MAY SFFFCAT: Girl Power

May is the month that we celebrate girl power in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Whether you read a book by a woman author of these genres or one that has a strong female main character is up to you. Whether they win by brains or brawn, have fun and be inspired by some Kick-A** women and don’t forget to tell us who and what you are reading.



As a relative newcomer to the genre, I have done a little research but I suspect that many members here will have some excellent recommendations for both women authors and books with strong female leads.

Some female authors of note:

Mary Shelley
Ursula K. LeGuin
Lois Lowry
Madeleine L’Engle
Andre Norton
Margaret Atwood
Octavia Butler
Veronica Roth

Some books with strong female leads:

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Cordelia’s Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
Kindred by Octavia Butler
The Hunger Game series by Suzanne Collins
The Cinder series by Marissa Meyer
The Graceling series by Kirsten Cashore



Please don't forget to list your books on the SFFFCat Wiki

I am planning on reading the following three books that all have been recommended to me by three of the LT members that helped introduce me to Sci-Fi and Fantasy:

The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
The Terrorists of Irustan by Louise Marley

Many thanks to Roni, Morphy and Storeetlir!

Planning on Among Others by Jo Walton and The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells. Maybe I'll add a few others. :)

I'm sure I'll have plenty to choose from for this month! I know I'm going to read Herland, probably quite a few more.

Just a fly-by comment. The Left Hand of Darkness doesn't have a female lead. The society is genderless.

You folks might also want to look at Melissa Scott especially Trouble and Her Friends.

I'll probably read Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. My daughter nagged me into reading The Hunger Games, but that did not satisfy her.

This will probably be the easiest month of all for me! So many books to choose from. I'm definitely planning to read Kindred, and Cress if I don't get to it this month. Then maybe I'll read The Sparrow, or Prudence, or catch up on some Tamora Pierce.... I also have Among Others sitting on my shelf, and Naomi Novik has a new book coming out, and really the options are a bit overwhelming. I'll see what other people are reading. Other possibilities include The Handmaid's Tale, which I've been meaning to read for ages, and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which is a bit intimidating in size. I'll probably save To Say Nothing of the Dog for the time travel month, especially since I'd like to read Three Men in a Boat first.

I have a collection of short stories by Patricia A. McKillip called Wonders of the Invisible World on my Kindle that I will read. I sneaked a look at the first story and love it already.

Think I'll read Parasite by Mira Grant.

>5 aulsmith: although it still fits the theme because it's written by an amazing writer who also is a woman.

If you are looking for book recommendations, here's a list of SF with a female protagonist: http://www.librarything.com/list/531/all/Science-fiction-novels-with-a-female-pr...

And here's a list of feminist science fiction, mostly written by women: http://www.librarything.com/list/234/all/Favorite-Feminist-Science-Fiction

I'm using this list to guide my year-long project reading SF/F by women. Most, but not all, of the books on the list were written by women: http://www.librarything.com/list/9909/all/Recommended-Speculative-Fiction-by-Wom...

>5 aulsmith: Thanks, I will remove the Ursula Le Guin from the list of strong women characters, but as Sturlington says, she is a amazing writer. :)

LT member Ronincats provided me with the following links to some great ideas for books by woman authors in the fantasy and sci-fi genre:

https://sfmistressworks.wordpress.com

https://worldswithoutend.com/lists_women_winners.asp

My wishlist is growing by leaps and bounds!

Thanks, Judy. Those look like they will help me make a decision. I was thinking I might read another book by Gail Carriger.

On my TBR shelf:
Supernova by Dewi Lestari
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (alternative history counts, right?)

On my virtual TBR shelf:
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 by Doris Lessing
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

I don't know whether I will get to any of these because May is going to be a busy month with some heavy reading for my book clubs.

I have a few options:
- Allegiant / Veronica Roth
- Messenger / Lois Lowry
- One of Our Thursdays is Missing / Jasper Fforde
- Heart's Blood / Juliet Marillier

But, the most likely one (as long as it's available at the library) is:
The Unit / Ninni Holmqvist
(because it's also a Translation for my BingoDOG. :-) )

Looks like May is shaping up to be an amazing month! Looking forward to seeing what everyone is going to be reading in this category. Me? Not sure yet what will end up on the agenda for May as I must admit that an awful lot of my reading is already sci-fi/fantasy written by women and/or featuring strong female characters. Now that I've marked my place here, I'll be checking back regularly.

