There are three weeks, give or take, left in the month, and I have a number of books I want to finish before the year changes, just in case they deserve to be on my Best of 2024 list and I don’t know it yet!
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Gay MC
Published on: 23rd July 2024
Goodreads
The Ragpicker wanders the lush, deserted Earth, haunted by failing avatars and fragmented texts. He’ s searching for traces of his long-dead husband but his journey is interrupted by a girl, Ysmeny, fleeing her remote village. Together they cross the flourishing, treacherous landscape towards sanctuary. Yet the signals and static of the previous age echo in the Ragpicker’ s mind and whisper in the girl’ s dreams, drawing them toward the gap between map and territory— while offering precious hope.
I am VERY LATE to Ragpicker, but you can’t not pay attention when Kerstin Hall declares something the best thing she’s read all year! And the opening chapters hooked me pretty much instantly, so I think she may be on to something!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual brown MC
Published on: 14th November 2024
Goodreads
Zaya Shearwater has found a dragon, a partner, and a cause.
Her dragon is Bandit’s Breath, stolen from her former employers in a moment of desperation, now her inseparable ally. Her partner in racing Bandit is her daughter, Vanako, as fierce and proud as ever but now committed to the family. And her cause is the legalization of yliaster, the substance that will protect her son — and tens of thousands of others like him, who are being slowly hunted by voracious entities that can’t be killed.
But the fight isn’t going well. Captains of industry want to see yliaster regulated for their own profit; everyday people are afraid of some of the things it can do. The police are dead set against it, and even Zaya’s political allies are inconstant. And as she’s throwing all her cash and time at a better world for the hunted tomorrow, every today could be her son’s last.
That’s where Zaya begins. But, as the election draws near, where will she go?
I mean, this one’s a pretty sure thing – I will be VERY surprised if this doesn’t score a place on my Best Of list! I’ve adored the previous installments, and I’m really enjoying reading this one so far!
My review of book 0.5
My review of book 1
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F/F/F
Published on: 12th November 2024
Goodreads
The story of four women who set out to uncover the secret origins of an intricate, magical city—and to change its fate.
Istehar Sha'an, whose unique powers allow her to communicate with trees and books, has led her community of refugee forest people to a remarkable place. In the archipelago-city of Moonstone, the Sha'an people find themselves in an extraordinary, multicultural metropolis that houses the the world's all-encompassing repository of wisdom. But in their search for a new home, the refugees soon garner the suspicion of Moonstone's locals, who forbid their magical practices. And when a hostile prince makes a bid to inherit the city's rule from his father, Istehar and her people realize they may be faced with exile—or worse.
Meanwhile, Istehar has married three wives of Moonstone—a brave warrior librarian, a subtle-minded former concubine, and a tenacious apothecary who has spent years trying to solve her parents' murder. Driven by magical intuition and guided by a mysterious book, Istehar and her wives embark on a journey that will transform not only their lives, but the city of Moonstone itself.
One of my most aniticipated releases of the year – not the only book of this post to make my Unmissable list – and I am so ready to be wowed by it!
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Pansexual brown nonbinary MC
Published on: 24th September 2024
Goodreads
These are the voyages of the Starship Glam. The further adventures of Dess and Mira and Oort, and introducing Marvin the half-human, half-Esca ingenue on drums. Earth is safe, for the moment, and taking its first steps into the greater galactic community—you know that won’t go well. Another Grand Prix is always right around the corner. And of course, other possibly-sentient species can emerge at any time…
I am very confused as to why I haven’t finished this yet, and kind of – guilty? ashamed? Ridiculous thing to feel about taking a while with a book, but there you go. Valente is my joint-favourite author of all time, and I’m a bit upset that I’m struggling with Space Oddity. I want to love it so much, but I don’t, quite. Hopefully the final act will hook me properly.
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Black sapphic MC
Published on: 4th June 2024
Goodreads
Ruth Johnson and her sister Jules have been small-time hustlers on the interstellar cruise lines for years. But then Jules fell in love with one of their targets, Esteban Mendez-Yuki, sole heir to the family insurance fortune. Esteban seemed to love her too, until she told him who she really was, at which point he fled without a word.
Now Ruth is set on disguised as provincial debutante Evelyn Ojukwu and set for the swanky satellite New Monte, she’s going to make Esteban fall in love with her, then break his heart and take half his fortune. At least, that's the plan. But Ruth hadn't accounted for his younger sister, Sol, a brilliant mind in a dashing suit... and much harder to fool.
Sol is hot on Ruth's tail, and as the two women learn each other’s tricks, Ruth must decide between going after the money and going after her heart.
