Next in Huang’s series about Cas Russell, amoral heroine who uses math to kick ass. Although the action is frenetic, with Cas lurching from kidnapping to bombing to fighting off bioengineered guard dogs, the overall pace of the plot is actually almost too leisurely; hints about the shadowy organizations which may or may not be controlling her life remain just hints, and her moral and emotional development is also frustratingly slow. The other characters are refreshing, accepting her strangenesses and allowing her to develop at her own (very slow!) pace, without allowing her to get away with bad behavior.
Month: January 2023
Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers
I love Becky Chambers and I’m familiar with her Wayfarers series, so I knew I would have to switch rapidly between multiple characters with multiple points of view… but I still found the beginning of this book rough. The viewpoint characters have little to do with one another (at least at first) and the reader is forced to juggle multiple locations, conflicts, and cultural issues for quite some time before things come together. At that point, though, we’re safely back in Chambers’ warm universe where people are all just trying to do their best to understand one another and figure out one another’s needs. The society of a completely spacefaring race and the self-sustaining ecology of their vessels was also really interesting. Good book, eventually.
Bannerless, by Carrie Vaughn
I liked this image of the future, which was postapocalyptic but not precisely dystopian. Following the collapse of civilization, survival is precarious and resources are limited; people must organize themselves into demonstrably productive households before they can earn a “banner,” which gives them license to bear a child. Any children born “bannerless” reflect their parents’ lack of community feeling and responsibility, a shame that carries into adulthood. Main character Enid’s job is to mediate conflict and investigate crimes; when she is called in to investigate a suspicious death, she is startled to discover that someone from her past might be involved. The pacing of this book was a little uneven, bouncing back and forth between Enid’s past and present; however, it did a good job communicating both the challenging climate and the sociopolitical structure of Enid’s world. I liked the contemplative tone but thought that for an investigator, Enid took way too long to figure things out that were already made obvious to the reader.
Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion, by Bushra Rehman
A vivid portrait of growing up queer and Muslim in Corona, Queens. There’s not a lot of plot to tie everything together; it reads more like a series of reminisces of Razia’s childhood as she watches the people around her. Her schoolmates play pranks; her immigrant parents find their community; there are so many details of growing up in the 80’s that at times I wondered if the book were autobiography rather than fiction. Razia’s best friend is torn from her by a rift between their families; she later transfers to another school and forms a relationship with Angela, who is accepting but has trouble understanding the depth to which Razia’s background and culture shapes her actions. I enjoyed this read but once Razia starts going to school outside her neighborhood, the writing felt much less compelling; as a consequence her relationship with Angela, as well as the resultant tension with her family, felt much less gripping. The ending also seemed a bit rushed. Good read overall though.
Archangel, by Sharon Shinn
#1 of the Samaria series, recommended to me by E and such an amazing read. The angel Gabriel has been tapped by Jovah to be the next Archangel, and must find his angelica (spouse) before the people of Samaria gather together to sing the Gloria. Gabriel dutifully goes to the oracle, who consults Jovah (by typing at a computer terminal!) and points him to a human woman named Rachel. Gabriel is startled to find Rachel enslaved; once freed, she is less than enthusiastic about the concept of marrying him at all, much less singing the praises of a god that allowed her people to be slain and herself to be sold into slavery. Though there are tantalizing hints that the world was originally engineered by technologically advanced settlers, the heart of the story is in the characters: Gabriel is righteous and impatient, whereas Rachel is stubborn and proud, and you really feel for both of them. I loved the worldbuilding too, which features a multi-racial, multicultural landscape full of political and economic tensions, which also reflects the tension between the two main characters. I really liked the ending, which brought resolution to the relationship without compromising either character. Looking forward to the rest of the series (and also further explanation of how this world came to be).
Wild Magic, by Tamora Pierce
I introduced the kid to Pierce’s Song of the Lioness series; once he polished that one off, he attacked the next one and asked that I read it as well. Wild Magic begins the next quartet of books, this one focused on Daine, a girl who can speak with animals (though not necessarily convince them to do what she wants). Daine has a traumatic origin story, and Pierce does a good job handling her subsequent trust issues without ever making her into a victim.