previously misericordiae@kbin.social
Oh no, that’s the worst. Sometimes I can snap out of it with something that’s fast-paced or complete fluff, but other times it’s nails on a chalkboard for like a week. I hope you find something compelling soon!
I just DNFed Assassin of Reality as the second in the Vita Nostra series (I really liked the first book, but…)
Yeah, Vita Nostra’s really cool so far (I’m at ~80% atm), but having read blurbs/reviews for the sequels, I think I’m done after the first one.
Reading Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko, along with Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz when I need a break from Vita Nostra’s slow pacing.
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Finished:
I don’t really have a description for this one. A few of the stories have a shared setting; a few others have a war/revolution theme.
None of the stories in this were bad, they just didn’t all appeal to me; the shared-setting ones were coincidentally my favorite. I’ve realized that part of my issue with collections/anthologies is that I’m stuck diving in blind for every single story, hoping that the author/theme is enough to carry my interest.
I would like some Necromancers in space. Or just some well written book from Necromancers point of view. Something not in litRPG.
The second book in the series, Harrow the Ninth, is from the PoV of a necromancer, although from my understanding it’s also written half in 2nd person and non-linearly for a large portion. (Very much a “don’t start here” situation. The first book has a decent amount of skeletons, bone constructs, stealing life essence, death, etc, though, just from an external PoV.)
There’s also the Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L. Howard, which has been sitting on my list for a while. I haven’t read it yet, but I did enjoy the other book I read by that author, so it might be worth a look?
Oof, shame. Guess I’ll just cross that off then. Thanks for the update!
Ooh, Honeycomb sounds interesting. Gonna put that on my maybe list.
Working on No One Will Come Back for Us by Premee Mohamed, since I started it in May.
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Finished:
Necromancer heirs (and their cavaliers) from each of nine houses are invited to take part in a challenge: those that succeed will become the Emperor’s new elite.
I liked this more than I thought I would when I started, and I’ll probably read the sequels at some point. With that said, although I found the plot reasonably solid, the setup is kinda YA, and what little is mentioned about the wider situation/world building goes almost entirely unexplained. (Also: if you ever see it described as “lesbian necromancers in space”, there’s only, like, 5 seconds of space.)
An unrealistically naive college student is forced to participate a mysterious game, which threatens to leave her in massive debt if she loses. To avoid this, she decides to enlist the help of a conman.
I enjoyed the drama adaptation of this back in the day, and this was pretty much 1-to-1 with my memory of the first episode, just more manga-y.
Jack the Ripper’s dog companion describes each day of October, as they–along with a variety of other Victorian horror characters and their familiars–prepare for a Halloween ritual.
This was fine, but it never super grabbed me. Might be fun to read a chapter a day leading up to Halloween.
My favorite is the kind that’s well beyond real-life understanding (cosmic, supernatural, etc).
Least favorite is hard to choose (I’m picky!), but probably torture porn/extreme horror. I’m also not a fan of intentionally schlocky, cheesy stuff.
Oh, sorry, HM = hard mode.
Storygraph for me. I agree with you about their recommendations.
One I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Hardcover. My (very limited) impression is their database needs some filling in, but they do have lists and such, and they’re working toward becoming open source.
Currently reading Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.
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Read:
A woman moves into an old house on the outskirts of an unfriendly coastal town, where everyone seems to want her gone. Turns out, the house is sentient, and many of the townsfolk aren’t entirely human, including her nearest neighbor, a human/eldritch horror-hybrid.
This literally reads like Bridget Jones’ Diary-era chick lit, just with liberal amounts of horror (Lovecraftian and otherwise) thrown in. It’s actually a solid mashup, though, and doesn’t dwell on awfulness the way the yard-long content warning list makes you think it would. It could use an edit for continuity (and don’t think too hard about the world building), but it got me out of out of my post-Fisherman reading slump, so I recommend it as a fluff read if it sounds like your jam. Sidenote: this is marketed on one of the covers as “cosmic horror romance”, but while there is a something in the story, it doesn’t drive the plot, and isn’t what you’d expect from the “romance” label (but nice to see!).
