Molly O'Neill's Blog, page 2

November in Review

I had intended to jazz up my monthly post into a proper newsletter: reviewing not just books but music and tv, giving you updates on how Greenteeth is progressing and hints at further projects. Alas I have come up against the unstoppable force of my real life job (Geologist) and have been far too busy looking intently at rocks to step up my newsletter game. So here is an opportunity for you, gentle reader, to tell me what you are interested in hearing me blather on about in next months New & Improved Version! I can chat about my fave books, authors, what being a debut author is like, how I balance work and writing. I could even, heaven forfend, talk about something that isn’t directly related to myself! Drop a comment and I shall do my best to please.

 

With that out of the way let’s move on to the point of this post, what books I read in November 2024. It was an excellent batch.

 

I hit a biiig reading slump in early November. I become slumped about once a year, I’m sure most readers can relate. Books you might otherwise love become difficult to wade through and you end up starting half a dozen or so before you admit defeat. I finally caved in about ten days into the month and consulted my bookshelves for the perfect slumpbreaker. It had to be a favourite, but not so beloved that it would set off emotions. Not a skinny book but not so large I got lost and had to put it down again. I considered The Goblin Emperor, an ideal slumpbreaker, but I used it for last years slump. I thought about the Scholomance series, but again, the emotions. My eye landed on two books: The Gargoyle and Enchantment. I decided to read them both.

 

Enchantment – Orson Scott Card

Unpleasant politics aside, Scott Card truly is a masterful writer. His Enderverse novels have been a lifelong favourite of mine and this lesser known Time-Travel romantasy is just delightful. It follows Ivan, a Russian-American Jew and PhD student of Slavic languages (these are important attributes) as he visits the old country and finds a beautiful woman asleep on a slab, guarded by a fearsome bear. Ivan wakes the maiden with a kiss and is dragged back to the 9th Century to deal with the consequences of rescuing a medieval maiden. It is a really thoughtful and well-paced book and has just the most excellent villain in Baba Yaga. Everything has a purpose, even if you don’t see it until right at the end. I think this is easily the fourth or fifth time I have read it and I enjoyed it as much as ever.

 

The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson

From a prolific author to one who has only ever wrote one book, I fear the pressure placed on the Gargoyle by a gigantic advance may have given it impossible expectations and stymied the author. It’s such a shame because I also love this book. The nameless protagonist is a drug/alcohol addicted porn star who drives his car off a cliff during a bender and almost dies in the ensuing inferno. As he lies in agony in a hospital bed, waiting only for death he meets Marianne Engel, an artist who insists they were lovers in a past life. She begins to tell him love stories, from Japan to Iceland to Italy, and always the story of how they met before in medieval Germany. This book is somehow modern lit, fantasy and romance all in one and it always leaves me feeling content as the burned man is brought back to life, first by the doctors and then by Marianne.

 

Thus ended the slump, broken by a pair of old favourites. I decided to celebrate my return to the reading world by trying something completely different!

 

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont – Elizabeth Taylor

I had never heard of Elizabeth Taylor before reading about her in Jo Walton’s reading round ups (a common source of TBR inspiration) and I was eager to try her out. This short book follows the lives of Upper Class retirees who live in the Claremont Hotel as they try to bridge the gap between their adult lives and the inevitable spiral into care homes and hospitals. It was an incredibly English (not British) read, full of quiet desperation and the subtle horrors of growing old alone. I thought Taylor wrote this beautifully and finished it in an afternoon.

 

Wolf by Wolf – Ryan Graudin

A book that has been on my TBR for years, I finally picked up Wolf by Wolf and absolutely devoured it. It is a YA alt-history novel set in a world where the Nazi’s won WW2. Stop, wait, don’t move on! I moan about the only alt-history (a favourite microgenre) being WW2 but this was a really fresh take on the subject. It follows Yael, a death camp survivor changed by the human experimentation performed on her, as she competes in the annual Reich/Japan motorcycle race from Berlin to Tokyo. In between chapters you get glimpses into how Yael survived, and the people she lost along the way. I liked this book a lot, even though I am not much of a YA reader. The one thing I struggled with was the romance. I know romance is par for the course in YA but it was very unbelievable that Yael would consider falling for any of her fellow competitors during the race, given that they are all Hitler Youth. I just didn’t buy that this girl who had fought her way back to life with bloody fingernails would let herself do that. But I suppose love is a strange thing and possibly a teenage girl who had never felt it before might have gotten lost in herself. I am very keen to see where this duology goes and will shortly order the next one.

