January Fifteenth by Rachel Swirsky

 

I first heard of Rachel Swirsky when reading Camestros Felapton’s Hugosauriad (which was, as he explained, “a dinography of the Hugo Awards — tracing the history of the awards via the medium of dinosaur stories”).  That is where I learned of Ms. Swirsky’s short story If You We’re a Dinosaur, My Love, a lyrically beautiful story that touched me deeply. I have always kept my eyes open for more work by her, so I was very excited to see a new novella by her on NetGalley. 

January Fifteenth is set in a near- future USA that has enacted a Universal Basic Income. The story examines a slice of life of four women on the titular day when they get their UBI check. We see each of the protagonists throughout the day from morning til night - a woman on the run from her abusive ex wife, a reporter raising her orphaned younger sister, a spoiled rich college kid, and a pregnant fifteen year old FLDS kid. We see many of the good and the bad changes wrought on society by a UBI. This book gave me a lot of food for thought, but the best part is the characters - they all feel very real and well rounded. This book was excellent and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is nominated for a Hugo and/or Nebula next year. 

The Star Trek Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel

 So disappointing! I was really hoping for a modern update to the original Trek cookbook, which included both in-universe recipes and recipes solicited from the actors of various Trek shows, interspersed with notes on how prop foods were made on the various shows. This book doesn’t even have cellular peptide cake (with mint frosting)!

The Long Game by K. J. Parker

 

A few months ago I read an eARC of A Practical Guide to Conquering the World by K.J. Parker and loved it! It was grabby (in a can’t put this book down kind of way) and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I said I’d be looking out for more books by K. J. Parker and I was thrilled when Subterranean Press granted me an eARC of the Long Game in exchange for an honest review. This was a delightful book! The unnamed protagonist was a scoundrel and not unlike the protagonist of A Practical Guide to Conquering the World. The magic system involving demonic possession was pleasantly reminiscent of Bujold’s Penric books. This novella was a treat from beginning to end!

The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold

I was late to the Lois McMaster Bujold party and only discovered her when she was nominated for Best Series for the Vorkosigan saga. I think it was the Baen book covers that turned me off. But I’m on board now! When I was getting close to the end of that series I began to despair, so I decided to give the Penric novellas a try. I was hooked instantly and binged my way through the series. Thankfully, Ms. Bujold is still writing more Penric stories. 

I was thrilled to get a copy of this new Penric book - and it is the first novel in this previously novella-only series! Thank you, Subterranean Press, for the eARC. There is a bit of a tune jump in this one, and you see Penric’s delightful home life before a sorcerer/assassin goes after his brother-in-law! This new character adds some fascinating dimensions to the world, and it brings Penric finally to the capital city of Thasalon of which we have heard so much. We get to see some fan-favorite character recur and the party sequence was just wonderful. I hope we keep getting more Penric books! I’ll keep reading them!

Tiger Honor by Yoon Ha Lee

As I have mentioned before, I discovered Yoon Ha Lee, as many people did, with Ninefox Gambit.  That book hit me like a freight train - there was so much happening, and I didn’t know if I understood half of it,  it what I did get, I loved.  I devoured the Machineries of Empire series and have been saving the short stories, reading them slowly, because I don’t want them to end.  I read his YA novel, Dragon Pearl, when it came out, which I frankly did not love.  I’m not sure if I just found the plot too haphazard, or if the YA tone didn’t work for me, or if I didn’t enjoy the Space Fantasy aspects, but when I read it, I kept thinking two things: this protagonist is making all of the wrong choices, and the writing style is too simplistic and is turning me off.  

I decided to give Tiger Honor, another book in the same universe as Dragon Pearl, a try (thanks, NetGalley, for the eARC in exchange for this honest review!).  I didn’t love this either,  it I enjoyed it more than I did Dragon Pearl.  I think my main problem is that I am not the target audience - this is more middle grade than YA, and so the conventions are different.  I felt the pacing was off, and several of the secondary characters felt like cyphers, and the protagonist felt both too competent t and incompetent at the same time.  I may just wait for the author’s next adult novel.  But I will recommend it to my kid.  

The Jade Setter of Janloon by Fonda Lee

I can’t believe I waited this long to jump on the Fonda Lee bandwagon! I’ve been hearing about Fonda Lee and the Green Bone Saga for years - her books keep showing up on recommended lists and best of the year lists, but somehow I never got around to finding the time to read them.  But when I saw a book by her from Subterranean Press on NetGalley, I thought I should request it to try it out.  It was wonderful! Her characters are so well drawn, and her world building is wonderful! Even though this was a short book, I felt like it was a real place and well defined.  The only note that clanged to me was when a character who was not a warrior ended up killing someone in a fight, and his emotional response to this did not seem to fit with what I had thought of who the character was up to that point. But maybe that’s just me.  In any event, I loved this book and an putting all three Green Bone Saga books high up on my TBR pile. Thanks for the eARC in exchange for this honest review.

Classic Monsters Unleashed edited by Kim Newman

As I have said before on more than one occasion, I am wary of anthologies - I worry about changes in quality and tonal whiplash between stories in themed multi-author collections. But this is one of the better ones I have sampled lately. A new-to-me story by Seanan McGuire is always a treat. Give this one a try! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.