This is not my usual kind of read – I don’t especially care about cons and the like – but it’s gotten so much love from so many sources I trust that I wanted to see if I might fall in love with it too!
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Pansexual sapphic MCs, major nonbinary characters
Published on: 2nd July 2024
Goodreads
Decadent cyberpunk cities. Greek mythology and giant mechs. Hades and Persephone as never seen before.
For centuries, colossi have besieged the gates of Elysium. Each day, the city’s fall looms closer.
As one of Elysium’s rulers, Hades has long sought to break this stalemate. In Persephone, a cyborg tailor-made to kill, she finds the key to victory and the perfect pilot for her war machine. She will acquire Persephone at any cost.
Born to wield violence and with the bloodthirst to match, Persephone chafes under her mother’s control. At the first opportunity, she brutally breaks free and seeks sanctuary with the unlikeliest of the Lord of the Machine Dead, the Master of the Underworld.
All Hades and Persephone have to do to realize their goals is to navigate the city’s treacherous politics—and survive the coming war.
I’ll be honest: I am not enjoying Ying’s sci fi as much as I did their fantasy. The decadence I love in Ying’s prose doesn’t seem as prevalent, and I’m just not as interested in gods and mecha pilots as I am warlocks and shapeshifters. So I’ve been kind of forcing my way through this one, hoping I’ll trip and fall in love with it sooner or later…
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 6th February 2024
Goodreads
Imagine a world where your position in society depended on what bit of the colour spectrum you could see. This is the world inhabited by Eddie Russett (red, middle-level) and Jane Grey (monochromatic, lowest in society). Eddie and Jane must negotiate the delicate Chromatic politics of society to find out what the 'Something that Happened' actually was, how society got to be this way, and crucially, is there Somewhere Else beyond their borders - and if there is, could there be Someone Else, too, someone whose unseen hand has been guiding the fortunes and misfortunes of the nation for the past 500 years?
It's a tale of a young couple's thirst for justice and answers in an implacably rigid society, where the prisoners are also the guards, and cages of convention bind the citizens to only one way of thinking - or suffer the consequences. . ..
This has been out since FREAKING FEBRUARY. Which is when I started reading it! And I am still not done! GAH. I loved the first book, but so many answers were pretty much handed to us in this one, and it made me lose interest hard. But it could redeem itself! It could happen! And maybe I was just in a funk when I was last reading it…
Genres: Adult, Speculative Fiction
Representation: Various queer characters, minor fat/plus-sized character
Published on: 20th June 2024
Goodreads
It’s the summer of ’97 and the repressed Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change. Enter the Freakslaw – a travelling funfair populated by deviant queers, a contortionist witch, the most powerful fortune teller, and other architects of mayhem. It doesn’t take long for the Freakslaw folk to infiltrate Pitlaw’s grey world, where the town’s teenagers – none more so than Ruth and Derek – are seduced by neon charms and the possibility of escape. But beneath it all, these newcomers are harbouring a darker revenge. And as tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that’s been simmering for centuries is about to be unleashed…
All right, this one probably isn’t going to make it onto my Best Of – it’s exactly as gritty and crude as everyone warned it was, which is keeping me from loving it as much as I might. I do massively appreciate what Flett is doing here, though, and maybe I’ll love it if I just read a little more?
Have you read any of these? Do you have books to finish before the end of the year? Let me know!
Red Side Story was good. Hades Calculus I didn’t like as much. I prefer my mecha fiction to be visceral, but HC (like many others) treats mecha piloting like playing a first-person video game. (Also there was a lot more sex than mechas, haha.)
I just finished Hades Calculus yesterday, and I ended up enjoying it a lot! Possibly because I actually don’t like mecha fiction (I wouldn’t have picked this up if I didn’t love the author’s fantasy), so it being more like a video game was preferable for me. What are you thoughts on August Kitko and the Mechas From Space, if you’ve read it? (I have no memory of what the mechas were really like there – do they even count as mechas if the robots are sentient?)
I have read that book! I was a fan of the author’s previous series, but something about August Kitko didn’t click with me. I don’t really remember what the mechas were like except that they liked music.
The mecha book I really liked is called Steel Frame. I actually re-read it after reading Hades Calculus. The story isn’t amazing but I like the setting and mechas in it a lot. It’s very industrial and military.
Oh I ADORED the Salvagers trilogy!!! Have to admit I’m not really a fan of this new series either, alas, so I feel you.
Steel Frame by Andrew Skinner? Nope, definitely haven’t read it, and I guess I won’t, if it’s all military-ish. The older I get the less interested I am in that sort of thing, for some reason!