Tag: SF/F

Review – Dangerous Spirits

Posted May 27, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Dangerous Spirits by Jordan L. HawkDangerous Spirits, Jordan L. Hawk

Unfortunately for me, Dangerous Spirits features one of my least favourite tropes: the spur of the moment lie that brings all communication into a logjam and eventually splits people apart. I joke about being the relationship advice Dalek (COMM-UN-I-CATE! COMM-UN-I-CATE!) but really, it’s important, and while it’s often interesting to watch how characters and relationships break under the pressure of a lack of communication… it’s difficult for me to read.

That said, I still enjoyed many other things about this book: Henry does take some lessons to heart and grows up a little (in the end), Jo’s still amazing, Lizzie’s still amazing, and we learn more about Lizzie and Vincent’s lives, and see the arc of the trilogy bending along…

It sets things up for a better relationship in the next book, and for the third book to wrap up some of the mysteries and fears that surround the group.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – The Obelisk Gate

Posted May 25, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Obelisk Gate by N.K. JemisinThe Obelisk Gate, N.K. Jemisin

Holy wow.

The Obelisk Gate is as difficult to review without spoilers as the first book, especially because it follows tightly on the first book, and I’d have to spoiler that as well. Suffice it to say that it remains dark, that the answers we get only make it clear that there are deeper and deeper mysteries, and that Jemisin wants to tear your heart out and stamp on it as it bleeds wetly beneath her foot.

…And if you don’t like that imagery because it makes you cringe, you’ll struggle with this book. Like I said, it’s dark, and twisty, and it goes places. Essun isn’t a great person; Nassun (who becomes another key character) isn’t either. Alabaster is inscrutable and terrible. Hoa’s up to something. Nobody is pure, and the road to hell is paved with good intentions and a lot of dead bodies.

I still love the stuff Jemisin is doing with the narrative point of view, and I’m sure she’s not done using that to surprise and shock. I look forward, with some trepidation, to reading The Stone Sky.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Restless Spirits

Posted May 24, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Restless Spirits by Jordan L. HawkRestless Spirits, Jordan L. Hawk

In Restless Spirits, there’s an appealing cast of main characters: Henry, an inventor, and his assistant and ward, Jo, and then Vincent, a medium, and his friend, Lizzie, also a psychic. They’re all assembled at the site of a haunting as a contest between the mediums and the inventors, to prove who can best dispel a haunting, with money at stake for the winners — which each group badly needs. Needless to say, Henry and Vincent are powerfully attracted to each other, though the humiliations of Henry’s past risk coming between them.

This is very much a first book, with the ending only a “happy for now” — there’s a lot that the characters have to work out. I’m looking forward to reading more, because I completely tore through this. I was worrying that it would feel a bit too much like Whyborne and Griffin’s adventures, but no: there are some similarities, but the characters’ hangups are very different, and the relationship doesn’t have (so far, at least) the desperate insecurity that is the initial cause of rifts between Whyborne and Griffin. Henry and Vincent are made of different stuff.

On a slightly spoilery note, I did see another review complaining about Henry, and I get it, but at the same time… as a boy, he was taken advantage of by someone his family trusted, including sexually. His life was taken apart by the guy, leaving him with deep-seated trust issues. Sure, he doesn’t behave the best (and he’s incredibly naive about what his revelation to the group will do to Lizzie), but it’s partly ignorance, partly because he has a good heart and fails to see the worst of others, and partly due to the betrayal he’s felt.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Dragon Physician

Posted May 23, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Dragon Physician by Joyce ChngDragon Physician, Joyce Chng

Dragon Physician had some pretty awesome stuff going on: a bunch of trans people choosing to stand up and break gender boundaries, a dragon vet, elements very reminiscent of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books (come on, Linking vs Impression, these are the same picture).

The problem is mostly the pacing: it’s fairly quick all the way through, but it speeds up to a dead run in the last couple of chapters, covering world-changing events in a couple of pages. Massive social change doesn’t generally happen that quickly, and it felt like there was a lot of detail missing in how that change came about. For one Rookery to change and accept them wouldn’t be too much of a stretch, but the societal change feels odd against the generally personal background of the rest of the book.

