Obviously I love Murderbot. These were both rereads and it's always a treat to return to this world and these characters. One thing I'd sort of forgotten in the intervening year-ish between last reading these and watching the show was exactly how much I adore Murderbot's narration - it's so compelling to read, and I adore how much it says by not saying anything.

The show definitely builds out the characters from Preservation Aux - I'd actually forgotten that Volescu and Overse existed in the intervening time, and it was strange reading the rescue of Bharadwaj with Volescu there instead of Arada. But the book still features some depth which you can see beneath Murderbot's snark, and the 'We're not fucking leaving you' from Mensah is just... woo! I love FRIENDSHIP. I think I might like Artificial Condition even more, especially the Ganaka Pit reveal and the story of the ComfortUnits and just - so much fridge horror for Murderbot. Its so traumatised and doesn't have any language for it and I just need to give it a blanket and the ability to marathon vast quantities of Star Trek.

Looking forward to charging through the next few books, especially with that new short story coming soon!
 

Last week I got an Ao3 notification about a fic for the Saint of Steel, which I faintly remembered seeing in someone's Yuletide signup last year, and after reading half of the first chapter of said fic I decided I had to read these books. I started with Swordheart because it seemed sensible to begin with an earlier book in the universe, although I am now aware that Clocktaur War also exists and will probably look into it at some point.

I really enjoyed this book! It had been ages since I'd read a good old fashioned romp, and this was absolutely one of those. It's a delightful romance, a solid adventure, and features a cast of very lovable characters - especially Brindle the gnole, a new all-time character for me. I loved the way that the trust between Sarkis and Halla grew through the book, and how Zale the priest-lawyer gets Halla to join in on some recreational human experimentation - as ethically as possible! In a way it reminded me of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, despite having almost nothing in common with it whatsoever, because of the ultimately positive worldview it embraces. 
 

The Saint of Steel Series by T Kingfisher

I'm only human. osprey_archer posted about a sale on her books and I, weak, finally took the plunge and bought the ones which I'd had my eye on for a while. This was a delightful story about writer's groups, fandom nemeses, and the fact that actually, having different opinions about TV can be quite a strong basis for a relationship - as long as you can keep things in perspective. The fandomspeak was so spot on and I sort of want to watch Paranoid now, it seems like exactly the sort of show I'd watch three seasons of in a fugue state and then read the Ao3 tag from top to bottom. And of course I would be reading Starlight and hanging on every update - I was in SteveBucky fandom for the whump, I know exactly what that fic would be like and I know I'd be reading the fuck out of it. 
 

 

I genuinely think I first heard about this book on Tumblr in 2019 and I am so glad I finally read it! It's such a gentle and wonderful romance, with exactly the right fairytale tone and a protagonist I really adored in Edward Harper, parson and father and bisexual icon. Briars was also wonderful, so prickly and unhappy and the scene where Harper tries really really hard to be tactful about asking if he's gay or what is so excellently painful. I do have a vague idea to write some epilogue fic for them, just because I love man-out-of-time stories so much and the idea of introducing Briars to all sorts of modern entertainments would be endlessly delightful to me. I loved the servants, and Harper's daughter, and the stalwart support from her schoolteacher. Just so lovely all around.
 

SPIES! CHRISTMAS! SUSPICIOUSLY TWITTISH BRITISH ARISTOCRATS! I loved this. So delightful, so heartfelt and melancholy while also laugh-out-loud funny. The mental image of an American and Soviet spy doing spy games in a French manor house while wearing stupid Christmas jumpers is just so wonderful to me, and Nikolai and George truly deserve an anonymous and peaceful retirement somewhere sunny and warm. I am imaginging a thirty-years-later thing where they are middle-aged expats in Greece and someone tries to recruit them for one last job, to which they simply tell them to fuck off. 

The Larks Still Bravely Singing by Aster Glenn Gray
 

I! Love! Interwar romance! I feel like saying 'this was wonderful' is getting repetitive, but it WAS so I WILL say it. Robert and David held my heart in their hands for the whole book, I was so determined that they'd see things through to the end and they did! The interweaving of their past together at school with the hints of wartime trauma and the way that they've both changed over time was deftly handled. The scene of them at the party, where David struggles and Robert finds just the right thing to talk about, really shows how they improve one another, and the support Robert shows is just. It's everything. I also loved the cats, and the vicar and his family, and the way that Oxford is both a balm and a sort of sandpaper to the soul by turns. Highly recommend!

Finished reading it to the class this afternoon! They really liked it - mostly - and were quite keen on reading the sequel, although with just under two weeks left I declined to start reading it to them myself. From now I'll probably try them on some short stories, possibly a few ghost stories just to startle the nervs, and hope that my new student - who is still throwing tables and screaming in the corridors - will enjoy that a bit more.