There is much to admire in this book: some beautifully lyrical, poetic writing, especially of dreams and visions and mysterious moments of two worlds There is much to admire in this book: some beautifully lyrical, poetic writing, especially of dreams and visions and mysterious moments of two worlds intermingling. But ultimately it is undermined by a climax that remains too elusive and abstract and muddy (featuring dialogue that suddenly becomes jarringly melodramatic) and a general feeling throughout that the poetic prose keeps the emotional heart of the story at arms’ length.
I am still interested in reading more of Patrica A. McKillip’s work (this was the first time I’d read anything by her), since she is clearly gifted, and has a rich imagination and the ability to paint some beautiful pictures with her words. ...more
I approached this novel with a great amount of hope; I was very happy to encounter a narrative that embraced and explored the culture and people and mI approached this novel with a great amount of hope; I was very happy to encounter a narrative that embraced and explored the culture and people and mythology and magic of an Inuit settlement, and for much of the first third or so of the novel, those details sustained my interest and affection.
But then the plot accelerates and it leaves the textured moments behind, and begins featuring far too many cartoonishly evil villains, entirely too much speechifying, and an utter lack of internal character logic. Our narrator, Omat, gets flung from one desperate situation into another, and the more the novel wore on, the less I felt for and with Omat.
I’ve said this before about other fantasy novels I’ve read in the last year that feature settings and themes and mythologies that go far beyond the historically typical Eurocentric tropes that have been so predominate: I welcome this trend of editors and publishers giving much-needed space and support to this generation of writers as they breathe new life into the genre. I just wish these books were better.
This novel was a well-intentioned mess, in the end, for me. ...more
I’m finding it difficult to gather into coherent thoughts exactly how and why this novel affected me as powerfully as it did, but I was thoroughly comI’m finding it difficult to gather into coherent thoughts exactly how and why this novel affected me as powerfully as it did, but I was thoroughly compelled throughout, and ultimately I found it intensely — and surprisingly — moving. This is my first encounter with the incredibly prolific and popular C.J. Cherryh’s work, and it won’t be my last. Her style is highly unusual; she thrusts the reader into the middle of scenes, moments, and places with very little explanation, and she writes in a terse, compact, muscular style, which could have alienated me but didn’t; those aspects never stopped me from feeling like I had access to the many and various characters’ inner lives as they struggled their way through an increasingly intertwined and desperate situation.
I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything else that examined so many facets of a diplomatic and militaristic conflict in such a humane and intriguing manner. The dread and tension that suffused the narrative as it followed refugees and politicians and secret agents and military leaders and the wonderfully-imagined alien Hisas unfailingly drew me along, and I deeply admired the manner in which Cherryh never tipped her hand as to where her complex and incisively rendered plot was headed next.
I have read reviews that say this novel caused some folks to bounce off of it, and I can understand why; it’s dense, and doesn’t always explain its world in easy terms, and the dynamics in the dialogue are often incredibly subtly drawn, and sometimes almost veering into, but never resulting in, obtuseness. But somehow, all of this sprawling, powerful, tough-minded — but ultimately compassionate — novel worked for me. It only got better and better as its threads came together and gathered in a carefully-wrought and hard-won and very satisfying momentum.
There: I’ve tried to convey what impressed me so much, and I wonder at whether or not I was successful at doing so. I highly recommend this novel, but with the full realization that it may not be to your liking at all; I wouldn’t have expected it to be so much to my liking, after all. And yet it was, so very much. ...more
I began this book with a lot of trepidation on the one hand — I really disliked The Eye of the World, and I knew Brandon Sanderson hadWell, I did it.
I began this book with a lot of trepidation on the one hand — I really disliked The Eye of the World, and I knew Brandon Sanderson had taken over the writing of the last couple Wheel of Time novels, so I feared I would run into similar issues here — and a lot of hope on the other — several of my Goodreads bookworm friends, whose taste often overlaps with mine, really loved it. And in the end, I wound up feeling squarely conflicted about it.
