11/52 Books
A day late for what are you reading Wednesday, but oh well.
A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow: I started reading this way back last summer, but then set it aside and sort of forgot about it in favor of other books. I finally finished it out of a rekindled desire to read a mystery and my slightly obsessive completism. A Cold Day for Murder is the first book in the Kate Shugak series, following Aleut detective Kate in far north Alaska. The Alaska setting is well-rendered, and it and the cast of idiosyncratic characters are the main draw. The clear-eyed look at Aleut life in Alaska is one of the book's main strengths. There were moments of this book that felt somehow really 90s to me, and overall I didn't fall in love with it, but it's a perfectly competent mystery with a great setting and interesting characters.
India Black (Madam of Espionage #1) by Carol K. Carr: I wanted something frothy and fun to read when I picked this book about brothel madam India Black getting caught up in spy shenanigans in late-1800s London. It is indeed a light read, all adventure and banter. The real impediment to my thoroughly enjoying the book was India's narration, which was chock full of demeaning pretty much every single other character who appeared on the page, particularly the women. There's a lot of calling women sluts, whores, bitches, bints, etc. in this book, and I did not like it, even if it wasn't really meant in a misogynist or mean-spirited way. India's narrative voice in general just didn't work for me, and I didn't like her much as a character. I did enjoy the banter and interaction between her and the mysterious French, an agent for the British government, but there just wasn't enough there to make me want to continue with this series.
The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin: An interesting and compelling fantasy set in a vaguely ancient Egypt inspired fantasy city-state called Gujaareh. Peace is the only law in Gujaareh, and priests of the goddess Hananja use magic to pull power from dreams to heal the people of Gujaareh, and to kill those judged corrupt. Ehiru is a Gatherer, one of the priests who kills and gathers the dream power from the dying and corrupt. He stumbles onto a conspiracy, and ends up racing to save Gujaareh from corrupt magic and war.
The worldbuilding here is fascinating and unique, sadly one of the only fantasy novels out there whose cast is almost entirely POC, being set as it is in a fantasy analogue of north Africa. I really liked the worldbuilding's attention to little details, like the beauty standard being for darker skin and the way the different cultures are portrayed as being so distinct in little things like speech and mannerisms. I found the book's pacing to be uneven and unsatisfying though, and couldn't get entirely invested in the characters and the plot. Still entirely worth a read though.
The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin: On the other hand, I was way more into the sequel to The Killing Moon. Set ten years after the events of The Killing Moon, it follows mostly different characters as they work to free Gujaareh and restore peace. I really liked one of the new characters, Hanani, the first female healer priest in Gujaareh. I also really came to like Wanahomen too, because he pushed some of my Zuko-related buttons (proud prince with a temper! sort of sweet at heart! single-minded and determined!). I still thought the pacing was a little off, mainly in the last third of the novel when it felt like everything was just a bit too rushed. But The Shadowed Sun intelligently addresses some of the conflicts and tensions from the first book, and deepens the worldbuilding further. A note though: sexual assault and abuse feature prominently in this book, though not at all in a torture porny or gratuitous way. This entry was originally posted at http://yasaman.dreamwidth.org/448357.html, with
comments there.
A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow: I started reading this way back last summer, but then set it aside and sort of forgot about it in favor of other books. I finally finished it out of a rekindled desire to read a mystery and my slightly obsessive completism. A Cold Day for Murder is the first book in the Kate Shugak series, following Aleut detective Kate in far north Alaska. The Alaska setting is well-rendered, and it and the cast of idiosyncratic characters are the main draw. The clear-eyed look at Aleut life in Alaska is one of the book's main strengths. There were moments of this book that felt somehow really 90s to me, and overall I didn't fall in love with it, but it's a perfectly competent mystery with a great setting and interesting characters.
India Black (Madam of Espionage #1) by Carol K. Carr: I wanted something frothy and fun to read when I picked this book about brothel madam India Black getting caught up in spy shenanigans in late-1800s London. It is indeed a light read, all adventure and banter. The real impediment to my thoroughly enjoying the book was India's narration, which was chock full of demeaning pretty much every single other character who appeared on the page, particularly the women. There's a lot of calling women sluts, whores, bitches, bints, etc. in this book, and I did not like it, even if it wasn't really meant in a misogynist or mean-spirited way. India's narrative voice in general just didn't work for me, and I didn't like her much as a character. I did enjoy the banter and interaction between her and the mysterious French, an agent for the British government, but there just wasn't enough there to make me want to continue with this series.
The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin: An interesting and compelling fantasy set in a vaguely ancient Egypt inspired fantasy city-state called Gujaareh. Peace is the only law in Gujaareh, and priests of the goddess Hananja use magic to pull power from dreams to heal the people of Gujaareh, and to kill those judged corrupt. Ehiru is a Gatherer, one of the priests who kills and gathers the dream power from the dying and corrupt. He stumbles onto a conspiracy, and ends up racing to save Gujaareh from corrupt magic and war.
The worldbuilding here is fascinating and unique, sadly one of the only fantasy novels out there whose cast is almost entirely POC, being set as it is in a fantasy analogue of north Africa. I really liked the worldbuilding's attention to little details, like the beauty standard being for darker skin and the way the different cultures are portrayed as being so distinct in little things like speech and mannerisms. I found the book's pacing to be uneven and unsatisfying though, and couldn't get entirely invested in the characters and the plot. Still entirely worth a read though.
The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin: On the other hand, I was way more into the sequel to The Killing Moon. Set ten years after the events of The Killing Moon, it follows mostly different characters as they work to free Gujaareh and restore peace. I really liked one of the new characters, Hanani, the first female healer priest in Gujaareh. I also really came to like Wanahomen too, because he pushed some of my Zuko-related buttons (proud prince with a temper! sort of sweet at heart! single-minded and determined!). I still thought the pacing was a little off, mainly in the last third of the novel when it felt like everything was just a bit too rushed. But The Shadowed Sun intelligently addresses some of the conflicts and tensions from the first book, and deepens the worldbuilding further. A note though: sexual assault and abuse feature prominently in this book, though not at all in a torture porny or gratuitous way. This entry was originally posted at http://yasaman.dreamwidth.org/448357.html, with
comments there.