The Dead Romantics, Ashley Poston

 

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

Started: 10/28/2022
Completed: 10/31/2022
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

Every now and then I try to stretch my borders and read something outside my comfort zone.  This one slapped me right back.  I did not find the romance very compelling, spoilers below here.  Woman who sees ghosts.  She sees a ghost and falls in love, but not to be because, well, he is a ghost.  Man turns out to be in a coma.  Happily every after when he wakes up and remembers being a ghost.  Poston posits that this was a ghost story.  It isn't.  It isn't even really supernatural...just sort of corny to use her own word.  Poston seems to be aware that this is all rather corny.  Then in a sappy author's note she hopes that this is the book for the reader.  If not, maybe another one will be.  I dunno, but I stepped out of my comfort zone for a romance and got a poorly written ghost story.  Dang.

Kingdom of the Blind, Louise Penny

 

Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny is the next book in the Armand Gamash series

Started: 10/23/2022
Completed: 10/28/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: My parents

Review:

This was a book of secrets and it is a spoiler to reveal any.  I liked the ending with Ruth which was pleasant (so little of Ruth is pleasant).  In addition this book continued with the on-going theme of corruption and I hope, truly, it was the last.  I long ago gave up trying to identify the murderer and this book was no exception.  In hindsight, I find it all but impossible to imagine that anyone could have figured it out.  The sub-plot with Amelia was really interesting and captivated me from beginning to end.

Glass Houses, Louise Penny

 

Glass Houses by Louise Penny is the next book in the Armand Gamash series.

Started: 10/19/2022
Completed: 10/23/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: My parents

Review:

This book fits well in the series and once more takes us to Three Pines which, despite being a tiny town, is a hub for unlawful activity.  Ruth was fleshed out some more and the comforting presence of many of the other denizens of Three Pines made itself known.  I really like that Gamash lives in Three Pines now and I really like the idea of a "conscience."  The concept of conscience, responsibility, guilt, and punishment are all examined in this book and there is no doubt about the fundamental components of the characters which shine through in new and surprising ways in this book.  Gamash seems so very real to me at times, that I have to remind myself that this is a work of fiction.

The Golden Enclaves, Naomi Novik

 The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik is the third book in The Scholomance.

Started: 10/16/2022
Completed: 10/19/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Words for which I sought help:

numpty -- a stupid or ineffectual person

Review:

True to it's predecessors, this book was a quick read.  Novik takes you to another world, immerses you in characters who grow and change as the books develop, and unceremoniously dumps you at the end, hungry for more.  This book was a little more predictable then the previous ones, but that is fine, it is not a mystery.  I could swiftly drop back into this series if Novik decides to create another.

Nona The Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

 

Nona The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is the next book in the Locked Tomb Trilogy.  It looks like this was originally planned as a trilogy, but has now become a series.  Because I'm not good at editing tags, I'll probably leave it at trilogy, but, who knows.

Started: 10/10/2022
Completed: 10/16/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I love the richness of the characters and environment that Muir brings to the game.  After book after book of characters you basically love to hate, Nona is quite refreshing.  As usual there was a bit of muddle at the beginning, but fairly quickly it is possible to get your bearings.  There is a bunch of violence once more, but I have to say that it was pretty well done in this book with just enough of the violence made clear to establish life (not "and death" as Nona would say) situations and then address the arduous return.  There is a lot more exposure of John and I have to say that it was far enough from the previous book that I'd forgotten who John was, so take a minute and refresh yourself before picking this book up.  I really enjoyed it.

Bad Lawyer, Anna Dorn

Bad Lawyer:  A memoir of law and disorder by Anna Dorn

Started: 10/9/2022
Completed: 10/10/2022
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Cannot Remember

Review:

This book literally left a bad taste in my mouth.  Dorn mostly sucks.  She sleeps around, takes drugs, and parties on her parents' dime.  At the time of writing this memoir, she is still behaving like a child--she throws tantrums, she ignores the work for which she is being paid as though it is her due, and she is incredibly shallow.  Yeah, she points out some serious problems with the legal profession, but she also participates in actively making those problems worse and then sort of laughs at all of us for paying her to do anything.  She gave me little to like about her and her contrarian attitude (while potentially valuable for a legal career) leaves her spewing at all those around her.  Her friends seem both short term and casual.  I hope she turns things around, finds her passion, and takes a deeper look at those around her.  I have a feeling she has talent and can turn her life into something more than it currently is, but maybe not.  The world has a place for intelligent slackers and she is lazily filling it.

The Blacktongue Thief, Christopher Buehlman

 

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman is the first book in the Blacktongue trilogy.

Started: 10/5/2022
Completed: 10/9/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By:  Kobo Books

Review:

This book was both funny and a good story.  I cannot recommend the audio version strongly enough as it included both a wonderful reading and music.  Buehlman did a simply wonderful job of reading his own book and I truly cannot wait for the next.  The world building is pretty good, but Buehlman had a hard time describing things in the new world often resorting to phrases like, "you would gag the first several times you smelled it, and gag again thereafter" or "you cannot imagine what it is like to see one for the first time, nor the second either."  These semi-descriptions took the reader out of the book--it didn't feel like the protagonist at a loss for words, it felt like the author.  I'm not sure what the answer is, but, then again, I'm not an author!  I did like the way that plot lines intersected and the use of tattoos as a part of magic was pretty unique.

The Stardust Thief, Chelsea Abdullah

 

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah is the first book in The Sandsea Trilogy

Started: 10/2/2022
Completed: 10/5/2022
Recommendation: Highly recommended
Recommended By: Kobo suggested reading list

Words for which I sought help:

palimpsest -- a manuscript of piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain.

Review:

The plot is fun.  There is a bit much violence for my taste, but the story calls for it.  The characters develop in even a short period of time and the introduction to the world being built is magnificent.  I look forward to the next book.

This sort of extends the concept of Scheherazade and looks at what happens after she is eventually killed.  The magic of her stories suffuses the environment of this story.  It is fun and consistent.  Abdullah is clever and interweaves the stories of Scheherazade with the story being told well so that it feels like a consistent narrative. 

Locklands, Robert Jackson Bennett

 

Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett is the third book in The Founder's Trilogy.

Started: 9/25/2022
Completed: 10/2/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

Again, this is a cool story and it takes you into characters that had not received adequate treatment.  There is a gap between this book and the one before, but it is a reasonable gap.  It also allows for some flashbacks to update what has happened in between.  The cosmic fight is, of course, more complicated than that.  I truly love that the access to magic is through study and finding the fundamental ways in which things work (even if those details are left to the imagination through the use of the term "sigil").  I also like that there is a sense of security to the world, that permissions are needed (even if they can be coopted).  Throughout the trilogy there is a theme of the redemptive quality of love and that carries on this last book.  I also like that things are very messy, there are no easy answers and the right answer for some is not necessarily the right answer for all.  This is a really creative world and I'm sorry to see it go, but sure enjoyed the trip.