Unlike many fantasy authors who try to write pastoral settings, McKillip clearly understands the importance of the mundane. People do chores. Weather happens. Seasons change. The middle does feel a bit aimless (a slow burn; everyone tends toward passivity), but the strong ending surprised me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️½

The characters of Titus Groan were amusing caricatures; Gormenghast somehow, magically, transforms them into tragic figures. The highs of Peake's writing surpass anything else in the fantasy genre. It's absurd that this is a series I need to keep introducing to people. Go forth and read it!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Convalescing in an isolated house in a small town blah blah blah. Husband requires sex and falls for seductive shopkeeper. New friend is a secret lesbian (this arc goes nowhere). Old friend shops around for silver bullets (tedious). Did Brandner have any fun whatsoever writing this? Hard to say.

⭐⭐

In a major departure from the first book, this is now LITERALLY Europe with the same timeline and historical figures. But there are still dragons? And magic? (But you need an "account balance"; the rules don't make sense.) Dickson leans into realism and forgets to make anything fun. Book jail.

⭐½

Pages upon pages of discussing logistics lead to "action" scenes that happen exactly as expected. I had some hope that the infiltration of a mage's estate would lead to some interesting magical puzzles, but even this falls flat. Sir Giles is a selkie who uses that power exactly once. Why include it?

It's a paleo fantasy I can tolerate because it doesn't deal with humans, but aside from the cat novelty there's not much going on here. Seemingly major events happen off screen and there isn't enough detail on Ratha's world to understand the geography or stakes. But I admire the weird concept.

⭐⭐½

These two books contain shorter mysteries and I lucked out finding them almost simultaneously. They're all excellent - dry, British, carefully constructed, subtle in their worldbuilding. The solutions are always logical; magic is a forensic tool, but never a cheat. I need more of this genre!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I don't abandon things lightly but there's no reason to keep wasting my time on this piece of shit. The world is so poorly drawn that it doesn't matter if the quest succeeds or not. Nobody wants to be here; nobody is having fun. A soulless imitation of a book. Even the cover art sucks.

zero stars

#25 · Animal Farm · 95 p.

1984 for kids. (Not really, but there are striking parallels.) Orwell definitely isn't subtle in portraying the slow rot of ideals when revolutionaries become dictators. Some knowledge of Soviet history is useful; the references are pretty obvious. Classic dystopia.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#24 · Jinian Footseer · 284 p.

Jinian shows up in Wizards Eleven and this is her backstory up to that point in the series. No shapeshifting (boo). The wizard magic feels oddly out of place. It's fine; well written but rather aimless, and breaks my rule about characters wanting to be there.

⭐⭐⭐

It even retroactively improves Malarkoi by explaining many of its non sequiturs, though I have lingering questions about Nathaniel. I'd call it a masterpiece if it wasn't so committed to its tiresome, high-minded musing. The character moments are wonderful, so why aren't there more of them?

⭐⭐⭐⭐

#23 · Waterblack · 631 p.

In which the Weftling Tontine and the Eighth Atheistic Crusade screw up reality so badly that God's boss might have to step in. It's a fever dream of fantasy and philosophy that somehow makes sense with Pheby's articulate narration. The dogs are back but are less annoying.

#22 · The King in Yellow · 154 p.

Four more-or-less-okay stories of mild horror connected only by their references to a sinister play ("The King in Yellow"). As a concept it's pretty neat; clearly an inspiration of Lovecraft's mythos. Not much to say beyond it filling a literary blank for me.

⭐⭐⭐