Book #251 of 2017: Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix (The Keys to the Kingdom #3) This third volume in Garth Nix’s seven-part Keys to the Kingdom series is the least formulaic so far, which is a welcome change from the one before. I’m still not super invested in the story or these characters – still …
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Book #250 of 2017: Searching for Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #2) Even more so than the book before it, this second novel in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles is cute and fun and absolutely hilarious. Author Patricia C. Wrede’s wry comic tone has been honed to perfection here, and I especially like …
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Book 246 of 2017: Shardik by Richard Adams (Beklan Empire #1) I loved this 1974 story of a Stone Age civilization treating a giant bear as the incarnation of their god, a sprawling feat of worldbuilding that feels wholly different from the author’s better-known classic Watership Down. It’s slow but engaging, and I appreciate the …
Book #243 of 2017: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman (The Book of Dust #1) A fairly underwhelming prequel to Philip Pullman’s classic His Dark Materials trilogy, La Belle Sauvage consists mainly of characters trading custody of the baby Lyra Belacqua like a tiny squalling MacGuffin. There’s too much focus on setting up the events …
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Book #242 of 2017: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (Grisha #2) Two books in, I’m still pretty lukewarm on this trilogy. It’s good enough to keep reading, especially for the extra background on author Leigh Bardugo’s superior semi-sequel series Six of Crows, but far too much time is spent on the main character’s love …
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Book #241 of 2017: Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2) The first novel in this trilogy grew on me as it went along, its early Twilight trappings of a high school girl falling in love with a beautiful inhuman stranger giving way to something rich and dark …
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Book #236 of 2017: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Seraphina #1) This novel depicts a fascinating world in which dragons and humans were once enemies but now live under an uneasy peace, with the dragons who take on human form (for diplomacy, study, or trade) forced to publicly identify themselves and live in ghettos within human …
Book #235 of 2017: Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children #2) This is a dark little fairy tale about twin sisters who fall into a world of vampires and mad scientists and must make choices about who they want to be as they grow up. It’s technically a prequel to …
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Book #234 of 2017: The Book of Swords edited by Gardner Dozois This is a collection of short stories in the “sword and sorcery” genre, which as far as I can tell is fantasy on the smaller scale, with no evil overlords threatening the world. (I’d say the stakes are lower than epic fantasy, but …
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Book #233 of 2017: The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin (The Broken Earth #2) As this series goes along, it’s starting to feel like author N. K. Jemisin is more interested in showing off her admittedly awesome and intricate worldbuilding than in telling a story with compelling emotional stakes for her characters. It’s still …
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