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Books Read in 2021 and 2022: Some Spoilers
Some spoilers. Also, I will sometimes group shorter works together and decide they add up to roughly one book. I count most novellas as books, but not novelettes.
2021
1. Melusine, Sarah Monette
2. The Virtu, Sarah Monette
3. The Mirador, Sarah Monette
4. Corambis, Sarah Monette
These four make up the series The Doctrine of Labyrinths, and I pretty much started the first and didn't stop till I finished the last. (I mean, okay, I read some of the smaller stuff below between 3 and 4, but the point stands.) LOTS of content warnings, lots of character trauma (let me know if you want details). I'd read more set in this world, but suspect the author's moved on from it more or less for good.
5. A&E #542: The gaming apa I write for.
6. Quinn Murphy, Five Fires + three Fate of Cthulhu timelines (Necronomicon, Pandemic, Yig)
7. Barrow Keep: Den of Spies et alia. Also latest version of quickstart for Urban Shadows 2nd edition and Beak, Feather + Bone: A Map-Labeling RPG
6 and 7 are a bunch of smaller pieces for RPGs that I decided counted as roughly two novellas. Five Fires is a game about hip-hop culture and making art, and for any explanation beyond that, read the game, as the author explains things better than I could.
Fate of Cthulhu's kickstarter funded several future timelines, and three of these dropped. All are fascinating, and each takes the game in a completely different direction, which is as it should be.
Barrow Keep was described as season two of a show, and it also feels to me like coming in at volume 2 of a manga. Note that this is the opposite of a problem; there are at least two manga series I started with volume 2 on (and then went back and found volume 1) and suspect I enjoyed them more than if I'd started with volume 1.
8. YKRPG: Paris
9. YKRPG: The Wars
10. YKRPG: Aftermath
11. YKRPG: This Is Normal Now
(Technically, 12 and 11 are reversed.) The Yellow King Roleplaying Game is made up of four different arcs: Paris in the Belle Epoch, a war during 1947 that is a world war but not one that happened in our world, the USA after the fall of the Castaigne dynasty so set in the present but not our present, and the same time in something that's our world more or less -- or is it?
I have a better understanding of what Robin Laws is aiming for here, and it doesn't hurt that I've read his novel The Missing and the Lost, set in the world of Aftermath. I'm a little shakier on the system than I'd like, having discovered I completely misunderstood a key rule. On the other hand, the actual rule makes far more sense then the rule I thought existed. On the third tentacle, calibration is always tricky. But I'd not mind trying to run this.
It doesn't hurt that I got to play 3 out of 4 linked YK adventures at 2021 Online Gen Con, one in each setting except Paris, and I've played in 2 Paris adventures and run 2 at conventions.
12. A&E #543
13. Monstress #5, Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. The plot continues to thicken and the comic to enthrall. Awaiting #6 with baited breath.
14. Across the Green Grass Fields, Seanan McGuire. The latest Wayward Children book, stands alone quite well.
15. Rebecca Roanhorse, Storm of Locusts. The second half of the story that begun in Trail of Lightning. Solidly good, and if she wants to make an RPG based on these books, I am so there for that.
16. Seanan McGuire, Calculated Risks
16a. Seanan McGuire, Singing the Comic-Con Blues
The latest InCryptid book and novella. The novel is the second half of the story told in the previous book, and mostly wraps it, though leaves me with Questions.
17. K.J. Charles, The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting. m/m, comfort reading, historical, very much a K.J. Charles book, very much needed. Also has a really good example of a Social Conflict for folks wondering how those should work in RPGs with similar enough settings.
18. Cassandra Khaw, Hammers on Bone
18a. Cassandra Khaw, A Song for Quiet
These are short enough I'm considering them one item. Interesting take on Lovecraft's Mythos, and I'd definitely read more by her.
19. S. T. Gibson, A Dowry of Blood. Dracula as seen through the eyes of one of his brides. This is very much a story of people in an abusvie relationship, and Dracula is very much not a good person. Interesting take, well done, I'm glad I've read it, but didn't feel the need to keep hard copy.
20. A&E #544
21. T. Kingfisher, Clockwork Boys (Clocktaur War Book One)
22. T. Kingfisher, The Wonder Engine (Clocktaur War, Book Two)
Duology with intersting similarities to Digger (unsurprising, as T. Kingfisher = Ursula Vernon), as well as a lot of differences. The protagonists are human. Good snark and relationships.
23. Jay Dragon et alia, Sleepaway. RPG about sleepaway camp staff trying to protect the children from the monster they had to deal with at that same camp when they were children. I think I need to play this to get a feel for it.
24. Jamila R. Nedjadi (and one mystery by Darold Ross), Apocalypse Keys. Powered by the Apocalypse and inspired by Hellboy, among other sources. I bought an earlier version of this, and it's at least doubled, possibly quadrupled, in length. Got to playtest this and looking forward to its full release.
25. Maggie Stiefvater (author) and Morgan Beem (illustrator), Swamp Thing: Twin Branches. Fun read, though I'm not sure where or if this fits in to the larger chronology.
26. E. C. Myers (author) and Violet Tobacco (illustrator): RWBY: Tales of Remnant. Tales from the world of the show RWBY as collected by one of the characters (with others supplying some of the tales). There is one tale I wish had been in there, but understand why it wasn't -- the story of the Girl Who Fell Through the World.
27. Eden Royce, Root Magic. Solidly excellent. Looking forward to more by the same author.
28. Dorothy Dunnett, Niccolo Rising. If you bounced off Dunnett's Lymond books, the Niccolo books are definitely not for you. If you loved the Lymond books, they might or might not be for you. I wasn't sure which camp I'd fall into until I read this one. Apparently, I find the intricacies of fifteenth century dyeing and mercenary companies to be utterly fascinating when she's the one describing them. Lots of intrigue and melodrama, and I'm not entirely sure I understood all of what happened at the end, specifically the ostrich bit.
29. A&E #545
30. M. A. Carrick, The Mask of Mirrors. This is precisely the sort of book one should not read after reading a Dorothy Dunnett book (or at least, one of the Niccolo or Lymond books -- I don't know about the others as I've not read them). It's a very good book and the author is not trying to be Dunnett, but Carrick. Interesting world building, engaging plot and characters, and I definitely wanted the next in the series Right Now after finishing it.
31. Cerebos (2 drafts) + Dream Anew
More RPGs. Cerebos is wonderfully surreal, set aboard a train and at various stops along the way to the city of Cerebos and at the city itself. Each PC has a secret past which the PC may or may not know, but the player does not. Instead, one of the other players decide what it is, and everyone else gets to know as well. mneme says that this game could be used for something like the anime _Baccano!_
32. Naomi Novik: A Deadly Education. Magical school genre, except the school is the Scholomance and the death rate very high. Also, there are no teachers. I fell hard for this book.
33. Nnedi Okorofor: Binti: Sacred Fire + Rose Bailey: Bite Me
Put together as neither alone counts in my mind as a full book. The Okorofor story is the extra story added to the print copy of the full Binti trilogy, the only part I hadn't yet read. The Bailey looks at the RPG Vampire (I forget whether it's Masquerade or Requiem, but I think the latter) and has a lot of good advice.
34. Bethany C. Morrow: A Song Below Water. Good world building and good characters and the next book in that world is out and currently sitting on my shelves.
35. Cassandra Khaw: Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef. Good enough I made sure I had the others in the series.
36: Susanna Clarke: Piranesi. I can understand why one might bounce off this, but I found it delightful.
37. Maggie Stiefvater: Mister Impossible. The second in the Dreamer trilogy which follows the Raven quartet. Complicated and engaging. Completely unfair that one has to wait for the next book, but so it goes.
38. A&E #546
39. Andrea Hairston: Master of Poisons. I preferred the author's Will Do Magic for Small Change, which is purely a matter of taste. This book is doing something different.
40. A&E #547
41-55. Madoka Takadono, art by Utako Yukihiro: Devils and Realist 1-15. Manga series that blends history and theology in some interesting ways as the protagonist, a descendant of King Solomon, is importuned by various devils to throw his support behind one of the representatives of one of Hell's factions. Works better than it has any right to.
56. Aiden Thomas: Cemetery Boys: When I say that this was, in my biased opinion, the weakest of the entries in the Lodestar-Which-Is-Not-A-Hugo category, I am saying it was an incredibly amazing year for the field. I gobbled this down and loved it.
