The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Dragons of Deceit (Dragonlance Destinies: Volume 1) Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, 2022 Premise: YEAH BABY, LET'S RELIVE THE '90S! Sooooo, of course I read this. ( This is me, after all .) And it's bad. It's kind of a bad book. That I found terribly amusing. I'll gleefully admit to skimming through much of the first half. Destina (really, that's her name) is a dumb character and I hate her entire deal. I thought about quitting the book entirely, but once I realized what the plot was probably going to involve, I had to keep going.  Because this might (this is book 1 of a new series, so it ends on a cliffhanger) end up as a rare SECOND in-universe reboot/retcon. Which undoes the need for the first. And that's hilarious. You see, back in the day there was Dragonlance and for 10 years lots of books were set in the world written by lots of different people. And then MW/TH broke it. Changed the world to be entirely different/darker/dumber. Sure, whatever, you wr...

The Stone Sky N. K. Jemisin, 2017 Hugo winner - 2018 Premise: With the full history of the orogenes and the Earth revealed, Essun and her daughter each have the power to save the world, or to destroy it.  Powerful and beautiful and sad and hopeful. Yup, the end of this trilogy brings it together and brings it home.  We return to a triple narrative in this. First, Essun's story of survival without access to her full power (as using her power is now destroying her body and she needs to survive to finish the plan) and her attempts at reconnecting with the fractured community around her before she tries to change the world. Second, her daughter Nassun's story of trauma and how an abused child hated by her society might use unimaginable power. Third, the new story thread is Hoa's, flashing back eons to the creation of the stone eaters and the destructive Seasons, and the history of racism and genocide they are rooted in. The deadly geologic upheavals are in some ways just the ab...

The Book Eaters Sunyi Dean, 2022 Premise: Devon grew up only knowing the secret world of the book eaters, but to protect her son she'll find a way to revolt against her family, no matter who she has to sacrifice. This book came strongly recommended, and I enjoyed it, but I definitely didn't love it. The book eaters (and mind eaters) made for a unique spin on vampires; Devon's struggles and anguish about her role in the restrictive, sexist book eater world were vividly depicted. The multiple twists were fine, although I didn't buy into most of the red herrings, which meant I only pushed through to get to the next twist without feeling the intended tension. I don't know. I liked it fine, but something about the style or the characters didn't completely click for me. It's pretty gross at times, and extremely morally grey. It's about motherhood and monsters, and what you're willing to do for your child. It's very well written, but I just didn't f...

Pickets and Dead Men Bree Lowen, 2009 Premise: A memoir of being a climbing ranger on Mount Rainier. This was a prominent recommendation in a comment thread about books about mountaineering and women, and I definitely see why. It's a series of funny, frightening, visceral vignettes. As you read, you definitely understand why it was a life-altering experience, even if the author performed this job for just three summers.  Be warned, it is a little gross at times, and the author also chooses to highlight some moments of callous or posturing behavior that she felt at the time was necessary to hold her own in a testosterone-heavy field. The balance between action and personal reflection felt authentic for the job and the setting.  The job includes exciting rescues, but also body retrieval, assisting the wounded and lost, and the daily effort not to become one of the wounded or lost on the mountain. I have no aspirations to summit Rainier (although props to friends who've done it!)...

The Obelisk Gate N.K. Jemisin, 2016 Hugo winner - 2017 Premise: sequel to The Fifth Season . Essun tries to figure out her next steps and we find out what happened to her daughter Nassun. It's been a while since I read the first book in this series, so there was a period of adjustment while I remembered the characters and the world. I think this is a worthy successor, but not as undeniably brilliant as the first book was. There are more shenanigans around narration (who is the voice of the text and why) in this book, which I found interesting, but not as interesting or emotionally compelling as the core narrative conceit in the first book.  It's probably important to note that I also read the first book while I was pregnant but not yet a parent. The violent deaths of both of Essun's young sons are revisited in this book, and I found myself keeping more emotional distance from the characters for my own mental health. This was a good read, but it does have a few flaws common ...

The Grief of Stones Katherine Addison, 2022 Premise: Sequel to The Witness for the Dead . Thara Celehar thinks his life in Amalo is becoming routine when he is presented with a possible murder, an unexpected assistant, and a secret message asking for help.  A few days after I finished this book I went back to the beginning and read it again. It's been a while since I liked a book enough to do that.  I love this world and these characters and this style. What a fantastic series. And this one adds just a touch of subtle pining. Thara is still too raw after his personal tragedy to think of pursuing any kind of romantic entanglement, but surely his friendship with the flamboyant and brave opera director, one of only a few people who seem to care about Thara for himself, will remain only friendship... so our protagonist tells himself, anyway.  There's a moment that's going on my list of top all-time emotional literary moments, is all I'm saying.  More tangled plots and su...

