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Anybody else watch Nimona? I enjoyed it!
Take Us to a Better Place: Stories: Vaguely themed about hope in the ashes, mostly apocalyptic settings (or locally apocalyptic), with Madeline Ashby, Yoon Ha Lee, Karen Lord, and Martha Wells as the names I recognized. Lee’s use of AI to tailor manipulation of public opinion is likely to seem prescient; Wells offers a murder mystery driven by the cyborg/capitalist interface, though not a Murderbot story.
Kathryn Evans, More of Me: YA about 16-year-old Teva, part of a line of Tevas who replicate out of the previous Teva each year; their traumatized mother keeps all but the most recent Teva at home (except for the mysteriously missing 4 and 5). Teva’s time is approaching, 15 is trying to undermine her and rages against her for stealing “her” boyfriend, and trying to deal with all that and thinking about college and dealing with her boyfriend’s neediness is overwhelming. The premise was good, but I have to admit I’m too old to find Teva’s angst and bad decisions enjoyable. The ending was a good idea (a bit rushed in execution but no more than standard for these types of books).
M.A. Carrick, Labyrinth’s Heart: Exciting conclusion to the trilogy, where all the contending groups—divided by ethnicity and power—fight for control of the city as the protagonists fight to destroy the magic chains that have turned the city’s rulers bad for generations. The main trio has very strong threesome energy, sigh.
Kai Butler, Cypress Ashes: Butler seems to have been affected by criticisms of the cops, because the last book (for now?) in this series walks far away from “alchemist cop and fae PI” to just make them powered-up magic folks fighting other powered-up magic folks, and also bigots in the military for good measure (with a little bit of class consciousness for renters versus owners of property as well). The big boss fight at the end goes well, and I was happy enough to leave it there.
Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe: Well, it’s not “A X of Y and Z” as a title, but I’m not sure I like keywords better, but that’s the only hesitation I have. Another variant on the hidden library—this one with books of magic that have to be written in the blood of scribes but can only be read by non-scribes; scribes themselves are immune to magic. Joanna can hear magic; her sister Esther can’t. After a book drains her father dry of blood, Joanna is left alone to care for her family’s secret library. Esther left years ago after her father warned her that she disrupted the family’s wards and put them in danger, and also warned her to move every year without fail. When Esther tests that proposition, thinking herself safe in Antarctica, she finds that magical danger can follow her. Meanwhile, Nicholas is a scribe whose health is failing from being drained; his uncle runs their library, which he lends out for power and wealth. When he’s attacked again, after losing his eye years before, his concerns about his position become more than pressing. The ultimate confrontations are tense and full of family history, though I could have used a little more Judaism (the kaddish plays a role, but more as curiosity than lived culture).
Charles Stross, Season of Skulls: I still miss the Laundry, but the stars came right, and under the New Management there are other key characters. Here we focus on Eve, who ended the last book involuntarily married to her boss and under an obedience geas to him; unfortunately, he wasn’t quite dead yet, and the Black Pharaoh has assigned her to bring him Rupert’s head. Off into the dream roads she goes, which leads to many situations that reminded me of Genevieve Cogman’s Library series in terms of narrative energy. Given the link between computer programming and sorcery, I particularly liked the phrase “problem exists between spell book and sandals.”
Take Us to a Better Place: Stories: Vaguely themed about hope in the ashes, mostly apocalyptic settings (or locally apocalyptic), with Madeline Ashby, Yoon Ha Lee, Karen Lord, and Martha Wells as the names I recognized. Lee’s use of AI to tailor manipulation of public opinion is likely to seem prescient; Wells offers a murder mystery driven by the cyborg/capitalist interface, though not a Murderbot story.
Kathryn Evans, More of Me: YA about 16-year-old Teva, part of a line of Tevas who replicate out of the previous Teva each year; their traumatized mother keeps all but the most recent Teva at home (except for the mysteriously missing 4 and 5). Teva’s time is approaching, 15 is trying to undermine her and rages against her for stealing “her” boyfriend, and trying to deal with all that and thinking about college and dealing with her boyfriend’s neediness is overwhelming. The premise was good, but I have to admit I’m too old to find Teva’s angst and bad decisions enjoyable. The ending was a good idea (a bit rushed in execution but no more than standard for these types of books).
M.A. Carrick, Labyrinth’s Heart: Exciting conclusion to the trilogy, where all the contending groups—divided by ethnicity and power—fight for control of the city as the protagonists fight to destroy the magic chains that have turned the city’s rulers bad for generations. The main trio has very strong threesome energy, sigh.
Kai Butler, Cypress Ashes: Butler seems to have been affected by criticisms of the cops, because the last book (for now?) in this series walks far away from “alchemist cop and fae PI” to just make them powered-up magic folks fighting other powered-up magic folks, and also bigots in the military for good measure (with a little bit of class consciousness for renters versus owners of property as well). The big boss fight at the end goes well, and I was happy enough to leave it there.
Emma Törzs, Ink Blood Sister Scribe: Well, it’s not “A X of Y and Z” as a title, but I’m not sure I like keywords better, but that’s the only hesitation I have. Another variant on the hidden library—this one with books of magic that have to be written in the blood of scribes but can only be read by non-scribes; scribes themselves are immune to magic. Joanna can hear magic; her sister Esther can’t. After a book drains her father dry of blood, Joanna is left alone to care for her family’s secret library. Esther left years ago after her father warned her that she disrupted the family’s wards and put them in danger, and also warned her to move every year without fail. When Esther tests that proposition, thinking herself safe in Antarctica, she finds that magical danger can follow her. Meanwhile, Nicholas is a scribe whose health is failing from being drained; his uncle runs their library, which he lends out for power and wealth. When he’s attacked again, after losing his eye years before, his concerns about his position become more than pressing. The ultimate confrontations are tense and full of family history, though I could have used a little more Judaism (the kaddish plays a role, but more as curiosity than lived culture).
Charles Stross, Season of Skulls: I still miss the Laundry, but the stars came right, and under the New Management there are other key characters. Here we focus on Eve, who ended the last book involuntarily married to her boss and under an obedience geas to him; unfortunately, he wasn’t quite dead yet, and the Black Pharaoh has assigned her to bring him Rupert’s head. Off into the dream roads she goes, which leads to many situations that reminded me of Genevieve Cogman’s Library series in terms of narrative energy. Given the link between computer programming and sorcery, I particularly liked the phrase “problem exists between spell book and sandals.”
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*nods* I imagine the society's blind acceptance of the previous doctrine must have surely changed given the literal walls coming down at the end of the movie. Will be interesting to see if it results in broadening perspectives and changing attitudes with regard to prejudice, or if the gap will simply be filled by some other equally harmful doctrine.
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I liked Nimona a lot! But I also feel like the climax ended up undercutting all the messaging about difference & acceptance. In non-spoilery terms, it was kind of arguing that the price of acceptance was being a model minority.
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