My First Twenty #AWW2013 Challenge Reads
It’s been quite a mixed bag. I’ve been actively trying to read more horror and science fiction from Australian writers so the list is skewed a bit in those directions. In fact, looking at it now, there’s only one Big Fat Fantasy (BFF) series on there, where those sorts of books used to dominate my reading. Part of that is because of intentionally branching out, part of it more annoying factors I won’t go into right now. And I think there are probably more short stories than I would read if left to my own devices without challenges to motivate me.
The full list is at the bottom, with review links, in the order I read them. I’ve already highlighted the horror books I’ve read, in this post. Of the novels there was After the Darkness by Honey Brown, a contemporary novel with nothing supernatural in it but with an excellent sense of creeping dread, and Perfections by Kirstyn McDermott, a tale of two sisters and something that’s not quite right in their relationships.
Of the fantasy I read, the Fallen Moon Trilogy trilogy by KJ Taylor is the aforementioned BFF. The trilogy, consisting of The Dark Griffin, The Griffin’s Flight and The Griffin’s War deals with griffins (shockingly) and racism, oppression and discrimination. Highly recommended and worth a read for all fantasy fans.
I also read the YA fantasy book Wolfborn by Sue Bursztynski, set in a more traditional fantasy world, but with a YA protagonist. And werewolves. And the multi-award winning Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan, with selkies.
On the urban/suburban fantasy front, I read Narrelle M Harris’s two Melbourne vampire books, The Opposite of Life and Walking Shadows. They’re an excellent read if the idea of a librarian teaming up with a geeky vampire appeals to you. I also read the YA (sub)urban fantasy Rise of the Fallen by Teagan Chilcott which treated angels and demons in a way that didn’t irritate me, in a way that angel books often do.
The Australian science fiction I read will soonish be summarised in its own post (I’m only two books away from my first milestone of the), but briefly, I read a novella, Rayessa and the Space Pirates by Donna Maree Hanson, a verse novel, The Sunlit Zone by Lisa Jacobson (which was shortlisted for a Stella Award), and an excellent trilogy by Andrea K Höst — Stray, Lab Rat One and Caszandra — in which a Sydney girl accidentally wanders though a portal onto an alien planet.
On the short story/collected works front I read two collections in the Twelve Planets series, Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren, containing three creepy short stories and a disturbing novella, and Asymmetry by Thoraiya Dyer, containing four diverse and incredibly well crafted stories. There was also Ishtar edited by Amanda Pillar and KV Taylor, a collection of three horror novellas all dealing with the Assyrian/Babylonian goddess Ishtar in the past, present and future. And finally, I read a collection and an anthologyfrom FableCroft Publishing, The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories by Joanne Anderton, which was wonderful and disturbing, and One Small Step edited by Tehani Wessely, a diverse collection of what Australian female spec fic writers can do.
All the reviews:
- After the Darkness by Honey Brown (review)
- Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren (review)
- The Dark Griffin by KJ Taylor (review)
- The Griffin’s Flight by KJ Taylor (review)
- Wolfborn by Sue Bursztynski (review)
- Rayessa and the Space Pirates by Donna Maree Hanson (review)
- The Griffin’s War by KJ Taylor (review)
- Walking Shadows by Narrelle M Harris (review)
- The Opposite of Life by Narrelle M Harris (review)
- The Sunlit Zone by Lisa Jacobson (review)
- Ishtar edited by Amanda Pillar and KV Taylor (review)
- Asymmetry by Thoraiya Dyer (review)
- Stray by Andrea K Höst (review)
- Rise of the Fallen by Teagan Chilcott (review)
- Lab Rat One by Andrea K Höst (review)
- Caszandra by Andrea K Höst (review)
- Perfections by Kirstyn McDermott (review)
- The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories by Joanne Anderton (review)
- Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (review)
- One Small Step edited by Tehani Wessely (review)
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Aussie Horror Reading Challenge, Round-up One
It’s only April and it seems I have already completed the Australian Horror Reading Challenge I set myself. A large part of the reason is that I was only aiming for a minimum of five books. I was concerned that I would have difficulty tracking them down, but apparently I needn’t have worried.
This post is just a summary of what I’ve read so far. I plan to write down more interesting thoughts I’m having on the genre as I learn more about it. My brain is a bit goopy at the moment though and I figured more posts is better than fewer.
