melita's booklog - mostly

Comments on Becky Chambers's To Be Taught if Fortunate have been a little mixed. I liked it very much but, OH, the ending. I wonder if anyone on AO3 has written some alternative endings/continuations. Space exploration has become citizen-funded, with small teams sent out to explore various planets. The trips are one way in that they won't be able to return to their own families and friends although they can return to earth when their mission is over. I thought it dealt well with how nuts things can get in an enclosed environment. 

I've started Claire O'Dell's The Jewel-Bright Sea but stalled about 1/3 through. I will try to get back to it. It's more straightforward fantasy (with magic) than her near-future Janet Watson chronicles. The fact that I had to really work to recall the plot a few weeks after stalling, and I still can't remember any character names is...not really a good sign.

I did two week-long trips in October so I felt like some rereading was in order. I settled on the Murderbot Diaries. It's so long until the novel is released!!

While checking around for books, I found that Carrie Vaughn had released a novelette/novella (maybe) featuring Cormac and Amelia, Dark Divide, with another coming out this week (Badlands Witch). Cormac is rebuilding his life now that he's off parole and still carrying around the witch Amelia in his head. While he used to be a monster hunter, he's now using Amelia's skills to clear out hauntings, etc. They've been called to the Donner Pass to investigate the death of a NPS researcher of starvation. Recommended for Cormac and Amelia fans.

A while ago, I read a ton of Regency Romance books (set in the early 1800s). I generally stuck to the G/PG-rated ones AKA maybe a few kisses or slightly risque language or situations. Anyway, a few authors became favorites and I've kept copies. Because these books were often seen as disposable, reprints were unlikely. I now read almost solely on my phone, so I always check for ebook versions. There was very little online about this author so I didn't have much hope. Last week I did another search and found that one of her books had been released as an ebook! Amelia's Intrigue by Judith A. Lansdowne sets up Amelia Mapleton, a 22-year-old on her come-out season meeting Tony Talbot, the heir to the earl of Rutlidge. The Earl hasn't been seen for over 15 years while Tony appears to handle the estate and his affairs. We soon learn that the earl had rescued Tony from a carriage mishap when they were boys, but the earl ended up with brain damage. Amelia is sure Tony is keeping his brother out of the limelight against his will, Tony has other secrets he's been keeping as does Amelia's father, etc. The earl himself, Geordan/Geordie is delightful and even he has secrets. We also get to meet multiple family members and servants, learn about the deframers, and pretty much everyone gets a happy ending. Lovely and fun! I'm so pleased that it looks like her books may come back into print. Unfortunately, I also found out that Lansdowne had died about a month ago. 

First off is Melissa McShane's Burning Bright, set at approximate Napoleonic level of technology and culture. Elinor can control fire. Rather than be stuck in a marriage where her spouse only cares about her breeding potential, Elinor volunteers to join the Royal Navy. Assigned to the Athena, she find camaraderie with other Extraordinary Talents assigned to the ship, including the Captain. Faced with political maneuvering, the wonderful feelings she has when manipulating fire, the horror at killing, there's a good bit going on in this story. The descriptions of Extraordinary talents are well done, and I became quite involved in the story by the end. I'll continue to hunt out new work by McShane.

I then read a book and some short stories by Laurie R. King in her Russell/Holmes series. A Letter of Mary is early in the series and involves a gift from a archaeologist working in Palestine. After delivering the gift, she is killed in London leaving Russell and Holmes to first figure out whether it was an accident or not, and when it's proved to be deliberate, whodunit? Not my favorite of the series but still entertaining. A collection, Mary Russell's War was also published this fall. I'd read a few of the stories but some were new for the book. I'd say for completists only.

Finally, finally, Becky Chambers new book, A Closed and Common Orbit, was released. It starts off directly after A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet where the AI that used to be Lovey (Lovelace) has now been installed in a body kit. Unable to stay on board her ship, she decides to go with Pepper, an engineer. Part of the book details Pepper's back story (as a young girl named Jane), switching between the past and the present story of Sidra. Sidra is having problems adjusting to life outside of a ship as her software/impulses are very unsuited for living in a crowded, lively city. Jane's story is more fraught as she was born to be a junk sorter, looking for recyclables and scrap metal. Once a certain age, the older cohorts disappear. Through a chain of circumstances, Jane ends up outside the factory and takes up residence within a shuttle that still has a working AI aboard. I really loved this book. Maybe a smidgeon less than the prior book, but only a smidgeon. Some people say not much happens in these books. Yeah, they're not slam-bang, go-go-go, but instead focus on the smaller stories, in some ways, the every day stories of life. More, more, more!

Next up was Unquiet Land by Sharon Shinn. It's a direct sequel (but following a secondary character) to Jeweled Fire. Leah has returned to Chialto to try to connect with her daughter that she abandoned years before. Darien, the spymaster and soon-to-be king, decides to make use of her talents. Leah left a man behind, and slowly discovers that she wants to see him again. He has some terrible secrets (of course). I enjoyed it a lot, as I've liked all the Elementary Blessings books.

Then I read two shorter works while deciding what to read next. Lois McMaster Bujold released another novella about Penric and his demon Desdemona, Penric's Mission. Becoming unhappy under a new bishop, the local duke (count?) sends him on a mission to try to entice a disgraced general from a neighboring land. Wheels within wheels, Penric is uncovered upon arrival and has to save himself and the general (and his pretty sister). I liked it much better than the previous novella, Penric's Shaman. Something about the Weald (also in The Hallowed Hunt) just doesn't appeal to me. I don't mind the Hallowed Hunt, but I have a hard time remembering anything about it, and it's not one of the books that I reread very often. Anyway, Penric et al. are in good form and it's a lot of fun.

Lastly, I read a short work by Stephanie Burgis, "The Art of Deception". Set in a fantasy world, a down-and-out swordsman is tricked into accompanying his landlady back to her home. She's a possible successor to the position of head librarian at the White Library, a repository of all knowledge, including magic. Deceptions abound with some nice twists along the way.