Grumble, mumble, where am I in this?
Oh, right, I got caught up to Liar.
39-41. Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
Set in Fantasy!Russia, which is not a setting I've seen too often. This series was all kinds of wonderful. I'd finished the second book, but hadn't yet started the third when a bit of kerfuffle happened over on Leigh Bardugo's blog, with a reader accusing her of adding unnecessary lesbianism to the third book for the sake of political correctness, which mostly made me sad that the third book wasn't in the library when I went to get the second, and also made me want to plop the person who sent Leigh Bardugo that comment down in the middle of Smith College so I could time how long it took their head to explode. (For the record, I went to get the second book as soon as humanly possible after reading the first.)
42. 45 Pounds, More or Less by Kelly Barson
Mostly picked this up because Sharyn November was collecting the covers of books she'd edited in a Facebook gallery, and I'd decided to see how many I could easily find and read in the library. It hit me right in the "leftover teenaged trauma of being shorter than mom and a lot heavier" feels.
43. Going Bovine by Libba Bray
The structure was interesting. I'm still trying to decide how I feel about the contents. A decent read, I guess?
44. Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl
A somewhat ridiculous take on the "noble girl needs to marry for money" genre. Or rather, the main character was very aware of how ridiculous the things happening around her are.
45-47. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Days of Blood and Starlight, and Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor
I'm pretty sure I've talked about the first two before, but I figured I'd group them together to talk about the series as a whole, now that I've read it all. Which... I'm not entirely sure what to say about it, to be honest. I loved some bits and was meh on others and the end of the third book left me wanting more story. I'd like to put a warning for bodily harm on the second book and a warning for "if you're a woman in a STEM field you are going to spend some part of this book enraged" on the third book. Zuzana and Mik bring me much joy.
48-49. The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
I have no idea why I decided to start reading these books before the third one came out. Or heck, before the series ended. Really, I should have stopped and waited for the rest of them to become real books after reading the first one, but I clearly had no idea how bad the itch of UNRESOLVED PLOTLINES EVERYWHERE would get.
50. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Yes please tell me more about the bloody races this small island town runs every year with people on kelpies this is wonderful.
51. Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale
Kinda wish I'd re-read the original Princess Academy book before reading this one, because it's been a while. Also, this book is full of ridiculously optimistic politics.
52. Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay
Science fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with the roles of Beauty and Beast somewhat reversed, with Beauty being the one who is holding the Beast captive.
53. The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson
Another book with an interesting idea (a planet that regularly gets pelted with asteroids that contain debris from other worlds), but somehow lacking heart. One of the main characters can only be described as "baby River Tam". Seriously. Every time this character opened her mouth, River Tam came out.
54. Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Cool idea (main character is recruited to be a Spinster, one of those who works the weave of the world and can thereby manipulate reality), cool enough that I started reading the second book in the series, but eventually I gave up because there was so much misogyny, both in the world and internalized by the main (female) character, and I just wasn't in the mood to deal with that shit.
55. A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
Sci-fi retelling of Sleeping Beauty, mostly focused around her trying to cope with the changed world and also the horrible abuse that was her parents sticking her in stasis every time having her around was too much trouble. I'd heard about this book at some point in the past (I think before it came out) and had put it on my mental list of books I wanted to read, but had forgotten the name, and something reminded me of it and had me glancing over the titles in the teen section in search of it for a couple of weeks until this title popped out at me, as if to say "here's the thing you were looking for, aren't libraries magical?"
Yes, yes they are.
56. The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles De Lint, illustrated by Charles Vess
One of the sort of fairy tales where every attempt to put things right makes things go a little more wrong. Also, thank you Neil Gaiman. I can never again read the name Aunt Nancy without leaping to the obvious conclusion about that character.
I've got one more photograph of library books, and then I am done with this lengthy recounting of library books read since last I posted regularly. Until I decide to recount the e-books read in that time period, which includes an awful lot of Georgette Heyer.
