SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: The Ascent to Godhood by JY Yang

JY Yang's Tensorate novella series is one of the more interesting series of novellas to come out in the past two years.  The series has always tried to maintain a tradition of having each book be stand-alone and yet at the same time fit into a longer continuity, allowing a reader to pick up any entry into the series in any order.  It's also been a series unafraid to explore different tones and styles, even as each entry takes place in the same Asian-inspired queer-friendly fantasy world.  I think I enjoyed the third of these novellas (The Descent of Monsters - review here) the most, but they've all been at least solid, so naturally I was always bound to pick up this 4th novella.

The result is probably my least favorite of the series, as it feels the most generic of them all - a flashback to the rise of the Protector, the greater antagonist of the series so far, from the perspective of her one-time romantic partner and later political opponent.  It's also incredibly short, and left me feeling "That's it?" when it was completed.  More on this after the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Hound of Justice by Claire O'Dell

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Hound of Justice by Claire O'Dell: https://t.co/eMhTzn5eg6 Short Review: 9 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 29, 2019

Short Review (cont): The second in this series focusing upon a gender & race-flipped Holmes and Watson - really, Watson - in a dystopian future USA is still great as Watson struggles to use her prosthetic arm for surgery...and for when Holmes gets into trouble. So good. (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 29, 2019

The Hound of Justice is the second book in Claire O'Dell's "The Janet Watson Chronicles", after her prior work, A Study in Honor (Reviewed here).  In case you couldn't tell from the series name, the series is indeed a take on the Sherlock Holmes and Watson stories, but it's a very different take than the usual, and not just in its more obvious changes to the setting: this is a dystopian near-future SciFi gender and race-flipped take on Holmes and Watson in a US torn apart by racial and homophobic backlash to socially liberal policies to the point of civil war.  I really liked the first book's alternate take on Watson and Holmes, with Watson more decisively the main character than Holmes in this incarnation, and was excited to see how the sequel would follow up.

And the result is still pretty strong.  O'Dell's Janet Watson is an excellent heroine and drives the story as before, with her emotions and drives, personal and political, being really well done.  The plot takes some surprising turns along with some predictable ones as it explores this all too real dystopian SF setting, and it wraps up with a very satisfying ending.  So yeah, this series is still recommended, and I hope to see more in the future from it.

SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell

Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell:

Witches of Lychford is the first in a series of novellas by British author, Paul Cornell.  Cornell is a well known and accomplished writer, but I've actually read very little of his work (Only his dark horror novel, Chalk).  So when I noted that the first three novellas in this series were available as hoopla audiobooks, I figured I'd give it a shot.  The result was very enjoyable and makes me definitely interested in going forward with the rest of this series.

Quick Note: I listened to this as an audiobook and the reader is pretty good.  It's only a little more than 3 hours long, so it didn't take me longer than two days to finish, which is nice for a change of pace.

More after the Jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: This is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone:

I have a simple formula for reviewing novellas due to their length: One-Two Paragraphs of Introduction before the jump in a post, followed by a single plot summary paragraph and then one, or at most two, paragraph of analysis and critical review.  This works great for most novellas, which have enough substance for single posts but not enough to go too in depth in without spoiling, and usually isn't very hard to pull off: I can usually review a novella in like a third of the time i review a novel.

I mention all of this because I'm going to have an incredibly hard time sticking to this formula and not spending a ton of paragraphs GUSHING over how great This is How You Lose the Time War is.   This novella's two authors couldn't possibly be more regarded in my eyes from their prior work: Gladstone is one of my favorite authors and his latest novel (Empress of Forever) was incredible, honestly, and while I haven't read much of El-Mohtar's short fiction, what I have read has been damn good (and worthy of a Hugo a few years back).  And honestly?  This might top all of their previous work, in all its glory: a time-traveling epistolary romance between agents of very different worlds, that is just so so damn good.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed: https://t.co/8xv3AF4Ati Short Review: 9 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 22, 2019

Short Review (cont): A really fascinatingly good Star Wars novel featuring an oddball squadron cobbled together from survivers/leftovers of the crimes of an elite Imperial unit dealing with the issues of trauma and defection in a war where major atrocities take place. (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 22, 2019

When it came to the old Star Wars Expanded Universe, there were two series that were considered major stand-outs, with huge readerships even outside the general Star Wars fandom.  The first was the Thrawn Trilogy, so it was unsurprising to see the new Disney Star Wars Canon restore Thrawn to continuity for newer stories.  The second was the X-Wing series written by Michael J Stackpole (6 books) and Aaron Allston (5 books), which focused on telling stories away not on the main Star Wars characters (though they did show up) but upon members of starfighter squadrons in the fight between the New Republic and the Empire.  The books alternated between comedy and action (the Allston books were tremendous comedies) with great characters (guess where my internet handle comes from) and were just tremendous fun throughout, which is why they were so near universally beloved.

