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Entry tags:
Fiction
Sarah Langan, Pam Kowolski Is a Monster!: Really interesting horror-ish novella with a very unlikeable narrator who slowly improves over the course of the story, which involves her attempt to take down Madame Pamela, a psychic who promises that a Great Reveal is coming. Janet knew Pam when they were kids and is convinced that it’s a scam, even as general reality seems to be breaking down.
Stephen King, Never Flinch:Eh, it’s okay, a bit over the top without as much of King’s usual flair for description that enables the over-the-topness to work. Holly Gibney is protecting a feminist comic/provocateur against religious zealots while also helping investigate a serial killer who is deliberately killing innocents to protest the wrongful conviction of a guy who was framed by a jealous colleague. These stories intersect in the climax.
Shannon Chakraborty, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi: Wild romp with a Muslim pirate who is also a mother, who is called out on one last job that turns into an adventure involving sorcery, sea monsters, and other supernatural creatures, one of whom happens to be Amina’s husband. (She’s observant but likes sex, so that has meant several marriages.)
Olivie Blake, Gifted and Talented: Succession but with magic (though rather limited, not-very-controllable magic). Three siblings reunite when their magitech mogul father dies, each with their own particular damage (and magical powers that mostly get them into trouble). I half really liked it and half really didn’t, which isn’t very similar to being lukewarm. The characters were so messed up that it was a compulsive read; most of the prose is having fun being purple, which I appreciate; and the omniscient narrator device works well. But there wasn’t much magic—it might even just be magical realism—most of the characters were terrible people most of the way through; and at the end there’s a bunch of dialogue in play format, as if she just got tired of keeping up the narration. If you like banter and don’t necessarily worry overmuch about worldbuilding, and especially if you liked Succession, this is probably a good read.
Ai Jiang, A Palace Near the Wind: Natural Engines: Novella about a woman from the tree people, sent to an arranged marriage with the king of the technological culture that destroys more of the forest every day. She’s the latest of her sisters to be so sacrificed; she doesn’t even know if they’re still alive. What she finds is distressing but also seductive—this is a novella about the harms and temptations of leaving nature behind.
John Scalzi, When the Moon Hits Your Eye: The moon turns into cheese, for unexplained reasons, and people react according to their lights. It gets bigger (it has the same mass) and brighter (cheese has a higher albedo than moon rock), and then it starts to compress under its own weight, creating moonquakes as water is squeezed out. There’s an Elon Musk analogue who wants to go to the cheese moon, as well as another billionaire who wants to eat some of the cheese. You will either enjoy the absurdity or hate it.
M. L. Wang, Blood Over Bright Haven: Interesting take on colonialism and white women’s guilt. The protagonist is a brilliant magician struggling to get certified as a high mage, something no woman has ever done in the history of this magical city, which runs on magic siphoned from the Otherworld. Its protections are necessary because of the spreading Blight that destroys people and other life outside, and it has a racialized underclass of escapees from the Blighted lands. As Sciona learns more about how magic works, she thinks she develops common cause with the Blighters, but her privilege means that the commonalities are far less than she thinks, and she still snaps back into reliance on her presumed superiority on a regular basis. Was doing some interesting things, and made me think about Andor and what it takes to make a narrative hopeful without a clear victory, but it was easy to see what the twist was.
Emily Tesh, The Incandescent: Brilliant idea—a magical school book focusing on a teacher, with the students having their adolescent crises in the background. And I loved the execution as well. The heroine is deeply committed to helping children/teenagers grow up. Magic is well-known and many people who are talented end up doing other things because there’s also technology and magic can be dangerous; magical children can cause demonic incursions. I don’t want to be too spoilery but it’s a strong recommend, especially if you like the Scholomance or the Goblin Emperor (for competent people trying to do the right thing).
Stephen King, Never Flinch:Eh, it’s okay, a bit over the top without as much of King’s usual flair for description that enables the over-the-topness to work. Holly Gibney is protecting a feminist comic/provocateur against religious zealots while also helping investigate a serial killer who is deliberately killing innocents to protest the wrongful conviction of a guy who was framed by a jealous colleague. These stories intersect in the climax.
Shannon Chakraborty, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi: Wild romp with a Muslim pirate who is also a mother, who is called out on one last job that turns into an adventure involving sorcery, sea monsters, and other supernatural creatures, one of whom happens to be Amina’s husband. (She’s observant but likes sex, so that has meant several marriages.)
Olivie Blake, Gifted and Talented: Succession but with magic (though rather limited, not-very-controllable magic). Three siblings reunite when their magitech mogul father dies, each with their own particular damage (and magical powers that mostly get them into trouble). I half really liked it and half really didn’t, which isn’t very similar to being lukewarm. The characters were so messed up that it was a compulsive read; most of the prose is having fun being purple, which I appreciate; and the omniscient narrator device works well. But there wasn’t much magic—it might even just be magical realism—most of the characters were terrible people most of the way through; and at the end there’s a bunch of dialogue in play format, as if she just got tired of keeping up the narration. If you like banter and don’t necessarily worry overmuch about worldbuilding, and especially if you liked Succession, this is probably a good read.
Ai Jiang, A Palace Near the Wind: Natural Engines: Novella about a woman from the tree people, sent to an arranged marriage with the king of the technological culture that destroys more of the forest every day. She’s the latest of her sisters to be so sacrificed; she doesn’t even know if they’re still alive. What she finds is distressing but also seductive—this is a novella about the harms and temptations of leaving nature behind.
John Scalzi, When the Moon Hits Your Eye: The moon turns into cheese, for unexplained reasons, and people react according to their lights. It gets bigger (it has the same mass) and brighter (cheese has a higher albedo than moon rock), and then it starts to compress under its own weight, creating moonquakes as water is squeezed out. There’s an Elon Musk analogue who wants to go to the cheese moon, as well as another billionaire who wants to eat some of the cheese. You will either enjoy the absurdity or hate it.
M. L. Wang, Blood Over Bright Haven: Interesting take on colonialism and white women’s guilt. The protagonist is a brilliant magician struggling to get certified as a high mage, something no woman has ever done in the history of this magical city, which runs on magic siphoned from the Otherworld. Its protections are necessary because of the spreading Blight that destroys people and other life outside, and it has a racialized underclass of escapees from the Blighted lands. As Sciona learns more about how magic works, she thinks she develops common cause with the Blighters, but her privilege means that the commonalities are far less than she thinks, and she still snaps back into reliance on her presumed superiority on a regular basis. Was doing some interesting things, and made me think about Andor and what it takes to make a narrative hopeful without a clear victory, but it was easy to see what the twist was.
Emily Tesh, The Incandescent: Brilliant idea—a magical school book focusing on a teacher, with the students having their adolescent crises in the background. And I loved the execution as well. The heroine is deeply committed to helping children/teenagers grow up. Magic is well-known and many people who are talented end up doing other things because there’s also technology and magic can be dangerous; magical children can cause demonic incursions. I don’t want to be too spoilery but it’s a strong recommend, especially if you like the Scholomance or the Goblin Emperor (for competent people trying to do the right thing).