Catching Up on Book Reviews Dec 2024
EricMesa
- 8 minutes read - 1645 wordsOnce again grouping a bunch of book reviews into one blog post. Here we go!
An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Just like the Dresden Files (which it my nearest comparison point to this genre), this series does not seem to be read as a series of standalone mysteries a la Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew (or the adult equivalent). This book is full of details that are building on the details from the last two books. This is a series that happens to have an investigator as the protagonist.
McGuire covers many topics and tropes that seem to take up a lot of space in their mind because I’ve seen echoes in the Wayward Children series and the Alchemical Journey series. Some of these include metaphorical journeys made manifest, the loss of childhood innocence, trustworthy adults and adults that abuse the trust of little ones, what does it mean to be a hero and what does it cost the hero?
On the hero front, Toby continues to deal with (in a way that’s showing character growth) the fallout of the events of the book 1 prologue (or chapter 1 - I can’t remember). We gain a few more pieces of the puzzle on that backstory. But it also ties in with book 2 and what happened to Quentin.
I think one of McGuire’s strengths is in writing relationships and I continue to love all the different relationships that Toby has in the world of the fey. They are each unique and well-written. And, because fey are involved, they are often not exactly what they seem - even friends have sharp teeth.
I tend to blaze through these books because the writing is so compelling and I don’t want to stop until I get to the end. If you got past the setup of book 1 and enjoyed book 2 - you can’t go wrong continuing on this journey. Just don’t lose your candle….
Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
There have been hints over the last two books that Toby was an unreliable narrator (through no fault of her own). This book definitely proved that fact. I’d like to stay away from spoilers, so I’ll not speak any more about that reveal.
On the other developments - it appears there’s a collision on the horizon between Tybalt and Conner. I honestly don’t know which ship I prefer, although I do lean a bit more towards Toby/Tybalt given their personalities. Then again Toby/Conner might be a better balance. Quentin continues to mature and prove his worth as a future knight.
The details of the plot in this book are all layering upon the 3 preceding books - there are even a few references to the Tech Startup book (and that one has been the most outside the overall plot so far). This is definitely not a series where you can jump in randomly. On the plus side, it’s a very binge-able series; the books are easy to tear through (notice the 4 days it took me to finish this one). This one seems to also at least partially close one early set of plotlines, so it’s nice to see progress.
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is my second time reading the book. I left the rating at 4/5
Moist Von Lipwig is one of my favorite Discworld characters. He’s a perfect foil to Vetinari’s straight man. In a lot of ways Moist is Pratchett’s examination of psychology from a big city point of view; a counterpart to Granny Weatherwax’s headology. The book still feels quite relevant in 2024 with its takedowns of big tech and venture capitalism. It also seems like Pratchett was awash in the world of Gnu/Linux - or at least had heard enough about it to form a few puns.
The Clacks, a combination of Discworld’s version of email and telegraph has been corporitized and, in the 2024 Cory Doctorow parlance, been enshitified. Vetinari wants to shake things up a bit and so he restarts the post office, which has come under a bit of decay with the invention of The Clacks. This results in Discworld’s version of a suspense thriller.
This novel’s not a bad standalone novel if you’ve always been curious about Discworld, but intimidated by 40 novels. You won’t know about the personalities of Commander Vimes or Archchancellor Ridcully, but those are really almost relegated to the level of easter eggs in this novel. Even most of the fantasy elements (minus the Golems and a werewolf) are pretty tiny in this novel. I think it’s an easy way to see if you like Pratchett’s style. Afterwards you can go back and look at the dozens of recommended reading orders available online or just start at the first one.
Shōgun, Volume 2 by James Clavell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As I said for part 1 - I don’t know enough about Shogunate Japan to know what’s orientalism and what’s accurate. I’m just judging from a literary perspective
There’s a good comparison to made between this adaptation of Shogun and HBO’s adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire (aka A Game of Thrones). Both did a good job adapting the first half of the material. Each benefited from a streamlining of the stories. Shogun, in particular, was so boring in the first chapters with the constant repetition while Blackthorn was on the ship. However, both Game of Thrones and Shogun didn’t do as much justice to the back half of the story. Shogun wasn’t as much of a disappointment as Game of Thrones, but they really did eliminate a lot of great conflict and complexity from the second half. I think Shogun could really have benefited from a few more episodes or a second season.
There were also a few character changes that made for good TV, but weren’t necessarily true to the book characters. I’m torn on whether it really matters all that much that Yabu was made into a comic relief character for the TV show. <
I think if you liked the show you’ll get a lot out of the book. It really goes a lot deeper into Torenaga’s mind and gives a better understanding of how he set things up. It also makes Blackthorn’s ending a lot less ambiguous.
One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It feels like a lot of plot lines, created over the course of the last 4 books have come to a head this book. It seems as though October Daye is headed toward a new chapter in her life as a changeling in which the mostly unchanging fey have chosen this moment to try and change quite a bit about the order of things.
McGuire continues to give me what I love about the October Daye books - a little detective work, a little court intrigue, and a great found family.We are also learning more and more about the past and how the current situation was set into motion.
Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I was a bit hesitant as I started this book. This was the end of the first Stormlight Cycle. This was supposed to contain the scene that inspired Sanderson to write this series. Could it live up to the hype? For me the answer is a resounding “yes”!
First of all, the teensiest, tiniest of spoilers - no more emo Kaladdin! That was the thing that made the first four books of this series so hard to read. It was necessary for the payoff, but, compared to the swashbuckling (not literally) tone of the Mistborn series, it made these books feel like work as much as fun.
Second, this series has an incredibly large ensemble cast. Could Sanderson give us a satisfying narrative for all the characters? I think the answer there is “mostly yes”. All our main characters ended up with some really awesome storylines, but I think we’re still missing out on the full storyline for Jasnah. She does get some great chapters in here, but I think until we get the book that has her origin story chapters we’re going to be missing something key.
Because this series involves the gods more actively than and of the other published Cosmere books to date, Sanderson has often surprised me with the solutions his characters need in the face of cosmic intelligence. This book once again does not disappoint on that count.
As for the greater Cosmere:
- We get a deeper understanding of the beings who hold the shards
- We get a slightly better understanding of the stuff going on with the world hoppers
- We learn the origins of what happened to set Sigzil on the path of The Sunlit Man
- We learn when this series takes place relative to the already published Mistborn books
Finally, while I’m sure it’s just one of those convergent evolution type things, it seemed at the end like Sanderson had been watching Rick and Morty recently. There’s a very relevant plot point with Hoid and Rick Sanchez. Also, like Rick, there’s a scene in the epilogue where Hoid is talking to us and someone in the book at the same time, to the confusion of the person in the book. (I’d say at least once or twice every season you can see Rick talking about episodes and seasons and other things that make it seem like he knows he’s in a TV show)
I can’t talk about too much more now since the book just came out and I don’t want to rely on spoiler tags, but I may make a post on my blog at some point looking at the larger Cosmere.