Currently reading

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

I'm in the unusual position of only actively reading one book right now (though my 'currently reading' shelf would technically beg to differ), and that book is Gideon the Ninth. I bought my copy back in 2020, in lockdown, and picked it up twice and put it down twice—the perils of being a fickle mood reader. It has haunted me (pun intended) ever since, because it's so extremely well-loved in the reading circles I tend to hang about in.

So this time around (only four years later!), I have a library loan out for the audiobook. That means that I can read with my eyeballs and ears at the same time for extra focus, and that I have an external deadline to propel me along. It's working a treat.

The audio narrator, Moira Quirk, does a fantastic job, and instantly conveys the tone that the book is going for in a way that I think I missed or was confused by on my first reading attempts. And I love it: the very contemporary-feeling humour in combination with the very weird (complimentary) sci-fantasy setting. It's so voice-y.

I am currently halfway through, having been really sucked in at around the 100-page mark. I have a notion of where the story is going to end up, and I'm REALLY EXCITED because I think one of my favourite, very specific tropes is going to come into play.

Recently read

Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee

A collection of short fiction set in the Machineries of Empires universe, ranging from flash fiction at the short end to a novella at the long end. I really enjoyed this, even more so because each piece came with commentary from the author. It felt like a peek behind the scenes of his writing process and the development of the Machineries of Empires trilogy. I'd recommend it to existing fans of the trilogy. If you haven't read Ninefox Gambit et al., definitely go do that first—you're in for a treat. (Also, side note: I'm pretty sure a large chunk of the stories in this collection were originally published on here, Dreamwidth! So that's fun.)

Escape Velocity by Victor Manibo

I'm always on the look out for science fiction murder mysteries. I saw high praise for Victor Manibo's latest novel Escape Velocity, so I was excited to read it when the ebook appeared in the library. It was certainly a propulsive read, with terrifyingly believable worldbuilding (in part because it reflects our current reality so well) and the perfect amount of suspense throughout. Don't go in expecting a by-the-numbers whodunnit, however; Escape Velocity pulls off some ambitious cross-genre trickery. There were a couple of elements that didn't 100% work for me, but I keep coming back to ponder them and to appreciate what the author was going for (and to wonder whether maybe it did land exactly as intended), so that speaks to how effective I found the book as a whole.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this old favourite. I read it many times as a kid (and in fact my first attempt at writing a 'novel', aged 8 or 9, was a blatant rip-off of A Wizard of Earthsea with a sprinkling of LOTR). This is actually the first time I've gone back to it as an adult. It was interesting to see the parts that my child brain glommed onto, and the parts that definitely went over my head at the time but that bring a whole new layer to my appreciation now. A gorgeous, gorgeous book.