melita's booklog - mostly

So I did read Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse first. It took a bit because I wasn't sure if I was up to the high level of violence. When I started, I fell right in. Maggie gets called in to help investigate a cult leader, 'White Locust." That goes bad...of course, and she ends up mentor to a girl who clan powers (speed, tracking). There's a kidnapping as well. The setting is still great. We get to see a bit of what it looks like outside the wall / off the rez--it's not good. Where's the next book??

Diane Duane has released the second novella in the Tale of the Five, The Landlady, during her run-up to finishing/releasing The Door into Starlight. This one focuses on Segnbora and her new duties as head of her family. Meanwhile there's several kids and at least two locations for the large, polyamorous household. 

I then read another novella (I think) by Lindsey Davis called Vesuvius by Night. I'm actually sorry that I read this. I didn't feel it was up to her usual standard, and, as you might imagine, it's not a happy ending. The main character is related to Falco.

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner was next. In this book, Sophos, the heir to Sounis, is kidnapped during a civil war. He has to decide whether to stay where he ends up, somewhat happy, or try to take the kingdom from the rebels.

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller put out a second novella/novelette, "Shout of Honor". It's a side story with characters whose story they thought could be told in the novels, but there just wasn't quite room. It involves an Xtrang ambassador and a mercenary captain. Quite good!

I'm currently reading Thick as Thieves.

 A very good few weeks with 3 new books plus a new novelette/novella (?), and two rereads. Later this week: Worldcon! So I'm likely to get nothing read for a week or so.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS






Becky Chambers, Record of a Spaceborn Few

A fleet of ships (Exodus Fleet) sets off from a destroyed earth. They set up a cooperative (dare I say socialist) society as they realize that anything else will lead to destruction probably. People do end up in professions, but also have to make time for sewer and gardening work--whatever needs done. They end up being given a planetary system where the fleet sets up on a perpetual orbit. At the beginning of the book, one ship is destroyed and that loss is still reverberating several years later. 

The book focuses on several people. Sawyer arrives as an immigrant from an alien-held world where he can't seem to get ahead. Tessa's happy in her work, but it's threatened by changes and her daughter who saw the ship destruction is very unhappy. Kip, who's been trying and failing several apprenticeships, can't figure out where he belongs in the Fleet. Eyas aids in burials while Isobel is an archivist. These characters' stories cross and intersect over the course of the book. It's another lovely small-scale novel focused on people's lives rather than collecting plot tokens. 

Elizabeth Peters, The Serpent on the Crown

Another Peabody / Emerson book, set late in the chronology. Nefret and Ramses have young twins who have come out to Egypt with the clan. David Todros joins them after a few weeks, as does Sethos. Meh. Not one of the better books of the series. I had to make self finish it...

partially because halfway through, I got a strong craving to read Justice Hall by Laurie R. King. It's my favorite of the Russell / Holmes series. Ali, a character from O Jerusalem, appears on their doorstep, asking for help. The help entails traveling to Justice Hall, the seat of the Duke of Beauville. The Duke is now Marsh (Mahmoud), Ali's cousin. The mystery involves where all the heirs have gone--including one killed during WWI--and an attack on Ali as he was headed to the house of Russell and Holmes.

Diane Duane is now releasing some novelettes/novella while writing Door into Starlight (YAY! YAY!! YAY!!!). The first, The Levin-Gad, focuses on Herewiss. 

Claire O'Dell, A Study in Honor

A Holes / Watson pastiche, but set in an alternative United States, approximately curernt day, or near future. Lincoln freed the slaves, and the army is integrated, but there's a new Civil War on in the midwest. Janet Watson had her arm amputated but has a defective cybernetic arm that won't allow her to continue as a surgeon. She ends up in Washington, D.C trying to get a new one, and somehow support herself. She ends up meeting and sharing lodging with Sara Holmes, a woman with a lot of secrets and high-tech devices. I can't wait for the next one!

Rebecca Roanhorse, Trail of Lightning

Like the O'Dell, another book getting a lot of buzz this year. Set in the Navajo Nation in the southwestern US after a cataclysm, The rez is now surrounded by a huge magically-constructed wall. Maggie Hoskie is a monsterslayer. Her clan powers were awakened when her grandmother was killed. The demi-god/god Neizghání finds and trains her. Maggie is still dealing with PTSD plus abandonment when a new set of monsters appears. She needs to find and slay the witch who's creating the monsters.