Tangled Mind

‘Tsukiko, do you know what that means, a “karmic connection”?’ Sensei asked in return. Something to do with chance? I ventured, after thinking for a moment. Sensei shook his head with a furrowed brow. ‘Not chance, but rather, destiny. Transmigration of the soul.’ [loc. 895]

Tsukiko is in her late thirties: she has a career, though we're never given any details about it, and lives alone. She likes to drink alone, too: one night, in her local bar, she encounters one of her teachers from high school. Forgetting his name, she refers to him as 'Sensei',

It’s everyone, all the people of Herot Hall, the police and the babies, the men with their names all the same, the women with their perfect faces, all cracking and showing what’s underneath, what’s always been there, coarse fur and gaping maws, whipping tails, scales, claws and hunger, and teeth, and teeth, and teeth. [loc. 3616]

Dana Mills, a US Marine deployed in a desert country, is captured by enemy forces. Her 'execution' is televised: but, months later, she staggers out of the desert, amnesiac and pregnant. ( no spoilers )

... treating the differently alive was not only more interesting than catering to the ordinary human population, it was in many ways a great deal more rewarding. [loc. 90]

Dr Greta Helsing (her family dropped the 'van' when they relocated from the Netherlands to London in the 1930s) in the is a GP catering primarily to the supernatural community.( no spoilers )

It was one of the things that made my work legal and ethical: each duplicative clone was an island, incapable of reproduction, isolated and, ultimately, disposable. It was bedrock. Clones don't have families. [loc. 468]

Excellent, dark and thought-provoking novel from the author of River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow. The first-person narrator of The Echo Wife -- a scientific genius and a woman who has put her career before everything -- is a compelling creation, and the story unfolds as weightily as a Greek tragedy.

Thanks to Netgalley for this advance review copy: proper review coming nearer UK publication, which is due on 18th February 2021.

(Meanwhile it's about time I read Gailey's Magic for Liars...)

Hail Dominic and Victor, the foxes had hailed us, soon to be blessed above all other minor landowners in Herefordshire and the wider border regions. The little bastards could have given us more of a warning.

‘He seems like a good little chap,’ said Victor.

‘Victor,’ I said slowly. ‘He’s the god of the River Lugg.’ [p. 205]

An assortment of short stories and vignettes set in the world of the Rivers of London series. The first six stories are told from Peter Grant's viewpoint: the others by more-or-less minor characters, or characters who don't appear in the novels.

This was what he’d been struggling to understand since the beginning. If they were cursed, why would the signs lead him to the person who might activate it? The only explanation was that the universe, instead of being indifferent, or kind, wished for him to suffer. And Corbin couldn’t believe that. It wasn’t what he’d ever known. The sky and the trees and the grass and the seasons—no, the universe wasn’t vengeful. And Corbin was so small. [loc. 2243]

Alex Barrow, a successful New York pastry chef, suddenly finds himself without job or boyfriend: at a loose end, he returns to his hometown, Ann Arbor, where he takes over his mother's coffee shop and transforms it into an artisan bakery.

“The sun may be a million years in dying, but we will not live to see its end. We are the last remains of a once-great people and we do not look into the sky because we have no wish, now, to see what the future holds. We study the past, instead, and make up stories about how things used to be.
[loc. 988]

This is the narrative of Stefan Advani, convicted of inciting revolution in humanity's last city, Shadrapur. ( no major spoilers )

"...It's what we're calling silent epilepsy; it doesn't come with convulsions, only the symptoms we would usually associate with an epileptic aura -- amnesia, paramnesia, visions. Had anything of the latter two?"
"What does paramnesia mean?" Jo asked. The doctor's voice was so posh that he could feel himself furling up inside with the urge to keep his answers short, and not to ask questions or waste time.
"The blurring of something imaginary and something real. Most commonly, deja vu ... and its opposite, jamais vu, which is when something that should be familiar feels wholly alien."
"Yes!" said Joe fast, and felt his eyes burn, desperately grateful to hear someone name the feeling.[loc. 96]

I was so very happy to get an advance review copy from NetGalley, having loved Pulley's previous novels (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, The Bedlam Stacks, and The Lost Future of Pepperharrow. I am happy to report that The Kingdoms (UK publication date 27 MAY 2021) is an absolute delight, the kind of book that I race through, immediately read again, and mourn for days because it's over.

Hope is extremely important, but it will come later. When your house is on fire you don’t start by sitting down at the kitchen table and telling the family how nice it will be once you’ve finished renovating and building the add-ons. When your house is on fire you call 999, you waken everyone you can and you crawl towards the front door.’ [loc. 1803]

Our House Is On Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis was written by Greta Thunberg, her mother Malena Ernman (the primary narrator), her father Svante and her sister Beata. The personal is political( no spoilers :) )