Thursday, January 31, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Study in Honor by Claire O'Dell




There are few other classic characters in literature who have inspired adaptations and interpretations like Sherlock Holmes, particularly in the SciFi/Fantasy genre.  Hell, I've read two SF/F books in the past week with their own spin on Sherlock Holmes and his assorted cast, and at least four* in the past year.  There's something about the idea of the incredible detective, who uses incredible powers of logic and deduction to solve crimes ordinary inspectors cannot - often via oddball/quirky methods - that inspires both authors and readers in various ways, especially when the setting is given aspects of genre not found in the original.

*For those curious, the other three books besides this one in question are:
The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard: (Review)
The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells: (Review)
European Travels for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss (Review)

A Study in Honor is the first in a new Dystopian Science Fiction series by Claire O'Dell featuring adaptations of both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (the series is titled The Janet Watson Chronicles).  But it's interesting in particular in how different this spin on the two characters is from the normal portrayals - not just in how the characters are gender/race-flipped or queer instead of straight (though these changes have resonance), but in their very attitudes and aptitudes....and yet, the characters are still very recognizable as adaptations still of Sherlock and Watson.  The result is a short novel that really really works, recognizable and yet feeling very fresh, and one which makes me really want the sequel to come more quickly.


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Wednesday, January 30, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean




Empress of All Seasons is a Young Adult/Middle-Grade Fantasy in a world inspired by Japanese mythology.  And the book features a pretty well done fantasy world, which includes magic, yokai, samurai, ninja, and stories of potentially still-present gods.  The book also features three lead characters who split the story's points of view, who are all rather interesting in their personalities, even if they're a little cliche in their backgrounds at first.

Unfortunately, Empress of All Seasons has a major pacing problems, with the book's third act featuring a predictable but weakly developed plot twist and a major 180 from one of the characters that feels straight out of a really bad movie.  For two/thirds of the book, the story moves its characters into interesting places, which makes the reader hungry to find out how their conflicting pathways will be resolved - and the book just didn't come close to meeting my expectations in how it tried to do so - and the rushed ending just didn't help matters.  In short, this was a book with a lot of potential, but in my opinion squandered pretty much all of it, and I can't recommend it that highly as a result.

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Tuesday, January 29, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: European Travels for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss




European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman is the sequel to Theodora Goss' "The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter" (reviewed here).  I enjoyed that book quite a lot, but felt it was a bit of an origin story for its set of heroines, the "Athena Club" - a group of "monster" women who were experimented on by their fathers for the sake of science, all of whom were taken from literary classics.  So this series tells the story of Mary Jekyll and Diana Hyde, Justine Frankenstein, Beatrice Rappaccini, and Catherine Moreau as they try and help others like themselves and stop the mad scientists in Post-Victorian Europe from causing more harm. Now that the first book's origin story of the group was complete, I was excited to see where the book would go as it handled the sequel hooks placed at the beginning of the first book and beyond.

And well, I enjoyed this book, which again contains excellent heroines, an interesting and twisty plot, and an often funny meta-style of writing.  But the book is LONG - it's over 700 pages long compared to the first book's 450 or so, and while it never gets outright boring, it never quite manages to justify the page length - like an enjoyable movie that's 3 hours long and makes you wish it was just over 2.  The result is that if the third book isn't cut back to a more reasonable length, I'll probably not be going on with the series since it kind of felt like a chore to get all the way through this one, even though I enjoyed it - but if you liked the first book, you should definitely still give this a try and maybe the pacing will work better for you.

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Monday, January 28, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan



The Demon's Covenant is the sequel to Sarah Rees Brennan's "The Demon's Lexicon" (which I reviewed early last year here) and the middle book in a trilogy.  I liked but didn't love the first book, which featured a really interesting dark urban fantasy (and YA I guess?) world, a really strong (and psychopathic) main character, and a very solid story - but also didn't feature that many developed minor characters and a plot that was relatively predictable in its twists.  Still, as a huge fan of Brennan's very different In Other Lands, I was interested to see if the second book could take a step up now that the worldbuilding has been established, so a year later I picked up this second book as an audiobook.

The result was everything I hoped for - a major step up in both character work, an expansion of the already interesting worldbuilding, and a far less predictable plot that kept me guessing.  The book switches its point-of-view and main character to former side character Mae, and the shift works really well, as well as the snappy often hilarious dialogue produced by some of the more-focused characters.  It still ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but it's a satisfying second book that really takes all the work of the first book and expands on it in a way that made me really happy I kept going with the series, and I will be finishing the trilogy probably pretty soon.

