Lynne M. Thomas's Blog, page 3

Book review: The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison

I received this as an eARC via NetGalley.

I’ve long been a fan of Katherine Addison/Sarah Monette’s work, and this novel is no exception. It has admittedly been a while since I’ve spent time immersed in the Cemetaries of Amalo series, but I can confirm that even if the reader has forgotten significant portions of its predecessors, this novel is still deeply emotionally satisfying from beginning to end.

At the outset of this novel, Thara Celehar has been through significant loss and grief as a (former) Witness for the Dead, losing both his ability to Witness as well as people very dear to him. This novel’s plot involves solving or avoiding murder and treason. Celehar stands firm and brave in the face of multiple attempts to murder him as he investigates (at the behest of the Goblin Emperor) the death of over a hundred dragons more than a hundred years ago.

This novel is also a poignant meditation on a challenging thing about grief: accepting care and kindness from loved ones while grieving, particularly when the loved ones offering help are connected by choice through friendship rather than familial bonds. Celehar struggles to be cared for, to feel worthy of care, even as his community of friends works to show him that he doesn’t need to grieve alone. Witnessing that struggle, and Celehar’s journey towards the grace of accepting the love and kindness of his friends and community when it is offered, is a beautiful and necessary moment of solace right now.

Highly recommended.

Book review: Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch. A yellow background with black type, and a blue box highlighting the title.

This was a fascinating work. I’m not a trained linguist, but I do have two literature degrees, so the topic of how the internet has changed how we use language to communicate was up my alley. This is a very readable, clearly written yet rigorous approach to that topic, tracing the histories of things like ASCII art, emojis, and memes as modes of online communication.

So, it does what it says on the tin. It’s written by an expert, aimed at a general audience, and it covers the topics in an engaging manner, with clear and relatable examples.

Highly recommended.

Book review: The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal

The cover of The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal. There are two astronauts holding hands, on a cliff overlooking over a Mars habitat.

A thoroughly satisfying continuation of the Lady Astronaut series. We are back to Elma as the point of view character, and the setting has shifted (as you might expect from the title) to Mars from the Moon. Elma is part of the second IAC Mars mission, charged with expanding the habitat so that additional habitants can join the initial team and begin building a larger community on Mars. Elma, as one of the longest-tenured astronauts, now has command responsibilities. Elma struggles at times with the challenges of (re)building relationships when power dynamics have changed. The challenges that come with that responsibility continue to accumulate, as she slowly learns of things that happened on the first Mars mission that directly affect the current one. This event affects not only the technical side (mechanical failures cascade from some of it, putting the habitants in danger), but every interaction she has with her colleagues and loved ones.

Kowal continues to build riveting, fast-paced action, with thoughtful, powerful character development. I’m always happy to spend time with Elma, and this novel is no exception.

Highly recommended.

Book review: The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

I got this as an ebook from my local library (YAY LIBRARY).

The cover of The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older.

Really solid murder mystery on a Jupiter-esque planet. An academic (Pleiti) and an Investigator (Mossa), who have history, are thrown together to figure out who is trying to sabotage the Heritage Institute, an organization devoted to protecting and recreating the flora and fauna of now-lost Earth. The characters are thoughtful and likeable, and the gentle ridicule of academia in particular squarely hits its target. Also, it made me crave scones.

Book Review: The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk

I am the literal target audience for this novel, so this should not be a surprise.

Alternate Regencyesque world with magic! Misogyny still exists and is designed to curtail women’s magic as soon as they marry. At least in Chasland, where Beatrice Clayborn lives. All of her family’s hopes rest on her marrying well; her father has gone into significant debt for her Bargaining Season. Even though she’s impoverished, her magical abilities boost her value (as she is likelier to produce highly valued magical sons).

Beatrice doesn’t want to marry. She wants to remain unmarried and become an educated sorcerer to help her family. She has been studying in secret, collecting coded grimoires. Then she meets Ysbeta and Ianthe Lavan, who have come from a wealthy family in a different, slightly more permissive culture. Beatrice falls in love with Ianthe, and becomes best friends with Ysbeta. (Ysbeta has zero interest in marriage, period, end. of.)

Much of this novel is about Beatrice’s struggle between her feelings and her goals, and about the journey that she, Ianthe, and Ysbeta make together in their efforts to embrace a way forward that works for all of them, without denying them love/companionship/family and magic.

Affecting characters, all of whom have tightly drawn arcs towards becoming better people, a satisfactory HEA ending, and a well-designed setting made this novel an absolute delight.

Highly recommended. Five stars.

Book review: Murder By Memory by Olivia Waite

The cover of Murder By Memory by Olivia Waite; a library floats in space, with a librarian in a comfy chair in the foreground.

I received a copy of this novella via NetGalley.

I’ve been a fan of Olivia Waite’s romance for a while, so I was interested to see how much I’d enjoy her SFF. And the verdict is: quite a bit, actually. This is a murder mystery on a generation ship, where new bodies can be replicated when the old one wears out, and consciousness can be transferred from body to body. Consciousnesses are stored in the ship’s Library, on book-like hard drives between bodies, and much of the social and familial ties are demonstrated by where people get “shelved.” Individual memories can be re-experienced through cocktail-making.

