A Year's Worth of Reading

Time to talk about books again! It's not that I haven't been reading at all this past year, but other areas of my life have gotten a lot busier (as often happens when you say yes to opportunities!). April is an odd time to do a Reading Roundup, but time is arbitrary, and here we are. (This is mostly for my own benefit, anyway.) Divided into star ratings but otherwise in no particular order. (I should point out that most of these are adult books; I was in a bit of a children's lit slump the past year, but I am currently rectifying that: stay tuned!)

5 Star Reads (Loved to pieces, would read again)

Scholomance series, Naomi Novik. Y'all were right, it's awsome!

Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus. Worth the hype.

Begin Again, When You Get the Chance, Tweet Cute, by Emma Lord. All her romances are the best.

4 Star Reads (Really enjoyed, might read again, will seek out this author)

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, Megan Bannan. Unique and fun, with heart (ha ha).

Jennifer Crusie: a whole bunch of her rom-coms; I just love them all.

Olivia Atwater: Regency and Victorian Fairy Tales. I think I've read them all now. They're so much fun!

Brandon Sanderson: The Way of Kings, Tress of the Emerald Sea. Figured I should see what he's all about. Imaginative world-building and propulsive plots—I'll read more.

Map of the Otherlands, Heather Fawcett. A worthy sequel to Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Fairies.

When Women Were Dragons, Kelly Barnhill. Fascinating, angry.

Whispering Woods, Sharon Shinn. Latest in her Elemental Blessings series, which I love.

Kate Stradling: Deathmark, Maid and Minstrel. Fairy tale retellings. I love everything she writes.

Happy City, Charles Montgomery. The one non-fiction on my list. Urban design fascinates me.

Thornhedge, T. Kingfisher. Sleeping beauty remix. Loved the main character.

Gothel and the Maiden Prince, W. R. Gingell. Rapunzel remix, similar in feeling to Thornhedge. My first but not my last by this author.

Annette Marie: The Guild Codex series. Signed up for Kindle Unlimited to get access to the dozens of books in this entertaining urban fantasy series. Bonus: set in Vancouver! Very fun and readable.

3 Star Books (Enjoyed, might read more by the author)

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, V. E. Schwab. Interesting and well-written.

The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang

The Bodyguard, Karen Center

Ali Hazelwood: Love on the Brain, The Love Hypothesis

Little Thieves, Margaret Owen

Emily Wilde's Encylopaedia of Fairies, by Heather Fawcett

Well, this was an utter delight! All the hype I’ve been hearing about Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is justified. It’s funny, clever, atmospheric, sweet and beautifully-written. Emily and Wendell are fantastic characters, and their relationship is a treat.

I should start by saying I’m not a huge fan of Faerie. Beautiful but cruel aren’t characteristics I’m interested in, and I find most books about the fae boring or distasteful. Emily’s fairies, though, are fascinating, intriguing, fun—while still often being beautiful and cruel, and fitting in perfectly with familiar legends and lore.

Most of the book’s appeal is down to Emily herself, the “curmudgeonly professor” with her single-minded pursuit of fairy scholarship. I love the idea of “dryadology”! Practical, intelligent, introverted and awkward around people but confident and clever while studying the Fair Folk “in the field,” Emily narrates the story in hilariously academic prose, complete with footnotes. Her ostensibly objective, multisyllabic discourse does nothing to hide her feelings from the reader, however, and she charmed me as completely as she ultimately charms every other character (and, yes, the metaphor of enchantment is intentional!)

Wendell I will not spoil for you; you’ll just have to meet him yourself when he swans in with his minions in tow and upends Emily’s painstaking plans.

I get a grin on my face just thinking about these two and their exasperation with each other!

All the characters jump off the page; every one of the villagers a distinct individual. And the wintry northern landscape is a character in its own right. I am quite convinced that Hrafnsvik is a real place and the Hidden Folk really do live in those mountains.

There's also a great dog!

A satisfying conclusion, with the promise of another book to come. I am hooked on Emily and can’t wait to see what other surprises she has up her sleeve!

Heather Fawcett is Canadian, by the way: I'm happy to claim her as a British Columbian!

Don't forget to tell me about your favourite dragon in the comments on my previous post, and you could win a free e-book. (Contest open until June 30, 2023)

Author Interview and Giveaway: Vanessa Ricci-Thode and the Fireborne series

Vanessa Ricci-Thode has just released the second of four books in a very cool fantasy series (just look at those covers!) It's about three generations of powerful women and the dragon they befriend. I've read Dragon Whisperer, and it's a unique story of a newly married young woman trying to negotiate her new relationship with her husband while learning more about her fire magic; then she has to deal with some truly obnoxious aristocrats who are trying to exploit dragons for their own profit. I love that the romance is the stage after the starry eyes and butterflies, the getting down to how to make a life together. And magic and dragons just complicate things further! 