Note: I read this book as an audiobook and the reader is very good.  That said, the third book is not in audiobook format so if you're looking to read an entire series in the format, you obviously shouldn't do that with this series.  
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Friday, January 25, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Stronger, Faster & More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton




Stronger, Faster & More Beautiful is the perfect example of a book that a reviewer has to be careful about, because the direction the book goes is incredibly different than what might be expected based upon the title.  It's one of the classics mistakes as a reviewer to complain about a book not for being bad, but for the book not being what you expected it to be - which is the fault of the reader generally, not the book (and the review ought to clarify what type of book it is anyway).  And Stronger, Faster & More Beautiful is not what I expected from its title - it is not a book about a world where gene/body modification is being used to make people stronger and more beautiful and the implications of such, and readers looking for that will be disappointed.

That said, Stronger, Faster & More Beautiful is kind of a complete mess that doesn't seem to know what type of book it is either.  The book is essentially an anthology of six stories, with each story taking place further into the future, in a world where body modification for medical purposes and eventually for other purposes becomes more available and causes the world to split due to the ethical issues involved with such technology.  The stories don't really build upon each other, and it's never really quite clear what message the author is trying to send, or even if the author is interested in the ethical issues at all.  This is not a topic that is new to science fiction, and given all the other options out there for dealing with it, I can't really recommend Stronger, Faster & More Beautiful - it's not bad, but it's just lost.


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Thursday, January 24, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Spy with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke




The Spy with the Red Balloon is the second in Katherine Locke's "Balloonmakers" series, a series of Historical Young Adult Fantasy novels featuring characters with magic in historical settings.  I actually didn't read the first book in the series (The Girl with the Red Balloon), and the series seems to be of largely stand-alone novels, so I had no problem starting the series here.  This book features a Jewish brother and sister using magic during World War 2 as they are forced into helping the US try to stop the German Nuclear effort.

The result is solid but unspectacular.  The story avoids some annoying tropes and the main characters are definitely likable, with the story going in some interesting directions, but it never really breaks through into something better than solid.  Moreover, while the ending is a reasonably satisfying resolution, it still is a bit soured from the twist at the ending not being fully explored (this might be caused by my lack of reading the first novel - it's hard to tell).  I'm gonna pick up the first novel at some point, but I'm not in much of a hurry to do so after reading this one.


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Tuesday, January 22, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada




This Mortal Coil is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel full of ideas that's essentially the first in a trilogy of cyberpunk thrillers.  In a sci-fi world in which genes can (sort-of) be hacked and a new virus has spread all around the world and changed life as we know it, the book features aspects that raise questions about free will of thought, pro/anti-vax issues, restrictions on self-expression, and more.  So there's a lot of things being raised here as the story goes on and our characters and the story move on.

Honestly, there's too much, and the book doesn't really get to focus on any single issue long enough to really make it clear what's being said - and sometimes gives off ambivalent messages, which is a bit of an issue on things like vaccines.  Outside of the ideas, the story flows rather well and moves at a good pace with decent characters, with some surprises along the way, but never really hits a mark higher than "solid."  There was a lot of potential here, and I really want to see if the sequel can fulfill that potential, but this book tries to do too much and fails to meet the high standards it sets for itself.


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Monday, January 21, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Sacrifice by Cindy Pon




Sacrifice is the sequel to Cindy Pon's YA Fantasy novel, Serpentine (Review Here).  That novel contained a Asian-Inspired Fantasy world where warrior monks fought against undead and demon invaders, and two teenage girls who get caught up in the middle - one of whom discovers she can turn her bottom half into a serpent's tail.  It featured a coming-of-age story, some romance, and a bond between sisters that drove the entire plot as the two face danger in the middle of it all - and ended with the separation of its heroine from both her love interest and her sister-figure, as she sacrificed herself in order to save the two of them.  It was a strong ending to a pretty solid novel and promised some major changes to come for all the characters.

Sacrifice mostly follows through on that promise and features all three main characters getting involved in the same crisis a few months later.  Unlike the first book, which was told entirely from our main heroine's POV, Sacrifice shows us the points of view of all three main characters, but due to where the plot has gone it is no longer really a coming of age story or a story of sisters facing adversary.  Despite losing those two plot elements - which I really liked - Sacrifice is still fairly good, featuring several strong characters and a plot which took some surprising turns near the end.