Redshirts  John Scalzi, 2012 Hugo Winner - 2013 Premise: Andrew Dahl and four other new crew members on the starship Intrepid soon learn there is a reason no one wants to go on away missions... Reading this book in 2022 instead of 2012 comes with one gigantic problem: I've already seen two seasons of Star Trek: Lower Decks. And it's hilarious and fantastic. So Redshirts now has a bigger challenge to convince me that these characters are worth caring about. And that's actually the only place it fails. There's a smart stylistic choice made here that is both necessary for the plot and the only big flaw in the book. The characters are largely featureless and interchangeable, exactly the way minor characters tend to be on shows like Star Trek. In fact, this very fact is important for some late twists in the plot. However, being smart and necessary doesn't actually keep it from feeling like a flaw. It means the book is more philosophical exercise and intellectual puzzle...

The Secret, Book, & Scone Society and The Whispered Word Ellery Adams, 2017, 2018 Premise: Nora loves her bookshop, but doesn't really have many friends until a customer turns up dead. I have been really into series and cozy mysteries in the last few years, so when this one caught my eye I decided to try it out. The description I got really emphasized that the books are about a group of female friends, and that sounded like something I was in the mood for. Unfortunately, that wasn't really what I got.  Instead, these are fairly by-the-numbers cozies, with their wacky minor characters and their main character with a crush on someone in law enforcement. The group of friends (the society in the title) become close in the first book because they're all interested in a murder in their town and they're all women with some sort of secret in their past. So they decide to fast-forward their bonding by spilling their backstories one after the other like they're playing ...

The Empress of Salt and Fortune When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain Nghi Vo, 2020 Premise: These lightly linked novellas follow Chih, wandering cleric from the Singing Hills, in their capacity as collector of histories, stories, and the space between the two.  Perfect. Divine. Breathtaking. If you love fantasy, if you love stories, stop what you're doing and read these.  They can be read in either order (and there are more to come in the series), although I think starting with the first ( The Empress of Salt and Fortune ) might give a better introduction to the world.  And what a world! Deeply fantastical and deeply Asian-inspired, it's a marvelous place to visit, if dangerous to live there.  Each novella includes a frame story about Chih and a secondary story being told by one or more characters. In The Empress of Salt and Fortune , an elderly handmaiden cleverly reveals to the cleric the secrets behind recent power struggles in the empire of Anh. In When the Tige...

Among Others Jo Walton, 2011 Hugo Winner - 2012 Premise: Mori was a twin. Mori lived in Wales with her mother and her relatives and the fairies. Now facing boarding school in England due to the demands of her father's family, she must navigate her family, the world, her responsibilities, and first love—alone. This shouldn't work. It's a fictional diary chock full of references to novels from the '60s and '70s. The fantasy is delivered mostly with an incredibly light touch.  It's amazing. I adored it. I love the voice. She's authentically a bookish teenager who can debate the morality of a sci-fi novel in one breath, make fun of an adult's fashion sense in the next, and despair both over a cute boy and a deep family trauma. The magic she's experienced is explicitly vague and coincidental, raising all sorts of fascinating questions both about reality and about ethics.  The narration even felt just potentially unreliable enough to keep me guessing throu...

Tracks Robyn Davidson, 1980 Premise: A memoir of one woman's solo journey across the Australian desert.  I tried to start this book a few times, but the beginning didn't really hook me. This time, fortified by some recent recommendations on a forum for outdoorsy women, I pushed on and quite enjoyed it once the story picked up.  I wish I'd realized earlier in the book that it was released in 1980 and took place in 1977. (I knew it wasn't a modern book, but I didn't realize it was quite that old when I started reading.) Aspects of the relationships between people and the political situations and people's attitudes make much more sense with that context. I think I was initially frustrated because much of the first part of the book chronicles Robyn's struggles to prepare for the trip she wants to take, but it takes her a long time to actually make much progress toward her trip. Eventually, the narration acknowledges this (including her feelings of ambivalence, ...

