At the Top?

I got an email from Goodreads stating that I was in the top 25% of readers for the year last year. I’ve been logging my books on Goodreads for a number of years now and I’ve always had at least a passing interest in the tally for my previous year. When I looked back I was a bit surprised that I’ve been logging books on Goodreads since 2009. I didn’t realize this was year 15 for me.

Recently, as in the past couple of years, I’ve had a great deal of trouble achieving the level of reading I was previously accustomed to. There are a lot of factors involved there, but in the end those factors combined to stop me from reading as much as I really like.

2023 – 23 books

2022 – 9 books

2021 – 17 books

2020 – 39 books – this is actually a peak year for me

Being in the top 25% with less than two dozen books is, not surprising but a little disappointing I think. Not for me, but for the general statement that makes on how much people read (or more correctly, don’t read).

The numbers for 2023 are a good sign for me. I’m trending back up. I’m working hard at mitigating a large number of the factors that slowed or stopped me from reading. I suspect I’ll be able to meet or exceed 2023 with this year’s total. I’m not going to use a goal setting app or whatever – this is supposed to be a pleasurable thing. I should read new and interesting things and tell people about them because I enjoy it, not because some random app or goal is pressuring me to do that. I’m going to keep reading. I’m going to keep reviewing those books and posting up my thoughts and opinions on them. How many will I get to? Who knows? But I will have read a number of good stories in order to get there.

Cozy

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I am always leery of stories of the “before times” that are published after the original story was published. It’s not an easy thing to pull off, let alone doing it well. I went into this reading with trepidation, and might have skipped it had a local book group not selected it.

I enjoyed the story well enough. Cozy fantasy stories are a good thing. Having something that isn’t saving the world is a nice change. This book was clearly about saving a book store. It wasn’t about Viv and her healing process. It contained a stack of missed opportunities to make the attachment to various characters deeper and better than what was presented.

There were some neat bits in here. I did really enjoy Satchel, even if it was shaky world building to have him switch sides. He is roughly equivalent to Bob the skull from the Dresden files, albeit better behaved. I liked the book with magical spaces inside the pages, but again, shaky world/magic system building.

Don’t look deep into this one. Just read it and roll with it. If you really want a little story about saving a bookshop, this is the book for you.



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Casting something… to the end

Deathcaster by Cinda Williams Chima

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I finished the series. I knew I was going to, but the mild distaste from the constantly changing character stories / points of view never faded.

In the end, the protagonist of the series is the story itself. I wanted to have a particular character arc to follow, but the story itself became the focus and the characters were just filling in various portions of the outline. It’s not that it’s a bad story – it’s a good story. I liked it enough to finish, I just think there was a diffusion of character that held the whole thing back for me.



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Stormy

Stormcaster by Cinda Williams Chima

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book starts with yet another character viewpoint, but I was expecting it this time.

I’ve started to notice little world building things that nag at me because of the character switches. Maybe my brain is looking for something to hold onto when I’m getting a third or fourth story that ties together with the others? One small example of this is the use of French doors. Everyone that reads that understands it based on THIS world. IF there’s no France in your world, how do you have ‘French’ doors?

I know it’s nit-picking. I suspect that’s the underlying irritation in me about switching characters and realigning story stuff in my head.

This story does bring a number of the story lines together, and I am interested to see how the whole story plays out. I’m clearly in for the 4 book series at this point. I will get the next one and see how it all turns out.



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Left handed what now?

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


There were a couple of things that caught my attention right away with this story. The first was it didn’t start with the story, the book started with an explanation of the fact that it was slightly alternate history. The next thing was that the wizard was named Merlin.

I almost put the book down right then. Merlin is so deeply, desperately overused I almost stopped.

I pushed on and finished the book. I enjoyed the story once I got past a couple of things, and the world building had some interesting bits. I don’t know that I’ll go any further in the series, but I’m glad to have checked this one off the TBR pile at least.



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Bonus bit for anyone who actually reads my review stuff here rather than directly on Goodreads. Once I got past the fact that the “Merlin” of this book was NOT in fact yet another Arthurian remake, I still couldn’t shake it. I could only picture the actor from the movie remake of the story from 2019 where Angus Imrie plays Merlin as a gangly, hyperactive teenager who uses a lot of hand-wavium and snapping to make things happen. Here’s a clip for you to enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/D53UhlAAXFw?si=emr3SHNG3__wRmoh

Pair a what?

The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Time travel is something that gets a strong reaction when it’s coming from a science fiction point of view. This time travel is coming from a mystery point of view and that helped the story a lot. It had a cast of characters that were believable. The setting was limited, but contained a number of interesting bits that could keep a reader guessing.

My biggest issue with this book was the way the main character is portrayed. The main character is a woman, but is written exactly like a man with makeup and a pony tail.

I think this is a worthy entry into the time travel genre – a discussion generator.



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Short

Shadows of the Short Days by Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I have learned over time that I prefer characters that are at least a little bit heroic. I understand the preference and try to keep it in mind when I’m reading books containing anti-hero types.

I don’t think I would classify this characters in this book as anti-hero types. I would classify them as horrifyingly narcissistic. They can’t get past their own hang-ups and it costs them, and all of the people around them everything.

I really struggled with this book. I wanted to like it, and I just couldn’t stand these characters. I liked different world building and different myths, but it wasn’t enough for me.



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Claws and something

Of Claws and Fangs by Faith Hunter

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I picked this book up as a book club selection. I wouldn’t have known about it otherwise.

This collection is aimed at fans of the Jane Yellowrock world. It’s various shorts from various places all pulled into one book. That’s great – if you’ve read all the other stuff. The most challenging part of this book is that the majority of these stories are muted at best if you don’t know all the character back stories, histories or where all this fits into the larger world.

It’s not that this isn’t well written. It’s fast and easy to read. It’s like asking somebody to watch Avengers Endgame without watching any of the other movies. The impact just won’t be there. You don’t have the history. This book is for fans to get all the juicy in between bits, but it really wasn’t for me.



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Uncommon Indeed

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is another book I would not have picked up on my own. This was a recommendation / selection from the Watch The Skies fan group / book club. I’m quite glad I did get it and read it.

I would place this story in the same category as “The House in the Cerulean Sea” and “Victories Greater Than Death”. The main character is trans, and Asian. Not anything I relate to, but this book is written in such a way that the empathy is there. I was pulling for Katrina. I wanted Satomi to help her.

The characters are interesting. The setting has the feel of a place the author knew well. The story has a lot of hope in it, and that feels like something we could use more of. You should pick this one up.



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Oath

Love the Elmore cover art!

Oath of Swords by David Weber

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I picked this up for two main reasons. First, I was between a couple of science fiction reads and wanted something unlike either. Second, I am an old school lover of sword and sorcery stories. Oath certainly fit the bill for old school sword and sorcery.

I really enjoyed the simple fact that the paladin Bahzell was NOT what one might expect from the modern depictions or presumptions about what it means to be a holy warrior. This holy warrior also happens to be a berserker with an physical presence that can’t be ignored.

The world building here is solid. The magic system plays within the rules that are set out. The travel between places and the hardships involved with that travel all rang quite true. I would quibble with the way the characters spoke, but it was consistent throughout the book. Once you got the hang of how the words were flowing it was easy to read.

IF you’re a fan of old school sword and sorcery novels I’d recommend you pick this one up.



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