Recent Reading: Road to Ruin

Sep. 25th, 2025 04:18 pm
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I have a job again! \^o^/ This means I am back on the audiobook train and today I wrapped up Road to Ruin by Hana Lee, book 1 of the Magebike Courier duology. This is a low fantasy dystopian novel located in a place called the Mana Wastes, where protagonist Jin works as a courier transporting goods between protected cities. Jin runs a lot of odd jobs for various clients, but her most lucrative by far are Prince Kadrin and Princess Yi-Nereen. Jin has been ferrying love letters between them for three years--while hiding the fact that she's fallen in love with both of them. But everything changes when Yi-Nereen decides to run away and asks Jin to help her.

First, don't let the hokey title put you off. I started this one a bit warily, but it turned out to be quite a lot of fun! The worldbuilding is pretty light, but the novel seems aware of that and doesn't overpromise on that front. What is there serves its purpose well. It's not anything particularly novel, but not every book needs to be.

Jin, Yi-Nereen, and Kadrin are all wonderful protagonists; each of them has a distinct personality, perspective, and motivations, and I really enjoyed all of them. I was rooting for them the whole book and it was great to watch their various interpersonal dynamics unfold. If you're a fan of stories about mutual pining, this one is definitely worth checking out. However, if that's not really your speed, I didn't feel like the book spent too much time harping on about feelings we all suspect or know are requited. The romance element is definitely there, and it's a significant motivator for all three of them, but there's plenty else going on in the book too. 

The book avoids falling prey either to the Charybdis of black-and-white morality where everyone who stands in the way of the protagonists is evil, or to the Scylla of "everyone is friends if we just talk things out," which is a relief after some recent reads. There's definitely a sliding scale of antagonism here, with some characters who are obstacles but not necessarily bad people, and others who run much darker. 

I also enjoyed the presence of the "Road Builders." Jin and her peers inhabit the Mana Wastes, a treacherous desert wasteland where little survives and almost none of it without human intervention. They sustain themselves with "talent"--magical abilities common among humans, but becoming less common by the day--and travel along ravaged roads built by some culture who came before, about which Jin and her peers know very little. These are the "Road Builders" and are, I believe, strongly hinted at to be us. Lee keeps them a pleasant mystery humming in the background of everything else going on.

There were a couple contrivances near the end to aid a dramatic conclusion, but nothing so egregious I wasn't willing to continue to play ball with the book. Similarly, I'm on the fence about where this book leaves the relationship between the main trio, because it feels a little too much like Lee felt it was a necessary hook into book 2, but I'll reserve judgement until I've actually read book 2. And perhaps it's better that everything doesn't wrap up too neatly here. 

On the whole, I had a lot of fun with this book and I will definitely read the next one. 

Jeeves and the Tie That Binds

Sep. 25th, 2025 03:36 pm
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[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
Jeeves and the Tie That Binds by P.G. Wodehouse

The continuing adventures. Spoilers for the earlier works ahead.

Read more... )
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
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More stories should dig into the chemistry, biology, and physics of falling in love.

On Writing Romance as Hard Science Fiction
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


Amid economic downturn and political strife, young American teen discovers her hidden potential.

Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack
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[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
Sanders' Rhetorical, or Union Sixth Reader by Charles Walton Sanders

An advanced work of elocution.

Perhaps chiefly useful now for its selections and the light they cast on the era. It has several on the importance of the Union. It boasts of a wide variety, to fit young readers, and it does feature both prose and poetry on many different topics, fiction and non-fiction. I think it has more biographical essays than the earlier books in the series.

(Though it was amusing to read the side note that people used to eat a dish of fried dough known as a doughnut.)
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Realtor Reiko Kujirai has many questions, about her apparent rival and about herself, but very few answers.

Kowloon Generic Romance, volume 2 by Jun Mayuzuki

Bold

Sep. 23rd, 2025 04:14 pm

WHY

Sep. 23rd, 2025 12:12 pm
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll
would my Framework charge if plugged into one outlet but not another? I tested the outlet from which it did not charge and it works for other devices.

[Update]

I shut it down for an hour and everything works again.

Funny thing about this singer

Sep. 23rd, 2025 09:11 am
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll
Youtube pushed a song from this source at me.

I don't think they exist. There are no non-generated images of the singer and their pace of output is suspicious. And their FB bio references ai.
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[personal profile] seawasp

Cut for length, discussion below...
Read onward... )


 

Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis

Sep. 23rd, 2025 08:56 am
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Oxford sends its best to study World War Two in this (grinds teeth) Hugo-winning tale of sound and fury.

Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis

Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves

Sep. 22nd, 2025 01:15 pm
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

The continuing adventures of Jeeves and Bertie.

Read more... )

Bundle of Holding: Weird Wizard

Sep. 22nd, 2025 01:57 pm
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The SHADOW OF THE WEIRD WIZARD corebooks, supplements, and adventures.

Bundle of Holding: Weird Wizard

Clarke Award Finalists 201

Sep. 22nd, 2025 09:52 am
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[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll
2015: Five Britons sign for the doomed Mars One venture, the UK pays off its WWI War Loans, and the Liberal Democrats’ adroit political maneuvering yields memorable electoral returns.

Poll #33648 Clarke Award Finalists 2015
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 38


Which 2015 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
25 (65.8%)

Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson
8 (21.1%)

Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta
6 (15.8%)

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
4 (10.5%)

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
16 (42.1%)

The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
18 (47.4%)



Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2015 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson
Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
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Frostflower can solve Thorn's pregnancy problem... but can the pair survive the attention of a fanatical farmer-priest?

Frostflower and Thorn (Frostflower and Thorn, volume 1) by Phyllis Ann Karr

How Right You Are, Jeeves

Sep. 20th, 2025 11:48 pm
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
[personal profile] marycatelli posting in [community profile] books
How Right You Are, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

The further adventures of Bertie and Jeeves. Minor spoilers for earlier works.

Read more... )
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Really, more of Book Received. One work new to me, science fantasy.

Books Received, September 13 — September 19

Poll #33640 Books Received, September 13 — September 19
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 38


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

Yalum by Matthew Hughes (September 2025)
10 (26.3%)

Some other option (see comments)
1 (2.6%)

Cats!
36 (94.7%)

Bad News From Alpha Centauri A…

Sep. 19th, 2025 10:21 am
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There's a planet in the habitable zone... but not an Earthlike planet.

Bad News From Alpha Centauri A…

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