Reading fox with 2020 vision

As ever full reviews for everything I read (more or less!) from the book pages or my profile. If you've specific questions please ask!

A good start to the New Year!

American Gods thanks JerryMM my santathing Santee. I've avoided reading if for years as Gaiman is oft too dark and too weird for me, but this worked very well - immigrants over the centuries brought their gods to the US, and forgot about them, but they linger and feel the need to revive themselves against the competition of the internet and the freeways.

Equations of Life What you get when you multiply a mathematician by a teen-aged warrior nun and a Quantum AI, add the police and divide by three gangs. It's great fun. I came across Morden by chance as an ER author (one of the few who are previously published) and will seek out the rest of his work as this was great.

I had an unpleasant experience with Gaiman myself, but American Gods sounds very interesting.

Equations of Life sounds fun!

Happy New Year and happy reading!

>1 reading_fox: I’m glad you enjoyed American Gods! I liked that one quite a bit also, but I’ve always fared pretty well with the Gaiman books I’ve read. I tend to give his books 4 stars, so they aren’t exactly my favorites, but I still enjoy them quite a bit.

Happy New Thread, and may all your books be at least 4 stars this year. (Okay, maybe 3.75 stars...)

Happy New Year, may your reading time be filled with many wonderful books!

Happy new year! I hope it is a good one for you in every way.

Victory Day the conclusions to my friend's Rachel Churcher excellent YA dystopia. Very Brexit relevant! Doesn't go at all where you might think though. I was greatly impressed as I have been by the whole series. Great characters, great imagination, tension, drama and politics. It's wonderful.

Victory Day

(anyone remember how to force a touchstone? It's something like ||24087134 booknumber but I can't get it to work)

One Man One Pan late 1980s caving trip to China, organised by a bunch of lads. In some respects it went off without a hitch and they discovered a lot of new cave - 20km or so. In others they were woefully unprepared (as most of us back then would have been) for just what life was like in the Chinese mountains. They stayed for nearly six months!

ETA to force the touchstone - Thanks Pilgrim!

>8 reading_fox: Forcing a touchstone is booknumber::title-that-you-wish-to-display (all within the square brackets), IIRC.

Happy new year!

I didn't dislike American Gods, but I was surprised when it was made into a TV series. But good that you had a good time reading it!

>10 Busifer: it must have been a vast TV series, or severely truncated. I suspect I won't bother finding the time for it.

The letter for the king
Not as good as I'd hoped - a santathing gift that I was looking forward to. But it was a very simple YA without some of the complexity that can make simple fantasy stories enjoyable. I suspect int he 60s when this was written it would have been very different, and unique, but it has been surpassed by more complex tales, and doesn't quite have the connection to make the naive and innocent charm shine through. A boy goes on a Quest to deliver a letter through various obstacles.

Blood and gods an ER book. OK ish, nothing special, grand ideas not backed up by the plot. A boy leads a barbarian troop against the city and a corrupted priest
.

The sacrifice part of the storybundle Faerie fantasy collection - apparently the start of a long series. Some fairly non-traditional Fey invade an island and meet more than they were expecting when the priests discover the properties of Holy water. The elves don't have any of the other normal weaknesses attributed to the Fey, but this has a much more powerful effect than expected. Long! but works well, even if you're never that sympathetic to the Fey characters.

Shadow Captain part two of Reynolds' more YA space opera. Not very YA! as they land on an increasingly violent world. The characters just about keep it ticking along nicely. I just like everything Reynolds has written and this world-building is on par with everything he's done.

The sacrifice part of the storybundle Faerie fantasy collection - apparently the start of a long series. Some fairly non-traditional Fey invade an island and meet more than they were expecting when the priests discover the properties of Holy water. The elves don't have any of the other normal weaknesses attributed to the Fey, but this has a much more powerful effect than expected. Long! but works well, even if you're never that sympathetic to the Fey characters.

Shadow Captain part two of Reynolds' more YA space opera. Not very YA! as they land on an increasingly violent world. The characters just about keep it ticking along nicely. I just like everything Reynolds has written and this world-building is on par with everything he's done.

I really need to get to the one Reynolds book I have on my shelf. I think I'd like him a lot, but he gets compared him to Peter Hamilton, whom I dislike. Fingers crossed!

>14 libraryperilous: - nothing like Hamilton. I mean they are both space opera. But vastly different. Reynolds doesn't have exposition, you learn all about his worlds and universe as the characters show you, rather than being told. It does mean they can be confusing to start with as the characters don't feel the need to explain the everyday realities of your life, but it reads so much better. He also has a smaller character mix, so you can empathise with them more (even the nasty ones) and a wider properly galactic setting. Also as he used to be a physicist all of his technology is possible (oft time unlikely) but not actually wrong. There's no FTL for example. I've only read the first two of Hamilton's Commonwealth and felt that was enough. Reynolds although not short books are distinctly shorter than that.

>13 reading_fox: Oooh, so, The Sacrifice sounds interesting. Does it have a satisfying ending or more open-ended? I'm always scared of starting any sprawling series....

>11 reading_fox: I wouldn't know about the TV series, I haven't watched it (and probably won't). It's on Amazon Prime Video, and I believe Gaiman was at least somewhat involved in it.

>16 Kanarthi: yes it wraps up well enough. It's not a complete closure, but it ends the current round of conflict. As I say in the full review, a couple of characters we'd been following are left unresolved, hopefully to be picked up in the next books, but ti's not an obvious cliff-hanger. I believe the full series is complete and no more are planned.

>15 reading_fox: Thanks, this is very helpful.

Secrets of the Wild Wood more naive fantasy but much better than the first volume. The action is contained to the Wild Wood so it doesn't feel like a contrived Quest, and the opposition has a bit more character cunning and depth. Plus it's playing 3-4 parties against each other so there's more interaction and politics too. Still a little simple for complete enjoyment, but better and fun. I don't believe the author wrote any others though.

The Changeling 2nd of the Fey above. Does pick up nicely and continues the story of the beleaguered Islanders and the hardly better off Fey. Opens with an assassination of the King so a little more bloodthirsty to start with, but the ramifications are well explored. Was very pleased to see that the characters left unresolved before are neatly gathered in, good attention to detail like that is something I really notice and enjoy.

Foxglove Summer re-read to catch up with the series. Feels a little out of time as it's obviously set in AUgust not the current frosts we have. Fun one of the better ones in the series, doesn't take itself too seriously and develops the Lore appropriately. Peter goes on an excursion to the countryside.

