As excited as I am about every Stormlight release... it can be daunting to anticipate another thousand-page brick which I know, inevitably, will consuAs excited as I am about every Stormlight release... it can be daunting to anticipate another thousand-page brick which I know, inevitably, will consume my waking hours until I finish it. I've also still never managed to finish a full reread of prior books before a new volume comes out, so I find myself approaching them with a certain amount of trepidation.
The timing of Dawnshard was perfect to dispel that anxiety.
This book is a delightful little bite of so many things I love. I've said it before with regard to books like Skyward, but there's really a different quality to Sanderson's writing when he's just doing it for fun, and I feel like the delight he takes in telling stories shines through especially well. Dawnshard is refreshing, energizing, packed with great character development and intriguing tidbits (and larger portions!) of worldbuilding. It's got big Cosmere implications, yeah, and I know a lot of people are focused on that - but in my opinion the most important thing about it is that it's fun.
My absolute favorite detail, and the one I keep thinking about, is the way that Sanderson handled characters expressing themselves in different languages. It's honestly a very simple thing - obviously it's harder to articulate complex thoughts in a second or third language you're not fluent in - but seeing characters like Huio and Cord think and speak from two or three different perspectives added a certain dimension to the world as a whole, a reminder that every disparate culture we've seen across the Stormlight series has so much more to it than readers or the predominantly Alethi characters see at first glance.
Other highlights: - Aimia, finally! I still want to know more, but I've always found this location fascinating and I'm glad we got to go there. It reminds me of Vroengard from Inheritance, which was hands-down my favorite single element of that series. - I've loved Rysn's entire journey, and I like how her disability and adaptive technologies are being handled. I am not a wheelchair user myself, but my best friend is, and Rysn's perspective reminded me a lot of them in that regard. - Chiri-Chiri is a little dragon-cat and I love her. - I try not to think too much about the Sleepless lest I, too, become sleepless. They're fascinating but... so creepy. With that said, it's really cool to see a little more about how they relate to each other....more
Read as part of my ongoing shelf audit. Verdict: Oh yeah, this is a keeper.
My first encounter with Richard Feynman's work was in the mid 2000s, when mRead as part of my ongoing shelf audit. Verdict: Oh yeah, this is a keeper.
My first encounter with Richard Feynman's work was in the mid 2000s, when my family was moving about halfway across the U.S. and my dad checked out the audiobook of "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character for the drive. I don't remember a lot of particulars, except for 'A Map of the Cat' and Feynman's story about lighting the back of his hand on fire in college, but I remember enjoying the mixture of science and humor, and feeling like it was a cool thing to share with my engineer father. I was, at the time, going into middle school.
Years later, someone gave me a Barnes and Noble gift card as a high school graduation gift, and I bought this compilation thinking a) it would be an appropriate thing to read in college and b) it would make me look very Sophisticated and Smart to have this on the shelf in my freshman dorm room. I then... did not read it. For nine more years. (I really should have, or at least the Los Alamos parts; my freshman colloquium course was all about the making of the atomic bomb.)
I'm glad that my current attempt to actually read everything on my shelf has brought me back to this, though, because Feynman's perspective is fascinating. Stylistically, these essays feel like stories you're being told by your grandfather or great uncle; there's a friendliness and openness which invites the reader in and makes you feel welcome, even when the details go right over your head. The content is... fascinating, even the parts I didn't understand, because you can feel Feynman's incredible intelligence on every page. Physics isn't my jam, but I don't need to understand exactly what he's saying to get something of value from the enthusiasm and wonder with which he approached his work. The way in which he approached science is... 'idyllic' is really the best word I have for it; he had both incredible ability and childlike curiosity, and he was always pursuing his passions and excited about wherever he was. I find myself wondering, in this time of crushing student debt and diminished research funding, if it's possible to live that way now. I hope it is, at least for some people.
There's also something fascinating about seeing ordinary facets of the world through the lens of an extraordinary person. The same curiosity that Feynman applied to physics problems was extended to many other things in his life - attending a dance organized by a club for deaf and mute people, for instance, or learning how to play the drums, or life drawing. He seems to have gone through life with this... incorrigible energy, with very little fear of failure, and I find myself wondering if maybe that's the real secret of genius - not some baked-in capability of the brain, but the desire to just keep trying new things and fiddling with problems, regardless of the potential outcomes. So many of Feynman's decisions, at least as he describes them himself, seem so simple and free of anxiety or second-guessing.
Even with that, he did experience impostor syndrome at least once - at his first teaching job, at Cornell, after WWII. Feynman's response to that, too, is startlingly simple:
Then I thought to myself, "You know, what they think of you is so fantastic, it's impossible to live up to it. You have no responsibility to live up to it!" It was a brilliant idea: You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be; it's their mistake, not my failing.
As someone who struggles with anxiety and self-esteem frequently, it's comforting to know that even a guy who argued physics with Niels Bohr and won a Nobel Prize felt inadequate and like a fraud at one point; that's as clear a demonstration as possible that impostor syndrome thought processes have no bearing on reality. It's... something I'll try to keep in mind.
I was also deeply touched by the way Feynman talks about his first wife, Arlene, who died of tuberculosis while he was working on the Manhattan Project. While he doesn't really dig deeply into his emotions, it's still clear by the way he describes their relationship that they really loved each other. His phrasing is so simple, and yet in that simplicity is something complex: when they got married, Arlene was already sick and they knew she would be in and out of the hospital for the rest of her fairly short life expectancy. That's far from a simple situation, and yet Feynman always treats it as a foregone conclusion: "We were in love, and were already married, emotionally." Discussing her death, just five years later, he is matter-of-fact:
The only difference for me and Arlene was, instead of fifty years, it was five years. It was only a quantitative difference - the psychological problem was just the same. The only way it would have become any different is if we had said to ourselves, "But those other people have it better, because they might live fifty years." But that's crazy. Why make yourself miserable by saying things like, "Why do we have such bad luck? What has God done to us? What have we done to deserve this? - all of which, if you understand reality and take it completely into your heart. There are just things that nobody can know. Your situation is just an accident of life. We had a hell of a good time together.
It's that last line - "We had a hell of a good time together" - which strikes me as somehow infinitely tender.
There's a lot of humor here, too, of course. Feynman followed his curiosity into odd situations and incongruous escapades, and he relates them with complete honesty, never afraid to acknowledge his own misconceptions or moments of utter absurdity. I think the most absurd is the chapter titled 'Safecracker Meets Safecracker', in which he describes learning to pick locks and open safes while working at Los Alamos which is just... I can't even imagine deciding 'hey, why don't I develop a reputation for bypassing security while working on the most high-security military project the world has known to date?' It worked out for him, but damn. Couple that decision with the revelation at the end of the chapter that 20% of the safe combinations at the installation were still set to their factory defaults... the Manhattan Project is a serious topic, but that's just ridiculous.
One aspect of the book did make me consistently uncomfortable, and that's the way Feynman talks about women in aggregate. Specific women he knew well are discussed like anyone else, but there's a strong through-line of women, in general, existing primarily as eye candy and/or potential sexual partners. It's not creepy, per se, but there is a through-line of casual objectification which is, at best, an artifact of the times. (Though from some of the quotes I've seen from the new Obama autobiography, maybe not as much of the times as I would like to think.)
Ultimately, I think this book is a reminder to me of an ethos worth striving for in science. My Bachelor's is in biology, though I'm not currently working in the field, and I think Feynman's example - of approaching science with wonder, of questioning everything, and of extending that same curiosity to the rest of life - is one worth emulating. I don't know if I'll be very good at it, but I want to give it a try, and I'll probably come back to this book in the future for a reminder....more
It's hard for me to coalesce my thoughts on a Stormlight book into a coherent review, because these books don't feel like somethinSpoiler-free review:
It's hard for me to coalesce my thoughts on a Stormlight book into a coherent review, because these books don't feel like something I read - they feel like something I'm experiencing in a visceral and immersive way, verging on the addictive. I can't put them down; for 3/4 books in the series so far, I've finished reading within three days or less of release, because reading them becomes almost a compulsion. That sounds dramatic, but it's true - my wonderful, understanding girlfriend can attest to the fact that I was NOT a functional member of the household until after I finished, and had to be cajoled and argued with to take time away from reading long enough to figure out what we were going to have for dinner.
(It's not a problem if I recognize it, right?)
So yeah, the five-star rating was a foregone conclusion. The thing about this series is that I think each five-star rating I've given the books means something different. The Way of Kings evokes a sense of wonder and joy in me, even though I know it backwards and forwards now, and I adore the way it introduces and builds characters. Words of Radiance raises the stakes with incredible speed, delivers both character growth and backsliding, and ends with a world that looks completely different than it did at the start. Oathbringer is non-stop intensity, with existential questions for many of the characters, and is the first time we really see the scope of the conflict being sketched out.
