What You Are Looking For Is In The Library

 

Author:  Michiko Aoyama

Begun: May 20th 2025

Finished: May 25th 2025

Type: Audiobook on Libby

Narrators: Hanako Footman, Susan Momoko Hingley, Kenichiro Thomson, Winson Ting, Shiro Kawai

Rating: 8/10

An extremely cosy episodic read.  Five stories of five different people with difficulties in their life who end up speaking to the librarian at a library in a community centre in Tokyo.  Sayuri Komachi loves honeydome cookies and felting, and is able to recommend books to each of the characters that somehow help them with their difficulties.  

It was a really sweet story with uplifting endings to each person's chapter.  

Some things enraged me though.  The way Japanese companies are able to demote or fire people because they got pregnant, or because they're female.  Men basically not being around as fathers and assuming the woman will carry all the burden of child rearing.  The "it can't be helped" attitude.  Absolutely appalling.   Rather than expressing overt outrage and trying to change the unfair and sexist system,  Aoyama instead causes her characters to change their way of thinking and find happiness within the system.  

So now I'm really confused.  Infuriated...but also somewhat mollified and pacified by the happy endings.  

If you can set aside the society rot that enrages you and instead immerse yourself in the coziness of it all, this is a very uplifting and happy book.  The premise is also delightful.  A seemingly magic librarian who can help you solve the major problems of your life?  Yes please!

The Way of Kings

Author:  Brandon Sanderson

Begun: End of April 2025

Finished: Around May 20th 2025

Type: Audiobook on Libro.FM

Narrator: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading

Rating: 8/10

This is my third...or maybe fourth? readthrough.  

I have to say this read through had me picking up on things I didn't pick up on the first time around.  Things that irritated me.  

Sanderson is really good at creating worlds and interesting premises...and really not good at creating deeply satisfying conclusions.  I've noticed that in his books and it's really bloody annoying. 

Some of the visuals his prose created were so trite it had me rolling my eyes. 

But Kaladin's arc....oh I liked that very very much.  From slave beginnings to the Battle at the Tower.  So good.  SO good.

It ticks me off that in the sequel Sanderson embarrasses and humiliates Kaladin on occasion. for no real reason that I can see other than he as an author was irritated with the character and wanted to knock him down a couple of notches.  BAH!

Further, I've heard Sanderson identifies with Hoid/Wit.  Hold is represented in the books as someone who is really knowledgeable and smart and clever....is that how Sanderson sees himself?  Cos I don't think of Hoid that way at all.  He's really mean and cruel and nasty and a bully.  He doesn't use his insight kindly - he's just a nasty piece of work.  One can be extremely knowledgeable and yet be kind.  Hoid/Wit is not that. 

Do I recommend the book though?  YES.  While it's not perfect it has some really excellent bits.  It's the first Sanderson book I ever read, and is still my favourite along with Warbreaker and Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell.  

The audiobook was endured rather than enjoyed.  I do not like the male narrator at all.  Kate Reading was good...but Michael Kramer was like nails down a chalkboard.  No.  that's not correct.  If it were that bad I couldn't have listened to it.  I managed to get through it because I wanted to hear the story while knitting.  If were were so dreadful I would simply have switched books.  Let's just say it's far from my favourite audio narration and I'm kind of bummed I spent the money on it.  At least it was on Libro.FM, so it was somewhat affordable.  

Ancillary Mercy

 

Author:  Ann Leckie

Begun: May 8th 2025

Finished: April 12th 2025

Type: Ebook and Audiobook on Libby

Narrator: Adjoa Andoh

Rating: 8/10

I am not at all convinced this will actually go back together in any sort of meaningful way.

Sphene, talking about a tea set.  Ann Leckie, not talking about a tea set.

Ancillary Mercy takes place shortly after the decompression of the garden on Station that nearly kills Justice of Toren and Lieutenant Tisarwat.  Repairs begin on the supports in the Undergarden and someone is found hiding there.  Another Translator arrives from the Presgers.  Then Anaander Mianaai herself arrives.  Clearly things are going to hell.  Shenanigans ensue.  

I was, at first, not hooked into the story.  Then I became EXTREMELY hooked.  I liked the craziness of the Translator quite a bit.  I even started to warm to Sphene.  Seivarden had a pretty good character arc.  Tisarwat has *extremely* worrying tendencies and needs watching.  I enjoyed the realistic times and distances.  When ships arrive in the system it doesn't take them two minutes to get to the station: it takes weeks, for example.  Communication delays to distant places is measured in hours and days. 

There are some really painful sentences in the book that give insight into just how sad Justice of Toren is, how much it misses its other selves, and will never be whole again.  There are terrifying sentences showing just what Tisarwat is capable of.  I think, in the whole series, Tisarwat is the most terrifying character.  It's the potentiality that is scary.  Even the Translator isn't as frightening as Tisarwat.  

So the beginning of the book was about 9/10.  The middle of the book was 9.75/10.  Then came the ending.  

To say it was lacklustre and disappointing would be an understatement.  It was written like the others: the main storyline of the individual book brought to a conclusion, but with tons of loose threads.  But then....there is no sequel.  One imagines that, with the ending of a trilogy, the entire storyline would be finished up neatly.  Nope.  There are threads dangling everywhere, some of them pretty important threads.  Like Anaander Mianaai sized threads.  Really frustrating.  I couldn't believe it when the book ended. Like....seriously? You're just going to leave it like that?  WTH man?  The ending gets a solid 5/10.  Extremely disappointing.  I almost feel like not recommending the entire series because of it.  And let me tell you, these books are FANTASTIC!  I've been going on and on about them ad nauseam to anyone who'll listen.  But that ending?  

