Wanted to start doing a quick rundown of the books I'm reading this year. One, because I like gabbing about books and two, because I need people to gab at me about books pls. So feel free to invade my inbox!
A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer
Don't let anyone fool you by giving you the blurb "This is like Harry Potter but better." It is not like Harry Potter and doesn't deserve that comparison. This book is about magic school for maybe the first third and quickly becomes about navigating politics and high society for the last two. That said, I loved it. It has such a pleasant and meticulously detailed faux-historical setting that feels grounded, while maintaining a magic system that is mercurial and understated. There is a fantastic friendship between the main character, Faris, and Jane. Very much in the same fantasy phylum as Diana Wynne Jones.
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Very off into left field from the last one, this book is about an international Ponzi scheme and the way it affects several different people. It is less a novel than a collection of vignettes, but the character work is insanely brilliant. You care about each person within the narrative, even the ones that make terribly selfish decisions. I'm fascinated by how much I loved this since it is in no way my typical read, but it left me in that lovely book coma that only comes from the best of writers. I'll definitely be reading more from this author.
Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
This is not a book. This is like six movies, several commercials, and a series of interviews just barely contained within book form, and they are trying their level best to break out. I've read books by Valente before, so I knew to expect The Weird. But this is her at her most zany. If you like old Hollywood, decopunk (think of the movie Metropolis), The Magnus Archives, and Treasure Planet, you should pick this up. I won't promise you'll like it, I don't know if I liked it. But I will be thinking about it for a very long time. There are Roanoke space colonies, a film noir detective, Eldritch horror whales, and so so so many Greek mythology references. Just- you have to experience it for yourself.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
There is a clock-making former samurai with a pet mechanical octopus. I don't feel like I need to say more. This is steampunk done right. This has science-fiction magic that will bend your brain into a Mobius strip. I don't want to explain too much and spoil it, but it's fascinating. It's also, of all things, technically a mystery? It's hard to define, but it's a wonderful adventure. Slower paced but with such sweet character work. I've already got the sequel.
