(no subject)

[seekingferret]

It looks like this year is shaping up to be one of those years where I'll have read enough new SF novels to have opinions about Hugo nominations. My current rankings of 2024 novels:

1. The Book of Love by Kelly Link
2. The Bright Sword ◇ by Lev Grossman
3. Lady Eve's Last Con * by Rebecca Fraimow
4. The Familiar ◇ by Leigh Bardugo
5. Magical Meet Cute ◇ by Jean Meltzer
6. The Bezzle ◇ by Cory Doctorow


* Jews dance in this novel
◇ Seriously, why don't Jews dance in this novel ?!?

I may write up some of these in more detail, ask if you're curious about any in particular.

Comments

[dirty_diana]

Lady Eve's Last Con is on my hold list - what did you think? I've heard recs but actually have no idea what to expect lol.

[seekingferret]

It's a totally delightful romp, so much fun. Lesbian con artist in space.

[starlady]

I should read Lady Eve, huh.

I liked the Bardugo but I felt like the setting was undersketched, somehow? I don't know, lots of details but I felt like the overall feeling of Madrid wasn't as vivid as some of the settings in the Grisha books.

[seekingferret]

Yeah, chestnut_pod said similar about The Familiar. I'm not quite sure I agree- at the minimum, as someone who has written fic set in Madrid in roughly the same period, and did what felt like a reasonable amount of research, Bardugo has clearly done a shit ton more research than I did about the setting. But maybe the tension between making the story a really interior, paranoid thriller and doing worldbuilding work ended up forcing Bardugo to sacrifice the setting to some extent? I found it pretty immersive, though.

Overall I liked it a lot, but for sure not as much as I liked Ninth House/Hell Bent. And I think I should read some Grishaverse books.

[starlady]

She definitely did a ton of research and it shows in the details! And I also found it very immersive, just more in Luzia's inner world than in Madrid per se.

I really love the Grishaverse, but I would probably recommend starting with the Six of Crows duology and then skipping back to the first trilogy (this is what I did). The Shadow & Bone books are more conventional YA, particularly in the first one, and while I enjoyed them a lot I feel like they start out in a fairly standard place (before going some very unconventional places in books 2 and 3). Otoh this would mean you would be spoiled about some fairly big reveals.

Definitely agree that Ninth House and Hell Bent are pretty much her strongest books. I think Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom might still be my overall favorites...it's very hard to decide. Apparently she's working on a horror novel next? I'm also hoping that the Six of Crows tenth anniversary next year will move her back into a headspace to write Six of Crows 3, lol.