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93. Ambush or Adore by Gail Carriger. 4. The interstitial backstory of two characters who have haunted the Parasol Protectorate universe. Absolutely delightful if you've read the rest of series, likely to be baffling otherwise.
94. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. 5. This is the definition of Not For Everyone. A drug addict reconstructs the notes of a dead blind man obsessed with a documentary that didn't exist about a family whose house has an interdimensional portal. The entire book is a puzzle box. It's for people who loved The Eleventh Hour as kids but want more code-breaking; people who thought the dream atmosphere of Sleep No More didn't go quite far enough. Pretentious as hell. Loved it.
95. Elements of Style by Wendy Wasserstein. 3.5. Comedy of manners set among asshole socialites in late 2001 New York City. Loved some of the biting satire, but it nearly develops heart towards the end and then shies away. I suppose "awful rich people stay awful" is a realistic turn of events, but it felt a bit like the author lost her nerve. Whether that's by starting to make characters learn or not letting them complete that, I'm not sure.
96. The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. 4. Elegaic coming of age set in Socrates' Athens.
97. Defy or Defend by Gail Carriger. 4. Cold Comfort Farm, with vampires. Charming and delightful.
98. Redoubt by Mercedes Lackey. 3. It's kind of a retread of a quarter of By the Sword. Not her strongest work, but kind of a cozy return for Valdemar fans.
99. Bastion by Mercedes Lackey. 3. Honestly, Mags' cousin is probably a far more interesting story, but we're probably not going to get it. More of the same, if that's what you're on board or.
100. The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman. 4. The prequel to Practical Magic, this is lovely and a bit haunting. Three witch-children growing up in 1960s New York City.
101. The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik. 5. Novik has the good sense to shake up the social order and the rules of the Hogwarts-but-malicious school in book 2, and I can't wait to see what she does with book 3. Especially because this ends on a hell of a cliffhanger.
102. Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune. Klune excels at softening unlikeable protagonists. A jerk of a lawyer dies and finds himself trapped in an unconventional tea shop.
103. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. 2.5. Loosely joined short stories about six people, strung together into the guise of a novel about a book club. Parts are charming, but the inconsistent voice is pretentious and the whole thing doesn't really hang together thematically.
104. Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg. 3. A young woman is chosen by a god to basically be a sacrifice but survives. Most of the book is her faffing about in the woods with a godling, though. On one hand, I did it engaging and bonus points for the end not quite going where I expected with the love triangle. But I kind of felt like the parts of the story I was most interested in were off happening elsewhere.
105. Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall. 5. This is basically Great British Bake-Off fanfiction and I am HERE for it. Laugh-out-loud funny, nuanced take on romance. The warning for sexual assault at the beginning is wise, though (not graphic and sensitively handled).
106. Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots. 5. Bitter but clever send-up of superheroes and capitalism, from the perspective of a henchwoman betrayed by supervillain HR after being injured by a hero.
94. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. 5. This is the definition of Not For Everyone. A drug addict reconstructs the notes of a dead blind man obsessed with a documentary that didn't exist about a family whose house has an interdimensional portal. The entire book is a puzzle box. It's for people who loved The Eleventh Hour as kids but want more code-breaking; people who thought the dream atmosphere of Sleep No More didn't go quite far enough. Pretentious as hell. Loved it.
95. Elements of Style by Wendy Wasserstein. 3.5. Comedy of manners set among asshole socialites in late 2001 New York City. Loved some of the biting satire, but it nearly develops heart towards the end and then shies away. I suppose "awful rich people stay awful" is a realistic turn of events, but it felt a bit like the author lost her nerve. Whether that's by starting to make characters learn or not letting them complete that, I'm not sure.
96. The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. 4. Elegaic coming of age set in Socrates' Athens.
97. Defy or Defend by Gail Carriger. 4. Cold Comfort Farm, with vampires. Charming and delightful.
98. Redoubt by Mercedes Lackey. 3. It's kind of a retread of a quarter of By the Sword. Not her strongest work, but kind of a cozy return for Valdemar fans.
99. Bastion by Mercedes Lackey. 3. Honestly, Mags' cousin is probably a far more interesting story, but we're probably not going to get it. More of the same, if that's what you're on board or.
100. The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman. 4. The prequel to Practical Magic, this is lovely and a bit haunting. Three witch-children growing up in 1960s New York City.
101. The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik. 5. Novik has the good sense to shake up the social order and the rules of the Hogwarts-but-malicious school in book 2, and I can't wait to see what she does with book 3. Especially because this ends on a hell of a cliffhanger.
102. Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune. Klune excels at softening unlikeable protagonists. A jerk of a lawyer dies and finds himself trapped in an unconventional tea shop.
103. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. 2.5. Loosely joined short stories about six people, strung together into the guise of a novel about a book club. Parts are charming, but the inconsistent voice is pretentious and the whole thing doesn't really hang together thematically.
104. Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg. 3. A young woman is chosen by a god to basically be a sacrifice but survives. Most of the book is her faffing about in the woods with a godling, though. On one hand, I did it engaging and bonus points for the end not quite going where I expected with the love triangle. But I kind of felt like the parts of the story I was most interested in were off happening elsewhere.
105. Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall. 5. This is basically Great British Bake-Off fanfiction and I am HERE for it. Laugh-out-loud funny, nuanced take on romance. The warning for sexual assault at the beginning is wise, though (not graphic and sensitively handled).
106. Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots. 5. Bitter but clever send-up of superheroes and capitalism, from the perspective of a henchwoman betrayed by supervillain HR after being injured by a hero.
