learn Latin, or fencing, or cooking, or bookkeeping, or juggling, or literally anything any profession at court could teach her. Frustrated and running from a terrifyingly boring engagement, she runs away and goes to live with a dragon. She's the first princess to do so without being kidnapped first, but things work out pretty well – her practicality sees her ready to deal with magic and sorting the library (plus, extremely sensibly fireproofing herself), but also with annoying knights with a saviour complex, evil wizards and dragon politics.

The Checklist Manifesto

by Atul Gawande · published 2009 · read 2021-10-30

Checklists good – this message has been spread through all tech conferences for the last several years, so I didn't expect much from this book. It's the slightly more fleshed-out (but also just inflated) version of the original essay. If I hadn't heard all the good conference talks about pilot checklists (for example https://rixx.de/blog/andrew-godwin-you-have-control/), I'd have rated this book higher.

Imajica

by Clive Barker · published 1991 · read 2021-10-28

Clive Barker is, without doubt, the coolest character at Midnight Pals, and I wanted to find out why. Yes, this is a weird motivation for reading an author, but I've read worse with less reason. Much worse, as it turns out – Imajica was a good read. The best word to describe maybe not the book, but my interest in it: it's an adult book. Not in the sexy way (though I guess that too, plus one sudden actually shocking bit of violence), but in the deep understanding that being an adult usually includes being tired, in over your head, trapped in situations that are not bad so much as that they are not what you dream of. People in Imajica feel real in a way I hadn't realised I had missed. Real in the exact way you don't get from Pratchett, maybe. It helps that the people are as different as they can be: Rich upper-class white guys, their oppressed servants, gay guys dying of AIDS, humanoid hermaphrodites from a different world, slaves and smugglers and merchants and god-kings. Earth is just one of five realms – the others are somewhat connected, and Earth is cut off, except for some smuggling and hidden ways. The last attempt at Reconciliation failed, and badly, and people have conspired to prevent a next attempt at all costs. The four reconciled worlds are ruled by the brutal Autarch, who rules through brutal monotheism in a factually polytheist world (nice concept), but who I found very hard to be interested in (but thankfully, the story didn't try to force my interest, for the most part). Our protagonists both have a curious lack of backstory that becomes loadbearing after a bit. It was interesting – I don't usually like memory loss troping to support exposition, but it was exceedingly well done here, and in an uncommon way, so I had to forgive it (though it made the protagonist hard to bear). The story is fine, but surprisingly I was more into the people than into either the story or the worldbuilding. (It's not often I pass up good worldbuilding). Though, to be fair, there are some worldbuilding tidbits that I loved. For example, Christ as just another ancient magician/maestro is a classic, but "maybe he died to save us from his Father" was a new one. Then-current-day racism taken as granted and commented upon the same way homophobia is just assumed: extremely well done and refreshing to read (plus, not shying away from discussing Fantasy Racism/Slavery as a thing). Plus some nice and non-icky commentary on femininity and masculinity. Most interesting, looking back, is that I don't love the book, and I'm not even all that sure that I like it. But I'm interested and fascinated. Two or three parts punched me right in the feelings (towards the end, the protagonist's mother tells him a story in a flashback that's just all sorts of fucked up). Intellectually, it's a kind of anti-Narnia without being stupid or edgy. I don't know: it's a weird book, and I'm happy I read it.

Psyche, du kleiner Schlingel

by kriegundfreitag · published 2021 · read 2021-10-25

As much as I love kriegundfreitag, I always feel like putting the whole book together is just … too much. It's surprisingly dark, compared to reading just one post at a time. Still, the production quality is great, no simple printout of a Twitter log (as certain other Twitter artists do), and I'm glad to have the book on my shelves!

Bloodlust & Bonnets

by Emily McGovern · published 2019 · read 2021-10-24

A sweet comic book by the author of "My life as a background Slytherin", following the trio consisting of an inconsistent annoying protagonist, a mysterious silent annoying side character and an Extremely Annoying Lord Byron on their, uh, "adventures". It's funny, but I'm sure it works much better as single episodes, because the plot just … isn't. I'm always down to make fun of Byron, though.

The Lost Books of The Odyssey

by Zachary Mason · published 2007 · read 2021-10-17

The Lost Books of the Odyssey are, in truth, the Lost Short Stories of the Odyssey, and an impressive 44, at that. Each short story presents a different version of some part of the Iliad or the Odyssey, most-but-not-all focused on Odysseus. As always with story collections, I liked some more than others, but a surprising amount of them worked very well for me.

Full Fathom Five

by Max Gladstone · published 2014 · read 2021-10-17

Redeeming Max Gladstone after whatever Empress of Forever was: yess, this is the stuff. The Craft Sequence formula is a very readable mix of great, emergent worldbuilding, with some harsh economic truths, a sense of wonder, and some extremely forgettable characters. This time we don't only get the usual corporate lawyers, we also get an angry girl living in the streets and a spy (plus the usual forgotten gods).

