bluesalamanders's books in 2018

Happy New Year!

I'm still mostly lurking these days. I got a new job toward the end of last year and while that (surprisingly) has given me more time to read, it has given me less time to hang around online.

I mostly read fantasy and some science fiction, these days mainly Adult titles with some YA mixed in. And tons of audiobooks, thanks to the new job.

Previous threads:
50 book challenges: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
75 book challenges: 2011.1, 2011.2, 2012.1, 2012.2, 2013.1, 2013.2, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

For my 2018 goals, I once again averaged my results and goals from last year:

Total number of books: 150
New reads: 54
Non-fiction: 3
Pages: 18600
Audiobook time: 29d 6h 8m

I'm expecting to blow most of these goals out of the water, with the likely exception of non-fiction, which I just can't seem to get a grip on.

* I've started including content warnings for some books. I don't have a list of all the things that I think should be warned for, it's generally whatever I think of as I'm writing the review, which also means I may forget to warn for some things. Sorry! Warnings include mostly negative things (rape/sexual assault, graphic violence, incest, major character death, animal harm, mind control, various kinds of bigotry/prejudice) and some neutral things (explicit sex, graphic birth scenes) and will always be behind a spoiler cut. If there's something you'd think should be included, let me know, and if you're curious about a particular book, feel free to ask.

These are books on my TBR list that I'd like to read this year sometime, especially the ones with asterisks, which are either borrowed or LTER books:

*Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.
*The Black Wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer
*Jewish Soul Food by Carol Ungar
*Weld Like a Pro: Beginning to Advanced Techniques by Gerald Uttrachi
*Island by Aldous Huxley (audiobook)

*The War of Words by Amy Neftzger
The Resurrectionist by EB Hudspeth
Dreaming Down Under edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb
The New Space Opera 2 edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
Seeing Further by Bill Bryson

Last Night at the circle Cinema by Emily Franklin
Unfuck Your Habitat by Rachel Hoffman
As You Wish by Cary Elwes
The Better Part of Valor by Tanya Huff
The Heart of Valor by Tanya Huff

Uncle John's Book of the Dumb by John Scalzi
Willful Impropriety by Ekaterina Sedia
Hard-Hatted Women edited by Molly Martin
Thieftaker by DB Jackson
*Taste of Marrow by Sarah Gailey

*The Halcyon Fairy Book by T Kingfisher
*Heroine Worship by Sarah Kuhn
*Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw
*The Angry Chef by Anthony Warner

I will try to keep track of books I acquire (to keep, so not including books from libraries or lent by friends) here, including audiobooks and ebooks.

Paper books

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce
Tricks For Free by Seanan McGuire
Space Opera by Cathrynne Valente
Head On by John Scalzi

Audiobooks

Page By: Tamora Pierce
Changeless By: Gail Carriger
Blameless By: Gail Carriger
The Android's Dream By: John Scalzi
Ancillary Sword By: Ann Leckie

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms By: N. K. Jemisin
The Broken Kingdoms By: N. K. Jemisin
Magic for Nothing By: Seanan McGuire
Tricks for Free By: Seanan McGuire

Ebooks
The Cards of Chaos: A Novella by A.D. Jansen

Welcome back, Blue!

Happy New Year! I wish you to read many good books in 2018.

Happy reading in 2018, Blue!

>5 drneutron: Hi, newt! Thank you!
>6 The_Hibernator: Thanks, Hibernator! Happy New Year!
>7 FAMeulstee: Happy reading to you as well, FAM!

Have a great year of reading!

Dropping off a
And wishing you

Happy New Year
Happy New Group here
This place is full of friends
I hope it never ends
It brew of erudition and good cheer.

>9 thornton37814: Thanks, thornton!
>10 ronincats: Hi, roni! Happy new year!
>11 PaulCranswick: Happy new year, Paul!

Happy New Year, blue!

Happy New Year and happy new thread!

>13 humouress: >14 foggidawn: Happy New Year!

Finished Book 1: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
The Book of Dust, book 1
New read, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 13h 16m
Borrowed from the library

I liked this well enough, but it seemed kind of scattered at times, like a bunch of unconnected scenes. Also, Malcolm's characterization seemed too much like Lyra's (precocious, adventurous, resourceful, a creative liar, finds friends and allies easily) while Alice's characterization was weak almost to the point of nonexistence (she was angry until she wasn't, and she was there to be Malcolm's Little Helper).

Content warnings: Animal harm, attempted rape, mentions of pedophilia, drowning, attempted child abduction, mentions of child abuse

Finished Book 2: The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Cathrynne Valente
The Girl Who, book 3
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 8h 22m
Borrowed from Hoopla

Finished Book 3: Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
Immortals, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 7h 54m
Illegal download (I'll buy a copy eventually; I'm slowly replacing my illegal downloads with legal copies)

I’m starting to have more trouble rereading the Immortals series, knowing that teenage Daine gets together with adult Numair. In this book, she’s 13 and it already seems like the seeds of the future relationship are being planted, which is just incredibly creepy and gross.

Finished Book 4: Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan
Lynburn Legacy, book 2
New read, young adult, fantasy, ebook, 385p
Borrowed from the library

So, this series. This series started out so well. I liked the first book a lot, I liked a lot of the character relationships even though I maybe didn’t like a lot of the characters particularly, and I was very curious about what was going to happen in the next books.

Unfortunately, one of the weakest parts of the first book - the love triangle between Kami, Jared, and Ash - has continued to be a major part of the story in the second book and it just bogs everything down. That whole subplot could have been removed and instead the time spent with Jared and Kami learning to communicate with each other after their bond was severed (instead of just not bothering to even try). That could have been amazing character development and would have been much more interesting to read about. Instead, the whole time is spent with sitcom-like miscommunications and misunderstandings and it just seems like a waste of such a potentially interesting storyline.

I am reading the third book, but I'm less excited about it than I was.

Finished Book 5: Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan
Lynburn Legacy, book 3
New read, young adult, fantasy, ebook, 384p
Borrowed from the library

There were certainly good parts in this book (even a couple scenes that made me laugh), and in the trilogy as a whole, but it was all overshadowed by the soap opera-like relationship between Kami, Jared, and Ash, and between other characters as well. There were far too many places where whole plotlines hinged on lies or misunderstandings, miscommunications or outright refusals to communicate at all. Overall, it was a frustrating and unsatisfying trilogy and I don’t recommend it.

content warnings: animal harm, kidnapping, attempted murder, murder, suicide, torture, drowning,
major character death, jokes about incest/inbreeding

Currently reading:
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (reread, audiobook)
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Cathrynne Valente (new read, audiobook)
Don’t Live For Your Obituary by John Scalzi (new read, ebook)
The Halcyon Fairy Book by T Kingfisher (new read, dead tree)

Finished Book 6: Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 20m
Owned on Audible

I was home with a migraine, so I listened to the whole book in one day. Well, I slept through parts of it, but it’s not like I haven’t read it a dozen times before. It is interesting to reread it now that there are 9 or 10 books in the series, because so many things Toby says in this book are completely wrong, or right but for the wrong reasons. Like, she talks about how Evening was never cruel. How Toby will never trust Tybalt. How Amandine was sad because she had to leave her human husband. Speaking of Amandine, Toby got a locked door in Goldengreen to open by saying “in my mother’s name, open up”, which makes much more sense when you know that Amandine helped open the knowe. I love how intricately woven this series is.

