The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Spinning Silver Naomi Novik, 2018 Premise: Miryem's family was nearly starving until she took over her father's moneylending business. Irina may be the daughter of a duke, but she's not pretty enough to be a useful pawn. Wanda is the only person standing between her brothers and their drunken father. All three young women face marriage, and therefore, danger. Magic only complicates matters. This is a sister novel to Uprooted , in that it is a fantasy novel which takes inspiration from fairy tales (most obviously Rumplestiltskin) and emphasizes cultural traditions which are often neglected in commonly British-descended fantasy tropes. In this case, the country takes quite a bit from Eastern Europe, and Miryem and her relations are Jewish and face discrimination and danger because of this. I really liked so much about this book. I loved the three stories and the way they combined. I loved the use and reinterpretation of fairy-tale elements. I loved that tipping po...

An Unkindness of Ghosts Rivers Solomon, 2017 Premise: Aster lives in the bowels of the great ship Matilda. As a dark-skinned lowerdecker, she is constantly in danger from the people of higher classes who run the ship and the society. Then she discovers that an affliction suffered by the leader of the ship may have a connection to her mother's long-ago disappearance. This is a hard book to review for a lot of reasons. What's good about it is great, but what misses the mark for me personally threatens to derail the whole thing. The best part of this book was the worldbuilding, the characters, and the texture of the writing. I feel as though I could recognize any of these characters at a glance. I absorbed the brutality of the violence. I can picture the ship in all its complexity and horror. Most of the major characters are gender-fluid and/or LGBTQ and/or neuroatypical and/or suffering from severe trauma. Their complexity means that while they might not be "fun...

Princeless Books 1-3 (Save Yourself, Get Over Yourself, The Pirate Princess) Jeremy Whitley, et al., 2012, 2014, 2015 Read Harder Challenge 2018 - A comic that isn’t published by Marvel, DC, or Image Premise: Princess Adrienne can’t believe her father hired a dragon and stuck her in a tower. She’s had it with expectations and decides to save her sisters herself. I read the first arc of this book in issues back when it came out, and I had such fond memories of it that I picked up the first three collections. And it’s good, but my recollections were perhaps overly rose-colored. To sum-up: It’s got a great premise, but the execution is a bit rocky. The first issue and the first arc are fun overall, but a lot of the jokes rely on easy pot-shots at fantasy tropes or wordplay that’s only clever the first time. None of this is bad, just... one-dimensional, I guess? The plot meanders far too much. The first book is Adrienne getting out of the tower, heading home only to disco...

In Cold Blood Truman Capote, 1966 Read Harder Challenge 2018 - A book of true crime Premise: The true story of a multiple murder and its aftermath. True crime might be enjoying a recent popularity boost, but Capote’s classic is still one of the pinnacles of the genre. For this challenge, first I tried to read a more recent book, but I gave up under the weight of a well-researched but interminable narrative. This book, on the other hand, is tightly narrated and carefully structured to maintain emotional tension. Some responses to this “nonfiction novel” claim that not every bit of dialogue and nuance of character is truthful, but the research is clear to the reader without ever being overt. The various threads - the lives of the victims, the feelings of those left behind, and the psychology and history of the murderers - are skillfully interwoven to build a story with the kind of fully realized texture that is rare for any type of writing (fiction or non) to achieve. Much...

The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer Neal Stephenson, 1995 Hugo winner - 1996 Premise: In a world where people are bound together only by their philosophies and their nanotech, men try to control the future and girls raise themselves with the help of a special book. This isn't the worst Hugo-winning book I've read. That honor still belongs to Stand on Zanzibar. But this is one that I would not have finished reading if it weren't for this project. The beginning is very promising. Nanotech designer Hackworth is in an interesting position, faced with the puzzle of how to teach children raised in a wealthy coddled society to be innovators and leaders. His solution is The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, a "book" which operates as a highly advanced interactive teacher, using classical fairy tale tropes to encourage learning and independence. One copy of this book, smuggled into existence by Hackworth, intended for his own daugh...

Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles Mark Russell, Mike Feehan, et al., 2018 New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Premise: In the 1950s, anthropomorphic animals and humans alike struggle with McCarthyism, censorship, and homophobia. One flamboyant pink-furred playwright is caught between all three. Collects Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles #1-6 and the backup story from  Suicide Squad/Banana Splits Special #1 . I'm only passingly familiar with most of the Hanna-Barbera characters from this era, but I think this reimagining does some fascinating things by extrapolating out from basic character traits. The core is, of course, taking the extravagant and theatrical mannerisms of Snagglepuss and making him a closeted Southern playwright working in the style of Tennessee Williams. The whole piece has the heightened language and high melodrama that I associate with Williams' work, in fact. The story is...

The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler, 1953 Premise: Private investigator Philip Marlowe strikes up an odd friendship with Terry Lennox, the husband of a local socialite. When addiction, envy, wealth, and conspiracy cause murder and mayhem among the upper crust, Marlowe gets drawn into a social class where all that glitters is dross. I recently reread this book and was reminded how much I love it. I love the style. I love the careful word choices that evoke very specific images and provide subtle commentary on events. The characters are larger than life but still grounded enough to be believed. I love Marlowe. He’s not a great person, but he’s decent, and he has a particular moral code. Unfortunately for him, he’s just slightly too moral for the situations he finds himself in, which means he gets beaten up. By corrupt cops, by hired thugs, by gangsters... Marlowe takes a heck of a thrashing in this book and doesn’t get much in return. It’s occasionally of its time, although th...

2001: Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke, 1968 Read Harder Challenge 2018 - A classic of genre fiction Premise: An unknowable force is guiding humanity, and has been since the beginning. First, I’ve never actually seen the movie. However, I do know all the major beats, because it was basically impossible to grow up when I did and not know all the major beats - monolith and monkeys, I can’t do that, Dave, weird space baby. When I decided to read the book, I had no idea that the book and the movie were so closely related. So all that is to say that it’s impossible for me to come at this book with anything resembling a fresh perspective. Heck, I actually worked very briefly with Keir Dullea, who played Dave in the movie. (While I can’t blame anyone working on that troubled show for being cranky, that does give me an additional hang-up about this story.) Partially because of all that, I think this is my least favorite book I’ve read by Clarke. It isn’t bad, but it isn’t actuall...

To See the Sun Kelly Jensen, 2018 New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Premise: Outer colonies are the rough frontier, which might be why Bram never seems to meet anyone special. That is, until he sees Gael's profile on the interstellar matchmaking service. Gael would do anything to leave his planet; he knows it's foolish to also hope for love. I've been dipping further into romance and romance-adjacent books of late, so I I thought I'd give this LGBT sci-fi romance with the pretty cover a try. And the verdict is... it's fine. It's good even. Enjoyable, well-written, two main characters who fit around each other's quirks and grow to care for each other. The complications of the sci-fi setting are decently described and fun. But, it's also a trope-riddled cliche from top to bottom. We've got your mail-order bride, your fake relationship to escape possible slavery, your instant found famil...

The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham, 1951 Premise: Bill Masen wakes up, and something's wrong. He suspects that the plants have only been biding their time. I didn't know anything about this book when I picked it up; I just had an idea that it was classic science fiction. It turns out to be apocalyptic, vaguely sci-fi, and very British. The situation is: after an amazing visual display in the night sky, everyone who watched is struck blind. Society immediately crumbles, with groups of desperate blind people enslaving the few people who can see and small groups either fighting or banding together to try to rebuild. Our protagonist was undergoing a medical procedure, and so had his eyes covered. The most effective part of the book for me was the beginning when he's creeping around the half-deserted hospital, trying to figure out what happened. The situation is complicated by the presence of the triffids. Triffids are mobile plants which have a dangerous sti...

