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I read 9 books this past month.
Breakdown
2 YA
2 rereads
2 kidlit
2 novellas
1 nonfiction
So, not exactly a hugely taxing month when it comes to reading. Fairly light stuff and short, and what wasn't light was mostly rereads anyway. Still, that's the most I've read in a month in quite a while, so I'm okay with it.
Thoughts
Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott - As far as YA novels about kids with chronic illnesses go, I've read worse. However, I've also read better. There was inaccurate stuff in here, it wasn't internally consistent with its rules (people with cystic fibrosis must stay 6 feet away from other people with cystic fibrosis, something that's hammered in repeatedly throughout the book and is even where the book's title came from, but also you get scenes where two CFers get close enough that one can snatch an oven mitt from the other's hand, and this just gets glossed over like it didn't break the rules the characters have been talking about from the get-go), and it also invokes the Bury Your Gays trope. Not maliciously, I believe, but still. When the only gay character dies? I'm not pleased.
Down Among the Sticks and Bones, by Seanan McGuire - Sequel to Every Heart a Doorway, this novella tells the story of how Jack and Jill (characters from EHaD) grew up, found their way to their otherworld, and ended up becoming themselves in disturbing and powerful ways. The setting is very Frankenstein Meets Dracula, and I love it. I love seeing the characters develop, I love seeing what shaped them as they went through an unconventional life that was nevertheless suited to them in ways too intimate to do anything but feel, and if I didn't love the Wayward Children series before, I certainly would after this. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as EHaD, but I still loved it.
In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire - Book 4 of the Wayward Children series, because I don't have book 3. Fortunately, once you read the first one, the others can be read in any order you like. Really, they all can, but they have more meaning and context if you read the first book first. Anyway, this book was such a kick to the chest, and in the best way. Highly relatable. The main character is a quiet, shy, introverted, thoughtful bookworm, the way I was when I was young. Whose name is basically my legal first and middle names, but reversed. And spelled very slightly differently. So yeah, it was hard to not relate to her. IaAD is the story of how she, like the others, finds her otherworld, and how she has a limited time to make the decisions as to whether or not to stay there or to leave it behind her. The world runs by specific rules, albeit with a lot of flexibility, and one has to follow the rules in order to get by. But there's the letter of the law and the spirit of it, and the two are not the same, and damn, when I got to that ending, I basically had to lie in bed and stare at the ceiling for a while as I processed everything, heart aching. This series is utterly brilliant, and I think this is my favourite, after the first one.
The Shadow Queen, by Anne Bishop - I love the Black Jewels novels. So. Damn. Much. This is the first book in a duology spin-off from the core trilogy, set not too long after the core trilogy ends, and is about a territory trying to rebuild itself after the destruction of most of the Blood. It's about Cassidy, the new Queen of the territory, feeling like a fish out of water while trying to do her best for a downtrodden people while also being blocked by Theran. It's about Theran, who wanted a Queen with more flash and glamour, someone to excite him and make him want to follow her, which Cassidy is definitely not, even though she's exactly what the territory needs in terms of, well, actually being a ruler. It's about a clash of personalities and doing what's best and ugh, the problem with summarizing complex amazing fantasy novels is that it can take so very long and is hard to do without giving spoilers, especially in a single paragraph. It's good. Go read it if you like fantasy. 'Nuff said.
Shalador's Lady, by Anne Bishop - The sequel to The Shadow Queen, continuing the same story. Less Queen-blocking in this one, but more grass-roots politics and learning about how to actually be what the people around you need you to be, what you're born to be, and what you're best at. Also about the downfall of pride and vanity, and the abuses that someone can be willing to overlook when they love the abuser. Again, a complex novel that's part of a complex series. If you liked The Shadow Queen, you'll like this one.
Winter of Fire, by Sherryl Jordan - In a post-apocalyptic world, the only source of fire is coal, and the only people who mine coal are the Quelled, slaves to the Chosen. If you're born Quelled, you're always Quelled. If you're Chosen and you commit a serious enough crime, you'll be Quelled. The only person who can divine coal is the Firelord, who has always been a man, and always Chosen, because that's how it works when you've got castes like that. Only the Firelord chooses a Quelled woman to be his handmaiden, and it turns out she can divine coal as well, something that's unheard of. What follows is one woman's attempt to upend history and reveal the truth to a world that needs her services but doesn't want to accept that they need anything from a slave. Pretty good, all things considered, and it's not a book I see people talk about when they talk about YA fantasy novels. Maybe because it's an older book, I don't know. I enjoyed it, though.
Little House in Brookfield and Little Town at the Crossroads, both by Maria D Wilkes - 2 spinoff books from the Little House series, focusing on Caroline Quiner as she grows up. Not as engaging as the original Little House books, to be honest, and the characters felt rather unreal to me, like they had very little personality. Or if they did have any personality, they basically had only one trait, like Martha being stubborn/obstinate about everything. Many of the scenes felt like repeats of scenes from the original series, too. I'll probably read the rest of the series if I can, but more so that I can say I have, rather than because I'm particularly invested.
Looking for Class, by Bruce Feiler - I really enjoyed Feiler's Learning to Bow, so I had high hopes for this one, which is about the year he spent at Cambridge University. It wasn't bad, really, but I felt that it lacked a lot of the heart of Learning to Bow. I don't know, maybe it was because British culture isn't particularly alien to me, but I didn't get as invested in this as I wanted. I mean, Japanese culture isn't that alien to me either, I suppose, and I typically enjoy accounts of people attending elite educational institutions, so maybe it just... actually wasn't that good. Not bad, per se, but it did feel lacking, especially when compared to other things I'd read of his.
