A Divided Duty by Seanan McGuire

 

A very enjoyable installment of one of my favorite serieses (series? Series’s?).  

I love Seanan McGuire’s body of work. (Note: I review a bunch of her books so I am copying part of some of my other reviews here to save time.). She has quickly become my favorite living writer and I feel very lucky that she is so prolific. I was first introduced to her work when her book Parasite, written as Mira Grant, was nominated for a Hugo Award. I loved it and quickly devoured the Newsflesh series before I realized that Mira Grant and Seanan McGuire were the same person. 

I started reading her works under her own name, starting with Sparrow Hill Road, which is amazing, but I picked it because I was intimidated by her long running October Daye series. I had read some Urban Fantasy before, and I fondly remember Mercedes Lackey’s Diana Tregarde books, but my tastes run more to science fiction and then secondary world fantasy, so I was hesitant to dive into such a long series. I picked up the first book, Rosemary and Rue, when it was on sale as a kindle daily deal, and I found it somewhat disappointing compared to her other work. I reminded myself that it was her first published novel, so I cut it some slack. Then Incryptid was nominated for the Best Series Hugo in 2018 and I dove into that instead. I loved it! So I vowed to give Toby another chance. And I was so glad that I did! It is now one of my favorite series. 

October Daye is perpetually on the top of my best series Hugo ballot - she deserves to win. This type of excellence in a long running series is what this award was designed for and none of the other nominees come close.

I was overjoyed when Tor and NetGalley awarded me an eARC of their next October Daye book.

 

This book picks up several months after the end of the last one. It felt a little bit like when your favorite sitcom picks up after summer break and the characters tell you that not much has happened in the past few months. Toby is settling in to life as a sleep deprived mother to a young baby and trying to keep her liege’s daughter in her home to allow her to heal after her trauma in previous books. 

Of course, like many of these books, there is a kidnapping and Toby has to go on a quest back to Blind Michael’s lands by the light of a candle. It was fantastic to return to this locale and to think on how much Toby has grown since the last time. 

My one big complaint in this book is how the author deals with Toby’s new motherhood (I have other complaints about how the author deals with Toby’s relationship with her first daughter, Gillian, but that’s a discussion for a different book). Ms. McGuire’s books are usually so well researched and well thought out, so I was surprised at how unrealistically she treated Toby’s breastfeeding. (Perhaps she has had no close friends, editors, or beta readers with this experience?) Basically, Toby is gone for hours/days on an adventure while the baby is at home drinking previously pumped milk. That’s all well and good, but during that time she doesn’t pump, has no pain or even discomfort, and no leakage. Even in a fantasy world of fairies and monsters this is too hard to swallow. It really took me out of the story. 

But that is a minor quibble. This book was a fun page turner from beginning to end. 

Star Trek: Red Shirts by Christopher Cantwell

 

My first ever comics were Star Trek comics. I loved superheroes when I was a kid, of course, still do, but what I knew of them came from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and the Superfriends and the Super Powers action figures (which did have mini-comics, (as did He-Man figures, but I digress in this double paranthetical)).  When I fell in love with Star Trek in 1988, I couldn’t get enough of it. So in addition to watching the show and reading the novels, I picked up Star Trek comics at a convention and eventually subscribed to get the TNG comic from DC in the mail. 

Although I fell off reading Trek comics for a while, I recently have started reading more of the IDW Star Trek comics. I enjoyed Godshock and I LOVED Ryan North’s Lower Decks miniseries and his graphic novel Warp Your Own Way) and his two Shax/Lower Decks tie in issues. So when I got an eARC of the original series-era Red Shirts miniseries I went into it with an open mind and positive expectations. 

Sadly, this book felt both boring and unnecessary. It didn’t say anything about Star Trek or being a disposable security officer that hasn’t been done much better elsewhere, and I didn’t appreciate the use of romulans at this point in the timeline. I also didn’t care for the art. Overall this is quite skippable. 

Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

I have said in the past that I used to think I didn’t like Adrian Tchaikovsky’s books. I mean, I was told that I SHOULD like them since I’m a big fan of Peter F. Hamilton’s space opera doorstoppers. But when I tried to read one of his books a few years ago I rage-quit it like 12% of the way through. 

But then when his novella Elder Race was nominated for a Hugo, I read it and enjoyed it. I also read Ogres when it was nominated, and it wasn’t half bad. I enjoyed Service Model when the publisher and NetGalley gave me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. My main complaints were too many pop culture references and some incoherent worldbuilding. His other big novel from last year, Alien Clay, really didn’t do much for me. I hated the protagonist and felt it was dreary. 