57. K. J. Charles: Subtle Blood: The final book in the author's latest m/m trilogy. Snark and murder, an excellent combination in books.
58. Shevta Thakrar: Star Daughter: Starts a little weak, as in specific phrases that made me wince, but keeps getting better as it goes. Dazzling fantasy.
59. T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. I'm boggled the author had so much trouble finding a publisher for this one. It's very much in the tradition of Diana Wynne Jones, and calls out one of the traditional YA tropes that we tend to accept without thinking.
60. Nghi Vo: The Empress of Salt and Fortune. A very subtle work, very good.
61. Caroline Stevermer: The Glass Magician. Lots of fun, not trying to be deep. Would definitely read more set in this world.
62. Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Mexican Gothic. Exactly what it says on the tin. Solidly good.
63. Anna-Marie McLemore: Dark and Deepest Red. I loved every word of this and am not entirely sure how the heck this book does what it does.
64. A&E #548
65. Shane Ivey: Jack Frost: Delta Green scenario, very well done. Full Disclosure: I did editing on this.
66. Jordan Ifueko: Raybearer: One of the most original books I read this year. Every time I thought I knew where it was going, either I was wrong or it got there ten times faster than I thought and said, "You thought the story would end there? Oh no -- there's more!"
67. CLAMP, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card #9: I devour these as fast as they come out.
68. Steven Brust: The Baron of Magister Valley: One of the Paarfi books, which means there's a lot of style to wallow in, and it is glorious. Also, two lines of dialogue had me suddenly sit up and realize just what story I was reading (and I do not mean The Count of Monte Cristo, which I'd known coming in).
69. A&E #549
70. Garth Nix: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. Delightful, very much me-bait.
71. Alice Hoffman: Magic Lessons. This is very much Not-me-bait. Note that this says nothing about the quality of the book, just something about my tastes.
72: City of Mist: Player's Guide: I finally got to play a short campaign of City of Mist, so I read this. The GM said it's the bastard child of the Fate system and Powered by the Apocalypse games. This is correct, and I need to read the game master book next.
73. Lee Gold: Valhalla: Absent Without Leave: The author referred to this as a possibly heretical take on the Norse myths. It's fun and weird and unpredictable. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
74: Martha Wells: Rogue Protocol: The third murderbot novella.
75. N. K. Jemisin: The City We Became. Me-bait. A love letter to NYC.
76. Aviatrix's The Unanswered Question material. This is one Keeper's notes on running a very changed version of the Call of Cthulhu campaign Tatters of the King. There's almost two hundred pages of material here. (Okay, technically, I wrote one or two of the letters she used as handouts, as my PC from a different campaign showed up in one session of the campaign. But I think I'm well within my rights to call this the equivalent of a novel.)
77. Shaenon K. Garrity and Christopher Baldwin: The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor. Utterly delightful graphic novel having fun with gothic novel tropes.
78. Martha Wells: Exit Strategy: Fourth murderbot novella. I continue to enjoy these.
79. Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda: Monstress vol 6: The Vow: A couple of shoes drop and I'm ready for the next graphic novel in this series, please.
80. Cory Burns: Over Arms and also:
The Creeping Kudzu: A Monster -- Ruth Tillman
Heart of the Kudzu -- Ruth Tillman
Snake People: A Game of Anticipatory Grief -- Ruth Tillman
Heaven Has No Taste & Other True Statements -- Luke Jordan and Atlas Sellman
A Touch of Glamour -- Mahar Abrera Mangahas
Duet Society -- Hayley Gordon and Vee Hendro
Avalon Society -- Gene Astadan
Again, a bunch of small RPGs, including two hacks of Good Society.
81. Ash Kreider: Our Traveling Home: A structured RPG that reads like a queer Miyazaki film. I want to play this. I'm dubious I could do a one-shot, but a two-shot should be possible.
82. Melissa de la Cruz and Thomas Pitilli: Gotham High. Bruce Wayne winds up in a new high school and meets fellow students Selina Kyle and Jack Napier.
83. Everina Maxwell: Winter Orbit. M/M sf romance. Did what I figured it would do, and I enjoyed it. I'm hoping for a sequel.