God’s Philosophers

by James Hannam · published 2009 · read 2021-10-14

This book came recommended by Seb Falk in the bibliography of The Light Ages, and it's also on the reading list of /r/askHistorians, which I trust a lot. I found this book harder to like – who writes sentences like “when the barbarian tribes took over or destroyed the Roman infrastructure” in this century? It was long-winded and seemed to alternate between being jovial and trying for jokes, and going for a more professorial style. Not only the style was uneven: I also felt like the assumed prior knowledge fluctuated a lot, and was sometimes left out entirely, and then filled in with excrutiating care at other times.

Gender Euphoria

by Laura Kate Dale · published 2021 · read 2021-10-10

Gender Euphoria does some things very well, but felt generally underwhelming. Let me explain: I was happy to see a collection of essays on this theme, because from what I can see, especially younger parts of trans* communities often focus on the downsides and suffering of being trans. Entirely understandable, of course, but it's all the more important to talk about the flip side. The direction and presence of this book is both welcome and refreshing.

D’Shai

by Joel Rosenberg · published 1991 · read 2021-10-04

Hidden gem among early 90s Fantasy: In an Asian-inspired world, everybody has a kazuh: a talent, one of 52, that they discover and then hone to the point of genius, by entering a deep flow state. The protagonist, Kami, belongs to a family of acrobats, but clearly acrobatics are not his kazuh. This doesn't make him crippled or outcast or anything, he's just less good at some things than his father and his siblings.

Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals II

by BitterKarella · published 2021 · read 2021-09-28

More of the same: Good ideas, but go read them on Twitter, as the print version takes zero care with the layouting. Still glad I supported the account, but man, what a wasted chance.

Submitted for the Approval of the Midnight Pals

by BitterKarella · published 2020 · read 2021-09-26

Midnight Society is a Twitter account that I really and honestly enjoy reading, so when the recent Kickstarter came out, I backed it and got both the new and the old book – but I shouldn't have bothered. It's not that the production quality is bad (it's A4 print-on-demand, you get what you expect), it's that there was no care taken with the presentation at all.

Empress of Forever

by Max Gladstone · published 2019 · read 2021-09-24

Max Gladstone is an author I like a lot. He's half of the brilliance of Time War, and his Craft Sequence is amazing second-world urban fantasy. I went into this book curious how Gladstone would approach Space Opera, but confident I would like it – boy, was I disappointed. It took me the better part of a month to dig through this book, and it ust dragged on.

A Master of Djinn

by P. Djèlí Clark · published 2021 · read 2021-09-06

Steampunk, non-Victorian edition: In 1912, Egypt is a rising world power due to its access to magic. Holding its own against the British and other world powers in a multicultural metropolis, Cairo is far from free and perfect, though: Our protagonist, Fatma, is one of the few women in the Ministry of supernatural stuff, where she works as an investigator, and gets to unravel the bloodless-but-supernatural murder of some British guys.

The Cloud Roads

by Martha Wells · published 2011 · read 2021-09-06

Martha Wells is currently best known for her socially awkward Murderbot, and I wanted to see what she's up to when she's not writing robots. Well, let's just say that the protagonist of this series is a socially awkward outsider, shunned unless he tries to make himself into something as human-like as possible.

The Cybernetic Tea Shop

by Meredith Katz · published 2016 · read 2021-09-05

Short, sweet queer sci-fi romance, telling the story of a world where production of humanoid robots has been banned, but the last remaining ones are allowed to live out their life. Ace robot trope though.

Project Hail Mary

by Andy Weir · published 2021 · read 2021-09-05

Andy Weir has a thing he does well, and this is just another instance of this thing. If this had been my first Andy Weir book, I probably would have given it a higher rating, but after The Martian, it felt like a re-run.

The City of Brass

by S.A. Chakraborty · published 2017 · read 2021-09-04

Set in Napoleonic Egypt, this is the story of Djinn, Daeva and related beings. Didn't do much for me – the concept of a hidden city of supernatural beings with tons of infighting sounded intriguing, and the stagesetting very promising, but. The protagonist is kind of flat and predictably Chosen (doesn't remember her childhood, knows magic language, has special powers, is very poor), and the dynamic between her and her semi-romantic sidekick fell extremely flat.

Lord of the Silver Bow

by David Gemmell · published 2005 · read 2021-08-21

David Gemmell shines when he writes warriors, no two ways about it. Lord of the Silver Bow is an adventure story set in and around Troy, before the Trojan war. Our protagonist is called Heliakon, a merchant (he doesn't like his first name, Aeneas), and we follow him through his life, often filled with hardship and hope and principles and dirty tricks. I liked this book a lot – its deviations from the Iliad are many, and they are fluent and consistent and fun.

Running on Empty

by Jonice Webb, Christine Musello · published 2012 · read 2021-08-17

Running on Empty does this thing therapy books do, where it ascribes all your problems to one source, and it describes it problems so broadly that it is very very easy to just go ahead and say "yeah, that's absolutely me!". As you can probably tell, I'm not a fan.

The Cruel Prince

by Holly Black · published 2018 · read 2021-08-16

Teenagers are pulled from their normal life to grow up with their half-sibling in Faerie. All the tropes included: no lies but lots of politics, cruel magic, muggle-baiting, beauty with sharp edges. The characters are pretty one-dimensional, and every twist is visible from half a book away. I liked how the protagonist made use of her ability to lie and the fae's tendency to not even suspect lies, but it's not enough to carry a book.

