Essex Dogs: A Novel by Dan Jones
Whenever I’m at a bookstore, I seem to be drawn toward historical fiction more than any other genre. A month or so ago, I was browsing a table full of books when this one caught my eye. I’d never seen historical fiction set in The Hundred Years War, and the blurb made this sound like a “band of brothers” type of story — a company of men called the Essex Dogs who fight like hell, not for fame or riches or country, but for each […]
The Bandit Queens: A Novel by Parini Shroff
This book might end up one of my favorites for CBR16. It was a shockingly funny delight about women who murder their husbands. Parini Shroff was inspired to write this story after a visit to India many years ago, where she learned about the micro loan program there. Women receive loans to start their own businesses, forming small support groups that ensure participants repay their loans regularly. Shroff wondered about two things: why women receive the loans and not men (because women were seen as […]
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
I originally purchased the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie(consisting of The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and The Last Argument of Kings) sometime around 2009. I’ve somehow went 15 years without reading them, so figured it was finally time to do so… The books are mostly set in a country called the “Union”, and explore the inner politics of the nation, along with a series of conflicts with both the “North” (essentially a loosely organized collection of barbarians), and the “Gurkish” (an expansionist […]
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
I was introduced to Shannon Chakraborty writing under the name S.A. Chakraborty through her book The City of Brass, first book in the Daevabad trilogy. There was a lot I liked about it; excellent Middle Eastern inspired fantasy world building, an engaging story, and a great female main protagonist. Yet, I disliked how pretty much the only female character was the main one. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi also has excellent Middle Eastern inspired fantasy world building. This time it’s set on the Indian Ocean during the […]
Erasure: A Novel by Percival Everett
I heard good things about the movie version of this book (American Fiction), but since I haven’t been able to see it, I decided to just go to the source. This 2001 novel, a Pulitzer Prize nominee, is short but punchy and full of literary references that I could probably spend years investigating. It’s a riveting story but one of those novels that I know I am only partly understanding. Everett includes an incendiary novel within his novel, and exposes the many forms erasure takes. […]
Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold
So, you pick up a science fiction mystery novel by your favorite author. You know the one, who wrote your favorite character of all time? It’s another in her long, award winning series following Miles Naismith Vorkosigan through his life of adventure and mystery. (if you’ve read Bujold, you know why you never leave out Naismith in his name.) The soletta – the key to terraforming Komarr – has just been hit and almost catastrophically damaged by an ore freighter. Miles is a newly minted Imperial […]