The books I’ve read with excerpts from my reviews are below. Surprisingly, three of the five are collections of short fiction, not something I particularly planned. And not that there’s anything wrong with short stories, but it’s interesting to note how many more horror short stories there are out there by Australians, compared with novels (see my recent Aurealis stats post). I hope to read more novels in the future (not at the expense of short stories, hopefully). I also notice this list is entirely made up of female authors, again, not entirely intentionally (although the AWW Challenge did contribute). I do have some male-authored stuff lined up, so that probably won’t be the case the next time I write a round-up.
Although the book is called After the Darkness, it’s really about how hard it is to leave the darkness behind. … It’s also about how darkness is often contagious, touching on the way in which abuse victims often go on to re-enact their trauma as a way of coming to terms with it. And the hopelessness that comes with fearing for your life. And having to relate to people in a life you have to pretend is normal.
“Mountain” — The mountain and its ghosts hold many secrets, which they don’t always share with passers by.
“Creek” is about quaking women who drowned in creeks. They claw their way through Australia’s shallow creekbeds and call out, demanding to know what happened to their loved-ones.
“Road” is a tale about an older couple who [are] quite used to injured people running up to their house and asking to use their phone … and they always lay out a wreath for the accident victims.
“Sky” — The protagonist, Zed, is not very likeable at all (he is, in fact, a rapist — you’ve been warned). From when we first meet him as a child, seen through his school-teacher’s eyes, to the main action when he finds himself in Sky, I didn’t relate to Zed at all, but kept reading because I wanted to know what happened next.
“The Five Loves of Ishtar” by Kaaron Warren is a story spanning thousands of years in the Mesopotamian region. Told from the perspectives of a series of Ishtar’s washerwomen — each the daughter of Ishtar’s previous washerwoman — it focuses partly on the men in Ishtar’s life and partly on life generally at that time.
“And the Dead Shall Outnumber the Living” by Deborah Biancotti follows Adreienne, a detective given an unusual set of homicides to investigate. Of course we know the supernatural origins of the bodies — since Ishtar has to show up at some point — but it was still a compelling story. I enjoyed watching Adreienne slowly uncover the truth.
“The Sleeping and the Dead” by Cat Sparks — My favourite aspect of this story was all the allusions to earlier events, particularly to Ishtar’s roots. It relies on knowledge of the previous stories more than one would expect from an ordinary collection, but in this context it works beautifully.
McDermott made me think about the relationship between the mundane and the horrifying. One doesn’t have to peel back many layers to find unpleasantness in the sisters’ lives, but McDermott keeps peeling until all they’re left with is reality (or some facsimile thereof) and each other.
Overall, I was very impressed with Anderton’s worldbuilding in all the stories. Each story read like a glimpse into a complete and carefully constructed world. Just because the stories are short, Anderton in no way skimped on the thought put into them. Even for the stories set in some approximation of the modern world, careful details made them stand out.
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Holiday Recap
I read some books over the recent holidays and wrote some reviews of them, but I’m aware that many people (myself included) went away or spent time with family and friends rather than with their computers. So I wanted to recap some of the reviews I posted over the break in case you missed some.
And the end of December, I read and reviewed:
Salvage by Jason Nahrung, a novella out from Twelfth Planet Press. A snippet of my review:
I found Salvage to be quite dark. I’m inclined to classify it as the horror version of magical realism. The fantastical elements didn’t come to the fore until near the end and would have surprised me if I hadn’t been expecting them (since Twelfth Planet Press do primarily publish speculative fiction). The publisher is categorising it as “Australian Gothic” which I think is fairly apt.
At its heart, Beauty Queens is an indictment of the beauty and pageant industries and the beauty standard. Through the interactions of the characters and their journeys towards self-discovery on the island, the story explores what it means to be female in a materialistic society obsessed with perfection and the limitations (and secret powers) of feminine expectations.
The world building was well thought out. There were lots of small world-fleshing out bits dropped in, which I enjoyed. A particular favourite was the psychic wave that rolls with the sunrise which interferes with some types of magic and jolts magic-wielders awake if they’re sleeping.