84. Tracy Deonn: Legendborn. Me-bait. Did I mention I did my Ph. D. on modern Arthuriana? Definitely me-bait.
85. Darcy Little Badger: Elatsoe. Very good. Seems like a fairly cozy fantasy at first, and gradually gets stranger. Also, I'm a sucker for protagonists who go to their parents with the weird stuff and get strong support for it.
86. Punk Mambo (1-5, 0). Included as an extra with a kickstarter I backed. I enjoyed it.
87. A&E #550
88. A&E #551
89. Tochi Onyebuch: Riot Baby. Definitely outside my comfort zone, which is in itself a good reason to read it.
90. Nino Cipri: Finna. Hadn't expected to enjoy this one so much. Looking forward to the sequel.
91. Sarah Gailey: Upright Women Wanted. Another one that exceeded expectations.
92. Aviatrix's Post-Modern Masks of Nyarlathotep Material. Keeper write ups of a remixed Call of Cthulhu campaign. Okay, technically a reread. Following how she changed things taught me a lot.
93. Once & Future vol. 1: The King Is Undead, written by Kieron Gillen, iIllustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, lettered by Ed Dukeshire (BOOM! Studios) Definitely me-bait. I'm going to want to read the rest of this.
94. CLAMP: Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card #10. Ends in a way that implies certain story gears are moving. I want the next one.
95. Yana Toboso: Black Butler #30. Has back story of one of the supporting characters which didn't go where I would have expected. (I should probably have expected that -- this manga has been full of surprises.)
96. Invisible Kingdom, vol 2: Edge of Everything, Author: G. Willow Wilson, Artist: Christian Ward (Dark Horse Comics) Fascinating sf comic. I need to read volume 1.
97. Ghost-Spider vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over, Author: Seanan McGuire, Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa and Rosi Kämpe (Marvel) This was a lot of fun.
98. A&E #552
99. DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics) I fell hard for this.
100. Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams) Powerful, which isn't surprising. I'd read the original novel which was powerful on its own. I'm not sure what I expected the art to be, but that's not important. What's important is that the art does work well with the words.
101: Catherynne Valente: Comfort Me With Apples: Do not expect a comfort read here. It's very good, but never comfortable nor comforting.
101a: What Are Your Words? by Katherine Locke and Anne Passchier. Short enough I'm not calling it book for my purposes. Very sweet.
102. Steve Dempsey: Fearful Symmetries Ashcan. I got to playtest an earlier version of this, and I've got the itch to run a full campaign of it.
103. Naomi Novik: The Last Graduate. Sequel to A Deadly Education, amazing, ends on a cliffhanger. I have a theory or two and want to know if I'm right.
104. DIE, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics)
105. A&E #553
106. DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (reread)
I read Volume 2 originally for the Hugos and didn't read Volume 1 till after I voted. This is when I read Volume 1 and reread volume 2 to get it in context.
107. Book of the Smoke / Liber Fumo de Frater Vigilo by "Augustus Darcy" (probably Steve Dempsey or Paula Dempsey). This was the companion volume to Bookhounds of London for Trail of Cthulhu. I'm not sure whether I'd read it before now.
108. A. Deborah Baker/Seanan McGuire: Over the Woodward Wall (reread)
109. A. Deborah Baker/Seanan McGuire: Along the Saltwise Sea
These are works that were written in the universe in which Middlegame takes place. I have a Theory or two and am waiting impatiently for the third book. I am guessing there will be 4 or 5. I have a vague notion that Middlegame said there were 5.
107. DIE, Volume 3: The Great Game, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles
108. DIE, Volume 4: Bleed, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles
The rest of DIE. I love it and hope that the RPG will be expanded soon, especially as I trust Rowan, Rook and Decard.
109. Ryan North and Derek Charm: The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher. Adorable Johnny "Kid" Constantine graphic novel.
2022
1. Dorothy Dunnett: The Spring of the Ram. It's a Lot. It's a Dunnett novel. I hit a climax 50 pages from the end and, this not being my first Dunnett book, calculated that there'd be a few more plot twists to come. I was right. I am now catching my breath.
