Goran Lowie
This book was such a pleasant surprise! McKillip writes a semi-autobiographical bildungsroman with her usual imaginative prose. Not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.
This is a peculiar work in McKillip's bibliography.
It's not purely fantastical, set in a different world, like most of her works are. Most of it is rooted in the mundane, a modern world, and this is also noticeable in her writing: not so lyrical as always, more accessible, less mystical.
Another thing that's strikingly different compared to her other books is how it has multiple points of view. At first I wasn't entirely sure of this choice but the more I read, the more it made sense to me- it's an essential part of the book. The entire story, in the end, is about some misunderstanding, and the POVs allow us to see how the many different parties involved see their version of the story.
It's a much “easier” read than most of her other books, but it still manages to contain her usual magic. It's a sequel to another book by her, Winter Rose (which was almost the opposite of this, a hard-to-understand feast of the mystic), but it can easily be read as a standalone. Would rec for people who haven't read much McKillip/fantasy and are looking for a more modern/magical realist book!
Usually I manage to read books by Le Guin in one sitting- which is how I prefer to experience books, though obviously that's rarely feasible. Such is the case with ALWAYS COMING HOME, which took me ten days.
I admire and enjoyed this book, but did not love it. It's too disorganized and has too many “halting” points for me to be get immersed like I typically do in a story. It's hard not to feel respect for Le Guin has accomplished here, crafting a truly unique work and perhaps, yes, one of her greatest achievements in writing.
This is the type of book I would like to re-read in parts, opening the book at random and just reading random passages throughout (another excellent Le Guin book to do this same thing with is the Library of America collection of her poetry). Reading it as you would a typical book makes for an exhausting experience, however.
I'll be honest– the only reason I read this is because someone said it mentioned Elliott Smith a lot. Any author who is fan of Elliott Smith is an author I should at least give a try, I think.
That being said, this book disappointed me. It was a pretty good angsty romance YA book but besides it being about gay people it didn't do anything special. I've read way better YA romance books and I've read way better gay/LGBT books (if you're looking for more LGBT stuff- Call Me By Your Name is essential).
I liked it. I didn't love it.
I'm going to start with my usual preface that Lemberg feels like the perfect author for me yet with every book of theirs something hasn't clicked– the writing not working for me, or I can't decipher the story, or I feel disconnected from the characters.
But I'm glad to say I've finally loved a Birdverse story with YOKE OF STARS! This is a treat for any fans of literary fantasy fans. You've got the usual Lemberg craziness here, toying with gender and deepnames and politics in very delightful ways, but this time mixed with a really interesting storytelling device that reminded me at times of ALWAYS COMING HOME.
You've got two people who are meeting up just for a job telling their stories to each other- seemingly unrelated at first, but as the story progresses you get more and more of the big picture. A great concept executed quite well. I particularly liked the way it played with language. For example, Lemberg explores a language in here that doesn't use verbs. They also explore bilingualists in a pretty cool way, as well as migration and diaspora.
It's a fantastic novella and I'm so glad a Lemberg finally worked for me. The problem is me, not them!
Thanks to Tachyon for the ARC.
Second read, rating unchanged. This book is about nothing and about everything; you get the hints of a larger plot at the beginning and it feels like you sail a long, serpentine river to its heart. Lots of people who are at odds with themselves and the world they inhabit, lots of fear, but fear can turn into wonder. I was enchanted, but then I always am with McKillip!
PRIOR REVIEW, MARCH 2ND 2019:
Fantastic.
LOST ARK DREAMING grew on me. At first, it seemed like your typical YA dystopia with the classic “oh-no-the-government-is-evil-and-has-been-secretly-hiding-something-from-us” trope, mixed with the Snowpiercer-esque blunt metaphor of people from different physical “layers” of a train/ship/skyscraper being different classes (a trope I also recently encountered in AN UNKINDNESS OF GHOSTS)—and it very much can be distilled to those two tropes, but a unique part of this novella can be found in its interludes.
Sometimes poetry, sometimes newspaper articles, or general reflections related to the novel's themes, it's an interesting way of adding a little extra to the book. I'm not sure if it always worked for me. It's nice because it feels different, yet it also sometimes took me out of the story because there are a lot of interludes for such a short story.