There was a lot to like about The Bohr Maker. I very much enjoyed the worldbuilding; one of my favourite things was the nanotech introduced into the river running through the slum (which was downriver of the rest of the city) which changed the water from foetid to clear with edible “fluff” floating on top of it that some of the poorest residents of the city collect to eat. Obviously, it sucks to have to eat river fluff, but how neat is the technology? It would be an awesome invention to carry through to the real world.
In essence, this is a story about their slowly blooming relationship. I thought the pace at which Emma’s feelings and their relationship developed — in story terms — was pleasantly slow. There was no irrational insta-love from Emma and we see lots of minor key moments in the development of their relationship, like SMSes that give Emma gooey feelings with only a few words, and uncertainly, and small nice moments. Although in actual time the book spans less than a month, I found the development of their relationship absolutely believable.
I’m not a fan of science fiction without any accurate science at all, so that didn’t help. But the action isn’t too bad and I didn’t find the book actively offensive. The writing is distinctly pedestrian with stilted dialogue and bursts of summarised conversation which were less fun to read through than the proper dialogue (eg “I told her blah and she said that blah and I agreed”).
I Am Number Four was the last book I read in 2012 (though due to a backlog it didn’t appear on the blog until January. The next reviews are the first few books I read in 2013.
Although the book is called After the Darkness, it’s really about how hard it is to leave the darkness behind. It’s also about how darkness is often contagious, touching on the way in which abuse victims often go on to re-enact their trauma as a way of coming to terms with it. And the hopelessness that comes with fearing for your life. And having to relate to people in a life you have to pretend is normal.
I didn’t enjoy “Sky” as much as the short stories. Not because it was bad, but because it made me uncomfortable in a less enjoyable way. If anything, it reminded me most strongly of Warren’s Slights, but less horribly disturbing. Whereas the short stories are almost the kind of creepy tales you might tell around a camp fire at night.
I enjoyed Through Splintered Walls very much, despite reading the three short stories in the middle of the night during a bout of insomnia (I’m not sure why this seemed like a good idea at the time, but I suppose it could have been worse).
I wrote a couple of non-review posts over the holidays, too. Going back a bit in December, I set myself some reading challenges for 2013, and at the start of January I posted some reflections of 2012 (including pie charts!) and made some resolutions for 2013.
And that’s what you missed here if you were away from the internets over the break.
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Final Aussie Women Writers post for 2012: fantasy round-up 4 + a list of ALL the books
It’s close to the end of the year, I’ve recently talked about the science fiction books I read as part of the AWW Challenge but there are still some books I read as part of my fantasy/misc challenge which haven’t been collected in a round-up. This is that round-up. <cue dramatic music> And as a bonus, I’ll also list all the books I’ve read for AWW this year.
Since this last round-up only, er, rounds up five books, it’s a little less varied. Or, as one could put it, the Rowena Cory Daniells show round-up.
- I read the second two books in Daniells’s Outcast Chronicles: Exile and Sanctuary. Which were excellent. I highly recommend the series to anyone who enjoys epic fantasy. Daniells is the cream of the crop.
- I also read The King’s Man, a novella Daniells wrote in her King Rolen’s Kin series. It follows a character who disappears at the end of the second book (presumed dead by the point of view characters in the trilogy), and to whom many horrible things happen. Daniels is good at torturing her character.
- I read urban fantasy book Harbinger by Peta Crake, about a mortal messenger of the (multi-polytheistic) gods. It was a fun read and a light change of pace, well, apart from all the suffering the main character had to go through…
- And finally, I read Shine Light by Marianne de Pierres, the dramatic conclusion to her Nightcreatures trilogy, which began with Burn Bright. It made me wish I’d read the whole series in one go (or at least, close together, not separated as it was by release dates). So if you haven’t read it yet, take heed and make sure you have access to all three.
