Summer reading round-up: Zen Cho, Grace Curtis, Tess Sharpe
Behind Frenemy Lines, Zen Cho
Zen Cho never lets me down: whatever genre she's working in, she brings something fresh and engaging. In this book I was especially delighted by Charles's voice: the brusque, almost bullet-point narrative style made his character vivid and brought in lots of subtle humor. The plotlines of workplace harassment, persistent discrimination, and international corruption could feel like a lot for a fun romance novel, but Cho balances narrative weight so deftly that it never pulls the story down (example: placing the discussion of corruption and exploitation in the context of the lively, funny expat friends cooking home meals.) My one quibble is that the romantic leads are never in any sense enemies, but I've been disappointed by enemies-to-lovers branding so often that I never really expect it any more.
Double for Death, Rex Stout
This was the first time a Rex Stout book has felt long to me. I haven't read any of his Tecumseh Fox books before, and we'll see if I manage another one. I read in the accompanying matter that Stout was especially proud of the plot of this one, which just goes to show that we're not always good at judging our own gifts. Is the mystery plot especially good? I guess it's solid, and certainly twisty, but no matter how good a mystery's plot is you still have to make it zip, and this book did not zip. Stout shines in prose style and in fun, vivid characters, and neither of those gifts were on display here. I didn't hate the book, but I didn't have a blast reading it, and that's what I pick up Rex Stout for.
Frontier, Grace Curtis
Absolutely loved this. I very much enjoy the sci-fi Western aesthetic, and this backed it up with really strong worldbuilding and an array of characters that were fascinating and compelling and could have each been the subject of their own novel. Surprised me multiple times, moved fast, landed its themes solidly. My first Grace Curtis book and had me immediately putting all her others on my TBR.
Fable for the End of the World, Ava Reid
I am not a big YA dystopia reader, and I still enjoyed this book very much. I especially loved the very distinct, equally horrifying ways oppression lands on the high and low places of society, and the way the two main characters find hope and a breath of freedom in each other. I know some readers were unhappy with the ending, but I really liked it: it felt true to the world and the stakes. The endpoint is the awakening of hope, not its fulfillment.
One Dark Window, Rachel Gillig
The atmosphere is excellent and I was riveted by the tension between Elspeth and the Nightmare in her mind. The romance was less compelling to me; nothing wrong with it but it felt fairly rote, although I did like both characters individually. Good enough that I want to read the second book at some point, but not so much that I had to pick it up immediately.
Floating Hotel, Grace Curtis
Second Grace Curtis book of the summer and confirms her as a new favorite writer. Both this and Frontier feel almost like a sequence of short stories, giving dense, vivid looks into one character or scenario at a time, with rich past/future implications embedded into the moment we're following. Frontier lends itself more easily to that structure, as the central character travels from town to town, but Floating Hotel moves just as deftly from one hotel worker or guest to another, threading in reveals about the large background plot until its shape becomes clear. Beautifully crafted and a pleasure to read at every moment.
No Body No Crime, Tess Sharpe
This hit so many of my favorite things: suspense and survival, crime and the hauntings of the past, relationships where the love is absolute but the trust is complicated. I am endlessly hungry for women in love who are toothy and messy and difficult to handle, and I was well fed here. I also really appreciate how all of the secondary characters are clearly protagonists in their own story, which makes the intense mutual devotion of the main pair feel more human and real – a product of their own particular brainworms rather than narrative predestiny (which is where romances often fall flat for me). Extremely fun read and a great way to close out the summer.
Other media
Right now I'm reading an ARC which I'm excited to talk about more when I'm done. Watching plenty of dramas as usual, but the two standouts are Shine and Khemjira, both Thai BLs. Shine is a 60s period piece weaving its romances with political unrest, student protests, public opinion, and hippie subcultures. Khemjira is a horror romance that's playing over the full range of its genre potential: fear of course but also grief and regret and the ugly human things in the shadows. Both shows are gorgeously produced and I look forward to them every week.
I also just finished listening to Book I of The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One, an actual play podcast. I don't play D&D but I enjoy the collaborative storytelling of actual plays; I learn so much about narrative art from seeing people do it extremely well in a medium slightly different from mine. The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One is a phenomenal piece of storytelling, truly epic and novelesque in its scope and commitment, with character arcs and worldview shifts that had me yelling out loud. I can't wait for the next book.
What about you, lovely readers? What stories have you been enjoying? (Not a rhetorical question: you can comment on this post, and I'd be delighted if you did!)