What are you reading in Q4 of 2022?

[Kathi, There’s no such thing as too many books!]

Let us know what you've been reading during this final quarter of 2022 (October, November, December)! All genres welcome here!

[Michelle]

I'm still playing musical genres. I'm rotating a re-read of Bernard Cornwell's excellent historical fiction Sharpe series. I'll be reading #15 after I finish The Riddle-Master of Hed.

[Michelle]

Also, I just finished an extremely fun stand-alone military sci-fi book called The Misfit Soldier.

[Kathi, There’s no such thing as too many books!]

October has been a slow month for me, but I’m hoping to get back into more reading during the last 10 days.

So far this quarter I’ve read:
The Annals of the Heechee by Frederik Pohl, book 4 in the Heechee Saga, 5.5/10. I almost quit after reading about 30-40% of the book, just because I couldn’t stand Robin, the first person narrator, and his whining about how slowly “meat people” did things and how many things he (and others like him) could do in the space of a second, or a fraction of a second. Really, the reader understands it after the first, second, or third time, so stop repeating it! The second half of the book picked up in terms of more plot movement and ended up being quite good (I read the last 40% in one sitting!). But what a slog to get to that point!

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin, 9/10. Such a slim book, but it holds such a full and deep story! Arha, stolen from her ordinary childhood to become the One Priestess of the Nameless Ones, learns of power, loneliness, trust, and freedom as she matures and faces a mystery (view spoiler)[ (the appearance of Sparrowhawk/Ged) (hide spoiler)] that challenges all she has been taught and believes. The author makes the Undertomb and the Labyrinth come alive. The secondary characters (Manan, Thar, Kossil, Penthe) are only briefly sketched yet fully realized. Most importantly, the reader is drawn completely into Arha/Tenar’s life, thoughts, and feelings. I’m rereading this series for a different Goodreads discussion group.

[Michelle]

I'm up to #17 in my re-read of the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell: Sharpe's Regiment.

I finished an excellent short story by Janny Wurtz in the Wars of Light and Shadow last night: Reins of Destiny

I finished the last book in RK Lander's Sylvan series, and it was both good and not so good: Destiny of a Prince

I tried The First Binding, but DNF it. Too much of a copy of Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles, plus a few other issues.

Read and enjoyed Jim Butcher's The Law. It recalled to me to the books before Changes.

[Michelle]

I finished Dauntless by Jack Campbell, and I really liked it. I'm going to have to get the rest of the series.

I just finished The Gallant, and 😭!!!! That broke my heart into 20,000 pieces. It was terrific.

[Michelle]

I finished #2 of Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series: Fearless, and I think it was better than the first book. I think this series will turn out to be a keeper.

Tonight I whipped through Megan Whalen Turner's collection Moira's Pen: A Queen's Thief Collection. What a joy! I have always loved the Queen's Thief series, so this book was such a pleasure.

[Kathi, There’s no such thing as too many books!]

Witch of the North by Courtway Jones, book 2 in a series based on the Arthurian legends, 8/10. Such an interesting twist on the most common version of the Arthurian legend and the story of Camelot! While the first book in this trilogy followed the life of Arthur, this one is Morgan’s story, although the two tales intertwine. The different perspective does not alter the bitterness of the dissolution of The Fellowship of the Round Table and the betrayals that lead to Camelot’s downfall. Life away from the High King’s court is the focus of most of the book and it’s an entertaining story. It will be interesting to see what the third book brings.

Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman, 8/10. Navajo tribal police officers Leaphorn and Chee together—so good! The ending was a bit abrupt and there were still unanswered questions, at least for me, but it certainly held my interest and I read it in one sitting!

The Devil's Teardrop by Jeffery Deaver, 10/10. Suspenseful, well-written, well-researched, with some perfect plot twists! I cared about the characters and the subplots added depth to the characters without detracting from the main storyline.

The 2 mysteries were for the October prompt in the Better World Books 2022 challenge.

[Kathi, There’s no such thing as too many books!]

In November I read:
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, 9/10. This book concludes the duology started in Six of Crows, and it’s a solid, entertaining read. The plot is complex, with heists and cons galore. The characters face serious challenges and undergo deadly trials; more importantly, they learn and grow from those experiences. The story has a satisfying ending—happy, sad, wistful, bittersweet. The author’s writing has matured since her earliest books and she has left room to return to these characters and this part of the Grishaverse.

A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark, 8/10. What a fascinating word! A neat mystery/puzzle in the midst of a kind of steampunk, magical Cairo. I looked up a lot of words—I’m not very familiar with Middle Eastern culture—but I was hooked from the first paragraph.

The Angel of Khan el-Khalili by P. Djèlí Clark, 5/10. Unlike A Dead Djinn in Cairo, this story feels incomplete. While there is a strong sense of place and culture for such a short piece, I didn’t feel a real sense of connection. Fiction isn’t usually written in 2nd person (which this story is) and it alters the way the story flows, in my opinion. The ending was abrupt and not very satisfying.

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark, 8/10. I generally don’t care for short stories because they are just that—short—and usually don’t satisfy my desire for details, backstory, and depth of plot and characters. But this is a rare exception. Like A Dead Djinn in Cairo, this short story is complete in itself.

