Valerie

Seven Blades in Black is violent, messy fantasy with a surprising emotional core. Fast-paced is an understatement. This book is an action movie over and over, and nothing every goes easy for the characters. I wouldn't normally pick this book up from the description, but the magic system is great and Sal is a ruthless, pragmatic, and yet deeply sympathetic anti-hero. Sam Sykes said that he was partially inspired by Rin from The Poppy War, and I can definitely see it. The single-minded protagonist, even when they are aware of the damage their actions cause. The other interesting piece here is that Sal is bisexual and has relationships either shown or alluded to with men and women, and this does not feel forced in the way that 90% of the lesbian/bi women in stories written by straight men do. Sal and Liette's relationship is deep, tragic, and easy to invest in. Sal and Jindu's is more mysterious, but still very real. Sal's relationship with Cavric is subtle, platonic, but still emotionally invested. In short, Sal is not defined by her sexuality, but it is an important note in a very nuanced character. While again, the actual story is not to my typical tastes, the character study of it kept me reading to the end, and I'd be interested to read the next book.

This series is definitely a new favorite of mine. I wasn't sure where Tchaikovsky was going to go after CoT, but I really enjoyed the direction, especially because I like octopuses and arguing about the correct pluralization of “octopus.” The hardest thing I find about the series is trying to explain it to others as the serious, intelligent take artificial intelligence, space exploration, and what makes us Human without just saying “And also there are spiders and octopuses and they have spacesuits...” It sounds so silly, but it's all very well done.

If you liked CoT, it's worth your time to continue. Definitely read CoT first though or you are going to be very lost.

A lot of people are talking about this book for very good reasons. I enjoyed it especially as I've lived in Colorado most of the last 25 years or so, and it's always fun to read something set where you live. Fajardo-Anstine covers a lot of areas from East Colfax to the Sangre de Christos. What struck me most about her writing is that each story feels autobiographical, probably because most of the stories are in first person. However, a story can be written in first person and still not feel real. These all feel deeply real, like the only way to write about them would be from the heart of experience. Obviously, no one woman could live all the different lives in this story, but you can tell that Fajardo-Anstine is a good listener, able to capture such a huge diversity of voices in a single collection.

I say I've lived in CO most of my life and recognize a lot of the settings here, but this is a side of CO that is usually hidden from my suburban white self. It explores Denver's past and present and in particular the ways women of color are impacted in these familiar neighborhoods, for better and worse. It's a beautiful collection, a fast read, and highly deserving the accolades being heaped on it. If you, like me, are needing a bit more literary short fiction in your life, try this one.

I almost embarrassed at how long it took me to read this book. I've started it half a dozen times. It has been lent to me by multiple friends, all of whom I was forced to give it back to before they started charging me overdue fees. I think partly, I was intimidated with the size of the book, never having been lent it during a time when I had sufficient reading time to tackle it. Partly, it was the weight of the words that require a slow, deliberate read. Partly, it was just the knowledge that as a female fantasy fan, it was something of a crime that I hadn't read this.

However, as always works for me, I have a list, and I got to this book on the list, so after much effort in between my work schedule, I can finally say that I both read and enjoyed “Mists of Avalon.” It definitely lived up to its fanbase, and I don't really feel qualified to review it (it sort of feels like reviewing “To Kill A Mockingbird” or some other accepted piece of literary greatness), but as part of my resolution to read critically, I will try.

Despite being based on Arthurian legend, every chapter presents something to be spoiled, so I'll just spoiler warn from here on in.

