Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in this defiantly joyful …
a beguiling mix of cutesy fluff with sharp depth
No rating
(audiobook) - this story had a beguiling mix of cutesy fluff with sharp depth. there was a lot there in the glimpse of a trans teen girl's experience - physical violence from family, sexual violence from "friends", the highs and lows of sex work, the toxic hate from strangers online, the casual hate from strangers in public. and then there's a love story between a soulselling violinist and a space alien running a donut shop. the author did a great job of conveying a love for, or at least knowledge of, violin music and donuts and southern california asian culture.
"Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her …
putting american slavery onto a colony spaceship is a terrifyingly believable look into our future.
No rating
(audiobook) it felt revelatory to experience a story like this where the main character is neurodivergent, somewhere on some spectrum or other, and to have the portrayal feel thoughtful and direct and compassionate rather than performative. particular to the audiobook - cherise boothe's narration was fun because, aside from being generally skilled, the afrocarribean accents aren't common to this genre. this was a just a good, compelling story. putting american slavery onto a colony spaceship is a terrifyingly believable look into our future.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American …
drugzzzz
4 stars
(audiobook) well, i loved it. wacky, cringy, funny. drugzzzz. i went into it thinking it was a work of non-fiction and it left me shaking my head saying "whaaaaat? really?!?". regardless of genre, it is a fascinating slice of american cultures clashing.
A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired …
from magical academy bildungsroman to brutal colonial genocide
3 stars
(audiobook) i was surprised by how quickly this one turned from magical academy bildungsroman to brutal colonial genocide. the setting feels like a loose stand in for china and japan, and the culture and history were an interesting aspect of the story. the main character was flawed and difficult to like but still engaging. i enjoyed the book, but not enough to feel like i want to read the rest of the series right away.
Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work …
mixed bag
3 stars
(audiobook) this collection of connected short stories feels very clearly influenced by life in early covid times. there is so much death, and the particular darkness of watching our children die. the acerbic critique of technocapitalism in the explosion of the funerary industry. of course some of the stories felt less compelling than others, but one or two let me holding my belly stopping whatever i was doing to feel the saline roll down my face.
“The Lathe of Heaven” ; 1971 ( Ursula Le Guin received the 1973 Locus Award …
Review of 'The Lathe of Heaven' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
this one left me feeling pleasantly dazzled, thinking - she's just so smart. the ecological awareness, talking about the greenhouse effect and pollution and climate change and sea level rise and the private car economy - all in 1971. politically astute observations and commentary. emotional intelligence, empathy. the speculative premise as a way to examine human behavior and the nature of reality. she does it all.
this one left me feeling pleasantly dazzled, thinking - she's just so smart. the ecological awareness, talking about the greenhouse effect and pollution and climate change and sea level rise and the private car economy - all in 1971. politically astute observations and commentary. emotional intelligence, empathy. the speculative premise as a way to examine human behavior and the nature of reality. she does it all.
i feel conflicted about this one. there is awe, admiration at the audacity of 190 pages of dialogue, the craft mastery. how he can develop a character so fully through the confines of that structure. then there is the tedium, the wandering attention. the sense that he is simply echoing and recycling the same themes from 'the passenger' in a different voice - mathematics, existence, reality, unrequited love. i know it's a companion piece and it gives us a specific character portrait, but i'm humbly unconvinced it needed all of that space to do it. there is some movement to the story - <spoiler> the slow momentum of what we know will be her eventual suicide </spoiler> - but it is not enough as a substitute for plot. i guess great writing and philosophical explication can only go so far for me.
