Just finished Babylon's Ashes. I found it thematically eerily timely. Maybe it isn't eerie at all, that's just the zeitgeist, but I had to pause and not quite put it in the freezer but just kind of sit with it for a while a few times.
'Sleeper'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
I recently finished this. I began reading it under the impression it was historical fiction about Dracula's daughter (no vampires, just political intrigue and the occasional assassination attempt) but it turns out the author wrote it as if the daughter grows up to be the Dracula we know and love. It was interesting ... not great, but how often do you read historical fiction set in the 15th Century Ottoman Empire?
I had a seventh-grade girl ask me today for what I'd recommend next since she just read and loved Where'd You Go, Bernadette, and figured I'd ask if anyone here has any suggestions. Anything come to mind? She's a pretty advanced reader and can obviously handle adult books, but I don't know that she's necessarily looking for mature content; she said what she liked best was the humor, the strong characterizations, and the adventure aspect.
Jennifer Crusie?
Maybe Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Boys books? They're not outright comedy, but there is a lot of humor, there's a wonderful adventure/quest, and great, vivid characterizations.
For anyone looking for decent escapist fantasy, I just finished the Queen of the Tearling trilogy by Erika Johansen and really enjoyed it. I'm in for the next book when it comes out. Not at all what I'd expected it to be.
The GroVant books -- Tim Sandlin.
Good suggestions, thanks! Kat, I'm not familiar with those books. What are they about?
I just read the first of the Tearling books. I liked it, despite feeling that it's a bit rote: young woman raised in isolation becomes Queen of her fractious country the day she turns 19, and has to learn to govern despite the threat of revolt and invasion.
It has some predictable bits (like the very annoying way she falls for the very first interesting youngish-man she meets ) but I thought the world-building was interesting and the characters fairly engaging. And I don't entirely know where it's going to go.
Yep, that was about my feeling as well, Consuela. I've been on nothing but fantasy, sci-fi and historical romance this year for pleasure reading (escapist much?), so it worked for me for the mood I was in.
Also, that post earlier led me to admit to myself that I hadn't updated my Goodreads since April. There went my last 90 minutes...