Lisa Paitz Spindler's Blog

It’s that time of year again when readerly types share our reading lists for the previous year. This year I hit my goal of a book a month, but other years have been sparse or utterly the opposite.

Remember to start where you are, read what you love, and don’t compare yourself to other readers.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria SchwabA Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. MaasClaimed by J.R. WardCourt of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. MaasThe Witch Collector by Charissa WeaksA Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. MaasWild Scottish Knight by Tricia O’MalleyCity of Ruin by Charissa WeaksPlaying Dirty by Amy AndrewsPlaying It Safe by Amy AndrewsPlaying It Tough by Amy AndrewsRadical Acceptance by Tara Brach

My favorite discovery this year was The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria Schwab. Because it was such a highlight, I’ve started her The Fragile Threads of Power for 2025. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Amy Andrews’ Sydney Smoke series and hope she writes some related stories in that story universe.

For more information, find my Goodreads 2024 Year in Books and my Storygraph 2024 Reading Wrap-Up.

To say I was under my goal this year would be an understatement, but I’m hoping to get my focus back in 2024.

Hot Enough to Burn, Cynthia EdenWhere’d You Go, Bernadette, Maria SempleA Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. MaasThe Secret Lives of Country Gentleman, K.J. CharlesPlaying House, Amy AndrewsThe Atlas Six, Olivie Blake

I read twice as many books this year than the year before, even if it’s no where near my all-time high since I’ve been recording it here on my blog. See this year’s stats on Goodreads.

Perdition , Ann Aguirre Star Wars: Canto Bight , Saladin AhmedPlaying the Player, Amy Andrews Playing With Forever , Amy Andrews Ask Me Nicely , Amy Andrews Dark Time , Dakota Banks Minion , L.A. Banks Dust , Elizabeth Bear The Heist , Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg The Paper Magician , Charlie N. Holmberg Summary of the Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck , Mark Manson The Bourbon Kings , J.R. Ward Star Wars: Aftermath , Chuck Wendig

While I enjoyed all of the books I read in 2020, I’d recommend the following three:

Fantasy: The Paper Magician , Charlie N. HolmbergRomance: The Heist , Janet Evanovich and Lee GoldbergScience Fiction: Dust , Elizabeth Bear

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Be warned, spoilers follow.

This week’s Danger Gal Friday profiles Nile Freeman as portrayed by Kiki Layne in the new Netflix fantasy series The Old Guard, based on the Greg Rucka graphic novel series.

The Old Guard may be a story about a band of ancient warriors who can never die, but what the series offers instead is a brand new type of superhero suited to the modern struggles of today. Not only is Nile’s growth arc from resistance to acceptance apparent, but the story also depicts how the other immortals have evolved through the ages—something that can be a poignant metaphor for our own time.

While The Old Guard provides several female characters worthy of standard Danger Gal profiles— Nile, Andy (Charlize Theron), and Quynh (Veronica Ngo)—and shows the combat mastery each of them wields, the takeaway theme for me about The Old Guard was that everyone and everything is connected. We watch each character struggle with this idea of connection and relevance, but I chose to profile Nile because the story shows us the beginning of her struggle while she’s in the liminal state between her old and new lives. We watch Nile mature from a kid (Andy’s literal moniker for Nile, but to the 3,000-year-old warrior everyone is a child) pushing against the limits imposed on her to taking control of her life, charting a course for it and embracing her agency.

Throughout most of the series, Nile finds herself torn between outing her new everlasting status to her family or walking away from them. When Andy returns Nile’s cell phone to her, the young woman realizes how much easier it was to rail against the rules when the rules weren’t up to her. Now with her phone back, she can return to her family if she chooses. Remarking that Copley has offered to conjure a killed-in-action death for her, Nile holds the phone in front her, considering the consequences of the decision as if she were the Egyptian Maat weighing the virtue of her heart against a feather.

