wrong train, right time

Here are some relevant stats about last year's reading. This would be courtesy of the tags page, except I doubled up reviews in posts, so this is a hand count, I suppose.

Here are the stats by format:

anthology [3]
novel [15]
novella [11]
short story [1]

Here are the stats by genre:

fantasy [17]
memoir [3]
mystery [2]
non-fiction [2]
romance [2]
sci-fi [11]

Plus the inauguration of the "unfinished" tag, in which there are 3 books spread over 2 posts.

Same trend as before. A little less of a focus on the novel and more on the novella, which seems to be the hot up-and-coming format of the day. I definitely read more than the one short story recorded here, but unfortunately I am very bad at tracking those. Still haven't figured out a better way to do it. Fantasy is still my most comfortable wheelhouse, but sci-fi seems to be inching it's way up. A lot of good shit came out this year so I'm not surprised.

I lost reading momentum on and off throughout the year, which was frustrating, but as my shiny new Anticipated in 2019 post shows, I've got a lot to look forward to. So I hope to pick up momentum in 2019 and keep it going more strongly.

Other than "keep reading", I think my main goal for 2019 is to do better at promoting this blog. I started it as more of a personal project, a place to think and reflect on the reading I was doing in order to improve as a writer more generally. But as my end-of-year scramble for closure and content shows, it's becoming more of an obligation, a sense that I'm writing to or for something. And while I don't anticipate having an audience, it's possible that I might have one. Especially since I launched a publicly posted writing project in 2018 as well. (The Vault in Coronation, if anyone's interested.)

I'd like to fix a public writer persona and tie it all together. Because I also plan to try and start submitting in 2019. So wrapping everything up a little more, bundling up this or that piece of my online identity, is on the docket for the coming year too. So those are my main goals for this blog in the coming year. Keep up the momentum, and work on promotion.

Despite the scramble, I don't regret starting this blog, and if it remains an unnoticed vanity project forever, I think I'd be okay with that. But maybe it doesn't have to be, you know? Maybe I should try and make that happen.

Let's close out with my greatest hits from 2018:

GODFORSAKEN GRAPES by Jason Wilson

MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA: ANNIHILATION by Catherynne M. Valente

The entire MURDERBOT series by Martha Wells (3/4 of it came out in 2018 so it counts)

PROVENANCE by Ann Leckie

IN OTHER LANDS by Sarah Rees Brennan

I surely read many more good books than this, but after a quick skim of 2018's reviews, these are the only ones I feel the urge to link. Most of it sci-fi, strangely. Which probably says something about me. Let's see what next year brings.

Giving myself review amnesty here. This is a series of capsule reviews, to stand in for the full reviews that I didn't finish before 2018 did.

( 7 reviews, a mix of sci-fi, fantasy, and non-fiction )

Catherynne M. Valente is an author I have much affection for, even if most of her recent output has been solidly hit or miss for me. After the let down of Space Opera, I am so, so glad to say that Mass Effect Andromeda: Annihilation is, very solidly, a hit. (Though I'll be reviewing another CMV piece that was a miss, kind of, soon.)

I will admit, I felt some trepidation approaching this novel, for the following reasons: 1) I know nothing about the Mass Effect series other than pop culture osmosis; 2) the plot synopsis sounded like a taut closed-room (ship) mystery/thriller, which is not bad, but when I think of writers who are driven by plot twists and turns, Valente is not remotely who springs to mind.

To address these in order: It seems clear to me that this was written with a fan audience in mind. The characters, all of different species, have their physical appearance sketched in rather lightly (a lot more attention was paid to culture and history). Still, there was enough detail for me, with my minimal Mass Effect knowledge, to get the gist of things. But I wonder if it would have been as easy for someone with even less than that. Then again, someone like that probably wouldn't have been draw to this book in the first place.

As to the second: I wasn't quite sure what to expect, given my reservations. But as I said at the top of the post: it was a hit. The prologue gets off to a really slow start and in retrospect feels like it's mostly fluff, but once you get past that, the plot really starts to pick up steam and the momentum doesn't stop. Looking back on the novel, I can definitely see a couple places where Valente made the plotting aspect easier on herself, but I still think she pulled it off.

The core of the ensemble cast is pretty good, but then, Valente is definitely someone who I think of as having a good grasp of character. Senna is a precious cinnamon roll and I love him. Yorrik...felt a bit gimmicky, but I still liked him, and I felt for his final scene, despite knowing how it would turn out. Ferank has a good hook, but on reflection I would have liked her to dig into her backstory a little more.

Of all the main cast, Senna probably gets the most development and backstory, but as far as I'm concerned, Anax Therion stole the show. A detective/information broker who's always watching and analyzing the people around her, who hands out her past like something precious--but it's never the same past every time. This is absolutely a biased opinion, because my favorite character type is the liar, the one who modulates their self-presentation, the one who never shows their cards.

And even at the end, we still don't know what's true. I love that.

Final accolade: I started this book over lunch. Then I moved to Starbucks to do my weekly writing thing. Instead, I just kept reading. and when my phone died i plugged it in so i could keep going. And that is how I devoured this novel in a single afternoon.

I like Scott Lynch’s writing (enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora, though I never picked up the sequels, and I still periodically reread "A Year and a Day in Old Theradane") so it was Of Interest to me when he began self-publishing re-releases of his short fiction in ~enhanced~ author’s editions. Here are the ones out so far.

"In the Stacks" - Libraries! I love libraries. I am not a librarian, but I did go to library school, so I have a great fondness of libraries and the work that goes into maintaining them in my heart. I enjoyed this story as an homage to magical libraries.

"The Effigy Engine" - Not about libraries but I liked it anyway. What I really liked is the interjections from Watchdog and Rumstandel, and the way these are framed as historical writings. Fun stuff.

Reading these (and putting them beside "A Year and a Day in Old Theradane"), it feels apparent that Lynch is exceedingly comfortable in the wheelhouse of “stories that were probably someone’s ideas for a D&D campaign.” And I say that not to disparage but as an observation, because I am 100% here for Lynch’s vision of how truly wild magic and those who wield it can be. Lynch doesn’t try to give magic rules, even if it has some internal logic, and as a result the magic in these stories feels wild and expansive and exciting. I love details like Rumstandel's beard and Ivovandas's...everything, details which exist for no apparent reason other than their wizards and they can.

As for the enhanced author’s edition thing… Well, having never read these stories elsewhere, I liked having them available in standalone form. And I’m a fan of seeing the process happen, so for me, Lynch’s added Author’s Notes only enhanced the experience. Current mood: in favor of the idea. I hope more are to come.

I keep thinking I'll get back to these and it keeps not happening, so I'm just going to knock them out here and move on.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

( I am on record here as a big fan of Valente, but about halfway through this book I had a terrible, sinking feeling. )

Strange Practice (Greta Helsing #1) by Vivian Shaw

( All the conversations feel a little too carefully designed to feel like people actually talking to each other. )