I didn't know there were authorized continuations of Agatha Christie! I don't know how to feel about that.

I don't really see the point of authorized continuations of Agatha Christie.

Well, beloved characters.

I read the first Poirot one, and I literally can't remember if I finished it. Do not recommend.

I didn't really like the one Sophie Hannah book I tried, Little Face.

I'm reading Kate Atkinson's fourth Jackson Brodie book now, and I heard she's finally coming out with a new one this year (or next year?). I also have to get her latest non-Brodie book, Transcription.

I didn't know there were authorized continuations of Agatha Christie!

Me neither.

I don't know how to feel about that.

Me neither.

There are authorized continuations of Dorothy Sayers's Peter Whimsey novels (whose work I like a lot more than Christie's—feel free to come at me full muffuletta about it). One of them, Thones, Dominions, was created from a novel that Sayers had started. Jill Patton Walsh finished it. While I felt like I could see the seams between the two author's work, I felt the final novel was worth reading. And I was glad to spend a little more time with Lord and Lady Peter. Walsh has since published three more novels in Sayer's Whimsey-verse. I didn't read the last two, but that's more because I was distracted by something shiny than that Walsh sucks. She's not Sayers, but she does a solid job.

I read The Goblin Emperor and Consider Phlebas on the strength of awesome Yuletide fics based on them. I loved The Goblin Emperor so, so much I promptly re-read and then re-re-read it. I've given up on Consider Phlebas about halfway through and went back to the Imperial Radch series to get my sentient-ship fix.

I just finished Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief and loved it so much! Why did I wait so long to read these books? I'm super excited to have five more books in this series to enjoy.

It was an interesting experience reading it, since I knew there was some sort of big twist at the end regarding Gen's identity, but I didn't know what it was. So I'd be reading along, knowing that I should be looking for clues, but not knowing what they would be about. I came up with a lot of possibilities! Among others, I considered that Gen might be: the son of a king or queen; the son of a god; a god himself; secretly in league with the magus; or a woman.

In the end, it turns out that the series title (The Queen's Thief) rather spoiled the first part of the reveal (though I suppose I didn't know for sure *which* queen), but I actually didn't see the second part coming: that he had stolen Hamiathes's Gift from the magus, hidden it in his hair, and was planning all along to bring it to his queen. I knew he'd gotten himself put into prison as part of a bigger scheme, but didn't really put it all together on my own. On the one hand, I feel like I should have figured it out sooner, but on the other hand, it was such an enjoyable reading experience that I really don't mind.

Looking forward to The Queen of Attolia already!

Oh, The Goblin Emperor was so good!

And The Thief! The series just gets better and better. I think there's a new one coming out this year? Or is that wishful thinking?

It got bumped to 2020. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.