Nearing the end, it reminded me the most of an obscure little Polish film, “O-bi, O-ba: The End of Civilization”, in which a post-apocalyptic society has as its only hope a mythical vessel which is said to come to rescue them some day. It's a common trope in these hopeless generation ship stories, but it works quite well here, but I won't say too much else about it because that would spoil things.
Overall, it's at the very least an interesting work and a great example of a novella done well.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
ALIEN CLAY is a very interesting first-contact tale of body horror that feels a bit like ANNIHILATION with a bit of revolution thrown in. You've got the usual interesting biology that Tchaikovsky is so good at. The entire book feels like propaganda against individualism. Fascinating read!
What a crazy, crazy adventure. This is one of the most “epic” books I've ever read– and I mean epic in the literal sense of the word, not the buzzword it's become. I want Worm 2 right now. This book had a kind of scale I haven't really seen in any other kind of book. There were certain chapters... certain arcs where I went “Oh, shit, this is one of the most intense things I've ever read”. It's such an intense story. Full of emotional parts. It's on par with A Song of Ice and Fire, with the Stormlight Archive, etc–
I'm not really sure I can put into words how amazing Worm was for me. Worm is a kind of grand epic that you either drop after a few chapters or it becomes a part of your daily life. When it ended, it felt like I lost something very important.
I'm not a big fan of superhero stories. No, wait, let me rephrase that– I absolutely hate superhero stories. Especially superhero movies. They feel so generic to me, the good guy always wins, the superpowers aren't really that creative at all. The only superhero movies I've liked are the Batman movies by Nolan. Apart from that, if anything even remotely contains superheroes I'm instantly turned off.
Worm is all about superheroes. But unlike other superhero stories, it feels extremely creative. A good example is the main character: The basic idea of her power is that she can control bugs. That's it. At the start, I thought her superpower was sort of crap. But by the end, without her power really changing at all (except for her mastering it) she was legitimately powerful and terrifying. After Worm, I just groan even more when I see other Superhero comics and movies with their boring use of powers.
Worm completely avoids everything I hate about superhero literature. The actual function of powers is explored (kind of a Sanderson-esque ‘hard-magic' system that has actual rules and works consistently). The powers are properly explained, there's an internal logic, intelligent usage.
I wouldn't say it's... consistently good. There are some parts which felt off to me, including a timeskip which I thought was very poorly done, but it's still far more consistent than most books I've read. Worm is the same length as A Song of Ice and Fire but that entire time is packed with action and character development and a Brandon Sanderson-like inability to put the book down.
It might be too soon for me to say this since I'm still reeling after having finished it only about an hour ago, but I think I can safely call Worm one of my favorite ‘books' of all time, mainly because it just feels so real. One of WIldbow's greatest strengths is that you can really get into the head of each of the characters. The Interludes were some of my favorite parts of the entire story.
Malazan has its good and bad parts, ASOIAF has its... ‘dull' streaks, Wheel of Time has the famous issues with pacing, particularly around books 7-10, I could go on– My point being, Worm somehow manages to draw you in the entire time.
God, this was such an amazing experience. Such an amazing journey.
I'd been meaning to read this book for years. It's always on those “Books you have to read before you die” & “Most emotional books” lists. It was even better than I expected, somehow. Such a unique and humbling book. One of the most human books I've read in a while. I agree with many authors– it should be required reading for everyone.
Very enjoyable read. Feels like a more grown-up version of [a:Dugald A. Steer 4777916 Dugald A. Steer https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]'s [b:Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons 28873 Dragonology The Complete Book of Dragons (Ologies, #1) Dugald A. Steer https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390435346s/28873.jpg 29356]. There are far too few fantasy books which focus on the “study” of dragons instead of action!
I picked this book up because it seemed like /r/fantasy had the biggest fucking boner for it—and boy, do I have the biggest fucking boner for it right now. Senlin Ascends was an amazing read. It's got just about everything you could want in a book—Amazing prose, fantastic worldbuilding, a captivating story and really good character development.
It's a creative and innovative work—with a wonderful setting and new and interesting ideas. I won't try to describe why this book is so amazing because I'd just end up repeating what so many have said before me (Mark Lawrence, Emily May, etc).
At the very least, it deserves hundreds of thousands of fans.
