*rises from the ashes* Yes, I’m alive! I still exist! Though not posting here for practically the entire month of August truly shows how intense my life has been. In short, I went on vacation for the first time in four years (yay!). But, between the worst travel experience I’ve ever had, catching a rash halfway through the trip that I couldn’t treat until I got home AND a mystery illness I’m on med group four to try and treat, almost four weeks later…Is it a surprise everything else in my life went to the backburner?
So, I’m coming back today to discuss some vacation reads I managed to read! Who knew that days-long airport delays would allow you ample time to read? š A good thing, too, since I haven’t read a bit since I got back. But that’s a complaint for another day.
Vacation Reads
Traditionally, I’m the type of reader who always packs multiple books to read on vacation and then doesn’t read a single page. š This time, since I knew I’d be spending quite a bit of time by myself, I thought it was a safer bet that I’d actually read. So, for my vacation reads, I picked novellas!
Out of the five I brought, I managed to read four in total, while starting the fifth. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself!
Upright Women Wanted
Publisher: Tor Books | Release Date: Feb 2020 | Pages: 176
Age Range: Adult | Genre: Dystopian Western | Format: Hardcover | Source: Sirens Conference
āThat girlās got more wrong notions than a barn owlās got mean looks.ā
Esther is a stowaway. Sheās hidden herself away in the Librarianās book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for herāa marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda.
The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing. They’ll bring the fight to you.
In Upright Women Wanted, award-winning author Sarah Gailey reinvents the pulp Western with an explicitly antifascist, near-future story of queer identity.
This was my first Sarah Gailey book! I know, I know. It most certainly will not be my last Gailey book, I can absolutely promise you that. I was lucky enough to meet them at the Sirens Conference in 2021 (…or 2022, I can’t remember). Floored by their guest of honor speech, I knew I had to get one of their books (and would have bought more, if financially abled).
I am very glad I picked up Upright Women Wanted. It was unapologetically queer, filled with questions about identity juxtaposed with understanding of the world and how it worked. As someone who accepted their queerness later, this resonated in so many different ways for me. Highly recommend.
Untethered Sky
Publisher: TordotcomĀ |Ā Release Date:Ā April 2023 |Ā Pages:Ā 152
Age Range: Adult |Ā Genre: FantasyĀ |Ā Format: HardcoverĀ |Ā Source:Ā Bought
Esterās family was torn apart when a manticore killed her mother and baby brother, leaving her with nothing but her fatherās painful silence and a single, overwhelming need to kill the monsters that took her family.
Esterās path leads her to the Kingās Royal Mews, where the giant rocs of legend are flown to hunt manticores by their brave and dedicated ruhkers. Paired with a fledgling roc named Zahra, Ester finds purpose and acclaim by devoting herself to a calling that demands absolute sacrifice and a creature that will never return her love. The terrifying partnership between woman and roc leads Ester not only on the empireās most dangerous manticore hunt, but on a journey of perseverance and acceptance.
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Content warnings are written up by me, unless specified. Subject to being an incomplete list, though guided by referencing this list and trying to highlight as many as I can identify.
Oh, I loved this book, friends. I am already a diehard Fonda Lee fan due to Jade City, which I loved. (Even if I’m too scared to continue the series. Maybe second half of 2023?) When she announced this novella, it seemed to harken to the old tropes that I loved (leaving home for a tough school/group and seeing what happens) with the masterclass writing that Fonda Lee continues to produce.
I loved Ester, I loved Zahra and rocs in general. This novella was packed with so much in so few pages. I would read entire series in this world. It was heartbreaking, it was gorgeous and I highly recommend it.
To Be Taught, If Fortune
Publisher:Ā Harper Voyager |Ā Release Date:Ā August 2019 |Ā Pages:Ā 153
Age Range: Adult |Ā Genre: Sci-FiĀ |Ā Format:Ā Paperback |Ā Source:Ā Gift
Ariadne is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does.
Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home.
Carrying all the trademarks of her other beloved works, including brilliant writing, fantastic world-building and exceptional, diverse characters, Becky’s first audiobook outside of the Wayfarers series is sure to capture the imagination of listeners all over the world.
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Content warnings are written up by me, unless specified. Subject to being an incomplete list, though guided by referencing this list and trying to highlight as many as I can identify.
This is my third Becky Chambers book and guess what? She continues to never disappoint, ohmygosh! I haven’t read too much sci-fi this year, but this made me want to dive right back into it. I loved the exploration and seeing it through the eyes of our researchers. Getting glimpses of the difficult questions between wanting to learn, to understand, to explore versus the threat of harm, colonization and invasion was fascinating. And the end…god, why are all her books so heartbreaking and healing in equal measure?
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
Publisher: TordotcomĀ |Ā Release Date: March 2020Ā |Ā Pages:Ā 119
Age Range: Adult |Ā Genre: FantasyĀ |Ā Format: PaperbackĀ |Ā Source:Ā Gift
A young royal from the far north is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.
Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor’s lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.
At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She’s a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.
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Content warnings are written up by me, unless specified. Subject to being an incomplete list, though guided by referencing this list and trying to highlight as many as I can identify.
My very first Nghi Vo book! But it certainly won’t be my last, my gosh. How powerful this story was? I was fascinated by not only how it was written (the dual storytellers between Rabbit and Chih). But the story of Empress In-yo was heartbreaking. My heart yearned for her as much as I angered against those who went against her. And poor Rabbit!! Gods, I’m very excited to continue this novella series.
In Sum
So, four books down in a week? I’ll absolutely take it. It was nice to read some of the novellas I’d collected but neglected for a bit. I also started and got halfway through The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang, so I hope to finish that up here in the next few days. (Assuming I really am on the upward swing of mystery illness and I can continue to focus enough on anything else but my day job and resting.)
Have you read any of these? What were your thoughts on them? And, just because I’m curious: how do you select your vacation reads? Let me know in the comments below! I really hope I’m back to a more regular level. (Though, Baldur’s Gate 3 does come out on PS5 on Thursday, so…)
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Iāve read or want to read all the books you mentioned! š I thought Upright Women Wanted was fine, but I preferred Gaileyās other book, The Echo Wife. Becky Chambers always hits just perfectly, of course! Iām looking forward to reading Untethered Sky. I read all of the Green Bone Saga recently, and while there are a LOT of emotions, it was absolutely fantastic, so I hope you do continue the series soon!
Oh you have an amazing taste in books, Danielle! š I’m very excited to read more of Sarah Gailey! Oh, I absolutely plan to. By the end of the year would be ideal, but I haven’t been reading too much lately, so….
What an excellent selection of novellas! Iām glad you had a good time with them, I loved these (excepting Untethered Sky, which I havenāt read but would like to at some point)
I was really thrilled with them! And I bet you’d enjoy Untethered Sky!!
Four excellent reads that I have enjoyed meself. Sorry to hear that the vacation wasn’t all sunshine. Glad ye had some time off though.
x The Captain
Thank you so much, Captain! Hope you’re doing well and the seas are calm for you!
I’ve read two of these (Lee and Vo) and I LOVED THEM so much! I do have Chambers’ book on my TBR as well as the rest of her Wayfarer series that I still haven’t got around to reading but I’m looking forward to it. Sorry to hear that your vacation ended up the way it did but it looks like you got to read some amazing books along the way! I hope you’re feeling better now, Nicole š
The Wayfarer series is such great comfort sci-fi!!! (I’ve read two of the four so far). Thank you so much, Dini! I am still not feeling great but much better than I was, so I’ll take it!