Welcome to the first of monthly posts detailing what I’ve read each month. For the past year, I’ve been reading with my own fantasy novel in mind, so things have definitely skewed toward fantasy, but I’ve found so much to learn from reading different genres and authors with very different writing styles.
Dark of The West
Excellent political world building where the military and monarchies collide. The main characters lacked a certain spark, but found myself just interested enough to keep unraveling the story. For the first book in a series, I can’t judge it fully, but I will at least give the next one a try.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
The Empress of Salt and Fortune is a beautiful ode to folklore in both the story structure and the mythical world the story is set in. This book was so dreamy and atmospheric that I was totally along for the ride with this novella. As much as I liked the cleric that the empress’ story is told to, I can’t help but wonder if the framing is part of why it seemed to lack the emotional connection I was hoping for in the pivotal moments of the story.
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain
The cleric Chih is back in this novella with a completely new adventure, but this time the fireside storytelling felt integral to the story. Chih is tasked with telling murderous tigers a story, but their version of the story differs from what the tigers know. The threat of death sets a scene of suspense, but the themes and biases of the story Chih tells is evocative and thought provoking.
Hang the Moon
Hang the Moon is the follow up to Written in the Stars. Annie is jaded about love and only in Seattle to visit her best friend, and Brendan is a hopeless romantic who is going to prove romance isn’t dead. As a Seattleite, I adored the familiar settings of this story. The romance is plenty steamy and the banter is fun enough, but I’m not sure I really got a solid grasp on Annie’s character.
Mistborn: The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages
I’m grouping the entire Mistborn trilogy together but please know each of these books were very long and this accounted for a lot of my reading this month. I love high fantasy world building and the magic system was clear and made for a lot of interesting variations to build the plot. I was very cautious going into this story on the lookout for outdated tropes, but found myself pleasantly surprised that the female protagonist was allowed to be properly terrifying and like balls and dresses and fall in love. The found family of thieves didn’t immediately catch my attention but I was in love with them all before the end of the first book, and the conclusion of this epic fantasy story was very satisfying. My big complaint for this book was the clunky and repetitive exposition. Early on it felt a little inelegant, but grew increasingly tedious as I was racing to the finish line.
Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake
Have you ever wondered what a fictional story would be like on the set of the Great British Bake Off? Yeah me neither, but I was thrilled for it nonetheless. This book ends up being far more women’s fiction than romance, and that also means the main character can be really frustrating. Rosaline is a single mom that feels very similar to Lorelai Gilmore and has to navigate a strong class divide with her judgmental parents all while figuring out her next career move. At some parts the plot felt a little too busy and I would have loved more attention to the contestants on the show relating to one another but the exploration of consent, trust and respect when it comes to flirting and sex made it a very worthwhile read.
Gods of Jade and Shadow
First of all, I do not recommend the audiobook. This story takes place in 1920’s Mexico with heavy mythological and indigineous influences and the audiobook fails to capture the vibe of nearly any of the characters that would populate such a world. Casiopea is a young woman who’s stuck in a small town with a family that constantly tries to keep her down until she accidentally awakens a god, Hun-Kame, and physically bonds herself to him. They need to travel across Mexico to meet different mythical beings and challenge each other along the way.
You can follow me on The StoryGraph if you want to see more of what I’m reading or come back next month for a round up of October.