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@whami@bookwyrm.social I've heard really good things about this book and haven't got around to reading any of Spufford's yet myself. Looking forward to hearing what you make of it.

THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS has been out in the world just over a year. As of today, it's collected NINE award nominations (today's news: the Dragon Award shortlist is out) The Ignytes and Dragons are now open for public voting! See the post for how to vote. vajra.me/2024/08/05/ten-toes-in/

wandering.shop/@vajra/112912787089558217

I tore through this book, and might just re-read it immediately, which is something I never do.

It starts out as a fantasy story that feels exceptionally weird because Chandrasekera's willing to do his world building / exposition very slowly. I kept going through a lot of confusion because the writing itself is just so beautiful. And then gradually as the exposition falls into place it becomes clearer that the book is at least partly a critique of religious fanaticisms and chauvinisms... but each time I felt I really had a handle on the book something in its world would shift - either the protagonist learning a new piece of his own story or a significant detail the the author waited until a dramatic moment to show the reader. Even the ending feels like another instance of that, and it is a relatively unclear ending, though it fits the whole mood of the book enough not to be frustrating.

To be clear: I like this kind of storytelling better than spending pages and pages on worldbuilding before anything happens, and all loose ends tied up by the conclusion. It just needs a damn good writer to make it work, and Chandrasekera is one. I also never felt like I was more confused than the protagonist himself, which I think is how the book managed not to fall into feeling like a cheap trick.

After reading it, I read up on the story of Rāhula, and realised that many more details in this book are clearly-intentional references to that than I'd picked up on. And I read some Sri Lankan history and realised that much of what felt like echoes of Myanmar or Israel were more direct references to specific aspects of Sri Lanka's civil war. Part of why I want to re-read is to have those things in mind, but I think it's also a strength of the book that it works as a more general allegory too. I think I would advise other readers to go in the same order as me: dive into the book first, and catch up on its references after.

#SFFBookClub

Wow. For one thing, it's very rare that I am consistently impressed with every story in a collection, even single-author ones. And it's a wonderfully varied collection too, in subject matter, mood, and form: everything from a two-page story that's actually satisfying to the title one which could have been published as a novella on its own. There are common themes about outsider perspectives and unexpected viewpoints, but a huge range of what those things actually mean. Many of the stories are clearly informed by the author being an intersex Jewish immigrant, but again that shows up in very different ways from one story to the next - this is not an author who just has one thing to say.

Content note: some of the stories have disturbing imagery and themes around abuse, body horror, and/or being trapped. There's a list of specific content notes at the back of the book - if those sort of themes could be a problem for you, it's worth flicking to that first.

This book is in three parts, the first of which would have made a satisfying short story on its own, the second feels like a solid continuation, but the third started to feel a bit formulaic even as it escalated things.

The parts I enjoyed the most were Lagos-as-character, the idea that there are multiple pantheons which know each other but have limited power over each other, and the way David's character evolved. Though he does get distinctly less likable over the course of the story, which feels right in terms of the world building but made me feel less engaged.

[#SFFBookClub June 2024]

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.

I'm enjoying this very much, just reading it slowly. One or two poems a sitting.

#SFFBookClub didn't select this book, but #QueerRomanceClub did, and I've been curious about it anyway so time to join in.

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.

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.