The Twisted Ones

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher, 385 p.

An extremely pragmatic freelance editor goes to rural North Carolina to clean out the house her unlikable grandmother had lived in. She finds, um, things she did not expect. I don’t read much horror, but I liked this a lot. There’s a nice mix of this-thing-is-impossible and this-thing-is-evil; some emotional horror and some biological horror. The narrator’s voice is the best part, though; there's a lot of humor amongst the horror.

(And she makes it clear in the first chapter that the dog lives, so you're safe on that front.)

T. Kingfisher is a pen name of Ursula Vernon.

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells ; 637 pp

     All Systems Red, 149 pp
     Artificial Condition, 158 pp
     Rogue Protocol, 158 pp
     Exit Strategy, 172 pp

In a corporate-dominated future, Security Unit bots must accompany all approved planetary missions to guarantee the safety of the humans on the mission. One SecUnit that calls itself Murderbot has hacked its own governor module, yet continues on with its job because it has plenty of time to surreptitiously watch media. (Its favorite show is Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon.)
        "Confession time: I don't actually know where we are....In my defense, we'd been here twenty-two planetary days and I hadn't had to do anything but stand around watching humans make scans or take samples of dirt, rocks, water, and leaves. The sense of urgency just wasn't there. Also, you may have noticed, I don't care."
Then an emergency happens and Murderbot actually has to decide whether to do its job....

Murderbot is snarky and anxiety-ridden and unsure what to do with itself when humans try to talk to it. It's also great fun to read about. These novellas feature action and intrigue as well as introspection and growth. The fourth title ends the story arc begun in the first title, but there's a novel coming out in 2020 to look forward to. (Woo!) I can't wait.

The books of the Raksura trilogy

  

The books of the Raksura trilogy by Martha Wells


The cloud roads, 278 p. 

The serpent sea, 340 p.
The siren depths, 277 p.

Moon lives among groundlings on the Three Worlds, drifting from group to group, never able to quite fit in among the many different races. His family group was killed when he was very young, and he's never found another being who's like him: a shapeshifter. Moon's winged form bears an unfortunate resemblance to a vicious enemy known as the Fell, so he has to stay in groundling form as much as possible. Finally he meets another member of his race, and discovers that he's a Raksura. However, learning to fit in with a Raksura court is even more difficult than his life has been so far.

Martha Wells is enormously talented at worldbuilding without infodumping, and this setting is a rich and marvelous secondary world. Plus she's really, really excellent at showing culture clash--in this case, not just between the Raksura and other races, but between Moon and other Raksura, since his upbringing was so different from theirs. One scene in particular The Serpent Sea where she illustrates Moon's incomprehension of something that all of the other Raksura just assumed he knew is a gutpunch, and so, so well done. Martha Wells remains one of my all-time favorite writers.

Plus, sullen, grumpy Moon is a lot of fun to read about. The fifth book, The Harbors of the Sun, comes out in early July, and I can't wait to read it and The Edge of Worlds (the fourth book).

The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck

The life-changing magic of not giving a f*ck: how to stop spending time you don't have with people you don't like doing things you don't want to do / Sarah Knight, 208 p.

Yes, this book has the same basic cover design (and trim size!) of Marie Kondo's better-know book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Sarah Knight isn't making fun of that book, though; she talks about Kondo-ing her husband's sock drawer. But rather than discussing how to rid your life of physical things, Knight talks about how to rid yourself of obligations that sap your time, energy and money--obligations that you don't really care about. Her advice is all about how to determine what you actually care about, and how to jettison pretending to care about the other stuff. (She's very clear that you're not allowed to be a jerk about it.) I wish some of her examples of how to handle letting other people you don't care were a little less trivial--I know she's doing it to be funny, but it sort of undercuts her more serious points. Still, an enjoyable and useful book, assuming you don't mind salty language.

Code Talker

Code talker / Chester Nez, 310 p.

Chester Nez was one of the original 32 Navajo men (he insists that there were 32 men involved, although the official number is always given as 29) who developed an unbreakable code based on the Navajo language for the U.S. military during WWII. Besides the development of the code and his service in the Pacific, he talks about his early childhood on the reservation, government-run boarding school, and his life after wartime.

There's also an extensive index of the code, which I loved reading. Some of the words were straight translations: "until" in English was the word for "until" in Navajo. Others were easy to understand the connection; "vicinity" became "there about," and "village" became "many shelter." My favorites, though, were the terms that mixed concepts--"when" became "weasel hen," "where" became "weasel here," and "will" became "sick weasel"!

Fire Touched

Fire touched / Patricia Briggs, 342 p.

I like this series (this is book 9) about Mercy Thompson, a car mechanic who's a coyote shapeshifter married to the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. Much of what I enjoy involves the characters' relationships, which are less...dramatic than some urban fantasy books. This one begins with an outstanding action sequence involving a troll on a bridge, but the rest of the book didn't really grab me. Generally when I'm reading a series, some entries will be really memorable and some will be...not filler, exactly, but only an enjoyable visit with characters I like rather than a book that really excites me. For me, Fire Touched falls into that second category.

Chaos Choreography

Chaos choreography / Seanan McGuire, 368 p.

The fifth book in this fun urban fantasy series switches back to Verity Price as the viewpoint character. She's come to terms with giving up her dream to be a professional ballroom dancer in order to focus on the family business (cryptozoology)...but then the reality show she competed on a few years previously, Dance or Die, entices her with a reunion show, and one last time to dance. She has to juggle dancing, her fellow contestants' egos and secrets (some of the other dancers are cryptids)--and a murder investigation, as eliminated contestants begin dying.

Karen Memory

Karen Memory / Elizabeth Bear, 350 p.

Karen Memery is an orphaned young woman who works as a whore. She and her employer are dragged into trouble when Karen offers a fugitive girl (Priya) sanctuary from her owner, and things get worse when the body of a murdered prostitute is dumped near Karen's place of employment. Karen works with some of the other girls in her house and U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves to catch the murderer, keep the villainous Peter Battle from winning the mayoral election with his mind-control device (and blackmail), and save Priya's sister from Battle's clutches. The action near the end of the books really ramps up, setting a breath-taking pace.

Karen's voice is distinctive and fun. I love how matter-of-fact she is about her job; it's what she does, not who she is. Plus how could I not love the steam-powered full-body sewing machine.  :)