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The author is a geography professor at the University of Victoria, who I have got to know a bit through a shared interest in watersheds and water management. I knew she was also a published poet, but had filed that away in the back of my mind until seeing this volume at a bookstore and wondering why the poet's name sounded familiar.

@jeremy@mapstodon.space Hooray! It looks like I no longer have software making me inadvertently rude to people.

I loved this book for several things:

• How real and solid the historical-London setting felt. I'm used to that sort of thing feeling very flimsy, but this is an author who clearly does deep research and lets it suffuse the writing without getting all 'splainy.
• The very palpable tension between the protagonist's precarious position and her need to have some freedom.
• The delightful-if-implausable retconning of Sir Christopher Wren's secret motive for shaping London the way he did.

#SFFBookClub

If you've ever tried to follow @eldang@outside.ofa.dog and had the request ignored, please try again. Our Fearless Sysadmin just upgraded us to the latest Bookwyrm version and I can already see that this has fixed some other bugs.

About halfway through and I have mixed feelings about this book. I find the plot such as there is one quite interesting and a very good vehicle for dissecting/mocking the 2010s-2020s turn to fascism. And I like the writing itself a lot. But Gospodinov seems perpetually unsure whether he's writing a novel or an essay.

The thing that's keeping me going is that he's a good enough writer and observer for it to be an enjoyable essay, but I am increasingly finding myself wanting the essayish digressions to get shorter so the plot can move more.

#SFFBookClub

#SFFBookClub September. 2 chapters in and I am intrigued.

I loved how this picked up from where book 1 left off and immediately ripped any optimism to shreds. It was a gripping read with the painful twist that it keeps me cheering for Laure even when Laure is being terrible. I found the primary antagonist a little flat, though - "the whole Paris Ballet and all its insiders" just made such a good villain in book 1 than I don't think "a bitter individual" can compare.

@unsuspicious@wyrms.de I didn't like this one quite as much as I did its predecessor, but your review and comments have me very interested in getting hold of the audiobook version.

books.theunseen.city/user/picklish/review/177841 has me thinking this'll be a good comfort read some dark (literally or emotionally) day.