2024

A log of what I've read, though I have various feelings on them. Stuff I particularly like will get its own write-up at some point probably maybe or will at least feature on some specific theme/genre lists. Check out my bookwyrm to see me liveblogging.

The Tiger and the Wolf - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Ship of Destiny, Fool's Errand, Golden Fool, and Fool's Fate - Robin Hobb

Zero Saints - Gabino Iglesias

The Haar - David Sodergren

Reception - Kenzie Jennings

Exordia - Seth Dickinson

Night's Edge - Liz Kerin

Geek Love - Katherine Dunn

The Accidental Time Machine - Joe Haldeman

Lexicon - Max Barry

I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman

After The People Lights Have Gone Off - Stephen Graham Jones

Ship of Fools - Richard Russo

Wizard of the Crow - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

The Book Eaters - Sunyi Dean

The Last Astronaut - David Wellington

We Who Are About To... - Joanna Russ

The Reformatory - Tananarive Due

My Soul to Keep - Tananarive Due

Interview With the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, and Queen of the Damned - Anne Rice

Woman, Eating - Claire Kohda

Ubik - Philip K. Dick

The Forge of God - Greg Bear

Babel 17 - Samuel R. Delany

Nevada - Imogen Binnie

How High We Go in the Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu

Lives of the Monster Dogs - Kirsten Bakis

Human Acts - Han Kang

There Is No Antimemetics Divison - qntm

Lost Ark Dreaming - Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Master Slave Husband Wife - Ilyon Woo

Version Control - Dexter Clarence Palmer

Nestlings - Nat Cassidy

The Fisherman - John Langan

Dr. No - Percival Everett

I feel like 2024 has been kind of underwhelming book wise - partially because of the books themselves, but amusingly partially because I had too much free time away from work, and work breaks are when I do all of my reading. A lot of what I read certainly could have been interesting, they just...weren't.

When I first started the Liveship books, I was wary of leaving the POV of my beloved Fitz and Fool. As time went on, I grew more attached to the Bingtown characters, so when the time came to return to Fitz I wasn't sure how to feel. Especially with Fitz acting...well, like that. Despite being very frustrating at times, he's a good character and I was glad to be back with him. The dynamic between him and the Fool is, as always, excellent, and I especially loved the last book of this trilogy and am left once again looking dubiously at the change in cast and setting for the next set of books.

A lot of solidly middling sci-fi. Exordia was probably the best - though it didn't hit as hard as the Masquerade series for me, there was little hope of it managing to do that. Babel 17 was odd, especially that abrupt ending, but I enjoyed it well enough. I might have liked the Forge of God enough to look into the second book - I would complain about there barely any women in the book, and the ones who are just being small supporting characters for their male love interests, but reading it right after Ubik, perhaps having no women at all would be less sexist than how certain authors write women. I get why Dick is a classic, but jesus. Speaking of women in sci-fi, I liked Joanna Russ' novel for its concept and the context it was written in, but perhaps didn't quite enjoy the novel itself as much as I wish I could've.