The Hands of the Emperor, by Victoria Goddard

I’ve just read another book that has me babbling incoherently. I have no idea how to organize my thoughts about this book so I think I will just blither at you. 

The Hands of the Emperor is the perfect, the ideal book to read in these troubling times. If you want to read a book in which nothing terribly bad happens, if you want to read a book about nice people being nice to each other, about good people doing good things, this is that book. This is also a book about the aftermath of a global catastrophe, and about the rebuilding required, and it is an infinitely hopeful book in that regard. (To the point of being hopelessly idealistic, perhaps, but the world could use more idealism at the moment!) Someone described this book as competence porn: if you love watching competent people do their jobs competently, this is the book for you.

I was drawn in by the blurb, which reveals the central twist at the heart of the book: which I can't seem to put into coherent words. Power, and relationships, and the difference between how people are seen and how they are. (Those words don't elucidate it at all, sorry!) But I can say that if that blurb intrigues you, you will not be disappointed.

This is not a plot-based book by any means. The entire first quarter consists of a group of nice people who like each other going on vacation in a beautiful, friendly place. I enjoyed it so much! It isn't remotely boring for a number of important reasons: complex power dynamics are being tested and redefined in simple actions such as deciding to go swimming; a fascinating, vibrant world is being gradually revealed; the tentative friendship developing between the Emperor and his secretary Cliopher is delightful to watch; and there is the piquancy of dramatic irony in almost every scene, because no one knows that this is the Emperor. (I've always been particularly tickled by the conceit that here's an important/significant/powerful person and everyone else bustles around officiously having no idea who they are. Like that scene in Sabriel when she first crosses the border.)

That conceit is actually the organizing conceit of the novel, because no one actually knows who Cliopher is, even though everyone thinks they do.

The Hands of the Emperor is a character study: a long, deep, complex, extended character study of a really interesting person. Cliopher is a bureaucrat—and if you think would never want to read the story of a bureaucrat, this book will change your mind. He loves his job; he is exceedingly good at his job; he is transforming the world through his job. He also has an amazing backstory, which gets gradually revealed, and the way his story is told—by whom, to whom, under what circumstances—is crucial to the plot, the character development—it's really interestingly done.

This book is a true successor to The Goblin Emperor. If you loved that book you will also love this one. Cliopher is heart kin to Maia. They would like one another, they would recognize in each other similar challenges, desires and goals. The way politics and world events are used as backdrops to define and highlight character is very similar in both books.

You know who else would like Cliopher: Miles Vorkosigan. He is almost as opposite a character as can be, and yet they share the same passion, incorruptibility, desire for justice, joy in service. (They need to meet later in Miles's career, though. Cliopher would probably have a hard time with younger Miles!)

Goddard's writing has the same combination of wisdom and humour that I enjoy in Lois McMaster Bujold's work. Her prose is delightful.

This is a book about friendship, about family, about how our identities are tied up with our families and our friends. It is also a treatise on culture: what culture means, why culture is essential and necessary and intrinsically woven with our identity. And it brilliantly, viscerally, gorgeously elucidates what it means to be from different cultures, what it takes to understand a different culture. (If you liked what Rachel Neumeier did in Tuyo, know that The Hands of the Emperor does that in spades. And bulldozers.)

The world building in this book, oh my! It reminds me most of Sherwood Smith and her novels set in Sartorias-Delas. So broad and deep and full of detail. Its a multi-world empire with strange magic and stranger history, and you won't understand all of it, but the parts you need to understand will end up written in your hearts.

I'm getting ridiculous so it's time to stop. I can't recommend this book highly enough to people who like the same kind of books I do. It hits all of my buttons. I immediately bought the sequel, which is shorter and in an entirely different style (and focuses on a different main character) but which I liked just as much (and she's promised a sequel with Cliopher, so yay!)

I will mention two caveats: The Hands of the Emperor is self-published, and there are rather more typos than I'm used to encountering. There is also a structural flaw (I think that's the best way to describe it) that would probably have been corrected by more editing. Rachel Neumeier explains it in her review (it's very slightly spoilery, so you can decide if you want to know). Like her, I was bothered by it, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment of the book as a whole—I still say this is going to be one of my all-time favourite novels, one I will re-read over and over again. It's that good.

More K-Dramas on Netflix

My review of 2020 wouldn't be complete without some Korean dramas. Kudos to Netflix for getting so many of them. Of the ones I watched last year, I can definitely recommend these (also see this post for more):

It's Okay to Not Be Okay: Utterly gorgeous, with fantastic acting and a heart-wrenching (but in a good way) story of brothers and found family and what counts as normal and who gets to decide what you're going to be.

Mystic Pop-up Bar: light and mostly funny fantasy grounded with some great acting. A pop-up bar is a mini-restaurant in a tent (like a less-portable food truck, with a few tables); this one is a front for a woman doing hundreds of years of penance by saving lost souls.

Start-Up: a not-terribly realistic story of a tech start-up succeeding despite the odds. Fun because of the ensemble cast and the transforming relationships among them.

