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From: Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com>
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Subject: Highlights and Lowlights - April 2024
Date: Wed, 1 May 2024 16:39:48 -0400
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Highlights and Lowlights - April 2024

Books are listed in reverse chronological order from how I read them,
using a very primitive rating system:
“+” are good, and more “+” are better
“-“ are not good, and more “-“ are worse

I’m happy to answer questions about anything on the list.

Highlight -  Lyorn - Brust [Vlad Taltos #17]

Lowlight -  Balanced on the Blade’s Edge - Buroker [Dragon Blood #1]

Here’s a quick summary of what’s more in-depth below:
( ++ - ) Polar City Blues - Kerr
( +++ ) Med Ship - Leinster [collection]
( ++ - ) Chimera’s Star - Stewart [Starship’s Mage #14]
( + - - ) Balanced on the Blade’s Edge - Buroker [Dragon Blood #1]
( +++ 1/2 ) Lyorn - Brust [Dragaera/Vlad Taltos #17]
( +++ - ) Earth Abides - George R Stewart
( ++ 1/2 ) Cast in Honor - Sagara [Elantra #11]
( ++ ) The Blue Sword - McKinley (re-read)
( ++ 1/2 ) The Hero and the Crown - McKinley


Now Reading:
Long work - Accepting the Lance - Lee & Miller [Liaden #22]
Collection - The Best of L Sprague De Camp

===========================================
April 2024
( ++ - ) Polar City Blues - Kerr
I think I liked this more than I should have, but it was still just 
okay. Hagar is one of two human colony planets, and it is too hot for 
human habitation except at the poles. Bobbie Lacey is an ex-space 
military officer who was forced out for administrative reasons, even 
though she did the right/best thing in a tough situation. She’s now 
making her way in Polar City as an information broker, and she gets 
pulled into helping a murder investigation.  There are three major 
races/species where humans rate a poor third; and Polar City is an … 
extremely ethically challenged city (crime, bribes, crime, drugs, crime, 
espionage, crime…) The investigation blows up into something much 
bigger, and not just because the murderer has decided to kill everybody 
who was a witness, or who talked to a witness, or who knows that witness 
starts with a “w”, or ….  Kerr squeezes a ton of ideas into this book: 
there are psychics/empaths/telepaths, AI, baseball, etc.  Some of these 
ideas work, and some of them don’t. James has reviewed this book, with 
far more depth and info and details, if you want to know more.

( +++ ) Med Ship - Leinster [collection]
This is the first of three Leinster collections put out by Baen, the 
other two being Planets of Adventure, and A Logic Named Joe. I will be 
reading the others, as this one was excellent, and I enjoy Leinster in 
general. Calhoun and his animal(?) companion Murgatroyd take Med Service 
missions in 8 different long-ish stories here (600+ pages). Very well 
done. A few of the earliest stories are slightly weaker, but it’s a very 
enjoyable collection. As these are episodic and independent stories, I 
am not at all sure how the editors (Flint and Gordon) chose the order of 
the stories. (It’s not chronological by publication.)

( ++ - ) Chimera’s Star - Stewart [Starship’s Mage #14]
This was fine, and in line with its predecessors, but I’m concerned the 
series is about to jump the shark. This one featured the crazy-ass 
over-the-top nemesis as the p.o.v. character way too much (well over 
half the book); Roslyn is starting to show signs of becoming Wesley 
Crusher; and we’re getting farther and farther away from Damien, and 
Mars, and what I enjoyed about this series initially. I’ll read the next 
one, but I’m concerned.

( + - - ) Balanced on the Blade’s Edge - Buroker [Dragon Blood #1]
Oh dear. This was so So SO not my thing. I strongly suspect it was 
competently done, played fair with the conventions of the genre, etc, 
but…oh my, not my thing. To me, this basically read like a bodice-ripper 
romance with steampunk and fantasy trappings. I don’t think I could be 
more ignorant of the modern state of the romance genre, because I avoid 
it like it has pernicious cooties. (Yes, cooties I tell you - and 
pernicious ones, at that.) This one features The Last Sorceress Alive 
and a rogue-ish pilot, who of course experience insta-love/insta-lust 
for each other while fighting a war at a mining prison. Sure. The 
sorceress is the only character not made of flimsy cardboard, but again, 
I suspect this is fair within a genre I’m supremely ignorant of. For a 
long time, I had been pondering what to try by Buroker, and I picked up 
two series starters. I will read the other one soon, but … now I’m nervous.

