Reading Update

[jaggedwolf]

Daughter Of Mystery by Heather Rose Jones

I've had this historical fantasy f/f book where one of them unexpectedly inherits the other as a bodyguard from her uncle's will on my to-read list for a while, and I'm very glad I got around to it. I was sold as soon as the will-reading scene happened. The burn was slow, Margerit and Barbara are very bad at communication but very good at religion (and religion magic??) and law, and the politics of this fake European country weren't too hard for me to follow. Will probably get around to reading the other books set in this world.

Do I have a clear understanding of which parts of the book's religion's bits are from real life and which are fiction? No, other than the actual magic, but I think I'm okay with this. The surrounding cast were a delight themselves, especially poor LeFevre, who was hired as a business manager not a matchmaker, and yet excels at both.

The City In The Middle Of The Night by Charlie Jane Anders

Thought I'd keep up my accidental trend of reading the Hugo nominees for best novel, wound up with this Big Meh of a book. Don't get me wrong, the world-building is super cool - planet where the sun shines on only one half and so humanity lives along that sliver of dusk and dawn - but the actual story wasn't that gripping and I kept stumbling over the prose. Nothing like hating the characters that the two PoVs are most attached to. Also, that's not an ending!

Kinda wish Sophie and Mouth could ditch Bianca and Alyssa permanently, because while sticking with someone even as they refuse to conceptualize you as anything other than who they first met is a very real thing, there is a point where you think a character is being an idiot for doing so.

While I liked the physical world-building, the societal/historical bits could have done with a bit more. We never get an actual explanation for the Hydroponics Massacre that happened on the ship, or why the city that never sleeps is falling apart, or how the crocodiles make decisions. Or at least the reasons hinted at weren't convincing.

Am unsure how I felt about the ship compartments being used as shorthand, at least with how many generations out from the new arrivals the current era is supposed to be.

Comments

[auroracloud]

Yay, I'm glad you enjoyed Daughter of Mystery! I loved it very much, enjoyed the sequel, and really mean to catch up on the newest books in the series.

Hmm, your problems with The City in the Middle of the Night sound exactly like my problems with her first book, All the Birds in the Sky. So it doesn't sound like I've missed out on much by not getting around to reading it so far, despite this one being hyped just as much.

[jaggedwolf]

My friend who finished Daughter of Mystery the same time I did has torn through all the books in the series and had good things to say, so I look forward to getting around to them.

Ah, I haven't read any other books by the author of The City In The Middle Of The Night, that's interesting to know.

[smellslikefudge]

torn through all the books in the series
in three days ^^v

[jaggedwolf]

Yes, yes, you are a monster and I'm still impressed.

[smellslikefudge]

bro it's been a couple days since i finished the city in the middle of the night, and i'm still reeling from how bad it was... that the hugo awards put this garbage fire of a book on my radar fills me with such fury. please tell me a long way to a small angry planet is less painful than this to get through

[jaggedwolf]

Omg, I only just saw this comment...sorry the hugo awards and me have inflicted this on to you...But really though...Mouth and Sophie never stop making stupid decisions and again, that's not an ending.

I found small angry planet more infuriating than this book, hence my bothering you to read the former, but who knows! You might find it less personally enraging XD

(I hope Pinoe's memoir was a good palate cleanser lmao)