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may reading roundup

may reading roundup

The Grace of KingsI’d heard a lot of buzz about Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings, so I was eager to dive into the first book of this Chinese-history-inspired “silkpunk” epic.

This book was well-paced; for a big book, it went fast and didn’t get bogged down in the middle. I also appreciated the focus on minor characters from time to time. Even if they disappeared within a few chapters, Liu used them to good effect in showing the scope of the rebellion and its disruptive effects.

On the flip side, it was hard to get attached to any character, including the three major ones. Plus, the ending strongly hinted at a type of inter-family conflict in future books that doesn’t appeal to me. I’d look at a sequel, but it wouldn’t automatically go on my Must Read list.

RingworldYes, I confess I’d never read Larry Niven’s Ringworld until last month. I vaguely knew that the Ringworld was an engineered mega-structure which completely ringed its sun, but actually exploring it in this book was enormously satisfying. Might be a theme for the month, but again I found myself caring a lot more about the worldbuilding than about the characters.

The Three-Body ProblemThe Three-Body Problem, a translated work by Chinese SF writer Liu Cixin is one of the Hugo nominees for Best Novel. I found it absolutely gripping. Would read the sequel in a heartbeat.

Tom's Midnight GardenMiss M. is reading this classic British children’s time travel fantasy, so I decided to hop on board this particular train. A very nostalgic book for me, down to the perfectly bittersweet ending, which reminded me of similar works in the genre that I read as a child.

Aside from these, I read through the Hugo nominees for Best Novella and Best Short Story categories.

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