bluesalamanders 2017

Happy New Year!

This is Blue in my 7th year in the 75 Book Challenge group (wow). I've been lurking a lot recently, I don't know if I'll be around more frequently this year or just keep checking in every couple of weeks. I mostly read fantasy and some science fiction, these days mainly Adult titles with some YA mixed in.

Previous threads:
50 book challenges: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
75 book challenges: 2011.1, 2011.2, 2012.1, 2012.2, 2013.1, 2013.2, 2014, 2015, 2016

For my 2017 goals, I averaged my results and goals from last year:

Total number of books: 123
New reads: 50
Non-fiction: 3
Pages: 21500
Audiobook time: 20d 13h 36m

* I've started including content warnings for some books. I don't have a list of things that I think should be warned for, it's generally whatever I think of as I'm writing the review, which also means I may forget to warn for some things. Sorry!

Warnings include mostly negative things (rape/sexual assault, graphic violence, incest, major character death, animal harm, mind control) and some neutral things that I know bother people (explicit sex, graphic birth scene).

Apparently 7 is the number of books I read off my posted TBR list, because now I've done it three years running.

These book are on this list because I borrowed them from friends and I really should return them eventually. I definitely want to read the first one (nonfiction is haaaard for me, note how many nonfiction books keep showing up), but I may return the second and third without reading them:

1. Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.
2. The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
3. The House in November by Keith Laumer (I did, in fact, return these two without reading them)
4. The Black Wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer

These are Early Reviewer books:

5. Jewish Soul Food by Carol Ungar
6. Weld Like a Pro: Beginning to Advanced Techniques by Gerald Uttrachi
7. Island by Aldous Huxley (audiobook)
8. The War of Words by Amy Neftzger

These are books that have been on the list for a year or two already. Some of them were silly gifts from my sister, some of them I've just been wanting to read, some of them I don't remember why I have them. I think if I don't at least start them by the end of this year, I will probably dispose of them:

9. The Resurrectionist by EB Hudspeth
10. Ace of Cakes by Duff Goldman and Willie Goldman (paperbackswap)
11. Dreaming Down Under edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb
12. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (Pearl'd)
13. The New Space Opera 2 edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
14. will grayson, will grayson by John Green & David Levithan (paperbackswap)
15. The Mysterious, Magickal Cat by DJ Conway
16. Seeing Further by Bill Bryson

These books I either got off PBS or they were gifts:

17. Last Night at the circle Cinema by Emily Franklin
18. Unfuck Your Habitat by Rachel Hoffman
19. As You Wish by Cary Elwes
20. The Better Part of Valor by Tanya Huff
21. The Heart of Valor by Tanya Huff
22. Uncle John's Book of the Dumb by John Scalzi
23. Willful Impropriety by Ekaterina Sedia
24. Hard-Hatted Women edited by Molly Martin
25. Thieftaker by DB Jackson

To be continued...

I intended to keep track of books that came in this year, but wow, I did not manage that at all.

Happy New Year! (dropping a star)

I am part of the group.
I love being part of the group.
I love the friendships bestowed upon my by dint of my membership of this wonderful fellowship.
I love that race and creed and gender and age and sexuality and nationality make absolutely no difference to our being a valued member of the group.

Thank you for also being part of the group.

Happy new year!

Happy reading in 2017, Blue!

Blue! Welcome back!

Hi blue!

>4 ronincats: Happy new year, roni!
>5 PaulCranswick: I love this group, too.
>6 foggidawn: foggi, happy new year!

>7 FAMeulstee: Good reading, FAM!
>8 drneutron: Thanks, newt!
>9 norabelle414: Hey, nora :)

Pearl'd: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Eh. Eh. I heard such good things about this book but I got almost 200 pages in and I just don't see it. There’s almost nothing new or interesting about how vampires and witches are portrayed so far (daemons don’t seem to actually be demonic, so I’m mildly curious what they actually are, but they’ve barely shown up). Matthew is a creeper nearly to the level of Edward Cullen - sneaking into her house and watching her sleep, going all Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with his random bursts of fury, the whole predator/prey “don’t move, I might not be able to help myself” thing. Every time he started getting interesting, he did something like that again and I wanted to yell at Diana to run home to her aunts, who clearly know more about the magical world since, you know, they haven't been ignoring it their whole lives. The whole "witches/daemons/vampires shouldn't mix" is probably supposed to be a metaphor for real-world bigotry, but if so, it’s a bad one; this is clearly a world where you really should avoid vampires.

So, since I’ve written this much about how I’m not enjoying the book, I think it’s time to stop reading it and try something else

>11 bluesalamanders: The second book in the series is much better than the first, but I don't blame you for quitting. The first one is a slog and mostly just repeats tired tropes.

Huzzah! Blue has returned!

>11 bluesalamanders: Yup, I Pearl-ruled that one too.

>11 bluesalamanders: I made it through that one, but I didn't love it.

>12 norabelle414: It really is. I get the impression it's her first novel, so it gets a bit of a break for that, but not enough to keep reading.

>13 MickyFine: Woohoo :)

>14 drneutron: Yeah, it just isn't worth it.

>15 foggidawn: I probably could, the writing isn't otherwise bad and I am curious about some parts of the story - but not enough to want to make the effort.

Finished Book 1: The Act of Hares by Seanan McGuire
October Daye series short story
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 35p

Very sweet story. It’s fascinating to read more and more about Tybalt’s history in these stories.

>11 bluesalamanders: Just dropping by for a quick hello! I mostly enjoyed this one, but parts of it were quite annoying. I loved the aunts' house and the wine cellar descriptions.

>12 norabelle414: Glad to hear the 2nd one is better. I have it but haven't gotten to it yet. Maybe I'll move it closer to the top of Mount Toobey.

>16 bluesalamanders: Yeah, Deborah Harkness is a historian much more than a novelist. The second book in the series is almost entirely about history, which is why it's so much better than the first.

>18 clamairy: Hey, clam! Yeah, I did like some parts, but sadly the annoying outweighed the interesting for me.

>19 norabelle414: I can see how that would be a better direction for her to take, yeah.

Finished Book 2: Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi by John Scalzi
New read, adult, science fiction (mostly) collection, ebook, 104p

I actually bought an ebook, which is not a thing I usually do. Usually I only get free ebooks or borrow them from libraries or people (usually my sister) buy them for me. It's a thing. However, this was published by Subteranean, so the hardback copy is very nice and very expensive and it’s unlikely to come out in paperback, but I want to read it, so, ebook it is.

Not my favorite Scalzi ever, but it is a solid collection of amusing, mostly-SF stories. Most take place in various different future settings where humans and aliens have already met and are learning to live around each other. A couple take place in a world where superheroes (and super villains) are real. One is about the AI apocolypse. One is from the perspective of a cat.

