altlovesbooks
Added to listShort Storieswith 11 books.
Added to listHistorywith 39 books.
"If you look at one leaf
You only see that.
If you don't look at any of them
the whole tree appears."
An interesting collection of short stories related to samurai and Bushido that I've had on my to-read list the longest (so far). Some were fun and funny, others were serious, but all of them had some sort of hidden meaning or lesson to learn. I think my favorite of the collection was 'Hideyoshi's Eighth Thought', if only because I could sympathize with the official who kept getting new orders from his lord just as he was about to act on them. Sometimes management do be like that.
"If you look at one leaf
You only see that.
If you don't look at any of them
the whole tree appears."
An interesting collection of short stories related to samurai and Bushido that I've had on my to-read list the longest (so far). Some were fun and funny, others were serious, but all of them had some sort of hidden meaning or lesson to learn. I think my favorite of the collection was 'Hideyoshi's Eighth Thought', if only because I could sympathize with the official who kept getting new orders from his lord just as he was about to act on them. Sometimes management do be like that.
Added to listFictionwith 89 books.
Added to listAudiobooks Readwith 147 books.
"I wonder if it matters whose side anyone is on."
I'll just say up front that the 'dystopia' and 'science fiction' tags on this book are misleading. The situation they find themselves in is dystopian for sure, but it's hardly even part of the story for most of the book. The bulk of this book is taken up by exploring the backstories of two guys, Jess and Storey, who were out hunting in Maine when they discover burned downs, blown bridges, and a general information blackout happened while they were disconnected. They wander around Maine a bit, find a very young girl they feel compelled to keep safe, and us as the reader experience a lot of Jess's flashbacks to when him and Storey were teens.
That's basically the book. You do find out what's going on in Maine sort of second-hand, but it's not really fleshed out in any meaningful way other than to provide a reason for these two guys to be out in the woods disconnected for so long. You do, however, get way too much information about Jess's teenage years, (flashback/backstory spoilers here) where Storey's mom evidently seduces Jess when he was 17, and has sex with him at least twice. Jess never told Storey, but evidently Storey knew all along because his mom shacked up with lots of guys. It's actually pretty predatory and gross. The ending also is really abrupt. We could have used at least another chapter or so to find out (ending spoilers) if our guys actually make it out, if they end up telling the girl what happened to her dad and the whole story, anything about the secession, really.
But the environmental detail and writing were all pretty great. I'll probably check out other books by this author, just this one left me wanting quite a bit more.
"I wonder if it matters whose side anyone is on."
I'll just say up front that the 'dystopia' and 'science fiction' tags on this book are misleading. The situation they find themselves in is dystopian for sure, but it's hardly even part of the story for most of the book. The bulk of this book is taken up by exploring the backstories of two guys, Jess and Storey, who were out hunting in Maine when they discover burned downs, blown bridges, and a general information blackout happened while they were disconnected. They wander around Maine a bit, find a very young girl they feel compelled to keep safe, and us as the reader experience a lot of Jess's flashbacks to when him and Storey were teens.
That's basically the book. You do find out what's going on in Maine sort of second-hand, but it's not really fleshed out in any meaningful way other than to provide a reason for these two guys to be out in the woods disconnected for so long. You do, however, get way too much information about Jess's teenage years, (flashback/backstory spoilers here) where Storey's mom evidently seduces Jess when he was 17, and has sex with him at least twice. Jess never told Storey, but evidently Storey knew all along because his mom shacked up with lots of guys. It's actually pretty predatory and gross. The ending also is really abrupt. We could have used at least another chapter or so to find out (ending spoilers) if our guys actually make it out, if they end up telling the girl what happened to her dad and the whole story, anything about the secession, really.
But the environmental detail and writing were all pretty great. I'll probably check out other books by this author, just this one left me wanting quite a bit more.
"I wonder if it matters whose side anyone is on."
I'll just say up front that the 'dystopia' and 'science fiction' tags on this book are misleading. The situation they find themselves in is dystopian for sure, but it's hardly even part of the story for most of the book. The bulk of this book is taken up by exploring the backstories of two guys, Jess and Storey, who were out hunting in Maine when they discover burned downs, blown bridges, and a general information blackout happened while they were disconnected. They wander around Maine a bit, find a very young girl they feel compelled to keep safe, and us as the reader experience a lot of Jess's flashbacks to when him and Storey were teens.
That's basically the book. You do find out what's going on in Maine sort of second-hand, but it's not really fleshed out in any meaningful way other than to provide a reason for these two guys to be out in the woods disconnected for so long. You do, however, get way too much information about Jess's teenage years, (flashback/backstory spoilers here) where Storey's mom evidently seduces Jess when he was 17, and has sex with him at least twice. Jess never told Storey, but evidently Storey knew all along because his mom shacked up with lots of guys. It's actually pretty predatory and gross. The ending also is really abrupt. We could have used at least another chapter or so to find out (ending spoilers) if our guys actually make it out, if they end up telling the girl what happened to her dad and the whole story, anything about the secession, really.
But the environmental detail and writing were all pretty great. I'll probably check out other books by this author, just this one left me wanting quite a bit more.
"I wonder if it matters whose side anyone is on."
I'll just say up front that the 'dystopia' and 'science fiction' tags on this book are misleading. The situation they find themselves in is dystopian for sure, but it's hardly even part of the story for most of the book. The bulk of this book is taken up by exploring the backstories of two guys, Jess and Storey, who were out hunting in Maine when they discover burned downs, blown bridges, and a general information blackout happened while they were disconnected. They wander around Maine a bit, find a very young girl they feel compelled to keep safe, and us as the reader experience a lot of Jess's flashbacks to when him and Storey were teens.