I'll pencil in Among Others, by Jo Walton, for this challenge.

I'm thinking about reading Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton in addition to some more Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series.

I said I was going to read Blackout in May and All clear in June. However Blackout is still on loan from the library, (due 12.05.) and I'm having doubts as to whether I'll be able to get it when we return from our trip. If I wait until then to act it will probably be extended again.

If I were going to be here I would have asked the library to reserve both books for me to be picked up near home. My choices now are to reserve them online a few days before the due date (and pick them up way the other side of the city) so that we will be home in the two weeks they hold them OR buy them in Oxford OR go with something else.

I'm planning on Doomsday Book since it will also work for the HistoryCAT.

What? No one is going to read a work by CJ Cherryh???

This female author writes excellent SciFi and Fantasy, with strong female roles that aren't contrived. My two favorite series are the Chanur series, starting with The Pride of Chanur, and the Morgaine series, starting with The Gate of Ivrel.

The Paladin is an excellent stand-alone novel, too.

22> The covers aren't very convincing. This doesn't make me think strong female lead:



And this is just . . . weird.



The Paladin looks promising, but I don't think I'll be trying it. Sorry!

Yeah, the covers suck and do not do justice to the novels. I loved both Gate of Ivrel and Pride of Chanur and the others in the series. Haven't read The Paladin yet ~ that may be one for May.

Although you've got to realize that those rough looking aliens on the Pride of Chanur cover are all females and that guy in the back is a scared, powerless human male who runs to them for protection. I love me, love me, love me the Chanur books. You can read the first without reading the rest, but if you read the second, you have to read the third and fourth because they are all one story.

Haven't seen anyone mention several of my very favorite authors in this genre yet:

Lois McMaster Bujold: Cordelia's Honor
Elizabeth Moon: anything, but for a singleton try Remnant Population
Patricia Wrede: anything, but try The Raven Ring for her most mature. Or Dealing with Dragons for just plain fun
Sharon Lee with husband Steve Miller: start with Agent of Change
Sheri Tepper: lots, but Gibbon's Decline and Fall or The Gate to Women's Country are particularly powerful.
Nina Kiriki Hoffman: A Red Heart of Memories
Seanan McGuire: again, about anything but start at the beginning of any of her series
The Grand Master, Andre Norton, who wrote from the 1940s through the 1990s, starting back when very few women were getting published in the field: Year of the Unicorn or The Crystal Gryphon or Ordeal in Otherwhere among others.
Anne McCaffrey: start with either Dragonquest or Dragonsong
Mercedes Lackey: start with Arrows of the Queen to get settled in Valdemar, but the Oathbound/Oathbreakers duology have perhaps the strongest women characters.

I could go on (and on and on and...) but that will do for starters.

Since we're listing favorite authors, here are mine:

Octavia Butler: I love almost all her books but my favorite is Parable of the Sower. I just discovered two previously unpublished novellas available cheap for the Kindle as Unexpected Stories. This is a great treat because I thought I had read all of her work!

Ursula K. Le Guin: One of my favorite authors of all time. I just finished Lavinia, which I thought was terrific. Her most well known book is The Left Hand of Darkness and she has also written quite a lot of fantasy aimed at young adults.

Margaret Atwood: Love the Oryx and Crake trilogy and The Handmaid's Tale of course.

Jo Walton: The Farthing trilogy is good, as is Among Others.

Mary Doria Russell: The Sparrow is one of my all-time favorite books.

Connie Willis, of course

I finished Herland, which is a fast read, and am now reading The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy. I may try to get a copy of Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie for this month as well.

I've decided to try The Sparrow for this month. I'm going to finish a couple of books I'm reading this weekend, and the maybe go to the library and get it to start next week.

>26 sturlington: Thanks for the reminder! I've been wanting to read MaddAddam and this would be a good month to do so.

I'm considering the following for this month:
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Shadow Scale (sequel to Seraphina) by Rachel Hartman
A Turn of Light by Julie Czerneda
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

And LT's own Naomi Novik with her Temeraire series.

