Month: February 2023

book collage, February 2023

book cover collage for February 2023; titles and authors below

Slaying Monsters for the Feeble, by Annette Marie, read by Cris Dukehart
Nettle & Bone, by T. Kingfisher
Druid Vices and a Vodka, by Annette Marie, read by Cris Dukehart
Dinners with Ruth, by Nina Totenberg
Hunting Fiends for the Ill-Equipped, by Annette Marie, read by Cris Dukehart
Why We Swim, by Bonnie Tsui
Becoming, by Michelle Obama
Notes from the Burning Age, by Claire North
The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories, by Jamil Jan Kochai
Lost Talismans and a Tequila, by Annette Marie, read by Cris Dukehart and Teddy Hamilton
Angelica, by Sharon Shinn
Rogue Ghosts & Other Miscreants, by Annette Marie and Rob Jacobsen, read by Iggy Toma
Bloodmarked, by Tracy Deonn
Damned Souls and a Sangria, by Annette Marie, read by Cris Dukehart
The Shuddering City, by Sharon Shinn

The Shuddering City, by Sharon Shinn

This standalone book is full of characters keeping secrets from each other, so as a reader you start off a bit in the dark as well. It’s one of those sci-fi books where the science is so far in the past that it might as well come off as fantasy. The city in question is Corcannon, which is experiencing earthquakes of increasing frequency and intensity; as the seemingly unrelated characters pursue their separate goals, you slowly get the feeling that some kind of creepy “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” vibe is going on in the background. I found the ending a bit deus ex machina, but Shinn makes it work, and her character work is stellar as usual.

Damned Souls and a Sangria, by Annette Marie, read by Cris Dukehart

Triumphant and satisfying conclusion to the adventures of Tori the human bartender, who finds family and friends in the mythic world. One of my favorite things about this series is that although stakes get higher and more tense throughout, as is standard in urban fantasy (see: Dresden Files, October Daye), main character Tori doesn’t really level up along with it, except emotionally. She doesn’t ever become magical like her friends, though they do occasionally provide her with cool toys; instead (and this is going to sound trite but I promise it works) she learns over and over again that her real strength is her faith in herself and in her friends. (A ridiculous number of whom are incredibly hot. I’m just saying.) Anyway, this series was a really fun ride and so well done, and I’m really happy with the ending to Tori’s part.

Bloodmarked, by Tracy Deonn

For some reason I thought going into this book (sequel to the excellent Legendborn) that it would be the second of a duology, and that everything would be wrapped up with a tidy bow at the end. Haha, joke’s on me. In true YA form, this one winds our poor teenage protagonists into a fever pitch of angst and then drops a giant emo bomb before ending on yet another massive reveal that changes everything. Overall, I thought this book was a fun read; I like how the characters unhesitatingly call each other out for bad behavior, and how the themes of slavery and racism remain front and center of both the plot and the magic structure. That said, I found the plot a bit less focused than the first book; a lot of new elements were introduced that I may not remember by the time the next book comes out, and even though protagonist Bree retains all her sass and fire, she still comes off as very passive in this installment.

Rogue Ghosts & Other Miscreants, by Annette Marie and Rob Jacobsen, read by Iggy Toma

Book 3 of the “Warped” sub-series of Marie’s Guild Codex, this installment features some character growth from rookie agent Kit Morris, helped along by his long-suffering partner and a surprise guest from the main series. Kit’s narration is priceless as usual, full of hilarious one-liners, and Toma hits the perfect irreverent tone for the narration. Pretty good tie-in back to the main series at the end of the book, as well.

Angelica, by Sharon Shinn

Shinn’s Samaria series has always had a sort of unspoken communication with the reader: savvy sci-fi readers quickly catch on that “Jovah” is an AI satellite tasked with protecting the population on the planet, said population including genetically-engineered winged “angels” able to soar into the sky and sing coded communications to Jovah asking for anything from weather intercessions to dropped deliveries of medication. But in this installment, mysterious aliens arrive on Samaria dealing random destruction and death, and the populace (not knowing what the reader knows) has no idea how to deal with the problem. Shinn takes advantage of the reader’s knowledge of sci-fi space wars without having to explain anything, letting us enjoy the characters’ journey towards understanding, while juggling love and politics as well. One thing I haven’t been gushing over enough in this series is the description of how perfect it feels to sing harmonies and accompaniments with other wonderful singers and different types of voices; it’s really beautifully described and makes me wish that I could be singing with the characters.

Lost Talismans and a Tequila, by Annette Marie, read by Cris Dukehart and Teddy Hamilton

At this point in Marie’s urban fantasy series (book 7 of the Spellbound series, but 15th? in the main storyline), we’ve reached the point where there’s no point in explaining anything and you’d probably better read the preceding 14 or so books first. I will just say that since the events of this book overlap with the previous one (from another character’s viewpoint), some of the urgency is muted; you know that most of the characters survive and therefore you’re not really stressed for them. That said, very impressed by Marie’s worldbuilding and plotting as she brings together elements introduced several books ago. I was a little put off by Teddy Hamilton’s reading; he did a perfectly good job but he wasn’t Dukehart and didn’t use her voice for the character. I found myself lingering over the ways they said words differently, and was relieved every time she took over the narration again.

The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories, by Jamil Jan Kochai

This is a series of interrelated short stories, and as the collection title promises, they are haunting. The main set of characters is a family of Afghan refugees who have settled (with varying degrees of success) in California, and how they are haunted by the trauma of the war that drove them from their home. The stories are written with a wide variety of styles and structures, some more approachable than others; however, they hang together incredibly well as a collection and together illustrate many dimensions of the pain and loss felt by this family. Incredibly well done.

Notes from the Burning Age, by Claire North

This is dystopian fiction, a kind of anti-Becky Chambers vision of the future in which humanity destroys the world, understands why and how it was destroyed, and hurtles towards doing it again anyway. Narrator Ven once belonged to the priesthood, where he interprets and sorts data excavated from the past, from trivial information like selfies and pictures of food, to more dangerous and forbidden knowledge like political screeds and diagrams of nuclear weapons. This is a very show-don’t-tell book, and Ven keeps secrets from the reader as well as from the people around him. The book builds patiently, the postapocalyptic world drawn with gorgeous detail, while Ven sinks deeper and deeper into his own head as he tries to grasp the complexities of the people around him. For a long time I didn’t know where this book was going, and then about a third of the way through it got very compelling. Slow start, amazing finish.

Becoming, by Michelle Obama

For me, Michelle Obama’s memoir was a good mix of known and unknown: enough familiarity to resonate with my experiences, with enough differences to fascinate and educate me. I loved learning about her childhood, growing up aware of class differences but buttressed by a supportive family; I was in awe of her journey from Chicago’s South Side to the Ivy League and Biglaw; I sympathized with her struggles with work-life balance and search for career fulfillment, while keeping in mind what she owed to her roots and her family. I also loved seeing Barack through her eyes; her tolerance and affection was palpable through her voice in the audiobook. I could have used a little more of her perspective on the global events that happened during the Obama administration though; instead, she pointedly kept out of politics for the most part and concentrated the bulk of her narrative on her initiatives for child nutrition and her concerns about raising her daughters with as much normalcy as possible. The major awkwardness about this book is that although Michelle Obama is an impressive woman by any measure, at the end of the day she becomes defined by traditionally feminine roles: wife, and mother. She works with the title throughout the memoir, “becoming” first one thing and then another; as her husband retires from politics and her daughters grow into their own, she may find herself more free to transcend traditional roles.