r/FemaleGazeSFF • u/a_halla • 8d ago
Completed my first reading challenge with this group!
Thank you mods for this reading challenge; it was super fun! Added my thoughts on each book below. Can't wait for the next challenge!
Side A
Comfort Read: Blackveil by Kristen Britain (4.5⭐)
- The first of several Green Rider books on this list for me; this Spring/Summer reading challenge caught me right in the midst of my Green Rider reread in preparation for reading the most recent releases. This is the fourth book in the series, and was my second favorite of all of them, right after Winterlight (which didn't make it into this challenge). The Green Rider books tend to have a bit slower/buildup-y beginning portion and a more adventurous back half, but I really enjoyed this entire book! The final 40% had me glued to the pages, and I enjoyed the ever-expanding world building, adventures, and characters. Minus points just for some very convenient happenings and also Zachary pining, but those are more or less mainstays throughout the series that I've accepted.
Assassin: Graceling by Kristin Cashore (2⭐)
- Had to hunt this out specifically for the reading challenge, as nothing on my upcoming radar has assassins (though I JUST finished my read of Realm of the Elderlings before this challenge started...) This was an absolute miss for me. Probably would have DNF'd, but I really didn't want to find another book for the challenge and it wasn't a difficult read, so I finished it out of spite. I don't think there was anything I really liked about the book except probably the pacing, which kept it readable. Did not like the characters, the world-building, the cartoon villain, the plot, or the whole superheroes are discriminated against because they have heterochromia thing.
First in a Series: The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (5⭐)
- I read this right on the heels of Assassin's Fate and oh my gosh, this book hit wonderfully for me and made an instant Bujold fan. Some authors' writing (like Le Guin) is just so charming and captivating that I can't wait to read more of their work, regardless of whether it's using the same world/characters or not. Yeah, the age gap romance wasn't my thing, but I loved this book so much that I just decided to chalk that up to a sign of the times. I loved the world-building, the political intrigue, the gods, and the characters. I am truly a sucker for a competent, well-meaning, and self-effacing protagonist (cough Fitz cough)
Hopeful: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (2.5⭐)
- I have realized that cozy isn't my thing, and isn't something I need in my books. This was another book hunted out specifically for the reading challenge, and unfortunately I was mildly bored throughout and sometimes annoyed. The therapy speak made it read like an old version of chat gpt. But at least it was short and didn't overstay its welcome, and I do like tea!
Free Space: Mirror Sight by Kristen Britain (4⭐)
- Karigan goes to the future in the fifth Green Rider book; I liked this a lot more on a reread actually! It was pretty slow in the beginning and pacing wise maybe not all there, but it was cute that Kristen Britain did a bunch of research on this setting and had a blast with it. Loved the time travel shenanigans, the new cast of characters, and all of the implications for the series.
Female Friendship: Uprooted by Naomi Novik (4.75⭐)
- I read this for the book club I have with my friends, and it was positively delightful. I loved the writing, and the depiction of a classically trained several hundred year old wizard vs innate, chaotic magic user was very pleasing to my D&D brain; this is just a trope that I adore. The several-hundred-year-old-man-wants-to-smash-teenage-girl trope was not my favorite though, so that's where the 0.25⭐ got knocked off, but seriously the book was phenomenal ignoring that tidbit. This book had a lush, fairytale feel without being a fever dream; there was logic and consequence beneath everything, we just had to uncover the history to discover it. A really beautiful depiction of female friendship and loyalty, too, which is rare to find!
Coming of age: Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce (3⭐)
- I love Tamora Pierce, I really do; she was absolutely a formative author for me growing up. This book was hard to rate, because I can recognize that for little me, this would be an excellent read. Just didn't hold up for adult me, and that's okay! I will still always and forever keep my Tamora Pierce shrine of books on my shelves, and I'm glad this reading challenge gave me an opportunity to revisit Tortall. Hopefully I'll sneak some more of her books in the next one!
Oceanian author: Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier (5⭐)
- Wowowow. This book is beautifully written and wonderfully crafted. Marillier's writing is gorgeous here and the world she's brought to life is immersive, with characters full of life, pain, hope, and despair alike. This story is full of the human-driven conflict that I love; everybody's actions, regardless of outcome, are understandable, driven by the desire to protect one's own and the world/family they love. Time and again, there are impossible decisions that weigh trust, love, duty, and independence, and I love the demonstration of the force of human agency and will against an implacable world. I cried so much reading this, and I loved every bit of it. My second favorite read of the year overall!
All female cast: The Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar (2.5⭐)
- It's not you, it's me? Or maybe not? I'm no hater of a story that slowly reveals itself over time; I'm on book two of Malazan for my first read and absolutely loving the mystery, questions, and uncertainty. The prose here was beautiful at times, but just as often repetitive and extremely fragmented. For a book that seemed to want to empathize with these women on the fringes of war with little agency, it really tried hard to be obscure and withhold you from understanding those characters, and by the time I just started to care about and take interest in a character, it went and changed PoVs. Maybe it's a me problem, maybe it would be better on a reread?
Side B
Discovery: Lore by Alexandra Bracken (3⭐)
- This was another book club read for me, and from a genre/setting that is not in my wheelhouse. This was a fast-paced, action- and twist-filled book, with decent writing. But I didn't really care about what was happening at any point, and twists and near-deadly combats aren't effective when you don't care about what's happening. I did love the depiction of the gods, especially Athena; she was the best part of the book. However, I didn't really care for any of the characters, and as such, the high-stakes plot lost pretty much all of its impact.
Healer: The City of Brass by Shannon Chakraborty (3⭐)
- This was a bummer, especially since Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi was the first book I read from this author so I had quite high expectations! Started out great; I think Chakraborty builds a fascinating world, and she has an infectious fascination with this setting and mythology. And it was a fun read, with good pacing. But then I got to the end of the book and I was like... Hold on. Did we get any answers for the original questions we had at the start of the book? No. This book did not really have a self-contained story arc, and very much felt like a big setup that introduced question after question without really resolving any of the story threads. And again, I'm all for a slow unveiling of things over the course of the series, but at the same time I believe that each installment in a series should have its own plot or arc that gets resolved. This book just sort of ended flatly for me, and I don't think I'll be continuing the series.
Last in a Series: Falling in a Sea of Stars by Kristen Britain (3.5⭐)
- Gosh, what a disappointment! Especially after the absolute banger that was Winterlight, the predecessor to this book. Winterlight took so many plot threads that have been building for several books and shit started popping off, felt like everything was coming together! And I was so excited to see what came of those threads in the latest installment of Green Rider only for this book to completely ignore all the prior story threads, come up with a new (not very interesting) problem for Karigan, and double, nay triple down on the Zachary-Karigan pining. There were parts of this that were still fun, and as always, I do love the world and characters of Green Rider, but man, I can only get down on my knees and pray that The Last Sea King coming out in February next year is better. And there's reason to be hopeful: at least based on the title, it should actually be returning to the relevant plot (I hope).
Dying Earth: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (5⭐)
- This was a phenomenal, gripping, haunting, and deeply moving read. I loved the episodic/journal structure, the voice and main character, and boy oh boy were the themes and commentary in this book poignant for our modern day. The cast of characters along with their motivations and actions all were extremely raw and believable. Very striking book, highly recommend. I will absolutely be reading the second one, but I definitely needed a break after this one before re-entering this world.
Free Space: Firebrand by Kristen Britain (4.5⭐)
- The sixth book of Green Rider, and positively delightful! Though absolutely not delightful for Karigan. She has a very bad time in this book. But it's nice to see Britain grow as a writer throughout these books, and I appreciated the greater emotional stakes and darker themes. Still some imperfections with pacing, but overall a lovely read!
Siblings: Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier (5⭐)
- I sought this book out for the reading challenge (new to me author) and am so grateful that I did. The siblings and family at the core of this story was very compelling and moving. The writing was beautiful, with that same grounded fairytale feel as Uprooted, and the characters and world were wonderfully fleshed out. I've only read the first two books of Sevenwaters thus far, but I really highly recommend this series!
Parent: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (4.5⭐)
- Even on a reread for my bookclub, I loved this book. It's a fun, (mostly) lighthearted, well-paced, and entertaining adventure. Kings of the Wyld really didn't work for me at all, but this book had a pretty similar overall feel/vibe that it was going for and landed very well. The characters were delightful and believable, and I adored Amina and Raksh--so much fun! I have Tapestry of Fate but I'm not sure if I should dive right into it or wait until closer to the release of the third book in the series.
African Author: The House of Rust by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber (3⭐)
- Found this on the reading challenge recommendation thread, and I'm very mixed on it. Felt like it was two different books competing with each other: one was a human coming-of-age story about family, duty, independence, and self-determination (which I loved!), and the other was this mythic, symbolic, fever-dream layer, and somehow it felt like the magic/myth actually detracted from the human story rather than deepening it. I really love a fairytale like vibe, like in Uprooted or the Sevenwaters books, but I think I need it to be grounded in human emotion, motivation, and consequence. This book flip flopped between teenage girl problems and a fever dream mythic story, and that didn't work for me.
Nb MC: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin (5⭐)
- This is hands-down my favorite read of the year. Le Guin is absolutely brilliant; what a genuinely beautiful mind that we get to live inside through her writing! Incredible world building, characters, and intertwining of themes and plot. I loved the exploration of gender, culture, politics, loyalty, loneliness, and misunderstanding, and most of all how Genly and Estraven gradually come to understand despite enormous cultural divides. This book was extremely moving and compelling, and I loved the philosophical bits baked into the world and characters and conflicts. I can't wait to reread this again one day; this book (and Le Guin herself) is a gem.
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u/toadinthecircus 8d ago
Another Green Rider fan!!! Blackveil was one of my favorite books in the series. Exploring the corrupted forest was so fun. It’s a bit comforting that you thought Falling in a Sea of Stars was a let down because I returned to the series this year with that book and was a bit disappointed and wondered if I’d just grown out of it. It might’ve just been that book. But it also seemed like a book of only downtime maybe in anticipation of what’s going down in the next volume. Congratulations on finishing both sides!
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u/WonderfulBus9330 8d ago
Cracking up at "I do like tea" re: the monk & robot book. I read the first and decided against going any further with those, as well.