If you like ranger's apprentice, don't read it. There's a huge timeskip, Will is drastically different from the other books, the general feel & atmosphere of the book is drastically different from all the other books, and the book changes the focus to a new character who is not interesting in any way and is mostly a blend of two other characters in the books. During the timeskip two major characters were also killed without a proper goodbye or even a good reason and Will is no longer a kid and a completely different person who's basically just depressed and sad the whole time .
One of the worst books I've read in a long time, not necessarily on it own, but in the context of the series.
Really grew on me. I get why lots of people hated it, but I loved it. It's a messy, broken, somewhat failed book, but it worked for me.
It took me a good while to really get into this book (In fact, I would say it took until about 3/4 when I started REALLY enjoying it, even if I was already enjoying it somewhat, but only then it truly “clicked”). Some aspects of it were tampering my enjoyment (the way it doesn't really hold your hand, the serviceable but not that impressive writing, the way it was quite hard to sympathize with or against the protagonist because of how vague their purpose was for most of the book, ...
But it really is an interesting work. At some point during the novel, these sentences are said: “All the years between young Lieutenant Seivarden and Captain Seivarden, they were made up of tiny moments. Minor things”. This is also a good description of the book. This is no exciting, flashy space opera: it's a book mainly consisting of small, intricate moments, and minor story decisions.
One aspect of the book that has drawn a lot of attention, but really is one of those small, mostly insignificant story decisions, is what the author decided to do with pronouns. Not like Le Guin in her The Left Hand of Darkness: a bold, deliberate statement, but just another detail, an aspect of worldbuilding.
It's a weird little story, but I heartily recommend it.
Somehow even better than the first. All I want to do right now is slip into a coma so that I can wake up in 25+ years and read all of these books at once.
I've read pretty much everything Brandon Sanderson has written and loved all of it. I went into this book expecting that I'd love it.
I really didn't like it. It felt generic, with forgettable characters and bad writing. My biggest gripe is definitely the characters– They felt bland, and I never really connected with any of them. I was expecting a Sanderson Avalanche but didn't really get one– or maybe the one he intended just wasn't satisfying enough. It felt really corny and in-your-face unsubtle at times. Without going into spoilers, a lot of stuff felt very contrived too.
Maybe it's because I don't like YA. Maybe it's because I've read Worm. Either way, this book was very disappointing.
My least favorite Gaiman book so far, but still an enjoyable quick read. It has an interesting, adult take on the fae.
An interesting read and at the very least a strong debut. Have to admit I wasn't feeling it at the beginning, and I'm still not sure I was completely sold– maybe it was the (intentionally) authentic-feeling academic prose and structure and some sections feeling duller than they could've been. But it deals with some interesting topics.
It wouldn't have been that interesting if it solely focused on its “immortality is bad because or something” trope that we've seen so many times before (I read a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin in her book Changing Planes recently that also explored this concept in a fascinating matter, 20 years ago), but its anthropological feel, the narrative voice, the structure, scientism, the character development, the imagery, its themes of (neo-)colonialism, racism, the rape of nature, the rape of a people, playing god, the rape of people, ... At times, it also reminded me of the Strugatsky's Hard to Be a God.
I have to say I didn't like the ending all that much, because it showed you something very much in your face that had been hinted at the entire book... For me, it didn't feel at all necessary to then suddenly have the big “reveal”, as if it hadn't been obvious the entire time. Feels like Yanagihara didn't trust us, but since it's a debut I can kind of understand.
Worth a read!
This was an interesting book. It really had that “young man going on a classic adventure” feel, which I wasn't expecting initially. I wasn't aware it was intended as a YA book until I opened it and saw a quote on the first page.
This ended up being somewhat noticeable—very short, 2-3-page chapters, simpler prose than usual, not as much “weird fiction” as his other works, and some “typical” YA moments.
But this is still very much a Miéville novel, YA or not. There's hints of a deep philosophy, of New Weird, there's his usual dense prose and complex vocabulary (if somewhat reduced) and pretty fantastic worldbuilding.
I've read two Miéville's now and the highlight has been worldbuilding each time. This is a very accessible and enjoyable adventure book with a much more straightforward story than you'll usually find in one of his works. An excellent starting place, for those who are intimidated by his reputation!
3.5/5, downgraded to 3 because Goodreads is stupid and doesn't allow half stars.