Ahoy there me mateys!  This second installment was enjoyable and a quick read.  I wanted to know how the story would evolve and how the gods would interfere.  The highlights of this book continued to be Kissen and Skedi.  I enjoyed Elogast, revisiting gods, and the other gods that are introduced.  The gods are some of the more interesting characters.

This does have a bit of the middle book syndrome.  The book was a little convoluted, especially at the beginning.  I found the rebellion subplot to be mostly boring.  Also, for the majority of this book, the three main characters are split up.  After the ending of the last book, I guess I expected them to spend more time together.  Elogast and Inara are only together some of the time and I would have liked more character interaction from me three favorites.  And Kissen! . . . well spoilers.  Her plotline was me favorite.

Inara tries to continue getting revenge while relying on her emotions and not her head.  She comes across as stubborn and a bit angsty.  I kinda wanted to hit her.  I still love her character in general though and am looking forward how the growth in this book plays out.  The ending of this installment gives me hope.

We also had new POVs from Arren's perspective.  I really don't enjoy him as a character and didn't really like being in his head.  I don't, however, think ye are supposed to like him so it works out.  I also did not like the "twist" regarding him but that is likely personal preference.

In fact, I mostly wished the author would have done something different with this book though the set up for the larger picture makes sense.  I felt the added POVs didn't always enrich the plot.  The plot elements, in general, were predictable though I wasn't completely expecting the very ending.  This may sound rather negative but it certainly was a good read.  I am looking forward to the conclusion.  Arrrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  There is a lot of awesome in this story of Shesheshen the monster falling in love with a human.  I loved the tale being told from the prospective of the monster.  Shesheshen's viewpoint of humans and their particularities was excellent fun.  I found the beginning of this novel up through the monster meeting the love interest, Homily, to be captivating.  Homily, of course, thinks Shesheshen is a human.  The monster learning about how humans think about love was also wonderful.  The insight into monster ethics was excellent.

Sadly, I did not love Homily as a character, even though she was sympathetic.  She seemed very one dimensional.  As the novel progressed I found the romance subplot and Homily's family began to irk me.  I did not like the plot twist regarding Homily's mother at all.  The logic of the story did not always work for me.

I also wish the novel would not have taken the direction it did once the big bad was dealt with.  Part of the problem was all of the lying that Shesheshen did to Homily seemed to be brushed off with no real consequences.  The reasons for the lies made sense but were not resolved satisfactorily.  It personally never felt like the two became partners.  Plus the epilogue was odd and too long.

I am still extremely glad I read this though because the beginning imagery and plot is going to stick with me for quite sometime.  I could see meself rereading this book just because of how enjoyable it was.  Oh and Blueberry the Bear rocks!  So I do highly recommend it.  I think the problems are more me and not the book.  Arrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this short story collection eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

This is the complete collection of Ann Leckie's short fiction.  Given I am a major fan of her work, reading this was delightful.  Some of the stories I had previously read.  But fans will love to have them all in one place.  Plus there is a new novella!

Side Note: I will link to the stories online where ye can read them for free.  Not many of them are these days.

I will try to give ye an idea of the bare bones and thoughts on the stories:

"Lake of Souls" - I absolutely loved this novella and could have read a lot more about the sentient crustacean-like creatures and their culture.  Felt bad for the humans in this though.

"Footprints" - Cooper is alive after a crash.  His nameless companion looks human but isn't.  She is unnerving.  Her talking teddy bear is just plain creepy.  Super short.  I  want more.

"Hesperia and Glory" - There is not a well in the cellar.  Mr. Atkins sure thinks there is.  Is he crazy?  What is the truth?  Where is Hesperia?  Loved the ending of this one.

"The Endangered Camp" - The bird-like creatures are trying to flee Earth and get to Mars.  A disagreement breaks out about what to do when the Earth has a catastrophe.  Viscous but fun matriarchal culture.  The best one won.