I had a chance to pick Vanessa's brain about dragons, families, writing a series, and self-publishing:

What/who is your favourite dragon?

You know in Sleeping Beauty where Maleficent turns into a dragon in the final battle? Yeah, probably that. Or Toothless. 

Totally different question: what’s your favourite book/series with dragons in it? 

In the book world, it’s definitely the Enchanted Forest series by Patricia C Wrede! I love what she does with the series, which begins with Dealing With Dragons, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. In wider media, I absolutely adore the How To Train Your Dragon franchise. It’s so much fun!

What do you think is the appeal of dragons?

I think a lot of it is in the impossibility of them. They’re often depicted as incomprehensibly huge. And even when they’re basically just dinosaurs that breathe fire… they breathe fire. Which is immensely cool and deeply terrifying. Flying, sentient, magical flamethrowers. They have the potential to be the ultimate enemies, but also the ultimate allies.

What aspect of dragons appeals most to you?

Definitely all the fire. They’re like flying volcanoes, ha!

Dragon Whisperer was originally written ten years ago. How long have you been playing around in this particular world? Tell us a bit about it: what are some of the fun things you’re exploring (other than dragons)?

I’ve been knocking around in this world since just a little while after Dragon Whisperer was written. I’d never intended for it to be a series, but people started asking when I was going to write the sequel. And it took some noodling to figure out how to keep the worldbuilding but have more adventures. I’ve done a lot to explore family dynamics and also to expand the magic system. I hadn’t actually put much thought into that part when I wrote the first book way back in 2009. Playing around in this world with all the new things I’ve learned as a writer since then has been really fun!

Can you tell us more about the connections between the four books and why you decided to write about multiple generations?

Like I mentioned, I didn’t intend for Dragon Whisperer to be part of a series, and in thinking about a sequel, I was looking for ways to keep as much worldbuilding as possible but to do something new. That was how I came up with multiple generations. Book two features Dionelle’s daughter, Neesha, and book three features Neesha’s daughter. Each of these three books is I guess a coming of age story, each a different generation with different challenges. Dionelle was essentially looking for work-life balance. Neesha is a queer woman struggling to make her way amidst regressive societal norms. Her daughter faces similar issues in book three. Then for book four, I’m bringing them all together because I’m ready for a multi-generational, ass-kicking team up!

Dragons work very well as an Other in your stories: there is prejudice against them, they are misunderstood, treated with hostility and even exploited, despite being very powerful. Was this part of your original intention, or did this theme develop as your stories developed?

While I’d planned for dragons to be misunderstood from the outset with Dragon Whisperer, the hostility was something that developed with the next two books. It became the backdrop required to make those stories work the way I wanted to tell them. 

You also deal a lot with family relationships, which is a little unusual in fantasy stories. In Dragon Whisperer, the main character is recently married, completely upending the Happily Ever After = walking down the aisle trope. How does a fantasy setting help you explore the complexities of a marriage, or parent-child or sibling relationships?

Book one had a lot of exploring the hard work of making that HEA work. I like writing in fantasy settings because I’m not limited by the constrains of reality, which makes it easier to construct different norms that I hope can serve as a roadmap to something more egalitarian for those of us constrained by reality. And then I’m less into traditional romance and like looking for different sources of conflict for subplots. Family has always been very important to me, and also probably the main source of drama too! So it was a natural place to draw from in constructing new stories. There’s plenty of romance out there, I wanted to see and write something a little different.

You’ve been learning-on-the-go how to self-publish. Do you have any advice or words of warning for someone considering that route? 

Haha it’s probably better to figure out more of it before actually getting started. I’ve been doing some building my parachute on the way down sort of stuff and it’s more stressful than it needs to be. It’s a lot of work! Self-publishing is definitely the right option for me at this point, but I wish I’d taken a little more time to work out the marketing side of things before jumping into it.

Giveaway!!

Vanessa has kindly agreed to give a free e-book to the winner of a random draw: to enter, just comment below and tell us your favourite dragon. Contest open until June 30, 2023.

Vanessa is a word sorceress who loves a good story. She’s a NaNoWriMo veteran, a Halloween enthusiast, and a bookish geek who loves dragons, dogs, astronomy, and travel. If she’s not hibernating, she can be found in her butterfly garden, achieving her final form as a forest witch. To learn more, visit her website www.thodestool.ca or follow her on social media @VRicciThode

Newsletter sign up: http://eepurl.com/bqD9gL

Dragon Whisperer buy links: https://books2read.com/u/b5qgYk

Trueflame buy links: https://books2read.com/u/bPL0l7 

The Witch King and new Ann Leckie! Plus a few other books I'm looking forward to.

