What I Read: December
Jan. 5th, 2020 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brokenmnemonicI ended up reading more over the holidays than I'd expected, which brought my average up - and reminded me how tired I've felt in general since September. It was nice to get a chance to work through some of the backlog of graphic novels and single issues I built up over the last couple of years of big Comixology sales, although I also hit the same problem I've hit before - no matter how good it will turn out to be, I tend to read graphic novels in a single sitting where possible, and there aren't that many times these days where I'm in the right headspace to sit down and read a 400 page graphic novel, no matter how good it might turn out to be.
581. No Man's Gun by Elmore Leonard ★★★
582. Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews ★★★
I wanted to like this more, but it was basically a 2.5 stars read for me. It should've been a great read for me - working-class protagonists investigate a crime in a mansion populated by mostly unlikeable rich people - but despite some entertaining moments, it was generally a pretty straightforward story, and it revolved around teenagers with powers and professional adult experiences and responsibilities working the investigation. There were elements where that worked - like when one was being distracted by the pretty rich boy - but I think I'm increasingly inclined to want to read about grumpy middle-aged people solving crimes through stubbornness and a decade or two of practise and experience.
583. Massacre on Thule by W. Reed ★★★
584. Ghost-Spider #4 by Seanan McGuire ★★★
585. The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch ★★★★★
This might be my favourite story so far in the Rivers of London series. I was interested in it as soon as I learned that it involved the Night Witch's apprentice solving a wine-related death in Trieste, but it had me hooked with the opening few paragraphs, where Tobias Winter is talking about his family. His father and his uncle Stefan are both police officers, and Tobias mentions having been told the story about the time they had to chase an armadillo, and the time they had to arrest a nun for disorderly conduct...
It was really interesting to hear about how the equivalent of Peter and Nightingale's agency in Germany works, how they handle cases, and to see what outsiders think of both Peter and Nightingale. And the mystery was rather fun, too. While they've never really addressed directly the events in WWII, instead making comments and allusions, this book gives some tantalising hints about what happened. I think this might be my favourite read of the month.
586. A Taste of Honey by Rose Lerner ★★★★
This was probably more of a 3.5 star than 4-star read, but it caught me in a good mood. Plus, it's set in a patisserie - well, a bakery, but one that feels like a patisserie because it specialises in desserts and cakes, not bread products - and it's a story where the male protagonist isn't some alpha-male type. Plus, the characters aren't from the gentry. And there are cakes. Did I mention the cakes? I just hope they cleaned the kitchen equipment thoroughly...
587. The Mind of Meredith Morgan by G. P. Rice ★★★
588. The Earl's Defiant Wallflower by Erica Ridley ★★
As historical romance novels go, this one felt pedestrian to me. There didn't seem to be any particular reason for the characters to be attracted to each other on first sight, and whereas I would've enjoyed a novel that ended up being about the struggles of trying to make a marriage work while rebuilding a ruined estate, the magical arrival of enough money to make all the problems go away at the end took even that from me.
589. Midnight Days by Neil Gaiman ★★★
There were some interesting snippets in here, particularly among the notes that went with each story, but I'd already read at least one of the stories, and the flower power spirit superhero story really didn't do a lot for me. I might see if my library has some Swamp Thing graphic novels, though.
590. The Dreaming #16 by Simon Spurrier ★★★★
591. James Bond, #1 by Vita Ayala ★★★
592. Fortress of Fear by Ray Aspden ★★★
593. Star Trek: Year Five, #8 by Jackson Lanzing ★★★
594. Alien Invasion by W. Reed ★★
595. Elvira: The Shape of Things #4 by David Avallone ★★★
I know this story was going for the B-movie horror movie vibe, but I think it missed.
596. Swordheart by T. Kingfisher ★★★★★
So, this is going straight on my favourites shelf. I'm so glad it was recommended to me, because this is such a fun book. A summary of the basic plot - middle-aged widow enlists help in getting her inheritance back from malicious relatives - doesn't adequately describe how delightful this book is. The dialogue is sharp and endlessly funny, from the moment the two main protagonists meet, and only gets better as other characters are added. Partly, I think the reason I found it so entertaining is because everyone has spent Halla's entire life underestimating her, while she dissembles and pretends to be small and stupid because that's how she learned to survive, when actually she's possibly the cleverest person in the book, and knows exactly how to use someone's expectations to tie them up in knots. And yet, she remains curious, open and friendly - and picks up a host of new friends and acquaintances from burly paladins (who bear little resemblance to goats) and a badger-like gnole to a delightfully acerbic nonbinary lawyer-priest of the Temple of the Rat. There are a lot of just desserts served up in this novel, and - perhaps a little selfishly - one of the things I love about this book so much is that none of the main characters falls into the trope of being a teenager or twenty-year-old destined for great power and responsibility. The scope of the story is almost delightfully small, and yet its story is so wonderfully rooted in the characters and their feelings as they go back up and down the same road (literally, with some diversions) that having finished reading it, if I wasn't 6 books away from my 2019 reading target I'd have immediately started reading it again.
