Down Among the Sticks and Bones, by Seanan McGuire

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Seanan McGuire is a seriously prolific author, and I kind of thought with the first book in this series (Every Heart a Doorway) that that showed a bit. The Wayward Children universe is a rather structured set of alternate universes, in the way that YA fiction often works. But in this prequel covering the story of Jack and Jill, McGuire spends only a little time toward the end explicating the doors to these places and their themes. Most of it digs into the character of the Moors (the place), and how the characters of the girls fit the place (or have their corners rounded off or sharpened to fit). The Moors itself is an archetype, but the girls get fully fleshed out, and a lot of their behavior in the previous book becomes easier to understand (Ms. Wilson hints at it). I think the series is growing, and I'll be reasonably happy reading the next one.



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Persephone of the Crows, by Karen Joy Fowler

Persephone of the Crows was a finalist for the 2018 Locus Award.  Not too long to read, it was quite entertaining but it seems more like the first chapter of a book, with a few bits tacked on, than an independent story.  The scene is set with a charming sequence where Polly's family is visiting another family, linked by their father's work and friendship.  The dads mainly get together to drink.  Polly is playing with Isabelle, who has seen a fairy.  Polly does not believe in such things.  Things go downhill when Isabelle's father shows everyone an erotic painting with his wife as the model. 

It's a standard setup, and would no doubt go someplace interesting, but where it does in fact go is told only in a few brief, interspersed paragraphs.  I imagine it as something Fowler started many years ago, and does not actually intend to pursue, but thought it worth getting out there.  Since it got an award nomination she is right.

Provenance, by Ann Leckie

Provenance by Ann Leckie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


At first I had trouble getting going with this novel. The setup is lighter and feels less ultimately important than the Ancillary trilogy--everything is smaller in scale. Hwae just feels like a less serious civilization than the Radch. Because it is, as it turns out. The protagonist, Ingray Aughskold, is maybe from an earlier but very authentic brand of female protagonist--she is not a brute, she doubts herself a lot, and makes mistakes. But she has excellent instincts.

The culture of Hwae feels very homey. The emphasis on "vestiges" rolls together souvenirs, artifacts and religious relics. It's a defining cultural affectation.

And that's what eventually grew on me about the book, and made it get better as it went along. The book wears its heart on its sleeve. All the characters are deeply motivated by forms of basic decency, even the less good ones. This theme is part of the Ancillary series as well, especially expressed through the Justice of Toren, but here it's front and center.

In the end, I liked the book very much. But if she revisits this world I hope she relies a little less on sentiment to drive the story.



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Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer

Borne by Jeff VanderMeer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've just gotten around to reading Borne (partly because I do most of my reading from libraries, and the wait for this work was really long). It seems like most of the rest of the universe has reviewed it already. But I'll second the others that see this work as a rich and demanding read. You have to work at a VanderMeer novel. But I've read Finch, and the Southern Reach trilogy--VanderMeer is continuing to change as an author, and I was less put off and more intrigued by this book than the others. The characters suffer desperately, sometimes extravagantly, but the protagonist is incredibly whole and powerful, even when she is dealing with huge gaps in her history. I enjoy how VanderMeer juxtaposes the detailed descriptions of the difficulty of Rachel and Wick (the main supporting character)'s lives with throwaways about how long they have been at it (many years). It's a dystopia, but collapse is slow, and never quite final.

I enjoyed it all the way through and I'm not surprised that VanderMeer is breaking out in popular culture, though "Annihilation" is not likely to be my kind of movie. A strong 4 stars.



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The Worshipful Society of Glovers, by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Worshipful Society of Glovers is a well-executed morality tale, with the magic drivers being gloves and brownies.  The protagonist is a journeyman glover closing in on master status, but his financial and home position is precarious--in addition to having only just enough money to buy into the necessary training, his sister has severe and life-threatening epilepsy that distracts him.  Temptation presents in the form of black-market gloves, a pair of which are used to push him over the edge.

What Kowal does well here is to present the moral dilemma starkly but with nuance.  Could all the possible choices be bad?  Fun to read, and a worthy award nominee (in this case the Locus awards).