Finished Book 7: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
Wayfarers, book 2
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 11h 29m
Borrowed from Hoopla

So excited for the sequel that is coming out in a few months!

Finished Book 8: Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 3
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 176p
Owned paper copy

Rini appears in mid-air, falls into the school’s pond, and then demands to be taken to her mother, Sumi.

Absolutely fantastic. I loved (and thoroughly related to) the viewpoint character, Cora, who is fat and always expects people to react first and foremost to her appearance, and is often surprised when they don’t at the Home for Wayward Children.

Content warnings: internalized fatphobia, discussions of fatphobia, brief fatphobia (also discussions of dieting and other controlling behaviors) by antagonist, discussions of racism

Finished Book 9: Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor
Binti, Book 2
New read, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 4h 10m
Borrowed from Hoopla

Binti is a wonderful series and I’m really looking forward to the third book. It's out now and I’m on the waiting list for the ebook but that is going to take weeks, if not months. Oh, well.

Finished Book 10: One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 5
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook,
Owned on Audible

I didn’t feel like reading A Local Habitation (IMO the weakest book in the series) and I wasn’t in the mood for An Artificial Night or Late Eclipses (in the former Toby spends a lot of the time under mind-altering spells, in the latter she spends a lot of time unwittingly/unwillingly drugged), so I skipped right from Rosemary and Rue to One Salt Sea. And I have to say, that is some major story whiplash right there. Toby is suddenly mostly fae, practically indestructible, and half in love with Tybalt, even with Connor still there.

Yeah, I do recommend the series (I love this series so much), but I don’t recommend skipping books like that. It’s so weird and uncomfortable!

Finished Book 11: Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 6
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 26m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 12: Of Things Unknown by Seanan McGuire
October Daye (short story)
Reread, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 61p
Owned

This is the short story at the end of The Brightest Fell. It’s from April O’Leary’s perspective and ties back into the events of A Local Habitation. It’s a great story and it’s always interesting to see Toby’s universe from another perspective. I read this story aloud to my sister over the phone over the course of several days, since she listened to the audiobook of The Brightest Fell, which doesn’t include the short story at the end.

Finished Book 13: Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 7
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 15m
Owned on Audible

Finished Book 14: Full of Briars by Seanan McGuire
October Daye (short story)
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 44p
Owned (Kindle)

Pearl’d: Written in Red by Anne Bishop
So in the very first chapter, we’re learning the history of this alternate history world Bishop has created, which seems interesting and things are going fine - and then there’s the alternate history of the colonization of the US area, and the Native Americans are literally replaced with murdering vampiric monsters. No “and there are also native humans” or anything, just completely erased and replaced with monsters. That has got to be one of the most tone-deaf and racist things I’ve read in recent years and I’m appalled that it was published in this century.

Finished Book 15: The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 8
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 57m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 16: Rogue One by Alexander Freed
Star Wars
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 337p
Borrowed (library)

I don’t know why I thought this was a good book to read at work. The movie made me cry, how could the book not do the same? It did, of course. Several times.

Finished Book 17: A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 9
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 47m
Owned (Audible)

Content warnings: blood (even more than usual), kidnapping, torture, unnecessary/involuntary amputation, mind control, slavery, child abuse, drugs, racism/discussion of racial purity (about fae races)

Finished Book 18: The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 9
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 36m
Owned (Audible)

Content warnings: discussions of child abuse, gaslighting, kidnapping, torture, animal harm (the animals are transformed people), mind control, involuntary transformation, less blood than any other Toby book

Finished Book 19: Taste of Marrow by Sarah Gailey
River of Teeth, Book 2
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 187p
Borrowed (from a friend)

I like this book, I really like the world Gailey created, and I appreciate that it’s not as gory as the first book (which isn't to say there is no gore, however). There is an unfortunate lack of character development, though, due to having four protagonists, two major side characters, and two antagonists all crammed into one novella.

Pearl’d: Everfair by Nisi Shaw
I didn’t think this book was bad, in fact I thought the world and plot were pretty interesting. But there was a unfortunate lack of character development; there were many main characters and I had a hard time telling them apart. So I got about halfway through the book and then I got distracted with other things and just never went back to it. This is not a “this is terrible, avoid” situation. This is a “I get why people like it, it just didn’t work for me” situation.

Finished Book 20: Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce
Numair Chronicles, book 1
New read, young adult, fantasy, dead tree, 480p
Owned

Finished Book 21: The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 13h 39m
Owned (Audible)

>25 bluesalamanders: Ha! I did the same to Everfair last year at just about the same point!

Tempests and Slaughter is the new one out, right? I want to read it but will probably wait for a library copy. What did you think?

>26 ronincats: I tried to like Everfair, I really wanted to, but sadly I could not. I liked many of the ideas but the execution just left me cold.

Yes, Tempests and Slaughter is the new one, just came out last week! I liked it quite a bit. There are a lot of fantastic characters, both ones that we knew would to show up (Ozorne, Varice, etc) and new characters (many of his teachers are great, and there are some other fun characters as well). I'm looking forward to the next book.

Finished Book 22: Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel
Themis Files, book 2
New read, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 9h 2m
Borrowed (library)

I don’t even know how to talk about this book. I’m not sure I would have read it if I’d known what it was about. I definitely wouldn’t have listened to the audiobook if I’d known about the torture scene, the major character deaths, and the times when it seemed like major characters had died because I listened to this book while at work and none of those things were conducive to calm and productive work time.

I do think it’s a bit better written than the first book and the characters are even better developed. The story went in several directions I definitely did not see coming but worked well or made perfect sense once revealed.

Content warnings: apocalypse-level amounts of death, major character deaths, descriptions of major injuries, torture (VERY dramatic in the audiobook), kidnapping, nuclear bomb

Finished Book 23: Soulless by Gail Carriger
Parasol Protectorate, book 1
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 10h 48m
Illegal download

Finished Book 24: Changeless by Gail Carriger
Parasol Protectorate, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 33m
Owned (Audible; see, I'm slowly getting legal copies of my illegal downloads!)

Finished Book 25: Planetfall by Emma Newman
Planetfall, book 1
New read, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 10h 1m
Borrowed (library)

I do not recommend this book if you have issues reading about people with anxiety, PTSD, OCD, or the like, as it is a first-person novel from the perspective of a character with issues like this (see warnings below for some specifics, feel free to ask me if you want more details).

I do recommend it if that isn’t a big problem for you, though, because it’s an excellent book, with excellent characters. It is a story about a woman who is a colonist on another planet, the first human colony, and many of her mental health issues stem from, or were exacerbated by, something traumatic that happened during “planetfall”, when the first group of colonists first landed on the planet. That much is clear from pretty early on, although what happened isn’t immediately evident.

