zorana

The incandescent by Emily Tesh. DAMN, girl can write. This was an impeccable love letter to teaching (in UK private schools, anyway), to teenagers, and to teachers. It's a very well done magic system, I appreciated the shit out of Saffy's character, and several moments were downright electrifyingly gripping. The ending, tho? Smidge too pat, and I'm bewildered about what happened to [redacted character] and their actual motivation. Anyone who's also read it feel like weighing-in in the comments? That aside, I loved being able to curl up in this world, and I'm sad it's over. I wavered back and forth on Tesh's novellas, but between Some desperate glory (real good, not perfect) and this (REAL good, 95% perfect), I'd definitely pick up the next thing she puts out.
Note: there's now epic spoilers in the comments, heads up.

Currently reading:
The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams. Rereading, for Elle Cordova's patreon bookclub. First 10 or so pages in and I'd forgotten how sharp it is. It's a real pleasure.

All systems red by Martha Wells. I remember why I bounced off this the first time during Hugo reading. I totally believe that the writing gets much tighter as the series goes on, and I'm tempted to jump to either book four, as fred_mouse started there and said they had no problems doing so, or dive headfirst into the TV series. Probably the latter.

ETA: Have now watched ep1 of the series, and hells yeah, there's that worldbuilding and vibrancy that I was missing.