Reading Wednesday
Jun. 1st, 2022 10:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starsprayWinter's Orbit, by Everina Maxwell - Another reread, another fave. Jainan and Kiem have to get married for political reasons with like two days of warning, and there is pining and a murder and galactic politics with ever-rising stakes, and daring rescues, and Kiem is an adorable golden retriever of a prince. Also the cover art is gorgeous.
Bravely, by Maggie Stiefvater - This is a sequel sort of thing to the Disney film Brave, which I really love. It's set a couple years after, and it's very good. Even better than I was expecting--like, I knew going in that I liked Brave and I liked Maggie Stiefvater, but I was still a bit uncertain. But Stiefvater has said that she had basically free reign for the story from Disney, and it shows. Merida basically has one year to try to change her family and their kingdom--not in any specific way, but to stop this sort of stagnation that they've sunk into--and there are two different gods involved, and Stiefvater really likes her stories that happen over a single year (the Raven Cycle operates the same way), but it really works. I especially like how the triplets get fleshed out, and also we get Eleanor backstory!
The Red Prince: The Life of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by Helen Carr - I listened to this as an audiobook. I knew who John of Gaunt was, vaguely, of course, because I've read/seen Shakespeare, but that was about it. I did not know, for example, that he had aspirations to the crown of Castille, or that his daughter Catherine actually ended up as its queen (and her great-granddaughter was Catherine of Aragon). Or that he was Chaucer's patron/employer for years. It was very interesting, and well written and easy to follow.
The Moth Catcher, by Ann Cleeves - This is another Vera Stanhope mystery, involving a double murder of two guys who happen to be really into moths. It was good, but it's one of those mysteries where it's actually impossible for the reader to figure out the murderer because crucial information is held back until the Big Reveal at the end, which kind of takes the fun out of it for me. (Not that I often solve the mystery before the detective does, but I at least appreciate being given all the necessary information, like Sayers did (sometimes to a fault) in her Peter Wimsey books, so that it's possible.)
To Marry and to Meddle, by Martha Waters - Another Regency Romance, and this one was really fun. It starts with a marriage of convenience, because Julian Belfry wants to be Respectable while still maintaining ownership of his theater, and Emily wants to get out from under her family's thumb and that of this creepy dude to whom her father owes gambling debts. Obviously things get complicated, but it's all very fun and light and a quick read, and there's a grumpy kitten and moments of "oh shit I actually fell in love whoops". I giggled through most of it.
Bravely, by Maggie Stiefvater - This is a sequel sort of thing to the Disney film Brave, which I really love. It's set a couple years after, and it's very good. Even better than I was expecting--like, I knew going in that I liked Brave and I liked Maggie Stiefvater, but I was still a bit uncertain. But Stiefvater has said that she had basically free reign for the story from Disney, and it shows. Merida basically has one year to try to change her family and their kingdom--not in any specific way, but to stop this sort of stagnation that they've sunk into--and there are two different gods involved, and Stiefvater really likes her stories that happen over a single year (the Raven Cycle operates the same way), but it really works. I especially like how the triplets get fleshed out, and also we get Eleanor backstory!
The Red Prince: The Life of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by Helen Carr - I listened to this as an audiobook. I knew who John of Gaunt was, vaguely, of course, because I've read/seen Shakespeare, but that was about it. I did not know, for example, that he had aspirations to the crown of Castille, or that his daughter Catherine actually ended up as its queen (and her great-granddaughter was Catherine of Aragon). Or that he was Chaucer's patron/employer for years. It was very interesting, and well written and easy to follow.
The Moth Catcher, by Ann Cleeves - This is another Vera Stanhope mystery, involving a double murder of two guys who happen to be really into moths. It was good, but it's one of those mysteries where it's actually impossible for the reader to figure out the murderer because crucial information is held back until the Big Reveal at the end, which kind of takes the fun out of it for me. (Not that I often solve the mystery before the detective does, but I at least appreciate being given all the necessary information, like Sayers did (sometimes to a fault) in her Peter Wimsey books, so that it's possible.)
To Marry and to Meddle, by Martha Waters - Another Regency Romance, and this one was really fun. It starts with a marriage of convenience, because Julian Belfry wants to be Respectable while still maintaining ownership of his theater, and Emily wants to get out from under her family's thumb and that of this creepy dude to whom her father owes gambling debts. Obviously things get complicated, but it's all very fun and light and a quick read, and there's a grumpy kitten and moments of "oh shit I actually fell in love whoops". I giggled through most of it.
