The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch

I said in my very brief review of “Aboard the RMS Antiqua” that I found Berrycloth-Young to be overly verbose. He definitely is, but it actually helps roll this story right along. The rhythm of his writing (speaking from a Watsonian viewpoint) is almost hypnotic. I like it a lot. I actually like Gussie a lot, too.

I quite enjoyed The Masquerades of Spring. It was a fun romp with some historically realistic touches which were, at times, a bit hard to read. Such as it is with our own history, not colored by magic. I didn’t enjoy reading about the racism and homophobia, but I appreciated their inclusion instead of them being glossed over like it never happened.

It was neat seeing Nightingale in a completely different context to his “future” appearance in The Rivers of London. Younger versions of characters are often fun to see and get to know. Having him at the helm of this investigation made me almost feel sorry for Gussie, what with the go-go-go attitude about the whole thing.

Despite the running around that happens here, I found The Masquerades of Spring fairly cozy. Big enough stakes without being too big. Plus seeing some of how things work on my side of the pond was a treat, even if it was actually a very small amount.

I feel like The Masquerades of Spring might be a good jumping on point for the series, but not at the same time. The tones between it and The Rivers of London don’t quite match up. But then, Gussie and Grant are just two completely different characters and the time-frames are so different… not to mention the lack of gore here. I also realize I’m reading the Rivers of London in a slightly odd order so… there’s that. Anyway… The Masquerades of Spring was fun. I definitely recommend giving it a read. 

2025 In Books

So basically the only rule for this list is that I had to read or finish the books in 2025. Everything else is my opinion. Of course, if you're interested in my deeper thoughts on these books, check out my reviews.

Number of times I smashed my Reading Goal: 1 time

Number of Books Read: 71 read, bringing my lifetime total to 1,148 books

Number of Pages: 26,648

Shortest Book: Aboard the RMS Aquitania by Ben Aaronovitch - 5 pages, barely a short story

Longest Book: The Shapeshifters by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes - 968 pages

Average Book Length: 375 Pages

Favorite New Read: A House Between Sea and Sky by Beth Cato - Really interesting, mostly cozy fantasy.

Favorite Reread: The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey - The copy I have is an anthology of the first 3 books in the overall Pern series, which I just adore.

Favorite Non-Fiction: I did not read any non-fiction this year.

Favorite Series: InCryptid by Seanan McGuire. Finished off that series this year. It's just a really fun series, you guys.

Favorite Author: Seanan McGuire - This hasn't changed since last year, even though I didn't read a lot from her this year... again.

Most Read Author: Laurell K. Hamilton - Been going through the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, which ended up being more books than the Pern series by 6 books! I'm not even close to done with it yet!

Least Favorite Book: Token of Darkness by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes - I didn't like it the first time and rereading did not change that.

Most Disappointing Read: Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan - I really wanted to like the books, ya'll. I really did. I probably would have if I'd read them when I was younger but... Percy Jackson just wasn't for me.

DNF Pile: Dragon's Code by Gigi McCaffrey & The Big Meow by Diane Duane

Favorite New-to-Me Character: Leah from The Prince of Nowhere by Emily Drake. She was such a fun character I wish had been in a better book.

Favorite Reread Character: Nathaniel Graison from Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter by Laurell K. Hamilton - Nathaniel is the sweetest cinnamon roll of a man, despite his horrible unbringing. I would protect him with my life.

Currently Reading: Acorna's Quest by Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball, The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Illustrated Edition by J.K. Rowling, Illustrated by Jim Kay & Neil Packer 

Finished Series: I finished 7 series this year.

Non-Book Stuff

I just wanted to brag that I finished 15 OviPets projects this year. I had several projects that were 1 or 2 traits with tattoos involved. Gotta love them Slime projects. Heh.

 

I also finished 2 full Pokedexes this year in Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Scarlet. I'm proud of myself. 😁

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Overall, I quite enjoyed Rivers of London. I did think the world building was info-dumpy, though in a pleasant way. Broken up well between bouts of action. I liked the overall progression. I liked that the magic stuff is only partially hidden. Higher ups in the police know about it, but don’t like acknowledging its existence. The interrogation scene amused the heck out of me.

I like the way magic works here, especially the explanation as to why modern tech and magic just don’t get along. The system feels unique enough, at the very least. I like that magic takes a while to master and isn’t as simple as getting a spell’s verbage correct. I'm always appreciative of some effort being put into actually doing magic and explaining how it works. I very much enjoyed the science-ish parts of Peter figuring out how magic was causing the tech to go all dusty. Of course, the disparaging way the cast refers to the Harry Potter series is amusing. Like, yes, it exists, but none of us enjoy it or references to it very much.

