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Title: The Indifferent Stars: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride
Author: Daniel James Brown
Narrator Michael Prichard
Published: Tantor Audio, 2014 (2009)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 360
Total Page Count: 290,080
Text Number: 949
Read Because: interest in the Donner Party, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: The story of the Donner Party, focused on a young bride who was part of the Forlorn Hope. This focus means that later events at the winter camp are a little less substantial, a little harder to track (granted, the surrounding events have a lot of confusing redundancy re: the numerous reliefs). The impersonal tally of fates for the survivors and the unwieldy epilogue chronicling the author's journey are even less effective, and so the end of the book falls flat. But on the whole, the focus on a single figure helps to ground the history, making it human and accessible, and the cultural context and information about starvation/hypothermia paints a complete picture. It's atmospheric, harrowing, but refuses to be exploitative. The Forlorn Hope is the pinnacle of the text, realistically, sympathetically rendered; humanized and horrific.

(Here's a mistake you can make in the privacy of your own home neighborhood: read the Forlorn Hope section on audio while walking in at below-freezing temperatures! It was literally 29 degrees, it was "mildly uncomfortable," and "I am projecting way too much if I compare it even slightly to the text," but project I sure did!)


Title: Lovecraft Country
Author: Matt Ruff
Narrator: Kevin Kenerly
Published: Blackstone Audiobooks, 2016
Rating: N/A
Page Count: 50 of 370
Total Page Count: 290,460
Text Number: 952
Read Because: mentioned here, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: The depiction of racism is honest and doesn't appear to be exploitative, but reading it while wary of authorial missteps* is a double burden which is too much for me right now, especially without the payoff of early supernatural elements. I'd rather put my energy into an ownvoices book.

* I have no reason to anticipate them! The book has reviewed well on this particular issue! I just can't silence that paranoid voice right now. For another reader or me at a different time, this is probably well worth reading.


Title: On a Sunbeam
Author: Tillie Walden
Published: independent webcomic
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 545
Total Page Count: 291,135
Text Number: 954
Read Because: personal enjoyment, available for free online as well as in ebook & print
Review: A young woman joins a crew that repairs derelict, fantastical space structures, and discovers that they used to rescue refugees from the edges of the galaxy. This is some of the best science fantasy I've ever seen—the minimal, intentional color palette and thin ink lines are a perfect format for the massive, strange, evocative (playful, beautiful, profound) landscapes. The setting cradles a more intimate narrative about found family, love, and personal maturation with a likable and and diverse cast. Some of the later beats, both plot and emotional, are predictable; the narrative isn't as robust as I hoped for, or as closely tied to the setting's speculative elements. But the overall effect is superb. From the first chapter I wanted to inhabit this world and, by accompanying the protagonist, I can. I couldn't ask for better wish-fulfillment.

(really beautiful voids! the spacewhales are more in atmosphere than fact except, of course, that the ship is one! this is like a romantic fantasy version of my favorite nightmare aesthetics, and I couldn't love it more.)

Title: Season of Storms (Witcher Book 8)
Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Translator: fan translation
Published: superNOWA, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 380
Total Page Count: 218,085
Text Number: 661
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: After the short stories and before the other novels, Geralt goes on a quest to recover his stolen swords. Insofar as the best part of the series is Ciri, and Ciri is not here present, this is something of a letdown. There's plenty of nods to central characters and plot, but this story feels both less urgent and heartfelt. It's almost prosaic: somewhere between comedy of errors/slice of life/travelogue, the daily life of a Witcher down on his luck, resembling the short story collections more than the novels. That setup allows Geralt's personality to shine through and he is, as always, a delight; the Witcher setdressing is present, the subplots are successful, and there's even some profound, if coy, worldbuilding in the frame narrative. But without the interpersonal relationships that made me care about this series, I came away underwhelmed.

I was chatting with Devon about the Witcher series and mentioned offhand that there are eight books, the two short story collections, the five novels, and the... —and then I realized that I had never reviewed this later prequel, never even written notes for it; granted, I read it late last December, when I was reading less and a lot of my reviews got delayed, but the fact that I entirely forgot this book says something about it, I suppose.


Title: Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire Book 1)
Author: Yoon Ha Lee
Published: Solaris, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 385
Total Page Count: 218,470
Text Number: 662
Read Because: co-read with Teja, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An infantry solider named Cheris is selected to host Jedao, a long-dead traitor and brilliant general, in order to combat a heretical uprising. This has the inconsistent, piecemeal feel of a first novel: the beginning is almost deliberately obtuse (coming in familiar with the author's short fiction makes the style and worldbuilding more accessible, but patience serves just as well) where later sections are over-explained. But the experience entire is a remarkable journey. Math-as-calendar/-as-technology/-as-society is an engaging high concept, but the system's limitations and complicated cultural effects are what make it convincing. Lee's voice is an intense sensory experience, with evocative and alien synesthetic descriptions. The interpersonal relationships remind me of CJ Cherryh's uniquely implicit/explicit dynamics, where everything is tersely understated but functions on an intense, tropey level. The format, especially as a series opener, reminds me of Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch: it introduces an entire world and has a satisfying arc, but is obviously the first part of a longer battle.

I enjoyed Lee's short fiction, but also found it frustrating because iteration and length limitations turned otherwise fantastic voice and concepts into repetitive worldbuilding. His first novel is everything I hoped for. The same techniques and themes are here, but they're given more space and elaboration. It's distinctive, fulfilling, and fully realized. I recommend it, and look forward to the sequels.

A pair of quotes, for posterity; I adore the language, the weird math-fantasy-science, how unsettling and evocative and strange it all is.

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Title: Home (Binti Book 2)
Author: Nnedi Okrafor
Published: Tor, 2017
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 175
Total Page Count: 218,645
Text Number: 663
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: One year after the events of the first book, Binti makes a pilgrimage home. I enjoyed the first novella in this series, but wanted more from it, specifically more complexity. This is more. It's as vivid, with equally satisfying character growth (these books would make fantastic movies, they're subplot-free and just the right length, and the world is so engaging) but Binti is working between points of intense, unpretty emotional conflict, and her cultural background is rendered with increasing complexity—it's a more complicated, difficult story. But unlike the first book, which is complete almost to its detriment, this one ends at the conclusion of Binti's character arc and leaves the plot with a cliffhanger; I'd've preferred a finished, novel-length work. But I still enjoyed and recommend it, and will read the next installment.