Hi friends,
We saved all of our family reunions and traveling for July and August, so we’ve been pretty busy, and I have expended all of my accumulated annual leave to date, so it’ll be a while before I’ll be taking time off of work again! We had a good time visiting with family, although our reunions were marred by viruses, an ER visit, bed bugs, no hot water, and a collapsing swing that sent half of the grandkids inside with bumps and bruises. Also featured at our reunions were tons of games, temple visits, delicious food, and good conversations, so I think we came out about even.
I managed to read a few books in and around the traveling including the newest Sanderson release and the latest Dungeon Crawler Carl installment. Let me know what you think of these great reads!
Tonya
The Mad Ship (Liveship Traders #2) by Robin Hobb
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This series is way better than The Farseer Trilogy. I definitely prefer the multi-person point of views as opposed to the first-person single narrative. I also really love the pirates and nautical setting. Where Hobb really excels though is with her character work. This was really Wintrow Vestrit’s book to shine, and I loved seeing him come-of-age and grow into the best version of himself. I also really enjoyed seeing the change in Malta this book, who went from a whiny teenager to a confident and capable young woman. Kennit of course is the villain that I wish so hard wasn’t a villain. He’s one of the best-written villains I’ve ever read. He’s one of those characters whose inner dialogue directly conflicts with his mannerisms and outer dialogue so much, and Hobb writes him so well. We even get a building-a-boat sequence with a shipmates to friends to lovers romance. This book definitely doesn’t feel like a bridge to third book of the trilogy and stands on its own as a step above the first. It also helps that the most infuriating character I’ve ever read from the first book , Kyle Haven, is hardly in this book at all. That guy sucks.
Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This is secret project #5 from Sanderson and his Dragonsteel team, and I really enjoyed it. Sanderson continued the story of Dusk from his old Sixth of the Dusk novella. The novella is included in the book as flashbacks as we continue Dusk's story and combined it with Starling dragon and her crew. I really liked Dusk's ] plotline as he applies his wayfinding skills in the extended cosmere and learns how to adapt his old ways into the relentlessly advancing modern world. I was less of a fan of Starling’s plot which felt like the Firefly show without the cowboys. Starling’s plot follows a lot of familiar Sanderson tropes including found-family and putting a team together, but I feel like he did those tropes a lot better in other works. The cosmere tie-ins are great, but I think you could still follow the story without having read Sanderson’s prior work. Overall, I think this was a solid entry in Sanderson’s catalogue and would recommend for anyone who likes the cosmere.
This Inevitable Ruin (Dungeon Crawler Carl #7) by Matt Dinniman
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I am all caught up on Dungeon Crawler Carl (DCC)! This series started as pretty short and quick, but the later books all clocked in at 700+ pages. I felt like this one earned its page count though. In fact, I think it might be my favorite DCC book yet. In this one Carl and Donut take on the 9th floor of the dungeon, which means faction wars. This year, due to Carl’s previous machinations, the crawlers and the non-playable characters (NPCs) each form their own teams and duke it out against 7 other alien armies. This year the stakes are higher for everyone as those who die in the dungeon will stay dead outside too. I really liked the new former crawlers that we met in this book. I feel like they helped us see another side to Carl and helped move his arc along. I also really liked how Katia’s plot was resolved, and I was glad to see that one character got a resolution. We have been accumulating a lot of secondary characters, and it was nice to see one get a good ending, which is pretty scarce in the dungeon. The fast pace of the books means that we sometimes don’t get to sit long enough with big moments that happen to our characters, but Dinniman used some nice flashbacks to help give the story breathing room and the character moments more emotional impact at some critical points. There’s always one point in each DCC book where the humor is just a bit much for me. If you’ve read this one I’m sure that we can agree on which moment took the cake here as just a little too absurd even for my imagination. Anyway, the ending definitely felt more tidy than some of the other books, and I’m not sure when book 8 is coming out, but I will surely pick it up when it does.
Little Labors by Rivka Galchen
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Recommendation: maybe
Review: This is a short essay collection focusing on the author’s experience becoming a mother. I don’t have much to say beyond that. It was a book tube recommendation that didn’t land very well for me. As I sit to write this a few weeks after finish the collection, I’m struggling to distinctly remember any of the essays. I do remember thinking that the author was a bit pretentious though.
Equal Rites (Discworld #3) by Terry Pratchett
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This is the first witches book in Pratchett’s spectacular Discworld series, and I would definitely recommend it for people looking for an entry into his satirical and fantastical world. This is the first time we get to meet the incomparable Granny Weatherwax, and I love her from the beginning. Pratchett manages to make some great statements about feminism and the equal rights movement while also making me literally laugh out loud. Just picturing Granny Weatherwax trying to kickstart a broken flying broomstick is an image that will always bring a smile to my face. Beyond that, we get some amazing sequences and moments as Granny takes young Eskerina under her wing, who was supposed to be born the 8th son of an 8th son and blessed with immense wizarding powers. The only issue being that she was instead born a girl, and girls just aren’t wizards. They’re just not. In any case, hijinks ensue as Granny mentors and then must escort the young witch/wizard to Ankh Morpork to enroll, or not, at the world famous Unseen University. No one can ever do what Pratchett does, and I’m just glad that I live in a world where I have 42 more Discworld books to enjoy this read through.