All of this is to say that Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron, being surprisingly the first* starfighter-oriented series in the new Star Wars Canon, has a high standard to live up to just by its title.  This is only made even worse by the book's most generic description, which is "a squadron of misfit pilots with baggage are gathered together by an intelligence officer for a crucial mission," which sounds an awful lot like the description of the Allston X-Wing books (the Wraith Squadron trilogy). 

*It's possible there was another such adult novel and I missed it, but it looks like the only thing close is a Middle-Grade novel published in the lead up to The Last Jedi.  

And yet, by taking a very very different approach to the material, Alphabet Squadron succeeds at meeting the bar, and is perhaps my favorite new canon Star Wars book to date.  Let's be clear: Alphabet Squadron differs from its X-Wing predecessors by - a few moments aside - not being a book about fun and/or action.  If anything, its piloting scenes are the book's weakest element.  But the book explores elements of the Star Wars universe - such as those of defectors, those traumatized by the war, as well as the atrocities committed by the Empire and others - in new and interesting ways to form a really fascinating if dark entry in the Star Wars universe.  This is the first of a new trilogy (with a companion comic book series) and I'll definitely be back for the sequels.

SciFi/Fantasy Novella Review: The Gallows Black by Sam Sykes

The Gallows Black by Sam Sykes

The Gallows Black is a prequel story to Sam Sykes' novel, Seven Blades in Black, essentially featuring the first meeting of series protagonist Sal the Cacophany and her romantic interest, the Freemaker (mad scientist) Liette.  I liked but didn't love Seven Blades in Black (review here), but I enjoyed its grimdark world and most of its asshole protagonist, so I was certainly willing to read another story with this world and these characters.  And the result is fine, like a cut flashback from the novel - inessential but enjoyable for anyone who enjoyed the original novel but not likely to do anything for anyone else.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Shadowblade by Anna Kashina

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Shadowblade by Anna Kashina: https://t.co/upgkDQTA7W Short Review: 2 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 20, 2019

Short Review (cont): A badly overwritten plot filled with characters who are awfully written, acting inconsistently and often stupidly for the sake of the plot, and with massive pacing problems....Shadowblade is not worth your time. (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 20, 2019

The descriptors "Good" or "Bad" are kind of hard to use for any kind of book - not only is what someone considers to be good or bad a matter of taste, but some books acknowledged to be "bad" or, let's say "trashy," can be fun to read and still enjoyable while other books acknowledged to be "good" can be a bore or just painful to read.  Some of my favorite books I've read this year would be considered to be "trashy" for instance, but they're pretty fun at the same time.

I use this preamble because Shadowblade isn't fun, it's just dumbfoundingly stupid and bad for most of its story.  The story is badly badly overwritten - point of view (and sometimes non point of view) characters can't help but give the readers their every thought and opinion in the most long-winded way possible, with no subtlety in motivations and actions at all, and it gets annoying fairly quickly.  Even worse, the story relies upon the characters - one of whom's primary attribute is being smart - having constant moments of stupidity which made me want to beat my head against a wall.  Add to that some really poorly written action scenes (and even the sex scenes) and well, I wouldn't really recommend Shadowblade to anyone.

Note: I read this as an audiobook, and the reader is merely fine, with the accents being a little annoying but not much.  But if I misspell any names in this review, that's why.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell: https://t.co/wookv6qTRu Short Review: 8.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 19, 2019

Short Review (cont): More Historical Fiction than SF until the end, The Old Drift follows three families through 3 generations in 20th-21st century Zambia as they each search for ways forward for themselves. Longwinded but fascinating throughout, if sometimes rough to read (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 19, 2019

The Old Drift is a book that may not quite fit in the categories of SciFi or Fantasy - the book is for the most part historical fiction, until its final section at least.*  Which is not a negative mind you - historical fiction is great and often fascinating when done well, but just the reader should know what they're getting into with this book.  As with many books in the historical fiction genre, it follows a group of fantasies in a common place throughout several (3 in this case) generations, as events proceed, with the families becoming more intertwined with each other and the setting as time moves on.  Of course, the setting in this case is Zambia, which is very likely unfamiliar to western audiences, including myself.

*There are some elements of magical realism before the final act, but attaching a "fantasy" label to those first two acts would still be off, to the extent that any label matters.

