Tag: SF/F

Review – Whispers Under Ground

Posted October 30, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Whispers Under Ground, Ben Aaronovitch

This series remains fun, and the interactions between Lesley and Peter are just A++. I think I found the pacing a bit off reading this for a second time; I couldn’t really remember the plot, but it seemed to be taking an awful lot of time to get to the sewer scenes I remembered. All the same, it’s a worthy entry in the series, with Lesley taking a more active part again, and featuring a less comic-book like amount of violence. Instead, the threat is more personal, more like what you would expect from routine police work… if routine police work required you to notice the vestigia on a murder weapon, and try to track where it came from. Still, this is definitely the most police-procedural-ish of the three books so far; that may or may not appeal to you!

There are some great atmospherics in this book, though, given the sewer excursions (incursions?) and the visit to the Quiet People. And, though I don’t remember it being mentioned specifically before, Peter Grant’s former interest in architecture — the way he can describe buildings and features just adds a little something.

What is driving me mad is that the library had one UK edition and one probably US edition, which spell Lesley’s name differently. I don’t even know anymore. Help. Which does the UK version use?

Not my favourite of the series, anyway; I think if I remember rightly, that’s probably the next one, Broken Homes. Wish me luck going back into that heartbreak, is all I’m going to say.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: Ben Aaronovitch, book reviews, books, crime, mystery, SF/F

Review – Anthem

Posted October 29, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Anthem, Ayn Rand

I’ve never really seriously considered reading Ayn Rand’s books; I’ve never heard anything good about either her prose style and plotting or her politics, so at that point, why bother? But it was available on the Serial Reader app when I was first trying it out, and it was only eight installments long, and I talked with someone else who was reading it, and… ended up giving it a go.

It’s basically a parable against collectivist politics, the total celebration of the ego. It’s not totally without compassion for one’s fellow being — even after discovering the word ‘I’, the narrator does want to go back and find other people like himself. But it is all about making yourself the most important person, and seeking what you want, and damn what society needs to be cohesive. Obviously, neither extreme much appeals to me, at least as portrayed here. Other books have had a more honest crack at collectivist societies, like Le Guin’s The Dispossessed; that both criticises and examines. I’d stick to that, or even to Zamyatin’s We, which is similar to this book in theme but better written.

I don’t regret reading it, but I wouldn’t read anything else by Rand — this gives a clear enough view of her politics.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F

Review – The House of Shattered Wings

Posted October 25, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

The House of Shattered Wings, Aliette de Bodard

It’s hard to pull together my feelings and thoughts on this book, for some reason. I remember not being sure about the first 100 pages — particularly with the brutal butchery at the beginning, and I’m being pretty literal about the butchery — but then I got really into it, ended up reading obliviously until my dinner was stone cold, and finished it off in one great gulp. And promptly started recommending it to people. And yet right now, it’s hard to put my finger on it: part of it is the Paris of the setting, degraded and dark and magical; the feeling of House Silverspires, the history and weight of it; the allure of the Fallen, especially Morningstar, and wanting to know what their stories are. And the Vietnamese legends that get drawn in are also fascinating, and leave me very curious about a culture I know shockingly little about.

At the same time, I see reviews complaining about the unlikeableness and distance of most of the characters, and if I stop to think about it, it’s true. Selene? Well, she’s not cruel, though she’s not entirely merciful, and occasionally you can have a moment of pity for her in the way she has to lead her House. But sympathy? Not really. Madeleine? Well. Some sympathy, perhaps, but in a very pitiful sort of way, because of her addiction. Philippe? Difficult, given his ambivalence, his willingness to betray, and the fact that he participated in the butchery of a Fallen angel at the very start of the book… Isabelle? She’s more of a blank slate, honestly; it’s hard to know what she’s going to become, what’s going on in her head. That’s almost the point of her character, given that Fallen don’t retain full memories of why they fell.

And yet. I know that I did get drawn in — partly by the prose, I think, which breathed that sense of a decaying Paris, of tarnished pride, and by the world de Bodard built. Even if I can’t put my finger on it, I have to give this four stars because, well, what else can you do when something makes you forget all about your dinner for hours?

