Hi friends,
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We enjoyed both holidays at home with friends and family. December is always busy, and we were glad to enjoy good health the whole month for once. I ‘m sure it won’t last, but it was nice not to be sick around Christmas.
I read some epic books in December, both plot-wise and length-wise, including Sanderson’s newest addition to The Stormlight Archive. All in all, it was a great year and month for reading. As I read more, I get a better sense of my own taste and am better at picking books that I end up enjoying. Let me know what you think of these reads and if you have suggestions for other books.
Best,
Tonya
The Fury of the Gods (Bloodsworn Sage #3) by John Gwynne
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Recommendation: maybe
Review: This is the final installment of Gwynne’s Bloodsworn trilogy, and I was disappointed by it. The first book was really good. The second book was not as good, and I just did not care for this last one. It felt like one really long action scene with page upon page of hacking and slicing and blood, and all manner of fantastical fictional Vikings swinging sharp things at each other. There was little in the way of character development, and even though the book came in at over 600 pages, many of the characters’ arcs felt like they were resolved really abruptly and unsatisfyingly. What character development we did get was good, and there were a few emotional moments that I enjoyed reading, but it just felt like kind of a slog. Considering that the first two books were pretty good and that I was really attached to the world and characters, this was super disappointing.
Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive #5) by Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’ve been waiting years for this book. I remember reading the first Stormlight Archive book when I was on my honeymoon with Dan over 10 years ago, and this 5th book concluded the first arc of what will be a 10 book series. It did not disappoint. I really liked every plotline in this book and felt like Sanderson did justice by each character. There were some awesome reveals, some of which the fandom predicted, and some that I did not see coming. There were epic fight sequences and extremely emotional character moments for our heroes and our villains. We learned so much lore about the Cosmere and the Stormlight world in particular. It was just so fun. So much fun. I particularly enjoyed Adolin’s plot and character growth. He’s just so good and so awesome. I also really liked Kaladin and Szeth’s buddy road trip that kind of felt like they were on some video game quest to defeat all the little bosses in preparation to fight the big boss. I’ve seen some people online complain that Sanderson’s prose is too heavy-handed, especially in his discussions about mental health, but I disagreed. I’ve always appreciated Sanderson’s clear and straightforward prose and thought that it was particularly helpful when discussing difficult mental health issues. The worst part about this book is that we have to wait 7 years for the next one. I guess that’s lots of time for the fandom to discuss and theorize about all of the Cosmere-changing craziness that happened in this one. Sanderson is truly the GOAT of modern epic fantasy, and Stormlight Archive is his magnum opus.
A Psalm for the Wild Built (Monk and Robot #1) by Becky Chambers
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This was a lovely short and poignant read after finishing Sanderson’s 1300+page behemoth that is Wind and Truth. It was just pleasant and cozy. While generally short in plot, this novella-length story features a tea monk living on a futuristic utopia world who is struggling to figure out the point of it all when all of their needs are met. They embark on an impulse quest where they meet a robot who is descended from a group of robots who were released into the wild after gaining sentience hundreds of years before. It’s an unlikely but enjoyable pairing that provides a good framework for all sorts of interesting philosophical discussions, which are made all the more enjoyable by Chambers’ beautiful almost poetic prose. For example, “You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live. That is all most animals do.” This book is big on vibes, predominantly a vibe of hopefulness that humanity will eventually solve our environmental and social problems and create a world where a kind monk’s biggest problem is an existential feeling of needlessness.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This was another 1000+ page fantasy epic, which I’m finding is kind of my jam. This book’s trademark is 100% Clarke’s style, which reads exactly as though it was written in the early 1800s England. On top of totally nailing the style of this book, Clarke creates main and supporting characters that are fully fleshed out, dynamic, and so interesting to read. I didn’t even like Mr. Norrell -- you’re not supposed to as he’s written to be very unlikeable -- and I only moderately liked Jonathan Strange. While they are the title characters that the story focuses on, the secondary characters are the ones that are actually likable and that drive the plot. Childermass and Stephen Black were two of my favorites. Like Austen who she imitates, Clarke has a lot to say about class and status, and while Strange and Norrell may be the gentlemen magicians in this story about the return of magic to England, they actually do very little to resolve the plot or move the story forward. This book is also big on vibes and has some great atmospheric moments that really capture the magic of this world. I would highly recommend for anyone who wants a great genre-bending read that combines elements of epic fantasy, Jane Austen, and spooky fairy worlds.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Recommendation: not for me
Review: This book is super popular, but it was not for me. Any book dealing with time travel is going to be ridden with plot holes, and this one was no exception. The author doesn’t focus on the scifi aspects of time travel and literally hand waves away any discussion or questions about the time travel mechanics at the beginning of the story. Sometime in the near future, the British government has discovered time travel and brought forward a few people from times past as an experiment. Our narrator is the bridge for one of these time travelers tasked with teaching them about the modern world and helping them integrate into society. Shenanigans ensue for all including some surprising time-travel twists! There’s a prominent romance plot that I think most people must have liked more than I did. It was OK. The story is told from the first person point-of-view, and we never learn the actual name of our narrator, which is an interesting narrative choice. We know that she’s in her 30s, half Cambodian and able to pass for White. Bradley has good discussions of race throughout the book, and I did enjoy the perspective of seeing modern life from a Victorian-Age explorer. Despite seeming to have many features that I generally like --- scifi, romance, some action --- the execution was lacking as I got frustrated with our main character’s bad decisions over and over and didn’t particularly like the resolution at the end.
