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Books 2015: 97-104
97. Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows. Henry Holt, 2015. ARC from publisher.
Read for review for Locus. It's not obvious that it's the first book in a series, but it does end on a cliffhanger. It's basically fantasy Leverage set around a city that draws a lot of influence from Amsterdam. Interesting characters, excellent pacing, CAPER. Recommended.
98. Aliette de Bodard, The House of Shattered Wings. Gollancz, 2015. ARC from publisher.
Read for review for Locus. Sod me this is good. It's so good - I have a bunch of problems with the ARC, but I think they're layout problems that will be solved in proper formatting final copy. But in terms of the story? It's fucking brilliant. And a bit brutal. And really fascinating worldbuilding. And juicy. MORE LIKE THIS YES.
99. Seanan McGuire, A Red-Rose Chain. DAW, 2015. ARC from publisher.
Read for column. Latest Toby Daye book. Very much a series book. If you like the series you'll like this one.
100. Erika Johansen, The Invasion of the Tearling. Bantam Press, 2015.
Right. So I found Johansen's first book, The Queen of the Tearling, overhyped but generally enjoyable. Its characterisation was engaging, even where its worldbuilding failed to be anything but confusing (and seriously lacking in representation: hi, fantasy, stop writing as though white people are the only people).
The Invasion of the Tearling? Lacks that element of engaging characterisation, save in brief snatches. This makes it far more tedious. It also has no clear narrative through-line. The main character is having visions of a near-future Handmaid's Tale-esque America from her Fantasylandia, and while this vision strand is the most compelling thing about the book, it is inescapably rapey, America-is-the-whole-world, and fairly ridiculously nonsensical, and it fits poorly into the rest of the narrative, which as a whole lacks thematic coherence as well as coherence of plot.
Also, the "invasion" narrative would have made me hurt myself laughing if it weren't so tedious, because it's painfully obvious the author has absolutely no idea how combat, warfare, or logistics actually works. (Why are you resettling refugees around a city you expect to be under siege shortly? How the fuck are you going to feed them? For that matter, why is the enemy standing around staring at you when they could roll right over you?)
Anyway. It's disjointed, and bad, and even less coherent on a thematic level that Queen of the Tearling, which at least had a nice little coming-of-age story to recommend it. (It's hard to fuck up a traditional coming-of-age story, and there's a reason they're popular.)
Disrecommend.
101. Jenny Frame, A Royal Romance. Bold Strokes Books, 2015.
Alternate near-future lesbian romance involving a version of the British royal family. It's very fun, mostly for the ways in which it really wants to be both modern and archaic at once: it's sometimes very interesting to see how royalty keeps portrayed.
102. Jae, Next of Kin. Ylva Verlag, 2015.
Another lesbian romance novel. Not entirely sure what it has to recommend it besides the fact I rather liked the characters - but I did really rather like the characters.
103. Mike Shepherd, Vicky Peterwald: Survivor. Ace, 2015.
Read from morbid curiosity. Shepherd has not, in fact, managed to top the heights of BADNESS which he attained in Vicky Peterwald: Target: he still appears to know next to nothing about human women, and his protagonist spends an undue amount of time naked for a novel not set in a nudist colony, but it's not as mind-bogglingly terrible. That is not to say it's actually good, however. Just that it's less brain-meltingly awful.
104. Robert Brockway, The Unnoticeables. Tor US/Titan UK, 2015. Copy courtesy of the publishers.
Not entirely sure what to make of this novel. It actually strikes me as having some of the same feeling as Lauren Beukes' The Shining Girls: it's in dialogue with a peculiar vein of modern Americana that I have never either understood or found appealing. It has, however, great voice, solid characterisation, rapid-fire pacing and an interesting conceit - even if I'm not entirely certain it makes any goddamn sense at all.
Hmm. My reading has really slowed down this year compared to last. Or so it feels, anyway.
97. Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows. Henry Holt, 2015. ARC from publisher.
Read for review for Locus. It's not obvious that it's the first book in a series, but it does end on a cliffhanger. It's basically fantasy Leverage set around a city that draws a lot of influence from Amsterdam. Interesting characters, excellent pacing, CAPER. Recommended.
98. Aliette de Bodard, The House of Shattered Wings. Gollancz, 2015. ARC from publisher.
Read for review for Locus. Sod me this is good. It's so good - I have a bunch of problems with the ARC, but I think they're layout problems that will be solved in proper formatting final copy. But in terms of the story? It's fucking brilliant. And a bit brutal. And really fascinating worldbuilding. And juicy. MORE LIKE THIS YES.
99. Seanan McGuire, A Red-Rose Chain. DAW, 2015. ARC from publisher.
Read for column. Latest Toby Daye book. Very much a series book. If you like the series you'll like this one.
100. Erika Johansen, The Invasion of the Tearling. Bantam Press, 2015.
Right. So I found Johansen's first book, The Queen of the Tearling, overhyped but generally enjoyable. Its characterisation was engaging, even where its worldbuilding failed to be anything but confusing (and seriously lacking in representation: hi, fantasy, stop writing as though white people are the only people).
The Invasion of the Tearling? Lacks that element of engaging characterisation, save in brief snatches. This makes it far more tedious. It also has no clear narrative through-line. The main character is having visions of a near-future Handmaid's Tale-esque America from her Fantasylandia, and while this vision strand is the most compelling thing about the book, it is inescapably rapey, America-is-the-whole-world, and fairly ridiculously nonsensical, and it fits poorly into the rest of the narrative, which as a whole lacks thematic coherence as well as coherence of plot.
Also, the "invasion" narrative would have made me hurt myself laughing if it weren't so tedious, because it's painfully obvious the author has absolutely no idea how combat, warfare, or logistics actually works. (Why are you resettling refugees around a city you expect to be under siege shortly? How the fuck are you going to feed them? For that matter, why is the enemy standing around staring at you when they could roll right over you?)
Anyway. It's disjointed, and bad, and even less coherent on a thematic level that Queen of the Tearling, which at least had a nice little coming-of-age story to recommend it. (It's hard to fuck up a traditional coming-of-age story, and there's a reason they're popular.)
Disrecommend.
101. Jenny Frame, A Royal Romance. Bold Strokes Books, 2015.
Alternate near-future lesbian romance involving a version of the British royal family. It's very fun, mostly for the ways in which it really wants to be both modern and archaic at once: it's sometimes very interesting to see how royalty keeps portrayed.
102. Jae, Next of Kin. Ylva Verlag, 2015.
Another lesbian romance novel. Not entirely sure what it has to recommend it besides the fact I rather liked the characters - but I did really rather like the characters.
103. Mike Shepherd, Vicky Peterwald: Survivor. Ace, 2015.
Read from morbid curiosity. Shepherd has not, in fact, managed to top the heights of BADNESS which he attained in Vicky Peterwald: Target: he still appears to know next to nothing about human women, and his protagonist spends an undue amount of time naked for a novel not set in a nudist colony, but it's not as mind-bogglingly terrible. That is not to say it's actually good, however. Just that it's less brain-meltingly awful.
104. Robert Brockway, The Unnoticeables. Tor US/Titan UK, 2015. Copy courtesy of the publishers.
Not entirely sure what to make of this novel. It actually strikes me as having some of the same feeling as Lauren Beukes' The Shining Girls: it's in dialogue with a peculiar vein of modern Americana that I have never either understood or found appealing. It has, however, great voice, solid characterisation, rapid-fire pacing and an interesting conceit - even if I'm not entirely certain it makes any goddamn sense at all.
Hmm. My reading has really slowed down this year compared to last. Or so it feels, anyway.