I was able to get the audiobook at almost the same time as the e-book, which I was at first happy about because it meant I could do other things while reading.  I soon gave up that idea because HOLY COW the voices the narrator gave the characters were AWFUL.  A good narrator can really elevate a book (Anthony Heald reading Crime and Punishment, for example.  And Kyle McCarly reading The Goblin Emperor.  RC Bray reading The Martian.  I've also heard the narrator for Dungeon Crawler Carl *really* knocks it out the park, though I haven't unfortunately had the opportunity to listen to those books) but this narration was like nails down a chalkboard.  The voice Seivarden was given was just awful.  Ekalu's voice was quite lovely.  But everyone else?  SO SO bad.  and the voice of the medic on Station.....that's where I quit listening.  Maybe if I'd listened all along....but I'd had a good 2.5 books under my belt by the time I started listening, and the characters already had their own voices in my head.  And those voices did not include a bunch of painful screeching.  

Overall, if you can handle an ending that is not really an ending then I recommend this trilogy.  I absolutely loved the books and really love many of the characters.  But that ending? Oy vey. 

Ancillary Sword

 

Author:  Ann Leckie

Begun: April 30th 2025

Finished: May 8th 2025

Type: Ebook on Libby

Rating: 9.5/10

Breq buggers off to Athoek Station, where Lt. Awn's sister lives.  She takes Seivarden with her, and an exceptionally young newly minted Lt with lilac eyes (Tisarwat).  (It's pretty much immediately apparent what's going on there, and as the reader it was delightful to see that Breq caught on just as quick).  

Shenanigans ensue.  Fabulous Shenanigans.  I loved Ancillary Sword almost as much as Ancillary Justice.  Justice of Torren is still an absolutely fabulous character who I love very much.  It was interesting to see her interact with different people.  It's also interesting how some people see her as extremely cold, when the reader can see her warmth and caring.  

As with Ancillary Justice, this book ends in a satisfactory manner, while leaving things open for more delightful shenanigans to come.  

I'm basically in love with this whole series.  I like the way Leckie writes, and I very much like the characters she has created.  I still love the uniqueness of referring to everyone as "she" and "her".  There are many characters whose gender you never discover.  Is Raughd male or female?  Who knows. She is called the daughter of the house...but that doesn't mean anything, just as it's never clear if Fosyf is male or female.  

Anyway, highly highly recommended.  I haven't enjoyed a series so much in a long time.  

 

Ancillary Justice

 

Author:  Ann Leckie

Begun: April 24th 2025

Finished: April 30th 2025

Type: Ebook on Libby

Rating: 10/10

"On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest. Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.  Now, an act of treachery has dropped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance."

So do you pronounce it ANcillary or anCILlary?  

I pronounce it ANcillary.  My husband pronounces it anCILlary.  Two countries divided by a common language.  

It took me freaking FOREVER to figure out what was going on.  First of all, gender signifiers don't work the same.  There are males and females...but everyone in Radch is referred to as "She" and "Her".  I loved it.  It was bloody confusing at first, because there's no hand-holding in this book.  You're dumped in there and left to figure out what the hell is going on all by yourself.  If you prefer a more gentle introduction to world-building, this may not be a book for you.  I, personally, LOVED it.  Loved it so so much.  

Further, after taking a few chapters to figure out that, no, all the characters aren't female, then you spend time figuring out, "Ok, so *which* are male and which are female?"  After taking a while to kind of get a handle on that slippery bar of soap, then you have to figure out WTH is going on in the story.  What is happening? And why?  

I have to say, by the end of the book, I didn't give a damn what gender people were.  It was helpful to have that information in the beginning as it enabled me to visualize the character in my mind.  However, by the time I reached the end of the book it was kind of irritating to know the gender - it got in the way.  It definitely made me ponder on male and female gender stereotypes and how the author may have shown some inherent biases and how the reader (ie, me) viewed the characters with a biased lens.  Excellent food for thought.  Very much enjoyed that aspect of the book.  

Anyway, once the gender thing was done there was several chapters of grappling with WTH was the trajectory of the book?  What is the story? Where is it going?  There were a good couple of moments where I gasped out loud and had to put the book down and gaze into space for a minute before diving back in.  

This is definitely a book I needed to read rather than listen to, so I'm rather thrilled the ebook came in first on Libby rather than the audiobook.  Like The Goblin Emperor I suspect I will pick up more of the nuances of the story upon re-reading, and both the audiobook and re-reading the ebook will come in handy there.  I'm looking forward to the audiobook simply so I know how to pronounce the damn Radch names.  

Aaaaanyway, I finished it last night and immediately grabbed the sequel on Libby.  Thrilled that it was available right away.  

I LOVED One Esk and Justice of Toren.  I loved Lieutenant Awn.  I have mixed emotions about Skaaiat. I HATED Seivarden at first and was really surprised at the journey my emotions went on in regards to that character.  Anaander Mianaai was the boogeyman under the bed that just sort of...fizzled.  Not that I'm mad about that.  Relieved, more like. 

Very much looking forward to the next book.