[Wilshire]

The Red Knight by Miles Cameron (23)

This remains one of my favorite books. Cameron is a great character writer, which an interesting (if chaotic) world for those characters to exist in. Cameron really knows his historic fighting, which make his battles (both large scale and individual) very believable and fun to read. The story of this first book is very standard fantasy, but Cameron sticks to what he knows and it makes the book better for it. The dialogue usually makes up for the standard plot, and I'm very much hoping there is unseen complexity in the woldbuilding that will be revealed later on.

I highly recommend this book.

The Fell Sword by Miles Cameron (24)

This book felt like a transition novel. Its still very good, but if felt like a story was shoehorned around the necessity of bringing the main character to a particular point. It took a whole book to get there, and it was written well, but I can't decide if it was really necessary. Luckily Cameron is delightful to read and so I can't really complain too much about it. There's still enough going on that I want to see the plot continue, and I feel invested in the vast majority of the storylines and characters. I'll pick up book 3 later on this year.

But first, Staveley just released his most recent book, and I got Wight's most recent one on sale, so I'll switch gears a bit before coming back.

[Wilshire]

Empire's Ruin by Brian Staveley (25)

The newest installment in the Unhewn Throne universe, taking place some 5-10 years after the events of the previous book. New characters, new troubles, some great writing. Staveley does a good job at keeping the religion/philosophy on the back burner and not letting it get in the way of the series. Similar to his previous books, the story follows 3 separate groups which you can see imagine coming together at the end of the series in a conflagration.

Trying to think back to Emperor's Blades, I think Staveley's writing has improved. That said, I'm not entirely sure all the stories in his most recent book are as individually compelling as they were for Unhewn Throne. Time will tell though, and I look forward to Staveley's writing career.

Bloodline by Will Wight (26)
What can I say. Its the same books, more/less, every time. But its still fun. There is something entertaining about magical kung-fu. This book feels like Wight picked a new direction for the series. Maybe "new direction" is too extravagant, but there at least appears to be a new goal, a lot of storylines were wrapped up, the general narrative will likely tighten a bit in the future because of this, and it seems new foundations were laid for probably another 10 books.

[The P]

A Veil of Spears by Bradley P. Beaulieu (15)

Each of these has been better than the previous one.  I have minor gripes with some details (where do we get all this wood in the desert?), but nothing to ruin my enjoyment.  Beaulieu continues to shift the stakes, I keep thinking I know what kind of conflict/climax he's building to, but new players and insight keeps me on my toes.  This third book kept mainly to the previously established pov.  There is a new one added in, but only had a handful of chapters.  We also got some very brief povs from a couple different kings.  Thoroughly enjoyable, I look forward to the final three, but maybe a couple short books before I dive back in.

[The P]

Inside Man by K. J. Parker (16)

I like just about anything he writes; have I said that before?  This is another novella.  It's kind of a sequel to last year's Prosper's Demon.  This is some time later, now from the demon's perspective.  He's been dubbed "fragile" due to prior events, and assigned to "other work of equal value."  Parker gives a fun depiction of a bureaucratic hell in opposition to, but also in support of the Plan.  There are lots of real-world Judeo-Christian analogues throughout (mostly poked for fun and given a wry take), but it has plenty of Parker-verse connections (Perimadea, Robur, Saloninus, etc.).  Thoroughly enjoyable, it drew an audible chuckle on several occasions.  The next Parker book looks delayed until January, alas.

[The P]

Miserere by Teresa Frohock (17)

I picked this up on a whim.  I heard it was good, but got bad marketing because the publisher ran out of money and collapsed.  I liked it.  It's pretty short (under 300 pages), has decent writing, good characters, some intense moments.  The setting is kind of a barrier world between hell and earth, with the main characters as the force preventing the fallen/demons from conquering earth and being able to war against heaven.  In this place are supposedly all religions working together, but aside from brief blurbs, the characters are all christian-centric.  Which isn't bad, but I would have liked a more diverse cast, or at least some more detail of the other groups' roles in the world.  As it is, I enjoyed the interesting take on these religious mages using psalms and prayers to channel power, etc.

Reading some author comments online after reading, she said one big problem with the marketing of the book was that they decided to sell it in christian book stores.  I certainly don't blame whoever was in charge for making that mistake, but it surely would have bothered any wholesome parents trying to shelter their kids from secular fiction.  (There's swears, violence, gore, sex, abuse, oh my!)  So I'm not sure the audience for this one, it has enough overt christian religiosity to scare away the non-religious, but is plenty gritty to stand alongside others in the "grimdark" genre.

I'll probably check out some other stuff by Frohock at some point.  She has other unrelated fantasy.  While the ending was satisfying, this book could easily have sequels, but it seems unlikely after 10 years.