So, what does Rhythm of War's five-star rating mean? Well, it's not as intense as Oathbringer, nor (in my opinion) as triumphant. It's a quieter book - granted, this is by comparison, so a LOT still happens in these 1,200 pages. The focus here, though, is more on character development and worldbuilding; action and battles fall briefly out of focus as we learn more about the planet of Roshar, its peoples, and its place in the broader universe of the Cosmere. Several major events of this installment were foregone conclusions, in my opinion: readers could easily predict that they would happen before the close of the first five-book sequence, and so it was more a matter of how they would happen rather than if. The narrative itself is still tense, but when problems are resolved my feeling was more 'ah, yes' than shock or awe. It's not a bad thing, to have a book that's something of a breather, especially as book five (which I think we should just start referring to as KoW now, since we know the initials will be symmetrical) is guaranteed to be one hell of a thrill ride.
The absolute best part of Rhythm of War, in my opinion, is Navani Kholin finally stepping into the spotlight. She is an incredible character: a woman in her 50s, a political power-broker, seducer of princes, mother of monarchs, and world-class engineer. In this installment, for the first time, she becomes one of the book's central characters (something which one of my college roommates has been predicting since Way of Kings) and it could not be more deserved. There are so few older female characters in speculative fiction, which makes it especially wonderful that this mature, complicated woman, full of regrets and drive and insecurity and intelligence, gets to occupy this book's center stage. Her emotional through-line is achingly relatable: despite everything, she consistently questions her worth and whether she is a 'real' scholar, in a way that hit very close to home.
I also loved Kaladin's arc in this book, though I do want to note that anyone prone to suicidal thoughts should be careful reading, as his depression takes a particularly bad downswing here and suicidal ideation is a major through-line. Kaladin has always been the heart of these books, in my opinion, and so it makes perfect sense that in a book addressing the exhaustion of a seemingly intractable conflict, he's the one we see struggle with the emotional/psychological fallout of the war. It hurts to read sometimes - a lot of the time. But it's realistic, and the depth of the lows make the highs so much sweeter.
One of the strengths of this series as a whole is the way that Brandon never lets you forget that the 'enemy' are people too. Rhythm of War pays more attention to the Returned, the vengeful reincarnated spirits who are spearheading the war against our protagonists - and yet even here, we're consistently reminded that they are not a monolith, that they have diverse motivations and goals, and that the line between friend and foe is not a clean one. This builds on a key theme of these books: that people are defined by the choices they make, and the choice to be better is always open.
By the end of the book (as usual), everything has changed. I don't know what to expect from KoW, when we eventually get it, except that it will probably hit me like a freight train and may, in fact, take place over just 10 days. The wait is going to be even more excruciating than usual.
Spoilery commentary: (view spoiler)[- I agree with other reviewers that this really wasn't Venli's book; she didn't do much for a lot of it and we got very little real info from her flashbacks. I feel like flashbacks/interludes have switched relevance here. That said, the last flashback, with Eshonai and the highstorm? Oh, that hit me in the HEART. - I viscerally hate the Jasnah/Wit relationship for a couple of reasons. One, like many LGBT/queer readers, I've read Jasnah as either aromantic/asexual or attracted to women pretty much from the start, and Brandon's explanation on Reddit that it "didn't feel right" is hard for me to reconcile with what he's already written - Jasnah disdaining attachment to men, giving the assassin Liss the old up-and-down in the WoR prologue, etc. Two, they have no chemistry on page, and I feel like Brandon really misfired re: what alloromantic asexual relationships look like. I am an alloromantic ace, and the complete lack of affection in those scenes (especially Ch. 99) made me deeply uncomfortable. Their relationship reads less as romantic love and more as Jasnah making a calculated decision to sleep with Wit so she can study him. - There's a lot of debate in the fandom about Moash and... frankly, I've been Done with him since Oathbringer, when he repeatedly decided not to take responsibility for his actions. I have read some interesting arguments positing that, on a meta level, his character is a condemnation of oppressed people reacting with rage and violence. There's... something to be said there, but from the beginning Moash has been open about how he doesn't want to be better; he just wants to be in charge. In WoK, he essentially argues that he just wants to rule over the lighteyes and treat them the way he's been treated, and while that's an understandable emotional reaction, it isn't exactly a laudable goal. Can he still choose to be better? Of course. But he spent this book suicide-baiting Kaladin and then for his grand finale, killed his own friend without remorse, so I don't feel like he will. - That said, something about him going blind at the end there felt weird. Disability as karmic punishment is a bad look. - Do I even need to mention loving the scene with Maya at Adolin's trial? I think everyone adored that moment. - We need to talk more about Adolin thinking of himself as "nothing more than a uniform and a sword". That hurt. - I was really hoping that 'Venli's book' would dig a little more into the questions of colonialism and sovereignty that were opened up in Oathbringer. That didn't happen, and so I'm left hoping that Brandon plans to address that further in later books. These are big, messy issues with direct real-world parallels, and they should be handled carefully. (I have a lot of personal feelings about this; the revelation that humans were the original Voidbringers hit close to home. When I get to re-reading Oathbringer, I'll probably talk about this some more.) - "Journey before destination, you bastard" is the new "not my daughter, you bitch". - Fuck off, Kelsier. (hide spoiler)]...more
At this point I'm not even gonna try writing a review until the entire series is out and I've had a chance to read it in one go.At this point I'm not even gonna try writing a review until the entire series is out and I've had a chance to read it in one go....more
It's weird to read the Goodreads summary of this book after having actually read it, because I feel like that summary highlights a discrepancy I noticIt's weird to read the Goodreads summary of this book after having actually read it, because I feel like that summary highlights a discrepancy I noticed while reading: Angelou's recounting of being raped takes center stage in most discussions about this book, but not at all in the book itself. It's a significant event, obviously, but this is not a Book About Being Raped, and I think the way it's often presented and discussed as if it were does Angelou a great disservice.