Recommended if you’re a Scalzi fan (of course) or if you’re interested in some fun SF short stories.

Finished Book 3: Carousel Sun by Sharon Lee
Archer’s Beach, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 45m

It’s difficult to summarize this book, as it’s less a single plot thread and more all the things that happen to Kate when she has accepted the land, is forced to accept her magic, and chooses to accept Borgan. There are conflicts - Borgan vanished after the events in the first book, for instance, and Joe Nemeier is causing more trouble - but the overall themes of the book, and of the series as a whole, seem to be more about Kate learning to accept herself for who she is and allowing herself to accept help and friendship from the people around her.

I like this series, although I do wish that the flashbacks to the abuse were less vivid. It would probably be less of an issue with a paper copy, but with an audiobook, when it's not easy to skip or skim parts, it's hard to handle.

Content warnings (that I remember): mind control, nightmares/memories of sexual abuse

Finished Book 4: A Delicate Game by Sasha L. Miller
New read, adult, romance, ebook, 24p

Possibly I’m just not used to reading romance, but it seemed like this was an excerpt from a larger story. It was a reasonably enjoyable nonetheless, albeit a little silly, which was possibly due to the (apparent) missing context and possibly just because of the kind of story it is.

Content warnings: implied sibling incest

Finished Book 5: Carousel Seas by Sharon Lee
Archer’s Beach, book 3
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 36m

I liked this a lot. I did find the final conflict fairly predictable, but predictable doesn’t necessarily mean bad or unsatisfying.

Finished Book 6: The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Reread, young adult, historical fiction, dead tree, 144p

Still a really good and fun book to read after all these years.

Finished Book 7: Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 20m

I started this audiobook a couple of days ago when I had a migraine. I’m going to listen to book 2 on audio as well because I’ve lent my hardcopy to a friend. After that, I should be able to switch to paper copies.

Things that particularly stood out to me this time through (spoilers ahoy, sort of):

Having read this book multiple times, I am starting to really appreciate how much of an unreliable narrator Toby is. Not deliberately, just - there are a lot of things she assumes she knows that are simply wrong. I spent half the book going “Oh, Toby, no.”

Also, I appreciate how many characters are actually willing to flat-out lie. No hedging, no hesitating, no “if you really think about what they’re saying, you can tell”, just straight up lying. And Toby not only has no idea, but doesn’t even know there’s anything to know. Faerie is built on lies, and they lie to each other almost as much as they lie to mortals.

I love this series so much.

Finished Book 8: A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 52m

Finished Book 9: The Jewel and her Lapidary by Fran Wilde
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree: 85p

A friend lent this to me. It was fine, the story was interesting enough (also short enough) that I read it straight through, but I had trouble keeping the main characters straight and I didn’t really care that much about the mess they were in. Part of that was because I was working so hard to understand what was going on that there wasn’t really space for feelings about it, too, I think.

Content warnings: slavery (at least, it seemed like slavery to me), burning by fire, burning by acid, mind control, suicide, dead bodies, imprisonment

I found your last book to be pretty uniformly depressing.

>27 ronincats: It was, it definitely was. I wasn't involved in it enough and I didn't care about the characters enough to really feel it, though, you know?

>28 bluesalamanders: Right! It was short enough we didn't get emotionally involved with the characters. Thank goodness!

My absolute favourite Karen Cushman has always been Catherine, Called Birdy. I devoured it again and again as a child. Now I'd love to go and hunt it down again.

>29 ronincats: Maybe part of it was the length, but I just had trouble connecting with the characters and the story. There are novellas and short stories that have made me care about the characters in as few pages, I think this just failed at that.

Either way, yeah, thank goodness :)

>30 lunacat: I LOVE Catherine, Called Birdy! It's such a great story and such an amazing protagonist. That is the other Cushman book that I have a copy of, actually.

>32 bluesalamanders: It's wonderful isn't it. I'm going to have to try and find my copy now. Although it might well have fallen apart - I know it was only holding together by a thread the last time I saw it at my childhood home. Far too many rereads!

I have copies of The Midwife's Apprentice and Catherine, Called Birdy that are falling apart too! I was obsessed with both when I was in middle school. I reread them probably once a month. I have tried reading other Katherine Cushman books at various points in my life but I never liked them as much.

Finished Book 10: A Wizard Alone (New Millenium Edition) by Diane Duane, read by Mark Oshiro
Young Wizards, book 6
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook: 9h 11m

I think this book may have had the most changes in the New Millenium rewrites, giving better representation of autism and autistic people. Some of the language earlier in the book still seemed a little iffy to me, but that could be different preferred usages in different groups of autistic people, I don’t know. While I can’t speak to the quality of the representation myself, I’ve heard people say it is much improved from the original and I (and Mark) thought the end was amazing.

Finished Book 11: An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 3
Reread, adult, fantasy, dead tree: 354p

There are multiple themes in this book (probably more than I even realize) and while it is a rather dark and disturbing story, it’s also a story where Toby starts to see that her life is full of much more light and love and friendship than she realized.

Finished Book 12: Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 4
Reread, adult, fantasy, dead tree: 372p

Finished Book 13: The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett, read by Mark Oshiro
Discworld, book 22
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 9h 57m

There were many jokes and references I did not get in this one.

Finished Book 14: One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 5
Reread, adult, fantasy, dead tree: 354p

Finished Book 15: Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 6
Reread, adult, fantasy, dead tree: 353p

Currently reading:
Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire (dead tree)
The Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan (audiobook)

Huzzah for a Toby Daye reread! I backed up three books for the last release, and a good thing too as there was a lot I missed there. These books have so much interwoven into them, so much foreshadowing way back, that they really reward a reread.

I thought A Wizard Alone was really well done too. That was an interesting review. I read the New Millenial editions when I bought them as a batch the year before last, but didn't do an explicit comparison with my original editions, and this served to point out what I was somewhat aware of.

The Scalzi sounds good. I've only read Redshirts which was a fun one. You definitely should read Her smoke rose up forever but I'd read it over a long period of time. Too much Tiptree at once gets a bit... too much. The biography about her, The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon is really interesting too.

February

Finished Book 16: Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 7
Reread, adult, fantasy, dead tree: 357p

Finished Book 17: The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 8
Reread, adult, fantasy, dead tree: 358p

Finished Book 18: A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 9
Reread, adult, fantasy, dead tree: 358p

Finished Book 19: Full of Briars by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, novelette set between books 7 and 8
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 44p

Read this in the wrong order, but that’s ok. It is still really adorable.

