Books read in October 2019 (Reply)

I decided to have a month of re-reads, which I mostly stuck to except for also reading the recently-released sequel of one of my re-reads.

An Accident of Stars and A Tyranny of Queens, Foz Meadows (re-reads). Realistic portal fantasy. These can be a bit heavy-handed in their right-on-ness and Lessons In How To Not Make Neurodivergent People Feel Uncomfortable, but there's a good story and some good writing and some complex characters and I'll likely re-read them again.
The Steerswoman, The Outskirter’s Secret, The Lost Steersman, and The Language of Power, Rosemary Kirstein (re-reads). These are so good! They’re very cleverly written, but in a way that makes me feel the author is doing her absolute best to give me a puzzle I’ll enjoy, rather than showing off how clever she is. Knowing the overall answer to the puzzle doesn’t spoil enjoyment of the gradual reveal, and indeed there’s no one point where you “should” get it — different people will get it at different points, and it honestly doesn’t matter when you figure it out. There will eventually be more in this series, and I’m really looking forward to them.
Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell (re-read). A very sweet story about a fanfic author in college, with plenty of friend/family relationships as well as romantic ones.

Carry On (re-read) and Wayward Son (sequel), Rainbow Rowell. I enjoyed Carry On the first time I read it, but found it less interesting to read while knowing what happens. It’s also very obvious that it was written by an American despite being set in the UK. I do like the multiple viewpoints though. I feel as if I should have liked Wayward Son, but somehow I never found it particularly absorbing. There’s nothing actually wrong with it; maybe it just suffered from association with my disappointing experience with Carry On.

Kake