Scott’s Comments (group member since Mar 07, 2017)

Scott’s comments from the Team Hooman group.

I know we're kind of late into the month, but if we decide to do a group read, how about a horror book in honor of Halloween?

I like the book reads. The only thing I might change is maybe taking nominations earlier, like maybe halfway through the second month so we have the next pick already chosen.

I also like the idea of having other book discussions/challenges. Maybe an topic to talk about what else we're reading. For challenges, I know S&L is currently doing a challenge to see how many other "Sword" and "Laser" books people read in addition to the group reads. Since we don't have the same structure, perhaps a more open ended challenge of, for example, as a group we will read 600 books in the year.

If you enjoy mythology, I recommend Circe by Madeline Miller. It was a S&L group read a few months ago, and I really enjoyed it. I know it's on Audible, don't know about Hoopla

I think that tends to be a "problem," in general with the memoir genre. They tend to only cover one aspect of a person's life and what led up to it. And if you read multiple memoirs about the same topic, they do start becoming "one note."

I finished it over the weekend. I really enjoyed it. I even recommended it to my mom. I really enjoyed how she tied in her family story all together. And, as a bit of a history buff, I always like being able to see the personal side of events that we normally only see from a broad/“academic” view, or, as Bui mentions in that interview, inaccurate entertainment.

I guess technically, being a Korean adoptee, my family tree is splintered. But, I was so young when I was adopted and I know so little about my birth family, I don’t really have any stories lol

I really liked the art. While the color scheme was a bit one-note, I felt like it set the tone of the story. I could feel the desperation and hardship that her family suffered, especially with her father’s youth and the boat scenes.

Rebecca wrote: " But when will you nominate a book you haven't read??

Hahaha. Yeah I need to be better about that

I kind of like the idea of giving the nominations from last time another chance, especially given how close the vote was.

But, as for the immigration theme, I recommend Sulfur Springs. It's not sci-fi/fantasy. It's murder mystery. But, it really handles the topic of immigration quite well. Fair warning though, while I think you can read it on its own without missing a lot, it is the 16th book in a series.

If you enjoyed this series, I highly recommend Mary's Ghost Talkers. And, after I read S&L's monthly read, I'm going to be starting her new book, The Calculating Stars

I have to say Glamour in Glass is probably my favorite of the series, though admittedly I may be biased because I love spy novels and military history.
I was curious to see how it would fit in with the first book, especially since the romance plot was concluded so neatly in Milk and Honey. Mary has described her elevator pitch for Milk and Honey as “Jane Austen with magic,” and while that’s certainly accurate and is prevalent throughout the series, this what showed it could become much more than that.
I think the family planning stuff was interesting too. You don’t see such a realistic take on it even in “vanilla” historical fiction.
I love the Temeraire series too. If you like this series and that one, check out Marie Brennan’s Natural History of Dragons series.

I don't think the audiobook version has the afterword, at least not to my memory. But, she has mentioned her process on Writing Excuses. Funny enough, a few years ago, Patrick Rothfuss held a contest on Twitter to see if any of his friends could fool his followers into believing they were him, and Mary used the same process to actually win the contest. http://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal...

I read it a while back...2015 according to Goodreads (hard to believe it’s been so long lol). And like you, Rebecca, I devoured the sequels. Took me about a month to finish all of them lol.
I agree the epilogue definitely reads like Mary wasn’t originally planning a sequel, or maybe she just wasn’t sure her publisher would want one. If I remember correctly, I believe it was her first novel so the ending may have just been first novel kinks.
The glamour is definitely the selling point for me as well, especially with how it’s expanded upon in the rest of the series.

Honestly, I normally would’ve never read it. Like you, Rebecca, fantasy really isn’t usually my go-to genre, and Jane Austen never interested me.
But, listening to S&L interview Mary (they’ve interviewed her, I want to say, twice. But never read her books as group reads) and later listening to her discuss it on Writing Excuses (the writing podcast she hosts with Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells) just made it pique my interest. And, I’m glad I decided to read it. As I said when I nominated it, she’s become one of my favorite authors. And, if you continue reading on (I hope this isn’t spoilery), the sequels add so many elements of other genres that each one really adds something new.

The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein. It was the winner of Geek and Sundry's Inkshares contest a few years ago. And bonus for any Critters in here, Matt Mercer does the audiobook.

Yeah, just looking at the descriptions of the ones Rachel suggested, they all sound interesting.

For a future read, I nominate Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. I love Mary's writing and the entire series is great. I keep entering it into S&L's annual "March Madness" poll but it never gets picked hehe.

Granted, this would be yet another one I've previously read lol

Rebecca wrote: "Awesome! Also it's cool to post spoilers here, Scott!"

Okay cool. Wasn't sure since this topic was about the sequel, rather than the "actual" group read.

Yeah, I'm still not sure how I feel about what Corbin did. I think Corbin viewed it as akin to an intervention. Ohan was willing to allow themselves to die and Corbin viewed it like any other self-injurious behavior, rather than a cultural question.

On the other hand, I agree Ohan deserved having the free will to make their own decisions, particularly when it comes to life and death

I loved the second book. Seeing Lovie's story arc intersect with Piper's backstory was so compelling and well done

Rebecca wrote: "Scott, we'll have to choose something S&L hasn't covered for our next read!"
Haha! Yes!

I read it along with Sword and Laser last May and absolutely fell in love with it, and finally read the second book in December. Can't wait for #3!