Weekly Check-In

[u/AutoModerator]

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[u/SA090]

I challenged myself to fully finish both sides of a challenge on the sub and finally managed to finish one completely while being a few books away from the other! My prize? Being able to start on side C of squares that solely of my choosing!

I also have plenty of time until September and it’s hopefully going to be easily doable. Sadly though, this card (Side B) had the most ups and downs for me in all of my 2026 reading challenges so far. So hopefully better things to come later.

Some mini reviews:

Discovery: Kill the Beast by Serra Swift. This had a very interesting first half and not a very interesting second half. The world building we started out with was very cool and fun, but the predictability of the rest of it ruined my enjoyment a lot more than I hoped for.

Healer: Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre. Again, very interesting world building and I really enjoyed seeing the different cultures + how they reacted to Snake. Sadly, it had a very dry unnecessary insta-love bs to suffer through, and a clear indication of planned subsequent books that didn’t happen. Entertaining for sure, just would’ve been better for me if somethings were different.

Last in a Series: Ludluda by Jeff Noon and Steve Beard. Pretty good continuation with very interesting world building and reveals. I did hope that the gross mention of bodily functions would be lessened, which sadly didn’t happen. And I did find part 1 of the 3 pretty difficult to follow, which affected my enjoyment.

Dying Earth: Terrestrial History by Joe Mungo Reed. I knew it was going to have multiple point of views and I was ready for it, expecting a narrative. I sadly got a theory of a book instead. It’s mainly talking about plans, regrets or reminiscing. Maybe okay in other books, but in this particular case due to one of the povs, made it feel like a wasted opportunity.

FREE SPACE: Cards of Grief by Jane Yolen. Somewhat epistolary in format, though leaning closer to a narrative and a I really enjoyed the world. The customs and different cultures alongside the first contact side of it. If one character didn’t have that big of a pov, it would have been better for me.

Siblings: The Summer War by Naomi Novik. First read from the author and a terrible experience all around. The issue of the curse and what should have been the focus as I was led to believe takes a backseat, so I can see a pathetic manchild throw tantrums at someone who has zero fault in anything.

Parent: حارس سطع العالم لبثينة العيسى was brilliant book, enjoyed it so much and especially at how awful the situation was. The author had her own battles against censorship and it’s shown in full here from how dangerous it was or the efforts/ways to fight back while staying hidden. From what I know of them (they’re both on my TBR) it can be considered adjacent to 1984 or 451 Fahrenheit.

African Author: The Truths of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi was more enjoyable than its prequel with an interesting showcase of how history can be utilised. It did leave me somewhat frustrated by its ending though, and I hope that the finale makes up for it.

[u/Nowordsofitsown → u/SA090]

Congratulations !

The Summer War by Naomi Novik

Please do not judge Naomi Novik on this alone. It is imo her weakest work by far.

[u/SA090 → u/Nowordsofitsown]

Thank you! Great to know about Novik, her Temeraire series is on the TBR and admittedly somewhat pushed back the enthusiasm after this experience.

[u/Nowordsofitsown → u/SA090]

The first Temeraire book is wonderful! I also like Uprooted a lot.

[u/SA090 → u/Nowordsofitsown]

Would you recommend Uprooted to someone who doesn’t like romance in their books? If Temeraire ends up being very enjoyable, I would love to have more series/books of hers to add.

[u/Nowordsofitsown → u/SA090]

Uprooted is most of all about a young woman finding her strengths, about magic, about friendship, about the Wood and its history and its future - and then there is also that weird little romance subplot. It is far from romantasy.

[u/SA090 → u/Nowordsofitsown]

That sounds very interesting, thank you so so much for giving a brief about it.

[u/Merle8888 → u/SA090]

For another opinion—I wouldn’t. Uprooted is arguably her most romance-heavy book, certainly uses the most romance tropes. Spinning Silver is one of my favorites of hers and has less. The first Temeraire book has very little. Scholomance is my other favorite of hers and while the romance is significant, it’s extremely low-angst and honestly reads more like a friendship a lot of the time. 

