You can ask me what happened, but the truth is I don't know. Mid-February one day, I was summoned to the manager's office during my lunch break and told my contract was being terminated, effective immediately. They said I didn't do anything wrong, so obviously I've spent every waking minute since trying to work out what I did. I have no idea.
It broke my heart a little (a lot). I know how lucky I was to get that job, particularly with so much input on the SFF/graphic novels/board games section. How often do you get to work with the things that really interest you, after all? Wish me luck getting anything that good again; I'll need it.
The shock of that flattened me for a while, so my reading for February took a bit of a hit until I could look at my books and stop thinking about how I'd bought them to review for work, or on this customer's recommendation, or to try out for what to recommend to that regular next.
Here's what I managed in the month:
Wild West Arabian Nights with a fierce, determined heroine. Good fun, interesting world. I really grew to like the main characters a lot as this went on, and I was actually surprised by one of the twists, which is always nice. The setting feels bigger than just the characters we meet, with a more dangerous plot going on in the background, so I'm looking forward to book two a lot.
On point as always, with bonus heartbreak now. This one's very short, being a speech Pratchett gave (via proxy) but it's eloquent and forceful, and very, justly, angry.
Good fun, and manages its pace surprisingly well - I was surprised when I looked back at it and considered how few scenes/locations there were for the page count - but repeated use of "orbs" and "ebon" got on my nerves a lot. Reads
like a D&D campaign, which isn't a bad thing as long as that's what
you're expecting. I'll probably come back for the rest later.
It's hard to know what to say about this one. It is feminist, and it is powerful, and it is well written. I think I liked it for its otherworldly quality. But I struggled a bit with some of the plot. Not certain whether I'll come back for any sequels or not.
Started off quite familiar and got better as it went. Still a little predictable, but fun all the same. It works from a great conceit to begin with - everyone has a twin, and only one of them is considered "perfect" and good enough for high society, but they're connected. If one dies, they both die. This twisted, glorious notion is explored and expanded throughout the book, along with hefty ideas about segregation, disability, and prejudice in many forms. Dystopian fantasy done very well.
Oh, the mind games in this lot. The endless, spiralling game of cat and mouse between L and Kira (and Kira and the world) is a lot of fun to watch. Death gods and magic and self righteous geniuses abound. Satisfyingly Machiavellian.
A strong conclusion to the trilogy. All the action and sarcasm you'd hope for, based on the first two. Consequences from the other books, plus dinosaurs, dragons, and dark magic, gods and monsters, pirates, a dash of weird magic tech, and a touch of time travel. A properly exciting romp of swords and sorcery with a great inventive flair. I can't wait to see what Jen writes next.