 

The Husbands – Holly Gramazio

The flight from Sydney to Auckland is about two and a bit hours. That’s how long it took me to read this delightful book. I zoomed through it, laughing out loud and rubbing my chin in thought by turns. Lauren returns from a night on the town to discover a strange man in her house. Eventually she works out that her attic keeps sending her husbands, tall, short, black, white, architects, rockclimbers, each one resetting her life. Lauren struggles to decide whether to keep them, to swap them out or to give up on the idea of love entirely. This was a really smart sf-y take on the eternal problems of modern dating: stick or twist. When to stay, when to go. I really enjoyed it.

 

The First Law: The Blade Itself & Before They Are Hanged – Joe Abercrombie

Another reread – this time on audiobook. These are some of my dearest friends favourite books and I have to confess I did not particularly love them first time round. I preferred Abercrombie’s brilliant Half a King series, and his later books, but these were too grim, too dark for me. I heard such excellent things about the audiobooks that I decided to give them another go and have been listening continuously as I drive back and forth to my job site for 3 hours a day. They have been a revelation. The narrator, Steven Pacey, has forced me to slow down and really take in Abercrombie’s world building, to spend time with his characters and get to know them, feel their fear, horror and ambition as they scramble through a familiarly imperfect world. This series has some of the all time best unreliable narrators, that feel so reliable you barely realise til half way through that they are so much darker and lighter than they portray themselves. I am about half way through the third and will probably be listening to this series for months to come.

October in Review

October was a month spent travelling! I started with flying back to the UK for the first time in five years, popped over to Italy while I was in Europe then came all the way back home to Sydney. It was wonderful to be reunited with my family and friends if only briefly, and I was reminded of all the things about the UK I loved and hated! I definitely won’t be leaving it another five years to come back. I also launched my pre-order campaign and got my hands on the first Advance Copies of Greenteeth – holding the physical copies of my book was truly one of the best moments of my life.

 

Books

Normally I would get through a book a day whilst on vacation, but I was so busy that I only managed to read five books in the whole month! They were a diverse bunch, and I enjoyed all of them.

 

The Daughters War - Christopher Buehlman

This is the prequel to The Blacktongue Thief, which I read earlier this year. I absolutely loved and was devastated by this book in equal measure. It follows Galva, a young warrior, as she brings a new battalion of war corvids (ravens the size of stags) into the fight against the rampaging goblins. I have never hated and feared a fictional enemy the way I hate and fear these goblins! They are smart, vicious and totally uncaring of human life. I really felt the terror of the human armies as they battled against them and the desperation to win and survive. When I read The Blacktongue Thief I compared it to Joe Abercrombie’s First Law books, and I absolutely stand by that assessment – what a fantastic series this is turning out to be.

 

Trustee from the Tool Room - Nevil Shute

Another Nevil Shute book I found for free on Apple Books! I believe this is the last book Shute wrote and it’s a classic story of good people behaving well and trying their best. The titular Trustee is Keith, a modest man but excellent mechanic, who suddenly becomes the guardian for his niece. Her inheritance is lost at sea (due to some tax avoidance shenanigans from her parents) and Keith sets out across the world to try and get it back. It’s a good read but it is a little difficult to feel sympathetic on the tax front!

 

The Far Country - Nevil Shute

The second Shute of the month! This was perhaps a poor choice to read on my flight from Sydney to London as it is mostly about how bad the UK is and how great Australia is. To which I say: Hmmnnn I agree but not for the reasons you think! Shute’s main complaint is how the NHS and UK welfare state is preventing rich people staying rich and the thing he loves about Australia is that there’s a lot of meat. So, we’re not completely aligned on values! Also, he keeps describing people as dark skinned and then it turns out they’re from Poland, there are no actual aboriginal characters in this book. But hey ho different times and all that.

 

Darwin's Dreampond - Tijs Goldschmidt

A non-fiction book I have been trying to track down for years, Darwin’s Dreampond is a half scientific account of the evolution of fishes in Lake Victoria, half travel account of life as a researcher in 80s Tanzania. I very much enjoyed this book; the science was easy to read, and the stories of Tanzanian life were fascinating. I’m a bit of a fish nerd (what a thing to admit) so this was right up my alley, and I learned a lot.

 

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands - Heather Fawcett

This is the second in the Emily Wilde series and this time our heroine has travelled to the Alps. I loved the developing relationship between Emily and Wendell, but I did miss the friendships she built in the Ljosland village of the first book. The Alpine villagers felt fainter and got less page time in this book. I am looking forward to picking up the third in the series where we travel back to Wendell’s kingdom!

