Reviews and Comments

This has been on my Kobo wishlist for years, and it went on sale so I bought it. I have absolutely no idea what it's about - I think Adam Savage recommended it on a podcast.

This is unlikely to help with my apocalypse ennui but James S A Corey at least understands pacing.

Yup this suffered from the same repeated ramping up and up and up that I mentioned about the previous book. I had to take breaks from reading it at times because I got so fatigued from Yet Another Plot Twist. Good story, just frustrating writing style. Also, does the universe have to be threatened with ending every time in this type of sci-fi?

This was a rip-snorter of a book, but I can't help but feel it was too long. Actually most of O'Keefe's books make me feel like this. Approaching a good wrap up point for the story, except no, there's another quarter of the book to go. She's excellent at ramping up stories - tension, release - but she repeats it too many times, so that by the time you reach the end you're a bit fatigued from all of the new obstacles that keep getting placed in the protagonist's path.

Look, I know some people have trouble with Stephenson's writing, but he unfailingly hooks me in and this was no exception. This book didn't even suffer from the Seveneves problem (the final third of the book being far too long and unecessary), it was short and compact, and I'm already hanging out for the second book.

I have a suspicion that Stephenson uses the word "lozenge" in every book. I have just encountered this book's usage ("lozengey").

New Neal Stephenson, let's goooo

Aw man, this was such a sweet, and terrible, and wonderful book. The acknowledgements made me cry.

This was a mixed bag. The Cory Doctorow story was hella depressing. There was randomly a paranormal romance novella (because the author was a plaintiff in an EFF-backed case, I think). The stories were fine but not an especially cohesive collection.

I had no idea what this was about when I started it, I don't quite know what box to put it in. Maybe magical realism, light horror, fairy tale mashup? Regardless, I really enjoyed it. A different take on... maybe vampires? Who eat books instead of human blood? (I don't think that's a spoiler, it's literally the title of the book).

The story of this trilogy is good - kept me interested enough to keep reading - but the execution needed more work. It's tricky to negotiate a story with an ensemble cast, where the perspective changes frequently, and it wasn't always flawless. Also if one of your main characters is trans and I don't realise that until halfway through book 3 (it's referred to directly, but only in Brazilian Portuguese), then maybe you're being a bit too subtle about it - epecially if she's a princess.

I'm still going to read the last book though.

This felt a bit clunky, like the writing lurched from character to character at times, maybe it needed better editing. I was hoping I would remember more details about the first book as I went, but I didn't. Thematically this isn't a terribly positive story, so not recommended if you want a happy or cheerful read.

This was very sweet. Magical realism, with young kids and a healthy dose of queer representation.

Argh now how long will we have to wait for the next book?