Finished Book 20: Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 10
Reread, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 350p

Finished Book 21: Dreams and Slumbers by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, novella set after book 10
Rerad, adult, fantasy, ebook, 70p

Finished Book 22: In the Before, When Legends Were True by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 11p

Finished Book 23: Her Heart Never Came Down Again by Seanan McGuire
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 14p

Finished Book 24: The Levee Was Dry by Seanan McGuire
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 19p

I didn't love Heart, but I did love In the Before and Levee.

Finished Book 25: Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan, read by Kate Reading
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 3
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 45m

Finished Book 26: The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones
Reread, young adult fantasy, Audiobook, 9h 59m

Finished Book 27: Sandry’s Book by Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 5h 53m

Finished Book 28: Tris’s Book by Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 5h 17m

Finished Book 29: Daja’s Book by Tamora Pierce
Circle of Magic, book 3
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 5h 20m

I wasn't feeling well for a few days and I wanted to listen to new books but I needed something that didn't take that much energy.

Finished Book 30: Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 20m

Finished Book 31: Night Calls by Katherine Eliska Kimbriel
Night Calls, book 1
New read, young adult, fantasy, dead tree, 310p

Allie starts noticing strange things, things other people don’t seem to notice and it turns out she has the Gift, the ability to learn the Wise Arts. She learns somethings easily and intuitively, but soon finds that more instruction is necessary or she - and the people around her - could be in even more danger.

I liked how Allie really seemed like a teenager, impulsive and overconfident at times, oblivious to at others. I also liked how the overarching story of the book wasn’t about fighting one big monster or villain but about Allie’s education and growth, in among various monsters and family disagreements and social interactions.

Currently reading:
The Cold Eye by Laura Anne Gilman
Too like the lightning by Ada Palmer
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire

Finished Book 32: Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook

Finished Book 33: Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 3
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook

March

Finished Book 34: Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 4
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 39m

Finished Book 35: Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire
New read, adult, fantasy, Dead tree, 192p

New novella by Seanan. I started reading this when it came out and then had to put it aside for awhile because the beginning is very stressful. Once I got past that, however, I liked it.

CW: death, suicide, imprisonment, it's been a while so I don't remember what else

Finished Book 36: Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 5
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 40m

Finished Book 37: Bad Dream Girl by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid short story (in Glitter & Mayhem)
Reread, adult, fantasy, Ebook, 45p

It’s good to read this story before reading Magic For Nothing, the new Incryptid book, if you can get ahold of it.

Finished Book 38: Blocked by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, Ebook, 24p

Finished Book 39: Magic For Nothing by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 6
New read, adult, fantasy, Dead tree, 368p

Well, the Incryptid series is officially Getting Darker. I liked this book a lot, especially once things got going, but it's quite a ways from the fun romp of the first few books.

Finished Book 40: One hell of a ride by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, Ebook, 39p

Finished Book 41: No Place Like Home by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, Ebook, 42p

Finished Book 42: Married in Green by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, Ebook, 46p

Finished Book 43: Sweet Poison Wine by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, Ebook, 99p

These short stories take place before the novels and are interesting backstory for the Price-Healy family. They're available free on Seanan's website.

Finished Book 44: Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 307p

Finished Book 45: Conrad’s Fate by Diana Wynne Jones
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 8h 39m

Finished Book 46: Velveteen vs. the Junior Super Patriots by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 7h 17m

Finished Book 47: The First Fall by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 65p

Finished Book 48: Loch & Key by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 85p

Finished Book 50: Oh Pretty Bird by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 100p

Finished Book 51: Bury me in satin by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 50p

Finished Book 52: Snakes and Ladders by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 76p

Finished Book 53: Broken Paper Hearts by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 19p

Finished Book 54: The Star of New Mexico by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 40p

Finished Book 55: The Way Home by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 53p

Finished Book 56: Lay of the Land by Seanan McGuire
incryptid, short story
Reread, adult, fantasy, ebook, 49p

Finished Book 57: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 1
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 9h 58m

Finished Book 58: Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett, read by Mark Oshiro
Discworld, book 23
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 9h 48m

Finished Book 59: The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
The Interdependency, book 1
New read, adult, science fiction, dead tree, 336p

New Scalzi book! Very exciting! I really enjoyed it, except for a bit in the middle that focused on a set of characters that I found rather boring.

Minor CW: There is quite a bit of sex, though it's not treated erotically but just casually. There is quite a bit of swearing that is also treated casually. There might be other things that I've forgotten. The story ends on something of a cliffhanger, which I don't think needs a spoiler tag since we already know it's part of a series.

Finished Book 60: Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
Song of the Lioness, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 5h 17m

Finished Book 61: In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
Song of the Lioness, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 5h

April

Finished Book 62: Wizard’s Holiday by Diane Duane, read by Mark Oshiro
Young Wizards, book 7
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 8m

Wow, you've done some serious reading!

Little bit :) Though to be fair that was a whole month's worth posted at once.

Rather fixated on McGuire, though! ;-) Not that I'll argue with that, and I love the Peirce and Pratchett and Jones books as well. Let me know what you think of Too Like the Lightning! I read it last year and it's up for a Hugo.

I do tend to get fixated when I'm in a particular reading mood! This time it was working up to and coming down from the new Incryptid book.

I might see if i can get Too Like the Lightning in ebook from the library; it'll take forever if I try to read it in pieces at the bookstore, and I don't know if I want to buy it yet.

Pearl’d: Burn For Me by Ilona Andrews (audiobook)
I’ve heard good things about Ilona Andrews, but this is not the series for me. I wanted to be interested! The world was interesting, the characters, even the plot. Unfortunately, the romance aspect in this particular book is extremely distasteful to me, enough to overshadow everything that I liked in the book.

If you’re curious, the main character (an otherwise fantastic woman PI) is completely irrationally attracted to both the man she’s chasing (who may be physically attractive, but who cares? he is a complete asshole and totally condescending to her, and he tries to burn down her home with her family inside) and the man who ends up “helping” her with her case (who she first meets when he kidnaps her and spends all day torturing her). No. No. Absolutely not.

I have heard good things about the Kate Daniels books, so I do plan to try that series, I can't recommend this one.

Finished Book 63: The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce
Song of the Lioness, book 3
Reread, young adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 5h

Finished Book 64: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, read by Rachel Dulude
Wayfarers, book 2
New read, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 11h 29m

I love this series so much! These books are simply fantastic. The characters, the writing, the universe, everything about these books is just wonderful.