And The Old Drift is fascinating throughout as its story is told from generation to generation.  The book is less linear than you would expect: rather than telling the story of one generation, moving to the next, and then the next, the story sometimes cuts back and forth, with older characters regaining prominence on occasion even hundreds of pages after seemingly being out of the picture.   But this story of members of three families from diverse heritages - Black (from Zambia or elsewhere in Africa), White (English or Italian), Indian and mixes of all three - never really becomes confusing due to how well its written and its characters are frequently fascinating through it all.  And the conclusion brings it all back to the beginning in a way that works pretty well.  The book's not perfect - the book is very willing to go on tangents and is very very traumatic in times to its characters - but it's worth a read.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Turning Darkness Into Light by Marie Brennan

Advance SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Turning Darkness Into Light by Marie Brennan: https://t.co/dbAbghYPYV Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 15, 2019

Short Review (cont): A stand-alone sequel to The Memoirs of Lady Trent features 23 year old Audrey Camherst taking up the task of translating a just-discovered ancient Draconean text, which could have ramifications for draconic-human relations. As usual, delightful. (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 15, 2019

Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on August 20, 2019 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

Marie Brennan's "The Memoirs of Lady Trent" is one of my favorite SF/F series I've read over the past few years, and was a deserving nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Series last year.   The story was a wonderful tale of science, fantasy, romance, and more (not to mention Dragons!) throughout its five books, and I was sad when the whole thing had to end.  Fortunately for us all, Brennan is providing just that with this book, Turning Darkness Into Light, a stand-alone spinoff featuring the tale of the granddaughter of Isabella (Lady Trent), Audrey Camherst, as she attempts to translate a piece of ancient draconic history.

And the result is as usual for Brennan's work in this world: delightful.  Whereas Audrey's grandmother focused upon the natural science of dragons, Audrey is focused upon translation of ancient texts - specifically Draconean texts.  Still Brennan manages to turn Audrey and her companion's translation of a newly unearthed Draconean text into a fascinating aspect of the story, with the political implications of the work, and Audrey's attempts to deal with those implications, forming the core conflict.  It's why I loved the original series and what made it so different from typical works - even in this fantasy land, this is a book about the principles and usage of science amidst everything.  And so while Audrey may not be quite as fantastic a lead character as her grandmother, Turning Darkness Into Light is definitely another winner I can recommend.

Quick Note: As I note above, Turning Darkness Into Light probably functions perfectly fine as a stand-alone, and while the book does spoil some elemeents of the original series, it does a remarkably good job at glossing over other spoilers for those books so that someone who starts here probably won't realize those other spoilers were even present if they go on to the original 5 books next - so you certainly can start with this book.  Still, while the book will undoubtedly be enjoyable for newcomers to this world, readers of the original series will get some extra pleasure from references to Isabella's adventures in her memoirs, which is how I enjoyed this book.  

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Nocturna by Maya Motayne

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Nocturna by Maya Motayne: https://t.co/g27EXWcBWt Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 14, 2019

Short Review (cont): The first in a YA Trilogy set in a Latinx-inspired world, Nocturna follows a young prince and a shape-changing thief as they try to stop a legendary evil they accidentally unleashed. Formulaic, but executed very well with an excellent magical setting (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 14, 2019

Nocturna is the first in a Young Adult Fantasy trilogy in a Latinx-Inspired world and seems to be author Maya Montayne's debut novel.  I should add that the book, while the first in an announced trilogy, works quite well as a stand-alone, so no commitment is needed to try this book.

And Nocturna is certainly a promising start to this trilogy and to Motayne's career as a novelist - featuring a pair of very solid main characters, an excellent setting and magic system, and a very satisfying story.  The plot and characters are definitely formulaic to a good extent and there are definitely key plot elements that are very predictable, but the book executes these tropes very well.  In the end, I look forward to seeing where the trilogy goes from here and would love to see these characters again.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Westside by W.M Akers

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Westside by W.M. Akers: https://t.co/gpfaEd9zYF Short Review: 6.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 13, 2019

Short Review (cont): A Noir story set in an alternate 1920s NYC in which people/things have started to mysteriously disappear from the Westside and a young woman PI who searches for little mysteries has lots of ideas but fails to really execute to be more than generic noir (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 13, 2019

Westside is a historical fantasy by W.M. Akers set in an alternate version of prohibition era Manhattan.  It's gotten a decent amount of press (most books I read don't score a review in the New York Times), so after initially passing it over for a library hold, I did request it a little more than a month back.  And after completing the book, it's definitely got the signs of a work that is well researched in its setting, and you can see the effort put in to getting the atmosphere right.