Strongest Deliveryman: funny, feel-good David vs Goliath story about a big corporation trying to take over mom & pop restaurants. The two second leads might grate on you for the first several episodes, but they have great character arcs so hang in there!

Hyena: two cut-throat lawyers being very clever about cutting each other's throats despite being irresistibly attracted to each other. They are so crazy unscrupulous that you can't help rooting for them!

Memories of the Alhambra: if you fell in love with Hyun Bin in Crash Landed on You (go watch that one first!), you will want to check out this interesting fantasy. He's not as swoony in this one (probably because I wasn't as invested in the romance), but it's a cool plot.

A Korean Odyssey: The ending of this one is terrible, but it's still worth watching for the wonderful characters of the Monkey King and his hilariously amoral immortal compatriots. Definitely watch it long enough to meet the zombie girl and follow her arc—she's fantastic—, and then stop around episode 13 or so when the writers apparently all got their brains eaten or something and decided to introduce a sorceress who has nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the plot and derails it entirely.

Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung: if you're in a historical for the costumes and the palaces and could care less if it's remotely true to history. Pretty topical, actually: should a historian edit history because it's inconvenient for those in power? Cute romance is secondary to girl-coming-into-her-own story.

2020 Reading Report

Like many of you, despite having more time alone at home this year because of the pandemic, I read far fewer books—at least, fewer new books. It was a year of rereading old comfort reads, rewatching favourite Korean dramas, and listening to a lot of comedians (generally the only way I could handle the news).

I do not keep the scrupulous records that many bloggers manage, so I can't tell you how many of what sort of book I read, but I can go through my kindle purchases and library borrows and get some idea of what the year's reading was like.

Most anticipated and didn't let me down:

Network Effect, the Murderbot novel! 

Return of the Thief, the final book of Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series, and the long wait was so, so worth it! One of my first goals in 2021 is to reread the entire series.

New books from writers I like:

Call Down the Hawk, Maggie Stiefvater's spin-off from her Raven Boys series, which I liked a lot but didn't love as much as I'd thought I would.

The Once and Future Witches, by Alix Harrow. I loved The Ten Thousand Doors of January so much that I was nervous about this one, but it had three awesome characters and a great premise and was imaginative and gripping and now I know I like Alix Harrow!

Tuyo and Nikoles, by Rachel Neumeier. I cannot believe how prolific Neumeier is! Not one, but two new books in a completely new series, that I enjoyed so much I've already re-read them. And she also put out a new book in her Black Dog series, Copper Mountain! Have to say, the pandemic would have been much bleaker without Rachel Neumeier. (She also kept up her interesting blog, which I appreciated.)

Plus there were two new Penric novellas from Lois McMaster Bujold, two new novellas from T. Kingfisher, the latest Invisible Library novel from Genevieve Cogman—oh, look, there's an even newer one! Yay!—, a new short story in Andrea Höst's Touchstone world, a cool novella from Zen Cho ... you know, I did read some really enjoyable stuff this year!

New-to-me Authors:

M.C.A Hogarth: the Dreamhealers series was so utterly perfect for this year. Gentle, wise, fun but not taxing world-building. Much of the suspense was the fascination of exploring a new friendship between two very different species. Quite refreshing and delightful.

Margaret Rogerson: I don't know why I read very little YA and Middle-Grade this year. But Rogerson is a new author I will be looking out for. I read Sorcery of Thorns for the Cybils and then went looking for An Enchantment of Ravens, her earlier book. Both were good; Thorns was better, and I look forward to seeing what she does next. I'm also highly anticipating the sequel to the Cybils winner, Fireborne, by Rosaria Munda.

Nghi Vo: I was blown away by the novella The Empress of Salt and Fortune. Haven't picked up the second one yet, but I will definitely.

Books I tried to read but couldn't:

I was very excited about A Memory Called Empire, The Starless Sea, The Lovely War, and The Priory of the Orange Tree, but in the end I didn't finish any of them. Maybe the world-building required too much of my brain? Or I wasn't quite grabbed enough by the characters? They were all good and interesting and had lovely writing, but I put them down and never picked them up again.

But I'm glad I did this post: I feel better about last year's reading, and I'm quite excited to discover new books to love in 2021!

Cybil's Shortlists are out!

January 1st is when the Cybils Round One Judges announce the shortlists they pass on to the Second Round of judging, and these are always books well worth reading. I am hoping that 2021 will be a year with a lot more headspace for discovering new books, so I'm adding these to my TBR.

Young Adult Speculative Fiction

Patrick Ness has a new book? You don't have to tell me anything more: I'm in. It has dragons? And is set in an alternate history Pacific Northwest during the Cold War? With dragons?? Pretty sure I'll be reading this one tomorrow!

The others sound good, too: I've heard a lot of good things about Cemetery Boys, and when Kiersten White's take on Guinevere came out I flagged it for myself. The others are new to me and I'm excited to check them out!

