Between Burning Worlds by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell – Another entry in a very solid trilogy. That said, like a lot of middle books in trilogies, this one kinda spins its wheels a little bit – I don’t really care about Marcellus and crew going to Albion (the British planet), especially because that really deviates from the Les Mis retelling I came here for. That said, I still really liked most of this book. I feel like this series was just published at the wrong time (2019-2020). If this had come out during the YA dystopia boom of the early 2010’s, or the recent dystopia renaissance, it would have gotten more attention, but it unfortunately fell during that period where YA dystopia was really out of fashion.

For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor – Alas, I DNF’d this one. Admittedly, it was mostly because my library wanted my copy back. But also, I didn’t care to check it out again. My interest in the Bobiverse rapidly deteriorated over the course of this book. It’s hard to get interested in a thousand clones of the same, frankly uninteresting guy. Also, even if I’d finished this book and the next, I would have had to drop this series – I don’t do audiobooks, and Books 4 and 5 are audiobook exclusives (that said, I’ve heard nothing but rapturous acclaim for the Bobiverse audiobooks).

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon (S. A.) Chakraborty – So, positives first. Pirates are fun! And the medieval Middle Eastern setting is certainly unique from a lot of other pirate stories. That’s basically the only good things I have to say about this book. Amina is annoying. Which is disappointing, because I was really excited for a middle aged mother protagonist in this sort of story. Amina acted like someone half her age and, more damningly, like someone born a thousand years later. She doesn’t talk like a twelfth century Muslim woman living in Yemen. She talks like a twenty-first century Muslim woman living in the United States who’s currently in college taking gender studies classes, emphasis on “currently in college” because again, she sounds like a teenager. Also, you’d think Amina, who spends a lot of time going on monologues about feminist issues, would know that the sitting ruler of Yemen at the time was Arwa al-Sulayhi, one of few female monarchs of the medieval Islamic world, and a highly revered one at that. The adventure also felt pretty dull. I have no interest in reading the second book which comes out soon.

Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie – Eh. It’s okay. I’m surprised how little I remember about a trilogy I read all three parts of.

The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan – Another Lady Trent adventure, this one takes us away from the snowy lands seen in A Natural History of Dragons and into a lush jungle. This continues the winning streak set by the first book. I will say this book’s portrayal of the jungle natives felt a little dated, but otherwise this was another treat.

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher – The sixth Dresden Files adventure, this one very much falls into the pattern set by previous books, but it’s an enjoyable pattern. These are quality fantasy mysteries.

Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale – A modern speculative novel, which I’m not generally a fan of, but this one was cute. I liked it a lot better than similar books like Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library or Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Maybe in Another Life. That said, the parts where Cassandra is diagnosed with autism as an adult felt a little like author soapboxing (as she’s an autism advocate), and the stuff with Cassandra’s sister felt like it came out of nowhere. Not one I really recommend, but not one I hate either.

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett – Another Ana and Din adventure, this continues their Holmes and Watson style dynamic. Like the book that came before it, good, but not really my speed. Might skip A Trade of Blood.

Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky – Not gonna lie, the Children of Time series is starting to overstay its welcome. I found this third book pretty unmemorable and unnecessary. Not the worst space opera I’ve ever read (we’re getting to that one), but not essential either.

Dust by Hugh Howey – A satisfying finale. Wraps up all the stories quite nicely. I really should watch the Silo TV series.

Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe – This one’s good. I think O’Keefe’s one of the better writers of space opera working today. I found myself very engrossed in Velocity Weapon. My one complaint is that Jules Valentine felt kind of unnecessary next to Sanda and Biran, and Jules felt like a bit of a stock action heroine. All in all though, this definitely gets a recommendation from me.

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna – Not the best cozy fantasy has to offer. Basically the same as The House in the Cerulean Sea, and I wasn’t crazy about that one either. Mika and Jamie make for a boring couple, and it’s another book where the kids don’t act like kids. From the title, I was hoping for some fun secret society shenanigans, but instead the title refers to Mika’s little girl gang with the three annoying little girls. I also didn’t gel with Mandanna’s writing style, so I doubt I’ll be picking up A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping or any future cozy fantasy books from her.

