BooksOfTheMoon

Starter Villain

By John Scalzi

Rating: 4 stars

Charlie Fitzer isn’t having a great time of it. His wife divorced him, he lost his job, and he’s back in his childhood home, after the death of his father (which he doesn’t, technically, own). And then his uncle Jake dies and his life gets worse. Jake was a billionaire, and, it turns out, a supervillain. And he’s left his villainous empire to Charlie. Despite Charlie never having met him since he was five years old.

Like its predecessor, Kaiju Preservation Society, Starter Villain is set in a present-day Earth that’s just a little… twisted. Charlie is thrown into the society of supervillains without any help, other than his uncle’s super-competent right hand woman, Mathilda Morrison. His new empire comes complete with volcano lair, giant laser and foul-mouthed dolphins. Oh, and sentient cats. This book is a huge amount of fun, but also manages to satirise late-stage capitalism, discuss labour relations, and the fecklessness of holders of inherited wealth in under 300 pages. It’s pretty light and easy to read but makes no bones about where it’s coming from and who Scalzi would have up against the wall when the revolution comes (spoiler: it’s billionaires). And in that, he’ll have my axe. Until that happens, I guess I’ll just keep buying his books.

Book details

ISBN: 9781529082951
Publisher: Tor
Year of publication: 2023

Half Share (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, #2)

By Nathan Lowell

Rating: 4 stars

The second book in this series moves the focus from trading to interpersonal relationships, specifically between our protagonist, Ishmael Wang, and three of his fellow shipmates that he gets close to. There’s his new boss Brill, after his move from Steward to Environmental; his former bunkmate Beverly; and his new co-worker Diane. Ishmael is attracted to all three women, but his ship, the Lois McKendrick has a strict no fraternising rule. The book is mostly him working how to live with this situation.

There’s quite a bit of male gaze at the three women which isn’t great, and it’s not exactly balanced by the attention that they focus on his physical appearance – to remind people, this is an eighteen year old. But everyone is pretty respectful all the way through. Ishmael, in particular, shows a lot more emotional maturity than I would expect in a young man his age, as he comes to understand quickly about the limits of seeking comfort ashore.

There’s also a slightly unexpected strain of mysticism running through the book, related to some pendants that some of the crew buy for trade goods and which later ties in to Ish’s replacement on the mess deck, Sarah Krugg. Nothing that took me out of the story particularly, but just unexpected in this sort of book.

While I missed Pip and Cookie, who fade into the background here, the additional development of Brill, Beverly and Diane is lovely. I was a bit disappointed how quickly that Sarah’s story came out and how little a mark that her history seems to have left on her, although I guess we’ll see in future books, which I fully intend to read.

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The Sorceress Transcendent

By Casey Blair

Rating: 4 stars

Theira is one of the most powerful sorceresses of her generation, but has managed to find a way to get out of the war. Varius is one of the Empire’s greatest generals, but is disgraced when he refuses to attack his own people. Injured and forced out, Varius turns to Theira, once his greatest enemy, for help.

This is an enemies to lovers story, but without the enemies. Varius and Theira may have been enemies on the battlefield, but they’ve respected each other on the battlefield, and have had the hots for each other forever and there’s very little of the sparks that you’d expect from two enemies forced together. It’s a delightful little novella, and surprisingly gruesome at times for this author. My favourite death is probably the one who’s bashed repeatedly against a wall by a giant golem like a rag doll.

Definitely fun, and with a nice bit of world building for a fairly short novella.

Book details

ISBN: 9798985110180

Quarter Share (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, #1)

By Nathan Lowell

Rating: 4 stars

After his mother dies, the company that runs his planet evicts Ishmael Wang within hours. He ends up signing up to the lowest position on to an interstellar freighter and we follow him as he makes friends on the ship and falls in love with the “Deep Dark” of space. It’s a gentle, cosy story with lots of food, trading, and so much coffee.

Despite the far-future setting, there’s very little science fiction in this book. Other than the really nice food, there’s little that would change if we moved from a space freighter to a sailing ship. But I enjoyed spending time with the characters, so I didn’t particularly mind that. There’s a lot of trading as well, where they pick up items from one world and take it to another to sell. It reminded me of a game of Traveller that my RPG group played a while ago. I found the trading aspect the least interesting part of the game and it’s one reason that we’ve never really gone back to that game.

I was also quite surprised by how quickly and easily Ishmael settled into the ship. There had been talk in the early chapters about hazing and lack of respect for the junior crew. But there’s no sign of that on the Lois McKendrick. I also couldn’t entirely believe that the drills were a surprise to Ishmael. Surely that would be front and centre in the Handbook and he’d have been instructed in that on day one. But then there didn’t seem to be much of an induction on the ship.

But despite the minor complaints, I enjoyed getting to know the crew of the Lois McKendrick. I’ll definitely be reading the next one in the series.

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Illuminations

By T. Kingfisher

Rating: 4 stars

Rosa is the youngest of a family of magical artists. While bored, and wanting to help her family, she discovers a box that seems determined to keep her away. Obviously, this can’t stand so she works out how to get past the defences and open it. Hilarity mayhem ensues.

This is a lovely little YA story, the first half of which I found immensely frustrating, as Rosa hid what she’d done from her (loving) family and tried to resolve things on her own. It drives the plot and seems like the sort of thing a young person would do, but it’s not until things come out into the open and everyone starts working together that things start to work out. I’m sure there’s a lesson there…

Rosa’s family is sketched but they’re all lovely. Her parents were killed in a fire when she was young, but her grandmother, uncles, aunts and cousin are all delightful, with their own quirks to differentiate them. Uncle Alfonso’s kindness and joy in life especially stand out.

I loved the idea of these magical “illuminations”, that have to be so specific (to keep mice away, you can draw any sort of cat, but it has to have blue eyes) and are used in both big things, such as cleaning the water in the city’s canal, or tiny things, like stopping sparks spreading a fire and are all over the city.

It’s a delightful little story, quick and fun to read. It’s standalone, but has the same sort of feel as Minor Mage or A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking.

Book details

Publisher: Red Wombat Studio
Year of publication: 2022

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

By Agatha Christie

Rating: 4 stars

I’m a fan of Christie in general but hadn’t read this one before. I really only picked it up because I was looking for new books and noticed this going for free on Kindle. I enjoyed it all the way through, as Christie does her usual whodunnit thing, with Poirot being wonderfully Poirot. The setting is also classically Christie, in a small English village, with a coterie of elderly spinsters running the local gossip network in an efficient and delightful way. Poirot laments the missing Captain Hastings (who has apparently moved to Argentina) several times throughout the book to his substitute, the village doctor, James Sheppard, who narrates the book.

And then we have that twist! Without dropping any spoilers, I was completely floored and did not see that coming. There’s a lot of layers of misdirection going on here and I thought it worked really well. I’d like to reread it at some point to see how it reads knowing the resolution. The end was interesting, being reminiscent of Murder on the Orient Express, with Poirot foregoing the legal process in favour of his own conscience. I’m still not sure how I feel about that. But it’s an excellent whodunnit with a great cast of characters and a twist I’ll be thinking about for days to come.

Book details

ISBN: 9782380378061

Translation State

By Ann Leckie

Rating: 4 stars

Qven was created to be a Presger Translator, but things don’t go according to plan. The fallout from that brings them in contact with Enae, who’s been tasked with finding a two hundred year old fugitive; and Reet, a mechanic who’s adopted and interested in seeking out his past. Their paths collide in a way that could change them and those around them forever.

My big fear going into this book was that it would demystify the Presger Translators who, when they appeared in the Ancilliary trilogy, were always extremely other. They look human but their thought processes were very non-human. And to some degree that fear is realised. The internal politics of the Translators are depressingly similar to that of the rest of us, and Translator Dlar seems to just spend most of their time worrying about status and plotting. However, the time we spend with Qven learning to do human things (like making tea and polite conversation) is more convincing that these people have very different thought processes.

The two human PoV characters are interesting in their own ways. Enae has survived by keeping hir head down and not being noticed. Sie has to learn to stand up and be seen, while Reet is from a culture that is looked down by the ethnic majority and he has to navigate that, but through it, we see his adoptive parents being supportive and loving, offering a contrast to how they’re perceived.

The later part of the book takes place at the Treaty Administration Centre for the treaty with the Presger, and we spend a bit of time with some non-humans, including Sphene from the Ancilliary trilogy. There’s an enclave coming, which will determine if the AIs will be declared a “significant species”. That’s obviously running in the background here, but it’s not a major part of this book.

I do wonder if Leckie is going to write that book? I’d totally read it, but I almost want to leave it alone to just my imagination. This is a much smaller scale story than that of the Ancilliary trilogy. It affects the future of two people rather than the whole galaxy but I enjoyed the change of pace. Leckie has a sharp eye for characterisation and there’s a chunk of humour in there, amongst the angst over identity and belonging.

