Book Log

Our Bloody Pearl

• D. N. Bryn (Fantasy, Indie?)
• Sampled 1/8/2022. Amazon Preview. Not interested.
• 1P. Humans are bad. “I” [Perle] am some form of marine species with gills [a “siren”], locked on a human ship on the ocean. It’s attacked. It’s boarded. The bad human captain flies away on a steampunky flying dinghie. The attackers are also humans, but they are nice humans, feeding Perle, shockingly. There’s witty banter between the two nice humans. Perle is fed eviscerated human entrails by the nice humans, because that’s what Perle likes to eat. It’s delicious. The nice humans apparently hate humans just as much as the sirens, and have no moral boundaries preventing them from eviscerating bad humans to feed sirens. The nice humans help Perle. Perle doesn’t trust them. They must be up to something. Humans are all bad. Perle rebukes them repeatedly in siren language, but doesn’t resist. Thoughts: Not much characterization, just stuff happening, the only real hook is the reversal and subversion of “normal” tropes. To be fair, it’s among the higher quality of indie material I’ve seen, but it definitely seems to be pandering to an audience that isn’t me. One chapter, DNF.

Fated (2012)

• Benedict Jacka (Urban Fantasy, Ace)
• Sampled 1/8/2022. Amazon Preview. Not interested.
• 1P. First Line Syndrome. The first scene sounds literally identical to the first scene in Hounded, guy runs an Arcana Emporium shop in London, selling fake magic stuff to kids, but some of it’s real magic stuff, because he’s a real mage. He gets a call from Luna who has Some Inciting Incident Problem. Looks like another from that explosion in popularity of Urban Fantasy a while back, all basically the same, and written in the same way–ie. The Dresden Files. I feel like I’ve seen enough of these to last a lifetime. Might be better as an audiobook, with a good reader. (It’s read by Gildart Jackson. He’s okay.) DNF.

Shadow of a Dead God (2020)

• Patrick Samphire
• Sampled 1/8/2022. Kindle Unlimited. Not interested.
• There is technically a publisher but since I’ve never heard of them and they don’t seem to have a web site I’m going to go ahead and put this in the Indie category. 1P. Cliche writing and filler words. Reads like a blog post. Needs an editor. “I,” a mage, am looking for ghosts. Benny shows up at “my” apartment with a job to get a thing in a forbidden place. Seems like a Dresden Files knock-off. Know nothing about the main character, no name, gender, age, species, planet of origin, hobbies, goals, nothing, except they are a “mage.” One chapter, DNF.

The Girl and The Stars (2020)

• Mark Lawrence (Fantasy, Ace)
• Sampled 1/8/2022. Amazon Preview. Not interested.
• First Line Syndrome. Prologue. A baby is born and it’s a bad omen. Mercifully short–I hate prologues. Young kids in the snow talking about a “testing.” Yaz pining for a boy Quell. Strong arctic tribal identity. The tribe begins a forced march, Yaz can’t keep up, but uses hidden magic to boost her endurance. Quell says “I love you,” Yaz doesn’t say it back, feels bad (eyeroll). They arrive at the Pit of the Missing. A “regulator” senses Yaz’s magic, demands she go with them to Black Rock. Then the regulator tosses her useless little brother into the Pit (the “test” I imagine). Yaz feels responsible somehow. “It should have been me” yada yada. Plot twist, Yaz jumps after him. She lives, but she can’t go back up and has to jump down another hole and lands in water. Not bad per se, but starts as an undisguised formulaic Chosen One story. “You, kid, you’re special and now your world’s going to turn upside down” yada yada. Not seeing anything that would elevate this particular one above any other.

The Fifth Season (2015)

• N. K. Jemisin (Science Fiction, Orbit)
• Sampled 1/8/2022. Audible. Not interested.
• I already had this in my Audible library, and I’d already listened to the first 30 minutes some time in the past. I marked this “not interested,” but that’s a bit of a misnomer. It should have a separate category all to itself… a “set this aside and remember it for later when or if I have a full week of free time for this” category. The writing is beautifully rich and inventive, a rare second-person narrator voice, read extremely well by Robin Miles. It demands to be studied, not read, and requires a great deal of focus to process the linguistic gymnastics. For that alone, this book undoubtedly deserves all the accolades it’s received, and a second look (or third, in my case). But … the first chapter is entirely prologue and backstory, and it doesn’t introduce any characters or story or conflict to follow, it just introduces the reader to a world which seems only mildly interesting at first glance, but mostly it just introduces the reader to the style of the writing, so I felt no imperative to continue to the second chapter, even though I’m sure it, too, will be beautifully written. If I return to this book in the future –which I should, because it deserves such–I should just start at chapter two.

Ancillary Justice

• Ann Leckie (Science Fiction, Orbit)
• Sampled 1/6/2022. Audible, read by Celeste Ciulla. Not interested.
• 1P. Robot or android or something pretending to be human, helping someone who was injured. Lots of linguistic fussiness over gender pronouns when talking to aliens. Stuff happening. Interesting idea to do a first person narrative from an android but … no story no drama. Already had this on Audible because I think it was a Hugo nomination. One chapter. DNF.

Voice of War

• Zack Argyle (Indie Fantasy)
• Sampled 1/6/2022. Kindle Unlimited. Not interested.
• One couple (I can’t quite figure out who among these four characters Luther, Emory, Chrys, and Irieal) finds out their child has brown eyes in a ceremony, so they aren’t a “threadweaver,” and they’re disappointed. The other couple’s (third) child also apparently isn’t a threadweaver so, by some religious dogmatic law, has acid put in its eyes to blind it so it can become a priest because all priests are blind, and the couple is understandbly upset, even though they knew the risks of having a third child apparently? Then the woman in the first couple miscarries or something? I have no idea what’s happening here. A confusing firehose of baby-related drama. Less than a chapter, DNF.