Vita Nostra

by Marina Dyachenko · published 2007 · read 2021-08-15

by Andreas Eschbach · published 1998 · read 2021-08-15

Vita Nostra is often described as "If Kafka had written Harry Potter", and neither part is a good fit. Closer to the truth would be to call it a Russian version of The Magicians, where everybody is depressed for good reasons instead of just being whiny idiots, and also the meta part is actually meta instead of being just Narnia.

Das Jesus Video

★☆☆☆☆

Trashy Dan-Brown-wannabe. Came recommended by a thread on good German fiction, never again.

Oranges

by John McPhee · published 1967 · read 2021-08-14

A whole book about oranges: focusing on the orange growing industry in Florida, but also touching on history, uses, research and biology. The book is 60 years old by now, so naturally some of it is outdated, but it was neat to see something so dedicated and nerdy. The writing is very journalistic and describes visits and interviews in detail, which was charming.

The Name of the Rose

by Umberto Eco · published 1980 · last read 2021-08-12

Medieval monks? Thinly disguised opportunities to lecture the reader about history and theology? Showing off your knowledge of obscure and less obscure references? It might sound obnoxious, but Eco is obviously just a giant nerd and is having fun, and I fell for his joy more than anything. Though I do love monasteries and medieval backgrounds and libraries and clever protagonists, so that helped.

Cart and Cwidder

by Diana Wynne Jones · published 1975 · read 2021-08-07

Neat YA book. Read this as comfort read and because you can't go wrong with Diana Wynne Jones, really. A group of teenagers thrust into political conflict, with a side of magic, by way of mythical music, handled by them as a wandering troupe. I didn't find the story particularly compelling (authoritarian countries bad, liberal countries good blah), but as always, Diana Wynne Jones absolutely delivers on characters and group dynamics.

The Light Ages

by Seb Falk · published 2020 · read 2021-08-06

Seb Falk follows the reconstructed life story of one particular English monk, John Westwyk, to show off how life and particularly science and research worked in the High Middle Ages. This means a lot of tangents, naturally, but it also means a lot of math and astronomy and nitty gritty details. While I didn't manage to appreciate all details about astronomy calculations, those were not hard to skip, and generally the book was very valuable, and approachable through its dedication to actual humans instead of anonymous groups.

A Case of Possession

by K.J. Charles · published 2014 · read 2021-08-03

For the first part of the series, I called it “too well-written to deserve to be labeled as enjoyable trash”. The language of this second part remains well done, but the writing … not as much. It's more over-the-top, tryhard – when it doesn't really need to try hard, being itself would be enough: Magic Victorian lover boys return to the dirty city and deal with giant rats and prejudice while alternating between horniness and relationship drama. It's not bad, but the charm of the first part has worn off a bit. I'm not planning to read the next part any time soon, but I imagine at some point I'll be sick or tired or just in need of a comfort read, and I'll come back to the series then.

Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel

by Frances Gies, Joseph Gies · published 1994 · read 2021-08-01

Officially my new favourite history book: I'm in love with Frances and Joseph Gies showing off the technology and technological development of the Middle Ages. The book is dense and doesn't coddle the reader, and, as many of their works, is often on recommended reading lists for history courses. In good medievalist tradition, they oppose Gibbon's view of medieval society as “the triumph of barbarism and religion”, and they bring tons of evidence to the table, combing through one thousand years of the Middle Ages. It's fascinating and well-written. I finished this book and immediately wanted to read more of the same (and was very disappointed when I couldn't find anything like it)!

The Economy of Cities

by Jane Jacobs · published 1969 · read 2021-07-25

This classic (pub. 1969) on city development was extremely accessible to read, particularly considering the ugh field that surrounds economics for me. Jacobs' main premise is that cities don't arise as a consequence of agricultural settlements – cities are there first, and develop their hinterland to support themselves.

Shadows Return

by Lynn Flewelling · published 2008 · read 2021-07-20

This is where I stop reading the Nightrunner series. The protagonists are kidnapped after a lengthy exposition part. The kidnappers are, well, how do I put this? From a country where rich men keep harems and slaves, and where the masters have darker skin and curly beards. That's not even fantasy racism, it's just regular racism. Evil arabs seem to have been acceptable way longer than most other lazy racist stereotypes.

Traitor’s Moon

by Lynn Flewelling · published 1999 · read 2021-07-18

Just as with the previous book in the series, I enjoyed the world and the storytelling a lot, but some relationship-related things clouded my enjoyment.

Stalking Darkness

by Lynn Flewelling · published 1997 · read 2021-07-14

Avoiding second-book syndrome, Stalking Darkness is at least as good as Luck in the Shadows – but it also touches on some serious yikes. I have thoughts.

With the Lightnings

by David Drake · published 1998 · read 2021-07-04

Being a fan of both the Vorkosigan Saga and of the Lord Peter Wimsey books, it's no surprise that I enjoyed this book a ton. Explicitly a scifi take on the Aubrey/Maturin series, Lt. Leary is a perfect crossover between swashbuckling adventure fun and scifi – though it's really more "adventures in space", similar to the Vorkosigan saga.