It is not, I think, a book I’ll read again any time soon, or maybe ever, but it is a very good book. The characters and motivations are complex, the world Newman created is intriguing, and the main character’s struggles are handled frankly but compassionately. I hope that stories like this will help people understand mental health struggles better.

Content warnings: descriptions of parasites, anxiety/PTSD reactions such as hoarding and isolation, self-harm, dissociation, other people handling hoarding very badly


Finished Book 26: Blameless by Gail Carriger
Parasol Protectorate, book 3
Reread, fantasy: steampunk, audiobook: 11h 59m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 27: Heartless by Gail Carriger
Parasol Protectorate, book 4
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 19m
Download

Finished Book 28: Timeless by Gail Carriger
Parasol Protectorate, book 5
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 29m
Borrowed (library)

March

Finished Book 29: Don't Live For Your Obituary by John Scalzi
New read, adult, non-fiction, ebook, 472
Owned (kobo)

Not my favorite of his blog collections, but then I'm not a writer looking for writerly advice, so I'm not really the target audience. Some of it got a little repetitive after a while, but since I was reading it at work during lunch and so only had time to read a few entries a day, it wasn't so bad.

(Hey, look, I read a whole entire non-fiction book!!)

Finished Book 30: Prudence by Gail Carriger
Custard Protocal, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 40m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 31: Tricks For Free by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 7
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 432p
Owned

I like the Incryptid series, but some of the books are darker and more toward the horror end of things than I generally read, so they’re not on my “constant reread” list like, say, the Toby books. However, Tricks For Free seems, while not exactly light, at least somewhat less tense than the last few books, more focused on Antimony and her relationships with her friends and family. There’s still action and adventure and meeting new cryptids and running (or in Annie’s case, skating) for one’s life, but I guess it seems more localized and less like the whole world is about to come crashing down. Even though it still could.

Finished Book 32: Imprudence by Gail Carriger
Custard Protocal, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 7m
Owned (Audible)

Pearl’d: Green Rider by Kristin Britain
There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with this book, it just didn’t grab me. The most interesting part was when the main character (whose name I can’t even remember) visited the sisters who lived in the weird old house in the woods with the invisible servents, but as soon as she left them, I lost interest again. I feel like it's just Standard Fantasy Characters in a Standard Fantasy Setting with a Standard Fantasy Plot, and I’m really not interested in that.

Finished Book 33: Redshirts by John Scalzi
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 7h 41m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 34: The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 10h 34m

Finished Book 35: The Halcyon Fairy by T. Kingfisher
New read, young adult, fantasy, dead tree, 440p
Borrowed (friend)

The second half of this book is Toad Words and Other Stories, a great collection of short stories by Ursula Vernon (as T. Kingfisher). The first half of this book is sort of...annotated fairy tales? But not academically. More - sarcastically. The fairy tales seemed to be chosen for their weirdness content and then Vernon breaks in every couple of paragraphs with comments and asides and questions about how weird the stories are, what exactly is going on, why did that character appear for two lines and then vanish, never to be seen again?

I’ve read a lot of rewritten fairy tales, but not a lot of the originals, so it was interesting to see just how weird some of them are, and Vernon’s interjections are certainly entertaining. And of course Toad Words is a wonderful collection of stories.

Finished Book 36: Heroine Worship by Sarah Kuhn
Heroine Complex, book 2
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 384p
Borrowed (from a friend)

The first half of this book is kind of hard to read. The book is from Aveda Jupiter’s perspective and I spent half the book mentally (and sometimes actually) yelling at her to stop what she was doing and pay attention to someone other than herself for five seconds! But the whole point of the book is getting her to a place where she can see what she’s doing and start improving. So, it’s not easy to read, but it’s well done. Overall I enjoyed it and I definitely recommend the series.

Finished Book 37: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Imperial Radch, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 13h 47m
Owned (Audible)

This is the second or possibly the third time I’ve read Ancillary Justice, and not only does it hold up exeeding well on repeated rereadings, but I think I’m getting more out of it each time. It is really some of my favorite SF to come out recently.

Finished Book 38: Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
Binti, book 3
New read, young adult, fantasy, ebook, 202p
Borrowed (Library)

I was not prepared. I love these stories a lot.

Finished Book 39: The Peripheral by William Gibson
New read, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 14h 5m
Borrowed (Library)

I’m kind of on the fence about this one? I liked it enough to finish it, but wow did it take a long time to get going. The setup at the beginning of the book is very, very, very slow. And I must have missed some stuff, because some things at the end still don’t make sense, but I honestly don’t care enough to try and find out.

There was a lot of neat technology stuff, though. That was cool. And the way time travel (ish?) worked was neat.

Finished Book 40: Games Wizards Play by Diane Duane
Young Wizards, book 9
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 15h 9m
Read by Mark Oshiro

Not my favorite YW book. Penn is so awful and everything nearby gets engulfed in awful with him, even Kit. Mehrnaz is a gem, however, and once she gets over her hero-worship, she and Dairine are good influences on each other.

April

Finished Book 41: Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
Imperial Radch, book 2
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 11h 44m
Owned (Audible)

These books are fantastic and really hold up to multiple readings. However, it looks like the publisher changed between the recordings of the first and second books, so this book has a different narrator. Both narrators are good, but they pronounce things - especially names and locations, of which there are many unusual ones in this series - drastically differently. It's very jarring and kept pulling me out of the story. I prefer the pronunciation in the first book, but I wish they'd re-record it with the new narrator as well so the whole trilogy was cohesive. Especially since it was distracting enough that I just wrote a whole paragraph about it.

Finished Book 42: Lock In by John Scalzi
Lock in, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 10h 56m
Owned (Audible)

I wanted to reread the first book before reading the sequel.

Finished Book 43: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 53m
Borrowed (Library)

There were things I liked and things I didn’t like about this book. There was a fairy-tale feel to the story that was enjoyable, and the setting - mainly a small Russian village - was vividly drawn. I liked the main character and her relationship with the people around her, especially her siblings. I also liked her relationship with the winter demon. I was glad that they did not end up in any sort of romantic relationship.

On the other hand, some of the antagonists of the book seemed shoehorned in, and not particularly satisfactory. The priest, for example, who appears out of nowhere halfway though the book and is immediately and increasingly horrible. The crazy stepmother, who never has the chance to find out that she’s not actually crazy, and then, oh, too bad, now she’s dead. The entire Christianity aspect just kind of seems like an afterthought instead of an integral part of the story.

Finished Book 44: Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw
Dr Greta Helsing, book 1
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 400p
Borrowed (from a friend)

I love Greta, I enjoyed this story, my only complaint is that there were so few women.

Finished Book 45: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin
Inheritence Trilogy, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 46m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 46: The Broken Kingdom by NK Jemisin
Inheritence Trilogy, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 28m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 47: The Kingdom of Gods by NK Jemisin
Inheritence Trilogy, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 43m
Read by Mark Oshiro

I love this trilogy. I think the first book is my favorite, but I like all three and the associated short stories as well.

