tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60740558349752148172024-03-13T15:57:39.569-04:00Tethyan BooksReviews of Science Fiction and Fantasy novels by a finicky physicist.Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.comBlogger524125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-27337582334616009442020-03-22T16:51:00.001-04:002020-03-22T16:51:07.354-04:00Review: The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Published: Tor, 2018</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series: Book 2 of the Interdependency</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Book:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Interdependency, humanity's interstellar empire, is on the verge of collapse. The Flow, the extra-dimensional conduit that makes travel between the stars possible, is disappearing, leaving entire star systems stranded. When it goes, human civilization may go with it -- unless desperate measures can be taken.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Emperox Grayland II, the leader of the Interdependency, is ready to take those measures to help ensure the survival of billions. But nothing is ever that easy. Arrayed before her are those who believe the collapse of the Flow is a myth -- or at the very least, an opportunity that can allow them to ascend to power.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While Grayland prepares for disaster, others are preparing for a civil war, a war that will take place in the halls of power, the markets of business and the altars of worship as much as it will take place between spaceships and battlefields. The Emperox and her allies are smart and resourceful, but then so are her enemies. Nothing about this power struggle will be simple or easy... and all of humanity will be caught in its widening gyre.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” ~WWEnd.com</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s been a while since my last review. In January, I was under a lot of stress at work. After that, well, you know. International health crises also don’t make for low stress environments. Things are still getting worse, but I feel like I’m in a stable enough position to start this up again. I hope these book reviews at least are fun to read for some people who are similarly holed up in their houses, waiting for safety to return.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, relevant to the actual topic for today’s post, I reviewed the first book of the Interdependency series <a href="https://tethyanbooks.blogspot.com/2018/11/review-collapsing-empire-by-john-scalzi.html">here</a>. My general conclusion there was that it was entertaining enough, but I felt like not much happened. I continued on to the second book of the trilogy, and I can say that I do not have the same complaint this time around.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My Thoughts:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An interesting aspect of this series is it’s exploration of the inability of humanity to cope with gradual catastrophes. Climate change is a good example: scientists agree on what is likely to happen, and that action is needed. However, many of those in power resist addressing the crisis until the impacts become blindingly obvious, at which point it’s too late. The crisis here is the breakdown of the Flow, which will eventually isolate each of humanity’s non-self-sufficient star systems. It’s expected that the societies in these systems will collapse, and then the people will die. It was both very believable and very frustrating to see people spending precious time ignoring the crisis, opting to scheme about their profits and political ambitions instead. Perhaps ten years ago, I might have claimed they were cardboard villains. Today, I lament that so many humans seem to be made of cardboard.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Among the viewpoint characters, I most liked Cardenia and Marce. Cardenia is pretty good at political maneuvering, which is something neither her antagonists nor I really expected. She might not have been trained to be an Emperox, but she’s risen to the occasion remarkably well. I also appreciated seeing her consideration of how a power imbalance affects the ethics of her relationships. Regarding Marce, I appreciated his non-biased approach to his work, and his ego-free willingness to change his conclusions in the face of conflicting evidence. I think this is really the ideal stance to take as a scientist--the truth is more important than any one person’s authorial pride. Nadashe and Kiva were frustrating viewpoint characters in different ways. Nadashe is a petty villain, so I think my reaction to her was as intended. Regarding Kiva, I liked her personality, but it bothered me that she didn’t seem very competent at her job. She comes through when it matters, but her approach to her work just seems, well, sloppy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, to address my complaint from the first book, there’s a lot of plot progress in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Consuming Fire. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For one thing, the collapse is really happening now. For all that some people want to ignore it, the impacts are already beginning to be felt. The political situation is also very volatile, and it’s beginning to seem likely that there will never be a return to the status quo. Last of all, an unexpected but really fun curveball adds another dimension to the story, complete with interesting new characters and societal implications. This storyline was my favorite part of the book, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise for other readers. I expect to talk about this more in my eventual review of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Last-Emperox-Interdependency-Book-ebook/dp/B07QPGW9FS/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+last+emperox&qid=1584910218&sr=8-1">The Last Emperox (coming in April)</a>! </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My Rating: 4/5 </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Consuming Fire </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">continues the story begun in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Collapsing Empire, </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and I feel like it noticeably picked up the pace. The collapse is happening, people are fighting amongst themselves instead of addressing it, and some newly uncovered information sheds a whole new light on the entire situation. I especially liked reading about Marce and Cardenia, a good scientist and a smart, well-intentioned leader, respectively. Marce is responsible for discovering the imminent collapse, Cardenia must somehow organize humanity to survive it. The future is not entirely without hope, with them at the helm, and I am looking forward to seeing how the story will be resolved in The Last Emperox.</span></span>Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-44674917327942359752020-01-27T19:42:00.000-05:002020-01-27T19:42:01.623-05:00Review: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e--I1vQXJmw/XiTHUe5De_I/AAAAAAAAB58/eWnzaIJfAhkfV63kdDxClXw52SPvgoRQwCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/mrk_calculat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e--I1vQXJmw/XiTHUe5De_I/AAAAAAAAB58/eWnzaIJfAhkfV63kdDxClXw52SPvgoRQwCPcBGAYYCw/s320/mrk_calculat.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Published: Tor, 2018</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Series: Book 1 of the Lady Astronaut series</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Awards Nominated: Campbell Memorial Award</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Awards Won: Hugo, Nebula and Locus SF Awards</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Book:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A meteor decimates the U.S. government and paves the way for a climate cataclysm that will eventually render the earth inhospitable to humanity. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated timeline in the earth’s efforts to colonize space, as well as an unprecedented opportunity for a much larger share of humanity to take part.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of these new entrants in the space race is Elma York, whose experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too—aside from some pesky barriers like thousands of years of history and a host of expectations about the proper place of the fairer sex. And yet, Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions may not stand a chance.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> ~<a href="http://maryrobinettekowal.com/novel/the-calculating-stars/">MaryRobinetteKowal.com<span id="goog_1791164988"></span><span id="goog_1791164989"></span> </a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I decided to read this one because it won a Hugo Award (among other awards), but also because I’ve enjoyed Kowal’s work in the past. Back when I was reviewing short fiction (which I will totally do again someday, just not for a while yet), I featured some of her work on this blog that was set in this universe. In my opinion, she and Marie Brennan have a similar style, so I’d expect fans of one would like the other.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Calculating Stars</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is an alternate history that imagines a very different Space Race in the 1950s. Instead of competing for political capital, the countries of the world are pushed into space research by a climate disaster that may make the Earth uninhabitable. The desire to colonize other planets or moons, rather than to simply plant flags, provides the motivation for men in power to seriously consider a women’s astronaut training program. After all, a colony with no women can’t sustain itself independently of Earth. The story begins with an intense first-hand experience of the meteorite strike, and continues through the development and progress of the fledgling space program. The latter part of the story involves much more political and social maneuvering than action. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The person doing most of this maneuvering is the heroine, Elma York. With the character of Elma, Kowal has embraced the familiar “you have to be twice as good to be thought half as able” adage, by which I mean to say that Elma is amazing. She’s a brilliant mathematician, cool under pressure, and a highly skilled jet pilot. The difficulties she faces are primarily external, with the exception of a debilitating anxiety associated with public speaking. Her anxiety makes the necessary public performances required for changing hearts and minds challenging for her, even though it doesn’t impact her capability as a scientist or astronaut. I appreciated how this part of the story showed the stigma associated with asking for help, as well as the fact that taking medication for a mental health condition does not make a person any less than they were. Overall, I liked Elma, and I wanted for her to make her dreams come true.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In addition, I enjoyed seeing Elma’s relationships with others. She’s a scientist and a pilot, but she is also happily married. She and her husband are a very affectionate couple, and this doesn’t impact either of them being taken seriously as a scientist. I liked seeing that their marriage is a source of strength for both of them, and not a source of stress. Stable and supportive relationships don’t seem to be very common in fiction, so this was a nice change. Elma also counts many female pilots from diverse backgrounds among her friends, and we see through them the additional barriers that are often faced by women of color. I appreciated the way Elma’s solidarity with others demonstrated that she was part of a larger movement, and that her push to make “Lady Astronauts” a reality was not going to end with her.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Rating: 4.5/5</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Calculating Stars </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is an interesting alternate history that imagines a different Space Race spurred into action by a meteorite-related climate disaster. Within the frame of this story, we follow the exceptionally skilled and intelligent Elma York, who is determined to become an astronaut. Elma has to fight against the conventions of the day, but her intense anxiety associated with public speaking makes this a challenge. I appreciated that Elma was able to be a scientist, a pilot, and a loving wife, and that she cultivated many friendships with other highly skilled women. With the conclusion of this book, I feel confident that she is blazing a trail for many and not just for herself. The second half of this duology, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Fated Sky</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, is already out, and it is definitely on my list of books to read.</span>Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-20788676802578410062020-01-19T16:13:00.002-05:002020-01-19T16:13:59.561-05:00Review: The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkG8KlvSNYw/XgLEWeLMijI/AAAAAAAAB5w/OKIPzB7bwZ4j9d_q7CDhrGXg7ydRkH7MQCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/mb_thetropic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkG8KlvSNYw/XgLEWeLMijI/AAAAAAAAB5w/OKIPzB7bwZ4j9d_q7CDhrGXg7ydRkH7MQCPcBGAYYCw/s320/mb_thetropic.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Published: Tor, 2013</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Series: Book 2 of the Memoirs of Lady Trent</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Awards Nominated: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hugo Award for Best Series</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Book:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Attentive readers of Lady Trent's earlier memoir, A Natural History of Dragons, are already familiar with how a bookish and determined young woman named Isabella first set out on the historic course that would one day lead her to becoming the world's premier dragon naturalist. Now, in this remarkably candid second volume, Lady Trent looks back at the next stage of her illustrious (and occasionally scandalous) career.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Three years after her fateful journeys through the forbidding mountains of Vystrana, Mrs. Camherst defies family and convention to embark on an expedition to the war-torn continent of Eriga, home of such exotic draconian species as the grass-dwelling snakes of the savannah, arboreal tree snakes, and, most elusive of all, the legendary swamp-wyrms of the tropics.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The expedition is not an easy one. Accompanied by both an old associate and a runaway heiress, Isabella must brave oppressive heat, merciless fevers, palace intrigues, gossip, and other hazards in order to satisfy her boundless fascination with all things draconian, even if it means venturing deep into the forbidden jungle known as the Green Hell... where her courage, resourcefulness, and scientific curiosity will be tested as never before.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” ~WWend.com</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here continues my review of the Memoirs of Lady Trent! I haven’t read the third book yet, but I definitely intend to finish out the series. My reading time is limited lately, so I can’t promise a when, but it will happen. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beware of allusions to a *major spoiler* from Book 1 below!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Each book in Isabella’s memoirs tells a complete story, but I would strongly advise against reading them out of order. They occur chronologically, and I think you really need to know what the returning characters have been through. In Isabella’s case, she has now established herself in her field, and her new position affords her more social flexibility to pursue her interests than she had as a young woman or a wife. It also gives her the freedom to take a like-minded young woman under her wing, and to give her the opportunities that Isabella didn’t have in her youth. All in all, then, while Isabella’s homeland is not less sexist in this book, the sexism is less relevant to her life. Outside of Scirland, when she is on expedition, sexism that she encounters is treated more as an annoyance than as a serious threat to her career.