"Another Word for World" - I really loved this story!  There is an original culture and a refugee culture.  One older woman is the daughter of an interpreter for the refugees.  The other is a young Sovereign.  Deals with the problems with treaty translations when both sides may not want the mistakes to be fixed.

"The Justified" - A dictator is justified.  Or so they think.  A servant is summoned back to deal with insurrection.  Interesting consequences occur.  Interesting world building and politics.

"Bury the Dead" - A short story about what happens on the first Thanksgiving after Grandpa has died.  Fun women power!  Click here for me original review.

"The Sad History of the Tearless Onion" - A dude tries to make a tearless union.  Unintended consequences ensue.  Funny!

Tales from the Imperial Radch

"Night's Slow Poison" - A local planet is protected by The Crawl - a monotonous space journey.  The planet is afraid of spies.  A local member of the Watch starts a friendship with a passenger.  The ending brings up interesting ramifications to the planet.  Click here for me original review of this. Click here for the Ann Leckie's inspiration for this story.

"She Commands Me and I Obey" - A ball game determines world politics.  A young novice finds out political secrets and is a key figure in determining the outcome of the game.  I love this one! Click here for me original review.

"The Creation and Destruction of the World" - This seems to be a myth from the Imperial Radch world.  Click here for Ann Leckie's comments on this story.

Tales from the Raven Tower Universe

"The God of Au" - The Godless on their fleet of ships try to avoid dependence on any god.  They arrive at the island of Au and have to deal with its god, Steq.  This was long but the ending made it all worth it.

"The Nalendar" - Umri is tricked by a skink shaped god to look for a treasure.  She is avoiding a slave holder who wants her as his concubine.  Nothing goes as planned.  Umri is a fabulous character.  Another excellent ending.

"The Snake's Wife" - The kings of Therete are cursed by Artau Ehat, Lord of the Sky.  The curse can be broken in one specific way.  Neither humans nor gods play nicely.  A rather sad tale overall.

"Marsh Gods" - Ten year-old Voud gets three frogs which she trades to a Crane for answers to three questions.  She wants to get out of marrying the neighbor.  A missing brother shows up.  A trial is called. Gods and trickery are involved.  Voud helps outsmart them all.

"The Unknown God" - Aworo, Lord of Horses, god of the Western plains has made the river Nalender angry because he cursed one of her own.  He is seeking Truth while playing with human characteristics.  A unknown frog god and a foolish merchant help him out.

"Saving Bacon" - This story was funny.  It involves a family of fearsome intelligent women, a silly male whose purpose is to marry for the betterment of the family, a sparrow that is not a sparrow, and a pig that is a pig (named Bacon).

"Beloved of the Sun" - A sacrifice is drawn into a conflict with Lord Sun and other gods.  This was a nice ending to the collection.

Now that I have read these stories, I need to reread the Raven Tower.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received an eArc of this sci-fi novel through NetGalley in exchange for me honest musings . . .

I really enjoyed the author's first novel and this one was a lot of fun too.  The highlight for me of the author's writing is her eerie atmospheres.  In this story, psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her study into ERS, a space based illness that leads to hallucinations and violent tendencies.  She is assigned to accompany an exploratory crew to an abandoned planet where one of their members had a tragic accident.  Or did they?

The crew just wants to complete their aborted mission and get paid.  Ophelia is determined to help them work through the past trauma on the planet.  The crew wants nothing to do with her or her offered help.  The setting of an abandoned planet with horrible weather conditions was excellent fun.  I loved how every thing started going wrong.  The abandoned station, ruins, distrust of the crew, and unanswered questions were the best part.

I do wish that this book did not focus so much on Ophelia's own trauma.  I felt that too much time was spent with her facing her past demons, discussing her past, and not enough on the situation at hand.  I felt like I spent more time in her head then on the planet.  I think her PTSD helps make her an unreliable narrator but I would have preferred that the focus was actually on ERS and the current predicament.  Part of the problem was that, for me, sending a psychologist who is that damaged seemed silly and the reasons for it (politics etc.) were not convincing.