Long update - I've done a fair bit of travelling UK and a quick business trip abroad (boring and annoying don't do it unless you have to) hence lots of reading and not much reviewing.

Furthest station Hanging tree lies sleeping which catches up on the Peter Grant story until more are released soon. LS feels very final and he could have closed the series there, but I believe that's not the case. All fun, but I think Foxglove is still my favourite.

Primary Fault
Not a bad storybundle urban fantasy, but not really faerie fantasy it was billed. There's an otherworld in Koln, and an intrepid Texan woman brushes against the edges of it as she spends some time with her brother - whom she has to save when he gets arrested for crimes she's sure he didn't commit. Bit of science in there too, but not really quite enough for lablit.

The Rival
Third of the Fey. I think I'll probably stop here, although it doesn't end the series at all. Still fun still balanced on the Isle, but I feel she's inventing new magics on a whim and it doesn't quite sit right with me.

Spinning Silver
Very good indeed. I loved Uprooted at a GD suggestion and this in a similar vein - not quite a Fairy Tale, but based on familiar concepts. Jews in Lithuania(alike) in some early time, famring market communities and the deep wood. Harsh winters being driven in by fey incursions. Three human girls (and their families') lives intertwine through acts of kindness and strength. You can just about see where it's all going ahead of time but it takes some convoluted paths to get there. Very well done.

I adored Spinning Silver and was so pleased that I loved it. It sounded like a book I would love, but I was kind of disappointed in Uprooted. So I wasn't sure how it would go, but I devoured Spinning Silver in one evening.

I hope your UK travels at least were fun!

>21 reading_fox: & >22 libraryperilous: Novik's skill has greatly improved, IMHO. Looking forward to whatever she comes up with next. I preferred Uprooted to Spinning Silver, but only slightly. I felt she dragged the second book out just a bit too long, but I loved the magic systems in both of them.

>23 clamairy: I think what separated Spinning Silver for me was that the sociocultural aspects felt very timely. Uprooted seemed more a straight fairy tale, but I did like it, overall. I was disappointed by the cringey romances in both books, fwiw. Have you read the Temeraire books? A few people have recommended them to me.

>24 libraryperilous: I read the first one and did not love it enough to keep going at the time. And then they slipped entirely off my radar. I did not mind the romance in Uprooted but the one in Spinning Silver did not work well for me. I though she was going for a Elizabeth Bennet & Darcy thing, but it didn't quite work for me.

I've avoided Temeraire as they're supposedly somewhat historical fantasy which I never really care for - either it's history in which case it's constrained by known facts, or it's not, in which case why not invent something more interesting.

la belle sauvage - Pullman's prequel. Fun but I didn't really think the mythic introductions to the plot aided anything, and only added confusion as to why Lyra never encountered them. Her world is rich enough already without adding more. The daemons were only bit parts, and the pointed social commentary that caused such a fuss on the originals was lacking. A readable story but doesn't add anythign to the originals and would have been better off on a separate world.

the falcon throne Karen Miller is back writing grown-up fantasy. She does passionate characters very well, even if you don't always like them as people very well. Interesting world with just a touch of magic in it. Two families of brothers each compete to be ruling duke of their once united kingdom. Women get short shrift.

Not much reading done - a long collection of ER short stories Metaphorosis of which the best bit is probably the title. None of them were bad, but few were memorable either. I also had a fair chunk of non-book non-fiction magazines etc to catch up on.

Windmaster's bane was one of the last of the storybundle faerie fantasy offerings, but better than many of the others. I've not come across the author before, he died shortly after completing this series and didn't write much else. It was well crafted Sidhe reaching the Appalachian mountains and a teenager with Second Sight, but no angst.

Bands of Mourning the Adventures of Wax and Wayne, part 3. I needed to have re-read the series more than I have done, as I couldn't remember the antagonist at all. It also links back to Mistborn which I really need to re-read as it was much better. I enjoy these, but they aren't special. Six books into this magic scheme it's going a little stale. Brandon's best for his inventiveness.

Like much of the rest of the world I'm working from home now. I had hopes of this being an enforced vacation, able to get all the DIY and gardening done. But so far I've been stuck at the keyboard pretty much all day. I do take frequent breaks, and have enjoyed a 'commute' in the sunshine to try and keep the exercise going.

I find that getting exercise is the hardest part of working from home. Time take the bike out of winter storage, I think.
I'm trying to take long walks, but feels like I'm skipping out on work obligations if I do, even if it's just reading an article or answering emails.

We're (nationally) having a bit of discourse over what's permitted exercise whilst maximizing containment and isolation. Driving to remote spots for a walk seems common, but appears not to be as wise as it first appears. Biking from home (while the weather's good) seems better. I do like being able to schedule the commute to when the sun's shining. Next week may be more hunker down and avoid the rain.

I have yet to take out the bike. Sudden storms of sleet and snow, and a harsh drop in temperatures, isn't encouraging...

At least in the cities people are out walking a lot. And when I checked in at our local bike shop and repair place (to see how long the wait would be when I drop my bike off for an annual checkup on the gears) they reported a rise in business, above what's expected from spring.

A quick storybundle Faerie fantasy One dark Summer night which just got weird/horror rather than faerie. Once they started blowing up the entire town I kind of lost interest.

and then because I'm at home now, so hefting huge tomes isn't such an issue Cyteen

It really is as good as I remembered it. The start is quite slow (as oft with Cherryh). And then you get immersed in the characters and their world. Its very complex, but utterly gripping. Hardly any action at all, until right at the end, but the complexity of the politics, the subtle social maneuvering the relevance to society today is just superb. Really is one of the best books she's written. I would recommend Downbelow and 40k to set the scene a bit, but it is readable as a standalone, none of the characters overlap.

I loved Cyteen. Maybe time for a reread: C.J. Cherryh is a master of political plots.

I really need to try Cherryh. I love political details in sci-fi.

>33 libraryperilous: wow. Yes you do. Where to start is always an interesting question. Not all her books are that available so it may be a matter of what you can get hold of. I'll summarise some of the series she's written over the many years of her career.

