Y’all, this was so fun. Cecilia Bassingthwaite is a very proper young lady and also a very proper scoundrel. She is thrilled to find out, in the first pages of the novel, that someone has put a hit out on her. Maybe she’ll finally be invited to become a full member of the Wisteria Society. Plus, the assassin who has been sent to kill her isn’t at all terrible to look at and that is a nice bonus.
Cecilia and her Aunt become involved in highjinks. There are flying houses, other lady pirates, some of whom are on their side and some of whom are dirty traitors. There is a villain who is obsessed with Branwell Brontë and who also happens to be Cecilia’s father. Can Cecilia prove that she is nothing like the terrible rogue? Can she save the day?
I know I’ve already said this, but this was incredibly fun. I liked Cecilia and the cast of characters who surrounded her. The back and forth between her and her charming assassin was delightful. Her Aunt was a hoot. The flying houses were thrilling. I enjoyed every second of this book and I cannot wait to get my hands of the next one, as soon as its available from the library.
I purchased my copy of this from The Ripped Bodice; when I am not supporting my local library, I enjoy supporting independent bookstores. (Not to pat myself on the back or anything. Think of this more a little reminder to myself to keep putting my money where my mouth is ;))
This took me a little bit longer to finish than it normally would. Not because I didn’t like it, but mostly because I’ve been working from home more recently and commuting less. I do most of my reading these days on the subway. I thought this was a good sequel. It picks up not much after the end of the last book. I will admit that some of what happened was predictable, but there was one reveal at the end that I did not see coming. Lin, who claimed she is the Goddess, now has to prove it. Kel is investigating the Shining Gallery incident with the Ragpicker King’s and his crew’s help. Conor is doing his best to be mature and rule, and Antonetta is prepping to marry. A lot is going on, and they have no idea where the real threat is coming from. I do like how Clare can weave together so many interconnected stories so seamlessly. It just flows very nicely together. For me the character that really was the star was Conor. The events of the last book and his feelings for Lin have changed his perspective, and we can see that growth. I do think people underestimate him. That he knows more of what is going on than he leads people to believe. I am really looking forward to where is story goes next. I do love a good mystery, and adding a bit of magic is just a bonus.
The library is one of my favorite places. I get more than half my books from there. This week I had to stop at the library on the way home from work and a friend commented on how that was unusual. He didn’t know a lot of people that still go to the library. (He is more of a libby person, which counts as also going to the library to me.) So, I thought this weekend would be a good time to celebrate the library. So, here are three picks where libraries feature in the plot.
In a world where there is magic and it is found in bits of meaning that never quite get translated, Robin finds himself whisked away to England from his home in Canton so that he can prepare to go to the prestigious translation school at the University of Oxford. This is a thoughtful and devastating look at colonialism and the struggle that everyone, particularly those from outside of the colonial core, must face when they consider what is lost or gained by contributing to the empire. I loved this book and if you like dark academia vibes that make you really consider the world, this a pick for you.
Beth and I both loved this one. In fact, this is one that I have both gotten from the library (audiobook) and from Beth’s shelves. This story follows Lazlo Strange, an orphan and a dreamer, who is raised by monks and grows up to be a librarian. During his studies, he falls in love with the stories of another place, Weep, that has a tragic history that is slowly revealed as part of the novel. When an envoy from Weep comes to his city, Lazlo does everything he can in order to become part of the delegation that will return to Weep. Strange is such a lovely soul. This was an interesting story with romance and terror and gods and monsters. If you like stories that include their own mythology, this is one for you.
I picked this up on the recommendation of my friend Cristin (further recommended by the audiobook including narration from one of my favorite readers, Bahni Turpin), this is another adventure with its own mythology. Our protagonist, Zachary Ezra Rawlins, is a grad student who studies video games and takes some time in between semesters to indulge in one of his favorite hobbies, reading. Everyday he goes to the library and picks up some books that catch his attention. He finds in the stacks a mysterious book that doesn’t seem to be catalogued correctly and he’s launched into an adventure that takes him everywhere and nowhere. There are assassins, thieves, different timelines, lost cities, bees, secret societies, and so much more. This is a story that has stories inside of its stories and it is a wild ride.
So, there you have it. Three books that feature libraries because libraries are always strange and magical places. Do you have a favorite book that is either set in a library or features a library or librarian? Let us know in the comments!
This is an alternate history set in a world where magic exists and it can be spoken into existence by translators who find the magic in spaces between what words mean in 2 different languages. If you’ve ever learned another language, you are aware that exact translations where a word has the same meaning and connotations in two different languages are uncommon. The magic in this alternate history is based on that idea. Truly fluent speakers of languages can find the magic in pairs of words and they can do all sorts of things, like make carriage rides smoother or trains faster. Our hero, Robin Swift, is rescued from cholera that took his mother and the rest of his family in Canton by Professor Lovell, who takes him back to England and takes him on as a ward. Robin lives with the professor and learns Greek and Latin, all one day hoping to get to study at the translation institute at Oxford, where he will learn how to do magic.
This is a story of student revolution, the problems of colonialism, and resistance. It was thoughtful and poignant and I absolutely binged it. Robin must decide if he is going to continue to support the world as it is or if he is going to fight for a world that is fairer and more equitable. This was staggeringly good and I cannot recommend it enough.
This month, our book club’s theme is Leadership. In honor of Black History Month and President’s Day, I decided to read Heavenly Tyrant because it’s based on the first Chinese Empress. At the end of the first book, Zeitan has taken power, but can she keep it?
This was so good! While This Poison Heart, book 1 in the series, was a bit of a mystery, this one is more of an adventure. Leaving where the first book left off, they are on a race against time to restore all the pieces of the deadly Absyrtus Heart in order for Briseis to save her Mom. In order to do this, Briseis must rely on blood relatives she didn’t know she had.
These books weave myth in with the modern I absolutely loved them. Briseis is a smart and thoughtful hero and I cheered for her the entire way. I absolutely recommend these! They were so good!
It is January and the holiday season is over which means most of what is fun about winter is over. Except for the curling up with a good book, that is! Here are some suggestions of stories that involve travel, in case you’re stuck inside thiinking it would be better to be anywhere but here, where ever here is.
Genuine Fraud follows the friendship of Jule and Imogen, in reverse chronicle order, leaving you as the reader to put together the pieces of how the characters ended up where they ended up. The characters go from London, San Francisco, Puerto Rico, Martha’s Vineyard to New York. Sounds like a wild ride to me!
The Caraval trilogy is the story of sisters who are obsessed with a magical game. The sisters accept an invitation and travel to the game to find themselves at the center of the game where one of them must search for the other. If she fails, her sister could disappear forever.
I never actually wrote a review of these books after I posted them as ‘What I’m Reading’. They’re super interesting. In an alternate timeline, if you are murdered, you turn back up again as you were moments before your death. This is horribly inconvenient for anyone who wants to commit murder, but is obviously nice for potential murder victims. It is also nice for other reasons, like if you are about to die during surgery, your doctors can be given another chance. Dispatchers are people who are officially sanctioned to murder people in certain circumstances. But there is a whole grey area where Dispatchers can also be employed. Zachary Quinn reads the audiobooks and he does an excellent job. These were interesting and enjoyable mysteries. I don’t love that they are exclusively from audible, since I prefer to get things from the library, but this is the world we live in.
2 Women, So Many Books 