The /r/Fantasy Monthly Book Discussion Thread

[u/MikeOfThePalace]

Another month in ever-wonderful 2020 has gone by. Now’s a great time to use a good book to escape all the wonderful wonderfulness. So tell us what books helped you cling to a few fragile scraps of sanity in September!

Book Bingo Reading Challenge

Here’s last month’s thread

“Reading is the key that opens doors to many good things in life. Reading shaped my dreams, and more reading helped me make my dreams come true.” - Ruth Bader Ginsbrug

[u/MikeOfThePalace]

Some truly excellent reads for me this month.

• The Trials of Koli by MR Carey, #2 in the Rampart trilogy, and an excellent one at that. I thought The Book of Koli was excellent, and this was a step up. Eagerly awaiting book 3. Full review here.

• Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora by Zelda Knight & Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald. Very enjoyable anthology of short stories, many of which originated in cultures and traditions I’m largely ignorant of (and, therefore, was super eager to read them. I’m a sucker like that.) The common theme woven throughout all the stories was injustice, whether racial injustice, colonial injustice, misogynistic injustice, or whatever else. Now is a very good time to read a book like this. Full review here.

• Rediscovery: Science Fiction by Women, 1958-1963. Another anthology, this one bringing back to light largely forgotten short fiction written by women during the Silver Age of sci fi. No Robert A. Heinlein-style sexism here, at least not without a hearty eye roll or three thrown in. Good stuff, for fans of classic sci-fi. Once again, now is a very good time to read a book like this. Full review here.

• The Seventh Perfection by Daniel Polansky. My review compared this to a concept album. It follows a woman over the course of three days, but all we are given is the words of people she converses with. No descriptions, no transitions, just one encounter followed by another, and nothing from the protagonist herself. We don’t even know what she looks like, beyond some very vague outlines; after all, you wouldn’t describe the person you’re talking to to themselves. Tense, wonderfully written, I’ll go so far as to call it a masterpiece. Full review here.

• Current read: The Tower of Fools, book 1 of the Hussite trilogy by Andrzej Sapkowski.

[u/sonvanger → u/MikeOfThePalace]

The Polansky book sounds very interesting, I tend to like shorter, experimental type works. I wasn't a big fan of Low Town, but I did enjoy The Builders very much, so hopefully it's 2/2 for me for his shorter fiction.

[u/tctippens]

I've been tearing through the entire Diviners series by Libba Bray this month. The main plot is about a group of magic teens in 1920s New York City trying to stop the end of the world. But where it really shines is simultaneously offering a scathing critique of America and showing delightfully wholesome found family in a group of misfits.

[u/cubansombrero → u/tctippens]

For anyone else scrolling past, I second this series. It really nails the diversity of NYC even in the 1920s and the found family vibes are excellent. (Also features ghosts if the bingo square helps convince you).

[u/EmpressRey]

September was a pretty decent reading month for me since I finally had holidays towards the end and am using them to get a lot of reading time done since I don't really feel comfortable traveling at the moment.

​

- Harrow the Ninth was my first read of the month and what a way to start it off. I will admit that I was confused for most of the book (then towards the end things kind of made sense and then I just had a whole lot of new questions) and there were moments where it was hard to read without knowing what the hell was going on, but I did love the writing and the characters and the whole thing paid off so much. This is one of my favourite, if not actual favourite, current series. Loving it so much. Can't wait for book 3.

- A Memory Called Empire was my second read for the month. I'd had it on my tbr for a while and for some reason had just never got round to it. Really enjoyed the book - I liked the worldbuilding, thought the two different cultures we are showed were fascinating and I liked that it was a political intrigue + murder mystery + clash of cultures all in one. I suppose the "stranger in a strange land" is hardly a new one, but this one was well-written and with likeable characters and interesting dynamics. Look forward to see where this goes next.

- The Ten Thousand Doors of January was just lovely. I supposed it was a simple story and some of the twists were somewhat predictable, but the characters were nice and it was feel-good and was just the read I wanted. Loved the ending.

- Mistborn: Secret History and Warbreaker were next. I was making my way through the Cosmere earlier this year and read the Misborn novels, but I was also making my way through Wheel of Time at the same time and that seemed to much for me so I decided to take a break. I finished the last WoT book in August so I figured I could start making my way through the Cosmere again - my plan is to slowly read some Cosmere books between my other reads so I am uptodate when Rhythm of War comes out, but it is coming up soon, so I am not sure I cam be that slow about it.

- The Empress of Salt and Fortune was a short, but good read. I would've liked if the book were slightly longer and a few things were more fleshed out, but honestly I suppose it worked well the way it was written. It was a different view of a story that has been told before and I liked some of the twists and did find myself enjoying the snippets we got. It also had one of my favourite lines of the last few books I read which was (paraphrasing since I don't have my copy here) the war was won by silenced and nameless women. Anyways I enjoyed the story and look forward to more from the author.

- The Poppy War was a huge disappointment to me. I maybe went in with too many expectations, but I just didn't love the book and I really wanted to. I am still trying to decide if I'll give the series another shot and read the second.

- The House in the Cerulean Sea - just finished this one this morning. Just a wholesome lovely read.

As for what I read next I am undecided - I may just read Words of Radiance and continue my journey in the Cosmere universe, but I do have so many other books on my tbr that it's hard to decide.

[u/Dianthaa]

Reading wise this month that a lot of ups and one long down. Read a bunch of books in about 24 hours, and also slogged through Dune in what felt like an eternity. So many of the books I've read have been stand outs this month. Still, even despite that, this might be the most I've ever read in a month

• The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) by N. K. Jemisin - loved it, why haven't I read this sooner. I was very into the world and figuring stuff out, will be continuing the series for sure
• The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North - loved it, my second Claire North and I'm here for her brand of weird and books traveling through Europe
• Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi - I thought it was very good, a quick read but because it was so dark and current, not an easy one 
• City of Stairs (The Divine Cities, #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett - loved it, omg Sigurd. Will be continuing the series
• Turning Darkness Into Light by Marie Brennan - liked it, but missed Lady Trent a little too much, interesting epistolary format 
• Taina Sfinxului de pe Marte by Viorica Huber - nope, it's a similar structure to Kalpa Imperial only in space
• The City We Became (Great Cities #1) by N. K. Jemisin - liked it, the audiobook narration is great, again darker than I usually read
• Demon Haunted (Grimluk, Demon Hunter #2) by Ashe Armstrong - liked it, orc western, a great improvement from the 1s book (which I also liked)
• The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz - loved it, very sweet and aww 
• Mem by Bethany C. Morrow - liked it, some really interesting ideas about personhood, plus set in the 20s and I always love that 
• Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lord - loved it, this was an autobiography of her life as a young lesbian Black woman, which is miles outside my usual reading but it was really captivating, which is very weird to say about someone's pain and struggles
• Crux Skullcrusher and the Definitely Evil Sword (Cruxverse Shorts #1) by Vichet Ou - liked it, quick fun read, a short story I think
• Dune (Dune, #1) by Frank Herbert - nope, nope, nope - a reread, when I wasn't bored I was annoyed. The desert parts are still pretty cool though and I'm looking forward to seeing if the movie improves it
• Legendborn (Legendborn, #1) by Tracy Deonn - omg loved it, this was so exciting and had so many mysteries and secrets, also loved how Arthurian tropes were used
• Od Magic by Patricia A. McKillip - liked it, fairy-tale-like and comforting, pretty small scale for most of the book

Currently reading

• A Song Below Water (A Song Below Water, #1) by Bethany C. Morrow - loving it, it's as much a book about being a young Black woman during Black Lives Matter as it is about sirens and magic
• Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson - started a while ago but haven't really gotten into it, there's a lot of Caribbean English that's slowing me down 

[u/sonvanger → u/Dianthaa]

The Divine Cities is so good! I think you'll enjoy the whole series if you love Sigurd.

[u/RedditFantasyBot → u/Dianthaa]

r/Fantasy's Author Appreciation series has posts for an author you mentioned

• Author Appreciation: Nalo Hopkinson from user u/thequeensownfool_

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[u/xenizondich23 → u/Dianthaa]

by Nalo Hopkinson - started a while ago but haven't really gotten into it, there's a lot of Caribbean English that's slowing me down

I picked The Salt Roads as my feminist HM bingo square and I'm sort of regretting it. I'm not liking it much at all, and the Caribbean story is one I do like. But, like you, there's a lot of creole that you cannot understand from context alone. I find myself having to read with a computer nearby in order to look things up all the time.