Alliance/Union. Which is what I've just read a couple from, and for which she's one Hugos. Downbelow station is normally thought of as the first, although the LT series lists everything in the universe.
Foreigner, or which the eponymous Foreigner is first, is her most current series that she's been writing for the last decade or so. I'm not sure if it's deemed fully complete. There's GD thread on here somewhere. The first few chapters are a bit odd and more of an extended prologue until the story picks up properly after a big time jump.
Chanur. Pride of Chanur technically is part of the union universe, but is normally read independantly. I think this is perhaps the best place to begin, but even this is 5 books. Humans play a very small part which can be challenging to get your head around
Faded Sun trilogy, I like these, but has more of a fantasy feel*, still with complex politics though. The central characters are sword welding desert dwellers.
The morgaine saga is definitely Fantasy crossover, with the SF only appears later. One of the best time travel SF ever done, properly looking at the consequences sensibly and avoiding paradox.
Then there's a whole bunch of her more classic fantasy too.... She's written a lot.

* CJ doesn't herself subscribe to genre and writes her settings for the story she wants to tell, which often blur established boundaries.

I finished Regenesis which I've enjoyed even more than Cyteen, more so than the last time I read it. It's only a few months of plot compared to the 30 years of Cyteen, and hence a little more direct. Still a lot of politics, but does well in tidying up all the loose ends. Alliance Rising to come although I've strangely only just realised that there's more to come in that sub-series.

>33 libraryperilous: I was late to the Cherryh party but she has become a very favorite author in recent years. If & when you decide to dive in, be aware that she rarely, if ever, spoon-feeds the reader. In just about every Cherryh novel I have read, the overall picture only comes clear as the narrative progresses. At the start, things always seem murky so... don't give up too early!

>32 Busifer: Have you read Forty Thousand in Gehenna? Or the direct sequel to Cyteen, Regenesis? Both are excellent adjuncts to Cyteen in my opinion.

EtA: >34 reading_fox: For reading order choices, the C.J. Cherryh page on World's Without End gives a really nice graphical view of all her works. For stand-alones, I unhesitatingly will recommend Wave Without a Shore or Serpent's Reach. Both are brilliant IMHO. I also loved The Faded Sun trilogy. Alliance-Union is great too but there are a lot of books. Most of them are technically stand-alone though so it's easy enough to jump in just about anywhere - although going with internal chronology is probably best. That would put Downbelow Station in the third spot even though it was the first published. I read it first and then back-tracked to Heavy Time and Hellburner. Kinda wish I had read those first but I started with publishing order 'cuz I didn't know any better at the time.

>35 ScoLgo: Yes, to Forty Thousand in Gehenna and Regenesis. 40K is excellent, but maybe not were to start reading Cherryh. I was a bit disappointed in Regenesis but maybe I should reread?
I enjoyed Faded sun but am unlikely to reread it any time soon. Her earlier works, like Wave without a shore and Serpent's Reach and so on I enjoyed as well, but maybe not books that I'll return to.

>33 libraryperilous: I favour the Company Wars sub-series in the Union/Alliance Universe, especially Hellburner. I think that sub-series can be read in whatever order one like; I started in publishing order, but have read it according to internal chronology as well.
And Chanur, starting with Pride of Chanur.

Thanks, everyone! I'm going to start with Pride of Chanur. My library has quite a few of her titles available through Overdrive, including Downbelow Station and Alliance Rising. If I like Cherryh's books, there will be a long-lasting supply.

I appreciate the time all three of you took to reply to my inquiry.

>35 ScoLgo: At the start, things always seem murky so

I enjoy this type of storytelling, so I'm even more intrigued now. :)

>37 libraryperilous: said, "If I like Cherryh's books, there will be a long-lasting supply."

Haha! Too true! I feel like I have read quite a number of Cherryh titles by now but when I look at her catalog, I find I've barely scratched the surface.

Chanur is a part of Alliance-Union I have not yet delved into. I'll be interested to read what you think of The Pride of Chanur when you get to it.

Not working (easter break) but being at home means lots more reading, especially fine sat out in a sunny, warm but not too hot spring garden.

Poirot investigates short stories featuring our fussy detective. He 'deduces' things on facts unknown to the reader, en par with Sherlock, and as such I prefer Miss Marple. Still fun though.

Missions ER title, and as usual, not quite ready for publication. Just needs a heavy edit to tighten the strands up a bit, add some tension and lose the superfluous characters. Terrorism action, and hence needs a more delicate hand than this got. Tried to counterpoint US computer analytics, French detectives and a Muslim crew, but didn't quite get the balance right.

Alliance Rising. Go internet! I finally managed to get hold of this, it's only been published for a few years. I don't know when this fits into the timeline, but it's as good as any. A welcome return to the Alliance/Union universe that CJC hasn't worked in for over a decade. Despite the time gap she's lost none of the threads.

I really enjoyed the return to the Alliance/Union universe. Hopefully there will be more, soon! And has it really been a few years? Wasn't it released kind of last year, or possibly late 2018?

>40 Busifer: Tbf, March 1, 2020 seems like a decade ago.

>39 reading_fox: I've always preferred Poirot's ego and dapper lifestyle to the Marple stories. I especially love The Big Four and The Labors of Hercules.

>41 libraryperilous: True that. Sadly.

Ploughed through another quickly want to play fun Police procedural with an innovative games team. Good characters and almost believable motivations.

>40 Busifer: you're right. Original Pub date jan 2019. Probably makes that the fastest I've ever been able to get hold of CJC's works. Still feels like a long gap. Profile comment discussion indicates it's set as a prelude to the company wars, before downbelow, but it really wasn't that clear to me from the text.

Maneater which I thought I remembered as enjoyable, but obviously my tastes have changed because it's just brutal throughout. Dark urban fantasy before it was really popular if that's your thing.

I'm going to take the lockdown opportunity to re-read all of Foreigner which is 20 books by now. I'll have to intersperse them with others, maybe Harry Dresdon and Mistwraith. Should keep me occupied for a while....

Oh, I was down with a brutal flu two years ago and started to listen to the Foreigner books. Initially it was just a matter of distraction: listening to something that didn't require heavy thought or or open eyes. I thought I'd get well after a book or two, but as I said, it was brutal, so I ended up listening to the first eight or nine. And why stop then? I ended up listening to all 19 then available in audio format. They were actually better than I remembered.

>44 reading_fox:, >45 Busifer: Thank you both, I had not heard of these.

No I haven't been doing a lot else recently.

Foreigner Invader Inheritor

Just like that. About 2 days per book which is fast (well a lot of) reading even for me.

Foreigner opens with a prolonged prologue detailing how humans arrived and why they can't find their way home. Jump forward 500 years and the descendants of 1 ship have made peace with the native through the office of the Padhi, one Bren who's just trying to get on with the job of his predecessors, slowly equating the technology of the two populations. However local politics have got considerably more involved than he expects and he's caught up in a power struggle.
The space ship has returned and in the next two books we learn how disruptive that have been and meet the first of the ship-crew whilst trying to resolve politics on both sides of the species divide.

