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Another book review post
Aug. 21st, 2021 08:38 pmI feel like I've built up enough backlog of recently read books to justify this.
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri 8/10
Really liked the world building and magic structure in this one. Basic premise is Mehr, whose father is an Ambhan (dominant culture) governor and whose mother was Amrithi (persecuted culture) who left when Mehr was 9, gets coerced into marriage to a Saltborn Mystic. Once married she finds herself trapped by her husband's vows to continue perpetuating the religious leader's rule of the Empire and the Empire's victories over all other nations. I really enjoyed how this book gave Mehr agency over her own choices, even when she was basically trapped into making some of them. Will read the sequel when my library delivers it to me.
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid 7/10
Ok, I didn't actually read the summary before I picked up this book and honestly expected a little red riding hood theme based off the title, but I couldn't have been more wrong. It's based on Hungarian mythology and did a really good job with the setting. Evike is the only girl in a small village who does not have any magical talent. When the woodsmen come for their yearly magical girl tribute to bring back to the capital, she's offered as a sacrifice to keep the more powerful girl in town. One of the woodsmen turns out to be surprise prince and the two get caught on adventures on the way back to the Capital and then try to start a revolution. I liked it, and the representation of Jewish people in this book is probably the best I've ever read in any fantasy book ever, which as a Jewish person who rarely sees herself in literature unless I'm reading a WWII book, I appreciated a lot. I probably wouldn't re-read it though because it got a little too graphic for my tastes at multiple parts (the woodsmen religion involves cutting off body parts to show their devotion and gain power and uhhh you really get the full picture of what that feels like). I am going to check out other books by this author.
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn 7/10
Speaking of WWII books - this will be the third I've read from her (one of my book clubs REALLY like WWII fiction). This one centers on three women who worked as code breakers and translators at Bletchley Park. The writing was engaging and you can tell the author really did research. My book club actually got Kate Quinn to come to a virtual meeting so she talked a bit about the research and the decisions she made which supported my hypothesis. The only thing that threw me out of the story a few times was one of the girls was based on Prince Phillip's wartime girlfriend, so they had a little side romance going for part of the book and every time he was on the page I was like ew, glad old age finally got him so. I just pretended he was someone else made up in this time period. Kate Quinn does a really good job at making you care about the characters and their lives in general, so there were parts where I definitely cried in this.
The City We Became by NK Jemisin 6/10
I...really wanted to like this more. The concept of it is super cool and original, the summary sounded amazing but unfortunately when I actually started reading it, I found it really difficult to get into. Something about the writing style made it feel like work to read. This surprised me because I had previously read the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms books and I LOVED them, literally could not put them down, read all three of them one right after the other. In The City We Became there are 5 people (one for each burrough) who become Avatars of NY which is going through the process of becoming a City. Of course, there are other forces out there that don't want NY to be born and will do anything to stop it. Ihe descriptions of NY and how each person related to their burroughs was REALLY well done. And the book definitely highlighted systemic racism problems in the city - it was uncomfortable to read at times, but in a way that was very purposeful. The last 100 pages, the book did pick up a lot, and again this is a unique concept I haven't seen elsewhere. Undecided whether I'll read the second one. Probably I will.
Come Fly the World by Julia Cooke
This was a book club pick and I have to admit I didn't finish it. I read probably the first half and the last third, skipping the middle section. I was running short on time! The book focuses on a few different flight attendants for Pan Am back in the 1970s and their experiences working for the airline. It gets into historical stuff that was actually really interesting to learn about (like how common it was for planes to be hijacked, and a bit on Operation Babylift). I do plan to go back and read the middle. It reads like nonfiction almost - I'm not sure whether the women that were written about were real, but it felt like she had interviewed real stewardesses who worked during this time period.
A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum 7/10
This book was...really depressing. Another book club pick, I don't think I would have read it on my own. It focuses on two different time periods - on a Palestinian girl who came to the US with her husband, and then a flashforward to the girl's granddaughter who is around 17-18. It really got deep into how women are silenced and abused behind closed doors. I actually stopped reading at one point to look up the author because I thought it was so awful that surely this must be a stereotypical exaggeration used for shock, but the author is a child of Palestinian immigrants and in an interview noted the book was semi-autobiographical, and that she was afraid to publish because she knew her community would turn against her. I will not be re-reading it, but I'm glad the author got to tell the story in her own words, and while it wasn't a fun read, it was probably a necessary one.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine 7/10
This book took a LONG time for me to get into, but it was an extremely LONG book, so that makes sense. The author broke my cardinal first rule of sci fi which is on the first page don't have more than 5 words that are incomprehensible, and I almost didn't pick it back up. But multiple people recommended it, so I forced myself, and it did get much better as it went on. Basic premise is Mahit is chosen to be an Ambassador for her small planet to the Empire. Her planet has a secret technology where they embed a previous person's consciousness/life who did their job before them. Mahit is stuck with an out of date copy and must use her own wits to survive what killed her predecessor. I read the author blurb after I finished and was NOT SURPRISED to find that she was a linguist before this because there was so much focus on language, pages and pages focused on poetry or the meaning of a word. And sometimes I found it very interesting and sometimes I was like it's literally ben 100 pages and nothing has happened at all they are still at this party where is the plot! I did like it overall and will probably read the sequel.
Ok, that's all the books I have patience for for now. There were a few other book club reads that I didn't actually like, so I don't see the point in documenting them here.