Finished Book 65: Changeless by Gail Carriger
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 33m

Finished Book 66: Blameless by Gail Carriger
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 59m

Finished Book 67: Heartless by Gail Carriger
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 19m

Finished Book 68: Timeless by Gail Carriger
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 29m

Finished Book 69: Prudence by Gail Carriger
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 40m

Finished Book 70: Imprudence by Gail Carriger
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 7m

Finished Book 71: Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 5h

Finished Book 72: Searching for Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 5h 58m

Finished Book 73: Calling On Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 6h 12m

Finished Book 74: Ariel by Steven Boyett
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 410p

The setting was interesting - our world, but a mysterious “Change” means some technology still works, but most doesn't. It's highly inconsistent, but it's literally magic so that didn't bother me much. The Change also removed all pollution, brought magical creatures into the world, and now actual magic works. Sort of a magical apocalypse. Bu...the characters were not great and I'm not even sure what the point of the plot was. There were several gaps in the story that I think would have made for a much more interesting book if they'd been filled in, but I guess that's because I like character-driven stories, which this was not.

My biggest issue with the book is the focus on virginity and so-called “purity”. The virginity bit is the most boring, annoying part of the unicorn mythos. In Ariel, it causes weird strain on character relationships, sticks every woman character into the role of “temptress”, and means what should be the story’s climax is immediately overshadowed by an uninteresting sex scene between two characters who don't even seem to like each other very much.

content warnings: guilt/shame about sex and masturbation, "purity" talk, secondary character death, animal death, violence, gore, racism/exoticism of Japanese culture, a really boring (but graphic) sex scene

One more!

Ilona Andrews hasn't ever done it for me either. I read her first book and also Clean Sweep. Love the Pierce, Carriger and Wrede, of course, and I need to get to A Closed and Common Orbit as I did like the first book.

>58 ronincats: Like I said, I'm going to try the Kate Daniels books, because I've heard good things about them from multiple people, but who knows? I might not like those, either.

A Closed and Common Orbit was great! So great. I want to reread Small Angry Planet, too.

I just shipped 8 paperbackswap books, and someone just requested 2 more! Woo!

May

Finished Book 75: Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 376p

A friend of mine lent me some lighthearted books to try and help me relax and jumpstart my reading, which has been kind of in a rut for a while. Heroine Complex is not the best written book I’ve ever read, but it’s light and funny and I enjoyed it.

Finished Book 76: The long way to a small, angry planet by Becky Chambers
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 14h 23m

I know I read this last year, but apparently I forgot to mark it down. Huh. Well, I loved it just as much the second time around.

Congrats on blowing past 75!

Thinking of books that might help you jumpstart your reading. Maybe get hold of Bujold's The Curse of Chalion--that one is compulsively readable. Or find Sagara's Cast in Shadow. Midnight Riot? A Natural History of Dragons?

ETA Oh yeah, and congratulations on blowing past 75 already, despite

Congratulations on reaching the magic number so early in the year!

>62 drneutron: >64 MickyFine: Thanks! I totally cheated and read a bunch of short ebooks to bring my numbers up :P I know reading is reading is reading, but it still feels like gaming the numbers.

>63 ronincats: Thanks for the recommendations!

Congratulations on reaching 75!

Well done on reaching 75. Wishing you a great weekend too.

Hi Blue! Just waving hello. Lots of books I might try, if I ever have the time, and thanks for the warnings on the others.

>62 drneutron: >63 ronincats: Your reading needs jumpstarting? *scratches head confusedly* I'm still in the 'teens (looks unlikely I'll make 75 this year, either).

Congratulations on your 75!

>66 FAMeulstee: >67 PaulCranswick: Thanks!

>68 humouress: Like I said, I "cheated" and included a bunch of very short ebooks, which bumped the number up. But still, my normal year-end total is upwards of 140 and a couple years recently I've barely hit 110. Also I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks, and there's nothing wrong with audiobooks, I love audiobooks, especially when I have a migraine, but I'd like to get back into the habit of reading paper books too.

Finished Book 77: Helen and Troy's Epic Road Quest by A. Lee Martinez
New read, fantasy, young adult, dead tree, 340p

Helen has inherited the full form of her family’s Minotaur curse. Troy is the handsome, popular boy from school who somehow still manages to be the nicest guy ever. How did two such dissimilar people end up on a quest together? It all started when their boss at Magic Burger tried to feed them to the Lost God...

Another book lent to me by the friend who lent me Heroine Complex. Helen & Troy’s Epic Road Quest is a funny, adorable mishmash of mythologies in a modern setting. Well written, funny, entertaining, overall I loved it! Definitely recommended, and I'll put more of Martinez's books on my TBR list.

Finished Book 78: Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich
Reread, adult, mystery, audiobook, 6h 56m

Finished Book 79: Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
Reread, adult, mystery, audiobook, 6h 43m

Finished Book 80: Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
Reread, adult, mystery, audiobook, 6h 38m

Finished Book 81: Finger Lickin’ Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
Reread, adult, mystery, audiobook, 6h 18m

Finished Book 82: Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
Reread, adult, mystery, audiobook, 5h 56m

Finished Book 83: Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich
Reread, adult, mystery, audiobook, 6h 22m

I always feel like I need to justify liking the Stephanie Plum books, since they’re so different from what I usually read. They’re certainly not what I would consider good books, but they’re entertaining and easy and don’t require a lot of concentration, which was perfect when I had migraine for 3 days in one week awhile back.

CW: weight loss/diet talk, fat jokes/insults (generally immediately squashed), alcohol use, marijuana use, cartoonish violence, sometimes less cartoonish violence and occasional gore, rape threats, love interests’ behavior frequently edges toward controlling/pressuring (and occasionally crosses the line)

>71 bluesalamanders: No justification required. Read what you like! :D

Finished Book 84: Trusting the Tiger by Zoe Chant
New read, adult, romance, ebook, 126p

This was a really very funny and sweet story, for all it involved some kidnapping and attempted murder (neither by nor of the two main characters).

Finished Book 85: In the Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 4
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 31m

I love this series a lot, just, every book in this series is wonderful.

June

Finished Book 86: Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Vorkosigan, book 15 (chronological)
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 432p

My friend C recommended this as a particularly entertaining book in this series, and while I usually wouldn’t skip ahead like this, I’m glad I did. It was, in fact, a fun and enjoyable book.

Finished Book 87: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10 hrs and 16 mins

Finished Book 88: Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10 hrs and 39 mins

Finished Book 89: Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 3
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11 hrs and 52 mins

As I said, I really like this series, and I decided to reread the first three before reading the fifth.

Finished Book 90: Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 2
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 187p

Wonderful sequel (or prequel, really) to Every Heart a Doorway!

Finished Book 91: Star Trek Cats by Jenny Parks
Early Reviewer book
New read, adult (?), science fiction, dead tree, 64p

It is what it says on the tin: Star Trek, but with cats. It’s very cute; the artist was clearly familiar with both Star Trek and with cats and did a good job of combining the two.