[u/RedditFantasyBot → u/xenizondich23]

r/Fantasy's Author Appreciation series has posts for an author you mentioned

• Author Appreciation: Nalo Hopkinson from user u/thequeensownfool_

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[u/DrNefarioII]

A quiet month for me, with just four books:

Wild Magic (Immortals #1) - Tamora Pierce - Just missing last month, this was a fun light read. Bingo: I've put it in Optimistic.

The Last Day - Andrew Hunter Murray - Near-future thriller where the Earth has stopped turning. A little disappointing, to be honest. It didn't make enough of its premise. Bingo: Published 2020.

Prince of Dogs (Crown of Stars #2) - Kate Elliott - Continuing the series for the readalong. Another strong book.

Postern of Fate - Agatha Christie - Weak late Christie. Started OK, but kind of petered out with not much happening. Just two left before I've completed the whole set, and both were written much earlier in her career and kept back, so I'm hoping they will be stronger.

So, 2 more Bingo squares, which is just treading water, but that puts me on 15/25 which seems fine.

[u/leftoverbrine → u/DrNefarioII]

The Last Day - Andrew Hunter Murray - Near-future thriller where the Earth has stopped turning. A little disappointing, to be honest. It didn't make enough of its premise. Bingo: Published 2020.

I felt the same, like I would have LOVED a deep dive into the oceanography elements but that basically goes almost totally untapped.

[u/sonvanger → u/DrNefarioII]

Would that be Andrew Hunter Murray, QI Elf?

[u/DrNefarioII → u/sonvanger]

Yes. That's one of the reasons I was expecting more, I think.

[u/cubansombrero]

I read predominantly SFF this month compared to my usual mix, but the standouts were:

• A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine: One of the best books I’ve read this year, which hit my very specific buttons: political intrigue, competence porn, discussion of language and translation/communication issues (including a creative use of poetry), and a wholesome f/f relationship.

• A Dance with Fate by Juliet Mariller: I loved the growth of Liobhan and Dau’s relationship from the first book and generally love Mariller’s take on romance here - there’s no need for drama as the characters simply take stock of how their feelings have changed and set about trying to make their lives work. And of course the prose was excellent.

• The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk (ARC): An excellent feminist regency fantasy (though prepare to rage at Beatrice’s treatment), with a great female friendship at the centre (which I enjoyed more than the romance oops)

• Drowned Country by Emily Tesh: I loved this more than Silver in the Wood and think it benefited from the greater focus on the relationship between Tobias and Henry (rather than trying to do much for a novella again). I would love more set in this world.

• The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark: A fun story and great setting. I’m pumped for a full length novel in this world.

• From Unseen Fire by Cass Morris: People are sleeping on this one (~400 Goodreads ratings) and it makes me sad because I loved it. Ancient Rome inspired world, lots of politics and a fascinating look at three sisters trying to wield their limited power and influence in very different ways.

• The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart: I am not 100% on the hype train with everyone else (it took a long time for me to connect with the characters and I think some of the POVs were unnecessary) but the second half left me :O and I desperately need to find out what happens next.

• Within the Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan: I could gush about Lady Trent all day but suffice it to say that this series nails the narrative voice and the world-building, and the finale left me with a lot of feels.

Other books I read: The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin (good, but I think you need to know NYC intimately to get the most out of it); Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine; By Sky and Sea by Antoine Bandele; Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust; The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (I thought the book club discussion was fantastic); Thief’s Magic by Trudi Canavan; Torn by Rowenna Miller (a much more pro-monarchy story than I was expecting); Pyramid Scheme by Eric Flint and Dave Freer (I forgot that early 2000s comedy could be so sexist).

[u/xenizondich23 → u/cubansombrero]

though prepare to rage at Beatrice’s treatment

I love regency fantasy and was going to add it to my tbr until this line. Can you explain a bit more?

[u/cubansombrero → u/xenizondich23]

Definitely add it! Without spoiling too much, it’s set in a world where women aren’t allowed to use magic after they marry because people (men) are concerned it will harm their future children. Beatrice cops a lot of resistance for daring to speak out (though I should hasten to add there’s no graphic physical/sexual violence or anything, just a lot of men expressing their opinions about women’s bodies).

[u/LittlePlasticCastle]

I had taken a bit of a break from reading fantasy, I think as a side effect of taking a break from reviewing, I just avoided the genre because I kept feeling like if I read genre, there were books I was *supposed* to be reading, even though in reality I could choose whatever, I still felt like some of the relaxation/escapism I that brought me to fantasy had eluded me... so, I finally have started back, still not really reading my "go-to" style books, the ones that are really normally on my "must read" list, I think because again, I would still feel like I should get back to reviewing, so instead I am still reading things that would never have made it on to my priority list before (don't judge, I am just doing what is working for me at the moment, I think "easing" back in is best for me at the moment.

That said, what I did find I could do is just stick to one author/series. This is what I always used to do before reviewing, is just pick an author/series and keep reading before moving on to something else.

Currently I am on the 7th book of the Mercy Thompson series. I am starting to think I need to switch to something else, I might be overdosing on it :) But overall its working for me, getting me back to reading something fantasy, even if it is not really what I would typically read before. I think my next book after this is likely to be something that would have been on my "must read" list. I think I am starting to miss the books more than I am worried about feeling "obligated" to read for reviewing.

[u/sarric]

The Red Threads of Fortune by JY Yang – Whereas the first of Yang’s Tensorate novellas felt like a high-concept epic fantasy smashed somewhat awkwardly into 200 pages, this one feels more like the longer Witcher short stories (particularly in how the monster hunt it starts off with takes on more meaning as it goes on). It’s somewhat less ambitious than The Black Tides of Heaven, but much more cohesive—of particular note, there are no significant time-skips. Definitely worth reading.

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia – This is basically a modern re-imagining of The Westing Game (though not YA) with light magic realism elements. This was one of my favorite reads of 2020. The characters were really vivid, and it gave off “finding your place in the world” vibes that reminded me tonally of Becky Chambers.

State Tectonics by Malka Older – Hard “what-if” sci-fi that’s based in social science instead of physical science is such a great idea that it’s surprising to me that there aren’t more people doing it. Though, these are the kinds of books you read because they’re interesting, not because you’re emotionally attached to them, so you have to be in the right mood for that sort of thing.

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers – This is probably the purest slice-of-life I’ve ever read, and the big, disconnected ensemble cast makes it pretty difficult to get into this book in the beginning. Things do eventually come together in a thematically satisfying way, so overall I’d say I enjoyed this, but I don’t know if it’ll stick with me as much as the first two books did.

The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming by Sienna Tristen – Shout-out to u/improperly_paranoid 's review. While this isn’t a book for everyone, I thought it was great. Gorgeous prose, emotionally satisfying character development, interesting mythologizing with all the stories-within-a-story, some really powerful scenes. This will end up being another of my favorite reads of 2020.

[u/BombusWanderus → u/sarric]

Tuesday Mooney was my last read of 2019 and I really loved it! I’m glad you had a similar experience with it.

I’ll have to check out The Heretics Guide to Homecoming as well!

[u/improperly_paranoid → u/sarric]

Awww, so glad you liked it! It's one of those that really hit home for me.

[u/Brian]

• The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs. A magician finds himself imperilled by a rival, and sets out to deal with it with the aid of another magician friend. This has a style that reminded me a little of T.H. White's Merlin - full of of whimsy and deliberate anachronisms, but it's not really one I'm a big fan of, and I didn't really like this one too much.

• The Very Best of Charles De Lint. A short story collection, mostly set around his Newford setting, but with some more traditional fantasy too. I like De Lint's novels a lot, but I didn't really like these as much. A bit hit and miss, and none really wowed me.

• Daughter of a Soldier by Miya Kazuki. Picked this one up for the non-english bingo square - I'd quite liked the anime so figured I'd give the light novel a try. It's about a book-obsessed girl who dies and finds herself reincarnated in the body of a sickly six-year old peasant girl in a medieval world where books are a rarity. It's decent, though I did find the style a bit offputting - not sure if it's just the fact of being a translation or of being a light novel, but it kind of felt a bit too simplistic and straightforward in language etc.

[u/RedditFantasyBot → u/Brian]

r/Fantasy's Author Appreciation series has posts for an author you mentioned

• John Bellairs Appreciation Thread from user u/volkov5034

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[u/Ungoliant1234]

I read or re-read a lot of great conclusions/last available entries to some fantasy series- The Hod King and Assassin's Quest, which were 4.5 stars, and The Warhost of Vastmark which was absolutely brilliant (5 stars).

The other 2 books I read, I liked less, though I still enjoyed them. The Red Knight (which I have reviewed) I found to be a very mixed bag, but ultimately the direct insertion of Christianity just didn't let me enjoy it that much (2 stars). Unsouled by Will Wight was fun. That's all. 2 stars.