What this is: a book that is absolutely gorgeous to read. Just the way Angelou puts sentences together is magical. She strikes a perfect balancing point between lyrical and readable, and it's honestly a wonderful thing to experience. It was hard to put the book down sometimes; I felt completely drawn into the times and places she evoked. I enjoy autobiographies a lot of the time, but I've never wanted so strongly to keep reading one. That addictive quality is usually reserved for fiction, for me.
That's not to say it's always a comfortable read. In addition to a harrowing description of being raped as a child, Angelou does not shy away from depicting racism and her anger at the way she and others were (are) dehumanized for being black. Because of the time period in which she grew up, some of the things she describes feel like they bridge the gap between slavery and what we now might call 'microaggressions'. As a child, she works for a white woman who one day decides to call her by another name, because her given name is 'too long' - today, this same pattern repeats when a white interviewer decides that Quvenzhane Wallis's name is 'too difficult' to pronounce; it's the same devaluing of personhood and identity for someone else's convenience.
While I feel like it took me maybe longer than it should have to read this book, I'm also kind of glad that I read it this year. First, because I think that at some points when I was younger I wouldn't have absorbed it the way I did - in particular, I'm very glad I didn't encounter it in a class, because while a classroom discussion could be interesting, there's nothing like reading a book on a strict schedule for a grade to really squash the magic out of it. And second, because it is frustratingly relevant and topical in 2020. Fifty years after this book was published, nearly a century since Angelou's birth, and her experiences and her just anger feel incredibly topical. It is a salient reminder of how much work remains to be done, and how much cannot be erased by time alone. ...more
I brought this book home after my grandmother decided she no longer needed to keep it in her collection - now I almost want to recommend her oGoddamn.
I brought this book home after my grandmother decided she no longer needed to keep it in her collection - now I almost want to recommend her own copy back to her!
I truly did not expect a nonfiction book published in 1959 to be so... compellingly readable. Lansing has dramatic subject matter, which helps, but the act of bringing together primary sources and vivid descriptions into something which felt at once both well-paced and incredibly real... it's an amazing piece of work, and some of the best nonfiction I think I've ever read. Lansing puts the reader right there with the expedition, evoking the cold, hunger, and desperation as well as the moments of relief and even happiness.
And the expedition itself - wow. 28 people, stranded in Antarctica for almost a year and a half, without the protection of their ship for most of it - and it just keeps going. I kept waiting for a moment when I could relax, reading this, but it really didn't happen until the last few pages. This is a story of superhuman feat after superhuman feat and they all survived. It's mind-blowing. I still can't fully wrap my head around it.
It's sort of a weird thing to read during the COVID-19 pandemic, too, because in some ways I felt kinship with the men of the expedition - though obviously their circumstances were far more dire than me being confined in my apartment, some of the longings and frustrations resonated. At the same time, it's a reminder of the incredible resilience, perseverance, and endurance of humanity. Humans have survived unimaginable things. We will keep surviving....more
Ahhhh... it's nice to relax into a book that's just fun now and again.
It's hard not to read every magical boarding school story in relation to Harry PAhhhh... it's nice to relax into a book that's just fun now and again.
It's hard not to read every magical boarding school story in relation to Harry Potter, so here's my take on this one: the setting, The Scholomance, is what you would get if you dropped all of Hogwarts down the deepest pit in the Mines of Moria and it just sort of... kept falling forever, and also got infested with every nasty critter smaller than a balrog. And then you kept throwing teenage wizards at it, because they were somehow actually safer inside than out.
It's a wild ride, is my point.
The book itself is going to have somewhat niche appeal, I think. It's written in first person, with a strong sense of voice and a very explanatory style. If you're willing to let curiosity about worldbuilding carry you from plot action to plot action (which I am), this style will probably work for you. If your mind tends to wander when characters explain things, probably not. Personally, I love learning about the quirks and strange underpinnings of a magical world, and protagonist Galadriel (who prefers 'El' for obvious reasons) has the kind of wisecracking internal monologue that makes everything more fun.
