Welcome to Litsy!

Well this was different from the Imperial Radch series but I still enjoyed it very much. I love that Leckie is not afraid to play with language and gender representation but it was still a bit of an ask to get used to the second person narration pov. I abolutley adored both Eolo and the Strength and Patience of the Hill who were the main focus of the two narrative threads.

Spending tonight lounging on the couch with the dog and listening to the rain.
#DogsOfLitsy

I saw the July reminder come up but kept forgetting to post my #BookSpin list. New to the list this month is the tagged and Contact. I'm always just so hype for the picks to come out!

I wanted to like this, because the concept is great, but the whole book is one long chapter with section breaks. I found it exhausting to read. Also found the second-person narration a bit odd, but would probably have rolled with it had there been more chapter breaks.

Leckie style always takes me a moment to get into. I frequently reread the first chapters of her books in order to snap into it. My nerd side really enjoyed how she built up the culture of her world. The story itself is original and interesting. I just think there was something to the way the climax built which didn't quite work. 4 stars rather than 5. Still a pick.

#TBRPile 📚 “I first saw you when you rode out of the forest, past the cluster of tall, bulge-eyed offering stakes that make the edges of the forest, your horse at a walk.”

🎧 Polarizing! 🧐

Mostly told in second person with a sprinkling of 1st person. This is interesting & somewhat unique to me BUT I was taken out of the story repeatedly.

80% into the book I couldn‘t even tell you the name of one character. I just wasn‘t interested.

The story was ok & I enjoyed the way the god/human interaction was comically real & I could swear there was Hamlet fan service paid & right after I read Hamnet 🤨

⭐️⭐️1/4 👇🏻

⭐️⭐️To be honest I have no idea how to rate or review this one. Writing-wise it was a very interesting style mixing first and second person. Plot-wise it moved slowly, and story-wise I didn‘t really care about anyone. The audiobook narration was interesting, but made me dislike characters I don‘t think I would have because of her vocal choices.
However. It‘s also unlike anything I‘ve read before, and that, at least, makes it interesting.

“I first saw you when you rode out of the forest, past the cluster of tall, bulge-eyed offering stakes that mark the edges of the forest, your horse at a walk.”
Super interesting writing style with the 2nd person! #firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl

In honour of today‘s #3books prompt, I decided my next read would come #fromthelibrary! Love that with #libby and my libraries I can borrow audiobooks as well 😋 📕The Raven Tower 📗The Outsider 📘The Family Upstairs

I just started this today and I already know that I am going to finish it today.

It's a strange story with a strange narrative...and it's exactly what I'm in the mood for.

I loved it. Like her science fiction, the joy is in the discovery and exploration of a fully realized, original world. Nothing will ever top Ancillary Justice for me but Leckie‘s premodern fantasy world with implacable and very real gods is wholly immersive and believable. Transporting.

I wasn‘t expecting the nod to Hamlet, but I think it worked. I really liked the non-traditional POV, but I am not sold by the narrator‘s endgame. Still a pick, though. Worth the read.

While the concept of this book and the unique thoughts behind it were great, it really didn‘t catch me. The second person narrative was an interesting touch. It has definitely been a thought provoking read, and I definitely wanted to finish it and see where it went. But I‘m honestly still figuring out my exact thoughts on this one.

#ChillingPhotoChallenge #Raven

I still haven't gotten to this and I reeeeally want to read it!

Story of my life. 🤷🏼‍♂️

#TeamStoker +1 point
 @TheReadingMermaid

I was pleasantly lost when I came across this ruined Tower House somewhere near Lough Derg. Circled by cawing crows it had an amazing atmosphere. Day 9 #chillingphotochallenge and #Raven
#Scarathlon #TeamSlaughter @Clwojick

If you are looking for an action pack and fast moving novel, do not read this book. If you are in the mood for a grandiose pondering of the mind of gods (ancient and patient vs young and impulsive) and their relation to humans and each other, read this epic book.

I love Ann Leckie, but this just wasn't for me. I couldn't get past about page 40. Maybe I'll try again at some later date...

Wow...I'm more or less speechless. Can't quite decide how I feel about the overall effect of the book yet, but I did enjoy it, and I wish there were more. An original story to be sure, and one that appeals to students of prehistory like myself.

A fantasy novel about ancient gods and the power they have or don‘t. As always, Leckie is amazing at building immersive worlds that feel foreign and familiar at once. I was not sure I liked the second person narration but then as it becomes clear who/what the narrator is, I ended up really liking it.

Up next!

Narrated by a god to one of the characters in second person (get your head around that!) it‘s an interesting take on the evolution of the world. The god (as far as I‘ve read) hasn‘t moved from the time they gained awareness although the world has changed around them. They narrate their story to ‘you‘ in flashbacks while also recounting their first encounter with ‘you‘.

Just starting this one. Much as with her ‘Ancillary Justice‘ series Leckie throws you in at the deep end - and her deep ends have unusual currents. In this case, the unknown narrator addresses you and tells you ‘your‘ story from their perspective.

Well, this was a disappointment. The overall concept is trite, the second-person narration is obnoxious, the writing is lackluster, and the pacing is painfully slow. I finished, still wondering when something interesting was going to happen and also desperate for the end. The ending was lame, too, clearly a setup for a sequel.

1/5⭐ Amazingly there's almost no plot OR character development. Usually books show progress in at least one area. There are so many layers of distancing, like the narrator's recounting of long past events, the irritating 2nd-person narration of the only interesting character, and the infodumping. I enjoyed the difficulty of Leckie's Imperial Radch series, but if this book has anything going for it, it went completely over my head. #bookemon

Good thing I picked up this giant, engrossing fantasy novel from the library this morning because my car be dead.

