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Book Review of An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors (The Risen Kingdoms #1), by Curtis Craddock

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I borrowed a copy of Curtis Craddock‘s An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
In a world of soaring continents and bottomless skies, where a burgeoning new science lifts skyships into the cloud-strewn heights and ancient blood-borne sorceries cling to a fading glory, Princess Isabelle des Zephyrs is about to be married to a man she has barely heard of, the second son of a dying king in an empire collapsing into civil war.

Born without the sorcery that is her birthright but with a perspicacious intellect, Isabelle believes her marriage will stave off disastrous conflict and bring her opportunity and influence. But the last two women betrothed to this prince were murdered, and a sorcerer-assassin is bent on making Isabelle the third. Aided and defended by her loyal musketeer, Jean-Claude, Isabelle plunges into a great maze of prophecy, intrigue, and betrayal, where everyone wears masks of glamour and lies. Step by dangerous step, she unravels the lies of her enemies and discovers a truth more perilous than any deception.

Review:
This is my first book of 2018 and I think I made a good choice. To be fair, I picked it up because it is labeled book one AND the author’s bio says this is his first book. So, I was guaranteed not to yet again pick up a first book, only to discover that it’s first in a spin off. *happy sigh*

I greatly enjoyed it. It is much more a book of court machinations than the magic and steampunk I was expecting, but I still liked it. I liked the repartee and the humor. I liked Isabelle and her Musketeer. Though he did seem to happily dedicate his life to her on a mere whim, and I wondered why. I liked the intrigue and mystery. I liked the ending, though it all came together a little conveniently.

To be honest, I notices several missing letters (things like ‘they’ written as ‘the’), but mostly the editing was pretty good as was the writing. It’s readable, reliable, rational, relatable and several rounds starting with the letter R. I can’t wait for more of Craddock’s work.

Book Review of The Stone in the Skull (Lotus Kingdoms #1,) by Elizabeth Bear

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I borrowed a copy of Elizabeth Bear‘s The Stone in the Skull from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
The Gage is a brass automaton created by a wizard of Messaline around the core of a human being. His wizard is long dead, and he works as a mercenary. He is carrying a message from a the most powerful sorcerer of Messaline to the Rajni of the Lotus Kingdom. With him is The Dead Man, a bitter survivor of the body guard of the deposed Uthman Caliphate, protecting the message and the Gage. They are friends, of a peculiar sort.

They are walking into a dynastic war between the rulers of the shattered bits of a once great Empire.

Review:
It took me a really long time to get into this and then, once I did, it ended on a cliffhanger. So, my overall experience was a bit meh. Apparently this is a followup to a previous trilogy; something I didn’t know when I started it and might have contributed to my feeling disconnected from it for so long.

Having said all that, and having had an overall less than compelling experience with the book in general, I have to admit that the writing is beautiful, the world seems like it’s probably interesting, and I liked the characters a lot. Bear is still and amazing writer.

All Systems Red

Book Review of All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1), by Martha Wells

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I borrowed Martha Wells‘ All Systems Red from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

Review:
Really quite marvelous. I love that you could feel how uncomfortable SecUnit was with people, how it was completely badass but also fragile. The book was fairly spare on the world building, but there was just enough to position the story. And I 100% approve of SecUnit’s decision at the end. I can’t wait to read more of this series. Tor continues to wow me with each new book I read and Martha Wells is on my radar.