Axiom’s End

by Lindsay Ellis · published 2020 · read 2021-07-03

Unconvincing first-contact fiction. The protagonist is the daughter of quasi-Assange, and lives in poverty due to his actions after the divorce from her mother. It's all pretty grim, and then the aliens land. For semi-random reasons, one of them picks her as its translator – nothing to do with her skill or anything, and the fact that she has studied linguistics has nothing to do with anything.

Luck in the Shadows

by Lynn Flewelling · published 1996 · read 2021-07-02

Excellent fantasy – very 90s, and I devoured it in a single Saturday. Teenage boy with no family gets helped out of prison by a mysterious stranger who accepts him as apprentice. Said stranger turns out to be a jack-of-all trades spy, a charming and capable rogue. They encounter harship and intrigue and find friends and blah blah, classic fantasy story arc in the end.

Just One Damned Thing After Another

by Jodi Taylor · published 2013 · read 2021-07-02

Time travel comfort food! This book starts out as adult time travel Hogwarts: masking as an institute, St Mary dabbles in non-invasive time travel. Sorry, investigates major historical events in contemporary time. Our protagonist, a woman of distinctly urban fantasy heroine characteristics, is a historian and has to go through some harsh training (yay for training sequences) to join the small team retrieving information from the past.

God Stalk

by P.C. Hodgell · published 1982 · read 2021-07-01

God Stalk is a lot, and I think it's too much. The world is rich and the author glosses over much of it – which is something I like when done well (the city the book takes place in has strong China Mieville vibes!), but here it feels hasty and unfortunate.

Way Station

by Clifford D. Simak · published 1963 · read 2021-06-28

Rural US portal space travel scifi: Aliens need a portal on earth, to pass through, and they select Enoch as station keeper. Bonus: As long as he's in the station, he doesn't age. This goes well for over a hundred years (Enoch starts out fighting for Abe Lincoln). But in more modern times, the book being written in 1963, the CIA and other parties start being suspicious.

Vicious

by V.E. Schwab · published 2013 · read 2021-06-20

★☆☆☆☆ (did not finish)

Villain protagonists are cool in theory, but hard to do well, and I didn't feel like Schwab got it right. It's not that there is no motivation or background, it's more that the protagonist is an asshole and I don't enjoy spending time with assholes.

Trail of Lightning

by Rebecca Roanhorse · published 2018 · read 2021-06-17

Urban fantasy needn't take place in a city, and this is a prime example: it may be a supernatural mystery story taking place in post-collapse North America on a reservation after the collapse of the USA, but it's still very much urban fantasy.

The Seep

by Chana Porter · published 2020 · read 2021-06-15

Solid ehhhh: The Seep is a short scifi novel(la?) about an alien race that gives humanity nearly unlimited powers, including self-transformation, and also influences their mind towards being mellow hippies. The protagonist is not really on board, but instead of exploring the world or herself, we get touches of everything and nothing more. The protagonist is trans, but never really thinks about what bodily transformation powers mean for that (jealousy? excitement? nah), for example. Her Jewish ancestry is touched on a bit, her native American one not at all, and her relationship to the Seep as a doctor and artist is pretty much brushed aside after one lukewarm take. Or: the Seep (the aliens) has an original voice, but it doesn't come enough to really explore it.

Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea

by Sarah Pinsker · published 2019 · read 2021-06-15

Sarah Pinsker writes excellent short stories. This collection opens with some shorter stories, which I found too short: They ended before anything could happen, all just setting up a scenario, then leaving me hungry for something:

The Innkeeper’s Song

by Peter S. Beagle · published 1993 · read 2021-06-14

Peter S. Beagle is always interesting and never quite conventional. This book starts out with the titular Innkeeper's Song, providing us with the entire plot condensed into a folk song, and then proceeds to elaborate in first-person chapters from different viewpoints. It does so beautifully, and it's never predictable, and yet, I never felt really close to the plot. I've felt this way about all books by Beagle so far, though, and I still like them.

City of Lies

by Sam Hawke · published 2018 · read 2021-06-13

White-hat assassin siblings have to defend the realm. It's a bit generic. Good parts: the role of the protagonist as defensive poison expert (unusual and refreshing), and a well-handled siege story. The truly stand-out part of the story was starting with the narrator highlighting the wonderful high-culture city they live in, and then pivoting over time to show the rotting foundations the realm is built on. Well-done, though having only the perspective of the whiny aristocracy took some getting used to.

Cemetery Boys

by Aiden Thomas · published 2020 · read 2021-06-12

Coming-of-age novel set in an urban fantasy: Yadriel is a Latinx trans boy in the US. His whole family are brujx and don't accept him as a brujo. Naturally, he spends the novel proving himself – but with a fair bit of reflection and friendships and non-transition related plot thrown in. Intersectional YA is pretty cool and all (most non-Latinx people here are queer by default, delightfully), and my only issue with this was how predictable the plot is and how YA possibly just isn't for me anymore.

Peter Darling

by Austin Chant · published 2017 · read 2021-06-12

Peter Pan returns to Neverland, coming to terms with being a trans boy in bad old England. He starts out as a cruel boy and experiences some character growth … through the magic of Hook's pretty eyes? I don't know, y'all.