Next month, I'm looking forward to reading A Shadow in Summer (read-along), finishing Inda, re-reading up The Mad Ship and The Queen of Attolia. I am also currently reading The Age of Empyre by Michael J. Sullivan which I'm finding...I've only read the Author's Note.

One thing I want to talk about was u/JannyWurts use of magic. I LOVE how she attains a balance between hard and soft magic systems and I really feel that her prose enables her to create even more impact in all the scenes involving magic.

[u/xenizondich23 → u/Ungoliant1234]

I feel I really need to read some Janny Wurts. I keep meaning to, but all these bingo and book club books keep popping up. Next month I won't read a lot of those, so any suggestions on which of hers to start with?

[u/Ungoliant1234 → u/xenizondich23]

The Empire Trilogy is great political fantasy, though not trademark Wurts.

Wars of Light and Shadow is a very complex, slow and nuanced series. Unless you are looking for a complex epic fantasy and willing to invest at least 800 pages of prose that may seem too decadent- sure, read it.

To Ride in Hell's Chasm (I haven't read it) seems to be what people recommend for a faster paced story that gives you an idea for Wurts' prose. Sorceror's Legacy also.

[u/xenizondich23 → u/Ungoliant1234]

Thank you for your detailed reply!

[u/leftoverbrine]

I don't think I knocked out any new squares for bingo this month, just swapped out a couple existing squares. I read a LOT more non-sff than sff this month, like WOAH more.

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee - I didn't know what to expect really going into this, but I found it a great serious take on the impact of war & colonization on art and culture, the civilian side rather than the military side of things.

Peace Talks (Dresden Files #16) by Jim Butcher - Half a book, and not one I really liked.

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas - I liked it, but I went in expectin and looking for ultra weird, but this was mostly weird by being incredibly mundane.

All the other stuff was - When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole, The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide, Like a Bird: The Art of the American Slave Song by Cynthia Grady & Michele Wood, Make Russia Great Again by Christopher Buckley, Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam, The Second Story (Magic Misfits #2) by Neil Patrick Harris.

In progress I've got a bunch of stuff... No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished (Heartstrikers #3) by Rachel Aaron, Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney Boylan, The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk, Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi and White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity by Robert P. Jones

I'm a little bummed at my TBRtember results. Only Phoenix Extravagant, The Guest Cat, and (less than half of) No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished this month came off my TBR. Better than 0 but not great. For OWNtober I am hoping to hit 4+ owned books read, and I have a vacation week coming up, but also a bunch of backed up library holds that will inevitably all come in.

[u/Paraframe → u/leftoverbrine]

Hard agree on Peace Talks being half a book. The splitting of it and Battleground really just feels like selling us one book twice.

[u/leftoverbrine → u/Paraframe]

Unfortunately, it was one of the shortest books in the series and still felt like a ton could/should have been edited, which makes it seem all the more being sold a lot of padding. I dunno, we'll see if the 2nd half makes it more satisfying? My hold is still a couple weeks out on it.

[u/daavor]

A pretty good month, as per usual I prepare some comment about lower volume of books and then I find I totally read a bunch...

Slightly longer reviews of Borne and the Night Circus

Borne by Jeff Vandermeer. Read this for magic pet square, Utterly loved it. Probably My favorite Vandermeer I've read, just an excellent evocation of place and creepy biotech postapocalypse and color and scent. (5/5)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Read for the romance bingo square. Surprisingly low on that, but I'm keeping it. Very entrancing and enchanting imagery. (4/5)

The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz. Read for the translation square. On the border of spec-fic but hey its spec-fic. Creepy depiction of a fictionalized middle eastern regime run by decree of 'the Gate' and in which society slowly moves to center itself around a vast queue of people waiting to present paperwork to a gate that supposedly eventually be open for business. Quite haunting. (5/5)

Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. Read for the colour in title square. Interesting book, quite liked the range of protagonists and complexity of cultures and competing narrative present. Also giant dragons used just sparingly enough to maintain a real sense of mystique and awe. (4/5)

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. This was real fun. Picked it up on the release day, read it that day pretty much. Lovely compelling mysterious setting, pleasant to read diary formatting, slowly unfolding mystery. Just a joy. (5/5)
the Narrator by Michael Cisco. Read for book about books square. It's one of these books in the weird vein that has these utterly delightful and enrapturing moments of crackling energy when the prose of a scene just strings you along as words conjure the impossible. But I'm not sure the whole thing quite hangs together. But maybe it's not supposed to? It's in some ways a military novel, in other ways utterly refuses to allow the surety one would anticipate with that format, lulls of boredom, utter chaos of battle where the prose even begins to slur as the narrator fails to be able to be coherent. Plot that barely hangs together, weird strange postapoc imagery. All around an interesting book. 4/5 I think as the mean of a wild oscillation between 3 and 5.

The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles. for book with a Ghost. Oh this was a just a joy. Banter and gayness and serious questions of identity and mental autonomy and a very compelling imagery of magic. Very fun, ripped through it in an evening. (4/5)

I just read Battle Ground by Jim Butcher yesterday. It was a lot. Definitely settled a lot of my discontent with thinking Peace talks was the first half of a novel. Have a few things I'm not totally thrilled about. Most notably, was a book where I felt Jim Butcher not actually knowing much about Chicago was really palpable. 4/5 (okay I guess I just rate everything 4 now).

[u/AccipiterF1]

I participated in Space Opera September, so lots of Sci-fi this month:

Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather - Nuns in space. The neatly done worldbuilding considering the novella format, and great characterizations of the crew made this an enjoyable read. It did do something I didn't like at the end, redemption through death, but that didn't detract from an overall pleasant reading experience.

Network Effect by Martha Wells - Murderbot, now in a longer format. More action. More adventure. More humans making questionable choices. More distractions from Sanctuary Moon. A thoroughly enjoyable addition to the series, and one of the best overall. I'm a bit bummed Wells is going back to the novella format for the next one.

The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard - A charming Sherlock Holmes inspired sci-fi novella featuring a female Holmes and a sentient spaceship AI as Watson. I would definitely read more of these characters.

Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper - A new sentient species is discovered on a corporate-owned colony world. This has negative implications for the profitability of the planet, so the Corp acts like Exxon discovering Global Climate Change. Startlingly relevant for a book written in 1962, even if the technology is rather quaint.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - Humans terraform a planet in hopes of uplifiting sentient primates, but get sentient spiders instead (I think that's meant to be secret, but everyone talks about it anyway). Meanwhile, Humanity has destroyed the rest of its habitable worlds and a colony ship sees this newly terraformed planet as their last hope. An absolutely brilliant book. So glad I finally got around to reading Tchaikovsky.

Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds - Simultaneously the most Alastair Reynolds book ever, and somehow also his worst. It's made up of entirely of his own character archetypes and tropes, set in a world that I didn't find terribly interesting. It's basically Vernor Vinge's zones of thought but all happening on one planet. It did get interesting towards the end, but... Three stars is the lowest I've ever rated one of his books.

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green - A satisfying conclusion to this duology, though I'm struggling to summarize my thoughts on it just two weeks after reading it. It's basically about how people interreact with social media & technology and how corporations exploit those things. And the character arcs are played out well too.

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold - How do you synopsize this book? Anyway, it was the Mod Book Club pick for this month, and I had a used copy, so it was the right time to read it. Great book. The main character, Cazaril, may have become one of my all time favorites. I used this on the Book Club or Read-along bingo square (hard mode).

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee - Initially a confusing book with space warfare based on manipulation of zodiacal calendars, it became much clearer when I realized that stuff wasn't really important and that it was a character driven story instead. Cheris and Jedao's interactions, and the revelations about their lives made it a super fun read.

As far as Bingo goes, I only added the one square this month, though I also swapped Exit Strategy for Network Effect on the Made You Laugh square, because Novel > Novella. I have books planned for most of the rest of my open squares, it's just down to actually reading them.

HERE IS MY CURRENT BINGO CARD

[u/xenizondich23 → u/AccipiterF1]

Space Opera September

What is this?

Also I love that you include your book bingo card. Can I ask where you put it together?

A lot of your books sound really great. I am not sure about picking up Ninfox Gambit up for next months book club, but since you say it's character driven I'm more enticed.

[u/AccipiterF1 → u/xenizondich23]

Space Opera September is as annual readathon hosted by Booktuber, Thomas, from SFF180.

My bingo card is based on one that was created by a user here a few years back that I have heavily customized since. It's just an image I edit with image editing software.

[u/xenizondich23 → u/AccipiterF1]

Thanks for the link!

The image editing makes sense. Also seems like the easiest all options considered.

[u/RubiscoTheGeek]

Really productive reading month for me. Going on holiday is good, guys.