The decision is left hanging for the audience—and for the sequel—but it’s a choice Nile makes in increments throughout the story. In the beginning she resists the call to adventure until Andy steals her phone and makes the decision for her. To me this seemed like Andy giving Nile an excuse to stay since death isn’t part of the potential consequences. Nile really could have left any time she wanted. Phones are replaceable, but what the device represented is not.

In Nile’s arc of severing her connection from her family to affirming her connection to the Old Guard, the decision to stay over the phone is the first beat. The second beat is a stronger one, when Nile chooses to participate in the rescue of Nicky and Joe. At the end, we witness the third beat as Nile holds her phone and considers choosing a new and irreversible path.

Cast of Netflix’s The Old Guard

While Nile may decide to relinquish her old life for one in the Old Guard, the importance of connection is born out in other ways for each character.

We learn that Andy’s work, as well as that of the whole team, has had an “exponential” positive impact on the world for thousands of yearsNicky and Joe’s enemies-to-lovers backstory shows us that we can all learn to live, and love, together no matter how antagonistic things may seemBooker’s disastrous example of staying connected to his old family meant that he never truly imprinted on his fellow immortals and later betrayed them

Andy remarks on how in these modern times no one can really disappear, but her own story shows us that being able to disappear has never been completely true. After all, Andy’s conquests have become the stuff of legend as “Andromache the Scythian,” despite her trying to hide in the shadows.

No matter her ultimate choice, Nile learns you can’t run from connecting with others and that it’s these connections that give our life meaning. In the movie, it’s unclear why warriors suddenly lose their immortality, but it could be due to a loss of connection to others. After all, Andy seems pretty depressed emotionally for most of the movie, a state she’s been in since the loss of Quynh. It’s Nile’s emergence (and probably Booker’s betrayal) that prompts Andy to care again. On the other hand, it could be that there can only ever be a handful of immortals and when a new one emerges an old one must fade away—the new guard replacing the old guard.

More Reading



Weighing of the Heart, WikipediaA Short History of The Old Guard Comic Universe, WiredKiki Layne’s Reluctant The Old Guard Hero Is An All-Too Accurate Sign Of The Times, Refinery29The Old Guard: Force Multiplied #1 Review: A Welcome Return for These Immortal Warriors, Comicbook.com‘The Old Guard’ Review: Fighting to the Death, and Beyond, The New York Times

“At some point, we all have to choose between what the world wants you to be and who you are.”

Finally!

Better late than never, but here is my oh-so-curated list of books from 2019. I’m gearing up to read more in 2020.

An Unkindness of Magicians  by Kat HowardThe Rook by Daniel O’Malley Summary of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck  by Mark Mason Headstrong  by Dave Asprey The Forgotten Beast of Eld  by Patricia A. McKillipPlaying with Forever by Amy Andrews Ravenheart  by Dannika Dark Clockwork Angel  by Cassandra Claire

Librarians collect things. All sorts of things. 

While fictional librarians protect ancient mystical artifacts or guard an archive that contains all the knowledge in the multiverse, real-life librarians make our lives easier by helping us find the best of anything worth archiving.  

In keeping with that, the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has been publishing an official Reading List for years. If you haven’t checked these books out yet (wink), maybe get right on that before the year closes. The List includes a winner in each category, runners up, and also read-a-likes for the winning novel so you can just keep right on reading in your fuzzy slippers and “Bookmarks Are for Quitters” t-shirt. 

Here are a few of the winners in my favorite genres:

Fantasy: Foundryside: A Novel by Robert Jackson Bennett
Romance: Intercepted by Alexa Martin
Science Fiction: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

Enjoy your towering TBR pile!

By way of Mashable, the final trailer for Rise of Skywalker is out, and yes, I have “big questions . . . ugly crying”:

If you didn’t feel a lump in your throat during the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer released Monday night, check your pulse. 

The first jerker of tears is the simple fact that this is it: the last ever full trailer that will ever be released for a Skywalker saga movie. Star Wars Episode IX isn’t just the end of a trilogy — it’s the end of 3 trilogies and 44 years of storytelling. George Lucas couldn’t get the rights to make Flash Gordon like he wanted, and now we’re here.

