A unique and well written revenge-ish story of a very unique life. Dealing with crushing sadness and how life is lived when you feel you have nothing to lose. Though the book is more heist-y than sad.
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aka @kingrat@sfba.social. I'm following a lot of bookwyrm accounts, since that seems to be the only way to get reviews from larger servers to this small server. Also, I will like & boost a lot of reviews that come across my feed. I will follow most bookwyrm accounts back if they review & comment. Social reading should be social.
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Phil in SF's books
2025 Reading Goal
64% complete! Phil in SF has read 18 of 28 books.
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bigethan reviewed The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

bigethan reviewed The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

bluestocking reviewed The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (The First Law, #1)
boy fantasy, all grown up
4 stars
starting this immediately after Jitterbug Perfume gave me such tonal whiplash and my reaction within the first couple pages was “oh, this is Boy Fantasy.” I’ve read a lot of Boy Fantasy in my time, and it’s not a bad thing—just not something I would generally seek out myself. I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would in those first couple pages (and straight up just enjoying it, period), and I’m curious enough about where this series goes to have added the next book to my TBR.
Phil in SF started reading Trouble in Queenstown by Delia Pitts (The Vandy Myrick Mysteries, #1)

Trouble in Queenstown by Delia Pitts (The Vandy Myrick Mysteries, #1)
With Trouble in Queenstown, Delia Pitts introduces private investigator Vandy Myrick in a powerful mystery that blends grief, class, race, …
Phil in SF commented on The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
Phil in SF reviewed Chenneville by Paulette Jiles
Excellent Western
5 stars
John Chenneville wakes up in a Union Army field hospital after being unconscious for months due to a serious head wound. He returns home only to find out his sister has been murdered while he was a soldier. The murderer appears to be a local deputy, so the sheriff doesn't seem inclined to do anything about it. John swears revenge, and thus begins a multi-state chase via foot, horseback, and boat. Along the way John meets a young female telegrapher but he is resolute on revenge instead of love.
The story is made by lots and lots of details about life on the post Civil War road that illustrate both his personality and what life was (presumably) like for an unattached veteran at the time. Additionally, the narration by Grover Gardner has just the right amount of gravelly old gentleman in it for the story.
Phil in SF finished reading Chenneville by Paulette Jiles

Chenneville by Paulette Jiles
Consumed with grief, driven by vengeance, a man undertakes an unrelenting odyssey across the lawless post–Civil War frontier seeking redemption …
The peak year for the number of collieries in South Wales was 1910, when there were 688.
— A History of the Railroad in 100 Maps by Jeremy Black (Page 122)
new vocabulary: colliery
a coal mine and the buildings and equipment associated with it.
Phil in SF commented on A History of the Railroad in 100 Maps by Jeremy Black

KnitAFett reviewed Neon Gods by Katee Robert (Dark Olympus, #1)
Not much of a retelling.
2 stars
So this was overall enjoyable, but if you're thinking of reading it due to being touted as a "retelling" of Greek myths with some spice sprinkled through, just skip it. The names and the places are the only part that really have to do with Greek mythology. This could have easily just been skinned over with a different world and felt the same. Even the power struggles are pretty minute. Definitely over-hyped, but I've read worse. I'll be continuing with some of the books just to see how they measure up.

enne📚 reviewed The marrow thieves by Cherie Dimaline
The Marrow Thieves
3 stars
This book is off the #SFFBookClub backlog, and I saw it mentioned on Imperfect Speculation (a blog about disability in speculative fiction).
The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic near future world where most people have lost the ability to dream, and the only "cure" is through the exploitation of bone marrow from indigenous people who still can. The book follows Frenchie, a Métis boy who has lost everybody he cares about and travels with a found family trying to find safety and community. The metaphor here resonates directly with the horrors of Canada past, as armed "recruiters" capture anybody who looks indigenous to send them off to "schools" to extract their bone marrow.
I know this is a YA novel, but I wish some of the characters and the protagonist Frenchie had more depth. Maybe this would land better for somebody else, but I also don't have any room …
This book is off the #SFFBookClub backlog, and I saw it mentioned on Imperfect Speculation (a blog about disability in speculative fiction).
The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic near future world where most people have lost the ability to dream, and the only "cure" is through the exploitation of bone marrow from indigenous people who still can. The book follows Frenchie, a Métis boy who has lost everybody he cares about and travels with a found family trying to find safety and community. The metaphor here resonates directly with the horrors of Canada past, as armed "recruiters" capture anybody who looks indigenous to send them off to "schools" to extract their bone marrow.
I know this is a YA novel, but I wish some of the characters and the protagonist Frenchie had more depth. Maybe this would land better for somebody else, but I also don't have any room in my heart for jealousy subplots, and the one here did not create any extra characterization that could have made it interesting.
Even if some of the plot points felt a bit weak and unearned, the book still ended in a very emotionally resonant way that worked for me.

enne📚 reviewed Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (Iron Widow, #2)
Heavenly Tyrant
4 stars
Overall feelings: the ideas were fun, the middle felt like it dragged on, and the politics often felt heavy handed
The part of this book that I enjoyed the most and felt like was the strongest was all of the interpersonal dynamics. The first book ends with waking up the legendary emperor Qin Zheng, who in this book takes control immediately. The triangle dynamics of Zetian, Shimin, and Yizhi from the first book are broken up, with Shimin hostaged, Yizhi becoming Qin Zheng's advisor, and Zetian becoming Qing Zheng's wife. There's a lot of good tension between the fact that Qin Zheng is an authoritarian tyrant that rules with violence, but also establishes some policies that try to address inequalities from the previous regime. Zetian loathes his controlling nature, but also finds that he listens and can be extremely reasonable when given policy advice. And, all in the background, the …
Overall feelings: the ideas were fun, the middle felt like it dragged on, and the politics often felt heavy handed
The part of this book that I enjoyed the most and felt like was the strongest was all of the interpersonal dynamics. The first book ends with waking up the legendary emperor Qin Zheng, who in this book takes control immediately. The triangle dynamics of Zetian, Shimin, and Yizhi from the first book are broken up, with Shimin hostaged, Yizhi becoming Qin Zheng's advisor, and Zetian becoming Qing Zheng's wife. There's a lot of good tension between the fact that Qin Zheng is an authoritarian tyrant that rules with violence, but also establishes some policies that try to address inequalities from the previous regime. Zetian loathes his controlling nature, but also finds that he listens and can be extremely reasonable when given policy advice. And, all in the background, the gods are manipulating everybody and everybody is trying to deceive each other and the gods. It adds up to a nuanced dynamic that was really intriguing to me.
Another thing I liked is that the ending of this book (like the ending of the first) is a great escalation. The first book ended with "oh wow, you're just going to reveal for free that [major spoiler]". The ending to this book likewise breaks up established dynamics, creates additional tensions, and remixes and stirs up interpersonal conflicts.
That said, I do think that it just took a while to get to this ending. The politics felt didactic and heavy handed to me, and the overall plot was much slower than the first book.
Phil in SF started reading The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters
Phil in SF reviewed Preparations by Mark Mills
Zombies get him anyway
2 stars
Content warning Spoils a punch-line that's not good enough to really worry about spoiling but nevertheless here we are
Small bite-sized that's barely a short story. Ronald Turner has thought through all the zombie scenarios and thinks he prepared for all of them, but they get him anyway. All to set up a a bit about zombies without teeth that's not really funny.