I do love these books. they're so immersive you end up thinking in their polite grammar. CJC writes in a very tight thrid person so you only know things that are said to Bren and some of his thoughts. It sometimes takes a bit of thinking about to work out what's going on, but it always becomes clear by the end.

Similarly, Storm Front fool moon grave peril

These are however significantly lighter books, taking much less thought, and less time. SF and FM are not the best in the series as Jim is working out the details of Harry, but the basic premise is there throughout, wring Harry until he's nearly dead, let him finally discover what's going on, and show off a bit of magic along the way. The first two are somewhat jerky very much feel written for TV episodes with mini-cliffhangers at each chapter break which I dislike, but the banter and characters are fun, the magic's clever and kind of sufficiently limited to make the world believable.

precursor defender Bren's responsibilities grow and yet he continually remains surprised by Tabini's plotting. The space station's revival is progressing well but new agreements are always being made. Never forget the dowager's influence.

Summer knight one of my favourites in that Harry gets happy ending more or less for a while, it's just a bit zanya nd fun all around, but also introduces some concepts that are important later in the series.

A break from these two series for now while I catch up with an ER title.

>49 reading_fox: When I "reread" (listened) to Foreigner books 1-19 one of the things that hit me was how incredibly young and naive Bren was in particularly the first 6 books. Later on he still gets surprised and sandbagged by Tabini, but he also gets more deliberate in his actions.
Also, the "visitor centre" that they built at the "space port": were people set for space could spend the day/night before departure, a kind of middle station. Later on space flight became more like long distance air travel, a journey for sure but more casual even so, not requiring special facilities like that. It was interesting to re-visit those sites and times.

I often think of Foreigner as not as good as some of her other works, but I really do like and enjoy those books.

>50 Busifer: completely agree. Both with the series as a whole, and also how different the early books are to the image I have of Bren from the later ones. You easily forget how much he had to learn.

A few short titles in quick sucession:
water must fall ER title, not bad, but not quite good either. Water short near future, a melange of three character exploring the corporate greed and inequality in provision, but also their race and sexuality. It's all slightly too much, too many themes too many issues and not quite enough resolution

All systems red artificial condition the first two murderbot novellas. Sort of fun, but the transport in the 2nd is a far better character than murderbot itself. It does very little murdering being security rather than military and mostly it's just lazy and would rather not be working for humans - but then who would make all the entertainment?

alarico another ER title, a short novella exploring the backstory of some characters in a vampire romance world thing. Meh.

>51 reading_fox: I absolutely loved Murderbot and read all four books directly on top of each other. I read them so fast that I'm not sure what really happened in which book, and I do think they should had been published as one single volume: it's more like four chapters or parts than four separate books. I think the last two ups the tempo a bit, and also makes things come together more.

>52 Busifer: Do you think someone who mildly enjoyed but was unimpressed by the first two would like the last two? The tone of the first two is certainly fun, but I felt sort of frustrated by the speculative aspect: the main character seemed like a human with an anxiety disorder, not any sort of android. And once I realized that each novella seemed to have completely different settings and side characters (which were less well established in the second than in the first), I sort of lost interest. Should I re-evaluate?

>53 Kanarthi: Hard to say. To me it is one story that should had gone in one book, with the first part acting as a prologue. Murderbot is the only consisted character, though, and either one enjoys the tone of voice or not. I enjoyed it immensely but the episodic editing/style grated a bit. And that is consistent throughout the series (this far - I haven't read the lastest, Network Effect, yet as it got released today here.)

death masks blood rites some of the better Dresdens. He's finding his power it hasn't got too silly yet and there's lots of fun walking the boundry of morals.

Explorer and destroyer Bren's trip out to the stars and what's happened on his return.

The rest of Murder bot is in the queue along with a lot else! I'll get there.

>55 reading_fox: Hope you enjoy the rest of Murderbot when you get to it.

>53 Kanarthi: If you didn't love them (like I did) then don't keep going. There are too many other books waiting.

The Andromeda's ghost and Rue of hope two ER titles, the former is quite good, a little odd with an unusual twist that is well carried through the whole book. A guard captain elopes with his princess and crashlands on a desolate planet. It doesn't go where you expect!

Rue is frankly turgid. Clunky prose with long meanders and little plot. Probably could have tightened up to a nice novella, as there is a hint of good idea. Oaf of a hero spends a very long time trying to earn a living of sorts in a city before the local politics erupts.

rogue protocol and exit strategy the remaining two murderbot novellas. As >54 Busifer: best to consider all 4 one not that long novel. They're easy reading, lightly sarcastic humorous. I'm intrigued to try some of her longer fantasy writing sometime, does anyone know if it's any good?

>57 reading_fox: I love Martha Wells fantasy books! The Books of the Raksura are about non-human shapeshifters - there are no humans in the books at all and the protagonists don't shift into cute furry animals either. Wells creates really thoughtful societies and biology for her creations, and her plots explore issues of identity and community alongside compelling stories. Start with The cloud roads.

I've also read the Ile-Rien books. There are five, but the first two (The element of fire and The death of the necromancer) are effectively stand-alones, set a century or so apart, and the final three are a trilogy about the younger generation of characters in the second book. Element of fire feels C18th-ish, with cavaliers fighting with rapiers. Necromancer feels Victorian, and the Ile Rien trilogy early C20th-ish with ocean liners and airships. I would describe them as fantasy-historical, with engaging characters and excellent world building that is clearly analogous to our world but with magic.

It looks as though all but the Ile Rien trilogy are available on kindle.

>58 Sakerfalcon: I have been on then outlook for her Raksura books, but they seems to move in and out of my local SF bookshop's stock faster that I can get over there. Good to know they're worth hunting down, though!

(Not too keen on fantasy with a Victorian or steam-ish feel, though, so will probably stay away from Ile-Rien.)

>59 Busifer: I can understand your reluctance to try the Ile Rien books based on my description. I wouldn't class them as steampunk as all the usual trappings are either absent or very much in the background. It is the characters who are important. But if you can get your hands on the Raksura books I do highly recommend them!

>58 Sakerfalcon: that's a good recommendation thanks!

>58 Sakerfalcon: I've borrowed The Element of Fire based on your description. I hope I like the series well enough to make it to the Age of Ocean Liners books.