Look what just arrived on my Kindle! Martha Wells' new fantasy. I have no idea what it's about and I don't care!

I've pre-ordered Translation State, by Ann Leckie, an Imperial Radch novel that features a Presgr translator (that culture was so interesting in Ancillary Mercy!) It will drop on June 6.

So I'm going to have a lot to keep me occupied while I travel for the next month! (Yes, I'm travelling again.)

What else is on my Kindle right now? 

A couple of romances:

Lucy Parker, Act Like It

Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner, Star Dust

An East of the Sun, West of the Moon retelling: Troll-Magic, by J.M. Ney-Grimm

Rachel Neumeier's Tarashana, which I've already read; it's in the Tuyo series, which I love.

A couple of famous philosophy books I figure I should read one day.

And some Victoria Goddard short stories.

Here's my Libby app, if we're going to be complete about this:

I'm reading Little Thieves right now, and it's excellent! Sort of a Goose Girl retelling, with a likeable unlikeable heroine (she's the maid!)

The Things We Leave Unfinished is a contemporary romance

Chilbury Ladies' Choir is historical I think

Merci Suarez is middle-grade contemporary

Oh, and C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner, (not in the picture) because I am definitely going to read it this time!

Does anyone else want to post a snapshot of your reading apps right now? Or a photo of the pile on your side-table? I'm curious!

MMGM: The Grace of Wild Things, by Heather Fawcett

The Grace of Wild Things is billed as "a fantastical reimagining of Anne of Green Gables," and that made me jump up and put it on hold at my library immediately. (So: excellent marketing strategy!) But, in retrospect, I wish I hadn't known that going into the story, because it set certain expectations in my mind and then the book kept knocking against those expectations. I would have preferred the experience of reading the book, feeling that it reminded me of something, and then figuring out or finding out at the end that it was Anne of Green Gables with witches.

But if I can get that out of the way, this was a lovely story, a worthy homage to Anne-with-an-E, and an enjoyable read.

I loved Grace: she's proactive, creative, fearless and positive, just like Anne. When she realizes that no one will adopt her because she's a witch, she goes herself to the witch's cottage in the woods and refuses to be intimidated by being shut in the oven.

The witch grew on me, and by the end I was really enjoying her reluctant relationship with Grace. I have a few niggling issues with how she was portrayed: (slight spoiler, you can read it if you highlight it)  I choose to believe she never actually cooked and ate any children, because that seems inconsistent with both her actions in the story and with the way magic seems to work—actually, I think my niggle is that the magic is fun and whimsical but isn't really developed beyond "oh look at all the crazy ingredients we have to gather for this spell."

My favourite part of the book was the friendships, which I don't want to spoil, and I did love the magic and wish there had been more of it. It was quite fun seeing how Fawcett translated many of Anne's escapades into magic spells with unexpected results.

There were a lot of things I wish had been developed further (even though it's a fairly long book), so I felt a little unsatisfied with certain aspects of the plot, but the setting and characters were delightful, and the book has so much heart! The themes of friendship, tolerance, helpfulness and forgiveness—not to mention trusting yourself and a healthy dose of girl power—were true to the spirit of Anne of Green Gables. So for Lucy Maud Montgomery fans, you won't be disappointed. Just check your expectations at the door and let Grace take you into her world.

I would recommend this for an older middle-grade audience, just because of its length and complexity.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is hosted by Greg at Always in the Middle, where you can always find great middle-grade recommendations.

If you like dragons, come back this Friday for an interview with the author of Dragon Whisperer, a New Adult book about fire magic, dragons, and work-life balance when your fire magic means you work a lot with dragons! You could win a free e-book copy for yourself!

Recent reads

I had a lot of books on my phone for my recent trip: did I read them all? Did I like them? I have zero memory and must go back to Libby and Kindle and check ...

The Beekeeper's Apprentice, or, the Segregation of the Queen, by Laurie R. King. 

This one was promising, but I just can't do audiobooks. The main character is a precocious teen who befriends Sherlock Holmes, and I think I would have liked her if I had been reading, but on audio she seemed to go on and on about how clever she was, and it started to bore me. I might pick this one up as a book if I'm in the mood for a nice setting and what will probably turn out to be a cozy mystery. Verdict: successfully put me to sleep on the plane!

Castles in Their Bones, by Laura Sebastian.

This was fun, if a little predictable. Three princesses trained to be spies and assassins head to three different kingdoms to marry princes and bring down the kingdoms from within. I didn't end up finishing it because a book on hold arrived on my phone when I was three quarters of the way through this one, and it looked way more interesting. Verdict: if you like the idea of assassin princesses, this fits the bill. An easy read, suitable for the end of a long flight.