597. Red Sonja #11 by Mark Russell ★★★
598. Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina ★★★
I liked this for the found family element to the story, although I'm less thrilled by the idea that it's about a young woman's future being defined by the children she's suddenly responsible for.
599. For He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll ★★★★
This was really good. I gather it's based on an 18th century poem, but this short story is told from the point of view of Jeoffrey, a cat living in an insane asylum, who ends up defending his human from the devil. It's only 30 pages long, and selfishly I want more.
600. Precious Little Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky ★★★
Interesting short story told from the point of view of a society of humonculi that have evolved their own society and rituals inside the tower of the wizard who created them, while that wizard is trapped inside a flawed magical circle of his own making.
601. Rivers of London: The Fey and the Furious #2 by Ben Aaronovitch ★★★
I enjoyed this issue, but it felt like more racing than plot or character work.
602. Alien vs. Predator: Thicker Than Blood #1 by Jeremy Barlow ★★★
On the one hand, interesting concept. On the other, the lead female protagonist is working really hard to be obnoxious for no obvious reasons, and it feels like this one is deliberately trying to avoid the things we already know about the Predators already.
603. Hack/Slash: 15th Anniversary Special by Tim Seeley ★★★
I didn't realise that it was Tim Seeley who'd invented Hack/Slash, and this oddball special about the comic book characters crossing over into the real world, where Tim Seeley is tormented by having this be the one major success he's known for was an interesting idea. Cassie Hack's spent a lot of time on comic book covers in her underwear over the last 15 years, it seems.
604. House of Whispers #16 by Nalo Hopkinson ★★★★
605. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle ★★★
I have a soft spot for this volume, because it has the first Sherlock Holmes stories I ever read in it.
606. Codex: Eldar Craftworlds by Games Workshop ★★★
I haven't played WH40K in years, but I spotted this going cheap secondhand at the last bring and buy, and picked it up because it's full-colour throughout, and I wanted to look at the pictures and find out what, if anything, had changed in the game universe. I always liked the Eldar, even if some of their game setup seemed ridiculous!
607. Dejah Thoris #1 by Dan Abnett ★★★★
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. Barsoom teetering on the edge of environmental collapse isn't a new concept, but Dan Abnett is one of my favourite military sci-fi authors, so I'm intrigued to see what he'll do with the franchise.
608. Forager by Peter R. Stone ★★
Would you be amazed to learn that the protagonist is a teenage boy with secret super-special abilities and military training who also speaks at least two language and never makes a mistake?
609. Star Trek: Year Five #9 by Jim McCann ★★★
Not the best Star Trek story I've read, but far from the worst, and I have to give it bonus points for Hikaru Sulu being in a romantic relationship with a gender-fluid partially aquatic alien.
610. American Gods: The Moment of the Storm #8 by Neil Gaiman ★★★★
I liked finding out what had happened to the missing teens, although it bothers me that I can't work out which god the old guy was supposed to be...
611. Firefly #12 by Greg Pak ★★★
612. Ghost-Spider #5 by Seanan McGuire ★★★★
613. Batman: The 10 cent Adventure by Greg Rucka ★★
614. Captain America: First Vengeance #1 by Fred Van Lente ★★★
615. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern ★★★
The cat knew what would happen, but didn't tell anyone. Cats are like that.
616. Christmas Eve by Jim Butcher
Looks like Peace Talks is going to be a bloodbath...
617. The Teapot's Tale by Someone at Centum Books ★★★
618. Jessica Jones #1 by Brian Michael Bendis ★★★
From the free comic book day series a few years ago, this is the first part of the prelude to the Jessica Jones tv series, and was better than I expected for a free comic book.
619. Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack by Lynley Dodd ★★★★
620. Hairy Maclary's Rumpus at the Vet by Lynley Dodd ★★★★
621. Hitman: Agent 47 Movie Preview by F. J. DeSanto ★★
622. Captain Canuck #0 by Kalman Andrasofszky ★★
I definitely felt too old for this comic preview.