The Man in the High Castle is an alternate history novel by American writer Philip …
Review of 'The Man in the High Castle' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
of course the alternate history framework of the novel is compelling, an engaging thought exercise about the other possibilities of war, those moments of immense directional change. what brings the book alive is the role of the I Ching for the majority of the characters (all but the germans, those ‘cynics with utter faith’…) , the cosmological propulsion of plot and character development. it serves as a mirror for each character, bringing to focus their fears and hopes and desires, their own form of prayer, a call for succor. on another level it is the representation of the appropriation of culture, and its propagation through subjugation. the japanese take from the chinese, then sow amongst their american subjects. one of those subjects, a fictional white american author, literally uses the I Ching to write his popular alternate history novel. look again and a real white american author, pkd, uses …
of course the alternate history framework of the novel is compelling, an engaging thought exercise about the other possibilities of war, those moments of immense directional change. what brings the book alive is the role of the I Ching for the majority of the characters (all but the germans, those ‘cynics with utter faith’…) , the cosmological propulsion of plot and character development. it serves as a mirror for each character, bringing to focus their fears and hopes and desires, their own form of prayer, a call for succor. on another level it is the representation of the appropriation of culture, and its propagation through subjugation. the japanese take from the chinese, then sow amongst their american subjects. one of those subjects, a fictional white american author, literally uses the I Ching to write his popular alternate history novel. look again and a real white american author, pkd, uses the I Ching as a plot device to write his popular alternate history novel. these rippling rings of meaning lend the story a satisfying depth and meta-flair.
the psychospiritual compulsion for divination is contrasted with the baser obsession to collect and fetishize the artifacts of early american culture. the same energetic drive, for truth and knowledge and authenticity, juxtaposed. this search for meaning is juxtaposed again further with the stereotyped german ethos, the ‘potpourri of pointlessness’ and cosmic fatalism.
<spoiler> and then it ends with another neat trick of perspective fuckery. the characters flirt with the fourth wall, discover that they may in fact be living in the world of a novel. our characters are all wandering amongst the ‘chaos of light and dark, shadow and substance’, our universal human condition to seek meaning. they catch a glimpse, but doubt is the shadow of truth, always near. as for the author(s) - ‘you should read my book and accept it on face value…without inquiring if its genuine underneath…’. i accept. </spoiler>
Nominee for Best Historical Fiction (2022)
1980, PASS CHRISTIAN, MISSISSIPPI: It is three in the …
Review of 'The Passenger' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
i will be the first to admit that the writing does feel a bit gratuitous. maybe that’s a projection because i had to look up at least three of the words in a single sentence, but also, come on. at the same time though i cant help but feel enveloped by the words, the imagery yes but also the choice of words itself creates its own imagery, a distinct mouthfeel, arcane and primordial with the tarnish of something long forgotten. i read his words and am commanded to my knees before this wizard of strange philosophical tangents - no, strange is not the right word because they are not strange they are it seems to me the most basic, the most universal, and all the more powerful for the new light or rather new darkness they show under his care. yup, i’m a fanboy. still.
i thoroughly enjoyed …
i will be the first to admit that the writing does feel a bit gratuitous. maybe that’s a projection because i had to look up at least three of the words in a single sentence, but also, come on. at the same time though i cant help but feel enveloped by the words, the imagery yes but also the choice of words itself creates its own imagery, a distinct mouthfeel, arcane and primordial with the tarnish of something long forgotten. i read his words and am commanded to my knees before this wizard of strange philosophical tangents - no, strange is not the right word because they are not strange they are it seems to me the most basic, the most universal, and all the more powerful for the new light or rather new darkness they show under his care. yup, i’m a fanboy. still.
i thoroughly enjoyed the new book. among many things he is a master of dialogue, using it as a core mechanism to convey the interrogations at the heart of this story, flickering candlelight on grief and meaning and the very notion of reality, unwaveringly existential. it’s clear he’s deep into the world of advanced mathematics and physics and while the glossing of that territory set an interesting context for the main characters it did feel a bit hard to relate to and went over my head. which i am willing to believe may have been an intention. the setting of new orleans in 1980 furthers the feeling of disjunction with time, descriptions of the old streets and tangled cultures and an unfortunately unmentioned indigenous homeland and the reader’s own knowledge of the destruction of katrina and it all takes on a new light in the line : all of history a rehearsal for its own extinction. then there is the obvious metaphor of western’s profession as a salvage diver, perpetually descending into the unknown darkness to recover fragments of knowledge or glimpses of the internal machinations of this world. he is gifted when it comes to math and physics and the mental realm but he is unable to plumb the depths of his own emotions, forever at the mercy of his own grief over the loss of his sister and the seemingly unrequited love they shared for each other. <spoiler> he is cast at certain times as an actor of ancient tragedy, living yet dead inside from the mortal wound of love aggrieved, but the lack of emotional growth is somewhat galling by the end when many years later he is still living as an ascetic in an ancient grist mill and he attempts again to write another letter to her and he wanted to tell her what was in his heart but all he can manage is i miss you more than i can bear. </spoiler> the distillate of grief, pure and consuming and unyielding. perhaps there is little relatability because it is not possible to relate to the actual essence of a thing, only its permutations. as for the titular passenger and the loose thread of a plot around the sunken airplane and missing passenger and vague government menace - i’m honestly not quite sure. it feels strangely undeveloped as a plot line, the initial source of tension and intrigue that is perhaps just a ramp up to the higher ground of deep philosophy. yes yes, the theme of the missing person, whether physically absent or lost inside of one’s self, but i cant help but get the feeling that this is a literary muleta, enticing before it vanishes and the reader is left with the cold truths of the world piercing between the shoulder blades. ole, ole.
