Ry Herman's Blog

Once again, there are no books I specifically want to highlight, but a whole lot of books I very much enjoyed this past month:

THE POET EMPRESS by Shen Tao, GREEK LESSONS by Kang Han, TAPPING THE DREAM TREE by Charles de Lint, THE HUNGRY GODS by Adrian Tchaikovsky, BRIGANDS & BREADKNIVES by Travis Baldree, YOU WEREN’T MEANT TO BE HUMAN by Andrew Joseph White, TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEA by Brandon Sanderson, and THIEF OF NIGHT by Holly Black

Thanks to the works of Sigrid Undset and Xenophon, I now have every single letter of the alphabet represented by the author names on my bookshelf. This makes me obscurely happy.

The cover for the French language edition of This Princess Kills Monsters!

There’s no specific book I want to single out this month, but a whole bunch I very much liked, including:

SLOW GODS by Claire North, WE COULD BE RATS by Emily Austin, ASUNDER by Kerstin Hall, HEAP EARTH UPON IT by Chloe Michelle Howarth, TO RIDE A RISING STORM by Moniquill Blackgoose, WILD GEESE by Emmanuel Soula, SNAKE-EATER by T. Kingfisher, NEEDLE LAKE by Justine Champine, ONCE WAS WILLEM by M. R. Carey, THE PROJECTIONIST by Kirsti Wishart, THE ANTIDOTE by Karen Russell, and THE BEWITCHING by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

This one from Olympia, Washington courtesy of Ruth Apter!

It’s January 1, and that can only mean one thing… it’s time for THE RY AWARDS, given to the best books read by Ry in the previous year! It’s the most ignored, least prestigious literary award in the entire world, and it starts as always with Ry’s favorite genre –

FANTASY AWARDS

BEST FANTASY: The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

BEST FANTASY MYSTERY: A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

BEST HIGH SCHOOL FANTASY: The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

BEST COLLEGE FANTASY: Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

BEST CANNIBAL FANTASY: Star Eater by Kerstin Hall

BEST FANTASY SERIES OPENER: The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

BEST FANTASY SERIES CLOSER: The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri

BEST HISTORICAL FANTASY: When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

BEST FANTASY RETELLING: Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

BEST LITERARY FANTASY: To The Chapel Perilous by Naomi Mitchison

BEST FANTASY NOVELLA (tie): The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar & The Summer War by Naomi Novik

Of course, after fantasy we have to have –

SCIENCE FICTION AWARDS

BEST SF: The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey

BEST LITERARY SF: Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis

BEST DYSTOPIAN SF: Dreamland by Rose Rankin-Gee

BEST LITERARY DYSTOPIAN SF (tie): Gliff by Ali Smith & Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman

BEST HUMOROUS SF: Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley

BEST SCIENCE FANTASY SF: Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

And after science fiction there’s no choice but –

HORROR AWARDS

BEST HORROR THRILLER ROMANCE: Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements & Onjuli Datta

BEST LITERARY HORROR: Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson

BEST VAMPIRE HORROR: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab

BEST APPALACHIAN HORROR: Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White

BEST BOARDING SCHOOL HORROR: The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall

Now, naturally we couldn’t finish without a couple of –

EXTREMELY SELF-INDULGENT AWARDS

BEST BOOK WRITTEN BY RY: This Princess Kills Monsters by Ry Herman

BEST BOOK WRITTEN BY A CLOSE FRIEND OF RY: Maisie Vs. the Himalayas by Jack Jackman

And finally, the beloved category that includes, well, everything else –

GRAB BAG AWARDS

BEST FORGOTTEN CLASSIC: The Passenger by Alexander Ulrich Boschwitz

BEST REMEMBERED CLASSIC: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

BEST NONFICTION: A City on Mars by Kelly Weinersmith & Zach Weinersmith

BEST LITERARY HISTORICAL (tie): Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta & The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

BEST LITERARY MYSTERY (tie): Little Mysteries by Sara Gran & Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

BEST LITERARY CONTEMPORARY (tie): Three Days in June by Anne Tyler & Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite

BEST PHILOSOPHICAL FICTION: When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut

BEST ROMANCE: Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzales

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL: Spent by Alison Bechdel

See you at the awards next year!

There’s no single book I’m going to highlight for December, but a number of books I very much liked:

THE INCANDESCENT by Emily Tesh, THE NIGHT WATCHMAN by Louise Erdrich, THIS BRUTAL MOON by Bethany Jacobs, THE WARDEN by Daniel M. Ford, HUNGERSTONE by Kat Dunn, KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE by Kadono Eiko, SHROUD by Adrian Tchaikovsky, A SWORD OF GOLD AND RUIN by Anna Spark Smith, OF MONSTERS AND MAINFRAMES by Barbara Truelove, and KATABASIS by R. F. Kuang

Every single time I read a murder mystery, as soon as the body turns up, in my head I hear the police lieutenant from Plan 9 From Outer Space saying, “Inspector Clay is dead — murdered. And somebody’s responsible.”

I read a lot of great books in November, but the absolute standout was:

THE RAVEN SCHOLAR by Antonia Hodgson

After twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best. Then one of them is murdered. It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end.

Well, I can see why this one’s been getting so much buzz. A twisty fantasy mystery where every fresh revelation ratchets up the stakes. It was a stay-up-late-to-finish read for me. Five stars, no notes.

Other books I enjoyed included CURSED DAUGHTERS by Oyinkan Braithwaite, SCARLET MORNING by N. D. Stevenson, ORDINARY LOVE by Marie Rutkoski, GNOMES OF LYCHFORD by Paul Cornell, MY DARK VANESSA by Kate Elizabeth Russell, WOOING THE WITCH QUEEN by Stephanie Burgis, SPENT by Alison Bechdel, and PICK THE LOCK by A. S. King.

Two books got five stars from me in October, one recent and one not. Weirdly, the one that was appropriate for the spooky season was the one the DIDN’T contain imprisonment, suicide, and a triple digit number of deaths.

THE SUMMER WAR by Naomi Novik

Celia discovered her talent for magic on the day her beloved oldest brother Argent left home. Furious at him for abandoning her in a war-torn land, she lashed out, not realizing her childish, angry words would suddenly become imbued with the power of prophecy, dooming him to a life without love.

This is almost a traditional fairy story, complete with brave knights, solemn oaths, and even a princess trapped in a tower. But that “almost” is doing a lot of work, and the differences make this one something very special.

HANGSAMAN by Shirley Jackson

Natalie Waite, daughter of a mediocre writer and a neurotic housewife, is increasingly unsure of her place in the world. In the midst of adolescence she senses a creeping darkness in her life, which will spread among nightmarish parties, poisonous college cliques and the manipulations of the intellectual men who surround her, as her identity gradually crumbles.

This is a novel filled with observations so sharp they leave you bleeding. My reading of it was the story of a college freshman coming to psychological terms with the fact that she’s been sexually assaulted, with no help available from her toxic family, her vicious classmates, or her predatory teachers. But it’s an ambitious, ambiguous work that rewards careful attention and still sometimes leaves you questioning.

Some other great books I read in October were: HEMLOCK & SILVER by T. Kingfisher, STRANGER THINGS HAPPEN by Kelly Link, SARAH CANARY by Karen Joy Fowler, LADY’S KNIGHT by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE by Dahlia Adler, ORMESHADOW by Priya Sharma, ORBITAL by Samantha Harvey, THE WINTER PRINCE by Elizabeth Wein, and CARRION CROW by Heather Parry.