Chronicles of the Black Gate

• Phil Tucker (Indie Fantasy)
• Sampled 1/6/2022. Kindle Unlimited. Not interested.
• (Ha I was about to give up after two paragraphs but then I realized I was reading the author’s forward.) Asho is a squire about to go into generic medieval Fantasy battle. A “Sin Caster” shows up and wipes out Asho’s side completely. Except Asho the Squire. Asho’s side orders a second attack wave, which is silly, because the first wave was destroyed to a man. So Asho decides to kill the Sin Caster by himself to save the day. One chapter, DNF.

Light Chaser

• Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell (Science Fiction, Tordotcom)
• Sampled 1/6/2022. Amazon Preview. Interested.
• Amahle drives her ship into a subgiant, dies, and creates a supernova. Carlomen, with her, assures her that her death will be quick and painless: He’s done it many times. The next chapter starts with Amahle buying a cat.

The Last Watch

• J. S. Dewes (Science Fiction, Tor Books)
• Sampled 1/5/2022. Amazon Preview. Not interested.
• First Line Syndrome. Cavalon gets an examination. Military bro banter. Cavalon meets the leader, Rake. She’s serious. He’s an annoying snarky prick. (Even used the word “snarky” in the book.) Rake gives the standard “you can’t do that here” speech. Cavalon gets even more childish. Cliche piled on cliche. DNF.

Childhood's End

• Arthur C. Clarke (Science Fiction, Del Rey)
• Sampled 1/5/2022. Audible, read by Eric Michael Summerer. Interested. Review
• Aliens arrive on Earth, and they seem friendly. (I already had this one in my Audible library, it was free at some point.)

The Stars Are Legion (2017)

• Kameron Hurley (Science Fiction, Saga/Gallery)
• Sampled 1/4/2022. Amazon Preview. Interested. Review
• Zan can’t remember anything except “throwing away a child”. She’s told she needs to assault “The Mokshi” to get her memory back, but she keeps failing and losing her squad, and she is the only survivor. She trains for the next attempt. Strange and mysterious.

Far From the Light of Heaven

• Tade Thompson (Science Fiction, Orbit)
• Sampled 1/4/2022. Amazon Sample. Interested. Review
• Shell (ie. Michelle) is traveling into space on a ship piloted by a chatty AI to get career experience. She sleeps for 10 years. Then something goes wrong. Fin, on planet Bloodroot, is sent to investigate what happened. He’s new to the job. It’s a murder mystery!

Shards of Earth

• Adrian Tchaikovsky (Science Fiction, Orbit)
• Sampled 1/4/2022. Amazon Preview. Interested.
• In the prologue, Solace watches as an “Intermediary” named Idris fights off an “Architect” from the bridge of a spaceship with some kind of mind powers, which turns the tide of the war. Later, Solace leads a diplomatic mission at Lune Station. Idris is detained as a fugitive. Well-written enough to continue, but dense and dry and, while the prologue was interesting, the rest isn’t yet.

Children of Blood and Bone

• Tomi Adeyemi (Indie Fantasy)
• Sampled 12/30/2021. Kindle Unlimited. Not interested.
• Zelie is training with Mama Agba. She fights another student. They’re interrupted by bullying soldiers collecting taxes. Zelie is rebellious, Mama Agba scolds her. One chapter, DNF.

The Cruel Gods

• Trudie Skies (Indie Fantasy)
• Sampled 12/30/2021. Kindle Unlimited. Not interested.
• “I” was late. Dru is with me. There’s an elevator. Missed a tram. Going to work. Living underground. Stuck in a queue. Stuff happening. Less than a chapter. DNF.

Artifact Space

• Miles Cameron (Science Fiction, Gollancz/Orbit)
• Sampled 1/4/2022. Amazon Sample. Not interested.
• “I” bluffs her way onto a military space ship, and she’s riddled with imposter syndrome. Stuff happening.

Seven Devils

• Laura Lam and Elizabeth May (Science Fiction, DAW)
• Sampled 1/4/2022. Amazon Sample. Not interested.
• Eris is on a killing rampage to get to a ship. Then she suddenly feels bad for killing someone. Clo is a Scottish-accented engineer working on some engines, when Eris shows up. Clo hates Eris. She even tells us so. Stuff happening.

Rosewater

• Tade Thompson (Science Fiction, Orbit)
• Sampled 1/4/2022. Amazon Sample. Not interested.
• “I” works at some job and she reads minds or personalities or something. Stuff happening.

Empire in Black and Gold

• Adrian Tchaikovsky (Fantasy, Tor)
• Sampled 10/29/2021. Audible, read by Ben Allen. Not interested.
• Don’t remember anything.

Traitor's Blade

• Sebastien de Castell (Fantasy, Jo Fletcher Books)
• Sampled 10/29/2021. Audible, read by Joe Jameson. Not interested.
• Don’t remember anything.

The Warded Man

• Peter V. Brett (Fantasy, Del Rey)
• Sampled 10/29/2021. Audible, read by Pete Bradbury. Not interested.
• Don’t remember anything.

A Memory Called Empire

• Arkady Martine (Fantasy, Tor Books)
• Sampled 9/10/2021. Audible, read by Amy Landon. Not interested.
• Don’t remember anything.