Reviews and Comments

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ApparentParadox

ApparentParadox@outside.ofa.dog

Joined 2 years ago

GWM living in Oregon.I used to love books that would really stretch me, but lately I've needed more solace from the books that I read.

My ratings are as follows: * 5 stars: it's truly a great book, and I'll want to re-read it again and again. * 4 stars: it's a good book, and I enjoyed reading it. I'll probably re-read it. * 3 stars: It's a fine book, just not special. I may re-read it if I'm looking to just relax and not have to think, but I would probably pick up a new book instead. * 2 stars: I finished it, but might have given up if I were in a different mood. * 1 star: I didn't enjoy the book and probably didn't finish it. I wouldn't blanketly recommend against it, because it might speak to someone else.

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reviewed Roadmarks by Roger Zelazny

Roger Zelazny: Roadmarks (Paperback, 1986, Del Rey)

The Road runs from the unimaginable past to the far future, and those who travel …

I love this book

I first read it when it came out, and have re-read it many times. I love the way he presents time travel, both within the story and how the reader experiences some aspects of time travel by reading some things out of order relative to the main story line. Supposedly Zelazny actually randomly shuffled some of the chapters to help get that effect.

reviewed Nemesis (Miss Marple) by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie: Nemesis (Miss Marple) (2002, HarperCollins)

Probably my favorite Miss Marple novel

Content warning One of the TV adaptations -- I think the Joan Hickman version -- has a great conversation that I love. Miss Marple says that Jason Rafiel chose her not to exonerate his son, but to find the true killer (even if it was his son)

finished reading Death in Daylesford by Kerry Greenwood (Phryne Fisher Mysteries, #21)

Kerry Greenwood: Death in Daylesford (Paperback, 2021, Poisoned Pen Press) No rating

Many of the Phrynne Fisher books have multiple simultaneous plots, and that has been fine with me. This one, however, completely separates Phrynne & Dot from the others, and the two plots have nothing to do with each other. It just wasn't as enjoyable as the other books because of that.

started reading Sacred Ground by Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes Lackey: Sacred Ground (Paperback, 1995, Tor Books) No rating

This is an exciting tale of a modern medicine woman who is a warrior at …

After reading "Thirteenth Child" which doesn't have Native Americans in its world, I thought it would be appropriate to re-read this, which presents some of the problems of Native Americans being invisible in the white world.

reviewed Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, #1) by Patricia C. Wrede

Patricia C. Wrede: Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, #1) (2009)

Really torn on this

I've read this book many times. I really like the strong female lead (and several of the other female characters). I love the power/gravitas that the POC characters have. But, I always cringe because in this alternate version of the US, there are no native people. They don't exist, and presumably never existed. I understand intellectually that part of the conceit of the book is that North America is a dangerous place to live because of magical monsters, so on the one hand there can't have been inhabitants when the "Avrupan" (European) settlers came. But, I can't help but feel that the author has erased a complete set of people.