Tensorate 4

I was disappointed by The Ascent to Godhood, the fourth (and concluding??) part of JY Yang's Tensorate series. (Previously discussed here and here.) Black Tides started so big with the worldbuilding and Red Threads had dinosaurs *and* dragons and Descent of Monsters had a fun conceit in the storytelling but this one just felt... lesser. I mean, there's a strong lesbian lovers-to-enemies high-drama tragic backstory, that's not nothing, but I wanted more magic, more twisty stuff with fate and prophecy and all that. Maybe some actual godhood. Alas. (Also: content note for child death.)

a double novella day

The Haunting of Tram Car 015, P. Djèlí Clark. Takes place in the same world as his "Dead Djinn in Cairo", which I wasn't particularly into, but this one is a lot of fun - cable cars, folk mythology, suffragettes, robot revolutionaries, sexy genderfluid djinn. If you enjoyed the adventure and plethora of fun minor characters in his Black God's Drums (one of my favorite things I read last year) I would also very much recommend this one.