Em
This series was a definite case of “I understand why people like it so much, it just wasn't for me.” Abercrombie is a talented writer, his characters are complex (if all bad people, I struggle when I have no one to root for) and the dark humour was very much appreciated, but I found the constant subversion of tropes in an attempt to be surprising wound up being just as predictable.
I'd already read through this series four times and with the Amazon series beginning to gain some traction I figured now was as good a time as any for a fifth!
Seeing as the first 3/14 are kind-of sort-of seen as a mini trilogy before the world truly explodes in book 4 I wanted to say I am just as bowled over and invested on this fifth time as I was reading this for the first time 8 years ago. I think I'll always be absolutely in love with the Wheel of Time.
(Read 28/10/23) I don't even particularly care for Halloween but I do enjoy using it as an excuse to read some horror stories. I loved Tommy Orange's first novel and got this as soon as I saw his name in the line-up: worth it. A really strong collection, with lots of different variants on the horrific, be it rooted in reality or otherwise. So many writers here I'll be looking to read more of.
The only real gripe I had was that tonal shifts between stories could be jarring. This was particularly noticeable between stories 19 and 20, going from a story that was deeply spiritual and evocative to one that was firmly rooted in the worst of reality from the first page, opening with a flashback to child molestation. It's sudden and sickening which, yes, is the point, but I couldn't help but feel that more could have been done to ensure a more smooth transition between stories and subject matter.
1. Kushtuka by Mathilda Zelder - 3/5
2. White Hills by Rebecca Roanhorse - 4.5/5
3. Navajos Don't Wear Elk Teeth by Conley Lyons - 4/5
4. Wingless by Marcie R. Rendon - 3.5/5
5. Quantum by Nick Medina - 4.5/5
6. Hunger by Phoenix Boudreau - 3/5
7. Tick Talk by Cherie Dimaline - 3/5
8. The Ones Who Killed Us by Brandon Hobson - 4/5
9. Snakes are Born in the Dark by D.H. Trujillo - 3.5/5
10. Before I Go by Norris Black - 4/5
11. Night in the Chrysalis by Tiffany Morris - 3/5
12. Behind Colin's Eyes by Shane Hawk - 3.5/5
13. Heart-Shaped Clock by Kelli Jo Ford - 3/5
14. Scariest. Story. Ever. by Richard Van Camp 4.5/5
15. Human Eaters by Royce K. Young Wolf - 4.5/5
16. The Longest Street in the World by Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. - 4/5
17. Dead Owls by Mona Susan Power - 3/5
18. The Prepper by Morgan Talty - 4.5/5
19. Uncle Robert Rides the Lightning by Kate Hart - 5/5
20. Sundays by David Heska Wanbli Weiden - 3/5
21. Eulogy for a Brother, Resurrected by Carson Faust - 4/5
22. Night Moves by Andrea L. Rogers - 4/5
23. Capgras by Tommy Orange - 4.5/5
24. The Scientist's Horror Story by Darcie Little Badger - 3.5/5
25. Collections by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala - 4/5
26. Limbs by Waubgeshig Rice - 5/5
Overall a great collection!
[read 24/09/24] Genuinely exquisite prose! Tartt sets the most enchanting scene.
Unfortunately I found that the characters, with the exception of Bunny and towards the end of the novel Henry, were rather bland. An element of this comes from Papen's bias (downright blindness!) as narrator, sure. But in a novel this wordy, with characters this far on the side of the melodramatic, it never came together in such a way that the uniformity seemed intentional.
I did like this book overall, and I am looking forward to reading The Goldfinch.
A wickedly sharp and vibrant satire that is without a doubt entrenched in conversation with Orwell's Animal Farm, while also managing to be very original.
“And I stood upon the sand, and I saw a beast ride up out of the sand, and upon the head of that beast was the name of God”
So much information from this time period has been lost. There are so many times we have to say “maybe” or “perhaps” but that doesn't make anything in this book less compelling. If anything, it makes it even more interesting.
This book focuses on the “Lost realms” of Britain, those that we know less of, smaller kingdoms that came and went alongside more well-known places that tend to hog the limelight due to the fact we know way more about them and that they were larger and longer established (think the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex). My personal favourite to read about was Elmed, located in what is now West and South Yorkshire, because I'm familiar with the area! The chapter on the Picts was also well done.
