Eddis, Attolia, Sounis

I haven't read anything new I truly loved lately, but some good rereads.

Tried "Of Like Minds" by Carol Matas and Perry Nodelman (hilariously, I read Nodelman's academic studies of Anne of Green Gables before I read his kids book) - a YA fantasy book whose cover really stuck in my head as a teen, but I never read it. It was, sadly, more than a bit flat in character, and the fantasy part of the story was a bit too "don't question it, it doesn't make sense" for me to completely buy it. I have the second book, "More Minds", but we'll see if I make an effort to track down books three and four.

Read "Starless Sea", the second book by Erin Morgenstern, who wrote the quite moving "Night Circus" almost a decade ago. I didn't like Starless nearly as much - Morgenstern's writing is as engrossingly tactile as the first book, but the plot and concept is just...meta in a completely unengrossing way. It's also disappointing in contrast to the video game concept for "Sunless Sea," a giant underground sea in a world ruled by eldritch beings (which game is actually referenced in the book, as Morgenstern worked with the developers for other projects).

Read Angel and Faith Season 9, volume 2 - part of the Dark Horse continuation of the Buffy and Angel comic book series, this was reasonably enjoyable, if not quite as strong as a full television show might have been. But compared to the other Dark Horse tv followups I read - the Firefly books - it's a masterpiece. Christos Gage actually does a pretty good job of mimicing the series' dialogue patterns, whereas the Firefly comics completely ignore the extremely distinctive speech from that show. I have reserved the rest of the Buffy comics, which I read about two years ago, but want to reread a little slower than last time, from the library, and am looking forward to that. (I have not really checked out the current comic series reboot of Buffy from Boom, so I don't know how good that is.)

Read The Hive, a prequel (number 5 of either 6 or 9, series not completed yet) to Ender's Game. Liked it a lot better than I expected (I took about 6 months to finally get to it), but it's not quite as good as the originals (which are some of my very favorites of all time). Speaking of which...

My rereads are Starship Troopers by Heinlein and Children of the Mind, the last of the original three sequels to Ender's Game (there's about 15 books in the series now). Starship Troopers, while nowhere near my favorite Heinlein (that would be Citizen of the Galaxy), is still a ton of fun, and so much better than the dreadfully stupid film series. Children of the Mind is my favorite of the Speaker for the Dead books, because it has so much character, romance, and development. It's also incredibly weird, but that's okay. I like weird sometimes.

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You know, I've never read any of the Ender's Game sequels/companion books, even though that book is one of the most powerful I've ever read--one that stuck with me for a long time, that I couldn't stop thinking about. I think maybe I was just so exhausted by Ender's Game that I couldn't face going back into the story. But I could do it now, and am encouraged by your opinion on the series. For some weird reason, i'm really into SF these days, even though I've always been more of a fantasy reader. YA fantasy books just seem so generic to me these days. When I read a synopsis and it's all "she was born to be a ____, but chooses to fight her fate" I just can't muster up much interest in it.

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The rest of the books tend to be just as powerful, but with the exception of Ender's Shadow (which is the same timeline as Ender's Game, but from a different perspective), it's a very different power, sometimes even a very different genre, though the world and characters carry on.

I do think that sadly, the commercial success of YA fantasy has kind of homogenized the biggest examples of its output. There's a LOT of Hunger Games copycats with some form of fantasy dressing these days. Some of them are quite good, but I wish there were more things like the variety of Tamora Pierce, Ursula Le Guin, C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, etc. Instead, as you say, it's variations on basically the same theme.

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I do think that sadly, the commercial success of YA fantasy has kind of homogenized the biggest examples of its output.

Yes, exactly. I have many more Le Guin books to read, next up for me is The Dispossessed, I think.

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Oh, my, yes! My very favorite Le Guin of all time! Do post a While She Knits when you finish to share your thoughts! :)

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I wandered into a B&N last week and the YA section was like a stranger to me. I must be getting old and curmudgeonly, because I'm sure it was a happier place when I was a teen.

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Oops, forgot my main reason for commenting: Where's a good place to start with Le Guin? I know I read at least one, many years ago, but I can't remember which.