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The one complication of her new role in society is that she is also a mother of a very young son. I feel like the way she engages with this responsibility is somewhat similar to what you would expect from a Victorian man whose wife died in childbirth. She doesn’t </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">love her son, but she also finds his similarity to his father a source of pain rather than comfort. There’s a lack of maternal instinct and a distance that I have rarely seen in the depiction of mother characters. I don’t think motherhood comes naturally to everyone, so it was nice to see this in Isabella. I would say that she is not a bad mother, but the way she balances her career goals with providing for his care is definitely not the norm for women in her culture. (As a side note, the toddler in question is in no physical danger during this part of the memoir.)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve talked a lot about societal issues, so let’s get to the dragons! I don’t want to say too much, because dragon biology is one of the major sources of mystery in these books. I can say that Isabella has not learned all there is to know about all dragons from her time in Vystrana, and there are some interesting biological quirks to discover about the dragon species in Eriga. The political machinations are a sideshow to her expedition, but they serve as one major source of tension. To get permission to enter the Green Hell, she has to make a deal that she soon realizes might not be looked kindly upon by the jungle’s inhabitants (on whom she depends for survival). Within the jungle, I enjoyed seeing Isabella’s curiosity, intelligence, and practical (but reckless) problem-solving skills come to the foreground. I am eager to see where she will go next and what she will discover! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>My Rating: 4 /5</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I liked the first book of this series, and in my opinion </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Tropic of Serpents </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is even better. There’s still a fair amount of sexism for Isabella to deal with, but it feels like less of a major obstacle to her goals than it did in the first book. Isabella’s difficulty with performing motherhood is another arc in the book, and I found it refreshing to read about someone to whom the role did not come naturally. On the supernatural side, the dragons remain as interesting as ever, and the Green Hell is an exciting and dangerous setting for her journey. Isabella’s curiosity and resourcefulness make her a very compelling heroine, and I’m looking forward to seeing what adventures the rest of her life will hold!</span>Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-37976606456654679312019-12-24T21:05:00.000-05:002019-12-24T21:05:02.639-05:00Review: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Published: Tor, 2013</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Series: Book 1 of the Memoirs of Lady Trent</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Awards Nominated: World Fantasy Award, Hugo Award for Best Series</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Book:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart - no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments - even at the risk of one's life - is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. . . .</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever.” ~WWEnd.com</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This series had been on my radar for years, and I finally decided to give it a shot after it became a Hugo finalist for best series. This is the first (but not the last) book I’ve read by Marie Brennan.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Natural History of Dragons </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is set in a fantasy world, but within a nation that is a clear analogue of Victorian England, complete with severe restrictions on the lives and interests of women. I’m not a big fan of Victorian stories, and I often find fictional sexism exhausting to read--particularly the kind of sexism that bars women from success in a male-dominated fields (physicist here, this is not new to me). However, this is ameliorated by the fact that the story is told by the future, highly successful naturalist Lady Trent. Thus, we know from the beginning that she eventually wins, and society does change. When we see the barriers that are placed in front of her solely because of her gender, we can at least know for sure that she is going to overcome them.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Though the setting may not have won me over, the emphasis on science certainly did. If you’ve read some of my other reviews, you may have noticed that I love stories about fictional scientific research. In this novel, I somewhat predictably loved Isabella’s constant drive to learn about and study dragons. The study of live dragons only got underway fairly late in the novel, but her early life also involves the investigation of small dragon-like creatures called “sparklings”, among other things. The status of the dragon subfield felt well thought-out, with some known facts, some misconceptions, and a wide area of unknowns. This novel covers only Isabella’s first expedition, so I’m sure there’s still plenty to learn about these creatures in the rest of the series.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since this is a fictional memoir, it also has a strong focus on the personal details of Isabella’s life. The story begins with her childhood, and we follow her as she grows into a young woman, struggling to find a way to follow her passion for science. I thought she was an excellent heroine. I enjoyed her intelligence and curiosity, and could empathize with her (sometimes reckless) enthusiasm for her field of study. Her narration was smooth to read, and I liked her sense of humor. In general, I would have said that the tone of the book was light, and that there was a sense that everything would come out okay in the end. However, there is at least one serious sad twist, which caught me off guard. In any case, I have enjoyed this introduction to the life of Isabella, dragon naturalist. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Rating: 3.5/5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Natural History of Dragons </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">kicks off a five-book fictional memoir series about the life of Isabella, who will become the world’s preeminent dragon naturalist. This book includes her childhood through her first dragon expedition, and describes the difficulties she has in following her interest in science in a restrictive Victorian-like society. I am not a big fan of Victorian-style fiction and the frustrating sexism that entails, but I liked Isabella and I strongly identified with her curiosity and drive. I’ve already read the second book in the series (review coming soon), and I am definitely planning to read the rest!</span></div>
Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-76501780259611165372019-12-15T11:26:00.003-05:002019-12-15T11:26:52.382-05:00Review: Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Published: Hodder & Stoughton (2018)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Series: Book 3 of the Wayfarers</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Awards Nominated: Nominated for the Hugo, Locus SF and Red Tentacle Awards</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Book:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hundreds of years ago, the last humans on Earth boarded the Exodus Fleet in search of a new home among the stars. After centuries spent wandering empty space, their descendants were eventually accepted by the well-established species that govern the Milky Way.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But that was long ago. Today, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, the birthplace of many, yet a place few outsiders have ever visited. While the Exodans take great pride in their original community and traditions, their culture has been influenced by others beyond their bulkheads. As many Exodans leave for alien cities or terrestrial colonies, those who remain are left to ponder their own lives and futures: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination? Why remain in space when there are habitable worlds available to live? What is the price of sustaining their carefully balanced way of life—and is it worth saving at all?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A young apprentice, a lifelong spacer with young children, a planet-raised traveler, an alien academic, a caretaker for the dead, and an Archivist whose mission is to ensure no one’s story is forgotten, wrestle with these profound universal questions. The answers may seem small on the galactic scale, but to these individuals, it could mean everything.” ~WWEnd.com</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I read this one as a part of a community read-along, for which you can see my spoiler-filled answers to the discussion questions <a href="https://tethyanbooks.blogspot.com/2019/11/read-along-record-of-spaceborn-few-by.html">here</a>, <a href="https://tethyanbooks.blogspot.com/2019/11/read-along-record-of-spaceborn-few-by_19.html">here</a>, and <a href="https://tethyanbooks.blogspot.com/2019/11/read-along-record-of-spaceborn-few-by_28.html">here</a>. Since I’ve posted a lot about it lately, I pushed this review to the top of my review queue.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The novels in the Wayfarers series all take place in the same universe, but the stories are only very tangentially related. To learn about the universe, I would still recommend reading them in publication order, but it doesn’t matter as much for the plot or characters. With regards to the plot, Chambers does not follow a traditional narrative structure in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Record of a Spaceborn Few</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Instead, she tends towards a “slice-of-life” structure, which is more focused on character study through the events of daily life than in conflict or adventures. We are following a handful of people who live in the Exodus Fleet, the group of habitable spaceships that (along with Mars) has become the homeland of humans after the death of Earth. The story explores each of their relationship to their home, their thoughts on the meaning of their lives, and how they see a future in the Fleet or out of it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At first, I felt like there were too many switching perspectives, and the general peacefulness of the characters’ lives made it a little difficult to keep them straight. After getting at least a few chapters from each viewpoint, though, the different voices and themes began to take shape in my mind. It was also interesting to learn more about Fleet society, and how the necessity of harmony and balance continues to shape their culture. Though it is an unusual science-fictional setting, the Fleet also has a lot of problems in common with small US towns. The Fleet is seen as a backwater, and there’s a drain of the younger generation to far-off universities and career opportunities. The Fleet is also seen as not having all that much to offer the wider galactic society, so there is generally not a lot of interest from outsiders. Concerns about the long-term future and safety of the Fleet, it’s place in wider society, and the value of its culture influence the character arcs of each of the viewpoint characters.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just as the wider societal problems have an analogue in reality, the personal troubles of each character are relatable to the lives of modern readers. I suspect that readers will identify more strongly with different characters, depending on where they currently are in their lives. I was especially drawn to the story of Eyas, a woman with a culturally valued career in post-life care. She loved her career and her community, but also found that it was demanding and restricted how much of herself she was able to express. Other characters included Kip (a teen who longs to run off to a university), Isabelle (an elderly woman forging ties with alien researchers), Sawyer (a planet-born young man longing for a simpler life), and Tessa (a mother who is uncertain about her family’s future in the Fleet). I enjoyed following them as they each looked for their own answers, and determined the path that their lives should take. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Rating: 3.5/5</span></div>
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<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Record of a Spaceborn Few </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is the third novel in the </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wayfarers</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> universe, though the story itself is standalone. That story takes even more of a “slice-of-life” approach than the previous books in the series, as we follow the perspectives of a handful of humans in the Exodus Fleet going about their daily lives. It’s a peaceful novel, focused on character study rather than a traditional plot. I enjoyed learning about the culture of the Fleet, and seeing the challenges it faced as an enduring community. Despite the science-fictional setting, I feel like each of the characters represented relatable anxieties from different stages of human life. It’s an unusual novel, but one that I’m glad to have read. I’ll keep an eye out for the next </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wayfarers </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">book!</span></div>
Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-57212913724454311942019-12-01T16:16:00.000-05:002019-12-01T16:16:02.572-05:00Review: Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Published: Sofawolf Press (2017), Red Wombat (2016)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Awards Nominated: Lodestar Award for Best YA Novel</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Book:</span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the witch Baba Yaga walks her house into the backyard, eleven-year-old Summer enters into a bargain for her heart's desire. Her search will take her to the strange, surreal world of Orcus, where birds talk, women change their shape, and frogs sometimes grow on trees. But underneath the whimsy of Orcus lies a persistent darkness, and Summer finds herself hunted by the monstrous Houndbreaker, who serves the distant, mysterious Queen-in-Chains…” ~<a href="https://www.redwombatstudio.com/portfolio/summer-in-orcus/">Red Wombat </a></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This one was free (link above) and up for the Lodestar Award, so I thought I’d give it a try. I didn’t realize T. Kingfisher was an alternate name for Ursula Vernon until after I’d read it. I’ve enjoyed some of her short fiction, too.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Summer in Orcus </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a traditional portal fantasy with some unusual elements, targeting a middle grade to young adult audience. I’d recommend it for people who like Catherynne Valente’s </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fairyland </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">series (and vice versa), since I feel like they both have the same kind of whimsical fantasy with more serious themes running throughout. In this case, the real-world themes involve Summer’s relationship with her mother, who struggles with allowing her anxiety to limit her young daughter’s life. Summer loves her mother, but also feels like maybe it would be alright if she had some adventures. Her mother’s anxiety shapes the way Summer views herself and the world around her, conflicting with her desire to explore and experience.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Summer’s ambitions in her secondary world are more modest than I expected. She doesn’t think of herself as a girl who could save the world, but she does hope that she might save </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">something</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- in this case, a magical tree that sprouts frogs. In pursuit of this and her heart’s desire, she ends up gathering a small party of allied fantastical creatures. She wanders from odd situation to situation, and her only assurance that she’s on the right track is the occasional presence of a particular color (which reminds me of hiking trails). Her path is not without resistance, though, and when she does meet with violence, it is abrupt and terrifying. In general, bad things in Orcus have a particular kind of weary, despairing, cynical darkness that I have not often seen in works targeting younger readers. Anyway, Summer’s journey does have an eventual destination, and I thought it wrapped up her personal arc well.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Rating: 3.5 /5 </span></div>