The story is quite twisty, though it hangs well together overall. A and B plots mesh more through characters than actual storyline. A plot wise, I am glad I had some background as to what Punch and Judy were. I’m not sure most of the American audience would be familiar. Not that things like Google and Wikipedia aren’t readily available to find out. Punch and Judy are explained here, but I’m not entirely sure the explanation stuck… it worked well enough for the plot, though, which is really what matters. As for the B plot... I liked Beverly well enough. Tyburn kind of made me want to smack her. The Thames were mostly just kind of there, especially Father Thames. We spent much more time with Oxley than him. I quite liked the river stuff. If I’d been reading a physical copy of the book, I’d probably have pored over the map a bunch. There is a map included, which is always a plus. London is definitely as much a character in this book as a lot of the characters, probably moreso than some.

Speaking of... I really want to know what kind of critter Molly is. She's clearly not human, but also apparently not a vampire. We see how Nightingale deals with vampires. I'm also interested to find out more about Nightingale. He's both properly mysterious and supremely awkward, which makes him an interesting sort of mentor. I also did like Lesley, though I thought she (and Beverly, really) was rather flat, as far as characters go. Tobey is best boy.

So yeah, Rivers of London was fun. I can't wait to dive into the rest of the series. If you're interested in following my journey, I am about to back-track through a novella and some short stories... ya know, because I'm a sucker for following Chronologies rather than publication order. 

Favorite Line

"This is because nothing builds character like being abused, spat at and vomited on by members of the public." - Peter Grant 

Acorna by Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball

Semi-spoiler free reread review.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I reread Acorna. I do remember being absolutely enamored with it. Acorna was probably my first "Adult" sci-fi book, though rereading it now, it definitely feels more in the Young Adult sphere... though the themes of child slavery and pedophilia are very strong here, through the second half of the book. Honestly, the whole thing reads like fairly rushed setup. It's not bad, exactly, just quite rushed. There's not really much given time to breathe properly.

I kind of enjoyed some of the world-building here. It's interesting that Islam has apparently survived into the far future, though I know next to nothing about it so I can't speak to how accurate its portrayal is or isn't. The stuff with Jana in the mines was quite vivid, also reminding me of Mercedes Lackey's Mags character ( The Collegium Chronicles ) in the process. But that's really where the world-building excelled. Everything else just kind of fell flatly into "here's a planet with very delineated class boundaries we're not really going to look into" territory.

I felt Acorna's rise to mythical figure happened way too fast. It was, what, weeks, maybe? That was also very unclear. Also the adult relationships just falling into place. Everything neatly tied off with a bow, though technically open ended was Calum and Acorna are presumably going off in the next book to actually find her planet. Even the over-arching menaces/antagonists were a non-issue. it was very clear Acorna et. al. had plot-armor out the wazoo from the beginning. Just... yeah. Everything felt rushed. There was enough detail to keep one interested but... other than that... bleh. I definitely wasn't as into Acorna this time around as I used to be. Really hoping the rest of the series is better. 

Favorite Line

"Can any system really compete with the massive inefficiencies of a well-entrenched bureaucracy?" - Rafik Harakamian 

Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher

I found Snake-Eater to be utterly delightful. I thought it was fairly chill, with good characters and a story that pulled you along. I thought the mythology portion of the story was well done. Nothing was too info-dump-y, which makes a nice change from what I’ve been reading lately.

I thought Selena’s host of mental issues was well-handled. Lord knows I felt very seen when she was repeating “scripts” over and over. I do that exact thing. Selena almost felt like a self-insert character, where the self-insertion was me. It was cool watching her come into her own.

I enjoyed the short discussion on spirits vs gods vas Christianity. I very much liked Father Aguirre’s take on the whole thing. Very nuanced and true to someone of his parentage.

I don’t really have much else to say about Snake-Eater. It was definitely a fun read. 

Favorite Lines

“The first commandment is ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,’” he said gently. “It doesn’t say that there aren’t any others, or that you shouldn’t be polite when you meet them." - Father Aguirre

"Fire Marshal Jenny reminds everyone that our fire risk is extremely high, and if you burn down the desert, everyone’s going to be pissed." - DJ Raven

“Ain’t no kill like overkill,” - Grandma Billy   

The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton

A mostly spoiler free reread review.

