I’ve been reading a lot of good books lately, some quite varied…although you could sum a surprising amount of it up just by saying “Martha Wells” – who, even though it’s only March, is a serious contender this year for new addition to my favorite authors!

My recent reads have included no less than three Martha Wells books, all strikingly different – although I think I finally clued into the through-line between them.  First I read Emilie and the Hollow World, a YA novel that feels like a homage to classic sci fi, which centers on Emilie who stows away on a rather steampunk ship and finds herself accidentally on a mission to another world inside the – well, I don’t think it’s Earth, so let’s just say planet.  Then I read The Siren Depths, Book 3 of the Raksura series, and possibly my new favorite – more for the character drama than the action, though that was pretty good too.  And then I caught up on the Murderbot Diaries with Fugitive Telemetry, one of the best of the series I think, with the main character fully realized by this point, and easier to follow than some as a pretty tightly-plotted murder mystery. Continue reading “What I’ve Been Reading Lately (March, 2023)” →

2023 is starting off with some good reading, which I’m very much enjoying!  My writing slowed down a bit recently, but I’ve read through quite a few books in the past few weeks.

One of the more unusual books I’ve read was Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – From a Certain Point of View.  A collection of short stories, they’re all set during The Empire Strikes Back, but from the viewpoint of background characters.  So, people who are going about their own lives and stories while the main plot unfolds – think unidentified rebel pilots fleeing Hoth, evacuees from Cloud City, and so on.  My favorite was by Catherynne M. Valente (of the Fairyland series) who wrote the story of the giant space slug who swallowed the Millennium Falcon.  It loved them so much and just wanted to make a special home for them!

I read a duology by Marissa Meyer (of the Lunar Chronicles), Gilded and Cursed.  A retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, she created a wonderful fantasy mythology.  The story focuses on Serilda, a miller’s daughter, who lies to…well, let’s call him the Fairy King, and when she’s taken to his castle to spin straw into gold, she meets a very charming not-quite-ghost who helps her.  They were good and exciting books, but they also got very dark and rather bloody in spots; YA books have changed in the past ten years!  There was also such a sense of hopelessness to Serilda’s situation (even though I was sure throughout it would somehow turn out well) that it was kind of a heavy read.  Recommended, but be in the right mood for it! Continue reading “What I’ve Been Reading Lately (February, 2023)” →