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<br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Summer in Orcus </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a young adult/middle grade portal fantasy that I would recommend to fans of Catherynne Valente’s </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fairyland </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">series. The fantasy land, Orcus, is full of interesting and quirky supernatural creatures and lands, and the heroine, Summer, feels authentic to me as a child protagonist. She enters Orcus with fairly modest goals, carrying with her the influences of her mother’s struggle with anxiety. She may not be a warrior or a hero, but she has her own journey to travel, and her own heart’s desire to find. Summer’s story feels very episodic at times, but I thought it came to a good resolution in the end.</span></div>
Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-35245174763630446262019-11-28T16:18:00.000-05:002019-11-28T16:18:24.240-05:00Read-Along: Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, Part 3 [END]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve been a little delayed, but today I have the final post for the Read-Along of Becky Chambers’s </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Record of a Spaceborn Few.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The discussion here may include spoilers from the entire book, so be warned. Sometime in the near future, I plan to post my usual review of the book. Overall, I felt like </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">this was a very peaceful book, largely about good people figuring out their own lives. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ghuh'loloan's offer of help to reach out to the galactic community in a different way speaks volumes about her thoughtfulness, and how well she's truly learned during her time on the Asteria. What do you think of her suggestions for how to help the Fleet thrive, going forward?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m glad that this part of the story, at least, has a relatively happy ending. I hope that her efforts do help the fleet for the future, and that it remains viable and even grows to be able to contribute to the galactic community. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tessa makes her decision, after receiving an unexpected gift of her own ... What are your thoughts on her choice, and on her relationship with George now that we've seen more of him?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think her choice makes sense, given how traumatized her daughter was by the fleet ship’s destruction. She lives in a place where Aya can feel safe now. I was a little surprised that George decided to come with them on a permanent basis. Before, their relationship really felt more like a friendship to me than a couple. That was both because of the distance between them, but also just because of how they interacted with one another. It looks like that might be shifting towards a more traditional kind of couple relationship. And you never know, maybe George will be a great baker one day. In an odd coincidence, my husband is also baking a new type of bread while I’m typing this. Maybe he and George have some things in common.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eyas and Sunny build a relationship of a different sort, first when she visits him at home and then when they come up with the outreach programme. How do you feel about this budding new relationship (yes this is a shipping question and no I'm not sorry), and would you visit somewhere like the Asteria if you knew that this help would be offered?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think they make good friends, and they could certainly try out being something more! I think their class will be very helpful, not just for potential immigrants but also for tourists and business travelers. There are so many things about a community that you can’t know from the outside, and that no one would think to tell you. I think that having this kind of a program available, and advertising it, makes the Fleet look much more welcoming to everyone. I typically only travel to places where I think I will feel safe, and a program like this would certainly help to give that impression. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Time moves on, and Kip grows up, and my heart swells. What are your final thoughts about the changes in him, both before and after returning home to the Fleet?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I knew he was a good kid! It was nice to see how living outside the Fleet changed his perspective of it, and to see how it began to be a unique heritage that he actually wanted to share with his alien friends. I was kind of skeptical when Isabelle said she thought Kip should be an archivist, but I think he did really grow into it.</span></div>
Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-31352615768897114522019-11-19T14:43:00.000-05:002019-11-19T14:43:04.751-05:00Read-Along: Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s time for the second post in the read-along of Becky Chambers’s </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Record of a Spaceborn Few. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This post will cover parts 2-4, so beware of spoilers up to there! A lot happened this time, and I am now no longer expecting any kind of traditional overarching plot. This is entirely a slice-of-life story about living in the Exodan Fleet. Now, on to the questions:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I did not see it coming in the slightest. Even after the narrative said he had died, I thought maybe he was just unconscious, until Kip and his friend overheard about the disposal of his body. He was a perspective character! They’re supposed to be safe! I feel bad for Sawyer, so yes I did sympathize with him. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As for how he died, Oats should really have considered that Sawyer was from a planet. He didn’t have the same kinds of instincts drilled into him as people who grew up in spaceships. He was upset, and stressed, and I think it was reasonable that he didn’t consider the danger posed by a sealed door in vacuum. His crew should have taken care of him, and they didn’t.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In general, though, I did see that he was headed for trouble. The “salvage crew” he joined was really obviously shady, and he just blew past every warning. “We like to keep our postings off the lists”, the pinhole drive, how the parameters of the job started changing once he could no longer back out. I expected him to end up arrested, and Eyas would have to speak for him. At the very least, I’m glad she was there to identify him, and to grieve for him. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It seems as though Tessa is considering leaving the Fleet with her family. Do you think she will? If so, do you think it's the right call for her to make?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Is she? I didn’t pick up that she was making concrete plans, but I could have missed it. I can see how the destruction of the other ship might make one reconsider life in the fleet. Other than that, the fleet seems like a good place, but I also get the sense that it won’t be around forever. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kip takes a big step forward in his personal growth after the smash incident, by taking to heart the feelings and the dignity of others instead of only thinking of himself. How much of this change in him do you think will stick, and what are your feelings about Ras after their 'conversation' about what to do?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t think Kip is a bad kid at all, just easily swayed by people who make poor decisions. Ras is not a good friend, but it’s going to be up to Kip to realize that. It must be frustrating for his parents to be able to see that, and also know that they can’t </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">make </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kip realize he has a bad friend. It might help that Kip is going to get Ras into major trouble about this, if he comes fully clean about the smash. Their friendship may not survive. Regardless, I think these two incidents together might be enough to help him learn how to stand firm against peer pressure.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Isabel and Eyas have also been presented with the possibility of significant change, in their respective stories within this story. Isabel has an opportunity to open doors for the Fleet within the larger galactic community, while Eyas finds herself opening up emotionally in ways she perhaps had never done before (with Sunny, and later when she grieves for Sawyer). What further changes do you see all of this bringing for their own community on the Asteria, and for the Fleet in general?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I feel like what Eyas needs is a private life. Part of her loneliness, and her feeling of incompleteness in her career, is simply that there is a large part of herself that has no place in her life. If she had people to go home to, who expected “Eyas the person” and not “Eyas the caretaker”, I think that would relieve some of her dissatisfaction. I feel like that’s what she’s doing, in her kind-of-relationship with Sunny. He is helping her by creating a place in her life where she can be herself. Maybe she’ll find a way to build that outside of a tryst club.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Isabel’s story might involve a much more dramatic change for the fleet. I think that the interest that Ghuh’loloan’s bringing to the fleet will ultimately be a good thing. There are issues with the fleet that need to be addressed, and it’s good that the benefactors want to meet with fleet members to find out what and how. I hope the end result is positive! </span></span></div>
Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-44827669775686961852019-11-08T11:47:00.002-05:002019-11-08T11:47:40.784-05:00Read-Along: Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GXJ1hucfW7I/XcWbkB_4m3I/AAAAAAAAB4g/oTlNZJcf0q89IhMmT04Os3Y66pBTwRgUQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/bc_recordof.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GXJ1hucfW7I/XcWbkB_4m3I/AAAAAAAAB4g/oTlNZJcf0q89IhMmT04Os3Y66pBTwRgUQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bc_recordof.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s been a while since I’ve participated in a read-along, but now it’s time to get back into the habit! I’ve joined a read-along of Becky Chambers’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Record of a Spaceborn Few</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for this November, together with <a href="https://deargeekplace.com/">Lisa of Dear Geek Place</a> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and a few others. The schedule is as follows, in case you’d like to join in discussion in future weeks:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Week 1: Friday 8th November, discussing Prologue & Part 1 </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Week 2: Friday 15th November, discussing Parts 2, 3 & 4 </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Week 3: Friday 22nd November, discussing Parts 5, 6 & 7</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve read and reviewed both </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://tethyanbooks.blogspot.com/2017/11/review-long-way-to-small-angry-planet.html">The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet </a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://tethyanbooks.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-closed-and-common-orbit-by-becky.html">A Closed and Common Orbit</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and have been looking forward to learning about the Exodus Fleet in </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Record of a Spaceborn Few.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Today, I’m going to answer the Week 1 discussion questions, so beware of spoilers from here on out through Part 1! To be honest, it took me longer to get into this one, because the point-of-view kept bouncing around between unrelated (or only slightly related) characters. I’m still enjoying it, though!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. As with the previous Wayfarer books, this one is driven more by characters and ideas than by high-energy/high-action plot, despite that prologue. If you're new to the series, is this approach one that surprised you, and what do you think of it so far? If you have read the books before, is it something you appreciate?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It didn’t surprise me, since I’m not new to the series. It did seem a little more meandering than I remember from previous books, though. In the first, we had the challenging wormhole-making job, and the second had a clear character arc driving the action. So far, in this one, we’re just following the daily life of a handful of people in the Fleet, and any kind of overarching plot has yet to emerge. Their daily lives </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">are</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> interesting, I am just hoping for a little bit more to the plot.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Sticking with first impressions a bit longer - what do you think of Exodan life (and all that history), and of the way Becky Chambers presents it to the reader, ie. specifically through the lenses of these characters?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I like the idea of the Fleet as a kind of human homeworld. I didn’t feel like I was being info-dumped on as we learned through the eyes of various characters. It’s a little sad that the young people see it as a dead-end place, I think, because that implies that the Fleet is in decline from which it may not ultimately recover.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. In addition to the personal perspective on Exodan life, we do get some perspective from 'outside' sources, namely Sawyer and, to a lesser extent, Ghuh'loloan. How do you feel about their particular perspectives on the Exodan Fleet, and do you think these views in particular are important ones to share? If so, why? (Or why not?)</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think it was important to show at least one outsider view, simply so that we as the readers could get a better description of the society through their experiences. Ghuh’loloan shows that some people do care about learning about humanity, which is nice. Sawyer… I felt kind of bad for him about that fishy pickle sandwich. He has this idealized picture of what the Fleet is, and maybe he needs to calm down for a while. I think it was nice to show the true outsider view (the alien) and the outsider-with-a-connection view (a human who has never been there before). It’s kind of like showing, for instance, the culture of a Chinese town simultaneously through the eyes of a white American vs. an American of Chinese descent.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Politics, technology, gender identity... As before, this is a book that's all about relationships. How they begin, how they stand now, and how they might progress. There's a lot of today's unfurling potential in how Chambers writes her stories and builds her world(s), but notably without a lot of our conflict. Do you think this is a world we can build, or does it feel too good to be true? </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don’t know if “too good to be true” is exactly how I’d put it. I mean, the Earth was destroyed and our species is a minor addition to the wider galactic society. However, I like that the people in her books, generally, are kind. I sometimes feel like there is a lack of kindness in the world today, but I don’t need that lack to be reflected in the stories I read. I hope we can build a world someday where people care about others, where “no one goes hungry, and everyone has a home”.</span></span></div>
Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-44661558576651598572019-10-28T21:23:00.001-04:002019-10-28T21:23:18.334-04:00Review: The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Od6NDKB4pMw/Xayv6QCVDgI/AAAAAAAAB4M/-zmvdiA8QHwUiIZn9BhnE7z_1EQ9obKFACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/mw_serpents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Od6NDKB4pMw/Xayv6QCVDgI/AAAAAAAAB4M/-zmvdiA8QHwUiIZn9BhnE7z_1EQ9obKFACPcBGAYYCw/s320/mw_serpents.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Published: Night Shade Books 2012</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Series: Book 2 of the Books of the Raksura</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Book:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moon, once a solitary wanderer, has become consort to Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud court. Together, they travel with their people on a pair of flying ships in hopes of finding a new home for their colony. Moon finally feels like he’s found a tribe where he belongs.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But when the travelers reach the ancestral home of Indigo Cloud, shrouded within the trunk of a mountain-sized tree, they discover a blight infecting its core. Nearby they find the remains of the invaders who may be responsible, as well as evidence of a devastating theft. This discovery sends Moon and the hunters of Indigo Cloud on a quest for the heartstone of the tree—a quest that will lead them far away, across the Serpent Sea. . . .” </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">~<a href="http://www.nightshadebooks.com/book/serpent-sea-the/">Night Shade Books </a></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here continues my reviews of the Books of the Raksura. I haven’t read the rest of the series yet, but I plan to at some point!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Thoughts:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Serpent Sea</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> picks up where </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cloud Roads </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">left off and continues directly into a new adventure. There is a bit of recap at the beginning to orient the reader, but I would strongly recommend reading the series in order. If you have already read </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cloud Roads, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">then you basically know what kind of book you’ll be getting with</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Serpent Sea. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moon is still trying to fit into his new community, Indigo Cloud court still has internal problems, and a new external problem requires adventuring and combat. This new problem comes in the form of a lost treasure, the heartstone of the tree, which our characters must journey to recover. I had been hoping for more focus on problems internal to the court, so I was a little disappointed when I realized this was the direction the story would take. I intend that as a compliment towards Wells’s world-building with the Raksuran court, not as a slight of this book.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The group of Raksuran characters interact with several new societies in the process of the search, and I enjoyed seeing a bit more of this vast world. It was interesting to see them interact with another Raksuran court, and the floating city on the sea where much of the action took place was creative, though fragile-seeming. Their interactions with groundling species drive home the fact that, while they aren’t the Fell, the Raksura are pretty terrifying and dangerous as well. I’m looking forward to seeing if there is more cooperation between the Raksura and certain groundling societies in the future books. Whether that happens or not, I get the sense that there’s still plenty of room in this world to explore in the rest of the series.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The writing style is similar to the first book, concise with a focus on actions and dialogue. There are again many named minor characters to keep straight, but the story is fast-paced and suspenseful. I also enjoyed the way this book focuses on Moon’s experiences as a solitary. One of my favorite parts involves him using his skills at blending into groundling societies to infiltrate a magister’s tower. We also get to see part of the basis for the prejudice against solitaries in Raksuran society. The ending is exciting, and my only complaint would be about a random combat scene that happens in the denouement. It felt strangely jarring, since it happens after the main conflicts have been resolved. I suspect it might be intended to foreshadow conflicts that will arise in the next book. I guess I’ll see sooner or later!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Rating: 4/5</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Serpent Sea </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a fitting continuation of the story that begins in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cloud Roads, </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and I expect fans of the first will also like the second. Most of the long-running conflicts in the Indigo Cloud court are still present, but the theft of their colony tree’s heartstone presents the immediate problem that must be solved in the arc of this novel. I enjoyed seeing more of the world, and getting the chance to see Moon’s particular skills benefit his new community. I’m hoping for more focus on the court itself in the next book, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Siren Depths,</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> which I am definitely planning to read!</span></span>Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-52319030100592760772019-10-20T15:03:00.001-04:002019-10-20T15:03:53.545-04:00Review: The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Published: Night Shade Books, 2011</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series: Book 1 of Books of the Raksura</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Awards Nominated: Hugo Award for Best Series</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Book:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Moon has spent his life hiding what he is: a shape-shifter able to transform himself into a winged creature of flight. An orphan with only vague memories of his own kind, Moon tries to fit in among the tribes of his river valley, with mixed success. Just as he is once again cast out by his adopted tribe, he discovers a shape-shifter like himself—someone who seems to know exactly what he is, who promises that Moon will be welcomed into the shape-shifter community.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What this stranger doesn’t tell Moon is that his presence will tip the balance of power, that his extraordinary lineage is crucial to the colony’s survival, and that his people face extinction at the hands of the dreaded Fell! Now Moon must overcome a lifetime of conditioning in order to save and himself . . . and his newfound kin.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
~ <a href="http://www.nightshadebooks.com/book/the-cloud-roads/">Night Shade Books</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Completely independently, I happened to come across the Raksura series and the Murderbot Diaries at roughly the same time. They seem very different to have come from the same person! I’ve read the first two books of the Raksura series so far, so I bumped up the review of the second book to be for next week. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I see </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cloud Roads </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as the kind of book that has crossover appeal for Adult and YA target demographics, though it is marketed as an adult fantasy novel. At the center of the novel is a self-realization arc for the main character, Moon. Though he is already biologically an adult, his personal growth feels in many ways like a coming-of-age story. Moon knows virtually nothing about himself, his species, and his origins, and we follow him as he slowly learns, opens up, and comes into his own in Raksuran society. In addition, the writing style is concise and direct, with lots of action and dialogue. The story moves very quickly, and the prose is easy to read.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I got the sense that the world of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cloud Roads </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was enormous, and that only a tiny fraction of it was involved in this first novel. This seems to leave plenty of room for new places and new people to come into the story later in the series. In this first book, most of the emphasis is on the Raksura, though we also get some information about the villain species, the Fell. I’m not typically a big fan of stories with entirely evil species, but in this case I appreciate that it allows for a relatively simple external conflict to pair with Moon’s more complicated internal struggles. As for the Raksura, I really enjoyed reading about their biology and culture. Members of different castes have different available shape-shifting forms, and I thought the attention to how their bodies influenced their mannerisms and activities gave the characters a good sense of physical presence as non-humans. There was a lot of information and many named minor characters to keep straight, but I feel like this will get easier as I continue in the series.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One thing that I especially liked about Raksuran culture was the partial inversion of common human gender roles and stereotypes. A person of Moon’s caste (a consort) is valuable primarily for his fertility, and is expected to be moody, delicate, flighty and emotional. While Moon is indeed kind of moody and emotional, which I think is understandable given his background, he doesn’t fit with some of the other expectations. For instance, having grown up alone, he is accustomed to hunting and fighting, and he is not exactly delicate. If he were a woman in a society with “traditional gender roles”, I think he’d be considered an awkward tomboy. I found it interesting to see a society that not only inverts some of our world’s stereotypes, but also then challenges them within its own framework. At the end of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cloud Roads, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was eager to see more about how Moon’s new community would continue and how they would address internal issues that still need to be resolved. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My rating: 4/5 </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cloud Roads </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is the entertaining first book of a series about shape-shifting Raksura, and the difficulties their people encounter in a fantasy world. This book follows Moon, a young shape-shifter who grew up in ignorance of his heritage, and who is welcomed back into a troubled Raksuran community. I enjoyed the level of detail with which Raksuran biology and society are imagined, and I sympathized with Moon as he tried to learn to fit into their culture. I especially liked the partial inversion of human gender stereotypes with respect to Moon’s caste and character. This was a fast-moving book, and it left me eager to learn more about this world in the rest of the series!</span></span>Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-3582760989089455832019-10-13T16:42:00.000-04:002019-10-13T16:42:13.919-04:00Review: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5GwcJkODz0Y/XZpmV6E7MkI/AAAAAAAAB3o/yjof86guaUEWEFW511o91vYLRGIudZgZwCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/KA_bearnigh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5GwcJkODz0Y/XZpmV6E7MkI/AAAAAAAAB3o/yjof86guaUEWEFW511o91vYLRGIudZgZwCPcBGAYYCw/s320/KA_bearnigh.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Published: Del Rey (2017)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Series: Book 1 of the Winternight Trilogy</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Awards Nominated: Locus First Novel Award</span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;" /><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-shadow: none;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">But Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed—to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales." ~<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/251789/the-bear-and-the-nightingale-by-katherine-arden/">Penguin Random House</a></span></span></i><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bear and the Nightingale </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is Arden’s first novel, and I read it for consideration in voting for the John Campbell Award for Best New Writer (now the Astounding Award for Best New Writer). Arden was a finalist for both 2018 and 2019.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Thoughts:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bear and the Nightingale </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a chronological story of the birth and childhood of the main character, Vasilisa (a.k.a Vasya). The story is slow and meandering, often shifting to follow small subplots, and changing viewpoint characters fairly frequently. The supernatural conflict mentioned in the description does eventually arise, but it takes a long time for it to come to the forefront. I think this kind of story rewards a reader with a strong emotional investment in the main character, Vasya. For me, she is an easy character to like -- kind, curious, and bold-- but I also think the narrative oversells her specialness a little. I get the impression that this novel is an origin story, and that the rest of the trilogy might follow her adventures as an adult.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Similar to my reaction to Vasya, I get the feeling that my emotional responses to the characters were not quite in line with the intent of the story. For instance, the description above makes Vasya’s stepmother, Anna, sound far more malicious and powerful than she actually is. I felt I could see the whole shape of Anna’s life, and it was a neverending nightmare. Her ability to see supernatural creatures could have been a blessing, but she genuinely believes that they are demons haunting her every waking day. She is also a victim of repeated marital rape, by a character we are meant to like. She has no real power over anyone, not even herself. The enforcement of Christian piety is through the local priest, another person who is in Vasya’s life against his own will. I don’t blame him for some bitterness, since he is aware that his career is being sabotaged. Beyond that, though, he starts to embody virtually every negative stereotype of the Christian church. As a Christian, I didn’t like the way the story set up Christianity as an uncomplicated villain. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though I might not have had the intended reactions to the characters, I liked the writing style and the setting. It was interesting to see the various spirits from Russian folklore, and I enjoyed the chance to practice my understanding of Russian diminutives. The setting was vivid--it seemed like I could almost feel the chill of winter. The supernatural elements were well-grounded, and felt like an organic part of Vasya’s world. I am not sure whether I would consider this novel to be part of the YA subgenre. The denser writing style and slow build of the story is more characteristic of adult fantasy, but it is a story about the childhood and coming-of-age of a young girl. Regardless, I can see how this is a book that has captured the imagination of many people. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Rating: 3/5</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bear and the Nightingale </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a slowly-paced origin story for the heroine, Vasilisa, who I expect will continue as the main character in the rest of the Winternight Trilogy. I enjoyed the descriptive writing of the rural Russian countryside where she grew up, and the inclusion of creatures out of Russian folktales. The parts of the story that were supernatural fit in well with the natural world. I personally had more sympathy for the antagonists than I think was intended, and perhaps a bit less for the heroine. I feel like this one was just not exactly up my alley, though I can understand its popularity. </span></span></div>