Ok, I am taking book bullets already and the month has barely started! Definitely want to try the Chanur books.

Those are some pretty bad covers, but I also remember last year I was quite taken aback some of the Vorkosigan covers, finding them very dated. I fell in love with the series so have learned to try not to judge a sci-fi/fantasy book by it's cover!

So I've been looking around for something for this month and could do with some input. Would something by Juliet Marillier, like Heart's Blood work for this month? Or maybe Black Ships by Jo Graham? The other one I was thinking of is Jonathan Clarke and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

All three of those would work just fine!

>32 Roro8: Heart's Blood is an option for me this month, as well (though I'm not sure I'll get to it).

I have begun MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood.

>22 fuzzi: I've got some books by CJ Cherryh on the shelves that I want to tackle this month. I'm looking at Rimrunners...

Greetings, all!

My first for the month: The Line: A Witching Savannah Novel by J. D. Horn. I don't know why I put off reading this one for so long. I enjoyed it!

I finished The City, Not Long After, magical realism post-apocalypse set in San Francisco. It's written by a woman and has a strong female protagonist.

Finished Heir to the Darkness by Anne Bishop, second in the Black Jewels trilogy. After a rocky (for me) start, I enjoyed it, but it was very annoying all the same that all these powerful witches and warrior lords seemed so timid about using their power to stop the villains until "the worst" happens and then they go all Carrie on everyone.

I stopped by the library today and picked up The Sparrow which I'm hoping to start later tonight.

>39 Storeetllr: LOL!

I finished Doomsday Book and loved it!

I just started Elvenbane by Andre Norton & Mercedes Lackey. I haven't read much by either author. So far, it's off to an interesting start. I also have three recent Audible purchases that I hope to get to this month: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon and Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress which I just realized would fit the RandomCAT too, so this one will be next I think.

Finished Unexpected Stories by Octavia Butler. This is an e-book of 2 previously unpublished short stories, can easily be read in one or two sittings, highly recommended if you are already a fan of Butler's work.

Plans for the month include Inkheart, The giver and The girl who chased the moon.

I strongly second Octavia Butler, Connie Willis, Margaret Atwood, Ursula Le Guin and another author I don't think has been mentioned, Marlen Haushofer. Her The Wall (no touchstone) was brilliant.

I finished Bastion by Mercedes Lackey.

Still aiming to read Blackout if I can get hold of a copy. The store in Coventry had the following volume, but I want to read Blackout first, so I did not buy it.

In theory I could get it from the library, but it has been checked out every time I've looked since early December!

I finished Rimrunners and found it a little dated. And too much spacer jargon for my taste.

>47 MarthaJeanne: Since All Clear is just the second half of the book begun in Blackout, you really do have to read them in order.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel won the Arthur C Clarke award. It would definitely fit this month's theme, if you haven't already read it.

I like this award because it tends to reward more literary science fiction. Here is a list of past award winners and shortlisted books, to inspire your SFFCat reading.

>49 RidgewayGirl: Seconding this. Also, you should try to have both Blackout and All Clear on hand, since they really are two halves of the same story!

I have just ordered both of them from the library. I would rather spend my book money on books that the library doesn't have. Blackout is due on Tuesday, so it should be interesting to see whether/when it is returned. I should be home in time to pick them up within the two week reserve period. And I'll just buy the e-book if it doesn't work.

I have bought and started Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It's a big one! I hope I get it finished before the end of the month. I started last night and only got to half way through chapter two.

The Unit / Ninni Holmqvist
4 stars

When women hit 50 years old and men hit 60, if they have no children, they are considered “dispensable” and are taken to live in the Unit. Here, they are put to use by being test subjects for various experiments and also by donating organs to people on the outside. When Dorrit arrives at the Unit, she makes some friends and even falls in love.

Wow, this was really good, I thought. Shades of Unwind, but for adults. Somewhat horrifying - what the dispensable people were put through. I wasn't sure I liked the end, initially, but on thinking about it, I do think it's what Dorrit would have done, so I sort of understand it.

I'm still planning on fitting in something by Ursula K. Le Guin this month, but last night I finished The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, which was absolutely wonderful and reminded me why I so fell in love with her writing years ago. If you like fantasy and you haven't yet tried her, you should! Meanwhile, adding it to the wiki!

