It's so hard to put into words my reaction to this book and the culmination of this mindbending fantasy trilogy about hacking the nature of reality. In many ways it's a bleak, kinda apocalyptic book—but also filled with a certain sense of optimism that empathy and humanity (whatever that means) can see a way to break cycles of oppression.
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Smoak rated Eyes of the Void: 5 stars
Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky (The Final Architecture, #2)
After one great battle, the Architects disappeared. Yet humanity’s fragile peace is brief. For, forty years later, the galaxy’s greatest …
Smoak rated Never Say You Can't Survive: 4 stars
Smoak reviewed Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett (The Founders Trilogy, #3)
A god wages war—using all of humanity as its pawns—in the unforgettable conclusion to the …
Review of 'Locklands' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
Smoak reviewed Thorn by Intisar Khanani
Review of 'Thorn' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
Phenomenal and powerful book about loyalty to found family, the difference between justice and punishment, and knowing when to break one's silence.
Smoak rated The Revolution Business: 3 stars
The Revolution Business by Charles Stross (The Merchant Princes, #5)
Smoak rated Merchants' War: 3 stars
Smoak rated The Stardust Thief: 5 stars
The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah (The Sandsea Trilogy, #1)
Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, The Stardust Thief weaves the gripping tale of a legendary smuggler, …
Smoak rated The clan corporate: 2 stars
Charles Stross: The clan corporate (2006, Tor)
The clan corporate by Charles Stross (The merchant princes ;)
Smoak rated The Hidden Family: 3 stars
Smoak rated The Family Trade: 3 stars
The Family Trade by Charles Stross (The Merchant Princes, #1)
A bold fantasy in the tradition of Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, The Merchant Princes is a sweeping new series …
Smoak reviewed Circe by Madeline Miller
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a …
Review of 'Circe' on 'Storygraph'
3 stars
Some great writing and departure from established myth toward the end, but man are those first two thirds a slog
Smoak rated Across the Green Grass Fields: 3 stars
Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children, #6)
A young girl discovers a portal to a land filled with centaurs and unicorns in Seanan McGuire's Across the Green …
Smoak reviewed The Past Is Red by Catherynne M. Valente (duplicate)
The future is blue. Endless blue...except for a few small places that float across the …
Review of 'The Past Is Red' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
A fascinating novella following scenes in the life of Tetley, a delightfully unreliable narrator who is "a kind of post-apocalyptic Candide, always seeing the disaster of her existence as the best of all possible worlds." including an "I hope" speech on par with American Gods' "I believe"
Smoak reviewed The Memory Librarian by Eve L. Ewing
In The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, singer-songwriter, actor, fashion icon, activist, …
Review of 'Memory Librarian' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
Overall a solid collection of interrelated novelettes/novellas
"The Memory Librarian" 4/5
"Nevermind" 5/5
"Timebox" 4/5
"Save Changes" 4.5/5
"Timebox Altar(ed)" 2/5