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My last book update was two years ago! My reading may have slowed down somewhat, but I am reading stuff. So here is the big recap of the what I've read since 2016
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin - By far the best thing I've read recently. Amazing story, fascinating characters, unique world building involving a malevolent Earth and theearth-benders orogenes that fight it, a creative non-linear story telling style all comes together to make for some riveting reading. (TW: child abuse)
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin - The 2nd book deals with the aftermath of the first and setting up for the 3rd, I'm not sure it stands as well on its own. Told in a more linear style and a bit slower pace, it still makes for good reading, more world building, more character building, and did its job in making me want the next one.
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin - A suitably epic conclusion, what began as a very personal story in the first book, here is scaled up with the stakes increased and the action pumped back up. The narrative is split into two, one in the distant past, and the current dealing with the repercussions of the first with the fate of the world in doubt. If there's a theme to this whole series it's how do you deal with a world that is literally trying to kill you.
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff - A series of connected short stories which are re-tellings of H.P. Lovecraft stories moved to the 1950's with an African-American family as the protaginists. They deal with the twin horrors of racism and "things man was not meant to know". Extremely well done.
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie - Sequel to the Ancillary Justice (which is awesome), the protaginist adjusts to a life not driven by revenge and we get to see a bit more of this universe and the story develops into a decent murder systery type story. Not as strong as the first book, largely because the antagonist is not as interesting, but still a good read. Along the way it also sets things up for the trilogies conclusion, on my to be read list.
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard - Non-fiction story of James Garfield and his assasination which I found absolutely riviting, largely because I knew next to nothing about Garfield and he was a fascinating character, a sort of JFK of his era, and the consequences of his assasination were game changing for American politics.
Hero of the Empire by Candice Millard - The story of Winston Churchill experience of the Boer War, or alternatively you could say it's the story of the Boer War using Churchill's POV as a window. Some interesting history, it's one of those wars in which there's nobody good to root for.
The River of Doubt by Candice Millard - The story of Theodore Roosevelt's exploration of an Amazonian river that almost ended in disaster. Excellent writing as always from Millard. My take away was to never go to the Amazon.
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson - An African based fantasy story of a caravan travelling through a hostile magical landscape led by two men with magical powers of their own. The writing style can be a bit dense in places, but it's a fascinating world that I'd like to see developed more.
The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne - Post-apocolypse story about two women's rather harrowing journies towards each other, one a child from west Africa, and the other a collegiate woman from India. This is definitely a book more about the journey than the destination. Interesting read and I like her writing style, but the story is very meandering, and I found the end anti-climatic, as if she wasn't sure what to do with the characters once they reached their destination.
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor - A short story/novella about a woman who is the first of her tribe to go to space, and there she navigates through a first contact like scenario gone wrong. Great story, just too short, I need more, fortunately there are 2 more books. As an aside I liked this much more than "Who Fears Death".
Alice by Christina Henry - A Sequel/Retelling of Alice in Wonderland, re-imagined as a horror story, but keeping all the surrealness. Horror is not my preferred genre, but still though it well done.
Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd - A massive historical fiction account of the history of Ireland (mostly Dublin really) from the 1500's to the Irish Civil War following the fates of several intertiwned familes. There is also a previous book, Princes of Ireland, covering earlier history that I did not read. Read in preperation and during our Ireland trip. I did not find the writing as engrossing as some of Rutherfurds earlier books like Sarum, or Russka; but it's still a fun way to learn the history and it helped to visit some of the places I was reading about.
Atlas of Irish History - Picked up while on the trip, nicely done collection of maps showing Ireland's history, nice companion to the above.
Perils of Prague by Doc Coleman - Steampunk adventure story, the characters felt like stereotypes, but the plot, action, and world building were solid even if I did feel I was reading an account of a RPG adventure at times.
Destroyer by Andrew Hickey - A story about British espionage during WWII intertwined with the occult, so take the WWII plot line of Cryptonomicon and add Aleister Crowley and some magic, all told in a dryly humorous style.
