Books 2024 part I
Mar. 3rd, 2024 01:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkBooks I have read so far in 2024:
System Collapse (Murderbot #7), by Martha Wells
New Murderbot! I cheered. First book read this year and I stayed up until 2am to finish, great choice.
I followed recommendations to reread "Network Effect" before reading this one and it was a good thing I did, as "System Collapse" felt very much like part two of that.
I liked that we spent a lot of time with a smaller cast because I was getting a bit overwhelmed with all the characters, especially because it has been a while since I read the earlier books. This way I felt like I actually got a chance to get to know Iris and Tarik, and Ratthi again. (The Tarik & Ratthi background relationship drama Murderbot could not help but notice provided welcome moments of distraction.) AdaCol2 was another highlight, and some other favorite moments were Iris and Murderbot being relieved ART-drone managed to relink in time, and the briefly shown ART - Holism rivalry.
I did really like the frantic creation of the documentary to convince the colonists. Tbh my first reaction was that it wasn't an especially tricky job because the facts were very clear and they had so much evidence. Then I remembered how many people don't want to believe in evidence that contradicts what they want to think is true and suddenly the task looked a lot more difficult.
(Early on I assumed/hoped that figuring out the correct legal argument to save the colonists would be a major plot point; I was a little disappointed when that didn't happen and instead Barish-Estranza crippled itself with infighting and the rest happened off-screen mostly, but I should have expected that because tricky legal arguments aren't really something Murderbot is especially interested in.)
Tress of the Emerald Sea (The Cosmere #28), by Brandon Sanderson
One of my friends is also a big fan of fantasy novels, but different fantasy novels: he keeps recommending Patrick Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson, and was especially unhappy when I told him I'm not at all interested in reading "Name of the Wind." (I think the only series we both enjoyed is Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastards.) But he was very enthusiastic about "Tress of the Emerald Sea" and assured me that knowledge of the other Cosmere books was not necessary, so when I saw it at the library eventually I agreed to give it a try.
It has some cool worldbuilding parts, like the spore oceans, but around a third of the way in I still wasn't that interested, and I wasn't convinced by the narrator at all. Fortunately it picks up around halfway through or so, I started caring about Tress more and minding the narration less, and it had some really cool moments, like My friend was right about knowledge of the other Cosmere books not being necessary: I'm sure I missed plenty of references but "character with a mysterious background and secret powers that are never entirely explained" is not an uncommon thing in non-connected works either.
To Shape a Dragon's Breath (Nampeshiweisit #1), by Moniquill Blackgoose
On an alternate history version of Earth, Anequs bonds with a dragon and goes to the colonizers' dragon school where she has to deal with racism, classism, and sexism (and more) all at once while learning how to be a dragonrider.
This book had a lot of potential, and I really enjoyed especially the early parts of it very much. I liked a lot of the supporting cast, especially Niquiat and Frau Kuiper, who clearly have their own stories going on. I thought the worldbuilding of the alternate history, where the vikings conquered large parts of Europe and North America, was interesting, though it was close to almost being too detailed at times.
Unfortunately as the book progressed I felt like I understood the main character and her perspective less and less. Her grasp on politics and social games especially seemed to vary by the chapter, which was quite frustrating at times. (She is a teenager, to be fair, but it didn't seem deliberate.) A lot of the dialogue seemed stilted to me. I would have liked to see more of her other classmates too (and there wasn't much of it but I would still have preferred even slower/less romance but that's probably a matter of personal preference.) The pacing was uneven too, though that only really bothered me near the end.
Overall I still enjoyed it enough that I will probably check out the next book in the series.
I have more time to read on my daily commute now, which is nice. I'm not sure how much I'll get around to reading before Hugo nominations close next weekend, but I'm definitely planning to read the nominated works before Worldcon.
System Collapse (Murderbot #7), by Martha Wells
New Murderbot! I cheered. First book read this year and I stayed up until 2am to finish, great choice.
I followed recommendations to reread "Network Effect" before reading this one and it was a good thing I did, as "System Collapse" felt very much like part two of that.
I liked that we spent a lot of time with a smaller cast because I was getting a bit overwhelmed with all the characters, especially because it has been a while since I read the earlier books. This way I felt like I actually got a chance to get to know Iris and Tarik, and Ratthi again. (The Tarik & Ratthi background relationship drama Murderbot could not help but notice provided welcome moments of distraction.) AdaCol2 was another highlight, and some other favorite moments were Iris and Murderbot being relieved ART-drone managed to relink in time, and the briefly shown ART - Holism rivalry.