Unfortunately, everything else is a bit of a mess.  Westside starts with an interesting concept to put a different spin on a classic noir story and then quickly disgards that concept for a more typical noir story with fantasy complications....which only get more and more complicated themselves until they swallow everything in the narrative.  The book's lead character is well done, but everyone else is just kind of eh, and the plot just feels like the author couldn't decide what type of story he was telling at any given moment.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Pale Kings by Micah Yongo

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Pale Kings by Micah Yongo https://t.co/CRh0XKDVEt Short Review: 7.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 12, 2019

Short Review (cont): The second in an epic fantasy trilogy (begun by Lost Gods - which I haven't read) not based in typical western European cultures is still pretty solid without reading the first book, though probably better if you have. Recommended. (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 12, 2019

Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on August 13, 2019 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

Pale Kings is the second epic fantasy novel from author Micah Yongo, after 2018's Lost Gods.  It's also the sequel to Lost Gods - a fact that is not necessarily clear on online marketplaces: Both Amazon and B&N online for example don't have the book listed as a sequel and the blurb says "From the Author of Lost Gods."  I haven't read Lost Gods despite me having bookmarked it a while back - none of my libraries have a copy and I was hoping they'd follow on my suggestion to acquire it, but so far no good.  So I was coming into this book a bit behind a reader of the first book, so keep that in mind.

And does Pale Kings work as a starting point for a new reader in this series?  It kind of does, in that I was able to follow things as they occurred, and I grew to care about the world and some of the characters and their fates.  On the other hand, the book is definitely building upon setup and character work done in the prior novel, so I wouldn't recommend trying to start here, even if you won't be totally lost if you try.  Overall though, Pale Kings is an intriguing epic fantasy novel which definitely works, and I will be trying to pick up Lost Gods to get a more complete understanding of the story before the next book's release.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Sharing Knife Vol 4: Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Sharing Knife Vol. 4: Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold: https://t.co/5AKOP74Det Short Review: 8 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 8, 2019

Short Review (cont): The concluding volume in Bujold's Fantasy Romance Series, the Sharing Knife, brings Fawn and Dag's adventures to a close as they travel back north with both Lakewalkers and Farmers. Still great, though there are some moments of questionable morals. (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 8, 2019

Horizon is the fourth and final book* (so far) in Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy Romance series, The Sharing Knife.  As I mentioned in my review of the third book, Passage (See HERE), this book was apparently originally meant to be the second half of a single volume, with Passage being the first half, and in some ways that shows, with the book continuing the themes of that book - Dag and Fawn's attempts to find a new way forward for Lakewalkers and Farmers to work together - but the book still works as a satisfying whole volume on its own as well.

*This past year, Bujold added to the series with a sequel novella "Knife Children", which I plan to pick up eventually.  

So yeah, Horizon is pretty good, as is typical of a Bujold novel.  The book has some issues that some other Bujold books have had - Bujold's take on the redemptive ability of men who commit variations of sexual crimes is....not something that's aged well (and this book isn't that old) for example - and some other issues still persist in this book I've highlighted in my prior reviews of the series.  Still, Bujold remains a master at character work and dialogue, and Fawn, Dag and several of the minor characters remain absolute delights to read about.  So yeah, I'd recommend this series for sure.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Psychology of Time Travel: by Kate Mascarenhas

SciFi/Fantasy Review: The Psychology of Time Travel: https://t.co/iCOcKH3HWV Short Review: 9 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 7, 2019

Short Review (cont): The Psychology of Time Travel is a fascinating story that jumps through time & perspectives in a world where time travel is discovered but time is found to be immutable, with a mystery set off by a murder to happen in the future. Strongly recommended. (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 7, 2019

One thing you note about books when you read a lot of them is that book titles can range from being incredibly apt to being completely awful.  In particular, a lot of titles are either incredibly generic - technically being accurate to a book's contents but not really giving a reader any specifics about them - and a few are actually completely misleading.  To be fair, title writing is probably as hard as it can be for genre fiction, with books often being incredibly complex and hard to summarize without spoiling.

Which is all to say that The Psychology of Time Travel is a thankful exception here: the book is indeed very much, if not entirely about, the psychological effects of (fictional) time travel.  Yes, the book is technically a mystery story (Amazon lists it under its category of "LGBT Mystery" which is hilariously missing the point), but the book uses its structure - jumping between many character perspectives and timelines to examine the different ways that time travel in a universe in which events are fixed in time affects the minds of those involved, directly or indirectly.  And it's a fascinating novel all the way through, from beginning to ending, as it indeed explores all of these issues through characters whose developments we witness in not quite chronological order. 