SF Books Read:
- Spare Parts by Sally Rogers-Davidson — review
- Nightsiders by Sue Isles — review
- Wanted: One Scoundrel by Jenny Schwartz — review
- 3a. Courting Trouble by Jenny Schwartz — review
SF round up
Other (Mostly Fantasy) Books Read:
- Eon by Alison Goodman (review)
- Eona by Alison Goodman (review, same page as above)
- Hoodwink by Rhonda Roberts (review)
- Debris by Jo Anderton (review)
- The Blood Countess by Tara Moss (review)
- The Spider Goddess by Tara Moss (review)
- Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti (review)
- Reign of Beasts by Tansy Rayner Roberts (review)
- Thief of Lives by Lucy Sussex (review)
- Angel Arias by Marianne de Pierres (review)
- Secret Ones by Nicole Murphy (review)
- Power Unbound by Nicole Murphy (review)
- Ember and Ash by Pamela Freeman (review)
- Mercy by Rebecca Lim (review)
- Shift by Em Bailey (review)
- Bonus: Interview with Em Bailey
Round up 1, Round up 2, Round up 3
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Aussie Women Writers Science Fiction Challenge 2012
I undertook to read 10 science fiction books by Australian Women and N fantasy/misc books (where N turned out to be 35). The original challenge I signed up for stipulated that I should review 6 of them, but I ended up reviewing all of them and hence this blog was born. (Well, technically it was born on Tumblr, then later migrated here.) I’ve already written up three fantasy/misc round-ups — one every ten books — and you can read them here: round-up 1, round-up 2, round-up 3. Still forthcoming is the round-up for the last of the fantasy books, so stay tuned.
Spare Parts by Sally Rogers-Davidson — review
Spare Parts is about Kelty, a 19 year old “C-grader” (in a caste system which goes down to D), whose prospects were reduced when she narrowly missed out on a place at university (because C-graders can only get in with scholarships). The book is set about a hundred years in the future in the sprawling suburbia of Melbourne, albeit a Melbourne more filled with high-rises and with even dodgier trains than at present.I rated it 5 stars. I definitely enjoyed it more than Rogers-Davidson’s other book:
Polymer by Sally Rogers-Davidson — review
The main story takes place within the pages of a long-lost journal written by Polly Meridian (aka Polymer). On the night of her graduation ceremony, her space station home is invaded by aliens. (Aliens, in this book, pretty much means “people not from the same place as me who might be human or could be blue aliens”.) She almost dies in the invasion but is “lucky” enough to be taken prisoner and enslaved instead.I got a few more of Rogers-Davidson’s books on sale and have them lined up to read next year. I think if I’d read Polymer first, though, I might not have taken advantage of the Black Friday discount. (So it’s a good thing I read Spare Parts first!)
Nightsiders by Sue Isle — review
Nightsiders is set in Western Australia, in and around Perth. I want to say it’s post-apocalyptic, but that’s not quite true. It seems part local apocalypse, part generalised catastrophic climate change. The Australian climate has changed so that the west coast is no longer particularly habitable, with hints at the start that things are better in the east. The former city of Perth is now generally referred to as Nightside, because the people living there have turned nocturnal, seeking shelter during the heat of the day and going about their business in the marginally cooler nights.
Wanted: One Scoundrel by Jenny Schwartz is set in and around the Swan River colony — mostly in Perth and Fremantle. The protagonist, Esme, is the daughter of a gold prospector and inventor who struck it rich relatively recently. She is also a suffragette spearheading a political party with the goal of giving women and non-Anglos rights and votes.
The story opens with her realisation that, since her main political opponent has somehow arranged for all political debates to take place at gentlemen’s clubs, she needs a male spokesperson to be a figurehead leader. Unfortunately, all her present male supporters are too busy with their own affairs to devote sufficient time to actually leading a political party. So, with the aid of her captain uncle, she set about finding herself a newly arrived scoundrel (“fresh off the boat” — would that there weren’t other connotations to that phrase) whom she intends to pay to be her puppet.
Esme is a suffragette inPerththe Swan River colony, 1895. Book 1 introduced her love interest, the Californian Jed, who is still courting her now. Or trying to work out how to court a suffragette without making her angry. Their interactions amused me, especially Jed’s attempts at courting. He’s not very good at doing so at the start without reducing Esme to a damsel in distress and I completely shared Esme’s anger at some of his antics.
The Rhesus Factor by Sonny Whitelaw — review
In essence, The Rhesus Factor is an eco-thriller. Set in the near future when the Gulf Stream has stopped, climate change is decidedly noticeable and drug-resistant epidemics are sweeping the Earth. Since it was written about ten years ago, some of the technology of our very near future isn’t quite here (no space planes to hop across the pacific in a matter of hours, not even for the US Airforce) but some of her predictions are eerily true. There was a throwaway paragraph that included severe bushfires in southern Australia and Brisbane flooding, for example. Granted, those aren’t exactly outlandish predictions, and the Gulf Stream is still with us, but still, some of the crazy weather Whitelaw describes doesn’t feel like it’s as outlandish as it would have been ten years ago.
