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lady_ragnell) wrote2024-11-14 05:20 pm
lady_ragnell) wrote2024-11-14 05:20 pm
2024 Books, Post 11
This was not a terrible group, but I sure wouldn't call it a good one either, there were two rereads and then one book that got a star in my paper list, a thing it isn't that hard to earn. Maybe I wasn't being as willing to enjoy things as usual, given what the last 10 days have looked like in the US, but still, oof (plus more than half of these books were read before the last ten days).
The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers
Contemporary romcom, too sad to be escapist, too slight to be cathartic. The epistolary aspects were underplayed, misunderstandings about schoolday hurts were overplayed. I read the whole thing, kept hoping for it to right its proportions on any of those things on the strength of a concept I enjoy, and it didn't. This was one of those books that made me say "I think I need a break from this subgenre for a while."
Dark Earth by Rebecca Stott
I wanted to love this. Set in Britain during the century following the end of the Roman occupation, when there's almost no written historical record and archaeological information is scarce, this could have been something really interesting. However, the cover copy said it was much in the vibe of Madeline Miller, and I should have trusted that and not really bothered with it. Genre-wise, it couldn't decide if it was fantasy or not and bothered me on that front, and then in the style it just is so much that style of historical fiction where the author and expected reader's modern views choke the story beneath that it annoyed me. There were the bones of something interesting here, in the concept, but the execution wasn't to my taste. If you like Madeline Miller's vibes, you'll probably be more forgiving of this than I was.
Halloween Werewolf by Kestra Pingree
I wanted a Halloween-y read, this was there! This one ought to have been titled "Reunited with the Wolf Shifter" or something and I would have forgiven it more of its sins, but it wasn't terribly Halloween-y (a brief corn maze, a brief high school dance) and within the first chapter we are informed that werewolves don't exist, silly, this is an animal shifter universe. So it fails to live up to both words of its title. The second-chance romance of it was sweet, but entirely resolved at 58% of the book and left me with the much less interesting-to-me plot plot. Better than the previous two books I'd read, but *gestures up* that doesn't say a lot, does it?
Worlds Beyond Time: Sci Fi Art of the 1970s by Adam Rowe
A coffee table book that does what it says on the tin, with mild success. It's a self-published effort on behalf of Rowe, I think, so I can't be too harsh on it, but I can't pretend it was super well-organized, either, and I wished for more art and less biographical information, and for the art to be bigger so I could see more details. I'm not sorry I had it to page through over the course of a few weeks, but also I follow Rowe's blog on tumblr and get more out of that.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Dracula Daily read for the year is over! I think I might take next year off from it, I enjoy it very much but I don't think I enjoy it four years in a row much, and I can always return to it later. Anyway, as ever, very sad about Lucy and Quincey, because I am always fondest of the doomed characters.
Mated to the Fire Dragon by Holly Day
I needed something to turn my brain off with, and I sort of ... half found it? Like, this was fun! But a. really stupid of me to read something focusing so much on terminal illness when that can be upsetting for me and b. I kept getting distracted from the escapism with worldbuilding questions. What level of technology does this world have? I don't know! There don't seem to be cars, but there are hoodies, that's what I can tell you. Anyway, the stuff about Dragon Racism here was weird and I get why the author went with "white dragons are the lowest tier and black dragons are the top tier" but it nonetheless ... could perhaps have used some tightening up.
Married for His Convenience by Eleanor Webster
Continued to need my brain off! This one succeeded in turning my brain off much better than the Day did, given it's a beautifully predictable Harelquin with beautifully predictable beats. Wasn't anything particularly special, but still one of the better in this batch, I think.
The Love Remedy by Elizabeth Everett
I started reading this as escapism the day after the election, thinking a historical romance was exactly what I needed, and then there was a whole lot in there about abortion access and men fighting against women being able to work and make decisions for themselves, and anyway, I cried about it and put it down for several days. This was pretty good! Didn't grab me, exactly, but as I just discussed there were extenuating circumstances.
The Wolf at the Door by Charlie Adhara
This one was what I wanted the Pingree to be! Werewolf mystery/procedural with some chewy character dynamics, recommended by a friend, first in a series where the romance deepens throughout and the mysteries continue. I do think I'll keep going with the series, since I read this one at a good clip! I figured out a lot of things about the mystery pretty early on and wanted to shout at the main characters a bit about it, but I'm hoping they get a little more mysterious as the series goes on, since this mystery was set up to shake the POV character out of being an asshole so I can't blame it for being unsubtle. I prefer my mystery protagonists to not be cops these days, so I wasn't wild about that aspect, but I'm hoping Adhara might deconstruct that a little, based on what I've seen so far. This is the one that got the star.