I have mixed feelings about the audiobooks, though. For one, the narrator didn’t pronounce some things the way I expected them to be pronounced, which was distracting. That one I guess is my issue, not the narrator’s. However, for two, her accents for the various characters were not consistent (especially between books, since there are several recurring characters, but even within each book). It could be difficult to tell who was talking, or when the speaker changed within a conversation, or when the narration changed between the omnicient narration, a character’s internal thoughts, and a character’s speech. This was especially confusing in places where there are few or no speech tags (eg "she said").

Weirdly, there doesn’t seem to be an audiobook for book 3. So I listened to Mark Oshiro’s Mark Reads The Kingdom of Gods, which is a very different experience from a regular audiobook.

Finished Book 48: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10 hrs and 16 mins

Finished Book 49: Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10 hrs and 39 mins

Finished Book 50: All Systems Red by Martha Wells
The Murderbot Diaries, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, ebook, 160p

Two sequel novellas are coming out later this year! I love this book, the main character is fantastic and I can’t wait to read more about them.

Finished Book 51: Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 3
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11 hrs and 52 mins

Finished Book 52: In the Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 4
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 31m

The Lady Trent series have become some of my favorite books since I listened to the first one a couple of years ago, and some of my favorite audiobooks. The series is narrated by Kate Reading, who is simply fantastic.

Finished Book 53: Head On by John Scalzi
Lock In, book 2
New read, adult, science fiction, dead tree, 335p

A solid sequel to Lock In.

Finished Book 54: The Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 5
Reead, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10 hrs and 59 mins

Finished Book 55: Bloodshot by Cherie Priest
Cheshire Red Reports, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 16m

Content warnings: transphobic language, violence, psychological and physical torture, discussion of nonconsentual medical experiments, gore, major character death

Finished Book 56: The End of All Things by John Scalzi
Old Man's War, book 6
Reread, adult, science fiction, dead tree: 349p

Finished Book 57: Terrier by Tamora Pierce
Beka Cooper, book 1
Reread, Young Adult, Fantasy, Audiobook: 15h 3m

May

Finished Book 58: Girls of Riyadh By Rajaa Alsanea
New read, adult, fiction, audiobook, 8h 38m
Borrowed (library)

I borrowed this from the library because the description sounded kind of interesting and the audiobook is read by Kate Reading, who is one of my favorite audiobook narrators. I didn’t like the book much, but I don’t feel like I can give a fair review of it beyond that, since it is very much not the sort of thing I usually read.

Content warnings (this is not remotely comprehensive): misogyny, racism, fatphobia, dieting, mention of dubiously consentual elective medical procedure, arranged marriages, infidelity, reproductive coercion (by a husband), birth control sabotage (by a wife), controlling/abusive relationships, homophobia, lesbophobia, classism, bigotry against different Islamic sects

Finished Book 59: Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel
The Themis Files, book 3
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 352p
Owned (kobo)

Excellent and absolutely as enthralling as the first two. I decided to get the ebook since the audiobook of book 2 was a little two intense for me (very well done, possibly too well done). On the down side, it is occasionally difficult to keep track of who’s speaking in the ebook - the novel has a lot of transcripts of interviews and audio recordings that don’t include speech tags - but several very intense scenes in the book are somewhat less upsetting when read in this format than listened to. And I do love a good epistolary novel.

Finished Book 60: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 8h 34m
Borrowed (library)

I didn’t like Howl’s Moving Castle the first time I read it, which was maybe back in high school. I thought I’d give it another shot, since sometimes tastes change and I've heard so many good things about it, but to be honest I didn’t especially care for it now either.

>43 bluesalamanders: I haven't read Howl's Moving Castle but I am very fond of Miyazaki's animated adaptation.

Finished Book 61: Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 18h 6m
Owned (audible)

Finished Book 62: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
Murderbot Diaries, book 2
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 160p
Owned (kobo)

I love this series so much! The voice Wells gave to Murderbot is just wonderful and captivating.

Finished Book 63: Mastiff by Tamora Pierce
Beka Cooper, book 3
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 20h 29m
Owned (audible)

Finished Book 64: Down Among the Sticks and Bones By Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 4h 4m
Owned (audible)

Finished Book 65: Beneath the Sugar Sky By Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 3
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 4h 11m
Owned (audible)

Finished Book 66: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 4h 44m
Owned (audible)

Finished Book 67: Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 20m
owned (audible)

Finished Book 68: Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 59m
owned (audible)

Finished Book 69: Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 5h
library

Argh, you remind me that I have to go find the Mastiff trilogy in the other room and consider if I want to donate them along with my other Tortall books to the local Middle School! I'm waiting for Artificial Condition from the library. It's on order and I'm 6th in line.

Finished Book 70: Sorcery and Cecilia, or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Sorcery and Cecelia, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, dead tree: 336p
owned

Finished Book 71: The Grand Tour, or The Purloined Coronation Regalia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Sorcery and Cecelia, book 2
Reread, Young Adult, historical fantasy, dead tree, 469p
owned

Finished Book 72: The Mislaid Magician, or Ten Years After by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Sorcery and Cecelia, book 3
Reread, Young Adult, historical fantasy, dead tree, 326p
owned

Pearl’d: The Glass House Game by Cathrynne Valente
Got maybe a third of the way in and realized I really wasn’t enjoying it. I love Valente’s Fairyland books, but I have a much harder time reading her adult fiction.

Finished Book 73: Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 11h 20m
owned (audible)

Currently reading:
Space Opera by Cat Valente (dead tree)
The Language of Spells by Garret Weyr (dead tree; ER)
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer (audiobook)
Terminal Alliance by Jim Hines (audiobook)
After Atlas by Emma Newman (audiobook)

I'm having a bit of trouble concentrating on one book at a time just now. They all seem pretty good so far and I expect I'll finish them all, except probably Space Opera, which I'm going to give another try but I'm bouncing pretty hard off of.

Also in line at the library for Space Opera, 19th in line for 2 copies. Too like the Lightning was outstanding but required a lot of concentration. Jim Hines and I don't get along for some reason. But all your rereads are favorites of mine!

>47 ronincats: Donate your Tortall books! Bold move. I could never. Nice for the kids, though!
Artificial Condition is so good. I can't wait for August when the next one comes out!! The next few months are an amazing time for books I'm looking forward to.

I can always get them at the library, and that would be true no matter where I live, so it means considerable shelf room. I just finished a major reread of the three quartets, the two tricksters, and the new Numair book. I'm keeping the trickster duo.

>49 ronincats: I'm listening to Lightning in chunks at work. You know, when I'm doing a fairly straightforward task so I know I can concentrate for a while. I'm still finding I occasionally need to backtrack, because if I get distracted for a few seconds, I miss a lot.

I didn't like the Hines books I tried in the past, either, but somehow this one is different. Maybe it's because his other books are fantasy and this series is science fiction? I don't know, but it's pretty funny so far.

>51 ronincats: And the trickster duo is the one I've actually considered getting rid of, since they're my least favorite of the bunch, heh. Kel and Beka are my faves, I could never part with them. However, it's true, they are definitely available in libraries all over. Also I have audiobooks of most of them, so there's that too.