Slow Gods by Claire North – Quite possibly the worst space opera I’ve ever read. In fact, I’d say it’s the second worst book I’ve ever read as an adult, only behind Ali Garbagewood’s Love On the Brain (and I’m only putting Love On the Brain lower because it actually has fans – at least no one actually likes Slow Gods). This book has everything people who hate science fiction say when they hate science fiction. The characters are paper thin. Being stuck in the main character’s head was like living the sloth scene from Zootopia. The worldbuilding is expressed in uninteresting info-dumps. The social commentary is laughably unsubtle. The experimental aspects of this book were a colossal dud. And the neopronouns (especially he and she with accents over the e’s) sounded like they came from a parody of neopronouns from someone who hates the concept of them. Should be renamed Slow Read.

The Things Gods Break by Abigail Owen – My hot take is that Jasmine Mas’ Bonds of Hercules isn’t the worst use of Greek mythology in a romantasy. The Games Gods Play is. And yet I stumbled into the second book. I don’t know why. It’s got a lot of the same problems as the first book and the additional woes of being the middle book in a trilogy. Not gonna lie, I’m kind of sick of Hades (at least the Neon Gods sequels moved onto other Greek mythological figures). This book shamelessly recycled the Hunger Games-esque trials from the first book. Despite all that, I am still kind of interested in The Wrath Gods Reap (assuming the line for it at the library isn’t too long.)

Midnight, Water City by Chris McKinney – An underrated gem. I prefer noir over a Holmes and Watson type detective story (see the Ana and Din books), and this book had some surprisingly good worldbuilding. I’m not a big fan of cli-fi, but this book managed to give an interesting spin on it. I happily devoured this one. I have no idea why this book has such low ratings on places like Goodreads. Maybe people just don’t like noir?

August Kitko and the Mechas From Space by Alex White – A fun ride, but I feel like it has a bit of a “who is this for” problem that prevents me from recommending it whole-heartedly. I feel like there’s not a ton of overlap between fans of the mecha genre, queer romances, military sci-fi, and rock stars – except, of course, Alex White. I love rock stars, I like queer romances, and I don’t have any particular attachment to the mecha genre or military sci-fi, and I enjoyed this ride. My biggest complaint is that nonbinary rock star and Gus’ love interest Ardent Violet really hogged the spotlight. Look, I like Ardent, but they have their own book. This book is called August Kitko and the Mechas From Space, and I wanted more of the attention to be on Gus (minor note – I don’t know why the book’s titled “August Kitko” when August is basically always called Gus). Still, if the premise catches your eye, this is a good time.

Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan – Isabella, Lady Trent rides again! This time, we’re journeying by boat around the world in search of dragons. Another fun ride.

Poster Girl by Veronica Roth – So, fun fact – this is actually my first Veronica Roth book since Divergent. Yes, I did not read either of its sequels. I actually read Divergent right when it came out, I liked it fine enough, but by the time Insurgent and Allegiant came out, I wasn’t interested in continuing, I’d kinda been burnt out by the dystopian craze. But Poster Girl is a solid adventure. That said, I think if this book had been longer than it was (it’s fairly short) I might not have finished it. Sonya spends a lot of the book reminiscing on her past and the people she’s lost and I found that really boring. The mystery plot line was interesting, but it had a bit of an underwhelming payoff. It’s one of those books that I’m glad I read it, but also I returned it to the library and haven’t been missing it.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro – This is probably the sci fi book I get recommended to me most often by BookTok. I found it just okay. I think it’s a little overrated, honestly. I’m mildly interested in the upcoming movie though.

Ardent Violet and the Infinite Eye by Alex White – Another fun romp, if you liked the first one, you’ll like this. It was a little bogged down by listening to Gus’ tragic backstory a little too long, but all things considered I had more fun. I hope we do get a third book. It’s teased at the end of Ardent Violet, but it hasn’t properly been announced yet, and given that August Kitko and Ardent Violet both kinda underperformed, it might have been quietly cancelled. That would suck. If the third book gets greenlit, I’d like it to be about Dahlia.

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros – Honestly, I think the Empyrean series is popular for a good reason – it’s not the best book in the world or anything, but it is one of the best at what it does. Iron Flame though does have a bit of middle book syndrome. Violet and Xaden do a lot of miscommunication in this book. I also don’t love the catfight bait character of Catriona. But the dragons are still cool, the battles are still exciting, and I’m excited to read Onyx Storm and the fourth and fifth books (although Rebecca, if you kill Rhiannon or Mira, I’m quitting the series forever).