[The P]

A Door Behind a Door by Yelena Moskovich (18)

I picked this up on a whim.  It's not sff, but the guy who recommended it said it had some David Lynch vibes, which was enough for me.  I liked it quite a bit.  It has a strange style.  It's almost like very tiny chapters, sometimes only a sentence, with a bold-caps title that sometimes is part of the body itself.  The style makes it feel a little like stream-of-consciousness, but actually readable.  It reads very quick.  Under 200 pages, it could and probably should be read in one sitting.  I understand the Lynch comparison, in things get weird, but where Lynch goes for absurdia with the appearance of meaning, the weirdness here means something (I think, and I'm sure I don't get it all).

It is rare for me to read outside my choice genre(s), but I'm glad I did in this case.  Being short helped its pitch.  Definitely worth the time if you want to try something more capital-L Literature.

[The P]

Beneath the Twisted Trees by Bradley P. Beaulieu ( )

I think I'm giving up on this series.  It's not bad.  I've mostly enjoyed it so far, but....  It just lacks some undefinable quality that would compel me to keep reading.  The writing itself is fine, the story is fine, the characters are fine.  Maybe I'm at the point in life where I really need something special to get me to read in the midst of constant interruptions and chaos (kids), I dunno.  But this series is not it for some reason.  It's like there are great ideas and possibilities lurking on the edges of where the story actually goes.  The whole time I'm waiting for that awesome something to break in and reshape the story, but it inevitably goes somewhere less exciting.  And it's not like nothing happens or the plot doesn't advance, we've come quite a way since the first book.  So a third of the way through book 4 I decided I was tired of it.  Quitting this far in leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but there it is.  I liked Beaulieu's earlier trilogy; he's not a bad writer.

I'm moving on.  Next is a KJP novella that I somehow missed a couple years ago.

[The P]

Mightier than the Sword by K. J. Parker (19)

It's great of course.  Set in the Parker-verse, we get mentions of places and people we've seen before (Saloninus, of course, Permia).  Sometimes I think I want to comb through his work and compile a geography and history of everything he mentions, but worldbuilding isn't what he's about, so maybe it would be a futile exercise.  It at least has the appearance of consistency, and that's probably all Parker is going for.

This one follows the nephew of the Emperor, who's in a bad way while his wife runs the show, sent out to deal with a series of raids on monasteries.  The Empire is the Robur, who figure in the Siege trilogy, this is probably set after those events, but it hardly matters.  It has the typical twists and obfuscations, musings on literature and empire, wry takes on monastic orders, standard Parker fare.  Thoroughly enjoyable, I will never not recommend a Parker novella.

[The P]

Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio (20)

I really liked this one.  It has some very heavy Dune-inspired world/galaxy building.  Other people say it's like the Kingkiller Chronicle in space.  I haven't read that one, but it has similarities from what I know. It's basically a dude recounting his life and how he got to where he is (infamous, maybe incarcerated, for doing a big bad thing).  There are nice bits of flavor like "everyone tells the story this way, but this is what really happened," or "I didn't know it at the time, but the guy next to me was so-and-so that you know as having done such-and-such."  They aren't frequent, but I like that it reminds you of the frame and that we know where the story is going.
It's good, highly recommend.  Best space epic I've read in a long time (i.e. I like it better than the Expanse).

[Wilshire]

Well I'm glad that one worked out for you. Those are some interesting comparisons, and I'll try to remember it later when I'm looking for a book. I've been struggling to finish a Peter F Hamilton book, which is a space opera that started out fun but has really dragged towards the end. Empire of Silence might be something I read in the future to make up for it.

[The P]

Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio (21)

This series continues to be good.  The Dune influence, which were pretty pronounced early in book one, are very much in the background here.  The series is doing more to stand on its own in the second book (not that I consider the first derivative), though I suspect further influences from Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, Russell's The Sparrow, and Reynolds's Revelation Space.  But it is very much its own story, however many inspirations it pulls from.  From the very start of this second book, the plot goes in unanticipated directions and keeps going to interesting places throughout, with a completely wild ending.

If I have a complaint, it's that the narrator often brings up some deep thought, introspection, or philosophy; but those ideas or themes are taken in the moment and not developed or elaborated much beyond their introduction.  Leaving that out keeps the story moving at a good clip, but keeps it on the near side of being a thinky, meaty read worth revisiting.  Nonetheless, I'm enjoying it and look forward to the next.

[Wilshire]

I finally finished Pandora's star. I'm going to count it for 2021 because I only had like 20 minutes left on the audiobook.

It was tough to finish. Not because it was bad, but I just lost interest in the story. I admit at least partial fault since it took so long. But I do still blame Hamilton. Its just too long, too many individual characters and plots spread over too many ideas.  Its a good Space Opera, but so long that you will really need to be in the mood for it.