📚 Reading Roundup: Chunky Books

Micro reviews of longform stuff I read recently. Mostly fiction, some non.

May 16, 2025

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately (remember I said my Boox e-reader was great? It’s still great!). I finished and discussed most of them with friends, but reviewing them never quite rose to the top of my to-do list, mostly because I don’t necessarily have a ton to say about any one in particular. Now that the “books I should write a review for” list is getting pretty long, though, I figure it’s time for my semi-annual reading roundup.

First, I’d like to note that different people have different tastes and different trigger points when it comes to media. My husband didn’t like four of my favorite series — the Codex Alera, the Traitor Son Cycle, the Black Company books and the Kate Daniels series — because he related to the characters differently, has different preferences when it comes to description, and has a different threshold for relationship drama. You probably have different preferences, too.

But hopefully there’s something here you’ll get something out of. Some of these books I recommend, some of them I definitely don’t, and hopefully some taught me interesting things you may find useful.

Note: Some of these links are Amazon affiliate links, but where possible I linked to the author’s website instead.

Books I Finished

Overkill: When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far by Paul A. Offit was the main non-fiction book I got all the way through1 recently. It had a lot of medical advice and explanations that are counter to popular / historic wisdom but seemed well-supported and in most cases matched recently updated guidance from places like the CDC and WHO. I’m glad I read it, because I feel like I’m now more informed, but I don’t want to write a longer, more detailed review because I am not a doctor and deeply do not want to get into arguments on the internet with people about medical advice. But I recommend it for people who found Emily Oster’s books useful.
The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman was fantastic. It’s got very deliberate Sherlock Holmes vibes — the protagonist is a book-loving spy/thief whose pseudonym Irene Winters comes directly from those books. It’s got steampunk and paranormal romance vibes, and reminded me a bit of the Parasol Protectorate books by Gail Carriger. The underlying themes are around ideas of order vs. chaos, obedience vs. doing what’s right, detecting corruption in a bureaucracy, etc. In that regard, it reminded a bit of the Saga of Recluse by L. E. Modesitt, just with more mystery.
I also enjoyed the Emily Wilde books by Heather Fawcett, although the first one had a bit of a slow start. The tone is a bit similar to A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan, in that the protagonist is a scholar of “natural” history in a world where fantasy is reality. I’ve also been making my way through Charles Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle, and Wilde & Brennan books capture the essence of 19th-century naturalist literature. Incidentally, the Voyage of the Beagle is fascinating, largely because of all the stuff Darwin wrote about that nobody thinks of when they talk about him — his experiences with slavery in the islands, his early discoveries of how lightning works, etc. It’s been fun to piece together how 19th century science worked, and make connections between Darwin’s journals and Benjamin Franklin’s letters and all the rest.
The Chalion books by Lois McMaster Bujold were every bit as good as
Jane Psmith
said they would be. I particularly appreciated the approach to religion. The gods are real, they act on the world, they have goals — but they act through vessels capable of setting themselves aside and ‘making space’, they can’t really do much on their own without human support. It had is a conception of saint that I’ve never really come across in fiction but was still nice. I found the worldbuilding to be incredibly well-done, the frustrations and goals of the protagonists incredibly relatable, and the prose itself wonderful to read. It reminded me in some ways of Miles Cameron’s Traitor Son Cycle — which I loved — in terms of how the Medieval-esque women were powerful but largely stuck to things women actually did in that era. The main difference was that it was a lot less emotionally fraught, and I liked the religious system more.
Habitat was another non-fiction book I read. It reminded me powerfully of Dinner: A Love Story, in that it was written by a wealthy woman whose taste I did not share and was not impressed by, but who nonetheless got a job as a tastemaker in upper-class circles and then wrote a glossy, beautiful book about the things those people like. I really need to stop thinking I will get anything out of these books, other than an opportunity to write articles like On taste and paying attention to who you’re influenced by. That said, although I think she’s wrong about recessed lights (which are awesome), I did like some elements, like letterboxes and the idea of having an “odd chair” in communal spaces.

Books I Finished in Series I Stopped

I re-read On Basilisk Station, and liked it once I skipped ahead to the middle. Even teared up a bit at the end. But I think I’m past the stage of my life where I can happily re-read the Honor Harrington series — there’s too much change from the beginning to the end, and the new books tend to get bogged down in really complex things. I still think it’s a good series, and I still disagree with
Evan Þ
when he complains that Honor is a Mary Sue for whom everything comes too easy. But for me, it’s one of those books where “you can’t go home again” — I can’t recapture the magic of my first exposure to the political and historical ideas in there, and it’s not as fun as re-reading, say, an Ilona Andrews urban fantasy book. I’m still deeply grateful I was exposed to the series as a teen, though; I learned a lot about the Napoleonic wars, the nature of propaganda, the checks and balances inherent in various political systems, and more.
Witch King by Martha Wells. I loved Martha Wells’ Murderbot series, and the dragon series was alright, but as much as I enjoy her habit of writing from the perspective of non-human protagonists, I don’t care enough about the demon’s struggle in this book — perhaps because the stakes aren’t particularly clear. There also wasn’t much in the way of a romance or the growth of a strong personal relationship, and I find that “human element” really valuable for engaging with a book.

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal was exactly what it says on the tin: Pride and Prejudice with froofy and impractical glamour / illusion magic. I get why people like it, but for my taste it was mediocre fanfiction of a book I never really liked that much to begin with.

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