Light from Uncommon Stars Ryka Aoki, 2021 Premise: Katrina knows anywhere has to be better than her parents' house. Shizuka must find another prodigy or lose her soul. Lan Tran needs to pretend she doesn't have a spaceship hidden under the family donut shop. Intrigued yet? So there's a semi-immortal woman with a contract with a demon, a family of intergalactic refugees, and a trans teenage runaway with a talent for music. None of this is hidden from the readers, or even from the other characters, for long. I love that this book doesn't waste time on setting up complex twists for the reader or much in the way of interpersonal angst. There's enough going on with each character without worrying too much about secrets and lies.  The story is funny and touching, with enough drama and tension to stay interesting, but no real stress. The main characters are extremely interesting, and the book is full of little side stories and characters.  Honestly, the only reason the bo...

A Marvellous Light Freya Markse, 2021 Premise: Edwin Courcey and Sir Robin Blyth are both men who don't quite fit with their peers. Edwin is a scholarly magician without much magic. Robin has inherited a title but little cash, and he has no interest in living like his late parents the social climbers. When a bureaucratic error brings them together (and to the attention of a dangerous group seeking a mysterious power), sparks fly.  I've been reading a lot of historical romance-adventures lately where one partner is magic and the other isn't (or is much less so), but this might be the best one so far.  I loved how complicated the magical society was, realistically including all the same problems and bigotries as non-magicians. I loved that Edwin and Robin's objections to each other felt rooted in their personalities. They had to struggle; there was nothing that was too easily swept aside for the sake of romance, but there also weren't any problems that felt too overly...

Blackout/All Clear Connie Willis, 2010 Hugo Winner - 2011 Premise: Takes place in the same world as Doomsday Book (my rating: 3), and To Say Nothing of the Dog (my rating: 1).  Oh joy. Another one of these books.  Reading this award-winning duology has finally crystalized for me why I find this series so frustrating. I find the very premise so idiotic that I can't stand the characters. Oh no, these historians are trapped in the Blitz and maybe messed up the timeline! Why were you there, you dummies? I was willing to sort of accept Doomsday Book, assuming that a time traveler could gain some actually meaningful information about that time period that they couldn't gain any other way. But these morons seem just like any pompous grad students studying something "fun" for the heck of it. Observing people suffering and dying like they're on safari, and then freaking out when things go sideways. Why, why, why is this a good use of time travel? If there's even a c...

Protecting the Lady Amanda Radley, 2021 Premise: Eve quit being a bodyguard, but she's drawn back home for one more job that demands her talents. Falling in love with her client has never been a problem before... (It's time for a short reaction to a short book!)  After enjoying her holiday-themed Humbug , I decided to try another light romance by this author. Unfortunately, this time I was disappointed.  I don't have any inherent problem with a bodyguard/client romance, or a romance between an aristocrat and an anti-monarchist, but neither of these dynamics were compelling or convincing to me in this book. Eve's hatred of the monarchy was presented as this deep-seated part of her life, as was the past trauma that had led her to initially quit working in security, but all of this was waved away very quickly once the plot demanded it. Katherine's discomfort with her own background and exceptional ability to turn her family ties to good causes was more convenient than ...

Oak King Holly King Sebastian Nothwell, 2022 Premise: Shrike is trying to make a name for himself in battle, but it goes too well, and now the traditions of Faerie decree that he shall die within the year. Wren Lofthouse has never heard of fae or actual magic, although Arthurian romances provide some of the only comfort to a man who must hide his attraction to other men. Of course, they're perfect for each other. It's been a long while since I've taken a chance on a book because of a lovely cover. (Of course, this being an ebook, the cover led to a sample, and only then to the full book, but the point still holds.) Happily, I liked this quite a bit.  It's longer than a lot of romances, but I liked that, actually. It's a fantasy novel where the A plot is a romance, not a romance set only vaguely in a fantasy world. It had space to dig into the details of the two characters' lives and how they fit (or didn't fit) together. The story wasn't just two people ...

The City & the City China Miéville, 2009 Hugo Winner - 2010 (tie) Premise: Borlú is a detective in the city-state of Besźel, a unique place to live and to keep the peace. One investigation leads him to the edge of what can be seen and understood. My final takeaway on this book is that it's a cool premise that doesn't really go anywhere satisfying. The two cities of the title occupy much of the same physical space, but the occupants of each train themselves not to see the other. Some streets and buildings are officially in one city, some in the other, and some are "crosshatched" or overlapping. The inhabitants are very careful only to "see" what is in the city they are currently in, and "unsee" anything in the other. Yes, this means people are avoiding traffic accidents with cars they can't admit that they notice and other bizarre behavior.  Breaking this rule draws the attention of Breach - both the name of the crime (acting/perceiving acr...

