Book 2: Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

 The final book of the Queen's Thief series!! This one had a lot to live up to by following Thick as Thieves, which I (as predicted by everyone I know who had already read it) absolutely loved. Luckily, Return of the Thief managed to be a completely different kind of book that I ALSO adored. 

I knew things were going to go well when the narrator of RotT was revealed to be a character who, when mentioned in a fairly off-hand way at the end of TaT, I immediately wanted to know more about. Pheris, the youngest attendant to the High King, is an ideal outsider voice to tell the final chapter of the series, which requires the sort of historian overview narrative that I associate with Guy Gavriel Kay books, in particular his books based on similar conflicts in settings that are clearly directly inspired by the same general regions. Pheris being the physically disabled son of one of the main opposing barons of Attolia also adds to that ideal dynamic, where he's close enough to power to understand it, but isn't considered a player himself.

The war that has been steadily building since the first book finally explodes, and all of the various threads in play weave together in a way that's less dependent on the narrator being unreliable and more in that satisfying way of final puzzle pieces finally coming together. We also finally got canon gays, and I will say no more on that topic, other than it is all extremely nice. 

All in all, a lovely end to a series I really, really enjoyed getting to experience over the past couple of months.  

Grade: A

Book 1: Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee

We started the new year with a book club book! A book club book about a nonbinary artist named Jebi who somehow finds themselves in the middle of a revolution when really, they just wanted a job.

This story takes place in a speculative version of Japanese-occupied Korea, complete with a mecha dragon and magic derived from art, and secret revolutionaries and unexpected collaborators with the occupation, and no easy answers for anything. But it's also a love story, both between Jebi and the mecha dragon, who they create a telepathic means of communication via painting with inks which have distressing origins, and also between Jebi and a badass duelist. The tone has a lightness to it as well, in large part because Jebi is a delightful kind of unreliable narrator--there's so much of their world that they're clearly just not aware of, or haven't focused on, so they're constantly surprised by events in ways that feel believable, because prior to the narrative of the story, they just accepted the reality of where they lived and did their best not to think about it. 

Their older sister did think about it, a lot, and one of the things Jebi discovers through the novel is how much more involved she is in elements of the revolution. I really liked their relationship, because it was a great example of how two people can love each other and care for each other without truly understanding one another, and accept that distance. 

It's also an interesting book because Jebi's gender is just a fact, it's not notable one way or another, and there's a poly relationship that isn't necessarily socially acceptable, but for reasons beyond the number of people within it. The author is trans, and Korean-American, and I really, really enjoyed his perspective on this world and on this character. 

Grade: A

2021 Master List

We made it to 2021! Allegedly, at least. Last year I succeeded in reading not quite as many books as I had intended to, but I still read more than I had since 2016, which given everything that happened last year is a huge win. 

This year I am starting out with 101 books on the list. This will increase; I now have a separate google doc where I've been adding books that I want to read but that aren't officially on my to be read list, because I don't own them yet, and also haven't requested them from the library. Even without that, this list will still expand no matter what as a result of book club books and new books by authors who I will always read whatever they publish. However! In addition to having the goal of finishing all 101 of the below books this year, I have a more aggressive one, which is to finish them all within the first six months of the year. This is in part because I feel like I should be able to generally, but also because I expect that the first six months of 2021 will still be fairly locked down for me, and I would like to have goals to focus on that I have some amount of control over. Will I succeed? Who knows, but I'm gonna give it a shot.

I think about 25 or so of the books below have been on every Master List I've created since I started this project in 2016; I would really, really like to read all of those, most of which are at the beginning of this list. 

I am also going to be more aggressive this year about putting aside books that are Not For Me after the first hundred pages or so. Reading is an act of pleasure and of learning for me, and if I'm not getting one or the other (or both, of course) then continuing to try to read a book isn't worth my time.

Here is to reading and other nice things in 2021, which already feels like a bit of a tall order, but I'm going to do my best. 

Book 84: A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong by Cecilia Grant

 Well, it's not gay, and it's not contemporary, but this was the Christmas romance novel I had been hoping for!!!!

This is an absolutely charming Regency historical romance novella that's the perfect length for its story, and so satisfying even while you of course know exactly how it has to resolve. In the days leading up to Christmas, Andrew Blackshear has gone to Lord Sharp in order to obtain a falcon. But he encounters his daughter Lucy instead, who is a free spirit and desperate to be a part of society beyond her father's home. She manipulates him into agreeing to take her to the house party she was invited to for Christmas, but then she drops off her maid, so she's unchaperoned, and then their carriage wheel breaks and they have an accident, so they have to rely on the kindness of a farmhouse in order to survive, which means posing as a married couple to save Lucy's reputation!

There is, of course, only one bed, and Lucy is the one who doesn't fear losing her reputation and Andrew is so moral and good, and you just like both of them so much and the situation resolves in exactly the amount of time you want it to. A delight, start to finish. 

Grade: A

Book 83: A Fortunate Blizzard by L.C. Chase

 The fifth and final gay Christmas romance novel of the year! This one is a classic snowed-in, there was only one bed setup, where flights out of Denver get canceled and so Trevor isn't able to fly home. Meanwhile Marc, a work-obsessed lawyer, is just trying to get home from the office but gets the last hotel room when the highways are shut down. He offers to share with Trevor, who is determined not to get involved emotionally with anyone because he has late stage kidney disease and only has a year to live unless he can find a transplant. 

I enjoyed this one, but it's again on the wrong side of "extremely serious issue" conflict, for me. And Marc doesn't really have much of an existence beyond lawyer who wants to make partner to make his family happy, except they disowned him for being gay, so. Not the worst snowed in together options out there, but not a winner for me, either. 

Grade: C

Book 82: Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner

 WELL. A friend who has already read all of the Queen's Thief books was extremely excited for me to read this one, and it did not take me long to figure out why. 

This book takes place in a completely new location, and the point of view character, Kamet, is one we only met briefly in a previous book (The Queen of Attolia, I believe). It turns quickly into a road trip, and specifically a GAY LOVE STORY ROAD TRIP, with an Attolian whose name we only learn at the very end of the book, but the reader is very clearly intended to have figured out who he is before then. It's both a romp and also just a lovely examination of the existing world from a new point of view. As with every book in the series, there's a lot that both the reader and the point of view character don't know, and don't know they don't know, and the payoff of this book is just so delightful. Kamet is one of my new favorites of the series, and the Attolian is now a firm favorite forever. The entire series is a wonderful read, but this book alone would be worth reading four books to get to. 

Grade: A

Book 81: A Christmas Reunion by Nic Starr

 Number four of the gay Christmas romance novels! In this one, we have no fake boyfriends or chance meetings due to a snowstorm, but we do have returning home and seeing your old flame again, who's now your biggest enemy. 

Hunter is from a small town where his family owns basically everything, and he's the prodigal son returned. Aaron is the equivalent of a townie, and now has a small store downtown a la David Rose in Schitt's Creek. They were best friends in high school, until a dumb asshole got between them, and now that Hunter's back the sparks have started to fly again! 

I really liked the premise of this novel, but it kind of fell apart toward the end. I know that this is in part a preference I have that goes against romance novel standard beats, but it feels like in too many of them there is a big confession or the like that involves too many openly expressed feelings, if I am honest. My kingdom for a Christmas romance novel that has the right level of conflict/suspense that I am looking for! This one is fine, but not exactly what I was hoping for. 

Grade: C