lady_ragnell (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lady_ragnell) wrote2025-06-20 05:36 pm
lady_ragnell) wrote2025-06-20 05:36 pm
2025 Books, Post 6
I would love for the world to stop falling apart so I had the brain to read anything but endless fanfic, but instead I shall continue to read less than I'd like, I guess. Sigh.
In Other Words by Christopher J. Moore
So, after I put the infamous Mr. Grabbe on my list, I got to wondering why I don't put more books like this on my reading list--I tend to keep a book going that's in small chunks, for when I want to read a page or two in between other things, but they don't actually tend to end up on my list, probably because mostly they're rereads. As this one was, though it had been a long time since I read it! Anyway, it's one of those "words/phrases in other languages that aren't translatable to English" books that people love to give you when you're a writer/otherwise interested in words, and it's ... the European language parts are fine, I guess? But I am unable to take this book seriously because it marked an idiom as "Aztec" when it was VERY CLEARLY AND OBVIOUSLY IN SPANISH. There are better ways to indicate that it's a Spanish idiom not used in Spain!!!
The West Passage by Jared Pechacek
This book is very weird and I liked it very much! You have to be in this one to just accept what comes to you, it's a weird and nonsensical world that does have an internal logic, but not the Very Grounded kind that tends to be trendy in fantasy right now. It's weird and a little horrifying, particularly some body horror in places, and several weeks after reading it I do not really know what to say about it except that I very much liked it! No, here, I'll say this, since I've been reading Oz this year: if you like the surrealism and episodic parts of Oz, but want them grown up and darker and with the feeling of particularly weird Medieval illustrations, this one might be for you.
Marrying His Cinderella Countess by Louise Allen
This was fine but utterly unmemorable! Just a slight historical romance, somewhat grave in tone, with an independent-minded heroine who is panicking a lot and very relieved to have some of her worries taken off her shoulders, and a hero who is utterly baffled at her. And a proposal based on simple liking, which I'm always fond of! The more I type about this, the more I remember about it, and I did like it, as it turns out, but yeah, not exactly one that sticks with you a few weeks later.
A Letter from the Lonesome Shore by Sylvie Cathrall
Epistolary fantasy! Follow-up to last year's debut by Cathrall, and very much more centered around the plot than the epistolary romance. So, still good, but a different vibe, and one a bit less centered on my interests. Cathrall gives her characters recognizable-to-the-reader mental illnesses without using modern terminology or diagnoses for them, which is definitely nice, but there were places where I admit there'd been a bit more focus on what was happening with the plot than on the occasional pointedness of that. Also, the reason I am so fond of epistolary romances, as opposed to other epistolaries, is that when there's a lot of plot happening, sometimes my suspension of disbelief about people taking the time to write letters and journal in great detail about all of it starts wavering. Cathrall did make a society that logs and records everything, to be fair, but, well, as I said, it's a fault with a story form I love dearly, so I shouldn't quibble.
Under a Dancing Star by Laura Wood
YA romance set in the 30s in Italy as, essentially, a prequel to Much Ado About Nothing, which would have been much more successful for me if it weren't! If it hadn't been trying to do the Shakespeare thing, it would have been a romance of the Ibbotsonian type (if in first person, which I am never as fond of if it's not epistolary)--settings and character interests that matter, well-drawn secondary characters, social issues that matter and despisement of fascists and Nazis--and I'd have enjoyed it, but I kept on getting distracted by the Ado of it all rather than enjoying it, so it ended up much more mixed for me.
The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Slowed down but by no means stopped! This was as usual quite episodic, until it got to the second half and suddenly had an overall plot, shockingly. Baum clearly wrote this for people who cared for Trot and her companion already, to fold them into the Oz universe, but it wasn't bad for all that! Just Baum doing what Baum does, loose continuity and silly puns and all. (However, I did get VERY distracted by Trot and what's-his-face because it said early on that he boarded in her parents' house, but they've just gone to live in fairyland all willy-nilly and don't seem that concerned about getting back? WHERE are her PARENTS? Had to imagine for my own peace of mind that they were awful.)
The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair
Another page-or-two-at-a-time reread. On reread, a bit uneven, sometimes it felt like she wanted to write about a historical event or personage and then shoehorned in the color, this one's at its best for me when it's talking about the actual physical origins of pigments and dyes and the cultural context around why and how they came into or out of fashion.
Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead
Was quite startled to discover that this sci fi was written in verse! Perhaps I ought not have been, but I can't for the life of me remember where I herad about it first and I don't think it's mentioned on the cover flap, so startled I nonetheless was, though I wasn't mad about it. An odd, dark, and not-totally-to-my-taste book that I nonetheless was engrossed by. If you're into narratives about generation ships and weird technology and terraforming and regret written in verse, well, this is the book for you! (Big TW for body horror, though, particularly one long section of it. I can sometimes be squicked by body horror but found this one rather beautiful, in a strange way, so your mileage may vary.)
Her Pretty Knight by Mariah Rae Birch
Rather less fluffy and light than you'd expect from the title! Sapphic fantasy about a decoy princess who's actually a death witch (in a world where witches can be taken over by magic and turn into dangerous and monstrous creatures and thus are often executed before that loss of control happens, if they're caught) and the lady knight assigned to bodyguard the "princess." I liked the worldbuilding here, and the romance was a bit fast but sweet enough, nonetheless! I think there were places where Birch was doing interesting things without enough space for them to flower properly, particularly around the prince who's meant to be marrying the "princess," but overall, I enjoyed this read. (Started this during a DEEPLY annoying town meeting so I could use it to tune out people saying shitty things and just put up my hand to vote at appropriate moments.)
Soul Mate for Sale by Kian Rhodes
A novella so short I'm not even quite sure I ought to put it on my list, but I make the rules around here so I figured I'd do it! Largely just picked it because my library ereader app recommended it to me and it was short and I needed a palate cleanser. Omegaverse origfic significantly less interesting and deep than much fanfic omegaverse I have read. If you're a connesieur of the trope, it's unlikely to give you anything particularly thrilling. If you aren't, it's unlikely to sway you. So, y'know. Not a tone of reasons to read it.
Next time, I'll hopefully be a bit faster, but I'm about to spend two weeks with friends so who knows if we'll stop talking long enough to read! (Though at least I'll do some reading in the airport.)
In Other Words by Christopher J. Moore
So, after I put the infamous Mr. Grabbe on my list, I got to wondering why I don't put more books like this on my reading list--I tend to keep a book going that's in small chunks, for when I want to read a page or two in between other things, but they don't actually tend to end up on my list, probably because mostly they're rereads. As this one was, though it had been a long time since I read it! Anyway, it's one of those "words/phrases in other languages that aren't translatable to English" books that people love to give you when you're a writer/otherwise interested in words, and it's ... the European language parts are fine, I guess? But I am unable to take this book seriously because it marked an idiom as "Aztec" when it was VERY CLEARLY AND OBVIOUSLY IN SPANISH. There are better ways to indicate that it's a Spanish idiom not used in Spain!!!
The West Passage by Jared Pechacek
This book is very weird and I liked it very much! You have to be in this one to just accept what comes to you, it's a weird and nonsensical world that does have an internal logic, but not the Very Grounded kind that tends to be trendy in fantasy right now. It's weird and a little horrifying, particularly some body horror in places, and several weeks after reading it I do not really know what to say about it except that I very much liked it! No, here, I'll say this, since I've been reading Oz this year: if you like the surrealism and episodic parts of Oz, but want them grown up and darker and with the feeling of particularly weird Medieval illustrations, this one might be for you.
Marrying His Cinderella Countess by Louise Allen
This was fine but utterly unmemorable! Just a slight historical romance, somewhat grave in tone, with an independent-minded heroine who is panicking a lot and very relieved to have some of her worries taken off her shoulders, and a hero who is utterly baffled at her. And a proposal based on simple liking, which I'm always fond of! The more I type about this, the more I remember about it, and I did like it, as it turns out, but yeah, not exactly one that sticks with you a few weeks later.