( +++ 1/2 )Lyorn - Brust [Dragaera/Vlad Taltos #17]
This was super enjoyable. It picks up directly after Hawk, and while 
Vlad has indeed gotten the Right Hand of the Jhereg off his back, the 
Left Hand is pursuing his demise with great vigor - or at least a 
specific faction within the Left Hand is. Since the Left Hand is 
particularly lethal with magic, Vlad hides out in a theater, because 
theaters tend to have very strong magical protections. (Who knew? Not 
Vlad - one of his friends clues him in.) As he hides, he also gets 
caught up in the musical being produced there, including the people and 
the culture, and the problems they hope he can solve while he’s solving 
his own. While Vlad survives (of course), there are clearly bigger 
things ahead. Many places say there are exactly two books left in this 
series, currently named Chreotha (I believe this is the
last/only House that is not a book title yet) and The Final Contract.

( +++ - ) Earth Abides - George R Stewart
An interesting, thoughtful, and occasionally over-ponderous examination 
of a pandemic wiping out well over 99% of the 1949 U.S. population. 
Stewart clearly thought about the short- and long-term consequences of a 
vast, abrupt depopulation event. Ish is the protagonist, and we pretty 
much linearly follow his life through many generations and old age. Kind 
of drags in a few places, but overall it is pretty darn good.

( ++ 1/2 ) Cast in Honor - Sagara [Elantra #11]
Whodathunkit? Kaylin and Co deal with another existential threat to 
Elantra. This one tangles up the mirror network, elemental water, time 
displacement, and a 10 yr old orphan. Sagara does this well, and if you 
liked the first 10, you’ll like this one. I am mildly concerned that 
these will get a bit same-y, but so far they haven’t. You know that 
scene in the Avengers where Hulk & Thor are standing next to each other 
after beating up some bad guys, and Hulk punches Thor out of nowhere, 
just because? I want that to happen to Mandoran. Every time he appears 
in a scene. And — not that this has been hidden or anything — we’re 
getting glimpses that Nightshade is probably a bigger jerk than we 
already think he is.

( ++ ) The Blue Sword - McKinley (re-read)
As I was reading The Hero and the Crown (next entry below), I realized I 
remembered very little of The Blue Sword; so I figured it was safe for a 
re-read. And the more I read The Blue Sword, the more I realized I had 
forgotten every single thing about it. At no point did any of this feel 
familiar, but my notes say I read it just under ten years ago. Anyhow, 
this one focuses on recently orphaned Outlander “Harry” Crewe (we learn 
later that her given name is Angharad) who is sent to the remote desert 
land of Damar to be with her brother. Shortly after arriving, she gets 
kidnapped by the Hillfolk of Damar, only to find she takes to the hills 
like a true native, and she may be one of the very few to be strong in 
Hill magic. Harry is a fine character, and the Hillfolk are a very 
interesting people.

( ++ 1/2 ) The Hero and the Crown - McKinley
Good! This is a prequel to The Blue Sword, and it tells the tale of how 
Aerin received the Blue Sword (Gonturan) and saved her beloved country 
Damar from certain doom. I’m typically a “read in publication order” 
person, but I do recommend reading this one before you read  The Blue 
Sword.  Aerin is an interesting character (in good ways), and my only 
disappointment here was because I am occasionally a petty reader who 
wanted to see two characters get their comeuppance - and McKinley had 
more class than to do that here.

Now Reading:
Long work - Accepting the Lance - Lee & Miller [Liaden #22]
Collection - The Best of L Sprague De Camp

Tony