First and foremost: Forbidding any knowledge of The Harlequin to even be passed to a Human Servant or Animal to Call is a dumbass rule. If Anita hadn’t learned about The Harlequin, she definitely would have held this stupid ass secret over Jean Claude’s head for the rest of their lives and probably, given how he doesn’t even want to accidentally tell her via their dreams, she would have found at that way eventually anyway. Stupid, stupid rule. I’m glad Anita gets to say as much about an adjacent part of the rules. I do also wonder, if The Rules say The Harlequin are not to be even mentioned, how does knowledge of them and their Rules get passed around?

It makes me happy that Anita is able to talk out her Nathaniel issues with Nathaniel.

Oh hey, Edward’s back. I didn’t super realize I’d been missing him, but I was so… yay? I super hate that he was forced to bring Olaf in on this. I fuckin' hate Olaf. He's not at all interesting to me and is really just gross. I did kind of like Peter being around, but, like Anita, have issues with that because he's friggin' 16. Even if trauma made him grow up quicker, it's not great to have him almost get killed so young.

Yet AGAIN, we have to deal with Richard and his issues. I’m so, so tired of this. I know Anita is also tired of this. They need to just stop letting him in whenever he shows up unannounced. I understand The Harlequin are in town and you want the Triumvirate all together but come on. Get the man his own room where he can go and not bother others with his bullshit. It feels like Richard's shit has finally come to a head, but it's felt kind of like that before, so I'm not actually holding out hope. I mean, I know, because this is a reread, that he gets "better" and becomes less present overall, but I cannot for the life of me remember when that actually starts happening. Whatever, he needs to stop showing up and fucking everyone over at exactly the wrong moments.

The backstory recaps feel clumsy here. Very “we both know this information but I’m gonna tell you anyway” followed by the larger context. I understand you’re kind of supposed to be able to pick up any book and understand what’s going on at any given point but… it’s getting ridiculous.

Politics, oh politics, I hate the effing politics. <— that was in a little sing-song voice in my head. But seriously, I hate the politics of this crap. I also hate Dolph taking out his issues on Anita. She should have told him to fuck off way before she did. Honestly, Dolph is devolving the same way Richard has. All that hatred interfering with his job and making him a less likeable character... I don't like it and am super tired of it.

The Harlequin seemed to take me forever to read. I just had to keep stopping every few paragraphs in places because the characters were just annoying me so much. I do like The Harlequin as a concept and they do eventually make a more robust appearance than they do here. I had been expecting (as it's been so long since I first read this) that to happen here, but it didn't, so I am a little disappointed. So... yeah. I'm overall frustrated with the series at this point. I think rereading them all in a bunch like this isn't the best method for a reread. 

Favorite Line

"Friends want what's best for you more than they want sex." - Anita Blake

In Other News 

So, for those who don't follow me on Social Media (Threads is where I hang out 99% of the time these days) I have been spending most of my time in Pokemon Land. While waiting for the Pokemon Legends: Z-A DLC, I was using the Vizualizer function over on OviPets to create Pokemon. Did from Bulbasaur to Wigglytuff, making my to-do OviPets Project List way longer... I'm not even halfway through the Kanto Dex. 😫

And now the Pokemon Legends: Z-A DLC (Mega Dimension) has been released. I've been enjoying it. It's honestly more of the same, just with more Pokemon and black-and-white Lumiose settings.

I have decided to take a break from my Anita Blake reread. I think the next few books will make me less frustrated overall, but... I'll pick that up in the new year. I'm going to be jumping into Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball's Acorna series. I read and reread the first book several times in my early teen years and now it's time to jump back in and actually read the whole series. 

A House Between Sea and Sky by Beth Cato

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting from A House Between Sea and Sky, but it was a delightful read. It’s full of surprises and fun characters. I largely just enjoyed the ride. It’s fun to see a twist on mythologies I’m familiar with. I won’t spoil it, but I guessed fairly early on the provenance of The House. Finding out I was right only made it more fun. A House Between Sea and Sky is another one of those I don’t really have a lot of thoughts about, so I’ll leave it here. It was a fun, chill read. Exactly what I needed with the holiday chaos around me. 

Favorite Lines

"Men were the worst creatures to unexpectedly meet in the dark." - Fayette Wynne Narration

"While help could be fine sometimes, there was no freedom like that of wandering among full bookshelves." - Fayette Wynne Narration