Reading Update

The Gatekeeper by Nuraliah Norasid

An older medusa and a younger half-not-human cross paths in fantasy-AU!Singapore. Was okay.

( musings on Singapore history and the uncanny valley of fantasy replicas )

( ok ok let’s talk actual story and characters )

Frederick Douglass: Prophet Of Freedom by David W. Blight

A very thorough overview of his life, sometimes refracted through the three autobiographies he wrote in 1845 (age 28), 1855 (age 38) and 1881 (age 64). Liked it.

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Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie

YA sci-fi where a girl from the super-fancy part of the Fleet and a girl from the super-not-fancy part of the Fleet become cyborg soldiers and butt heads while figuring out secrets. It was fine? About average for the genre YA I’ve read.

I liked the ragtag squad of misfits, complicated by cyborg mind-sharing. (It seems like a fun setup for AUs) I was way more into Key’s story than Aisha’s, even though a rich kid facing reality is usually less my speed than a self-sacrificial older sibling. Key’s amnesia was one of the better executed throughlines, explaining everyone’s behaviour and the mistake she makes right before the climax. Aisha’s sister was a little too precious for a nine-year-old in her sense of fairness, so I couldn’t buy into it.