Light From Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki

This was the way-more-interesting-looking book. And it was! I was a little afraid that a book mashing demons with aliens and a donut shop might be trying too hard, or being too obvious in its metaphors, treating the spec fic elements as cute props. But I thought it was all handled quite deftly; it was funny and heartfelt. Gorgeous writing. Verdict: Compelling enough to blot out several hours of travel.

Republic of Dirt, by Susan Juby.

This contemporary humour novel set on a BC island was as funny as expected. A mule provided much hilarity. Themes of responsibility, parenting and found family were explored with some truly endearing characters. Verdict: Juby never disappoints. Excellent laugh-out-loud-so-the-people-on-the-airplane-look-at-you-strangely choice.

Chalice, by Robin McKinley.

An easy re-read. Not my favourite by her, but the bees and honey magic are lovely. Verdict: Robin McKinley can always take me out of whatever tedious circumstances I'm in and send me to a beautiful place. Great for delayed flights.

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, by K. J. Parker

This was exactly as advertised: lots of detailed engineer-solves-problems-while-enemies-shoot-things scenes, and a very snarky, self-hating, unreliable narrator to tell us what's what (except that he never tells us what's truly important: we have to figure that out.) Not sure how I feel about the ending. Verdict: highly entertaining, and I probably would have got more out of it if it wasn't being read in little snippets here and there.

Strong Wine, by A. J. Demas

I think I finished this one before I even got on the plane. This is the most feel-good series ever! Romance, family dynamics, kidnappings: it has it all, in an awesome fantasy-Mediterranean world. Verdict: Makes any situation better. Must always have all three Sword Dance novellas
available on my phone.

That's not the total list: stay tuned for more!

Also stay tuned for another author interview, with dragons!

One of the Louis Vuitton stores in Paris:

Unraveller, by Frances Hardinge

My hold on the newest Frances Hardinge came in! [Insert more gushing about the wonders of libraries.] I shall settle in my chair with it and not come back to reality for a good, lovely while.

...

I don't even know why I try to review Frances Hardinge's books. They are so hard to describe. And also, you should just read them because they are always brilliant and wise and will wind their tendrils around your heart and into your brain and leave you feeling like the world is more magical and people are more multi-dimensional than you had ever understood.

Unraveller is about curses and hatred and despair, and loyalty, healing and love, and how all those things can exist within one human heart, and that's what makes us human and worth the time and effort and love it takes to understand and heal us.

"I'm good at hate. I'm better at it than anything else I've ever done! This is the only power I've ever had!"

Every Hardinge book is completely different from every other Hardinge book (I'm pretty sure I say this in every review, but it's important to remember), but Unravelled reminds me most of Cuckoo Song. It has the same creepiness, and the inhabitants of the Wilds have a lot in common with the Besiders. Hardinge is wonderful at taking folktales and teasing out the logic behind all the weirdness to create a coherent, shiver-down-the-spine otherworld with its own terrifyingly logical rules. The Wilds are a swamp-forest, spooky and dripping with menace, inhabited by beautiful and terrifying monsters that are almost familiar.

As I was reading, I found a scrap of paper and wrote down "wildly inventive" and "stunningly coherent," because I think those are the best ways to describe a Hardinge novel. The curses in this book are folktale weird, like being turned into a tree that's then cut down and made into planks which are made into a boat. Kellen is the unraveller, because he can sense the nature and origin of a curse and unravel it, transforming even the planks in a boat back into a person. He is travelling with Nettle, who is having trouble readjusting to being herself again after Kellen unravelled her curse. (No, she wasn't the boat. I won't spoil the reveal of her curse.)

At first it seems the novel will be about Kellen and Nettle finding cursed people and learning their stories so Kellen can fix them. But it turns out that people, and curses, are a little more complicated than that, and so is the novel. But it all makes so much sense—that's what I mean by coherent. It's quite delicious and satisfying the way everything comes around in the end. You recognize the character and story elements because you've seen them in folktales, but also because you've seen them in yourself and the people you know. Everything is a brilliant metaphor for the workings of the human heart. Anger and trauma and patience and forgiveness.

Hardinge's books have a darkness in them, because she doesn't shy away from the hard things in people's souls; she sees them so clearly; but she sees them with deep compassion. She's a lot like T. Kingfisher that way. That's what keeps me eagerly waiting for the next Hardinge novel; her ruthless compassion, and her brilliant writing.

I do not like humans. Your hearts smell of earth and sweat. you miss notes when you sing. You bleed too easily. You walk in with stories tangled around you like briars and do not notice. You trip over everything and break it. You are too real, and it is wasted on you. I lose patience.