Books read since June
Sep. 10th, 2026 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkI'm terribly behind on writing book reviews for here, and the longer I wait the more daunting it becomes. I often want to write more here than the few lines I write on Goodreads but then also the longer I wait the more I forget what that was, so I'm just going to (mostly) copy&paste to catch up.
A Parade of Horribles, Dungeon Crawler Carl #8, by Matt Dinniman
I listened to the audiobook, after reading the previous 7 books. Early on I almost regretted it a few times because it was harder to keep up with the information and not miss anything when I got distracted - I probably did miss some things tbh, and the pacing early on seemed a bit uneven. But it was worth it for the bar scene in chapter 57 alone, and I enjoyed it more the further in I got. The humor is still not always to my taste but a lot of it is, and there were also plenty of emotional scenes. The ending was absolutely mad, in a good way. (I don't understand how some of the details worked but it didn't bother me very much.) I had fun; not as much as when I binge-read the rest of the series, but that's always a special ~atmosphere. And I'm slightly apprehensive about the set-up for the next book but also excited to see how it goes.
Traitor, The Change #4, by Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith
I probably should have reread the series before reading this one to fully appreciate it, I read the first three books almost nine years ago; but otoh I might have never gotten around to it. And I remember enjoying those a lot so I went in with high expectations, which is always a problem, and as so often happens it wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped, though I can't put my finger on why. It was good though, it was fun to read and a nice ending and I'm glad I read it.
Die Legende vom Tränenvogel, English: The Bird That Drinks Tears, by Leong Young-Doo
I read book 1 last year and now recently books 2-4, all of them in German, translated from the original Korean. I got them as Christmas presents from my parents, and they look very pretty on my bookshelf. And look at the pretty covers.
I enjoyed them a lot! Very cool fantasy world with several new-to-me creatures, a group of thrown-together heroes, and I especially loved the siblings Ryun and Samo Pey. I agree with a review I saw that said the first two books and the last two books each belong together, and I liked the first two a little more; also because of the rather abrupt ending that I think I will have to reread at some point.
The Starving Saints, by Caitlin Starling
It took me a while to get into this, and even though I enjoyed it I almost put it down multiple times, not sure why exactly. The atmosphere of first the starving castle under siege and then the growing horror and, idk, surreality worked very well. I really enjoyed the contrasts between all three main characters and the roles they played and how they came together, and overall despite the very soft ~magic and the ~madness it all resolved in a very satisfying way. Idk, I'm not sure I have concrete thoughts about it but I might read it again eventually.
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, Maggie the Undying #1, by Ilona Andrews
Isekai! Written by someone who likes isekai and knows what makes it fun. It's been a while since I found it this hard to put a book down, I stayed up until 3am to finish. The foreshadowing and hints were especially well done, where I felt smart whenever I figured something out or guessed it but it never seemed too predictable, and at the same time I never felt dumb for not figuring things out in advance. I really liked Maggie trying to use her knowledge in the best possible way and navigating around all of these people who could kill her without blinking (and that she is very aware that Undying very much does not mean invulnerable.) I also like the people she assembles around her and the rise in status and resources, and how she handled all the people interested in her.
I had not realized that this is not a stand-alone, and it does a good job both finding a good stopping point and setting up the next one.
The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo
I read this on two flights, and I think taking a week-long break right before the start of the torneo maybe even helped? It took me a while to get interested; at times it felt like the book didn't know where it wanted its tone to be between tragedy and a power-up&romance story (it got a bit better at "both" later on.) The quick development of the romance bothered me less than it usually does for some reason. I liked Luzia, and also Teoda, but most other characters stayed somewhat flat. Overall I enjoyed it.
To Clutch a Razor, Curse Bearer #2, by Veronica Roth
Very nice angst and h/c, a good continuation of the first one, this time with more sibling conflict which is nice.
The Poet Empress, by Shen Tao
I read this in one evening and had a great time. I enjoyed the world, I liked that Wei had a very good reason to try and truly understand the prince and how she went about it and I liked the ending.
One day later I recall a few more rough edges in the characterization - e.g. even with all the cruelty he experienced, prince Terren's drastic turn toward violence against innocents seems exaggerated - and the worldbuilding, especially the literomancy - if literacy and actual magic are so closely linked, why does there seem to be so little everyday magic use in society? Maybe that's partially a PoV issue since Wei is a woman who's forbidden from using it but still - but I still like it a lot.