Reading them all together this time, I almost felt like I had aged out on them. I still like them, but I don't feel a need to have them. I will probably reread the Beka series now, as I've only read them the once, when they came out a decade ago, before donating them.

You have a few series there that I’m interested in. The chocolate pot is one of them; I have the first but the other two are really hard to find (for a sensible price). I did pick up an Alanna book for my kids, though it may be the last one in the series. On my recent trip to Sydney, I had half an hour to rush through my favourite fantasy book shop there and it was on sale for AUD5 so I picked it up anyway.

>53 ronincats: Fair enough! I just went through my bookshelves and got rid of some books I would've never expected to get rid of if you'd asked me a few years ago (Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall trilogy, for example). Also there are some books I just hang on to like a safety blanket. Also, I mean, I haven't actually read the Alanna books in years. I just like to have a copy.

>54 humouress: The Chocolate Pot books are so expensive! I was lucky, I found copies at a sort of a weird discount/overstock store a few years back that has since shut down, unfortunately. If I'd know people were having so much trouble finding reasonably-priced copies I might have bought a few extra. It's a great series.

Finished Book 74: After Atlas by Emma Newman
Planetfall, book 2
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 384p
Library

Content warnings: cults, suicide, murder, mutilation of a corpse, death by hanging, death by pills, slavery, infidelity, spousal abuse, controlling/abusive relationship, computer chips in brains, surveillance state, child abuse, voyeurism, nonconsensual drug use, misunderstanding depression, fatphobia, racism, sadism, sex slavery, human trafficking, PTSD

Most of the book is a murder mystery in a futuristic setting, which is investigated by a character who grew up outside mainstream culture and has never quite managed to assimilate, for various reasons. The story deals with both the mystery side of things and the cultural side of things, which are both interesting.

About two thirds of the way through, the story takes kind of an unexpected turn and I had to stop listening to the audiobook and find an ebook. However, it was an excellent book and I really liked it. Also the end was completely unexpected and left me staring at the book (or rather, my phone) with my mouth wide open. It’s not often that a book can surprise me quite that much.

(If you're interested in what made me stop the audiobook (which was otherwise excellent): the main character, who is essentially a slave of the state, was purchased by a sadistic asshole and...well, the first conversation with his new owner is everything you’d expect a conversation with a sadistic asshole who enjoys controlling and hurting other people to be, short of physical abuse. If I had liked the rest of the book less, I would have stopped reading entirely, because it was intense and horrifying. But I really wanted to know what happened next, and how he got away, because I was sure he would get away somehow.)

Finished Book 75: Jammed by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, short story
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook,

Finished Book 76: Survival Horror by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, short story
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook,

Finished Book 77: Flower of Arizona by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, short story
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook,

Finished Book 78: The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 13h 39m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 79: Sandry’s Book by Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 5h 53m
library (hoopla)

Finished Book 80: Tris’s Book by Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 5h 17m
library (hoopla)

Finished Book 81: Daja’s Book by Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic, book 3
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 5h 20m
library (hoopla)

Finished Book 82: Briar’s Book by Tamora Pierce
Circle of magic book 4
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook: 6h 22m
library (hoopla)

Finished Book 83: Before Mars by Emma Newman
Planetfall, book 3
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 352p
library

Content warnings: child abuse, domestic violence, gore, gaslighting, birth control sabotage, reproductive coercion, misogyny, specifically motherhood-related misogyny, nonconsensual drug use, computer chips in brains, indentured servitude/slavery, surveillance state, memory wiping, suicide attempt, nuclear holocaust

Before Mars is about a geologist and artist, Anna Kubrin, who is sent to the Mars outpost to, well, do geology and art. Except when she arrives, something seems off. People are acting strangely, the AI that runs the base is behaving oddly, and she finds several objects that make no sense at all.

The book is creepy and unsettling from the start as Anna slowly unravels the mystery of what is happening on Mars, all while questioning her own sanity as she vividly recalls the psychotic break her father had when she was a child.

I think this is my favorite of the three Planetfall books, though I like all of them. I thought it was going to be a trilogy; now I’m hoping there’s going to be a fourth book, because this one leaves things wide open in ways I didn’t anticipate. I also thought this book took place before After Atlas, but it actually takes place concurrently, which makes some events from the previous book shocking and horrifying all over again.

While I really like this series and genuinely recommend it, I also recommend looking at the content warnings if reading about characters with mental health issues would be a concern for you. The first book deals heavily with anxiety and hoarding; the second book deals with PTSD, including trauma related to child abuse, and also I believe OCD, though it’s not explicit; and the third book deals heavily with gaslighting.

Congrats on reaching and surpassing 75!

Congratulations on your 75!

Coincidentally, I’m on the last few pages of The Magic in the Weaving, also known as Sandry’s Book (though it doesn’t seem to belong to her any more than to the other characters).

Congratulations on reaching 75!

>59 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky!
>60 humouress: Thank you! Yeah, I never quite understood the Sandry's/Daja's/etc titles. Those other titles are a lot prettier, or more poetical, or something, and also make more sense since those books aren't really focused on any one kid.
>61 FAMeulstee: Thanks, FAMeulstee!

Finished Book 84: Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce
The Circle Opens, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook: 7h 26m

Finished Book 85: Oh Pretty Bird by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 100p

Finished Book 86: Bury Me in Satin by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 50p

Pearl’d: Autonomous by Annalee Newitz

Content warnings (for as far as I got): homophobia, indentured servitude/slavery, murder, gore, nonconsentual drugging, really bad drug side effects, dubiously consentual sex, sexual relationship with a large age gap, misogyny

The description of the book sounded really interesting, and I think it won or was nominated for some awards? But while I liked some parts of it, the relationship that was the main thing that intrigued me from the descriptions turned out to be uncomfortable and disturbing (to me; obviously a lot of other people don’t agree, which is fine).

Finished Book 87: The Martian Obelisk by Linda Nagata
Short story
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 28p

Finished Book 88: Snakes and Ladders by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 76p

Finished Book 89: Broken Paper Hearts by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 19p

Finished Book 90: The Star of New Mexico by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 40p

Finished Book 91: The Way Home by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 53p

>64 bluesalamanders: I have been mostly lurking but delurking now to say I DNF'ed Autonomous for exactly the reasons you list. Not sure if the people who liked it were just able to cope with the disturbing subject matter better or didn't find it disturbing....

>66 souloftherose: Maybe they could cope better and something that happens later in the book makes it all ok? That would be the most optimistic way to look at it. I mean, it won a bunch of prestigious awards! Which I totally don't understand! But...so did Naomi Novik's Uprooted, and I find the relationships in that book nearly as disturbing (I did manage to finish that one, at least).

These are all short stories in the Incryptid universe. They're not necessary to understand the books, but they expand on characters and events from the books and are generally very entertaining. Most if not all of these are available on Seanan's website (some short stories are Patreon-only, but I forget which are which).

