Alternate account of @hirvox@mastodon.online
This link opens in a pop-up window
The Sparrow is a novel about a remarkable man, a living saint, a life-long celibate …
I admit I wondered multiple times whether this book could provide an adequate reasoning for it's horrid premise, but it did eventually deliver. It allows the reader to observe an alien culture together with it's protagonists, and then slides in the key bit of context to turn it into a faith-distilling tragedy.
He broke the chains. Then he broke the world….
A decade ago Darrow led a …
This was a tough read. It wasn't bad. But because however clever the protagonists are, their enemies have cruel logic in their actions as well. No plan survives contact with the enemy, and these occasions come early and often.
The author couldn't decide whether to make a textbook or a book-length rant against political opponents, so he did both at the same time. Bonus shoutout to the endorsement of neomonarchism in the middle of talking about the importance of the non-aggression principle.
In the preamble, the author wonders why more pop-sci books don’t post their references exclusively online. Two words: Link rot. Sure, a reference to an online source might rot too, but if you at least know the URL you might still find it from one of the archival services.
Mika Aaltola is a researcher for the Foreign Policy Institute, and attempted to convert his musings around the flareup of the war against Ukraine into a presidential bid. Now that the effort seems doomed, I took a look at the collection of those musings. It’s fine as a political analysis, but the President’s thought leadership responsibilities are not limited to foreign policy. And his grasp there is more tenuous.
Content warning Spoilers for Amygdala, sexual violence
An odd book. The pace in the beginning suffers from the extensive introductions of each character. Their designs are complicated, like overgrown plants. So describing them in detail takes way too long.
There’s also some very odd worldbuilding choices, and the warnings in the book description are there for a reason. Especially the reproductive cycle, which involves necrophilic rape and parasitism. There’s a scene where the audience of a gladiatorial combat arena gets.. over-enthusiastic. And one would imagine a chain reaction from the aftermath. How is this civilization of billions still alive?
Also, the evil villain’s plot involves inventing medicine and implementing healthcare, so one might hear echoes of the author’s voice there.
The more things change, the more things stay the same. It’s amazing reading about comments from the 19th century complaining about the boom-bust cycle orchestrated by the central bank and “international financiers” and then listen to a podcast about contemporary commenters complaining about the same.
I like how the system depicted here doesn't treat anyone fairly. Not even the golds, the rulers. Because the system has no use for one that rules through consent; Those that rise because others acknowledge their near-divine wisdom and compassion are fed to the meat grinder first. A slave society lives in mortal fear of an uprising. Therefore each acceptable ruler must be able and willing to put one down with extreme prejudice.
Meh. I think the self-aware narrator gimmick would work better in a game. Somehow this ended up being less than a choose-your-own-adventure book it imitates.
Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange …
How do you have a love story between two beings separated by war, time and dimensions? With covert letters. They may be written in seeds or lava flows, but letters nevertheless.
Sequel to Children of Time.
Tchaikovsky's Children Of Series focuses on the lifeforms left behind by mankind's self-destruction. The sentient spiders from Children of Time are back, and are exploring a solar system caught in a civil war. One of science fiction's strengths is being able to imagine other beings, and Tchaikovsky's depictions of their life and thoughts are excellent here as well.
Sequel to Children of Time.
Content warning Spoilers
I love how the author manages to make the alien species both endearing and creepy at the same time. Even the microbial hive mind.