The Black Tides of Heaven

by J.Y. Yang · published 2017 · read 2021-06-10

Asian-inspired genderfun fantasy. Didn't compel me at all: the plot wasn't as focused as the short length warranted, and the characters didn't stand out to me at all. The plot was compressed and considering the high odds and tragedy, didn't make me care at all.

A Mist of Grit and Splinters

by Graydon Saunders · published 2020 · read 2021-06-08

Saunders goes back to military fiction here, and I didn't find any part of it particularly compelling, apart from the sneaky worldbuilding updates. The characters had enough personal stories, but didn't interest me, the overarching plot was slow, and the time jumping (there are five parts to the book, all start at the same time and move forward) didn't really work for me and was annoying to keep track of.

Under One Banner

by Graydon Saunders · published 2018 · read 2021-06-04

The series started dropping off for me a bit here: I didn't find the protagonist compelling, and her recovery from an active magic user to a military adviser only as interesting as the world it exposed. But the focus on military matters didn't interest me for the most part, so I focused on the implicit bits of civilian worldbuilding (I loved those, to compensate).

Heretics

by G.K. Chesterton · published 1905 · read 2021-06-03

Chesterton is an utter bastard, and enjoying himself while he's at it. As a result, I enjoyed myself, too: He's unrepentant in how conservative he is, and he likes using a handful of cheap tricks to make himself seem both very clever and very plausible. He's neither as clever nor as plausible as he thinks he is, but if I have to read an opposing viewpoint (and is he ever), I might as well enjoy myself. Though it would have been nice if he hadn't planned his chapters to lead from one witticism to the next – it's a bit obvious and tiring in the long run.

Safely You Deliver

by Graydon Saunders · published 2016 · read 2021-05-20

by Graydon Saunders · published 2015 · read 2021-05-17

A Succession of Bad Days

Following The March North is not easy in any way, and yet, Saunders manages. Same world, directly after the events of the first book – but in a completely different role, keeping only side characters around. I'm very into this sort of continuity. Especially when it gives me civil engineering Hogwarts for severely overpowered magic users. Hell yes. The book sums it up best: "like a fairy-tale lost in a civil engineering manual."

The March North

by Graydon Saunders · published 2014 · last read 2021-05-16

Sometimes I read books that make me very happy, so that I have to focus a lot to find reasons why other people would not be into them. Not so for The March North.

Orconomics

by J. Zachary Pike · published 2014 · read 2021-05-15

Orconomics was hilarious and heartbreaking, and that's coming from somebody who usually doesn't like "humerous" fantasy. Its mix of serious and funny reminds of Discworld – which, of course, can't be a favourable comparison, but it comes surprisingly close. Taking place in a clearly D&D inspired world, with the economic aspect of adventuring hero troops taken seriously. Also, Pike has absolutely had it with Fantasy racism and will punch you in the feelings over it.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

by Alix E. Harrow · published 2019 · read 2021-05-13

Coming-of-age stories are possibly just not for me anymore. The book-driven portal fantasy is nice enough, and the helping of "remember how bad turn-of-the-century racism is" is not bad if a bit forced, but … I just didn't care about the predictable story. If only there had been a bigger focus on the portals, or the portal writing, or the portal worlds … I can appreciate why this book is popular, but it felt more generic than it should have to me.

The Song of Achilles

by Madeline Miller · published 2011 · read 2021-05-13

Circe was okayish, this is the second chance I was giving Miller before deciding that her access to myths doesn't match mine. I liked Achilles more than Circe, but part of that is that I'm a sucker for the pairing. I didn't like the depiction of Patroclus too much, and both felt oddly pale to me. I know it's the current poster child of queer readership and TikTok in particular, but … ehh. It's alright.

Catfishing on CatNet

by Naomi Kritzer · published 2019 · read 2021-05-13

Catfishing on CatNet was tons of fun. It's a not-quite-light YA about a helpful AI who just wants to look at cat pictures and also help their friends. In a way it's the YA version of MurderBot. It includes some heavy themes, and they are generally handled well. Kritzer has a really good grip on chatroom language and managed to write all those parts good without "hello, fellow kids" vibes, which I appreciated a lot.

The Bone Ships

by R. J. Barker · published 2019 · read 2021-05-04

World-building at the detriment of plot and character development is usually a prerogative of sci-fi, but this book proves that fantasy can do it, too. The world is awesome: it's a naval world, where most of the world is covered in water, which is inhabitated by very aggressive animals, and states consist of island chains. Barker's worldbuilding is actually stunning: a coherent vision of society, customs and history down to fabrics used, gender roles, food chain logistics, magic, and social mobility. All told nicely within the story with barely and info dumps.

One Fell Sweep

by Ilona Andrews · published 2016 · read 2021-04-29

Ensemble casts are very hit and miss for me, and this one was a miss. The Innkeeper Chronicles have an ensemble cast by design, but this book added more family (the protagonist's sister and niece) to the mix, and that one plus a siege story just didn't do it for me. Still a nice comfort read, but not generally it.