2. Arvind Ethan David, Eugenia Koumaki, Diana Greenhalgh, and Joana Lafuente: Gray, Volume 1. Inspired by Oscar Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
2021
1. Melusine, Sarah Monette
2. The Virtu, Sarah Monette
3. The Mirador, Sarah Monette
4. Corambis, Sarah Monette
These four make up the series The Doctrine of Labyrinths, and I pretty much started the first and didn't stop till I finished the last. (I mean, okay, I read some of the smaller stuff below between 3 and 4, but the point stands.) LOTS of content warnings, lots of character trauma (let me know if you want details). I'd read more set in this world, but suspect the author's moved on from it more or less for good.
5. A&E #542: The gaming apa I write for.
6. Quinn Murphy, Five Fires + three Fate of Cthulhu timelines (Necronomicon, Pandemic, Yig)
7. Barrow Keep: Den of Spies et alia. Also latest version of quickstart for Urban Shadows 2nd edition and Beak, Feather + Bone: A Map-Labeling RPG
6 and 7 are a bunch of smaller pieces for RPGs that I decided counted as roughly two novellas. Five Fires is a game about hip-hop culture and making art, and for any explanation beyond that, read the game, as the author explains things better than I could.
Fate of Cthulhu's kickstarter funded several future timelines, and three of these dropped. All are fascinating, and each takes the game in a completely different direction, which is as it should be.
Barrow Keep was described as season two of a show, and it also feels to me like coming in at volume 2 of a manga. Note that this is the opposite of a problem; there are at least two manga series I started with volume 2 on (and then went back and found volume 1) and suspect I enjoyed them more than if I'd started with volume 1.
8. YKRPG: Paris
9. YKRPG: The Wars
10. YKRPG: Aftermath
11. YKRPG: This Is Normal Now
(Technically, 12 and 11 are reversed.) The Yellow King Roleplaying Game is made up of four different arcs: Paris in the Belle Epoch, a war during 1947 that is a world war but not one that happened in our world, the USA after the fall of the Castaigne dynasty so set in the present but not our present, and the same time in something that's our world more or less -- or is it?
I have a better understanding of what Robin Laws is aiming for here, and it doesn't hurt that I've read his novel The Missing and the Lost, set in the world of Aftermath. I'm a little shakier on the system than I'd like, having discovered I completely misunderstood a key rule. On the other hand, the actual rule makes far more sense then the rule I thought existed. On the third tentacle, calibration is always tricky. But I'd not mind trying to run this.
It doesn't hurt that I got to play 3 out of 4 linked YK adventures at 2021 Online Gen Con, one in each setting except Paris, and I've played in 2 Paris adventures and run 2 at conventions.
12. A&E #543
13. Monstress #5, Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. The plot continues to thicken and the comic to enthrall. Awaiting #6 with baited breath.
14. Across the Green Grass Fields, Seanan McGuire. The latest Wayward Children book, stands alone quite well.
15. Rebecca Roanhorse, Storm of Locusts. The second half of the story that begun in Trail of Lightning. Solidly good, and if she wants to make an RPG based on these books, I am so there for that.
16. Seanan McGuire, Calculated Risks
16a. Seanan McGuire, Singing the Comic-Con Blues
The latest InCryptid book and novella. The novel is the second half of the story told in the previous book, and mostly wraps it, though leaves me with Questions.
17. K.J. Charles, The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting. m/m, comfort reading, historical, very much a K.J. Charles book, very much needed. Also has a really good example of a Social Conflict for folks wondering how those should work in RPGs with similar enough settings.
18. Cassandra Khaw, Hammers on Bone
18a. Cassandra Khaw, A Song for Quiet
These are short enough I'm considering them one item. Interesting take on Lovecraft's Mythos, and I'd definitely read more by her.
19. S. T. Gibson, A Dowry of Blood. Dracula as seen through the eyes of one of his brides. This is very much a story of people in an abusvie relationship, and Dracula is very much not a good person. Interesting take, well done, I'm glad I've read it, but didn't feel the need to keep hard copy.
20. A&E #544
21. T. Kingfisher, Clockwork Boys (Clocktaur War Book One)
22. T. Kingfisher, The Wonder Engine (Clocktaur War, Book Two)
Duology with intersting similarities to Digger (unsurprising, as T. Kingfisher = Ursula Vernon), as well as a lot of differences. The protagonists are human. Good snark and relationships.