623. Hairy Maclary's Showbusiness by Lynley Dodd ★★★★
Hairy Maclarey accidentally gatecrashes a cat show. Hilarity ensues.
624. Hairy Maclarey, Shoo by Lynley Dodd ★★★
625. Batman: A Black and White World by Neil Gaiman ★★★
Interesting idea, but the artwork really didn't work for me. Very reminiscent of 2000 AD artwork though.
626. DC Comics/Dark Horse: Aliens by Ian Edginton ★★★
A mixed bag of Batman vs Aliens and Batman & Superman vs Aliens & Predator comics. Two of the stories were good, one was silly, and one had artwork I didn't like and ran wice as long as felt necessary. The best of the stories is the original Batman vs Aliens, which takes place in a lost, subterranean South American temple.
627. Batman vs Predator by Dave Gibbons ★★★
I'm not sure how much of the canon around Predator behaviours and codes had been established at this point, because there are some actions that seem inconsistent (like a Predator killing a guard dog, using a plasma caster, while cloaked, or killing a blind ex-boxer). some of the artwork isn't really my thing, either. There were some good stories here, though - I think the quality was better on average than with the Aliens anthology.
628. Harley Quinn: Volume 6, Angry Bird by Frank Tieri ★★★
I didn't realise that although this volume follows on from the Amanda Connor/Jimmy Palmiotti run, it was a new team. It's an ok run, but it felt like it was missing some of the fun of the earlier volumes - although it was working to flesh out the backup cast, which I appreciated.
629. Bombshells: United Vol 1 by Marguerite Bennett ★★★
I picked this up in a sale, because it's written by Marguerite Bennett, and I assumed that it would be the first volume in the run. Actually, it turns out there was another Bombshells series before this one. Drat.
630. Oliver #1 by Gary Whitta ★★★
I want to like this series more than I do.
631. Oliver #2 by Gary Whitta ★★★
632. Oliver #3 by Gary Whitta ★★★
633. Oliver #4 by Gary Whitta ★★★
What this was doing, it did reasonably well, and the worldbuilding was interesting, but it felt predictable.
634. Books of Magic Book One by John Ney Rieber ★★
I really wanted to like this, but it felt like a mess. The opening prologue is the only part of the initial story that's actually in this volume, so you get the setup for that... and then the next story, with no explanation of what happened. The remaining issues feel like some of the stories either ended abruptly, or ended in other unreferenced titles, and Tim spends most of the volume being unlikeable. He even managed to be bratty with Death when she was trying to be helpful.
635. Under His Kilt by Melissa Blue ★★
581. No Man's Gun by Elmore Leonard ★★★
582. Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews ★★★
I wanted to like this more, but it was basically a 2.5 stars read for me. It should've been a great read for me - working-class protagonists investigate a crime in a mansion populated by mostly unlikeable rich people - but despite some entertaining moments, it was generally a pretty straightforward story, and it revolved around teenagers with powers and professional adult experiences and responsibilities working the investigation. There were elements where that worked - like when one was being distracted by the pretty rich boy - but I think I'm increasingly inclined to want to read about grumpy middle-aged people solving crimes through stubbornness and a decade or two of practise and experience.
583. Massacre on Thule by W. Reed ★★★
584. Ghost-Spider #4 by Seanan McGuire ★★★
585. The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch ★★★★★
This might be my favourite story so far in the Rivers of London series. I was interested in it as soon as I learned that it involved the Night Witch's apprentice solving a wine-related death in Trieste, but it had me hooked with the opening few paragraphs, where Tobias Winter is talking about his family. His father and his uncle Stefan are both police officers, and Tobias mentions having been told the story about the time they had to chase an armadillo, and the time they had to arrest a nun for disorderly conduct...
It was really interesting to hear about how the equivalent of Peter and Nightingale's agency in Germany works, how they handle cases, and to see what outsiders think of both Peter and Nightingale. And the mystery was rather fun, too. While they've never really addressed directly the events in WWII, instead making comments and allusions, this book gives some tantalising hints about what happened. I think this might be my favourite read of the month.
586. A Taste of Honey by Rose Lerner ★★★★
This was probably more of a 3.5 star than 4-star read, but it caught me in a good mood. Plus, it's set in a patisserie - well, a bakery, but one that feels like a patisserie because it specialises in desserts and cakes, not bread products - and it's a story where the male protagonist isn't some alpha-male type. Plus, the characters aren't from the gentry. And there are cakes. Did I mention the cakes? I just hope they cleaned the kitchen equipment thoroughly...
