Review: From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back (edited by Elizabeth Schaefer)

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ARC received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the first anthology, I knew I will be going for the others if I get the chance. I loved the idea of Star Wars seen from the POV of minor, unimportant characters, I especially hoped for more Stormtrooper (or better, imperial guard) POVs.

Unfortunately, even accounting for the fact that whatever anthology you take, not all the stories are going to be good, this one still felt lackluster in comparison.

Review: Lifelode by Jo Walton

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I have wanted to read this book since at least 2015. It seemed like exactly that sort of small-scale book I might be into. Unfortunately, it was completely impossible to get – available either from a small press that did not ship to my country, or used for insane prices – until very recently when an ebook finally became available.

Worth the wait? Absolutely.

2020 r/Fantasy Bingo Challenge: Conclusion and Thoughts

Like every year since the beginning of the challenge, I aimed for the full card in 2020 as well. It seemed easy enough, no real curveballs in terms of squares. Then  I entered the Great Big Reading Slump of 2020, stopped reading SFF for months, and whether I’d manage to complete it suddenly seemed much less certain.

But, in the end, I did it, and I was very surprised to learn that despite all my troubles, I finished earlier than last year – March 7th compared to March 12th.

Review: Triggernometry by Stark Holborn (Triggernometry #1-2)

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I’ve been looking for decent weird westerns for a while, to not much success – a lot of what little I could find either couldn’t hold my attention or didn’t have the flavour and atmosphere I was looking for, and I haven’t even made it halfway down my list before I inevitably got distracted and put my “hunt down SFF westerns” project aside. Until now, I suppose, when my mood reading led me to try this. And it’s one of the best (if not the best) I found so far, enough that I got the second novella while I was still reading the first. A rare thing.

With unique worldbuilding, fast pacing, great writing, and a fantastic concept, it’s easy to recommend. And of course, it’s a shitload of fun.

March 2021 Monthly Wrap-Up

With March, I feel like things have finally more or less returned back to the pre-2020 normal. Some health issues (hopefully managed by now) aside, I’ve been feeling better and, as a consequence, reading a lot more.

And of course, I managed to finish Bingo! Even slightly earlier than last year at that! Wrap-up post to come soon.

Finished:

• The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan: I really needed this book for Bingo, but I can’t avoid the fact that it was not right for me at the time, mostly due to the fact that I’m sick to deat of historical SFF always using England as a base. Please. Enough.
• Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis: Being as into the 18th century as I am of course I was all over this. Plus: historically accurate masked ball crossdressing! (Also: not set in England.)
• A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar: The Winged Histories is one of my all-time favourites and this was a disappointment in comparison, focused on prose to the detriment of everything else, which works in something experimental, but not a fairly clasically structured novel.
• Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley (ARC): Very chill, very strange sci-fi slice of life with a dash of horror. Despite the latter, precisely my thing.
• The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (reread): I really really needed a comfort read and besides, I got the ARC of The Witness for the Dead (!!!) so it felt especially appropriate. Either way I devoured it in about two sittings. Perfect as always.
• The Unbroken by C.L. Clark (ARC): One of my most anticipated books of the year. While I found it to be a good book, especially in how it deals with colonialism (and the coloniser is based on France for once!) and how messy the relationship between the two MCs was, I found it too intense to enjoy.

Currently reading:

• Liberty or Death by Peter McPhee: I want to learn about the French revolution and this seemed like a good place to start – true, it’s dry and dense and slow going, but very informative.
• No SFF, just in case, because the new Bingo will be out soon and I’d hate to accidentally read a perfect book for it.

Books read in 2021: 13 (+ 1 rereads)
r/Fantasy Bingo Challenge progress: 25/25 (100%) 🥳🥳🥳

Review: The Unbroken by C.L. Clark (Magic of the Lost #1)

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ARC received from the publisher (Orbit) in exchange for an honest review.

This has been, hands down, one of my most anticipated releases of the year. I’ve been looking for books with messy, complicated relationships lately, so that sounded fantastic, plus being promised critique of colonialism on top and that cover? With those arms? 😍

Unfortunately, while it’s a good book, I have to admit I found it something of a struggle, even if it was no fault of its own.

Review: Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley

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ARC received from the publisher (Solaris) in exchange for an honest review.

We burn history down, over and over, as an act of remembrance. When there are no answers, there is recollection, and repetition.

I’m always on the lookout for more SFF slice of life. Especially weird literary SFF slice of life. So when Fabienne brought this book to my attention, I knew I’d have to read it. And it turned out to be one of the most unique things I’ve found in a while – at the same time somehow a seamless blend of super chill sci-fi slice of life (slight Becky Chambers vibes anyone?) and something altogether more unsettling.

Review: A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar (Olondria #1)

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It is dangerous to build. Once you have built something – something that takes all your passion and will – it becomes more precious to you than your own happiness. You don’t realize that, while you are building it. That you are creating a martyrdom – something, which, later, will make you suffer.

And with this, I am done with the 2020 r/Fantasy Bingo!

The Winged Histories is one of my all-time favourites, so I was incredibly curious how would the first book in the series (really, the two can be read in any order) compare. I’m all for literary fantasy with lovely prose, so that I would like it to at least some extent was pretty much a given, but I still far prefer its sequel.

Review: Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis

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I knew I have to read this immediately as soon as I saw the blurb. Historical fantasy set in 1779 Habsburg empire, featuring alchemy, a castrato, a widow, and a Prussian spy? At a time where I’m explicitly interested in the 18th century? (My current focuses might be France and Prussia, but I’ll take what I can get.) Yes. Yes please.

And this time, I was not disappointed. It was so much my catnip.

Review: The Tropic Of Serpents by Marie Brennan (The Memoirs of Lady Trent #2)

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…it does little good to cry, “I only wanted to study dragons!” Science is not separate from politics. As much as I would like it to be a pure thing, existing only in some intellectual realm unsullied by human struggle, it will always be entangled with the world we live in.

Reviewing sequels is tricky business. Reviewing sequels years after you read the previous book is trickier. I read the first book before I started this blog, and I knew I liked it enough to want to continue – but, well, it has been a while. While I fortunately had no issues remembering what happened before, I was very much not in the mood for it anymore. If not for the r/Fantasy Bingo, I would not have persisted.