Books I've Read: October 2025
Dec. 31st, 2025 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjBack to mostly audiobooks (except when that format isn't available).
Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti -- (audio) While I'm delighted that we're getting more sapphic historical romances from major publishers, too often I'm disappointed about the execution. This Regency-era romance pairing two competing authors of gothic novels spent too much time on repetitive build-up (frustration, coincidences, longing), and not enough time on plot There were so many cycles of desire > sex > betrayal > grovel > forgiveness > repeat that I have little confidence in the stability of the relationship. On the other hand, the historic grounding was solid.
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells, Exit Strategy by Martha Wells, Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells, Network Effect by Martha Wells -- (audio) Continuing my binge of the Murderbot series. I don't have specific reading notes on most of these other than finding them enjoyable. Network Effect was a re-listen as that was the one I read first from the series and bounced off at the time. On re-listen, I think my impression was skewed by listening to it out of order, because a lot of the interpersonal stuff makes more sense now that I have the background. But it's still definitely fairly heavy on the blow-by-blow fight scenes. I reiterate that I can see why the people who love these love them, but I'm just not quite the ideal audience.
Ochre, Quartz, or Ivy by Jeannelle M. Ferreira -- (text) (Read to blurb, not yet published.) Sometimes a story unfolds like a vision emerging from a heavy mist. Glimpses of shifting details appear then are obscured again, but gradually the mist thins and you find yourself in an unexpected landscape. Jeannelle M. Ferreira’s Ochre, Quartz, or Ivy is just such a story, embedded in a mythic early British setting, but not fully temporally bound. It takes a bit of reading for the characters, their relationships, and their fates to solidify within the poetry of the narrative, but when the plot has fully unfolded, as it dips in and out of the time-stream, the pieces fall solidly into place. I have consistently maintained that Ferreira’s prose is best read with a poetic protocol: allowing the imagery to build in its own fashion and this work is a solid example of that principle.
Angel Maker by Elizabeth Bear -- (text, audio) I started reading this in text but the heavy use of dialect meant that I ended up subvocalizing as I read, so I decided to simply switch to audio which worked much better.
The continuing adventures of Karen Memory. A fun romp through alternate history with all the steampunk bells and whistles but addressing real historic social issues as well.
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher -- (audio) Horror fantasy about dealing with legacies of the past. Great for the sense of growing menace without feeling too scary. The awfulness of people, artfully depicted.
Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti -- (audio) While I'm delighted that we're getting more sapphic historical romances from major publishers, too often I'm disappointed about the execution. This Regency-era romance pairing two competing authors of gothic novels spent too much time on repetitive build-up (frustration, coincidences, longing), and not enough time on plot There were so many cycles of desire > sex > betrayal > grovel > forgiveness > repeat that I have little confidence in the stability of the relationship. On the other hand, the historic grounding was solid.
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells, Exit Strategy by Martha Wells, Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells, Network Effect by Martha Wells -- (audio) Continuing my binge of the Murderbot series. I don't have specific reading notes on most of these other than finding them enjoyable. Network Effect was a re-listen as that was the one I read first from the series and bounced off at the time. On re-listen, I think my impression was skewed by listening to it out of order, because a lot of the interpersonal stuff makes more sense now that I have the background. But it's still definitely fairly heavy on the blow-by-blow fight scenes. I reiterate that I can see why the people who love these love them, but I'm just not quite the ideal audience.
Ochre, Quartz, or Ivy by Jeannelle M. Ferreira -- (text) (Read to blurb, not yet published.) Sometimes a story unfolds like a vision emerging from a heavy mist. Glimpses of shifting details appear then are obscured again, but gradually the mist thins and you find yourself in an unexpected landscape. Jeannelle M. Ferreira’s Ochre, Quartz, or Ivy is just such a story, embedded in a mythic early British setting, but not fully temporally bound. It takes a bit of reading for the characters, their relationships, and their fates to solidify within the poetry of the narrative, but when the plot has fully unfolded, as it dips in and out of the time-stream, the pieces fall solidly into place. I have consistently maintained that Ferreira’s prose is best read with a poetic protocol: allowing the imagery to build in its own fashion and this work is a solid example of that principle.
Angel Maker by Elizabeth Bear -- (text, audio) I started reading this in text but the heavy use of dialect meant that I ended up subvocalizing as I read, so I decided to simply switch to audio which worked much better.
The continuing adventures of Karen Memory. A fun romp through alternate history with all the steampunk bells and whistles but addressing real historic social issues as well.
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher -- (audio) Horror fantasy about dealing with legacies of the past. Great for the sense of growing menace without feeling too scary. The awfulness of people, artfully depicted.
