Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce

Want a middle-grade fantasy school book that still holds up and whose author continues to be an awesome person? This is it.

I was first introduced to Circle of Magic in Junior High, almost 30 years ago at this point. Almost. Sandry, Briar, Tris, and Daja are some of my oldest friends, book-character-wise. Their characterization is solid from the start. Their magic is actually more on the solid side than I had remembered. The magic system is well explained in the short amount of time it's given. I'm actually a little in awe of the amount of information Tamora Pierce is able to cram in here without it feeling at all rushed.

I also really love that the trauma Sandry and Daja experienced is not shied away from or dumbed down at all. It's also not egregious in the way its described. I'm not sure if I fully grasped the horrors of what they went through when I read it the first time, but the language definitely evokes the true terror of it in my adult brain.

I'm also very impressed with the amount of diversity Pierce wove into the very fabric of this story. Each of the characters is from a different country and background and feels like it. The prejudices against them are also on full display, as well as how they handle it. This is definitely something I didn't super clock when I was younger that just leapt off the page at me this time.

Anyway, I frickin' love Circle of Magic. I'd forgotten just how much as it's been a very long time since I reread them. Sandry's Book is a very good start to the series and I can't wait to dive back in again. 

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

House of Many Ways is a mostly cozy fantasy with what I feel is a ridiculously rushed ending. It was charming enough with a lot of moving parts that were solved via deus ex Calcifer and hurried explanations right at the end. Sorry to spoil it a bit, but... ehhhhh. I'm left quite bewildered and in a state of "wtf did I just read?" by that ending.

I quite like the idea of a crazy wizard house that takes certain actions to get around. Reminds me very much of Morwen's doors in The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede. That part, I had little problem with. Charmain's magic seems very like Sophie's. Also, not a problem. The kobolds were semi-interesting. The whole lubbok and lubbokin bits... eh. Not a fan. Seem to be there because we apparently needed some over-arching reason for Howl and Sophie to be around. I feel like there could have possibly been a plot with much lower stakes that would have fit just as well... revolving around the actual House, but here we are.

As a side note... I hate Charmain's mother. Coddled Charmain into being an almost helpless person. Can't cook, can't clean... lucky the girl can read and write because really... just ugh. I also hated Twinkle's lisp as much as Sophie did. I was annoyed at it the entire time.

But yeah... I really feel like I may have properly enjoyed House of Many Ways had I read it at a younger age. A good chunk of the world-building around the House was quite nice. I feel the kind of rushed and perfectly bow-tied ending is a Diana Wynne Jones thing I don't really enjoy. 

Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones

I am really not sure how I feel, exactly, about Castle in the Air. I'm also not sure what I was expecting, but... yeah. Not sure. I'm not even sure if the portrayal of the Middle Eastern-esque characters and initial setting is problematic or not. As far as I can tell, it's straight out of Arabian Nights so... again, I don't know.

Castle in the Air was enjoyable enough. It meandered its way along, truth be told, in a sort of epic-fantasy way, but not super detailed apart from the massive amount of complimentary speech Abdullah tends to lead with. Then the last third of the book just rushes along toward the ending, which is wrapped up with a neat bow for everyone.

I probably would have loved Castle in the Air when I was younger. Right now, it was a quick, easy enough read and a palette cleanser after Sucker Punch by Laurell K. Hamilton. Oh! It also had kind of Patricia C. Wrede vibes... similar to Calling on Dragons in the overall shape of the adventure. So that's definitely a point in its favor.

Sucker Punch by Laurell K. Hamilton - 2026 Reread

Oh... good... lord... this book is a slog. I hate it, so, so much. I hate it so much that having to reread it for completionist sake made me skip Serpentine on accident. Sucker Punch's looming reread just took up all my headspace. The funny thing is, I did not actually remember it as being so much of a slog. I was just remembering how much Olaf was front and center and how much I fucking hate him.

Seriously, the amount of "No" Anita should have come out swinging with in Olaf's direction is staggering. But instead we're still humoring the SOB and making other people humor him in conjunction. Anita and Edward need to just kill him already. I'm tired of knowing Anita has absolutely zero interest in actually sleeping with him and her also entertaining the idea of a relationship with him. Should have kept that shit at a professional level if you have to have any kind of relationship at all. I'm firmly of the belief that this whole leading him on bullshit is going to spectacularly backfire at some point in the future. It really is leading him on at this point and, as I'm fairly certain Olaf has maintained, women leading men on is one of the reasons he hates them so much.