 

 

September 2024 Reading Round Up

It has been an unusually slow month for reading. I have spent almost all of my spare time reviewing my current manuscript after receiving my editors notes at the end of August. I only managed to read three books, and I was halfway through two of them before the month even started. Luckily they were all very good.

 

Unruly – David Mitchell

A review of English Monarchs from Arthur to Elizabeth I. I knew almost everything already, English history being something I was raised with, but I particularly enjoyed Mitchell’s narration. It was a very easy going, amusing journey through the centuries and I liked Mitchell’s analysis of the development of Kingship as a concept: from biggest bully to divine right by birth and back. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an entertaining read or listen, regardless of whether they ware familiar with the subject.

 

Buried Deep – Naomi Novik

Naomi Novik is one of my favourite writers, but I wasn’t very excited about the news that she would be releasing a book of short stories. I’m not the biggest fan of short form fiction, I find it rather hit and miss. However, I bought the book anyway and sat down to give it a go. I should have trusted Novik wouldn’t let me down! I loved all the stories; especially the little Scholomance epilogue! It really whet my appetite for the book she is currently writing and I will definitely be back to review this again!

 

The Hunger of the Gods – John Gwynne

This is the second in Gwynne’s Norse inspired fantasy. I enjoyed this book very much but I did struggle with the list of named characters, at one point there was a Skapti, a Skuld and a Skald all talking at or about each other! The first book ended with all of the characters in one very remote place and it took them a while to scatter back to their respective plot lines which made the initial few chapters feel a bit slow. Once everyone started properly I found the book a lot faster. I look forward to reading the finale next month!

August Reading Round Up

Winter is finally over! August is the last gasp of Sydney winter and we are now hurtling towards spring. It has been a great month of reading for me: dipping into some old friends in preparation for new favourites. I read seven books this month and this is what I thought of them.

 

Siwan – Saunders Lewis          

This is a translated version of the play by the acclaimed Welsh playwright, Saunders Lewis. I was drawn to reading this because one of my all-time historical novels is Here Be Dragons by Sharon Penman and the main character, Joanna of Wales, is the titular Siwan here (Siwan is Welsh for Joanna or Joan as she may have been known.) This play focuses on a key event in her life, her infidelity with William de Braose and his subsequent discovery by her husband Llewelyn the Great. The play covers the initial relationship between the lovers as well as the eventual reconciliation of Joanna/Siwan with Llewelyn. I really liked this play, I liked how obvious Joanna’s power was as Lady of Wales and I liked the relationships with the two men that loved her; William and Llewelyn. I would really love to track down a copy of the 1960 film of this play with Sian Phillips and Peter O’Toole if anyone knows where I could get a copy!

 

 

Saevus Corax Gets Away With Murder – KJ Parker

The final instalment in the Saevus Corax books. I think this was my favourite of the three, and it featured all the hallmarks of a KJ Parker novel: logistics and battles and smart people outwitting each other. I really liked how Saevus was called the most dangerous man in the world – that opened up a lot about how everyone else saw him that I hadn’t put together from being inside his head. I would have read more of Saevus but I still have a backlog of Parker to get through and I have every faith that there’ll be another excellent series on the way.

 

Ancillary Sword – Ann Leckie

Reread before tackling Translation State. God this is good. I think I loved it even better the second time around. I LOVE Breq, she’s such an amazing character and I adore all the others too, they’re all so brilliantly drawn. The Imperial Radch is such a believable empire and yet also so foreign and strange. I also think the Presger, present in their Translators, are the most truly alien aliens I’ve ever read.

 

Ancillary Mercy – Ann Leckie

More excellence! I liked this book more because of the time we get to spend on Mercy of Kalr and I always enjoy ship based narratives. What can I say other than Translator Zeiat and her fish? Darling Child Tisarwat? An all time great.

 

Translation State – Ann Leckie

The newest Radch book and the most direct sequel, (Provenance has little relevance to the overall arc). TS follows a suspected child of a Presger translator as they return to the treaty point and grapple with what it is to be human or alien or anything in between. I enjoyed this book in its own right, but it didn’t quite land for me as a sequel. I liked the answers about the translators but they didn’t seem totally congruent with the Ancillary books. It was also difficult to follow Breq as a protagonist as she’s just so great. Maybe next time I will try and read this as a standalone without an Ancillary run up.