Finished Book 92: Lay of the Land by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 49p

Finished Book 93: Target Practice by Seanan McGuire
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 29p

Finished Book 94: The Ghosts of Bourbon Street by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 46p

Finished Book 95: Snake in the Glass by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 35p

Finished Book 96: Swamp Bromeliad by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 32p

Finished Book 97: Waking Up In Vegas by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 33p

Finished Book 98: My Last Name by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 16p

Finished Book 99: As Black As Blood by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 17p

Finished Book 100: White as a Raven’s Wing by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 34p

Finished Book 101: A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 52m

Finished Book 102: An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, Book 3
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 12h 32m

Finished Book 103: The Language of Spells by Garret Weyr
New read, young adult, fantasy, dead tree, 299p

I liked this book a lot, I liked the characters and the world and the story, up until the end, which, maybe it was because I’m already stressed for personal reasons right now, but I found the end just too depressing for words.

Finished Book 104: Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, Book 4
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 11h 51m

Finished Book 105: One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, Book 5
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, dead tree, 354p

Finished Book 106: Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, Book 6
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 12h 26m

Finished Book 107: Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
Wayfarers, book 3
New read, adult, science fiction, dead tree, 358p

For some reason, this one didn’t grab me like the previous two did. I enjoyed it, certainly, the characters were interesting, the setting was fascinating, the worldbuilding was as lush as ever, but I don’t know, something about it just didn’t quite click for me. Which is not to say that I don’t recommend it; I definitely do! I thought it was good. I just didn’t immediately fall in love with it like I did the first two.

>69 bluesalamanders: Hope things look up for you soon.

>70 bluesalamanders: Looks like the first two spoiled you ;0)

>68 bluesalamanders: Oh alright! I’ll look up Incryptid.

>71 humouress: The first two definitely spoiled me ;) They are aMAZing. Like, instant-favorites, definite rereads, recommend to almost everyone. The third one is pretty good, which just doesn't have the same ring, does it?

I hope you like Incryptid! It's a fun series, starts off pretty light for the first few books, though some of the more recent ones are much darker.

Finished Book 108: European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss
The Athena Club, book 2
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 24h 27m
Owned (audible)

We learn more about the main characters and meet new interesting characters as the Athena Club travels to Europe to attempt to rescue the young woman who contacted Mary through her old friend.

I am really loving this series! I don’t know what else to say. It’s so much fun.

Finished Book 109: Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 7
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 15m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 110: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Murderbot, book 3
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 160p
Owned (kobo)

Wonderful as ever. The ending made me bawl my freaking eyes out. And did you hear? These novellas are so popular, Wells is going to write a whole Murderbot novel!! Yay!!

Finished Book 111: The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 8
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 57m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 112: A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 9
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 47m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 113: Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 10
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 27m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 114: The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 11
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 36m
Owned (Audible)

I am really, truly impressed by Seanan’s skill as a storyteller. Over the last few books, mostly the last two, she managed a switch I never would have imagined possible five books ago. She took a beloved character and turned them into - not an enemy, but certainly someone to be wary of. And she simultaneously turned a long-time enemy into a nearly-trusted ally who I (and of course Toby) truly care for. I’ve read these books before, and I am still awed by this.

Currently reading:
Space Opera by Cat Valente (dead tree)
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer (audiobook; this one is going to take a long time)
Terminal Alliance by Jim Hines (audiobook)
A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold (ebook)
Competence by Gail Carriger (audiobook)
The Heart of Valor by Tanya Huff (dead tree; did not realize when I started that it's book 3 of the series, but oh well!)

Finished Book 115: Competence by Gail Carriger
Custard protocol, book 3
New read, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h52m

I enjoyed the characters and character interactions, but the plot was really lacking in this one. Which would be fine - I don’t mind books that focus more on characters than plot, and I like Prim possibly even more than Rue - except that what plot there is was….not great. It is, unfortunately, a pretty straightforward White Savior story. Not a great addition to this series.

Content warnings: internalized homophobia, relationship with a large age difference, fatphobia, racism, white savior, man saved by a woman’s love, kind of iffy explanations of transgender

Finished Book 116: A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold
Vorkosigan, book something-or-other
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook 544

I’m really not sure about this book. My friend recommended it to me as “a Regency Romance in space”, which sounded like fun. Unfortunately, the book starts out as Friendzone: The Novel, which is not very appealing. The main character hires his love interest for the job of her dreams so he has an excuse to spend time with her and “secretly” court her (as in, it's a secret from her). Frankly I spent most of the book hoping they wouldn’t end up together, because he was such an ass.

I did find the last half or third of the book a lot more entertaining, but everything seemed to move pretty quickly and the end wasn’t quite satisfying to me. Some of that is probably because I (deliberately) didn’t read the book leading up to this one, however.

(Added later: Having now read the preceding book, it didn't help, and in fact possibly made it worse.)

I may be done with Vorkosigan books, except maybe for the one or two more there are about Cordelia. I tried, because my friend really loves the series, but I just can’t get into it.

Content Warnings: fatphobia, eating disorder, weightloss, ableism, gender reassignment for political reasons, bugs, homophobia, misogyny, transphobia

Tell me you read Memory and Komarr before reading A Civil Campaign for the context!

Totally agree with you about Competence--wrote about it on my thread.

I haven't read Memory because my friend wanted to tell me some stuff about Mirror Dance first (which she specifically warned me away from reading) and I didn't have a chance to talk to her before I picked a book to read. Also I wanted a lighter read than that promises to be, although she does say it's very good.

Maybe I'll talk to her and give Memory a chance before I stop entirely.

Hooray, Blue! You and I are apparently the only two people in the group who have read European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman as yet. I absolutely love the Athena Club books and I'm so glad you do too! (Don't mind me crashing in here in my enthusiasm! Cheers!)

>78 beserene: They're wonderful! I'm glad other people enjoy them as much as I do :D

>79 bluesalamanders: Sames! I'm pushing them on people all over the place! :D

>75 bluesalamanders: You don't love Vorkosigan? I don't know, blue, this could be a deal breaker.

I guess Miles is a bit of an idiot in A Civil Campaign but you do have to read Komarr first, where Ekaterin was introduced.

>81 humouress: I don't...and I've figured out what I don't like, actually. I don't like Miles. I just don't find him a compelling character to read about. Every Vorkosigan book I've read that is mostly or entirely about other people, I liked way better.

For example, I've now read Komarr (I'm way behind on updating here) and most of Memory. I really liked Komarr, which is largely from Ekaterin's perspective and I liked her. I liked Memory, but I found myself skimming big chunks of it, because I was interested in what was happening to Simon and in Miles's investigation, but I just didn't care about all of Miles's introspection.

Finished Book 117: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 9h 58m
Audible

Finished Book 118: The Heart of Valor by Tanya Huff
Confederation, book 3
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 432p
Owned

I didn’t realize when I grabbed this that it was the third book in the series; I think I got it off paperbackswap and I assumed I’d gotten the first book. Still, It was good! I’ll see about getting more books in this series.