23. Jay Dragon et alia, Sleepaway. RPG about sleepaway camp staff trying to protect the children from the monster they had to deal with at that same camp when they were children. I think I need to play this to get a feel for it.
24. Jamila R. Nedjadi (and one mystery by Darold Ross), Apocalypse Keys. Powered by the Apocalypse and inspired by Hellboy, among other sources. I bought an earlier version of this, and it's at least doubled, possibly quadrupled, in length. Got to playtest this and looking forward to its full release.
25. Maggie Stiefvater (author) and Morgan Beem (illustrator), Swamp Thing: Twin Branches. Fun read, though I'm not sure where or if this fits in to the larger chronology.
26. E. C. Myers (author) and Violet Tobacco (illustrator): RWBY: Tales of Remnant. Tales from the world of the show RWBY as collected by one of the characters (with others supplying some of the tales). There is one tale I wish had been in there, but understand why it wasn't -- the story of the Girl Who Fell Through the World.
27. Eden Royce, Root Magic. Solidly excellent. Looking forward to more by the same author.
28. Dorothy Dunnett, Niccolo Rising. If you bounced off Dunnett's Lymond books, the Niccolo books are definitely not for you. If you loved the Lymond books, they might or might not be for you. I wasn't sure which camp I'd fall into until I read this one. Apparently, I find the intricacies of fifteenth century dyeing and mercenary companies to be utterly fascinating when she's the one describing them. Lots of intrigue and melodrama, and I'm not entirely sure I understood all of what happened at the end, specifically the ostrich bit.
29. A&E #545
30. M. A. Carrick, The Mask of Mirrors. This is precisely the sort of book one should not read after reading a Dorothy Dunnett book (or at least, one of the Niccolo or Lymond books -- I don't know about the others as I've not read them). It's a very good book and the author is not trying to be Dunnett, but Carrick. Interesting world building, engaging plot and characters, and I definitely wanted the next in the series Right Now after finishing it.
31. Cerebos (2 drafts) + Dream Anew
More RPGs. Cerebos is wonderfully surreal, set aboard a train and at various stops along the way to the city of Cerebos and at the city itself. Each PC has a secret past which the PC may or may not know, but the player does not. Instead, one of the other players decide what it is, and everyone else gets to know as well. mneme says that this game could be used for something like the anime _Baccano!_
32. Naomi Novik: A Deadly Education. Magical school genre, except the school is the Scholomance and the death rate very high. Also, there are no teachers. I fell hard for this book.
33. Nnedi Okorofor: Binti: Sacred Fire + Rose Bailey: Bite Me
Put together as neither alone counts in my mind as a full book. The Okorofor story is the extra story added to the print copy of the full Binti trilogy, the only part I hadn't yet read. The Bailey looks at the RPG Vampire (I forget whether it's Masquerade or Requiem, but I think the latter) and has a lot of good advice.
34. Bethany C. Morrow: A Song Below Water. Good world building and good characters and the next book in that world is out and currently sitting on my shelves.
35. Cassandra Khaw: Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef. Good enough I made sure I had the others in the series.
36: Susanna Clarke: Piranesi. I can understand why one might bounce off this, but I found it delightful.
37. Maggie Stiefvater: Mister Impossible. The second in the Dreamer trilogy which follows the Raven quartet. Complicated and engaging. Completely unfair that one has to wait for the next book, but so it goes.
38. A&E #546
39. Andrea Hairston: Master of Poisons. I preferred the author's Will Do Magic for Small Change, which is purely a matter of taste. This book is doing something different.
40. A&E #547
41-55. Madoka Takadono, art by Utako Yukihiro: Devils and Realist 1-15. Manga series that blends history and theology in some interesting ways as the protagonist, a descendant of King Solomon, is importuned by various devils to throw his support behind one of the representatives of one of Hell's factions. Works better than it has any right to.
56. Aiden Thomas: Cemetery Boys: When I say that this was, in my biased opinion, the weakest of the entries in the Lodestar-Which-Is-Not-A-Hugo category, I am saying it was an incredibly amazing year for the field. I gobbled this down and loved it.
