LRRC Week 13
Apparently it's April! I think I'm glad we're no longer in March - if I trust that the dates have actually proceeded as usual. But! I'm not engaging in rampant fear-mongering because I know that spikes MY anxiety and probably many other people's too.
Let's talk about books!!!
#25: THE HEART FORGER by Rin Chupeco
So this book is a sequel to one I read last year (before this blog) called The Bone Witch, which I remember liking okay and thinking it was an interesting introduction to the world and the characters.
I'm not sure what happened in between, but I could not get into this book, either on a plot level or a character level. If you asked me to tell you what the plot was, I'm genuinely not sure that I could. Something something poisoning? Something something war?
This is a book where I could really have used a refresher on the first, which I definitely read less than a year ago, and thought I remembered okay (and I think I still remember the main plot points of it). It was the characterization that really lost me, and I think why I started zoning out. There's just too many of them, and I wasn't attached to any of them. Some felt unnecessary (seriously, there are so many characters that I could not tell you anything about), some I had no recollection of from book 1, and the rest (aka the main cast) I couldn't bring myself to care about.
There's a couple of characters who do have whispers of interesting aspects. The titular Heart Forger, for example, who takes a definite back seat despite his seeming importance, is interesting. Sure would've liked to spend more time with him. Also, though the main character has a lot of traits that I usually like (ruthless female character! Hell yeah!) I just didn't feel connected to her at all. The romance that I couldn't connect with didn't help.
There's some queer rep in this book and the author is pansexual and non-binary, which I feel is important to mention. The queer rep didn't really do it for me, but it's there, and I support supporting queer authors! Though at this moment I'm not sure I have the energy to try and tackle the final book in this trilogy, this felt EXHAUSTING.
#26: EXIT STRATEGY by Martha Wells
Another Murderbot story! I love Murderbot stories! And ye gods was it nice to turn to after the last book.
This one in particular was especially fun because we get to see some familiar faces, and we get to see the overall plot move forward significantly. This could honestly probably have been an end to the series and I would've been satisfied, but I know there's another book coming out this year. Which I anxiously await.
Anyway read Murderbot if you haven't, it's very excellent.
NEXT WEEK'S AGENDA:
#27: A Phoenix First Must Burn edited by Patrice Caldwell
#28: Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall