Books read in December 2019

[nou]

Definitely recommend

• The Raven Tower, Ann Leckie (re-read). Yes. I still like this. I will probably re-read it again.
• The Palace Of Illusions, Chitra Divakaruni (re-read). I liked this the first time I read it — a woman-focused retelling of the Mahabharata — and I liked it even more this time, possibly because remembering some of the names and plot from last time made it easier to follow. And it manages to have a climactic battle scene that I didn’t find tedious! (See below.)

Maybe recommend

• The Once And Future King, T H White. This is a strange book which feels very much of its time, i.e. the 1950s. It has hardly any women in, and one of the minor characters is super-racist. Approximately 0.1% of it is hilarious (the dispensary for sick armour! Uncle Dap's fury over the “horrible furrows” of over-ornate armour design!), and every so often there's an interlude of interesting technical stuff about jousting or diving or something like that. But also there are huge long boring rambly sidetracks, and everyone in the story is terrible except King Pellinore, Elaine, and possibly Sir Ector and Gawaine. (King Pellinore is adorable, and I wish to imagine that part of the reason he loves that feather bed so much is that Sir Grummore sneaks into it every night.)
• Master Of The Five Magics, Lyndon Hardy (re-read). It's not impeccably well written, and I'm sure I remember it being more hard-fantasy than this, and there's a tedious battle scene at the end (I find almost all battle scenes tedious, though see above). But I do like the new afterword.
• The Summer We Got Free, Mia McKenzie (DNF). Judging by the Kindle sample it seems to be about a dark family tragedy, and that’s not something I’m keen on. It seemed well-written and interesting aside from that, though.
• The Lark, E Nesbit. I find the ignorance of class privilege in books like this is a little wearisome, and reading about people who're anxious about being caught in a lie makes me anxious too. But the latter part didn’t go on too long, and overall I didn’t regret reading it.

Wouldn’t recommend

• Dignity, Chris Arnade. This just felt a bit pointless and repetitive.
• The Ten Thousand Doors Of January, Alix E Harrow (DNF). I didn't even get to the end of the Kindle sample on this one. From what I did read, it seemed like it was going to be extremely clumsy about race and colonialism, and also that it was going to be one of those stories where only one woman gets to be both alive and a fully realised character.

Written by friends

• Favours Exchanged, L A Hall.
• Mistress In Her Household, L A Hall.

Comments

[ludy]

I loved The Once and Future King as a teen - I’m not sure what I’d make of it now
(Maybe I should find out when I’ve got through my current reading list)

[nou]

I’d be interested to hear what you think of it as an adult!

[fred_mouse]

I remember enjoying Master of the Five Magics, and I have a copy of the sequel, but don't remember reading it at all.

[nou]

I know I’ve read the sequel, and I think possibly another one with “Seven” in the title. I might give the “Six” another go some time.

[fred_mouse]

Oh, my. Investigating library thing tells me that yes, there is a third/seven one - Riddle of the Seven Realms (https://www.librarything.com/work/95851), and a fourth - the Archimages Fourth Daughter (https://www.librarything.com/work/20576706). I'm suspecting self-pubbed for the last one, so chances of getting it small, but I'm off to Better World books to look for the other one...

thank you!

[nou]

Good luck tracking it down!

[fred_mouse]

Found them both at Better World Books, but only book 3 was a sensible price. I've decided not to get it right now, but put them both on my wishlist, because the small format paperback was out of print.

[selki]

I put Palace of Illusions on my wish list, thanks.

[nou]

Excellent!