What a great two reading months! I hit a bit of a slump towards the end of October (due to a certain book that shall not be named – though you can probably figure out which one from the ratings), but am still ridiculously satisfied with how many books I managed to read, and how great they all were (on average)! 😁 I decided to combine the two months for my wrap-up simply because I had already reviewed everything I read in September, and so didn’t have anything more to say about them; in contrast, I have new things to say about pretty much everything I read in October… so here it is:
BOOKS I ALREADY REVIEWED |
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OTHER BOOKS I READ |
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Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. The first book in the Song of the Lioness series, in which Alanna, unwilling to accept a future where all she can expect is to find a rich husband and raise his children, disguises herself as her twin brother Thom in order to begin training to become a knight. This book was a re-read (and not even for the first time), and so was pretty much exactly what I expected, and exactly as good as I remember it being – though I’ll admit that one of those stars is probably primarily a nostalgia star. A great story, which introduces (what will eventually become) some great characters, but incredibly rushed-feeling. |
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In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce. The second book in the Song of the Lioness series, which follows Alanna as she becomes a squire and begins to prepare for her Ordeal of Knighthood. This entry in the series also felt quite rushed (though not to the same extent as Alanna: The First Adventure), but improved on its predecessor with a more elaborate plot, and some great character development. |
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The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce. The third Song of the Lioness book, in which Alanna, now Tortall’s first lady knight in centuries, spends some time among the Bazhir tribes and accidentally becomes shaman to one of them. This is probably my favourite entry in this series, and has the least pacing problems; it also tells a much more character-driven story than any of the other books, focusing on developing the Bazhir as a people, and on Alanna’s personal growth, which I loved (predictably). |
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Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce. The fourth and final Song of the Lioness book, in which an old enemy rears his ugly head again, and Alanna goes on a quest for the legendary Dominion Jewel. This made for a pretty great finale, though once again, its pacing was not the greatest. Highlights of the book included: The journey through war-torn Sarain and the addition of Thayet and Buri to the cast; the alternate-perspective chapters that let us know what was going on back in Tortall; Thom finally becoming a major player; and the whole of the climax at the end of the book. Lowlights were: Liam being judgemental; Alanna being self-conscious about her love life (moreso than before); and I wish that the motivations of some of the minor villains in the series had been expanded upon. |
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Gentleman Jole & the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold. The final (hopefully not forever, though! 🤞) installment in the Vorkosigan Saga, where we get ourselves a new protagonist in the form of Oliver Jole (who may have been in previous books in the series, but if so I didn’t remember him), whose life has been intertwined with Cordelia and Aral’s for some time. I had a harder time getting into this book than some of the previous ones, probably because of the new protagonist, but I grew to like Jole a lot as the story went on, and I also loved seeing how Cordelia was dealing with her upcoming retirement, as well as with the ongoing (and often alarming) Sergyar colonisation efforts. |
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The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley. Recalled to duty despite his leg injury, Merrick Tremayne, former East India Company smuggler, is sent off to the heavily-guarded mountains of Peru to retrieve cuttings of cinchona trees to make quinine. But once there, he finds himself holed up in a tiny colony surrounded by salt lines its people are forbidden to cross, with a priest who’s determined to keep him out of the forest – and who seems to have some connection to Merrick’s long-dead grandfather. If this was a three-star book, then it was definitely a high three-stars. Pulley’s writing was beautiful, Merrick was a really compelling main character, and I found his struggles over how to smuggle the quinine trees out of Peru and his history with the East India Company very interesting. I could have done without the magical realism aspects of the story, which I was less interested in, and which I didn’t feel added much to the story, but they didn’t take away from it either… The real highlight of the book, however, was the relationship between Merrick and Raphael, Bedlam’s young priest, which was quiet and intense and really beautiful, and may be one of my favourite fictional relationships of the year; I’ve seen a few people tag this book as LGTB, and I can see why, though there’s nothing explicitly romantic about their feelings. But romantic or platonic, I still loved it. Very slow-paced, and almost entirely character-driven, I wasn’t blown away by this book while I was reading it, but it’s definitely stuck with me, and every time I think about it I find myself appreciating it more. So don’t be surprised if this rating goes up at some point. 😊 |
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The Doll that Took a Detour by Honobu Yonezawa. [SHORT STORY COLLECTION; Translated by Ex.wife] A collection of stories from the Kotenbu universe, in which Houtarou is coerced into solving a number of small mysteries, and learns a little more about himself along the way. These were all very memorable stories, and I enjoyed them a lot despite already knowing most of the story beats (from the anime adaptation, Hyouka, which I watched a long time ago). My favourites were probably The Case of the Handmade Chocolate, Sappy New Year, and of course the titular story, The Doll That Took a Detour, but To Commit a Deadly Sin also contains one of my favourite moments from the whole series, ever… so all in all, I’d say this is a pretty strong collection. |
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A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. A classic novel of pettiness and unnecessary suffering, which I hated. I’ll be posting a review of this at the weekend, though, so that’s all I’m going to say here. |
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The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. The third and final book in the Folk of the Air trilogy, which began with The Cruel Prince, wherein Jude returns to Faerie as a favour to her sister, and is forced to confront her foster father’s rebellion against the crown, as well as her own feelings for the High King. I went into this book with pretty low expectations, as I’d heard less-than-stellar things about how the series wrapped up, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised! Granted, a lot of the plot developments seemed a little too convenient, and the resolution to the dramatic cliff-hanger ending of The Wicked King was rather underwhelming (and felt a little retcon-y, to be honest), but it was still such a fun book to read! Jude and Cardan’s relationship was also a lot less fraught, which made the story less tense, but pleased my shipper’s heart. 😅 So while I definitely think that this was the least good of the three books, I still enjoyed it almost as much as the other two… |