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Showing posts from July, 2018

The Queen of Sorrow

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The Queen of Sorrow by Sarah Beth Durst In Reluctant Queen, we met Naelin, Aratay's other queen, and it became apparent very quickly that her children are the most important beings in her world. So when they are kidnapped by foreign spirits near the border with Semo, her sorrow & fury at losing her children is palpable to the Aratarian spirits she is bonded to, and they become agitated in response to her spilling emotions. Naelin strives to learn control as she works to figure out what has happened to her children, while Daleina struggles to hold the country together when one of its queens is unstable. In this installement of the Queens of Renthia, we get to travel into Semo for a time, and witness the ruggedly volatile mountain country that is plagued by too many spirits. We spend time with Merecot, and gain more insight into her character's motivation. We also have brief glimpses of the other countries in Renthia, and their respective Queens. And so our knowledge of

Spinning Silver

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Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik After reading Uprooted, I knew I really loved Naomi Novik's fairy tale style, and once Spinning Silver was announced, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. And the book totally lived up to my expectations. Billed as a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, but with elements of Cinderella and a handful of other folk & fairy tales, this is a truly unique and captivating novel. I did listen to the audio book version, and found the inflection that Lisa Flanagan gave to each character to be very clear when our point of view shifted between them without pulling me away from the story to have to catch up. Our story follows the trajectory of two parallel kingdoms as they intersect: the Staryk kingdom of a cold elven race - the stuff of winter & fairy tales, and Lithvas - the kingdom of a tsar with nobles, farmers & peasants. Our heroines are three women: Miryem, Irina & Wanda who we follow as each fights to protect their place in the

A Closed and Common Orbit

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A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers If you haven't read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, I'd recommend reading it before opening A Closed Common Orbit. Technically you COULD read them non-sequentially as they focus on different characters and each have a contained story arc, BUT you would miss out on some fantastic world building, and some crucial details that explain how our protagonist, Sidra, ended up where she is. Sidra is an AI designed to interface throughout a ship, but she has instead been installed in a human body kit - a very illegal one at that. Our story begins with her trying to get her bearings, accept the kit's limitations, and create a backstory while working around her protocol not to lie. She lands with her guardian of sorts, Pepper, on Corion and tries to find a way to exist both in her new form and on solid land instead of in space. Now I'm a bit of a sucker for the philosophical debate about the rights of sentie

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

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The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers I have been recommending this book right & left since I finished it. Chambers' voice & storytelling style feels a bit like Douglas Adams met the cast of Firefly. Our story follows the crew of a spaceship that basically helps build intergalactic freeways as they take on a *huge* job. The highlight of the book though, is the crew themselves. A cast of aliens who are created in brilliant & unique ways, and the corresponding universe building that Chambers had to do in order to have so many fleshed out, believable alien species. Each crew member has a completely unique background, and in several cases physiology, from the rest of their shipmates, while usually managing to co-exist in a relatively peacefully. I enjoyed the alien cross-cultural differences, the adventure, and the interpersonal relationships that grow & develop as the story progresses. An absolutely enjoyable read from start to finish. Favo