Despite that flaw, I still read this pretty quickly and wanted to know how it would all resolve.  I do think many readers will enjoy Ophelia as a main character.  I wanted more insight into the crew dynamics and more definite answers into ERS and the mysteries on the planet itself.  No regrets reading this though and I will read whatever the author writes next.  Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys! The first book of the Green Rider series is one of me comfort reads even if I dumped the series in the middle of book five and never went back. But Laren Mapstone is one of me favorite characters so I was excited to get a short novel (around 200 pgs) about her.  Too bad she was injured and unconscious for most of it.  The story is really about Tavin Bankside finding out about his gift and how to control it.  Laren Mapstone is a MacGuffin.  This was extremely disappointing.  The story was pleasant enough and a quick read.  But having finished it, the book felt unnecessary.  I will continue to love the first book of the series and acknowledge, once again, that each subsequent book in the series has had diminishing returns.  Only Green Rider super fans should read this one.  Arrr!

Ahoy there me mateys! I listened to this tale via audiobook and have to say that I immensely enjoyed it. This is the story of a robot i.e. “AF” named Klara and her interactions with the world. Ye meet Klara in the store where she is being sold, celebrate with her when she finally is bought, and watch and listen to her observations as the years pass. While the book starts out hopeful, there is a disconcerting thread throughout that only gets stronger as the book progresses.

I particularly loved the set up in this one. I loved Klara’s thoughts on the world outside the store, her interactions with the other AFs, and her relationship with the store manager. There was something poetic and endearing about Klara’s thoughts and opinions especially when she is wrong. I wish there would have been more about her and other AFs in the book overall.

The humans in the book generally left a lot to be desired. I did like the character of Rick but mostly felt the others to be misguided, thoughtless, and creepy. The character of Josie is supposed to be sympathetic but I never really felt attached to her and mostly felt she was selfish and spoiled. I also certainly didn’t like this version of our potential future. The reveal in the middle of the book was also very icky but fascinating.

The other area I really loved was how the sun was represented in Klara’s thoughts and imagery throughout the book. It was a powerful symbol in both how it was used and misused. Delightful and horrifying but always interesting. I am so glad I read this one. Arrr!

Ahoy there me mateys! Sea-dragons!  Ye know ye have to read this book.  Makiia Lucier is an author that I wish more readers knew about.  If ye haven't read her books before, this is an excellent place to start.  This young adult fantasy is inspired by Pacific Island mythology and it is lovely.

Hanalei is in exile from her home island of Tamarind.  Her father stole the dragonfruit (egg) of a sea-dragon to cure her from poison.  Only that egg was meant to heal the princess.  In the years since, Hanalei earns her living as a researcher of the sea-dragons.  Everyone else sees the dragons as a commodity because their parts are used for all sorts of products.  A dragon hunter captures Hanalei to track down a pregnant sea-dragon.  Through this adventure, Hanalei finds her new purpose.

I loved so much about this book.  The world building deals with an archipelago.  I love that we get to spend time on both the sea and learning about island life.  The sea-dragons are ferocious beasts and I loved learning about their lives and habits.  Many islanders from Tamarind have magical tattoos that can emerge from the body and are companions.  Tamarind is matriarchal and the glimpses we receive about the culture and economy are fascinating.  There is romance but it is light and how it is resolved at the end was extremely gratifying.  I also loved that Hanalei is not blamed for the choices her father makes.  I loved the friendship Hanalei made with the other women on the island.

There are some brutal scenes involving the sea-dragons and in their being hunted.  There are some deaths that made me ache.  The consequences of the use of dragonfruit are haunting.  However, for me, the feeling was realism in a fantasy world.  And overall, the ending is positive.  I highly, highly recommend this one to the crew.  Arrrr!