2019 has been a busy year for me so far, and I haven’t been able to finish books and start new ones quite as quickly as I have in the past. I may not manage to read as many books this year as I did last, but quality matters more than quantity, and thus far I’ve found plenty of delights to savor in my reading life. It’s a good time to share a few highlights.

Tasha Suri, Empire of Sand (finished February 24)

Suri’s debut novel is likely to please those of us eager to explore fantastic landscapes other than the castle-dotted meadows of medieval Europe. Suri brings the deserts of a quasi-India to life in lyrical, vividly detailed prose and gives us a heroine, Mehr, who makes a believable journey from frightened, confused girl to powerful savior. Romance is on the menu here, as Mehr is forced by a power-hungry religious leader to marry a mysterious outcast, in the hope of taking advantage of their combined magical abilities. But Suri avoids the annoying “insta-love” trope in favor of a slow-moving and steadily building relationship whose progress cannot be taken for granted; the two captives come together, over time, through their mutual capacity for empathy. Also, the romance does not wipe other relationships from Mehr’s mind, as happens too often in fantasy novels where a romantic plot plays a central role. She interacts with other female characters at crucial points in the story.

One aspect of this novel that fascinated me most was how Mehr accessed and worked her magic through dance. Suri’s post on the Fantasy Cafe website helped me understand exactly why I was so drawn to it.

Jen Williams, The Ninth Rain (finished March 22)

The pleasure of transitioning from the perspective of the young, out-of-her-depth Mehr to that of the mature, confident Lady Vintage de Grazon is one of the reasons I love reading multiple books at once. Vintage is a woman of great knowledge and even greater curiosity, whose desire to learn intersects with the foreboding that an ancient evil is about to be reborn. Another character after my heart is Noon, a young “fell-witch” who falls in with Vintage and her bodyguard Tormalin after she escapes a hellish captivity. Her power to draw life from the living things around her would make her a formidable villain, but, inspired by the kindness and trust Vintage shows her, she aims for a heroic destiny. Among the vast array of female fantasy characters so often tagged with similar personalities and struggles, Vintage and Noon are refreshingly unique. Another plus: while this is only the first book, Williams’ series, The Winnowing Flame, promises good queer representation. Vintage herself is queer, although (Spoiler alert) it takes a long time for us to meet her love interest.

Robert Jackson Bennett, City of Blades (currently reading)

Like Vintage, General Turyin Mulaghesh is a protagonist who seems almost designed to be loved by me. I met her at just the right time in my life, the month when I turned fifty; Mulaghesh is also fifty, and full of toughness, insight, and humor, far from too old to engage in life-saving heroics. She appeared in the previous volume of Robert Jackson Bennett’s Divine Cities trilogy, City of Stairs, and even there cut a charismatic figure, but here she takes center stage to confront a goddess of war not quite as dead as previously thought, as well as the saint who wreaks destruction in her name. If she is to defeat them, she must come to terms with her own dark and bloody past. Is she up to the task? Well, here’s what she says at the beginning of the book, regarding a pair of thugs who would like to run her off her land: “It’s a symbiotic relationship: those two excel at being idiots, and I excel at shooting idiots. Everyone gets what they want” (8). This lady will not suffer fools, divine or otherwise, and I’m confident she can handle pretty much whatever life throws at her.

Curtis Craddock, A Labyrinth of Scions and Sorcery (currently reading)

I enjoyed the previous book in Craddock’s Risen Kingdoms series, An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors, because I was intrigued by the world-building and charmed by the protagonists, the outcast genius Isabelle and her musketeer guardian Jean-Claude. But the villains in that book, I thought, were too one-dimensionally evil to be truly interesting. In this sequel, however, we have a villain who threatens the existing power structure for reasons it’s not at all hard to understand. That power structure, which asserts that those with magic are blessed by God and therefore their rule is divinely ordained (and, conversely, those without magic are rejected by God and therefore have very few rights under the law), could use a little shaking up. Both Jean-Claude, as a non-magical “clayborn,” and Isabelle, as a woman, are essentially non-people in its eyes, yet still they are bound to defend it, as the means the villain uses to achieve his end are as grotesque and cruel as the actions of those he deems his enemies. Where is the moral high ground? I appreciate when, once in a while, it’s not so easy to find. Yet Jean-Claude and Isabelle remain as worthy of rooting interest as ever. While power systems may be full of moral rot, kindness and personal loyalty can still carry the day.

Kate Elliott, King’s Dragon (recently begun)

Elliott is one of my favorite authors, and I need to fill the time between now and the release of her sequel to Black Wolves. The six-volume epic fantasy series Crown of Stars should help do the trick. I’m two hundred pages into the first book, and Elliott’s capacious world-building skills and strong, solid prose style have me hooked. I’m still feeling out the characters and I’m interested in seeing how they go on.

Crown of Stars is one of those multi-volume epic fantasy series that some short-sighted people claim women don’t write. One of my reading resolutions is to devote time to exploring series by Michelle West, Katya Riemann, Rowena Cory Daniells, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Jude Fisher, and Janny Wurts, among others — series that may not have gotten enough attention but promise abundant pleasure.