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Books I Read in June

Sorry for the lateness of this one - holidays and other shenanigans got in the way of me finishing this write up. Anyway -  For the Month of June I’ve read Ninth House, Gideon the Ninth, The Last Temptations of Iago Wick, and The Empress of Salt and Fortune.  

Ninth House is now my third Leigh Bardugo book. This one is her adult fiction series - and it is reflected in the content. Ninth House is much more harrowing than her young adult titles. Alex is the survivor of a multiple homicide, and no one knows how. She’s tapped to go to Yale on a full ride on account of her ability: Alex can see ghosts. So now she’s plunged into the world of Yale and it’s Secret Societies, where she fulfills the role of accountability for these Secret Societies. In this book, magic is not some beautiful flowing thing. It’s gritty. Characters are up to their elbows in gristle and bones and flesh. It’s gross. Alex’s backstory too, is quite horrifying. The Ghosts she can see are horrifying. It’s a roller coaster of uncomfortable storytelling, but at the same time I was completely hooked - I wanted to know where this story would go desperately. Ninth House is essentially a procedural mystery novel, not necessarily a fantasy like her previous novels, though fantasy elements are present. The plot of the book revolves around several crimes, all of which have to be solved by the end. There is the murder that Alex survived, Darlington’s disappearance, the death of the Bridegroom and his Bride, and the death of Tara. All of these incidents have strings that lead all the way to the end of the book in an explosive end that reveals the truth of it all.  Ultimately, this is probably one of my favorite adult fiction books that I’ve read. Leigh Bardugo is a masterful writer, and I found myself on the edge of my seat with this one, too. Watch out for this one, folks.  Also, a warning - a LOT of content of this book would be considered triggering. Several horrifying things happen, so enter at your own risk.  5/5 Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir was the next book I read in June - though I started it in May. Boy, this one was a bit of a slog fest. That is perhaps a fault of my own, and not necessarily that of the author’s or the book’s, though. I’m really not into speculative fiction/science fiction at all -  I recently went through my Good Reads shelves and realized that I’ve read less than 10 science fiction novels in my entire life. They just do not appeal to me - and it’s for a reason that Gideon the Ninth falls into as well - the book intentionally obfuscates for about 150 pages - it’s majority of the time an info dump about the technology of the universe that has been crafted for the story. I don’t enjoy that - in fact every time I run into it I can feel my eyes glazing over and boredom setting in. That was largely why I ended up putting it aside to read other books first. Once I came back to it, however, it was still a slog for a bit before the story actually began to pick up.  The story follows Gideon Nav, who is a disgruntled indentured servant of the Ninth House - one of the nine necromantic houses in the galaxy that serve an undying Necro-Lord Emperor. She is forced to become the Prime Cavalier of her house in aid to the Reverend Daughter - Harrowhark Nonagesimus, who is the strongest necromancer the house has ever produced. She and Gideon, however, have a past - they absolutely hate each other. The nine houses of the galaxy have been called to the first house, and all of them are to participate in a contest to see who can become a Lyctor - basically a suped up Necromancer in service to the Emperor. That’s basically the gist of the main plot - there’s also a bit of a murder mystery that takes place because necromancers and cavaliers start dropping like flies, but the core of the story is the interpersonal relationship between Gideon and Harrow. It’s a decent enemies to lovers trope done well - though I would argue they don’t actually become lovers at all - merely come to an understanding about their own pasts. Their relationship can be very much defined as toxic co-dependence.  Ultimately the story was alright - I wasn’t very wow-ed by it, as the world building felt extremely thin, though I did find the necromancy aspect interesting. Gideon and Harrow are both interesting characters on their own, but ultimately the story wasn’t extremely gripping for me. My biggest gripe of it all, however, is that I never found out what exactly the Emperor was fighting against. What is the great threat to the existence of the galaxy that makes Gideon dream to be a part of it, what necessitates the Lyctor trials even being called once more? I never found that out.  3/5 After that I decided to breeze through some smaller books - if they can even be called books at some times.  The next book I tackled was The Last Temptations of Iago Wick - it’s a self published book by Jennifer Rainey, and follows two demons working for Hell in 19th century New England. It has a bit of a steam punk flare, though it’s not hugely present, and is whip crackling funny. It very much reads like a Good Omens alternative universe fanfiction that got tweaked for publication, but honestly, that doesn’t bother me because it’s simply that enjoyable.  Iago is to be promoted into essentially a regional manager in the efforts of Hell against the forces of Heaven. He specializes as a Tempter - creating Faustian Bargains after Bargains with finesse and panache. His partner in his efforts and in his Demonic life is one Dante Lovelace, a “Catastrophe Artist” who specializes in mass mayhem and death. He is described as Byronic and gloomy, with taxidermied animals all over his apartment. Iago and Dante’s relationship is so refreshing - they are queer without fanfare. There is only passing references to period typical homophobia, but their relationship is sweet and presented without drama and trauma.  Iago’s current assignments are to essentially take down the Order of the Scarab - a secret society pulling the strings in Marlowe, who have murdered and bribed and intimidated in order to further their own ends, but a demon hunter stands in his way of accomplishing his goal.  The book has some interesting segments about free will, the nature of Heaven and Hell, which if you know me I’m wont to eat up eagerly. This book was a nice change of pace after the frustrations of Gideon.  4/5 The final book I read for the month was The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. This is more of a novella than an actual to goodness novel, but it was extremely satisfying and well done. This was the book that made me go “well maybe a book doesn’t have to be 200 pages to convey a proper story.” I don’t want to give too much of this book away, as I feel it is an experience that needs to be truly embraced blindly. It reads much like a kind of flowing, poetic prose, however, and the overarching theme of the novel is primarily that of the vengeance and rage of women against an unjust world. I highly recommend this one as a breeze read, though if you are anything like me it will leave you more than a bit emotionally compromised after.  5/5 For the month of July I have mostly taken a break for the first few weeks, just enjoying some time to myself. I have read the first season of Lore Olympus and that will be included in my July write up, but for July I intend to take some time to decompress and deal with wedding planning. I still hope to read a few books though, and my July list is The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith, The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, and Merchants of Milan by Edale Lane. I actually began The Vine Witch in June but it has not exactly kept me riveted to its pages, so hopefully I can finally slog through it.  See y’all at the end of the month! 

