The Stardust Grail

The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei, 311 pages

Now a graduate student, Maya Hoshimoto was once a successful cat burglar, stealing all manner of artifacts from both public and private collections. Now, she's trying her best to buckle down and finish her thesis, though the arrival of a long-lost book at the university library — one that may hold the key to finding a possibly mythical "stardust grail," capable of helping the Frenro alien race save itself from extinction — forces Maya to dust off those old skills as she attempts one final heist to help a friend.

This fast-moving heist novel has shades of Indiana Jones in space, though instead of stealing things for a museum, Maya's stealing them from a museum. I like the transportation and the aliens, and the Encyclopedium (a massive museum/library/archive thing) seems simultaneously like the most intriguing and scary place in the universe. Yeah, I had trouble buying the idea that Earth would be almost unchanged however many years in the future, and the plot got a little crazy toward the end, but that shouldn't stop you from reading this super fun book.

2024 Blogging Stats AND New Wild Cards for 2025!

Check out this sweet infographic to see the blogging stats for 2024!

Please note: there are extenuating circumstances for the readers of both the most and least books in 2024. Annie started blogging in November, so she obviously didn't have enough time to blog as prolifically as other bloggers. And because of my ALA committee, I read WAY more than I would otherwise (and honestly would not recommend trying to read at the rate I had to, especially in November and December). So keep that in mind as you look over the data!

ALSO: we have new wild card categories for 2025 books! This year, books get extra points if they:

• Feature a library at some point in the book (make sure you tag "library" in your blog post if you want those points!)
• Have a preposition in the title

More info is on the Wild Card page of the blog. If you need any other clarification, ask Regan or me!

Finder

 Finder by Suzanne Palmer, 392 pages. 

Kara just beat me to writing about this book! So I'm going to link her review here for the facts of the book and keep this review to my opinions. 

I almost put this book down when I found out the protagonist's name was Fergus Ferguson, but I'm really glad I didn't! This whole novel has a very pulp science fiction magazine feel, to the point where I could clearly picture several scenes in the 1940s comic book style. I don't consider this a bad thing! It gives the whole novel a really interesting flavor, which is reinforced by some clever problem solving that was delightful to follow. I am definitely interested in reading more books in this world, especially if they spend more time in less human-centric space. A fun sci-fi adventure!

The Turtle House

The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill, 296 pages

In 1999 Texas, architect Lia Cope has hit a wall with her career and moved back home, where she shares a room with her grandmother, Mineko. Mineko recently moved in with her son and daughter-in-law after her house burned down. The forced proximity of Lia and Mineko has led to bonding, as Lia records Mineko's stories from her youth in Japan through her immigration to the United States. But when Mineko is forced to live in a senior living facility, the pair plots a course to recreate the titular Turtle House, a long-lost beloved place for Mineko.

While the stories of Mineko's life in Japan, and as a WWII Japanese bride for an American soldier, are fascinating and engrossing, the more modern elements, particularly Lia's tale of college and the run-up to her return home, falls a little flat in comparison. I kind of wish it had simply been a historical fiction story of Mineko without Lia's involvement. Oh well.

Between Friends and Lovers

Between Friends and Lovers by Shirlene Obuobi, 357 pages

Dr. Josephine Boateng has thousands of social media followers who tune in for her humor and candid attitude toward health and self-love. While she's super-confident in front of the camera, her off-screen life is much more complicated, with a long unrequited crush on her rich playboy best friend, Ezra, keeping her from dating seriously. But when Ezra takes his new girlfriend's side when Jo calls her out as her high school bully, Jo has had it and decides to plunge into a new relationship with shy novelist, Mal. Mal's dealing with his own issues (among them: impostor syndrome when his debut novel gets picked up for screen adaptation and baggage from a long-term toxic relationship), but as a longtime Instagram follower of Jo, he's willing to give this a try, especially when he finds her as charming in real life as she is online. But will Jo be able to let go of Ezra's hold on her so that her relationship with Mal can flourish?

This is a winning romance with plenty of clear communication (what?? that never happens in romance novels!) and a distinct lack of guys fighting over the girl. Honestly, my one complaint about this book is that Mal is just too perfect a guy, though that's probably not a bad thing for a romance novel. Well worth a read.

