Tag: Micaiah Johnson

My Favorite Non-Crime Fiction of 2024

On January 9, 2025

In Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, News/Misc., Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy

My Favorite Non-Crime Fiction of 2024
Back when I started this site, I knew the content would be largely “genre”-oriented. I’d have wagered the content would be roughly 1/3 Mystery/Detective fiction, 1/3 Urban Fantasy, and slightly less than 1/3 SFF, with “non-genre” fiction, humor, and non-fiction being enough to make my one-thirds just an approximation (honestly, if you asked me what I read regularly, that’s pretty much how I’d describe it today). Actual numbers show that’s wrong—it’s typically almost 40% Crime/Thriller Fiction, the rest of fiction is around 30% combined. This is just a long-winded way to get to these two points: because Crime Fiction takes such a big chunk of my reading, it gets its own “Favorite” list, but none of the others really garner enough numbers for their own.

When it comes to this particular list of favorites this year, it was tough to continue after the first cut. But no one wanted to read my top 30 (well, I didn’t want to put it together, anyway). I got it down with a little effort. So here’s my list of 10 favorite non-Crime Fiction Novels of 2024. Hopefully, you will find something here to tempt your.

As always, re-reads don’t count—only the works that were new to me.

(in alphabetical order by author)

No Two Persons

by Erica Bauermeister, read by a full cast

My original post
For those who don’t know, this is a series of interconnected short stories about a novel. From the struggles the author had getting it written, to it being “discovered” by an overwhelmed reader at an agency, to the audiobook narrator, to readers, booksellers, and others who came into contact with it. We get a look into their lives before and after the novel enters their orbit.

And I loved it. I loved it so much that the day after I finished the audiobook that I borrowed from my library I went and bought the hardcover because I needed it on my shelf just to feel better.

I can’t promise anyone else will react to the book the way I did–or that I will react to it when I read it again. But yeah…I loved this thing.

4 1/2 Stars

The Tainted Cup

by Robert Jackson Bennett

My original post
This was the first (non-beta) novel I read in 2024 and it was also the first book I gave 5 stars to (odd how that worked out). It takes the Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin dynamic, changes it up (Wolfe becomes a woman who stays inside for different reasons, gives the “Archie” a different explanation for his memory, etc.), and shoves it into a Fantasy world. And this fantasy world is so different than one I’ve run into before, so full, so well-developed, so intricate and “lived in” that it blew my mind from our introduction to the world through the end of the novel.

The magic, the science, the architecture…all of it was…I’m running out of believable superlatives to use here. And don’t get me started on the wonderful characters–from the detectives to the killer to the suspects to everyone else.

Possiby the best book I read all year–if not, it’s close enough that almost everything else was a let-down.

5 Stars

The Blacktongue Thief

by Christopher Buehlman

My original post
About the time I started the above, I finished this. Clearly 2024 was going to be a good year of Fantasy for me. I talked about the audiobook yesterday, so let me try to focus on the story.

You’ve got an irreverent thief, the kind of guy that other thieves don’t trust (which actually makes sense, honor among thieves has to be the dumbest idea….but I digress), a knight on a (probably) doomed mission, some strange magic and…forget it. You need to do this yourself.

It’s just bonkers. The book is fun, the dialogue is spot-on, the stories are harrowing, tragic, and gripping. It’s the whole package.

4 1/2 Stars

The Olympian Affair

by Jim Butcher

I haven’t written anything about this yet because I’m just too overwhelmed and the words can’t come out right. I loved being back in this world. I was surprised and wonderfully entertained by this story and the way it all played out (even the parts you could see coming). There’s a death that probably needed to happen, and I’ll think about forgiving Butcher for it someday (long before I forgive him for the big one in The Dresden Files).

I like the new characters (at least the ones I should), I loved catching up with our old friends. I enjoyed the whole thing. I know some people aren’t crazy about the space the new characters took compared to some of the old ones, and I get that–but the story was so fun!

4 1/2 Stars

The Legendary Mo Seto

by A. Y. Chan

My original post
Speaking of fun…here’s Mo (Modesty) Seto and her story. In my original post, I said, “I had about as much fun as is permitted by law while reading this.” And I still remember it that way.

You’ve got martial arts, you’ve got a fantastic underdog, you’ve got a funny and caring grandfather/grandfather figure, you’ve got family tension, you’ve got strange history, you’ve got a movie set and tall the nonsense entailed by that, you’ve got a treasure hunt (of sorts), and a great cast of characters.

