Richard

Cozy and cute. Not my normal thing, but it works for my current mood. Themes of loss and fitting in, but the stakes are very low, no one is dying, and the world isn't about to end. Just finding where you fit in and navigating new situations as an outsider.

The main character (Not the titular character as he is only in a few scenes, guessing later volumes will explore that more) has synesthesia, where your senses have some crossover. In her case people also have tastes associated with them. So, someone might ‘taste' like pepper or chocolate.

My son is also a synesthete, in his case numbers, letters, and sounds all have colors that are triggered in his brain in addition to the stimuli. For example, the number 2, is also bright red. He can actually do math via color, for example, Green (3) plus Blue (4) is Pink (7). One of my favorite quotes from him is, “The sound of Lego bricks clicking together is light blue.” I thought of him a lot as I read this, imagining him in similar situations, maybe not cryogenically frozen for 30 years and flown across the solar system, but going to a new school where he doesn't know anyone and navigating peer group changes.

Really really terrible. Like one of the worst books I've read. 

What do you do when you lose. We don't really get that story in Battltech very often. A great look at the people left after both the Jade Falcons and Republic or the Sphere lose and the aftermath. 

Creative and beautiful prose. 

Fun spy novels set in the Battletech universe. Lots of Ian Flemming vibes though it probably won't be a great book if you're not familiar with the universe.

Sureal, terrible, and fascinating.

Such a bizarre surreal book. It could have been a cozy book about making perfume and exploring scents outside of the whole serial killer part of it. I'm going to have to think on this one for a bit to see where the rating falls (I usually don't like to rate a book for a week or so to let my brain decide what I thought about it.

This one is hard to review. Such a beautifully written novel, the prose is just lovely, and such an important work for so many reasons, but I find most morality plays depressing and not really something I enjoy reading however beautifully written and important they are. So, five stars for the writing and importance, three stars for my enjoyment and I'll call it four. I will still come back and read this again in a decade or so if I'm still around, despite not really enjoying it too much as sometimes I do things because they are good for me, despite not enjoying it.

One of the best books I've read this year. It's the comfiest dystopian book I've read. I keep thinking about various parts of it. It's got the satirical feel of Hitchhikers Guide while being more serious. Really interesting world of class, race and rule following.

Closer to 4 stars, but an interesting read. I've enjoyed some of the environmental sci-fi that's come out recently and I love cephalopods, so this was enjoyable and made me think. I would have liked to have more focus on the animals and the communication system rather than boring humans, but you can't win them all.

3.5/5 Fun mash of genre. Glad I read it, but probably just a library read.

I love short story collections. Loved the creativity and universe of this one. I didn't realize I really needed sorcerer puppets.

Interesting universe. Maybe not enough to keep me engaged with reading the sequel, but not angry I read it.

Really interesting ideas, just not very well put together. It's kind of all over the place. I like the universe created, just didn't particularly enjoy this story in it.

This one took me a while to get through. It's a retelling of the abuses of slavery and society in a scifi setting. Heavier books generally leave me needing to take breaks with lighter fare between. A good exploration and not one I have any desire to read again.

Cross between Percy Jackson and Hunger Games. If you like both of those you will likely like this. The plot twists were pretty obvious, there were creative bits but it left me wanting.

Lovely prose, slightly creepy. It's nicely otherworldly without being too over the top.

Enjoyable twist to the chosen one trope. Some interesting world building and martial art. A nice example of wuxia and a breath of fresh air from traditional fantasy.

Some interesting space naval combat and aliens in this one. Interesting society and it's good scifi in that it does the “what if” and then runs with it. A little slow to get going and there are traumatic parts to so e characters early life's that I don't enjoy a whole lot but I really an interesting read for military scifi.

A sweet story about grief, relationships and living life.

I'm a sucker for magical libraries.

Really beautiful book. I love cephalopods and would have loved the book even more if we'd gotten more narration from Marcellus the octopus. Nicely cozy and a good look at loneliness and what kind friends and strangers can do to relieve it.

Cute for an easy middle grades story, though I was surprised at a later revelation in the quest but in the end ok with it. I really enjoyed the ambiguity in the magic being real or not. Passing this one on to the daughter to see if she will like it.

Interesting story about family and secrets. It's a story about safety and community, about finding your place.

A nice look at imperfect utopia's. Interesting aliens and a different looks at first contact. Not perfect and a little heavy handed at times, but it made me think.