Un Lun Dun is a young adult fantasy novel by China Miéville, released in 2007. …
In the spirit of Alice in Wonderland, but cooler.
4 stars
For some reason I held off reading this for years, because it seemed too close to Gaiman's Neverwhere. But it really isn't, it's well worth reading if you like urban fantasy or books with spunky child protagonists. I particularly liked the way it turned certain fantasy tropes on their head. I can't quite decide the target age group, but it feels definitely less horror tinged than Neverwhere..
Imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio …
plot twist: a loving family and positive indigenous role models
5 stars
This is at one level a YA supernatural mystery novel, and successful as such. Unlike many YA novels where the bulk of dramatic tension is provided by stupid and uncaring adults, here the love and support Elatsoe receives from her family and elders is a constant happy surprise. Unlike the relentlessly negative (and probably accurate!) media stories I usually read, this made being an indigenous child/teen seem like a wonderful experience I was missing out on.
Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns to his popular alternate Cairo universe …
Perfect to read on a boat in Egypt
4 stars
I read two shorter works set in the same universe first, so I knew what to expect, more or less. As a mystery novel, the book is good, but maybe a bit less surprising than the author intended. I did really enjoy the setting, perhaps because I was somewhere where I could hear Arabic spoken all around me. And of course anything that makes fun of the (fallen) British Empire has my sympathies.
Content warning
domestic abuse mention. mild spoiler about ending.
It must by my month to read queer romance, I just finished "Paladin's Hope" a week or so ago. This is not as romantic (more YA than R) but arguably more interesting as a detective story. One potentially disturbing aspect is that the protagonist lives with a physically and emotionally abusive father, and doesn't really escape.
This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you …
A lark that becomes something a bit more
4 stars
Even before reading the afterword, this struck me as a whimsically conceived book. Nonetheless Addison does her usual excellent job of world building and characterization, and the book develops a compelling texture.
Clara Johnson talks to spirits, a gift that saved her during …
Fascinating view of black DC in the 1920s, along with a decent fantasy novel.
5 stars
First, I really appreciated that this book was not set in NYC, despite the author's initial intentions. NYC is cool and all, but not the only city.
The hero is based on a real young black woman who killed a cop in self defense during the 1919 riots in Washington. That incident is not central to the plot, but it does play an important part in explaining how the protagonist got to be who she is.
The book really centers the black characters, both heroes and villains. In a broader sense it includes a lot of discussion of the divisions of colourism and classism within the black community at that time. The external structural causes (hello white people!) are noted, but people have agency for good and ill.
Politics and history aside, the characters are fun and the plotting solid. If you squint at it the right way it turns …
First, I really appreciated that this book was not set in NYC, despite the author's initial intentions. NYC is cool and all, but not the only city.
The hero is based on a real young black woman who killed a cop in self defense during the 1919 riots in Washington. That incident is not central to the plot, but it does play an important part in explaining how the protagonist got to be who she is.
The book really centers the black characters, both heroes and villains. In a broader sense it includes a lot of discussion of the divisions of colourism and classism within the black community at that time. The external structural causes (hello white people!) are noted, but people have agency for good and ill.
Politics and history aside, the characters are fun and the plotting solid. If you squint at it the right way it turns into "four people with special abilities band together to save the community". The ending is maybe a little conventional, but consistent with the overall "comfort reading" slant of the book.
I liked that dealing with the spirits in the book was very similar to getting in debt to an organized crime group. The notion of debt and deals is crucial.
I think I read somewhere about a panel on "Comfort Fiction" that included T. Kingfisher, and the describes this very well. I think if you have read the Paladin series some of this will feel suspiciously familiar, but at the time it was just what I needed.
In the 2050s, Earth has begun to empty. Those with the means and the privilege …
Sure to be banned in Florida, and probably Tennessee as well.
5 stars
Content warning
mild spoilers about story arc
This is not an easy book. I had to take a break in the middle to read a T. Kingfisher comfort novel when I realized that things were just going to get more tragic.
In addition to being both scholarly and raging about issues of racial and environmental justice, the book is narratively ambitious. It wasn't always obvious to me where the various threads were going until they snapped together.
If you are looking for a book where the plucky protagonist triumphs over adversity, this is not the one. It is more a multilayered tragedy, where circumstances triumph over everyone in the end.
“They'd known the end times were coming but hadn’t known they’d be multiple choice.”
Joey …
If this is optimism, I'm not ready for pessemism.
5 stars
In an afterword the author describes the setting as a best case near-future (paraphrasing). I think that means the present is pretty bad.
Anyway, if you're up for contemporary fascism and ubiquitous surveillance, the book is worth reading just for a kind of "uncanny-valley" flavour of India, which is almost like our own contemporary mess, but not quite.
I found myself re-reading the last chapter or so to make sure I understood the ending. Compared to some of the more dramatic plot threads, the ending is a bit subtle.
He’s a paladin of a dead god, tracking a supernatural killer across a continent. She’s …
Fluffy but clever
4 stars
I thought the first book was a bit fantasy-autobiography with the nerdy heroine a stand-in for the author. That was probably silly (and maybe a bit condescending) of me. The characters in this are quite different, and I doubt that both heroines (or some combination of protagonists from both books) can be autobiographical.