I finally bought Doomsday Book. We'll see if Blackout really gets returned next week.

>36 MissWatson: another strong female lead in Rimrunners, enjoy!

And since when do we judge books by the covers?

I love the cover to The Gate of Ivrel, it's a reverse of the Conan-type artwork, lol. Love Michael Whelan art!

@MissWatson Addendum: sorry you found it dated. I love good stories from any era. :)

>24 Storeetllr: I put off reading The Paladin due to the cover (hangs head in shame). It's an excellent CJ Cherryh, read it soon!

>25 ronincats: agreed on Chanur. Love Py!

I just realised that a book I finished last week fits the criteria for this month. The Vanishing Witch has strong female characters, the story features ghosts and witches, and it is written by a woman - Karen Maitland.

I am progressing nicely with Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

>24 Storeetllr:, >58 fuzzi: Oh, I wasn't put off by the cover, fuzzi! In fact, there's a copy of The Paladin waiting for me to pick it up from the library on Tuesday!

I seldom judge a book by its cover, though I have my favorites and, conversely, some that are so ugly that I try not to look at them while I'm reading the book. My most favorite cover is The Sparrow's. I actually picked up the book to read because of the cover art, without knowing anything about the novel itself. I just wanted the cover. :) Of course, the novel has become one of my all-time favorites.

>57 fuzzi: Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it. But the constant recurrence of tapes was a reminder how fast technology has gone in other directions.

I've finished MaddAddam, the last in Margaret Atwood's dystopian trilogy. This tied the first two books together and featured a strong female protagonist.

>61 MissWatson: ha! I getcha.

There is a series of videos on Youtube in which old video games and other technology from 20+ years ago is given to today's teens. It's hysterical to watch them look confused over what was on the cutting-edge back in the 80s and 90s!

Finished Cordelia's Honor in the early hours of this morning. It's an omnibus edition that contains two of the Vorkosigan books (Shards of Honor and Barrayar) by Lois McMaster Bujold. Thoroughly enjoyable they were too!

I have finished my first book for the May SFFFCat. Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop is the first in her Black Jewels series. It took awhile for me to be comfortable with this dark and sensual story, but by the end of the book, I am totally caught up in this story and will be continuing on with the next book.

I've got The Pride of Chanur queued up, which has been on my shelves for ages, as well as Herland.

I've finished The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell which I enjoyed very much. After hearing so much about her books Doc and Epitaph, I was surprised to learn that her debut novel was actually a science fiction novel of interplanetary travel which won multiple awards. I'm planning to read the sequel for the August SFFF Cat.

Finished Parasite last week and loved it! The only downside was that it completely left me hanging so now I have to read the next book in the series. I'm waiting until the last book in the trilogy is released so that I can read them back to back.

>66 LisaMorr: ooh! I hope you enjoy it.

One word about CJ Cherryh: she doesn't explain things at first, but drops you into a world/situation without preamble. It all is made clear as you continue to read.

Starting The Making of the Representative of Planet 8 by Doris Lessing

>70 fuzzi: Elizabeth Bear does that ~ drops you in the world and lets you figure it out as you read on ~ in Carnival. It was rough going for me at first, but now that I'm about 3/4 of the way through it, I am virtually on the edge of my seat and invested in the characters in a way I didn't think possible in the first chapters.

Finished Doomsday Book. As Colin would say, 'Apocalyptic!'

I read something recently comparing Willis to classic SF writers that basically said, everything they did she does just as well, but in addition you care about her characters. Yes, even the minor ones.

>70 fuzzi: I'll bear that in mind next time I pick up one of her books. Thanks!

COMPLETED The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 by Doris Lessing

I just finished Illusions of Fate, which is a fantasy novel both written by a woman (Kiersten White) and featuring a female main character. If you like historical fantasy, you might want to pick this one up, although the ending was a bit too pat and abrupt for my taste.

My reading of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is taking me longer than anticipated. Lucky for me it will work for next month's topic too.

I just finished a reread of an old favorite: Water Witch by Cynthia Felice and Connie Willis. It has some plot holes you could drive a truck through, but I still enjoy it.