Consistently much more humid where I am, yeah. Also milder so far, which is nice after last year’s multi-100+ heatwaves. (I’ve probably just jinxed my weather, great.)
Awesome, I’ll give it another go at some point, then; thanks! I haven’t read A Murder of Quality, but I did add it to my list after your first post, since I like mysteries, too.
The only other Smiley-connected novel I’ve gotten through is The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, which I liked more than you did. It’s a let-down from a Smiley perspective, true, but as a standalone spy story, I thought it was pretty solid.
Between books atm. However, I did finish:
Two friends go fishing at a creek with an unbelievable history.
Given how much buzz this got when it came out, I was expecting something more than the sort of classical Lovecraft et al.-inspired horror that it is, but maybe that’s exactly what its fans were excited for. Would probably rate this as “fine”, albeit far too slow for my taste. I found the middle section more interesting than the rest, largely because it’s more plot-driven and there’s no fishing in it. Be prepared for a lot of fishing.
2nd novella in the Monk & Robot series. The monk introduces the robot to human civilization.
This was also fine, but I liked the first one better.
(Edited b/c I forgot summaries.)
I liked Tinker Tailor when I read it some years back, but stopped partway through The Honourable Schoolboy because I also am fond of Smiley, and he didn’t seem to really be in it. Did I give up too soon?
Nah, posting that you didn’t like something is helpful, too, imo.
Currently trying to get through The Fisherman by John Langan, to help expand my ability to recommend cosmic horror.
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Finished:
A man stakes his memory on a game of hide and seek in Thailand in the 1930s, forcing him into the wilderness to avoid discovery by his opponent’s many pawns. Second in the Gameshouse trilogy.
I didn’t love the tense-switching within paragraphs, but I can’t object to a story about a desperate protagonist trying to cleverly outmaneuver their foes. Enjoyed; will read the third at some point.
I love that series, but I do remember repeatedly thinking that if they mentioned Joy’s hair one more time in the first book, I’d throw it across the room. (Thankfully, that particular issue goes away in later volumes.) I expected very little, but was pleasantly surprised it zigged in certain places I was preparing to roll my eyes at a zag, and how well it kept moving, despite the high page count. Definitely focused on plot over character, though, and entertainment over depth.
If you end up enjoying book 1 enough, I’d say also go for book 2, although it loses the stuck-on-a-planet-with-cosmic-horrors thing. Books 3 and 4, which involve a new threat (hinted at in book 1), are worth reading if you’re still invested, but I liked them a little less. (Joy is too special, and I found a couple of the through lines disappointing; still thoroughly readable, though!) Not sure about the spin-off books, but they’re on my TBR list to check out eventually.
Glad you’re enjoying it so far; hope it keeps being therapeutic!
There’s a lot of classic/popular stuff I haven’t read (yet), but:
Just started The Thief by Claire North.
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Finished:
A detective reluctantly returns to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend, who apparently murder-suicided his family. Digging into what happened brings up an incident from their past.
The plot is solid but nothing special, if you’re into mysteries. However, I found it well-paced, well-written, and evocative, especially impressive for a debut.
A former servant of the previous empress tells a history-documenting monk the story of her youth, in relation to the empress’s years of exile.
I wasn’t in quite the right headspace for this, so it felt longer than it was; I did end up liking it, though. Interesting framing device. Not sure if I’ll read the others in the series.
While in London for the Season, a young woman under a faerie curse finds herself tangled up with a grumpy magician, who’s agreed to find a way to help her.
This is pure fluff, but so enjoyable that I sped through it. I found the MC’s curse a little inconsistent in places, but that’s a minor quibble. Spice-free.
Link to the game is kinda hidden in the article: https://dreadxp.com/vile-is-banned/.