sixthlight | 2021 reading in review

In 2021 I came around fully to the idea that reading 100 books in a year is more or less the best I can aim for when I’m not going to sea, which is…pretty reasonable probably. Anyway, this made me even more focused on only bothering with things I am actually enjoying. The results are solid!

Fiction Top Recs

Stand-alone novels: There were some fantastic stand-alones this year. Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots did what a lot of gritty superhero fiction by straight white men wishes it could do with superheroes, and The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard was frustratingly close to true greatness on so many counts; worldbuilding, politics, story. Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Ring Shout by P Djèlí Clark both put the supernatural into 1920s North America in eerily memorable ways, and Finna by Nino Cipri was just a perfect encapsulation of the terrible absurdity of retail work and relationships and alternate realities.

Series starters: I’m not 100% that all of these are DEFINITELY series starters but I’m pretty sure. Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson deserves a sequel to tie up the story of a reluctant nun and her reluctant demon, The Councillor by E J Beaton surely has more deft political maneuvering to go (and a lead couple who desperately need to get laid). Unnatural Magic by C M Waggoner has its sequel, recced in the next section. The Unbroken by C L Clark and

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri are both billed as openers for gritty sapphic political fantasy trilogies, one in fantasy colonial North Africa and one in fantasy southern(?) India, and what openers they were.

Series continuers:

The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C M Waggoner is basically a how-to for how to do a next-gen story that rewards readers of a previous book without overpowering the protagonists, and also without betraying their predecessors’ narrative. The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal is a tense thriller in an alternate-universe 1960s moon colony which changes up the tone of the series entirely while still expanding the universe believably. Finally, Subtle Blood by K J Charles is an excellent trilogy-finisher which earns its HEA.

Honourable mentions:
Floodtide by Heather Rose Jones (historical queer fiction without romance), Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell (tropey space opera romance goodness). Star Eater by Kerstin Hall (straddles the horror-epic fantasy borderline cleverly). She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker Chan (big, messy, interesting not-quite-historical fantasy).

Non-fiction Top Recs

The Children of Ash and Elm by Neil Price is the best kind of pop history/archaeology, accessible, thoughtful, and as aware as possible of the way history can only be seen through the lens of our own biases. Decolonising Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith should be required reading for anybody doing research that connects with people (or anybody doing research, really) in settler-colonial countries, but particularly New Zealand. Uprising by Nic Low weaves history and geography and personal journey together beautifully, challenging the ways Pākehā conceptualise the ‘wilderness’ in Aotearoa. The World Before Us by Tom Higham is a great introduction to the current state of human evolution and what we know about our ancestors and close cousins. And finally, 18 Tiny Deaths by Bruce Goldfarb is a fascinating portrait of a woman, a place and time, and the (partial) development of forensic scene examination as a trade.