Kingfisher's writing oozes cleverness, but in a fairly undemanding way. The romance tropes occasionally verge on the self parody, but I can't swear that isn't intentional.
As a fantasy (in the non-romantic sense), the world building and characterization are rather good.
This is kind of standard sword and sorcerer epic fantasy.
It has its flaws. I'm not sure if some of the writing around homosexuality has not aged well, or if I am just being oversensitive. The world building occasionally feels derivative (or at least not very innovative). For whatever reason, the language used to describe magic occasionally rubbed me the wrong way.
With the complaints out of the way, it is a good story with some engaging characters. It redeems itself somewhat by choosing not to have the happiest, tidiest possible ending. People have to make some difficult choices, and not everyone gets everything they want.
I listened to this on audiobook, so it kept me company though a lot of washing dishes and walking the dog. I'm not sure how I'd feel about reading that many pages.
Against the passionate sweep of Deverrian history, the powerful wizard Nevyn has lived for centuries, …
the series is growing on me
4 stars
First of all, a warning. If you are sensitive to depictions of sexual assault, this might not be the book for you. It isn't graphic, but it is there for a chapter or so.
With that said I think the series is coming into it's own. The world building is finally stretching a bit with pirate towns and a whole new continent / civilization. I also think the promotion of Salamander to a leading-for-this-book character was clever, as he brings some needed irreverence to the scene.
For better or worse, it really is a cliffhanger, and I kept going from book 3 to book 4 without a pause.
Reynolds fans will be sputtering at the title, since of course the Glitter Band of his own Revelation Space universe is also a good match for "The Congregation", the collection of stations orbiting the old sun that are the setting for all 3 Revenger novels.
This is the third of the series. It is probably readable as a standalone novel, but it would somewhat spoil the other two, as there is essentially one big story arc.
The book is first and foremost an adventure story about two middle-class sisters who run away to become space pirates. There is also musings about deep time and the flow / cycle of history that will be familiar to readers of Revelation Space.
Technologically the setting is a bit steampunkish, with most of the locomotion involving solar sails, and fairly primitive space vehicles. This is interspersed with a variety of artifacts from older/distant civilizations, …
Reynolds fans will be sputtering at the title, since of course the Glitter Band of his own Revelation Space universe is also a good match for "The Congregation", the collection of stations orbiting the old sun that are the setting for all 3 Revenger novels.
This is the third of the series. It is probably readable as a standalone novel, but it would somewhat spoil the other two, as there is essentially one big story arc.
The book is first and foremost an adventure story about two middle-class sisters who run away to become space pirates. There is also musings about deep time and the flow / cycle of history that will be familiar to readers of Revelation Space.
Technologically the setting is a bit steampunkish, with most of the locomotion involving solar sails, and fairly primitive space vehicles. This is interspersed with a variety of artifacts from older/distant civilizations, and a few early-20th century electronics.
The characters are interesting for being ethically nuanced. Even the bankers turn out to be not completely evil, although mostly so. The main characters are engaging enough that at least this reader cared whether they lived or died.
The plot is a bit like a roller coaster in that some of the ups and downs you see coming, but there always tends to be one more reversal of fortune to keep you reading. I did stop once or twice to take a breather, so I guess the plotting succeeded as (the audiobook equivalent of) a page turner.
There is some space-opera style big reveals, but although those were interesting enough, I would not say they are the main reason to read this book.
The world building does seem mostly quite original and always well crafted. Towards the end of the book I did start to see more echos of Revelation space, but I think this could be seen as related to the "end of series big picture explanation" above.
On the long roads of Deverry ride two mercenaries whose fates like hidden deep in …
Well crafted escapism, not for everyone
4 stars
Content warning
sexual violence mention
The characterization is rather good, and plotting is above average. The world-building feels a bit too familiar to me. We have "humans", dwarves, and elves. The dwarves live under mountains and the elves live in the west. Elves are inherently noble and dwarves secretive and talented metal workers.
On the other hand, there is less "racial determinism" than in some of the fantasy genre. We have had at least half-elf characters ranging from insane villain to cheeky heroic secondary character. There is some depth of character to the antagonists (although there could be more without going full anti-hero). There is no equivalent of "orcs", where being of a certain "race" defines a character (if they can even be called characters) as a villain.
In this second book of the series, I felt like reincarnation was used in a more interesting way, where flashback stories involve previous incarnations of the same characters.
The antogonists (aka the Dark Dweomer) use "sex magick" in a ways that sometimes made me uncomfortable. There is (not too graphical) discussion of sexual violence, and whether by coincidence or not, one of the main antagonists is the only openly queer character, and also a rapist. I would not say it is gratuitous or homophobic in itself, but it does potentially reinforce some pretty vile homophobic stereotypes.
"Another world is colliding with this one," said the toad. "All the monsters are coming …
Crivens, more Feegles please.
4 stars
I might just be a shallow person, but I enjoyed the earlier, more Feegle-heavy parts of this book the most. In the later interactions with the Queen of Fae, I had the uncomfortable impression Pratchett had one or more serious points about psychological abuse.