>61 reading_fox: Happy to help grow your TBR piles!

>62 libraryperilous: I hope you enjoy it too. Even if you don't it may be worth persevering because the later books are so very different in setting and plot.

Deliverer and Pretender One of my favourites in the whole series (P) immediately followed by one of my least (D). P is full of action, culture, challenge and getting back to the aveti way of life after the space story. Bren's involved and caught up in everything. IN Defender he's just tagging along, we get Cajeri's active voice which I don't like, and the stupid robots, fortunately destined to play little further part.

Dead Beat

Harry and the necromancers, with the Tyranosaur. Silly but remains fun. Introduces Lash my favourite of all his sidekicks as Harry battles with some tricky moral questions, sadly, like so many of Harry's great tricks she's only around for a few books. I prefer my heros to recognise the grey lines, and this run of books is the best bit of the whole series, where it's not quite clear who the enemies always are, nor what sacrifices are right to be made.

Conspirator deceiver and betrayer which pretty much need to be read back to back, as Bren explores the politics of the West coast somewhat more personally than he'd intended. We still get Cajeri's independent voice sometimes, but it mostly works pretty well. Lots of thinking about the politics in the opening and the consequences play out int he latter halfs. It does require some concentration to keep the names and affiliations straight, particularly as what Bren thinks is the case at the beginning changes mid-way through as new motivations come to light.

I absolutely agree with you on Deliverer. I remember thinking, at the time, that the overall quality fell at about that point. Listening to the whole series, back to back, made me change my mind, though. The issue is not so much an over all decline in the storytelling as it is an issue of each three-book arch being more or less one story delivered over three books with a one year gap between them (if read as published, which I did). Which impacts the pacing.

White knight and small favour Mid-series Dresden novels, featuring my favourite side-kick Lash, and the start pf the insanely stupid ramp-up in adversaries Harry faces.

Intruder Almost standalone Foreigner novel, Bren playing politics and Cajeri providing some contrived drama. Little happens, but the bows are put on the agreement with the complexities of one of the political regimes

Selkie Summer one of the better ER books I've had, probably because it's by an established author. He normally writes fairly hard SF, this is a fling at urban fantasy, short but works well.

Traitor Will probably appeal to the lot of the GD. Strong female protagonist low fantasy, politicking and economics. Really well worked as Baru tries to find a way to reclaim her nations heritage against the cultural hegemony of the Masked Empire that's dominated all the surrounding lands. But first she has to be accepted within the Empire, and even in a meritocracy that's not easy. I relaly enjoyed this and only hope the sequels are anywhere near as good - to go high on the reading list.

protector and peacemaker Bren continues trying to politic the aveti nation back to peace and Cajeri finally gets his long awaited birthday party. Fun extension of the series but not my favourites.

All five title culminating in streets of anger as an ER 'horror' series, where the only horror is mild gore, and zero emotional investment. Ghosts kill people, hero tries to help.

Another long mix of Cherryh and Butcher.

side jobs working for bigfoot and turn coat Harry all about normal, bigfoot isn't great, TurnCoat is one of my favourites as we get introduced to the BlackCouncil. The short stories intersperse around the timeline.

tracker, visitor, convergence Bren deals with the kyo and starts Island politics - which is as far as they've been released in the UK -another two are written but only on amazon that I'm avoiding. Hopefully I'll find a source soon. Amazing the a series manages to keep the quality going this long.

Which takes us to changes another long running series doing incredibly well at the quality. I've read Changes a couple of times. I read the last short story above which is set 1 hr later. It's still an absolutely shocking cliffhanger of an ending an unforgivable especially at the time there was a year to wait to find out. As it is I can plunge straight into the next one.

>69 reading_fox: What, you can't get CJ's latest Foreigner books in the UK? I have had the general idea that because I can pre-order and pick them up from my local SF bookshop, here in what I perceive as back-water Sweden, of course you would be able to do something similar in "cosmopolitan" UK (this is how Swede's view the UK, Brexit or no Brexit). Don't Forbidden Planet take mail order? Have everything been wiped out by Amazon (there's no Amazon Sweden/Scandinavia/Nordics)?

>70 Busifer: - no they're always ridiculously slow into the UK, at least a year late for Amazon, sometimes more if you stand on principles and don't buy from A. There are only 9 ebooks: fortress and a couple of others. I think it's publisher's distribution rules rather than shops themselves. I probably could find a US import, but it's really expensive. I did have Emergence on hand after all so I'm just missing the last one.

No idea why the cover is so inappropriate on E - Bren doesn't face a crowd anywhere in the entire book. I don't really like the split storyline, but at least Cajeri is a bit more interesting. Although the standard has remained very high, I'm glad CJC is allowed to go back to Alliance for a while.

No, Emergence isn't my favourite, either.

The publishing thing must be about publishing rights. I guess Sweden is too obscure and small a market for SF & F. Regardless of if the publisher is UK or US based we often get the book at the same date as in the country of origin. The same with audio books, it seems.

Well I haven't updated this in a three weeks!

Ghost story skin game and cold days went by quickly GS is odd, but Butcher quickly reverts from making Harry and the readers learn a whole new way of doing things by a pretty giant duex et machina. But it works, and allows us a view of the Gatekeeper (Rashid) and the reason the world is as it is. It's one of my favourite scenes. A few of my favourite characters get moved on (again) but it remains a lot of fun. I now have peace talks which apparently ends on a massive Cliff Hanger (again!) so Battle ground is due in September. Maybe I'll wait that long.

After that I've read a lot of free ebooks that came in by email I'm not sure where from. They mostly weren't that good, but faces in the water was better than some, if very weird.

ER title - Elephant speak was ok, but dated and as a biography rather than an auto-biography didn't quite capture the personality you could tell was lurking behind the stories.

The myriad and wolf star went by in a day each as a chance to read my actual paper books. Great Mil-SF very gung-ho but possibly the best managed time-travel I've ever read, not normally a gimmick I enjoy.

I'm working my way through the Dresden Files again as well. Only at Grave Peril, but knowing that Battle Ground isn't out until September lets me have a little breathing space. :)

Ah, good to know about the clifferhanger in Peace Talks. I shall wait until later in August to read it then.

>69 reading_fox: Woo, 18 books in that series now! I read the first 6, then I guess I thought it was going to get repetitive? What's kept you (and >72 Busifer:) going this far? Should I pick them back up?