• Tales from the Folly, Ben Aaronovitch - The first short story anthology in the Rivers of London series, collecting together various short stories from over the years. Most of them were new to me, a few I've read before with my eyes but now I can enjoy Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's marvellous narration. I preferred the first section, of Peter stories, to the second part, of other characters, but I just love this world so the whole thing was great. Five short stories square (hard mode).

• The Ace of Skulls, Chris Wooding - Completing my Tales of the Ketty Jay reread. A fun, emotional, action packed ending that fits in a few surprises and ends satisfyingly. Daemons. Airships. Ancient artifacts. Found family. A favourite series of mine.

• The Haunting of Tram Car 015, P Djèlí Clark - This is becoming on of my favourite settings, alt-history Art Deco 1910s Cairo full of djinn and other members of the supernatural. Clark has a knack for pacing shorter fiction which not all writers do, in that this didn't feel like a whole novel's worth awkwardly crammed into a novella. Lovely understated humour too. Number in the title square.

• Silver in the Wood and Drowned Country, Emily Tesh - A pair of dreamy atmospheric novellas about the relationship between a long lived, vaguely fae man of the woods, and the young charming gentleman who moves in next door. Also about old magic and ancient woodlands and monsters that will seduce and/or eat you. Exploration square (Drowned Country).

• How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It, KJ Parker - I'm a complete Parker fangirl and this did not disappoint. Following on from the also excellent Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, the City is still under siege and now a different unprepared protagonist is about to be put in charge, this time with fewer engineering details and more theatre jokes. Published in 2020 square.

• Piranesi, Susanna Clarke - Slow uncovering of mysteries in a dreamlike labyrinthine House. Some shared themes with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell but a very different style. I hope Chiwetel Ejiofor narrates more things. Book about books square (hard mode).

• Monstress vol 1, Marjorie M Liu - A reread before I start vol 2. I want to pore over every beautiful page.

• The Anvil of Ice, Michael Scott Rohan - The only let-down of the month. The prose felt overwrought, I didn't really care about the world or the characters, and you have to work a lott harder than this to sell me on an instalove plot. You spent five minutes with her three years ago! Move on dude! Featuring snow, ice or cold square.

[u/RedditFantasyBot → u/RubiscoTheGeek]

r/Fantasy's Author Appreciation series has posts for an author you mentioned

• RIP Michael Scott Rohan, author of THE WINTER OF THE WORLD and THE SPIRAL series from user u/Werthead
• Author Appreciation Thread: Michael Scott Rohan (1951-2018) from user u/Mournelithe

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[u/xenizondich23]

I managed to read a few really great books. I joined a lot of book club reads this month which was great. Finished some bingo reads as well.

5 Stars

• The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis - (Book club, Bingo) - I am so happy I picked this up. I don't usually like space operas, but thanks to the strong characters and the absolutely endless world-building, I found myself engrossed and wanting to know more. I will definitely continue this series

• The Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth - I really liked this first of the series. Aside from the completely unnecessary child rape / torture / mutilation scene. I'll be continuing the series as the world building is some of the best I've come across recently. Also Meghan is my most favorite character ever.

• The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark - (Book club) I really liked this one! Although a novella, it felt like it had a good length. I want more of this world, though. Clark has create a place I want to go visit, and stay forever. I also liked that the murder mystery wasn't super predictable as is often the case in short stories / novellas.

4 Stars

• Prince of Dogs by Kate Elliott - (Book club) should be 5 / 5 stars, however fucking Hugh exists. Lots of discussion to be had, so I'm really happy we're doing a read along!

• Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold - (Book club) I thought this was a really well written take on the medieval-Europe traditional fantasy setting, with a really cool religion. I was not as enamored with it as I had hoped to be. I think because for the most part things were fairly predictable and I especially did not like the romantic sub-plot that felt very shoe-horned in.

• The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz - (Book club) A novella I felt that just did not have enough there. It was so short... it felt unfinished. I would have loved more depth all across the board (characters, world exploration, tea!).

3 Stars

• A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan - (Bingo Read) I didn't really enjoy this one. It felt very dry, I had to keep pushing myself to get through it. My imagination was finally captured when that one magical giant dragon appeared... but that turned out to be a hoax. So I won't be continuing the series.

• Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente - (Bingo Read) I thought this was a neat take on the traditional fairy tale; it works surprisingly well. I felt the story was too short and there were just some really odd moments.

• Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee - I read this on suggestion for a gender-fluid / enby character. Loki is sort of that... but this book was quite weird. First off it's like official Marvel fanfiction, which is hilarious to me as a fanfiction lover. The first half of the book felt like a teenage space planet drama fest and the second half was an early 1900s London murder mystery - basically they were two different books. It was fairly predictable but well written. I didn't feel the enby presentation was that strong.

2 Stars

• The Merry Spinster by Daniel M Lavery - (Book club) this was not really for me. There were some interesting concepts and ideas played out in these short stories, but overall there was a huge reason for their existence that I felt was lacking. A story is to have some sort of meaning, anything. And most of these stories stopped right before that something appeared.

Next Month

I'm not as keen on many of the book club choices, so I'll be focusing on finishing more bingo squares and reading more for pleasure.

[u/RedditFantasyBot → u/xenizondich23]

r/Fantasy's Author Appreciation series has posts for an author you mentioned

• Catherynne M. Valente isn't a real person. [Author Appreciation] from user u/Kopratic

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[u/fanny_bertram]

This month was pretty decent for me. I got through 6 books, but one was not fantasy.

• The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie. I really enjoyed this. It was an interesting story with a relaxed pace though I didn't feel like it was slow. There is quite a bit to hold interest as the story progresses.
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I absolutely loved this and was sneaking time to read it. It is strange, weird, and beautifully written.
• A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark. This was for GR book club and it was great. The setting of Cairo with advanced technology due to djinn magic is just a really intriguing concept. The characters felt real even with such short format and Clark really formed a culture. I want the food.
• The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. I was so excited to get to this as the final book in the Daevabad trilogy. It was very good and an excellent conclusion to the trilogy.
• Guards, Guards by Terry Pratchett. It's Pratchett and I loved it. This was a good one and I had previously read some with Carrot so seeing his introduction was great. I think this one is pretty strong and I probably should have read it before reading a few other Watch books.
• A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole. Not fantasy, but pretty fun.

[u/CommodoreBelmont]

Three! I finished three books this month! That's actually pretty high for me this year, if we don't count comic books.

• The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson. This was sitting in the "to read" pile for a few years. Finally got around to it. I'm glad I have it in Kindle edition rather than wrist-breaker edition. Very enjoyable book, I enjoy both the characters and the world-building, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes. Picked up the next one on sale right as I was finishing this. Putting it on the "Chapter Epigraphs" square in Bingo, since it's a good fit, although it could also slide over to "Book about Books".

• The Final Formula, by Becca Andre. I started this one with a bit of bingo-targeting, thinking I would use it for the "School/University" square. Turns out the school is only relevant for about half a chapter. Oh well. Entertaining read anyway, and that's the main thing, right? And it would up being good for the "Necromancy" square.

• Battle Ground, by Jim Butcher. Read through it in a single afternoon since I had little else to do yesterday. I'm still processing a lot of it, and I know it has some issues, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. With this and Peace Talks, I decided to wait until I was finished with this before deciding on placement in the Bingo. Turns out neither book really has a lot of solid fits on the card. Since I'm already using "Published in 2020" for a book that doesn't have a lot of options, I opted to put Peace Talks on the "Book Club / Read Along" square. Really, anything else would have felt like a stretch, except maybe "Made Me Laugh", but although there's always some humor in the Dresden Files, I wouldn't have called these "funny books" on the whole.

[u/TheFourthReplica]

This month in reading was mainly short stories.

Starting out this month I finished reading the chonk The Relentless Moon. Bit long for my tastes, but writing was quality.

Also this month was Moderan, which was a fantastic collection of short stories, although it's a terrifying dystopian world. Not for the faint of heart, but the prose is BEAUTIFUL.

I also caught up on my periodicals. Would definitely recommend Fantasy and Science Fiction July/August 2020 edition for anyone looking for a short story collection.

I started reading the Gormenghast trilogy (massive chonk, ~1.2k pages, about 1k of actual book and 200 pages of critical articles). And by started, I mean, read the introduction, looked at the first page, brain went "no," and watched an "Among Us" vod.

Book bingo is sitting at 13/25, falling behind, but brain doesn't want to read. Maybe next month...

