jesse

#29 · The Dragon and the George · 279 p. (reread)

A save-the-girl isekai with the gimmick of a protagonist stuck as a dragon. An enjoyable (meandering) ride, but don't think too much about whether medieval England + magical creatures makes sense. It's not quite as good the second time.

⭐⭐⭐½

I don't even know what to do at these things after work hours. :(

It's a paleo fantasy I can tolerate because it doesn't deal with humans, but aside from the cat novelty there's not much going on here. Seemingly major events happen off screen and there isn't enough detail on Ratha's world to understand the geography or stakes. But I admire the weird concept.

⭐⭐½

#28 · Ratha's Creature · 259 p.

Prehistoric cats discover fire. Ratha, who seems to lack any sense of self-preservation, spends much of the book making dumb choices that result in hunger, exile, and general misery. It's a Greek tragedy, really. She's not like other girls. There's also a sex scene.

These two books contain shorter mysteries and I lucked out finding them almost simultaneously. They're all excellent - dry, British, carefully constructed, subtle in their worldbuilding. The solutions are always logical; magic is a forensic tool, but never a cheat. I need more of this genre!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#26 · Murder and Magic · 266 p.
#27 · Lord Darcy Investigates · 229 p.

An alternate 1900s where a British-French empire rules most of the world and sorcery has become a science. Lord Darcy is the King's personal investigator, tasked with cases of murder and intrigue among the aristocracy.

I don't abandon things lightly but there's no reason to keep wasting my time on this piece of shit. The world is so poorly drawn that it doesn't matter if the quest succeeds or not. Nobody wants to be here; nobody is having fun. A soulless imitation of a book. Even the cover art sucks.

zero stars

DNF · The Sword of Shannara · 256/726 p.

Some cardboard cutouts with stock fantasy names crawl across an empty map to recover the magical sword from the bad guy. Our two (human) protagonists are incongruously named Shea and Flick. They might as well be Hobbits. The ripoffs aren't exactly subtle.

#25 · Animal Farm · 95 p.

1984 for kids. (Not really, but there are striking parallels.) Orwell definitely isn't subtle in portraying the slow rot of ideals when revolutionaries become dictators. Some knowledge of Soviet history is useful; the references are pretty obvious. Classic dystopia.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#24 · Jinian Footseer · 284 p.

Jinian shows up in Wizards Eleven and this is her backstory up to that point in the series. No shapeshifting (boo). The wizard magic feels oddly out of place. It's fine; well written but rather aimless, and breaks my rule about characters wanting to be there.

⭐⭐⭐

It even retroactively improves Malarkoi by explaining many of its non sequiturs, though I have lingering questions about Nathaniel. I'd call it a masterpiece if it wasn't so committed to its tiresome, high-minded musing. The character moments are wonderful, so why aren't there more of them?

⭐⭐⭐⭐

#23 · Waterblack · 631 p.

In which the Weftling Tontine and the Eighth Atheistic Crusade screw up reality so badly that God's boss might have to step in. It's a fever dream of fantasy and philosophy that somehow makes sense with Pheby's articulate narration. The dogs are back but are less annoying.

#22 · The King in Yellow · 154 p.

Four more-or-less-okay stories of mild horror connected only by their references to a sinister play ("The King in Yellow"). As a concept it's pretty neat; clearly an inspiration of Lovecraft's mythos. Not much to say beyond it filling a literary blank for me.

⭐⭐⭐

#21 · One for the Morning Glory · 319 p.

A self-aware fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride. Various quests and existential threats to the kingdom. It's clever and unpredictable, dark but hopeful. Absolutely wonderful cover art. A real hidden gem; possibly my book of the year.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I reached an inflection point when Schlanger cited an obscure nonscientific essay to support her idea that wasps 'enjoy' their encounters with orchids. The book is full of anthromorphizing statements that cheapen the uniqueness of plants, etc. Journalism out of its depth; interesting if true.

⭐⭐⭐

#20 · The Light Eaters · 259 p.

A tour of recent discoveries involving plant sensory systems, chemical signalling, and unusual behaviors. There's cool science here if you can work your way around Schlanger's credulous personal interpretation of what it all means. It's a hard book to recommend.

#19 · Entangled Life · 282 p.

In which Sheldrake makes a convincing case that fungi are incredible (I knew this, but now I know more). Impeccable writing. It meanders, of course; there's a bit of memoir and a bit of musing. Ninety pages of notes and citations! Wonderful in the wonder sense.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

No one on here but jesus christ guys, some of you are exhausting to look at on my feed.

The prose has that "first novel" feel of someone writing beyond their experience and falling back on vagueness, which I tend to dislike. A few deaths are laughably foreshadowed. All of Switzerland seems lovely though. Look, it's a classic. Doesn't it really matter how many stars I give it?

⭐⭐⭐

#18 · Frankenstein · 231 p.

The world's first incel gets burned by a parasocial relationship and vows revenge against his creator (who is also kind of a dick—they're perfect for each other). Sad boy Victor expresses his horror and misery ad nauseum. At least Henry has a good time, until he doesn't.

Just trying to run a small business in a world ruled by goddamn fucking lunatics

The 'story' is about author/reader wish-fulfilment, free of compromise. At best it's competently structured. Klune solves bigotry and systemic abuse with a few limp speeches about open-mindedness and a few lawful-good NPCs in positions of power. We did it, guys. DoN't yOu WiSh YoU WeRe HeRe.

⭐

Oh and one of the kids is the Antichrist, characterized here in the same way that anime likes to portray Satan as a pretty fun dude if you just get to know him—a kind of incurious flippancy that feels vaguely insulting. The book is aggressively shallow. 'Cozycore' would be generous. It's brainless.

Where do I start with this trash? Klune stretches the definition of 'child' to include a 250-year-old gnome and a wyvern with roughly dog-level intelligence. They study Kant and Chaucer by day and take turns speaking platitudes directly to the camera. None of them sound remotely like children.

#17 · The House in the Cerulean Sea · 396 p.

An emotionally repressed case worker is sent to evaluate six magical children and their mysterious caretaker at a remote orphanage. Don't get too invested in the British-Dickensian tone of the first thirty pages. Obviously we're in for a love story.

It's an odd mix, not nearly as dark as the Bluth adaptation but not pastoral-charming in the way you expect from a setting with talking mice. NIMH has that "book two" feel of a shocking reveal, but without a prior low-stakes story to establish the world. It's fine? I was hoping for more.

⭐⭐⭐½

#16 · Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH · 233 p.

In which some intellectually-enhanced rats escape a lab to start their own society. Mrs. Frisby has her own problems but seems almost secondary to the NIMH backstory. Various errands to ask other characters for help. The rats do most of the work.

There's something to be said here about, say, a dependence on fossil fuels or the introduction of invasive species. It's all harmless fun until very suddenly it isn't. It would've been nice to have more information about newt civilization, but the length feels right for a cautionary tale.

⭐⭐⭐⭐½

#15 · War with the Newts · 241 p.

Humanoid newts progress from scientific curiosities to useful workers to masters of the planet. Satirical; in the fashion of Wells it takes the concept to its logical (apocalyptic) conclusion. It's charming and wild in that uncomfortable prewar 1930s sort of way.

Most dystopian novels dress things up a little with hypocrisy and decadence, but Orwell takes a brutalist approach that's so brazenly direct at times as to border on satire. Newspeak is a chilling, if flawed, interpretation of Sapir-Whorf. Not recommended for bedtime reading. Fuck this book.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