Second in the Monk and Robot series: Tea monk Dex and their robot buddy Mosscap continue their journeys together, both through human villages and through their internal motivations. The first book was about the characters but also worldbuilding; with the worldbuilding established, the second book concentrates almost entirely on the characters. Mosscap’s quest is to ask what humans want, but begins to ask itself: what information is it really looking for? And what role can Dex find for themselves along the way?
Tag: length-novella
Shades in Shadow and The Awakened Kingdom, by N.K. Jemisin
These short works expand on Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy, and should definitely not be read by those unfamiliar with the series. Shades in Shadow is a triptych of short stories, each exploring the origin story of a specific character: who they are, and who they decide to be. The Awakened Kingdom takes the same theme but goes much more into detail, from the point of view of a newborn godling. Even though there’s sometimes a lot of action in the stories, the feel of them is very quiet and meditative; most of the actual change takes place inside the characters.
The Penelopiad, by Margaret Atwood
Novella, the Odyssey story told alternately by Penelope and by a Greek chorus of maids (Odysseus and his son hanged twelve maids upon their return, for “disloyalty”). I loved the alternate perspectives and how each narrator defended their own versions of the tales, as well as the biting calling-out of double standards as relating to sex and class. Really great read.
Warping Minds and Other Misdemeanors, by Annette Marie, read by Iggy Toma
The main character is one of my favorite tropes, the snarky criminal with a good heart, who is forced to work with the police to stop an even worse crime. Great one-liners and snappy comebacks, good handling of tension throughout. Toma’s voice was perfect for the character, though I’m not a huge fan of using falsetto to voice the very strong female characters.
A Damsel and a Demigod, by Annette Marie, read by Nelson Hobbs
Side novella for the Guild Codex series. Frankly not very good; the supposed master strategist character makes a chain of questionable decisions, and although for this genre I don’t mind love stories that come out of nowhere, I really did hate how poorly the guy used his magical electricity powers. I could have done so much better! Even so, Hobbs did a great job with the audio reading, and Marie’s snarky, snappy dialogue was still a fun time.
The Jade Setter of Janloon, by Fonda Lee, narrated by Andrew Kishino
Prequel novella to the Green Bone series, about a jade setter’s apprentice who chafes at his master’s conservative neutrality. Naturally there is way more going on beneath the surface of this story, which touches on how law enforcement must operate in an environment run by what are essentially superpowered mobs, as well as how bit players find ways to survive. Great reading by Kishino, who did an amazing job portraying both Green Bone thugs and quietly powerful Clan Pillars.
Point of Knives, by Melissa Scott
Novella in the world of Astreiant, set after Point of Hopes. Honestly I wasn’t impressed with this one either, may abandon the series despite its easy availability at the library. After their meet-cute in the first novel, the two main characters have taken up with each other with no fanfare whatsoever; their cop-vs-criminal role conflict is given barely a mention and once again the author seems more concerned with setting the scene than telling the story.
Stone Speaks to Stone, by Victoria Goddard
Novella, book (as the author says) 1.5 of Greenwing and Dart, though I liked having read it between 3 and 4; it fits a lot better there. This one is about Mad Jack Greenwing, Jemis Greenwing’s father, and details his heroics during one part of the war. I liked how Jack’s actions were unquestionably brave, but his internal narration made it clear how much effort it took for him to put himself in danger, knowing he had a wife and young son back home.
Fugitive Telemetry, by Martha Wells
Back to novella length for Murderbot, a nice compact mystery. Murderbot is currently adjusting to Preservation, a place where humans and bots live alongside one another and bots are granted a certain amount of autonomy and free will when sponsored by humans; however, the people of Preservation (particularly the security personnel) are understandably unenthused about granting those freedoms to an armed and (presumably) dangerous security enforcement bot. Murderbot isn’t terribly interested in trying to win them over, either, or in being some human’s pet bot. However, when a dead body turns up, both Security and Murderbot are interested in finding the killer; it’s great to see them try to combine their resources and work together. Murderbot’s narration is priceless as usual; I love how piercingly observant it is of other humans, set against how determinedly it refuses to analyze its own reactions.
Where the Drowned Girls Go, by Seanan McGuire
Seventh(?) in the Wayward Children series, this one is less about any one particular child’s journey than about the doorway universe as a whole, which weakens the (usually stellar) character work even as it lays the groundwork for further stories. The insertion of a couple of the characters into the “evil” school counterpart is a bit contrived, but you could tell McGuire wanted to explore the concept of the other school and what made it tick; I’m sure we’ll come back and explore it in following books.