Book round-up: January 2020

[sixthlight]

It's a shiny new year! I had an enjoyable but non-fiction-free reading month in January, due to 1) science book club taking a month off and 2) the non-fiction book I did start being the kind you digest ten or twenty pages at a time. (I don’t count books in a month unless I finish them, so you’ll have to wait for the February wrap-up for that one…or possibly March at this rate.) But lots of great new finds on the fiction front!

New books

A Personal Devil, Bone of Contention, and Chains of Folly (Roberta Gellis)
The latter three books in her Magdalene la Bâtard historical mystery series, which I read the first of in December. Really the only major complaint I have is that I've now finished this series; I could have happily devoured another dozen. The characters are well-drawn, the romance component presents an believable quandary for the leads, and I love all the twelfth-century historical nerdery. And now I want a Magdalene-meets-Cadfael fanfic.

Children of Time/Children of Ruin (Adrian Tschaikovsky)
Science fiction of a very Stephen Baxter-esque style; evolution and alien intelligences derived from other Earth species, humans trapped in failing generation ships, a vast and cold universe with few habitable planets, the relentless march of time. But also wonderful intelligent spiders and a profound kindness and empathy that Baxter absolutely lacks. The second is not quite as good as the first but the first made me cry, in the good way. Highly, highly recommend if any of this description sounds like Your Thing.

The Secret Chapter (Genevieve Cogman)
This series badly needed a book or two off from Serious Plot Business and this entry delivers, with Irene and Kai taking on a trope-tastic heist (the Fae are involved; what can you expect but tropes.) Not a good entry point to the series but lots of fun if you’re already along for the ride.

Starless (Jacqueline Carey)
I think twenty years ago Carey would have made this a trilogy, but it’s one big brick and stronger for it. In the same way that her Terre de Ange trilogies were all ultimately about the protagonists figuring out their sexuality, this is - despite everything else going on - an almost domestic story about the protagonist figuring out his gender and his place in the world. It’s comfortingly queer in outlook in the way Carey excels at, thoughtful and kind and also there are epic quests, warrior monks, prophecies, gods walking the earth, and all that jazz. Really good way to try this author if you haven’t before.

The Ides of April (Lindsey Davis)
I love Davis’ Marcus Didius Falco series of Ancient Rome noir detective novels (well, ‘noir’ in the sense that it starts off lovingly using and somewhat parodying noir tropes, the protagonist has far too many relatives for it to be properly noir). So much so that I’ve never read the last one because then it’ll be over; I’ve also until now avoided her follow-up series about Falco’s daughter taking up his job. I’m sort of glad I waited because now I get seven books to devour, and based on this first one they’re just as good as the original series, funny, cleverly plotted and meticulously researched. They also do a surpassingly good job of moving on to The Next Generation without feeling the need to kill off Falco or any of his peers – they’re just out of focus, because it’s Flavia Albia’s story. Other authors could take note.

Re-reads

All Things Wise and Wonderful (James Herriot)

An old comfort read (because it’s the only omnibus of this series I actually own) of allegedly autobiographical stories about a Yorkshire vet in the thirties – apparently somewhat more fictionalised than I realised when I was twelve, but oh well. I still love the veterinary details, the compare and contrast with ‘modern’ (1970s) knowledge and practice, and the beautifully drawn sketches of life in rural Yorkshire.