in lieu of proper reviews

[cahn]

Doc put a new splint on so let's experiment with posting (and maybe even commenting?) a bit. Will still not be posting/commenting as usual for at least the next month, but Hugo deadline is tomorrow, so... here are my novel/novella picks in order.

Novel:
-Some Desperate Glory (but you all knew that)
-Saint of Bright Doors (I had issues with it but it was doing interesting things, which I value for Hugo voting)
-Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
-Translation State
-Witch King (did not manage to finish)
-Starter Villain (did not manage to start, but I'm sure it's fine)

Novella:
-Mammoths at the Gates (which I loved, and which moved me the most, after not particularly gelling with the other Singing Hills novellas after the first)
-Seeds of Mercury (I'm inclined to rate the Chinese nominees higher, and I thought this one was interesting)
-Rose/House (intriguing)
-Mimicking of Known Successes (*)
-Thornhedge (enjoyed)
-Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet (I kind of feel like I could have summed this up in 3 sentences and saved myself the trouble of reading it)

(*) I thought it was fine in general, but I discovered while reading it that while I really like having spectrum-coded characters as the POV character, I intensely dislike having that character as the love interest (or at least did in this case) because I can see how annoying one can be and I do not like feeling seen like that! :)

Comments

[rachelmanija]

Welcome back-ish!

I'm sure it's fine

No one has ever summed up Scalzi's books better.

[cahn]

lolololol! you... have a point there!

[cenozoicsynapsid]

Glad to hear your hand is at least a little better. I thought "Known Successes" was adorable, despite or probably because of feeling a little seen. Pleiti and Mossa are so prickly and middle-aged... I find it comforting how much they love each other despite being rough-edged introverts who are not all about being joined at the hip or having 2.5 kids and a pet goshawk. Which isn't to say it should have worked for you, of course! Just odd how our perspectives differed.

[cahn]

haha yeah definitely a me problem... i kept cringing at how i probably came across the same way as Mossa in relationships :) interesting, the kinds of things that can mess with one's head.

what did you think of the others, or have you read them?

[cenozoicsynapsid]

Some Desperate Glory: loved it, obviously. I think we've been over this :)
Saint of Bright Doors: haven't read
Amina al-Sirafi: Fun, fluffy pirate adventure! Liked the characters, didn't quite stick the landing. Would recommend for anyone's next beach trip. (Good character writing and a plot with momentum will take you far.)
Translation State: I forget if I posted on your thread for that one. I enjoyed it, with some reservations.
Witch King: I'll read the next one, I guess?
Starter Villain: didn't read

Of the novellas, Known Successes is the only one I read, but I've enjoyed all the other Singing Hills stuff to date and will read Mammoths too.

[cahn]

you did post for translation state! was also curious if you'd read rose/house (overall liked, had some reservations) but looks like you haven't. i wouldn't necessarily recommend it to you, though.

[hamsterwoman]

Glad to hear that you're able to type a little bit with the new splint. Wishing you a continued swift recovery!

I did not make any progress on the novels, so was basically just voting for SDG, but, like, I'm fine with that. I do want to give Saint of Bright Doors a shot before the results, though. We'll see how it goes. (I made it 5% into Starter Villain, and those 5% were indeed fine :P

Mammoths was great! I love the other Singing Hills books, and was a little worried about a more personal/Chih-focused story living up to what I love about Empress of Salt and Fortune and Into the Riverlands, which tends to be the stories inside stories and the other people Chih meets, but I needn't have worried -- I loved this one too, and found it very moving, and it's at the top of my list as well.

I also liked 'Mimicking' (more than you, it sounds like), but those are the only ones I've read in full. I started Thornhedge, and I expect I will read it eventually and like it, because I pretty much always enjoy T.Kingfisher, but it just wasn't grabbing me that much.

[cahn]

thanks!

I did not make any progress on the novels, so was basically just voting for SDG, but, like, I'm fine with that.

me too! :)

I do want to give Saint of Bright Doors a shot before the results, though. We'll see how it goes.

well... it is very slow going, in my opinion...

(I made it 5% into Starter Villain, and those 5% were indeed fine :P

lol!

[ase]

Here's hoping the new splint is helpful!

I'm woefully behind on Hugo reading, but I am enjoying oter people's comments. (Novels: Saint and Starter Villain to go. Everything else: all of it to go.)

[cahn]

<3 i think it is!

:) i don't know that Saint is worth your time, really. the only thing that I would say is worth it (besides the novels you've read) is Mammoths, if you liked Empress of Salt and Fortune.

[sophia_sol]

I've been doing so little reading of novels/novellas this year, so I've read almost none of the books on the hugo list for this year, though many of them are on my tbr list!

I loved Some Desperate Glory, and all the rest of the novels are on the tbr list (except the scalzi, which, as you say, I'm sure it's fine.)

Of the novellas, again I've read only one (Thornhedge, which I really liked), and several of the others are still on my tbr list.

sigh! I do hope to get back to more reading at some point, but I'm trying to just accept that I'm in the era of life that I'm in, and I don't have to force myself to do things when they're supposed to be fun hobbies!

[cahn]

haha, I would be the last person to say that you should force yourself to do fun-hobby things! And in fact I would say that while I enjoyed reading a lot of them (did not enjoy reading Saint of Bright Doors, though I found it an interesting experience and I know there are others who really liked it), I wouldn't say any of them are things that I'm buttonholing people and saying they have to read and talk to me about, except Some Desperate Glory :)