 

The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion

A book that is constantly recommended – AYOMT follows the immediate aftermath of Didion’s husband’s sudden death and hospitalisation of their only child. I think I was perhaps in the wrong place to read this book as I haven’t suffered any recent losses and while I felt for Didion it didn’t seem particularly revelatory to me.  I was very moved by her relationship with her husband and it seemed long and happy. I couldn’t quite get past her assertion that she had never felt lucky – when she had spent her whole life in this wonderful relationship, running in the highest literary circles and making a living doing what she loved. The inevitable loss of her partner, while obviously shocking, didn’t seem to contradict the 40 years of happiness. Maybe I am in the wrong, it has been known to happen! I felt much more sympathetic about her daughter’s medical troubles.  I might give some of her other essays another try as I did enjoy her writing style.

 

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed – Eric Cline

I love a good history book and I was looking forward to this one. It covers the collapse of the Mediterranean Bronze Age civilisations around 3000 years ago, when every kingdom except for Egypt failed. This was really a review of previous works and papers, collated into a rough narrative and I would have liked the author to take control of it a bit more and lead me through a story. This felt like an academic book that had been marketed as pop history. Nevertheless I had a great time listening to it and learnt a lot – especially about the interconnectedness of the time and how advanced the people were.  

July Reading Round Up

It’s been a chilly July here in Sydney and I have spent most of the month running around the city, trying to keep warm! I feel like I’ve barely done any reading this month but the stats don’t lie and apparently I’ve added six new books to the count! Here’s what I thought of them.

 

Marazan – Nevil Shute

My latest Shute (fre)e-book, and my least favourite so far. Marazan is an early Shute novel, following a young pilot who gets caught up in an escaped convicts bid to  bring down a smuggling ring. Set between the wars and featuring the most insane narrator I’ve ever had the trouble/pleasure of reading. I cannot emphasise enough how this man is constantly drinking and getting into an aircraft for some merry japes. Totally bonkers. 10/10.

 

Slow Noodles – Chantha Nguon

A half memoir half recipe book about Chantha's evacuation from Cambodia and life as a refugee in Vietnam and beyond. I was a little disappointed as this was marketed as a memoir of the Khmer Rouge but the author left Cambodia before the outbreak and seemed quite well set up in Vietnam. I found this book a struggle but the recipes did sound delicious and I'm planning a trip out to Cabramatta to try some Cambodian cuisine.

 

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride – Roshani Chokshi

Highly recommended adult fantasy spin on Bluebeard. Argh! I just couldn't take to this one! I've never been much of a fan of flowery writing and this was turned up to eleven. I got through it relatively quickly and saw the twists coming from about halfway. This was very well done if you appreciate intricate writing but it was a miss for me.

 

Butter – Asako Yuzuki

Easily my favourite book of the month, Butter was billed as a journalistic murder mystery but turned into an incredibly powerful state of the nation novel for modern day Japan. I loved how the friendships between women were explored, how they related to food, and to careers and culture. This was a book you have to put some effort into but my goodness it paid off!

 

Whale Fall – Daniel Kraus

A scuba diver searching for his fathers remains off the coast of Monterey gets swallowed by a sperm whale. You know I had to read this. It was mostly good but, and this seems an inappropriate criticism, it came off as slightly unrealistic! I was on board for the premise but some of the twists seemed a bit much. I also could have done with less backstory, I got that the whole thing was an allegory but I wanted more whale! Great descriptive writing though.

 

Love Lockdown – Elizabeth Greenwood

Audiobook. Discussion of the impact of the US prison system on those who love the incarcerated. Very interesting book, though I was never really convinced that the ''met while incarcerated" crowd were as sensible as they were hoping to come across. Definitely gave me new insight into prison life and into the ways generous family policies can help reintegration and reduce recidivism. Very interesting book.

 

June Reading Round Up

Happy Summer/Winter Solstice y’all! We are already halfway through 2024 and it feels like the days are slipping by faster than ever. I spent most of the month working on the roads around New South Wales, which was a great opportunity to explore the beautiful country  but also gave me a little snake-based anxiety! I made it back in one piece and to cap it off I read nine books this month.

 

What Feasts At Night – T Kingfisher

The second Sworn Sword book. WFAN carries on a few months after the events of the first book. I was lucky enough to hear T Kingfisher talk about this book directly and she described it as (paraphrasing)  an interlude she needed to write before she could move on with the story. The protagonist – Alex, needs to face their PTSD, not only from the horrors of the previous book, but from a lifetime at war. There is still a solid plot and it’s a very enjoyable horror read but I think of it more as a bonus chapter or un-deleted scene in between What Moves The Dead and whatever terrors come next!

