Iris and Malina are twins, and their family has a magical ability to ‘gleam’ – manipulate ordinary things into art. But their mother has always insisted that they keep their abilities secret, and that they never fall in love. This story is set in Montenegro, and I really liked the descriptions of their home city
Wicked Like Wildfire – Lana Popovic Read More »
When Byatt was asked to retell a myth, she chose Ragnarok. What’s lovely about this is how personal that story is her – the frame of this book is herself reading it as a child during World War II, and how closely that story of ending mirrored what was going on in the world around
Ragnarok: The End of Gods – A. S. Byatt Read More »
This book is the story of Lavinia, the last wife of Aeneas in The Aeneid. Because it’s Le Guin, it’s beautifully written, and thought provoking. When Lavinia is young, she goes with her father to the holy place of her family, and the dreams she has there are of Virgil, who will write her story
Lavinia – Ursula K. Le Guin Read More »
This book continues the Black Jewels series, which had been pretty much wrapped up, so I was interested to see where the author would go from there. I really liked the parts of the book with Lucivar’s family among the Eyriens. He was given a lot of power when Janelle Angelline passed on, and seeing
The Queen’s Bargain – Anne Bishop Read More »
Antsy’s story began in Lost in the Moment and Found, and this book is a lovely conclusion for her. The last book ended with Antsy leaving the Shop Where all Lost Things Go, angry at the price that children weren’t being warned they’d need to pay if they opened doors from the shop. In the
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known – Seanan McGuire Read More »
Not my best year – I went through several periods where I’d have three books going because I couldn’t properly get into any of them. Can’t really put a finger on why – I read all of them to completion, and did enjoy them. We’ll just have to see if this translates to next year.
One thing I enjoy about the Penric and Des books is that the author isn’t afraid to go out of order in time, so this book goes back to Penric’s days with the Princess-Archdivine in Martensbridge. He’s so young! (It is actually noticeable in certain ways that he interacts with Desdemona.) This is a great
Testimony of Mute Things – Lois McMaster Bujold Read More »
Easy list this year – just one. Middlegame – Seanan McGuire I can’t put my finger on why I couldn’t get into this. Interestingly, on LibraryThing, no one wanted to do a summary in their reviews because it’ll give too much away, so I suspect this is one of those books you either love or
2025 Books Not Read Read More »
This is not an author I’ve read before. Her previous books are mysteries, and actually this book is a murder mystery, but one with a fantastic fantasy world built around it. Neema has risen to be the High Scholar for the Emperor Bersun, in an empire where each emperor or empress serves for 24 years.
The Raven Scholar – Antonia Hodgson Read More »
This book is in the companion series to the Mercy Thompson books, centering on the wolves of the Marrok’s pack in Montana. What’s fun about this book is we get to see some of the wildlings wolves, wolves who Bran has taken into his specific protection because they can’t be around regular werewolves, let alone
Burn Bright – Patricia Briggs Read More »
