Yeah, now we're into the genuinely weird shit - and not necessarily in a good way.
Reviews and Comments
Health services researcher and educator living on Dharug Country in Western Sydney, Australia. You can usually find me in the forgotten parts of the web. I like fiction, the more speculative the better!
My ratings ★ Not recommended ★★ Not for me, but may be okay for you? ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good, recommended ★★★★★ Exceptional, couldn't put it down
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Ben Harris-Roxas started reading God Emperor of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 4) by Frank Herbert
Ben Harris-Roxas started reading Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles, #3) by Frank Herbert
Ben Harris-Roxas started reading Master and Commander by Patrick O'brian
Ben Harris-Roxas reviewed Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds
Ben Harris-Roxas started reading Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds
Ben Harris-Roxas reviewed Echopraxia by Peter Watts
If you like ideas more than… writing… this may be for you!
2 stars
I continued on to this after reading Blindsight, because even though I didn't love it I had some enduring questions. An error on my part. There were more deliberate ambiguities than plot points in this book.
I won't provide a plot précis. This has some compelling concepts and big ideas, but was frankly a mess. Characters' motivations remain inexplicable even at the end of the book.
Amusingly this AMA with the author seems to boil down to "you're reading it wrong". Authors, please get over yourselves.
Ben Harris-Roxas reviewed Woody Guthrie by Nora Guthrie
A beautiful account of a creative life
4 stars
This deepened my appreciation of Woody and my understanding of his life and work. The inclusion of handwritten work, photos and ephemera was beautiful and makes the reader feel connected to him as a person in a way that sterile words on a page can't.
Ben Harris-Roxas reviewed Blindsight (Firefall, #1) by Peter Watts
Big ideas but strangely hollow
3 stars
The ideas are compelling, and the inclusion of recreated vampires is a weird but interesting diversion. There's no emotional core though. In some ways that's by design - the primary narrative POV is of someone who's had significant, personality-destroying psychosurgery. I found myself asking why should I care about any of this throughout.
Ben Harris-Roxas reviewed Judge Dredd Tour of Duty by John Wagner
Ben Harris-Roxas commented on Woody Guthrie by Nora Guthrie
This is such a beautiful book, full of photos, handwritten notes, and ephemera from Woody's life that had been lovingly compiled by his daughter and Robert Santelli. It makes me sad that few of us will leave behind any remnants of our daily lives and work in this era. Fuck modernity, embrace tradition.