I've finished a few so far this month: Elvenbane by Andre Norton & Mercedes Lackey and Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, both of which I was a little disappointed in. Two which I enjoyed were Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress (also fits RandomCAT) and The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (which will also fit for next month). I started and gave up on A Door into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski, it just wasn't grabbing my attention at the time.

>77 Roro8: I first listened to Jonathan Strange as an audiobook, and it went quickly. When a few years later I read it in print, it did seem to take me longer, partly because I had to stop to read the footnotes along the way. I do love that book though!

Am in the middle of The Voyage of the Basilisk, in print, which I'm enjoying immensely, even though I wanted to listen to it as an audiobook like I did the first two.

I am currently reading two books that will fit this Cat. The Terrorists of Irustan by Louise Marley and The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer. Both are great stories and I am having trouble putting them down.

I've read two books from the Raksura series by Martha Wells. - The Serpent Sea and The Siren Depths . What a terrific series. She takes on gender and role models and turns them all upside down.

>82 majkia: Those look good!

Finished Voyage of the Basilisk last night and enjoyed it very much! This is the first one I read in print, and I found that having listened to the first two helped a lot with pronunciation of the strange names of countries and people.

Finished Herland yesterday and started The Pride of Chanur today.

>84 LisaMorr: Herland is a great title to use for this month's theme of Girl Power! ;)

I have just added The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer to the wiki. I didn't originally read this book for this Cat, but both the author, who penned this wonderful children's fantasy adventure, and the character of Thorgil, a totally kick-#ss shield maiden, sealed the deal for me, this was totally a Girl Power read.

>84 LisaMorr: I am tempted to reread that, again, "just because"...

>85 DeltaQueen50: Yes!
>87 fuzzi: I can see that!

I joined those reading Herland and really enjoyed it.

I have finished The Terrorists of Irustan by Louise Marley, and gave this book 5 stars. I found this a wonderful read, a book with both heart and soul, and I loved it.

Wow! So glad you enjoyed it, Judy. Another by Marley I highly recommend is Child Goddess.

I finished one more for this month: The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon.

>88 LisaMorr: I finished my reread of CJ Cherryh's excellent book The Pride of Chanur, and I still think it's fantastic. And not only is the author a strong female, but the entire crew of the spaceship is female.

>93 fuzzi: I'm really enjoying it so far!

>94 LisaMorr: great to hear!

I'm now re-reading Chanur's Venture, book 2. See what you did to me? :D

Addendum: Now that I've finished Chanur's Venture, I'm starting book 3, The Kif Strike Back...

I just added The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold to the wiki. Although this wasn't my favorite book of hers, she remains an author that I am proud to have on my shelves.

We have read so many great books this month for our theme of Girl Power, and I just want to remind everyone to please add their reads to the wiki. I'm sure I'm not the only one who uses these wikis as a reference when looking for reading material.

>97 DeltaQueen50: Done! Please feel free to check to be sure I did it correctly, because this is the first time I ever edited a wiki page. Also, I was wondering: Why do my (and others') entries have a gold lock sign but yours (and others') have a little blue arrow sign next to the title?

Thanks for organizing this, Judy! I discovered a couple of really good novels/authors through it!

>98 Storeetllr: Thanks, Mary. Your wiki entries look perfect. I remember we first saw the gold lock signs over at the TIOLI wiki some time ago and I can't remember the detailed explaination, but I know it's nothing serious. I do know that when I enter books from my home computer I get the blue arrow but when I am visiting my family and use my brother's computer, then I get the gold lock sign. I think it has something to do with the LT site not recognizing the location of the computer. Not being very computer literate, the only part of the explaination I remember is that we were assured that it wasn't anything to worry about.

ETA: Someone here may know more exactly what the difference is and can let us know.

>98 Storeetllr: >99 DeltaQueen50: The gold lock sign means that the web address being linked to begins with https instead of http. For example, https://www.librarything.com vs http://www.librarything.com. The extra "s" means it's a "secure" site (like the ones you use for online shopping or banking).

You get the arrow if the URL beginns with http. You get the lock if you begin with https. It doesn't really matter, as the rest of the URL is the same. If you don't want the lock, just delete the s.