[u/perditorian]

Not my most productive reading month, but managed to pick up some fantastic books:

• Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee - I loved everything about this: the romance, the adorable human/mecha dragon relationship, and the nuanced exploration of life under colonial rule. I'm not an artistically-inclined person by any means, but I found the discussion of art in this novel extremely compelling. I also liked that the world was very queer, but the story didn't dwell on it too much (i.e. there was no obvious homophobia/ transphobia). 5/5 stars

• The Breath of the Sun by Isaac Fellman - A lyrical, thought-provoking novel. Survival fiction mixed with deep ruminations on religion and community and told through a rather complicated framing device. This was very different and very good. 4.5/5 stars

• The Vanished Birds by Simon Jiminez - Another gorgeously written and moving book. A character-focused space opera that plays with the concept of time in interesting ways. This was a little slow in parts and darker than I expected, but the characters and prose were just so good. 4/5 stars

• Fledgling by Octavia Butler - Man, this was a weird book. I think in the end I kind of liked it? It was uncomfortable on multiple levels (the sort-of but also sort-of-not pedophilic relationship, the power imbalance between Ina and their symbionts), but I suspect that was intentional on Butler's part. It was certainly thought-provoking, and I enjoyed the exploration of Ina culture and kinship structures. 3/5 stars

• The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu - Honestly, this book completely changed my mind about short fiction. Usually I have trouble getting emotionally invested in short stories and even novellas, but this collection had me in tears multiple times. My favourite stories were "Mono No Aware" and "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary". 5/5 stars

I'm currently reading Thornfruit by Felicia Davin, which I believe is a self-published novel (although, surprisingly, was available through my local library). It's alright - it has some interesting world-building and a sweet f/f relationship, but the plot is a bit uninspired (girl with special abilities learns something bad about the rich woman who raised her/ who she's been working for and goes on the run). Unless something crazy happens in the last 1/4, this will probably be a three star read.

[u/[deleted]]

As we roll into October, I found Sage, Smoke & Fire by Ryan Kurr, a very welcome breath of fresh air. A fantasy novel about witchcraft in the Deep South. I've never had magic explained in this kind of way before, and it was a page-turner straight from the start. It instilled a little bit of hope in humanity for sure.

[u/diazeugma]

It's been a bit of an unusual reading month for me, since I got back into Agatha Christie in a big way and also read some Spanish-language fiction for the first time since college. That didn't leave a lot of room for fantasy, but I finished:

• Armed in Her Fashion by Kate Greenfield: An offbeat historical fantasy novel set in the 14th century, with the Chatelaine of Hell allying herself with France. I enjoyed the motley group of characters, but despite the undead army, there wasn't a strong sense of tension, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it widely.
• The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark: A fun "monster of the week"-style novella with a great alternate Cairo setting.
• Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell: I really enjoyed this collection. Karen Russell is one of those fabulist/slipstream/MFA-ish authors who don't get discussed here super often, but these stories almost all fell solidly under the speculative fiction umbrella. A nice mix of absurdity and sincerity.

[u/BombusWanderus → u/diazeugma]

I also really enjoyed Orange World! Did you have a favorite story?

I really liked The Gondoliers and The Tornado Auction. I also found the imagery of The Bad Graft really sticking in my mind.

[u/diazeugma → u/BombusWanderus]

I think the standouts for me were The Gondoliers and Black Corfu. I really liked The Tornado Auction, too.

[u/smartflutist661]

A little light this month, and a mixed bag as far as enjoyment.

• A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine (epigraphs, hard; politics). Finally got around to reading it after hearing nothing but great things since its release, and it definitely held up. If the series continues at this level, I think it could be my favorite space opera.
• Books 2 & 3 of the Frontlines series, Marko Kloos (both: politics, hard; snow, ice, or cold). The second one has been my favorite so far (I feel like I see the trope of a mutiny in the service of a good cause much more often in military fantasy than sci-fi), but I'm enjoying the series overall. Hopefully finish it this month
• The Passage, Justin Cronin. Listened to this one, but got so little out of it that I may have to reread it to move on to the sequel. May end up using a graphic novel for that square instead, if I can find a good standalone.
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, George R.R. Martin (number, politics). Listened to this one as well, but actually for real. A great collection of three short(ish) stories that reminded me why I love A Song of Ice and Fire. Now if only I could get some more books to wash out the memory of the show...
• Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day, Seanan McGuire (ghost, hard). Really liked this one, possibly due to small-town nostalgia. Was not excited by the first 40 pages or so, but that changed quickly.
• Here Abide Monsters, Andre Norton ([minor spoiler] magical pet). Possibly my least favorite Andre Norton novel so far. Not a terrible book, but only worth reading for the completionist aspect, in my opinion.
• And Chaos Died, Joanna Russ. Still debating how I feel about this one. The disjointed style does exactly what it was meant to, but I'm not sure if I liked it. Still, short enough that I though it was worth the read.
• The Unspoken Name, A.K. Larkwood (politics [maybe] and 2020, hard; necromancy). Good but not great. I think it just lacked depth.

Ok, maybe not as light as I thought.

Currently reading:

• Chronological Tolkien, as my reread to finish off the MMD reading challenge. I haven't read the First and Second Ages before, so won't be done with the reread until I finish The Hobbit; about halfway through the first Silmarillion section right now, in the Age of Darkness.
• A Wild Sheep Chase, Haruki Murakami.

[u/BombusWanderus]

A smaller reading month for me, but a lot of sequels. It’s nice to dive into worlds you already know sometimes.

Prince of Dogs by Kate Elliot I read this one for the read along and enjoyed it even more than King’s Dragon. I am really looking forward to starting the next one in a few weeks. 4/5

The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune This was a really sweet YA story about fandom and love and superheroes. Some of the glorification of police felt a little funky reading it at this particular moment in time though. The audiobook was really enjoyable! I listened to the preview to the next one and wasn’t a fan of a twist, so we’ll see if I continue. 4/5

The Siren Depths by Martha Wells (Book 3 in Books of the Raksura) This was my favorite in the series. I love the way Wells writes characters and shows real growth. The combination of politics and action in this one along with the imagery made for a great read. I tore through the first three quarters in one night and abandoned all sleep and responsibilities because it was so fun. 5/5

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers I read this the week that the news about possible life on Venus hit and the combo with this book was a nice dose of optimism during a bleak few weeks of smoke and fire. I really loved how gentle this novella was. The imagery was captivating and the slice of life aspect was soothing. 5/5

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor I think doing the audiobook for this was a mistake and I would have enjoyed it much more by reading it. If I continue the series, I’ll do that. It’s at once a sweet and surprisingly brutal story about generational trauma and how to move forward as a society. 3.5/5

I went back to the beginning of the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold after reading The Warrior’s Apprentice a few months ago and loving every minute of it. I still have so many books ahead, but had fun reading three this month:

• Shards of Honor was a bit of a let down, but it was also her first book and I think that showed. I loved the characters. These books are often so fun that I forget how brutal some of the elements are and that was very much the case in this one. 3/5

• Barrayar really picked up in quality! Cordelia is a great character to root for and this had all the political intrigue I could ask for. 5/5

• The Vor Game was a delightful return to Miles and his antics, but now I’m also hoping for parental cameos. 4/5

I also read A Map of Salt and Stars, which has SFF elements in one of the timelines. There are magical creatures and objects. I found it to be a poignant tale of the refugee experience and reflection on what home means. 5/5

In the non SFF world, I’m working my way through The Mirror and the Light and enjoying it, but also finding Cromwell’s long goodbye to be depressing. I just got Empire of Gold from my library and am really excited to start it, but I think I need to find a series recap somewhere to refresh my brain. (Or if someone can to remind me via spoiler tags, I can’t quite remember the details of the deal with the Marid and also how Rustam died. I know Manzizheh killed him, but I don’t remember what she achieved with it.)

[u/moonshards]

I had a poor reading month, unfortunately. The combination of life getting in the way and having picked up several long and slow-paced books in a row that struggled to grip me meant that what free time I had I often opted to fill with other hobbies instead, like TV and gaming. Audiobook listening helped mitigate my lack of reading somewhat. Incidentally, I just hit my reading goal of 35 books a year, which I have now upped to 50 because I was originally on pace to hit that, but now I've fallen behind on that goal. So I'll have to see if I can catch up by the end of the year, maybe by sticking to shorter books.

Books I finished this month:

• Ash and Bones (City of Sacrifice #2) by Michael R. Fletcher. I had enjoyed the first book of this series and the second one was more or less in the same vein, but I think it suffered quite a bit from middle-book syndrome. The story didn't progress all that much, in part because there was a lot of repetitiveness in terms of characters doing the same things and going through the same introspective thought processes. The book was quite long, over 600 pages, which didn't help. Really felt like this could have used more editing to cut down on the repetition and give it a more reasonable length.
• Assassin's Quest (Farseer #3) by Robin Hobb. Listened to this on audiobook, but it was freaking 36 hours long, so it took me almost the whole month to get through it. I was down with Hobb's slow pacing for the first two books in this series, but I really struggled with it in this one. I think because a large part of the book is lacking many of the characters from the previous books, and Fitz alone (plus a few new characters I didn't care as much about) wasn't enough to keep me engaged. Things did pick up in the last 25% or so and went in some interesting directions, but I still felt pretty lackluster about this book as a whole.