[readwithmichelle]

Monthly wrap up for June is a bit late but will be up hopefully this weekend.

[readwithmichelle]

A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab is 2.99 this week (today is June 25th 2020) on the Kindle store.

A Darker Shade of Magic and her newest book The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue are both in my TBR pile.

[readwithmichelle]

Okay this started on Twitter but booklr, here's a chance to use your powers for good. Spread the word. Buy books. Go wild.

[readwithmichelle]

A thing I frequently think about is that the YA genre’s audience is not YAs. It’s adult women. This is frequently because these women started getting into reading because of YA - The Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight, even to some degree Harry Potter. They have not totally moved on from the genre for a lot of reasons, all of them subjective and personal.

Because of this, however, the bubble is about to burst. The genre is becoming less and less age appropriate for teenagers - look at Sarah J Maas’ books; those aren’t remotely appropriate for any public school library. Books like Six of Crows push the boundaries of what is “too far” for the intended audience - I wouldn’t recommend Six of Crows to anyone under 16, if I’m honest. Plus, there’s about 20 new books being published at any given time - I constantly see advertisements for new YA books on Facebook and Goodreads - it feels like it is never ending. The market is saturated, and eventually it is going to collapse.

Frequently, publishers will push for certain titles to be in the YA section because they know it will sell there - if its content is related to diversity especially seems to get it immediately labeled as YA, as if that’s the only thing YA readers care about. Even if an author didn’t intend for the book to cater to the YA audience, the publisher will put it there because YA sells.

As a consequence, YA has had to “grow” with it’s audience of primarily adult women. The genre isn’t really catering to it’s intended audience anymore - only it’s actual audience. It is no longer YA - it’s basically New Adult. Why doesn’t those books get published under the NA umbrella? Because NA is associated with romance - porn - and the YA market is the best place for sales presently. People buy more YA books than any other genre right now.