A late Sunday shelfie. This is my favorite section of shelves.
#shelfie

My Raven Tower tote is proving to be a good library bag. Full marks. Emphasis on full.

This fantasy came out in February and the ebook is on sale just for today. It's one of my favorite reads of 2019.

I‘m glad that I stuck with this past the first hour of the #audiobook (the point where I considered bailing). I became so invested that I didn‘t want to stop listening, one of the few times I could say that insomnia was a blessing, because it allowed me to finish a riveting novel in record time. Among the intriguing cast of characters are gods, humans raised to be sacrificed to gods, and a couple of pragmatic queers. #LGBTQ fantasy

I‘m an hour into this and considering bailing. The narrator, Adjoa Andoh, is one of my favourites, so that‘s not the problem. It just seems too predictable, in spite of being told from a god‘s viewpoint. It‘s possibly too soon after Black Leopard Red Wolf for me to read another fantasy. I loved Ann Leckie‘s Imperial Radch series so much, however, that I will give this audiobook another hour before making up my mind.

OH MY GOODNESS, someone (Ann Leckie, that is) has been reading her Shakespeare ... and her folklore about gods being strengthened by attention and over time. Loved it. W o w. This would make one HELL of a movie. (Or a British - and therefore limited - miniseries.) DAMN. 4.5 ⭐️

📸: Christiana Clark as Horatio in the 2016 production of Hamlet at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Photo probably by Jenny Graham.

Forgot to preorder this one and then March was “read library books” month, so NOW starting it (& if I‘m lucky, finishing it today too). I LOVE ANN LECKIE‘S BOOKS so ... just can‘t wait. #kobo #sciencefiction #amreading

This book was fun and so good. I hope Leckie expands this story with more books because I loved the characters and need to know what happens next. The writing style was odd at first but once you figure out who‘s talking it gets so much better. I suggest reading the physical copy because there‘s no character change break on audio. If you love epic fantasy with hidden POVs this is a good pick it reminded me of The Fifth Season but slightly better.

#libraryhaul #graphicnovel #comics

#JustTheRightBook sent me this. I‘ve loved every single selection #JTRB sent before, but I hated this one with a passion. The writing is average, the pace is slow, the characters one dimensional. Other readers enjoyed the big “reveal” at the VERY end of the book, but it wasn‘t a surprise to me. It is a YA appropriate fantasy novel with zero sex and only one F-💣 My fav part was the lesson that municipal water service is important for sanitation💦

I‘ve read and enjoyed everything by Ann Leckie and this book is no exception. I just finished and I‘m still processing...there was a lot to like-the human protagonist was an intelligent, likeable, and level-headed character, the world-building is interesting, and the writing was excellent. However, the book was a combination of first and second person which was strange and there should have been more character building. Sequel? 4.0/5.0 ⭐️ #2019

I enjoyed the unique narrative style, the never-quite-revealed depths of the focal character, Eolo, and the mysterious narrator. The story gathers momentum slowly, but is as unstoppable as an avalanche by the end.

The story is narrated by a patient but vengeful god who happens to be a rock. It‘s the sole narrator and switches between its own story and Eolo‘s.

Pro‘s: original concepts, good world building, nice writing. Leckie has a way with words.

Cons: Slow pace. Conceptually intriguing and boring all at once.

I‘ve read slow-paced novels before and loved them, but this one, though kind of interesting, drags. Worth a try but not a must read.

This. Is. The. Slowest. Book. Ever. (Feels like I‘ve been reading forever but still only on page 195. Also nothing has happened.)

Just started this book. It begins with a really interesting narrative device: what amounts to a second-person narrative. An unseen and unnamed narrator addressing one of the characters as "you." Waiting to see where this goes.

I don‘t know guys. Somehow the chatty old rock god turns out to be not so safe and I wasn‘t expecting it. Chilling! I‘ve been interning in the children‘s department at a local library and we often talk about how repetition in literature builds patterns that are soothing and predictable for young children. It works on adults too because I got sucked into the “Here is a story I have heard” pattern without realizing that the stories were warnings.

#BookMail Pt12 Finally for this week, I have the brand new Ann Leckie novel which is her first foray into fantasy. I loved her Ancillary series & am very much looking forward to seeing how well she does in this genre!🙌🖤🦅

I love Ann Leckie. This one took me longer to get into that her sci-fi books, but I really enjoyed it once it got going. This was my book with an inanimate object as a POV character for the #ReadHarder - a large rock is one of the narrators!

Excited to see how this goes.

#newbookfeels #newbook

Totally different from her science fiction series but really imaginative and amazing world building.The book is slow pace at the beginning so some people might not like it but i think it works

Phenomenal. A slow burn of a story which steadily builds to an ending which...just...wow...More than just a story about gods & humans at war, it‘s a story about the nature of belief, faith, religion—how they develop & evolve over time—about tradition, power & much more. There are no grand action sequences but there are innumerable moments, large & small, which tease & reveal until the end. A fascinating, introspective & thought-provoking book.

Having caught up on my comics for the week, it‘s time to dive into another book. So, I‘m going with my other preorder of the week—Ann Leckie never disappoints and her stories, in addition to always being well-written and very entertaining, always make you think. Definitely looking forward to reading this one.

This is me, impatiently waiting for my 2019 New Release holds!

I like how my library tells me which place I‘m in. My old library didn‘t do that. My new library may have awful hours, but I like the features it has.

I thought this was brilliant. I love the way it wound up to deliver a punch at the end. I love the POV (and I just know I'm going to be so irritated by people's reactions) and how it solves the problem of who is telling the story to whom (and why), which has always been a thing of mine with first person.

I think i prefer the Imperial Radch books for narrative directness and being a little more predictable that way, but love this too.