Ah… it’s been one of those months. You know the kind. You’ve just got out the other end of a big, intense couple of months of work and life changes, all ready for everything to go back to normal, only for the combination of post-intensity crash and “business as usual” to knock you out even further. I took a week off earlier in October, which helped to reset things, but weekly reviews fell out of the picture for a couple of weeks while I got everything back on track. Never mind, I’m here now! And if I can get on track with a 3-week review today, then I can hopefully get back to doing 1-week reviews at normal times.
Books Read
It’s still a struggle to find time to read, but what I have read has been pretty great!
Creatures: The Legacy of Frankenstein. I reviewed this strong collection of 5 novelettes/novellas for Nerds of a Feather. 8 out of 10.
Strange Horizons: September. This month, Strange Horizons brought out an issue of Samovar, their fiction in translation magazine, AND an edition of Geoff Ryman’s 100 African writers of SFF, which made for a particularly interesting issue. My favourite fiction pieces were from early in the month: “Seedlings”, by Audrey R. Hollis, about change and cacti in a queer relationship between two women; and “Ndakusuwa” by Blaize Kaye, where an astronaut who ends up light years from her father on earth keeps in touch through increasingly delayed letters. Did I burst into tears at the end? I don’t know, maybe… 8 out of 10.
Anathema Magazine, Issue 5. I also really enjoyed my first issue of Anathema, a Canadian speculative fiction magazine centring marginalised creators. The first story, “The Pull of the Herd” by Susan Palumbo, was a particularly intriguing read about a deer woman whose skin has never fit right, trying to save a community who don’t understand why she “chooses” to be different. 8 out of 10.
Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. I’ll be honest: I mostly bought this because it was super pretty, and I’m on a mild Greek Mythology kick at the moment. Unfortunately, my enjoyment was tempered by the fact that the book smelled a bit like eggs? As a vehement non-egg eater, getting wafts of weird omelette-style new book smell made it hard to concentrate on what was otherwise an interesting, difficult story which tells the story of the Greek invasion of Troy from the perspective of Briseis, the female captive given to Achilles. 7 out of 10.
State Tectonics by Malka Older. This is the final volume in the Centenel Cycle, a trilogy set in the near-ish future where current nation states have been replaced with a widespread system of “microdemocracy”, where every 100,000 voters elects their own government, facilitated by a global network called Information which controls the spread and veracity of media. While Older never really goes into how our current world would evolve into the world of the novels, this is otherwise a highly relateable and timely governance thriller, which is right up my alley. 8 out of 10
Lumberjanes Volumes 1 – 3: I’ve had volume 1 of this well regarded comic series on my shelf for a while now and I decided that it really was time to pick it up (especially after finishing with Saga Volume 9, from which my heart has still not recovered). It turned out to be so good that I picked up and immediately read two more volumes (of which the third was a bit of a dip in art, but an escalation in Queer, so I’m OK with that). This is a series about a group of girls at a scouting camp for “hardcore lady types”, who find their way into a set of magical mysteries and happenings while also relying on the Magic of Friendship and all that. 8-9 out of 10.
The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. Taking me back from holidays into regular reading, I picked up this absolute chunkster: in fact, it’s not even one book but a whole trilogy of D&D-esque military fantasy from Elizabeth Moon. It was the longest thing on my bookshelf by quite some margin, and I enjoyed making my way through the adventures of Sheepfarmer’s Daughter Paks and her rise from being a mercenary in the company of a benevolent Duke, to a Paladin of a noble saint and saviour of elves and men. It does get a bit lingeringly torture-y at points, and while it doesn’t sexualise the narrative content of scenes, sexual violence (including mentions of rape) does occur. Despite that, and the very episodic format, I still enjoyed this marathon. 7 out of 10.
Stories of the Raksura, Volume 1 by Martha Wells. I loved this collection of two novellas and two short stories set in Wells’ Raksura universe, all of which are equally strong. Perhaps the pick of the bunch is The Tale of Indigo and Cloud, a story of several generations back in the court Moon enters, when young consort Indigo ends up bringing home a consort from another court, Emerald Winter, who turns out to not be nearly so helpless as he looks. It’s a story which uses the particular behaviours and culture of the Raksura to its absolute best effect, showcasing their power politics and interactions in a context that doesn’t use the court structure with Moon and Jade and Pearl and the rest that readers are already familiar with. That said, the stories that do involve the regular cast are also very worthwhile. 9 out of 10.
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells. It’s the last of the Murderbot novellas, and without spoiling anything, it’s one you’ll want to pick up. It’s a good thing we’re getting a Murderbot novel next year to continue this brilliant study into robots, anxiety and friendship in a corporate dystopian future. 9 out of 10.
Pieces of Hate by Tim Lebbon. I’m not quite sure why I listened to this, or when I got to the stage in the past couple of weeks where I have time to listen to audiobooks I’m not entirely sure about. This is a novella (that I had from an audiobook collection) about a demon and the grim, immortal dude trying to track him down. It’s pretty relentlessly awful in tone, with a huge body count and very little in the way of redeeming features for anyone involved. Bafflingly, it also comes packaged with a prequel novelette that added nothing to the story, was set in a completely different place and just completely confused me. Alas. 4 out of 10.
Amazons! edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson. Review forthcoming for Nerds of a Feather’s upcoming Feminist Futures series – which you should be reading from tomorrow!