The word "Epic" gets tossed around a lot, and very few books truly live up to the title. This is an epic novel. The sheer time-span makes you feel you've lived these women's lives with them. We watch babies grow up, grow old (or more frequently not) and die. We watch lifetimes slip by and by then end, we remember the young women at the beginning of the novel as we remember ourselves as little girls playing princess. This scale is what impresses me most about the book, As Morgause reminisces about little Morgaine spinning finer thread than she, I have to look back in my own memory, though only a little over a week has passed since I read that chapter. Bradley weaves this timeline masterfully, never letting the memories feel too much like flashbacks or the foreshadowing take away the suspense.This last if more impressive when you consider this work is really one of the single greatest pieces of fanfiction of the modern literary world. I myself, have only a passing (read: Disney and Monty Python) familiarity with Arthurian legend, so I'm sure there are dozens of references I didn't catch. Still, Bradley takes the tropes we know best (The sword in the stone, the Lady of the Lake, Lancelet's betrayal with Gwenhwyfar, Morgan le Fey) and she changes our perspective just enough to make this a brand new tale. On a simple story-telling level, the book is genius. She breathes personality into characters that have always had life. I think I'm most impressed with Gwenhwyfar who is introduced as someone in stark contrast to the powerful priestesses of Avalon, the only women we've gotten to know. In this way, Bradley gets us comfortable with those outside the norm, so that the norm seems bizarre. Gwen is raised to be a terrified, shamed nun, and indeed states that a convent is the only place she feels safe. I spent the book as exasperated with her as Morgaine, yet pitying her in the end, forced to deny her freedom when she finally found it. I respected Viviane, and had to reread her death several times because the shock was as great for me as for the court watching. I was perplexed by Igraine, who was always a deeper mystery than she appeared. I was wary of Morgause from the moment of her introduction to her ill-fated scheme of the end. And the men were not flattened by this not being their story. Arthur is a real person, not a legend. Lancelet is tortured on more levels than Bradley has time to address directly, and you feel the weight of his burden in his love of Arthur, all the more reason to pity Gwen. Kevin is another character, like Igraine, who always has another secret layer. I feel I know everyone in the story, and every death cut at me as it cut at those who loved them.There are dozens of themes in here from the ties of blood to gender roles to the meaning of sin, but the one I've heard most about and so am choosing to bring up here is the Pagan/Christian dynamic. All the criticism I've ever heard comes back towards this book being too hard and critical of Christianity. This makes sense seeing as our primary perspective is Morgaine. She goes from devout to denier to zealot, and it's her we are meant to sympathize with. If you never finish the book, then yes the Christianization (spellcheck says that's not a word, but I'm going with it) of Britain is a harsh and sometimes terrible thing.However, stick with Bradley till the end. Even while we are as outraged as Morgaine at Arthur's betrayal of Avalon, Kevin's theft of the Holy Regalia, Gwenhwyfar's narrow-minded piety, we are brought back to Taliesen's words in the end. The Holy Grail manifests in Arthur's court and some see it as the Virgin Mary and some see it as the Goddess and nobody is wrong. All Gods and Goddesses are One in this book, and Morgaine realizes her true purpose is not to win dominance of Avalon, but to see the protection of beauty, knowledge, music, and spirituality from those who would destroy it (the Saxons before the peace is made). Once Saxon culture merges with the Britons, that Holiness is preserved by any name. The merging of Pagan and Christian traditions is one I've always found fascinating, and I don't believe there are really any heroes or villains in either the story or the history. Avalon and Camelot don't fall so much as evolve into the next stage of history. The gods never die.Besides, Wikipedia could tell you this book wasn't going to end happily for either side. This may be the longest review I've ever posted here, and I feel a bit silly about it. I mean everyone already knows this is a good book, and Bradley doesn't need me trumpeting her success, but it's a book that left me wanting to talk about it. Makes me wish I'd read it back when people first told me to read it. Serves me right for having a bookshelf that refills before it ever empties.

I really went into this book knowing nothing about it besdies it won a bunch of awards, so I really enjoyed the slow reveal of what is actually happening. At times, the in-depth physics was too much for me, but on the whole I thought it was an incredibly unique and insightful piece of science fiction that really deserved all the awards. As someone who reads a lot of books by western authors, the difference in narrative structure and cultural references were refreshing. My concept of modern China is pretty fuzzy, I'll admit, so it's interesting to see a book by a Chinese author portraying Chinese history and future through a critical lens Ken Liu's translation was very helpful in explaining a lot of the cultural nuances without taking away from Cixin Liu's story. I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into book 2 right away, but definitely logging it on my to-read list for the future.

I thought I was too salty about ASOIAF to enjoy Martin much anymore, but this was a really lovely fairy tale, lushly illustrated. It looks like a novella, but it's really a short story, and Martin's prose works really well within those confines. If you like a story that feels like an old tale but with a modern take, definitely give this one a try.

I always enjoy reading Gladwell's work. I love his style of sharing his interviews in a sensory way. I love how he connects seemingly disparate stories. I love that I always feel better educated at the end of one of his books. I'm not sure if I could say I like this more or less than “The Tipping Point,” but I found myself taking countless notes for use in my own writing.