It's hard to decide how to describe this story. On the one hand, it hits a lot of the standard coming-of-age tropes, as our heroine starts to make friends, gain confidence, make decisions about her future, etc. On the other hand, it's set in a school pretty much designed on the assumption that hundreds of its students will die horribly, and that that is an acceptable loss if it increases the survival chances of the rest. Themes of societal inequality are not even the least bit subtle:
They wanted to be safe. It's not that much to ask, it feels like. But we don't have it to begin with, and to get it and keep it, they'd push another kid into the dark. One enclave would push another into the dark for that, too. And they didn't stop at safety, either. They wanted comfort, and then they wanted luxury, and then they wanted excess, and every step of the way they still wanted to be safe, even as they made themselves more and more of a tempting target, and the only way they could stay safe was to have enough power to keep everyone off that wanted what they had."
While this is a fundamentally dark setting, the book itself honestly isn't that dark. The story focuses mostly on El and her developing relationships with other students, starting with school golden boy and character most likely to yell LEEEEROOOOY JENKIIIINS while charging a magical monster, Orion Lake. Theirs is a snarky-dislike-to-snarky-friendship transition, and it's pretty delightful to watch them slowly grow closer despite El's best intentions. Through him, she starts to connect to other members of the cast, and eventually there's a proper little ragtag crew. It's good fun.
I think that's really my biggest takeaway: this book was fun. Every time I sat down to read it, I read longer than I had planned. It didn't take too long for the magic system and the setting to make sense, and I could just kind of... relax into the story. Especially right now, when my fond memories of Harry Potter have been tarnished by JKR's behavior, it was nice to just plain enjoy a nice magical school story.
This was a doubly satisfying resolution: to the lingering mystery of Volume 1, as well as to the romance. The art and design are, of course, still gorThis was a doubly satisfying resolution: to the lingering mystery of Volume 1, as well as to the romance. The art and design are, of course, still gorgeous too. I particularly loved the way Poppy's relationships with certain family members developed - Vaughn neatly sidestepped some classic tropes and instead gave us tender moments and communication. Everything's wrapped up neatly, but again I find myself wanting to read more (and enjoy more of this stunning art!). Rellen, in particular, would I think make a great protagonist for a companion series... please?...more
I have a MASSIVE weakness for bodyguard crushes, so it's no surprise to me that I enjoyed this graphic novel. The art is absolutely gorgeous, too; I lI have a MASSIVE weakness for bodyguard crushes, so it's no surprise to me that I enjoyed this graphic novel. The art is absolutely gorgeous, too; I love the dresses in particular, both for their beautiful patterns and the way they take up space on the page. (Something about the waistline reminded me of a very voluminous hanbok, though the bodices tend to be more European.) Vaughn has also done an excellent job giving the world a sense of depth, introducing several different cultures with just the right amount of deft description to be informative but not info-dumpy. It definitely feels like a world in which there are many stories to tell, and I'd love to read more!...more
I've been putting off writing this review because it's damn hard to write anything about a fifth book that doesn't carry implied spoilers for the firsI've been putting off writing this review because it's damn hard to write anything about a fifth book that doesn't carry implied spoilers for the first four, so let me instead focus on something else for a bit:
Murderbot... is hot.
And I'm sorry, because I know it would be uncomfortable being seen that way, but this is one of the few instances where Murderbot not being real is a plus because Murderbot is hot, y'all. This has nothing to do with appearances - we don't have a canon appearance for it, though I am very partial to this person's art - it's just true of Murderbot on a conceptual level. I mean, it's a super-capable being who uses its abilities to help people and protect its friends, and every time it even contemplates doing something selfish its ridiculously high levels of compassion kicks in and it does the OPPOSITE of the selfish thing.
That's hot to other people, right? It's not just me?
Anyway. This book. Good book. Old friends, new worldbuilding, lots of conversations which gave me FEEEEELINGS. There was a bit where I thought things were going to end before a particular reunion and I was prepared to throw a tantrum on the floor (only slightly exaggerated for comic effect) but Martha Wells? She had my back.
I think basically what I'm saying is that if you already love Murderbot, you'll love this one too, which does rather go without saying. And if you don't already love Murderbot... I'm pretty sure that's only possible if you've never read it....more
I am obviously not going to say anything particularly specific or risk even slight spoilers, so this review will be somewhMore Murderbot for the soul!
I am obviously not going to say anything particularly specific or risk even slight spoilers, so this review will be somewhat vague. The thing is, if you've read Murderbot thus far, you're gonna want to keep reading Murderbot, so I don't really think I need specifics to convince people to read this book.
