The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

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 ...