It also felt like it needed some more work editing-wise. Sometimes it was just sentences that were missing words, and sometimes it was an odd word choice that felt more like confusion than innovation (you can move “gingerly”, but movement can’t typically be “gingerly movement” and definitely not “gingery movement”; the word “gingerly” is not related to “ginger”, so it feels like confusion about how that word should be used). It’s possible that it was on purpose, but given the word “gingerly” exists and almost fits, using the word “gingery” instead felt odd.

I think it’s a fun world and a fun read, but I was left wanting a bit more. I’d definitely have given it more stars if the pace and detail of the first chapters had been maintained; loved the stuff about treating the dragons and taking care of them.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – In the Watchful City

Posted May 18, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi LuIn the Watchful City, S. Qiouyi Lu

Received to review via Netgalley

Anima watches over the city. Ae is one of the “nodes”, people who are connected in a sort of biomagicmechanical way to all the life of the city. Ae is confined to a room, limited by the length of the cord that connects aer, but ae sees the whole city from that place, riding on the lives of rats and part-mechanical birds and stray dogs. Then Vessel comes and starts to tell aer stories of other lives, making Anima’s story a frame around several other stories which are set in the same world, letting Anima understand lives outside aer city. Slowly, we get a picture of the wider world, and a better picture of who Anima is, inasfar as she has an individual identity apart from the city.

I didn’t love the parts that aren’t in standard prose, because that’s not usually my thing, but it’s undeniable that those quick handfuls of images added up to a background for Anima that might not have been a straightforward narrative, but made ae’s life clear enough — more like looking at a painting than reading a book, in a sense. A quick intuitive grasp of it.

I thought each story was used to shape the plot, but not clumsily so: it’d take a while to say exactly what each story might’ve meant to Anima, how it shapes aer later decision, rather than being able to say simply “this story about rebellion taught Anima that ae should rebel too”. It’s more complicated than that, shaping Anima’s reactions and casting light on them, rather than directly causing them.

I enjoyed it quite a bit, and suspect that there’s a lot that I missed.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Kaiju Preservation Society

Posted May 16, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Kaiju Preservation Society by John ScalziThe Kaiju Preservation Society, John Scalzi

Received to review via Netgalley

The Kaiju Preservation Society is a lot of fun. I expect it probably doesn’t hold together if you try to inquire too deeply into how the science works, but it’s perfectly fine for a bit of fun that’s much more interested in imagining what could be. How can we make kaiju work despite the square-cube law? Why might kaiju have appeared for real on our planet? What if, what if, what if…

It’s a romp, as most of Scalzi’s books are, and it’s pretty cheery about everything except death and billionaires. Imagine being a biologist who gets to go to another world and study kaiju; imagine if while you’re there, you live in basically a socialist utopia where everyone’s needs are met, and everyone is as keen as you on the work you need to do. Not everything is a joy (someone has to test the reeking kaiju pheromone spray), and it’s hard work, and it’s good, you know what you’re contributing to… It’s an appealing idea (and an escapist one), and the little group of newbies that join KPS alongside Jamie throw themselves into it much as I would.

You don’t get a ton of a sense of personality from the group, because the characters aren’t really the point — to my mind, that escapist fantasy is much more prominent… combined with, y’know, kaiju. (But really, for me, the socialist paradise part where each scientist gets to do real groundbreaking work? That’s the fantasy.)

I ripped through this book, giggling and going “Oh shit!” at all the right moments. It’s not incredibly surprising, but it’s a lot of fun.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Honeycomb

Posted May 15, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Honeycomb by Joanne HarrisHoneycomb, Joanne Harris

Honeycomb is a collection of short stories which mostly connect, although some don’t (the farmyard ones only seem to connect to each other and not to the overarching story, and they are the ones with the heaviest moral/social commentary, which makes them stick out a bit).

There are some lovely stories in this collection, and the overall arc of it is quite satisfying, but it does take a while to see how it all comes together (and the farmyard stuff never does, to my knowledge). I enjoyed it, and found very compulsive reading; I’m sure some of the stories will stick in my head for a long time.