>73 reading_fox: Apparently Peace Talks & Battle Ground were going to be just one book originally but his publisher suggested that it would work better as two. Butcher agreed but only if the publishing dates were as close together as could be. Meant he had to expand the start for both books and thus part of the reason we've been waiting a while for it.

>76 Karlstar: - it kept me by not being repetitive. It mostly alternates (ish) between a silly but fun book (eg your next one dead Beat doesn't add much to the main story but is fun in it's own right, and then a book delving more into the overarching series plot and Harry's backstory. He does repeat some of the basic information in most books, but quickly moves on to main themes, and keeps introducing new tricks, charms and items. So although Potions was a big thing in the early books they're pretty much redundant now, he if needs one he has it on him, without us having to read about how he makes it each time. Only the circle magic gets mentioned with any frequency.

And the other two Merrimack Command and Strength and Honor rush by - there are two more in the series apparently but not as ebooks and I've not seen them in paper either, they're on my look-out for list. The series does wrap up well at this point though, and it's been fun Mil-SF all the way through.

>78 reading_fox: Sorry, I was actually referring to the Foreigner series by Cherryh. I have read one of the Dresden files novels, just haven't gotten to others yet.

>76 Karlstar: The story evolves further, and not too much repetition, but I have started to think of the Foreigner series as "cosy political intrigue", where I get to revisit loved characters at regular intervals (a book a year, almost, with no. 21 due next month).

Like with most series either you get captured and want to know what happens next... or not.

>76 Karlstar: Foreigner is just comfort reading. Wonderfully enjoyable peaceful foreign culture marvellously done. I suppose it is somewhat repetitive, Bren is frequently placed in similar situations as he grows and his position in society improves he has more resources to have a greater impact. It's just lovely, but I'm not sad that CJC is moving on to write other stories now.

A fortnight's update lots reading but not much reviewing:
Brief cases Later short stories from Changes through to the current time point, some nice explanations of events referred to in the novels.
Djinn City odd urban fantasy with Djinn politics. Never really exploits its potential too busy with gimmicks.
The Martians great short stories from KSR all set on the Mars trilogy, following up some of the minor characters. Really made me want to re-read the novels.
Reading 5x5 x2 ER collaborative short stories of weird SF not my thing.
in the vanishers palace more weird SF from a storybundle collection. Apparently a retelling of Beauty and the Beast it isn't recognisable. Does have dragons and aliens though.
Heart of the Circle also Storybundle but very much better. Israeli, urban fantasy with Sorcerers on the receiving end of prejudice from the normal community. Gender and race are irrelevant but Empaths and pyromancers are feared despite their peaceful natures. Very well done character driven story. A bit of an abrupt start plunging into their world and a little slow to develop the action but worth the wait.

Life update - new normal is ok, I'm reading quite a bit, but not online so much. Work is week on week off which is intense when I'm in, trying to get everything done, and then when working from home for a week I'm not inclined to spend more time in front of PC. Especially this week when it's been scorching hot and then thundery. I'm on leave next week and hope to have a bit more time and inclination for social computing.

>80 Busifer: >81 reading_fox: Thanks to both of you. I believe I have 1 more book in that series I haven't read yet. Unfortunately 'cozy political intrigue' only goes so far with me, so I'll likely read the 1 book, then stop again.

>81 reading_fox: >82 Karlstar: Seconding @reading_fox's assessment of the Foreigner series as comfort reading; also with not being sad that she's moving on to write in her Alliance universe (or wherever her mind takes her).

I would say, though, that political intrigue and socio-economic dynamics as perceived from the perspective of the ordinary people affected by it rather than controlling or playing at it is at the heart of almost every story she tells, often with a side of linguistics/culture but not always. Foreigner happens to be a cozy variant, others are more adventure-oriented, or coming of age stories. But enjoying the political intrigue/socio-economic dynamic part is key to liking what she writes.

Oh well so much for social computing. I spent the week turning a concrete front yard into a flowerbed. A good workout, but quite tiring.

in the vanisher's palace odd, as all of her work is. aliens have visited earth and left again, leaving plague nano-tech indistinguishable from magic to the villagers, who summon a dragon to heal the head villagers daughter. But no gifts come without a price.

bone silence the conclusion to the initially YA series, but it's got much darker since then, and now it doesn't easily fit anywhere. The twins having been re-united now captain vessels of their own and seek to finally understand the mysteries of the history Reynolds created. It's too long too rushed and too forced to be his best, and would have worked better as a 4 or 5 piece. I'm glad he's turned his eye to pastures new whatever they turn out to be.

the constant rabbit Fforde's latest satire, a bit more blatent than most he's really not happy with the inflamatory rhetoric of Brexit and it shows. Not his funniest book, but pointed. Rabbits undergo an anthropomorphic event and don't like the consequences, humans being mostly small minded and unwelcoming.

Peace Talks does end on the promised cliff hanger- more just stops mid-story also not his best, although probably not fair to judge until battleground is out. Stupidly powerful enemies again, just ever more over the top and stops being believable.

heart of iron Trainpunk. a sub-genre of steam punk. Set mostly along the trans-siberean railway. a Russian student tries to solve diplomatic tensions. The politics is unlikely but the characters and the world are great fun.

The sea of the dead ER title, mid-trilogy, takes a while to get into but even so the beginning is more tell than show,but it gets better later as the action establishes. This was sufficiently good atlantis fantasy (not normally a favourite) that I might try to find the start of the series.

Silver in the wood a novelette from Tor but really rather wonderful, I think will appeal to many GDers. Reworking of the Wild Man in the wood, from his point of view with dryads and a new Lord of the Mannor who pays a visit. A harridan of a mother who's also a folklore researcher is a lovely touch. Apparently there's a sequel.

So I managed a bit of reading.

I've nearly finished love and other poisons a collection of dark.weird SF romance short stories again from Storybundle. some better than others.

>84 reading_fox: Jasper Fforde? Brexit? Wishlist!

>84 reading_fox: "I spent the week turning a concrete front yard into a flowerbed."

The experts on the panel of Gardeners Question Time would be proud of you.

>84 reading_fox: Yes, Silver in the Wood does look very tempting. Thank you.

I downloaded Silver in the wood from tor.com and must push it up the TBR.

I have enjoyed everything I've read so far by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, including Love and other poisons. I'm really looking forward to her latest novels, Mexican gothic and Untamed shore. She hasn't yet done the same thing twice in her books!

And The constant rabbit is on my Wishlist.

>88 Sakerfalcon: Rebellion Publishing recently gave away her Signal to Noise. I haven't found time to read it yet but hope to soon. It will be my first Moreno-Garcia. Have you read that one?