Much to my relief, I’m pleased to report that it was a many-times-better read than The Eye of the World in pretty much every way. Like by a magnitude of a LOT. The world Sanderson created is vivid and mysterious and fully realized, and it’s peopled by characters who are, for the most part, richly drawn.
But the prose itself was often so very irritating to behold that it kept pulling me out of the story and the moment-to-moment beats of that story. I am shocked that some of his lazy habits — repetitive, shallow descriptions in scenes of characters sighing, raising an eyebrow, shrugging, smiling, and snorting; as well as mundane, paint-by-numbers descriptions of what almost every character is wearing — made it through the editing process. And almost without fail, when I found myself really grooving with a scene, (although, sadly, never with any real emotional investment), Sanderson seemed unable to resist shining ten spotlights on the themes and meaning of what he was writing about in the scene. He is almost totally allergic to allowing any real, lasting subtlety to linger in his writing.
Part of the reason this last tendency became so irritating to me is that I think the themes he is working with — themes of honor and resilience and family and survival and the costs of war, among others — are very worthy, and I think he has some compelling ideas he’s exploring within those themes. So my disappointment mounted as I kept crashing into his seeming inability to simply let his themes and characters and scenes speak for themselves.
So yeah, I found myself often feeling like this book and I were in a fight. And it’s a damn long book, so being in a fight, especially since I knew it could be so much better with a more disciplined, subtle approach, was a bit of a draining experience.
However, by no means do I feel like reading this book was a waste of my time, not even close. The 3 star rating here is really the embodiment of the middle ground I feel between my admiration for his very impressive achievement of proof of concept, and my utterly baffled frustration with much of his sentence-to-sentence execution in the writing of that concept. ...more
This is a lyrical, lovely novel that is reckoning with intriguingly rich themes of faith and survival and healing froLyrical, intriguing, a bit remote
This is a lyrical, lovely novel that is reckoning with intriguingly rich themes of faith and survival and healing from trauma, but ultimately feels a bit too remote to sink into fully. That remoteness is appropriate to the setting, I suppose, but I did want a little more access to really feel the moments come fully to life.
Still, I admire the economic, painterly beauty of the prose, and I was mesmerized at times.
My other quibble is that there are three different characters’ points of view that are expressed in the course of this novel, and none of their voices ever felt truly distinct from one another. When I read a first-person narrative, I prefer to feel like I’m hearing the voice of the character, not just the voice of the author, and in this case it was a bit too much of the latter, in the end.
I will definitely be interested in following this author’s career; for a first novel, it’s remarkably self-assured and imagined, and again, the actual sentence-to-sentence craft was in fine form....more
I was really rooting for this one when it began, and it began vividly and bracingly, with visceral action and a powerfully drawn world. As the book prI was really rooting for this one when it began, and it began vividly and bracingly, with visceral action and a powerfully drawn world. As the book progressed, I was very happy to be witness to an ancient mythology that’s existed for centuries but is basically new to me, and I enjoyed the ways in which Roanhorse brought the magic and magical beings of that mythology to life. But as the plot drove forward, tropes accumulated and the main character’s first-person voice kept falling short of feeling authentic. I became aware of Roanhorse pulling the strings of her plot; she continued to fail to find that sweet spot of not giving away too much but also not over-explaining things. So I wound up increasingly frustrated as it continued, rather than moved by the momentous scenes, or pulled in by the twists and turns.
Still, I maintain it’s deeply important that stories like this exist, to open our eyes to people and cultures and mythologies that have always existed around us but which have sadly been neglected in our literature or, worse, have been used and abused and turned into cliches.