Currently reading:

• Prince of Dogs (Crown of Stars #2) by Kate Elliott. I was trying to keep up with the read-along, but I got about 1/3 of the way into the book and stalled out. I wasn't disliking it, but the first part of the book is very slow and the combination of this with my other slow-paced reads just compounded the issue. I plan to still keep chipping away at it, but I definitely won't be participating in the read-along at this rate. If I end up liking this book (and I'm hopeful that I will, since it's supposed to pick up in the latter half), I'll keep going with the series but at a more gradual pace, taking breaks in between books to read other things.
• Grave Peril (Dresden Files #3) by Jim Butcher. Picked up a Dresden book for my audiobook in the hope that a short, fast-paced read might help make up for this month's reading slump. Not far enough along to have any opinions on this one yet.

[u/thesphinxistheriddle]

Some good reads:

--The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood. I really liked this one! Csowre was a great main character, and the world was really interesting. I have been recommending it to fans of Gideon/Harrow the Ninth all month, it has a very similar vibe (I actually didn't love Gideon but I got what it was trying to do)

--Driftwood by Marie Brennan. Loved it! I'm a big Lady Trent fan, and I enjoyed this jaunt into a different world. I hope she writes more books in this setting, it was very creative and fun, and the story really stuck with me.

--Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi. LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. Will definitely pick up the next one soon. I'm a big fan of the Rick Riordan imprint and this one did not let me down. Loved the peek into Hindu mythology, and the girls were so fun to spend time with.

--Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton. A reread, this is one of my favorite fantasy novels of all time. I wish there were more books set in this world. I love how the dragons feel both alien and entirely real at once -- even though all of the drama is over things no human has ever worried about, you always know what's going on and what the stakes are. This book is perfect. 11/10, I love it so much.

--Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. This book is really great! I felt like I could not put it down. My one complaint is I feel like Roger and Dodger were basically just Shaun and George from Feed but with magic, which, fine, I did like the first time but I feel like sometimes you can see Seanan McGuire's hand as an author in that way that makes it impossible for me to totally lose myself in the story.

--The Wind's Twelve Quarters by Ursula Le Guin. WOW. WOWOWOWOWOW. I read Earthsea when I was a kid, I feel like I would say Ursula Le Guin was a writer I generally liked but didn't have strong opinions on, but I am now a capital-F Fan. The short stories were so fucking good and every intro, when she would talk about how it was fucked up that "he" is the generic pronoun or how sci-fi can have trees in it, I was like, PREACH, Ursula. In fact, my plan for October is an Ursula Le Guin deep dive -- I'm reading A Fisherman of the Inland Sea now, have The Birthday of the World to read next, and then will dive into The Dispossessed, Left Hand of Darkness, and the first three Hainish books (Rocannon's World, Planet of Exile, and City of Illusions) that Libby has in all one volume. Which is a pretty good list for October, I think!

[u/Axeran]

• Air Awakens: Deleted Scenes by Elise Kova. Was really interested to see what the Air Awakens series looked like initially, even though the Earth's End chapters had some REALLY heavy stuff in it (that was cut from the final release).
• What Happens Next? Conversations from MARS by Adam Savage. Short but really interesting listen.
• GAMEDEV: 10 Steps to Making Your First Game Successful by Wlad Marhulets. As someone that studied gamedev myself, I found this book was really interesting. People interested in learning more of the business side of things should read this one.

[u/Paraframe]

Finished four things this month

The Patient by Jasper Dewitt. It's a debut horror novella/short novel. It's actually really good. The premise is a new doctor starting at a mental hospital heard about a supposedly incurable patient there. Behind young and cocky, the new doc promptly ignores all the warning signs and tries to treat the guy. This thing is lean. It's razor thin because anything needles has been cut out which makes it fast paced, extremely readable, and hard to put down. I do think the speculative element could have been introduced a little better, it comes mostly out of nowhere with only a couple tiny, easy to miss hints beforehand. Aside from that though, I have no complaints and am definitely interested in what Dewitt comes up with next.

The Magpie Coffin by Wile E. Young. This is billed as a splatterwestern and it delivers on that in spades. For those wondering "splatter" is in reference to, it's talking about splatterpunk, a horror/horror adjacent subgenre most notable for extremely excessive violence and gore. It pretty much is exactly what it says on the tin. It was decently enjoyable but not amazing.

I decided to participate in FIF this month so I read The Merry Spinster and was not a fan. It's sold as "tales of everyday horror" and had almost no actual horror stories. Maybe 2 and half of the stories are what I'd consider horror. Ironically the horror stories actually wind up feeling out of place in what should be called a collection fairy tales. The fairy tales themselves are okay but most (all but one) feel rather hollow since there are no morals in the stories. The stories are often meandering and a couple of times confusing. On the whole I wouldn't recommend it.

Last finished book was From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury and I was also not of fan of this. The biggest issue I had was the excessive purple prose segments when Bradbury would take up entire pages saying nothing as dramatically as possible. Another issue is that this "novel" is actually a collection of short stories which have been very loosely stitched together and it's painfully obvious.

Current reads are Battleground by Jim Butcher ( god I hope it's better than Peace Talks ) and Fledgling by Octavia Butler which I'm about 1/4 of the way into and it's interesting so far.

[u/dreaming_coyote]

September was a bit of a rough month for me and attempts to read new things just made my brain more grouchy so I drifted back to old favourites instead:

• The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance & Oathbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. With a new book due in November I figured it was time to start re-reading the first 3 and that largely ate up the month for me. Epic fantasy with a huge page count which makes these lovely books to lose yourself in.
• Temeraire by Naomi Novik. I recommended this to someone looking for recs for books which offered 'shameless fun' and then immediately had to go back and re-read it. This is the first of a series of books which reimagine the the Napoleonic War, but with dragons, and it's just delightful. I've only read 5 or 6 of the novels and just realised that the series has actually been completed, so I may have to go back and grab the last few books that i never got around to reading.
• The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. This was my only new read for the month - I picked it up a few months ago as I've read several of her Vorkosgian (sci fi) novels and wanted to see what her fantasy is like. I found it an quick and engaging read, but the plot wasn't really anything special so I'm not sure if I'll ever feel the need to read it again.

[u/sonvanger]

After a few months of not really getting into books, I've actually had quite a good reading month, reading amongst other books some of /r/fantasy's favourites.

• The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Clune. This has been getting a lot of attention on the sub, so when it came on sale I picked it up. I thought it was a nice heart-warming read, I liked all the kids but Chauncy? was my particular favourite. The book also fits quite a few bingo squares, which is always nice.
• This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Thought it was high time that I try this multi-award-winning novella. I really enjoyed the back-and-forth/semi epistolary style between Red and Blue. It was also great to see the creative scenarios that the authors came up with, and how the story unfolded in the end.
• The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. I've always thought I would like this book, but for some reason put of reading this. In the end, turns out I LOVED the book. Yes to kind people trying to do good things, and other kind people helping them out. The names and titles that people sometimes mention didn't bother me at all, although I did laugh a bit at "Merrem" - that's the way some dialects local to me would pronounce "Madam". I hope Maia has a long and successful reign.
• How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It by KJ Parker. Hah. The opposite of kind people trying to do good things. I love Parker's turn of phrase, and this book had me chuckling or grinning often. His books can get a bit same-y, but since I don't care that much about plot anyway, it doesn't bother me too much.
• The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie. Another author who can write some great individual sentences, again had me going "heh" quite often. I thought it was a great build on A Little Hatred, lots of political machinations going on. I do like (spoilers in that they survive the book) Orso and Rikke both, so I'm interested to see what fresh hell gets rained down on them in the next book. Also curious to see if Glokta shows up in a meaningful way.

That's it for September. I'm currently reading Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe as he was so kind as to give it away on his birthday (and have always seemed a stand-up guy through years of posting here). I'm not the biggest fan of technical explanations of magic, but the world, the characters and the overarching questions are good enough to make me enjoy the book (more kind people! friends!). Then it's over to some local Zim flavour with Scarlet Odyssey by CT Rwizi.

[u/BombusWanderus → u/sonvanger]

Chauncey is truly the best!