587. The Mind of Meredith Morgan by G. P. Rice ★★★
588. The Earl's Defiant Wallflower by Erica Ridley ★★
As historical romance novels go, this one felt pedestrian to me. There didn't seem to be any particular reason for the characters to be attracted to each other on first sight, and whereas I would've enjoyed a novel that ended up being about the struggles of trying to make a marriage work while rebuilding a ruined estate, the magical arrival of enough money to make all the problems go away at the end took even that from me.
589. Midnight Days by Neil Gaiman ★★★
There were some interesting snippets in here, particularly among the notes that went with each story, but I'd already read at least one of the stories, and the flower power spirit superhero story really didn't do a lot for me. I might see if my library has some Swamp Thing graphic novels, though.
590. The Dreaming #16 by Simon Spurrier ★★★★
591. James Bond, #1 by Vita Ayala ★★★
592. Fortress of Fear by Ray Aspden ★★★
593. Star Trek: Year Five, #8 by Jackson Lanzing ★★★
594. Alien Invasion by W. Reed ★★
595. Elvira: The Shape of Things #4 by David Avallone ★★★
I know this story was going for the B-movie horror movie vibe, but I think it missed.
596. Swordheart by T. Kingfisher ★★★★★
So, this is going straight on my favourites shelf. I'm so glad it was recommended to me, because this is such a fun book. A summary of the basic plot - middle-aged widow enlists help in getting her inheritance back from malicious relatives - doesn't adequately describe how delightful this book is. The dialogue is sharp and endlessly funny, from the moment the two main protagonists meet, and only gets better as other characters are added. Partly, I think the reason I found it so entertaining is because everyone has spent Halla's entire life underestimating her, while she dissembles and pretends to be small and stupid because that's how she learned to survive, when actually she's possibly the cleverest person in the book, and knows exactly how to use someone's expectations to tie them up in knots. And yet, she remains curious, open and friendly - and picks up a host of new friends and acquaintances from burly paladins (who bear little resemblance to goats) and a badger-like gnole to a delightfully acerbic nonbinary lawyer-priest of the Temple of the Rat. There are a lot of just desserts served up in this novel, and - perhaps a little selfishly - one of the things I love about this book so much is that none of the main characters falls into the trope of being a teenager or twenty-year-old destined for great power and responsibility. The scope of the story is almost delightfully small, and yet its story is so wonderfully rooted in the characters and their feelings as they go back up and down the same road (literally, with some diversions) that having finished reading it, if I wasn't 6 books away from my 2019 reading target I'd have immediately started reading it again.
597. Red Sonja #11 by Mark Russell ★★★
598. Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina ★★★
I liked this for the found family element to the story, although I'm less thrilled by the idea that it's about a young woman's future being defined by the children she's suddenly responsible for.
599. For He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll ★★★★
This was really good. I gather it's based on an 18th century poem, but this short story is told from the point of view of Jeoffrey, a cat living in an insane asylum, who ends up defending his human from the devil. It's only 30 pages long, and selfishly I want more.
600. Precious Little Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky ★★★
Interesting short story told from the point of view of a society of humonculi that have evolved their own society and rituals inside the tower of the wizard who created them, while that wizard is trapped inside a flawed magical circle of his own making.
601. Rivers of London: The Fey and the Furious #2 by Ben Aaronovitch ★★★
I enjoyed this issue, but it felt like more racing than plot or character work.
602. Alien vs. Predator: Thicker Than Blood #1 by Jeremy Barlow ★★★
On the one hand, interesting concept. On the other, the lead female protagonist is working really hard to be obnoxious for no obvious reasons, and it feels like this one is deliberately trying to avoid the things we already know about the Predators already.
603. Hack/Slash: 15th Anniversary Special by Tim Seeley ★★★
I didn't realise that it was Tim Seeley who'd invented Hack/Slash, and this oddball special about the comic book characters crossing over into the real world, where Tim Seeley is tormented by having this be the one major success he's known for was an interesting idea. Cassie Hack's spent a lot of time on comic book covers in her underwear over the last 15 years, it seems.
604. House of Whispers #16 by Nalo Hopkinson ★★★★
605. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle ★★★
I have a soft spot for this volume, because it has the first Sherlock Holmes stories I ever read in it.
606. Codex: Eldar Craftworlds by Games Workshop ★★★
I haven't played WH40K in years, but I spotted this going cheap secondhand at the last bring and buy, and picked it up because it's full-colour throughout, and I wanted to look at the pictures and find out what, if anything, had changed in the game universe. I always liked the Eldar, even if some of their game setup seemed ridiculous!