A Letter from the Lonesome Shore by Sylvie Cathrall
Epistolary fantasy! Follow-up to last year's debut by Cathrall, and very much more centered around the plot than the epistolary romance. So, still good, but a different vibe, and one a bit less centered on my interests. Cathrall gives her characters recognizable-to-the-reader mental illnesses without using modern terminology or diagnoses for them, which is definitely nice, but there were places where I admit there'd been a bit more focus on what was happening with the plot than on the occasional pointedness of that. Also, the reason I am so fond of epistolary romances, as opposed to other epistolaries, is that when there's a lot of plot happening, sometimes my suspension of disbelief about people taking the time to write letters and journal in great detail about all of it starts wavering. Cathrall did make a society that logs and records everything, to be fair, but, well, as I said, it's a fault with a story form I love dearly, so I shouldn't quibble.
Under a Dancing Star by Laura Wood
YA romance set in the 30s in Italy as, essentially, a prequel to Much Ado About Nothing, which would have been much more successful for me if it weren't! If it hadn't been trying to do the Shakespeare thing, it would have been a romance of the Ibbotsonian type (if in first person, which I am never as fond of if it's not epistolary)--settings and character interests that matter, well-drawn secondary characters, social issues that matter and despisement of fascists and Nazis--and I'd have enjoyed it, but I kept on getting distracted by the Ado of it all rather than enjoying it, so it ended up much more mixed for me.
The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Slowed down but by no means stopped! This was as usual quite episodic, until it got to the second half and suddenly had an overall plot, shockingly. Baum clearly wrote this for people who cared for Trot and her companion already, to fold them into the Oz universe, but it wasn't bad for all that! Just Baum doing what Baum does, loose continuity and silly puns and all. (However, I did get VERY distracted by Trot and what's-his-face because it said early on that he boarded in her parents' house, but they've just gone to live in fairyland all willy-nilly and don't seem that concerned about getting back? WHERE are her PARENTS? Had to imagine for my own peace of mind that they were awful.)
The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair
Another page-or-two-at-a-time reread. On reread, a bit uneven, sometimes it felt like she wanted to write about a historical event or personage and then shoehorned in the color, this one's at its best for me when it's talking about the actual physical origins of pigments and dyes and the cultural context around why and how they came into or out of fashion.
Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead
Was quite startled to discover that this sci fi was written in verse! Perhaps I ought not have been, but I can't for the life of me remember where I herad about it first and I don't think it's mentioned on the cover flap, so startled I nonetheless was, though I wasn't mad about it. An odd, dark, and not-totally-to-my-taste book that I nonetheless was engrossed by. If you're into narratives about generation ships and weird technology and terraforming and regret written in verse, well, this is the book for you! (Big TW for body horror, though, particularly one long section of it. I can sometimes be squicked by body horror but found this one rather beautiful, in a strange way, so your mileage may vary.)
Her Pretty Knight by Mariah Rae Birch
Rather less fluffy and light than you'd expect from the title! Sapphic fantasy about a decoy princess who's actually a death witch (in a world where witches can be taken over by magic and turn into dangerous and monstrous creatures and thus are often executed before that loss of control happens, if they're caught) and the lady knight assigned to bodyguard the "princess." I liked the worldbuilding here, and the romance was a bit fast but sweet enough, nonetheless! I think there were places where Birch was doing interesting things without enough space for them to flower properly, particularly around the prince who's meant to be marrying the "princess," but overall, I enjoyed this read. (Started this during a DEEPLY annoying town meeting so I could use it to tune out people saying shitty things and just put up my hand to vote at appropriate moments.)
Soul Mate for Sale by Kian Rhodes
A novella so short I'm not even quite sure I ought to put it on my list, but I make the rules around here so I figured I'd do it! Largely just picked it because my library ereader app recommended it to me and it was short and I needed a palate cleanser. Omegaverse origfic significantly less interesting and deep than much fanfic omegaverse I have read. If you're a connesieur of the trope, it's unlikely to give you anything particularly thrilling. If you aren't, it's unlikely to sway you. So, y'know. Not a tone of reasons to read it.
Next time, I'll hopefully be a bit faster, but I'm about to spend two weeks with friends so who knows if we'll stop talking long enough to read! (Though at least I'll do some reading in the airport.)
no subject
For a targeted rec, have you read The River Has Roots yet?
no subject
And I have, it was such a good one, definitely in my top ten for the year (at least so far, and hard to imagine it falling off the list). Also, reminded me that I need to reread This Is How You Lose the Time War for my epistolary reading!
no subject
no subject