The Slower And Quieter Approach: Winter/Spring Wrap Up

 Welcome back dear reader,

 

Here is step one of taking things slower. 

I'm going to try to post a season wrap up rather than month to month. We'll see how that works, reader. It will be slower-paced, which I'm sure we could all use. Have you noticed the seasons enough this year, reader? Have you laid your hand against the bark of a tall tree and looked upwards towards it's crown to watch it sway recently?

 

This will be a wrap up of what I read this past winter and spring (January-May). The plan in future is for the Spring Wrap Up to cover March, April, and May.  Summer will be June, July, and August. Fall's will cover September, October!, and November. Winter's Wrap Up will be December, January, and February. 

So! Let's dive in, shall we?

 

Winter's Wrap Up

Winter Reads: The Sword And The Dagger by Ardath Mayhar; Decision at Thunder Rift by William H Keith

 

 

 December of 2024 I read two books, both of them Mechwarrior tie-in novels older than I am. Decision at Thunder Rift by William H Keith and The Sword and the Dagger by Ardath Mayhar.

There's two things I love, reader, and that's tie-in fiction and Mechs. Mechwarrior 3: Mercenaries was a game I used to play with my dad and cousin when I was a child. Delightful. What a beautiful way to teach a kid cooperative play. I mean that genuinely, reader. Just enough stakes to buy in, but not enough to intimidate. And you get to stomp around in a giant Mech. Perfect. 

I liked them both fine. Thunder Rift is part of the ongoing Saga of the Gray Death Legion and I am looking forward to continuing their adventures in the next book. They've crashed on a planet, reader, and are about to engage in some guerilla warfare. Excellent fights, great planetary descriptions, little clumsy in characterization, but on the whole enjoyable. 

Sword has fewer Mech fights, but rather, focuses on the intra-House space politics. Mechwarrior is a setting with two things: Mechs and Political Intrigue. This one's about intrigue. Honestly, reader, the plot of this book. When I tell you, reader, that I was taken completely by surprise by the turn this book takes. It was a wild ride, reader. I expected a regular assassination attempt. How little vision I had, reader.

 

January and February didn't contain many books read at all. I was sidetracked by a project so all the reading I did was for research. That project is, at present, a secret, but when I'm ready to reveal it please rest assured, reader, that I will tell you all about it.

Summing up this Winter's Reads we have not many books, though fallow periods are just as important to the health of fields. So also, I believe, with reading. I know we fear falling into a slump, but to push ever forwards without rest is how you burn yourself out. 

Here is the next portion of my revamp, reader. I shall tell you if I recommend the book and to whom.

So, for our first Thunder Rift I would recommend this to a Mechwarrior fan, or the fan of 80s military science fiction. Not a ton of House Drama, if that's what your interested in, but it is the first in a series.

Sword on the other hand is nothing but drama. Not a great read for the fighting fan, however if you are invested in the broader plot of the Mechwarrior universe this is a must-read. It also makes for an interesting science fiction political thriller.

 

Since I'm reviewing neither of these in full, they won't get ratings. As I've mentioned, I'm changing up how I review, but I'll save the full explanation for another time. For now, let's press on to Spring.

 

Spring Wrap Up

Spring Reads: Shatter Me; Unravel Me; Ignite Me; Restore Me: Defy Me; Imagine Me by Tahereh Mafi

 

In March, I continued to read only research related works, though my research was petering out as I was faced with the prospect of moving house, packing house, and cleaning house up to make house enticing for buyers. 

April was much the same as March, though my partners and I did take a wonderful little vacation to a train museum. I purchased a book in the gift shop there which was the only book I read in April, Iron Women by Chris Enss. This book is lucky I'm not writing a full review of it. I tried, reader, and while I try to construct compliment sandwiches, I fear there was no bread on earth that could counteract the raging colonialism in the meat. I have no idea who Chris Enss is as a person, but this book sure glosses over the systematic genocide of Native Americans. The information about women in steam (trains) was fine. 

I would recommend this book as a jumping off point for the curious reader with a strong internal filter for settler-colonialism. It is a quick look into it's topic, and its source list is valuable. I just wish, reader, that a book published in 2021 might have been a little more sympathetic to the fact there was a genocide, Chris.

 

Fear not, reader, May is here to wash this taste from our mouths.

In May I read the entirety (minus the short stories) of the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi. My mother-in-law (delightful person) bought me a box set of them which was very nice of her. I have since packed them away, but not before reading all of them over the course of 5 days. I went and checked my spreadsheet, reader. 

This series is actually two trilogies set in the same universe about the same people. The second three books were just written a few years after the end of the first trilogy. Originally, I had put Shatter Me, the first book, on my TBR because of how much Naya of Nayareadsandsmiles fame loved it. I read it back in December of 2020, but didn't have easy access to the other books. I'm glad I picked them back up.

Upon rereading, our main character's voice gre on me, reader. This is my ideal use-case of first-person narration in writing. This book really uses that style to great effect and it was great to reread. 

This holds true for the rest of the series as well. In later books we start switching POV as well. The characters are the series' biggest strength, it's weakest is in the world building. I was a little disappointed by that as a fan of dystopian settings, however the book isn't made worse by it's lack. This is a great Young Adult series, and if I had read this in middle or high school it would have definitely have been a favorite.

I classified it as a dystopian super hero novel, but it's honestly a pretty classic romance with a dystopian setting. And it does an amazing job, reader. I couldn't put these books down because I needed to know what happened next.

I definitely recommend this series to any one looking for a little grit in their dystopian romance, but want to keep that grit confined to YA levels. No one eats anyone, but there is a lot of torture. And medical experiments. I thought they were a great time, reader. I have been quite enjoying Tahereh Mafi's writing.

 

Aaand that's what I've been up to reading-wise since I made an update post claiming to have returned and then abandoning you again for several months. 

In truth, I've been struggling of late with demand avoidance. This blog is one of those demands I could avoid without consequence. However, that means, at least in my mind, that I could use it to work on acknowledging the feel and working through it. If I fail nothing bad will happen and if I succeed I will have gained ground on a project I really do enjoy. 

It's been lovely to write to you again, reader. So wherever and whenever you are, 

 

 Until next time, reader 🎃