March round up

This weekend just gone was Eastercon! I had thought I wasn't going to be able to go this year, unable to get the time off work, but what with being unexpectedly ejected from that, I suddenly find myself with a lot of spare time. So I guess there's a silver lining after all.

A tiny, tiny silver lining.

Still, Eastercon is always fun. This year's was in Manchester, at the Hilton in Deansgate. Odd building. Goes up twenty something floors and then decides it wasn't wide enough, so it sticks out a bit and goes up another twenty floors. Kind of like old medieval houses where they paid rent on the land, and acquired more space with every storey until you could shake hands with your neighbour across the street on the top floor (see: Shambles, in York).

Anyway, con! As I say, good fun. Lots of interesting panels, talks, and workshops. I can now write (draw?) circular Gallifreyan, and know more about privacy in Captain America: The Winter Soldier; historical accuracy in fantasy and romance; and the history of Daredevil as a character than I ever expected to. Aliette de Bodard was a fabulous guest of honour. The impromptu disco thrown together when there wasn't one on the schedule was really good fun, even if it was cut woefully short by the hotel's time limit.

Due to leaving early on Monday to catch a flight to Chicago, I had to be restrained in my book buying, despite some beautiful tables of secondhand stuff in the dealers' rooms. So I only bought... uh. I counted, but I don't remember right now. It was... one big canvas tote bag full. And the four I brought on the plane. A mere 20 something? Eheh.

So what have I been reading, in my sudden bounteous free time?

A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab

Hnnng next book now please. This series is glorious so far. So snappy, so sharp, so tightly written and diverse in characters and exciting and dangerous and beautifully magic. I love it.

Most of the Nikki Heat series by "Richard Castle" (books 2-5 at this point)

Fun to see how these parallel events in the TV show. They read like fanfic; they get the voices from the TV show right and are sneakily stuffed with in jokes as well as the standard entertaining crime novel plots. Kind of has the Lee Child effect; like book Pringles. You start with one, and somehow you just keep going until you don't have any left on hand.

Sex Criminals volume 1 by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky

I think this one got hyped up to me ("Oh my god you have to read it, it's amazing!") a little too much. It was fun, sure, quirky and risque, but it wasn't the greatest thing ever to happen to graphic novels. Fine, but just not perfectly for me.

Vixen by Rosie Garland

Engagingly written, presents the history and the characters in an entertaining way. However, I have major issues with the ending. Very brief, spoilery argh on Goodreads here.

Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy

Ha, this was a lot of fun. Classic fantasy with a plot that is a thin excuse for outlining five (surprise) different magic systems and how they all connect and work within the same world. This is worldbuilding-as-plot at its height, and I love it. It delighted me and my analytical side all the way through, and I'm giddy with glee to discover there are two sequels. I can only hope they are as keen to lecture me on how magic really works as this one.

Snow White, Blood Red edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Always hard to rate short story collections, but this set of grown up gruesome fairy tales was fun and inventive. Some better than others, of course, but if you like stories inspired by all those well known characters and tropes (and you don't mind occasionally veering into the erotic) then this is worth looking into. And part of a series, so you won't run short of wicked variations for quite a while.

February round up

So. Circumstances have changed since the last post. The Harry Potter night was a huge success. Games Night at the shop was getting more people than ever. The SFF section was all tidied up and doing well, with a new reviews-and-local-events display on the wall, and I was just working on what new displays to put in place. And. Uh. I'm not working for Waterstones anymore.

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:

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

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.

Shaking Hands With Death by Terry Pratchett

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.

Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes

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.

Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff

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.

The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig

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.

All of Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba

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.

The Silver Tide by Jen Williams

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.