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Thursday, January 17, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna




A Spark of White Fire is the start of a trilogy of Young Adults SciFi (Space Opera) books by Sangu Mandanna.  The trilogy is an adaptation of an Indian epic, The Mahbharata (which I have not read), but obviously is not written to expect readers to recognize the aspects of the original in the adaptation, as most readers (like myself) have little experience with Indian mythology.

The result was a book I really enjoyed and one I tore through in one day and has had me rereading segments quite a few times.  It's far from perfect, but it features a very enjoyable heroine, a storyline that surprises at times, and a fun interesting setting that had me wanting more, while ending in a way that still left me satisfied.  I don't see a publishing date for book 2 as of yet, but I will pretty clearly be reading on when it comes out.


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Wednesday, January 16, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Reader by Traci Chee




The Reader is the first in a YA Fantasy trilogy by Traci Chee, ending with a novel out last year (The Storyteller).  As you might imagine from the title, it features a fantasy world in which reading is a special ability, amongst a world that is near-completely illiterate.  Moreover, there is literal magic in reading, a power that can enable people to know unknowable things about the past, present and future, and to perform wondrous feats.  It is in this world that this story takes place, following a girl and a boy searching for the truth as they encounter this strange power.

It's an interesting world filled with interesting magics and characters, but the book takes a long time to set up its plot and only really has all of its interesting plot aspects come to a head at the very end, just in time for the book to end.  So The Reader definitely had me interested in the second book, but it isn't very satisfying on its own, which is a problem if you're not sure you're ready to be that invested in a full trilogy.  It's very possible given the setup that this trilogy could take a leap forward in the next book, so I will be trying it out, as there was nothing here I really disliked.


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Monday, January 14, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Holy Dark by Kyoko M



The Holy Dark is the conclusion of Kyoko M's "The Black Parade" trilogy (not counting the novella/short-story collection, see below) following up from She Who Fights Monsters.   That book ended in brutal fashion, with the heroine in utter misery, held together only by some wise words written by her father-figure.  It was an ending that worked, but god is it an ending that doesn't make it easy not to want to read further and find a happier ending overall - which is why I wound up purchasing this book and binge-reading it despite having a billion library books I really should've read first.

And the Holy Dark delivers - boy does it deliver.  It's easily the longest of the trilogy (nearly 500 pages, whereas the other two books didn't even hit 400), and yeah, like its predecessors it certainly has some plot holes here and there such that the schemes of the bad guys probably don't make too much sense if you think about them too hard.  But this has always really been a story about its main heroine Jordan and her relationship with Michael, and it hits every emotional payoff imaginable, while finding many a way to surprise along the way.

More after the jump:

NOTE:  Spoilers for the first two books are inevitable below, as it'd be impossible to talk about this book without them - I've tried to avoid said spoilers above the jump, but not even going to try from here on out.  Fair warning.

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BONUS: This Review will contain a bonus review of Back in Black, a short novel/novella that takes place in between this book and She Who Fights Monsters.  Since Back in Black was published after The Holy Dark, Amazon confuses the chronology of the series a bit, especially as you can skip BiB if you want to get the conclusion to the trilogy and be perfectly fine.  If you're curious, the correct chronology of the series is:

Book 1: The Black Parade
-------Book 1.4: The Deadly Seven: Stories from the Black Parade
Book 2: She Who Fights Monsters
-------Book 2.8: Back in Black
Book 3:  The Holy Dark
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Friday, January 11, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy by Alex White




A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy is the second book in Alex White's "The Salvagers" trilogy, following his "A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe" (which I reviewed here).  I enjoyed the first book in the trilogy, which had some "Firefly"-esque vibes - misfit crew, veterans of a lost civil war, looking for a big score/discovering a massive conspiracy - but didn't quite love it.  Still, it was a promising book with some interesting ideas, and I liked most of the cast, so I was interested to see how the sequel would turn out.

I'm really glad I did, because A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy is a lot more fun than its predecessor and is a major step up as a result.  I noted in my review of the first book that the first book lacked the witty dialogue of a series like Firefly, and this book corrects that and then some - the dialogue involved here is endlessly quotable.  And while the story remains darker than Firefly, with some clearly influenced by the real world plot elements, it all comes together rather nicely and never becomes "grimdark".

