The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Salt Magic, Skin Magic Lee Welch, 2018 Premise: Lord Thornby can't leave his father's estate. It's not that he doesn't want to, but for some reason, he just can't. When John Blake arrives at the house claiming to be a magician, Thornby laughs it off at first. But only together can they rescue Thornby from madness or worse. There was a point last winter when all I wanted to do was lie on the couch, nibble on crackers, and read fluffy romance. (Dear first trimester, I'm glad you're done.) Of course, I have a particular definition of "fluffy", as the discussion in this review https://bluefairysbookshelf.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-gentleman-never-keeps-score.html explains. I need a certain amount of adventure and danger to make any romance worth my time. So once I'd re-read the Magpie Lord series https://bluefairysbookshelf.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-magpie-lord-charm-of-magpies-book-1.html from start to end (seriously I should circle bac...

The Traitor Baru Cormorant Seth Dickinson, 2015 Premise: After her island home is taken over by an empire, Baru is determined to gain enough power within the system to make a change. I bought this book when it was cheap at some point because it got lots of acclaim when it came out. I can see why: it's very well written, the characters and the world are complex and intriguing, there are non-heteronormative cultures (and more powerful cultures that oppress LGBT and polyamorous people). The detail in the governments and economies at play is impressive. I read it now because the sequel came out recently and reminded me that the book existed. And... I think I liked it? It's just that I am not, of late, in the mood for hard stories, stories of impossible choices and great betrayals, stories of brutality and horror. And the ending of this book is a horror, with only the smallest embers of potential vengeance to carry light to the sequel. I felt myself consciously distanci...

Into the Drowning Deep Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire), 2017 Premise: A ship went out, intending to film a shlocky “documentary” about mermaids. No one was seen again. The footage was discredited. Seven years later, another expedition is launching. This book has all the complex and diverse characters, gruesome horror, and scientific plausibility that I expect from this author. It’s a horror movie on the page: introducing characters and steadily building foreshadowing, then shifting into high gear for the lengthy sequence of action scenes that lead to the climax. Said climax is perhaps a tad anticlimactic, but still great. The cast is a complex ensemble led by Victoria, an underwater sound researcher looking for answers about her sister’s death on the earlier ship, and Olivia, a reporter for the entertainment network sponsoring the voyage. These two characters each have their trauma and their angst, but the way they find their way to hold onto each other in the face of all...

Red Waters Rising (The Devil's West, Book 3) Laura Anne Gilman, 2018 Premise: Sequel to The Cold Eye . Isobel and Gabriel come at last to the banks of the Mississippi, to see the edge of the Devil's Territory and deal with problems there. I still love this world and these characters, but I could ask for slightly more from the plot. In this book we learn more about Gabriel and his relationship with water spirits, and more about Isobel's talents that are separate from her borrowed power as the Devil's Hand. They face the challenges of a city on the edge of the Territory, full of factions close enough to the outside world that they don't always respect the Agreement brokered between the land, the natives, and the settlers. The writing continues to be evocative and lovely, and I like a lot of the new elements introduced in this volume. Isobel is coming into her own power, but the story isn't done by a long stretch. So the main thing that worries me ...

Blue Mars (Mars Trilogy, Book 3) Kim Stanley Robinson, 1996 Hugo winner - 1997 Premise: Sequel to Red Mars and Green Mars . The people of Mars take the next steps in trying to create a new society while not abandoning the problems of Earth. The survivors from the first settlers learn how different life becomes when you live for hundreds of years. This book was long, and, much like its predecessors, it’s more a collection of connected stories than a novel. The book overall tells the story of the aftermath of the revolution, the creation of the new Martian government, and then the various ways people learn to live on Mars. Because each section follows a different character, you get a variety of perspectives, but that also means that some plot threads or ideas are dropped and never really picked up again. Overall I enjoyed this one because I enjoy Nadia and Ann, and both of them were important characters. Nadia’s section is all about the creation of the new government and...

Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong and What You Really Need to Know Emily Oster, 2013, 2016 Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy Angela Garbes, 2018 So, as you can probably guess, I have a good reason for letting this blog go semi-dark. We’ll see how much content I post going forward, especially once the new little one is due in June. In the meantime, I didn’t mean to completely stop posting, I just fell out of the habit. I’ve (naturally) been reading up on my current state, and here are the two books I liked the most so far. Expecting Better is a great book that risks being dated rather quickly. It’s by a journalist who took it upon herself to understand as much of the current research around getting and being pregnant as she could. Interspersed with anecdotes from her own pregnancy, she provides grounded recommendations. More than that, the book shares rational advice based on the actual science...

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...