Finished Book 92: Wizards at War by Diane Duane, read by Mark Oshiro
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 15h 15m

Finished Book 93: A Tyranny of Queens by Foz Meadows
Manifold Worlds, book 2
New read, adult, fantasy, dead tree, 444p

A fantastic follow-up to An Accident of Stars! Meadows continues the series with more strong worldbuilding and character development, and plot twists that I didn’t see coming but nonetheless made perfect sense within the story. If anything, A Tyranny of Queens is even better than the first book.

Finished Book 94: Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 5
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10 hrs and 59 mins

A satisfying conclusion to the series with some really unexpected twists in the middle. I’ve heard Brennan is planning to continue with a series about Lady Trent’s granddaughter, which willl be wonderful.

I love the Lady Trent series too. Hadn't heard that about the continuation; should be interesting.

It appears she came up with the idea in March and announced it in May, so it's not like they'll be coming out any time soon, but she pitched it to her editor and her editor agreed, so - someday!

Pearl’d: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
(Spoilers Ahoy, in case I'm not the only one who hasn't read this yet)

I read some interesting things about this series, so I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, this book was extremely disappointing. From the beginning of the book, I hated how the narrator talked about fat people. Also, I’m always annoyed when Hades is the bad guy in stories based on Greek mythology. Maybe I’m wrong about Hades being the bad guy in this book, but it was heavily implied at the point I stopped reading.

But aside from that, the entire introduction to the camp/school is so horribly frustrating. Everybody expects Percy to know things, but nobody actually tells him anything. This is one of tropes I hate the most in YA fiction. He is clearly totally confused: he just discovered magic and gods were real, he found out his best friend is a satyr, he was almost killed, his mom died, he killed a minotuar, and he had to move to a completely new place (I could go on) all in one day, and then he’s just thrown in the middle of everything with no explanations or help or anything? No, thank you. I’ll pass.

Finished Book 95: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 4h 44m

I felt like rereading this after reading Down Among the Sticks and Bones and honestly, it is even more heartbreaking knowing that backstory.

Finished Book 96: Silver Silence by Nalini Singh
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 464p

Recommended by a friend based on (among other things) my enjoyment of the Zoe Chant books. Silver, a telepath who has spent her life practicing Vulcan-like emotionlessness, is being courted by a “changeling” named Valentin. When her life is in danger, the logical thing to do is to stay with Valentin and his clan of bear shifters, who can protect her while maintaining the facade that her visit was for diplomatic reasons. While there, Silver must continue her work as the head of the world’s largest humanitarian rescue organization, discover who attempted to kill her and why, and deal with the weakening of her control over her emotions.

I was uncertain about this at first, especially since this is nowhere near the beginning of the series, but also because Valentin appears extremely pushy. But most of his pushiness is in his head - things he wants to do (generally overprotective or overemotional), rather than things he actually does (respect her boundaries, at least most of the time). In the end, though, I quite enjoyed the book and I may go and see what happens earlier in the series.

July

Finished Book 97: Death by Silver by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold
The Julian Lynes & Ned Mathey Mysteries, book 1
New read, fantasy, dead tree, 261p

Many books I’m reading recently have been recommended by the same friend, C, and this is no exception. Death by Silver was an enjoyable book, with good characters, an interesting setting, and an engaging plot. The one thing I didn’t love was the flashbacks to their time in boarding school, which I didn’t think added much to the story.

Content warnings (that I remember): boarding school bullying, caning/beating, homophobia, poisoning, child abuse in the name of religion, murder, accidental death, sex

Pearl’d: The Otherness Factor by Arlene F. Marks (ER, ebook)
Spoilers ahoy, but not for all that much of the book, I don’t think, since I’d only been reading it for twenty minutes or so?

I did not get very far in this book before deciding it wasn’t for me. The main character - at least in the first part, apparently there are other POVs later - is horrifying. He is subject to alien experimentation and when he figures out what’s going on, orchestrates a jailbreak with some of the other subjects. He and a woman end up leaving together and finding a habitable but vacant planet to hide out on until they decide what to do next. Apparently one of the effects (or side effects?) of the experiments leave him with what basically sounds like a really bad temper (sort of like the Hulk, or Jekyll and Hyde), so after he apparently hurts the woman (we’re not told exactly how), he convinces her that it’s her responsibility to help “keep him calm”. Because that doesn’t sound like an abusive relationship or anything? Later, when it turns out she’s pregnant, he tries to forcibly abort the fetus!. After she gives birth (during which he seems more concerned about his feelings than her), he abuses the child to discover what impact being the child of two experimental subjects has had. Also, he constantly talks about “his” planet and “his” ship, as though she had no part in their escape and has no rights to anything after, refuses to take her off the planet when she asks, forces her to be around him when she doesn’t want to be, tells her what she can and can’t do, and is generally horrible.

Maybe it gets better, but I’m not interested in pushing through any more of that horror to find out.

>78 bluesalamanders: You might want to pop over to Amber's (scaifea) and share a gripe on how the classics get put through the mangle ;0)

Don't think I've seen you Pearl books before, but here are 2 in one go! Mind you, that last one sounds horrendous.

I don't very often, it's true. I'm usually pretty good at picking books that I'm likely to enjoy at least well enough to finish them, often through recommendations from friends who have closely aligned tastes (hence all the recs by C this years). The Otherness Factor was an Early Reviewer book, so there is that. Percy Jackson just seemed like a good idea at the time and...was not.

You're not the only one who didn't like the Percy Jackson books! My quibbles were not exactly the same as yours but I couldn't stand the first book when I read it. And then a few years later I listened to the second one as audio, just in case I was mistaken and nope! It was terrible too!

>83 norabelle414: See, I actually enjoy Riordan's books, though I'm careful to not scrutinize the mythology too closely -- but I tried listening to the audio one time, and the narrator is awful.

>83 norabelle414: I'm glad I'm not the only one! I've heard so many people talk about how they love them, and they do sound like something I'd like. But, no.

>84 foggidawn: He wasn't the best narrator I've ever heard, but I didn't think he was all that bad. Although, who knows, maybe he was and that's part of why I disliked it as much as I did.

Finished Book 98: Page by Tamora Pierce
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 6h 28m

Finished Book 99: Lobster is the Best Medicine by liz climo
New read, adult, fiction, graphic novel/picture book, 111p

My simple way of categorizing the books I read is starting to break down a little. It’s not like it matters to anybody but me, it’s just so I know how many of what kinds of books I’ve read, which I’m curious about. And obviously the categories are arbitrary.