Minor spoilers for the first book follow.
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Thursday, January 10, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: She Who Fights Monsters by Kyoko M




She Who Fights Monsters is the sequel to Kyoko M's "The Black Parade," which I reviewed last month on the blog here.  I really enjoyed The Black Parade as well as the short story collection (Seven Deadly Sins) which I also read and reviewed in that post - it was a fun paranormal romance/urban fantasy novel which was just the right combination of trashy and well...fun (to be repetitive).  It was also a bit of a fragmented book, with three clear acts leading up the conclusion with their own beginning, middles, and ends.

She Who Fights Monsters is a more complete story, divided into two "books" but really focusing upon one complete arc from beginning to end, continuing the story of Jordan Amador/O'Brien and Michael O'Brien (aka the Archangel Michael) and their relationship as a new crisis emerges in the battle between the Angels of heaven and the Demons of hell.  Whereas the first book was about the two falling in love as they handled a bunch of crises caused by a few Archdemons, this book is about the struggles that entail when the two feel conflict between their love for each other and what they feel is their own duty toward the cause - and that conflict is very real not easily solvable.  It's a really strong follow-up, although it ends with a brutal ending that will make you want to pick up the sequel pretty much immediately.


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Wednesday, January 9, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep




Kill the Queen is the first in a fantasy trilogy that is saddled with an unfortunate sales pitch: someone decided to market the book as "Game of Thrones meets Gladiator."  While the Gladiator comparison works, this book has basically nothing in common with Game of Thrones - in tone or in content.  So readers hoping for a Game of Thrones-esque book will be disappointed by Kill the Queen, through no fault of the book's own.

For the book is actually pretty good for what it is - a fantasy tale of a heroine building herself up into a stronger person as she seeks revenge on the cousin who killed her entire family to seize the crown.  The book is rarely unpredictable or original, but it is executed extremely well, and its lead character is really excellent.  So if you're looking for a fun fantasy series featuring magic, gladiators and revenge?  This will definitely be up your alley.


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Tuesday, January 8, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: River of No Return by Annie Bellet




River of No Return is the ninth book, out of what will eventually be ten, in Annie Bellet's urban fantasy "The Twenty-Sided Sorceress" series.  This series of short novels is one that I've enjoyed a great deal over the past two years, and this book and its successor (scheduled to be out next week, but there's been so much schedule slippage in this series I'm not holding my breath) are meant to be the series' ultimate conclusion.  As you can imagine from the series name, this is a geek-friendly urban fantasy series in which our heroine is inspired by DnD spells and other pop culture to work her magic, as she tries to protect herself and her friends from the evil forces (particularly her ex-boyfriend) who seek to take advantage of her.

River of No Return is a return to the usual size of these books, which are firmly in the "Long Novella/Really Short Novel" range, after a longer-than-usual Book 8, and it's a solid addition to the series.  We're clearly in wrap-up mode, as the book for the first time since dealing with the series' original big-bad sets up an antagonist whose threat is still left for another book to resolve, but the book is still enjoyable and satisfying in resolution.  I look forward to the conclusion.

Note: Spoilers for Books 1-8 are inevitable.

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Monday, January 7, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The River Where Blood is Born by Sandra Jackson-Opoku




The River Where Blood is Born is a book whose claim to being fantasy is largely based upon its framing device - the story is told from the perspectives of two divinities and occasionally commentated on by the dead spirits of some of the characters as a kind of greek chorus.  Other than that, it's a story mainly of Nine Black Women, all the descendants (over several generations and of various branches) of a single African Woman, as they live out their very different lives far away from the land they were originally from.  So if you're looking for a fantasy story, you're not really gonna find it here.

What you will find here however is a really fascinating book well worth your time.  It's certainly not a light book - as you might imagine when the first woman in the family is taken from Africa on a slave ship and has her tongue cut out - but it is absolutely compelling as it jumps from one character's story to another.  The book is not told chronologically - we jump back and forth between generations, but there is a method to the madness and the connections between characters become revealed as we go on and as the women come closer and closer to fulfilling their destiny of returning to the place they came from.  This is going to be a hard book for me to review coherently, but it is well worth your time.


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Friday, January 4, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White




A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is an odd book to categorize.  It's a space opera story, but magic is a major plot element so there are fantastical elements in there as well.  A number of reviewers, not to mention a blurb on the back, advertise it as being like "Firefly" which is a natural comparison, but the book lacks the humored tone between crew-mates that existed on board that show's Serenity.