Shroud, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I have high expectations for works by Adrian Tchaikovsky, but this book didn't meet them. It starts out with a well-made capitalist dystopia - wage-worth *shudders* - but for some reason failed to hook me. I almost stopped reading around a fifth of the way in, and even afterwards it struggled to hold my interest for long periods. Not entirely sure why tbh, several of the alien ~encounters were cool. Large parts of this book were strongly reminiscent of "Children of Time" and "Children of Ruin," only not quite as good. (Though I did like Juna and Mai better than the human protagonists I recall from those two books.) It finally became more engaging toward the end, in the last 20% or so, but the ending itself was too abrupt to feel really satisfying.
Kushiel's Dart, by Jacqueline Carey
I read all 900 pages on one day, so needless to say I found it captivating. I was told this book features both BDSM and politics and couldn't quite imagine what that would look like: in hindsight, "courtesans make excellent spies" makes complete sense as a premise. And the book takes its whole premise, including the protagonist being an anguissette, very seriously and I had no problem buying into it. I really liked Phèdre's relationships with both her friends and allies and with Melisande. I'm very happy I found this in the library, it's been on my "want to read one day" list for a while. (Unfortunately they only have book 2 in German, but that too might be interesting to compare. Speaking of:
Himmelsstürmer/Dragon Wings, Death Gate Cycle #1, by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
I first read this in German over twenty years ago, and read it again in German now. It was fun to recall bits and pieces as I read them again; I enjoyed it as much as I remembered, and the rune magic is still very cool. I like how the different storylines came together and it worked very well both in itself and as a set-up for the rest of the series. (I think I only read the first two back then?, but I think I didn't like the second one nearly as much.)
I also looked up the original English names this time, I thought the translator did a good job but of course some different meanings/connotations are always inevitable (e.g. Hugh Mordhand = Hugh the Hand, Gram = Bane.)
Platform Decay, Murderbot #8, by Martha Wells
A classic Murderbot adventure novella: a rescue mission in an unfamiliar environment with some humans to protect and some annoying emotions. A fun quick read.
A Parade of Horribles, Dungeon Crawler Carl #8, by Matt Dinniman
I listened to the audiobook, after reading the previous 7 books. Early on I almost regretted it a few times because it was harder to keep up with the information and not miss anything when I got distracted - I probably did miss some things tbh, and the pacing early on seemed a bit uneven. But it was worth it for the bar scene in chapter 57 alone, and I enjoyed it more the further in I got. The humor is still not always to my taste but a lot of it is, and there were also plenty of emotional scenes. The ending was absolutely mad, in a good way. (I don't understand how some of the details worked but it didn't bother me very much.) I had fun; not as much as when I binge-read the rest of the series, but that's always a special ~atmosphere. And I'm slightly apprehensive about the set-up for the next book but also excited to see how it goes.
Traitor, The Change #4, by Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith
I probably should have reread the series before reading this one to fully appreciate it, I read the first three books almost nine years ago; but otoh I might have never gotten around to it. And I remember enjoying those a lot so I went in with high expectations, which is always a problem, and as so often happens it wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped, though I can't put my finger on why. It was good though, it was fun to read and a nice ending and I'm glad I read it.
Die Legende vom Tränenvogel, English: The Bird That Drinks Tears, by Leong Young-Doo
I read book 1 last year and now recently books 2-4, all of them in German, translated from the original Korean. I got them as Christmas presents from my parents, and they look very pretty on my bookshelf. And look at the pretty covers.
I enjoyed them a lot! Very cool fantasy world with several new-to-me creatures, a group of thrown-together heroes, and I especially loved the siblings Ryun and Samo Pey. I agree with a review I saw that said the first two books and the last two books each belong together, and I liked the first two a little more; also because of the rather abrupt ending that I think I will have to reread at some point.
The Starving Saints, by Caitlin Starling
It took me a while to get into this, and even though I enjoyed it I almost put it down multiple times, not sure why exactly. The atmosphere of first the starving castle under siege and then the growing horror and, idk, surreality worked very well. I really enjoyed the contrasts between all three main characters and the roles they played and how they came together, and overall despite the very soft ~magic and the ~madness it all resolved in a very satisfying way. Idk, I'm not sure I have concrete thoughts about it but I might read it again eventually.
