The year is dead, long live the year.
- Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin (novella)
- Thud! by Terry Pratchett (maybe? Might have been end of 2020)
- Snuff by Terry Pratchett
- Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett
- A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire
- Jingo by Terry Pratchett
- Network Effect by Martha Wells
- Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
- Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
- Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
- In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant
- Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant (novella)
Not a ton to say about this month – Discworld remains a stellar set of books, especially in the mid-to-late range, and we know I like Murderbot. Emergency Skin is a fun little read, especially since it’s clearly written with certain elements of the times in mind. I read Song of Achilles for a book club and it’s outside my usual range, but was interesting nonetheless and effectively character-driven (plus in looking up familiar-sounding references I stumbled onto a clue I missed in Gideon the Ninth).
I remain, as ever, impressed with the prolific publication rate Seanan McGuire manages; of the three books of hers I finished the month with, In the Shadow of Spindrift House was easily my favorite. Teen detectives in a modern Lovecraftian setting, a skin of Scooby-Doo over the rising inevitability of the deep. It’s a good and atmospheric read, available directly from Subterranean Press if you don’t like Amazon. The other two were also good, but not as suited to me personally – I read Into the Drowning Deep, the sequel, before I read Rolling in the Deep, so I already knew how that one ended and that always takes a bit of the shine off. Across the Green Grass Fields, part of the Wayward Children series, was a perfectly enjoyable read that happens through an accident of personality and publishing order to run up against impossibly high personal standards – the series has something for everyone, and the first book in the series was the one that resonated with me, so all the subsequent books are at a bit of a disadvantage in my eyes, fun as they are in their own rights. I’m sure other readers will have different favorites from among the series, and I look forward to the next books.
Aerugoblog 