But I’m having particular trouble with a book like Lobster is the Best Medicine, which isn’t fantasy as such - although I guess the talking, anthropomorphic animals do put it in that category. It’s actually a collection of webcomics. It’s not a coherent story, although a lot of the animals do show up repeatedly. It’s just a bunch of cute panels about friendship and how different kinds of people add different things to friendship. It’s adorable and also very sweet; I recommend picking up the book or looking up her art online.

Finished Book 100: Tomorrow’s Kin by Nancy Kress
New read, adult, science fiction, dead tree, 349p

So I read this a few months and I liked it enough to buy it and recommend it to some friends, but I literally can’t remember what it’s about now. Huh.

Finished Book 101: Redshirts by John Scalzi, read by Wil Wheaton
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 7h 41m

Finished Book 102: Heartless by Gail Carriger, read by Emily Gray
Parasol Protectorate, book 4
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 11h 19m

Finished Book 103: All Systems Red by Martha Wells
The Murderbot Diaries, book 1
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 160p

An android on protection detail for a planetary research team not only is sentient but has managed to hack its own programming. All it really wants to do is watch tv, but, sigh, it has to continue doing the job to keep up appearances.

Fantastic, highly recommended, really looking forward to the sequel!

Finished Book 104: Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 1
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 11h 20m

August (yeah, well :)

Finished Book 105: A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 2
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 11h 52m

Finished Book 106: Bodyguard Bear by Zoe Chant
Protection, Inc, book 1
New read, adult, romance, ebook, 100p

Finished Book 107: Billionaire Dragon Shifter’s Mate by Zoe Chant
Gray's Hollow Dragon Shifters, book 1
New read, adult, romance, ebook, 64p

Finished Book 108: Defying Doomsday edited by Tsana Dolichva
New read, adult, science fiction anthology, Ebook, 432p

Absolutely fantastic anthology about chronically ill and disabled people surviving various apocalypse scenarios - despite, because of, or simply along with their illness or disability. It’s a fairly consistent group of stories; there’s only one I can remember not being especially drawn into, and many of them left me wanting more, as a good story often does.

Finished Book 109: Billionaire Jaguar‘s Curvy Journalist by Zoe Chant
New read, adult, romance, ebook, 190p

Finished Book 110: Landscape with Invisible Hand by MT Anderson
New read, young adult, science fiction, dead tree, 149p

Landscape With Invisible Hand is set some time after extraterrestrials - the vuvv - have made contact. Not only have they made contact, but they made contracts too. Lots of contracts. They will sell technology and medicine and buy (some specific kinds of) human art and culture. The result is extreme economic disparity between the wealthy few who can trade with the vuvv and the poor many who are losing their jobs to vuvv technology.

Ehhhhh...I wanted to like this. I feel like the author was trying to say something about the state of the world (or at least the United States) today. I just don’t think it worked. It didn’t help that the vuvv didn’t really make sense. And the message was especially muddled by the sudden turn of events at the end, when the chronically ill main character was cured for no apparent reason, then found a new girlfriend, and had a brilliant idea that helped his family magically get out of poverty. Not a particularly believable or relatable ending.

Overall, I found the book neither compelling nor satisfying.

You got me with the Wells book, All Systems Red, and the library even has it! I've put it on hold and I'm first in line after the people currently reading the three copies in the system finish with it.

>90 ronincats: Ooo, roni, enjoy! I really liked it a lot. In particular the main character is just so great.

I reread most of the October Daye books just before for the new one came out:

Finished Book 111: An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 12h 32m

Finished Book 112: Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 11h 51m

Finished Book 113: One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, dead tree, 354p

Finished Book 114: Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, audiobook: 12h 26m

Finished Book 115: Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, Dead Tree: 357p

Finished Book 116: The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire
Reread, Adult, Fantasy, dead tree: 358p

Finished Book 117: A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, dead tree: 368p

Finished Book 118: Through this House by Seanan McGuire
October Daye (short story)
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 28p

This is the one where Toby, along with May, Quentin, and Danny, first enter Goldengreen after the Queen gives it to Toby.

Content warning: really big spiders, although they aren’t actually spiders but I don't expect that matters to anyone who cares about there being spiders

Finished Book 119: No Sooner Met by Seanan McGuire
October Daye (short story)
Reread, adult, fantasy, Ebook, 22p

A story from Tybalt’s perspective. Tybalt and Toby go on a date.

Finished Book 120: Full of Briars by Seanan McGuire
October Daye (short story)
Reread, adult, fantasy, Ebook, 45p

A story from Quentin’s perspective. Very cute.

Finished Book 121: Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire
New read, adult, urban fantasy, Dead tree, 432p

Pearl’d: Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews (audiobook)

I might have gotten farther in this if I’d been reading this in print rather than listening to the audiobook, because I found the narrator’s soft, breathy voice extremely irritating. But even aside from that, I just couldn’t get into the style of the book. Something about how the authors write just rubs me the wrong way; it felt like every rambling, over-descriptive sentence had two or three extra, unnecessary, unneeded words. And to top it all off, there were the main character’s (completely unnecessary) weird and gross thoughts about the fat character she encountered (he looks muscular and ‘could probably move fast if he needed to’, so you think nasty thoughts about his belly? Why do you care that he was eating a donut? You were thinking about eating one, too! And what does it matter how ugly his shirt is? That may reflect on his taste, but it doesn’t reflect on his competence! Bah.).

I tried, since I’ve gotten so many recommendations for this book, but...pass.

Finished Book 122: So yesterday by Scott Westerfeld
Reread, young adult, fiction, audiobook, 6h 32m
I still really like this book.

Finished Book 123: The brightest fell by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, book 11
New read, adult, urban fantasy, dead tree, 368p

New Seanan book! Yay!

I will probably write a more comprehensive review the next time I read this, but for now, I just want to say that Amandine is the worst. The. Worst.

Content warnings: discussions of child abuse, gaslighting, kidnapping, torture, animal harm (though the animals are transformed people), mind control, surprisingly less blood than the last few Toby books

Finished Book 124: Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Graceling, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 31m

September

Finished Book 125: Fire by Kristin Cashore
Graceling, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 40m

I really like the first two Graceling books. The third one is also good, but not a book I enjoy rereading often.

Finished Book 126: Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 20m

Finished Book 127: A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane, read by Mark Oshiro
Young Wizards, book 9
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 15h 13m

Finished Book 128: Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 59m

Finished Book 129: Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid, book 3
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 17m

I got through the first three Incryptid books - they're fairly short, for audiobooks - and I started the fourth, but realized I wasn't in the mood for something as dark as the later Incryptid books become.