I really like Emily Oster. I like her writing style, her attitude towards parenting, and her ability to sort through academic papers and provide me with easy to understand summaries. Expecting Better really helped me navigate my pregnancy, and while much of the information in Cribsheet is less conclusive, it gives me a lot of comfort to know where research has/hasn't been done, and the fact that the conclusion she draws in almost every scenario is, “This will not break your child or damage their adult life.” Highly recommended for fellow anxious first time parents.

This book is packed with a lot of information on the history of comic books both in the US and abroad. While at times the writing is a little caustic and opinion-laced, it's still a good primer for people looking to learn how the industry grew and the challenges the medium has faced over the last century.

I've had some David Wong books on my to-read list for a while, but luckily the Sword and Laser picked one for the monthly read so I can finally cross one off. I'm a big fan of the Cracked website, and was excited to see what that style looked like as a novel. In short, it's pretty insane.

The book is as bizarre as its title, taking place in the no rules, no government, no consequences sity of Tabula Ra$a, Utah where trailer park barista Zoey Ashe suddenly finds herself heiress to her estranged father's fortune, debts, and messed up life. Life in this near-future world is all recorded and broadcast on the voyeuristic “Blink” network, and billions of people subscribe to watch super-powered serial killers hunt people down. All she wants is to go home with her cat.

The story is frenetic, sarcastic, and as creatively violent as the title warns. It definitely gets a little harder to read at the end, but most of the time, it was a darkly humorous adventure, not too heavy on the moralizing. The characters are a bit flat (though Zoey is a wonderful change from a traditional SFP or damsel in distress) and the cat behaves like no cat I have ever known in my life (I care a lot about realistic cat portrayals. Cats aren't dogs!), but if you're just looking for a fast, exciting read and don't mind a LOT of blood, you'd probably enjoy this book. I don't know that it's one I'll remember well in a few years, but I enjoyed it while reading it.

I love Terry Pratchett so much that I haven't read all of his books. Since his death, I've been rationing out the books I have not read because I know one day, I will read the last Terry Pratchett book, and I will be very sad.

This is a collection of Sir Terry's nonfiction divided into three sections: his works and being a writer, his early works on being Terry, and his anger, much of which is about living with Alzheimer's and his frustration surrounding the laws on assisted death. This last section in particular is hard to read, but I think it's worth everyone's time to do so. The book might suffer a little since it's a collection of speeches and articles that were never meant to go together and thus there is some overlap, but overall it's thought-proving and smart, just like Sir Terry.

I'm a little lukewarm on this one, probably because I'm just not that into Noir stories. The characters were fun, and I do like Bobby Dollar by the end, but I've read/watched a lot of twists on the “Angels among us” theme, and this one just isn't my favorite. It's a nice, quick read if you're a mystery lover who also enjoys not-so angelic heaven and hell banter.

I am really becoming a Dan Simmons fan, I think. I like every book in this series better than the last one. True, he can be a bit wordy, and I still don't understand who sent the Shrike or why a Shrike, but there's still one more book in the series and the Shrike is such a badass deux ex machina that I don't care. I was also happy to see Martin again. I know Martin isn't the most popular character, but I love the cranky old poet.

This book seems to be focusing on Brawne Lamia's story's theme of “what is life?” and Hoyt/Dure's theme of “what is faith?” I'm really intrigued by Simmons' ponderings on both those questions and will definitely read the next book. Need a break first, though. One can only handle so many lapis skies at a time.

This is a weird one to review. On the one hand, it's foundational to my love of science fiction, one of the first I ever read. For its time, it has some incredibly progressive points on feminism and disability. McCaffrey created an ahead of its time book on what it means to be a human, and what a life without a body could be.

On the other hand, it's still rooted in some deeply problematic misogyny and throws around the R-word as a casual insult, so judging it by modern standards, lots of issues. And also by those modern standards, the ending just doesn't super hold up.

So I'm going with a 4 because it's a legendary book by a legendary author, but like most legends, we need to look at them through the lens of the present and proceed accordingly.

