Finished Starter Villain by @scalzi@mastodon.social

Well written, funny and enjoyable book. The cats and dolphins I liked most, but is was full of creative ideas in handling its subject matter. Also, it is one of the very few novels, I have read, that is exactly as long as it should be. Great editing.

Finished A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab

Finished A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

Clever premise and fun novel.

Finished Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

After some reflection I quite enjoy the linking vaultwarden taking 5 minutes. One has time to make a cup of tea, tidy up ones desk a little and contemplate how helpless one would be if the linker crashed.

Finished Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Very well constructed and well written story about fascist indoctrination, that at some points feels somewhat like (a very good) Star Trek episode.

Finished The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison

To me, this books is very much about respectfulness for the main character and the handling of the theme.

Finished Chronik eines angekündigten Todes (orig: Crónica de una muerte anunciada) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Finished Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Incredible novel. Extremely ambitious and it delivers on that. I think it is in some way, strangely enough for a 900-page book, very focused. Great characters, world building and ideas.

I skipped the glossary and note in the beginning and that worked out well for me.

I really enjoyed The Robot by @lavietidhar@mastodon.social published in @UncannyMagazine@mastodon.social (March/April 2023, as far as I can tell, released outside Patreon tomorrow)

It is quite clever in telling what happened spanning centuries while still being character-focused and telling a story about all the big things: war, death, space, love, friendship, religion, adventure and hope.

Exactly what I wanted. The favorite short story I read in some time.

Finished Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

Somewhat more action-oriented than the first volume of the series, but still an easily readable and enjoyable novel.

Finished Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

Finished Slow Horses by Mick Herron

Surprisingly engaging, despite knowing most of the story from the great TV adaptation. Enjoyed the writing and story (which is, as usual, more subtle than the adaptation).

Finished Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

Finished Translation State by Ann Leckie

This is very close to a perfect book for me. I enjoyed the characters, prose, story and space-alien politics very much. The three narrative perspectives rotate in a perfect cycle without ever being awkward. Great continuation of the series.

As a German native speaker I struggled a little with sie/hir pronouns ("sie" being the German word for "she" and "they" among other meanings), but after 150 pages my brain stopped to always try to read the next few words as German.

Finished Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Fun and creative novel with a story that came together amazingly well at the end.

Finished Die drei Sonnen (eng: The Three-Body Problem) by Liu Cixin

Finished Witch King by Martha Wells

Finished Der alte Mann und das Meer (orig: The Old Man and the Sea) by Hemingway

Finished The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by - Shannon Chakraborty

Fun book and it taught me a little about the medieval Middle East. The structure in terms of chapters was very well done, and the characters were interesting and very likable and hateable.