Every River Runs to Salt by Rachael K. Jones. This was right up my alley – a slipstream-y fantasy about two women at college in Georgia, one of whom has the history of a love affair between a woman and a glacier in her heritage, and decides to steal the Pacific Ocean and keep it in a jar. Unfortunately, the theft of the ocean annoys California, Oregon and Washington, who turn up with their best persuasive attitudes and curses to try and claim it back. Gorgeously written and full of watery beauty, this is one that’s really worth reading. 9 out of 10.
Redemption’s Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky. First in a shared universe series is set after a major war led by a demigod named the Kinslayer, who has been killed by our hero Celestaine. Celestaine is now attempting to facilitate reparations with another race of people who were badly affected by the Kinslayer’s actions. There’s a bit of a D&D vibe here, but with a distinct Divine Cities overtone to the mythology and a ton of inventiveness in the different races and worldbuilding. It all hangs together very well, as do the touches of humour and of character building as Celestaine pulls together a motley crew of anti-heroes to help her in her quest. 7 out of 10.
Black and British by David Olusoga. Another slow burner that I picked up after staycation and only just finished, this is a history of black people in Britain – which, at its widest, encompasses the entire British empire – from the Tudor period to the present. I have nothing but good things to say about this book, which taught me a lot about an area of British history that is too often swept under the carpet. 9 out of 10.
We Who Are About To… by Joanna Russ. A reread, also for Nerds of a Feather, which you will hear plenty more about in due course.
Currently Reading
Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien is, so far, a really lovely middle-grade novel about a young woman from the province of Shin who comes to study her culture’s ultimate skating-based martial art at Pearl famous academy of skate and sword. The worldbuilding in this is exquisite, and made btter, I think, by the audio performance – the entire city is effectively covered in icy skate surface and is full of handy rails and water spouts. You can’t go wrong with a good magical school novel, and this is already shaping up to be one of the best type.
The Emperor’s Railroad by Guy Haley. Obviously I should not be double dipping with the audiobooks, but I did technically start this, the last novella in the Tor.com audiobook collection I’ve got, before settling on Peasprout instead.
The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson, the much anticipated sequel to Dickinson’s brutal empire administration thriller from a couple of years ago. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while, although it’s also going to be interesting to see how the ending of The Traitor Baru Cormorant and its fallout plays into this one, especially as I’m a lot more sensitive and unwilling to engage with the tropes used here.
Station Zero by Philip Reeve is the final book in the Railhead trilogy, and I probably ought to finish it before it comes due at the library in *checks notes* four days. Oops!
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr. This is a reread, and it won’t encompass all the stories, but I picked this up for “The Women Men Don’t See” and am now trying to make my way through some of the rest of the highlights in here, especially as it’s the Lady Vaults book of the month.
Ten to Zen by Owen O’Kane. Bluebird books very kindly sent me a copy of this to review, and it’s an interesting one so far – a quick, readable guide to setting up a brief daily meditation and cognitive “workout” practice. I’ve been reading bits and pieces of it alongside other stuff and I’ll probably have my thoughts up within the week.
Acquisitions
… So, obviously my big day out in central London turned into a bookshop crawl, and there’s been a lot else arriving on my shelves in the last few weeks as well. It’s a bit
My pre-order of There Before the Chaos by K.B. Wagers arrived on Tuesday. Wagers’ Indranan War trilogy has been a highlight of my space opera reading in the last couple of years, and this is the beginning of a new trilogy with the same characters, so I’m excited to see where things go next. I also preordered and received The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi. I was a little underwhelmed by the Collapsing Empire, to be honest, but I still want to see where this goes.
I also got In the Vanishers’ Palace by Aliette de Bodard, which I’m really excited for given all the glowing reviews I’ve seen!
I somewhat impulsively picked up V by Thomas Pynchon and Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack in a National Trust second hand bookshop while visiting Morden Hall Park with a friend.
A mini second-hand trawl netted me copies City of Lies by Sam Hawke – in a super shiny hardback edition, no less – and Watchtower by Elizabeth A. Lynn. These are both books that have been on my radar for a while so it was exciting to find them here.
I also went to Persephone b=Books and it was every bit as delightful as expected, right down to the charming staff member giving really detailed advice to other customers that I could eavesdrop on without having to directly interact before I’d made my own decisions. I walked away with The World that was Ours by Hilda Bernstein, The Godwits Fly by Robin Hyde, and The Persephone Book of Short Stories.
Rounding off a bumper Friday, I picked up Lumberjanes Volumes 2 and 3. I won’t be able to afford to buy all of these in pretty trade paperbacks, but its nice to have the ones I do!
My copy of Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (which, you’ll note, I already read) came from Blackwell’s Online. I’ve decided I’d like to (slowly) collect the hardbacks of this series, which made buying the hardback rather than the really-quite-expensive-for-a-novella ebook a more reasonable choice.
Small Beer Press had a 50% off everything sale which was too good to pass up (even if it did come with some slightly eye-watering shipping costs). I got Terra Nullius by Claire Coleman, Kalpa Imperial by Angelica Gorodischer, and The Invisible Valley by Su Wei. Unfortunately, said shipping costs prevented me from also getting myself a paper copy of In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, which would literally have doubled the amount I was spending on sending…
It made no difference to Too Much Buying, but I joined the library! On my first trip I picked up Station Zero by Philip Reeve, the Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett and Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon. As noted above, I haven’t exactly had much success in reading them, but it’s the thought that counts, and the great thing about the library is they’ll still be there next time I want them!
I also spent two audiobook credits I had saved, on Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien, and On Barbary Station by R.E. Stearns.
*Exhales*… and there we are!
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