Rating: 4/5

Tags: Aliette de Bodard, book reviews, books, SF/F

Review – Moon Over Soho

Posted October 24, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Moon Over Soho, Ben Aaronovitch

Rereading the second book confirmed that this series is definitely deeply British, usually funny, and with a bit more depth than I originally feared. Reading it this time, I was really interested to note how Peter and Nightingale clashed when it came to understanding the magical creatures around them. Nightingale is a decent guy, and yet he wasn’t prepared to give the ‘jazz vampires’ a single chance, despite all the evidence that they couldn’t help what they did, and didn’t even understand it either. But Peter, an ordinary cop, steps up and says hey, no, we’re meant to protect these people too. They have rights too. He’s the kind of idealistic cop that would greatly better the police forces the world over — he’s not just idealistic, but he also says something.

Granted, he’s also thinking with his dick again, given his personal connection to the case and the fact that women are involved. But it’s still notable that he does the right thing.

It’s also fun that his background, and his dad’s jazz career, are key to this mystery. And it really does leave you wondering how the heck Nightingale managed without an apprentice all that time. Again, despite the fact that he’s generally a good guy and well meaning, I think it shows that Nightingale has been a bit blind.

Also, hey, who doesn’t enjoy the lines like this?

“For a terrifying moment I thought he was going to hug me, but fortunately we both remembered we were English just in time. Still, it was a close call.“

Well, okay, the “NO HOMO” tone it takes sometimes is less fun, but the lack of hugging because English… yep.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: Ben Aaronovitch, book reviews, books, crime, mystery, SF/F

Review – How To Traverse Terra Incognita

Posted October 23, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

How To Traverse Terra Incognita, Dean Francis Alfar

I can’t remember why exactly I picked this up, ages ago, but it’s an interesting sampling of stories from a writer from the Philippines; at first, I expected the stories to all be around a theme in the sense of being set in the same world, but while they all explore unknown worlds in some way, they aren’t linked one to another. I wasn’t specially wowed by some of the stories — in a way, I expected the endings they had, despite the sense of them being intended to be clever/surprising. They were definitely competently written, all of them, and some of them were more than competent, but I didn’t really get drawn in or mesmerised by the words in any of the stories.

The range is interesting, and given that I did enjoy the collection while not finding it exceptional, I’m going to put the author’s other anthology on my list — Goodreads reviews suggest people, in general, preferred Kite of Stars.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F, short stories

Review – Truthwitch

Posted October 22, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Truthwitch, Susan Dennard

I was pretty excited about this one given the buzz, and with Robin Hobb’s endorsement on the front cover. Unfortunately, and maybe this is partly because of the hype, Truthwitch didn’t really work for me. I loved the idea of the two girls at the center, their friendship being the most important thing, but in practice there was a lot of mooning over boys (well, Merik) on Safi’s part, and they spent a surprising amount of the book apart. I felt like we were told that their friendship was deep and complete more often than we were shown it; Safi’s concern for Iseult in the latter half of the book did help, but she was so quickly re-focused on other things.

The world would be an interesting one, if there was more to it, but instead of a sense of history and a sense of the characters having a place in a tradition of magic and magic-use, I felt like the rules were being made up as the narrative went along. Merik’s magic is weak — but he can fly with it?! I eventually decided that Threadfamily meant the people you were most closely bound to in friendship, and Heart-Thread was a romantic connection, but it took a while to be clear, and I wasn’t always sure of people’s relationships to each other. I do hope that the large dollop of queerness I read into it was true, but I was too hopeful re: Merik and Kullen, so I’m thinking not. And what’s Cleaving — or, no, that becomes apparent, but not the history of it: is it recent? Is it increasing? Has it always been a threat?

It’s fun enough if you read it without thinking too much; it’s basically an eternal chase scene, with Safi and Merik blowing up at each other in a way that’s clearly meant to denote their passion for each other, but which has strong overtones of “insta-luv”. Evrane and Aeduan were more like background characters, but I did find them interesting — particularly Aeduan, since he’s an antagonist but somewhat ambivalently placed.

I think with more background it would have felt stronger and better-paced; instead, with events coming one after the other but often without context, it actually dragged. It’s hard to care when you’re not entirely sure what the significance is, after all.

Since there are people who did love the book, I’m also open to the idea of it being a case of “it’s not you, it’s me” — and it’s not that I think it’s dreadful. I’m just not hooked, and not that tempted to pick up the sequel when it comes out.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, romance, SF/F

Review – The Chrysalids

Posted October 21, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The Chrysalids, John Wyndham

Flashback Friday review from 27th June, 2011

I’ve been meaning to read The Chrysalids since it was mentioned in Among Others (reading books Mori mentions hasn’t steered me wrong, so far). I’m glad I got round to it. I enjoyed Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids, but I enjoyed The Chrysalids rather more: I fell in love with the way he created a whole post-apocalyptic world in just a few pages. I loved all the details of it — harsh and oppressive as it would be to live that life, it’s a fantastic read for someone interested in post-apocalyptic dystopia.

