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The crazy thing about Arboreality is that for all the pane and loss of the climate apocalypse, it is a hopeful novella.

The loss and tragedy are central to the plot, but adaptation and perseverance are the direction it takes.

Together with a great love of wood and trees and a wonderful violin subplot. This tail of changing people in a changing landscape is a very human story about the history and future of forests.

I hardly remember anything about the plot and characters of The Name of the Wind. But I remember it being fun to read.

The Narrow Road Between Desires follows Bast, a character I don't recall and it's a tun of fun to read.

I guess I'm missing some context, but this is great even as a standalone.

The tone of good matured mischief, that prevails even through the serious bits makes this a wonderful cozy read.

A different and refreshing take on the vampire trope. Exploring a society of information eaters.

But this is first and foremost the story of a young mother's rebellion against the patriarchy. A long emotional journey with no easy choices.

On one hand it is a very extreme novel, with evil and cruelty that would in many cases seem cartoonish. However Sunyi Dean manages to build a world where the characters motivations are clear and their actions are a understood as logical within their own frame of reference.

Carey's Sci-Fi is aimed at a general audience, never assuming that the reader is already familiar with genre concepts. In this case multiverse imperialism and hive vs. individual intelligence.

Normally this would be frustrating for me, but in this case, it turns a tense high stakes novel into a cozy low stakes read, where you don't have to pay full attention in order to catch every hint. If you miss something it will be explained again.

M. R. Carey made me care about the characters and their role in the cataclysmic events to come and this carried me through the drudge.

I had trouble with Fura in Revenger, So I was glad to see that Shadow Captain is lead by Adrana.

This is very much a second book in a trilogy and it takes allot of time going nowhere slowly.

I did enjoy it, but it's not what I would have wanted from such an interesting world.

It is about morality and not giving in to generational trauma. I would have liked it to be about exploring the Dyson Swarm.

We do get teased with the mystery of the swarm towards the end, so I hope for a more interesting third book.

Piranesi appealed to me on so many levels.

He is a fish out of water, but he has adapted. The way he adapted, studying his environment with an innocent yet scientific eye, was the most appealing aspect for me. The descriptions of the statues; the meaning the myth and art embedded in them was a wonderful cherry on the cake.

The way Susana Clarke stuck the landing was also perfect.

What a wonderful experience.

I must say there isn't much here, it's mostly a training montage mixed with a political background montage.

If I wasn't already invested in the world and characters, I wouldn't have found much to like.

A very intermediary book.

A short story collection was a good way of getting back to some China
Miéville without committing to one of his huge novels.

The collection is quite eclectic, I liked most of the stories, but had to skip a couple that were too graphic.

There were only a few stories that really stood out and they are mostly covered in the blurb.

I enjoyed the sprinkling of stories that are made up of vision boards for a very short film. I wonder if any of them have been produced.

Wonderful characters, danger, romance and humor. This time it's more of a rescue mission.

The special bonus is that towards the end we get to learn a bit more about the nature of demons, gods and saints.

@jonn I read it as a reaction to brexit, a negative reaction to the ideas behind brexit. I guess for me it's a negative thing by default, so I don't think of adding anti-brexit.

A very American story about a corrupt city of the future that exploits the poor and disenfranchised

It takes a stubborn ex-military robot on a temporary visa to take on the hard boiled detective role and expose the festering boil at the top of the pyramid.

This is the story of two underdogs, a girl in juvenile detention and an enslaved alien.

It is the story of a biotech hive mind alien invasion.

As usual with Gehrke's work, it is both familiar and different. There are many familiar tropes but enough difference to keep you interested. It's a hive mind but with religious overtones. People are selfish but also kind and trusting. Being kind and trusting doesn't come with narrative armor. There are friendships and rivalries, but despite the teenage cast, there's no love interest.

It is also very much the first book in a trilogy. Sadly only Refuge is available in audio. At least the e-book is available as a box set.