February Reviews

Shortest month of the year and a a decent number of books, but still not quite as many as I wanted. My anxiety has been off the charts lately, so we're just going to dive in.

Network Effect by Martha Wells

Another Murderbot Diaries book for the docket, and honestly this one might have been my favorite one yet.

The world building continues to expand, becoming more and more interesting, and we got to see more of Murderbot's chosen family and it learning about human family dynamics. It also got the opportunity to make a choice for itself, which is huge growth. 

We also got the return of ART, my favorite Asshole Research Transport. 

Wells continues to be clever and funny and so, so human in her depiction of a construct very much not human. I love it so much.

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

Okay, after A Deadly Education ended in a very compelling cliffhanger, I knew I had to keep reading the series. And honestly it was such a good follow up-- the continued world building was fascinating, and getting to learn more about the scholomance was unendingly fascinating.

El continues to be a lore heavy narrator, still snarky, but slowly getting used to caring about other people and being cared about in return. Her demeanor makes a big shift in this book, and I love the person she's becoming as she accepts that her view of the world being unfair is in fact something she can have control over.

The way the whole book comes together is just. So good. It's tense in the right places, hopeful in others, with the perfect mix of teenage snark and wishing for a better world for the future. 

I loved it, even if I am currently beating myself for not buying the third book with the second, because surprise, there was another insane cliffhanger and now I have to read the next book asap, but also have to wait for it to get to my home. Hopefully it does so soon, but I supposed you'll find out.

Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender

I'm going to be unfortunately honest and say I made it halfway through this book before I had to set it aside. It just wasn't clicking for me right now, and I'm hopeful that I can finish it sometime in the future, but I gave it the old college try and just can't do it right now.

The world building is a lot, but truly interesting, a world of magic based on quantum physics and a society where practicing alchemy without a license is illegal. It also serves as a social commentary, because only the wealthy and privileged have access to schools and training to get a license more easily. 

I didn't love the romance, but I did like the main character enough to follow the story as long as I did, but I think right now it's just not what I need to read.

I also didn't love the pacing-- it feels like the story meanders a bit, like I should be closer to the end with where the plot is but I'm still firmly halfway.

It can feel kind of convoluted at times with establishing characters and motivations and all the layers of world building, but I truly think a lot of that is my focus just not being on this book, which is why I hope I can come back to it later.

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

I really liked this Murderbot Diaries installment-- like really, really liked it. 

It was still a serialized story, but this one was a murder mystery with many of the familiar key players from the series, and that was such a delightful combination. Plus Murderboy seemed especially asshole-y while also super invested and I love that combination. 

I truly can't get enough of this series and am so sad that there seems to only be one book left, which I'm going to demolish as soon as this review is done. 

Wells had a shit ton of other work though, so I'm sure I can follow her down another rabbit hole.

System Collapse by Martha Wells

This is the last Murderbot Diary that I'm aware of, which would be devastating if I wasn't like 80% sure there's something else out there somewhere.

I love this series, I love this character, I love the very human progression of it all, and I love that it's all wild science fiction nonsense.

This book in particular was a little slow for me-- it was a direct follow up to Exit Strategy, which wasn't my favorite, so it took a minute to get back into it and start moving again, but it picked up as things moved along and by the end I was back in it.

And it's set up perfectly for more books, if Wells so chooses, and I certainly hope she does.

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

The final book in the Scholomance series, this one started a little slowly and then kicks your teeth in and it's off to the races.

I truly can't get into this one without major spoilers, but the world is expansive in this one, and it just gets bigger and bigger and more and more terrible. Like, holy shit, the build up was insane and then each reveal of each thing that happens just gets more and more wild.

It took me a minute to get this book going, but once it hit it fucking Hit, and it was such a satisfying conclusion to this wild and magical trilogy. I love El and her raging group of friends trying to just do good, even when it feels like the whole world is against you. Every small bit of good and light fights back the darkness.

I really loved this series, it was such a sarcastic and ultimately beautifully uplifting series about trauma and magic and wanting to do good by everyone in a world that encourages the opposite. 

If you're looking for a magic school fix that doesn't taste like washed up TERF, give this one a try.

The Golden Raven by Nora Sakavic

A secret ebook! Not pictured!

The long awaited second book in The Sunshine Court series (follow up to The Foxhole Court trilogy), and I couldn't wait for a physical copy to drop, so I bought the ebook the day it came out (I'll buy a paper copy later too, don't even worry).

Jean's very fraught healing journey continues, and it sometimes surprised me how...not meandering, but a little bit of that, the plot was. There's progression and movement, but it doesn't follow the same high speed high intensity craziness the original series had. This one is slower, digging into the roots of pain and forcing you to move anyways, because the only way out is through.

I continue to love these characters, and it was nice to see more of the Trojans. Jeremy's long awaited tragic backstory was finally revealed (we guess pretty damn close, right Elisa?) and every chapter gives a bit more of Jean as he starts to look at and reckon with the things done to him.

Overall, I appreciate the lack of cliffhanger, because it means I can patiently wait for the next book instead of clawing my hair out trying to figure out what will come next.

I'm almost done with another book, so I thought maybe I'd hit eight books this month, but that's alright. We'll get em next month.

Literary recommendation: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Media recommendation: I just finished season two of the Apple TV show Bad Sisters, and really enjoyed it