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.