Finished Book 130: Not On My Patch by Diane Duane, read by Mark Oshiro
Young Wizards (novella)
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 1h 21m

Finished Book 131: Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
New read, adult, nonfiction (memoir), audiobook, 8h 20m

I listened to this book while I had the worst migraine I’ve had in months. (I’m becoming fairly certain that secondhand smoke triggers migraines, which means this is a terrible place to live for even more reasons I’ve complained about before.) My sister found it for me at the library when we were talking on the phone and I complained that I didn’t know what to listen to and asked her to find something for me.

It was, as expected, funny, quirky, sad, weird, and moving by turns. It was always entertaining. The author is also the narrator, which just adds to the charm. Highly recommended.

Finished Book 132: Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
The Machineries of Empire, book 1
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 384p

Really fantastic science fiction novel. The setting is confusing; it’s one of the books where you just have to accept that there will be no “as you know, Bob” explanation and just accept the weirdness and go with it, but once you do, it’s fascinating and a hell of a ride. The characters, though. The characters are where this story lives. Also recommended.

Content warnings: war, murder, mass murder, mind control, gaslighting, involuntary medical procedures, discussions of torture, rape, and suicide

October

Finished Book 133: Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal, read by same
New read, adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 7h 37m

Oh, I wanted to like this! There were certainly parts that I enjoyed. But overall, I just...didn’t. It seemed less like a book inspired by Jane Austen and her ilk, and more like characters and storylines lifted wholesale from their stories and shoved into this one. Once again, it’s possible that this was a case where listening to the audiobook was a mistake; while I generally enjoy Kowal’s narration of, for instance, the October Daye books, her British accents aren’t good enough to carry an entire book, which was highly distracting.

I didn’t think the book was bad, per se, just uninspiring.

Finished Book 134: The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss, read by Kate Reading
The Athena Club, book 1
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 13h 39m

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter was a bit slow to start, but once it got going, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters were wonderful, the story was entertaining, and the metatextual commentary was often hilarious. Highly recommended, particularly the audiobook with Kate Reading, who is simply one of the best audiobook narrators I’ve ever listened to.

Currently reading
The actual list of books I'm in the middle of right now is ridiculously long (12, at last count; at some point i'll probably have to decide to give up on some of them) but the books I'm actually reading right now are:

Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee (ebook)
Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore (dead tree)

Year-to-date roundup

Overview:
134 finished books totaling 12661 pages (ebook and paper books combined) and 25d 9h 13m in audiobooks

Adult/YA:
26 YA, 108 Adult

Genre:
109 Fantasy, 15 Science Fiction
9 Fiction, 1 Non-Fiction

Format:
30 Dead Tree, 2 Graphic Novel/Comics/Picture Books
67 Audiobook, 35 eBook

Author/Editor gender:
10 male, 120 not male (female, genderqueer, etc)

New or Old:
42 new reads, 92 rereads

Series:
114 in series, 20 standalone

>91 bluesalamanders: Enjoyed All Systems Red a lot, blue; thanks again for recommending it.
>97 bluesalamanders: I also liked but did not love Shades of Milk and Honey. I liked her capture of the Austen tone early in the book but thought it got too farcical at the end. That said, I think the sequels have been much better and more authentic to the author's voice.

>99 ronincats: Oh, I'm so glad! It was fun. You know, the sequel is coming out next May.

Hm, that's interesting to hear about the sequels of Shades of Milk and Honey. I may check them out, thank you.

Finished Book 135: Target Practice by Seanan McGuire
Incryptid (short story)
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 29p

Finished Book 136: A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas, read by Kate Reading
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 1m

This book gets a resounding “eh”. I wasn’t thrilled with it from the first scene (while I have zero problems with the character’s decision to have sex when and with whom she chooses, was it really necessary to make that the opening scene of the story? Maybe that was simply to make the title make sense, but if so I don’t think it was worth it - or necessary.) and it just didn't get better. It wasn’t terrible, it just wasn’t all that great.

It also suffered in comparison to The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss, which has a somewhat similar premise but is (in my opinion) vastly better in every way.

Content warnings: discussion of pedophilia and incest, death by poison, era-appropriate (I assume) sexism, adultery, dieting, disparaging comments about appearance/weight

I have a job! Yay! It started mid-October and I expected that a job would mean my reading would drop, but the work is often repetitive enough that I can listen to audiobooks for much of the day. So...possibly more reading instead of less. Heh.

Finished Book 137: The Dispatcher by John Scalzi, read by Zachary Quinto
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 2h 19m

Finished Book 138: Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee
Machineries of Empire, book 2
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 400p

I liked Raven Stratagem as much as Ninefox Gambit, although I didn’t think it was as much better as some of my friends did.

Finished Book 139: Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 15h 37m

Finished Book 140: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Wayward Children, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook 4h 44m

Finished Book 141: Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 18m

Finished Book 142: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10 hrs and 16 mins

Finished Book 143: Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
The Themis Files, book 1
New read, adult, science fiction, ebook, 320p

Huge metal things, starting with a hand - apparently parts of an enormous statue - start showing up scattered around the world. Nobody knows what they are, so a team is brought together to try and figure it out.

I really liked this books and I'm really looking forward to the sequel, which I have the sequel on hold.

Finished Book 144: Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10 hrs and 39 mins

Finished Book 145: Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 3
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11 hrs and 52 mins

Finished Book 146: How Lovely Are Thy Branches by Diane Duane read by Mark Oshiro
Young Wizards (novella)
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 3h 20m

Finished Book 147: In the Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 4
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 31m

Finished Book 148: The Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan
Memoirs of Lady Trent, book 5
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10 hrs and 59 mins

I love the Lady Trent series so much and it was really fun to read it again and this time recognize all the little hints Brennan put throughout the books about things that happen later on.

November

Finished Book 149: Soulless by Gail Carriger, read by Emily Gray
Parasol Protectorate, book 1
Reread, Adult, Fantasy (steampunk), audiobook: 10h 48m

Finished Book 150: Changeless by Gail Carriger, read by Emily Gray
Parasol Protectorate, book 2
Reread, fantasy: steampunk, audiobook: 10h 32m

Finished Book 151: Blameless by Gail Carriger, read by Emily Gray
Parasol Protectorate, book 3
Reread, fantasy: steampunk, audiobook: 11h 59m

Finished Book 152: Humanity for Beginners by Faith Mudge
New read, adult, urban fantasy, ebook, 71p

Nice little story. It's rare to read much about any female werewolves, much less a whole group of them.

Congratulations on 2 x 75, Blue!

>105 FAMeulstee: Thanks :) And I just read the State of the Thing, congrats on your achievment, reading books in every tioli challenge! Wow!

Ok, so I suck at updating this year, so it's time to start catching up. Not all today, though, since it's just about time for me to leave for work:

Finished Book 153: Uncanny Magazine: Best of 2015
New read, Adult, collection including Science fiction, Fantasy, and Non-fiction, ebook, 260p

This had some really wonderful stories, and only one or two that just didn't appeal to me so I skipped them. But even the essays at the end were interesting and entertaining to read.