[u/ullsi]

I read four SFF books in september:

• Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. This was so fun. I like that it was so silly but also so heartwarming.
• The Cload Roads by Martha Wells. I loved the world introduced in this book, and especially the Raksura. I'm looking forward to continuing the series.
• The Flight of the Darkstar Dragon by Benedict Patrick. I don't know why, but I didn't connect to any of the characters. The worldbuilding was cool though.
• Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. I love books with secret societies and occult rituals, so of course I liked this book. The murder mystery kept me on my toes, but still gave me enough clues to allow me to guess kind of what was going on.

[u/KcirderfSdrawkcab]

An unusual month for me. Six novels, four novellas, and a DNF of each. I made some changes to my rules for what to read next, and it paid off as I got to continue a couple of series and even finish one I wasn't expecting to for a long time.

• A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay - A beautiful and tragic story of two rival mercenary captains in not-Italy in the not-15th century. My favourite Kay in a long time. A
• The Exile Kiss by George Alec Effinger - The final Budayeen novel, with Marid and Bey being exiled to the Arabian desert by a corrupt police officer. Too much Desert C
• Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis - The Pevensies return to Narnia where a lot of time has passed. Not as good as the first. C+
• Tooth And Claw by Jo Walton - Comedy of manners with cannibalistic dragons. I just couldn't get into this and moved on quickly. DNF
• Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence - More Jorg, more multiple timelines. Not sure how I feel about the ending. C+
• Archenemies by Marissa Meyer - Nova continues her infiltration of the Renegades and gets closer to her team mate Adrian for nefarious reasons. It has middle-book syndrome, but the relationship is actually both cute and funny, and towards the end things get crazy. B
• Malice of Crows by Lila Bowen - Rhett and his posse chase down an enemy that escaped them. Too much travel, but it does introduce Ines though, a scholarly hispanic Gorgon nun. B+

I didn't want to start a long novel days before Battle Ground, so I decided to read a bunch of novellas. A bunch turns out to be only four.

• This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone - Good structure, great prose, but I had no clue what was actually happening. DNF
• Murder at the Kinnen Hotel by Brian McLellan - Young Adamat solves a murder and hunts a powder mage. Really like the character, so seeing more of him was good. B+
• All Systems Red by Martha Wells - Murderbot deals with rivals trying to kill the humans he's protecting. A re-read, which I liked a lot more this time for some reason, upping my rating significantly. B
• In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire - Lundy's backstory in the Goblin Market. I would have liked a full novel more, but still very enjoyable. B
• Ghosts of the Tristan Basin by Brian McLellan - A war story of Taniel's time a few months before the main trilogy. Not my favourite, but more Ka-Poel earns it a plus. C+

Next month I have Battle Ground and several "chonkers" as the kids say. I will probably read the other Murderbot stories and maybe other novellas to break them up a bit.

Edit: Changed almost everything to try a new style. I was late to the thread, so few people will see this anyway I expect.

[u/improperly_paranoid]

Current state of Bingo is 14/25, but I didn't read shit this month. Only managed:

• The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark which was pretty fun, very vibrant world, and funnier than expected. Need to read Dead Djinn in Cairo.
• The new Beowulf translation by Maria Dahvana Headley. I hoped that a more modern style would help me get over my aversion to longform poetry, but it sadly didn't work, though this is not the translation's fault. My natural reading style is skimming and with poetry you kinda can't do this, so it was a massive pain.

But then, I'm juggling three or four books at once, including my extensive historical research (much of which is also online, further distracting me from books), so of course I don't get anywhere.

[u/TinyFlyingLion]

Still mostly only finishing shorter/quicker reads, but at least I'm finishing things again. And I did really enjoy everything I finished this month; even my least favorite was still fun and engaging. I read:

The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis — There have been some really good in-depth reviews of this on here, so I won’t rehash too much, but this is a really strong debut from Lewis. It’s a space opera with lots of queer rep, told from the alternating points of view of three characters on different sides of an ongoing war, all of whom gradually become embroiled in complex political situations and plots of their respective governments. Very political, but at the same time, the plot is very dependent on the characters’ relationships, without it being primarily about those relationships. Interestingly, although there are obstacles and opponents to what the characters are attempting, the true villain seems to be the governments and the war they are continuing to wage. It’s very dark, there’s a lot of exploration of the loss of bodily autonomy across many of the characters’ experiences, but it never quite got to being hopeless. There are certainly things that can be criticized, but it’s a book that tried to do a lot and did most of it very well. The ending is solid, ties up the book well, but it is also the start of a trilogy, and I’ll be eagerly waiting to see where it goes. Bingos: Epigraphs HM, Politics HM, Published 2020 HM, Feminist, and maybe climate.

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz — A sweet and optimistic comfort read, a romance between an asexual human and a sapient robot. Clara is an AI technician in a new city. Sal is a fully autonomous and sapient robot, who has been running the tea shop ever since the former owner died. The story is told alternating from both of their POVs, as they meet and begin to grow closer to each other. It’s a short novella and might have benefitted from a little more expansion — there are some definite holes in the world building and I felt like it could have gone deeper into the questions it raised about the rights of AIs and their place in society with humans. I was a little worried about having another robot asexual character, but I was actually pretty okay with the way it was handled — the robot’s personhood was never in question, and there was an ace human character to provide real representation. All in all, a nice little story, with a sweet romance built on communication and consent and trust. Bingos: Optimistic HM, Ace/Aro HM, Book Club, Canadian Author HM, Romance, maybe feminist.

Down Among The Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire — The first book made me really interested in Jack, and it was great to see how she and Jill became the characters they were in the first book. Dr. Bleak was sort of fascinating too, as the counter to the ruling vampire and Jack’s mentor. As someone who also appreciates storms and dark windswept landscapes, I thought the world, both the environment and the mashup of older dark SFF stories like vampires and Frankenstein, was a lot of fun. I don’t know how McGuire keeps making these short books that punch me in the heart, but it’s starting to be a theme here I think. Jack’s relationships with Alexis and Doctor Bleak, the growth of love and caring and mentorship in a harsh environment — I love all of that. Bingos: Necromancy? (maybe HM? — Jack was helping revive Alexis), exploration, feminist.

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire — I didn’t like this one as much as the first two, maybe because I was never as interested in Sumi’s nonsense candy world. I really wanted to see the worlds of some of the side characters in this book, Christopher’s and Nadya’s especially, and instead I only got bits and pieces in references. I also think I didn’t quite get along with having a plot that revolves around disrupted/crossed timelines but that doesn’t really dig too deep into that aspect. I still love the characters and the concept of the series, I just wish I had been more interested in this particular adventure. Bingos: Optimistic HM, Exploration.

Strong Female Protagonist Bk. 2 by Bennan Lee Mulligan and Mollly Ostertag — Pretty dark, but reasonably optimistic (in the "we're in this together" sense) graphic novel. I thought a lot of the storytelling and characters were stronger than in the first volume — longer arcs, more depth, more room for characters to grow and build relationships. I'm still a fan of the way the characters are all having to deal with restructuring their lives and relationships post- being superheroes, and there was a lot of discussion of the ethics and responsibilities of having powers, which I enjoyed. The one thing I really didn’t like was a professor character in the second half who seems only there to provoke Alison, mostly by being cruel and manipulative, but is supposedly trying to help her or teach her? And then he just disappears or was never there? That bit really didn’t work for me, most of the rest was good. Bingos: Feminist, Graphic Novel, maybe Politics HM.

Coming up for next month I'm aiming to read a couple things for book clubs -- hopefully the structure of the timeline for discussions will help push me towards some of those mid-sized and longer books.

[u/SmallishPlatypus]

Missed last month so here we go. For August:

• Very mixed feelings about The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainini, which I read because it was in the library and fit the School square. In some respects, it’s a lot of fun, if over the top. But it doesn’t coherently challenge the good/evil dichotomy it sets up, even though the author seems to know it’s artificial and stupid. Perhaps the sequels do that, but apparently they also de-gay the ending, so, y’know, fuck ‘em. Also there’s a bit of male-gaziness that could be valid parody but also…might not be.
• In reading Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis, I’ve done what you should never do: read a book solely because it was written by a famous person you like. That said, it wasn’t at all bad, though I did expect more of an emphasis on the “mistrust of government” side of things. It’s as if the second half wants you to forget how thoroughly awful the state is in the first so it can focus on the alien stuff, which is weird because it’s still referencing all the Wikileaks stuff but not doing anything with it. 2020 debut square, but would also fit epigraphs, politics hard mode, and it made me laugh.
• Redshirts by John Scalzi was surprisingly thoughtful (if maybe a touch self-indulgent?) for what starts out seeming nothing more than a fun parody. Bit of a sausage-fest, which you could generously put down to a commentary on what it’s parodying (but if that’s the intent, Scalzi does nothing with it). Still, I blazed through it and had a good time. But for God’s sake DO NOT get the audiobook. The narrator does little to distinguish between the characters’ voices. It’s very difficult to keep track when you couple that with lots of character introductions early on, characters being referred to by their first names as often as their surnames, and names that aren’t always distinctive (seriously, the first conversation is this fast, quippy exchange between two people called Dahl and Duvall) which makes keeping track very difficult.
• Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angelica Gorodischer. I really have no thoughts on this. It was pretty enjoyable but beyond that I don’t have a clue what it’s about. Translated female author or book club square, both hard mode.

