I’m really slow, and lazy. But here are the books I read in April. Whoo.
Yeah. I didn’t read as much as I was planning to, but hey, let’s go.
It’s so good. It’s an absolutely wonderful, outstanding piece of fantasy
fiction. Oh my God. So I don’t know exactly how to review this, because it’s so
massive and so complex, and complicated and just so confusing. It’s definitely
not where I would start if you’re not used to fantasy. The book focuses mainly
on three people; Kaladin, a former surgeon’s apprentice and soldier turned
slave, Shallan, a lady looking for a way to save her House, and Dalinar, a Highprince
fighting a pointless war and trying to come to terms with how his views are
changing. The world building is incredible. It is incredible. Sanderson
explains nothing, and expects you to be able to follow along. And I’m glad I’d
read his other works so I could sort of follow along. I had no clue what
anything was for a long time. I’m still not sure how the magic system works,
I’m not sure why they’ve decided on their weird way to rule. I’m massively
impressed with the religions and the culture, and the characters. It’s so
goddamn good. Can I have Words of Radiance now? I don’t know how I’ll do like a
proper review, but I’ll try.
This was fun. It wasn’t fantastic, it was just good, but that’s fine, I
dug it. It was a good time. It’s about a young woman named Isabella Trent who
wants to study the biology of dragons. She is in a world where women are
supposed to get married, have kids and be pretty, feminine, and do feminine
arts, like sewing and drawing and whatever. So Isabella is sort of trapped by
her gender, but through a kind husband and some clever machinations she gets to
go on an expedition to study dragons. And it’s fun. The writing is very
beautiful, and the illustrations are absolutely beautiful. And the dragons are
just gorgeous, wonderful creatures. And I’m excited to read the other two
books.
This was also fine. It didn’t blow my mind. It didn’t impress me very
much. It was fine, it was fun. I liked the main characters, he was interesting,
although the writer did something that annoyed me and referred to him by his
last name, which annoyed me more than it should have, but I couldn’t get over
it. I also thought it was more hard core sci-fi, but in truth it was more court
room drama. And that was fine, I guess. It just wasn’t what I expected. It was
an interesting look on how we see humanity and sentience. Which was fun. I
wrote a review, which is more coherent, I think. Although knowing me, probably
not.
I finally finished this, yeah. Go me. I don’t know why it took me so
long, because I really loved it. I thought it was fascinating, and interesting.
It’s about this young couple, Ifemelu and Obinze, who live in Nigeria. They are
sort of soulmates, I guess. And they decide that they will at some point go to
America, and study, and be together forever. Then Ifemelu goes to the States,
and Obinze is meant to follow, but then 9/11 happens and it’s impossible for
Obinze to get into the States. And the book tells the story of the two of them
going through their lives in the US and Nigeria. It was an interesting look at
race and race relations. It was interesting to see how differently people of
color experienced America based on where they were from. To Ifemelu America and
race is obviously a very different experience than it is for African Americans
who have all this history of slavery and segregation in their backbones. So
yeah. That was confusing. I wrote a review, it might be more coherent.
I don’t know why it took me so goddamn long to read this. I just had it
lying around. But I finally finished it. I don’t know what to say. It’s the
fourth volume in a series, so it’s easy to get into spoiler territory. It’s
about a world and a moon at war, and the two main characters are from opposing
sides and they’re married and have a kid together. And now they’re on the run.
I love the art. I loved how the story moved along. I was frustrated with both
main characters, mostly with Alana, jeesh lady, get it together. But it was
amazing. Looking forward to volume 5, because I read the trades, not the single
issues.
I finally got this from my comic book store, and it was amazing. It’s
the story about the Locke kids, who have moved to the old mansion Keyhouse
after their father was murdered. In the mansion they find keys that lead to
weird places. In the third volume some of the set ups from previous volumes
start coming to a head, like Kinsey’s slightly fucked up choices, and Mrs.
Locke’s inability to deal with her husband’s death. It’s creepy, and dark, and
horrifying, and it makes me want to cry. Tyler, Bode and Kinsey’s pain is so
prevalent, and it’s so sad, and I feel so bad for them. It’s so good.
The Way of Kings, part 1 by Brandon Sanderson
This was fun. It wasn’t fantastic, it was just good, but that’s fine, I
dug it. It was a good time. It’s about a young woman named Isabella Trent who
wants to study the biology of dragons. She is in a world where women are
supposed to get married, have kids and be pretty, feminine, and do feminine
arts, like sewing and drawing and whatever. So Isabella is sort of trapped by
her gender, but through a kind husband and some clever machinations she gets to
go on an expedition to study dragons. And it’s fun. The writing is very
beautiful, and the illustrations are absolutely beautiful. And the dragons are
just gorgeous, wonderful creatures. And I’m excited to read the other two
books. 
Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Saga, volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughan