Open Thread for Readers for June 2023
Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general? Post about it here!
Anyone read Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh? I finished it a few weeks ago and am still trying to decide what I think about it. Would love to talk about here. (Note, this is SF not SFR – there’s kind of an understated love story if you squint right, but I wouldn’t call it a romance in the genre sense).
Here’s my GR review:
4.5 stars? Not quite sure how to rate this immersive and very intense, very grim dystopian space opera that genuinely surprised me more than once.
I’m a sucker for SSF stories where the MC discovers that everything they were raised to believe is a lie and then have to decide who they want to be and how they want to live (and then they and their rag tag band usually go off to save the world). Emily Tesh skillfully follows and then subverts this trope. The main character, Kyr, is frustratingly slow to see what’s obvious to the reader. She’s completely bought into the (fascist) ideology of her tiny warrior community of remaining humans.
This also works as a feminist reimagining of Ender’s Game. I don’t think you need to have read EG to appreciate this book, but there are a lot of subtle and not so subtle call outs – from the child soldiers (they’re teens in this book though) trained to fight an alien enemy to the AI training program to the three gifted siblings in a culture where three siblings are not usually allowed.
It’s a very ambitious book. I’m not sure that it’s 100% successful. Once I finished it, I realized the social and political commentary is not quite as nuanced or well thought out as it could be. But it’s fast paced and thought-provoking and wow, what a ride!
@Cleo: I actually started this one last night. I’m only at 26% but I’m not sure what I think either. It’s DARK and the eugenics breeding program is so creepy. Sirius is planning to read it also, I think. I won’t be reviewing it but she might.
I want to give a shout out to a book I’m in the middle of and really liking so far, Good Girl by Anna Fitzpatrick. The publisher describes it as “Secretary” meets “Fleabag.” I’m not familiar with Fleabag but I definitely see the Secretary similarities. I don’t recall if Secretary was funny, though, and this book is hilarious. It’s about a twenty-five year old trying to navigate her way through the confusion of early adulthood, contradictory messages about feminism, friendships, hookups and breakups, meanwhile grappling with whether her desire to be dominated in the bedroom is anti-feminist or just fine.
A word of warning: the average rating on Goodreads is pretty low so a lot of people must disagree with me. Also, I’m only halfway through and my opinion might still change.
@Janine: I almost recommended this to you and honestly the eugenics is why I didn’t. I thought that would creep you out. That part of the story does gets better.
@cleo: @Janine: Sirius is definitely reviewing it.
I’ve read several keeper-shelf favorites in the past few weeks. Ari Baran’s m/m hockey romance, GAME MISCONDUCT, is like a darker, rougher, grittier version of HEATED RIVALRY (antagonists on the ice, lovers in secret), along with elements of THROWN OFF THE ICE (the veteran/rookie dynamic), SEASON’S CHANGE (fear of being outed), and UNWRITTEN RULES/DIAMOND RING (mental health challenges), but with a tone all its own. I’m loving this trend of angsty m/m sports romances, and I wasn’t surprised that Baran thanked both K.D. Casey and Cait Nary in her Acknowledgments.
Another favorite read was Zoe York’s REBRL AT HEART, the fifth and final book in her Kinkaids of Pine Harbour series. It utilizes the “oops, we’re still married trope”. It’s about a couple, divorced several years, discovering that their divorce paperwork was never finalized. There’s a sense of melancholy as the MCs come to terms with missed opportunities and what they wish they had done differently during their brief marriage. A storm that leaves them snowbound together for a few days helps things along. The book is also seriously hot—the sex scenes are similar to the ones in the erotic romances York publishes as Ainsley Booth, with a little more spice than the generally more sedate romances she publishes as Zoe York.
Finally, I found Kelly Hunter’s Harlequin Presents, CINDERELLA AND THE OUTBACK BILLIONAIRE, to be one of the best-written books I’ve read this year. Vivid descriptions of the Australian Outback and nuanced character development make this book several cuts above the standard HP. Also, Hunter really leans into the premise of the story, taking the first 20% of the book to setup the story of a man (whose self-piloted helicopter crashes during a dust storm) being rescued and kept alive by a botanist who was in the area documenting native plant species. I’m a big fan of HPs—and CINDERELLA AND THE OUTBACK BILLIONAIRE is one of the best I’ve read in a while.
That’s REBEL AT HEART. Proofreading is your friend, DDD!
