The Craft Sequence is a series of six loosely related and very entertaining #fantasy novels. Even if the beginning can be awkward on some aspects, it goes from strength to strength and also benefits from a great rep of female characters, characters of colour and QUILTBAG characters. http://www.themiddleshelf.org/reviews/max-gladstone-the-craft-sequence
The Middle Shelf
@themiddleshelf
- 64 Followers
- 27 Following
- 118 Posts
The Middle Shelf is a scifi & fantasy books reviews blog. You can find it at http://www.themiddleshelf.org Toots by C.
Who killed the clones? You'll know it if you read Mur Lafferty's closed door mystery set on a space ship: http://www.themiddleshelf.org/reviews/mur-lafferty-six-wakes
Currently reading: An Unkindness of Ghosts by Solomon. In a sense, it's excellent: scifi, generation ship used as a metaphor for slavery and racism, with very good QUILTBAG representation. But at the same time, it is very frustrating because as I read I see a thousand little details that are snags that shouldn't be here. As I said, very frustrating: it feels like a badly polished diamond.
Just read or currently reading:
- Three Parts Dead, Two Serpents Rise, Full Fathom Five by Gladstone. Good, solid & entertaining #fantasy in a very original world. Plus point: books can be read independently. Will review in a couple of weeks.
- Pseudotooth by Holloway. Weird, Gothic, sometimes slightly nauseating because of the awful characters but very engrossing despite a disappointing last line. Will review in October.
Now starting An Unkindness of Ghosts by Solomon & I have high hopes.
Review of Leila, a dystopian novel written by Prayaag Akbar. Set in India, it tells of a mother trying to find her daughter in a city where the walls between communities aren't metaphorical. Highly recommended.
http://www.themiddleshelf.org/reviews/prayaag-akbar-leila
Might be difficult to find: please check with your favourite indie bookstore, I'm sure they could order it or you can get it from Amazon via a seller in India.
http://www.themiddleshelf.org/reviews/prayaag-akbar-leila
Might be difficult to find: please check with your favourite indie bookstore, I'm sure they could order it or you can get it from Amazon via a seller in India.
Currently reading:
- The Vagrant by Newman was just a constant stream of "nope, nope, nope" and I gave it up. As I said the word "half-breed" felt like an aggression to me (used a lot in the first chapters) & it felt like Iron Dream by Spinrad without being a parody.
- Satan's Reach by Brown. The character showed the survival skills of a dodo before an improbable escape from a formidable foe within the first 3 chapters. Nope.
- Three Parts Dead by Gladstone. Definitely enjoying that so far!
- The Vagrant by Newman was just a constant stream of "nope, nope, nope" and I gave it up. As I said the word "half-breed" felt like an aggression to me (used a lot in the first chapters) & it felt like Iron Dream by Spinrad without being a parody.
- Satan's Reach by Brown. The character showed the survival skills of a dodo before an improbable escape from a formidable foe within the first 3 chapters. Nope.
- Three Parts Dead by Gladstone. Definitely enjoying that so far!
Currently reading:
- The Vagrant by Peter Newman. Nope, nope, nope. I'm at page 41 and it seems to be so far a mix between The New Sun by Gene Wolfe (which I hate) and Iron Dream by Spinrad (though it's definitely not a parody). The word "half-breed" on the first page definitely raised my hackles & it kept on this way. I'll give another 20 pages or so before giving it up. It's very weird considering he's the spouse of E. Newman & she's definitely not into that cr¨*p.
- The Vagrant by Peter Newman. Nope, nope, nope. I'm at page 41 and it seems to be so far a mix between The New Sun by Gene Wolfe (which I hate) and Iron Dream by Spinrad (though it's definitely not a parody). The word "half-breed" on the first page definitely raised my hackles & it kept on this way. I'll give another 20 pages or so before giving it up. It's very weird considering he's the spouse of E. Newman & she's definitely not into that cr¨*p.
The Rift by Nina Allan: is it an alien abduction story or just a disappearance story? The story of a con and a delusion or the story of an alternate world? What it certainly is, is a story about sibling relationships.
http://www.themiddleshelf.org/reviews/nina-allan-the-rift
#review #scifi
http://www.themiddleshelf.org/reviews/nina-allan-the-rift
#review #scifi
My updated #review of The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin, now that I've finished The Stone Sky, the last volume of it. Entirely spoiler free: http://www.themiddleshelf.org/reviews/n-k-jemisin-the-fifth-season
Currently reading and recently read:
- The Stone Sky by Jemisin. A little less good than the previous two but still head & shoulders above a lot of what I've read recently.
- Leila by Akbar. Excellent, will review it by early September.
- Six Wakes by Lafferty. Very enjoyable murder mystery in space. Will review it in September too.
On my TBR next:
- The Vagrant by Newman. Heard excellent things about it.
- Tomoe Gozen by Salmonson. Yeah, I'm just 2 decades late for this one, but still!