What it's left me contemplating is mostly... the bizarre way Murderbot makes friends, and the way that I find this process particularly heartwarming. The thing is, Murderbot is an asshole. Often on purpose. It should be really difficult to bond with, especially since it's basically trying to prevent attachments - and yet, people (both in-world and readers) keep getting attached! I think Fugitive Telemetry highlighted why: because for all its grumpy exterior, Murderbot is fundamentally a person of deep integrity. If it says it will help you, it will, and it will put itself in harm's way to do so. It doesn't renege on a promise, and it always makes a good faith effort. It's hard not to like someone like that, no matter how gruff they are. As they say, actions speak louder than words.
The vaguest of possible spoilers: (view spoiler)[There's a moment near the end where Murderbot ruminates on what SecUnits are designed to do vs how humans tend to employ them which gets at this a little bit. It's interesting to contemplate, both in terms of how it impacts Murderbot and what it implies about SecUnits in general sort of being... twisted out of their original purpose. (hide spoiler)]
This book also came very close to hitting one of the big boxes on my Future Murderbot Adventures wishlist. We're not quite there, but between this and Network Effect... I am hoping for a particular step of character growth, and I am feeling increasingly sure it's going to happen sooner rather than later.
I had to cry on Megan a tiny bit about this one, and hug her a lot about it, but don't worry - both came from a place of happiness. Murderbot's emotioI had to cry on Megan a tiny bit about this one, and hug her a lot about it, but don't worry - both came from a place of happiness. Murderbot's emotional awareness has come so far and I am very proud of it. This book had reunions and I made a lot of high-pitched noises.
It's also made it clear that I have a particular weakness for characters who hold themselves aloof from the world facing the slow, mortifying ordeal of being known; even more so if these are characters who are more powerful than the people who come to care for them, and convinced they must keep their friends at a distance to keep them safe. Gets me where I live, y'all.
Anyhow. The emotional catharsis of this book was heady, and I kind of wanna reread all four novellas just to get a hit of it again. Then again... we have an ARC of Network Effect... so we'll probably get through that first. ...more
Listen, I know we all love Murderbot here, so I'm going to gently set it to one side to sing the praises of this book's brand new gem: Miki. I have feListen, I know we all love Murderbot here, so I'm going to gently set it to one side to sing the praises of this book's brand new gem: Miki. I have felt that the series so far has an undercurrent of Murderbot not-quite-realizing that other bots and constructs may also have their own opinions, desires, and wish for free will. Miki is a great example of that, as Murderbot casually underestimates it and assumes its actions are not its own, right up until those choices become undeniable.
Also, Megan's Miki voice was delightful, so that helps.
Anyway, I love Miki and the very delicate relationship between it and Murderbot, and that's the takeaway here....more
More Murderbot! This time: wherefore art thou Murderbot?
Martha Wells' exploration of robot sense of self makes my heart hurt, but in that good-ache waMore Murderbot! This time: wherefore art thou Murderbot?
Martha Wells' exploration of robot sense of self makes my heart hurt, but in that good-ache way that's fundamentally happy. In this installment, Murderbot also gets to make new friends (not that it would admit that) and adopt more scrappy human scientists, which delights me to no end. Good stuff. As always, the action scenes are snappy, the portrayal of corporate greed is on point, and Murderbot's feelings on the maddening crowd of humanity are deeply, deeply relatable.
(It's a novella, so reviews are gonna be short. So be it.)...more
I can't believe I've missed out on these books until now. Megan is reading them aloud to me - we're in a brief pause since she had to order physical cI can't believe I've missed out on these books until now. Megan is reading them aloud to me - we're in a brief pause since she had to order physical copies of the next few - and omg. What a delight! Murderbot, despite the name, is such an endearing character and narrator, and I loved the fact that the core of the story wasn't so much the plot, per se, as it was Murderbot's developing relationship with its humans and feelings about itself. Quality Robot Content right here. Quality Scientist Content too - the "oh no, what about our samples?" moment was priceless.
Absolutely excellent, the kind of good writing I've come to expect from Martha Wells applied to a great sci-fi setting. Can't wait for the next ones to get here.
P.S. I found myself thinking of two Escape Pod stories while Megan read this to me - Cat Pictures, Please and Fandom For Robots, so if you, too, would like to have stories about excellent robots read aloud to you, check those out....more
I finished this book in two days by accident, or rather by feline intervention: my cat decided to sit on my lap for three hours one night and, well, wI finished this book in two days by accident, or rather by feline intervention: my cat decided to sit on my lap for three hours one night and, well, what was I supposed to do? MOVE HER? I think not.