Black Glass by Meg Mundell — review
The most science fictiony element, and my second favourite part of the world building (my favourite being that it was set in Melbourne and I enjoy visiting home vicariously), was the side story of Milk the mood engineer. He uses scents and subtle changes in lighting to evoke moods and emotions in whoever is in range of his devices. His mission is to artistically make the spaces he works with more harmonious and the people in them happier. I thought it was a fascinating concept and explored with surprising depth in the relatively short novel.
The central-most characters, Tally 13 and Grace 16, are sisters who, up until the first chapter or so, have spent their lives following their deadbeat father around small Australian towns, often leaving town at a moment’s notice. The story starts when an accident kills their father and separates the sisters. They had been planning to run away to the city (Melbourne) “soon” but now they are forced to make their way there separately.
When We Have Wings by Claire Corbett — review
The story follows two characters: Zeke, a PI investigating a nanny kidnapping the child of a flyer couple, and Peri, the nanny on the run. The mystery of why and where the nanny took the baby is not the real mystery, however — especially since about half the story is told from her point of view. The real mysteries become apparent when Zeke digs a little deeper and when events get away from everyone.
And All the Stars by Andrea K Höst — review
The novel opens with an apocalyptic alien invasion. Spires, piercing the ground, appear in many large cities around the world, including Sydney where our protagonist, Madeline, lives. Madeline survives the impact of the spire piercing the train station she was just leaving only to be infected by the mysterious alien dust the spires belched out. The dust gives her, and those others who survive the infection, blue (or green) patches of skin and some super powers. Then the invasion begins in earnest.
Madeline starts off coping with the invasion alone, but that doesn’t last long. She soon meets Noi, an apprentice chef, and they quickly team up with some boys from a boarding school who’d had the presence of mind to get organised after people got sick and started dying from the dust.
Shifting Reality by Patty Jansen — review
Melati is a third generation resident of New Jakarta space station. She’s one of few of her class (those of Indonesian decent) to work with the ISF (International Space Force — the successor to the UN). Her job is training cohorts of engineered soldiers who are grown as children. They grow and are trained up quickly into adult workers. The story opens when something strange happens with the new cohort batch and one of them wakes up not as the mindbase Melati had programmed, but as someone completely different. The question is who and why?
Blue Silence by Michelle Marquardt — review
Senator Maya Russini is the leader of the group of people who first board the ship. A mission which one of the group does not return from alive. Are the aliens dangerous? What do they mean for the various political machinations happening within the space station’s government and between them and other governments?
I liked Maya. She was an excellent example of a female character that doesn’t need to run around kicking people in the head to gain power. She’s also secretly a telepath (secret because she didn’t register when she turned 21), but in a nice twist, she’s the weakest kind of telepath, only able to read emotions, not thoughts. I think Marquardt has done a good job of portraying a society in which women are equal without making a big deal of it. (There are, in the end, more male characters, but that’s mostly because the two main aliens are male.)
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Reads Tsana is Most Looking Forward To
I have to admit, I wasn’t originally planning to do an anticipated reads list. But then someone on twitter mentioned that all the anticipated (fantasy) reads lists she’d seen were populated entirely or mostly by male authors. Since most of my favourite writers are female, obviously my most-anticipated list is going to be mostly female-authored books. And if no one else was going to make a list like that, I suppose I’d better. (And to be clear, this isn’t intended to be a “women only” list, but it has turned out a mostly women list.)
Also, the list can be divided into three parts: YA, not YA and books with uncertain release dates which might not actually be in 2013, but are books that I am SUPER KEEN to read. Why should 2013 releases get to have all the fun on all the blogs? Can’t we look further forwards than just one year?
Aside from those categories, the books aren’t listed in any particular order.
Non-YA Books
- Black Sun Be My Guide by Jo Spurrier, the sequel to Winter Be My Shield, which was one of my favourite books in 2012. It’s due out in June 2013 from Harper Voyager AU.
