1. Attachments (audio book) by Rainbow Rowell
2. Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie
3. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
4. My Life Before Me by Norah McClintock
5. The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin
6. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
7. Rough Magick, edited by Francesca Lia Block and Jessa Marie Mendez
8. Fables: Happily Ever After by Bill Willingham
9. Fables: Farewell by Bill Willingham
REVIEWS
1. Attachments (audio book) by Rainbow Rowell
Attachments is my least favorite of all of Rowell’s books that I’ve read. The story is strange, told partly through emails between two friends and coworkers, Beth and Jennifer, which are read by Lincoln a lost young man who’s job is to check to make sure that everyone’s email’s follow the company’s rules for proper use. Beth and Jennifer share the deepest intimacies of their daily lives, including relationships and catastrophes and crushes. Lincoln doesn’t mean to keep reading the emails, but being lonely finds himself drawn in and charmed, and after a while unable to stop. Along the way he finds himself falling in love with Beth, with no way to reach out to her due to the face that he’s been reading her and her friend’s secret thoughts for months.
There is a legitimate stalker, creepy factor evident in this story — enacted by the behavior of not just Lincoln, but Beth as well — and its a testament to Rowell’s skill that she is able to pull this romance off and make it believable. She has an amazing way with characters, revealing flaws while also making them good people. You care about them, which is why despite the creepiness of Lincoln’s behavior, the reader is able to cheer for him along the way and hope everything works out. It’s amazing to me that I could actually believe this kind of romance happening to two people in the world, in one of those truth is stranger than fiction ways (although this one is actually fiction).
Still, it’s such a strange story that I wasn’t able to put my whole heart into it, as I did with Fangirl and Eleanor & Park.
2. Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie
The second book in the trilogy is in some ways more character focused than the first. There are secrets and threats and sudden violence and action sequences, but at the heart of the story are characters seeking their own redemption. Breq, a single ancillary AI from a destroyed ship, goes to this planet seeking to provide some kind of comfort to the sister of her beloved fallen captain.
Meanwhile, a young lieutenant must deal with her anger at being a victim of having her mind invaded, while desperately trying to prove her worth, and Seivarden is trying her best to shake off her past addition to drugs, which becomes more difficult as the situation and stress builds.
Again, Ann Leckie presents fantastic world building layers, with the plot intricately bound up in the complications of culture and politics presented in this carefully wrought universe. The sequel delves deeply into the class-based inequality and the way colonization attempts to erase other cultures through homogenization and margenization. The Radechai’s believe in Justice, Propiety, Benefit are explored, leaving the questions: Who’s justice? Who’s benefit?
Another utterly fantastic book from Anne Leckie, and I will be immediately picking up the finale.
3. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
4. My Life Before Me by Norah McClintock
When the orphanage Cady grew up in burns down, she travels to Toronto to work and achieve her dream of becoming a reporter like her hero Nelly Bly. But being 1964, the gritty newspaper world is not hospitable for plucky young women and she sets on a plan to dig up a great story to get a toe in to the field.
She begins with her own mysterious past, the only clue being a torn newspaper clipping with the photo of a desecrated grave. Her search leads her to a small town in Indiana, where she discovers a secret murder with hints of KKK involvement. A fun YA mystery that handles the race issues of the time period fairly well.
Note: This was an ARC provided from the publisher as part of LibraryThing’s early reviewer program.
5. The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin
6. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
Allie Brosh is amazing. Her art is playful and fun and her stories are unflinchingly. She delves into stories about her own life, about her dogs and family and self identity, in each case revealing the flaws and joys with a sense of self mocking humor and honesty. This was an absolutely delightful collection.
7. Rough Magick, edited by Francesca Lia Block and Jessa Marie Mendez
8. Fables: Happily Ever After by Bill Willingham
Tells of the building conflict between Snow White and Rose Red. A good solid segment of the story.
9. Fables: Farewell by Bill Willingham
The ending of it all. My one disappointment was that Rose Red never really gets to come into her own as a person and I really wanted that for her. But otherwise it was a good conclusion.
The series also concludes with a bunch of 1-3 page stories, providing a small summing up for a number of characters and clarifying what happened or what direction their live will be taking, which was far more satisfying than I thought it would be. All in all, I’m pretty happy with how this series ended up.