However you categorize it, A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is certainly an interesting book that I liked, but didn't quite love.  The two main characters are a bit rough, but enjoyable in their own ways, and the universe is quite vividly imagined - although it's perhaps maybe a bit too vague on some of the details that become important to the story, leaving me a little confused at times.  Still, with the main cast assembled and the world set up, I am looking forward to book 2, which is already out and I already have borrowed from my e-library.


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Thursday, January 3, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Midnight Riot/Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch




Midnight Riot (originally published in the UK as Rivers of London) is the first in Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London" or "Peter Grant" series of urban fantasy novels, featuring Constable Peter Grant as an apprentice wizard/cop in modern day London.  The series was one of the first ones nominated for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Series, and as such it's been on my list of books to read for a while - and when the newest in the series got hyped about by authors I follow, I figured now as a good time.

Unfortunately, I didn't love the first book.  Some of that may have been due to the audiobook reader (see below), but while the worldbuilding was really well done and intriguing, I kinda didn't like the lead character and narrator - I kept yelling at him while listening in the car for not doing things I thought of as obvious and he was kind of an ass.  I may take a look at the second book to see if it gets better since I know so many people love the series, but the result was a bit of a miss for me.


Note:  I read this as an Audiobook, and I STRONGLY recommend not reading the book in that format.  The audiobook reader rushes through the book by seeming to try to read full sentences in a single breath and then taking huge notable gasps when he inevitably runs out of breath every five seconds.  This often results in awkward pauses in the middle of paragraphs, in addition to just being distracting to hear the reader breathing in every few seconds.  You would be better off reading this book in print/ebook than audiobook and if I go forward with the series, that's how I will.

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Wednesday, January 2, 2019

2018 Year in Review - SciFi/Fantasy Reading, Part 3: My Least Favorite Books and Books I Just Could Not Finish




Now it's time for the flipside of the last post in this series: time to talk about the books that I did NOT enjoy, as well as the books that I started and could not finish, and some common themes among these books that led to these feelings.  As should be evident, these are my personal opinions - it's certainly possible others will disagree - One of these books earned a Hugo Nomination, so obviously people liked it!  Also, my comments are solely about the works involved, not the authors themselves.  But if you want to know which books I would suggest avoiding going forward, read on:



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Tuesday, January 1, 2019

2018 Year in Review - SciFi/Fantasy Reading, Part 2: My Favorite Books and Novellas





Having read 182 books this year, there were obviously a few books I really liked more than others, which I want to highlight.  As with 2017, I did a really good job at curating my list of books to read, with 110 of the 182 books receiving a grade of 8 (on a 10 point scale) or better from me.  For those curious my ten point grades tend to work something like the following:

7 stars - A solid book, but not a great one that I'd really recommend to anyone, but certainly one I'd consider a sequel to.
7.5 stars - A solid book that verges upon being being recommendable to others, with just a few things holding it back.
8 stars - A good book I would definitely recommend to others, based upon what others are looking for.  Will definitely be back for a sequel.
8.5 stars - A good book verging on great, definitely recommending to others.
9 stars - A great book that I will recommend to pretty much everyone unless there are specific aspects that other readers might dislike and want to avoid.
9.5 stars - An almost must-read that I'll recommend to practically everyone, although the book still has a fault here or there that might hold it back from absolutely effusive praise.
10 stars - An absolute must-read I will recommend to everyone, a book that is utterly brilliant.

So that's 110 books that I would definitely be recommending with an 8 or better, 43 books that I considered great and really really worth recommending with a 9 or better, and 3 books that I gave the perfect ten out of ten grades.  That's a lot of books that I really would recommend.  So let's get into what those books were:


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2018 Year in Review - SciFi/Fantasy Reading, Part 1: Basic Summary




This is the second year I've mainly run this blog as a book review site, and it's been a long and productive one.  As with last year, I'll be doing a recap in this first week of 2019 of the books I read and reviewed in 2018, with the recap split into three parts:

Part 1, which you're reading at this very moment, features a summary of what I've read and some basic facts.  Part 2, which will come out tonight, will go over some of my favorite novels from this year.  Part 3, coming out after that, will go over briefly my least favorite works - the novels I completed and didn't like and the ones that I began but failed to complete.  The good news is that the # of books I didn't like was more or less equal to last year...except that I read over 30 more books in total!  So 2018 was pretty damn good.

More in depth basic summary information of what I read after the jump:


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