Ry Herman's Blog

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.

So, uh… turns out putting This Princess Kills Monsters on sale actually worked.

Ebooks of This Princess Kills Monsters are currently on sale for $1.99 (or equivalent) across all platforms!

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/753910/this-princess-kills-monsters-by-ry-herman

I’m just a hobbit carrying a ring with Andy Serkis
Orcs crack that whip while I’m goin’ on a trip with Andy Serkis

There’s a wonderful discussion of This Princess Kills Monsters over at the Feminist Book Club Podcast (October 16’s MiniPod — “Damsel? Never Heard of Her.”)

https://www.feministbookclub.com/damsel-never-heard-of-her/

BLACK FLAME, by Gretchen Felker-Martin

The Baroness, an infamous exploitation film long thought destroyed by Nazi fire, is discovered fifty years later. When lonely archivist Ellen Kramer—deeply closeted and pathologically repressed—begins restoring the hedonistic movie, it unspools dark desires from deep within her.

Horror is always about what we fear most, and this novella zeroes in on true horrors — conversion therapy, bigotry, fascism, and the 1980s. Compared to those, the cursed film that murders people seems relatively benign. It’s also a book about history, transition, and horrible, horrible families. I liked it a lot.

In September, there was a definite standout book for me:

THREE DAYS IN JUNE, by Anne Tyler

Gail Baines is having a bad day. To start, she loses her job—or quits, depending on whom you ask. Tomorrow her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she hasn’t even been invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Then, Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unannounced on her doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay, and without even a suit.

While Anne Tyler has long been one of my favorite authors, and I’ve enjoyed a lot of her more recent works, none of them quite hit it out of the park for me like her work from the 70’s and 80’s… until this one. This novella is sharply observed, with a protagonist you sometimes want to shake, but can still deeply understand. I loved it.

There were, of course, other books I enjoyed during September, such as BEAUTYLAND by Marie-Helene Bertino, BRIGHTON ROCK by Graham Greene, THE POTENCY OF UNGOVERNABLE IMPULSES by Malka Older, LADY LIKE by Mackenzi Lee, and YELLOWFACE by R. F. Kuang.

There are two amazing books I read in August that I particularly want to rave about:

TO THE CHAPEL PERILOUS by Naomi Mitchison

Had journalists plied their trade in the days of King Arthur, how would they have reported breaking stories like the Quest for the Holy Grail? Or the love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere?

This was a strange and sometimes opaque story about two newspaper correspondents reporting on the fall of Camelot. It’s often very funny, and often very sad. The story uses the grail quest, in all its myriad forms, as a launchpad for an examination of truth, history, and the search for meaning. If you’re familiar with Arthurian legends before reading this, it will help you fill in a lot of what isn’t being said.

LITTLE MYSTERIES, by Sara Gran

Who destroyed Professor Wolf’s prize-winning tomatoes? What’s behind the mysterious goings-on at Killington Manor? And why does life sometimes feel like we’re stuck in a mystery, with few clues and no solutions?

This was a set of fabulous stories from the writer of the world’s most esoteric mysteries. There may be some crimes to be solved, but isn’t the real investigation the one into the detective’s sense of self?

Other fantastic books I read last month included THE DEVILS by Joe Abercrombie, A TERRIBLY NASTY BUSINESS by Julia Seales, I CAN FIX HER by Rae Wilde, WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE? by Sophie Kinsella, THE VALKYRIE by Kate Heartfield, THISTLE AND THYME by Sorche Nic Leodhas, and NOTES FROM A REGICIDE by Isaac Fellman.

Why do rats
Swarm out of the ground
Every time
You’re around?
Just like me
They long to be
Close to you.