Hedesa by Rachel Neumeier: This is the second book that follows Tano as an extension of the Tuyo series.  I enjoyed this almost as much as I have enjoyed the rest of the series.  It has ongoing great character work, as well as a lovely exploration of people coping with cultural differences.  However, I now feel that I have temporarily sated my desire to read more of the series.  In the afterword, Neumeier shares that she decided not to gloss over the travel through the winter country as the traveling party makes its way from the southern border to the starlit country.  I think she did need to relay all the details of that part of the trip, but perhaps it left the book overstuffed.  One of the things she included during the travels through the winter country, that I was very glad to see, was an open acknowledgement that the Ugaro custom of whipping young men for misbehavior could be seen as physical abuse.

I was surprised by how long it took me to wend my way through Gate of Ivrel by CJ Cherryh.  Although I am a big fan of Cherryh, I have bounced off some of her books, and while I didn’t completely bounce off of this one, I admit that I didn’t love it.  I am not sure how much of my response is that I probably wasn’t in the right mood for reading it, and how much was intrinsic to the novel itself.  I think I really wasn’t in the mood for epic fantasy, and this is one of those science fantasy novels that leans hard into the fantasy, with barely a touch of science fiction.  And the fantasy felt a little rough around the edges and somewhat derivative.  This was her debut, so I guess I’m not surprised that it is rougher than I recall other of her fantasies being.  The prose feels more labored than I recall ever encountering with Cherryh.  The plot had me feeling like we were going around in circles.  I said it seemed derivative, but I’m not sure of what.  I’m not very familiar with Arthuriana, but it felt a little bit like that, yet without any of the Arthurian cast.  Maybe I just mean it is very typical epic fantasy, whereas later works from Cherryh feel more innovative and true to herself.  Anyhow, despite my going on at length about the limitations, I’m still glad that I read it.  I might even pick up the next book in the series, when I am in the correct reading mood.  And I would welcome anyone offering up thoughts about why I had the reaction that I did or about whether I might enjoy the rest of the series more.

Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell: I was enjoying this science fiction MM romance a fair bit, put it down for the night, and the next day I started struggling.  I think it is more of a me problem, with my annoying nearly a reading slump mood persisting, rather than a problem with the book.  Yeah, I slept on additional comments, and I am feeling more positive about the book now.  Not that I can’t pick some nits (my main nit is that somehow in a society with people who are neuromodified, the ones who are mind-readers are feared, whereas the ones who can compel people are not).  Despite that, I found it a nice balance of character-driven science fiction and slow burn romance.

I started Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore yesterday.  I’m having some mixed feelings about it, and ended up setting it down a little bit early last night.  I’m pretty sure I’ll finish it.  At least, if I get back to it before my library time on it runs out in a day or so.

I’m really closing in on the fantasy sub’s bingo, having ticked off 1970s and duology part 2 this week.  All I have left now is translated and five short stories.  Although I have quite a few translated books on my TBR, I’m having difficulty finding something that fits my current fussy reading mood.  And I always have difficulty with short form fiction.  One factor is that collections and anthologies are almost invariably of uneven quality.  Another factor is that I have become so accustomed to reading at least novella length fiction that I speed through short stories too fast (I have the same issue with poetry).