607. Dejah Thoris #1 by Dan Abnett ★★★★
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. Barsoom teetering on the edge of environmental collapse isn't a new concept, but Dan Abnett is one of my favourite military sci-fi authors, so I'm intrigued to see what he'll do with the franchise.
608. Forager by Peter R. Stone ★★
Would you be amazed to learn that the protagonist is a teenage boy with secret super-special abilities and military training who also speaks at least two language and never makes a mistake?
609. Star Trek: Year Five #9 by Jim McCann ★★★
Not the best Star Trek story I've read, but far from the worst, and I have to give it bonus points for Hikaru Sulu being in a romantic relationship with a gender-fluid partially aquatic alien.
610. American Gods: The Moment of the Storm #8 by Neil Gaiman ★★★★
I liked finding out what had happened to the missing teens, although it bothers me that I can't work out which god the old guy was supposed to be...
611. Firefly #12 by Greg Pak ★★★
612. Ghost-Spider #5 by Seanan McGuire ★★★★
613. Batman: The 10 cent Adventure by Greg Rucka ★★
614. Captain America: First Vengeance #1 by Fred Van Lente ★★★
615. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern ★★★
The cat knew what would happen, but didn't tell anyone. Cats are like that.
616. Christmas Eve by Jim Butcher
Looks like Peace Talks is going to be a bloodbath...
617. The Teapot's Tale by Someone at Centum Books ★★★
618. Jessica Jones #1 by Brian Michael Bendis ★★★
From the free comic book day series a few years ago, this is the first part of the prelude to the Jessica Jones tv series, and was better than I expected for a free comic book.
619. Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack by Lynley Dodd ★★★★
620. Hairy Maclary's Rumpus at the Vet by Lynley Dodd ★★★★
621. Hitman: Agent 47 Movie Preview by F. J. DeSanto ★★
622. Captain Canuck #0 by Kalman Andrasofszky ★★
I definitely felt too old for this comic preview.
623. Hairy Maclary's Showbusiness by Lynley Dodd ★★★★
Hairy Maclarey accidentally gatecrashes a cat show. Hilarity ensues.
624. Hairy Maclarey, Shoo by Lynley Dodd ★★★
625. Batman: A Black and White World by Neil Gaiman ★★★
Interesting idea, but the artwork really didn't work for me. Very reminiscent of 2000 AD artwork though.
626. DC Comics/Dark Horse: Aliens by Ian Edginton ★★★
A mixed bag of Batman vs Aliens and Batman & Superman vs Aliens & Predator comics. Two of the stories were good, one was silly, and one had artwork I didn't like and ran wice as long as felt necessary. The best of the stories is the original Batman vs Aliens, which takes place in a lost, subterranean South American temple.
627. Batman vs Predator by Dave Gibbons ★★★
I'm not sure how much of the canon around Predator behaviours and codes had been established at this point, because there are some actions that seem inconsistent (like a Predator killing a guard dog, using a plasma caster, while cloaked, or killing a blind ex-boxer). some of the artwork isn't really my thing, either. There were some good stories here, though - I think the quality was better on average than with the Aliens anthology.
628. Harley Quinn: Volume 6, Angry Bird by Frank Tieri ★★★
I didn't realise that although this volume follows on from the Amanda Connor/Jimmy Palmiotti run, it was a new team. It's an ok run, but it felt like it was missing some of the fun of the earlier volumes - although it was working to flesh out the backup cast, which I appreciated.
629. Bombshells: United Vol 1 by Marguerite Bennett ★★★
I picked this up in a sale, because it's written by Marguerite Bennett, and I assumed that it would be the first volume in the run. Actually, it turns out there was another Bombshells series before this one. Drat.
630. Oliver #1 by Gary Whitta ★★★
I want to like this series more than I do.
631. Oliver #2 by Gary Whitta ★★★
632. Oliver #3 by Gary Whitta ★★★
633. Oliver #4 by Gary Whitta ★★★
What this was doing, it did reasonably well, and the worldbuilding was interesting, but it felt predictable.
634. Books of Magic Book One by John Ney Rieber ★★
I really wanted to like this, but it felt like a mess. The opening prologue is the only part of the initial story that's actually in this volume, so you get the setup for that... and then the next story, with no explanation of what happened. The remaining issues feel like some of the stories either ended abruptly, or ended in other unreferenced titles, and Tim spends most of the volume being unlikeable. He even managed to be bratty with Death when she was trying to be helpful.
635. Under His Kilt by Melissa Blue ★★
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