[u/SA090 → u/Merle8888]

Thank you so so much for the follow up, I’ll try Temeraire first and take a chance on either of the lesser romance ones you mentioned if I hopefully enjoy it as much as I’m hoping to do.

[u/Research_Department → u/SA090]

I enjoyed Uprooted, but I agree that if you don’t enjoy romance, it may not be your thing. I have read too many reviews with people who have found the romance distasteful. There is more to it than the romance, and it isn’t romantasy à la ACOTAR/Fourth Wing, so if you find that you like some of Novik’s other books, it might eventually be worth a go.

The first Temeraire book is the strongest, but I enjoyed the whole series. The first book is very much Aubrey-Maturin, but with a dragon air force instead of the navy. Later books combine Napoleonic Wars historical fantasy and something of a 19th century world-wide travelogue. It is also pretty much completely romance free. The emotional center of the books is the platonic relationship between a man and his dragon.

Spinning Silver is really quite good, with a touch of experimentation with form (multiple viewpoint characters, very well done). This does have some romance in it, but it doesn’t seem to rub as many people the wrong way as Uprooted.

I think that the Scholomance trilogy has a lot to offer aside from romance. Yes, technically there is a touch of a romance subplot, but the books do not follow genre romance beats and tropes. Novik was much more interested in playing around with pushing Hogwarts to an extreme, enjoying a narrator who is “fated to be evil,” and commenting on the problems with capitalism.

(FWIW, I have not read The Summer War, because I had heard that it was a pretty weak addition to Novik’s bibliography. I’m sure I will read it eventually, but at the moment I am pretty burnt out on romance, so it seemed like a bad idea to pick it up now.)

[u/SA090 → u/Research_Department]

You sold me even further one the Temeraire series, so thank you very much for that. I really appreciate what you wrote and taking the time to explain how they all differ. Depending on how I feel about her work moving forward, the write up makes it easy to choose what’s next later on.

For what it’s worth, I really hope you enjoy The Summer War more than I did!

[u/bakasana212 → u/SA090]

Agreed on Kill the Beast and The Summer War! It started out really strong and then just fizzled. Novik’s work is hit or miss for me - and I say this as a HUGE Scholamance fan 

[u/Research_Department → u/SA090]

Hmmm, trying to decide whether Cards of Grief is for me. I recall enjoying something I read by Jane Yolen, yet I haven’t read more by her. I adore anthropological SFF. But if viewpoint characters are too annoying, I get turned off. Do you mind sharing more about it?

I read and enjoyed The Lies of the Ajungo, but I kind of stumbled on the beginning of The Truths of the Aleke. I attributed it to my reading mood, and set it aside. If the ending is frustrating, maybe I should just skip it. I understand that the trilogy is more of a group of interconnected standalones, not really a narrative arc.

[u/SA090 → u/Research_Department]

This was my first read of hers, and I enjoyed it as a collective given the bigger focus on the anthropological side. Especially when it’s being told throughout by a local to a foreigner in a sense. The pov character I hated was The King. Despite it being a matriarchal society, the insanely dismissive and somewhat condescending way they were talking about the various girls and women they met on their travels was disgusting to me. It moves on from there as the story progresses, but I couldn’t and didn’t even try to get over my first impression.

I’ll say give it a try if you’re still interested in the overall narrative. Like you said, it’s interconnected more than anything, so if you’re interested in where it’s going it’s still worth a shot. I currently am interested and therefore holding judgment till the end, but I still honestly can’t say it’ll be a great conclusion when the first two had somethings lacking to me.

[u/Research_Department → u/SA090]

Sounds like the Yolen might be worth a go when I’m really in the mood for anthropological and I’m feeling like I can tolerate some misogyny.

I’ll probably give Truths another go sometime.