Other than Olaf's mere presence, the actual slogging part of the book is how many times Newman and Anita have to explain, often to the same characters, why Newman is refusing to "do his duty" and kill Bobby. Over and over and over. Same argument. Every time. Introduce or add a character: "Why haven't you done your duty yet, Win?" I started skipping the conversations after the second time. Skipped a good portion of this book, actually. I would have DNF'd this reread if I hadn't been waiting on another book to be shipped to me.

Last thing, just to reiterate what I said in my first read review: The mystery part of Sucker Punch was incredibly convoluted. The fact that it was largely side-lined did not help. Every single side character from this little town is on my shit-list. They are all unlikable to say the least. Duke is probably the worst and that's only because Muriel and Jocelyn are barely there. Just... ugh.

You can read my first review HERE.

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Absolutely delightful. I loved it so, so much. Relatively low stakes, just shy of cozy, I would say, assuming your cozy includes the occasional little adventure. This was just the right blend of realism and sci-fi.

I will say, I was expecting more description of the Kaiju and their parasites, though I guess ultimately my brain would not have done them justice. A rough sketch is good enough, I think. I feel like, unless you’ve actually got a visual, description just won’t do what’s in your head justice. It’s the whole movie monster thing: scarier when you haven’t seen it.

I also really liked Jamie and her friends. Even frigging Sanders had his moments. Scalzi’s character work was quite good.

The Kaiju Preservation Society is honestly one of those books I didn’t have any deep thoughts about. It was fun. It was mostly light. I definitely recommend giving it a read. 

 

Favorite Lines

"I like land," I said. "I don't drown there." - Jamie Gray

"No, they don't. They have shredded orange and white sadness that mocks cheese and everything it stands for." - Jame Gray

"Angrily consume your bacon on the toilet, is my advice." - Dr. Lee 

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Well... that was a good deal more chaotic than I was expecting. I have seen the Studio Ghibli adaptation a fair few times, so I knew the rough outline of the plot going into reading the book. I also knew that, as usual, things had to be trimmed for the adaptation so I was expecting more in terms of detail. I was not expecting a whole rather important chunk of plotline to have been cut for time/content.

Howl's Moving Castle is wonderfully magical and quite fun. I enjoyed most of the stuff that got trimmed for the movie. The tether to the "real world," as it were, was wholly unexpected. I love Sophie's sisters. I do find it a little odd that Martha wouldn't have told Michael to stop calling her Lettie at some point, but apparently that's not a thing for some reason. But otherwise, their inclusion and deceptions were cute.

I found the Witch of the Waste and her demon rather one-note, as far as antagonists go. They really weren't all that interesting in the long run. Now what they did was horrifying. I also feel like the sudden "and then everything just sorted itself out"-ness of the ending was somewhat jarring. Kind of expected more out of that, but I guess I'll just have the wait for the sequels to see.

Mostly, the book was just about as cozy as the adaptation. I quite enjoyed the ride. Also, my edition (The 20th Anniversary Deluxe Limited Edition) of the book is absolutely gorgeous. I love the end-paper art, even if I will never see Calcifer in any other form than the Ghibli version, no matter how often his green hair is mentioned. 

Aurora Vols 1&2 by Red

Aurora Volume 1

Delightful start to a series. Familiar art style as I'm a fan of Overly Sarcastic Productions. Not the best, perhaps, but I like it. I will say, the dark pages were particularly dark, which I'm sure worked better in webcomic form. But yeah. I'm liking where this is going. 

Aurora Volume 2

New characters and world-building and epic battles galore! I am definitely invested in the story of Aurora and can't wait to see how everything fits together for further adventures. We've got a full team together whose dynamics have yet to be completely worked out by the end of this one, but they're getting there. Also the actual abilities of the team are still being explored. On that count, it does seem a little bit random how Dainix and Falst's power sets are explored... what with a god popping in and then Dainix just being really impressed how quickly Falst is healing. I fine with it, just... felt a little weird as I was reading. I know Red's got her magic-system worked out down to the itty-bitty science-y bits (Because I listen to the OSPod), I just have to trust the system by which we as readers are being shown that.

But yeah... I'm enjoying the series so far. Probably going to have to reread in a less spread-out fashion that my first read went to really catch everything. I'm certain I skimmed some stuff... at the same time, every time I grabbed the book to read, I was sucked into longer reading sessions than I meant to have, which tells me the story was good. Dragged me along in a pleasant fashion, even if my brain didn't catch all the details.

I will also say, I hope the next book doesn't have so much happening in the dark. The art is good and I could keep up with what was happening during those scenes a bit more easily this time, but... those bits are really visually dark.