When comes the wind that billows our words' sails?

Shield of Winter
by Nalini Singh

This is the 13th Psy-Changeling novel and the Psy world is undergoing a monumental shift. The Silence that repressed Psy emotions has fallen and there is a rot on the psychic plane infecting Psy and driving them into violent frenzies. The Psy must re-awaken their dormant empaths or perish. One of these empaths is Ivy who has long been free of Silence. When Ivy is recruited to a pilot empath training program aimed at defeating the rot and infection, Vasic is assigned as her protector. As they work together to combat the rot and help to stabilize society, they also forge a connection that breaks Vasic out of Silence and blossoms into a deep love.
I really enjoyed this one a lot. The stakes for the socio-political plot were very high, which made everything feel more urgent and made the emotional currents run deeper and stronger. I really liked how the development of Vasic and Ivy's relationship was echoed in the discoveries the Psy were making about the empaths' roles in keeping the psychic plane healthy. Vasic and Ivy were also so great together - they were both willing to fight so hard for each other and to go to great lengths to take care of and protect each other.

Death Comes As Epiphany
by Sharan Newman

This is the first of Newman's Catherine LeVendeur mystery series, set in mid-12th century France. Scholarly and intelligent Catherine is a novitiate at Paraclete, Heloise's convent. When Heloise receives word that someone at the St. Denis monastery has been altering a Psalter created at Paraclete for St. Denis, she sends Catherine on a mission to find out who is attempting to slander the convent. While visiting St. Denis, one of the stone workers is murdered, and Catherine finds out that there is a lot more going on than just the alteration of the Psalter.
I enjoyed this mystery a lot. It was fairly intricate, with lots of different threads woven in, from that of a blasphemous and fraudulent hermit to a complex trade scheme akin to money laundering. Catherine also has to contend with some fraught family relationships as well as the pull of both the convent and a potential love match. All of this kept me on my toes. Catherine is such a sympathetic and engaging character - very smart, loyal, strong-willed, and often brave.

The Empire of Gold
by S.A. Chakraborty

This is the final book in the Daevabad trilogy and brings things to a satisfying, if bittersweet, conclusion. Nahri and Ali plot to return to Daevabad to set things right, even as Nahri's mother Manizheh resorts to ever more brutal and horrific means of securing her hold on the city. Nahri and Ali have to forge new alliances, re-forge old ones, and figure out how to bring their people past generations-long cycles of violence and resentment.
I really liked this book and the way it wraps all the plot and themes. While they do triumph, Nahri, Ali, and their friends must make real sacrifices and hard choices about the costs they pay. I thought Chakraborty brought a good complexity and depth to all those choices, and that makes the mostly happy feel truly earned. I also like that she brought real humanity to everyone, even the villains. It's clear that Manizheh and her associates are doing evil, but their motivations come from justified anger and real trauma. Through these portrayals, Chakraborty explores the damage that cycles of violence and vengeance do to people individually and collectively. Most of all, I liked the emotional complexity of Nahri's relationships, especially with Ali and Dara.

The City of Brass
by S.A. Chakraborty

This is the first book in a pretty cool (so far) fantasy trilogy. It is set in a medieval, fairy-tale middle east. The main character, Nahri is a young woman making her living on the streets of Cairo via swindles and theft. She also has a gift for healing both herself and others, and can understand and speak any language she hears. In the course of one of her grifts, she accidentally summons a powerful djinn, the former general, Dara. He takes Nahri on a journey to the land of the djinn and their chief city, Daevabad, during which she learns that she is at least part djinn. Once in the city, Nahri is plunged into a world of magic and a den of intrigue between the Al-Qahtani ruling family and the other tribes of djinn. She forms close relationships with both Dara and the youngest prince, Alizayd. The opportunities and dangers Nahri faces are complex and intertwined with deep secrets about the djinn and their history.
I very much enjoyed The City of Brass. It had a really good mix of action and intrigue. I really liked Nahri - her life as a con artist prepared her very well for the machinations of the Al-Qahtani. Plus, under her toughness is a real desire to be a good healer. It was refreshing that Nahri's relationships with Dara and Ali were not played as a typical love triangle. The question wasn't who she would end up with, but how those two relationships would affect her life in Daevabad. There's a lot going on around Nahri that she is not fully aware of and had not figured out by the end of the book - I am eager to see how it all plays out in the rest of the series.

Jane and the Man of the Cloth
by Stephanie Barron

In the second of the Jane Austen mysteries, Jane and her family take a holiday in the coastal village of Lyme. There, Jane finds herself surrounded by intrigue and mystery after their carriage is overturned during a storm and they must take temporary refuge in the odd household of Geoffrey Sidmouth, and a few days thereafter a man is found hanged at the end of the town jetty. The murder is assumed to be the work of the local smuggling ring, but who exactly is the ringleader and what is really going on along this stretch of coast?
The actual mystery in this one was a rather slow build, but quite exciting and satisfying once it got going. Jane gets to know two men who may be potential suitors, although both of them seem to have things to hide. She ends up doing some very daring sleuthing, and finding out a lot about the darker underbelly of Lyme. I was able to figure out some of what was going on and who was responsible, and I liked the way it tied into some of the events of the Napoleonic wars.