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score Cat Sebastian, 2018 Read Harder Challenge 2018 - A romance novel by or about a person of color Premise: Hartley Sedgwick risked everything to give his brothers the hand up their feckless father couldn't give them, but it backfires badly. His much-wished-for life as a gentleman is slowly killing him until he meets the kind and handsome pub owner Sam Fox. I've now read a few of Cat Sebastian's historical romances, but while I like them, I have not yet loved them. This one doesn't break the pattern. Then I recently saw this: I was like "oh come on I'm not angsty! I never angst! Except in Jackdaw obv, and A Seditious Affair, and Flight of Magpies...bit of angst in Spectred Isle...mph Unsuitable Heir...okay it's a fair cop." — KJ Charles (@kj_charles) July 14, 2018 The scale places Charles from "Medium Angst" to "So Tense I'm a Mess," and Sebastian from "Very Low Angst" to ...

Roverandom J. R. R. Tolkien, written between 1925 and 1937, published 1998 Read Harder Challenge 2018 - A book published posthumously Premise: A little dog is rude to a wizard and ends up exploring far-off lands. I didn’t know anything about this story heading into it, but the introduction gave me all the background I could want. Then said introduction kept going into much more exhaustive detail than I wanted about a story I hadn’t read yet, so I skipped half of it. The important background is that once upon a time, Tolkien was at the seaside with his family, and one of his sons lost a toy at the beach. He made up a story to mollify the boy, then expanded it into a charming little piece. However, it was not picked up for publication and then fell by the wayside once he had made his name as the writer of more serious works. The introduction frames it as a bridge between Tolkien’s other writing for his kids (like The Father Christmas Letters) and the Hobbit. I would actu...

The Henchmen of Zenda K.J. Charles, 2018 Premise: Romance and danger abound for hired blades when everyone has their own agenda and a throne is on the line. A retelling of The Prisoner of Zenda . At this point, a new book from KJ Charles is an auto-buy for me, although I did pause before reading to quickly catch up on the source material. The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) is a pulp adventure in grand old style, with a humorous if stuffy British protagonist who gets swept up in a scheme to save the king of a tiny fictional European country... by pretending to be him. Ironically, I had already read and enjoyed Double Star , which is a sci-fi retelling of the same. The language is fun and the characters largely enjoyable in their over-the-top melodramatics. The Henchmen of Zenda is the same story as told by one of the villain's hired soldiers-of-fortune, and it alleges that said British protagonist was a liar in several respects. It makes the politics more complicated and ...

Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children) Seanan McGuire, 2017 Premise: Prequel to Every Heart a Doorway . Jacqueline and Jillian had the kind of parents who shouldn't have children, so when they stumble into a place that offers them mentorship and protection, they take it...for better or worse. It's been just long enough since I read Every Heart a Doorway that I didn't fully remember the roles that Jack and Jill played in that story. I'm not sure whether it's better to read this with the knowledge of their future fates or without it. I actually think the way I accidentally did it might be best, where I slowly remembered the original over the course of reading the prequel. Either way, this is a novella about children whose parents try to force them into roles that don't fit, and how their relationships with themselves and others are screwed up because of it. Sure, their temperaments aren't helped by spending years of their childhoods in...

Mirror Dance (Vorkosigan Saga) Lois McMaster Bujold, 1994 Hugo winner - 1995 This is the third Vorkosigan novel that I've re-read specifically for the Hugo winners project, and once again, I'm surprised how much I discovered about this book by reading it in isolation from the rest of the series. I had thought this was a good book, but often on re-reading it I have sped through the beginning out of a sense of anticipation and awkwardness around knowing the more dramatic plot elements that were coming. After reading it with more care, I feel confident saying it's a fantastic book. This is a book deeply concerned with identity. On the obvious physical level, there are numerous mirrors. Both Miles and Mark see themselves in mirrors at the beginning, establishing their current statuses, tying their paths together, and calling back to their first encounter in Brothers in Arms. Mirrors and cameras, self-image and projected appearance all play critical roles in piv...