Blood Soaked and Gone by James Crawford - Book 3 of zombies, now with more aliens. Ok conclusion to the series, I think I suffered a little from character overload and having trouble tracking who was who, but still enjoyable.
Wars and Rumors of Wars by M.G. Norris - I got the first few chapters as a freebie, have not read the whole book. Main storyline vaguely typical fantasy setting with a half-orc protaganist, raised by human, but ends up with the orcs when his village is destroyed; and his human brother trying to mount a rescue. There's also a meta storyline of beings watching the first story from the future that I didn't get enough to understand what it was about. Enjoyable, but not blown away, have not sought out the rest of the book.
Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon - Historical fiction about the namesake surveyors and their journey across colonial America, heavy on the allegory with the odd couple giving their takes on all kinds of subjects of the day, and a dash of supernatural. It feels like I really ought to like this book, given its subject matter, but Pynchon's writing style is so frickin' dense that I've had trouble getting through it and stuff that's supposed to be funny falls flat due to excessive inscrutablility.
She and Allan by Henry Rider Haggard - Catching up on my pulp adventure stories from the 20's, this sequel to "King Solomon's Mines" and "She" lets their respective protaginists play off each other. Obviously very dated, but interesting seeing the source for so many adventure story tropes.
The Second War of the Worlds by George Smith - This is fan fiction from the 70's mashing up Orson Well's War of the Worlds with the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Up The Line by Robert Silverberg - A time travel story mostly about characters trying to have sex with their ancestors. Nominated for the Hugo in 1970, fortunately voters came to thier senses and gave it to Ursula LeGuin instead.
The Devolutionist and the Emancipatrix by Homer Eon Flint - From the 20's, this is more thought experiment/social commentary than story as the protaginists telepathically visit alternate Earths with decidedly different economic and political systems than our own.
Buck Rogers: That Man on Beta by Addison Steele (psuedonym of Richard Lupoff) - This has aged poorly. Pulp adventure story that really doesn't have much to offer.
Rum and Runestones - an anthology of supernatural pirate themed short stories, it sounded promising, but was disappointing. Most of the stories read more like an RPG character background than an actual story. Picked it for the Misty Massey story featuring the protagonist from "Mad Kestrel" and that was the best of the lot.
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin - By far the best thing I've read recently. Amazing story, fascinating characters, unique world building involving a malevolent Earth and the
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin - The 2nd book deals with the aftermath of the first and setting up for the 3rd, I'm not sure it stands as well on its own. Told in a more linear style and a bit slower pace, it still makes for good reading, more world building, more character building, and did its job in making me want the next one.
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin - A suitably epic conclusion, what began as a very personal story in the first book, here is scaled up with the stakes increased and the action pumped back up. The narrative is split into two, one in the distant past, and the current dealing with the repercussions of the first with the fate of the world in doubt. If there's a theme to this whole series it's how do you deal with a world that is literally trying to kill you.
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff - A series of connected short stories which are re-tellings of H.P. Lovecraft stories moved to the 1950's with an African-American family as the protaginists. They deal with the twin horrors of racism and "things man was not meant to know". Extremely well done.
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie - Sequel to the Ancillary Justice (which is awesome), the protaginist adjusts to a life not driven by revenge and we get to see a bit more of this universe and the story develops into a decent murder systery type story. Not as strong as the first book, largely because the antagonist is not as interesting, but still a good read. Along the way it also sets things up for the trilogies conclusion, on my to be read list.
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard - Non-fiction story of James Garfield and his assasination which I found absolutely riviting, largely because I knew next to nothing about Garfield and he was a fascinating character, a sort of JFK of his era, and the consequences of his assasination were game changing for American politics.
Hero of the Empire by Candice Millard - The story of Winston Churchill experience of the Boer War, or alternatively you could say it's the story of the Boer War using Churchill's POV as a window. Some interesting history, it's one of those wars in which there's nobody good to root for.
The River of Doubt by Candice Millard - The story of Theodore Roosevelt's exploration of an Amazonian river that almost ended in disaster. Excellent writing as always from Millard. My take away was to never go to the Amazon.