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I'd say start with A Wizard of Earthsea - it's one of the absolute best, and most accessible of her books. If you like it, read the next two Earthsea books at least (you could go on to read the full six, but of the last three, I only really love the final book, The Other Wind). Then I'd say try out either The Left Hand of Darkness or my personal favorite of all her works, The Disspossessed. Both of them are much more challenging, but both are intensely rewarding.

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I was going to recommend the Earthsea books, too. And I just read Left Hand of Darkness a year or so ago and it was a dense read that took me awhile to get into. I read a couple of chapters and went back and started over, to really concentrate on the names and descriptions of the characters. But well worth every bit of effort I had to put into it. Fantastic book.

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Left Hand of Darkness is a very strange book. But deeply rewarding. It actually took me listening to the two hour radio drama, loving that, and then going on to read the whole book itself. So I totally agree that it's challenging - but intensely rewarding. Just...don't expect too much happiness, and you'll be surprised at how much you find.

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Excellent. Thanks ibmiller and Checkers!

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I dunno about happier - maybe. I don't think I spent a ton of time in the YA section as a kid - I went mostly from kids (Redwall, Narnia, etc) to adult (Star Wars, Tolkien, etc).

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Oh, thank you for asking! I've been thinking of posing something similar. But I'm happy to answer your question with some things I've been thinking about for awhile.

1. Louise Penny's Armand Gamache series. I know: how does a series featuring a contemporary Canadian homicide detective who's almost Gen's complete opposite work for QT fans? Both feature main characters you'll *love* (for very different reasons) who experience true pain and grow without losing the reasons you love them. Both series also reveal a growing big-picture political threat the reader didn't immediately notice, but which creates huge problems for the protagonist to overcome. I read no perennial NYT bestselling authors except Penny.

2. Van Reid's Moosepath League series. I can't think of a series that's more opposite to QT, but they have some things in common. Both are 20 years in the making, unfinished, and written by authors who deserve more readership and accolades. The Moosepath League books are set in the late 1890s in Maine and feature characters out of Wodehouse, plots (and names) out of Dickens, and storytelling style reminiscent of "News from Lake Woebegone" by Garrison Keillor. Van and Megan are also complete opposites. I once posted to his FB fan group asking about a hymn he references in on the books, but couldn't track down. He replied that he made it up, but then went on the write the lyrics and post them for our enjoyment. If Megan's motto is "not telling," his is "telling all."

3. Emily B. Martin's Creatures of Light trilogy. I'm probably late to the game on this one as her QT fan art is awesome so you may have read her already. But I just got to her books and declared the first one my "most delightful surprise" read of 2019. I think she does an amazing job creating her own characters and plots that definitely show her love of QT without seeming derivative. (Caveat: I've only read the 1st two so far. 3rd is on my nightstand now.)

4. R.J. Anderson. I particularly love her duology A Pocket Full of Murder and A Little Taste of Poison, which combine magic, mystery, and religion. I've also really enjoyed what I've gotten my hands on of her Faerie Rebels series. I also know for a fact that she's QT fan.

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I just adore Armand Gamanche. I am reading the books slowly; I only allow myself one every few months so I always have another to look forward to. I do the same with Michael Connelly's Bosch books. The two mystery series are as different as you can imagine, but I just love them both. I do think that even people who don't normally read mysteries would like Penny's books. They are so character driven rather than plot driven, as many other mystery books are.

I'll look for the Moosepath League and Creatures of Light books. Haven't heard of either of them, but your descriptions sound like books I'd like.

RJ Anderson is a member of sounis! I met her at a conference once, when she was a newby author, and we fangirled over Megan a bit. :-)

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I do the *exact same thing* with Louise Penny's books! In fact, I picked up How the Light Gets In in January, read enough of the blurb to realize it was set near Christmas, then promptly returned it to the library and waited until the following December to continue the series. Because I am that nuts. Always worth the wait!

I listen to the Bosch as eAudio. I like them -- he's definitely a shades of grey character -- but I don't pace them out and I haven't tried to go in order.

I was scrolling through my read list on Goodreads today, so I'll throw out a few more just in case you haven't already read them:

Scarlet trilogy by A.C. Gaughen
Woodcutter Sisters series by Alethia Kontis
Impossible trilogy by Nancy Werlin
Thief Errant series by Elizabeth Bunce (unfinished, though, so you might not want another one of those...) ;-)

I've only e-met R.J. Anderson. Turns out she's also a member of a FB group I recently joined. And, yeah, we e-met fangirling over Megan...