Further, once an author writes a YA book or a book popular with YA Readers, they’re kind of branded in some ways - they are expected to shill out the same content, and “crossing over” into the mainline genre can become difficult unless they’re a bestselling author with the sales to back them up. In some ways, YA is a proving ground.

That said, the mainline genres are frankly not keeping up with the trends in YA. If these mainline genres picked up some of these YA authors, more “cross over” fiction would be written and the genres would become more appealing for the YA audience.

For instance, while YA is not the primary genre I read, it is still a large proportion of my genre of choice, and this is largely because I “get something” out of YA that I don’t get in general fiction or mainline fantasy/sci-fi. Primarily it’s more diverse stories and more compelling narratives about prejudice, privilege, and power structures.

When I do go to mainline fiction, I frequently run into the same problem - the books are boring. It’s a bunch of dudes trying to be the next GRRM (more power to them). The only mainline sci-fi book I have read in at least 10 years was Gideon the Ninth, which I just finished. My biggest issue with the book is that it is intentionally obtuse for about 200 pages. It wasn’t a particularly good book to me, but I can see why it would have some sort of YA Adjadcent audience.

But back to my main ramble; people seem to get into the same debates:

1. YA = Bad?

2. People (read: adult women) won’t read anything but YA

3. Adults (read: women) who read YA are cringe & incapable of growing up

And frankly it’s exhausting. YA is not really a genre for teenagers anymore. Its audience is adult women. That’s just how it is. This constant narrative that things women like are inherently bad is exhausting. Find another argument about YA Fiction.

My prediction, however, is that the YA market is going to collapse, within the next 5 to 10 years.

[readwithmichelle]

I’ve finished Ninth House and Gideon the Ninth and it was quite amusing to read two books centered around death that have the number 9 in them, but that’s about where the amusement ended because Gideon the Ninth is a slog fest. I will elaborate in my monthly wrap up, but that book.... is not as good as the reviews would have people believe. 

[readwithmichelle]

Books I Read in May

For the month of May, which was my first real month back to reading books for my own pleasure and not for classes, I read 4 books. Not a lot, I know, but I’m kind of a variable reader - sometimes I devour books in a matter of days, and others it takes me a few weeks. I suppose it depends on how much a book gripped me.  Anyway, for the month of May I read Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, both by Leigh Bardugo, as well as Among the Hollow by Roman Ankenbrandt, and American Pharoah by Joe Drape. 

