I read twelve books this month! Full disclosure several of them were re-reads and also I was on holiday for two weeks so there was a lot of time to dig in.
Saevus Corax captures the Castle – KJ Parker
The second in the Saevus Corax series and a very enjoyable instalment. Corax continues his business of cleaning up after the battles of the rich and important when an old enemy sends him off to capture a castle in the middle of nowhere. Features all the standard Parker strengths and weaknesses although there were more good female characters than usual. I find the battleground salvage perspective on fantasy very interesting, and I really liked all the side characters and how even though you just glimpser them they feel so real and deep. I preferred this to the first SC book and am excited to jump into the next one soon.
Earthlings – Sayaka Murata
The story of a young Japanese woman, first in her troubled childhood and later in her even more troubled adulthood. I loved Convenience Store Woman by this author and had been meaning to read Earthlings for years. My friend finally lent it to me and it was… crazy! The first half seemed reasonably straightforward, although I was gripped by the urge to portal into the book and murder all the terrible people. But in the last half things just get incomprehensively weird. I still like the author and I definitely think she has talent but I just did not get this one.
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
Jim Hawkins goes to sea to track down the treasure of the dread Pirate Flint! I was convinced that I had read this before but once I got into it I realised that I must have read some children’s edition. To be honest I liked the children’s version more! This is a delightfully swashbuckling narrative but it suffers from Victorian convolution and I felt it really needed a good effort. However, it is still a great ride and contains one of the all time best villains in Long John Silver. Once I have written this up I am going to go and watch the Muppets film version!
Warbreaker – Brandon Sanderson
A woman is promised in marriage to a mysterious Godking and her sister follows after her to try and rescue her and save their home. A BrandoSando book I had never read before and only knew vaguely that ‘colours were important’. This is a middling Sanderson which makes it excellent by regular standards! I very much liked how the main characters were so interestingly flawed and how they worked on their problems and recognised the motivations that were driving them.
Portnoy's Complaint – Philip Roth
Alexander Portnoy complains about his mother for what feels like most of time. I had to put this down about halfway through because I only have so many days off in my life and I couldn’t spend any more reading this dire book. Roth is also a short story writer and I could have enjoyed this as a brief character study or novella. Unfortunately two hundred and seventy four pages was way too much.
The Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense – Suzette Haden Elgin
I have no idea how I stumbled across this book but it was very interesting. I don’t know if it will turn out to be useful but I enjoyed reading the dialogues. It’s also wild to discover that Elgin was a prolific SF author and I have several of her books on my TBR. I am even more tempted to pick them up now.
Rereads!
Tribune of Rome – Robert Fabbri
The first Vespasian book, covering his introduction to Tiberian era Rome and travel to Dacia on the orders of the brilliant if manipulative Antonia. As a died in the wool I Claudian I can never quite agree with Fabbri’s portrayals of the Imperial family but his grasp of Roman military discipline and the grittier sides of Rome is truly excellent. Highly enjoyable reread.
Rome's Executioner – Robert Fabbri
Second Vespasian book, featuring the young tribune’s return to Rome and work to destroy Sejanus. Fabbri doesn’t pull his punches or try to set up Vespasian as a modern hero, he portrays him as a realistic Roman man and that can sometimes be hard to warm to. I am planning to take a short break from the series until my appetite for blood and betrayal rises again!
A Closed and Common Orbit – Becky Chambers
Second in the Galactic Commons Series and by far my favourite. Delightful, sad and hopeful all at once. Definitely recommend.
Record of a Spaceborn Few – Becky Chambers
Third in the Galactic Commons Series. The weakest overall and you wouldn’t miss much if you went straight to the next. Tends towards the preachy side of hopepunk which I never find enjoyable.
The Galaxy and the Ground Within – Becky Chambers
Fourth in the Galactic Commons Series. A return to form for the author and the first book which doesn’t have a human narrator or main character to frame the narrative through.
False Value – Ben Aaronovitch
The eighth Peter Grant Magic Detective book (he would hate that name!) After the fall of the Faceless Man in the seventh book False Value scrabbles for a new direction and almost lands it in this tech startup meets the Folly, culture clash. Audiobook is read by the incomparably excellent Kobna Holdbrook Smith who musters all his talents to deliver the widest array of accents yet.
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