#SFFBookClub

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replied to el dang's status

@eldang@outside.ofa.dog I have a collection of Smith stories, in german, that I read all of. There was good stuff in it. Seems this is set in the same world. (Are all of his under that pseudonym?) Of course I read Nostril-ia at first. ^^

Will you propose this for #sffBookClub? I'd be in favour.

reviewed The King Must Die by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Kemi Ashing-Giwa: The King Must Die (S&S/Saga Press)

Fen’s world is crumbling. Newearth, a once-promising planet gifted by the all-powerful alien Makers, now …

Fun, but thin

#SFFBookClub book from a few months ago. I read this quickly and enjoyed it, but it also felt very thin. The overall arc seemed sort of formulaic, and it just never got me caring enough about its world or characters for the ending to make me feel very much.

reviewed Library of Broken Worlds

Library of Broken Worlds No rating

No rating

The Library of Broken Worlds was overall very dense and abstract for my taste. It reminds me a little of The West Passage in that respect, although it has a more serious and scifiy bent.

I feel like it picked up significantly around the halfway point, when the events in the flashbacks became more plot-oriented and the connections between the flashbacks and the god started to be revealed.

Overall, I enjoyed the out-thereness of the setting, but the book was not for me.

reviewed Luminous by Silvia Park

Silvia Park: Luminous

Luminous

A messy but enjoyable book about robots, grief, and memory set in a post-war unified Korea.

The plot, pacing, and characters meandered a bit too much for my taste, but it was made up for by the texture in the world and its threads of philosophy. I do also love a story that is engaging with both disability and transness through the lens of robots and robotics.

#SFFBookClub

reviewed Luminous by Silvia Park

Silvia Park: Luminous

Luminous: 100/100

Luminous is a book about death, loss, and self-loathing, told via the universal medium of robots.

I love the way the connections between the lives of the different characters are gradually revealed as the story unfolds. I also really appreciate the complexity and depth of the characters, even when they seen stereotypical seen from one angle.

The author wrote in the acknowledgements that she started out to write a children's book and kind of got derailed by personal circumstances into this thing that is much darker and more complex, but I'm very glad she did, Luminous is extremely good.