This book is great if you have an interest in this subject. It supposes an understanding of post-Roman Empire Britain and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the reader. If you have that, then read away!
Losing my patience with the current onslaught of Greek myth retellings that have nothing new to say
I'm so glad I decided to reread this. I love the characters and their relationships. My only problem is I find that the sections that AREN'T focused on Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer (or any of the other main characters really) somewhat meandering. The series can sometimes get bogged down in politics, and not particularly interesting ones. I'm also one of the only ones amongst my friends who have read this series that finds the ending satisfying
Sad to say goodbye to Geralt and friends! Although this is a full-length novel it has much more in common with the collection of short stories it takes place between rather than the Ciri saga. It can be read as a standalone, but I would recommend at least reading The Last Wish collection of stories first. If you've read all The Witcher books, you'll get even more from it!
‘Maame' means woman in Twi, a nickname given to protagonist Maddie by her Ghanaian family, and one that's all too true as from a young age she is the primary caregiver to a father with Parkinson's. This coming of age novel juggles plenty of themes as 25 year old Maddie moves out from home and deals with the ways in which she was forced to grow up too quickly while in other ways, she is (seemingly) falling behind.
Race, sexuality, depression, family conflict and guilt are all deftly handled in this charming novel, and the tenderness that Jessica George feels towards Maddie is clearly felt on every page, and by extension is felt by the reader. Leastways, it certainly worked on me.
My main issue with this is that Maddie's conflicts are all external. Her own issues are derived from the way in which the world and people around her behave, rather than any precise character flaws she possesses. For example, one moment in which she has an emotional outburst to flatmates, which becomes a main point of contention in their respective relationships, is somewhat dampened by the fact that this outburst... is clearly understandable once things simmer down. It's a moment of upset and high emotion, sure, but in context it's also all external pressure. Much of the novel seemed to me to operate in this way, and in that sense it all seemed to wrap up too neatly and tidily.
Nevertheless this is a debut novel that shows such compassion and warmth, and certainly recommended for people who enjoy coming of age stories. I'm very aware that what is an issue for me, will certainly be a pro for others!
This was VERY dark but the implication that C.S. Lewis really did find Narnia sparked an inordinate amount of joy in me. A good sequel. New ground isn't tread by these books but Leigh Bardugo plays to her strengths and stays very good at what she does.
Pretty great.
‘“...in the Bible, God split mankind apart. And I wonder if the purpose of translation, then, is to bring mankind back together. If we translate to bring about that paradise again, on earth, between nations.”
“Well, of course. Such is the project of empire - and why, therefore, we translate at the pleasure of the Crown.”'
It's 1828, the height of the British Empire, and after cholera sweeps through his home Robin, a young boy from Canton, is brought to England and raised by an inscrutable Professor to prepare him for study at the Royal Institute of Translation, a.k.a Babel, at the University of Oxford. Babel is also the heart of silver-working, magic through translation, and provides the British Empire with the ultimate power to continue gaining its wealth and influence.
In many ways this book is a subversion of all those coming of age Victorian novels. Think Dickens, David Copperfield or Great Expections, the story of a young man raised from nothing in order to become a good English gentleman, serve his Queen, Country and Empire. But how does one do that when you're not welcome in the first place? Robin is Chinese, losing his connection to his mother tongue of Cantonese, and struggles reconciling the parts of himself moulded for this very specific purpose and the parts of him that are, for all intents and purposes, seen as an irrevocable contradiction to what a perfect English gentleman should be. Once studying in Babel, he is joined by easygoing Ramy, a practicing Muslim brought from Calcutta to be raised by his family's employer in England. Letty is the overbearing daughter of a retired admiral and is desperate and grateful for this education after being raised for marriage. And Victoire, a Haitian woman forced into navigating Oxford (and Letty) with patience despite being continuously mistaken for Letty's maid alongside other aggressions “small” and large. With the exception of Letty, the three are brought for Babel due to their fluency in ‘exotic' languages, as it is believed that lesser studied languages are an untapped potential power. And thusly, can become yet another tool in the arsenal of Empire.
Then, Robin is approached by the mysterious Hermes Society, a group dedicated to undermining Babel from the inside.
A step up from The Poppy War trilogy in every way. Problems I had there including somewhat flat characters, bland prose are all improved upon here. There were plot “twists” that were plenty obvious, sure. Anachronisms can be a bother. Nevertheless, it's ultimately satisfying.