Sweep in Peace

by Ilona Andrews · published 2015 · read 2021-04-28

More magical tavern innkeeper stories! This one wasn't that different from the first part. It has found its footing, and instead of going for more of the usual urban fantasy romance stuff, it is about an intergalactic peace conference. Our protagonist has to handle three warring species under her roof, and it's fun and comfy and an all-around good time. Still not the height of … anything, but good fun.

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City

by K.J. Parker · published 2019 · read 2021-04-27

Badass titles are the clickbait of the literary world, and this one worked very well on me. The book was not quite as good as the title. It was a bit too smug and too self-involved and too busy being clever. It's pseudo-Roman military engineering with a snarky first-person narrator. Fantasy Rome doing Fantasy Roman things: the book.

The Curse of Chalion

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 2001 · read 2021-04-25

Bujold has a type. The type here being "adult physically broken but very clever reluctant hero, who meddles with aristocracy without being a ruler himself". It's not like they are the same person: there are differences between Miles Vorkosigan and Cazaril. Caz had a much worse life and less privileges, and is also less (over-)confident. But the parallels are very much there.

Harpist in the Wind

by Patricia A. McKillip · published 1979 · read 2021-04-23

Concluding this series, the established power couple tackles the remaining big riddles in the world, and finally figure out what's going on. Some parts of it were obvious, at least the direction – but the conclusion surprised me and was impressive. I can't say more because it'd be impossible to do without heavy spoilers.

Heir of Sea and Fire

by Patricia A. McKillip · published 1977 · read 2021-04-18

Fiancées in fantasy books are often not taken quite seriously, even more so if they are a princess. McKillip will have none of that, and elevates the fiancée of the first book's hero to the new protagonist. The change in point of view does the trilogy a world of good, but doesn't change the odd pace and oddly distanced narrative at heart.

The Riddle-Master of Hed

by Patricia A. McKillip · published 1976 · read 2021-04-16

Reluctant heroes are a bit overdone, but this one is honest and plausible (though, as all reluctant heroes, a bit tedious). That's the good part, possibly. The characters are not exactly one-dimensional, but the book is certainly reluctant to show you more than one dimension at a time.

The Door into Sunset

by Diane Duane · published 1992 · read 2021-04-14

Silly me, I assumed that this series was a trilogy. This book was published in 1992 and doesn't wrap up the series. There were some news on the final volume in 2018/2019, nothing since then. Sad stuff, I would have loved a real ending, and this book was … not it.

A Desolation Called Peace

by Arkady Martine · published 2021 · read 2021-04-11

Generally, A Desolation Called Peace is nearly as good as A Memory Called Empire. It replaces parts of the intrical cultural commentary with very alien aliens who need to be communicated with, but surprisingly, the aliens are one of the weakest parts of the book. This is basially the anti-Tchaikovsky, where humans are inevitably more interesting than even hive mind aliens.

A Memory Called Empire

by Arkady Martine · published 2019 · last read 2021-03-26

A junior ambassador from one alien nation and planet to another, which boasts of a highly complex language and culture? Finding herself scrambling to catch up with her predecessor (rudely murdered, instead of being in her brain as would be appropriate), trying not to share his fate? Sudden conspiracies, even more complex cultural games, plus an assistent she's very much into? Hell yes.

Legend

by David Gemmell · published 1984 · read 2021-03-20

On my reading list, this book had the note "Big heroic classic fantasy", and that's exactly what it is. Big damn heroes doing heroic things. The aging hero coming back one more time, the hopelessly besieged city, the … young fated couple: This book has it all. I haven't read any other Drenai Saga books, so take this review with a bit of salt:

Sharp Teeth

by Toby Barlow · published 2007 · read 2021-03-16

Werewolf packs in LA might seem like an urban fantasy staple (and it is), but not like this: Toby Barlow tells the brutal (but not edgy! never that) story of the werewolves and their surroundings in form of an epic, 300 page modern poem.

Lord of Light

by Roger Zelazny · published 1967 · read 2021-03-15

Lord of Light is hard to describe without spoilers up to the last third of the book, so I won't even try. You have been warned: hic sunt ~~dracones~~ spoilers. Even adding this book to my "space monks" list is technically a spoiler.

Stoker’s Wilde

by Steven Hopstaken · published 2019 · read 2021-03-14

Imagine, if you will, Bram Stoker: a dour, somewhat dull man who is always out of place in the illustrious company of his fellow fantastical authors – like a clerk joining a circus. Do you really believe that this man came up with Dracula, of all things?

Clean Sweep

by Ilona Andrews · published 2013 · read 2021-03-13

Ilona Andrews, who I only knew from her Kate Daniels series, with the magical tavern/innkeeper trope. This is significantly worse than Kate Daniels – writing quality, plot quality, worldbuilding, characters: Everything. Apparently this series grew out of an online serial, which accounts for some of it.

War Music

by Christopher Logue · published 2015 · read 2021-03-12

War Music is art. Christopher Logue transformed the Iliad into a modern poem, and it's all kinds of awesome. The story is the real deal: Heroes of old, clad in bronze, fighting for a city and for honour and most of all for an honourable way back home. And yet, it's clearly written by somebody living in our age. Free-form poetry, modern comparisons – but all steeped in the awe of a gigantic, real, old story. I'm extremely into it. You might be too! This book might be more enjoyable when you can place all the names and comments (like "Dido might have become a grandmother / And Rome not had its day"), but it's still a lot of fun when you're just into the language and the story.