Young Adult Fiction

Not going to lie: a lot of these choices sound very heavy and depressing to me, and as important and relevant as they may be, they are not what I want to read right now. But there's one about fútbol that sounds like a lot of fun! Furia is set in Argentina, about a girl who plays football (or soccer as North Americans strangely call it!) in secret because of her family's rigid disapproval.

Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction

These ones all sound perfectly fantastic and right up my alley! A Thai, magic retelling of Les Miserables? Yes please! Some fun and original-sounding witches, a kid dealing with anxiety on Mars, and a great Halloween read about a town with a dark secret ... I will be checking all these out as soon as possible!

Middle-Grade Fiction

I love how many different realities are represented here. There's poverty, grief, injustice and abuse, but it looks like there's a lot of resilience and friendship. I had already added From the Desk of Zoe Washington to my TBR; now I have more!

And I'm already a little overwhelmed, but you can go on to check out the other lists, including graphic novels, picture books and non-fiction.

My Christmas Picture Book Collection

Every year I treat myself to a few new Christmas-themed picture books. I now have a fairly large number of wildly diverse stories, themes and art. Thought I'd share a sample few:

This one is so funny, and the language is delightful!

Gorgeous art, and a sweet story.

I love Barbara Reid's carved-clay images, and they work particularly well for showing snow!

I love this story—makes me tear up every time! And the art, so beautiful.

And here are a few more!

Bloom, by Kenneth Oppel

Kenneth Oppel has done it again. He has to be one of the most versatile writers out there: every book he writes is different from the last, and they are all solidly good to fantastic. Bloom is on the fantastic side of the scale. It's the most entertaining plant-based apocalypse since Little Shop of Horrors.

There has needed to be a book about invasive aliens ever since the gardening world decided that's what they should call introduced plant species that run rampant over native species and become impossible to eradicate. Oppel has obviously had to deal with invasive aliens, because he understands how terrifyingly inimical to human life they can be. I know from personal experience that Himalayan blackberries have an intelligent malice and are actively hostile; so is Scottish broom. In Eastern North America I think it's kudzu. Alien plant species taking over the planet is an entirely plausible scenario! 

I love that Oppel sets Bloom on Salt Spring Island, iconic home to the most down-to-earth, organic, genuine, eccentric collection of farmers and artists in Canada. It just makes the wrongness of the black spiky grass that appears everywhere overnight that much more offensive. (Side note: I read a review that thought the community's swift and organized response to the crisis was unrealistic, but it didn't read that way to me at all. That's kind of how we do things here.)(*Waves Canadian flag a little bit.*)

I liked the variation on the Special Chosen One that Oppel sets up for his three young protagonists, and their different reactions to it, and the reluctant friendship that develops among them because of it.

I love the way he uses allergies: I don't want to say anything spoilery, but I think he also has personal experience of how disabling they can be!

Kudos for all the present, supportive and intelligent parent figures—they're actually involved in solving the problem but there's a plausible reason why the three teen protagonists have a key role.

Bloom is not as creepy as Nest, which was quiet, slow-burn, seriously-mess-up-your-head horror. Bloom is fast and loud and full of peril that can be attacked with chainsaws. (I love that everyone on Salt Spring Island knows how to use a chainsaw!)

Great fun! Hmm. Need a fun vegetarian meal for my food analogy—is that a contradiction in terms?! Maybe veggie pizza! Yes, with those banana peppers to give it some spice. And now I'm going to listen to the Arrogant Worms Vegetable song.

Quick! There's still time to nominate for the Cybils! Also I read Return of the Thief and I am still babbling incoherently.

October arrived without me noticing, and I suddenly realized that Cybil's season has arrived! The Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards want you to nominate your favourite books from 2020. Anyone can nominate! You have until Oct 15, so don't procrastinate! (I'm mostly talking to myself here.)

Don't know which book to nominate? Charlotte's Library has a helpful list of un-nominated (at the time) Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction, and alibrarymama has more.

I ... gosh, I've hardly read any of this year's YA and Middle Grade. It's just been—well, it's been 2020. I will be looking forward to the lists of nominees to get my reading recommendations for the next little while. Let's see: Deeplight has been nominated already; so has Call Down the Hawk; so has Return of the Thief.

Return of the Thief! The long, long, long-awaited final book of Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series. I managed to make it last two whole days, but I had to finish it last night. It was so, so, so, so good. That's all I've got for you right now: I don't even know where to begin to talk about it. There are elephants. They are awesome. 

I think I need to read all six books in order now and see the whole grand scope of the story play out and notice all the little details that she weaves together with such deft trickery (she's been keeping track of all this for more than 20 years, people!) and take the time to savour these characters. I love these characters so much. I'm so sad this is the last book, but so happy they are all infinitely re-readable.

I'm not sure I'll actually be able to write a review of Return of the Thief. A master's thesis, maybe.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone! I am thankful for authors like Megan Whalen Turner and books like Return of the Thief and characters like Eugenides and Attolia and Eddis and Pheris and fellow bloggers who I can squee with about how awesome authors and books are. And organizations like the Cybils that keep the conversation going and support new and diverse authors so that we and our kids can keep having wonderful reading experiences!