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Reading amnesty!
Put aside
In ascension by Martin MacInnes
Described as Contact for the climate change era. I started it, and was very engaged and enjoying the quiet narration of the protagonist and the intensity of what was going down and what it was building towards. And then I put it down at a crucial point, and didn’t get back to it fast enough for those crucial details to stay in my brain, so it stayed put down, which is in no way the fault of the book. It would be nice to get back to it once I’m not furiously Hugo-finalist reading.
Finished reading
The tainted cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. This was an impulse library reserve that past-me had made, and by the time it came in present-me had no memory of why, which felt like a gift on several levels. It turned out to be fantastic. It felt like a sumptuous read: rich details, grounded world, and deep inside characters’ motivations and quirks. A fantasy-frame for a murder mystery detective novel, essentially. With a dyslexic-and-hiding-it male Watson and a female, also-neurodivergent Holmes, this was a good read, and will be going on my nomination ballot for next year’s Hugos, if I do shell out for voting rights this year.
Some desperate glory by Emily Tesh. I’d really wanted to love Tesh’s novellas but hadn’t, so I was delighted with how good this was, for all that the subject matter was grim. Kyr is part of the last outpost of humanity fighting against the aliens who destroyed Earth. Where this book took that, how fast it got there, and how it handled its characters’ fascism was both deep inside Kyr’s head and horrifying to the reader, with some very fun-to-me tropes to get Kyr to see it too. Happy to spoil in comments. The ending was slightly, slightly pat, but also made me smile on the last page, so 4.5 stars, and definitely going on my probable Hugo ballot.
Currently reading
Witch king by Martha Wells. Everyone loves Murderbot in a way that makes me want to give it another try, but this’ll do in the meantime. The quotes on the back give me no actual hints about what it’s about, and the lists of characters and their very, very similar names and titles are appreciated and exhausting, but the first few pages I got read on the bus are…yeah, yeah, okay, I’m here for it.
Up next
Translation state by Ann Leckie. I read Ancillary Justice, but it never quite sunk in for me like I’d hoped. Interested in reading this one as a nudged-by-the-Hugos.
Put aside
In ascension by Martin MacInnes
Described as Contact for the climate change era. I started it, and was very engaged and enjoying the quiet narration of the protagonist and the intensity of what was going down and what it was building towards. And then I put it down at a crucial point, and didn’t get back to it fast enough for those crucial details to stay in my brain, so it stayed put down, which is in no way the fault of the book. It would be nice to get back to it once I’m not furiously Hugo-finalist reading.
Finished reading
The tainted cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. This was an impulse library reserve that past-me had made, and by the time it came in present-me had no memory of why, which felt like a gift on several levels. It turned out to be fantastic. It felt like a sumptuous read: rich details, grounded world, and deep inside characters’ motivations and quirks. A fantasy-frame for a murder mystery detective novel, essentially. With a dyslexic-and-hiding-it male Watson and a female, also-neurodivergent Holmes, this was a good read, and will be going on my nomination ballot for next year’s Hugos, if I do shell out for voting rights this year.
Some desperate glory by Emily Tesh. I’d really wanted to love Tesh’s novellas but hadn’t, so I was delighted with how good this was, for all that the subject matter was grim. Kyr is part of the last outpost of humanity fighting against the aliens who destroyed Earth. Where this book took that, how fast it got there, and how it handled its characters’ fascism was both deep inside Kyr’s head and horrifying to the reader, with some very fun-to-me tropes to get Kyr to see it too. Happy to spoil in comments. The ending was slightly, slightly pat, but also made me smile on the last page, so 4.5 stars, and definitely going on my probable Hugo ballot.
Currently reading
Witch king by Martha Wells. Everyone loves Murderbot in a way that makes me want to give it another try, but this’ll do in the meantime. The quotes on the back give me no actual hints about what it’s about, and the lists of characters and their very, very similar names and titles are appreciated and exhausting, but the first few pages I got read on the bus are…yeah, yeah, okay, I’m here for it.
Up next
Translation state by Ann Leckie. I read Ancillary Justice, but it never quite sunk in for me like I’d hoped. Interested in reading this one as a nudged-by-the-Hugos.