I’d say, though, that it’s not a book for people who don’t enjoy fairytales and fairytale-style narratives. There is an overarching story to which many of the chapters are relevant… but it takes a while to see it emerging and understand that it is really going to lead to changes and developments in the characters. Often it’s much more like a fairy story, where you don’t necessarily think that the character will have changed or grown when they recur.

The illustrations by Charles Vess are of course absolutely lovely, and very fitting for the stories.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Only Good Indians

Posted May 14, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham JonesThe Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones

Horror is usually not my thing, but I like trying things and broadening my horizons, and the blurb of this made it sound like it had some crossover with fantasy (a genre I do read a lot of). There’s a lot of gore and violence in this, which was a little much for me (though to be honest, not worse than some of the fantasy I’ve read), but the mystery does have a supernatural side.

To me it seems like a fairly predictable plot: four Blackfeet hunters kill elk they’re not supposed to, and years later, strange things start to happen as it seems that they’re each being hunted in their turn. I won’t say too much more about the exact plot — it’s not too surprising, I think, with that basic summary… but still, there are some grey areas and things that you’d want to read through without being prejuced by another reader’s take on them.

The characters are not exactly sympathetic, except in that they’re everyday fuck-ups like the rest of us (some of them more than others). It does a really good job of making them people, for sure: I can believe in Cassidy and Lewis and Gabe Cross Guns and Ricky Boss Ribs.

For those side-eyeing the title or the themes, the author is of the Blackfeet Nation; obviously, being Welsh this isn’t remotely my history or culture, so I can’t comment on how respectful he’s been or how accurately he’s portrayed things, but I think in this case that doesn’t matter — he’s mostly portrayed people and the things individuals believe, and individuals can be wrong.

I found the ending a tiny bit predictable; it wouldn’t have been out of place in any of the genre novels I read, which is probably why.

In the end, it’s still not for me, and I’m wavering about the rating to give it. In terms of personal enjoyment, it’s probably less than this, but that’s probably unfair to the book because I knew what I was getting into, and also despite this really not being my preferred genre, I read the whole book in just a few days. So I’ve split the difference a bit.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Rosebud

Posted May 13, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Rosebud by Paul CornellRosebud, Paul Cornell

Received to review via Netgalley

I didn’t quite know what to make of Rosebud, honestly. It has a slightly weird format with some odd sort-of-ish time travel stuff going on, plus it’s written in a very stream-of-consciousness sort of way with an oddball cast that change how they’re represented a couple of times. I felt like I could do with a dramatis personae or something to help me keep track, and I normally stubbornly ignore those. Like, Bob is a balloon (seriously), but also a tiger… and Huge If True is a whole mess of hands, but then also Bob Ross? Etc, for each character.

It also has this whole subplot about the whole world being awful for queer people, including flashbacks to a trans woman being made to dress as male in public while being sort-of-but-not-really executed and tortured, which… is mentioned somewhat in a content note at the start, so I can’t say I wasn’t warned, but it sits funny because it’s off-hand, somewhere in the background of the story. Partly that’s in the same way that Brexit is in the background of the Lychford books, for instance… and I do get the urge to write about the way the world is right now (especially in the UK) to comment on it, but it didn’t quite work for me.

It didn’t quite come together for me, I guess; I did like the ending, and thought there was a lot of cleverness going on, but I spent too much of it not really engaged with what was going on because I was having trouble keeping track of characters.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

Posted May 11, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, by Becky ChambersA Prayer for the Crown-Shy, Becky Chambers

Received to review via Netgalley

Since reading imyril’s thoughts about Sibling Dex and their selfishness, I couldn’t stop thinking about it when reading this book. I think maybe I’d have continued to not notice, but maybe not, since some things were flagged up (e.g. Dex lying to their family so as not to worry them) or really obviously rude (e.g. Dex happily going off the road with Mosscap when people are expecting them).

Broadly speaking it’s still a pleasant reading experience, but the best part is really the sustainable world, the fact that everyone has enough, that people who don’t subscribe to binary gender are blithely accepted, where people live mostly in harmony. And it’s also an exploration of doing what you love and are good at, and still somehow feeling a need for another purpose, or for something else — that’s Dex’s whole problem, really, though it’s not so clear in this book aside from the ending.

Overall enjoyable, but I can’t stop seeing Dex’s selfishness now!

Rating: 4/5

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