March Reading

 1.  The Library of the Dead, T. L. Huchu (audio) - It perhaps tells you something that I had to look this book up less than a month after reading it to jog my memory.  Eh.  I did enjoy our main character, Ropa, and I do appreciate that this was a different type of story.  BUT....I won't be reading the next book in the series.  I read a lot, but it's pretty rare for a book to make this little of an impression.  

2.  Unconquerable Sun, Kate Elliott - I love Kate Elliott, but the first time I tried reading this book I couldn't get past the first 50 pages.  Tried again because I was in the mood for a longer book, and this time it stuck.  Truthfully, I prefer Elliott's fantasy over her science fiction work, so that was a ding against it from the beginning.  As per usual with Elliott, her world-building was great.  My one big complaint, though, is that once it got going it was pretty relentless in the action, which kind of made me feel tired while reading it.  Also, her characters were pretty one-dimensional, which was a disappointment.  I've still got the second book to get through, but overall this is not my favorite Kate Elliott experience.  

3.  Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel (audio) NPR Best Books of 2023 - I have an odd relationship with Mandel.  I fully recognize her genius and her skill as a writer, but I don't necessarily enjoy her books.  (And yet I keep reading them because she's that talented...)  I will admit that the end of this book made it worthwhile...but I was pretty bored for the first half.  

4.  Victory City, Salman Rushdie (audio) NPR Best Books of 2023 - While on the one hand I appreciate the fact that Rushdie has written a truly epic book, on the other hand, I had trouble getting into it because it was written in an almost didactic style.  There was a coldness to it that I have felt in many traditional tellings of myth - a separation between audience and story that can sometimes make it difficult to truly become engrossed in the reading experience.  (At this point, my March books were really not going well...)

5.  King Nyx, Kirsten Bakis - When one of your dearest friends manages an indy bookshop, you can generally trust whatever book she hands you is going to be pretty great.  (Skylark, which is seriously the best book store ever.)  I fell in love with Gothic books in college, and that love has only grown stronger over the years.  Bakis is a wonderfully good writer, and she drew me in from the very first page.  Loved this book so, so much.  

6.  Aftermarket Afterlife, Seanan McGuire - Sigh.  Coming in with some serious criticism for this book, the most recent of McGuire's InCryptid series.  1.  This series has always been on the lighthearted side.  I've considered it her popcorn series - fun to read and ultimately not to be taken too seriously.  So imagine my surprise when she killed off two family members in this book.  It's the first time there were real consequences, and it was jarring given the one of the rest of the series.  2.  The body count was gross, and really too much for me.  3.  It feels like 75% of the book was exposition, explaining who everyone was and what they were to the series. McGuire is normally great about adding just enough to orient the reader, and it was really disappointing to see so much of the book wasted in rehashing the previous books.  Yeah, I pretty much hated it.  

7.  Dreaming of You in Freefall, novella, Seanan McGuire - As always, she provides a bonus novella adding to a portion of the story from the main novel, and there's not much I can really say given my feelings on the book as a whole.  

8.  Babel, R. F. Kuang (audio and print) NPR Best Books of 2023 - Lordy, I tried so hard to get through this monster.  It's taken me MONTHS that included multiple check-outs of the audio.  Long story short, I skimmed the last 20% of it because I just wanted it to be over.  Not sure I understand quite why there were so many accolades.  It's long....I'll give it that.  

9.  The Salt Grows Heavy, Cassandra Khaw, NPR Best Books of 2023- Finished out the month with this little novella, which was so beautifully written.  I smiled when I read the acknowledgments, which listed the amazing Ellen Datlow as the editor....that just made sense to me.   It's a fairy tale, but one that is far from the cuddly stories so many of us grew up on.  It has teeth and horrors, wrapped in writing that was achingly beautiful.  I loved it, and may need to check out more of Khaw's work.