This is a society where basic needs are (blessedly) collectively taken care of for everyone, so people are free to pursue professions and passions as they will, and encouraged in doing so to enhance the collective experience. Not only does this society have gardens and fabric designers, it has YARN SHOPS. This is the first example of a generation ship I’d plausibly be willing to exist upon.

And then our intrepid ship’s detective wakes up in the wrong body, and discovers another body, along with the clearly deliberate destruction of books in the Library, which erases those consciousnesses without backups. The game, as they say, is afoot.

Tonally, this is close to Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Spare Man (which I also recommend). The plot moves quickly and the characters are engaging; some you want to hang out with, and everyone is interesting. Waite continues to build worlds where queerness visibly exists without much comment (she does this in her romance as well), and good banter, only now it’s on a spaceship rather than during the Regency. The solving of the mystery itself is satisfactory.

Strongly recommended.

Book review: Space Oddity by Catherynne M. Valente

The cover of Space Oddity by Catherynne M. Valente. A David-Bowie style lightning bolt is on a starry background behind the title of the book.

I received this as an ARC via NetGalley.

This sequel answers the question “what happens after you save the Earth?” How do you then go on?

A welcome return to Valente’s Space Opera universe, where the Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy meets EuroVision as a way to avoid interplanetary war. Space Oddity continues the prose style from the first book, with numerous comedic and outlandish descriptions, approaches, and reassurances from sentence to sentence that some things in the universe really do hold true, no matter how ridiculous. Decibel Jones is back, older, and not much wiser, but he’s doing his best, okay? It turns out that winners and survivors of the Intergalactic Grand Prix have … obligations, as well as charitable societies devoted to their ostensible care. This novel packs a punch, because under the flash, glamour, and comedic turns of phrase is a fierce adherence to the experience of being more experienced and a bit cynical when the universe needs you to not pay quite so much attention to what it’s up to.

Goguenar Gorecannon’s First Unkillable Fact is still true: Life is beautiful, and life is stupid.

To fight the darkness, humans have an adage about lighting a candle. This novel is what happens when you use a spotlight and a disco ball instead, in the best possible way.

Highly recommended.

Book review: When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi.

I received this title as an ARC via NetGalley.

Strongly recommended. [4 stars].

This is another delightful standalone novel from John Scalzi.

Initially, this book does exactly what it says on the tin: the moon turns to cheese. The rest of the novel is about humanity’s numerous responses to dealing with the fact that the moon turned to cheese. Structurally, this is a kaleidescope novel–there isn’t one protagonist, there are several dozen characters who are all having different responses to the experience, from the highest levels of government to the outcasts table in the junior-high cafeteria. Human frailty in all its messy glory is on display.

The human reactions are spot-on in their glorious variations, especially when the laws of physics begin to take their toll on an enormous mass made of cheese existing in space, and the end of the world is predicted. In the context of certain death by (hot) cheese, Scalzi sketches dozens of fallible, understandable, and engaging characters across the novel, piecing together a modern-day world that feels nuanced and real-esque. The science is (as the author admits in the acknowledgements) made up in some places, and the science is not the point.

Scalzi takes an incredibly silly concept, and creates a world that feels sincere and honest and real with it. Fans of his work will still find the snappy dialogue, tight pacing, humorous (and often profane) moments, and heart they are expecting and hoping for. The occasional moments of philosphical clarity about what it truly means to be human are a decided bonus.

You’ll never look at the moon the same way again.

Book review: Netherford Hall by Natania Barron

I received this as an e-arc via NetGalley.

This was pitched to me as “Jane Austen, with queer witches.” And yes, that’s exactly what it is. It has the Austen-esque mannerisms and attention to sartorial detail that I expected from Natania Barron based on her social media presence. It also has a ton of heart, sacrifice, gentle humor, and pointed truths about found family and the challenges that come from trying to find yourself when you don’t feel as though you quite fit. The characterizations are playful without being overly broad. Barron has built an inclusive Regency society where queerness and non-whiteness is just How Things Work Because Of Course It Does. And that is always, always welcome. What a warm hug of a book.

Highly recommended.

Book review: The Book of Love by Kelly Link

I received this as an ARC via NetGalley.

Here’s the thing: Kelly Link is one of my favorite short story writers. I was never NOT going to love this novel. So let me just explain why it worked for me.

The Book of Love is a story about a group of teens who all live in a small town and are accidentally drawn into an alternate universe of their own making. They are given magical abilities, and must decide what to do with them, to potentially save themselves, their families, and their town from a goddess-like entity that wants to eat them all and their magic. They all make different choices, and the story shows us what that ends up meaning.

And that’s also not what this book is about AT ALL. That’s just the plot.

The reason this novel is called The Book of Love is because it’s also a meditation on all of the different ways that humans love one another, and the emotional and life experiences that come out of it. Especially the messy or difficult kinds of love, like unrequited love; like queer love; like love of a sibling when you don’t actually LIKE each other; like grief; like the love between friends that is really confusing for adolescents because you aren’t sure if it is romantic or platonic or what, and why can’t it be both? Or neither? Or something in between?

This novel was a slow read for me, not because it was linguistically dense (it has a quite accessibly elegant prose style), but because it was emotionally dense. I found myself needing to sit with what I learned about the characters, chapter after chapter, trying to make sense and empathize and understand.

This is a novel about how we love, and why we love, and what that means. And it’s glorious because it shows the infinite varieties in the ways humans love, and the beauty and meaning that comes from experiencing that love.

Highly recommended.