Mostly interested in sci-fi / fantasy, broadly interpreted. If it has a grueling journey that changes the characters, mostly for the worse, I'm probably into it. I'm also @nilesjohnson@mathstodon.xyz!
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Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades. Nature …
Wild. It's not about what I thought it was about. Or maybe it is. The descriptions are fascinating for being---at the same time---evocative and completely incomprehensible.
I had seen the movie years ago, and liked it. The book is not the same, and I like it too.
Lillian and Madison were unlikely roommates and yet inseparable friends at their elite boarding school. …
A touching story with tinder-try humor. I think it's about parenting, and friendship, and accepting things as they are instead of how we would imagine, or wish, or fear. It's really fun though.
A cosy fantasy as sweet as love and as dark as night.
Shesheshen has made …
A monster wants to be left alone, but falls in love. It was an altogether sweet and sweetly funny story. The various characters present a bit of neurodivergence, trauma and healing, and some differently-abled (not dis-abled) perspectives that are interesting, and part of their character, but not their core identity. I enjoyed all of it.
Deadhouse Gates is an epic fantasy novel by Canadian writer Steven Erikson, the second in …
I love a brutal journey, and I'm still thinking about these years later. Nothing about it is pleasant, but it is meaningful.
The book opens on Earth, eleven thousand years from now. The Anth met their end …
I decided this wasn't for me shortly after we met yet another talking woodland creature. There's some neat stuff here, and I think I'll revisit it on our next family car trip.
This third book in the series is again different from the previous one (and the one before that). I also enjoyed it independently from (but because of) the others. While the second book is my favorite, this one is my second favorite. Even though it's mostly about kingdom-scale politics, it has some of the most intense individual scenes in the series.
City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world. …
This one is very different from the first book, but eventually I decided it's my favorite. It's close to a three-way tie though.
City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world. As their legions scour the …
Really weird book with a lot going on. Really lovely misery. The whole series is great.
On the planet Winter, there is no gender. The Gethenians can become male or female …
I bounced off this the first few times I tried to read it, but this time I made it past the first few chapters and started to see why it's called one of the greats. By the end, I was hooked. Really moving views of humanity and relationships. I am also a sucker for a brutally grueling journey.
Gideon the Ninth is a 2019 science fantasy novel by the New Zealand writer Tamsyn Muir. It is Muir's debut …
Gideon the Ninth is a 2019 science fantasy novel by the New Zealand writer Tamsyn …
I have no idea what happened or what this book is about, but it was fantastic. The narrators are beyond unreliable, but deeply personal. Maybe it's a love story.
There are creatures in the water of Con Dao. To the locals, they're monsters. To the corporate owners of the …
Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London's Metropolitan Police. Too bad …
This was light and fun. The writing is enjoyable and the characters are interesting people figuring out an interesting world.