<br />Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-47835593098908254652019-10-06T18:07:00.000-04:002019-10-06T18:07:56.763-04:00Review: A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Published: Amulet Books / Macmillan Children’s Books (2017)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Awards Nominated: Locus YA, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, Carnegie Medal</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Book:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes, when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide. Some people have space within them, perfect for hiding. Twelve-year-old Makepeace has learned to defend herself from the ghosts which try to possess her in the night, desperate for refuge, but one day a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And now there's a spirit inside her. The spirit is wild, brutish and strong, and it may be her only defense when she is sent to live with her father's rich and powerful ancestors. There is talk of civil war, and they need people like her to protect their dark and terrible family secret.”~goodreads.com</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t tend to review a lot of YA on this site, but that’s mostly because I know I’m not really the target audience. Nevertheless, I decided to try reading some of the Lodestar nominees of 2018, and this book was provided to me through NetGalley. I did read it in time for the voting, but my reviews have just gotten terribly delayed. This novel was my favorite of the bunch, though </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Summer in Orcus </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by T. Kingfisher was also really good. This is the first book I’ve read by Frances Hardinge</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I would call </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Skinful of Shadows </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a mix between horror and fantasy. The horror is obvious; the premise of the book involves spirits invading the bodies of the living. However, Makepeace does not view her ability to host the spirits of others within her own body as only a thing of terror. She is frightened by the prospect of her own mind being crushed by the spirits of the dead, but she is also willing to share the space inside herself with those for whom she finds compassion. I liked that her ability was not portrayed as inherently beneficial or harmful, but as a potentially useful, yet dangerous tool. In this way, the supernatural elements feel more like the magic system of a dark fantasy, and this shifts the whole story closer to my interests.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The heart of the story is the coming-of-age of the heroine, who bears the unusual puritan name of Makepeace. She is a young adolescent girl that does not have the support or guidance of anyone with her best interests at heart. There is a lot about the world around her that she does not understand, and every day she must struggle to find a place within it that doesn’t result in her death, or worse. Even so, she meets the difficulties she encounters with determination, intelligence, resourcefulness, and a solid sense of self-worth. I thought she was an excellent heroine, and there is a lot in her character that younger readers could admire.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The book starts just before the English civil war (~1640s, I think), which is not a period of English history with which I’m particularly well-versed. I didn’t feel like my lack of familiarity with the history was a barrier to understanding the story, especially since this seems to be a primarily fictional take on the period. It seems to have been a confusing and chaotic time, and I liked that the narrative primarily focused on the common people caught in the chaos rather than the politics of aristocrats. Makepeace has no reason to favor one side of the civil war over the other, though she does get caught up in events from time to time. There is also a strong sense of place and atmosphere, so younger readers who are interested in historical fantasy would likely find a lot here to enjoy. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Rating: 4/5</span></div>
<br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frances Hardinge’s </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Skinful of Shadows </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is an entertaining YA horror/fantasy set in mid-1600s England. The story involves an aristocratic family who has the hereditary ability to harbor spirits of the dead within their bodies, and I appreciated that it considers both the harm and good that can come from such an ability. I liked the strong sense of the place and time, and I liked the mental strength and determination of the heroine, Makepeace. As an adult, my perspective may not be that of the target audience, but I can say that I enjoyed this novel very much.</span>Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-67089868325905840412019-09-08T21:37:00.000-04:002019-09-08T21:39:53.499-04:00Review: City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Published: Jo Fletcher Books/Broadway Books, 2016</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Awards Nominated: Locus Fantasy Award</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Book:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“A generation ago, the city of Voortyashtan was the stronghold of the god of war and death, the birthplace of fearsome supernatural sentinels who killed and subjugated millions. Now, the city's god is dead. The city itself lies in ruins. And to its new military occupiers, the once-powerful capital is a wasteland of sectarian violence and bloody uprisings.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So it makes perfect sense that General Turyin Mulaghesh -- foul-mouthed hero of the battle of Bulikov, rumored war criminal, ally of an embattled Prime Minister -- has been exiled there to count down the days until she can draw her pension and be forgotten. At least, it makes the perfect cover story.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The truth is that the general has been pressed into service one last time, dispatched to investigate a discovery with the potential to change the world -- or destroy it. The trouble is that this old soldier isn't sure she's still got what it takes to be the hero.” ~WWEnd.com</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I didn’t really have much time to form expectations about this book, because I started it immediately after the first. I was in an airplane, I had it on my e-reader, and the first book had been really good. There are some vague spoilers below, but I tried to keep from giving away specifics. I should also mention that this book was provided to me by Net Galley for Hugo considerations in 2018. I did read it for that purpose, though my review is considerably delayed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Blades </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">takes place a few years after </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Stairs, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and it tells a standalone story. There are some recurring characters from the first book, but I think you could read them in whatever order you prefer. As in the previous book, I loved the cultural world-building and the atmospheric descriptions of place. The basic set up this time is similar, following a retired general traveling to Voortyashtan with the ulterior motive of investigating a strange disappearance. Naturally, things are more complicated than they at first appear, and it soon becomes clear that deities might be involved somehow. The focus this time, though, is on the nature of war in general, and the effects of the specific war between Saypur and the continent. This makes for a somewhat darker book, and also one that I felt was more emotional. The brutality of Voortya’s people is still not far from the minds of Saypuri, and it is not surprising that peace there is a brittle thing. On a more personal level, we see what war has done to the heroine, Turyin Mulaghesh. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mulaghesh was introduced originally in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Stairs, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but she didn’t make that much of an impression on me. In this book, she takes center stage, and she became more compelling to me as I learned more about her. She starts out as a particular character type, a veteran who isn’t coping well with the trauma of war and who has turned to alcohol for solace. However, she was not simply a soldier in the first war against the continent--she was an un-indicted war criminal. The guilt that has been killing her since those days is justified. Her acceptance of her own sins also helps to keep her from romanticizing war and violence in the way that others might. I thought she made for an excellent protagonist for this kind of a story. Fans of the first book might also be happy to hear that Sigrud plays a large supporting role, and that we do get to learn more about him. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s one other thing I feel I should mention, since it happened both in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Stairs </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Blades</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a distressing and seemingly gratuitous character death. There is a major side character in each book who is killed late in the story. In both cases, this happened to a character I liked, and in both cases I didn’t see why it had to happen that way. This is more an issue of personal preference than a criticism of the book, but I thought it might be helpful to mention for other readers. For me, it felt like a little unpleasant jab in a story where I would otherwise expect the major characters to save the day and emerge victorious. Aside from this small twinge, I found the story and the world to be as immersive and entertaining as ever. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Rating: 5/5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Blades, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the follow-up to the impressive </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Stairs, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">tells a standalone story that is perhaps even more entertaining than the first novel. Where the first novel focused on religion, culture, and history, this second novel focuses on war and its effects. For this purpose, rumored war criminal Mulaghesh is a natural protagonist. Her personal story was emotional and compelling, and it matched nicely with the mystery she went to Voortyashtan to uncover. I am looking forward to seeing how the trilogy will conclude!</span></div>
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Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-58075262486901974222019-08-31T19:12:00.000-04:002019-09-08T21:40:52.603-04:00Review: City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Published: Jo Fletcher Books/Broadway Books, 2014</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Series: Book 1 of the Divine Cities</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Awards Nominated: Holdstock, World Fantasy, and Locus Fantasy Awards</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Book:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions — until its divine protectors were killed. Now Bulikov has become just another colonial outpost of the world's new geopolitical power, but the surreal landscape of the city itself — first shaped, now shattered, by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it — stands as a constant, haunting reminder of its former supremacy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov's oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country's most accomplished spies, dispatched to catch a murderer. But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem — and that Bulikov's cruel reign may not yet be over.” ~WWend.com</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’d heard a lot of positive things about this series, so I finally decided to check it out. I don’t think I’d ever read anything by Robert Jackson Bennett before. This review is going to be followed by one for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Blades, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">because I read them back-to-back.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14.85px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I should also mention that this book was provided to me by Net Galley for Hugo considerations in 2018. I did read it for that purpose, though my review is considerably delayed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part of the reason I held off on reading this for several years, despite hearing positive things about it, is that it appeared to be an epic fantasy revolving around a murder mystery. I have a low tolerance for murder mysteries, and my interest in epic fantasy had been flagging. Luckily, this book was unusual in both of these respects. The story does start off with a murder investigation, but the death is more of an inciting incident than the central focus of the story. The world is also really creative, and has more technology than I would usually expect in the sub-genre. The sense of place for Bulikov is very strong, and I enjoyed the way the unreliable, frightening effects of the divine influenced the story. I also appreciated the complicated cultural tension between Saypur and the continent. The way the world was described made the book feel very immersive to me, so I was very quick to be drawn into the story.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a plot-driven book, rather than character-driven, but several of the characters were quite memorable. I like reading about teamwork, so I was a big fan of the strong non-romantic relationship between Shara and Sigrud. They complemented each other well and made for a nearly unstoppable team. There was a little too much of an emphasis on quirks in their characterization for me (e.g. Shara constantly drinks tea and doesn’t eat), but that’s a minor complaint. It was really easy for me to latch onto Shara’s perspective let myself be swept away by the story. Sometimes coincidences she encountered seemed a little convenient, but I was always eager to see the next new thing. This was a smooth read that felt far shorter than its 400+ pages. I was ready to read the next book of the series immediately!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Rating: 4.5/5</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Stairs </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a highly entertaining fantasy story that kicks off with a murder mystery and ends up with much more miraculous problems. I especially liked the world-building and the immersive atmosphere of the setting. The non-romantic partnership of the main characters, Shara and Sigrud, was also a strong draw for me. They were both memorable characters in their own right, but together they made for a compelling team. There was a lot going on throughout the book, but everything came together in a satisfying way at the end. I’m certainly going to be reading more work by Bennett, and I’ll be reviewing </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">City of Blades </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">next on my blog! </span>Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-2460591364061101882019-08-18T20:49:00.000-04:002019-08-18T20:49:06.401-04:00Review: Autonomous by Annalee Newitz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lhy4mk5rne0/XTZb1LMrkJI/AAAAAAAAB2U/OiXJszx2bcw7eqAKpQwdO-7lR99pW-MVACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/an_autonomo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lhy4mk5rne0/XTZb1LMrkJI/AAAAAAAAB2U/OiXJszx2bcw7eqAKpQwdO-7lR99pW-MVACPcBGAYYCw/s320/an_autonomo.