The Will of the Many by James Islington – Probably my spiciest take in this blog post (aside from maybe the Ali Garbagewood comment from earlier) is that I think James Islington is the most overrated author working today. He’s not bad, but he’s ridiculously overrated. Why? Because all of his books are carbon copies of other popular works – the Licanius Trilogy is just The Wheel of Time, and The Will of the Many is just The Kingkiller Chronicles. I DNF’d The Shadow of What Was Lost pretty quickly, because I realized that I didn’t like it when it was called The Eye of the World, and I wasn’t going to like it now. But I like The Kingkiller Chronicles better than The Wheel of Time, so I gave this uproariously beloved book a shot. It wasn’t that great. Don’t get me wrong, I was never temped to DNF it like I was with Licanius, but I did not have a good time. Part of that was because I don’t like dark academia (although calling this “dark” academia is kind of a stretch), but also, Vis is a boring Marty Stu. I know a lot of people are trying to get people to stop calling female characters Mary Sues, but instead, I think we should normalize calling male characters Marty Stus (or Gary Stu, whatever floats your boat). And Vis is a Marty Stu. That said, I did at least get the hype, unlike the slog that was The Shadow of What Was Lost. It wasn’t as good as Kingkiller Chronicles (although, unlike a certain someone, James Islington is actually working on Book 3), but I don’t think it was awful, just overrated. I did pick up The Strength of the Few, although I am worried that it’s going to have bad Middle Book Syndrome. Also, I’m mad that they changed the cover design in between books one and two so now my two books don’t match.

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty – I alluded to it in my The Housemaid rant, but I did not like Big Little Lies. In my opinion, you absolutely have to be a parent to enjoy that book. So much of it was spent in the weeds of kindergarten parent teacher conference drama that I, who has no kids, found it insufferable. Also, it had The World’s Most Basic Plot Twist – the evil husband. Like I said, “divorcee thrillers”. And it had one of the most obnoxious teenage characters of all time (I want to strangle Abigail with my bare hands). But I was moderately intrigued by the premise of Nine Perfect Strangers, so I picked it up. And I didn’t hate it! The least interesting story was definitely Ben and Jessica – I guessed from page one that they were gonna end up divorced (now Jessica can enjoy divorcee thrillers!) Carmel (the hell kinda name is Carmel?) also had a weak story. Lars was fine. And I swear I was psychic when it came to the Marconi family – my first two guesses when I saw Zoe was so sullen were A) her father was sexually abusing her (I’m sorry, I just automatically don’t trust men in thrillers, I apologize for the false accusation, Mr. Napoleon Marconi, a name I didn’t make up), or B) her twin just committed suicide. And I was completely right on the second one! Literally the only thing I got wrong was I about was that I assumed it was a twin sister instead of a twin brother. Maybe it was because the situation of two dour parents with a morose daughter kind of reminded me of the musical Dear Evan Hansen, which also features a teenage girl named Zoe whose brother died by suicide (weird coincidence, these came out in the same year). Surprisingly, I think the highlights were Tony and Frances. And a lot of people didn’t like the twist, but I didn’t loathe it (at least it’s not the evil husband!) Not exactly one I can recommend with flying colors though, it’s not groundbreaking. I’m also not really interested in the show.

Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty – I’m kind of neutral on that one. Mohanty says he’s trying to make the Indian A Song of Ice and Fire, and I can kind of see it (it’s also mixed a lot with The First Law trilogy.) It’s not really a favorite of mine, and I might skip Book 2, but if it sounds interesting to you it’s worth a read. It’s kind of in the “it’s not you, it’s me” camp.

Suns Will Rise by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell – A good conclusion to a great trilogy. I will say that I didn’t care as much for the two new POV characters, Cerise and Etienne, I found these OCs less compelling than Alouette, Marcellus, and Chatine (respectively this series’ analogues to Cosette, Marius, and Eponine). But I really enjoyed the ending, and I highly recommend this to people looking for an underrated dystopian.

