Iâve been mildly sick with stomach cramps for several days now (food poisoning? side-effect of the new anti-depressant I started last week? allergic reaction to the large amounts of coconut milk I was drinking? who knows!) which means a) I havenât been online much, so if I missed anything, apologies and please let me know, and b) I read a lot of stuff!
Penricâs Demon by Louis McMaster Bujold. In a faux-medieval Spain where gods, saints, and demons are all far too real, Penric finds himself possessed by a demon (or twelve demons, depending on how you count them). The impoverished younger son of a minor noble whoâs never before left his small town, Penric now finds himself of great interest to the church, nobility, and well, his own demon, which has never before possessed a man, and is far too interested in how they differ from women.
THIS WAS ADORABLE. Penric is a sweet, earnest, thoughtful character, and his adventures are small in scale, but completely uplifting. Itâs a novella rather than a full-length novel, but I was made so happy by reading this.
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. Someone is summoning dragons in Ankh-Morpork, with the goal of scaring the populace into crowning a new king. Unsurprisingly, this does not go as planned. To save the day we have Vimes, captain of the Night Watch and satire of the cynical alcoholic noir detective; Carrot, the Watchâs newest recruit, full of idealism and naivety; and Lady Sybil, breeder of pet swamp dragons (miniature, less dangerous versions of the real thing).
A lot of people recommend this book as the one where Discworld âgets really goodâ. And⊠I have to agree! There is a noticeable jump in the complexity of the world and the depth of the satire (though Iâm still going to stick with Wyrd Sisters for my favorite of these first eight books, but thatâs just because I prefer Shakespeare to noir). This has the introduction of so many wonderful characters, not just the main ones, but itâs the first time we see Vetinari asVetinari, and Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, and Colon! and Nobby! I donât know what more there is to say; itâs a wonderful book, funny and dark and exciting, and I love it so much.
(A question for other Discworld fans: the next book up is Eric. Iâve only ever read the non-illustrated version before. Should I wait until I can scrounge up an illustrated copy to reread, or is it not worth it?)
Shards of Sunlight by Anand Nair. A novel which begins in Kerala, India in the early 1940s, before traveling to Colombo, Sri Lanka for the late 1950s (ie, just in time for both places to undergo major political crises). The narrator is Indu, the pampered only child of a lawyer and activist involved in the freedom movement. She receives an unusually advanced education for a girl in her time and place, and eventually becomes a reporter. But despite the setting, the book is far more concerned with Induâs daily life, her domestic dramas, private griefs, and friendships, than it is with riots or marches or independence movements. Early on, limiting the story to Induâs POV is very frustrating - does anyone on Earth think this sort of thing is cute rather than irritating?:
Damu exploded. âYou are mad. Reckless to get involved in all this Congressâbongress speechmaking and processions when you have a family to look after.â
Indu, startled, looked at Damu and then at her father. Why was Damu so angry?
âIâll be arrested within a week if they pass the resolution on the twelfth,â Gopalan said. âWe know itâs going to be passed; all the provincial committees have voted for it.â
âWhatâs ârrested?â Indu wondered. It sounded bad.
But thankfully she quickly grows out of that. The whole book does feel a bit like a first draft â there are idioms that are misused, plot threads that disappear, that sort of thing â but nonetheless thereâs a real engrossing, page-turning quality to the book. Thereâs nothing new or radical here that isnât the same as a million other coming-of-age dramas about young women from small towns, but if you like that genre, this is a particularly well-done example of it.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. A book I decided to read solely on the basis that it seemed like an excellent comfort book for lying on the couch under blankets and cats. And it was! Itâs an epistolary novel, told entirely in letters between Cecelia and her cousin Kate, young woman in a Regency England where magic is normal. Kate has gone to London for her first Season, while Cecelia was left behind in the country, due to a theory that they would cause too much trouble if brought out together. A plot involving evil stepmothers, nefarious wizards, a mysterious marquis, poisonous hot chocolate, and a fake betrothal soon develops. The whole thing was hilarious and delightful, and I finished it in a day.
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