This book was lovely and rich, steeped in its Persian setting/inspiration, to create a fascinating narrative that felt at once totally new and millennia old. It felt like I was reading a fairy tale I'd never heard of - which isn't too far off, though Bashardoust drew from many sources to crafter the story. That combination of timelessness and novelty is a rare thing, and a pleasure to experience. The writing flowed well, making it easy to speed through the book, and Soraya was a compelling protagonist - all the more so when she made terrible mistakes. Her story is about learning to embrace yourself, flaws and all, and that theme was repeated and embroidered on throughout.
What kept it from being five stars was the pacing. This is a book with a lot of twists and turns, betrayals and revelations, but I felt they ended up lacking weight because there was always another. The reader (and the characters) never really got to sit with one particular emotion or belief, and so it was hard to connect with the characters' emotional states because they were all so transient. Had the story been a bit longer and a bit slower paced, I think Bashardoust would have had time to really draw out those moments of belief and betrayal, for a better emotional payoff when a new truth comes to light.
Even with that, though, this book was a delight to read, and something I would have ADORED as a young, not-yet-out-to-myself queer teen. I'm immensely glad that today's queer teens will get to enjoy it and see themselves in its flawed, dangerous, courageous characters....more
You are not ready for this book. I was not ready for this book. I am pretty sure that even when I re-read it, I will not be ready for this book.
HarrowYou are not ready for this book. I was not ready for this book. I am pretty sure that even when I re-read it, I will not be ready for this book.
Harrow the Ninth is like being put through a series of bizarre emotional windsprints. I laughed. I keened. I was buoyed up by triumph which was, even then, bittersweet. I spent the entire book not knowing at all what was going on and I still don't. Pressing questions were answered and even bigger questions posed without answers. New characters were introduced, old characters returned, and some who were somehow neither of the above became people I cared about very much.
As with Gideon, my girlfriend read this one out loud to me when it was my turn to cook or clean the kitchen, and that meant that we stretched it out over months with plenty of time to theorize. I was right about a lot of things, which I am very proud of... but I was wrong about plenty of others, and my theories went through many, many iterations as each new baffling piece of information refused to fit into the puzzle.
I don't know what to tell you all about this book and honestly, I don't want to tell you very much at all. Just let it happen to you and savor every single moment of carefully, skillfully crafted confusion and know that Tamsyn Muir is absolutely holding your heart in her hand and you can only hope she will be kind to it.
P.S. There is an honest-to-god 'none pizza with left beef' joke in this book. I'm not over it, and that's the one bit of plain fact I'll give away....more
4/18/20: Reread in a single day because guess who gets to borrow her gf's Kindle to read Oaths of Legacy five months early? This biiiiiitch. I'm excit4/18/20: Reread in a single day because guess who gets to borrow her gf's Kindle to read Oaths of Legacy five months early? This biiiiiitch. I'm excited and terrified in equal measure.
All of my original responses stand but also: Let Wen Say Fuck. Let Ettian say fuck too but especially Wen. ------------------------
This book kept me up until midnight, despite the fact that I had to wake up at 6 the next morning for work, because when Skrutskie gets a good grip on your heart and emotions she just DOES NOT LET GO.
So, yeah... it was good.
I expected nothing less. I've loved everything Emily Skrutskie's written so far, and I fully expect to love everything she writes in the future. Deft, nuanced characterization combined with stories so clearly written out of sheer enthusiasm is a winning combination every time. (I love her dedication to 'there was only one bed', and her abiding love of mecha/powersuits, and how much the joy of writing things she adores comes through.)
More than anything, I am repeatedly struck by the nuances of her characters and their relationships. Every main character in her books is multi-layered, with loyalties, beliefs, and dreams that often are pulling them in three different directions, and when they struggle it's not because they are resisting making the 'right' choice - it's because it is never clear what the 'right' choice is. Skrutskie does shades of grey spectacularly - law and order or protecting individuals? Redemption/revenge for the past or hope for the future? Ideals or survival?
And the relationships she writes. I love them not just because we need more explicitly queer characters, but because she writes queer characters who have to work for it. A dramatic kiss is not the endgame - instead, even a much-wanted romance adds another layer of complication to characters' motivations. There is no doubt that Ettian and Gal want to be together - that's made very clear within the first hundred pages, in a chapter so taut with tension I had to (gently) throw the book to the other end of the couch after reading it and sulk a bit. But being together isn't easy, even though they want it, even though it's good for them both, and they can't just rely on love to save the day. This is, I feel, a sort of 'next level' queer narrative; for so long our stories have been about self-discovery and the first flush of romance, but what Skrutskie brings (and what I am starting to see more of overall) are real, complicated relationships with just as much nuance as any hetero couple under stress would have.