@Janine: Hi! I just wanted to follow up on your recommendation to me last month. I finished Red Sister by Mark Lawrence and immediately went around recommending it to co-workers, family, and friends. :) I truly, deeply loved it. I didn’t feel ready to immediately jump back into the world, though, so I plan on reading the next in the series sometime this month and will probably savor the 3rd book in July.
I’ve just begun reading YOU FIRST by J.C. Lillis about two men who have been together for 13 years (since age 22 … I think?) when suddenly their lives begin to change. They both have superpowers … but their powers are weak when they first meet. In the present-day timeline, one of the MCs has developed his power to control water into something stronger and begins to be offered bigger and better opportunities away from where they live. (Note: he can also fly.) The book is narrated from his partner’s POV. It’s angsty but doesn’t feel over the top in the emotions.
@Cleo: Saw this book promoted a few places and have been debating on whether or not to add it to my possible reads list. I think you’ve sold it to me — especially with your mention that it’s a reimagining of Ender’s Game. Card is one of those writers who I read for a few years and then discarded as I became increasingly uncomfortable with the underlying political and cultural vibes of his books. I don’t plan to reread Ender’s Game ever, but would be interested in reading Tesh’s rethinking of it.
@Cleo: Yes, that is so disturbing and made me think of the Nazi eugenics programs. TBH anything that makes me think about Nazi policies can be borderline triggering. But I might stick with it anyhow. I’m at 31% so the book is now focusing more on other things.
@DiscoDollyDeb: I think I am going to have to try Game Misconduct because anything that hearkens to Heated Rivalry interests me. The enemies (or antagonists) with benefits trope is a huge favorite of mine.
@JPeK: Yes! I am so glad you loved it too. This series is the best thing I’ve read all year. I can’t decide if the first or the third is my favorite. Layla read them too and loved them, and her favorite was the middle book, so really you can’t go wrong with any of them.
@Kathryn Taglia: Right, Ender’s Game and The Speaker for the Dead were formative books for me when I was younger but they’re not books that I recommend anymore or that I plan on rereading. But revisiting them like this was interesting.
@JPeK: I own You First and it’s one of those books that I’ve never quite picked up to read.
@JPeK: @Janine: I may have to try the 2nd book in the Red Sister series. I had trouble with Red Sister while I was reading it but thinking about it afterwards I admired how well it was written. It was just such a miserable world that I didn’t want to spend time in it. Which is kind of ironic considering that I gobbled up Some Desperate Glory, which has an equally, if not more, miserable setting.
@cleo: RE Red Sister’s dismal world, I agree. I think that it is largely what influenced my choice to take a break between each of the books while still deeply enjoying my reading experience of the first book. The world is heavy and it took me a few chapters to really get into the story … but once I did, I appreciated Nona’s character more and more. It was a pleasure reading how her story unfolded in Book 1. I still feel invested in how her story continues into the second book but I think I’m also feeling some trepidation about what might go wrong for her in Book 2, haha, since the world is so miserable, as you wrote.
@JPeK and @Cleo:
I agree with you both that the world of Red Sister is dark. Although Cleo, I’ll just say that for me the world of Some Desperate Glory is equally dark.
I’ve heard that about the start from more than just you two but I got grabbed in chapter one. I think Nona had my heart from the beginning. And JPeK, she’s the one who made the books for me. Such an amazing heroine.
FWIW, although book two has a lot of dark things happening, to me it felt a bit lighter than the other two (which is not to say light). And one thing I loved about it was Sister Kettle. She’s a lot more prominent in that book and she is such a great character. My second favorite in the series after Nona.
I should also let you both (and anyone else who is reading this and is interested) know that the series ends on an optimistic note IMO and Nona isn’t killed off (Layla was worried about this when she read the book, as I recall). Nona has a terrific growth arc.
@Janine: Yeah, I don’t understand why I found Some Desperate Glory easier to read than Red Sister either! The setting of SDG is as dark, if not darker, than RS. Maybe because Kyr is older than Nona? But it’s probably just one of those inexplicable, unexplainable taste things.
@cleo: I was thinking about it later and it crossed my mind that Some Desperate Glory might be easier for some readers because the characters are broader and less nuanced. It’s not as realistic so it may be easier to not take it as seriously or be as deeply affected. I don’t know if that’s the case for you though.
@Janine: I really like Sister Kettle, too. Your feedback definitely helped pump me up to start the second book. Thanks!