Been about a month, so another procrastination update...
Recently Read:
The Book Jumper (Mechthild Glaser, YA fantasy, paperback): 17-year-old Amy and her free spirit mother return to the ancestral home, the Scottish isle Stormsay... where Amy discovers the family legacy of "book jumping," the ability to enter stories and interact with the characters and their worlds. Her arrival coincides with a new threat that reaches from the literary world to the real one.
At heart, I firmly believe that this was supposed to be a middle grade story, not one aimed at teens. Though Amy has a few make-out sessions and some teen body issues, the whole story and concept just did not feel... sophisticated enough, is the best word I can think of. The in-book characters and worlds felt too flat and simplistic, the logic just not quite strong enough to withstand much scrutiny (book jumpers are supposed to "protect" stories from interference, but the only major threat to in-book worlds is... book jumpers, of which there are only two dwindling lineages, all of whom age out before thirty. So, protect them from themselves...?) Amy's also not much more than a teen girl cliche: she's clumsy, has body issues, and needs male characters to lead her to clues and conclusions far more often than not, and her reactions tend to be more in line with a preteen than a seventeen year old, even an immature seventeen year old. Despite itself, it delivers a decent finale, with a fairly emotional finale that reveals a true love of reading (details would constitute spoilers, but the imagery of characters in a favorite book paying respects to a favorite reader was well done and touching.) Barely squeaking out at an Okay rating, I contend that it would've done better had it been tweaked and the MC aged down to middle grade... and given a little more agency.
The Warrior Within (Angus McIntyre, sci-fi, Kindle): Karsman and the artificial personas in his brain - specialist personalities such as Strategist, Diplomat, and Warrior, among others - have been mayor of their small town along the planet-encircling Road for years, but hold little actual power, and he prefers to stay out of trouble if he can help it. The real power, everyone knows, rests with the Muljaddy in the town's Temple. When three offworld soldiers show up, Karsman finds hims drawn into the sort of trouble he left the capital city to avoid.
A novella offered by Tor's ebook-of-the-month club, it's a well-paced, fast-reading tale, with some mind-bending concepts around the edges. Karsman's a decent MC, and his world has all manner of oddities about it, though the plot keeps things at a human enough level not to leave readers behind. Entertaining.
Beneath the Sugar Sky (Book 3 in the Wayward Children series, Seanan McGuire, YA? fantasy, hardcover): At Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children, a boarding school for kids and teens who have traveled beyond doorways to other worlds and been returned to Earth, a strange girl splashing down in the turtle pond is hardly unexpected... though her story is amazing even by the school's standards. Rini claims to be the teenaged daughter of Sumi - only Sumi was still a girl when she was murdered at the school. With that murder, time in the candy Nonsense realm of Confection is unraveling, allowing the wicked Queen of Cakes to return, and Rini's slowly vanishing from existence. A handful of students undertake a quest to restore Sumi to life and save Rini and Confection... but how, even in the impossible realms beyond the invisible doors, can one possibly cheat Death?
Another superb entry in a wonderful series. Ideas that look silly or superficial take on greater depth and nuance, making for a memorable, thought-provoking tale that challenges its characters in many ways. Highly recommended book in a highly recommended series.
Currently Reading:
All These Worlds (Book 3 in the Bobiverse series, Dennis E. Taylor, sci-fi, paperback): The Bobs, formerly human AIs at the heart of self-replicating space probes, work to preserve humanity and fend off an alien threat, even as newer generations of Bobs grow disinterested in their greater mission.
I literally just started this, so I have no impressions yet, but given the track record I'm expecting Good Things.
I'm also poking at a nonfiction book about dirigibles on my Kindle (Dirigible Dreams: The Age of the Airship by C. Michael Hiam); too soon to tell if I'll stick with it yet, but I have a sort-of-but-not-steampunk tale with airships I need to clean up, so I thought this would make for good research. Nothing outright turning me off, at least, so I'll likely end up finishing it.