From: ted@loft.tnolan.com
In article <10j8plo$f9e5$1@dont-email.me>,
Tony Nance wrote:
>Highlights and Lowlights - October-December 2025
>
>So this post marks five years of doing these Highlights and Lowlights
>posts, and I’m going to change things up moving forward. I’m not totally
>sure how yet, and I’ll probably play it by ear for several months, but
>I’m leaning hard toward posting single-book summaries - and only a few
>of those, rather than all the SF I read.
Whatever you do, I'm sure I will enjoy it, as I always have the current
format. FWIW, I find sometimes that reviewing a book clarifies my feelings
on it some, though it also takes mental energy that's not always on tap.
>
>I’m working my way out of a 5-month reading slump, and I think a
>small-but-significant part of the slump is that I’m reading with these
>summaries in mind, and it’s made my reading more
>evaluative/clinical/critical, and less enjoyable.
>
>Moving on…
>
>Books are rated using a very primitive rating system:
>“+” are good, and more “+” are better
>“-” are not good, and more “-” are worse
>
>I’m happy to answer questions about anything here.
>
>Highlight: The Inheritance - Andrews [Breach Wars #1]
>
>Lowlight: no lowlights this time, though I will say Cassie Palmer #1 was
>close
>
>December 2025
>( ++ 1/2) A Dragon of a Different Color - Aaron [Heartstrikers #4; DFZ #4]
>( +++ 1/2 ) The Inheritance - Andrews [Breach Wars #1]
>( +++++ - - ) The Wreck of the River of Stars - Flynn
>( +++ 1/2) Aristoi - Walter Jon Williams [Re-read Project #4]
>
>November 2025
>( ++ 1/2 ) No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished - Aaron [Heartstrikers #3; DFZ #3]
>
>October 2025
>( ++ - - )Touch the Dark - Chance [Cassie Palmer #1]
>( +++ ) Carousel Tides - Sharon Lee [Archers Beach #1]
>
>Now Reading:
>Long work - Carousel Sun - Sharon Lee [Archers Beach #2]
>Collection - I don’t know yet
>
>===========================================
>December and November 2025
>( ++ 1/2) A Dragon of a Different Color - Aaron [Heartstrikers #4; DFZ #4]
>( ++ 1/2 ) No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished - Aaron [Heartstrikers #3; DFZ #3]
>Someone here (Ted?) coined the phrase “popcorn book”, and these are
>those. Entertaining, light/slight, fun, and not substantial works in any
>way. The Heartstrikers are a dragon clan based in North America. DFZ
>means Detroit Free Zone. These are #3 and #4 in a 5-book arc that
>follows dragon Justin Heartstriker and his human mage friend/associate
>Marci Novalli through the trials and tribulations of dragon clan
>politics and saving the world from magic evil-doers. Don’t expect a lot
>of character development - Justin is the only character who has
>matured/changed in any way, and not very much at that - BUT…these books
>are fun, and I’ll surely read #5.
>
I think you will find as you go on that other characters get arcs as well,
especially two of the sisters.
>( +++ 1/2 ) The Inheritance - Andrews [Breach Wars #1]
>Excellent start to a planned duology, and I, for one, hope it goes
>beyond two volumes. Ada Moore became an Assessor (Talent) shortly after
>the Breach Gates opened on modern day Earth. The Breach Gates are
>pockets of other (interstellar) civilizations that are inserted in order
>to overrun the world. They are de facto battle zones with valuable
>resources to be recovered. Shortly after entering a Breach Gate, a
>battle starts to go poorly, and Ada’s team leaders abandon her and many
>companions. All but Ada and a battle-trained German Shepherd (“Bear”)
>perish, and Ada & Bear to find their way out. Ada sees and learns many
>things, and adds some skills along the way, all while trying to find an
>exit back to the gate on Earth. Towards the end, this explicitly
>connects to their Innkeeper series, but there’s almost no overlap in
>this book. I’m very much looking forward to #2.
I have bought this one, and am looking forward to getting to it!
>
>October 2025
>( ++ - - )Touch the Dark - Chance [Cassie Palmer #1]
>Cassie Palmer is a clairvoyant/seer who has no control over what visions
>she receives, or when she receives them. Modern world setting, but with
>ghosts, vampires, mages, witches, fae, etc. Cassie was raised by a
>powerful vampire who killed her parents in order to gain control of
>Cassie and her powers. After many years, she escapes. As she is nearly
>re-captured, to her surprise she is rescued by the powerful North
>American Vampire Senate. Due to her powers, she finds herself in the
>middle of several competing agendas, and the book goes from there.
>
>This is very much a first novel…interesting world, interesting
>characters, spotty plotting, and a couple of book-hit-wall moments, one
>of which will have major consequences moving forward. There’s enough
>here that I will try #2 some time.
I find that Cassie has really grown over the series. There were some
twists & turns that ran on too long, like the Pritkin-quest, but on the
whole I have really enjoyed these and the other in-universe books.
When she's cooking, Chance has a way of doing farce sequences about
characters you still care about, and without lowering the stakes, which
is fairly unusual.
>
>( +++ ) Carousel Tides - Sharon Lee [Archers Beach #1]
>Series starter by half of the Liaden Universe author team. Set in modern
>Maine, Kate Archer returns to her Maine roots when a cryptic note from
>the grandmother who raised her makes her suspect there’s big trouble
>afoot back home. Her suspicions are correct. Gran has gone missing, and
>Kate finds herself in charge of the family carousel, which is part of a
>dying amusement park in a dying resort/tourist town. We soon learn there
>is land/sea/fae magic, Kate is of mixed heritage (human and something
>magical), and there’s a drug lord bullying the town. Adventures follow.
>
I bought this years ago, and really need to move it up.
>Happy New Year!
So far so good...
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