25/ The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. In a Chinese-inspired Fantasy world, a young monk (an enby, as monks are in this world) chronicles the dead Empress's life story by searching her old castle. Neat novella.
https://books.rixx.de/nghi-vo/the-empress-of-salt-and-fortune/ #rixxReads
26/ Flight to Arras by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Memoir about being a reconnaissance pilot during WWII. I should stop reading English translations.
https://books.rixx.de/antoine-de-saint-exupery/flight-to-arras/ #rixxReads
27/ Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet. An unlikely advocate for decentralised, anarchic structures. Much better as a memoir than as the management book it wants to be.
https://books.rixx.de/l-david-marquet/turn-the-ship-around/ #rixxReads
28/ War Music by Christopher Logue. Retelling of the Iliad in form of a modern poem. Excellent stuff, well-researched and full of ancient heroes and modern sentiment. I'm a bit in love.
https://books.rixx.de/christopher-logue/war-music/ #rixxReads
29/ Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews. A bit more trashy than I like, not as good as her Kate Daniels series. I still like the sentient inn/magical innkeeper trope, though.
https://books.rixx.de/ilona-andrews/clean-sweep/ #rixxReads
30/ Stoker's Wilde by Steven Hopstaken. Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde hunt vampires and talk about it in their letters. Very meh.
https://books.rixx.de/steven-hopstaken/stokers-wilde/ #rixxReads
31/ Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. Space Hinduism! Extremely fun 60s sci-fi novel, and also thoughtful commentary on cultural appropriation.
https://books.rixx.de/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light/ #rixxReads
32/ The Wizards and the Warriors by Hugh Cook. Much less generic than the title makes it sound, but didn't really work for me regardless. Felt like ASOIAF x Malazan.
https://books.rixx.de/hugh-cook/the-wizards-and-the-warriors/ #rixxReads
33/ Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow. Urban fantasy novel about big city werewolves … told entirely in verse. Apparently I'm a sucker for modern poems. Yessss.
https://books.rixx.de/toby-barlow/sharp-teeth/ #rixxReads
34/ Legend by David Gemmell. Big heroic classic fantasy. Better than it sounds, but not that much.
https://books.rixx.de/david-gemmell/legend/ #rixxReads
35/ A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. Excellent scifi including technology and language and culture (so much language and culture). Loved it even more on the re-read.
https://books.rixx.de/arkady-martine/a-memory-called-empire/ #rixxReads
36/ A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine. As good as the first part, in different ways. Still sci-fi focused on culture and language, and I want more.
https://books.rixx.de/arkady-martine/a-desolation-called-peace/ #rixxReads
37/ The Door into Sunset by Diane Duane. The weakest part of the Door Into series, leaving us hanging without a real end.
https://books.rixx.de/diane-duane/the-door-into-sunset/ #rixxReads
38/ The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip. Unconventional fantasy, reminded me of Earthsea. Glad I read it despite the oddly distanced storytelling.
https://books.rixx.de/patricia-a-mckillip/the-riddle-master-of-hed/ #rixxReads
39/ Heir of Sea and Fire by Patricia A. McKillip. Good second part of the series – unconventional, as it makes the first protagonist's fiancée the new protagonist.
https://books.rixx.de/patricia-a-mckillip/heir-of-sea-and-fire/ #rixxReads
40/ Harpist in the Wind by Patricia A. McKillip. Interesting conclusion to the trilogy. Not what I expected. Good stuff, and rewards attention to detail.
https://books.rixx.de/patricia-a-mckillip/harpist-in-the-wind/ #rixxReads
41/ The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Sadly, Bujold's Fantasy is not for me. I'll stick with the Vorkosigan saga.
https://books.rixx.de/lois-mcmaster-bujold/the-curse-of-chalion/ #rixxReads
42/ Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker. Not quite as good as the title, but decent. Roman military engineering fanfiction, in a good-ish way.
https://books.rixx.de/k-j-parker/sixteen-ways-to-defend-a-walled-city/ #rixxReads
43/ Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews. More fantastical innkeeper stories. This time – intergalactic diplomacy edition. Enjoyable comfort read.
https://books.rixx.de/ilona-andrews/sweep-in-peace/ #rixxReads
44/ One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews. The Innkeeper series with more of an ensemble cast. Not bad, but worse than the previous books, I'm probably going to stop reading here.