Finished Book 154: Timeless by Gail Carriger
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 29m

Finished Book 155: Prudence by Gail Carriger
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 40m

Finished Book 156: Imprudence by Gail Carriger
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 12h 7m

>106 bluesalamanders: Thanks :-)

It is that time of year again, between Solstice and Christmas, just after Hanukkah, when our thoughts turn to wishing each other well in whatever language or image is meaningful to the recipient. So, whether I wish you Happy Solstice or Merry Christmas, know that what I really wish you, and for you, is this:

Finished Book 157: Six Wakes By Mur Lafferty
New read, adult science fiction, Ebook, 400p

I really liked this book. It’s the ultimate locked-room mystery: six people “wake up” in new cloned bodies on a ship in space, only to discover that their previous bodies have been murdered, their ship is failing around them, and they have no idea what happened.

I did figure out whodunit (as it were) about half or two-thirds of the way through, but that didn’t really make it less enjoyable. I am assuming this is the first of a series or at least there is a sequel planned, though a quick dig didn’t pull anything up, because as I recall some important plot points are not really tied up at the end.

Finished Book 158: Romancing The Inventor By Gail Carriger
New read, adult, fantasy, Audiobook, 5h 37m

Content warning: harassment (physical, psychological, and sexual), assault (physical and emotional), attempted rape, probably other things I’m forgetting, there was a surprising amount of bad stuff for such a short story, is what I'm saying!

Finished Book 159: Romancing The Werewolf By Gail Carriger
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 149p

These are both generally quick, enjoyable books in the Parasol Protectorate universe.

Finished Book 160: Dark Lord Of Derkholm By Diana Wynne Jones
Derkholm, book 1
Reread, young adult, fantasy, ebook , 517p

Finished Book 161: Down Among The Sticks And Bones By Seanan Mcguire
Wayward Childre, book 2
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 4h 4m

Finished Book 162: Six-gun Snow White By Cathrynne Valente
New read, adult, fantasy (fairy tale), audiobook, 3h

Very good, very dark fairy tale retelling.

Content Warnings : Child Abuse, Attempted Rape, Racism, Animal Harm (Hunting)

Finished Book 163: The Last Colony By John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 3
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 9h 51m

Finished Book 164: The Human Division By John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 5
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 14h 53m

Finished Book 165: Tortall: A Spy’s Guide by Tamora Pierce
New read, young adult, fantasy, dead tree, 320p

Ehhhhhh. I liked some bits of this a lot and disliked some a lot. Basically, if you’re a big Tortall fan, you’ll be sure to find something to enjoy - but don’t expect consistency, because this book is a big mishmash of stuff.

Finished Book 166: The End Of All Things By John Scalzi
Old Man’s War, book 6
Reread, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 11h 24m

December

Finished Book 167: Explosive Eighteen By Janet Evanovich
Stephanie Plum, book 18 (shocking, I know ;)
Reread, adult, fiction, audiobook, 6h 12m

Not the best book in the series.

Finished Book 168: Borderline by Mishell Baker
The Arcadia Project, book 1
New read, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 11h 7m

Despite (or possibly because of) a whole host of extremely unpleasant characters, this was an interesting and powerful book.

Finished Book 169: Year Of The Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones
Derkholm, book 2
Reread, young adult, fantasy, ebook, 400p

These books are such fun.

Finished Book 170: The Fifth Season By N. K. Jemisin, read by Robin Miles
The Broken Earth, book 1
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 15h 31m

This series is fantastic, and the audiobook is phenomenal.

Finished Book 171: The Truth By Terry Pratchett, read by Mark Oshiro
Discworld, book 25 (publication order)
Reread, adult, fantasy, audiobook, 10h 24m

Finished Book 172: Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 18h 6m

Finished Book 173: The Shambling Guide to New York by Mur Lafferty
New read, adult, fantasy, ebook, 9h 24m

Fun, and with less zombies than I was afraid of (zombies being my least favorite fantasy monster).

Content warnings: attempted rape by magic, sexual harassment, major character death, zombie killing, discussion of killing/eating humans (by nonhuman or formerly-human people)

Finished Book 174: Mastiff by Tamora Pierce
Reread, young adult, fantasy, audiobook, 20h 29m

Pearl’d: Ethan of Athos
I tried, but the amount of sexism, homophobia, ableism, and fatphobia - even if they were mostly being mocked by the story or spoken out against by other characters - was just too much for me.

Finished Book 175: Artemis by Andy Weir
New read, adult, science fiction, audiobook, 8h 59m

Not without flaws, but still enjoyable. Though I admit as someone with a background in welding, I might be a bit biased.

Content warnings: major character death, apparent suicide, attempted murder, somewhat graphically described injuries, lots of mentions/discussion of sex, mention of pedophilia

Finished Book 176: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
The Lynburn Legacy, Book 1
New read, young adult, fantasy, ebook, 400p

I found this book oddly enthralling despite some strong reservations I had about many of the characters. I really liked how everything was handled in the end, though - not that it was a happy ending by any means, or that everything was tied up neatly, but I thought that what did happen made sense for the characters and the plot. I’m really looking forward to reading the sequel and finding out what comes next.

Content warnings: animal harm, minor character death, ritual sacrifice, some really bad parenting, racism

End-of-year Review:

Overview:
176 finished books totaling 15,778 pages in paper and ebooks, and 37d 22h 41m in audiobooks

Adult/YA:
36 YA, 140 Adult

Genre:
142 Fantasy, 24 Science Fiction
10 Fiction, 2 Non-Fiction

Format:
31 Dead Tree, 2 Graphic Novel
97 Audiobook, 46 eBook

Author/Editor gender:
19 male, 154 not male (female, genderqueer, etc)

New or Old:
57 new reads, 119 rereads

Series:
152 in series, 24 standalone

Some of those numbers don't quite add up, either because there are multiples for some books (author/editor and, interestingly, genre) or because I messed up (definitely possible) but it's close enough.

My goals were:
Total number of books: 123 (success!)
New reads: 50 (success!)
Non-fiction: 3 (close, but not quite)
Pages: 21500 (nope)
Audiobook time: 20d 13h 36m (nearly double!)

Congratulations on the new job and the double 75!

>93 bluesalamanders: I agree about the narrator's voice. It didn't really fit the book, either. That was my first and, I think, only (currently) audio book.

>117 bluesalamanders: I'll see you there!

>118 humouress: Thanks, humouress!

I recommend books read by Robin Miles, Simon Vance, or Kate Reading, they are all fantastic (and they all read some fantastic books, too).