Catching Up
Short thoughts on five books I haven't found time to review fully
I thoroughly enjoyed each of these books. I haven’t found the time or mental space to review them fully, and I’ve come to realize that I can’t review every single book I read. Not at the pace I read. So I got behind, and here are my thoughts on the books I won’t get a chance to review at length. Feel free to ask about them!
Thornhedge, by T. Kingfisher
Another beautiful work from Kingfisher (see my thoughts on her other books here, here, and here), this novella explores the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale from the perspective of the fairy who puts the spell on the princess and builds the hedge of thorns that keeps everyone out. It’s a lovely retelling, with compassion and depth. The prince and the fairy become fully fleshed-out characters with families and complicated pre-tower lives.
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, by Megan Bannen
This is a bit of You’ve Got Mail, a bit of a Western, a bit of a fantasy novel, a bit of enemies-to-lovers romance, and I loved it. Hart, a marshal, and Mercy, an undertaker, absolutely hate each other. Without knowing who is receiving their letters simply addressed to “A Friend,” they begin a correspondence (the letters are carried by some truly fantastic creatures/characters). The novel explores friendship, loneliness, death, romance, and yet retains its sense of humor. I highly recommend this delightful little book.
Divine Rivals, by Rebecca Ross and A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
These are the first books in series, so I will review them when I finish the series (in the case of Divine Rivals, this might take awhile). I really enjoyed both of them! Divine Rivals doesn’t yet have a sequel published, but Schwab’s series is not only finished, it has a spinoff series that I began while I was in migraine hell.
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, by David Grann
Somehow, I failed to predict that “a tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder” would be stressful. I had even heard the story before, probably on a podcast. The fact that this was a nailbiter for me, despite knowing what happened in advance, illustrates the way Grann brings everything to life in vivid detail. This highly rated nonfiction book by the author of Killers of the Flower Moon balances the intense events with fascinating details about life in the 18th century, the British navy, what a sea voyage would have been like in 1742, colonialism, and so much more. This is all the more remarkable given that there are few reliable sources about what actually happened.