 

The Sword Defiant – Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

Epic fantasy but from fifteen years after the fall of the dark lord. This is the story of Alf, a surviving hero, and of Olva, the sister he left behind. I very much enjoyed this book. I liked how you could feel the years of fatigue grating on Alf as he struggled to find the right path, and I liked how we saw what he had left behind to go adventuring. It feels very rare to have a lead character be a middle-aged mother and I loved how we saw Olva develop into a hero in her own right. There were some excellent twists at the end and I am keen to jump into the second book!

 

Broken Stars – Ken Liu (editor)

A collection of Chinese SF short stories. I found this collection rather hit and miss. Some were incredibly well done and some I couldn’t finish. Still a good experience and a great way to try out some works in translation. Favourites were Submarines, The New Year Train, What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear, The First Emperor’s Games and Chen Quifan’s two stories.

 

Sarah Canary – Karen Joy Fowler

Weird one! This follows the titular Sarah Canary as she wanders around the nineteenth century Pacific Northwest. Multiple people from varied walks of life interact with her; Chinese labourers, asylum occupants, suffragists, Native Americans, but none of them can discover the secret of who she is or where she came from. That’s pretty much it. I thought this was an intriguing idea and the book is listed as a SF classic but I just didn’t connect with it. I struggled to finish and probably won’t reread.

 

Pied Piper – Nevil Shute

Shute is one of my all time favourite authors, with his classic A Town Like Alice always near the top of my list of  best books of all time, but I haven’t read that much else from him. I was delighted to discover his entire catalogue on iBooks for free so I downloaded a stack and dug in. Pied Piper is the story of John, an older gentleman who decides to vacation in the French countryside right at the end of the Phoney War in WW2. No one considers this a risky thing to do and everyone is shocked when the German invasion begins in earnest. John agrees to escort a couple of children back to England and so begins an increasingly dangerous journey across France. This book brought me to tears several times, which was a little awkward since I was reading it on a construction site. It has Shute’s simple yet emotionally pure writing style and I felt for all of the characters. I absolutely loved it and would recommend it to anyone.

 

On finishing this book I realised it was written in 1942 – well before the end of the war and before D-Day. It seems incredible to me that Shute was able to write this in the midst of the Blitz, and how even back then he understood the dangers the Nazis posed to Jews, he mentions several times the horrible fate that will befall a Jewish child if captured, including listing the words concentration camp. It really gives the lie to the idea that ‘regular Germans’ had no idea of the holocaust if a British author was writing about it as common knowledge in the early 40s.

 

The Steerswoman – Rosemary Kirstein

The Steerswoman is Rowan, one of a society of questioning wanderers who collect information and distribute it wherever they go. Rowan is on the trail of a mysterious set of gems but discovers a cabal of wizards who will do anything to prevent her from finding out more. I can imagine that this book would have been pretty mind-blowing in the eighties when it was published, featuring two female main characters and a bold approach to classic fantasy. However, I just couldn’t quite connect with the characters and I felt I Could see the twists coming a mile off. I definitely should have read this when I was a kid as I would have loved it, coming at it now I don’t think I will continue with the series.

 

If On A Winter's Night A Traveller – Italo Calvino

I’m trying to read a few less mainstream classics and this definitely fits the bill! It’s a meta book where you, the reader, go to a bookshop to buy Calvino’s newest book and end up reading the first chapter of ten or twelve different books. Mostly I enjoyed this, with all the different pastiches enjoyable in their own way.  

An Old Captivity - Nevil Shute

Another free classic courtesy of Apple Books. The story of an archaeological expedition to Greenland in the early 30's takes a late turn for the fantastical when the main character dreams of Viking voyagers. A solidly enjoyable book although not reaching the heights of Alice or Pied Piper. There's a really excellent enemies to almost lovers romance plot line which is doomed by the shadow of WW2 on the horizon. Definitely made me want to explore Greenland with a dashing aeronaut by my side.

Amongst Our Weapons – Ben Aaronovitch

Reread. Book Nine in Rivers of London. Basically everything I said last month for False Value but I don’t love the side characters quite as much. Great to see more Inspector Seawoll though and several excellent scenes up on the Manchester moors.

May Reading Round Up

I read twelve books this month! Full disclosure several of them were re-reads and also I was on holiday for two weeks so there was a lot of time to dig in.

 

 

Saevus Corax captures the Castle – KJ Parker

The second in the Saevus Corax series and a very enjoyable instalment. Corax continues his business of cleaning up after the battles of the rich and important when an old enemy sends him off to capture a castle in the middle of nowhere. Features all the standard Parker strengths and weaknesses although there were more good female characters than usual. I find the battleground salvage perspective on fantasy very interesting, and I really liked all the side characters and how even though you just glimpser them they feel so real and deep. I preferred this to the first SC book and am excited to jump into the next one soon.