This week’s Danger Gal Friday profiles Vignette Stonemoss as portrayed by Cara Delevigne in the new Amazon Prime fantasy series Carnival Row.

Labeling Carnival Row simply a fantasy seems misleading when so many people can’t decide just exactly what genre the show belongs to. A rarity in that the show isn’t based on a prior novel series, Carnival Row has been described as a “Victorian fantasy world,” an “allegorical, fantasy crime thriller,” and also a Steampunk Faerie Mystery Romance (my favorite).

One reviewer wondered: “I’ll be fascinated to see how people react to Carnival Row—as you might imagine, this is the kind of show that, for certain people, will be Very Much Their Kind of Thing.”

To which I say, hello, this is indeed Very Much My Kind of Thing. The extended world-building that such a sprawling story requires is a plus for me. There’s even a map available like any proper, self-respecting fantasy should have.

As much as I enjoyed the world-building, though, it’s the characters that keep me in a story and this was the reason I binge-watched the entire series over two days. One of the important aspects of a Danger Gal is understanding what defines her—loss, love, anger, etc.—and what role she plays in that drama. People have been trying to define what makes a “strong female character” for a long time, but for me, the differentiating element is a choice. We often refer to this as “agency,” but it’s not so easily defined.

Much of Vignette’s life is intertwined with loss and pain, but she chooses not to let those experiences erode who she is in her heart. Delevigne picked up on this aspect of the character when she said in a DigitalSpy interview: “Usually hurt people hurt people, and she doesn’t. She tries to live with compassion and forgiveness and love. That’s the most endearing quality about her.”

Plus, I found it so refreshing that for a good part of the story the Romance heroine is the supernatural character rather than reacting to a supernatural boyfriend. Make fun of the wings if you want, but Vignette has them and Philo does not (I promise, no spoilers). Also, several reviewers have aptly described Vignette as a “warrior-librarian”. I kind of thought all librarians were bad-ass? You have seen The Magicians, right?

If a bad-ass librarian with wings isn’t enough to draw you into this story, then how about the abiding friendship between Vignette and Tourmaline—that started before and continued after their relationship? Vignette isn’t define by the external events of her life and she’s not limited either by who she loves.

It’s Faes Before Braes, dude.

So, let’s see, we’ve got a:

Steampunk Faerie Mystery Romance — check Supernatural, pan-sexual pixie (with wings) — checkWarrior-librarian who will defend her books to the death — check

These are all great, fun things, but my favorite aspect of this show is that—from The Burgue to Tirnanoc—girls run The World. In addition to a heroine with heart and a plan, we find other female characters similarly turning aspects of The World upside down. Check out these other strong female characters in Carnival Row:

Imogen Spurnrose: This seemingly stereotypical Victorian lady is actually running off exploring other continents with her favorite FaunPiety Breakspear: You might think she’s just the Chancellor’s wife, but instead she’s playing politics in secret all to arrange for her son to rule The BurgueAfissa: A Faun indentured servant working for the Spurnroses who knows how The World really worksThe Haruspex: Fae fortune-teller who goes by a title like a magical Beyonce or Prince (oh, wait)Portia Fyfe: This Victorian lady owns a business and goes after Philo until she realizes he can’t be part of the life that she wants

More on Vignette Stonemoss:

A Guide to the World of CARNIVAL ROWCarnival Row Wiki‘Carnival Row’: Amazon Introduces Cara Delevingne & Orlando Bloom’s Vignette & PhiloCara Delevingne’s Carnival Row Character Is Mysterious, Even To HerCarnival Row’s Cara Delevingne discusses the personal inspiration she drew on for her characterCarnival Row: Everything You Need to Know About Amazon’s Sprawling FantasyCarnival Row Is the Steampunk Faerie Mystery Romance (Some of) You Have Been Waiting ForLook of the Week: Carnival Row’s Steampunk Chic