https://books.rixx.de/ilona-andrews/one-fell-sweep/ #rixxReads
45/ The Bone Ships by R. J. Barker. Proof that worldbuilding-focused fiction is not restricted to sci-fi. Enjoyed this a lot, though – an extremely well-built naval fantasy world, with ships and sea dragons and all kinds of great stuff.
https://books.rixx.de/r-j-barker/the-bone-ships/ #rixxReads
46/ The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. Coming-of-age portal fantasy. Nice, but not my cup of tea.
https://books.rixx.de/alix-e-harrow/the-ten-thousand-doors-of-january/ #rixxReads
47/ The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Basically Achilles fanfiction. A bit better than I make it sound but not *that* much better. Reading this so soon after War Music was not a good idea.
https://books.rixx.de/madeline-miller/the-song-of-achilles/ #rixxReads
48/ Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer. Excellent YA about a friendly AI that really only wants to look at cat pictures (and help their friends).
https://books.rixx.de/naomi-kritzer/catfishing-on-catnet/ #rixxReads
49/ Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike. Super fun fantasy satire – reminded me a lot of Pratchett, in a D&D-ish world. Managed to be often fun, mostly interesting, and occasionally genuinely hearbreaking.
https://books.rixx.de/j-zachary-pike/orconomics/ #rixxReads
50/ The March North by Graydon Saunders. Extraordinary start to an extraordinary series. I love it to pieces, as weird and unreadable as it is.
https://books.rixx.de/graydon-saunders/the-march-north/ #rixxReads
51/ Heretics by G.K. Chesterton. Chesterton is an extremely entertaining bastard. Heretics is a good read if you can tolerate him.
https://books.rixx.de/g-k-chesterton/heretics/ #rixxReads
52/ A Succession of Bad Days by Graydon Saunders. "A fairy-tale lost in a civil engineering manual", literally. Amazing stuff, if you like civil engineering manuals in your fantasy.
https://books.rixx.de/graydon-saunders/a-succession-of-bad-days/ #rixxReads
53/ Safely You Deliver by Graydon Saunders. This one is pure worldbuilding, but three books into a series is a good place for that.
https://books.rixx.de/graydon-saunders/safely-you-deliver/ #rixxReads
54/ Under One Banner by Graydon Saunders. A drop in quality, but still nice worldbuilding. Only worth it if you enjoy the series a lot.
https://books.rixx.de/graydon-saunders/under-one-banner/ #rixxReads
55/ A Mist of Grit and Splinters by Graydon Saunders. The latest Commonweal book circles back to mil sci-fi. I still enjoy the book, but it's enjoyment in spite of most of the story.
https://books.rixx.de/graydon-saunders/a-mist-of-grit-and-splinters/ #rixxReads
56/ The Black Tides of Heaven by J.Y. Yang. Asian-inspired genderfun fantasy. Not compelling to me, but not terrible either.
https://books.rixx.de/j-y-yang/the-black-tides-of-heaven/ #rixxReads
57/ Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Coming-of-age novel about a trans gay Latinx boy in the US, who fights to become a brujo and solve a mystery. Well-done intersectional queer-by-default YA.
https://books.rixx.de/aiden-thomas/cemetery-boys/ #rixxReads
58/ Peter Darling by Austin Chant. Peter Pan, a trans boy, returns to Neverland to figure things out and finally grow up, by the power of Hook's pretty eyes or something.
https://books.rixx.de/austin-chant/peter-darling/ #rixxReads
59/ City of Lies by Sam Hawke. White-hat assassin siblings have to save the not-king from poison attempts and defend the realm. Nice inversion of the shining city into the decadent city on a rotting foundation.
https://books.rixx.de/sam-hawke/city-of-lies/ #rixxReads
60/ The Innkeeper's Song by Peter S. Beagle. Reminded me of Princess Bride in places: very solid, always slightly unconventional fantasy, but failed to grip me. Still an enjoyable read, Beagle just can't disappoint.
https://books.rixx.de/peter-s-beagle/the-innkeepers-song/ #rixxReads
61/ The Seep by Chana Porter. Earth gets infected by aliens who give everybody amazing powers at the price of turning them into hippies. Slow and underexplored.
https://books.rixx.de/chana-porter/the-seep/ #rixxReads
62/ Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker. Short story collection - two or three really worked for me, and you can't ask more than that from a story collection.
https://books.rixx.de/sarah-pinsker/sooner-or-later-everything-falls-into-the-sea/ #rixxReads
@rixx oh, nice one!
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