I read Clark’s 3 short stories as prequels to the novel A Master of Djinn, 8.75/10. Really, I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would. There was a good mix of action, humor, social commentary, mystery, and romance. I found that reading Clark’s short fiction set in the same world first gave me a foundation for understanding the basics of this world and its inhabitants, so I didn’t feel overwhelmed with trying to figure it all out at the beginning of this book and could concentrate on the mystery involving the murders instead. My only quibble is with the villain of the story—just not believable, IMO. (view spoiler)[I know the reader is meant to be surprised, although I started to suspect it might be her before the big reveal. I certainly can believe a woman might be ambitious, calculating, arrogant, even cruel. But I just didn’t see Abigail (“call me Abbie”) as truly being strong enough to do what she did. Selfish, yes, and conniving, but really more of a spoiled brat who wants her own way regardless of the consequences rather than a powermonger bent on world domination. (hide spoiler)] Fatma, Siti, and Hadia were great characters, as were the various djinn. Ahmad/Sobek was certainly a unique character. S.A. Chakraborty’s books set in Egypt and the Middle East feature human, djinn, and ifrit characters. It was interesting to compare her versions of these beings to Clark’s, as well as her take on the Seal of Suleiman/Sulayman versus his.

The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin, 10/10. I read this book in one evening (actually, this was a reread) and relished every word. There was enough plot to keep me interested and turning the pages, and I think the plot points provided the hooks on which to hang the philosophical conversations and musings. Ged has matured so much since the first book in this series, and, in some ways, young Arren’s coming of age journey echoes Ged’s. The despair and bleakness throughout the islands of southern and western EarthSea made those sections somewhat hard to read, but the Children of the Open Sea were a delight and the dragons were, as always, magnificent!

The Boy Who Would Live Forever: A Novel of Gateway by Frederik Pohl, 8/10. The author returns to the top form of his original Heechee book, Gateway, with this final installment in the Heechee Saga. Robin Broadhead plays only a background role, which was a relief to this reader, and the cast of characters, including humans, Heechee, Kugels, Old Ones, and AIs, was a mix of familiar and new, but all were interesting. The story was told in several POVs and a variety of locations, so the “voice” was never tiring or too repetitive the way the previous few books were with an overload of Robin’s POV and voice. Best of all, there were both intimate, personal stories and universe-wide aspects to the plot. All in all, I’m glad I persevered through some of the middle books to get to this one.

[Michelle]

I liked the Crooked Kingdom, too.

Since my last post, I've read:

-Books 4-6 in the Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell. That series is addicting!
-Books 19-21 in the phenominal Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell. This is a series re-read, and I'm currently on #22, Sharpe's Assassin
-Another short story by Janny Wurts: The Decoy. Always terrific writing.
-A truly enjoyable Letters from Father Christmas by Tolkein
-The third in indie-author Tim Hardie's Brotherhood of the Wolf series: Lost Gods. This is a good series with a Norse vibe.

[Michelle]

Oh, and Patricia A. McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy. That was also a re-read.

[Kathi, There’s no such thing as too many books!]

In December I read:
How to Play Cricket by Liz French, 5/10. I think I better finish Cricket For Dummies because this book, while short, assumed a basic understanding of cricket terms that this reader doesn’t have, and the glossary didn’t help me enough. It’s aimed at the person who wants to actually play cricket, not the person who wants to understand what they are seeing while watching cricket.

Matter by Iain M. Banks, 10/10. This is now one of my favorite Culture books! Fantastic world-building, amazing characters and species and tech, convoluted plots at both the local level and the worlds-spanning space level, and themes of loyalty, responsibility, honor. Plenty of action, some philosophizing, and just the right amount of levity and wry wit.

The Christmas Box, Timepiece, and The Letter by Richard Paul Evans, rated 5, 6, and 4/10. Predictable, a little too pat in some places and with gaping plot holes in others.

Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin, 9.5/10. Although this is billed as the final book of EarthSea, there are 2 more, I think. And a good thing, for this feels a bit unfinished—(view spoiler)[while I suspected Therru was a “dragon-human”, we don’t get to see her in the fullness of who she is, only hints of what might be. I don’t quite know why Tenar had no power and was susceptible to the evil wizard’s curses/spells. Was it because she stopped her learning with Ogion that she lost her ability to do any magic”? I loved that fact that Ged and Tenar were able to be together as man and woman, and I so appreciated the compassion of those who accepted Therru despite her physical deformities. (hide spoiler)] This story touched me deep in my soul.

A Prince in Camelot by Courtway Jones, 8.75/10. The final book in the Dragon’s Heirs trilogy focuses on Mordred, known as Dylan the Orphan for most of the story. This depiction of Mordred is about as far from the traditional Camelot story as you can get, and he’s quite a sympathetic character. The author builds his story slowly and steadily, piece by piece, to its bittersweet conclusion. A fitting final chapter in this trilogy.

A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman, 8.25/10. A solid mystery with Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, one working a missing person case and the other, stolen equipment. They end up working together on the murders that are connected to their two investigations.