Book details

ISBN: 9780356517919
Publisher: Orbit

The Harbour Lights Mystery (Shell House Detectives #2)

By Emylia Hall

Rating: 4 stars

The second book in this modern mystery series takes place the winter after the previous book, with Ally and her young friend Jayden having established a bit of a name for themselves in the local area as the Shell House Detectives. A fiery chef is murdered in the nearby village of Mousehole (which is apparently an actual real place, as is Tom Bawcock’s Eve, around which the action takes place) and although the Shell House Detectives don’t want to get involved, the fact that the murdered man may turn out to be their friend Saffron’s absent father brings them into it.

I continued to enjoy the friendship between recently widowed older woman, Ally, and new father Jayden as this adventure tests the boundaries of that friendship. There wasn’t nearly as much Gus as I would have liked, as Ally struggles with any potential feelings she may or may not have for him. Mullins still really tries to be a “loveable rogue” while still being just a bit of a dick (but getting better at not being so). We see a bit into Jayden’s marriage and seeds are obviously being planted for future storylines there.

The murder itself and its solution is a bit of a damp squib, and gets solved pretty much by accident, without any active work from either the protagonists or the police. But then this series seems to be much more about the characters than the crimes. It’s about Ally coming out of her shell; Jayden’s deep love of fatherhood; Saffron’s grief; and the relationships between all of them. There’s a few too many side characters, each with their own PoV chapters, but it’s still a very pleasant read, and I’ll probably dive into the next one too.

Book details

ISBN: 9781662505140
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Year of publication: 2023

Tea Set and Match (Tea Princess Chronicles, #2)

By Casey Blair

Rating: 4 stars

Following on from the events of the first book, Miyara, now a (provisional) tea master has to take part in a tea tournament to prove herself, while at the same time dealing with her sister, who arrives to deal with the aftermath of the treaty with the dragons. But there turns out to be more at stake than just her future. While I had some minor issues with the lack of conflict in the first book, after some further reflection and after finishing this one, I think that’s a feature rather than a bug. The whole tea master thing is about diplomacy, compassion and service, and Miyara has the emotional depth and self-awareness to be able to put the principles into practice without having to resort to conflict and violence.

I enjoyed the deepening relationships with her friends and introducing her sister as someone she rubs against the wrong way added a bit of spice. I really enjoyed the mature relationship she has with Deniel, where they are able to talk about their feelings before misunderstandings get blown out of proportion (something that bugs me in a lot of stories). I do wonder at someone so young being this poised, but that didn’t stop me really enjoying the story.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Miyara’s story wraps up (I hope we’ll see more of Lorwyn and Entero).

Book details

Year of publication: 2022

A Coup of Tea (Tea Princess Chronicles, #1)

By Casey Blair

Rating: 4 stars

Miyara is a princess of the ruling house. When it’s her turn to take part in the ceremony that will dedicate her to the service of her people, she realises that she doesn’t know how to serve them, so takes the other option, and leaves. She finds herself in a faraway city, on the edge of the Cataclysm where she gets work in a tea shop. For the first time, she starts to make friends, and maybe even find love, while still trying to find her path in the world and how to serve more than just tea.

As I was reading this charming cosy fantasy, I kept comparing it to The House Witch which I’ve recently as well. They’re both cosy, humorous fantasies, but this one tops the other substantially in my mind. Even though it was originally written as a web serial, it feels tight, well-written and very easy to read. I kept wanting to read “just one more chapter”, which is always a good sign.

I was listening to a recent episode of the Octothorpe podcast as I was reading this, where one of the hosts spent a while discussing another cosy fantasy, Legends and Lattes, as it was a Hugo Award finalist for 2023. One of her major complaints about that book is that there was no real conflict. The protagonist didn’t have to overcome anything. I couldn’t help thinking about that when reading this as well. Despite leaving the palace literally barefoot with not a penny to her name, Miyara falls on her feet. She finds someone to take her in, makes friends, gets a job, finds love, and even negotiates a major treaty without any real obstacles. Even when it seems that she’s failed at something, that gets turned around later. I can understand the sort of book that is, and, in fact, that’s very much part of the appeal to me, but from a literary standpoint, it does fall down.

But I liked the characters, and the vaguely matriarchal setting. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading it and have already started on the sequel.

Book details

Year of publication: 2022

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