Island of the Mad (Mary Russell, Book 15) Laurie R. King, 2018 New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Premise: Sequel to The Murder of Mary Russell . Russell and Holmes are off again, this time in search of a friend's aunt who may have run from an asylum. This series continues to merely limp along, and yet, I can't quite walk away. At least this entry didn't have the problem that many of the recent books have shared (namely, that Russell wasn't the main character). It just has other problems. The bones of the story and the characters are good. Reintroducing Mary's friend Ronnie and her extended clan works well, and most of the early investigation about the whereabouts of the aunt is interesting. However, there's a huge digression early on which strained the bounds of my credulity too far. Russell does something quite dumb and dangerous to go undercover to get information which she could plausibly have ...

Remnant Population Elizabeth Moon, 1996 Read Harder 2018 Challenge: A book with a female protagonist over the age of 60 Premise: Ofelia is tired. Tired of living in a company colony, tired of expectations, tired of her son and daughter-in-law's attitudes about what older women should and shouldn't do. So when the company tells them they're shutting down and moving, she decides she's going to follow her heart for once, and stay on the planet alone. It's a mark of how compelling the setting and main character of this book are that I was bothered when it started to have a plot. Ofelia had just gotten some dang deserved peace and freedom, and now there was going to be a plot in this book? I was perturbed, honestly. It all turned out alright, though, because the plot is pretty great. This book isn't shy about what it's trying to say about social attitudes about curiosity, learning, freedom, and what (or who) is "useful," but it never feels...

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo Jill Twiss, illustrated by EG Keller, 2018 Read Harder 2018 Challenge: A one-sitting book Premise: John Oliver's prank on Mike Pence turned charitable-children's-book sensation.  Okay, we all know the very existence of this book is hilarious. If you didn't buy a copy, you might just be in the minority at this point. We had to wait a month for our copy because the publishers didn't print nearly enough for demand. However, did you also know it's adorable? It's sweet and wholesome and just overall like a warm hug. With soft, colorful illustrations and gently repetitive text, I'd say it's appropriate for any kids who are old enough to understand a book with a simple plot. There are a few allusions to the actual VP having a boring job, and the villainous stink bug who objects to our hero's happiness is obviously modeled off the same. However, these blend into the background, leaving you with a charming st...

All American Boys Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, 2015 Premise: Rashad and Quinn live in the same town and go to the same school, but they don't know each other. Then one is beaten by a police officer and the other sees it happen. The moral of this book is on the nose, and it wears that fact openly. It's intended for a YA audience and comfortable with that. Happily, the style was strong enough to carry me through the first half, and the ending works very well. It's presented in alternating chapters between the two boys' perspectives. Both boys felt concrete and realistic to me in their various obsessions, casual macho posturing, impatience with parents, etc. Rashad is a good student who had never been in trouble, so it's easy for the reader to see that he's the victim of profiling. Quinn's place in the story is the white kid who learns racism is not only real, it's affecting his community. However, although some of the authors' early...

Torn Roweena Miller, 2018 New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review. Premise: Sophie has worked hard to carve out a life for herself. Combining her hereditary skill in casting good luck charms with long training in sewing has eventually led to a somewhat successful shop of her own. Just when it seems that her work will be noticed by a higher class of customer, a group pushing for governmental reforms risks starting a riot that could engulf the city, and her own brother is leading the way. None of the themes dealt with in this book were groundbreaking or unique, but I don't know that I've ever read a fantasy novel that addresses them directly, and I really appreciated that. I really enjoyed the nuance and tension in this book. Everyone is complicated. No one knows everything or understands everything. It features a populist uprising in which neither the royalty nor the commoners are fully in the right. Even though I wa...