I’m told that the sequel is better, and I may take the chance to see whether that’s true. But all in all this was, sadly, a disappointment. ...more
It’s 2.5 stars rounded down for its ridiculously rushed and unsatisfying last third. Until then, I was mostly along for the ride, willing to forgive iIt’s 2.5 stars rounded down for its ridiculously rushed and unsatisfying last third. Until then, I was mostly along for the ride, willing to forgive its casual sexism and shallow approach to the anxieties of soldiers who face their own imminent demise, because I hoped that Sakurazaka was playing a long game, that he would peel back the layers and reveal a beating heart underneath all the artifice. But no, that didn’t happen. Very disappointing. ...more
This was my first time reading anything by the legendary Andre Norton, and while I found aspects of it intriguing — particularly its approach to animaThis was my first time reading anything by the legendary Andre Norton, and while I found aspects of it intriguing — particularly its approach to animal intelligence and sovereignty — I also found it strangely uninvolving. She writes in an interestingly offhand style, and her world building is thorough and convincing, but I wanted to care about the inner lives of her human characters more than I did. ...more
This took the promise of the first novella in the series and advanced it in a manner that felt more grounded and resonant. Yang is a wonderfully imagiThis took the promise of the first novella in the series and advanced it in a manner that felt more grounded and resonant. Yang is a wonderfully imaginative writer, whose commitment to exploring the emotional depths of their characters I find very admirable. Much like with their first book, I find myself liking — more than loving — this work, but I’m also glad to spend time in the world that’s been lovingly created here...more
This is a perfectly pitched, brutally poetic epic of Norse gods and Vikings and the machinations between them and the various fearsome and mysterious This is a perfectly pitched, brutally poetic epic of Norse gods and Vikings and the machinations between them and the various fearsome and mysterious beings of Faerie. Anderson pulls off the astonishing feat of breathing new life into this saga, one of the sorts of tales that have been told for centuries, by wholeheartedly committing to his passionate approach with a grand fervor and no small amount of heart. Bracingly vivid, powerful, and tragic, and my first foray into literature based on Norse mythology, it sets a very high standard indeed. ...more
Impressively varied in tone, voice, subject, and style, this short story collection was wonderfully entertaining and provocative. N.K. Jemisin writes Impressively varied in tone, voice, subject, and style, this short story collection was wonderfully entertaining and provocative. N.K. Jemisin writes with enormous confidence, takes big risks, and doesn’t settle for the easy way out. Well worth reading....more
Impressively ambitious, big-hearted, and provocative. I grew to love its wide-ranging cast of characters, and as I progressed through the novel, I becImpressively ambitious, big-hearted, and provocative. I grew to love its wide-ranging cast of characters, and as I progressed through the novel, I became more and more enchanted by how well its initially rambling structure gives way to a tightly-constructed narrative that comes into sharper and sharper focus. Miller writes with a confidence and clarity that is bracing, and suffuses his story with an abiding hunger for righting the economic wrongs of our society, but never does so in an easy or preachy or facile way.
I’ve read all but one of this year’s Nebula Award for Best Novel nominees, and if I’d been a member of SFWA and had a vote, this would have gotten it, for its originality, its heart, and for the manner in which it channels Miller’s fervent imagination to speak eloquently about matters that are very resonant in our expansive, diverse, complicated, and frighteningly endangered modern world....more
I had such high hopes for this book, and I’m sadly a little disappointed by it. I have great admiration for the thoroughness with which Fonda Lee creaI had such high hopes for this book, and I’m sadly a little disappointed by it. I have great admiration for the thoroughness with which Fonda Lee created a tremendously convincing alternate universe, especially her beautifully imagined Deitist religion. And the sprawling cast of characters featured a few standouts who changed and grew in compelling ways. But ultimately, the prose itself never soared for me, and the moments that should have felt stirring never really moved me. I think it would actually make a better tv series than a novel, since the characters are rich enough to be brought to emotional life by strong actors, and the action sequences would undoubtedly be thrilling on screen.