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Autonomous by Annalee Newitz</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Published: Tor (2017)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Awards Nominated: Nebula, Campbell Memorial and Locus First Novel Awards</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Book:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap scrips for poor people who can't otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses as people become addicted to their work, doing repetitive tasks until they become unsafe or insane.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hot on her trail, an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his robotic partner, Paladin. As they race to stop information about the sinister origins of Jack's drug from getting out, they begin to form an uncommonly close bond that neither of them fully understand. And underlying it all is one fundamental question: Is freedom possible in a culture where everything, even people, can be owned?” ~WWEnd.com</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I picked up this book because of all the award attention, and also because the premise sounded like it would make an interesting story. This is Annalee Newitz’s first novel.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My Thoughts:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The world of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Autonomous </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a future capitalist nightmare, extrapolated from current trends. Corporations have far more power than they do now, so laws have shifted to accommodate what is best for them. For instance, patents are permanent and secret, so that pharmaceutical companies can continue to profit on drugs indefinitely. The question of robotic AI rights vs. human rights is also settled in a way that prioritizes profits -- if robots can be considered human, then humans can also be considered commodities. It’s a pretty dark future, but not a fully unrecognizable one. It also doesn’t seem completely hopeless, since we see people like Jack fighting against the status quo, even if she isn’t altogether noble.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I enjoyed what I saw of the world-building, but I had a hard time sympathizing with the characters, even though I often like reading about people with major flaws. Eliasz is a murderous homophobe, and, for all their initial naivete, Paladin seems to become similar. Jack is the most objectively decent main character, but her black market drugs make her responsible for a lot of suffering. In addition, both Jack and Eliasz separately engage in sexual relationships that seem very exploitative, due to uncomfortable power dynamics. I think that part of my issue might have been that I did not feel like their character flaws were sufficiently acknowledged or addressed within the story. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even if they didn’t engage me emotionally, some of the characters were pretty fun to read about. I enjoyed seeing Jack navigate her counterculture, and I especially liked Paladin’s character arc. Paladin begins the story as a newborn robot AI, and we get to see them learn about the world and their place in it. I enjoyed the idea of what a robotic AI perspective might be like, and it was interesting to see how their thoughts were affected by things like code and communication protocols. There were also differences in the relative importance that humans and robots put on particular topics. For instance, gender is not something the robots care about, and they don’t have any natural instinct to value organic components over mechanical. I think Paladin’s arc is going to be the part of the story that sticks with me the strongest.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My Rating:3.5/5</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Autonomous</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was an entertaining book, set in a corporate dystopia that I seriously hope we never reach in reality. Though the world was bleak, it was also interesting, and I enjoyed the exploration of the perspective of a robotic AI. The characters had some serious flaws, which I usually like, but in this case it made it difficult for me emotionally invest in the story. Overall, I liked this book, and I would be interested in reading more from Newitz. It looks like her next book, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Future of Another Timeline, </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765392121">coming out Sept. 24, 2019!</a></span></span>Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-78897013783440746542019-07-22T20:54:00.001-04:002019-07-22T20:57:22.716-04:00Review: Raven Strategem by Yoon Ha Lee<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Raven Strategem by Yoon Ha Lee</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Published: Solaris (2017)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Series: Book 2 of the Machineries of Empire</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Awards Nominated: Hugo and Locus SF Awards</span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-f922950d-7fff-7e79-413f-856b66c0ec44" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><a href="https://tethyanbooks.blogspot.com/2017/08/review-ninefox-gambit-by-yoon-ha-lee.html"></a>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Book:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Captain Kel Cheris is possessed by a long-dead traitor general. Together they must face the rivalries of the hexarchate and a potentially devastating invasion. When the hexarchate's gifted young captain Kel Cheris summoned the ghost of the long-dead General Shuos Jedao to help her put down a rebellion, she didn't reckon on his breaking free of centuries of imprisonment--and possessing her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even worse, the enemy Hafn are invading, and Jedao takes over General Kel Khiruev's fleet, which was tasked with stopping them. Only one of Khiruev's subordinates, Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan, seems to be able to resist the influence of the brilliant but psychotic Jedao. Jedao claims to be interested in defending the hexarchate, but can Khiruev or Brezan trust him? For that matter, will the hexarchate's masters wipe out the entire fleet to destroy the rogue general?” ~WWEnd.com</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I started reading this series due to it being a Hugo finalist, but I’ve continued reading them because they’re just so interestingly weird. I’ve reviewed the first book <a href="https://tethyanbooks.blogspot.com/2017/08/review-ninefox-gambit-by-yoon-ha-lee.html">here</a>. The final novel in the trilogy, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Revenant Gun, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is currently up for the Hugo again, so we’ll see how the series fares this year!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My Thoughts:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raven Stratagem </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">picks up not too long after the conclusion of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ninefox Gambit</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and the reader needs to remember the details of the previous novel. I’d recommend reading this series in order, and preferably not with long gaps in between. Sadly, I did not take this advice. I spent the first part of the book reminding myself of the universe, and also wondering if I had totally misread part of the ending of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ninefox Gambit</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It turns out that I didn’t, and everything does make sense in the end. It was just that several characters keep their cards very close to the chest, and sometimes secrets the reader doesn’t know can seem like narrative discontinuity or inconsistent characterization. After the reveals throughout </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raven Stratagem, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">my faith in Lee’s storytelling has been strengthened for the final novel of the trilogy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raven Stratagem</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has more focus on the characters than the first novel, but I would still say that characterization is not its strong point. We don’t have the perspective of Cheris/Jedao this time, so there isn’t much development there. Of the other characters, I most enjoyed reading about General Kel Khiruev, a woman who is put in an incredibly difficult position. Formation instinct requires her to obey Jedao, but she also has personal moral principles that she wants to follow. The soldier who is immune to formation instinct, Brezan, has a different problem--he is free to oppose Jedao, but he can only do so alone. Of all the characters, I was least interested in reading about the political machinations of the faction leaders. Even Mikodez, our perspective character, is kind of flat and inhuman. I’m wondering if this is intentional, as a way to represent how the Hexarchate crushes the humanity out of those who manage to rise up in its ranks.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was most impressed by the world-building in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ninefox Gambit</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and that continues to be a strong point in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raven Stratagem</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The broad strokes of the Hexarchate were laid out in the first book, and in this one we start to fill in more details. I had a hard time keeping all the factions straight in the first book, but here we get to see more interaction with the members of each. Exploring the Kel faction formation instinct, which enforces the soldier’s obedience to authority, is also a major focus of the novel. I feel like I also got a clearer picture this time of the sheer horror of the Hexarchate. Their government is incredibly dehumanizing and oppressive, and it is only becoming more so as time goes on. It is very easy to sympathize with a heretic’s desire to destroy it. Like </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ninefox Gambit, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this novel does tell a complete story, but it is still clearly part of a larger arc that I expect to conclude with </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Revenant Gun.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My Rating: 3.5/5</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raven Stratagem</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the second book of the creatively weird Machineries of Empire series, where adherence to calendar systems define the society and available technology. I enjoyed getting more details about the Hexarchate and its people, and I liked that there was a little more focus on characterization than in the first novel. On the other hand, there was also a plotline focusing on politics between villainish aristocrats, which didn’t really catch my interest. Overall, I did enjoy the novel, and I’ll definitely be reading the conclusion of the series, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Revenant Gun!</span></span>Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-37915356106241760122019-07-15T19:59:00.000-04:002019-09-08T21:44:35.206-04:00Review: Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9RCLaNqKIVc/XSJPYtMHQhI/AAAAAAAAB1w/67HqFGYEHZomvSy6xWTdPFPypj8cYnkhACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/sk_heroinec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9RCLaNqKIVc/XSJPYtMHQhI/AAAAAAAAB1w/67HqFGYEHZomvSy6xWTdPFPypj8cYnkhACPcBGAYYCw/s320/sk_heroinec.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Published: DAW Books (2016)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series: Book 1 of the Heroine Complex Trilogy</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Book:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Being a superheroine is hard. Working for one is even harder. Evie Tanaka is the put-upon personal assistant to Aveda Jupiter, her childhood best friend and San Francisco's most beloved superheroine. She's great at her job--blending into the background, handling her boss's epic diva tantrums, and getting demon blood out of leather pants.Unfortunately, she's not nearly as together when it comes to running her own life, standing up for herself, or raising her tempestuous teenage sister, Bea.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But everything changes when Evie's forced to pose as her glamorous boss for one night, and her darkest secret comes out: she has powers, too. Now it's up to her to contend with murderous cupcakes, nosy gossip bloggers, and supernatural karaoke battles--all while juggling unexpected romance and Aveda's increasingly outrageous demands. And when a larger threat emerges, Evie must finally take charge and become a superheroine in her own right... or see her city fall to a full-on demonic invasion.” ~WWEnd.com</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Heroine Complex is a quirky, cartoonish superheroine story, which makes it a good read when you’re up for something light and fun. The story follows two Asian American women, Evie Tanaka and Annie Chang (a.k.a. Aveda Jupiter), who live in a San Francisco where opening demonic portals have granted some people supernatural powers. The story is fast-paced and easy to read, and Evie’s narration is pleasant and often funny. The style feels a little like a comic book, in the sense that everything is over-the-top. Descriptions tend to be kind of kitschy, and each character is an extreme version of their particular type. This makes the world feel very colorful and energetic, though it also adds some silliness into high stakes situations. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While I enjoyed reading the story, I sometimes had difficulty believing in the relationships between the characters. For instance, Aveda Jupiter and Evie are childhood friends, but I initially didn’t pick up on a friendship between them at all. Another key relationship in the story, Evie’s romance subplot, seems to happen really quickly. A lot of the emotional development for both relationships take place in passionate, confessional conversations. Occasionally, I would have liked to see a little more change through actions rather than dialogue. Despite this, I still enjoyed seeing this story through Evie’s eyes, and I’m happy with how the conclusion ties up the various character arcs, as well as the main plot with the threat to San Francisco. The story continues in </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Heroine Worship </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Heroine’s Journey</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the second and third books of the trilogy. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My Rating: 3/5</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Heroine Complex is a light, fun Asian American superheroine story, set in a San Francisco threatened by demons traveling through unpredictable portals. The conversational and quirkily humorous narration by Evie Tanaka makes the story smoothly readable, and through her description the world feels vibrant and comic-book-like. On the other hand, I felt like the character development relied a bit too much on emotional conversations as turning points, and I sometimes didn’t really buy the relationships. In any case, it was an entertaining book, and I would recommend it to others looking for stories in this vein. </span></span></div>
Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-142133354583603132019-07-07T15:58:00.002-04:002019-07-07T15:58:45.929-04:00Review: Endymion by Dan Simmons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Endymion by Dan Simmons</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Published: Bantam Spectra, 1996</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Series: Book 3 of the Hyperion Cantos</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Awards Nominated: Locus SF Award</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Book:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Humanity once ruled an interstellar empire, held together by farcaster portals that allowed people to step directly over vast distances. When it was discovered that AIs were hijacking human brains while in transit, the portal system was destroyed, leaving each planet to its own devices. Nearly 300 years later, the Catholic Church offered something new to bridge the vast distances -- immortality through symbiosis with cruciform-shaped alien parasites. Billions of people were eager to accept the new sacraments of the Church. Raul Endymion was not one of them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Raul was a young former soldier who found himself entrusted with the protection of a special child, Aenea, who traveled from the future to once again change human society forever. Together with an android and a personal spaceship, they fled from the relentless agents of the Church. Their path was down the river Tethys, which once flowed across many different worlds, and did so again with Aenea’s influence.” ~Allie</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the third book of the Hyperion series, and I listened to it via audio while commuting to and from work. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Endymion</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> seems to be a straightforward adventure story, which makes it a little different from the previous books in the series. It primarily follows Aenea, Raul, and A. Bettik floating down a river through wildly different worlds, encountering exciting and dangerous obstacles. The other half of the story involves the pursuing warrior-priest, Federico de Soya, a man of true faith who is troubled by his increasing awareness of the ruthlessness of his organization. I think the structure of the story was especially appealing to me, since the broad strokes are so similar to pretend games I played as a child. I loved seeing the environments and lifeforms of each world, as well as seeing how the isolated human populations had adapted to live. I feel like I got to see so much more of this universe than I had from the previous novels.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I also really enjoyed reading about these particular characters. Raul is a kind and resourceful guy, and a pretty good narrator. I don’t really understand the obsession science fiction and fantasy seem to have with magical children, but I thought Aenea felt pretty genuine as a person and not just a plot device. It’s strongly hinted that Raul and Aenea will be romantically involved at some point in the future, but for this book their relationship is entirely platonic (I’ll talk more about this issue in my review of the final book). I was not terribly interested in the inner workings of the fictional future Catholic Church, but Father de Soya was a surprisingly sympathetic antagonist. I appreciated that even though a corrupt church is the villain in this story, we also see people who are true believers and who take the moral doctrine of their faith seriously. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My Rating: 5/5</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The third book of the Hyperion Cantos picks up the story several centuries later, with an almost entirely new cast of characters. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Endymion </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is an exciting chase story, with our heroes (Raul, Aenea and A.Bettik) fleeing across many interesting worlds while the Catholic Church continues its pursuit. It was really fun to explore more of this universe, and to see what happened to the people after the destruction of the farcasters. The main plot is resolved within the novel, but it is also clearly the first half of a larger story. I was pretty eager to jump right into the finale, and it also does not disappoint. I can see why this series is considered a classic of science fiction.</span></span></div>
Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-67318252257454732072019-04-22T16:44:00.000-04:002019-04-22T16:44:02.786-04:00Review: Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dy19WdHX1vU/XLOy1ad3PoI/AAAAAAAAB0w/b0jWzqXY5ZMnhIM37FZOEJ8RtmsYXSscgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/ml_sixwakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dy19WdHX1vU/XLOy1ad3PoI/AAAAAAAAB0w/b0jWzqXY5ZMnhIM37FZOEJ8RtmsYXSscgCPcBGAYYCw/s320/ml_sixwakes.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Published: Orbit (2017)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Awards Nominated: Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Book:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The starship Dormire is headed to colonize an alien planet, and it is crewed by criminals. In a future where cloning and mind-downloading are commonplace and carefully regulated by law, it is possible for a small crew of six to manage the day-to-day details of the ship’s journey, life after life. It’s not a terribly attractive job, but it is one certain criminals are willing to accept in exchange for the promise of a clean slate at their destination. To help start their new lives, their past crimes are to remain a secret. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Years after departure, these six clones wake up in the middle of a brutal murder scene, where they are also the victims. They have no memory of what has happened on the journey, and no idea who would have killed them all and why. Any one of them could be the killer, and not even know it. The clones must figure out what has happened before they are killed again--this time for good.” ~Allie</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Thoughts:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The future society of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Six Wakes </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is shaped by cloning and mind-uploading technology. I personally tend to like books that focus on these sorts of ideas, and in this case I enjoyed how it was carried through to consider legal and social ramifications. Also, I like stories that play with concepts of self and memory, so I found the premise--a mystery where any of the victims might unknowingly be the killer--deeply compelling. I say all this to point out that I was predisposed to like this book (and I did like it!) but I also felt the prose was a little weak. Occasionally, I would be distracted from the story by repetition or awkward phrasing, and there was a kind of sameness to the dialogue of different characters. The story and the world was a lot of fun, and for me, that was enough.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The story was split between present and past, the situation on the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dormire </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and the circumstances that brought each of the characters there. In the present, the stakes are raised through the loss of the ship’s cloning capability. If the characters are killed again, they will not be able to take another try at solving the mystery. This made the story pretty tense and paranoid, and in some cases information is withheld from the reader. The past stories are more of an exploration of the various ways things can go wrong in a world where minds are programmable and bodies are replaceable. It was in these backstories that I got to know each of the characters and their motivations, and this was also where I saw the most of the future society they inhabited. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While the situation on the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dormire </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">was certainly interesting, I was more drawn in by the backstories. Part of this might just be because I like world-building, and there’s more of it to see on a world than in a spaceship. I think another part that it is hard to simultaneously establish six compelling characters in an amnesia situation, where they are all also hiding everything about themselves beyond their basic personalities. In any case, it made it difficult for me to build emotional connections with the characters. It was the backstories that fleshed them out, showing us who they were and what they were capable of. As I saw more of the past, it became easier to understand and connect to what was happening in the present. Also, there were some interesting twists near the end, and I was pretty satisfied with how things concluded.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Rating: 3.5/5</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mur Lafferty’s </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Six Wakes </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">includes a lot of ideas I am drawn to in science fiction literature--cloning, mind-uploading, and related issues of self when personalities can be described in code. I enjoyed seeing ideas of how the introduction of these technologies might change human society. The story was really fun, but there was some weakness in the writing that was a little distracting. Rather than the spaceship murder mystery, I was more interested in reading about each character’s background and the cloning-related problems they’d had in their lives. Overall, it was an entertaining book, and one that I am happy to have read.</span></span>Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-29312471785358440382019-04-14T18:20:00.000-04:002019-04-14T18:20:25.901-04:00Review: Science: Hopes & Fears (Volume 2) by Juza Unno<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5GbeDs2qMZA/XKpYtyI__TI/AAAAAAAAB0c/2pBj97J_bJsVhG1WWvbOdx7v5NHBDgtGQCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/JuzaUnno2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5GbeDs2qMZA/XKpYtyI__TI/AAAAAAAAB0c/2pBj97J_bJsVhG1WWvbOdx7v5NHBDgtGQCPcBGAYYCw/s320/JuzaUnno2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Science: Hopes & Fears [Volume 2: Eighteen O’Clock Music Bath] by Juza Unno (translated by J.D. Wisgo)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Published: Self-published (2018)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Book:</span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Juza Unno, the father of Japanese science fiction, wrote a great number of stories in the 1930s and 1940s which contained exceptional elements of science and technology. Eighteen O’Clock Music Bath, one of his most well-known works, is a dystopian novella set in a future where humanity has obtained eternal life and the freedom to do almost anything–except for a single hour a day, where citizens must perform the most important societal tasks with superhuman productivity.</span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>This extreme productivity is made possible by the refreshing 30-minute “music bath”, where citizens listen to a specially-engineered melody that integrates a long list of factors chosen by the government. However, little do the people know that increased productivity is not the only side-effect…” ~Amazon.com</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Thoughts:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the second volume of the work of foundational Japanese science fiction author Juza Unno, translated by J.D. Wisgo. I have reviewed the first volume <a href="https://tethyanbooks.blogspot.com/2019/03/review-science-hopes-fears-volume-1-by.html">here</a>, and if you’re interested in this second novella you can find it on Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Science-Eighteen-OClock-Japanese-Fiction-ebook/dp/B079RB5R96/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=juza+unno&qid=1555280268&s=gateway&sr=8-2">here</a>. These works came to my attention because my brother was involved in the translation work for this book, and I think it’s an exciting opportunity to read some of the earliest Japanese science fiction. Since this is an older work that I am reading far out of its time, I will discuss but not rate the novella.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These days, dystopian fiction has become pretty popular. Juza Unno’s “Eighteen O’Clock Music Bath” may have been written over 80 years ago, but it presents some basic themes that have been presented time and again in stories since. The government is obsessed with controlling its citizens, mind and body, and they do so through new technology. The “music bath” is a method through which citizens can be both focused for an hour of superhuman productivity (for government-approved work, of course) and be forced to adhere to the ideals of the government for the rest of the day. The experience of the bath is actually deeply unpleasant to the citizens, and can even damage their brains from long exposure. To the president, this is a small price to pay for a docile, productive, crime-free populace. The president does not see humanity as a necessity in his subjects, only loyalty and obedience. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is some conflict set up between the scientists and politicians, but Unno does not seek to portray either in a particularly positive light. Initially, scientists are preventing the politicians from totally cooking the citizens brains, but the scientists are also the ones who made the music bath possible in the first place. The story was much more balanced in gender than I would’ve expected from such an old work. There are about the same amount of male and female characters, and two scientists are even a married couple. In addition, there’s some surprisingly abrupt transgender content, which some of the characters approve of and others revile. In general, this novella was not exactly what I expected for the time period, given my experiences with contemporary English works. It was really interesting to read a vision of a future dystopia imagined from historical Japan, and I wonder if the struggles of the era influenced the ultimate bleakness of the ending.</span></div>
