@Tak@gush.taks.garden
Now that you explicitly point out all the things the author didn't do, I realise that I appreciated them as well.
@picklish@books.theunseen.city I also would argue that the whole "fantasy tournament" thing is less of a prominent element than it could, or I expected it to, have been. I think it's consistent background noise, but I was okay with that. Moreso because the aforementioned lazy outcome didn't eventuate.
A personal chronicle of three key legal privacy battles that have defined the digital age …
After June 1, 2027, the MIT Press will post an electronic edition of the work on an MIT Press website, under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND licence, which shall apply to that version.
From Alix E. Harrow, the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, comes a …
Overall: Great, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it. But there is this one bit...
4 stars
Content warning
Main critique involves a significant plot spoiler.
I enjoyed reading this quite a lot. I enjoyed the writing and world building, how the characters and story gain depth in intriguing ways the more you read through the story, and the story itself is very interesting. I'd like to say that I've read a significant amount of time-travel stories–especially recently with a recent collection I've been working through–and I think this a very good time-travel story; it feels fresh and new, which I think can be hard to achieve with this genre.
My only real critique is this: at one point one of the main characters abandons his two- and four-year-old to travel through time and leaves them behind. And it's well established by this point that when time-travelling those people left behind don't disappear: the timeline remains.
And I was not okay with that at all nosiree. I instantly hated that (protagonist) character and considered them a monster. Their success/resolution was not worth it from that point on. Like, would you kill two children to be with your partner? What about if they were your own, the ones you had with said partner?
So, well done, author, for making me feel things with your writing, but those are not the feelings I want to feel ever.
"Look at you, eating magic like you're one of us."
Doctor Walden is the …
Very enjoyable
4 stars
The easiest – though mostly inaccurate – way to describe The Incandescent is "Harry Potter, but from the teacher's perspective". The main character, Dr Walden, is the Director of Magic at a posh English boarding school that, alongside all the usual curriculum of Maths, English, Chemistry, etc., also teaches magical disciplines. And while some people are naturally predisposed to magic, anyone can learn it if they study and apply themselves. This world-building leads to some interesting scenarios, such as "there's an imp in the photocopier again," and "Urgh, I have to complete this risk assessment before tomorrow's demon summoning lab class with my Year 12's".
I really enjoyed this because, as a teacher, the teacher's perspective's felt real and genuine, and not manufactured based on what the author remembered of their favourite teachers and/or wished their teachers were like from ten/twenty/thirty years ago. (For context: the author, Emily Tesh, …
The easiest – though mostly inaccurate – way to describe The Incandescent is "Harry Potter, but from the teacher's perspective". The main character, Dr Walden, is the Director of Magic at a posh English boarding school that, alongside all the usual curriculum of Maths, English, Chemistry, etc., also teaches magical disciplines. And while some people are naturally predisposed to magic, anyone can learn it if they study and apply themselves. This world-building leads to some interesting scenarios, such as "there's an imp in the photocopier again," and "Urgh, I have to complete this risk assessment before tomorrow's demon summoning lab class with my Year 12's".
I really enjoyed this because, as a teacher, the teacher's perspective's felt real and genuine, and not manufactured based on what the author remembered of their favourite teachers and/or wished their teachers were like from ten/twenty/thirty years ago. (For context: the author, Emily Tesh, is – present tense – a teacher, and I think that really makes a difference)
The writing is really good. There is a certain poetic nature that comes forward during internal thoughts that is nice to read, and in my opinion it never felt like an overuse of words. Even when you're reading from multiple internal and external perspectives on the one page, the subtle changes in language make it clear who is narrating without having to explicitly state so.
My only real critique is that the plot was a little bit predictable. By the midpoint I felt like I could guess what was going to happen, and while there were one or two deviations, I was mostly right on the general thrust of it all. However, even with this I never felt bored reading "what I thought was going to happen anyway," which I think says a lot about Tesh's writing and use of language throughout.
"Look at you, eating magic like you're one of us."
Doctor Walden is the …
For every sentimental my teacher changed my life story you heard, there were dozens of my teacher made me moderately bored a few times a week and then I got through the year and moved on with my life and I never thought about them again.