>100 rabbitprincess: & >101 MarthaJeanne: Thanks, ladies! I knew someone here would know.

Makes perfect sense! Thanks!

Finished Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. So glad I finally read this.

Re: Willis

I have read Doomsday book now, and have Blackout and All Clear to read soon. I see that To Say Nothing of the Dog actually comes next in the series. Would it be better to try to read that first? My mind rather boggles at trying to read something that long as an eBoo, which it would be at this point.

>105 MarthaJeanne:, I just looked at To Say Nothing of the Dog and it doesn't carry over any characters from the first book. The only common point seems to be time travel. It looks really good though. It is time travel between 21st century, 1940s and Victorian England.

So, No I don't think you need to read in order.

>105 MarthaJeanne: What they all have in common is the time travel team at Oxford. Other than that, they are all separate stories and order isn't an issue (of course, Blackout and All Clear are all one story). To Say Nothing of the Dog is definitely the most fun of the books, especially if you've read Jerome Jerome's Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog.

>107 ronincats: I have very vague memories of trying to read that once and not getting through it, which makes me less keen to read the Willis version.

>98 Storeetllr: Thanks for asking that question, I was curious also!

>99 DeltaQueen50: >100 rabbitprincess: >101 MarthaJeanne: and thanks for answering it and letting us know it's not a dealbreaker in any way!

I was going to read A Wrinkle in Time for June, but started it yesterday and had to finish it - it fits for May as well, written by a female author and Meg Murray saves the day.

I finished up May with three books re-read for this challenge, all written by CJ Cherryh:

The Pride of Chanur
Chanur's Venture
The Kif Strike Back

Now I'm reading the fourth book, Chanur's Homecoming There's only one more, Chanur's Legacy.

I read one Cherryh, fuzzi, which made me want to read more of her stuff (that I haven't already read).

Here's my list of SFFFCAT books from this month:

1. Heir to the Darkness by Anne Bishop. Dark fantasy. Second in the Black Jewel trilogy.
2. The Paladin by C. J. Cherryh. Alternate universe with swords but no sorcery.
3. Boundary Crossed by Melissa F. Olson. Urban Fantasy. First in series.
4. Carnival by Elizabeth Bear. SciFi.
5. Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan. Alternate universe with dragons. Third in series.
6. Day Shift by Charlaine Harris. Urban fantasy. Second in series.
7. Cemetery Girl by Charlaine Harris.GN.
8. A Deadly Web by Kay Hooper. Book 2 of The Bishop Files.
9. Queen of the Darkness by Anne Bishop. 3rd in the Black Jewels trilogy.

>110 fuzzi: I don't think I realized that The Pride of Chanur was the start of a series. I'll definitely be getting the rest.

>109 LisaMorr: You're welcome!

>112 LisaMorr: I knew Pride was first in a series, but for some reason I never went further with it, though I really enjoyed Pride when I read it ages ago. I'm wondering if I didn't read it so long ago that there was no second book in the series yet, and then it dropped off my radar when my reading moved from scifi to other genres.

Yippee! So glad that others tried and liked CJ Cherryh's books.

>111 Storeetllr: I read The Paladin a couple years ago. Wish there was a sequel.

If either of you is interested, I've written a bunch of reviews for CJ Cherryh's books I've read in the last 3-4 years, and I don't spoil!

>114 fuzzi: Thanks fuzzi, I'll check them out.

I won't. The Vienna libraries only have one of her books, and that one is in German. I do NOT need another good author whose books have to be ordered from England!

>116 MarthaJeanne: what a shame, sorry to hear it.

Her books are hard to come by here, too, in used book stores. I think people who read books by CJ Cherryh keep them.

I've never read any of CJ Cherryh's books but it sounds like I should definitely try some of them!

I finished 3 books for the May theme.

Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman is the sequel to Seraphina. This duology is beautifully written and features a really wonderful and memorable female character. I recommend the books highly!

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson is a Hugo-nominated graphic novel about a teenage Muslim Pakistani American superhero. This is a very refreshing new take on superhero stories.

Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley is the first of a promising series but I found it a real chore to read ... too many characters (over 100 listed in the glossary!) and too much world-building getting in the way of the story.

>118 mathgirl40: another yippee!

I enjoy recommending books I love.