Chan brought it all to life and actually has me eager to get my hands on the sequel. And I shouldn’t be this excited about a new MG novel, but I am.*

* Not because I’m some sort of snob, or that I look down on MG books. I’m just 4 decades too old to be that excited.

4 Stars

The Space Between Worlds

by Micaiah Johnson

My original post
This is, simply, a stunning SF novel. It’s a stunning novel with no genre label necessary. It’s so beautifully written. The worldbuilding and SF-sciency stuff is so good that you wonder why it took until 2021 for someone to use it. I can’t believe it’s a first novel.

I don’t know what else to say. Go read my original post where I at least have some more room to babble. Just go get it.

4 1/2 Stars

The Last Shield

by Cameron Johnston

My original post
If I start on this one, I don’t know when I’ll stop. So I’ll just copy some of what I’ve already said.

The Publisher’s description of this novel starts off with, “A gender-flipped Die Hard set in a mysterious castle.” And that’s absolutely what the book is—is that description reductionistic? Yes. Is it apt? Also, yes. But it’s also so much more than that summary. (but what a great elevator, pitch, right?)

It’s is a heckuva thrill-ride. Like its cinematic predecessor, the action in this novel is top-notch. It’s not non-stop, there are moments of reflection, of exhaustion, of trying to figure out how to survive—much less succeed against this force. The set-up to the main action also takes longer than you might think (but you should really just relax and let Johnston do his thing, it’s all important and helps establish what comes later). I was hooked almost immediately—and while I wondered when the “Die Hard” part of the book would kick in, I really didn’t care. I was having a good enough time with Briar, Alaric, and the rest.

But, boy howdy, when the action kicked in? What was a perfectly enjoyable book got so much better. Johnston can write an action scene—whether the action is hand-to-hand, bladed weapon against something else, supernatural-based…you name it, he can handle it with panache and aplomb. It’s well paced—with just enough downtime between fight scenes for you and the characters to be ready for the next. Once the book builds up enough steam, forget it—you’re not going to willingly put it down.

It’s not all about swords, shields, axes, and spells, however. There’s real growth—and real injury (and not just physical)—to be seen in several other characters. No one survives this time unscathed in one way or another.

Just pasting in these paragraphs, I’m ready to set everything aside and re-read it.
4 1/2 Stars

Charm City Rocks

by Matthew Norman

My original post
It’s a love story. It’s a story about a father and a son. A son and his mother. It’s a story about music and its power. It’s a story about second (and third and fourth) chances. It’s a tribute to Baltimore.

It’s charmingly told. It’s sweet (but not overly). It will make all but the most jaded smile. Actually, I noted earlier that “I think the best way to sum up my reaction to the book is that I noticed that every time I put the book down for some reason, I was grinning. Not because I set the book down, but it just made me happy.”

4 1/2 Stars

Christa Comes Out of Her Shell

by Abbi Waxman

My original post
One of the worst-kept secrets on this here blog over the last few years is that I’ve become an Abbi Waxman fan, I’m almost guaranteed to rave about her books. And of the four I’ve read, three deserve (and the other was a really strong read, if not rave-worthy). So of course, she’s going to show up here.

The first 87 pages of this book might have been my favorite 87 pages this year. That trend might have continued, but I wrote that note then. Everything just worked.

Christa is more abrasive than your typical Waxman protagonist, which was a nice change. But the rest are just about who you’d find peopleing her other works.

A couple of scenes between a couple could’ve faded to black a little earlier for my prudish taste. But outside of that, I was in hog heaven as I read this.

4 1/2 Stars

Project: Hail Mary

by Andy Weir

Why didn’t I read this the day the hardcover arrived in my mailbox like I’d intended to? I’ll never know. I’ll regret it for quite a while, though. I spent a lot of time castigating myself for that choice as I read this.

But the important thing is that I read this. Yes, Ryland Grace is like a friendlier, less-sweary Mark Watney. But who cares? I’ll live in Watney’s head again. The jumping around in the timeline nature of this book made it different enough to keep it from being The Martian-but-different. The type of calamity that put Ryland out in space by himself is so far removed from a mission to Mars that it’s hard to compare it to.