This is the third “silkpunk" book I’ve read in the past few months, and none of them has captured my heart the way I’d like. They all have much to recommend them in terms of imagination and their refreshing depictions of fantasy worlds that aren’t based on medieval Europe. But I’m eagerly awaiting a moment of being blown away by one of them....more
An incredibly ambitious, deeply complex work, filled with moments of silliness paired with moments of sorrow, and everything in between, and fueled byAn incredibly ambitious, deeply complex work, filled with moments of silliness paired with moments of sorrow, and everything in between, and fueled by an enormously generous and grievously pained heart. I admire T.H. White’s effort to grapple with huge, unwieldy questions of justice and the inexorable weight of history, and I enjoy his ability to infuse his writing with wit and verve. There were times when I wanted some moments to be more vividly brought to life than he seemed willing to do, for when he leaned into lengthy scenes of dialogue, the scenes often soared.
I didn’t know much about the details of the Arthurian legend, and I’m very glad that this book has turned out to be my first proper education....more
This novel gained power and complexity as I made my way deeper into its pages, and in the end I came to greatly appreciate its rich subtleties, its maThis novel gained power and complexity as I made my way deeper into its pages, and in the end I came to greatly appreciate its rich subtleties, its many-layered characters, and its fascinating world. I was more emotionally captivated by, and more propelled to burn through, Kay’s incredible Tigana, but I’m very glad to have read more of Kay’s work, and I will certainly continue to do so. ...more
Another master class given by Robin Hobb in characterization, pacing, plotting, stakes, and emotional truth, all delivered in her clear, brutal, graceAnother master class given by Robin Hobb in characterization, pacing, plotting, stakes, and emotional truth, all delivered in her clear, brutal, graceful prose. I marvel at the skill with which she pivoted from a first-person narrative in The Farseer Trilogy to that of this novel, which is told with multiple viewpoints, all convincingly and humanely brought to life, even the most despicable or complex of them. It had been a while since I was this satisfied with a book, and I am grateful. ...more
A deeply provocative, philosophical, theological exploration of huge questions about why Man never seems to learn from its centuries of history of pasA deeply provocative, philosophical, theological exploration of huge questions about why Man never seems to learn from its centuries of history of past mistakes. This novel has many moments of witty and wry humor, and —just as finely wrought — devastatingly complex and painful moral conflicts. It’s also suffused with a love of language and mystery and symbolism and poetry. It’s altogether bracing and moving to read a novel that’s packed with so many ideas and no easy answers. ...more
This novel (it’s difficult to believe it’s a first novel, it’s so accomplished) is invigoratingly original, crisply and subtly and wittily written, anThis novel (it’s difficult to believe it’s a first novel, it’s so accomplished) is invigoratingly original, crisply and subtly and wittily written, and features a propulsive narrative peopled by richly drawn characters. I’ll be very much looking forward to reading its sequel(s) upon release. ...more
A fascinating, dark, complex Escher print of a novel, weaving its unpredictable storyline through time jumps and intriguingly parceled out dollops of A fascinating, dark, complex Escher print of a novel, weaving its unpredictable storyline through time jumps and intriguingly parceled out dollops of information and context. In some ways, the somewhat dislocated voice of its first person narrative reminded me of the hallucinatory effect of China Mieville’s The City and the City. I found this thoroughly compelling and will definitely continue making my way through the trilogy. I look forward to visiting its vividly imagined futuristic Nigeria again. ...more
This is a profoundly impressive achievement, a massive and ambitious and often delightful exploration of what magic means and what being English meansThis is a profoundly impressive achievement, a massive and ambitious and often delightful exploration of what magic means and what being English means and what being a gentleman means — and what happens to the servants and women and minorities who are often ignored and forgotten in the midst of all of that.
Star ratings are tough. It’s really a strong 4.5 star rating for me, but ultimately rounded down because there never was the depth of an emotional core that I would hope for in such a lengthy, densely woven, richly imagined book. Especially one that contends with loss and grief and murder and vengeance.
But Susanna Clarke’s ability to hold true to her approach and vision is remarkable. And her book has stirred in me new ways of thinking about magic and history that I will continue to explore, and which I’m certain will inspire me in my own work. ...more
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