I loved the Ancillary Series, and I thought Provenance was fun but not quite up to the tightly wound social commentary that Ancillary was. The Raven Tower is Leckie back to her roots, weaving a complex mystery around a diverse cast. It was recommended to me as middle ages Hamlet, and while the parallels are quite clear, it's much richer than just a Shakespearean retelling. I'm an absolute devotee of the gods among us trope, and the gods Leckie imagines are so unique, so perfectly Other. Also, I read this in Ireland where I stayed in a medieval tower while hunting neolithic standing stones, so perfect mood book.

I won this book through the Goodreads giveaways, and I'm really glad I did. It's not something I would normally buy, but as a math teacher, when I saw it on the giveaway list, I thought it might be something fun. It was! I tell my kids all the time that everyone makes mistakes, and we should be celebrating those, analyzing them, learning from them. This book gets that.

Mind you the mistakes here range from the comedic (Did you know Ghandi in the Civilization games is a jerk because of a math error?) to the unimaginably tragic, so “celebrate” may be the wrong word, but the thesis is that people should not necessarily be punished for making mistakes. Generally, a lot of things have to go wrong for a mistake, a lot of people and arbitrary acts of fate share the blame, and when we punish people for mistakes, we only end up with people who “don't make mistakes” i.e., are good at avoiding blame and covering up mistakes. These mistakes aren't learned from and are destined to be repeated.

This is all told through Matt Parker's easy to understand, often humorous, TED talk style voice. Even if you're not a math expert (I'm a math teacher, but only through 5th grade... don't test me beyond that), Parker makes it very easy to understand the basics of the principles involved in the many stories. Check this out if you enjoy math, random trivia, or TED talks, and as I always tell my students, check your work!

LeGuin really was ahead of her time. City of Illusions is a wonderful blend of pulp adventure and philosophy on the nature of truth, and while certainly parts of it feel dated (especially some of the gender dynamics), it was still a really great read.

The story was all right, but just not my think. It's an interesting blend of crime fiction and fantasy, but I just don't like crime fiction very much. Del Franco creates a couple interesting characters, but also a number of very flat ones, and the character I found most interesting (Shay) didn't get enough on camera time for me. I also simply don't understand the difference between fairies and elves in his world beyond fairies have wingalings.

I really wish I'd read this before watching the HBO series. It was an enjoyable book, but I think the sheer amount of spoilers I had going into it hurt my connection with characters that I knew weren't going to make it. That said, I still love the story. Well-rounded characters, beautiful descriptions, and not half as awkward as I expected it to be. Martin likes killing beloved people more than Joss Whedon does, though.

This was probably my least favorite of the series. The world Martin created is so vast, and I understand why he chose to split the cast the way he did. That said, boy was it frustrating to plow through the chapters based in Dorne and Pyke to get back to the characters I was so frantic to find. I wanted to spend a lot more time with Arya and Sansa than was allowed. Brienne was not as compelling a narrator as I'd hope she'd be, but I still am nail-biting over her cliff-hanger.

I have officially lost any sympathy I ever had for Cersei but gained more than I thought possible for Jaimie. I was planning on taking a break before going into Dance (everyone else waited six years after all), but that's not going to happen. Not when I've been denied Tyrion's story for 800 pages. Here's hoping the HBO series puts on enough pressure to get “Winds of Winter” out before I crack.

I haven't read PG in a while, and I had forgotten a lot. That said, Vaughan does a great job of catching you up to speed quickly. The art remains beautiful, the storyline is intense. My favorite series since Saga.

This book was a bit of a slow starter, but it is well worth getting through the first couple of chapters for the brilliant exploration of race, religion, culture, and SPOONS!

I feel like shouting “Spoons! You're spoons!” at people randomly on the street though.

I should start by talking about the story, I suppose. The premise of the world is one of my favorites, “What if God not only existed, but walked among us as undisputed fact?” Except in this case it's “Gods” and by the way their dead now and everything they ever built which this society depended on for day to day life disappeared along with them. This is a society not only built around the worship of its deities but on regular, dependable, deity-powered miracles, deity-constructed buildings, and deity-provided sustenance.

That, however, is half the story. Because this society also had deity-approved slavery, and that just never ends well. This novel tells the story of Shara Komayd, a member of the formerly enslaved Saypuri, now an independent nation occupying the Continent. Shara and her Viking manservant, Sigrud, are investigating the death of a professor of continental studies when everything around her goes to hell and she ends up investigating deeper into the dead, (or in some cases missing) divinities than she ever expected.

