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Peter Kraus

pkraus@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 11 months ago

BookWyrm account of @pkraus@berlin.social

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Peter Kraus's books

Read (View all 58)

Antti Tuomainen, David Hackston: Rabbit Factor (2021, Orenda Books)
Gene Wolfe: Shadow of the Torturer (Paperback, 1984, Pocket)
Peter F. Hamilton: Saints of Salvation (2020, Pan Macmillan)

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reviewed Embassytown by China Miéville

China Miéville: Embassytown (Hardcover, 2011, Ballantine Books)

In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, …

Embassytown is Memorable

Embassytown is an interesting concept: both in the central role language plays in the story, and in the way how our protagonist is mostly an observer rather than an active figure in what feels like all but the last few chapters.

There are plenty of other interesting bits: the concept of floaking, a timeless commentary on AI, and a really cool fresh universe.

Unfortunately, the storytelling method also means the book is not very gripping: why should I read what Avice hears about or remembers, when I could read a different book where the protagonist has more agency? I'm happy I read a book told on this way, because at least now I know it's not for me.

However, the conflict resolution leading to the books ending is contrived. The writing is unbearable in the first chapter and pretentious for the first few after that. The timeline split is not …

reviewed Translation State by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch)

Ann Leckie: Translation State (2023)

Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always …

Translation State Review

It's a good book. I found the exposition a little hurried (took a while to remember who's who), but the story is engaging and fast paced.

The "accept everyone as they are" message of the book is very heavy handed at times. And it's a departure from the brutal and ruthless "real life", even within Raadch space.

All in all, a very decent "feel good" book, and certainly not a waste of time. It reminds me of the Wayfarers series, or Swords and Lattes. If you're looking for depth, look elsewhere.

reviewed Catalyst Gate by Megan E. O'Keefe

Megan E. O'Keefe: Catalyst Gate (Paperback, 2021, Orbit)

Review of Catalyst Gate

If the first book was decent, and the second one okay, this one is a disappointment.

In many places it feels like the author knew what they wanted to happen, but had the wrong characters to do it. The whole Grotta storyline could really have been cut out start to finish (from book one) and the whole trilogy would have been much better for it.

Unfortunately, both of the other stories really take a plunge, especially in the events just before and during the final battle. Everyone suddenly has super powers, but they act as lobotomized puppets, because their ideas do not make any sense. On the other hand, the super powers, hastily introduced in this volume, have the weirdest limitations. Yet our characters are able to understand, interact, and manipulate them immediately. It's hard to buy...

reviewed Chaos Vector by Megan E. O'Keefe

Megan E. O'Keefe: Chaos Vector (2020, Orbit)

Chaos Vector Review

Entertaining and fast paced. Not a hard sci-fi. A perfectly serviceable second installment in a trilogy. No major surprises, some dumb character actions, but at least it gets called out within the book. If you liked the first book, and are keen to see where the characters go next, it's worth it.