Aurora's Sundry Notes

I've read enough Yuletide fics, at least, to start making recs. I'm going to try to do a few rec posts, grouped by the type of source material. I've been reading the most in various science fiction books fandoms so far, so I'm starting with some of those. I haven't yet read all of the fic in all these fandoms, but at least enough to have a nice collection of recs. There's so much incredibly good fic in the archive for these!

There may be spoilers in summaries and tags, not to mention the fics themselves, so best not click on anything where you haven't read all of canon (hint: for Machineries of Empire this includes Glass Cannon).

( Machineries of Empire - Yoon Ha Lee (2 fics) )
( Imperial Radch - Ann Leckie (2 fics) )

( A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine (2 fics) )

( This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (1 fic) )

( Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells (1 fic) )


ETA: Also, in this previous post I shared my excellent gift fics, for the Imperial Radch and Machineries of Empire series! If you're into those fandoms, remember to check them out as well if you didn't already.

I haven't done a book post in a while! And I've actually read lots of books I enjoyed lately. In lieu of a Reading Wednesday post on a Wednesday, I'm now going to list and briefly describe a bunch of books I've enjoyed particularly in the past weeks.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. (First in her Teixcalaan series - the second volume will be out next year, but the first is also a self-contained story, you're not left at a huge cliffhanger with nothing resolved.) This is a really interesting science fiction story about a space empire and a woman who arrives there as an ambassador from her home station to find out what happened to her predecessor. It's more political science fiction than space opera, since it mainly stays in one planet and looks at the space empire and its conquests mainly through political machinations in the capital. I liked it a lot, in particular the fascinating worldbuilding, the richness and detail with which the empire's culture was described, the delightfully weird mind-implant technology that is in the centre of the plot, somewhat reminiscent of Ninefox Gambit yet not at all like that (you'll know what I mean if you read it), and great characters. I loved the main character as well as sooo many supporting characters. Mahit, the main character, is lots of fun, a very active, curious and determined character who's sure to keep the plot moving and keep things interesting. Lots of queer characters and relationships. The main character is a lesbian and there's some f/f content, although it's not a romance-centric story and you shouldn't expect that; also she shares her head with a delightful disaster bisexual guy.

I also really enjoyed how this book explored the themes of empire, culture, cultural imperialism and colonization. The description of what it is to love a culture that threatens to drown your own while you know it felt like the author knew what she was doing. I'm saying this as someone who's far too in love with many British and North American cultural products while also conscious of the hegemony and what it's doing to smaller cultures, including my own.

Okay, on to the next book.

Siren Depths (Book #3 of the Books of the Raksura) by Martha Wells. I'm turning into quite a fan of this series! I started reading it last year when I was voting in the Hugos for the first time and it was a nominee in the series category. I didn't manage to read enough in the category to vote for it, but I stayed interested in the Raksura, and continued reading the series this year. Anyway, it's a fantasy series about these shapeshifters called the Raksura who are sort of human/reptile people/dragon shapeshifters with very particular social structures, matriarchy, no concept of monogamy, very different gender roles than we do, fascinating culture, and lots of arguments with each other. The main character is a sardonic loner who suddenly becomes a part of a very social community and doesn't know how to trust people or believe he belongs, and the characters are lovely. I thought this book was the best yet, I was riveted and loved it all so much. And oh, all the feels! There are still two more novels, and some short stories, and I look forward to them all.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. It's alternate 1920s Mexico, Mayan gods, and a girl on a heroine's journey. This was a bit of an uneven reading experience, and there were parts in the middle where I had trouble staying into the story, maybe because of some pacing issues. But overall I really loved diving into this colourful world, and I loved the heroine a lot. I also enjoyed how it handled the romance aspect of the story. I often have issues with het romances in books and other media, as I've mentioned before, but I had no problems with this one, it worked well enough for me.

Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee. It's a collection of short stories set in the universe of the Machineries of Empire novels as well as a novella taking place after the last novel of the series, Revenant Gun. The short stories were fun and/or interesting glimpses into the world, characters, and history of the novels. The novella, Glass Cannon, just, OMG OMG!!! So much what I was left wanting after finishing Revenant Gun, and also wonderfully over-the-top, and a really satisfying resolution for the main characters. And ended in such an exciting place, OMG. I want the non-existent sequel right now. I may have to yell and flail about these books properly in a separate spoiler-cut post at some point.

I've also been able to read and finish some beautifully written books in Finnish, which is really nice, as I often have trouble finding books I enjoy in my native language, other than modernist poetry and non-fiction.

And I finally bought myself the first Murderbot novella, All Systems Red, by Martha Wells, which I hadn't previously owned because I first read it from the library. And that meant I of course had to read it. I mean, I don't always read books immediately (or even reasonably soon) after buying them, but well, I opened it, my eyes fell upon the first sentence, and then I couldn't not read it. And now I'm all into rereading all of the Murderbot novellas soon. Well, this is a very appropriate time since the first Murderbot novel, Network Effect, is coming out next May. A whole novel of Murderbot! I was privileged enough to get into Martha Wells's reading in the WorldCon (ie. I and one of my friends went to queue early enough to fit into the room), and she read an excerpt from Network effect. It was brilliant and so much fun, and I can't wait to get my hands on the whole book.

Currently I'm reading Sarah Pinsker's first novel, A Song For a New Day. It's a interesting and largely well-written, but I'm bothered by some of the vagueness of the worldbuilding, because it just makes certain things not feel realistic. I may try to say more when I've finished it and know how I feel about the whole book.

Next, I hope to start with Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone - I've heard a lot about it, and after loving This Is How You Lose the Time War I want to read more of the authors' work. Also, I'm so much in the mood for badass lesbians in space, which this should deliver.