39-41. Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
Set in Fantasy!Russia, which is not a setting I've seen too often. This series was all kinds of wonderful. I'd finished the second book, but hadn't yet started the third when a bit of kerfuffle happened over on Leigh Bardugo's blog, with a reader accusing her of adding unnecessary lesbianism to the third book for the sake of political correctness, which mostly made me sad that the third book wasn't in the library when I went to get the second, and also made me want to plop the person who sent Leigh Bardugo that comment down in the middle of Smith College so I could time how long it took their head to explode. (For the record, I went to get the second book as soon as humanly possible after reading the first.)
42. 45 Pounds, More or Less by Kelly Barson
Mostly picked this up because Sharyn November was collecting the covers of books she'd edited in a Facebook gallery, and I'd decided to see how many I could easily find and read in the library. It hit me right in the "leftover teenaged trauma of being shorter than mom and a lot heavier" feels.
43. Going Bovine by Libba Bray
The structure was interesting. I'm still trying to decide how I feel about the contents. A decent read, I guess?
44. Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl
A somewhat ridiculous take on the "noble girl needs to marry for money" genre. Or rather, the main character was very aware of how ridiculous the things happening around her are.
45-47. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Days of Blood and Starlight, and Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor
I'm pretty sure I've talked about the first two before, but I figured I'd group them together to talk about the series as a whole, now that I've read it all. Which... I'm not entirely sure what to say about it, to be honest. I loved some bits and was meh on others and the end of the third book left me wanting more story. I'd like to put a warning for bodily harm on the second book and a warning for "if you're a woman in a STEM field you are going to spend some part of this book enraged" on the third book. Zuzana and Mik bring me much joy.
48-49. The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
I have no idea why I decided to start reading these books before the third one came out. Or heck, before the series ended. Really, I should have stopped and waited for the rest of them to become real books after reading the first one, but I clearly had no idea how bad the itch of UNRESOLVED PLOTLINES EVERYWHERE would get.
50. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Yes please tell me more about the bloody races this small island town runs every year with people on kelpies this is wonderful.
51. Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale
Kinda wish I'd re-read the original Princess Academy book before reading this one, because it's been a while. Also, this book is full of ridiculously optimistic politics.
52. Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay
Science fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with the roles of Beauty and Beast somewhat reversed, with Beauty being the one who is holding the Beast captive.
53. The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson
Another book with an interesting idea (a planet that regularly gets pelted with asteroids that contain debris from other worlds), but somehow lacking heart. One of the main characters can only be described as "baby River Tam". Seriously. Every time this character opened her mouth, River Tam came out.
54. Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Cool idea (main character is recruited to be a Spinster, one of those who works the weave of the world and can thereby manipulate reality), cool enough that I started reading the second book in the series, but eventually I gave up because there was so much misogyny, both in the world and internalized by the main (female) character, and I just wasn't in the mood to deal with that shit.
55. A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
Sci-fi retelling of Sleeping Beauty, mostly focused around her trying to cope with the changed world and also the horrible abuse that was her parents sticking her in stasis every time having her around was too much trouble. I'd heard about this book at some point in the past (I think before it came out) and had put it on my mental list of books I wanted to read, but had forgotten the name, and something reminded me of it and had me glancing over the titles in the teen section in search of it for a couple of weeks until this title popped out at me, as if to say "here's the thing you were looking for, aren't libraries magical?"
Yes, yes they are.
56. The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles De Lint, illustrated by Charles Vess
One of the sort of fairy tales where every attempt to put things right makes things go a little more wrong. Also, thank you Neil Gaiman. I can never again read the name Aunt Nancy without leaping to the obvious conclusion about that character.
I've got one more photograph of library books, and then I am done with this lengthy recounting of library books read since last I posted regularly. Until I decide to recount the e-books read in that time period, which includes an awful lot of Georgette Heyer.