wickedwords

 I haven't managed to do my book list, but I have read around 29 books so far this year -- so much more than I planned. I'm loving my library ebooks this year.  I've grouped them by interest.  No real reviews on them, but happy to discuss anything I've read. Plus my cat refuses to let me do a cut tag.

I finished up several books over the last couple of months, in part because I finally retired and we took a long train trip to the Grand Canyon, (which was amazing!) I think I', going to have to break the books into two groupings, as I read a lot more than I expected.

#21: Storm of Locusts (The Sixth World #2) by Rebecca Roanhorse
I enjoyed this book but didn't love it as much as I did the first one, which I have to admit is a pattern with me. Probably due to the way the universe is widened out to encompass more post-apocalypse societies, while the main relationship and main culture from the prior book stayed in the background. Still a good action plot and good characters and world building, but in expanding the world, I missed seeing more about relationship fallout from book one.

#22: Sapphire Flames (Hidden Legacy #4) by Ilona Andrews
Sapphire Flames is interesting because it shifts the series protagonist to the second of a set a sisters, rather than either of the main characters for the first set of these novels. Still a romance, with a young protagonist and her more experienced love interest, and still very light in tone despite the body count. Interesting contrast to storm of locusts, as this book doesn't try to widen the universe really, just dig in to more detail about the way the world works. Still Houston, still genetic magic, same family trying to make ends meet, but very different problems. Also I have a completely made up slash pairing in this universe, and I got a whole arm touch between the two of them, which made me happy.

#23: Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles #1) by Kevin Hearne

Wow. Yeah. This was recommended to me as 'like the Dresden novels', and while I can see the same types of patterns in it that match up between the two series, this one doesn't even bother with terrible relationship building and even try to do anything with the female characters, other than strip them and have sex with them right away. Plus I really want a better term for 'authorial wish fulfillment/fantasy so strong that it lights up every chapter in the book and makes me uncomfortable', but I don't have one. Just...No.

As that catches me up to where I was before my train trip started, I'll stop there.  I still have so many books to read!

#15 On a Red Station, Drifting (The Universe of Xuya)#16 The Tea Master and the Detective  (The Universe of Xuya)Yes, absolutely Holmes and Watson, and I adored this one.  I loved the mystery and the two characters, one human and one a mind ship, plus I got to see a different aspect of the Xuya universe.  Loved the story and character background, the depth, and the way the plot and characterizations unfolded.  I think it earns all of the accolades it has received.

 #10 - Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More (Captain Marvel (2014-2015))
So.  For the release of Captain Marvel, Amazon Prime gave out free copies of old collections for about a month or so.  As long as you picked it up before the limited time offer, it was yours! I decided on the first of the collection, and oh, the nostalgia.  If this was one that I had read before, I remembered nothing about it.  I loved the humor and the interaction with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the ethical quandaries stitched into it. Made me remember why I had loved the comic.

#11 - Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
Wow.  I mean. just. wow.  I was blown away by this novel.  My husband and I had been talking about the recent redefinition of plank's constant (as one does), to to see an entire mathematical / magical system that could be based on consensus definition and using that to build a science fiction universe was simply amazing.  Confusing, too, as the novel does drop you right into it at the beginning of the book, so you have to pick it all up on the way through, and some of the signposts are really hard to see.  Still, I was excited by the way the author played with my gender assumptions and the religious hierarchy and a huge amount of political machinations that take generations to play out and no wonder I found it utterly absorbing.  Reading the book is as much a puzzle for the reader as the plot is for the characters, and I really enjoyed the thinky-ness of that. 

7) That Ain't Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire

While in theory this is book eight of the Incryptid series, there are several short stories and a complete separate series  (The Ghost Roads) that intermingle with the main thread about the adventures of the Price family siblings: Andrew, Verity, and Antimony.  Ihis is the last of Antimony's turn as narrator, at least for awhile. Which is sad, as I really enjoy her style.  I love pop culture references, and I love all the roller derby references. (I had a friend who was in Rat City Roller Girls for awhile so the jargon is familiar to me and made me happy to see.)

The story itself isn't the clearest along the main plot line.  I do love the fast pace as so it onto the next thing before I have a chance to really think about what's happening; that pace, the dialogue, and the found family aspect of it are the top sells for me.  I particularly like the scooby team in this one, as they are still in their learning about each other and learning relationships phase. it's not the strongest of the series, but  I love that the main team it is composed primarily of non-human incryptids, rather than it being family based. It really helps bring home how much of an outsider Antimony feels like within her own family and humanity in general, while still wanting to bring in someone else who doesn't have the same sense of support from her family as she had from hers.  

Wow. Sunday. I promised a friend at Escapade that I would try to post more, even if it was simply a list of what I have been reading. For those that don't know, my current contract has really been draining me, and I am working on getting through the days until this one is done. That's June 1st, and time will crawl on my way there. But there is an end date, and it's less than three months now, and that is a lovely thing.

I did finally have a chance to read some books this past week -- all of them e-novellas -- and it was incredibly indulgent to be able to read so much because I was traveling. I've got another 5 or 6 ebooks, plus another 5 paperbacks, set aside for when the contract is done. I plan to spend my first month after this reading, gardening, walking or cycling, and watching netflix. I think that's the way I'll spend my second month too.

So, onto the books:
1) Kingdom of Needle and Bone by Mira Grant.
I love a good pandemic novel, and this one is cool in that it ties the current measles epidemic into a larger pattern that will eventually lead to immune system disorders for everyone! I think it suffered a bit from all the zombie apocalypse stuff I've read, as narrative felt like a chapter in World War Z, which meant that the twist at the end wasn't really a twist for me, and I was a little disappointed at the abrupt ending. Over all though, good science, great characters, nice plotting, and solid worldbuilding. 

2-5) The Hexworld Series by Jordan Hawk (Hexbreaker,Hexmaker,Hexslayer,Hexhunter)
Right before Escapade, Amazon gave me a deal on the series, so how could I say no?  I liked the series a lot, with the type of like I have for some really good fanfic in a universe I don't have a pre-existing, in-depth relationship with.  The romances felt familiar - very comfortable, archetypal slash -- with frequent, regular sex scenes that I usually skipped. (I did read the ones that spoke to my kinks, as I am never going to pass on that.)  I was intrigued by the universe, and would loved to have dug into that even more.  The world built up bit by bit and story on top of story, and there's just some terrific work there laying the foundations of how society grew around this witch and familiar relationship.  At the same time, I'm not sure that universe was well-served in nailing it so solidly in Modern day history.  I feel like all of the historical detail and facts sorta prevented the growth of the social underpinnings that made the universe so cool too me.  I ripped through all 4 of these in only a couple of hours each, so the action, adventure, and plot were a real thumb's up.  Real page turners of paranormal historical gay romance.