Highlights and Lowlights - Apr 2023

I usually do this every two months, but the JanFeb post was
too long for my tastes, so I did March all by itself, and now
I’m doing April by itself too

I think there are no spoilers, not even minor ones. If something
does seem spoiler-ish, it happens early in the book in question
and is front-and-center.

Books are listed in reverse chronological order from how I read them,
using a very primitive rating system:
“+” are good, and more “+” are better
“-“ are not good, and more “-“ are worse

I’m happy to answer questions about anything on the list.

Highlight - Cast in Secret - Sagara [Elantra #3]

Lowlight - Nothing was too bad - I suppose Grimm’s Fairy Tales
was a bit of a slog, but that’s pretty much what I expected.

Here’s a quick summary of what’s more in-depth below:
( ++ - ) Nemesis of Mars - Stewart [Starship’s Mage #13]
( +++ ) Cast in Secret - Sagara [Elantra #3]
( ++ ) Amongst Our Weapons - Aaronovitch [Rivers of London #9, I believe]
( +++ ) An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat - Cook [short story collection in the Dread Empire universe]
( ++ - ) Practical Demonkeeping - Moore
( ++ -) Camp Concentration - Disch
( + - ) Grimm’s Fairy Tales
( + ) Forced Perspectives - Powers [Vickery & Castine #2]
( ++ ) Expendable - Gardner [Festina Ramos #1]

Now Reading:
Long work - not sure yet; lots of good choices though
Collection - Two different ones: Stories from The Hugo Winners Vol. II
AND The Exotic Enchanter (ed. by de Camp & Stasheff)

==========================================April 2023
( ++ - ) Nemesis of Mars - Stewart [Starship’s Mage #13]
Similar to the Aaronovitch two entries below, this was also
very good, and a worthy continuation in this enjoyable series.
The minus is because these are starting to be just a little same-y.
The Big-Bads always know everything and are always 1-2 steps
ahead of the good guys; and while some big-bads get caught, the
Super Evil Biggest Baddest of course does not. There is development
of the two main series characters (Damien & Roslyn), and it was nice
to see Damien in the field again. I’ll definitely see what #14 has
to offer when it comes out.

( +++ ) Cast in Secret - Sagara [Elantra #3]
This was excellent. I mean I can see a few of the complaints people
mention in reviews, but I find they don’t detract much for me at all.
Yes, I do get tired of Kaylin being immature and impulsive, but:
she IS young, AND this book happens almost immediately after
the previous one. That said, she is clearly (slowly) improving on
both fronts. And Sagara is wonderful at putting 3-4 emotionally
impactful scenes in all 3 books so far. It still impresses me how
much happens and how much we learn, while simultaneously
we also know so little (esp about the non-Kaylin characters).
Neat trick, that.

( ++ ) Amongst Our Weapons - Aaronovitch [Rivers of London #9, I believe]
Very good - a worthy continuation in this enjoyable series. This is
entertaining and enjoyable, and both the long-term plot and the
characters continue to progress. The self-contained case Peter is
mainly pursuing is interesting, and Peter also grows his network of
magic-users along the way.

( +++ ) An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat - Cook [short story collection in the Dread Empire universe]
This is an excellent collection of 10 short stories in the Dread Empire
universe. I’d read 5 of them before (all very-good-to-excellent), and
the 5 that were new to me - just one of them wasn’t so good.

( ++ - ) Practical Demonkeeping - Moore
This is light/slight fantasy with mildly absurdist comedy and some
quirky/funny situations. The minus is probably unfair, as this was
Moore’s first novel, but all throughout reading this, I was thinking
“A Lee Martinez does this better”. However, since this was
Moore’s first novel, and since I was gifted another (mid-career)
one of his, I’ll read that one to see how a more-experienced
Moore comes off.

( ++ -) Camp Concentration - Disch
This one will stay with me a good while, but I truly can’t decide
if I enjoyed it or not. James posted a review right when I was
deciding what to read next, so I chose this book. My full thoughts
here on the thread James started
https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.sf.written/c/znXlijWrc0Y
but here are a couple excerpts:
“Although it is short, it took me three different sessions to finish, in
roughly this way:
1st night = fascination with part 1;
2nd night = wow, what the hell is this part 2? I'm gonna put it down
for a bit;
3rd night = well, well, well...hm...part 2 turned out to be pretty intriguing.”
AND
“It's well written, memorable, thought provoking, I'm glad I read it... but
is it enjoyable? Does "enjoyable" even matter?”

( + - ) Grimm’s Fairy Tales
My mother-in-law is downsizing, and I took this off her hands,
having never formally read the complete volume. About half
the stories were new to me. <shrug> It was okay.

( + ) Forced Perspectives - Powers [Vickery & Castine #2]
This was kinda dull, and not very engaging - which is something I’ve
never before uttered about a Tim Powers book. It’s probably 100 pages
too long, or at least it dragged in spots. It was okay, but I don’t think
I’ll be reading #3.

( ++ ) Expendable - Gardner [Festina Ramos #1]
Good! Intriguing - interesting set up and setting. Festina Ramos is an
Explorer, which means she’s a highly trained 1st-contact expert and
planetary explorer. Explorers call themselves Expendable because
they are recruited from a genetically less-desirable pool, including
that it’s a less-emotional loss to the “normal” crew when an Explorer
dies on a dangerous mission. Cheeky/snarky fun dialogue sprinkle
throughout - Admiral Chee was a particular delight in this respect.
I will seek out #2.

Now Reading:
Long work - not sure yet; lots of good choices though
Collection - Two different ones: Stories from The Hugo Winners Vol. II
AND The Exotic Enchanter (ed. by de Camp & Stasheff)

Tony

I am not sure "enjoy" is a useful parameter for Disch....
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
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On Monday, May 1, 2023 at 4:45:21 PM UTC-4, James Nicoll wrote:
> I am not sure "enjoy" is a useful parameter for Disch....
>

I completely agree.
- Tony, who is thinking of picking up another Disch