List: aurealis-award

Wow! This book has bits of Charles Stross in it (as in: secret modern British agency dealing with the supernatural), but at the same time it's totally different. More action oriented, fast-paced, witty, and it never felt like a Laundry knockoff. I'm really interested in where the sequel is going.

I really really liked this book. It's very solid fantasy, it has its own plot, its characters are wonderful and not cliche and I very much want to read more of this. Sabriel as the new Abhorsen was a joy. One point less than perfect because … well, it does not feel quite perfect. Minor inconsistencies in language, some lazy plot points … but still. It's a really, really good fantasy book.

Distress is another really enjoyable book by Greg Egan, part of his very loosely connected Subjective Cosmology trilogy. It's less "weird" than the other two parts, and might make a better starting point for interested readers. We accompany our protagonist, a scientific journalist, to a phyics conference on an anarchist island – less happens than in th other books, but that just finally leaves room for better characters and characterisations. The whole book, especially its increasingly twisty story arch, is very recommendable scifi.

Very YA. Good YA! But … too YA for me atm for a five star rating. Much better YA than many things I know, though. Doesn't feel like it can keep up with the previous parts of the series.

Nevernight is nice fantasy – setting-wise, it's confusingly similar to Red Sister, all about a young girl assassin going to a slightly religious assassin school, but it's different in style. I think I liked Red Sister more (seeing as it has less Chosen One and more realism), and the witty banter-y narrator of Nevernight was predictable sometimes. But the style was very Bartimaeus-esque, so this should be a book that fits many people's interests and likes.

Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff is the second part of The Nevernight Chronicle, and it felt underwhelming. I'll try to tell you why: In Godsgrave, we continue to follow Mia, who is now a trained assassin and still hell-bent on revenge. To make this generic plot less generic, we get snarky footnotes with background info dumps (hi, Bartimeus), and a same-sex relationship (of course fraught with deceit and passion), where more traditional fantasy would've had a hetero relationship. Aaaand, that's it.

White-hat assassin siblings have to defend the realm. It's a bit generic. Good parts: the role of the protagonist as defensive poison expert (unusual and refreshing), and a well-handled siege story. The truly stand-out part of the story was starting with the narrator highlighting the wonderful high-culture city they live in, and then pivoting over time to show the rotting foundations the realm is built on. Well-done, though having only the perspective of the whiny aristocracy took some getting used to.

Neat enough premise: NLP is magic, special words can persuade and coerce humans into any action. With a few well-chosen questions you can figure out any person's category (out of <1000), and then apply magic words that bypass consciousness and allow for deep manipulation and commands. These words are taught in a school that is – surprise – not exactly lawful-good.