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It's been a few years since I read it, but I remember really liking A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth Bunce.

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I've read that one, too. I'm a sucker for retellings.

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Oh my, I love books where a girl pretends to be a boy (I have no idea why, just the suspense, I guess) so I'll have to give Scarlet a try.

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If you're a QT fan (which, obviously you are) AND love the girl pretends to be a boy, the Scarlet trilogy will be exactly your cup of tea.

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Have you read Sherwood by Meagan Spooner? :) I don't know if you like Robin Hood retellings, but it's about Marian keeping the legend alive by taking on the mantle (literally) after Robin dies in the crusades. Lots of pretending to be boy. It reminded me of a good McKinley novel, so I enjoyed it.

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I haven't read that, and it immediately made me think of McKinley. It does sound like something I'd like.

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Me, too, and I feel like I may have read the first book in the Thief Errant series. I'm not familiar with any of your other reccs, eachase, so I'll take a look.

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Let's see. I managed to read 8 books in January (after a very slow reading year in 2019), but 4 of them were technically novellas, so. Yes, I'm talking about the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Like Checkers, I got a kick out of them! (Methinks Murderbot needs an "I <3 Stupid Plans" T-shirt!)

I also read The Martian by Andy Weir. What an adventure that was. My brain felt like mush afterward, but I'm so glad the science sector of my friend-group convinced me to finally give it a go! I liked it better than the movie.

So, a good start to my resolution to read more sci-fi again.

I've been treating both my Beatrix Potter obsession as well as my spring fever with the gorgeous Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life (a gift from my sister). I'm not much of a gardener (I can barely keep my air plants alive) but it's a visual treat as well as a further exploration into her life, which has long been a topic of fascination for me. And I'm learning things about art and plants!

I've been re-reading Sorcery & Cecelia by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer when I'm too tired for anything else, or waiting for library books, and working myself up to a big Silmarillion re-read I have planned for 2020 (I meant to start in January, oops). Other than that, Mansfield Park (Jane Austen) has been sitting on my nightstand, looking pretty and patient. I want to savor it without distraction, and Murderbot was VERY distracting. :)

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P.S. Yay R. J. Anderson!

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filkferengi

You could also treat your Beatrix Potter obsession with Susan Wittig Albert's Cottage Tales series, which features her.

https://susanalbert.com/the-cottage-tales/

She and her husband also wrote a series of late Victorian mysteries under the name Robin Paige: https://susanalbert.com/robin-paige-victorian-edwardian-mysteries/

Both series are excellent; she's one of my acid-test authors [i.e., one can read 10 books by them in 2 weeks and not burn out].

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Ooh, thank you!!

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filkferengi

You're very welcome.

Check out my comment below about the free book by M.C.A. Hogarth.

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If you liked The Martian, have you read Weir's _Artemis_? Less hard science and more heist. A better fit for QT fans.

I love Wrede, too.

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I've been wondering about Artemis! Sounds like I need to give it a try, thanks!

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trans-element.livejournal.com

I mostly lurk, but I just wanted to plug the mostly-forgotten works of Cherry Wilder, especially the Rulers of Hylor trilogy (recently back in print in ebook form). The Hylor books have been described as "slice of life heroic fantasy," which I think is apt. They are densely detailed and reward careful reading, and they often subvert stereotypical fantasy themes, e.g. a character goes on a quest, realizes the quest is doomed and is harming people he cares about, so he quits the quest and goes home a better man. The protagonist of the second book reminds me a little of Sophos in A Conspiracy of Kings: a big, scary-looking man, violent by necessity, who would really rather be a scholar.

AFAIK, the only other book of hers that's in print (also as an ebook) is The Luck of Brin's Five, the first book of a science fiction trilogy. The other two books are not in print and somewhat hard to find, and also IMO not as good, but I reread Brin's Five recently and I think it holds up.

Two books I recently read and enjoyed are Jade City, by Fonda Lee (fantasy gangsters in a secondary world setting resembling Taiwan) and Turning Darkness into Light, by Marie Brennan (about Lady Trent's granddaughter, if you know the Memoirs series).