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson - An African based fantasy story of a caravan travelling through a hostile magical landscape led by two men with magical powers of their own. The writing style can be a bit dense in places, but it's a fascinating world that I'd like to see developed more.
The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne - Post-apocolypse story about two women's rather harrowing journies towards each other, one a child from west Africa, and the other a collegiate woman from India. This is definitely a book more about the journey than the destination. Interesting read and I like her writing style, but the story is very meandering, and I found the end anti-climatic, as if she wasn't sure what to do with the characters once they reached their destination.
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor - A short story/novella about a woman who is the first of her tribe to go to space, and there she navigates through a first contact like scenario gone wrong. Great story, just too short, I need more, fortunately there are 2 more books. As an aside I liked this much more than "Who Fears Death".
Alice by Christina Henry - A Sequel/Retelling of Alice in Wonderland, re-imagined as a horror story, but keeping all the surrealness. Horror is not my preferred genre, but still though it well done.
Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd - A massive historical fiction account of the history of Ireland (mostly Dublin really) from the 1500's to the Irish Civil War following the fates of several intertiwned familes. There is also a previous book, Princes of Ireland, covering earlier history that I did not read. Read in preperation and during our Ireland trip. I did not find the writing as engrossing as some of Rutherfurds earlier books like Sarum, or Russka; but it's still a fun way to learn the history and it helped to visit some of the places I was reading about.
Atlas of Irish History - Picked up while on the trip, nicely done collection of maps showing Ireland's history, nice companion to the above.
Perils of Prague by Doc Coleman - Steampunk adventure story, the characters felt like stereotypes, but the plot, action, and world building were solid even if I did feel I was reading an account of a RPG adventure at times.
Destroyer by Andrew Hickey - A story about British espionage during WWII intertwined with the occult, so take the WWII plot line of Cryptonomicon and add Aleister Crowley and some magic, all told in a dryly humorous style.
Blood Soaked and Gone by James Crawford - Book 3 of zombies, now with more aliens. Ok conclusion to the series, I think I suffered a little from character overload and having trouble tracking who was who, but still enjoyable.
Wars and Rumors of Wars by M.G. Norris - I got the first few chapters as a freebie, have not read the whole book. Main storyline vaguely typical fantasy setting with a half-orc protaganist, raised by human, but ends up with the orcs when his village is destroyed; and his human brother trying to mount a rescue. There's also a meta storyline of beings watching the first story from the future that I didn't get enough to understand what it was about. Enjoyable, but not blown away, have not sought out the rest of the book.
Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon - Historical fiction about the namesake surveyors and their journey across colonial America, heavy on the allegory with the odd couple giving their takes on all kinds of subjects of the day, and a dash of supernatural. It feels like I really ought to like this book, given its subject matter, but Pynchon's writing style is so frickin' dense that I've had trouble getting through it and stuff that's supposed to be funny falls flat due to excessive inscrutablility.
She and Allan by Henry Rider Haggard - Catching up on my pulp adventure stories from the 20's, this sequel to "King Solomon's Mines" and "She" lets their respective protaginists play off each other. Obviously very dated, but interesting seeing the source for so many adventure story tropes.
The Second War of the Worlds by George Smith - This is fan fiction from the 70's mashing up Orson Well's War of the Worlds with the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Up The Line by Robert Silverberg - A time travel story mostly about characters trying to have sex with their ancestors. Nominated for the Hugo in 1970, fortunately voters came to thier senses and gave it to Ursula LeGuin instead.
The Devolutionist and the Emancipatrix by Homer Eon Flint - From the 20's, this is more thought experiment/social commentary than story as the protaginists telepathically visit alternate Earths with decidedly different economic and political systems than our own.
Buck Rogers: That Man on Beta by Addison Steele (psuedonym of Richard Lupoff) - This has aged poorly. Pulp adventure story that really doesn't have much to offer.
Rum and Runestones - an anthology of supernatural pirate themed short stories, it sounded promising, but was disappointing. Most of the stories read more like an RPG character background than an actual story. Picked it for the Misty Massey story featuring the protagonist from "Mad Kestrel" and that was the best of the lot.