July Reading List

[unicornduke]

Read

• Pageboy by Elliot Page - this audiobook was narrated by Elliot and let me tell you, this was a book about abuses of power and it was extremely sad for most of it. kinda sucked a bunch. Good eventually. library audiobook
• The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard - omg omg omg omg I loved this SO MUCH. It was SO GOOD. I finished it, then read it a second time immediately. I have ordered physical copies of it and the second book and all the novellas. aaaaaaaaaaa. library e-book
• The Witch Roads by Kate Elliot - ehhhhhhh, this was meh to me. there was multiple times where the plot demanded something that wouldn't make sense by the world's own rules and it happened. the setup for the romance makes zero sense to me (probably too ace/aro for it but like, come on). I finished it, but probably won't read the sequel. library e-book
• A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey - really fun world, nice romance, well done. library e-book
• Under the Whispering Floor by TJ Klune - amusingly irrtating protag who dies and then gets his shit together, really fun and amusing book. library audiobook
• Starter Villain by John Scalzi - light read, enjoyable, lots of talking and some danger. library e-book
• The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis - the first half of this book is entirely parent anxiety that almost made me return the book. I don't actually need second hand anxiety. I'm pretty meh on this but that's because I found it so unrelateable in the "my child needs to fit in with society" way. can't relate even a little. library e-book

Re-read

• Exit Strategy by Martha Wells - audiobook listen, very nice as always

Comments

[reedrover]

I agree, The Hands of the Emperor was SOOOOO GOOD. The second book is wildly different and still very good. But before you go on with the story, stop off and read Petty Treasons and Portrait of a Wide See Islander - they are both parallels to Hands.

Under the Whispering Door is on my TBR.

I DNF’ed the Grimoire Grammar School. The parental anxiety was too much without enough plot to sustain it.

[unicornduke]

I will check out a reading order for the series, I bought most of the books now that I've double checked. Ordered: The Hands of the Emperor, Petty Treasons, Portrait of a Wide Sea Islander, Those Who Hold the Fire, At the Feet of the Sun, The Return of Fizroy Angursell. I missed The Game of Courts and The Redoubtable Pali Avramapul but I'll probably pick up the ebooks once the physical books arrive.

I enjoyed Under the Whispering Door! It was funny, did deal a lot with death, but mostly funny.

About the point where I contemplating putting GGS down, the plot picked up and the anxiety mostly stopped, so the second half was decent and the plot actually moved but I had no idea someone could give me second hand anxiety via book. But the plot wasn't actually worth the effort of the first half.

[reedrover]

Yes, you have all the books and short stories in order in your list. At the Feet of the Sun should be after the three sets of short stories. I forgot about Those Who Hold The Fire. (It’s very short.) I have yet to head into The Return… I’m saving it for the next time I really need to sink into a book.

[rmc28]

My spouse had pretty much the reaction you did to The Hands of the Emperor and I was increasingly amused by all of the books showing up in our shared Kindle library. One of these days I will actually read it myself, I just haven't got around to it.

[unicornduke]

It scratches a very specific itch, it is very good. Definitely something you see more and more things in subsequent rereads. I'm impatiently waiting for the books to arrive because I also have found the AO3 tag and things look very good there....I normally don't mind spoilers but I feel like I want the pure story first