Hi friends,
Wow. Time flies, and it’s almost the end of 2024 already. A lot of unexpected things happened this year, most notably for us, having another baby! I definitely got some good reads in this year, and especially in November. Let me know what you think about these books and if you have some suggestions for future reading.
On the home front, we enjoyed Thanksgiving with my in-laws, and my parents came to visit. The girls enjoyed their week off of school and got to do lots of fun activities. Sarah started sleeping through the night (Yay!), but Lincoln then immediately had a sleep regression (Boo!) that we’re hoping he’s moving out of now. In any case, let me know what’s new with you too!
Best,
Tonya
The Lions of Al Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: Kay is one of those big name fantasy authors that I hadn’t read yet, and people recommended this book as a good starting point to get into his writing. Kay is a historical fantasy author, and the fantasy aspect of this world was extremely light and the historical aspect extremely prominent. The book is set in a parallel of medieval Spain with groups that are clones of the Christians, Muslims, and Jews who were fighting for dominance of that peninsula at the time. Kay manages to tell a pretty expansive epic fantasy story in a single volume, which is quite a feat. He focuses intensely on character development and the themes of loyalty to self, family, and nation especially during times of war. Our main characters represent each of the religions at play, and we see how they come together to form bonds of friendship and trust under unique circumstances but are then pulled apart by forces larger than themselves as war breaks out across the peninsula. Kay’s prose is beautiful and easy to read, and I understand why he’s esteemed as one of the great writers of the genre. The final climatic scene of the book was so well set up and the payoff was really epic and well written. That scene has stayed with me a lot in the time since I read the book. Kay is a master of using different point-of-views to build tension and develop characters. I felt like the pacing was a bit slow during the middle of the book, but I did enjoy spending time with each of our main point-of-view characters, and most of the journeying from place to place happens off page, which I was grateful for. I’m definitely going to read more Kay in the future.
Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I really liked Durst’s popular cozy fantasy Spellshop, so I picked up this earlier work by her. She’s definitely improved as an author between the two books as Spellshop was a lot better. This one had some good moments. The whole story really pounded home the theme of allowing people to make their own choices as opposed to trying to do what’s best for them. There were also some good action sequences, and I liked the character growth the Raia had as she learned to become a rider and grew in confidence. There were also a lot of cheesy parts, and the plot was straightforward enough that I saw all the twists coming. All in all, it was OK, but didn’t encourage me to go back and read more from Durst’s earlier career.
Empire of Silence (The Sun Eater #1) by Christopher Ruocchi
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This series is super popular on BookTube among the SciFi/Fantasy influencers that I follow, and I can see why people like it. I have a lot of thoughts about this book, so we’ll see how well I can organize them. It’s an epic scifi story told as a first-person point-of-view confessional. Hadrian Marlow, our main point-of-view character, is reflecting back on his long life and the events that led him to become so infamous including his part in humanity’s centuries-long war against the Pale, an alien species. I really liked the world building that Ruocchi does. He superimposes a feudal hierarchy system with a large dose of Ancient Rome into a far-future scifi world where humanity’s moved into the stars and the now-lost Earth is worshipped. Hadrian is a member of the aristocracy, and the first part of the book focuses on his relationship with his brutal dictator of a father and his brutish brother. After finally escaping their influence, Hadrian experiences how the other side live after being left for dead on another planet. The whole book kind of felt like set up for future volumes, which I guess was fine, but I think my main gripe was that Hadrian seemed to always choose the stupidest possible course of action without any regard for the fallout to the people around him. He was very reactionary for someone who was supposedly so smart. This book is definitely a slow burn, and it takes many hundreds of pages before the alien antagonists even make an on-page appearance. Older Hadrian sometimes interjected mid-action to justify his actions, which sometimes pulled me out of the story. It’s an interesting story-telling technique to tell the audience how things are going to end at the beginning, and then take 7 800+page books to tell them how you got there. Like I said, getting to the end of this book felt like we were finally set up for the main event, so I guess I’ll keep reading because Hadrian and his world are definitely interesting.
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I’ve read quite a few of Kingfisher’s books, so I picked up this newest release when it came out. This is another creepy retelling of an already creepy fairy tale. In this case, an evil sorceress’s daughter recognizes that her mother is evil and works with an old bachelorette to try to defeat her. The sorceress mother is genuinely terrifying predominantly because she can use her powers to take over people’s bodies and force them to do her will, which she does repeatedly to her daughter. This only happens on page a few times in the book, but when it did, it made me feel genuinely creeped out and uneasy. I really liked Hester, the aged sister of the Squire that the sorceress is trying to ensnare in marriage. I appreciate an older female heroine with a great sense of humor and a ton of guts. Overall, I’d recommend this book to fans of Kingfisher’s other works but note that it leans a bit darker than Nettle and Bone and A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking.
Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This was the first Tchaikovsky I’ve read, and it definitely lived up to the man’s reputation and made me want to read more. In this book, we follow genteel aristocrat Emily Marshwic as her country goes to war with their long-time friend and cultural neighbor following the death of their monarch and subsequent establishment of a republican government. After her brother and brother-in-law are drafted, Emily herself is called up when her country’s desperate need requires a draft of women. Emily soon discovers that her life as a landed gentry lady did little to prepare her for the harsh realities of a land war in the Swamp. This book has a light touch of fantasy with a few characters weidling magic powers, but a heavy dose of circa Napoleonic War realism as both armies are fighting with cannon and muskets. I really enjoyed Emily’s character arc as she learns about the price of war and the lies surrounding the causes of that war as she tries to sort truth from fiction for herself. The ending was amazing, and was so perfectly set up from the beginning of the book. It was so satisfying to see all the pieces come together in a brilliant scene that was so emotionally and thematically resonant. I highly recommend for anyone who enjoys historical or flintlock fantasy.
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This is a new title in the quickly expanding and super popular cozy fantasy genre. I wasn’t super impressed with this attempt though. It had some good points including a well-executed putting-a-team-together trope, cool magical abilities, and some genuinely funny character moments. The whole thing read a little young though. Our main protagonist made some pretty stupid and immature calls, and some of the major plot points were resolved rather simplistically. It did have a good cozy feel though, so it got the vibe right.
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I decided to give this book a try after it won the Booker prize. It’s a short read that seems more general fiction than scifi. In fact, the only reason I think it’s classified as scifi is that it takes place in space. There’s little futuristic or overly sciency about this book though. It’s mostly just good vibes and rather short on plot. We follow the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) for one “day,” which for them actually comprises 19 sunrises and sunsets as they speed above planet Earth at thousands of miles per hour. Our narrator takes us inside the thoughts of each crew member as they execute their daily activities. The beauty of this book is in the stunning and insightful prose as the author conveys the thoughts and feelings that the crew have as they zoom above the surface of our planet. See for example, “We exist now in a fleeting bloom of life and knowing, one finger-snap of frantic being, and this is it. This summery burst of life is more bomb than bud. These fecund times are moving fast,” and “We matter greatly and not at all.” *chef’s kiss. So good. I highly recommend.