 

Earthlings – Sayaka Murata

The story of a young Japanese woman, first in her troubled childhood and later in her even more troubled adulthood. I loved Convenience Store Woman by this author and had been meaning to read Earthlings for years. My friend finally lent it to me and it was… crazy! The first half seemed reasonably straightforward, although I was gripped by the urge to portal into the book and murder all the terrible people. But in the last half things just get incomprehensively weird. I still like the author and I definitely think she has talent but I just did not get this one.

 

Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson

Jim Hawkins goes to sea to track down the treasure of the dread Pirate Flint! I was convinced that I had read this before but once I got into it I realised that I must have read some children’s edition. To be honest I liked the children’s version more! This is a delightfully swashbuckling narrative but it suffers from Victorian convolution and I felt it really needed a good effort. However, it is still a great ride and contains one of the all time best villains in Long John Silver. Once I have written this up I am going to go and watch the Muppets film version!

 

Warbreaker – Brandon Sanderson

A woman is promised in marriage to a mysterious Godking and her sister follows after her to try and rescue her and save their home. A BrandoSando book I had never read before and only knew vaguely that ‘colours were important’. This is a middling Sanderson which makes it excellent by regular standards! I very much liked how the main characters were so interestingly flawed and how they worked on their problems and recognised the motivations that were driving them.

 

Portnoy's Complaint – Philip Roth

Alexander Portnoy complains about his mother for what feels like most of time. I had to put this down about halfway through because I only have so many days off in my life and I couldn’t spend any more reading this dire book. Roth is also a short story writer and I could have enjoyed this as a brief character study or novella.  Unfortunately two hundred and seventy four pages was way too much.

 

The Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense – Suzette Haden Elgin

I have no idea how I stumbled across this book but it was very interesting. I don’t know if it will turn out to be useful but I enjoyed reading the dialogues. It’s also wild to discover that Elgin was a prolific SF author and I have several of her books on my TBR. I am even more tempted to pick them up now.

 

Rereads!

 

Tribune of Rome – Robert Fabbri

The first Vespasian book, covering his introduction to Tiberian era Rome and travel to Dacia on the orders of the brilliant if manipulative Antonia.  As a died in the wool I Claudian I can never quite agree with Fabbri’s portrayals of the Imperial family but his grasp of Roman military discipline and the grittier sides of Rome is truly excellent. Highly enjoyable reread.

 

Rome's Executioner – Robert Fabbri

Second Vespasian book, featuring the young tribune’s return to Rome and work to destroy Sejanus. Fabbri doesn’t pull his punches or try to set up Vespasian as a modern hero, he portrays him as a realistic Roman man and that can sometimes be hard to warm to. I am planning to take a short break from the series until my appetite for blood and betrayal rises again!

 

A Closed and Common Orbit – Becky Chambers

Second in the Galactic Commons Series and by far my favourite. Delightful, sad and hopeful all at once. Definitely recommend.

 

Record of a Spaceborn Few – Becky Chambers

Third in the Galactic Commons Series. The weakest overall and you wouldn’t miss much if you went straight to the next. Tends towards the preachy side of hopepunk which I never find enjoyable.

 

The Galaxy and the Ground Within – Becky Chambers

Fourth in the Galactic Commons Series. A return to form for the author and the first book which doesn’t have a human narrator or main character to frame the narrative through.

 

False Value – Ben Aaronovitch

The eighth Peter Grant Magic Detective book (he would hate that name!) After the fall of the Faceless Man in the seventh book False Value scrabbles for a new direction and almost lands it in this tech startup meets the Folly, culture clash. Audiobook is read by the incomparably excellent Kobna Holdbrook Smith who musters all his talents to deliver the widest array of accents yet.

April Reading Round Up

A slightly slower month for reading although I got quite a bit of writing done and also listened to Cowboy Carter and TTPD on repeat. I read 7 books this month and this is what I thought of them.

The Black Hunger - Nicholas Pullen

A new dark classic to stand alongside Frankenstein and Jekyll & Hyde, The Black Hunger reveals its horrors inch by devastating inch, leading the reader from the foothills of the Himalayas to the islands of Scotland and back again.

Thank you Orbit for the Digital ARC

Mammoth - Chris Flynn

The titular Mammut narrates this story from the Great Plains of Prehistoric America through the years to the Museum of Natural History. This book took me less than three hours to read but I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the garrulous old mammoth and the fellow fossils that share the auction house. I would have liked to see a little more of the prehistoric beginning and less of the early modern world but the historic cameos were interesting.

