April was a quieter month. Though, in the middle, I did visit New York City to get some day job work done and took most of a needed break from writing. And because of a weird funk, it took me a while to read non-audiobooks. With May’s aggressive travel, maybe time for reading physical copies will be easier to come by.

Finished in April

A Memory Called Empire

What I Learned: Capturing Cultural Loneliness

Read the eARC I received from Tor and Netgalley. Came out in March 2019. One of the most compelling parts of this space opera full of intrigue was the way Martine captured that feeling of not quite understanding a culture although knowing everything about it. Mahit had such intrinsic loneliness, and I found it so relatable.

Read Cover-to-Cover in April

Sawkill Girls

What I Learned: Gray Morality

The girls in this book were so well-rounded. They had their own motivations and character arcs. Even the one which started as clearly the villain. My heart hurt so much for her, and it was unlike any book I had ever read.

Audiobooks

Children of Blood and Bone

What I Learned: Managing Three POVs

Though the three characters spend most of the time in the same locations, Adeyemi makes deft work of differentiation their different perspectives. For a book that’s so long with so much action and world-building, it was impressive to keep these chapters so discrete.

Gingerbread

What I Learned: Grounding

This book felt too abstract for me. I think what happened was that the plot was not grounded enough in relatable forms of storytelling to really be effective. I couldn’t really tell you what happened here, because everything had to be punctuated with some piece of a gingerbread recipe.

Lifel1k3

What I Learned: Fun Characters

If Borderlands needed a comp title, this would be it. I loved the characters here. They had such quick, quippy personalities that were easy to latch onto. The friendship between Lem and Eve was so well-done and I hope they make it out of this series okay.

The Luminous Dead

What I Learned: Claustrophobic Terror

Two characters talking via radio in a cave. What could go wrong? So much, apparently! Between the bodies, the secrets, and the struggle to survive, it was so easy to get scared and lost in the depths.

Annihilation

What I Learned: Minimalist Terror

Nameless main characters and a struggle against an evolving, once-familiar, now alien world. The way Vandermeer chooses to withhold certain details and meandering through a dreamlike landscape of shifting nightmares. Expertly woven together.

Heroine

What I Learned: Empathy

The reason why this book resonated so hard with me is because of how empathetic it was. McGinnis manged to strike a balance by not romanticizing the drug abuse but also not vilifying the users. Such a powerful read, but proceed with caution.

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May means Nebulas and flying and that means so much reading.

Happy reading,
Jo