"Crooked Kingdom" by Leigh Bardugo. I read book 1 in September, and it took this long for Book 2 to arrive. It was a race between hard and e-copies, and they kind of tied. I guess that means the system is working correctly?
There were tons of flashbacks, and they were awesome. So whatever people say about "don't do flashbacks" is BS. Also, tons of past perfect tense because of the flashbacks. On OWW I'm constantly suggesting PP tense to people.
The other lesson here is characters are their relationships. The six are all such flawed people, but such interesting relationships. If I had to kill anyone, I... oh.
LHC #101: "The Song of All" by Tina LeCount Myers. I probably requested this one because of something about Finland. Not available on Overdrive, so I read it in hard copy. I... found it a little slow. I wanted more detail especially in the worldbuilding, and sometimes I was confused about which character was which.
LHC #102: "Borderline" by Mishell Baker. Read it on Overdrive. This on was not slow. I found its relationship with personality disorder interesting. I haven't read as much urban fantasy lately, so this was neat.
LHC #103: "The Graveyard Apartment: a Novel" by Mariko Koike. Also on overdrive. Japanese horror. I know nothing, of course, but it seemed like the translator did a great job. A quote:
"When human beings are deprived of their freedom of movement, they need to latch onto any shred of hope. As long as there is some action to take or some solution to explore, even if those options ultimately come to naught, the mere illusion of possibility can keep people from tumbling into the abyss of despair."
That's kind of my pandemic life right now.
"The Empress of Salt and Fortune" by Nghi Vo. Overdrive! It was a delight. I loved the frame story. Now to wait for the sequel.
"The Last Days of New Paris" by China Mieville. I saw it at the library, and it followed me home. A slower read, so much detail. But really worth the effort.