The Dutch House - Ann Patchett

An excellently written book in which very little happens. It tells the story of two siblings, Maeve and John, who are turfed out of the house by their stepmother after their father dies. I struggled with how much I hated Andrea, the stepmother, and I shared John’s dislike of his absent mother. I felt I was supposed to think John was just as bad as his father but I liked him more. My second Patchett and not as good as Tom Lake.

The King’s Peace/The King’s Law - Jo Walton

An early 00s retelling of the Arthurian legend, the first published work by the author. You can see the traces of Walton’s greatness but it hasn’t quite flowered yet. I liked the straightforward nature of the narrator, Sulien, and I enjoyed the realism of the land of Tir Tanagiri but there was definitely something missing. I will definitely try to track down the third in the series though.

The Familiar - Leigh Bardugo

Standalone fantasy set in Inquisition era Madrid. Luzia is a scullery maid whose mistress catches her using an illicit magic to make her life easier. I loved the grace the author gave to each character and the richness of the setting. My favourite book of the month.

Little Eve - Catriona Ward

Cultish horror set in the far north of Scotland, Little Eve is raised in a castle ruled by her ‘uncle’ a pseudo prophet who keeps his family starved and brainwashed. Eve and her sister Dinah wrestle with the lies they have been raised with and try to find a way out. Grim and hard to read but well done.

Spirit Walker - Michelle Paver

Audiobook reread. Torak tries to find a cure for the sickness that has afflicted the forest and journeys to the Sea Clans. Another excellent narration by Ian McKellen.

Reading Round Up April

A slightly slower month for reading although I got quite a bit of writing done and also listened to Cowboy Carter and TTPD on repeat. I read 7 books this month and this is what I thought of them.

The Black Hunger - Nicholas Pullen

A new dark classic to stand alongside Frankenstein and Jekyll & Hyde, The Blck Hunger reveals its horrors inch by devastating inch, leading the reader from the foothills of the Himalayas to the islands of Scotland and back again.

Thank you Orbit for the Digital ARC

Mammoth - Chris Flynn

The titular Mammut narrates this story from the Great Plains of Prehistoric America through the years to the Museum of Natural History. This book took me less than three hours to read but I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the garrulous old mammoth and the fellow fossils that share the auction house. I would have liked to see a little more of the prehistoric beginning and less of the early modern world but the historic cameos were interesting.

The Dutch House - Ann Patchett

An excellently written book in which very little happens. It tells the story of two siblings, Maeve and John, who are turfed out of the house by their stepmother after their father dies. I struggled with how much I hated Andrea, the stepmother, and I shared John’s dislike of his absent mother. I felt I was supposed to think John was just as bad as his father but I liked him more. My second Patchett and not as good as Tom Lake.

The King’s Peace/The King’s Law - Jo Walton

An early 00s retelling of the Arthurian legend, the first published work by the author. You can see the traces of Walton’s greatness but it hasn’t quite flowered yet. I liked the straightforward nature of the narrator, Sulien, and I enjoyed the realism of the land of Tir Tanagiri but there was definitely something missing. I will definitely try to track down the third in the series though.

The Familiar - Leigh Bardugo

Standalone fantasy set in Inquisition era Madrid. Luzia is a scullery maid whose mistress catches her using an illicit magic to make her life easier. I loved the grace the author gave to each character and the richness of the setting. My favourite book of the month.

Little Eve - Catriona Ward

Cultish horror set in the far north of Scotland, Little Eve is raised in a castle ruled by her ‘uncle’ a pseudo prophet who keeps his family starved and brainwashed. Eve and her sister Dinah wrestle with the lies they have been raised with and try to find a way out. Grim and hard to read but well done.

Spirit Walker - Michelle Paver

Audiobook reread. Torak tries to find a cure for the sickness that has afflicted the forest and journeys to the Sea Clans. Another excellent narration by Ian McKellen.

March Reading Round Up

It’s been a gorgeous sunny month here in Sydney. My parents were here for most of it and we spent a lot of time catching up and exploring the city. It can be so much fun being a tourist in the place where you live and we really made the most of it, visiting the beaches, going to the opera and enjoying delicious streetfood at the Ramadan Night Markets.

It was also a great month for reading! I read eleven books in March and here is what I thought of them.