That's basically the book. You do find out what's going on in Maine sort of second-hand, but it's not really fleshed out in any meaningful way other than to provide a reason for these two guys to be out in the woods disconnected for so long. You do, however, get way too much information about Jess's teenage years, (flashback/backstory spoilers here) where Storey's mom evidently seduces Jess when he was 17, and has sex with him at least twice. Jess never told Storey, but evidently Storey knew all along because his mom shacked up with lots of guys. It's actually pretty predatory and gross. The ending also is really abrupt. We could have used at least another chapter or so to find out (ending spoilers) if our guys actually make it out, if they end up telling the girl what happened to her dad and the whole story, anything about the secession, really.
But the environmental detail and writing were all pretty great. I'll probably check out other books by this author, just this one left me wanting quite a bit more.
Added to listFictionwith 88 books.
Added to listSci Fiwith 64 books.
Added to listAudiobooks Readwith 146 books.
What a wasted premise. This really felt more like a general fiction/coming of age drama wrapped up in a vaguely sci-fi trenchcoat. I was hoping for something more mysterious and crazy, what with the depiction of the different timeline valleys as they are, but we get none of that. Meh.
A large chunk of this book is spent in Odile's school years, where she's struggling to make friends and figure out where she fits into the larger society. Her mom is pushing her to do one thing, apply for the Conseil apprenticeship where she'd be responsible for vetting requests from residents to visit the other valleys in other timelines for closure reasons, but she's not entirely sure she wants to do that. Her friend Edme, too, wants to become a violinist, but his parents want him to do something more practical. There's some relational development, and just as things start to build up between Edme and Odile, a tragic accident takes his life. His death affects Odile and their other friends greatly, and the rest of the book is about the drastically different path her life takes.
I thought the time travel premise was interesting, but underused in the book. Most of what happens here, save the last 10-20% or so, could have happened in basically any other coming of age drama with some aspects changed. There's no mystery here, there's no intrigue, there's no thriller really, just a friend group coming to terms with the death of one of their own. Once I realized that none of this different valley stuff was going to be explored in any meaningful way, I kind of got bored with the book.
I also thought that Odile as a character was flat and boring. I can't tell if that's by intent (there's hints dropped that she's neurodivergent in some way, but it's never expressly stated) or by poor writing, but she really felt removed and distant from everything that was happening, even stuff happening directly to her. But it made even the emotional parts of the book land kind of flat, because I honestly didn't know if Odile even cared.
I kind of also didn't like the way the ending was handled. (Ending spoilers here) When Odile is meeting with Evrette at the very end of the book, I hated how the threat of unmaking yourself/others was handwaved away as just not mattering sometimes, and that they simplify things to encourage people to comply. It effectively removed any consequences of Odile's actions in saving Edme.
Finally, I listened to the audiobook, but from reading the reviews here, it sounds like the author didn't use any sort of dialogue punctuation, which I absolutely hate. Had I not listened to the book, where it's clear who's speaking when, I would definitely have put this down.
Just a mediocre book. I wasn't on board with the relational drama, and wanted more of the sci-fi, I think.
What a wasted premise. This really felt more like a general fiction/coming of age drama wrapped up in a vaguely sci-fi trenchcoat. I was hoping for something more mysterious and crazy, what with the depiction of the different timeline valleys as they are, but we get none of that. Meh.
A large chunk of this book is spent in Odile's school years, where she's struggling to make friends and figure out where she fits into the larger society. Her mom is pushing her to do one thing, apply for the Conseil apprenticeship where she'd be responsible for vetting requests from residents to visit the other valleys in other timelines for closure reasons, but she's not entirely sure she wants to do that. Her friend Edme, too, wants to become a violinist, but his parents want him to do something more practical. There's some relational development, and just as things start to build up between Edme and Odile, a tragic accident takes his life. His death affects Odile and their other friends greatly, and the rest of the book is about the drastically different path her life takes.
I thought the time travel premise was interesting, but underused in the book. Most of what happens here, save the last 10-20% or so, could have happened in basically any other coming of age drama with some aspects changed. There's no mystery here, there's no intrigue, there's no thriller really, just a friend group coming to terms with the death of one of their own. Once I realized that none of this different valley stuff was going to be explored in any meaningful way, I kind of got bored with the book.
I also thought that Odile as a character was flat and boring. I can't tell if that's by intent (there's hints dropped that she's neurodivergent in some way, but it's never expressly stated) or by poor writing, but she really felt removed and distant from everything that was happening, even stuff happening directly to her. But it made even the emotional parts of the book land kind of flat, because I honestly didn't know if Odile even cared.
I kind of also didn't like the way the ending was handled. (Ending spoilers here) When Odile is meeting with Evrette at the very end of the book, I hated how the threat of unmaking yourself/others was handwaved away as just not mattering sometimes, and that they simplify things to encourage people to comply. It effectively removed any consequences of Odile's actions in saving Edme.
Finally, I listened to the audiobook, but from reading the reviews here, it sounds like the author didn't use any sort of dialogue punctuation, which I absolutely hate. Had I not listened to the book, where it's clear who's speaking when, I would definitely have put this down.
Just a mediocre book. I wasn't on board with the relational drama, and wanted more of the sci-fi, I think.