Recent reading

On the train north; I will soon be offline for ten days or so. But hopefully I can first catch up with my reading log.

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2019)
I loved Children of Time, and this one is pretty great too. Although mostly what I loved about Children of Time was the spiders; someday I will reread that book and skip the human parts. I enjoyed the second book slightly less than Children of Time, because there isn't the same exuberant sense of discovery, but I did still like it a lot! It had pretty effective horror aspects, even if it is not actually a horror story in the end. I do appreciate Tchaikovsky's optimism about the possibilities of interspecies symbiosis and collaboration. In fact he feels like the anti-Octavia Butler--she constantly emphasizes the creepiness of intimate interspecies dependency.

Rustick Exile by L. A. Hall (#2 in the Comfortable Courtesan series, 2018)
I don't know why I waited so long to read the second book in this series, because remembering characters' initials does not get easier with time. Well, I do know why; it is because I enjoyed the first one so much and I am all about delayed gratification. But really, there are tons of books in this series and I do not need to save them up. Anyway, there's a warmth in these books that I really like, as well as an enjoyable style and character voice. Also, I am grateful for the character list in the beginning.

A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland (2018, audiobook)
I liked this fine though was not overwhelmed. Sorry, don't seem to have much to say about it...