Tom Lake – Ann Patchett

My first dip into Patchett’s work and I really enjoyed it. I knew almost nothing about Our Town, the play that was the backbone of this book, but Patchett’s rich prose and vivid characterisation swept me away anyway. I know it’s somewhat of a cliché to say that the setting is a character but I really fell for the north Michigan landscape, the cherry trees and clear lakes felt incredibly real and beautiful to me. A lovely book.

The Dreaming – Queenie Chan

Queenie Chan is a friend of mine and probably one of the most interesting and original thinkers I know. I always enjoy her unique perspectives and equally enjoyed this book. It’s a manga set in country NSW (remote, subtropical rainforests) at a girls boarding school. Queenie’s art is so detailed that I would linger over each panel, drinking in the atmospheric backgrounds in every scene. I’m counting the days until part 2 is released!

Slewfoot – Brom

This is a colonial horror-fantasy set in Puritan New England, where a young widow discovers an ancient forest spirit is beginning to stir in the woods around her property. This was an interesting take on the topic and I felt that Brom almost pulled it off. The setting was nicely realised but the characters felt a bit thin, the villains slightly too cartoonishly evil. I also didn’t love that the only native characters were described as disposable sidekicks to the antagonist, there was space for a more nuanced take there.

The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa

Startling dystopian novel translated from the Japanese about an island community where memories are slowly being taken away from the inhabitants. Having read a few Japanese books I am familiar with the style and I liked this book a lot. The pacing was slow but steady and I enjoyed how the plot didn’t twist or turn, just gently unfolded as I read. I picked this up with “I who have never known men” from last month and I think the two compare very well.

The Last Bloodcarver - Vanessa Le

I think this is the first Vietnamese inspired fantasy I've ever read and I enjoyed it very much. It follows Nhika, the titular bloodcarver, as she tries to teach herself to utilise the ancient but dying art of healing. I really loved how the two healing traditions were displayed as equally helpful paths, and how Nhika articulated her feelings about losing her culture. I did think she was far too nice to the people who literally BOUGHT her, and that they really needed a touch more reality to smack them in the face. I will definitely be picking up Book 2 though!

The Bandit Queens - Parini Shroff

This was one of my 24 for 2024 reads and I was really pleased to track down a copy - it was well worth the wait. Geeta is an abandoned wife, presumed widow, living in rural India, when the other women of her village begin to come to her to ask for help in widowing them also! I wasn't expecting to laugh so much, nor to absolutely fall in love with Geeta's ex-best friend Saloni! I learnt so much about modern India and I was also very excited to see microloans (a cause dear to my heart) feature in the story. Definitely pick this up, I'd feel confident recommending to anyone.

Yellowface - RF Kuang

THE book of 2023 and I zipped through it in an hour or two. I probably agree with the general view of this book, that it loses pace about half way through and never really regains it. It definitely doesn't measure up to the excellent Babel or The Poppy War but I'd still be keen to pick up Kuang's next book.

Six Wild Crowns - Holly Race

A Wild Book indeed! This intricate gem of a novel reimagines the story of Henry VIII’s six wives as you’ve never seen them. Instead of being mercilessly pitted against each other, Six Wild Crowns reimagines the women as powerful queens in their own right, ruling over an island bursting with ancient magic and new intrigues. I totally fell for Boleyn and Seymour as they navigated the treacherous courts and carved out their own spaces in the world. Already desperate for the second in this exciting new series!

Thank you Orbit for the digital ARC.

Empire of the Damned -Jay Kristoff

This is the second in the Empire of the Vampire series and I liked it much more than the first. It is still essentially The Da Vinci Code with vampires and everyone in it is described as incredibly hot. I was thinking it over after finishing it and decided that I didn't love either the fight scenes or all the yearning, but the book is mostly fight scenes and yearning! However I did stay up til 3am on a work night reading so clearly Kristoff is doing something right. Will this be on my top 10 books of the year? No. Will I continue to buy the next books in the series and recommend it to people? Absolutely. Roll on Empire of the Resurrection or whatever Book 3 is called.

Piranesi - Suzanna Clarke

My first dip into Suzanna Clarkeand i enjoyed it a lot! I was a bit wary as much had been made about how this was a strange book that was difficult to read but I dived straight in and barely surfaced to sleep, reading it in two days. Clarke's prose is smooth and masterful, allowing her to go weird whilst still retaining her reader's attention. I really liked how the reveals unfolded at the perfect pace, never leaving you too long without moving on but also giving the reader space to chew it all over. A delightful book.

Wolf Brother - Michelle Paver

Childhood favourite. Listened to the audiobook as narrated by Ian McKellen. Excellent presentation and enjoyed a lot!