Finder

Finder by Suzanne Palmer, 392 pages

Loner Fergus Ferguson calls himself a "finder," but for all intents and purposes is a a repo man, thief, and general con man for hire. A mission to reclaim a stolen ship takes Fergus to a backwater outpost where power is split between five kingpins (one of whom stole the ship) and mysterious Asiig alien ships routinely pass by, striking fear into the hearts of all the people who live out there. Of course, this mission cannot go as planned, and soon Fergus finds himself wrapped up in the local politics and actually caring about the lives of others.

I first read this book back in early 2020, and reread it for Orcs & Aliens. My thoughts then still hold up now: it's a fun, funny, well-created space heist. Now, however, it's also the first in a series of 4 (so far), which means I have some catching up to do!

The Prospects

The Prospects by KT Hoffman, 366 pages

In his third year playing for a minor league baseball team, Gene Ionescu is the first openly trans player in professional baseball. He's a well-regarded solid shortstop, so imagine his surprise when his team brings in Luis Estrada, a former teammate and now rival, to take over at short, shifting Gene over to second base. While the two initially can't stand to be around each other, eventually they realize that they're going to have to start communicating and working together if they're ever going to escape errors and finally turn a double play. But as they start working together, Gene and Luis realize that something more than friendship is developing between them.

This combo of enemies-to-lovers and second-chance romance works well between the two main characters, both of whom struggle with their place in baseball — Gene for the understandable challenges that come with being trans, Luis with a double whammy of debilitating anxiety and living as a closeted gay man. I love that they find solace in each other, no matter how awkwardly it plays out in the beginning stages. While the hyper-realistic baseball talk sometimes clashed in my head with the absolute fantasyland of an LGBTQ-friendly MLB, at the end of the day, it's nice to see a trans character thriving and finding love in fiction. Fans of Check, Please! will dig this one.

The Puzzle Box

 

The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni, 320 pgs.

As the full moon rises over the imperial palace in Tokyo, Mike Brink prepares to face his greatest challenge yet: solving the unsolvable Dragon Box. He has confronted many puzzles like this before--solving each with ease, due to his savant-like ability to recognize patterns and photographic memory--but this puzzle box is unique in that every person who has attempted to solve it has died in the process. With Sakura, the Emperor's aide with mysterious motives, at his side and the imperial guards watching on, can Brink figure out how to open the murderous Dragon Box before the full moon sets? And, perhaps even more importantly, can he trust those around him?

My experience reading The Puzzle Box reminded me of watching an action movie. I was on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. Each scene unfolded in my mind as if I were watching it onscreen. Dramatic reveals, strategically placed on the final pages of key chapters, felt primed for film transitions. I could almost hear the swells of music in the most action-packed scenes. Fans of the MCU, Bullet Train, or The DaVinci Code will enjoy this book.

Only Human

 Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel, 336 pages.

After the events of Waking Gods, everyone who happened to be celebrating on Themis after the fight was over is transported to the robots homeworld, where they spend nearly a decade. When they finally return to Earth, they find that everything has really gone crazy in their absence. The same small team is again responsible for saving the world, this time from itself. 

It's been a while since I read the conclusion of a series that was quite so disappointing. This is a book mostly about prejudice and otherness, but it was so heavy-handed it was frankly pretty boring. This book was also going back and forth through time, which felt like it impeded the sort of solid, unstoppable build-up of the other two books. Finally, and I won't be two specific here for the sake of spoilers, it became very obvious in this book that a couple of the major characters who died at the end of the last book were very load-bearing, and this story just didn't shine without them. This wasn't a completely terrible book, but compared to the earlier two in the series it was disappointing and uninspired. 

The Last Days of New Paris

 The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville, 209 pages.

This book is difficult to categorize and even more difficult to describe, but I will do my best here. In 1941, while the Nazis were occupying Paris, a strange bomb went off. The so called S-Blast filled the city with physical and uncontrollable manifestations of Surrealist art. Between the so-called manifs and the demons the Nazis summon to attempt to maintain control, Paris is rendered strange and unstable, as well as being totally cut off from the rest of the world.

The story bounces back and forth between a solitary Surrealist soldier trying to resist the occupying Nazis in 1950 and a house full of Surrealists resisting in their own, more cognitive, way before the S-Blast. This book was extremely weird, but I found it very compelling throughout. I think fans of the Surrealist movement in particular will love this novel (and it's extensive index of references), but I enjoyed it as someone who knows little of the movement as well. This is a short book that packs a lot in with a startling degree of complexity, and I would recommend it for people feeling like they want to read something different.