Finished Book 119: The Last Colony By John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 3
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 9h 51m
Audible

Finished Book 120: Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 4
Reread, young adult, science fiction, audiobook, 10h
Audible

Finished Book 121: The Human Division By John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 5
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 14h 53m
Audible

Finished Book 122: The End Of All Things By John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 6
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 11h 24m
Audible

Finished Book 123: Night and Silence by Seanan McGUire
October Daye, book
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 368p
Owned

Oh, Toby! Oh, Tybalt! Oh, Gillian! This book was so hard on everyone. Something I really appreciate about Seanan’s books is how there are consequences. Tybalt’s (and Jazz’s, not to mention Toby’s and May’s) trauma did not get wiped away because Toby ‘won’ in The Brightest Fell.

I’ll have to read this another time or two to write a more coherent review (especially a relatively spoiler-free one). Suffice it to say it was an excellent addition to the series.

Finished Book 124: Lock In by John Scalzi
Lock in, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 10h 56m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 125: Head On by John Scalzi
Lock In, book 2
Reread, adult, science fiction, audible, 7h 36m
(audible)

Finished Book 126: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10 hrs and 16 mins

Finished Book 127: How to Win Over Your Arch-Nemisis (In Three Easy Steps) by Jenniffer Wardell
New read, adult, fiction, ebook, 42p
(Kobo)

I was talking to some friends about how I wish sometime some spy or con man would try to romance a mark and get shut down cold instead of falling into bed. I mean, I certainly wouldn’t be impressed by an attractive person coming on to me, I would be weirded out (or completely oblivious, depending on how subtle they were). So, one of my friends pointed me toward this book. It’s not exactly what I wanted, but it is an amusing little story

Finished Book 128: Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold
Vorkosigan, book 12 (chronological)
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 320p

Content warning: emotionally abusive relationship, neglectful parent, kidnapping (of adults), death by asphyxiation, Major character death, PTSD/flashbacks, ableism, misogyny

I liked this one a lot, specifically all the time spent with Ekaterin. It didn’t make me like A Civil Campaign any better, though. In fact, Miles is just as bad in Komarr. Snooping in her personal files? “Falling in love” with her after a day or two? Come on. I find I am less and less patient with the Fourth Date Marriage trope as time goes on.

Finished Book 129: Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10 hrs and 39 mins

Finished Book 130: Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 3
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11 hrs and 52 mins

Finished Book 131: In the Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 4
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 31m

Finished Book 132: Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 5
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 59m

I love this series. It’s calming and relaxing to reread when things are stressful. And since we’ve spent the last couple of weeks rearranging my department at work (like physically moving things around, it's such a mess), things are pretty stressful right now!

Finished Book 133: Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 15h 23m
(I think I listened to Mark Reads read it)

I had trouble concentrating on anything for a while, so I fell back to an old favorite. I still love this book a lot.

Finished Book 134: Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
Vorkosigan, book 11
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 416p
(gift from a friend)

Content warnings: depression, sucidal ideation, alzheimer’s-like illness, surgery, betrayal, ableism, racism, sexism, infidelity, love nearly at first sight

As I said to humouress above, I’ve finally figured out what I do and don’t like about the Vorkosigan books: I do like the universe, the writing, and many of the characters. I don’t like Miles. I simply don’t find him interesting or entertaining to read about. Which means that the parts of this book that are about Simon and other characters were really interesting, but the majority of it, which focused on MIles, was a slog for me.

Finished Book 135: The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
Raksura, book 1
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 300p
(borrowed from Hoopla)

I love Wells’ new Murderbot series (SO MUCH LOVE) so when my friend recommended her Raksura series, I decided to check it out. It is very, extremely, entirely different from Murderbot - it is a fantasy light on magic but full of nonhuman sentient races, which is unusual and really interesting to read about.

Finished Book 136: Night and Silence by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 12
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 28m
(audible)

It’s interesting the different hings you (or at least I) pick up on when reading a book in audio vs paper format.

Finished Book 137: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
Murderbot Diaries, book 4
New read, adult, science fiction, Ebook, 133p
(kobo)

I really can barely find words to express my love for these books. The main character, Murderbot, is (let’s see how alliterative I can get) an antisocial, aro-ace, agender, possibly autistic android who would just like to be left alone to watch space sitcoms, but instead has to spend much of its time protecting humans who just can’t protect themselves. Also it is extremely sarcastic. Being in its head is a treat.

The plots of the four novellas so far in the series are ostensibly about protecting people and staying incognito and researching the event that somehow led to Murderbot hacking its own programming in the first place, and those are important and interesting, of course, but the real focus of the story is on the emotional journey and growth that Murderbot takes over the course of the series; everything from learning to not freak out around crowds to learning to make friends to learning to articulate its own desires and needs beyond the absolute minimum.

I haven’t reread the series yet, so I don’t know if it holds up to a second reading, but I imagine it will. The voice Wells created for Murderbot is simply a joy to read and the universe it inhabits is vast and fascinating. Also, Wells has been tapped to write a full-length novel continuing the series, which is fantastic!

Yay for Murderbot! I read the last one as well and that whole series is so good!

>88 beserene: Right? They're all so great!

>87 bluesalamanders: I'm #3 on the one copy of the last Murderbot the library currently has, and waiting impatiently! What did you pick up on audio that you didn't in print on the Toby Daye book?

>85 bluesalamanders: Love the Lady Trent books too.

>86 bluesalamanders: Love Sunshine too.

>90 ronincats: Usually little things, like in the most recent book I missed that she mentioned Spike had grown from small-cat-sized to corgi-sized. Also I missed that Janet mentions tampons when she's listing the contents of her purse, which if you think about it, is horrifying. She's had periods for four hundred years with no end in sight. That might be the one thing that make me have sympathy for her when pretty much nothing else can.

Sunshine and the Lady Trent books are some of my absolute favorites!

Finished Book 138: Beneath the Sugar Sky By Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 3
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 4h 11m
Owned (audible)

Finished Book 139: The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells
Raksura, book 2
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 451p
(borrowed from Hoopla)

Finished Book 140: The Siren Depths by Martha Wells
Raksura, book 3
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 502p
(borrowed from Hoopla)

I like this series really quite a lot, and as the ebooks are easily available, I’ve been borrowing them one after another. I mostly read them at work, during breaks and lunches.

Pearl’d: Terminal Alliance by Jim Hines
It actually makes me sad to Pearl this one. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, I like the author’s blog, I love the premise, I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn’t hold my interest. I didn’t especially care for the characters, the setting - the history of the universe the story is set it - bothered me more than it interested me, and while there were certain bits of worldbuilding that I liked (they had to use the equivilent of Clippy to help them run the spaceship! That cracked me up. brilliant.) that was not enough to sustain my interest.

Finished Book 141: The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
The Interdependency, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 9h 24m
(audible)

Content warnings: attempted murder, murder/major character death, betrayal, sexual assault

The new book in this series, The Consuming Fire, just came out and I decided (with a little help from a migraine I needed distraction from) to reread The Collapsing Empire first.