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Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-90181371616468628432019-04-07T16:04:00.000-04:002019-04-07T16:04:38.760-04:00Review: Provenance by Ann Leckie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UuOANEiO848/XKE6tR6hXDI/AAAAAAAAB0I/0T0W9s5BedMEUq7FsRsrr9qDsIyOTyoUwCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/al_provenan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UuOANEiO848/XKE6tR6hXDI/AAAAAAAAB0I/0T0W9s5BedMEUq7FsRsrr9qDsIyOTyoUwCPcBGAYYCw/s320/al_provenan.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Provenance by Ann Leckie</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Published: Orbit (2017)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Awards Nominated: Hugo, Locus SF and British Science Fiction Association Awards</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Book:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">”A power-driven young woman has just one chance to secure the status she craves and regain priceless lost artifacts prized by her people. She must free their thief from a prison planet from which no one has ever returned.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ingray and her charge will return to her home world to find their planet in political turmoil, at the heart of an escalating intergalactic conflict. Together, they must make a new plan to salvage Ingray's future, her family, and her world, before they are lost to her for good.” ~WWEnd.com</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Thoughts:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Provenance </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is set in the same universe of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ancillary</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> trilogy, but otherwise has very little connection to it. It doesn’t share any characters with the previous books, and it also has a much lighter tone. The plot is full of energy and forward momentum, bouncing between many different kinds of high stakes situations (heists, murders, hostages, etc.). Somehow, all this activity comes together into a coherent story, both in terms of the plot and in terms of the repeated themes. I had a lot of fun reading it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interesting world-building was a highlight of the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ancillary </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">trilogy, and this book proves that there’s plenty of room for new cultures in the same universe. Leckie here includes the societies of Tyr, Hwae, and Omkem, as well as the alien Geck. The story mostly takes place in Hwae system, so theirs is the culture we learn the most about. A central concern in the novel is the Hwaean obsession with physical representations of their past. This includes not just important political documents, but even things as simple as old party invitations. The importance they place on these objects seems absurd to outsiders, but historical authenticity is an important way to establish status in Hwaean culture. In the other cultures, human and alien, there are also things that make sense within, but seem odd to outsiders. I enjoyed seeing how the different societies functioned, and seeing how they managed (or not) to deal with one another.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me, another strength of the story was the main character, Ingray. She was a child from a “public creche” who was adopted into a prestigious family (perhaps as an act of charity). She’s in competition with her privileged brother Danach to prove herself worthy of the family inheritance, but she doesn’t really think she’s capable of beating him. The story kicks off with her taking a huge risk in an uncharacteristically bold attempt to win her mother’s favor, and the fallout from this gamble propels the rest of the story. I found it very easy to sympathize with Ingray’s anxiety, her self-doubt, and her tendency to become overwhelmed and panicked when things go wrong (which happens a lot). She makes a lot of missteps, but she’s also far more intelligent and resourceful than she gives herself credit for. I am a huge fan of smart protagonists and of flawed protagonists, so Ingray was exactly the sort of person I prefer to read about.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On a last note, the word </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Provenance </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">essentially indicates the basic theme of the novel. Throughout all the action and Ingray’s misadventures, the novel is interested in exploring how the past forms a link to the present, and how it helps or hinders us as we move into the future. This plays out on the societal level in several ways, one of which is the questioning of the benefit and legitimacy of the Hwaean historical artifact traditions. On the personal level, we see this reflected in the lives of Ingray as well as a cast of several memorable minor characters. Ingray’s self-worth is influenced by the knowledge of her “lowly” birth status, and she is also molded by the enforced competition of her family environment. Her past shapes who she has become, but she must also find a way to not allow her origins to define her future. It may be a relatively simple theme, but I think it is still a good one. The end of the story was not entirely a surprise, but it provided a satisfying resolution for each of the characters and subplots.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Rating: 5/5</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Provenance </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a new story in the universe introduced by Ann Leckie’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ancillary </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">trilogy. There’s no need to have read the other books to enjoy this one, since it is a completely separate story. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Provenance </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is somewhat lighter in atmosphere and theme than the previous trilogy, and the plot is a fast-paced adventure that barrels from one disaster to the next. I thought it was a lot of fun, and I especially enjoyed following the heroine, Ingray. I appreciated her intelligence, but also identified with her self-doubt and her difficulty staying calm in stressful situations. I am looking forward to seeing what SF Ann Leckie will write next, and I think there are still plenty of stories that could be told in this universe. Also, it appears she has a fantasy book out as of February, which I should probably read soon...</span></span></div>
Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-40149209535602976522019-03-31T18:07:00.000-04:002019-04-07T16:06:46.543-04:00Review: Science: Hopes & Fears (Volume 1) by Juza Unno<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--LMiwpjx6Hw/XHIFjzuufpI/AAAAAAAABzg/WLDmXX2GV2UMm7iVN7tsAE1WsDfSwpCggCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/JuzaUnno1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--LMiwpjx6Hw/XHIFjzuufpI/AAAAAAAABzg/WLDmXX2GV2UMm7iVN7tsAE1WsDfSwpCggCPcBGAYYCw/s320/JuzaUnno1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Science: Hopes & Fears [Volume 1: Selected Stories] by Juza Unno (translated by J.D. Wisgo)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Published: Self-published, 2018</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Book:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Juza Unno, a fiction author active in the 1930s and 40s, is considered a founding figure of Japanese science fiction. A student of engineering himself, he had a great fondness for science and its possibilities while being aware of its dangers. In his lifetime he produced many works that leveraged his technical knowledge and creativity, touching on a variety of interesting topics such as space travel that were not yet popular in his time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This first volume in a series about Juza Unno is a select collection of his short stories translated with annotations–the first publishing of his works in English.” ~Amazon.com</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m going to review volumes 1 and 2 of this collection, because I think it’s really fascinating to get a glimpse into the early science fiction of Japan. I also need to add the disclaimer that my brother was involved in the translation effort for these books, which is how it came to my attention. Since this is really a collection of foundational texts of the genre, which are naturally a little out of their time, I will discuss the stories but not provide a rating. I thank J.D. Wisgo and others involved in the project for allowing those of us in the English-speaking world the opportunity to see this part of Japanese literary history! You can find the book on Amazon at the link posted <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Science-Selected-Stories-Japanese-Fiction-ebook/dp/B078TCFS3V/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=juza+unno&qid=1554667556&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spell">here</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This collection includes five short stories, chosen by the translator to give a taste of the kinds of stories Juza Unno wrote. The stories are strongly idea-based, as seems to be common for early 20th century science fiction, and the characters mostly exist to illustrate the ideas. For instance, one of my favorite ones was “Four-Dimensional Man”, which involves a man describing how he is a three-dimensional cross-section of a four-dimensional being. I also rather enjoyed the twisty little story called “Mysterious Spacial Rift”, in which the main character runs into problems due to his difficulty in distinguishing reality from vivid dreaming, with tragic results. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are also stories that feature some familiar tropes of classic science fiction, such as the idea of colonizing other planets (“The Theory of Planetary Colonization”) and using cryogenic sleep to travel to the future (“The World in One Thousand Years”). These were not the most memorable of the stories, but it was interesting to see a Japanese take on topics that I think were also in vogue in the US at the time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“The Living Intestine” is the strangest of the bunch. It featured a scientist caring for a seemingly sentient intestine. I’m pretty sure the common understanding of human bodies was sufficient in the 1930s to know that this would not be possible, so I could only consider this one as being intentionally weird and surreal. Also, it might squick out readers who are not interested in the idea of keeping an intestine as a pet. It’s a really bizarre story, though, and I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it.</span></span></div>
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Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-61573542872189705662019-02-23T21:41:00.001-05:002019-02-23T21:45:02.835-05:00Review: Friday by Robert A. Heinlein<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YewVEFDCjiE/XANB1q6Sn3I/AAAAAAAABzE/xrfOBPNoFh4_RQqKH0CM5-rzrCFxVY_OACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/rah_friday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YewVEFDCjiE/XANB1q6Sn3I/AAAAAAAABzE/xrfOBPNoFh4_RQqKH0CM5-rzrCFxVY_OACPcBGAYYCw/s320/rah_friday.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><b>Friday
by Robert A. Heinlein</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><b>Published:
Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1982</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><b>Awards
Nominated: Nebula, Hugo, Locus SF, and Prometheus Awards</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><b>The
Book:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: #ffffff;">Friday
is her name... She is as thoroughly resourceful as she is strikingly
beautiful. She is one of the best interplanetary agents in the
business. And she is an Artificial Person... the ultimate glory of
genetic engineering.</span></span></i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">Friday
is a secret courier. She is employed by a man known to her only as
"Boss." Operating from and over a near-future Earth, in
which North America has become Balkanized into dozens of independent
states, where culture has become bizarrely vulgarized and chaos is
the happy norm, she finds herself on shuttlecock assignment at Boss's
seemingly whimsical behest. </span></i></span></span>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">From
New Zealand to Canada, from one to another of the new states of
America's disunion, she keeps her balance nimbly with quick,
expeditious solutions to one calamity and scrape after another.
Desperate for human identity and relationships, she is never sure
whether she is one step ahead of, or one step behind, the ultimate
fate of the human race.” ~WWEnd.com</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="background: #ffffff;">Heinlein
is always kind of hit and miss for me, and I have to say this book
was kind of both. My husband and I listened to this one
together as an audiobook. There are some spoilers in the review
below.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">My
Rating: 2 /5</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">Friday
</span></i></span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="background: #ffffff;">has
a lot of the social quirks I expect from a Heinlein novel, and it
ended up being a weird combination of things I enjoyed and things
that annoyed the crap out of me. It was fun following Friday as she
skips from one exciting spy situation to the next, and it seemed for
a while that her story was going to be about uncovering some events
that are causing upheaval in the fractured future US. I was
really getting into this plot arc, but it was dropped without
resolution later in the book. On a character level, I initially liked
reading about Friday’s efforts to find a place for herself in the
world. I especially enjoyed the subplot about her New Zealand family,
which addressed both her desire to belong and the unpleasantness of
finding out loved ones hold bigoted beliefs.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="background: #ffffff;">The
parts I didn’t enjoy include a gang rape scene (which Friday was
weirdly blasé about) and some occasional bizarre gender stereotypes
that were presented as if they were commonplace. It wasn’t so much
misogynistic stereotypes, as it was stuff that just seemed
nonsensical. For example, “there is no stronger aphrodisiac
than a woman’s tears.” Was that actually a thing in the 80s? I’m
not even offended, just confused. The plot also didn’t flow like a
traditional narrative, and not in a way that felt well planned. I
guess was expecting the smaller parts to build into a coherent story,
but instead it was just a collection of slice-of-life short stories
about Friday. This means that a lot of subplots are randomly
dropped, and some short stories are much more interesting than
others. On a last note, I am also not a fan of Heinlein’s “all
women desperately want to have kids and fulfill traditional gender
roles” kick, which is on display by the end of the book. </span></span></span></span></span>
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Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074055834975214817.post-74983568350427494362018-12-01T21:21:00.000-05:002018-12-01T21:21:13.035-05:00Review: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ey159HKaAiA/W_ysAlxIWFI/AAAAAAAABy4/NHX3ObqhoIA7v0vm1a5HvoGU5gv6-joSQCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/pb_shipbrea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ey159HKaAiA/W_ysAlxIWFI/AAAAAAAABy4/NHX3ObqhoIA7v0vm1a5HvoGU5gv6-joSQCPcBGAYYCw/s320/pb_shipbrea.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Published: Little, Brown & Company, 2010</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Series: Book 1 of the Ship Breaker Trilogy</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Awards Won: Locus YA Award</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Awards Nominated: Andre Norton Award</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Book:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts, Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota--and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life. . . .” ~WWend</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the second book I’ve read by Bacigalupi, the first being </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Wind-Up Girl</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (before I started this blog). This is his foray into young adult fiction, and I read it while on vacation in Scotland.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>My Review: 4/5</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having read one of Bacigalupi’s adult novels, I feel like he adapted his style well for a slightly younger audience. The bleak future world of environmental collapse seems to be carefully crafted, but the world-building information is backgrounded in favor of the immediacy of Nailer’s life. Nailer has plenty of obstacles holding him back, including an abusive father and a society that seems designed to ensure his life will be short and brutal. His tenacity in the search for a better life is easy to understand and sympathize with, and the extreme cruelty of his life situation makes it easier to forgive him any missteps. Nailer is also not a lone hero. His relationships with others on the ship-breaking beach are important, and the girl he rescues from a crashed ship (Nita) plays a much larger role in his life than a simple “rescued maiden”. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I appreciated that the book is not afraid to fully consider difficult ideas. It is frank about the calculations desperate people may need to make for their survival, and how easy it is for the privileged to choose not to notice systematic exploitation. There’s also considerable friction between Nita and the working class people (like Nailer) who she relies on for help, despite that she is a capable person and doesn’t intend to treat anyone poorly. The story is intense, with lots of action and conflict, and I was always eager to see what would happen next. I also found it a little stressful, simply because I liked Nailer and wanted him to succeed against all the odds stacked against him. Though it is targeting a YA demographic, I think many other adults would also enjoy it as much as I did.</span></span></div>
Alliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03683230093775720398noreply@blogger.com0