Reviews and Comments

I devoured Shroud. This is Adrian Tchaikovsky at his scifi best - truly alien aliens and humans being humans, engrossing drama ensues.

I didn't enjoy this one, and I don't know if I can explain why. The whole thing has kind of a 70s scifi vibe (derogatory). The protagonist is shallow and self-serving, but not in an interesting way. There are interesting things about the world, but we barely explore them because we're chasing the dull protagonist. 🤷

Someday I will read a book by a russian author that doesn't have alcoholism as a theme

Ok, I made it through seven chapters, but this book is really not for me, in more ways than one.

Each chapter is a vignette of the protagonist's life in (apparently) a different parallel universe. Maybe they tie together in the end, I don't know. It doesn't help that I find the main character very unlikable in all her incarnations. It feels very inspired by Cloud Atlas, but not in a good way imo.

A Drop of Corruption was a great followup to The Tainted Cup.

I love the universe, it's so delightfully weird and mysterious. Additionally, I appreciate that Din, despite being A Watson, actually does the majority of solving things and unraveling the story, instead of just floundering around until his Holmes solves everything.

Nebula best novella 2024

Nebula best novel 2024

Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a fresh modern fantasy exploring a world where books are magical, in a literal sense. It's fast-paced, well-written, nuanced, and not too predictable or tropey.

The Tomb of Dragons is another solid Thara Celehar.

When I first read The Witness for the Dead, I was disappointed, because it had such different energy than The Goblin Emperor. After finishing The Tomb of Dragons, I went back to The Goblin Emperor again, but I actually stopped fairly quickly and went forward to Witness for the Dead instead, because this time what I wanted was the Thara Celehar energy. I have really come to enjoy how the pacing is very smooth and gradual, while being ultimately relentless. Celehar is never hurried or frantic - he just applies steady pressure to all his problems until they eventually crumble.

The #SFFBookClub pick for June 2025

Every time I read Ulnemenee, my brain goes "doot doooooot do doo doot"

youtu.be/QTXyXuqfBLA

I really enjoyed The Ministry of Time.

I was frustrated with the protagonist for big chunks of the book for not realizing obvious things. The author repeatedly tried to defend this with "I bet you're thinking 'I would have realized this right away', but" and in a world where I know time travel exists, I absolutely would!

However, the writing is very good, and it kept me engaged. The combination of themes around time travel, colonialism, and refugee life really worked, and I feel like it allowed them to be explored from different angles.

I'm kind of let down by the inconclusiveness of the ending, but on the other hand they avoided most of the cliché time travel tropes, so overall I guess it balances out.

#SFFBookClub

A kafkaesque nightmare, a 200-page lsd trip, Fight Club for lit majors

Newman keeps me guessing as usual.

After Atlas follows Dee, an ancillary character from After Atlas, in her quest to figure out what the hell is going on.

This one gets very dark, but it's wonderfully written, and I devoured it.

Short, sharp, clever, and weirdly horny