Usagi Yojimbo: Book 1: The Ronin, Book 2: Samurai Stan Sakai, 1987, 1989 Read Harder Challenge - A comic written and illustrated by the same person I'm sure I first saw the samurai rabbit as an action figure that went with my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in the 80s. I knew it was a long-running series, I knew it was acclaimed, and heck, I bought these two books off a sale rack without hesitation, but somehow I never sat down to read any before. After I caught a handful of excerpts online, though, it drifted up to the top of the to-read list. First, the mixed. The first book is a collection of the character's earliest appearances, and it shows; the writing is a bit abrupt here and there. The art is great overall, but occasionally it seems caught between styles - the writing and events follow a more serious dramatic tone, while the expressions of minor (often dying) characters evoke a "funny animal comic" look. (This is separate from the minor sight gag...

Parable of the Talents Octavia Butler, 1998 Read Harder 2018 Challenge: A sci-fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author Premise: Sequel to Parable of the Sower . Lauren Olamina tries to protect her growing family, her community, and the movement she hopes to foster, but the rest of the world isn't ready to leave them in peace. Oof. This was a hard read. I had to take a break several times. All of the content warnings on this one: rape, murder, and torture, including violence targeting women, LGBTQ people, and racial and religious minorities. Government-sanctioned religious extremism. A politician rising to power on xenophobia, sexism, racism, and a false nostalgia for the past. If it had been written today, people would say the parody was too on-the-nose and over the top. However, what troubled me the most wasn't any of that. The text of the novel is mostly drawn from the main character's diaries, but there's a framing device where each chapte...

Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers, Book 5) Rachel Aaron, 2018 Premise: Sequel to  A Dragon of a Different Color . The endgame has begun. Bob, seer of the Heartstrikers, faces the culmination of his final plan. In order to save the world from a Nameless End, Julius Heartstriker and Marci Novalli must rally all the dragon clans and the forces of human magic, but that might not be enough. This final book brings the series to a fairly satisfying conclusion. It’s maybe a tad too happy of an ending to have much weight, but it is still a lot of fun. The characters are as charming as they have been all along. All the factions we’ve met (along with some random red herrings) are here for the big finale, and everyone has a part to play. The only other criticism I have is that giving all of these characters their respective emotional arcs takes a lot of pages. A pretty significant chunk of the book is tense conversation in which everyone hashes out their various issues, riva...

The Three-Body Problem Cixin Liu, 2007, English translation Ken Liu, 2014 Hugo Winner - 2015 Read Harder Challenge - A book of genre fiction in translation Premise: Do you like trippy philosophy, complex morality, and lots of science in your sci-fi? Are you comfortable with that slight feeling of disconnection that can come with reading a translated work (even a really well-translated work)? Read it. I just found out that there's a lot given away in the standard descriptions of this book. I'm personally really glad that I knew nothing going in. That's not always my taste, often it's better for me to know roughly what to expect. (For example: if I'm in the mood for a light fantasy adventure, I'll be disappointed in a gritty medieval war story, but if I'm expecting a gritty medieval war story, I might be bored by a fairy tale retelling.) Sometimes a great author can get around your expectations, but I hardly ever have the patience for a book t...

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, Book 1) Martha Wells, 2017 Premise: All Murderbot wants is to be left alone to watch tv. Unfortunately, if it doesn't want its free will to be discovered, it still has a job to do, and someone's trying to kill the people it's supposed to protect. This was an absolute delight. Going in, I thought was that this was a novella from the point of view of a killbot. What I found was a snarky sci-fi adventure with a protagonist whose general misanthropy is not entirely genuine, but this never falters into pathos. The humans call it Security Unit, or SecUnit, but a murderbot is what it calls itself. The reason why is a mix of black humor and cynicism. Murderbot is not only hiding its sense of humor but also its free will from both the humans it's assigned to and the shadowy Company that owns it and financed the scientific mission they're on. A SecUnit has consciousness, but it isn't supposed to be able to choose for ...