After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) …
Review of 'A Prayer for the Crown-Shy' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
i appreciate this book most for it's depiction of a compelling alternative to capitalism (edit: i learned the term 'solarpunk' recently and that feels appropriate here). it is essentially a tour of of utopia, with mosscap the robot working as a device to explore the details of a new society at each destination - an economy without currency, based on cooperation and collective benefit; normalization of non-binary gender identities; non-monogamy and alternative family structures; an ethos of sustainability and ecological awareness; post-fossil fuel technology (what extraction is required for those ubiquitous 'pocket computers' though?). the author does this with a light hand, never getting lost in what could easily be a morass of details.
the growing companionship of dex and mosscap is endearing, but i didn't see much in the way of character development in this story. <spoiler>dex began the book with their main emotional dilemma around purpose, not feeling …
i appreciate this book most for it's depiction of a compelling alternative to capitalism (edit: i learned the term 'solarpunk' recently and that feels appropriate here). it is essentially a tour of of utopia, with mosscap the robot working as a device to explore the details of a new society at each destination - an economy without currency, based on cooperation and collective benefit; normalization of non-binary gender identities; non-monogamy and alternative family structures; an ethos of sustainability and ecological awareness; post-fossil fuel technology (what extraction is required for those ubiquitous 'pocket computers' though?). the author does this with a light hand, never getting lost in what could easily be a morass of details.
the growing companionship of dex and mosscap is endearing, but i didn't see much in the way of character development in this story. <spoiler>dex began the book with their main emotional dilemma around purpose, not feeling called to serve tea anymore, and ended the book in the same place albeit with an acceptance of the uncertainty.</spoiler> there's a lesson there, surely, but i wasn't able to connect on an emotional level with this book like i did with the 1st in the series. as for the robot, it gets to expand it's conception of humanity and what kinds of society we can create. the most sinister impact of capitalism has been to conflate the notion of 'apocalypse' with the end of that system, so this story serves as a subtle yet powerful act of resistance through imagination.
Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a …
Review of 'Rosewater' on 'Storygraph'
3 stars
mainstream sci-fi is a genre thoroughly colonized by white men, so this first contact story from a nigerian perspective is refreshing. come for the intriguing and mysterious astromycology and the abilities of our mildly anti-heroic part-time special agent protagonist, not for interesting prose with depth. although there are a few moments that get serious in a flash (we've seen colonisers before, and they are similar, whether intercontinental or interplanetary p.225) the story skims the surface and mirrors the narrator's irreverence.
<spoiler>we do get to witness the protagonist develop from youthful insolence to something akin to matured indifference with an awakening heart. the first time kaaro chooses not to stay in the dome he does it because of the youthful lust for materialism and then a decade later it is because of love, but there's not a whole lot of substance there.</spoiler>
i enjoyed it. i'll probably read the next …
mainstream sci-fi is a genre thoroughly colonized by white men, so this first contact story from a nigerian perspective is refreshing. come for the intriguing and mysterious astromycology and the abilities of our mildly anti-heroic part-time special agent protagonist, not for interesting prose with depth. although there are a few moments that get serious in a flash (we've seen colonisers before, and they are similar, whether intercontinental or interplanetary p.225) the story skims the surface and mirrors the narrator's irreverence.
<spoiler>we do get to witness the protagonist develop from youthful insolence to something akin to matured indifference with an awakening heart. the first time kaaro chooses not to stay in the dome he does it because of the youthful lust for materialism and then a decade later it is because of love, but there's not a whole lot of substance there.</spoiler>
i enjoyed it. i'll probably read the next one sometime soon.
