The Friday 56 (218) & Book Beginnings: Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

     

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

New York Times bestselling and Alex, Nebula, and Hugo-Award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces readers to a world of amoral alchemy, shadowy organizations, and impossible cities in this standalone fantasy.

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story. Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math. Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet. Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own. Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

Beginning: "There is so much blood."

56: "Doger drops to the floor, hugs her knees to her chest, and tucks her head against them, creating a small, private space with the frame of her body."

Comments: It's been a while since I last read anything by Seanan McGuire. Earlier this year, Middlegame was a Tor eBook Club title, and I finally got around to reading it. I really loved the story. What are you reading this week?

I Listened to Hypnos by Ravyn Lenae

Crush EP is one of my all-time favorites. I enjoyed it for how well it took classic R&B with a splash of disco and synth sounds, and gave them a fresh spin. I’ve been waiting for more music by this artist too, and yet I somehow missed the announcement for Ravyn Lenae’s debut album, Hypnos.

Crush left a big impression. As I said above, it’s one of my favorite Eps, and what it lacked in length it more than made up for in quality. With a tracklist sitting at sixteen songs, Hypnos is a much bigger offering of Lenae’s artistry. It’s thoroughly entrenched in R&B with the same soft and soulful edge that I was first introduced to in Crush. As far as debut albums go, Hypnos is one of the best.

Hypnos is an album that’s arranged well, and I’d suggest listening to it in the order of its tracklist. The intro, Cameo, is short and to the point. M.I.A. feels a little like it was influenced by dancehall music. And while some of the middle section dips into a slightly mellower tone, it picks up again as the album moves toward the closing, Wish.

All-in-all, Hypnos was a solid album.

Music Monday (203): Ravyn Lenae, Les Friction

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: Last month, Ravyn Lenae released her debut album, Hypnos. Its one of my favorite releases of the year. My pick for Music Monday is Cameo. It's one of the shortest tracks on the album, but it's a fantastic song. I wish it was longer.

 

Adri: I was, and still am, super excited about Les Friction's new album The End of the Beginning. I've had it on repeat since release and had a hard time picking a song. But, for today, my picks are Unhuman and World with No Sun.

 

What are you listening to this week?

I Listened to Harry's House by Harry Styles

Its only recently that I started listening to Harry Styles’ solo music (thanks Coachella livestream), but I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve put on my playlist so far. So I was pretty excited when I learned that Harry Styles was releasing a new album not too long after that.

I waited up for Harry’s House, and I listened to it in one sitting. Some parts can feel mellow, but I actually like Styles’ slower songs. For the most part, there’s something that feels effortlessly bright, summery, and catchy about this album; which I appreciated so much. Even what I thought would be the simplest songs, instead offered a lot of good beats and lyrics to explore.

Music For a Sushi Restaurant is light and fun, as well as the perfect hook that offered an entry to the tone of the rest of the songs. The album’s single, As It Was, is already familiar (and its still one of my personal favorites). But there’s plenty more to latch onto. Some of my other favorite tracks included Cinema, Keep Driving, and Satellite. While Love of My Life offered a truly memorable and excellent closing note.

Harry’s House is definitely one of my top favorite albums of 2022 so far.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Title: A Psalm for the Wild-Built
Series: Monk & Robot #1
Author: Becky Chambers
Source/Format: Tor ebook club; ebook
More Details: Speculative fiction
Publisher/Publication Date: TorDotCom; July 13, 2021

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend. Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They will need to ask it a lot. Chambers' series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

It’s been years since I’ve read one of Becky Chambers’ stories. A while ago, Tor.com ebook club had a free copy of A Psalm for the Wild-Built included in a bundle, and I thought I would give it a try.

This one was just fine for me. It’s a really slow and contemplative tale about a tea monk, Sibling Dex, who eventually crosses paths with a robot. The synopsis is true to form, and much of what happens is about questions and answers. It’s basically like one long conversation once the two characters get through their introduction to each other.

Even though A Psalm for the Wild-Built had all the hallmarks of the kinds of books I’ve been into lately, I never clicked with the story as much as I thought I would (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is one of my favorite books). I did like the commentary about environmental issues, as well as the robot and the part of the plot specific to the history of Panga.