Matthew's Journal

Three books I've read recently. First is A Drop of Corruption, the sequel to The Tainted Cup, which I really liked. I also really enjoyed A Drop of Corruption; like the previous book it's a great page-turner with a twisty mystery plot, with a well-drawn world and some interesting themes (particularly around governance and social institutions). Recommended, but read The Tainted Cup first. Eligible for the 2026 Hugos, I think.

Second, I've had A Half-Built Garden on my Kobo for a while, and finally got round to reading it. It's a near-future first contact novel, although for the aliens its not their first contact. There's a lot here about how we treat our environment and govern ourselves, as well as how we've used sci-fi to imagine alternative futures. I thought this book rewarded having long periods of time to approach it in; it needs thoughtful reading.

Finally, Nordic Visions, subtitled "The best of Nordic speculative fiction", edited by Margrét Helgadóttir. A selection of short stories from (in order) Sweden, Denmark, The Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, and Finland. These stories are mostly from the horror/fantasy part of speculative fiction, and some of the horror is pretty dark. As with any such selection, it's a bit of a mixed bag, but there are some very strong stories in here; I think the opening She was particularly effective, and I enjoyed the Kalevala story The Wings that Slice the Sky.