The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)

Post apocalypse fantasy with mutant Earth Benders and underground aliens/magic monsters with diamonds for teeth? Sure, let's do this.

Jemisin does an excellent job weaving together the three pieces of narrative in a way that is satisfying even as you start to figure out how they interconnect. The plots build together, and while there are things that take on new meaning in retrospect, there's not really any "twist," so there's no eye rolling moment of "really?" but, rather, a series of "Oh, I think I see where this is going... ah, yes, that makes sense..." There's a lot of interesting things being explored here. Not just how far you can push people before they break--although there's that, too--but fear, how we adapt to and accept dehumanizing situations, loss, family, how catastrophe brings out the best and worst in us. For a book about an extinction level event, the story stays surprisingly grounded in the personal tragedies and experiences of a very small number of people.

I can't wait to jump into the second book, now.

Immortal Hulk, Volume 1: Or is he Both?

This reminds me of Morrison's run on Batman; take one of the oldest comic characters still knocking around, push that character in a new direction while finding a way to include all of that character's long and complicated history, and make the whole thing interesting. Nicely done. Ewing takes Hulk back to basics, in some ways. He's the embodiment of Banner's rage? Okay: make him a monster. Hulk is scary, here, and better for it. Definitely worth checking out, and the first time I've been particularly interested in the Jade Giant.

Provenance (Imperial Radch)

As a fan of the Radch trilogy, I went into this expecting deep world building and an emphasis on interpersonal relationships (I think I called one of the last books "Sense and Sensibility in Space"?); I got exactly that, plus a heist, political intrigue, fun and interesting characters, a tense standoff, and weird robots. I'm sure there's perhaps a little too much "beings in charge learn a lesson about family" for some readers, but the one time it felt off to me was so minimal that it barely registered. Hoping to see more of the weird universe Leckie has created.

The Best Lies

This is one of those books where you know where things are headed really early on, but the interesting thing is seeing how long it takes the character to catch up with what you already know or suspect. Still not sure what the weird melting lollipop is all about...

Two Can Keep a Secret

A small New England town. A disappearance. Then, over a decade later, another girl is murdered, and, a few years later, another disappears. What, if anything, connects these crimes?

I liked this. The characters felt very real, and I appreciate that it avoids certain tropes that always stretch my suspension of disbelief. This ends up feeling as much about how secrets stunt emotional growth as about the murder and disappearances. Not quite as twisty and shocking as One of Us Is Lying, but a worthy follow up.

Carrier Wave

Once again, I find myself reading a book I don't remember anything about. I guess this must have been on some list or other, and I'm 99% sure that I thought it was a first contact sci-fi story. Spoiler: It is not. It is not really sci-fi at all, it's pretty much cosmic horror. That's not a bad thing, but, past Roybot should really have paid more attention to that fact.

Other reviews have made the comparison to World War Z, which is totally fair. Told in a series of short stories that eventually coalesce as a number of characters from earlier stories end up in the same place dealing with the same danger, it would be hard *not* to make the WWZ comparison.

That said, I liked WWZ, and the formula mostly works here, as well. Not perfectly; there are a few segments that feel a little slow or where there are "twists" that are pretty obvious well before they actually come up, but if you want a creepy horror story that comes from a weird direction that I, at least, haven't seen before, this is a solid selection.

The Old Guard, Book One: Opening Fire

Basically: Highlander but they become mercenaries and don't have some vague obligation to kill each other. Solid enough.

Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 12 (Uncanny X-Men (1963-2011))

This is a four star book bumped up to five for being just overflowing with Nightcrawler extras, from his four issue mini, to the black and white story presented in the larger magazine format special, there's lots of cool Nightcrawler stories. This volume also includes a huge amount of Loki ridiculousness (which is maybe a little wordy, but still a treat), and some major progress on the Nimrod front. A very solid volume that brings a lot of threads together and pushes the book ever closer to the Mutant Massacre volume.

She-Hulk, Volume 1: Deconstructed

A very different take on the character from what I'm used to, but I enjoyed this a lot. It's always interesting to see a new twist on a character, especially one that adds depth. Jen is dealing with (or, more accurately, refusing to deal with) her grief and trauma. Being punched into a coma and finding out that one of your friends killed your cousin is some heavy stuff for anyone. This book explores how that trauma changes Jen and her Hulk persona. Looking forward to volume 2.

Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5)

Murderbot continues to impress. Kidnapped by hostiles, unknown, and taken to parts, also unknown, and stuck trying to figure out how to keep the stupid humans safe, find a way home, and get some new shows in the feed. Just another day for Murderbot.

X-Men: Mutant Massacre Omnibus

I've been making way through the entire run of Uncanny X-Men (mostly through the Masterworks), and this is the first big omnibus that I've hit. To get it out of the way: Yes, this collection is a little uneven, in places, but that's pretty par for the course with any of this longer Marvel omnibus collections. This was the very first big Marvel Crossover event, with parts of the story playing out in Daredevil, Thor, and.... Power Pack? Sure. Why not? It's actually a pretty impressive feat, given that they were doing everything over the phone and by mail. This crossover is more impressive for introducing a number of significant shake-ups that actually mattered. After the attacks in the tunnels, Angel is radically changed, Nightcrawler and Kitty are so badly wounded they're eventually dropped from the book (during the later, Fall of the Mutants story arc), we introduced to the rivalry between Sabretooth and Wolverine, and Ice Man is kidnapped by Loki and has his powers messed with, and the attack on the core group by the Maurader, Malice, sets the X-Men down a path that will eventually lead them to the Australian Outback. New characters are introduced to the team (Psylocke, Dazzler, and Longshot all join the team during this event, although some of that, weirdly, happens either in other books or off panel). That's just off the top of my head.

The artwork is typical of comics at the time, which, admittedly, makes it a bit of a mixed bag, but the presentation here is beautiful. There are some sections that really reveal some of the excesses of this era (e.g. pages that are needlessly overflowing with expository text), and there are some character inconsistencies (Sabretooth's depiction in Daredevil, for example, is *wildly* different than his other appearances), and the actual motive for the massacre is never discovered (nor, for that matter, who ordered it), but, if you're interested in the X-Men, this is kind of a must-read event. It also has what is easily one of my favorite story arcs, wherein Storm gets captured by Crimson Commando, Super Sabre, and Stonewall, who mistake her for a thief/arsonist, and she has to escape, using only her wits, since she, at that point, has lost her powers.

Great stuff!