The stuff on Earth was tense–even as we know how it’ll end (or at least that it’ll result in Ryland in space), you’re gripped. And then once he’s there? It’s just so great.

I won’t even talk about the way the ending hit. It’s just too much for a paragraph. I admit I loved The Martian more, but that’s solely because I read it first, so PHM had to compete with it. Were the situation reversed, I’d be saying that Watney is almost as great as Ryland.

It’s a must-read for SF readers or not. (unless you didn’t enjoy Weir’s other work. Then you’d better stay away.)

5 Stars

A few books that almost made this list and that I want to be sure to mention:
Return of the Griffin by JCM Berne (My original post), Blood Reunion by JCM Berne (My original post), Shadow of Hyperion by JCM Berne, The Tenacious Tale of Tanna the Tendersword by Dewey Conway & Bill Adams (My original post), and Buddy the Knight and The Queen of Sorrow by Peter David (My original post).

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

By HCNewton

On October 3, 2024

In Fiction, Science Fiction

The Space Between Worlds

by Micaiah Johnson

DETAILS:
Series: The Space Between Worlds, #1
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: June 1, 2021
Format: Paperback
Length: 320 pg.
Read Date: 9/24/2024   9/28/2024

REASONS I HAVE DIED:

The emperor of the wasteland wanted to make an example of my mother, and started with me.

One of my mother’s boyfriends wanted to cover up what he did to me.

I was born addicted and my lungs didn’t develop.

I was born addicted and my brain didn’t develop.

I was left alone, and a stranger came along.

The runners came for a neighbor, and I was in the way.

The runners came for my mother, and I was in the way.

The runners came for my mother’s boyfriend, and I was in the way.

The runners came for no one, serving nothing at all but chaos and fear, and I was what they found.

Sometimes, I was just forgotten in the shed where she kept me while she worked or spun out, and in the length of her high and the heat of the sun I fell asleep alone and hungry and forever.

REASONS I HAVE LIVED:

I don’t know, but there are eight.

(that’s how you end a first chapter!)

A Quick Word

I read this to take part in Shared Stories Bookstore’s Sci-Fi Book Club—I’ve never been to a Book Club before, I’m looking forward to doing so again. But that’s not what I’m going to talk about here—but I need to say that some of what I’m going to say about this book has either been shaped/informed by or directly stolen from someone at that meeting. I won’t share their names, because I didn’t get permission, but I wanted it out there that the smarter things I say here comes from them.

What’s The Space Between Worlds About?

This is tricky for a few reasons, some of which I really can’t get into. In a sense there are four stories* in this book and each resolves (pretty much) before the next launches. So obviously, I can’t get into the latter stories. But the first one or two I can sketch out a little bit…

* This is stolen from our discussion leader.

In a pretty distant future world—following some sort of environmental collapse (and maybe some military-induced collapse, but mostly environmental) the world is covered in city-states (that’s actually a guess, we know almost nothing about the rest of the world). There’s a city called Wiley City—which is pretty much everything you think of when you think of a futuristic city—shiny buildings, cool tech, and whatnot. Outside the City is another settlement, called Ashtown. Ashtown is where the poor, the unwanted, the criminal classes live. There are also people who live outside Ashtown and in (or at least spend time in), called Ruralites—who are a strictly religious group and it seems most of the people of Ashtown are (at least nominally) dependent upon their efforts.

Travel between parallel universes is now possible. Maybe for just the residents of one Earth, anyway. The catch is, you cannot travel to a universe in which you exist—and it doesn’t go well for the person entering a world they exist in. This makes the ideal candidate someone on the fringes of society—those who are most likely to live a dangerous life or a life with inadequate resources, so they might die early from natural causes. The more realities that you’re dead in, the more you can travel on behalf of the corporate entity that runs the multiverse technology.

Enter Cara, a resident of Ashtown, who is dead on 372 of the worlds that humans can travel to. She’s largely keeping her head down, just trying to make it through the next few years without losing her job—which will result in her being removed from Wiley City—if she can last long enough, she’ll become a citizen and she can then relax a little. She cuts loose a little in the worlds she visits, but lives a pretty careful life on “Earth Zero.”

She receives word that she’s been assigned to a new world—yet one more version of her has died. When she gets there, things start to go wrong and she really can’t complete her mission. She can, however, by her mere presence, act as a catalyst for some big changes in the leadership of that world’s Ashtown and Wiley City. This will end up having some ramifications on Earth Zero—and maybe elsewhere, too.

