The First Thousand Trees by Premee Mohamed

Five years ago, I wrote in a review of Premee Mohamed’s first book: “After reading this book, I will definitely pick up the next book by Premee Mohamed.  This author has a great deal of potential and I look forward to seeing what else she writes.” I am so glad I stuck with this author because she has improved immensely and now she is a must-read when I see she has something new out.

When NetGalley listed this new novella by Ms. Mohamed, I was happy to check it out, and I was even happier when I realized it was a third book in the same series as The Annual Migration of Clouds, a post-apocalyptic novella that was set at a repurposed university where survivors were ekeing out an existence and many people were infected with a parasite of some sort that changes their behavior to push self-preservation. 

This book picks up with the friend of the protagonist of the last two books. In the first book, he had frozen on a hunt and gotten someone killed. This book starts with him having left his settlement looking for a place to start over. He seeks out an uncle who is living in a very strict community. Once again, the story went in some directions I wasn’t expecting, and this book ended up being much more violent and brutal than I had anticipated. The protagonist is not the most likable of characters, but the writing is wonderful. I’m still not sure I know what this book was trying to tell me, but I enjoyed the ride. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Constituent Service by John Scalzi

 

This  story was a delight!

I’m a big fan of Mr. Scalzi’s work since I found Redshirts on the new books shelf at my local library years ago, and I’ve been reading his website regularly for a long time. After Redshirts, I went through his back catalog.  I remember enjoying Old Man’s War but bouncing off the sequel, the Ghost Brigades, the first time I tried to read it. I went back to it and enjoyed it eventually, but found the series to be a bit uneven. I didn’t particularly care for the Zoe character and didn’t love The Last Colony or Zoe’s Tale, but I enjoyed The Human Division and The End of All Things a great deal more. I realized that what I enjoyed most about this series was the world building much more than I enjoyed the Perry family. This was a space opera set in a world where humans were often the villains and where human civilization was not a monolithic political entity, both ideas that I find interesting and that I thought were executed well. 

Mr. Scalzi’s novels in the past few years have been more misses than hits for me. Many of them were weaker than some of his earlier work, and I personally think it was due to his habit of rushing through writing them to make his deadlines (as he has eloquently described on his blog). However, I loved his last novel, The Shattering Peace, and, along with When the Moon Hits Your Eye(which I loved up until the ending); he seemed to have gotten his mojo back. 

So I was quite pleased when I got this new John Scalzi book from NetGalley and Subterranean in exchange for an honest review. This book was originally published as an Audible original and subterranean press is putting out a limited edition physical copy. 

This is what I come to Scalzi books for - fun SF worldbuilding and characters trying to solve problems together, with a healthy dash of the absurd. It is reminiscent of Android’s Dream and Agent to the Stars in its sense of fun. It’s a not too distant future and tons of other alien species have encountered Earth and everyone has to learn to live together. Our protagonist gets a job working at a district office for a local legislator and has to work to solve problems for all of the different types of people (many of whom are nonhuman) in the district. It is lighthearted and fun and I would love to see Mr. Scalzi write more in this world. 

Silver and Lead (audiobook) by Seanan McGuire

 A marvelous audiobook, a tad smaller in scope than the last two volumes in this series, but no less impactful.  

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 excellent 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 first October Daye book after the series switched publishers because we have been waiting a long time to find out what the fallout would be after Toby and a large chunk of Faerie were totally ensorcelled. 

 

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 a few weeks from her due date and has been effectively sequestered by her family, who are concerned about her safety and the safety of the pregnancy. I would’ve had a lot of harder time reading this book if I didn’t trust Seanan McGuire so much as an author. I know that she is never going to have her characters be raped, and I believed that she would not hurt or kill this baby. 

This book had a couple of blasts from the past show up again to cause trouble, and it really made me wish that I had done a complete reread before this book. My plan is to get all of the audiobooks and listen to them before the next volume comes out. But she did a good job catching people up on what was going on. Is it bad that one of my favorite parts of the book was a tease for the future? Once again, Marcia popped up in a very tiny role and I can’t wait to find out what that reveal is going to be.

Many of the secondary characters got a moment to shine in this book, though I would have liked to see a little bit more of Jazz. I feel like she is often sidelined. But that is a minor quibble. This audiobook was unputdownable.

Mary Robinette Kowal is a great narrator, even if it was a little off putting at first how much October sounds like Elma York. I listened at 2x speed. 