Witchmark C.L. Polk, 2018 Premise: Miles is a doctor, trying desperately to help the soldiers coming back broken from the war. But there are so many, and he might be the only one who sees that there's more going on under the surface. And it's his magic that lets him see that; his magic that he must keep hidden for his own safety.  There's a lot to like about this book. The characters are mostly interesting. The malady that only Miles can see is a compelling mystery. The romantic interest (a mysteriously beautiful man named Tristan) is charming and sexy. And yet it wasn't a slam dunk for me. I think the world-building was a little too vague, the magic a little too vague, and the ending a little too vague.  For example, this book isn't set in Edwardian London, although it often feels like it is, or maybe was in some previous draft of the book. I'm not sure why it isn't, honestly. Yes, not-England and not-(Germany? Austria? It feels like France except that it a...

The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo Zen Cho, 2012 Premise: This epistolary novella chronicles a young woman's adventures in the London literary set in the 1920s. This was basically a sampler-size candy box of a piece; full of delightful moments, but it didn't outstay its welcome.  Jade is an aspiring writer who finally achieves notoriety by writing a scathing review of a popular book by a popular author. The novella follows her diary entries for the time that immediately precedes this act and all that follows from it. (Her unexpurgated diary entries, I should say. There's a humorous moment where she reminds herself to delete the explicit descriptions of sex if she decides to publish her diary as an instructive experience for others.)  So she gets tangled up in society (romantically and otherwise), makes some perhaps unwise but completely relatable choices around taking your chances where you can, and has to eventually figure out how to thrive with the hand she's dealt.  For ...

Joliffe the Player Mysteries Margaret Frazer, 2004-2011 I wrote last year that one of the series that was getting me through the pandemic was Margaret Frazer's Dame Frevisse mysteries. Spinning out of that comes this shorter, slightly more active series, following a group of traveling players in the 1430s. It's a delight.  The Frevisse mysteries have to occasionally find excuses for the main character to leave her home abbey to end up wherever the plot takes place, but Joliffe and his companions are naturally on the move. They come into contact with people from every walk of life. As travelers, though, they are often mistrusted, giving the naturally sharp-witted Joliffe an additional motivation beyond his own curiosity for solving whatever murder is at hand.  The depth of the author's research is constantly clear, and anyone writing anything set in a medieval society could do a lot worse for their own research than reading these books. Of course, I especially love all the d...

Magic in Manhattan Trilogy (Therin) Spellbound , 2019 Starcrossed , 2020 Wonderstruck , 2021 by Allie Therin Premise: In Prohibition-era New York, Rory is hiding his real name and his past, but most importantly, his magic. When he meets a handsome rich man who needs his help and leads him into a larger community of magicians, he doesn't know how much danger he's walking into. I had to add the author's name to the title of this post because apparently there's more than one series with this (fairly generic) title.  I enjoyed these books quite a bit, even if I spent some time during the first one musing on the nature of tropes, genre conventions, and originality. You see, this is not the first fantasy-historical-action-romance series I've read in which the leads are a tall, non-magical, well-traveled aristocrat and a short, poor but powerful magician. Who comes into possession of a magical artifact (a ring) of significant power over the course of the first book. And t...

Shatter the Sky Rebecca Kim Wells, 2019 Premise: Maren always planned to travel the world with Kaia once they came of age, even though she would have been happy just living in their small village forever. But when Kaia is taken away, Maren will risk everything to go after her.  So... this isn't a bad book. I found the style compulsively readable.  It's just really, REALLY not for me. Or anyone looking for complex stories or characters. It's YA to the point of pain, for my taste.  Yes there's a twist at the end, sort of, but it's not really unexpected at all, and everything up until then is not even YA-caliber plot, it's middle-grade. The outside world the village elders teach Maren is evil? To my honest surprise, it's... evil, except for her super-special new friend. Huh. Everything is what it says on the tin. Characters who seem trustworthy are trustworthy. Characters who seem evil are evil. Hurting dragons is wrong, man! Because... it seems like it should ...

The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi, 2009 Hugo Winner - 2010 Premise: In the near future after some kind of economic and ecological collapse, forces of corporate greed, national pride, personal honor, fear, self-preservation, and self-discovery clash in Thailand.  I had trouble starting this review. I kept telling myself that I was conflicted about the book, but I actually just have two simultaneous opinions: 1: Despite a slow start, I found the world and plotlines fairly compelling by the end. 2: Holy heck, I did not need that much extremely violent rape to understand the dystopia, thanks. It also hurt the book that it took forever to introduce a viewpoint character that wasn't (at least at first glance) a greedy asshole. However, despite a pretty bleak and violent worldview throughout, many of the characters get what they seem to deserve in the end, which I appreciated.  However, as soon as any character seemed to be about to do something important or emotional, at least half ...