Some more reading, lately. The Tomb of Dragons, 3rd entry of Katherine Addison’s fantasy/crime/steampunk novel series about the exploits of Thara Celehar, a Witness for the Dead, as he goes about fulfilling minor and major petitions from kin of the recently deceased. What I like about the books is how down to earth the setting is, despite all the fantastic elements. Thara’s routine is full of mundane things, contrasting nicely with the more drastic and dramatic elements and giving off a cozy vibe altogether.
Lyneham, the new Nils Westerboer. A very atmospheric SciFi novel told (mostly) from the perspective of a 12 year old colonist. He arrives on a new planet, together with his father, two siblings and other fugitives, 12000 years after Earth became uninhabitable. The book is wonderfully written and gripping from first page to last, with the oppressive and hostile environment evoking just the right amount of dread, all the while family mysteries and the nefarious plans of the powers that be are being slowly revealed.
Empress of Forever, by Max Gladstone. I think that had so much potential, and it was off to a good start, too, but did not follow through with its USP: Vivian Liao, entrepreneur extraordinaire, is whisked away into a Galaxy-spanning space adventure, where she approaches situations as if she still sat in a board meeting, vocabulary and all. That’s quite hilarious and kinda does for SciFi what the Craft Sequence with its investment bankers does for Fantasy, but the story lacks a bit of originality, the rag-tag crew of companions all remain a bid bland and in Vivian’s shadow, and so the overall result is okay, but not brilliant, unfortunately. YMMV.