Drawing the Line: What to Do with the Work of Immoral Artists from Museums to the Movies
by Erich Hatala Matthes

This book is what it says on the tin: a philosophical exploration of the issues around what to do with the art of artists who have been done deeply wrong things. Matthes doesn't provide any easy, simple formulas or answers - he concentrates on exploring the concepts at play, the meanings inherent in our reactions and options, and why it all matters. He does a great job of laying everything out and really getting to the core of things. It gave me a lot to think about and an expanded framework for making my own choices about these artists and their works. Even my two minor disagreements with Matthes were really helpful. Number one, I disagree that his point that individually boycotting an artists' work is unlikely to impact the artist economically means such a boycott is not a meaningful thing. I think that such an economic boycott is not just about the artist's finances but also my finances. If I can only afford to buy 5 books a year, I may very well decide that my carefully saved and managed book-buying budget should not go to an author who is also a rapist or transphobe. Number two, I think Matthes could have considered how our reactions to the art of immoral artists, particularly those who've committed sexual assault, are shaped by our identification with the artist's victims. How are our feelings and choices affected by now seeing ourselves in the artist's victims after a period of seeing ourselves in the artist's work?
Despite those two disagreements, I would still strongly recommend this book to anyone grappling with their relationship to an artist's work after finding about the artist's misdeeds.

Tess of the Road
by Rachel Hartman

This character-driven fantasy novel is set in the same world as Hartman's earlier Seraphina series, and takes place a few years after the events in those two books. Tess is Seraphina's half-sister. Tess has always been a bit of a wild child, prone to mischief and of a temperament at odds with becoming the proper, modest, demure young woman her puritanically pious mother wants her to be. Having endured some traumatic experiences at a young age, Tess grows into a troubled young woman. After she makes a scene at her twin sister's wedding, her disapproving family gives her a terrible choice between entering a convent or serving her sister as a lady in waiting and eventual governess. Tess rebels against both options and runs away, disguised as a boy. When she runs into Pathka, an old friend, she joins him on his quest to find the mythical World Serpent. On the road, Tess finds she must face her traumas and troubles and come to terms with them.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Hartman's writing and setting are very rich and compelling - I was always completely drawn into the story and the characters. Tess' adventures are varied and often exciting. She makes friends and has encounters that help her to see a wider world and to gain new understanding of her past. She finally begins to heal from it and to move forward. Tess could be a very frustrating character as she made plenty of bad decisions and lashed out at people. But she was also someone I could always root for and empathize with, especially her process of growing, healing, and finally figuring out her own path.

The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera
Edited by David Charlton

This set of essays defines grand opera as a sub-genre that flourished in France in the middle of the 19th century. These works usually had five acts, included dance, and featured a plot that involved the characters' personal lives getting swept up in big historical events. Typical grand operas include most of Meyerbeer and Auber's works, plus Rossini's William Tell. Each chapter takes on an aspect of grand opera, a specific slice of the repertoire, or grand opera's influence and legacy outside of France and on later composers.
One of the things I liked best about this book is the way the specificity of its definition of grand opera allowed it to cover a wide range of topics. I especially enjoyed the first section, which delved into how grand opera was put together and produced and the ways it interacted with the state and literature. I also enjoyed the exploration of grand opera outside of France. I would have liked a chapter or two that examined the state of grand opera in the late 20th century and how more recent operas have interacted with its legacy.

The Haunting of Maddy Clare
by Simone St. James

This horror mystery, with a bit of romance, is told from the point of view of Sarah Piper, a lonely young woman living in London in 1922. She is hired by Alastair Gellis, a ghost hunter, to help him deal with a ghost who is hostile to men. That ghost is the spirit of Maddy Clare, a 19 year old who is haunting the barn where she committed suicide. Even in life Maddy was something of a mystery, having shown up at the Clare's house 7 years ago, in rough shape and unable to speak. The Clares gave her a home but were never able to determine where she came from or who she was. Now in death, Maddy is angry and determined. Sarah, Alastair, and his assistant Matthew must figure out what is driving Maddy and how to bring her to a peaceful rest, even as she becomes increasingly dangerous.
I found this novel really compelling and very creepy, especially since the supernatural is not necessarily the principal horror of the story. Maddy's ghost is quite frightening, and the mystery surrounding her equally unsettling. Sarah, Alastair, and Matthew are also all dealing with their own traumas, and I really liked the way St. James handles it all. The ending is very satisfying, too.

As the Crow Flies
by Karen F. Williams

This sapphic romance with gothic and paranormal elements was mostly enjoyable. Samantha is a 40-something successful mystery author who has a pet crow and a terrific friend in her new extended family member, Liz (sister of Sam's new sister-in-law). When Liz helps Sam find a match for an antique bookend, they end up meeting the Laraways, Gwen and her niece Isabel. Sam and Gwen quickly hit it off and soon develop a relationship. Liz is instantly smitten with Isabel, but Isabel is slow to recognize her own attraction to Liz. Gwen's property is haunted by a restless spirit with mysterious intentions, adding a spooky sub-plot.
I liked a lot about this book. Despite the present-day setting, the dialog and plot often felt like a witty and snappy 1930s film. I enjoyed that old-fashioned element, and the characters were all interesting and fun. I also liked the several scenes in which the characters, particularly Sam anad Gwen, had fairly abstract, intellectual conversations. A romance with older characters is something I always enjoy, since it is not terribly common in the genre. Sam and Gwen are both women who have accomplished a lot professionally and are fairly assured in their lives and senses of self. It's nice to have characters who know what they are doing and have the kind of self-confidence that comes from being older.
Some aspects were less enjoyable. Sam and Liz were at times fairly crass and catty in their conversations with each other, in a way that wasn't entirely fun. I also found Liz a bit too pushy and impatient in her pursuit of Isabel. Their romance could have been a really great slow burn to contrast with Sam and Gwen's more instant connection. I didn't love the way the ghost sub-plot played out for reasons that would be spoilers.