I like it. I like a lot of the characters, I like the universe and worldbuilding, I like that it’s a story largely about politics but it isn’t boring, I like that there are dramatic action sequences but they aren’t your typical shoot-outs. I like that one of the main characters mentions getting her period at an inconvenient time and how much it sucks. I enjoyed rereading this book and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel.

I don’t like everything, though. On the first read-through I didn’t enjoy the time spent with the antagonist family, but that didn’t bother me too much this time. What bothered me this time was one of the main characters, Kiva. She swears constantly, to the point where it’s just annoying. I’m not sure if it was the reading or the writing - Wil Wheaton isn’t a bad narrator, but he’s not my favorite - but a lot of times the swearing seemed forced, like it was swearing just to be swearing, rather than the natural way someone talks. I work in manufacturing, with people who swear a lot, and even they don’t swear every time they open their mouths.

In addition, her idea of romance is verging on if not outright sexual assault. Seriously...she invites a man she barely knows, who is her subordinate, to her room just after he’d been through a traumatic experience. As soon as the door closes, she strips off all her clothes and starts on his, without even determining if he’s interested. She bribes him with the fact that her accommodations are much nicer than his and pressures him to accept. Later she uses sex and threats to get him to reveal confidential information. Not cool!

I would not read a whole book about her, but luckily for me, there is a lot of book there that’s not about her.

Finished Book 142: The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi
New read, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 8h 19m
Owned (audible)

Finished Book 143: All Systems Red by Martha Wells
The Murderbot Diaries, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, ebook, 160p
Owned (kobo)

Finished Book 144: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
Murderbot Diaries, book 2
Reread, adult, science fiction, ebook, 160p
Owned (kobo)

Finished Book 145: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Murderbot, book 3
Reread, adult, science fiction, ebook, 160p
Owned (kobo)

Finished Book 146: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
Murderbot Diaries, book 4
Reread, adult, science fiction, Ebook, 133p
Owned (kobo)

My sister was reading these and I wanted to be able to talk about them with her - also, I just wanted to - so I read them. I noticed and realized a few things along the way, things I missed the first time around.

For example, I realized that one of the reasons I strongly relate to Murderbot is because I too spend a lot of time wondering how people can be so stupid and act so counter to their own self-interests. Also, honestly, being slightly anxious, depressed, and frustrated all the time is super relatable, sadly.

One of the things I noticed that I didn't get the first time is how at the end of Exit Strategy, Dr. Mensah suggests Murderbot turn it's story into a documentary. Well, no, I noticed that; what I didn't realize was that that documentary is the Murderbot Diaries! Which is very meta. Or recursive, maybe. Anyway, the whole style of the stories makes perfect sense now, because when it seems like Murderbot is explaining it's actions or thoughts as though talking to an audience, that's because it is! I love it. I love it so much.

Comment warnings (for the whole series): slavery, betrayal, murder, attempted murder, major character death, kidnapping, injuries, body modifications (voluntary and involuntary), mental illness (depression, anxiety, dysphoria, possibly other things I don't recognize)

Finished Book 147: Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Graceling, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 31m
Hoopla

Content warnings: murder, kidnapping, torture, child abuse and neglect, implied pedophilia, animal harm, animal mistreatment, wild animal attacks, telepathy, mind control, magical disability

Finished Book 148: Fire by Kristin Cashore
Graceling, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 40m
Borrowed (library)

>82 bluesalamanders: *sad sigh* We shall agree to disagree.

I do love the Vorkosigan books - McMaster Bujold's plotting, worlds building, subtle humour. I don't dislike Miles - things happen to him but he doesn't sit back and say 'poor me' but goes about solving the problem. He's frenetic, clever and funny even if he can be a bit of an idiot. I'm in love with Cordelia and Aral.

Maybe that's the difference? I have to start series from the beginning (from several previous bad experiences of starting in the middle, not knowing what the heck was happening and then uncovering spoilers for previous books. Etc.) so I started with them and fell in love with the universe and fortunately for me, the series continued in a similar vein. The proposal scene in (I think) The Warrior's Apprentice is fun; in fact that whole book was a lot of fun to read.

Hopefully, if you haven't read the first books in the series, you will read them some time and enjoy them as much as I do.

>96 humouress: I don't think he's a bad character! I guess "I don't find him compelling" does sound like that, but what I meant was that I, personally, don't find him interesting to read about, not that I think he is objectively uninteresting or whatever. I love Cordelia and Aral - particularly Cordelia - but Miles simply doesn't hold my attention. So even though I agree with you about the plotting and humor and worldbuilding, because I don't enjoy reading about Miles, I will have to pick and choose which Vorkosigan books to read going forward.

I did start from the beginning a few years ago, but I couldn't always easily find the next book, or I kept losing interest, so I started jumping around to the books my friend suggested. I think there's a new Cordelia book out? I do want to read that one.

Finished Book 149: Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 3
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 16m

Finished Book 150: Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 4
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 39m

Finished Book 151: Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 5
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 40m

Finished Book 152: Magic For Nothing by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 6
New read, adult, fantasy, Dead tree, 368p

I like this book, but the narrator pronounces some words oddly and while sometimes it's personal preference (An TIM ony vs AN timOny) and sometimes it's definitely mispronunciation (Tatiana instead of Titania), it always jars me out of the story.

Finished Book 153: Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 7
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 49m

Finished Book 154: Velveteen vs the Junior Super Patriots by Seanan McGuire
Velveteen vs, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 7h 17m

Finished Book 155: Velveteen vs the Multiverse by Seanan McGuire
Velveteen vs, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 34m

Finished Book 156: Redshirts by John Scalzi
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 7h 41m

Finished Book 157: First Test by Tamora Pierce
Protector of the Small, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 5h 46m

Finished Book 158: Page by Tamora Pierce
Protector of the Small, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 6h 24m

Finished Book 159: The Edge Of Worlds by Martha Wells
Raksura, book 4
New read, adult, fantasy, Ebook, 400p

Finished Book 160: Squire by Tamora Pierce
Protector of the Small, book 3
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 10h 48m

Finished Book 161: The Harbors of the Sun by Martha Wells
Raksura, book 5
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook

Finished Book 162: Stories of the Raksura Volume 1 by Martha Wells
Raksura, book 6
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 224p

I really liked the Raksura series! That may enter my long list of favorite books, we'll see. The worldbuilding is just mind-blowing and there are so many wonderful characters.

>98 bluesalamanders: Congratulations on reaching 2 x 75, Blue!

Thanks, FAM!

Omigosh; I'm still struggling to reach my first (ever) 75.

Congratulations on your double!

Seasons Greetings from Singapore! Wishing you and your family joy, peace, good fortune and good health now and in the coming year.

Finished Book 163: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin
Inheritence Trilogy, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 46m
Owned (Audible)

Finished Book 164: The Broken Kingdom by NK Jemisin
Inheritence Trilogy, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 28m

Good ones!

>102 humouress: Thanks! And Season's Greetings to you, too!

>105 drneutron: Right? I love that series. I'm still confused that there's no audiobook for the third book, though.

Happy New Year, thornton!