A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson – A surprising hit. I moderately enjoyed Evocation and Ascension by the same author, and I’d heard good things about this one, but I’m a little skeptical of feminist retellings (since, a lot of the time, they end up undermining their feminist messages). But this one is a diamond in the rough. Unlike a lot of these retellings, which simply retell the same story we already know but with more violence against women and don’t match the same vibes as the original, A Dowry of Blood is spooky and atmospheric, exactly what I want from a Dracula retelling. I give this one a recommendation.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner – You know what I literally just said about books that describe themselves as “feminist” completely undermining their feminist messages? Meet Exhibit A. Nella runs a secret 1700’s British apothecary that caters only to women who want to kill men. I’m not joking. Every single Y-Chromosome’d human being is some kind of sexual predator or abuser. When a woman, Lady Clarence, comes in and wants to kill her husband’s mistress, Nella is shocked and appalled. She could NEVER hurt another woman. God forbid we have a female character with any sort of moral ambiguity! And remember what I said about Amina al-Sirafi way back at the beginning, that she talked like a modern woman? Nella apparently goes to the same gender studies classes as Amina. But that’s not the worst thing about Nella. Despite Nella despising the male gender, she is desperate to have a baby. LITERALLY WHAT. I thought wanting babies (especially for the sake of wanting babies) was the opposite of feminist. (Also, I feel like she’d commit infanticide if she had a son – would that count as feminism?) I’ve heard a variant of the Bechtel Test that says not only should two women not talk about men, but they should also not talk about babies to pass. I’m a critic of using the Bechtel Test to judge a work’s feminism, but I feel like Sarah Penner is the type of person who would care, so I’m going to judge it on this version of the Bechtel Test, and you know what? It would fail, because all of the conversations between two women in this novel are about either evil men or having babies. I haven’t even mentioned the worst part about Nella. When it looks like her apothecary is about to get raided, she considers destroying the ledger she’s made of all the women who have visited her store to buy poison to kill their husbands. You know, the smart thing to do. But she decides to keep it because “destroying this ledger would be erasing these poor women from history!” Excuse me? Do you care about these women at all? If the police find out that they killed their husbands, THEY’RE GOING TO BE EXECUTED. How’s that for erasing them from history? Also, you’d think that if these women had a say, they’d probably not like to be remembered for what’s probably their darkest moments (unless they’re sociopathic serial killers like Nella). But what do I know? I’m just a girl! (I feel like Sarah Penner would gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss me into thinking I’m anti-feminist.) And I haven’t even mentioned Caroline yet. I automatically hate historical books that feel the need to have a modern character to ground us, but Caroline is almost as bad as Nella, and certainly more stupid. She has a cardboard cutout Evil Husband, and she’s also desperate to get pregnant. WHY? She doesn’t even have the excuse of living in the 1700’s, she lives in a fourth-wave feminist world. She’s also the author’s self insert and she gets accepted into Cambridge in one day. I wished she would fall into the Thames while mudlarking and drown. This book might be my third least favorite book of all time behind Love On the Brain and Slow Gods. It only gets any points for Eliza, the third narrator I haven’t mentioned yet because I actually don’t wish she was dead, who’s twelve and thus not interested in getting pregnant. This book has a lot in common with the “divorcee thrillers” I mentioned earlier. Don’t read this book unless you believe in female supremacy but also wish you were constantly pregnant.

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall – Sure. It’s okay. I guess I just don’t like stories set in England (or maybe it was because I read this immediately after that other monstrosity that takes place in England). I will say that it’s very unrealistic, because Oliver is an ethical vegan and he doesn’t make it his entire personality. I don’t know. I don’t dislike it, but also I’m not going to pick up Husband Material or the upcoming Father Material. I guess I’m happy that Luc and Oliver are doing well, I just don’t really care to continue their story.

Eventide, Water City by Chris McKinney – Eventide continues eight years after Midnight, and unfortunately, I think I kind of wish Midnight was a standalone. I found Eventide to be a bit unnecessary. I feel like it mostly exists to set up the major status quo change going into Sunset, Water City. Still better than a lot of other books I read in March though.

Lights Out by Navessa Allen – Another one I’m just kinda like “sure” on. I just read this one so when my BookTok friends talked about it I’d know what they were talking about. Less fun than Butcher & Blackbird. Also, I don’t really get why this is all of a sudden getting a lot of merch at Barnes & Noble. Like, it doesn’t really stand out from the dark romance crowd. Do people really want t-shirts of it? Tote bags? An official cookbook? I did already buy Book 2 from my used book store though, so I guess I’m in this for the long haul.

Lastly, Chaos Vector by Megan E. O’Keefe – Has a little bit of Middle Book Syndrome, but I still found Chaos Vector more enjoyable than, say, Shift or The Things Gods Break or Eventide, Water City. I’m really excited to read the last book, and read Megan E. O’Keefe’s other series.