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
A reread of a favorite! Nothing particularly new to say about this one, it's just a solid read, and the music magic in it is some of my favorite music magic ever. Plus the romance is sweet!
Let's hope the next batch is better, shall we?
The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers
Contemporary romcom, too sad to be escapist, too slight to be cathartic. The epistolary aspects were underplayed, misunderstandings about schoolday hurts were overplayed. I read the whole thing, kept hoping for it to right its proportions on any of those things on the strength of a concept I enjoy, and it didn't. This was one of those books that made me say "I think I need a break from this subgenre for a while."
Dark Earth by Rebecca Stott
I wanted to love this. Set in Britain during the century following the end of the Roman occupation, when there's almost no written historical record and archaeological information is scarce, this could have been something really interesting. However, the cover copy said it was much in the vibe of Madeline Miller, and I should have trusted that and not really bothered with it. Genre-wise, it couldn't decide if it was fantasy or not and bothered me on that front, and then in the style it just is so much that style of historical fiction where the author and expected reader's modern views choke the story beneath that it annoyed me. There were the bones of something interesting here, in the concept, but the execution wasn't to my taste. If you like Madeline Miller's vibes, you'll probably be more forgiving of this than I was.
Halloween Werewolf by Kestra Pingree
I wanted a Halloween-y read, this was there! This one ought to have been titled "Reunited with the Wolf Shifter" or something and I would have forgiven it more of its sins, but it wasn't terribly Halloween-y (a brief corn maze, a brief high school dance) and within the first chapter we are informed that werewolves don't exist, silly, this is an animal shifter universe. So it fails to live up to both words of its title. The second-chance romance of it was sweet, but entirely resolved at 58% of the book and left me with the much less interesting-to-me plot plot. Better than the previous two books I'd read, but *gestures up* that doesn't say a lot, does it?
Worlds Beyond Time: Sci Fi Art of the 1970s by Adam Rowe
A coffee table book that does what it says on the tin, with mild success. It's a self-published effort on behalf of Rowe, I think, so I can't be too harsh on it, but I can't pretend it was super well-organized, either, and I wished for more art and less biographical information, and for the art to be bigger so I could see more details. I'm not sorry I had it to page through over the course of a few weeks, but also I follow Rowe's blog on tumblr and get more out of that.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Dracula Daily read for the year is over! I think I might take next year off from it, I enjoy it very much but I don't think I enjoy it four years in a row much, and I can always return to it later. Anyway, as ever, very sad about Lucy and Quincey, because I am always fondest of the doomed characters.
Mated to the Fire Dragon by Holly Day
I needed something to turn my brain off with, and I sort of ... half found it? Like, this was fun! But a. really stupid of me to read something focusing so much on terminal illness when that can be upsetting for me and b. I kept getting distracted from the escapism with worldbuilding questions. What level of technology does this world have? I don't know! There don't seem to be cars, but there are hoodies, that's what I can tell you. Anyway, the stuff about Dragon Racism here was weird and I get why the author went with "white dragons are the lowest tier and black dragons are the top tier" but it nonetheless ... could perhaps have used some tightening up.
Married for His Convenience by Eleanor Webster
Continued to need my brain off! This one succeeded in turning my brain off much better than the Day did, given it's a beautifully predictable Harelquin with beautifully predictable beats. Wasn't anything particularly special, but still one of the better in this batch, I think.
The Love Remedy by Elizabeth Everett
I started reading this as escapism the day after the election, thinking a historical romance was exactly what I needed, and then there was a whole lot in there about abortion access and men fighting against women being able to work and make decisions for themselves, and anyway, I cried about it and put it down for several days. This was pretty good! Didn't grab me, exactly, but as I just discussed there were extenuating circumstances.
The Wolf at the Door by Charlie Adhara
This one was what I wanted the Pingree to be! Werewolf mystery/procedural with some chewy character dynamics, recommended by a friend, first in a series where the romance deepens throughout and the mysteries continue. I do think I'll keep going with the series, since I read this one at a good clip! I figured out a lot of things about the mystery pretty early on and wanted to shout at the main characters a bit about it, but I'm hoping they get a little more mysterious as the series goes on, since this mystery was set up to shake the POV character out of being an asshole so I can't blame it for being unsubtle. I prefer my mystery protagonists to not be cops these days, so I wasn't wild about that aspect, but I'm hoping Adhara might deconstruct that a little, based on what I've seen so far. This is the one that got the star.
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
A reread of a favorite! Nothing particularly new to say about this one, it's just a solid read, and the music magic in it is some of my favorite music magic ever. Plus the romance is sweet!
Let's hope the next batch is better, shall we?