2020 in Books

[xenith]

The Empire of Gold, S.A. Chakraborty

This the third in the trilogy. I read the first one City of Brass in 2018, and while I liked it, I wasn't sure I'd pick up the second because the direction it seemed to be going in didn't grab me. Obviously I did read it, and liked it very much. It seemed to backtrack from the direction suggested at the end of Book 1, as if the author had other plans, which suited me. I though the story was better structured (basically building up at a decent pace to the dramatic events at the end) and because I was familiar with the world, I could pay attention to the details, the characters and their individual arcs. One of the main characters felt off, like a piece being moved around the board. The end was a cliff-hanger but wrapped up enough of the storyline that it actually felt satisfying. Satisfying with a promise of better to come.

So Book 3, and again, it didn't seem to live up to the promise. The first half was a bit slow. OK I have an aversion to travelling in books. It feels like the story is on hold until they get to the end of the journey. It's a bit irrational. I mean, there's no reason why story events can't happen when characters are on the road (or in this case, on the river). Maybe it's because the final events won't happen until they reach their destination? Or there's a lot of time spent looking at the passing countryside? Anyway, characters are travelling and it feels very slow. Then things start happening quickly and everything blows up, and the second half is much better. Everything gets wrapped up in a satisfying way and all is good. Mostly. I mean, there's a (different) main character who feels more like a piece being pushed around a board and supporting character who is important in the earlier books but seems to get pushed aside, and these things make me sad, but look, I read them, I liked them, I might get them and read them again to pick up what I missed the first time. If you're looking for rich fantasy novels that aren't psuedo-Medieval, this is a good threesome to read.





Silver in the Wood, Emily Tesh

This is very much a fairytale/folklore sort of story. I don't care for fairytale/folklore sort of stories. I loved this one.


It's a novella, but that's OK because the writing is deep and rich and if it was any longer, it might be too much.

(That cover is a bit off-putting. I don't think it's the one I read but I can't find any others.)

Drowned Country, Emily Tesh

If you read Silver in the Wood and wished there was some more story with the characters, then this is it. On its own, it might be a bit disappointing but as a follow-up to the other book, it works very well.




Inside Job, Connie Willis

Another novella. It's short and fast. The plot isn't very deep and neither are the characters. It's basically a story wrapped around an idea. But it does what's required of it quite adequately.