So I was optimistic when I got a copy of Green City Wars from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. It is a standalone (as far as I know) with an interesting concept - noir mystery with uplifted animals. 

Sadly, the concept was the best part of this book. I didn’t love the characters of the plot. The world building was fine but it was not an enjoyable enough or interesting enough world to want to spend a novel’s amount of time in. I would have enjoyed it more as a short story or novella. 

Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher

 

In the past 5 years or so, I have become a HUGE fan of T. Kingfisher (a/k/a Ursula Vernon). 

Ms. Vernon is the author of the Hamster Princess books, which both of my daughters have enjoyed (as have I!). Those books were my introduction to her, along with her social media presence, which I found through Seanan McGuire. 

Ordinarily, I don’t like horror. I never wanted to watch scary movies as a kid. I got nightmares from E.T.  But based on recommendations I read the Twisted Ones and The Holllow Places and I realized that I loved Ms. Vernon’s writing and I could make it through the scary parts unscathed with her as my guide. 

I started devouring her back catalog and putting all new releases on hold at the library.  I have subscribed to her Patreon and I convinced my wife to read Nettle and Bone, which she loved (as did I). I even backed the kickstarter for the rerelease of Digger, which was wonderful.  Her Paladin books are my absolute favorites, but I also very much loved Swordheart, so I was thrilled when I found out her contract with Tor included not only reprinting Swordheart but also the two long promised sequels starring the other two people bound into swords. 

I was delighted when I got an audio eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This book was fabulous! I had reread Swordheart before listening to this book, but I hadn’t reread the Clocktaur War duology, so I didn’t remember every detail about Learned Edmund when he showed up in the first chapter but I quickly realized how much I loved him. And the Dervish was everything I hoped for! But my heart belongs to Large Francis, who does not eat human meat. The only thing I disliked about this book was that it had to end! Very satisfying!

Radiant Star by Ann Leckie

I loved Ann Leckie’s writing from the first time I read Ancillary Justice (which I have reread and listened to the audiobook of several times). I so enjoyed the Imperial Radch universe and adored each book in that trilogy. Provenance surprised me by being so different while still being in that universe and being so wonderful. And Translation State felt like a book of my heart - I loved it so much! So I was utterly delighted when Orbit and NetGalley gave me an eARC of Radiant Star in exchange for an honest review. 

I bounced off the first chapter the first two times I tried to read this book. But then I remembered how all of Ann Leckie’s prior books had a barrier to entry, and once I broke the meniscus I could dive right in and never look back. (Provenance is a particular example of this.) So I tried it again a few days later and I fell in love with the narrator - the pointed commentary and little asides felt like reading a book from the 1800s in the best possible way. This was a standalone book while also slightly advancing the storyline of the fracturing empire. I do hope that the next book gives us more insight into what is going on with that story, but that is not to denigrate this book at all. My one complaint about this book is the multitude of point of view characters made it hard for me to sink my teeth into the book - whenever I got invested in a person things shifted. But all in all I really enjoyed this. 

Kill All Wizards by Jedediah Berry

 

Sometimes you pick up a book because the cover is cool and the premise sounds interesting. Sometimes you are rewarded. Sometimes you are not. I got an audio eARC of Kill All Wizards from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review because it had a great title and a neat cover. Sadly, after finishing it, the title and cover were the only things I enjoyed about it.  While individual sentences were well crafted, I found the book boring from beginning to end.  Not for me! 

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 

A while back, I got a eARC of Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and I really enjoyed it! Before that, I’d seen her name around on best of lists and upcoming books to look forward to, but it wasn’t until the Hugo nomination for the Daughter of Dr. Moureau that I decided it was time to put her to the top of my to-read pile. I enjoyed it and also really enjoyed Silver Nitrate and The Seventh Veil of Salome, so I happily requested and received an eARC of her newest novel, The Beautiful Ones, in exchange for an honest review. 

This book was the first book by Ms. Moreno-Garcia that I read that was a disappointment. It is a very light fantasy romance novel set in a regency-esque time frame. I say “very light” because both the story and the amount of magic in this world is slight. Some people have a spot of telekinesis, but it has had no effect on society.  The story is of a young girl who falls in love with a man who it turns out had, a decade ago, been engaged to her cousin’s now-wife. The romance felt strained and unbelievable and the cousin-in-law cartoonishly villainous. I’d skip this book in favor of her earlier work.