- Valley of Shields by Duncan Lay, the sequel to Bridge of Swords, which I read and (obviously) enjoyed earlier this year. It’s due out in April 2013, also from Harper Voyager AU.
- A Trifle Dead by Livia Day, the first crime book from fantasy author Tansy Rayner Roberts coming out from Twelfth Planet Press sooooon
The Fall of Fair Isle trilogy by Rowena Cory Daniells, being re-released by the author as ebooks, after being out of paper print for a while, coming some time in 2013. You may have noticed, I’m a big fan of her books generally.
- Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. The concluding volume in The Mortal Instruments trilogy (book 1, book 2), which I’ve enjoyed immensely. Personally, I’m predicting a tragic ending and I’m looking forward to reading how she pulls it off.
- The Pirate’s Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke. The concluding volume in the story begun in The Assassin’s Curse. A pirate, an assassin, a curse and an incomplete story. Of course I want to know what happens in the end.
- Etiquette and Espionage - Gail Carriger. The first book in her new finishing school series. I’ve adored her Parasol Protectorate series and I’m pretty much up for anything else she feels like writing in a similar style. She also has the first book of a sequel series, Parasol Protectorate Abroad, called Prudence and Imprudence, coming out later in 2013,
but I figured I should just pick one to be excited about for this list.
Non-specific Release Dates
- Reunion by Jennifer Fallon, Rift Runners book 3 (book 2 review). I believe this has been delayed due to Earthquakes in New Zealand, and there’s no definite release date yet (but maybe it will come out in 2013, we can hope).
- Next Vorkorsigan book from Lois McMaster Bujold. Because they’re awesome. I have no idea what or who it will be about, or when it will be released (let’s hope for 2014), but I love this series and always want to read more of it.
- Glenda Larke’s next series book 1 of which is tentatively titled The Lascar’s Dagger. Because she’s one of my favourite authors and since her Watergivers trilogy concluded in 2011, I haven’t had the chance to review any of her books here yet.
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Tsana’s Best of 2012 Reads
Inevitably, I find myself looking back on the many (more than 100!) books I’ve read in 2012 and thinking about which books stood out the most for me. I have been keeping track of my favourite (5 star) reads in the sidebar, but there are ways for books to stand out (in a positive way) without me awarding them 5 stars.
So I have devised a few psudo award titles to convey my most memorable and recommended reads of 2012. Note that the award titles don’t necessarily convey why I think the book is worthy of mention; that’s what reviews are for. In no particular order, sixteen memorable books or series that I read in 2012:
Most Psychologically Disturbing Book
Slights by Kaaron Warren - I still think about it in the context of slighting people/being slighted and bits of soul ending up in the slightee’s death room.
Book Which Reminded Me Most of High School
Shift by Em Bailey - And by reminded me of high school I mean in the sense of manipulative and mentally ill friends. In case you missed it, I was enthusiastic enough when I read Shift to also interview the author: link.
Series With Best Non-standard YA Love Triangle
The Trylle Trilogy: Switched, Torn, Ascend by Amanda Hocking - spoiler: she doesn’t choose the first boy that comes along AND she has a sensible reaction to being watched in her sleep.
Book With The Coldest Setting
Winter Be My Shield by Jo Spurrier - I learnt what snow blindness actually is from reading this book.
Funniest Book
Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold - It sort of surprised me that Pratchett wasn’t really a contender for this one, but I suppose he has been getting darker and less laugh-out-loud funny in recent times. (Although The Unadulterated Cat was hilarious, it was less memorable than the Bujold.)
Best Book/Series Written By A Man
The Mistborn Trilogy: The Final Empire/Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson - I admit there wasn’t a huge amount of competition, but Duncan Lay’s Bridge of Swords was a very close contender.
Best Book Set In Melbourne
The Price of Fame by RC Daniells - Other contenders were Black Glass by Meg Mundell(which I didn’t enjoy as much)and Shift by Em Bailey which had some scenes in Melbourne but has already got an award. The Price of Fame definitely paints the most intricate picture of my home city, however.
Best Series of Collections by Australian Women
The Twelve Planets from Twelfth Planet Press - So far I’ve reviewed Nightsiders by Sue Isles, Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti, Thief of Lives by Lucy Sussex, Showtime by Narrelle M Harris, and Cracklescape by Margo Lanagan.