Six of Crows was my first foray into Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse. I first heard of the book when I worked at a bookstore, and one of the assistant managers mentioned it as one of her very favorite books she had ever read. I frequently saw the duology when I was straightening shelves or recommending books to teenage readers. When it finally came time for me to leave the store for my next job, I ended up grabbing Six of Crows and buying it with the intention of reading it. I even managed to start it, but then I decided to go back to school, and all pleasure reading went out the window.  It would be another 2 YEARS before I picked Six of Crows back up. Initially I tried out the audiobook - which wasn’t bad but not really my cup, and then I bought it as an eBook as a bundle with it’s sequel. Once I dug in, I couldn’t stop. I devoured Six of Crows in the matter of about a week. I adored the writing - if there is one thing Leigh Bardugo is good at, it’s dialogue and the careful art of showing and not telling. It took me almost 100 pages to understand what the Grisha were and what the deal with this new fantasy world was, but despite that it very much reads as a standalone that does not need the presence of the Grisaverse trilogy behind it.  The story is mildly predictable, but the plot isn’t really what drives the story - it’s the characters. The internal motivations of Kaz, Inej, Wylan, Jesper, Nina, and Matthias are the cornerstone of this story, and they’re what make it a truly enjoyable read - not necessarily the story itself. I imagine, if you wanted a definition of a character driven story, this would be it. The characters - in particular Kaz and Inej gripped me pretty much immediately, and I was completely invested in them and what they had gone through. It also totally emotionally compromised me.  Rating: 5/5 Stars The same could be said of Crooked Kingdom, though this one felt a little bit less cohesive than Six of Crows, which had a clear goal. Crooked Kingdom has the Crows being pit against just about everyone in Kerch, and with everyone looking for a piece of them, the story felt a little all over the place for it. That said, we got more of that sweet, sweet character backstory and development, and I will not deny that I was completely incapacitated by Kaz and Inej’s moments together. I felt pleased to have continued with these characters, and it was a real page turner - I had intended to give myself a few days before starting Crooked Kingdom after finishing Six of Crows, but I HAD to know what happened next so I started it pretty much within an hour of finishing the first book.  When it comes to THAT scene, it was a bit more emotionally upsetting than I anticipated. The character involved was not one of my favorites, and I found them kind of problematic as a character. That didn’t stop me from tearing up. I feel, perhaps unlike many other fans of this book that it was a “justified” moment. I will go further into detail at another time about this specific scene with spoilers, but not in this recap.  Ultimately the story felt extremely satisfying. I was glad to see where it ended, and was so incensed about not getting to continue with certain characters that I pretty much threw my Kindle away from me in a fit of frustration. I desperately want to know where these characters end up, so if Leigh Bardugo could come out with a third book and make it a trilogy, I would be forever in her debt.  Rating: 5/5 Stars After that whirlwind I ended up deciding to read Among the Hollow by Roman Ankenbrandt. This is a debut work, and apparently didn’t really make a big splash when it was released. It has less than 50 reviews between Goodreads and Amazon where it was self-published. This one was a surprise for me. The reviews for it are exceptionally high, so I hoped that perhaps it would be a fun one - and it was. But it also was extremely refreshing. The setting is inspired by Ancient Byzantium - a setting that is exceptionally uncommon in my experience, and it features my very favorite kind of magic to use in stories - necromancy. If you know me, you know that I’m absolutely crazy about Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom Series. They’re some of my very favorite novels, so this was a no brainer for me. The interpretation of Necromancy ended up being the surprise. The magic system of how it works is very soft, but is present just enough that I do not feel as though I don’t understand it.  When it comes to the characters, our main cast is that of Sevila, and Aurel. Aurel is a spirit that contracts with Sevila to get their body back, and from there it’s a whirlwind. Perhaps one of my favorite aspects of this story is that Aurel desperately wants to do good things, but people are so scared of them as a spirit that they cannot. Sevila, who has the capability, has no desire to do good things, and the conflict between Aurel and Sevila over that is interesting. Of the two of them, however, Sevila is probably my favorite character - she is barely likable, and is a strong morally grey main character. Also, I love that she’s an unabashed lesbian who does not pretend to be something she is not. The book races towards it’s end very quickly, and my biggest gripe about the whole book is that it feels too short. At 299 pages on the eBook edition it is on the shorter end of books I have read. Perhaps I am greedy, and merely wanted to spend more time with the characters in that setting, but I strongly felt that some scenes could use some fleshing out, or new scenes could have been added between Sevila and Aurel. Ultimately, it is a very good debut book, and I hope this author publishes more in the future. At the end of the book there very much feels like there is more story to tell, more adventures to be had.  Rating: 5/5 Stars The final book I read for the month was American Pharoah by Joe Drape. This is a biography about the 2015 Triple Crown winning horse. A little background information if you will - I am an avid horse racing fan. I watch it regularly (have it set to record on Hulu!), and have watched the Triple Crown races every year since I was around 8 years old. I have had my heart broken by horse racing more times than I’ve been in relationships.  My relationship with the sport is still contentious at times. I don’t care for most of the breeding practices, and I don’t like that people with money throw it around to get essentially a commodity, not an animal. The Thoroughbred breed has suffered for it.  So when it came to reading this book, I was a little apprehensive - it claims to be an untold story. The story of American Pharoah is quite well known among horse racing fans - so what could be untold? Ultimately, it was the stories of his connections, and his early training years that were untold, I suppose.  The owners of American Pharoah, Zayat Stables - especially Ahmed Zayat don’t come out of this book looking particularly good. In fact he looks like a billionare with too much money to throw around and a “get rich quick” scheme to boot. Bob Baffert, legendary trainer as he is, is given a softer approach, but not by much. The book makes sure to mention his previous to 2015 doping scandals and the time he got scammed by a guy. This is compounded by hindsight too; Bob Baffert’s second Triple Crown Winner - Justify (2018 winner) - was revealed to have been doped (intentionally or not is irrelevant) in the race before the Kentucky Derby, and the scandal rocked the horse racing world quite heavily - it even ended up on the New York Times.  As the book says, there are very few saints in the Horse Racing industry.  On top of examining the human connections to this once in a life time horse, the book also examines the effect that the rich and elite have had on the industry - everything from purchasing habits to breeding trends - the most damning part of the book is how it details the pervading millionaire view of race horses as personal ATMs, how they don’t even know the names of the people who care for their horses, and worst perhaps of all, their desires have shaped the breed itself. Horses used to be raced upwards of 20 times in their lifetimes, and their conformation - or the way they are built - reflected their stamina and strength. Today’s Thoroughbreds barely race more than 10 times in their entire career, and much has been published examining the fragility of the breed in the wake of Eight Belles and Barbaro’s very public breakdowns on the track.  Even Seth Hancock - perhaps one of the most well known names in horse racing - has said “I don’t breed them like I used to” and that is because people want fast horses, not strong horses. This book drives that point home multiple times.  Ultimately, the book itself is a fast read, and enjoyable to boot, though it spends an uncomfortable amount of time giving the lurid details of Thoroughbred horse breeding. My biggest gripes with it is that it has a few grammatical errors and I found the passage about Bob Baffert being scammed a tad unnecessary.  Rating: 4/5 Stars For the Month of June I intend to finish a few books I started in May - The Graves are Walking by John Kelly, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, and Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. I also intend to (if I can get through the depressing but enlightening account of the Irish Potato Famine) read If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio, The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith, The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo, and The Last Temptations of Iago Wick by Jennifer Rainey. 