Happy to hear Silver in the Wood is a decent read. I downloaded it and forgot to send it to my kindle or add it to my library here.

I am tempted by the Fforde, but I still have a few of his unread hanging around.

>89 ScoLgo: Yes, I enjoyed it. A spiky protagonist who is hard to warm to, but interesting, and the Mexican setting and focus on music makes it stand out from the usual UF conventions.

>91 Sakerfalcon: Thank you. I will have to move it up on my TBR.

>88 Sakerfalcon: >90 clamairy: I too subscribe to the TOR monthly freebie. Unfortunately, I have this terrible habit of downloading the books but then not getting around to reading them. I must have 18 months (or more) worth of free books on my kindle and have only managed to read a couple of them so far.

>92 ScoLgo: Yes, I do the same. It usually takes someone in here talking about one of them to remind me to even add them, much less read them. There have been some gems though, so I will keep doing it.

>92 ScoLgo: , >93 clamairy: Me too! I have a policy of not adding Kindle books to LT until I've at least started to read them, which makes my rate of book acquisition look more moderate, but doesn't help me to remember what is on there! I'm a bit cross that I forgot to download Riot baby when it was offered recently.

I have a tendency to buy a Kindle book and forget to catalogue it here. That leads me to forget what is on the Kindle. On the rare occasion I scan through by Kindle library I am pleasantly surprised at some of the books I have, but equally disheartened that I had forgotten about them and not thought of them when deciding what to read next.

>94 Sakerfalcon: & >95 pgmcc: I have been trying to remember to add all acquisitions right away. And to change the covers to an LT upload. The key word there is try.

>94 Sakerfalcon: If you PM me your email address I would be happy to send the Riot Baby mobi file.

I only catalog books on LT at the time I start reading them, but I do catalog every book I acquire (including e-books) in my personal Access database so I can keep track of what I have unread.

I tend to put off cataloging new books too, although I usually get to them within a few days. My tactic is to leave an e-mail in my in box until I’ve cataloged the related book. This is helped by the fact that nearly every book I purchase is an e-book and so I usually get an e-mail receipt of some sort. If not, I write myself an e-mail.

For both my work e-mail and my personal e-mail, I only keep e-mails in my in box if I still need to do something with them. I therefore see my in-box as a sort of to-do list, and having a lot of e-mails in my in-box makes me feel like I’m falling behind on my responsibilities, so I’m highly motivated to do whatever it is I need to do (catalog books in this case) so that I can move the e-mails into my backup folder.

>94 Sakerfalcon: >96 clamairy: Because TOR offers both, I always download MOBI and EPUB of their freebies. Also happy to send either - or both - formats your way @Sakerfalcon. And I really do have a rather lengthy backlog so if there are any other titles anyone is missing, PM me and I'll see if I have it.

>97 YouKneeK: That is exactly how I use my work inbox. If there is a message sitting there, I need to get to it soon! ;)

I add paper books to LT as soon as I get home, but like others ebooks only get added once I've finished reading them. However because I'm quite good (not perfect!) at reviewing everything, pretty much everything I've read is on LT. I still tend to not buy/download ebooks until I've read everything else I own. I don't have a TBR pile as such though there's still a handful of Storybundle titles I'm working through, I just have a very long wishlist of things I mean to buy/read and haven't yet acquired. Once (if!) an ebook exists I don't think it's likely to become unavailable, unlike paperbooks.

Has anyone tried the Silver in the wood sequel?

I not only have a wishlist, but I'm keeping a collection called "ordered". This is mainly because books that I order on line go to our house in Bicester, and I can't get there—haven't been there since the end of March. I need to keep track of what I order. Plus, when I can finally enter the books properly, it (hopefully) will take about 5 minutes to do the lot.

At the moment, that collection has 15 books in it.

I used not to enter eBooks unless I either started to read them, or had paid for them. But am frustrated by finding that I don't remember what I have, so have started to go back and catalogue even the free ones.

When I joined LT, I promised myself that I would not waste time trying to catalogue books that I read before joining LT, or books that I owned prior to joining, unless I started to read them. The past seems too much of a time sink.

Since now - given pandemic situation - it seems unlikely that I will ever be reunited with the majority of my book collection, I am glad that I made that decision.

Blimey I knew I'd let this thread slide a bit but hadn't realised it had been six weeks. I've read a lot in that time! A few re-reads, a few ER titles nothing standout, but a few less bad than usual, all the rest of the Storybundle, and a bunch of others, the highlights were:

Starsight Brandon's YA SF which remains fast and fun, but I'm not sure where he's going with it. He's much better at starting/imaging a world/magic than continuing it to a sensible end. White Sand was good in that regard too.

red moon wasn't my favourite KSR, I'm not sure he's the writer to try to imagine other cultures, he does so well with USA he should stay with that.

False Value continuing Peter Grant's magical rivers. Fun I enjoyed this more than the last, even though it's very silly in places. I think this series has hit it's highpoint now and it's probably time for something new - I'd be very interested to see what Ben could do in another setting.

The priory of the orange tree as recommended by various denizens here. Fully enjoyed this, great fun, well written, balanced characters and just a good story. Anyone tried her urban fantasy Bone Season? is it any good?

Much more to look forward to! OtherHalf was made redundant recently so I'm unlikely to buy new books for a while, but I had a good splurge just beforehand and have plenty of re-reading I can enjoy as well. I'm back at work full-time which is getting in the way of the reading I'd managed to enjoy while we were in various degrees of lockdown. On the other hand my weekends are still pretty restricted so I'll get plenty of reading in then. I may even manage to look in on some other GD threads.

Glad you enjoyed Priory of the Orange Tree, I thought it was great. I've read the first two books in the Bone Season series and didn't enjoy them as much. They are interesting, and Shannon put a lot of detail into the world building - perhaps too much at times - but there were some character and relationship cliches that have got a bit old now. As this was her first novel I suspect that there will be fewer cliches and more exploration of the dystopian English world she's created as the series progresses. I see The bone season is 99p on kindle now, so maybe give it a try.

Agree with you about Red Moon, it was a bit "meh". I'm interested in his new book, The ministry for the future.

I'm glad you liked Priory, one of my favorite novels. I especially liked the water vs fire dragon mythology. And the descriptions of food, geography, and fashion, of course.

I'm glad you've had a good few weeks of reading! I'm sorry to hear of your partner's redundancy.

re: the Aaronovitch series, can those be read as standalones? I'm interested in Foxglove Summer, but not interested enough to commit to prior titles.