Best Concluding Volume To A Fantasy Trilogy
Reign of Beasts by Tansy Rayner Roberts - the whole series was great, but I read the first two pre-blog.
Best Book Containing PiratesThe Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke - And a teenage girl who was actually keen to learn maths so she could properly navigate her (future) ship. I can’t wait to read book two in 2013.
Best Fantasy Book In a Modern Urban Setting
Zoo City by Lauren Beukes - I was tempted to call it Best Book Set In South Africa, but that felt a bit like cheating.
Best Book Containing Aliens
And All The Stars by Andrea K Höst - and teenagers with sensible plans. I think this is also my favourite YA book overall for 2012.
Author Who Tortures Their Characters Most
Rowena Cory Daniells - I set this one to author because I couldn’t decide between The King’s Man and The Outcast Chronicles: Besieged, Exile, Sanctuary. The former has very compressed suffering, but the latter has so many more pages in which to visit misfortune upon all the characters.
Favourite Collection of Russian-flavoured Short Stories
Moscow But Dreaming by Ekaterina Sedia - also contains several non-western fairy tale type stories.
Most Surprisingly Science Fictional Book In The Classic “What If” Tradition What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang - It was definitely still a YA dystopia, but it impressed me with it’s exploration of the premise. See review for more details.
Best Series Featuring Angels
The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel, The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare - Something I discovered this year was that angel books bother me. I thought it was just Fallen by Lauren Kate (read pre-blog) which I didn’t like, but I didn’t enjoy Rebecca Lim’s books either. I think what makes me like Cassandra Clare’s books is that she treats angels as just another magical creature (along with demons, warlocks, faeries, vampires, werewolves…) rather than making them overly divine. I eagerly await the conclusion to the series.
But wait, there’s more! Sort of. Watch this space, because I have yet to do my concluding round-ups for the Australian Women Writers Challenge, in particular for the science fiction component (10 SF books by AWW) which I’m just finishing off now.
So stay tuned!
Source: tsanasreads.blogspot.se
Australian Women Writers Fantasy/Miscellaneous Challenge - Round Up 2
I have read my second ten books for my fantasy/misc genre Aussie Women Writers Challenge (as distinct to the SF specific one) which means, it’s time to post a little about them. Genre-wise, this was another mixed bunch.
First, the list:
- Secret Ones by Nicole Murphy (review)
- Power Unbound by Nicole Murphy (review)
- Ember and Ash by Pamela Freeman (review)
- Mercy by Rebecca Lim (review)
- Shift by Em Bailey (review)
- Destiny of the Light by Louise Cousack (review)
- The Dark Divide by Jennifer Fallon (review)
- Winter Be My Shield by Jo Spurrier (review)
- Slights by Kaaron Warren (review)
- Suited by Jo Anderton
First there was paranormal romance in the form of Nicole Murphy’s first two Dream of Asarlai trilogy books. Fun reads and I look forward to getting my hands on the third book in a few weeks.
Then there was quite a bit of big fat fantasy (aka BFF; I don’t want to use more loaded terms like “high fantasy” or “traditional fantasy”): Ember and Ash by Pamela Anderson, which went on to win an Aurealis, Destiny of the Light by Louise Cusack, set mostly in a world with no animals, The Dark Divide by Jennier Fallon, which is a little bit different since parts of it are set at the turn of the real world millennium but then none of these fantasy books are generic, and Winter Be My Shield by Jo Spurrier, a debut fantasy from Voyager which will be out in about a week — watch for the review on the weekend but review spoiler: I loved it.
Then two YA books: Shift by Em Bailey (interview link) which is one of my favourite books of the year, and Mercy by Rebecca Lim, about an angel skipping through different people’s bodies. They were quite different to each other and both felt different to the many US-authored YA books I’ve read this year.
Slights by Kaaron Warren is the only horror book I’ve read this year or, now that I come to think about it, in a while. (Since The Intruders by Michael Marshall book, probably.) Anyway, it’s one that’s stuck with me quite strongly.
And finally, there’s Suited by Jo Anderton which isn’t out for about a month so no review yet. I could’ve lumped it in with the BFFs but it’s a little bit steampunky in it’s setting so it gets it’s own subgenre of fantasy. It’s the conclusion to Debris and well worth the wait.
So, what have you guys been reading?