[readwithmichelle]

Do YOU like lesbian necromancers? Ancient Byzantium? Then this book is for you!

Set in a fantasy version of the Byzantine empire, Among the Hollow is an inspired read. Everything about it from it’s interpretation of necromancy to it’s main characters is quite gripping and entertaining. The prose is flowing but not self-important.

It’s a bit short for my tastes at 299 pages (ebook edition), but the plot moves quickly. Sevila - boy what to say about her? She chews every scene she’s in and swallows them whole.

Go check out this book! It was self published through Amazon (which is a BIT unfortunate but eh) back in 2018, and I think it deserves some love.

[readwithmichelle]

I suppose I should introduce myself!

My name is Michelle, and this blog is specifically a space for writing longer format reviews for books that I read, book fandom content, and just generally engage more in book reading. I do have an account on Goodreads where I post more short reviews and log in what I am reading. You can find that link in my description.

I’m a former bookseller and a current grad student in a History program. I have not chosen a specific area of focus but it will likely be Medieval/Renaissance. I have a BA in Art History where I primarily focused on religious art and architecture from the Renaissance and Baroque.

In terms of books, I read a lot of Historical Monographs - primarily for research and class discussions. Outside of that, however, I read a lot of Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Magical Realism, and Poetry. I also dip into Sports related non fiction and a little bit of Sci-fi.

Nice to meet you!

[readwithmichelle]

A Six of Crows Duology Fanmix (written by @lbardugo) Listen on Spotify 1. Missionary Man - Ghost 2. Iron - Woodkid 3. Dead Weight - PVRIS 4. We Have It All - Pim Stones 5. Servants - Zeal & Ardor 6. War of Hearts - Ruelle 7. Ember - Katherine McNamara 8. Wide Eyed - Billy Lockett 9. Sweet Nothing (ft. Florence Welch) - Calvin Harris 10. Monsters - Ruelle 11. Sinners - Lauren Aquilina