I did really like the frantic creation of the documentary to convince the colonists. Tbh my first reaction was that it wasn't an especially tricky job because the facts were very clear and they had so much evidence. Then I remembered how many people don't want to believe in evidence that contradicts what they want to think is true and suddenly the task looked a lot more difficult.
(Early on I assumed/hoped that figuring out the correct legal argument to save the colonists would be a major plot point; I was a little disappointed when that didn't happen and instead Barish-Estranza crippled itself with infighting and the rest happened off-screen mostly, but I should have expected that because tricky legal arguments aren't really something Murderbot is especially interested in.)
Tress of the Emerald Sea (The Cosmere #28), by Brandon Sanderson
One of my friends is also a big fan of fantasy novels, but different fantasy novels: he keeps recommending Patrick Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson, and was especially unhappy when I told him I'm not at all interested in reading "Name of the Wind." (I think the only series we both enjoyed is Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastards.) But he was very enthusiastic about "Tress of the Emerald Sea" and assured me that knowledge of the other Cosmere books was not necessary, so when I saw it at the library eventually I agreed to give it a try.
It has some cool worldbuilding parts, like the spore oceans, but around a third of the way in I still wasn't that interested, and I wasn't convinced by the narrator at all. Fortunately it picks up around halfway through or so, I started caring about Tress more and minding the narration less, and it had some really cool moments, like
spoiler
when Crow brings Tress to the dragon to offer her as a slave and Tress offers Crow to the dragon as a slave instead.To Shape a Dragon's Breath (Nampeshiweisit #1), by Moniquill Blackgoose
On an alternate history version of Earth, Anequs bonds with a dragon and goes to the colonizers' dragon school where she has to deal with racism, classism, and sexism (and more) all at once while learning how to be a dragonrider.
This book had a lot of potential, and I really enjoyed especially the early parts of it very much. I liked a lot of the supporting cast, especially Niquiat and Frau Kuiper, who clearly have their own stories going on. I thought the worldbuilding of the alternate history, where the vikings conquered large parts of Europe and North America, was interesting, though it was close to almost being too detailed at times.
Unfortunately as the book progressed I felt like I understood the main character and her perspective less and less. Her grasp on politics and social games especially seemed to vary by the chapter, which was quite frustrating at times. (She is a teenager, to be fair, but it didn't seem deliberate.) A lot of the dialogue seemed stilted to me. I would have liked to see more of her other classmates too (and there wasn't much of it but I would still have preferred even slower/less romance but that's probably a matter of personal preference.) The pacing was uneven too, though that only really bothered me near the end.
Overall I still enjoyed it enough that I will probably check out the next book in the series.
I have more time to read on my daily commute now, which is nice. I'm not sure how much I'll get around to reading before Hugo nominations close next weekend, but I'm definitely planning to read the nominated works before Worldcon.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-03 02:43 pm (UTC)I used to enjoy Sanderson's novels although it's gotten a bit more hit and miss for me since some of them started pushing really hard on the crossover aspects with his long series that I'm not reading. 'Yumi and the Nightmare Painter' was warmly recommended to me but I struggled through the beginning as well, even if I really enjoyed other aspects. Maybe I'll give a shot to Tress as well since the spoiler sounds interesting and I'll have forgotten again by the time I get my hands on it!! Haha. His settings do tend to be fun and sometimes, uncomplicated escapism is good. As long as it doesn't have characters showing out of nowhere to solve everyone's problems, anyway!
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Date: 2024-03-03 03:32 pm (UTC)I enjoyed Sanderson's Mistborn books many years ago but eventually lost interest, and after that I started to get annoyed by how much some people praised his books as the best fantasy ever. Not his fault, but until now what I heard about his books didn't interest me enough to give them another try despite that. But I'm currently 8th in line for "Yumi and the Nightmare Painter" at the library and look forward to it.
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Date: 2024-03-03 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-03 08:51 pm (UTC)Gur aneengbe sbe "Lhzv" vf gur fnzr punenpgre, jvgu gur fnzr naablvat gvpf, nf gur aneengbe sbe "Gerff." Ur trgf nebhaq. V sbhaq gung gur abirygl jber bss rfcrpvnyyl ol gur gvzr V ernq "Lhzv."
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