(no subject)

[maharetr]

aaahhh Finally getting back in the saddle, so to speak. Not putting–or trying not to put—pressure on myself to post these regularly, just when I have the cope, I wrote, some months ago. And then the whole pandemic, obviously, and things went even more pear-shaped. I'm letting the Hugos slide by this year, and making peace with that. I don't think the cost of the individual things I might want to read equals the cost of a supporting membership, either.

Finished reading:

• The thousand doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. January is a biracial girl in early 1900s England and Europe, who discovers she can write her desires into existence. I loved this. It was luscious and almost overwritten and I ate every word. It ends somewhat rushed, but I also loved one of the closing paragraphs so much that I took a photo of it before I returned it to the library. It’s on my Hugo nomination ballot, even, such as that is. (Months later update: Yay! It made it! I'm super interested in its nomination numbers post-Hugos now, too.)

• The last unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. Has been on my vague wanna list for forever. I’m surprised at how dark it is so far, honestly, but thoroughly, if slowly, enjoying it. The writing is so skilled and occasionally catch-my-breath amazing. I’d expected to adore Molly Grue based on this gifset, and I came to like her, but it was Smendrick – his bumbling, low-level ineptness as he just tries to keep his head down and stay out of trouble – that was the unexpected star for me. It's such a dark tale, with the carnival – the harpy was genuinely unsettling – and the cursed Hagsville. It's impressively dark, actually. It's also taking me triple the amount of time I thought it would take to read it. I'm butting up against a renewal notice from the library, and that's on a three week loan. Later update: Slogged through to the end, but/and the final pages made it immensely worth it. The last five pages, settled deep in self-aware wryness, were an actual pleasure. I'm glad I read the book, overall.)

• The goblin emperor by Katherine Addison. (Review from over many, many weeks' reading) I've heard many people adore this one, and I'm interested to give it a proper go. Oh my heart. Maia is the exiled son of the emperor's discarded fourth wife, which makes him approx. 5th in line for the throne and never ever intended to rule. One airship accident later… 

This is one of those books where I don't understand the intricacies of the plot, and I'm only barely hanging onto who is who, but the heart and soul of the novel, and its main characters, are wonderful. Even the glossary of names and places isn't useful, because many of the names are listed Lastname, Firstname, and the characters are generally only referred to regularly as firstname. So many multi-syllable names, (no apostrophes, tho!). And yet, and yet, I'm appreciating every breath of kindness and empathy and connection so much that I don't care. I'm deeply here for rituals and etiquette and being able to see the flashes of humanity and connection and people under all of those layers, and there is so much of it. ("We thank you for that which the Serenity does not do." I SOB.)

I remember seeing several people saying this was their every-few-years re-read, and 130ish pages in, I believe them utterly. I've renewed this inter-library loan, and I'm still not sure I'll finish it in time, but I'm also planning on buying my own copy so I can do the every-few-years re-read.

UPDATE: I have in fact purchased myself a copy. I'm very pleased to see the paperback version has the pronunciation guide and the names guide in the front of the book, and listed in the contents page.

At page 250, I started to lightly wonder where the queers were, triply so considering I can't at first glance tell gender from any of the names. Then I read this in Addison's Goodreads profile (not spoilery, because I'm almost certain it's referencing a character that we get no more than a passing reference to, but under a cut just in case

Can you tell us anything more about Maia's aunt who ran away to become a pirate?
Katherine Addison: She and her wife are very happy together. Temperamentally, she's very like her father; if she and Maia ever meet, he will probably find her alarming. She wears gold rings in her ears and gold beads braided in her hair because it is the custom of her wife's people. Almost half the crew of the Glorious Dragon are women. 

And I just about fall to the floor in incoherent worship. I would pay SO MUCH MONIES to read that.

So I'd wondered, and then I read the above, and then I went out and bought my own paperback, and then finally I read my way to the queer, and I … hesitate some. I don't regret buying it, and I'm very, very still reading, in that slow way of mine with a dense second world like this. But so far at page 270ish, it's enough to give it a "Goodreads 5 stars, actual rating 4.5". I don't want to spoil in this post itself, and it might all work out great in text, so I'm reserving judgement, hopefully. Feel very free to ask for more detail in comments. Many months' later update: I can only hazily remember the specific details, but I'm happy to dredge them up. Having finished it, the queer rep issue wasn't resolved satisfactorily in-text, but having said that, the alleged sequel (announced 2018, no further details) seems to be fully about said in-text-queer person, so my candle flame of hope is unwavering.

• A lady's guide to petticoats and piracy by MacKenzi Lee. I really enjoyed her first one, A gentleman's guide to vice and virtue, and this one was…close, but was more of an unrealized potential. There were excellent moments early on: Felicity hanging out with Monty and Percy was an utter, warm, loving joy that I shall cradle to my heart for a long, long time. I want to create that feeling in other people with my writing, even. But many of the other characters – Joanna and Sim, for example, had such nearly-fully-realized potential that I ached at that gap. Also the plot … wasn't. I kept waiting for it to start, honestly, rather than having the characters meander around, and it never quite happened. So I'm delighted to have it on my shelf to read those first few chapters over and over, but the book as a whole didn't quite make it for me. Useful learning reading!

Finally finishing The Goblin Emperor and working my way through Petticoats and piracy marked the start of my pandemic reading. Then I was delighted to stumble across this list https://bookriot.com/feel-good-fantasy-books/. I sampled my way through this list and decided to order about 6 of them.

Didn't finish:

• Witchmark by C L Polk. I wanted to like this so much! And it was close, so close to being good. But while the book laid out an interesting magic/electricity world, and a nice romance, at 130ish/320 pages, I didn't care about the central plot-point murder, and the goodreads reviews I tentatively read said that the book does that debut novel thing of never quite getting deep enough into its themes (trauma healing, magical healing, PTSD, enslavement etc). After slogging through the previous book of not-quite-working, I'm being Strong, Dammit, and putting it aside.

Currently reading:

• A green and ancient light by Frederic S. Durbin. This sample snagged me hard emotionally within the first few sample pages (adults sincerely respecting kids' personhood and internal lives are my absolute weakness), and now re-reading it with the physical book, it's doing it just effectively. I keep hesitating at certain points of reveal, worried that it won't keep being as good, and at about a third of the way through, it's still standing up, I say in part to coax myself to keep reading. The blurb quote bills it as "Mythic in its universality" which it is in fact decidedly not -- it feels very clearly WW2 evacuated-to-British countryside, even if it's very careful not to name itself (or any of the main characters, which feels delightful in a whole other charming way), but I'm still very much loving it.
• The mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. More distinctly a children's book than I usually read, but fucking delightful and cosy at 30 pages in.

A to-sample-reads list, as haphazard as it might be:
Ash, by Malinda Lo
The girls of paper and fire, by Natasha Ngan