The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott

 I’d seen the name, Kate Elliott in the past, when browsing bookstore shelves or at the library, but I’ve never really heard of anyone reading her work or read any online chatter about her books. So I didn’t know much going in when I requested an advance reader copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review of her latest book, The Witch Roads. Boy, was I in for a treat!

This book was fantastic and was exactly what I needed at the time. You know how sometimes you just want a big long fantasy novel to sink your teeth into? This book was that and more. Our protagonist is a deputy courier who rides circuit around a portion of the empire, and who gets into things in over her head when a prince on a mission comes to town. Add in some difficult family dynamics with a teenage nephew and an interesting potential with a ghost and you have an amazing story. The protagonist’s background is slowly revealed throughout the course of the novel, and I thought the structure of the book worked very well. I’m so glad that this duology is going to be concluded soon with the second and final volume because I don’t wanna have to wait anymore to find out what happens next. 

Queen Demon by Martha Wells

 

This was . . . fine? I guess? Sigh. Maybe I just don’t love Martha Wells’s fantasy as much as I love her science fiction?

It would be hard to love anything as much as I love Murderbot. We all love Murderbot, right? Murderbot is one of the absolute best characters to come out of SF in years. I remember when I read the description of Martha Wells’s All Systems Red and thought to myself “I’ve got to put that on hold at the library!”  And I was right - it was excellent. I have eagerly awaited each new Murderbot book and also read some of the Rakusa series when it was nominated for the Best Series Hugo. 

I then read a bunch of Ms. Wells’s other fantasy books while waiting for more murderbot. And I didn’t often love them. Part of that was characters that just didn’t resonate. 

But I enjoyed Witch King when it came out a few years ago. The writing is wonderful. I could let Ms Wells’s words fall over me like a waterfall. But it had too many similar sounding character names and a middle that slogged and I didn’t enjoy the present/past structure. 

But since I did enjoy it, I was excited when NetGalley and the publisher gave me an eARC of Queen Demon, the sequel, in exchange for an honest review. 

Sadly, all of my complaints from the first book are still here. It had too many similar sounding character names and I didn’t enjoy the present/past structure. Instead of just the middle slogging, the entire book felt like a slog. I finished it and I would be hard pressed to come up with one scene that felt memorable. 

Perhaps the biggest complaint I have is that the protagonist Kai just isn’t that compelling. I’m not sure why I’m supposed to rooting for him over the hierarchs. In a fantasy world of different monarchies and servants I just don’t feel like one is much worse than the other. 

I’ll probably read the conclusion when it comes out, but I’m not very excited about it. Oh well. I’m sure there are many people for whom this will be their jam. Until then, I always have murderbot books to reread. 

What Stalks The Deep by T Kingfisher

In the past 3-4 years, I have become a HUGE fan of T. Kingfisher aka 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 really enjoyed What Moves the Dead when it came out - I adored Angus and Ms. Potter and I thought Alex Easton was one of the most interesting, enjoyable protagonists in a Kingfisher book I had ever seen. (Toadling is still my favorite, I think). I didn’t remember the original Poe story that influenced it, but my only complaint about that book was that it was too short. 

So I was thrilled when I found out that it was turning into a series! I enjoyed the sequel a great deal. 

I was thrilled when I got an audiobook eARC from NetGalley of this new book, the third in the series, in exchange for an honest review. 

This new book, I believe, is not based on a Poe story but is an original creation. And it is so much fun! I was sad to not have Ms Potter this time around, but I will survive. 

This book was set in America once again, when Alex Easton goes to help a friend with some mysterious activity in a mine. Interestingly, the characters seem like they are really getting used to encountering nonhuman intelligence by this book and they almost take it in stride. I loved everything about this book. 

Once again, my only complaint is that it was too short! 

I really liked the narrator as well. I listened to this at 1.75 speed. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

The Hungry Gods 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, and it wasn’t bad. 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. 

When I reviewed Service Model, I explained that I would definitely check out this author’s next book, which was Shroud, which was a much more interesting first contact novel than Alien Clay. 

But far more enjoyable than Shroud was The Hungry Gods, a novella I got an audio eARC of in exchange for an honest review. This book reminded me a bit of his book Elder Race, inasmuch as both involve primitive people who have lost their technology interposed with someone from the high tech society. In this, Earth has been ravaged and the survivors left to subsist in a harsh environment, when one of the members of the branch of humanity who left the planet when things got tough returns. I really enjoyed the writing style on this one -far less snark and pop culture references in this one than some of his other books, which often distracts from the narrative.