Turn the Ship Around!

by L. David Marquet · published 2012 · read 2021-03-11

Anarchic structures are great, particularly at groups under a certain size. I know this, my friends know this – I didn't expect a US submarine captain to know and advocate it. Yet that was the pleasant surprise I got.

Flight to Arras

by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry · published 1942 · read 2021-03-10

Published in 1942, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry talks about his life, experience, thoughts and feelings about being a pilot in WWII, while on the defensive and with little hope of surviving. The novella follows one flight, and comments on both the flight itself (mechanically, strategically) and the war in general.

The Wizards and the Warriors

by Hugh Cook · published 1986 · read 2021-03-09

Some wizards try to re-capture an artifact that could end the world, but get caught up in wars, petty conflicts, their own desires, centuries-old curses, the works. This book is much less generic than both the title and this summary make it sound. A lot about it is unique – like A Song of Ice and Fire crossed with Malazan.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune

by Nghi Vo · published 2020 · read 2021-02-26

High fantasy novella, vaguely Chinese-plus-Inuit (shush, it makes sense). After the Empress has died, a young monk – monks are enby in this world, which is neat – travels to her old castle, that has been off limits for decades. They explore the house and chronicle the stories of various things they find. It turns out to be vastly different than expected.

How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live

by Missy Vineyard · published 2007 · read 2021-02-25

Everything I knew about the Alexander Technique came from cultural osmosis and Michael Ashcroft's tweets. Now I know more: It's about taking care of your body (posture, harmful patterns, pain and age) by taking care of your thoughts. Mens sana in corpore sano only the other way round. Missy Vineyard has a lot of experience helping people fix their bodies, but also with their mental hangups and how these two influence each other. My biggest takeaway, apart from some very useful mental exercises, was an increased skepticism against what I feel I know about my body.

On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi!

by William Tenn · published 1974 · read 2021-02-20

You know how I'm into space monks, aka scifi that has serious thoughts about religion? Yes, this is it. Hilariously tongue-in-cheek, there's nothing I did not like about this short story. It's written in 1974, and thankfully available online, both in text and as an even more hilarious reading by the author. The tone is everything. Space jews arguing about the inclusion of alien species. Let me just say “Papa, you’re so old-fashioned! You yourself told me that the blue Jews from Aldebaran show how adaptable our people are.” – if this doesn't sell you on the story, pass it by.

The Misplaced Legion

by Harry Turtledove · published 1987 · read 2021-02-16

★★☆☆☆ (did not finish)

When a Roman legion fights some Gauls, they are magically placed in a different world. This world has actual magic, has never heard from their world, and the society and politics closely resemble the Byzantian empire. Turtledove clearly knows his history, and makes sure to show how the legion adapts to the different world, the different language, the different gods. He handles that part well.

Sailing to Sarantium

by Guy Gavriel Kay · published 1998 · read 2021-02-10

Sailing to Sarantium was my first Guy Gavriel Kay book, and it won't be my last. Not just that it didn't wrap up in one book (boo! … kidding), I also enjoyed the style a lot. Kay lets his story take place in Byzantium during Constantine's reign. It's not called Byzantium to allow for some creative freedoms and minor magic, but everything very clearly maps 1:1 to historic characters.

Never Split the Difference

by Chris Voss · published 2016 · read 2021-02-08

Negotiations and bargaining explained by an FBI hostage negotiator – unsurprisingly a book where the show-off anecdotes are gripping. But beneath the standard self-help structure (bits of information sandwiched by ~~boasts~~ stories), there's a solid core: A general theory of negotiations, explained with plenty of examples. Bonus points for the clear chapter summaries.

This Census-Taker

by China Miéville · published 2016 · read 2021-02-02

Young child discovers the world – his occasionally psychopathic father, his practical but proud mother, and the little town at the foot of the mountain. Everything is both creepy and boring – a uniquely kafkaesque mix (and the end is straight up like a Kafka short story that I can point at).

Comes Around Again

by scarletjedi · published 2016 · read 2021-01-31

Sansukh-variation, with travelling back to the past to fix things. Not as well-written as Sansukh, but then again, what is? Decent and entertaining, but might have done more with the added knowledge – "some moments in time are fixed" is such a cope.

Sansûkh

by determamfidd · published 2017 · last read 2021-01-27

Sansûkh is an incredibly well-researched, detailed, well-written Lord of the Rings fanfiction, telling the whole story from the perspective of the dead dwarves keeping watch over their relatives. Its protagonist is Thorin Oakenshield, and in addition to all the plots told by the primary books, it also features Erebor and Mirkwood. The writing is very appropriate and well-done, and I enjoyed every part of it tremendously. It's funny, and it's epic, and it's very much as it should be.

The Lost City of Ithos

by John Bierce · published 2020 · read 2021-01-26

Currently the last part of the Mage Errant series, I was not all that much in love with this book. It's the set-up to drag the whole series out, in that Fantasy spiral of upping the stakes forever. Characters were still okay (though mostly carried by the work of the previous parts), but the plot turned very generic..

