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Ahh, a new Vlad Taltos. This series has been a 'must read' since I first discovered it oh so many years ago. Even with the last installment (Vallista) being a bit weak, in my opinion. This one is pretty much a back to basics Vlad. 'Criminal' shenanigans in a fantasy world with magic and elves etc. However, these are not the elves you expect and the world building is skewed as a dark mirror to our own world. Brust is also an avowed socialist so this dark mirror shows the cracks and failings in our own world from that perspective. Brust cheerfully admits that one of his primary influences is Dumas and the Dumas is to the fore in this one. This is not (and I stress, not) your typical teenage boy fantasy fare. This is adult stuff that isn't afraid to be light, humorous and buckle the odd swash when it has to. A definite recommend and while this doesn't hit the heights of say, Dzur, this is a very worthy addition to his planned 17 novels in this world. One more to go!

Unbelievably good and probably will end up as my 'book of the year'. There was a lot of anticipation around this with Doctorow's own editor calling it a 'barn burner' on reading the first draft. I can safely say that the all the hype was fully lived up to. This .... soared. On the face of it, a tale of an accountant in his late 60's getting up to shenanigans in Silicon Valley is not really a premise that sounds like it will work. It so, did. A lot of ground was covered in this novel, it had a breathless tone at times when it was jumping from one thing to the next. Skewering cryptobro culture, examining homelessness in one of the richest cities in the world, dealing with morality and considerations of trust. Look, if you like a good thriller. Read this. If you want some insight into some of the current factors at play in the tech world. Read this. If you like good books. Just. Read. This. I thought Doctorow's last novel was an absolute triumph. This tops it. It's just that good. Obviously recommended.

This was a meandering, scholarly take on the development of books and reading through Greek and Roman times. Interspersed with this were little personal tales from the author herself. If you are interested in this subject or are just an avid reader then I would say this book is pretty close to mandatory. We all think we know this story but the scope of the tale clearly needed some serious research done because there were many things in this book that made me go 'Huh, obviously, how did I miss that?'. Always a good sign for a scholarly work. That being said you will note it's only 4 stars up there on the top line for a work I am describing as 'mandatory'. It's a long book, not necessarily a bad thing and as I just said it had to cover a wide scope. The length, though, was partly down to a high degree of repetition of certain facts or statistics. I found myself thinking a couple of times 'Cmon, Irene, you just said that 40 pages or so ago'. Some things are repeated at least 5 times and because they are notable or surprising facts or statistics, you notice. This is a minor quibble in some ways, as a scholarly work will have a degree of repetition to reinforce the learnings. I felt it was enough to just take the fifth star away, I am afraid. I still highly recommend this book though, my quibble might very well not be yours.

4 stars is fair here I think. There seems to be a bit of a thing where a few authors are trying to move Fantasy forward to the industrial era and extrapolating into what that might look like. This is Tchaikovsky's take on that trend. This, however, was a slightly odd book. Firstly, I should say it is Tchaikovsky so it is well executed with his trademark flair. However (and you knew there was a but), it ended up striking me as a somewhat disjointed book. I don't know if it was meant to be the lead off for a series or not (and it certainly felt as if it was written that way) but there were a few notes that jarred for me and I wasn't entirely satisfied with the resolution. For example, a Shakespearean narration is thrown in about a third through, clearly to smooth over a rough join, and it just didn't sit right with me. Still, 4 stars it is and if Fantasy is your jam this is a decent one so I can recommend.

Long time on this one. TBF there were a lot of self care re-reads in this period because I wanted to take this in chunks and ruminate on each chunk. If you have an interest in the intersection between art and the arc of history then this is an important book. At first glance, yes, an ostensible children's comic written by guys whose brief was to pump out pages for late 1970's kids seems like an unlikely candidate to not only be prescient but so long lasting. This book covers all of that, and more. For those who read the comics as kids, the history of the Dredd character and it's development is worth a buy of this book. How Dredd the strip held up a mirror to the modern carceral state is the real depth here. This is meant as a scholarly work (I think) but it is written in an engaging style nonetheless. Whilst this is written by a fan it isn't shy of pointing out where there might have been things that were not done well (race, in particular). Dredd was never my favourite 2000AD jam mostly because it made me feel a little uncomfortable and it didn't have a resolution arc like so many of my preferred characters from the comic (Mills work on Nemesis being a good example of this). Reading this book and seeing how on the nose it was explains that unease to adult me that maybe went over the head of 7 year old me. 5 stars up there. If this kind of thing tickles your pickle then just buy it already.

I am afraid I am going to have to be a little hard here and say this barely scraped 4 stars for me. The middle really dragged. I can't really explain why without going into spoilers (which I am not a fan of doing in reviews). I will say that there wasn't the same sense of progress that you got from the first two books. A sense of something new developing. The middle third is very focused on a (to all appearances) regressive setting, thus the sense of the new wasn't there for me for a good chunk of this read.
The ideas are still top tier. The book started well and the ending was satisfying. Maybe it needed a tighter edit, maybe I was just not in the right place for this.
Still, it is Tchaikovsky and my reservations could just be a me thing. It's still at least a 4 star for me so I can definitely recommend it. Especially if you enjoyed the first two in the series.

Yes, yes. Lots of reviews coming in at once but I did mention I was sick.
First five star of the year, here. Funnily enough I was scrabbling about trying to find a reason not to give this 5 stars, mostly because I feel I should be stingier with that rating. Couldn't find one.
And yes, this is 5 stars for a fantasy. Not like me at all. I have definitely had enough of gods, dragons, interminable hero's journeys and the chosen one hidden in a dungheap or something. This book had none of that tosh. It was a book about making a place, not smashing it up. As such its probably the most adult thing I have read in that genre for decades.
There was a lovely, light touch about this. A hint of steel too, when needed, but mostly this was about growth and making a new home after all the bashing with swords stuff is done.
Highly recommend.