57. K. J. Charles: Subtle Blood: The final book in the author's latest m/m trilogy. Snark and murder, an excellent combination in books.
58. Shevta Thakrar: Star Daughter: Starts a little weak, as in specific phrases that made me wince, but keeps getting better as it goes. Dazzling fantasy.
59. T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon: A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. I'm boggled the author had so much trouble finding a publisher for this one. It's very much in the tradition of Diana Wynne Jones, and calls out one of the traditional YA tropes that we tend to accept without thinking.
60. Nghi Vo: The Empress of Salt and Fortune. A very subtle work, very good.
61. Caroline Stevermer: The Glass Magician. Lots of fun, not trying to be deep. Would definitely read more set in this world.
62. Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Mexican Gothic. Exactly what it says on the tin. Solidly good.
63. Anna-Marie McLemore: Dark and Deepest Red. I loved every word of this and am not entirely sure how the heck this book does what it does.
64. A&E #548
65. Shane Ivey: Jack Frost: Delta Green scenario, very well done. Full Disclosure: I did editing on this.
66. Jordan Ifueko: Raybearer: One of the most original books I read this year. Every time I thought I knew where it was going, either I was wrong or it got there ten times faster than I thought and said, "You thought the story would end there? Oh no -- there's more!"
67. CLAMP, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card #9: I devour these as fast as they come out.
68. Steven Brust: The Baron of Magister Valley: One of the Paarfi books, which means there's a lot of style to wallow in, and it is glorious. Also, two lines of dialogue had me suddenly sit up and realize just what story I was reading (and I do not mean The Count of Monte Cristo, which I'd known coming in).
69. A&E #549
70. Garth Nix: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London. Delightful, very much me-bait.
71. Alice Hoffman: Magic Lessons. This is very much Not-me-bait. Note that this says nothing about the quality of the book, just something about my tastes.
72: City of Mist: Player's Guide: I finally got to play a short campaign of City of Mist, so I read this. The GM said it's the bastard child of the Fate system and Powered by the Apocalypse games. This is correct, and I need to read the game master book next.
73. Lee Gold: Valhalla: Absent Without Leave: The author referred to this as a possibly heretical take on the Norse myths. It's fun and weird and unpredictable. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
74: Martha Wells: Rogue Protocol: The third murderbot novella.
75. N. K. Jemisin: The City We Became. Me-bait. A love letter to NYC.
76. Aviatrix's The Unanswered Question material. This is one Keeper's notes on running a very changed version of the Call of Cthulhu campaign Tatters of the King. There's almost two hundred pages of material here. (Okay, technically, I wrote one or two of the letters she used as handouts, as my PC from a different campaign showed up in one session of the campaign. But I think I'm well within my rights to call this the equivalent of a novel.)
77. Shaenon K. Garrity and Christopher Baldwin: The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor. Utterly delightful graphic novel having fun with gothic novel tropes.
78. Martha Wells: Exit Strategy: Fourth murderbot novella. I continue to enjoy these.
79. Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda: Monstress vol 6: The Vow: A couple of shoes drop and I'm ready for the next graphic novel in this series, please.
80. Cory Burns: Over Arms and also:
The Creeping Kudzu: A Monster -- Ruth Tillman
Heart of the Kudzu -- Ruth Tillman
Snake People: A Game of Anticipatory Grief -- Ruth Tillman
Heaven Has No Taste & Other True Statements -- Luke Jordan and Atlas Sellman
A Touch of Glamour -- Mahar Abrera Mangahas
Duet Society -- Hayley Gordon and Vee Hendro
Avalon Society -- Gene Astadan
Again, a bunch of small RPGs, including two hacks of Good Society.
81. Ash Kreider: Our Traveling Home: A structured RPG that reads like a queer Miyazaki film. I want to play this. I'm dubious I could do a one-shot, but a two-shot should be possible.
82. Melissa de la Cruz and Thomas Pitilli: Gotham High. Bruce Wayne winds up in a new high school and meets fellow students Selina Kyle and Jack Napier.
83. Everina Maxwell: Winter Orbit. M/M sf romance. Did what I figured it would do, and I enjoyed it. I'm hoping for a sequel.
