knizer commented on Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree (Legends & Lattes, #0)
Viv’s career with the renowned mercenary company Rackam’s Ravens isn’t going as planned. Wounded during …
audiobook version
Reviews and Comments
Boston - usually #SFF, #GraphicNovels, and #Fiction. Eldritch Millennial.
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knizer reviewed Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (The Empyrean, #1)
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among …
Finished it, but UGH. A Horny Hodge Podge.
2 stars
Content warning spoilers ahoy! discussion of horniness/gaping plot holes/character development
Decently written fighting sequences Worldbuilding/history of lands great, logic of how/when magic works not Enemies-to-lovers arc is Really Central Two extended hyper-explicit hetero sex sequences that feel out of place with the rest of the text, kind of written like fight sequences (consent is prominent, don't recall any non-con threats/assault in text), but as someone expecting a magic-school-but-dragon-riders fantasy....yow! Maybe a disclaimer that this is not YA on the cover?! Such a horny book. Dragons and characters outside the main pairing felt cardboard. Protagonist is too small and thus can't handle riding the dragon (who's main descriptors are 'big and black') is cringe. Of course the handsome male lead's magic power is smoke. Of course he's overwhelmingly hot to her, but he shoves down all his trauma, so its just hot trauma. Of course her power is lightning and its outside her control and she's the powerfullest. Like cell phones in horror flicks set after Year 2000 CE, telepathy works only when its needed to advance the plot, and we have to forget the option is available when the plot requires. Magical creatures are horses without agency but they do have their own lore and laws which we as humans can't know. Why are the dragons helping the humans? What's new and innovative to the lore of dragons coming from this book? Logistics of 'war-bonded-pair' dragons that are supposed to live 200 years tied to the lives of humans who have...at most 20 years of good military service...don't add up. Where's the Temeraire of dragon-kind who's letting the humans battle for 400 years and watching all their dragon-bros get killed? Breadcrumbs were more bread-loaves that telegraphed upcoming events. (that comment based on snark from my spouse, hearing me rant to her about this book). I guess we're just going to all have to agree that the only way to solve the problems in this society is through violence and a high death rate for the navy seals program. Meh. I'm not sure who the target audience is for this one. #FourthWing
knizer finished reading The Revolution Will Not Be Funded by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence
Author: INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence
Subjects Gender and Sexuality > Feminism and Women’s …
academic essays critiquing state of nonprofit orgs, a topic whose axe I am not going to grind too hard. Didn't get through the whole shebang, because gestures broadly.
I wish I was given a copy 15-20 years ago. Hand a copy to starry-eyed undergrads planning for a career in the nonprofit sector.
knizer finished reading Matter by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #8)
In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a …
Audiobook, first read but have read several other Culture books. Perhaps it was me, but some combination of driving in poor weather and general tiredness made it hard to follow the book. Laugh out loud moments, lots of smirking, but left a little confused by some of the nuances. Try to revisit on paper.
knizer finished reading All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Murderbot Diaries, #1)
All Systems Red is the tense first science fiction adventure novella in Martha Wells' series …
Murderbot! first reread, this time on audiobook, excellent performance by Kevin Free.
knizer commented on The New Space Opera 2 by John Scalzi
All-new stories of science fiction adventure from some of the most beloved names in science …
had to return audiobook, ran out of time. Quite enjoyed The Island!
knizer commented on Surface detail by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #9)
It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.
It begins with …
oh this is just what I needed.
knizer started reading Surface detail by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #9)
It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.
It begins with …
Excited as usual for more #TheCulture, first read on book 9 in the series, going into it with no foreknowledge.
knizer finished reading Little Town on the Prairie (Little House) by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Pa's homestead thrives, Laura gets her first job in town, blackbirds eat the corn and …
well....that was something. #LittleHouseOnThePrarie
knizer started reading Little Town on the Prairie (Little House) by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Pa's homestead thrives, Laura gets her first job in town, blackbirds eat the corn and …
I've never seen more than an episode or two of the show, or read the series. I'm an adult. This book is a trip and of its period and gosh there's some problematic aspects when seen from a contemporary lens. I'm here for this.
knizer reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our …
This is as good as people say it is
5 stars
This text dovetails beautifully with multiple interest areas - attention economy led capitalism, information overload, zen/mindfulness, local activism, tuning in/dropping out, bird noticing, being hyper aware of your local. This book is well lauded and rightly so. I’m likely to gift copies, and reread. Accessible, érudite, not preachy.
knizer finished reading How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our …
This text dovetails beautifully with multiple interest areas - attention economy led capitalism, information overload, zen/mindfulness, local activism, tuning in/dropping out, bird noticing, being hyper aware of your local. This book is well lauded and rightly so. I’m likely to gift copies, and reread.
knizer finished reading Ogres by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Terrible Worlds: Revolutions Series)
Ogres are bigger than you. Ogres are stronger than you. Ogres rule the world.
It’s …
Short, satisfying, leftist.
knizer reviewed Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #15)
‘What’s so hard about pulling a sword out of a stone? The real work’s already …
GNU Sir Terry Pratchett at top of his form; excellent audiobook version!
5 stars
Reread, recent audiobook version via Libby - has footnotes performed by a different reader than the main text - Bill Nighy(!)
~13 hours, quite a treat with Culshaw doing most of the voices.
"The audiobook of Men At Arms is narrated by impressionist and actor Jon Culshaw, best known for BBC Radio 4’s Dead Ringers, and for the Doctor Who audiobooks and dramas. BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Love Actually; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reads the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace; Shaun of the Dead) stars as the voice of Death. Featuring a new theme tune composed by James Hannigan."
knizer finished reading Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #15)
‘What’s so hard about pulling a sword out of a stone? The real work’s already …
Audiobook!