Fiction

[rivkat]

John Scalzi, The Dispatcher: Murder by Other Means:

Comments

[ariss_tenoh]

The Witness for the Dead sounds interesting. Too bad it's still a pre-order but that gives me time to read the first book. Thanks for the review!

[ariss_tenoh]

PS: did you review the first book? The addison tag doesn't give another entry.

[rivkat]

Weird--I did review it, but the tags may have been screwed up.
Sarah Monette has changed her writing name for publishing reasons, but she’s still writing books I love to read. This one is about the despised half-goblin son of the elven emperor, who becomes emperor when everyone else in the line of succession is killed. He has to learn to navigate imperial politics, investigate the death of his father and older brothers, and choose an empress, among other pressing tasks. This is a satisfying turning-the-tables story, where the low become high; Maia is practically a saint and does not abuse his newfound power, even when he wants to, so it’s really easy to root for him. Way less sexual abuse than Monette’s Felix books (okay, that’s not saying much: women are expected to get married for dynastic reasons, as are men, but the men have somewhat more choice in the matter, and that’s as bad as it gets). Also the story is self-contained, so it is much less of an investment. Recommended!

[ariss_tenoh]

Thank you!

Ah, it's Sarah Monette. I liked a collection of short stories she did but not her longer novel series. It will be interesting to see if her writing style has changed.