I should be clear, too, that when I praise her relationship writing, I don't just mean romance. One of the best aspects of this book is Wen and Ettian's friendship, which is a sort of... 'found sibling' bond that I just loved. (view spoiler)[(In my Homestuck days, I would have called this a moiraillegiance. Listen, don't judge me; quadrants are useful.) (hide spoiler)] Again, it doesn't come easy, but the result is really beautiful, and so clearly platonic that I am in awe. There are a lot of writers who don't have the skill to write characters this close to each other without it feeling even a little bit romantic, but Skrutskie does it.
I haven't addressed the plot much, and that's for a few reasons. One, I really do think the characters and their relationships are the stars here; and two, when it comes to plot, I am largely focused on where things will go in the second and third book. I have... hesitations about any story which hinges on support for the 'divine right of kings' and the idea that parentage can somehow make someone fit to govern, but I trust Skrutskie implicitly, so I'm withholding judgement on that aspect until the story has developed further. So far: it's a fun SF romp to be sure; I was hoping for a bit more space dogfighting (that initial space combat scene was great!) but was perfectly happy with where the story went instead.
If you're out there looking for something to get super emotionally invested in during this time of trouble... pick up this book. You won't be able to stop thinking about it. Now, the struggle of waiting patiently for book two......more
Reread as book #4 of my job refusing to implement work-from-home - and guess what? It's the last one! Just a few minutes after I finished this book, oReread as book #4 of my job refusing to implement work-from-home - and guess what? It's the last one! Just a few minutes after I finished this book, our account manager came in and announced we were going to start WFH, and now I've been safely at home for over a week!
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This book is just... so damn good in so many ways and I sort of find it hard to articulate. I think this is partly because a lot of the excellence here comes from the way Danny's trans-ness integrates into other aspects of the storytelling, and the pitch-perfect way April Daniels uses classic superhero story elements (the call to adventure/discovery of powers, struggling with a sense of responsibility, trying to figure out where you fit when you're not quite like everyone else) as part both of Danny coming into her superpowers and into herself, her true self, for the first time.
As a cis person, I feel a little weird talking about this 'cause it's not really my lane, but the interplay between Danny-as-superhero and Danny-as-trans-woman is so integral to the book that it's hard to discuss it any other way. Danny's path towards claiming her identity as Dreadnought parallels her coming out to her family, and is equally fraught with risk. The actions of a transphobic character put both her at risk both as a superhuman and as a girl trying to go about her day. There are characters who treat her as a resource they can exploit for both reasons. (view spoiler)[(The way David talks to Danny after her transformation, and the way he treats her for being trans, hurt WAY more than the League asking her to give up her powers, though.) (hide spoiler)]
This book is... not shy about transphobia, and transmisogyny in particular, which can be really uncomfortable to read. At the same time, though, it's sadly believable, and honestly it makes Danny's heroism come through all the more strongly. The world treats her like crap in so many ways and yet... she still wants to do the right thing, even by those who treat her the worst. Even when her worst impulses are deeply justified, she resists them. She's struggling with all the normal teenage confusion and THEN some, and yet she still has a strong moral compass, stronger than many adults around her. She's not perfect, but god does she strive.
I think the thing that this book succeeds in the most is that odd paradox of writing: that the more specific a character's experiences are, the more generally relatable they can feel. My adolescence was nothing like Danny's, and yet her struggle to believe that she could ever be good enough felt incredibly true and universal to me. She's a superhero who can see the fabric of reality - almost as far from the average real teenager as you can get - and yet her story is such a fundamental coming-of-age story nonetheless. It's fun, and it's full of heart, and I'm looking forward to finally getting my rear in gear to read the second one!...more
I was overall pretty 'meh' on Jemisin's Inheritance books, which was frustrating because they were such blockbusters in the genre Ahhh, now it clicks.
I was overall pretty 'meh' on Jemisin's Inheritance books, which was frustrating because they were such blockbusters in the genre and I felt like I was missing something important. Now, I can rest easier in the knowledge that it was just that series I bounced off, not her as an author. Because holy shit, this book was fascinating.
It's a little hard to put my finger on what about it made it work. There's layers on layers of intrigue here - political, magical, and religious machinations abound - so it has the pull of an intriguing mystery. The Egyptian-inspired setting feels lush and rich, and the magic system is certainly unique, with some compelling and horrifying drawbacks. Most of the characters have a singular drive or sense of duty, and I can understand why that makes them feel flat to some readers, but I feel like that disregards the way they struggle to live up to their own ideals. The idea that it's hard to be as good or as pure as you want to be is very much a theme of Gujaareh as a society, and that conflict on every level characterizes this book.
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