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Smoak

Smoak@bookwyrm.social

Joined 3 months, 1 week ago

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The City Inside (Hardcover, 2022, Tordotcom) 3 stars

“They'd known the end times were coming but hadn’t known they’d be multiple choice.”

Joey …

Review of 'The City Inside' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

I have very complicated thoughts about this book. On the one hand, there were some very interesting worldbuilding concepts and perspectives of a near-future India. On the other, characters were rather unlikeable and the author used a dialogue-heavy writing style tending toward stream of consciousness—building up a feeling almost of doomscrolling, which may have been intentional but set my teeth on edge nevertheless.

Review of 'Pests' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

Very readable volume on the ways humans interact with animals, positing that it's when they intrude on our homes, cities, and personal ideas of cleanliness that we call them "pests" and try to make them leave. Looks at a range of vertebrate species and ways we've attempted to save them, kill them, and coexist with them, drawing not only on scientific studies but also Indigenous and other non-Western perspectives.

Babel (Hardcover, 2022, Harper Voyager) 4 stars

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, …

Review of 'Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

A wonderfully thought-provoking novel of language, racism, and how academia upholds the machineries of empire. Minus half a star for the queerbaiting.