The Technology/Its Depiction

This is one of those books that’s filled with all sorts of cool sci-fi technology—especially the traveling between universes, but it’s not limited to that. And Johnson gives us no Asimov-esque explanations for it. Zip. Zilch. Nada. I’ve already given you almost all of the details you’re going to get about the science behind the travel between universes.

And yet, it works. I’d hoped for a little more detail, but I wasn’t bothered by its lack. In fact, I cared so much about Cara and what she was doing—and the people she was surrounded by in the various Earths she went to, I didn’t stop to think about the tech. And when I did…it didn’t matter, really.

It’s there, it does what it’s intended to do. That’s all you need to know.

Spirituality/Religion

We get more of this, really, than the science behind the traveling and other tools they have in Wiley City.

The Ruralites have a hybrid religion with features of Christianity (that’s obvious) and Buddhism (I needed someone to help me see that) and some other things accumulated over the centuries. It’s pretty strict and regimented—but there’s grace and mercy, too.

There’s a burial scene—including a good part of the rituals used. It’s very detailed and tells you as much about the religion as it does the people taking part in it. It is so well done, that you almost want to see more people killed so Johnson will describe it again.*

* Sure, you can just re-read that part. But if she writes it again, she might include new details.

There’s also a superstition—if it’s not a full-blown mini-religion—that has developed among those who travel between worlds. It’s not endorsed by, or encouraged by, the company—but it’s pervasive and has a hold on those travelers. They will tell you there’s a presence, a person of some sort, governing the travel. Someone they can feel and sense between the worlds.

Our culture currently likes to pit science vs. religion/spirituality/whatever. There is no such division for Cara and most (if not all) of the people she knows. They exist side-by-side, informing actions and morality each in their own way.

This is such a good idea for Johnson to introduce and her execution of it—and explanation of both sets of beliefs are just great. We don’t get a creed or even a full idea about the religious tenants of the Ruralites—but we see enough to believe that such a creed exists.

So, what did I think about The Space Between Worlds?

In short, this is really just a stunning book. The back of the book promises “surprise twists” and yeah, there are some, but the book is about more than a twist or five, as skillfully as Johnson executes them. As someone at the book club said, you think the main story is about to wrap up but there’s a whole bunch of more pages to left. None of the storylines feel rushed nor do they feel stretched out. There’s one mini-arc you might want more time in, but that’s just because it’s so pleasant (and given the rest of the book, pleasant is nice).

Cara is a wonderfully complex character. When we meet her, she seems fully realized—like one of those characters that’s going to remain largely the same person at the end of the novel as she was at the beginning. But that’s not it at all—she goes through a great period of personal growth, of changing the way she sees the world and people in it. Her motivations behind her choices on Earth Zero get pushed to the limit, and she is going to be faced with some major changes in that reality (as well as others).

I don’t want to overlook the other characters…at least some versions of them. There are some truly despicable characters (one’s despicable on every world we see him on, one is despicable—vile actually—on most worlds—which makes it hard on the other to accept him (for Cara and the reader)). There’s an evil mastermind who is pretty chilling. There’s some criminal types who show more honor than anyone else in the book. There are some characters that are likable, admirable, and even loveable (depending on the world). It’s a rich, rich world full of wonderful people (that you meet several versions of).

I need to talk about the prose, and yet I don’t know how to adequately express how much I was blown away by it. You could almost open up to any random page and find something worthy of quoting, of meditating on, or marinating in. Johnson has this ability to take a benign, everyday, or plain sentence and turn on a dime and make it bleak, gutting, or even hopeful (that’s the less-popular option.) Cara does have some grit to her, she is a wiseacre. The book isn’t a doom and gloom, I frequently smiled. But her world is a harsh one, particularly outside the walls of Wiley City, and Johnson’s language reflects that.

Apparently, there’s a sequel. It didn’t feel like the first in a series—and can absolutely be read as a stand-alone. This is one of the best written books I’ve read this year—and the story is really compelling. With twists you won’t be able to guess most things that happen over the course of the novel. It’s a very SF novel, but it’s also the kind of SF that people who aren’t super-into SF can get into (like one person at the book club). I’m at the point where I’m just running in circles—so I’ll shut up, you go get the book. Deal?

4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
Irresponsible Reader Pilcrow Icon