Short story collection. Klages’ narrators are often (but not always) children, and she is absolutely aces at a child’s narrative voice: authoritative, secretive, with an eye for details often missed by adults; The Education of a Witch is a prime example. The stories don’t always have fantastical elements, but they often feel as if they could, even the ones firmly grounded in fact. I loved Mrs Zeno’s Paradox, which clearly grew from watching someone help themselves to just half of whatever piece of food is left, as well as Amicae Aeternum, in which two girls find a way for their friendship to survive separation and reach into eternity.
Category: quick reaction
The World We Make, by N.K. Jemisin
Sequel to The City We Became, this book shines with the same love of New York and its in-your-face attitude. The overall plot is a little less focused, mostly because Jemisin, having introduced a Big Bad, needs to find a way to a) explain its presence, and b) defeat it, which necessitates a certain amount of infodumping and handwaving. Although it’s all perfectly well executed, the events of the plot honestly feel like a distraction from the best parts of the book, which are the various incarnations of New York being extremely and wonderfully New York to one another and to the world at large. The antagonists are a bit cartoonish and flatly menacing (“Make New York Great Again,” Proud Men, etc), but honestly, I can’t deny that their real-world counterparts feel a bit like that in the real world as well.
The Golden Enclaves, by Naomi Novik
Triumphant conclusion (I think?) to Novik’s Scholomance series, this one following directly on the cliffhanger ending of the second novel. Grumpy heroine El, having found a way to rescue the entire student body from the deadly Scholomance, is consumed with guilt over the fate of her boyfriend Orion; however, she is reluctantly dragged back into action when she learns that monsters are threatening the protected enclaves of other magic-users. As she fights monsters while working on a way to rescue Orion, she uncovers deep secrets connecting the enclaves, Orion, and her own family history. Really impressive plotting, tying things together in unexpected ways, and the inevitable infodump filters entertainingly through El’s indignant viewpoint. Her character, which layers hostility and rudeness over a deep core of caring and righteousness, is delightful. (Actually, now that I think about it, she’s really just a teenage wizard Murderbot.) The interactions between the characters were good too. Very satisfying read.
The Overstory, by Richard Powers
This enormous tome was really two separate books, but with the same characters. The first is a collection of short stories, each about a character and how their story is tied to a tree; further stories are sometimes about the original character’s child or descendant, but the trees remain the heart of the stories. (The depiction of the blight of the American chestnut, and the steamrolling impact it had on American lives, is beautifully conveyed.) In the second part of the book, the stories of some (but not all) of the characters begin to converge, each in their own way moved to take action against humanity’s selfish, careless assault on nature. Although the writing was polished and beautiful, the overall book was very uneven for me; after the sharp focus of each of the introductory stories, the plot moved jerkily between the nine (!) protagonists’ viewpoints, staggering from one story to the next, eventually breaking off without really reaching a solid conclusion.
Stories of the Raksura vol. 2, by Martha Wells
The two stories in this collection are “The Dead City” and “The Dark Earth Below.” The first is a prequel, which is an interesting adventure but doesn’t honestly add much to Moon’s character that we don’t already know about; we see yet again that he is slow to trust but quick to defend. The second deals with a threat to the neighbors of Indigo Cloud that coincides with Moon and Jade’s first clutch being born; the tension is kept high by Moon’s parenting issues and the real danger being presented by the attackers.
Stories of the Raksura vol. 1, by Martha Wells
The two stories in this collection are “The Falling World,” in which Moon has to mount a rescue party when Jade disappears; and “The Tale of Indigo and Cloud,” about the founders of Jade and Pearl’s court. In the world of the Raksura, queens are the biggest and baddest, with the biggest teeth and claws, so touchy that negotiations between courts are carefully ritualized dances of insult calibrated to fall just shy of actual violence; their counterparts, the male consorts, are expected to be more docile and nurturing, and find their way through negotiation and diplomacy. The first story explored the delicacy of the power balance in Indigo Cloud, and I liked seeing how everyone had to balance their desire for stability against their need to go after Jade; the second story was my favorite, as it was all about people trying their best to do the right thing without falling afoul of politics and the Raksura version of honor.
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, by Axie Oh
The title is pretty, but should really reference the girl who jumped into the sea. Every year a beautiful woman is sacrificed to pacify the Sea God, whose storms ravage the villages; this year, the woman selected to be the Sea God’s bride is Shim Cheong, beloved of Mina’s brother. In anger and indignation, Mina throws herself into the sea in Shim Cheong’s place. Once in the spirit world, she finds unlikely allies who help her tell the gods exactly what she thinks of their neglect of humanity’s prayers. Mina’s narrative voice is wonderful, and the story moves along well.
Gallant, by V.E. Schwab
Spooky and atmospheric. Olivia, who cannot make sounds and has to communicate through sign language, is being raised at an orphanage for girls; she has nothing of her parents except her mother’s old diary. Unexpectedly, a letter arrives inviting her to her ancestral home of Gallant, a place her mother’s diary explicitly warns her against visiting. Of course she goes anyway, and uncovers deep dark family secrets. Although the writing is beautiful and creepy, the plot itself is fairly straightforward and predictable; the one little twist was the identity of Olivia’s father, which I thought was a nice touch. None of the characters grow or change much as they march through this gothic tale; the point is to defeat the monster, not to explore anyone’s inner development.
For All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula for the World’s Favourite Drink, by Sarah Rose
History, an absolutely fascinating look at the lengths the British went to in order to gain access to Chinese tea, and the ways in which tea made empire possible. The story is centered around Robert Fortune, a real life frontier botanist employed by the East India Company, who (despite internal wrangling within the Company as well as within the botanist world) ventured deep into the hinterlands of China and smuggled out tea plants and seeds to the rest of the world, breaking China’s monopoly. Rose also uses Britain’s tea trade as a jumping-off point to explore colonization, opium, and how tea made empire possible. My favorite quote: “What the world has sought when it sips a cup of tea is a mild effect, a high with neither lift nor letdown, a calming alertness, a drink of moods. What Fortune found in Wuyi Shan was Britain’s reigning temper: the thrill to conquer, but politely.”
Honey & Spice, by Bolu Babalola
Sassy, delightful rom-com. Undergrad Kiki, smart and cynical, runs a radio show encouraging women to stand up to toxic masculinity… which is why it’s problematic when she’s seen kissing Malakai, one of the more notorious players on campus. When she tries to figure out how she can finagle her relationship with him to best protect her image, she finds him to be unexpectedly helpful. The characters trade brilliant barbs and snappy comebacks at a dizzying pace, and although the story follows a very typical romance arc, it also manages to explore themes of race, identity, self-image, public image, and friendship along the way. Super fun.