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri 8/10
Really liked the world building and magic structure in this one. Basic premise is Mehr, whose father is an Ambhan (dominant culture) governor and whose mother was Amrithi (persecuted culture) who left when Mehr was 9, gets coerced into marriage to a Saltborn Mystic. Once married she finds herself trapped by her husband's vows to continue perpetuating the religious leader's rule of the Empire and the Empire's victories over all other nations. I really enjoyed how this book gave Mehr agency over her own choices, even when she was basically trapped into making some of them. Will read the sequel when my library delivers it to me.
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid 7/10
Ok, I didn't actually read the summary before I picked up this book and honestly expected a little red riding hood theme based off the title, but I couldn't have been more wrong. It's based on Hungarian mythology and did a really good job with the setting. Evike is the only girl in a small village who does not have any magical talent. When the woodsmen come for their yearly magical girl tribute to bring back to the capital, she's offered as a sacrifice to keep the more powerful girl in town. One of the woodsmen turns out to be surprise prince and the two get caught on adventures on the way back to the Capital and then try to start a revolution. I liked it, and the representation of Jewish people in this book is probably the best I've ever read in any fantasy book ever, which as a Jewish person who rarely sees herself in literature unless I'm reading a WWII book, I appreciated a lot. I probably wouldn't re-read it though because it got a little too graphic for my tastes at multiple parts (the woodsmen religion involves cutting off body parts to show their devotion and gain power and uhhh you really get the full picture of what that feels like). I am going to check out other books by this author.
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn 7/10
Speaking of WWII books - this will be the third I've read from her (one of my book clubs REALLY like WWII fiction). This one centers on three women who worked as code breakers and translators at Bletchley Park. The writing was engaging and you can tell the author really did research. My book club actually got Kate Quinn to come to a virtual meeting so she talked a bit about the research and the decisions she made which supported my hypothesis. The only thing that threw me out of the story a few times was one of the girls was based on Prince Phillip's wartime girlfriend, so they had a little side romance going for part of the book and every time he was on the page I was like ew, glad old age finally got him so. I just pretended he was someone else made up in this time period. Kate Quinn does a really good job at making you care about the characters and their lives in general, so there were parts where I definitely cried in this.
The City We Became by NK Jemisin 6/10
I...really wanted to like this more. The concept of it is super cool and original, the summary sounded amazing but unfortunately when I actually started reading it, I found it really difficult to get into. Something about the writing style made it feel like work to read. This surprised me because I had previously read the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms books and I LOVED them, literally could not put them down, read all three of them one right after the other. In The City We Became there are 5 people (one for each burrough) who become Avatars of NY which is going through the process of becoming a City. Of course, there are other forces out there that don't want NY to be born and will do anything to stop it. Ihe descriptions of NY and how each person related to their burroughs was REALLY well done. And the book definitely highlighted systemic racism problems in the city - it was uncomfortable to read at times, but in a way that was very purposeful. The last 100 pages, the book did pick up a lot, and again this is a unique concept I haven't seen elsewhere. Undecided whether I'll read the second one. Probably I will.
Come Fly the World by Julia Cooke
This was a book club pick and I have to admit I didn't finish it. I read probably the first half and the last third, skipping the middle section. I was running short on time! The book focuses on a few different flight attendants for Pan Am back in the 1970s and their experiences working for the airline. It gets into historical stuff that was actually really interesting to learn about (like how common it was for planes to be hijacked, and a bit on Operation Babylift). I do plan to go back and read the middle. It reads like nonfiction almost - I'm not sure whether the women that were written about were real, but it felt like she had interviewed real stewardesses who worked during this time period.
A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum 7/10
This book was...really depressing. Another book club pick, I don't think I would have read it on my own. It focuses on two different time periods - on a Palestinian girl who came to the US with her husband, and then a flashforward to the girl's granddaughter who is around 17-18. It really got deep into how women are silenced and abused behind closed doors. I actually stopped reading at one point to look up the author because I thought it was so awful that surely this must be a stereotypical exaggeration used for shock, but the author is a child of Palestinian immigrants and in an interview noted the book was semi-autobiographical, and that she was afraid to publish because she knew her community would turn against her. I will not be re-reading it, but I'm glad the author got to tell the story in her own words, and while it wasn't a fun read, it was probably a necessary one.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine 7/10
This book took a LONG time for me to get into, but it was an extremely LONG book, so that makes sense. The author broke my cardinal first rule of sci fi which is on the first page don't have more than 5 words that are incomprehensible, and I almost didn't pick it back up. But multiple people recommended it, so I forced myself, and it did get much better as it went on. Basic premise is Mahit is chosen to be an Ambassador for her small planet to the Empire. Her planet has a secret technology where they embed a previous person's consciousness/life who did their job before them. Mahit is stuck with an out of date copy and must use her own wits to survive what killed her predecessor. I read the author blurb after I finished and was NOT SURPRISED to find that she was a linguist before this because there was so much focus on language, pages and pages focused on poetry or the meaning of a word. And sometimes I found it very interesting and sometimes I was like it's literally ben 100 pages and nothing has happened at all they are still at this party where is the plot! I did like it overall and will probably read the sequel.
Ok, that's all the books I have patience for for now. There were a few other book club reads that I didn't actually like, so I don't see the point in documenting them here.