Probably Still the Chosen One

by Kelly Barnhill · published 2017 · last read 2021-01-24

Did you dream of being the hero of your own adventurous story as a kid? If you did, this will be good for you. Also, painful.

Mimus

by Lilli Thal · published 2003 · last read 2021-01-21

Mimus is the wonderfully cruel tale of Prince Florin. In the struggle of two nations, the baddies use the age-old plot of suggesting peace-talks to come closer to their enemies. They capture the royal family and important court officials. Everybody is imprisoned, except Prince Florin, who is humiliatingly apprenticed to the court jester. That's the short setup. The book follows Florin in his reluctant apprenticeship to Mimus, through hardship, diplomacy, heartbreak and the realisation that life goes on.

Im Land des Windes

by Licia Troisi · published 2004 · last read 2021-01-18

Worldbuilding! I forgot about the worldbuilding of this book. For example, there are tower cities where everything is organised by the tower layers.

Die Panne

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt · published 1956 · read 2021-01-17

Our protagonist has a breakdown and, because the village inn is full, is invited to stay in a local mansion. It turns out that his host is a retired judge, and together with his friends, a retired prosecutor and a retired attorney, they stage a mock-trial of their guest – all in good fun – of crimes yet to be named. The rest is very Dürrenmatt. Short and enjoyable, but always with an edge of unease.

Grass for his Pillow

by Lian Hearn · published 2003 · last read 2021-01-17

Enjoyable second part of the series: Our heroes encounter adversity and have to make bad choices and live with their decisions. Less comfort read than the first part, different and good. The ending is extremely stupid and sets up the exceedingly stupid cause for the drama causing part three and four.

Across the Nightingale Floor

by Lian Hearn · published 2002 · last read 2021-01-16

Everybody is extremely dramatic in this book. Very YA. But it stood up to a re-read surprisingly well: Young boy in faux-Japan gets his family murdered, is adopted into a clan and things escalate from there. Oh, and it turns out he's not only adopted by the rightful leader of the clan, he's also born to a long line of secret assassins and has lots of magical gifts. And everybody wants a piece of them.

Wilde Reise durch die Nacht

by Walter Moers · published 2001 · last read 2021-01-13

Walter Moers decided to branch out and do something wildly different. Okay, maybe not wildly: there's still much absurdity going on. But it's not Zamonien. Instead, it's the story of Gustave Doré, the famous painter. Or rather, his paintings. Or rather, all of his paintings, shoved together into a rather trippy (but entertaining!) story. It's not exactly great art, but it's a great art exercise. And it might be the best German writing I've read in a long time – Moers really is a brilliant author. Some of the puns are so deeply embedded that you can't even hope to translate them. It may be the only Moers book without Moers illustrations, which is sad. But if you can't have Moers, Doré will do.

Madita

by Astrid Lindgren · published 1960 · last read 2021-01-12

Madita is a somewhat less intense Pippi: she has a younger sister and is up to all sorts of ridiculous nonsense, but doesn't go to society-breaking extremes. Well, usually.

Just a Random Tuesday…

by Twisted Biscuit · published 2006 · read 2021-01-09

Delightfully snarky fanfic, in which we get a mostly canon-compliant inner monologue of McGonagall, mostly about Umbridge, ridiculous students and absurd colleagues. Good length, good general writing style, but lots of fluctuations in quality: Inner monologue good, storytelling mediocre, I think.

Schadenfreude

by Tiffany Watt Smith · published 2018 · read 2021-01-08

Schadenfreude ist die schönste Freude” – “Schadenfreude is the best joy” says a German proverb. If you're not on board with this, this book might make you look at the more positive sides of finding joy in other people's misfortune. Or it might bore you to tears with strained examples for Schadenfreude for chapter upon chapter. I know that “This book should have been a blog post” is tired and meh, but in this case I'd say: this book's afterword (which contains the good parts) would suffice as a blog post.

Naudsonce

by H. Beam Piper · published 1962 · read 2021-01-07

Naudsonce is a very neat linugistical scifi story. It's also terribly unimaginative in every other way: Aliens who communicate wildly differently, yet follow human norms in every other way? Puh-lease. Everything good done here was done better by Vernor Vinge.

Weaving Fate

by Aidan Wachter · published 2020 · read 2021-01-06

Weaving Fate is a woo book. The author believes in magic and assumes you do, too. I found this strangely refreshing, to be honest, and it made it easy to separate out the useful stuff, for my intents and purposes.

Annals of Arithmancy

by White Squirrel · published 2019 · read 2021-01-05

Last part of the trilogy. Not bad per se, but far from good. A collection of "look where I could take this" stories, loosely connected. No urgency or impact, really. Better than the original epilogue, but what isn't.

Lady Archimedes

by White Squirrel · published 2018 · read 2021-01-04

Second part of a Harry Potter fanfic. Better plot elements, maybe, but worse writing – started being a drag at some point. Still good execution on the theme of "what if science nerd, but Hermione" – several leagues more plausible and readable than HPMOR. I still like how it quotes extensively from pop and less-pop culture, and how it integrates then-current events.

The Arithmancer

by White Squirrel · published 2015 · read 2021-01-03