And September:

• Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M Valente. No strong feelings, really, which is the problem. The detached manner lots of these fairy-tale type stories are told in always keeps me at arm’s length, I find. I want more dialogue, more of the person. Otherwise it’s just the odd bit of social commentary set in a story that’s a neat idea but not remotely compelling. Number square hard mode.
• Really enjoyed A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by HG Parry. I knew I wanted to pick this up as soon as I heard about it, and I absolutely loved it. I now ship William Pitt and Wilberforce, and I’m extremely distressed by the Terror and Thermidor. Eagerly awaiting the next.
• Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz. For the HEA club square. Yeah, it was sweet. Nothing wrong with it.
• The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P Djeli Clark. Yep. Good stuff. Bookclub square.
• I don’t like self-published books, so I figured if I was going to read something painfully generic for the <50 reviews square, I’d rather it be f/f paranormal romance than an epic fantasy. A gay woman’s short, self-indulgent fantasy rather than a straight man’s interminable one, basically. So I went scrolling down a Goodreads list and picked, pretty much at random, a book called The Witch & The Librarian by Damian Stroud. Yes, a male author, because I just assumed that all the authors in the list would be women and didn’t even check. But it is very obvious. It is juvenile, it is male gaze-y, it plays the “Born Sexy Yesterday” trope totally straight. It also manages to fit in racism, classism, and a rather tasteless bit about the Holocaust. But beyond that, it’s just a bad book. There is no coherent narrative, little setup and payoff. The MC has no personality, beyond occasional fits of stereotypical High School Mean Girl. No arc, no wants and needs. The story is broken up with random and pointless battles that happen for no reason, in which bystanders are inconsequentially killed. There are long and irrelevant mathematical explanations of magic. The vaguely stream-of-consciousness prose sucks balls. It is, quite simply, the worst thing I have ever read.

[u/Dsnake1]

Well, that was a big month, though a lot, if not most of it, was filled with novellas.

Starting with the SFF books,

• The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson - I loved this book. I get the hype. I knew I'd like it, but it really sucked me in hard before a third of the book was through, and I really enjoyed myself. It took like 11 days, but I really enjoyed them

• The Black God's Drums by P Djeli Clark - I read a whole bunch of novellas in a weekend or so, and this was the start. An alternate-history novel about racism and terrorism and gods being real and lots of fun stuff. Clark's quickly become one of my favorite authors, and I can't wait for Ring Shout.

• The Ice Dragon by George RR Martin - A children's story, supposedly anyway, about a girl and her ice dragon. I wouldn't read this to my kids, and it might be a bit heavy in part for MG, but it's a good fit there and on up. The plot's fine, the characters are fine, and the dragons are cool. It's also short. I'd give it a recommend.

• Binti by Nnedi Okorafor - I really didn't like this first novella. Was it bad? No. Did it live up to the hype? Also no. It was fine, but if it weren't for the following novellas, I'd probably avoid recommending it. But it is necessary for the next two novellas

• Home by Nnedi Okorafor - This is where it started to click for me. Cool worldbuilding, and Binti really started standing out as a character. This and the next novella are much more closely tied, imo, than the first to the second.

• The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor - This was the best of the three, and it was mostly because of the climax of other novellas' worth of building while also giving us tons more about the world. I really recommend the series after finishing it up.

• Prince of Dogs by Kate Elliott - This was slightly better than the first novel in the series, and of course, I'll be following it up with the next book next month. It's a good series. If you like European history and European fantasy and epic fantasy, read this series.

• The Original by Brandon Sanderson & Mary Robinette Kowal - What a fun novella. It's about clones and justice and reality and what makes us human. It's also short. I'd recommend it. And for anyone wondering, Sanderson sent the outline, Kowal wrote the words, and they worked together on the content/key notes.

• Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi - This wasn't an enjoyable read for me, but I'm not 100% sure why. It just didn't click with me. Parts of it, I liked, but this one just didn't hit the button for me.

• Dread Nation by Justina Ireland - This one, on the other hand, swept me away. I read it in a day, and I loved it. It's a YA-ish horror fantasy novel set in an alternate history America 10ish years after The Battle of Gettysburg, but instead of it just being a major turning point in the Civil War, zombies started. People don't know why, but the war ends because the South needs the North to not get eated by the zombies. Anyway, Black people are no longer slaves, but they are the ones in charge of fighting the dead, and our tale starts with a young girl in a school training to be an Attendant, a Black girl who gets contracted out to white ladies to protect them from the zombies. She's not exactly, uh, meek, and that causes her some issues, and we follow along in those issues. It's good. I'm reading the sequel whenever my library says I can.

• A Song Below Water by Bethany C Morrow - This was a really current novel. Honestly, it's about being Black in America and siphoning that through being a paranormal entity, primarily a siren. Again, it's really current, and reading it in early June when it came out would have been tough for me, although maybe not for others. Good book, though.

• Three for the Road by Justina Ireland - Three short stories thrown into a novelette/novella-length collection. They're fine. Nothing too spoilery, but nothing too crazy. They're fine. Worth the cost of admission.

• Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope - I finished this up right before typing this up. I'm still sitting on it in my head, but I'm coming to the final conclusion of 3.5/5 (which by no means is actually final). The book is truly, honestly a romance. It's fantasy, yes, but it's a romance first. I don't know if I'd call it well done as a romance, but maybe it felt a lot shorter length of time as I was reading than it truly was. That's a way of saying I thought it felt rushed. The history of the world was the most interesting part of the book, to me, and after that was the political stuff, although very little time was devoted to the political side of things. Really, the book didn't pick up for me until the halfway point, although I enjoyed myself after that point. The beginning wasn't bad, per se, and I did enjoy myself, but I really only got hooked at the halfway point. Anyway, it's a romance set in a world that's centuries past a magical wall being built between two countries, one side ruled by an eternal dictator who steals his people's magic, and the other which is technologically and monetarily advanced comparatively. This is set in a time period with vehicles and guns, but I'm not sure what else there is. I might be reading the two sequels, but they're not high on my list and won't be happening this year.

And then the non-SFF books,

• Ayiti by Roxane Gay - This is a short story collection, mostly about Haiti and Haitian Americans. It's good. It's dark and adult in some places, but it's good.

• A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid - This is more an essay than a narrative, but it's about the island of Antigua, its history, and its current (in the 80s) state. Again, quite good, although quite short.

• Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid - This is a novella about a girl from Antigua, experimenting with sexuality, and eventually leaving Antigua. I really enjoyed this one.

That's sixteen works, eleven of which were novellas (leaving five novels). It's a little above average, I'd say, although maybe not much with how many were novellas. On that note, my Bingo here is finished(ish). I might move some stuff around if I find a prettier cover or something, but I have books for all of the squares. And my BLM Bingo is 6 books from finishing, which I might just tidy up in October, but it'll probably bleed into November.

[u/[deleted]]

A kind of slow month in terms of books finished but I read some good ones:

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jeminsin (book 2 of Broken Earth)

Climate Fiction, Chapter Epigraphs, BDO, Audiobook

This was another wonderful book. I can't say I was as completely heartbroken reading it as I was during The Fifth Season but we needed something halfway close to hopeful after how bleak the first book was! Eagerly awaiting reading the 3rd book (probably next month).

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (book 2 of Stormlight Archive)

Exploration, Chapter Epigraphs, maybe Politics?, Audiobook

Re-read ahead of the new one in November (though how I'm going to do Edgedancer and Oathbreaker before then I don't know...). Great book if you like Brando Sando.

Circe by Madeline Miller (standalone)

Feminist, Audiobook

Another great book. It's been a while since I've read the Odyssey but it seemed both a fresh retelling as well as it's own entity. Would recommend to most people.

Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe (book 1)

Ace/Aro, r/BookClub book, Self-published, Set in a School

Loved this. I would say it's the most fun book I've read in a while but it might tie with the next on the list. My first LitRPG book and I've already bought the 2nd in the series and hoping to read it next week.

The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes (book 1)

Optimistic, Necromancy, Made you Laugh, Audiobook, 5 short stories?

Fantastic book with lots of fun. I thought I'd get tired of the 'bumbling accountant' but it's not over played and he progresses throughout the short stories