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, Maggie the Undying #1, by Ilona Andrews
Isekai! Written by someone who likes isekai and knows what makes it fun. It's been a while since I found it this hard to put a book down, I stayed up until 3am to finish. The foreshadowing and hints were especially well done, where I felt smart whenever I figured something out or guessed it but it never seemed too predictable, and at the same time I never felt dumb for not figuring things out in advance. I really liked Maggie trying to use her knowledge in the best possible way and navigating around all of these people who could kill her without blinking (and that she is very aware that Undying very much does not mean invulnerable.) I also like the people she assembles around her and the rise in status and resources, and how she handled all the people interested in her.
I had not realized that this is not a stand-alone, and it does a good job both finding a good stopping point and setting up the next one.
The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo
I read this on two flights, and I think taking a week-long break right before the start of the torneo maybe even helped? It took me a while to get interested; at times it felt like the book didn't know where it wanted its tone to be between tragedy and a power-up&romance story (it got a bit better at "both" later on.) The quick development of the romance bothered me less than it usually does for some reason. I liked Luzia, and also Teoda, but most other characters stayed somewhat flat. Overall I enjoyed it.
To Clutch a Razor, Curse Bearer #2, by Veronica Roth
Very nice angst and h/c, a good continuation of the first one, this time with more sibling conflict which is nice.
The Poet Empress, by Shen Tao
I read this in one evening and had a great time. I enjoyed the world, I liked that Wei had a very good reason to try and truly understand the prince and how she went about it and I liked the ending.
One day later I recall a few more rough edges in the characterization - e.g. even with all the cruelty he experienced, prince Terren's drastic turn toward violence against innocents seems exaggerated - and the worldbuilding, especially the literomancy - if literacy and actual magic are so closely linked, why does there seem to be so little everyday magic use in society? Maybe that's partially a PoV issue since Wei is a woman who's forbidden from using it but still - but I still like it a lot.
Shroud, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I have high expectations for works by Adrian Tchaikovsky, but this book didn't meet them. It starts out with a well-made capitalist dystopia - wage-worth *shudders* - but for some reason failed to hook me. I almost stopped reading around a fifth of the way in, and even afterwards it struggled to hold my interest for long periods. Not entirely sure why tbh, several of the alien ~encounters were cool. Large parts of this book were strongly reminiscent of "Children of Time" and "Children of Ruin," only not quite as good. (Though I did like Juna and Mai better than the human protagonists I recall from those two books.) It finally became more engaging toward the end, in the last 20% or so, but the ending itself was too abrupt to feel really satisfying.
Kushiel's Dart, by Jacqueline Carey
I read all 900 pages on one day, so needless to say I found it captivating. I was told this book features both BDSM and politics and couldn't quite imagine what that would look like: in hindsight, "courtesans make excellent spies" makes complete sense as a premise. And the book takes its whole premise, including the protagonist being an anguissette, very seriously and I had no problem buying into it. I really liked Phèdre's relationships with both her friends and allies and with Melisande. I'm very happy I found this in the library, it's been on my "want to read one day" list for a while. (Unfortunately they only have book 2 in German, but that too might be interesting to compare. Speaking of:
Himmelsstürmer/Dragon Wings, Death Gate Cycle #1, by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
I first read this in German over twenty years ago, and read it again in German now. It was fun to recall bits and pieces as I read them again; I enjoyed it as much as I remembered, and the rune magic is still very cool. I like how the different storylines came together and it worked very well both in itself and as a set-up for the rest of the series. (I think I only read the first two back then?, but I think I didn't like the second one nearly as much.)
I also looked up the original English names this time, I thought the translator did a good job but of course some different meanings/connotations are always inevitable (e.g. Hugh Mordhand = Hugh the Hand, Gram = Bane.)
Platform Decay, Murderbot #8, by Martha Wells
A classic Murderbot adventure novella: a rescue mission in an unfamiliar environment with some humans to protect and some annoying emotions. A fun quick read.
no subject
Date: 2026-09-11 03:05 am (UTC)This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me was indeed fun! despite my total lack of isekai knowledge
no subject
Date: 2026-09-12 06:18 pm (UTC)Kushiel's Dart is definitely not for everyone! So if I'd recommend picking it up again depends on why you bounced off.
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Date: 2026-09-11 05:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-09-12 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-09-11 06:34 pm (UTC)It was definitely A LOT at the end.
no subject
Date: 2026-09-12 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-09-12 03:39 am (UTC)Multiple people mentioning Kushiel's Dart recently. Perhaps I'll add it to my list.
no subject
Date: 2026-09-12 06:29 pm (UTC)Kushiel's Dart is definitely not for everyone, but especially if you like politics&spy plots you might enjoy it :)