It wasn’t, really, all that new to me, the modern reader. Still, it felt like it was, somehow. It leaves one wanting more, too. The ending is open enough that goodness knows what could happen, and the reader is given plenty they have to work out for themselves.

Character-wise, I suppose it wasn’t that strong, as the only characters who stood out to me strongly were the really central ones. Most of the group, I don’t think I’ll remember their names tomorrow. David and Rosalind do have a sweetness to them, but at the same time, if I think of what marked them out as people… David’s uncle, who kills someone to keep their secret, and supports David and helps him despite his difference, he’s actually perhaps the most memorable to me, in a way.

There is, by the by, a lot of moral ambiguity.

I’ll be keeping my copy of The Chrysalids, for sure. I’ll want to come back to it.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Flashback Friday, SF/F

Review – Rivers of London

Posted October 20, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Rivers of London, Ben Aaronovitch

The first time I read Rivers of London, I wasn’t entirely sold on it. The story itself was fine: it’s basically both urban fantasy and police procedural, which makes it feel so British it hurts. Unlike a lot of other urban fantasy, it really does feel centered on a particular location, and that location is very much London. There’s a lot of intriguing stuff in the background — Nightingale, the Folly, Isaac Newton’s system of magic, Molly, the genii loci… And there’s also a lot of female characters, and of course Peter Grant himself (the main character and narrator) is a person of colour, whose background plays strongly into how he interacts with London, while feeling entirely British.

The thing I wasn’t so keen on was Peter’s character: the way he referred to the female characters around him, evaluating their bodies and their prettiness. Fortunately, having read the later books and enjoyed them more, I was able to view Peter in the context of the rest of the series, including his genuine respect for the women in his life, his efforts not to be superficial, etc. It still has quite a “bloke-y” feel, but it also makes sense; knowing the character Lesley becomes throughout the series, I don’t feel as skeeved out by that ending and the potential for just trowelling on Peter’s guilt (manpain) about what happens to her.

For me, it falls together pretty well, and reading it a second time, I didn’t see the pacing problems that I found the first time either. Might have been a bit of a case of wrong book, wrong time — or it just really is improved by knowing how the later books go.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: Ben Aaronovitch, book reviews, books, SF/F

Review – Saga Volume 5

Posted October 9, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Saga Volume 5, Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples

If you’re a fan of Saga already, then this is probably as much up your street as the other volumes — funny, wise, gross, heartbreaking, and beautifully drawn. To my mind, it suffers somewhat because Marko and Alana aren’t together, and Marko’s storyline here seems to mostly be about moving him from A to B so he’s in the right place at the right time (and in the right frame of mind). I’m not a huge fan of the Will’s storyline, usually, but I do enjoy Sophie and the Brand’s interactions — even if the whole storyline about trying to cure the Will is a bit meh, given I couldn’t care less.

It’s not the strongest volume, I think, but I did enjoy Klara’s badassness, and as usual it’s gorgeous. And I’m very relieved that it doesn’t linger over the story too much, instead jumping ahead when the narrative is ready.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, comics, SF/F

Review – Predator’s Gold

Posted October 3, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Predator’s Gold, Philip Reeve

The second Hungry Cities book is the same sort of fun as the first, albeit with those dark moments of violence and horror (like horrible deaths, or people being unpleasant). It still follows Hester and Tom, but they’ve grown up a bit, and they have a place in the world as aviators. That is, until Pennyroyal comes aboard and spoils everything.

Realistic, and sad, is the portrayal of Hester being so afraid to lose Tom. She doesn’t believe anyone else will see past her scarred face to who she really is, and indeed, she’s not even that sure that who she really is is a person worthy of love. It does lead to some fairly horrible behaviour on her part, which though it makes sense with her characterisation, makes her difficult to sympathise with. After all, the appeal of Tom is that he believes that life should be fair, and Hester… really doesn’t hold with that.

Freya as a character is… I can understand her, but I don’t like her. The way she behaves for most of the book is just awful, and you can completely understand why Hester doesn’t like her — and you can’t really understand why anyone else does.

Overall, it’s a fun book and it expands the world, opening up obvious lines for future plots and filling in things round the edges. It’s just… slightly less fun because instead of moving toward a lighter characterisation for Hester, as Mortal Engines does, it kind of goes the other way and makes her less likeable again.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F, YA