I definitely wasn’t ready for the book within a book, but was glad for more story than the film provides. A fun little romp, but not sure how I feel about the book within a book and the tease of a sequel without providing one. 

Glad to have read this (now) cult classic. Solid laughs all around. 

Leckie does it again (zero surprises there). 

Another installment in the Radch universe that has kept SF fans happy for the last number of years, Translation State brings the reader together with three seemingly incredibly disparate characters: Enae, Qven, and Reet.

Qven, sweet but complicated and mildly terrifying Qven, created to become a Presger Translator, and whose future is forever changed by the behavior of one of their peers from another clade.

Reet, adopted by loving parents, and without direction in life nor knowledge of where they come from gets some answers they were seeking, but he's unsure he likes the answers.

And Enae, thrust into the world of diplomacy after the death of hir grandmaman, and on the hunt for a fugitive who disappeared two centuries previous.

Across the stars, and the course of this novel, the reader becomes enmeshed in their lives, and gets to see how and why they intersect. Some of our previous friends show up as well, in the form of other species and people with their own interests in the future of the Treaty as a Conclave approaches. This novel asks us what is family? How do we determine and define where we belong? Are we our genes or are we something greater if we choose? How do we fight back against those who would push us towards decisions that serve only themselves, and not us?

As usual, Leckie had me turning pages late into the night, through the afternoon, and devouring another Imperial Radch universe novel in this gripping and delightful standalone. 

CWs in no particular order but from most to least severe: gore, colonization, emotional manipulation/abuse, death, dismemberment, cannibalism, blood. 

Book feels particularly triggering as a neurospicy survivor, as it goes into trauma in detail in ways that just don’t feel like a good fit. Mental health professionals recommended a couple others instead. Not worth hanging onto or trying to finish. Felt dissociated while reading it, although first brain chapters were interesting. Unfortunately, author has been accused of faking their studies, and having bunk science included (yikesssss). Just not the book for me. 

Jemisin can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned. 

First and foremost, big thanks to NetGalley and RH/Ballantine/Del Rey for providing me yet another copy of a forthcoming novel by one of my favorite contemporary SFF/Horror writers in exchange for an honest review. 

A bit different than other novels by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Silver Nitrate is an (of course) exquisitely researched and written novel, at its core, about folks who work in the film industry in Mexico, a film recorded on silver nitrate reel that was part of a magical spell, and a Nazi occultist. Our main characters, Montserrat and Tristán, childhood friends, both embedded in the film industry and starting to be looked over in their respective portions of the field (Montserrat, or Momo, in the sound editing world; Tristán in the acting world) as they start to get older and don't seem to cut it compared to younger, more attractive colleagues. 

Perhaps most interesting in this particular Moreno-Garcia novel is the weaving together of the film industry of years past and Nazi occultists' obsession with film as conveyer of magic. Tristán and, especially, Montserrat, get themselves into lots of supernatural trouble as a result of messing with a film that contained the "unfinished" spell of one such dead Nazi occultist from Germany (this character, Ewers in the novel, is based on the real historical figure of Joseph Goebbels, former Chief Propagandist of the Nazi party (etc), and who was convinced that cinema was "one of the most effective propaganda instruments" (Author's Note). 

As with all of Moreno-Garcia's works, the author also comments on historical and contemporary social issues like colorism and racism within México, love and the forms it takes, disability, homophobia and biphobia, and one could even read commentary of white folks co-opting spiritual practices of folks from the Global South into some of the novel, among others. 

Spoiler ahead:

The friends-to-lovers trope is definitely strong in this one, and the chemistry between Montserrat and Tristán builds throughout the novel. I particularly like that they are a bit older (40s-ish), so there is also commentary towards the end of the novel around how sometimes things are better, rather than worse, with age, and that love can be one of these.

I hope folks enjoy this Moreno-Garcia novel just as much as her others. It felt a bit different to me (not at all in a bad way) from prior works of hers, so I'll be genuinely interested to see what more folks things once this book hits shelves in a little over a week! 

CWs in more or less order of intensity/severity: some explicit detailed gore (of someone long-deceased, but would give this one as a more graphic warning; description is fairly brief), misogyny, death, ableism, cultural appropriation (done by the Nazi occultist because of course), biphobia, bullying (as flashbacks/references to childhood), addiction (specifically alcoholism and references to the alcohol intake of a character increasing, references to side effects of hangover, etc.). 

Another great Tita Rosie’s Kitchen mystery. Beauty pageants that bring diversity, gender queerness, teen moms, and the pageant mom drama, as well as a murder. More amazing sounding food and summer treats to make my mouth water too! 

LOVE. I’m going to have to wait way too long for the next graphic novel of Far Sector I’m quite certain.