It's a good story, and well worth the read just for a the mystical intrigue Bennett creates.

Step back a bit, though, and let's appreciate the world for the unique diversity represented.
1. A culture occupied by former slaves, both of whom now exist as morally questionable entities.
2. A sincere, honest, and utterly platonic friendship between a woman and a man.
3. Women in just about every position of power, and this is accepted among pretty much everyone except one set of old school devouts.
4. A bisexual male character honest about his own inclinations and vocal about what growing up in oppressive cultures does to a person.
5. 6 different religions plus Saypur's lack thereof, each of which has distinct benefits and flaws for believers and non-believers alike. Religion is certainly not given the best rap in this story, but nor is it completely vilified. In the end, I found the central message to be one in near perfect complement to my own philosophy. I won't spoil that for anyone here, but I think it's an important perspective in our world today. Certainly someone with extremely devout religious beliefs might be offended by this book, especially if they feel their own system present in Kolkashtani (which I believe draws some of the less palatable elements from a variety of sources), but I hope most of them could also see how Bennett uses this to explore the idea of belief and religion rather than condemn either of these things.

City of Stairs is not a light read (except the bit about the spoons which I admit is still my favorite moment), but it is definitely a worthwhile one.

I could not put this book down. It is fabulously time-twisting tale of a post-apocalyptic world (I love me some post-apocalyptic worlds with or without zombies) and a few scattered lives weaving in and out of each other. The world ended in a swine flu-esque pandemic that left most of the population dead within days. Within weeks there was no electricity or running water. Within months there was no gasoline. Civilization is stripped away with brutal efficiency and those who are left find ways to survive.

There are any number of books operating off of the same trope, but what makes Station Eleven different from them is its focus not on the events but on a tattered string of characters before, during, and after the great collapse. Some of the characters we learn most about do not survive to the beginning of the apocalypse and others who are peripheral at first pick up threads and pull them through the narrative.

Mandel ties in themes both common and uncommon to these people. The first (pulling from a Star Trek: Voyager quote that makes me want to be Mandel's best friend) is “Survival is Insufficient.” We follow a Traveling Symphony that makes music and performs Shakespeare for bands of survivors. References are built in without feeling ham-fisted, and the tragedies and comedies the troupe performs serve to highlight the things that don't never change, the parts of the soul that transcend the world. She also uses a fictional graphic novel series (which I would totally read) to serve as her own play within a play. I just enjoy that graphic novels get to work alongside Shakespeare to contour the plot.

The other is the fragility and value of the world we live in now. Mandel both glorifies and questions the current age of interconnected lives and global society. We live in an age of marvels that fit in the palm of our hand, but very few appreciate it. Yet, who can argue against this interconnectivity being as dangerous as it is wondrous, a few threads snap and we all collapse, returning to hunting and gathering without so much as a database to tell us which berries are poisonous.

If you're a fan of post-apocalyptic stories, you have to read this. If you like stories that use time slip narratives to tell a story in a series of waves, you have to read this. Really just read this.

I think my enjoyment of this was hurt a little by just how long it was between volumes. I remember loving the first installment, but I didn't remember very much of what actually happened and probably could have used a reread before jumping in. That said, I think Kevin Hearne has made a really cool world with a really cool magic system, and I liked all the characters except Hanima who feels like a magic pixie dream girl and whose speech is so anachronistic as to break her chapters for me. But I love a bard, I love stories within stories, I love palace intrigue, and it's got all that and then some, so if you're looking for a fun high fantasy, I'd still say give this series a try.

Overall, this was a really excellent book. It reminds me a lot of Ann Leckie's Ancillary series and Katherine Addison's Goblin Emperor, very intricate world-building, political thriller. The worlds Martine creates are vivid and real, and she has a beautiful ability to highlight the ambivalence of the ex-pat in a country one used to love through rose-colored glasses and now must see the dark truth of. The only part that fell a little flat for me was the romance. Something about it just felt a little tacked on. Granted, I like my romances either entirely subtextual tension or plot-drivingly present, so this one was just a bit lukewarm, like if you removed it from the story, nothing would really be lost. That said, the rest of the tension and mystery more than make up for this, and I will eagerly read the next one when it arrives.