el dang started reading David Mogo by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Nigerian God-Punk - a powerful and atmospheric urban fantasy set in Lagos.
Since the …
#SFFBookClub May, which I am reading late because it took me a while to get hold of a copy.
Reviews and Comments
I am an enthusiastic member of #SFFBookClub so a lot of what I'm reading is suggestions from there.
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el dang reviewed Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (Iron Widow #1)
Science fiction and East Asian myth combine in this dazzling retelling of the rise of …
Vicarious revenge fun; sometimes a bit too video game for my taste
4 stars
This is a very cathartic book in which the heroine goes magnificently all-in on a revenge that grows from the initial single person target to patriarchy itself. It does suffer a bit from the YA tensions getting resolved too quickly/tidily syndrome, and I found its setup a little too video gameish, but I'll probably still read the sequel.
At first I was very annoyed with the simplification of qi into categories and a precisely measurable "spirit pressure", but I can see how doing that sidestepped having to do a hundred pages of worldbuilding before anything much happens.
This is a very cathartic book in which the heroine goes magnificently all-in on a revenge that grows from the initial single person target to patriarchy itself. It does suffer a bit from the YA tensions getting resolved too quickly/tidily syndrome, and I found its setup a little too video gameish, but I'll probably still read the sequel.
At first I was very annoyed with the simplification of qi into categories and a precisely measurable "spirit pressure", but I can see how doing that sidestepped having to do a hundred pages of worldbuilding before anything much happens.
el dang commented on The Lantern and the Night Moths by Yilin Wang
The lantern light seems to have written a poem; they feel lonesome since i won’t …
I'm enjoying this very much, just reading it slowly. One or two poems a sitting.
I'm enjoying this very much, just reading it slowly. One or two poems a sitting.
el dang started reading Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (Iron Widow #1)
Science fiction and East Asian myth combine in this dazzling retelling of the rise of …
#SFFBookClub didn't select this book, but #QueerRomanceClub did, and I've been curious about it anyway so time to join in.
#SFFBookClub didn't select this book, but #QueerRomanceClub did, and I've been curious about it anyway so time to join in.
el dang reviewed A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #2)
After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) …
The best hopepunk I have read to date
5 stars
Definitely the light comfort read I was looking for, and like the first in its series it has just enough moments of emotional tension and and philosophical debate to never get twee or boring. But more than its predecessor, the world this is set in is the most convincing, appealing hopepunk I have yet to read. It's clear that it had gone through some very hard times in the past, but the equilibrium that the books are set in feels plausible and inviting. I can think of many other books whose worlds I'd like to visit, but these are among the few I wish I could move to.
Definitely the light comfort read I was looking for, and like the first in its series it has just enough moments of emotional tension and and philosophical debate to never get twee or boring. But more than its predecessor, the world this is set in is the most convincing, appealing hopepunk I have yet to read. It's clear that it had gone through some very hard times in the past, but the equilibrium that the books are set in feels plausible and inviting. I can think of many other books whose worlds I'd like to visit, but these are among the few I wish I could move to.
el dang started reading A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #2)
After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) …
Time for a comfort read.
When Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017―revealing the ancient poem in a …
Bouncing off this for now. "The war almost ended but some man-children were too proud so more blood must be spilled" is a bit too close to home right now.
Bouncing off this for now. "The war almost ended but some man-children were too proud so more blood must be spilled" is a bit too close to home right now.
el dang reviewed Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic. "No maids, no …
Didn't quite work for me
3 stars
There's an interesting world here, enough so that I did enjoy reading this book, but I never ended up caring much what happened to the characters. So it was pleasant enough but never really reeled me in.
I think this is just how I feel about Vo's writing in general, because I remember having a pretty similar reaction to The Empress Of Salt And Fortune. I can see what people who love her writing see in it, but it just isn't for me.
There's an interesting world here, enough so that I did enjoy reading this book, but I never ended up caring much what happened to the characters. So it was pleasant enough but never really reeled me in.
I think this is just how I feel about Vo's writing in general, because I remember having a pretty similar reaction to The Empress Of Salt And Fortune. I can see what people who love her writing see in it, but it just isn't for me.
el dang commented on Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic. "No maids, no …
I'm more than halfway through this book and still not sure what I make of it. It's a pleasant read, but I'm not finding myself particularly engaged with any of the characters, so I'm also not really invested in whether things go well or poorly for them.
I'm more than halfway through this book and still not sure what I make of it. It's a pleasant read, but I'm not finding myself particularly engaged with any of the characters, so I'm also not really invested in whether things go well or poorly for them.
When Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017―revealing the ancient poem in a …
Latest group read. I had... mixed feelings about the Odyssey, so there are things I'm looking forward to about this one and things I'm not.
Latest group read. I had... mixed feelings about the Odyssey, so there are things I'm looking forward to about this one and things I'm not.
el dang reviewed He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan
Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, is riding high on her recent victory that tore southern …
Couldn't hold my interest like its predecessor did
3 stars
Content warning Spoilers for all over both books
When I finished She Who Became The Sun, I was disappointed to have to wait for this sequel, I had loved that volume so much. But this one really didn't draw me in in the same way.
I'll start with parts I did enjoy. Parker-Chan is a great writer, both as a conjurer of scenes, and in the way they draw characters richly by switching between interior perspectives and the perceptions of others. The arc of Zhu and Ouyang haltingly moving towards understanding each other is compelling until it's cut short, and the "Zhu's capers" scenes are just as much fun as in the first volume.
But I found the shifting motivations of the characters took a lot of interest out of this oen. Wang and Ouyang felt flattened by their hyperfixation on revenge at all costs. Madame Zhang's fixation with the self-imprisoning role of Empress when she had so much real power as Queen makes no sense. Zhu's shift from desperate, audacious attempts to survive to grasping at "greatness" apparently for its own sake had the odd effect of making the stakes seem smaller even as the story gets bigger, which makes the violence feel gratuitous in turn, in a way that it never did in the first volume no matter how grim things got. And Ma and Xu both seemed shrunk by their portrayal as basically martyrs for the revolution.
I spent much of the book wondering why Zhu and Zhang couldn't just come to some detente and enjoy their successes, and why anyone other than Xu Da and maybe Ma Yinzi followed Zhu with such loyalty. Towards the end Ma has some lines which seem to explain it in a sort of social justice way, but coming so late in the book they felt tacked on.
I'm still looking forward to the next thing Parker-Chan writes, but found this one kind of a let-down.
el dang commented on The Lantern and the Night Moths by Yilin Wang
The lantern light seems to have written a poem; they feel lonesome since i won’t …
Translator's page with audio for correct pronounciation of the poets' names, and a short list of typo corrections: yilinwang.com/the-lantern-and-the-night-moths/
Translator's page with audio for correct pronounciation of the poets' names, and a short list of typo corrections: yilinwang.com/the-lantern-and-the-night-moths/
el dang wants to read Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic. "No maids, no …
#SFFBookClub April
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, …
Content warning Spoiler about the translators' trip abroad
Some more historical context: the real world Lín Zéxú confiscated the British traders' opium this week in 1839 sinica.substack.com/p/this-week-in-chinas-history-lin-zexu
el dang started reading He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan
Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, is riding high on her recent victory that tore southern …
I've been looking forward to this sequel since the moment I finished book 1. #SFFBookClub
I've been looking forward to this sequel since the moment I finished book 1. #SFFBookClub