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Jennifer Morgue (Laundry Files #2) by Charles Stross https://t.co/phONm4ftYw Short Review: 6.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 6, 2019

Short Review (cont): The second in Stross' Lovecraft/Spy Novel/Workplace Comedy series is an explicit James Bond pastiche which generally works, except for when all too frequently the book tries to rub how clever it thinks it is in the reader's face. (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 6, 2019

The Jennifer Morgue is the second book in Charles Stross' The Laundry Files, following his "The Atrocity Archives" (Reviewed on the blog here).  The series, which is a combination of various genres such as spy thrillers, workplace comedy (although less in this one), and Lovecraftian horrors, among others, is currently up for nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Series, which is why I tried the first two volumes over the past month.  And I enjoyed the first book just enough to want to read more - though not much more than that - so I was hoping the series would take a leap forward with this second novel.

And...it....does and doesn't?  The Jennifer Morgue is blatantly styled after the writing of Ian Fleming (apparently the prior book was styled after the writing of a different British spy author I don't know) with heavy Bond themes throughout, and the plot is well written and moves nicely sure.  But the book's characters still don't stand out (although the gender issue of the first book isn't a problem here) and the book tries too hard not just to be clever but to make sure the reader knows how clever its trying to be.  I may pick up the series sometime in the future when I have left to read - since this book is enjoyable, don't get me wrong - but The Jennifer Morgue just doesn't do enough for me to feel a strong urge to do so anytime soon, which is a disappointment.

Note: The Book contains a short story/novelette "Pimpf" as well, which I will not be reviewing in this review since it's too short to really merit much attention.  It's solid, if unspectacular, and feels a little dated due to it being based upon 2006 computer tech/games.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine: https://t.co/7pGJlaUC1F Short Review: 7 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 5, 2019

Short Review (cont): A SciFi thriller based upon ideas of an overwhelming empire - both culturally and militarily - and of memories of the past works as a fast paced thriller but doesn't have enough time to breathe for its ideas to truly shine. (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 5, 2019

A Memory Called Empire is the debut novel by Arkady Martine, and it has been a novel I'd had recommended to me by a few people I trust.  It's the first in a new space opera series, and it's been compared to a bunch of other notable works - such as The Traitor Baru Cormorant (a personal fave) and Ancillary Justice (also strong) - which deal with the potential attraction that comes with a powerful Empire and the outward cultural and economic wealth they seem to offer.  It's a pretty rough set of books for any book to live up to, honestly, which isn't fair to the story.

And yeah, A Memory Called Empire didn't quite live up to those novels for me.  It is in ways a fascinating book that has some very interesting ideas, and a protagonist who is definitely compelling at times.  But unlike the novels above I mentioned, and like a few other novels and works I've reviewed on this blog over the years, it lacks enough moments for the plot to breathe and for those ideas to sink and make an impact.  The result is a thriller with some great moments, but one which doesn't quite manage to do much more than that despite showing the potential to do so.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Sharing Knife Vol 3: Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Sharing Knife Vol 3: Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold: https://t.co/riYN3kz0Z1 Short Review: 8.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 1, 2019

Short Review (cont): Bujold's fantasy romance series continues - though it loses the romance as a central plot element a little - as Dag & Fawn journey downriver to find a new path forward, and run into new friends and dangers. Still great characters and dialogue as usual (2/3)

— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) August 1, 2019

Passage is the third volume in Lois McMaster Bujold's "The Sharing Knife," her fantasy romance series.  It's also the first half of a new arc - just as the first two volumes in the series were originally meant to be a single volume, Passage and its sequel (Horizon) were originally intended to also be a single book before being split for length reasons.  I really enjoyed the first two volumes - I mean I basically have enjoyed nearly everything I've read of Bujold's work - so there was no question I was going to move on to the sequel.

And Passage continues Bujold's standard of excellence, although it perhaps cuts down the romance element (our heroes now being successfully married) in favor of the fantasy ones.  Bujold's dialogue remains superb, and our central characters remain excellent - from young inexperienced but curious and smart Fawn to older experienced but magically changing Dag to the lesser characters introduced here - as we move on from the main duo's homes to travel further in this setting.  This may not be my favorite work of Bujold's, but it meets her high standard of excellence nonetheless and remains worthy of your time.

Note: As usual for Bujold works, I read this as an audiobook.  As such, if I misspell some names or concepts, that's why.  Still, the reader remains excellent and I do recommend reading the book in this format.