84. Tracy Deonn: Legendborn. Me-bait. Did I mention I did my Ph. D. on modern Arthuriana? Definitely me-bait.
85. Darcy Little Badger: Elatsoe. Very good. Seems like a fairly cozy fantasy at first, and gradually gets stranger. Also, I'm a sucker for protagonists who go to their parents with the weird stuff and get strong support for it.
86. Punk Mambo (1-5, 0). Included as an extra with a kickstarter I backed. I enjoyed it.
87. A&E #550
88. A&E #551
89. Tochi Onyebuch: Riot Baby. Definitely outside my comfort zone, which is in itself a good reason to read it.
90. Nino Cipri: Finna. Hadn't expected to enjoy this one so much. Looking forward to the sequel.
91. Sarah Gailey: Upright Women Wanted. Another one that exceeded expectations.
92. Aviatrix's Post-Modern Masks of Nyarlathotep Material. Keeper write ups of a remixed Call of Cthulhu campaign. Okay, technically a reread. Following how she changed things taught me a lot.
93. Once & Future vol. 1: The King Is Undead, written by Kieron Gillen, iIllustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, lettered by Ed Dukeshire (BOOM! Studios) Definitely me-bait. I'm going to want to read the rest of this.
94. CLAMP: Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card #10. Ends in a way that implies certain story gears are moving. I want the next one.
95. Yana Toboso: Black Butler #30. Has back story of one of the supporting characters which didn't go where I would have expected. (I should probably have expected that -- this manga has been full of surprises.)
96. Invisible Kingdom, vol 2: Edge of Everything, Author: G. Willow Wilson, Artist: Christian Ward (Dark Horse Comics) Fascinating sf comic. I need to read volume 1.
97. Ghost-Spider vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over, Author: Seanan McGuire, Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa and Rosi Kämpe (Marvel) This was a lot of fun.
98. A&E #552
99. DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics) I fell hard for this.
100. Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams) Powerful, which isn't surprising. I'd read the original novel which was powerful on its own. I'm not sure what I expected the art to be, but that's not important. What's important is that the art does work well with the words.
101: Catherynne Valente: Comfort Me With Apples: Do not expect a comfort read here. It's very good, but never comfortable nor comforting.
101a: What Are Your Words? by Katherine Locke and Anne Passchier. Short enough I'm not calling it book for my purposes. Very sweet.
102. Steve Dempsey: Fearful Symmetries Ashcan. I got to playtest an earlier version of this, and I've got the itch to run a full campaign of it.
103. Naomi Novik: The Last Graduate. Sequel to A Deadly Education, amazing, ends on a cliffhanger. I have a theory or two and want to know if I'm right.
104. DIE, Volume 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics)
105. A&E #553
106. DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (reread)
I read Volume 2 originally for the Hugos and didn't read Volume 1 till after I voted. This is when I read Volume 1 and reread volume 2 to get it in context.
107. Book of the Smoke / Liber Fumo de Frater Vigilo by "Augustus Darcy" (probably Steve Dempsey or Paula Dempsey). This was the companion volume to Bookhounds of London for Trail of Cthulhu. I'm not sure whether I'd read it before now.
108. A. Deborah Baker/Seanan McGuire: Over the Woodward Wall (reread)
109. A. Deborah Baker/Seanan McGuire: Along the Saltwise Sea
These are works that were written in the universe in which Middlegame takes place. I have a Theory or two and am waiting impatiently for the third book. I am guessing there will be 4 or 5. I have a vague notion that Middlegame said there were 5.
107. DIE, Volume 3: The Great Game, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles
108. DIE, Volume 4: Bleed, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles
The rest of DIE. I love it and hope that the RPG will be expanded soon, especially as I trust Rowan, Rook and Decard.
109. Ryan North and Derek Charm: The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher. Adorable Johnny "Kid" Constantine graphic novel.
2022
1. Dorothy Dunnett: The Spring of the Ram. It's a Lot. It's a Dunnett novel. I hit a climax 50 pages from the end and, this not being my first Dunnett book, calculated that there'd be a few more plot twists to come. I was right. I am now catching my breath.
2. Arvind Ethan David, Eugenia Koumaki, Diana Greenhalgh, and Joana Lafuente: Gray, Volume 1. Inspired by Oscar Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.