Since following the outlines of readng challenges set by others are sometimes difficult to complete, for this one  read what and how many you choose, wherever and in whatever form you choose.  Simply list the book with a brief comment about it.

1.  The Quantum Thief  by Hannu Rajaniemi, from the Goodreds shelves and my own, 1/16/2023, 3.5 stars.  This is a fascinating book about a world on Mars where characters die, are resurrected as they were or as someone else.  A thief steals time and information from minds of others.  The book opens with the thief in a prison cell from which he escapes and a skillful detective pursues him throughout the tale.  Society struggles with opposing forces and war breaks out. 

2.  Peace Talks (Dresden Files, Bk 16) by Jim Butcher, 5 stars.  Each time I read a book by this author I am amazed by his creativity and imagination.  What a tale!  Harry is a good guy who accepts and befriends people and creatures who are different.  I like that about this character.  He says true to his beliefs.  He battles the baddies whether human or otherwise.   Can't wait to start the next book in the series which is on my book shelf.

3.  Battle Ground (Dresden Files, Bk 17) by Jim Butcher, 4.5 stars.  A must to read after you read the book above.  It's bloodly and several of my favorite characters are gone.  Others are badly injured.  It's nip and tuck whether the good guys will win and save Chicago.  Enemies combine forces to fight an ancient god, outsiders and an army from the sea.   Hard to put down!

4.  Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage InternHow ational) by Haruki Murakami, 4 stars, 1/31/2023.  Two parallel stories open a universe where the same man exists in both.  A mad scientist has createed technology that bridges the mind while two evil entities try to capture his work and the man whose mind is at risk.  The research assistant is his granddaughter.  It's wierd.  It's funny.  It's serious speculation.  How it would affect someone if this were possible?

5.  The Hum and the Shiver (Tufa, Bk 1) by Alex Bledsoe, 4 plus stars, 2/24/2023.  Sometimes one finds a new auther whose writing is so intriguing that I look at the rest of the series to put as many as I can on my WL.  This book focuses on a little known people called the Tufa who work and live primarily within their group.  First daughters have special powers but males have powers, too, also a bit different.  The heroine is Bronwyn Hyatt, an injured soldier, who returns home to recuperate where she faces a past she wants to forget.   Characters and the plot are well developed, and the story flows well.  One cannot help but empathize with Bronwyn's path.

6.  Broken Homes (Peter Grant, Bk 4) by Ben Aaronovitch, 3/4/2023, 4 stars.   Discover the murders and mysteries through a series of investigations associated with the Faceless Man. Apprentice Mage and policeman continuing his day job, Peter Grant's obsessive observations about architecture helped me define who he is. This might bother some people but I found it interesting.  Other characters are the unforgettable senior magician, Nightingale; several river gods and goddesses, Zach and his friends, the Quiet People, and Leslie, the coworker whose face was severely damaged in an earlier book. All contribute to the interactions and make this an exciting and complex read.

7.  Foxglove Summer (Peter Grant, Bk 5) by Ben Aaronovitch, 3/6/2023, 4 stars.  Discover what happens when an apprentice sorcerer/policeman tangles with elves.  Not sure I would want to meet up with them.   Anything can happen and it does.  Entertaining and fast moving.  Good, good read.

8.  Whispers Under Ground (Rivers of London 3) [Hardcover] by Ben Aaronovitch, 3/1o/2023, 4 stars.  This one couples world building with a mystery.  Leslie May whose face was ruined in an earlier novel joins the Folly.  In Moon Over Soho (Peter Grant, Bk 2) readers find she does magic and is part of the story through her friendship with Peter.  Another fun mystery.

9.  Spear by Nicola Griffith, 3/11/2023, 4 stars

10.  A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones, 3/23/2023, 4 stars.  Travel through the centuries with Jonathan Walker and Sam Lee as they return to the 20th century to kidnap Vivian Smith who they believe can save Time City.  The trouble is they bring back the wrong Vivian Smith.  Their trips through time brings many adventures as they try to save Time City.  Good adventure story that ends as Time City is falling apart.

11.  The Time of the Dark (Darwath, Bk 1) by Barbara Hambly, 3/24/2023, 4 stars

12.  The Walls of Air (Darwath, Bk 2) by Barbara Hambly, 3/29/2023, 4 stars

13.  The Armies of Daylight (Darwath, Bk 3) by Barbara Hambly, 3/31/2023, 4 stars

14.  lIium (Ilium, Bk 1) by Dan Simmons, 5//8/2023, 4 stars.  A fascinating and imaginative book that gives the reader three alternating stories in one.  Very nice and very good.

15.  False Value (Rivers of London) by Ben Aaronovitch, 5/23/2023, 4 stars.  An extremely wealthy man finds a machine that can control magic endowed weapons which he uses to eliminate those who get in the way of his ambitions.  Peter Grant goes underground as employee of the man's company to determine if this man is the criminal the police of both the U.S. and Britain want.  Interesting concepts with A1 communicating with Peter and his new boss.

16.  The Infinity Concerto (Songs of Earth and Power, Bk 1) by Greg Bear, 6/3/2023, 4 stars

17.  Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

18.  The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley, 7/16/2023, 4 stars

19.  The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson, 7/10/2023, 4 stars.  The uthor of The Fox Woman which I loved, provides a takeoff baed on Lovecraft's The Dream Quest of Unkown Kadath.  While that one had no women characters Johnson's key character is a woman and there are several other women characters.  Good, good read.

29.  The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam, Bk 2) by Margaret Atwood. 9/16/2023, 4 stars.  This was a reread for me which seems particularly appropriate in this year when climate change has become all too real in our world.  Drought, flood, storms of epic proportions have plagued much of the planet.  In this book the flood was manmade.  So it is today.  This is a read that reminds us that each and everyone of us to do what we can to help.  

30.  Imager (Imager Portfolio, Bk 1) by L. E. Modesitt Jr., 9/19/2023, 4 stars.  A good, good beginning to this series.  A young man wants to be an artist but when his mentor and son die in fire, he cannot find another master artist to take him on.   Realizing that he has some talent as an imager, he applied to study to become one.  His initial efforts are small but so promising that he begins working on how to become one.  In fact, he becomes one of the most promising students which leads to problems.  He is shot but recovers and learns how to shield himself from danger.  There is a bit of romance, too, when he meets a lovely young woman at a festival.  It is her clairvoyance that helps save his life which leads to a closeness he feared he might not ever enjoy.  A very nice start.  I liked it a good deal.

31.  Winds of Fate - Mage Winds, Bk 1 by  Mercedes Lackey, 0-88677-489-6, 10/19/2023, 4 stars.

32.   A Temptation of Angels by Michelle Zink, 10/2/2023, 4 stars

33.  The Grace Year by Kim Liggett, 11/19/2023, 4 stars.  Meet Tierney, unconventional and outrageous, with a mind of her own who finds herself betrothed to her best friend, Michael.  Growing up with him, they spent so many hours together that they knew what each was thinking.  But Michael didn't realize that she viewed him as a friend, not a lover.  Presented with a veil representing his proposal, she spends a year in a special camp to lose her "magic".  There is no magic, only a well with water to poisons them and men called poachers who harvest naive young women who stray from the camp for their skin, blood and body parts.  When Tierney discovers the secret she is determined to change it all.

34.  Viperhand: Forgotten Realms (Maztica Trilogy) by Douglas Niles, 12/2/2023, 4 stars

35.  Of Things Unknown (October Daye, #11.5) by Seanan McGuire, 12/4/2923, 4 stars.

36.  Suffer a Sea-Change (October Daye 12.5) by Seanan McGiure, 12/6/2023, 3 stars

37.  The Brightest Fell (October Daye, Bk 11) by Seanan McGuire, 12/10/2023, 4 stars

38.  A Terrible Fall of Angels (Zaniel Havelock, Bk 1) by Laurell K. Hamilton, 12/12/2023

38.  Scholar (Imager Portfolio, Bk 4) by L. E. Modesitt Jr., 12/27/2023, 4.5 stars.  I love this author.  Can pick up any book in this series and I've not missed a thing.  In this one, Quaeryt is a scholar who conceals his talent to image.  He's everything one wants in a hero:  intelligent, courageous, direct and empathetic.  Traveling to Tilbor he survives a shipwreack and heads directly to the  house of scholars.  What he finds is not what he expects when someone tries to kill him.    But this is only the beginning of his life in Tilbor.  Meeting the ruler, a man who is wise, caring, supported by his soldiers and seemingly loved by the people, he senses there is more to this man than he can see but what is it?