A lovely, mildly diverting fairy tale that never quite reaches the richest depths of heartache or the most thrilling heights of wonderment of the mostA lovely, mildly diverting fairy tale that never quite reaches the richest depths of heartache or the most thrilling heights of wonderment of the most truly magical tales. Kingfisher has a refreshingly clever ear for dialogue, a winningly compassionate feel for her characters, and an enjoyably whimsical approach to bringing her several talking animals to life. But there’s ultimately a feeling in reading this that’s a bit like a rock skipping over the surface of a pond. It’s pleasant and fun but curiously insubstantial. I’m still glad, however, to have made the acquaintance of an author who’s been highly recommended to me....more
This, the final book in The Wormwood Trilogy, was as enjoyably imaginative, trippy, and compelling as the first two books. Tade Thompson’s work is a dThis, the final book in The Wormwood Trilogy, was as enjoyably imaginative, trippy, and compelling as the first two books. Tade Thompson’s work is a delightfully original mashup of tropes including alien invasions, comic book-style superpowers, afrofuturism, and badass female cops.
He’s definitely a writer to watch, with a great ear for dialogue, a welcome skill at crafting surprising plots, and an invigorating blend of dark humor and authentic heart. ...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
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 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
Nalo Hopkinson writes with an invigorating imagination, and an impressive breadth of subject matter and approach. These stories alternate between whimNalo Hopkinson writes with an invigorating imagination, and an impressive breadth of subject matter and approach. These stories alternate between whimsy, horror, eroticism, and modern interpretations of Caribbean folklore. Not every story lands as well as the best of them, but the best of them are wonderful. ...more
It’s difficult to believe that Le Guin wrote this book only two short years before her masterpiece The Left Hand of Darkness; they both take place in It’s difficult to believe that Le Guin wrote this book only two short years before her masterpiece The Left Hand of Darkness; they both take place in the same basic “Hainish” universe, but they each feature extremely different versions of the details and the history of that universe.
This novel is also much more cerebral and restrained than the incredibly impassioned, brutal, beautiful Left Hand of Darkness, although it is also beautifully written. But I do prefer the latter.
However, she still manages to create a deeply compelling, mysterious portrait of one man’s quest and inquiry into the nature of his identity, and how his identity relates to — and is governed by — memory.
I will always marvel at Le Guin’s ability to write with incredible restraint, clarity, and a deep and profound regard for each human being’s right to selfhood.
She was a treasure, and left us with so many incredible gifts....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
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
It started out with a fizzy, energetic bang, and then proceeded to fizz out over the course of its several hundred pages. I kept wanting to get swept It started out with a fizzy, energetic bang, and then proceeded to fizz out over the course of its several hundred pages. I kept wanting to get swept up in its twisty narrative, but the supporting cast of characters was never brought to vivid enough life to care about who might be double crossing whom. Info dumps and repetitive motifs (lots of talk about nausea and vomiting, for instance) kept clogging up the narrative engine. There’s some sparky dialogue and a lot of imagination at play, but it needed a much surer hand fashioning the tale to really allow it to land for me. I won’t be reading the sequel. ...more
A beautifully compassionate, intimate portrait of the inner lives of a small group of keenly-drawn characters as they navigate their way through theirA beautifully compassionate, intimate portrait of the inner lives of a small group of keenly-drawn characters as they navigate their way through their lives and find a way to connect and survive and thrive even after trauma and heartbreak. That description isn’t often likely to refer to a science fiction novel, but it’s to Becky Chambers’ great credit that it works all the better because it’s a science fiction novel, allowing her to delve deeply into questions of autonomy, consciousness, cultural differences, and found families by inventing AI characters and fascinating aliens, and grounding it all in clean, effortless, unsentimental prose.
I enjoyed her first novel — A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet — very much, but this novel feels more assured, mature, emotionally complex, and personal. It moved me greatly....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
I recognize that — like many books I love, but even more than most — this book might leave the folks who read it feeling alienated, confused, and estrI recognize that — like many books I love, but even more than most — this book might leave the folks who read it feeling alienated, confused, and estranged from its world and its characters. It’s unquestionably unusual in structure, approach, language, subject, and plot, but it worked its wickedly witty and deeply intelligent spell on me. I found it mesmerizing, as I delighted in parsing its oddities, and I fell in love with its ambitious approach to thinking about humanity’s interconnectedness. I knew next to nothing about it before I opened its pages, and I am deeply appreciative of that fact, since I was therefore free to discover its wonderful eccentricities for myself, so I won’t say anything about the details of its plot or world. I will say that I am eager to continue reading the story of Terra Ignota in its sequels.
*******
I just finished my reread of this fantastic, wildly inventive, thoroughly entertaining, endlessly provocative concoction, in preparation for (finally) diving into its sequel. I remain astonished at how confidently Ada Palmer brought to life her madcap vision, and inspired by the depths of human ethics, philosophy, morality, and religious belief laid bare by her magnificent creation....more
An extraordinary feat of imagination. Miéville crafted an intricately-plotted, expansively-detailed, darkly humorous, and deeply weird tale that woundAn extraordinary feat of imagination. Miéville crafted an intricately-plotted, expansively-detailed, darkly humorous, and deeply weird tale that wound up mesmerizingly powerful and evocative in increasingly surprising ways. It’s excessive in its imagery, but that’s clearly by design; the city of New Crobuzon is itself excessive, and its depiction is a perfect synthesis of form and content.
I had enjoyed and admired The City & The City, but this novel captured me and moved me and entertained me more fully. What Miéville has accomplished here is profoundly impressive and unforgettable. ...more
This was a fascinating, deeply personal portrait of a childhood in post-revolutionary Iran. It never reached the emotional heights of other graphic meThis was a fascinating, deeply personal portrait of a childhood in post-revolutionary Iran. It never reached the emotional heights of other graphic memoirs I’ve loved like Fun Home, Maus, and Blankets, but it’s filled with wonderfully specific details that illuminate the quotidian realities of life under an oppressive regime....more
The lengthy time it took me to finish this lengthy final volume in the monumental Mars Trilogy was mostly Ambitious and flawed, but still very special
The lengthy time it took me to finish this lengthy final volume in the monumental Mars Trilogy was mostly due to the fact that my reading schedule has been severely truncated lately. However, I will also say that this was the weakest of the three books in the trilogy, with a bit too much material that felt like a travelogue padding it.
Having said that, though, I am still very happy that I read the whole trilogy, which remains an incredibly ambitious and thoroughly fascinating epic. Robinson uses these three books to contemplate and investigate human enterprises and concerns such as colonization, revolution, history, geology, biology, senescence, memory, love, death, war, and on and on. I’m in awe of the scope of his mind, and continually impressed by his fluid, poetic, clean prose that he brings to bear.
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