Reviews and Comments

Few books have both educated me (about the wonderful recent work of archeologists) and simultaneously made me hopeful for the future. I look forward to a lifetime of seeing the impact of this synthesis unfold. To the scholars profiled here, especially the Indigenous scholars who brought us gold about Kandiaronk the Wendat orator, a profound thank you.

Few books have both educated me (about the wonderful recent work of archeologists) and simultaneously made me hopeful for the future. I look forward to a lifetime of seeing the impact of this synthesis unfold. To the scholars profiled here, especially the Indigenous scholars who brought us gold about Kandiaronk the Wendat orator, a profound thank you.

So excited to read this by @blindscribe@writing.exchange and friends!

Via the introduction to Artificial Divide.

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything that was as atmospheric as this. Hagio is a master of the medium. The fog. The flowers. The dark—all pop out of the page, propelled by an incredible story. Like Bram Stoker’s masterpiece, this manga is also epistolary, and the interwoven stories and narrators and timelines feel incredibly fresh and modern. Rachel Thorn’s translation slaps.

I usually read manga as an ebook on a big tablet but I’m very grateful I picked up the physical book. It is decadently luxurious.

Sometimes you do something that feels like your whole life has organized itself to appreciate that thing. The one special class. That crazy trip. This spectacular book.

As usual I have no idea how much of a clone of me you’ll need to be for this book to land. But, a childhood steeped in North African and Arab and Persian and Indian cultures. A taste for multilingualism and cosmopolitanism. A deep desire to understand colonialism—and wasn’t the Arabs did to the Persians those centuries ago, mirrored by the Geziri takeover of Daevabad, just that? Loving Amitav Ghosh’s memoir of studying in Egypt and al-Fustaat (old Cairo). All these conspired to hook me on the first page till the last.

So pardon me, I have a second volume to devour.

“Why do you call it ART? It said it’s name was Perihelion.”
“It’s an anagram. It stands for Asshole Research Transport.”
“That’s not an anagram.”
“Whatever.”

The struggle is real—what do I read while I wait for more Murderbot and ART and Preservation? Nothing. I’ll just quietly pull up a chapter in this book, like Murderbot does with Sanctuary Moon.