Not recommended: The Testaments, Margaret Atwood's follow-up to The Handmaid's Tale. Incredibly disappointing.

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"Turning Darkness into Light" gives me Book of Kells vibes. :)

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We're glad you delurked! The Rulers of Hylor sounds like something I like, and I enjoy hunting down copies of older books so I'll take a look for it.

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kitsune-rains.livejournal.com

Haha! Oh no, I just started The Testaments. What did you find disappointing about it, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm about a fifth of the way in and so far I'm rather liking the changes in POV and the different story-telling conceits -- it feels fresh like Handmaid's being an audio archive at a safe house did.

But on the other hand I'm already wondering if I'm going to like where the storylines go because I sense some eye-rolly reveals coming up...

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whataliethatwas.livejournal.com

I've mostly been rereading series and favorites from my bookshelf since summer while transitioning to a new library so I haven't read anything really new or noteworthy recently.

Last year I finally got a copy of The Dalemark Quartet after reading a statement by mwt that it influenced her writing in terms of a believable mythology being written into a story with Gods making appearances (I think this https://enchantedinkpot.livejournal.com/50628.html). It was good fun as all dwj books are and an enjoyable read, but it's not my favorite of her stories. There were a good number of QT parallels (characters named after characters of mythology, traveling ancient roads and near sites connected with legend, Magus-like character, and possibly a mwt tribute quote easter egg). I want to say the changes in perspective and distancing from the story were quite familiar after reading QT, but I might be thinking of a different series. The ending is one of the main reasons I've wondered if we might get some kind of perspective of a historian in the future as part of the conclusion of RotT.

It's one I couldn't find in my library, so if anyone were interested in giving it a shot, I honestly would be be willing to lend it out.

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I like the "historian perspective" theory and think it's very possible!

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filkferengi

_Mindtouch_, book 1 of the Dreamhealers series by M.C.A. Hogarth, is excellent. I keep getting pulled into it, with no regrets. It's a warm, gentle, kind book, and a splendid intro to her universe. [Other series are not so kind, but just as compelling.] Best of all, it's free across all formats!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DFL379M?

note: link included for convenience

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Thanks, I just went and snagged it. The reviews support what you say about it being a gentle book.

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filkferengi

Warning: all her books are compelling reading. The good thing is, they're very affordably priced.

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kitsune-rains.livejournal.com

I just finished the last book in the "Shades of Magic" series by V. E. Schwab and I really liked them. They had a lot of fairly well-trod tropes, especially the first book, but they were all tropes I'm very keen on. The characters were all rich and complex. My only complaint is that I found the very end rather... harsh. I don't think it was bad, but it was very bittersweet and left me feeling down. And now I really just want to read some happy books (definitely going to check out filkferengi's rec!)

The books I've ready over the last few years that are really sticking with me are Ancillary Justice, The Raven Tower, and Ninefox Gambit.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie features huge, sweeping, inter-galatic politics and explores language and identity in a really interesting way. It's got the classic sci-fi "but can computers be people tho?" questions with the added bonus of "gender is just made up" and I love it with all my heart.

The Raven Tower is by the same author but in a fantasy setting. It's in a time period that feels a bit older than QT (I don't thing they have guns and clockwork) but it checks the box of "gods are real" and involves them directly in people's lives. It's got a really funky POV, though. It's told in second person, which takes some getting used to, but it's worth it for the dawning realization of what the narration means.

And Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee is sci-fi in a weird and incomprehensible science (read: magic, basically) system based on "calendrical math". So. it's not one I recommend to everyone because it really depends on just going with the flow until you're invested and I feel like it's not everyone's cup of tea. But once you accept the crazy logic it's great. Wonderful characters! A long-dead evil general's entrapped spirit being used by the corrupt empire he turned against? And the young woman rising through the ranks of the military who's life is derailed by becoming the ghost general's caretaker? Yes, yes, yes, please, I love these people.

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stillaservant.livejournal.com

I just read Ancillary Justice, and the two sequels. It felt a bit like the Murderbot Diaries, which I'll happily join everyone in recommending, but there was more tea drinking (so of course I had to make myself many cups of tea while reading the books) and I liked how a lot of the small interactions felt significant.

Has anyone here read Brandon Sanderson's Skyward?

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