I finished Some Desperate Glory last week. Here’s an update, presented in the order of my current personal rankings.

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Read in April 2024; 4.5 stars. Wow was this great! Kyr, the protagonist, goes on a pretty incredible journey of personal/character development, which also serves as very effective world-building. There’s big plot point that’s left in the abstract, but to me it makes sense given the context and POV.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Read in August 2023; 4 stars. This was such a fun concept and a really enjoyable story overall. I loved Amina as a character, she felt very relatable. And I enjoyed the relationships between her and her crew; you really got a sense of how well they knew one another.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Read in February 2024; 5 stars. This was hilarious. I have no idea if all the machinations of the plot actually make sense, but IMO that’s not really the point with a book like this. The characters were great, and I appreciated the way it ended. Someone please option this for a movie! And actually make it!

Witch King by Martha Wells

Did not finish in September 2023. I’ve enjoyed so much of Wells’ other work, I was ready to like this but found it to be pretty slow. There was a lot of worldbuilding, which is great, but for me it felt a little info-dumpy. There’s also some political situation that I think was going to become important, but I have zero interest in that kind of plotline. I don’t have any notes on how far I got into this, but I think it was close to halfway.

Still to be read:

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

Apparently the paperback of this is coming out next month. Given how long the hold lists are I pre-ordered a copy.

Translation State by Ann Leckie

This was the one that was already on my TBR. I’ve also put the ebook on hold, and it should come up in late June.