Read recently

[magid]

Earwig and the Witch (Diana Wynne Jones, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky)
Enchanted Glass (Diana Wynne Jones)
Alberic the Wise and Other Journeys (Norton Juster)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (N. K. Jemisin)
Sisters of the Raven (Barbara Hambly)
The Abbey (Chris Culver)
The Outsider (Chris Culver)
The Lost Husband (Katherine Center)
The Ghost Bride (Yangsze Choo)


It was bittersweet reading the DWJ, knowing that this was the last new novel of hers I'll ever read, even though I enjoyed EG otherwise (unless I ever find a copy of Wilkin's Tooth, that is).

My favorite of the other books was Choo's, which started out as historical fiction (ethnic Chinese living in Malacca under British rule) and veered into something else entirely. Fascinating plot, partly because of being based on a culture I'm not familiar with, using it in interesting ways.

I wasn't enthralled by the Juster, unfortunately.

I liked the storytelling in Jemisin's book, then was frustrated to find it's the first of a series. ::sigh::

I liked the Hambly less than Jemisin's (comparing them because acquired at the same time, read back to back), just because there was enough talk about $WorldChanging, but nothing really about why. Otherwise, strong female characters are always a plus.

The Culver books were detective fluff, and the Center book romantic fluff, albeit reasonably well written.

Comments

[hrafn]

I read Enchanted Glass this summer, and quite liked it, but also had some of that same sadness :|

I utterly adored The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - my understanding is that while the other novels are in the same world/universe/ they don't rely upon each other as heavily as other series do. I haven't yet tracked down the 2nd and 3rd novels (partly because a couple of my favorite characters don't, as far as I know, really feature in the 2nd book). (And with some retrospect, I have an appreciation for one of the main characters I did not have when I first read it. *clears throat*)

[magid]

I liked the Jemisin book, don't get me wrong: interesting world and characters, well-written, etc. It's just that some books that become favorites hit me more intensely, and this didn't have that. (For me only, obviously. And who knows, had I read it at a different time, it likely would have hit me differently.)