Books 2017: it's been another month since I updated the log. Oh dear.

[hawkwing_lb]

Books 2017: 109-129


109. V.M. Escalada, Halls of Law. DAW, 2017.

Read for review for Locus. Fun.


110. David D. Levine, Arabella and the Battle of Venus. Tor, 2017.

Read for review for Tor.com. What the hell sort of book is this?


111. Lee Kelly, A Criminal Magic. Saga, 2016.

Read for column. Good.


112-113. Sarah Kuhn, Heroine Complex and Heroine Worship. DAW, 2016 and 2017.

Read for column. Fun.


114. Spencer Ellsworth, Starfire: A Red Peace. Tor.com Publishing, 2017.

Read for review. Space opera debut. Fun.


115. Steven Brust and Skyler White, The Incrementalists. Tor, 2013.

Kind of a dude book. Not so great.


116. Claudia Gray, Defy the Stars. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.

YA. Space opera. Read for column. Ambitious, not necessarily all that successful.


117. E.K. Johnston, Exit, Pursued by a Bear. Speak, 2016.

YA. Really really good.


118. Elizabeth Wein, The Pearl Thief. Bloomsbury, 2017.

YA. Not as harrowing as many of Wein's other books. Really interesting. Girls kissing girls, too.


119. Ann Leckie, Provenance. Orbit, 2017.

Read for review for Tor.com. Really good. Different to Leckie's other novels.


120. Erica Abbott, Desert Places. Bella Books, 2015.

Lesbian romance between an attorney and a sheriff in small-town Colorado.


121. Stephanie Burgis, Snowspelled. Five Fathoms Press, 2017.

Read for column. Fun.


122. Cassandra Khaw, Bearly A Lady. Book Smugglers Publishing, 2017.

Read for column. Fun.


123. Cassandra Khaw, A Song for Quiet. Tor.com Publishing, 2017.

Read for review for Tor.com. Good.


124. Claire McNab, Lessons in Murder. Bella Books, ebook reprint.

Murder mystery with f/f elements. Solid, I think.


125. Claire McNab, Fatal Reunion. Bella Books, ebook reprint.

Murder mystery with f/f elements.


126. Jae, Falling Hard. Ylva Publishing, 2017.

F/F romance. Fun. Pretty good.


127. Erica Abbott, Taken In. Bella Books, 2017.

F/F mystery/suspense. Part of series. Fun enough.


128. Guy Gavriel Kay, Sailing to Sarantium. Roc, 2010. (1998.)

Well, Kay is certainly something, that's for sure.


129. Guy Gavriel Kay, Lord of Emperors. Roc, 2010. (2000.)

Second book in the Sarantine Mosaic duology. It's a pretty good duology.

---

And unless I'm forgetting something -- which is entirely possible -- that's the lot.

Comments

[sovay]

Read for review for Tor.com. What the hell sort of book is this?

That definitely makes me want to read the review.

YA. Not as harrowing as many of Wein's other books. Really interesting. Girls kissing girls, too.

Hooray!

Well, Kay is certainly something, that's for sure.

I like the Sarantine Mosaic: it appears to be the only thing by Guy Gavriel Kay I like, having bounced severely off the Fionavar Tapestry in high school and having been unable to get into any of his other novels since. I picked up the first one in the airport in Milan because I had run out of things to read on the flight home and loved it. I don't love the second one, mostly because it's the inevitable tragedy, but I think it sticks the landing. I have some issues with the narrative style, but it's not fatal.

[hawkwing_lb]

I was reading the Sarantine Mosaic for a paper I'm going to be giving in Uppsala. I have mostly positive feelings about Kay: I have a very vague recall of The Lions of Al-Rassan and rather enjoyed the Fionavar tapestry until it got all tangled in Arthurian stuff. (I think Ysabel may be his best book of the ones I've read, though.) This is... well, it's a hell of an achievement, to engage that deeply in a dialogue about memory and permanence, art and meaning, loss and love.

I'm not sure the second book is entirely successful, but then. It's ambitious.

[mrissa]

Nnnnng I already wanted to be in Uppsala aaaaargh.

[hawkwing_lb]

When I have the paper writ properly I'll post it here under lock. (It is not going to be a great paper because I have forgotten how to academic, but still.)

[mrissa]

Still excited.

[sovay]

This is... well, it's a hell of an achievement, to engage that deeply in a dialogue about memory and permanence, art and meaning, loss and love.

Okay; I misread your understatement! Thanks for clarifying.

I'm not sure the second book is entirely successful, but then. It's ambitious.

Agreed.

I'll have to try Ysabel.

[hawkwing_lb]

I don't know if you'll like Ysabel, but it has a great sense of place and it does some of the things the Fionavar books do without being quite as annoying.

[mrissa]

110. Since I had a rather strong negative reaction to the first one just when I didn't want to (I was hoping to be able to give it a positive review when the author was in a bad life situation, and that...did not happen), I am seriously wondering what the answer to that question is.

117. Yeeeeees eeeeexcellent.

[hawkwing_lb]

110. The answer to that question is that it doubles-down on all the things that were icky about the first book, tries to interrogate colonialism (badly) and ends up reinforcing the stereotypes it's trying to interrogate. Also, upfront racism, criticised (badly) by the protagonist. Also, it is just... RAH-EMPIRE too too much.

117. Isn't it? It is SO GREAT.

By the way. Happy birthday! May the year bring you joy.

[mrissa]

Oh lord. OH LORD. Well. I'm sorry to hear that, but. Glad to hear enough of it to steer clear.

And thanks!

[hawkwing_lb]

It just struck me wrong in so many places that I just... ugh. It means well but it's so bloody clueless and wrong.