Breakdown
2 YA
2 rereads
2 kidlit
2 novellas
1 nonfiction
So, not exactly a hugely taxing month when it comes to reading. Fairly light stuff and short, and what wasn't light was mostly rereads anyway. Still, that's the most I've read in a month in quite a while, so I'm okay with it.
Thoughts
Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott - As far as YA novels about kids with chronic illnesses go, I've read worse. However, I've also read better. There was inaccurate stuff in here, it wasn't internally consistent with its rules (people with cystic fibrosis must stay 6 feet away from other people with cystic fibrosis, something that's hammered in repeatedly throughout the book and is even where the book's title came from, but also you get scenes where two CFers get close enough that one can snatch an oven mitt from the other's hand, and this just gets glossed over like it didn't break the rules the characters have been talking about from the get-go), and it also invokes the Bury Your Gays trope. Not maliciously, I believe, but still. When the only gay character dies? I'm not pleased.
Down Among the Sticks and Bones, by Seanan McGuire - Sequel to Every Heart a Doorway, this novella tells the story of how Jack and Jill (characters from EHaD) grew up, found their way to their otherworld, and ended up becoming themselves in disturbing and powerful ways. The setting is very Frankenstein Meets Dracula, and I love it. I love seeing the characters develop, I love seeing what shaped them as they went through an unconventional life that was nevertheless suited to them in ways too intimate to do anything but feel, and if I didn't love the Wayward Children series before, I certainly would after this. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as EHaD, but I still loved it.
In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire - Book 4 of the Wayward Children series, because I don't have book 3. Fortunately, once you read the first one, the others can be read in any order you like. Really, they all can, but they have more meaning and context if you read the first book first. Anyway, this book was such a kick to the chest, and in the best way. Highly relatable. The main character is a quiet, shy, introverted, thoughtful bookworm, the way I was when I was young. Whose name is basically my legal first and middle names, but reversed. And spelled very slightly differently. So yeah, it was hard to not relate to her. IaAD is the story of how she, like the others, finds her otherworld, and how she has a limited time to make the decisions as to whether or not to stay there or to leave it behind her. The world runs by specific rules, albeit with a lot of flexibility, and one has to follow the rules in order to get by. But there's the letter of the law and the spirit of it, and the two are not the same, and damn, when I got to that ending, I basically had to lie in bed and stare at the ceiling for a while as I processed everything, heart aching. This series is utterly brilliant, and I think this is my favourite, after the first one.
The Shadow Queen, by Anne Bishop - I love the Black Jewels novels. So. Damn. Much. This is the first book in a duology spin-off from the core trilogy, set not too long after the core trilogy ends, and is about a territory trying to rebuild itself after the destruction of most of the Blood. It's about Cassidy, the new Queen of the territory, feeling like a fish out of water while trying to do her best for a downtrodden people while also being blocked by Theran. It's about Theran, who wanted a Queen with more flash and glamour, someone to excite him and make him want to follow her, which Cassidy is definitely not, even though she's exactly what the territory needs in terms of, well, actually being a ruler. It's about a clash of personalities and doing what's best and ugh, the problem with summarizing complex amazing fantasy novels is that it can take so very long and is hard to do without giving spoilers, especially in a single paragraph. It's good. Go read it if you like fantasy. 'Nuff said.
Shalador's Lady, by Anne Bishop - The sequel to The Shadow Queen, continuing the same story. Less Queen-blocking in this one, but more grass-roots politics and learning about how to actually be what the people around you need you to be, what you're born to be, and what you're best at. Also about the downfall of pride and vanity, and the abuses that someone can be willing to overlook when they love the abuser. Again, a complex novel that's part of a complex series. If you liked The Shadow Queen, you'll like this one.
Winter of Fire, by Sherryl Jordan - In a post-apocalyptic world, the only source of fire is coal, and the only people who mine coal are the Quelled, slaves to the Chosen. If you're born Quelled, you're always Quelled. If you're Chosen and you commit a serious enough crime, you'll be Quelled. The only person who can divine coal is the Firelord, who has always been a man, and always Chosen, because that's how it works when you've got castes like that. Only the Firelord chooses a Quelled woman to be his handmaiden, and it turns out she can divine coal as well, something that's unheard of. What follows is one woman's attempt to upend history and reveal the truth to a world that needs her services but doesn't want to accept that they need anything from a slave. Pretty good, all things considered, and it's not a book I see people talk about when they talk about YA fantasy novels. Maybe because it's an older book, I don't know. I enjoyed it, though.
Little House in Brookfield and Little Town at the Crossroads, both by Maria D Wilkes - 2 spinoff books from the Little House series, focusing on Caroline Quiner as she grows up. Not as engaging as the original Little House books, to be honest, and the characters felt rather unreal to me, like they had very little personality. Or if they did have any personality, they basically had only one trait, like Martha being stubborn/obstinate about everything. Many of the scenes felt like repeats of scenes from the original series, too. I'll probably read the rest of the series if I can, but more so that I can say I have, rather than because I'm particularly invested.
Looking for Class, by Bruce Feiler - I really enjoyed Feiler's Learning to Bow, so I had high hopes for this one, which is about the year he spent at Cambridge University. It wasn't bad, really, but I felt that it lacked a lot of the heart of Learning to Bow. I don't know, maybe it was because British culture isn't particularly alien to me, but I didn't get as invested in this as I wanted. I mean, Japanese culture isn't that alien to me either, I suppose, and I typically enjoy accounts of people attending elite educational institutions, so maybe it just... actually wasn't that good. Not bad, per se, but it did feel lacking, especially when compared to other things I'd read of his.