>104 libraryperilous: I think you could get away with reading Foxglove Summer in isolation of the series. While you might miss out on some of the how and why the characters do what they do the story is very much a stand-alone and doesn't form part of the ongoing main arc of that part of the series.

>104 libraryperilous: I wouldn't. The beginning might make some sense, but I think the ending requires an understanding from the rest of the series. You'll probably work it out as it goes along, but some things might come across as very odd - they're just how that world works. That said if you're only going to read one of them, other than the first this is the closest to a standalone.

>105 AHS-Wolfy:, >106 reading_fox: Thank you both. I've added Foxglove to my TBR, but I'll keep in mind that I might need to read at least the first one in the series before I try it.

>107 libraryperilous: I'll add my voice to those recommending that you read at least the first book first. That world works in a very particular way, and most of the setup is done there.

Foxglove Summer dies not contribute much to the main story arc, so other than some relationships having moved on from the first book, skipping the intervening ones should not be too much of an issue.

>108 -pilgrim-: Thank you! This is very helpful.

>102 reading_fox: Glad you like Priory of the Orange Tree. I keep bumping it back down my pile because of its size. And I still have to finish the first Peter Grant book. I am enjoying it. Reminds me a lot of The Rook. I own it so it keeps getting set aside for stuff from OverDrive. What number in the series is he up to now? Good lord, eight... :o(

>110 clamairy: - yes I agree with the similar feel to the Rook and at least the sequels are better than Stilletto. Initially I thought he had a plan for the series, but the last few have felt more like here's another incident we can drag Peter into.

Catching up, so need to start with sending hugs to H for being made redundant. Not a fun situation, and I hold my thumbs for the situation to righten itself.

On KSR I'm generally in two minds: I both like, and then don't like as much. Mainly because he's prone to info-dumping, and runs off in directions that don't contribute to the story. Still, I like enough to go on reading him, every now and then.
He's a bit like Neal Stephenson, in that regard. Sometimes I just feel entirely fed up with his righteous deux ex machina bull, but then I skip the worst parts and manage to enjoy the rest. Generally not something I do, otherwise.
I don't really understand how that works, but I'm going to let that slide.

And another six weeks vanish. It's not helped by a particularly urgent project at work which is, for once, actually quite interesting as well as important. Somewhat late to the party my boss is leading a national push to explore whether our analytical technology can be used as a covid test. It's already in-situ in hospitals so just needs the application updating. We (consortium of 10 unis) get to provide all the supporting data. Plus hand filling 40000 vials to go in test kits. But it's meant long days and even weekend working which I normally avoid, and hence less reading.

Some more highlights:
A pale light in the black
KB Wagers new series, no more Hail, instead a mixed cast of CoastGuards in space, rescuing people and competing with the real Navy. Perhaps not as imaginative, but still great reading. Also read the two Farian war featuring Hail and can't wait for the conclusion early next year.

Finished of Simon Mordon's Metrozone trilogy, Also not as good as the first, but still very clever, AI, gangs, physics, and mayhem

The cloud roads didn't really do much for me, I think too many different themes, with non-human bnarrative voice the world building needs to be crystal clear and this felt muddied and made up as it went along. Some great ideas though, but not enough for me to continue the series.

The secret commonwealth a bit too blunt, swinging the philosophy back the other way, it's only the wrong kind of imagination Pullman doesn't approve of. This is quite dark and definitely no longer YA.

A few Noir style books from Storybundle, much less bad than they sometimes are, although since when as SF-Noir been a thing, these have all been SF so far.

>113 reading_fox: A Pale Light was my first Wagers. I liked it well enough to explore Wagers' other books.

Two weeks at home! thanks work, a bit of a recovery and time to unwind. I probably won't spend that much time here in the only pub that's open, and I hope to squeeze in a lot more reading.

Guardian of the balance - an Arthurian fantasy told from one of the minor characters, a childhood friend. Enjoyed this more than I expected, quite a clever reworking of the legends, especially some of the less well known time of Arthur growing up. It's the start of a series that skips through time, and I'd expected this to do so too, but it's entirely in Arthur's life.

A mix of good and bad ER titles,
Lockdown tales might finally convince me to read more of Asher, it seems like a better version of Culture where they actually have a plot.
two DNFs which is unheard of for me, but I just don't have the patience for poor writing, no halo required was just bad, folk songs for trauma surgeons too dark and weird for me at the moment.

Untamed shore was part of the same noir bundle as others above, but very well written, if not really my setting. Catholic girl growing up in 70s Baja, had little relevance to me, but well told.

Peace talks and Battle ground I think these did need to be one book, with half the fight taken out of BG because there was nothing but fighting, and while it's fun for a while it went on too long. Well handled death of a major character though, Jim again using up Harry's supporters which is a huge shame as they're often better than Harry.

Last few books of the year, Chanur, chanur homecoming and chanur legacy Which just remain great fun, very clever aliens - especially the lion styled Han, and one of the only books I know that is successfully written from a non-human POV. Space politics, alien culture and fluff what's not to love. The "Saga" is oddly packaged, with Pride being standalone, and then the next two are part of a trilogy that concludes in Homecoming, and Legacy is an extended epilogue featuring the next generation.

The final book fo the year which I've started but won't finish tonight (unless zoom gets too dull) is Lud-in-the-mist from an astute Santathingee.

140 books this year! https://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?tag=%402020&view=reading_fox up about a third from the last few years. 2020 has been many things, but the opportunity to read more is distinct positive to take from it. I've enjoyed re-reading some old favourites, and refreshed some long running series.

Plenty of 5* from CJ CHerryh but also Spinning silver and my friend's battle ground (and the beta read of the short stories to come) far too many 4.5* to mention, KB Wagers Jim butcher simon morden and new (to me) authors to watch out for: seth dickinson emily tesh samantha shannon

Storybundle did well 19 books read, of which half were at least 4*, and I've a few more from the latest noir bundle still to go. Early Reviwers about the same 21 books just under half at 4 or 4.5* I've been a bit more selective in choosing this year which has helped, but I've still normally received 2 ebooks to review.

I always aim to read more non-fiction, but this year was particularly lacking in that regard, I've only tagged elephant speak as non-fiction this year, I'm sure there may have been another one or two, but if so I didn't record them. I'm not that likely to be feeling like reading non-fic in 2021 either at least until we're back to "normal" until then I'll continue enjoying my escapist genres.