Books, Other People's Books

A holy crap have I really not posted since July?! ebook roundup

So yeah y’all may or may not have noticed I’ve been really behind on getting things posted around here. I’ve got a lot of things I just petered out on completely, and I’ve been trying to explore new ways of dealing with that.

But in the meantime, yes, hi, this blog still exists, so here, have a quick ebook roundup post!

Purchased from Amazon:

Stillhouse Lake and Killman Creek, by Rachel Caine. I have a long history of loving Caine’s work, though these two are a change of pace: they’re thrillers in which the heroine has to deal with discovering her husband is a serial killer. (YIKES!) I will probably have to be in the right headspace to read these, and I don’t know when that’s going to be. But I got them because a) Caine! and b) they were on sale.

I also nabbed them from Amazon specifically because this particular series is in fact _only_ available on Amazon. For favorite authors, I will in fact purchase from Amazon if that’s the only way I can get their work.

And back in the land where I usually purchase my ebooks, i.e., Kobo:

A Conspiracy in Belgravia, by Sherry Thomas. This is book 2 of her Lady Sherlock series, which I grabbed again because it was on sale, and also because this series has gotten talked up a lot on the Smart Bitches podcast. Thomas is a delightful interviewee, and that as well as just being fond of Sherlock Holmes pastiches drove me to go ahead and pick up book 1 earlier. Now I’ve got book 2 as well.

(And for those of you unfamiliar with this particular series, it’s still Victorian England, but ‘Sherlock Holmes’ is a cover identity of a young lady of the gentry, Charlotte Holmes. I’m reading book 1 right now as of this writing, and so far, I’m pretty intrigued by her backstory. But I’m anxious to get to the part where she’s actively solving crimes.)

Wonderful, by Jill Barnett. Historical romance. This had been hanging out for some time on my wishlist, until I recently discovered that the author had new editions of the trilogy. And also that book 1 was free. I like free! So I finally nabbed this one.

The Fall of Gondolin, by J.R.R. and Christopher Tolkien. And absolutely NONE of you should be surprised I nabbed this. This is going to possibly be the last volume of the truly great stories out of The Silmarillion edited by J.R.R. Tolkien’s son Christopher, if nothing else just due to Christopher Tolkien’s advanced years. But I’m very much looking forward to diving into this. I always felt that the fall of Gondolin was a story given short shrift in The Silmarillion!

(It should also surprise none of you I will also be picking this up in print. The print edition is currently hanging out on my Amazon wishlist. We’ll see if it shows up around Yuletide this year.)

Pre-orders which have shown up now but which I counted already:

The Fated Sky, by Mary Robinette Kowal. Now that I’ve read The Calculating Stars, I’m VERY much looking forward to diving into this.

The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, by Seanan McGuire. Another book 2 I’m looking forward to, after an excellent book 1.

This brings me up to 49 for the year.

September 9, 2018 by
Other People's Books

Mid-July ebook roundup

Nabbed from Kobo in the last couple weeks or so:

The City & The City, by China Mieville. Had previously owned in print, re-bought in ebook, nabbed it because the ebook was on sale.

The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, by Seanan McGuire. This is another preorder! And I nabbed it because it’s a sequel to her earlier Rose Marshall release, Sparrow Hill Road. I quite liked that first Rose Marshall, and I’m looking forward to this new one. It’ll be coming out very soon after this post!

And my preorder for The Calculating Stars showed up, which I am ALSO very much looking forward to reading. 😀

44 for the year.

July 15, 2018 by
Other People's Books

End of June 2018 ebook roundup

Because I forgot to note that I nabbed it as Tor.com’s May freebie, here’s that for the ebook roundup:

The Quantum Thief, by Hannu Rajaniemi. SF.

Also, two of my pre-orders mentioned in the last roundup post came in, yay! Looking forward to reading Witchmark and Trail of Lightning!

But meanwhile, I also nabbed all three of Tanya Huff’s Peacekeeper trilogy from Kobo, now that Book 3 has dropped. This is of course military SF and I grabbed ’em on general “Because Tanya Huff needs more of my money” principles, and because I’ve liked the Torin Kerr books that came before these. These books are An Ancient Peace, A Peace Divided, and The Privilege of Peace.

42 for the year (I’ve already counted Trail of Lightning and Witchmark).

June 25, 2018 by
Other People's Books

Mid June 2018 ebook roundup

This month’s free ebook from Tor.com’s ebook club was V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic, so I nabbed that one. Because hey, free!

Nabbed from Kobo, because they were on sale:

Provenance, by Ann Leckie. I’ve been enjoying the Ancillary novels quite a bit (I’ve read the first two, still need to read the third), so I wanted this one as well.

Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente. Because if you tell me a book is essentially “Eurovision IN SPACE”, then why yes you HAVE MY ATTENTION. ;D

And pre-ordered from Kobo, because all of these are relevant to my interests:

The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky, by Mary Robinette Kowal. Pair of novels set in the same universe as her excellent short story “The Lady Astronaut of Mars”. VERY much looking forward to these.

Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse. Urban fantasy. Nabbing this one because a) it’s urban fantasy utilizing Navaho mythos, and b) written by an actual Native American author. Also VERY much looking forward to this one. 😀

Witchmark, by C.L. Polk. Fantasy. All the buzz about this one talks about this one as very reminiscent of Howl’s Moving Castle in terms of the culture it’s set in. But it’s also got a queer romance in it, and all in all, from what I’ve seen in reading excerpts and descriptions, there’s a high likelihood of this being charming. I particularly like the heavy emphasis on bicycles being important to this book’s culture!

38 for the year.

June 17, 2018 by
Movies

Movie review: Solo: A Star Wars Story

There’s been a lot of dubious buzz over the last several months about Solo: A Star Wars Story. A lot of folks have been concerned about the change in directors, and about whether the movie would deliver a cohesive story. It’s only been out a week, and there’s buzz now about OHNOEZ DID IT FLOP, apparently because it hasn’t made quite as gigantic a pile of money as The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi have done.

With all this negative buzz going around, you could easily conclude that the movie sucks. I am delighted to report, Internets, that this is not the case.

As y’all know I’m a lifelong fangirl for Harrison Ford in general, and for Han Solo in particular. So I was absolutely expecting to come into this movie all Judgy McJudgypants. Because of my Ford fangirldom, but also because of my longstanding love of the Han Solo backstory novels by Brian Daley and A.C. Crispin. The Crispins in particular are near and dear to my heart, as I relied upon them heavily for inspiration when playing Han on Star Wars MUSH back in the day.

Happily, while this movie’s story is of course different in the minor details (while getting the major ones generally right), its spirit felt entirely like those novels. It was just generally fun in a way we don’t usually get with Star Wars flicks. By which I mean, we’re not dealing with galaxy-shaking stakes here. This is an origin story, a heist-flick-in-space, with the Empire only a background presence rather than the main point.

And while Alden Ehrenreich isn’t Harrison Ford, I am now happy to accept his take on Han. Also, Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian is absolutely glorious, and so is the droid L3.

All in all, if you’re a Star Wars fan–and especially if you’re a Han fan–go see it!

Now let’s have a swing past the Spoiler Mines of Kessel, shall we?

Continue Reading

June 3, 2018 by
Other People's Books

End of May 2018 ebook roundup

Whoops, I missed a couple of Kobo receipts that should have been in my last roundup! And I have a few others to add to those, too.

These are all Kobo books, and in all cases, I nabbed ’em because they were on sale for low prices. I buy most of my ebooks on sale these days, in fact. Mostly out of general disgruntlement about ebook prices getting jacked up! Though I’ll also very specifically buy certain titles due out this year. (Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Calculating Stars, I am looking straight at YOU.)

By Greg Bear:

The Forge of God. Which I already owned in paperback, but I haven’t read it yet. Nabbing an on-sale ebook copy raises the chances I’ll actually read it before the decade is out!

By Max Gladstone:

The Ruin of Angels, Four Roads Cross, Last First Snow, and Full Fathom Five, all part of his Craft Sequence series.

By Becky Chambers:

A Closed and Common Orbit, book 2 of her Wayfarers series, which began with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I really rather love her titles. And when I’m in the right mood for it, I also rather like her heavily character-driven fiction.

By Anne Fortier:

Juliet. I am unsure whether this qualifies as a mystery, fiction with a historical tie-in, or both. It’s been on my To Read list for ages as a library read. Went ahead and bought it since it was on sale, as mentioned above.

(Sidebar: this is yet another novel with “A Novel” included as part of its title. I suppose it’s nice of them to clear that up, but I swear, every time I see “A Novel” as part of a book’s official title, I keep wanting to ask “As opposed to what? A ham sandwich?”)

And by Georgette Heyer:

Cotillion. Nabbed this one because Heyer’s name keeps getting spoken of reverently in romance circles, and this title in particular keeps getting mentioned as one worth checking out.

Lastly, I should also mention that since I’m on Tor.com’s mailing list for their ebook club, I nabbed Ada Palmer’s Too Like the Lightning. I’ve already read it, but it was nice to get my own copy!

31 for the year.

May 31, 2018 by
Other People's Books

Another inbox-clearing ebook roundup post

Acquired from Kobo:

  • Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler. I already had a copy of this in paperback, but I snagged the ebook as I’d built up enough credit points with Kobo to snag it for free. And having an ebook copy ups the chances I’ll read it, which I want to do because I definitely need to read more Butler.
  • The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt. Another book I already own in print, but I snagged the ebook as it was on sale.

Acquired from Angry Robot:

  • Hunger Makes the Wolf, by Alex Wells. SF. Nabbed this one as it was on my To Read list, but it got an award! So Angry Robot put it briefly on sale, and I nabbed it then.

22 for the year.

May 14, 2018 by