The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

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...