Mostly, I enjoyed the explorations of language, etymology and translation. Although not in any capacity that's fluent, I do have experience in studying languages/translation right up through college until the end of University and it's a subject I've always been super interested in, especially the meanings that can slip through the cracks. Translation is incredibly difficult. So few people understand that no translation is ever fully accurate. This novel explicitly discusses this fact in detail and how through translation knowingly or not, we can't help but change meaning and implications. I've not really seen a book, much less fantasy book, go into this level of detail on the subject.
The book is also unavoidably and unashamedly about the violence of colonialism, and the harm it not only does to the peoples' of colonised countries on a grand scale but equally what happens to the individuals who are taken from there, are expected to assimilate, and then be grateful.
Definitely recommended. Will probably be my favourite new fantasy novel of the year.
The way my heart skipped a beat at the Kaladin namedrop I'm embarrassed frankly.
Anyways, once this gets going it REALLY gets going. What a way to end the secret projects. The cosmere gloves are well and truly off.
I'm so ready for Stormlight 5.
Interesting analysis? Sure, in some parts. But also some very bizarre covid takes that ruined the entire thing. The implication that a slave trader would be all for covid restrictions, while Caspian would be against them, was so jaw droppingly silly that I reread the passage at least three times to make sure I got it right!
Not as strong as Daisy Jones or Seven Husbands for me, but an improvement over Malibu Rising. 3.5/5
This is so frustrating (where is Winds of Winter?). It has been so long, I genuinely forgot that when George R.R. Martin writes, he can WRITE.
This novel is written as an in-universe history of the Targaryen dynasty. As expected, lots of politics, lots of incest, lots of dragons. Lots of memorable characters and moments amongst the bunch.
Martin marries real life history with his own world almost flawlessly. In the same way A Song of Ice and Fire is clearly influenced by the War of the Roses, here Martin is inspired by earlier English history, most notably the succession crisis after the death of Henry I, son of William the Conquerer, known as the Anarchy.
Recommended to anyone interested in the world of ASOIAF. It continues to be incredibly well drawn. It also continues to be incredibly frustrating. Reading an 800 page novel about the ancestors of Daenerys Targaryen is a lot to ask when we don't even really know how her own story ends.
(Reread 12/09/22) “The doom lies in yourself, not in your name.”
One of the more underrated Tolkien books, and one of his best. Furthermore, probably the most tragic. While not at all graphic or ‘grimdark', (it is in keeping with the mythological style found in The Silmarillion), anyone who believes Tolkien can't go as dark as modern fantasy is trending should read this novel and eat their words.
Not going dark and depressing for the sake of it, but to tell the tragedy of the family of Húrin after he defies the Dark Lord to his face. His son, Túrin, becomes an outlaw in the vein of the Icelandic sagas but is forever cursed. This novel is expanded upon from the chapter in The Silmarillion and gives enough context to understand the story outside of it. Masterful storytelling leading to an inevitable end.
Can't say anything that hasn't already been said. This is so unflinchingly honest and heartbreaking. And beyond the content, Jennette is such a talented writer.
Ottessa Moshfegh meets The Yellow Wallpaper. Good, but in that vein, could have been a short story.
Lots to talk about with this one.
The short version; a thoughtful, insightful collection of essays ranging from the personal to the academic based around the life and career of Christopher Tolkien, with contributions from his family, friends and the A-list of Tolkien scholars.
For those who don't know, anything you read from Tolkien's legendarium outside of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit was essentially pieced together and made publishable from Tolkien's notes and manuscripts through the tireless work of his son Christopher Tolkien, an endeavour which took over forty years from the publication of The Silmarillion in 1977 to The Fall of Gondolin in 2018. It was clearly a labour of love, and breathtaking in scope. Christopher Tolkien passed away in January of 2020 aged ninety-five.
There's a lot to love in this collection though I'm unsure as to how a casual fan, as it were, would respond to this. While the earlier parts can be appreciated by anyone who recognises the importance of Christopher in cementing his father's legacy (including a small memoir written by Priscilla Tolkien about her brother) the bulk of this volume, and the parts focusing on Middle-earth, is largely academic. Attention is not just given to The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, but also to more obscure stories in the twelve volume History of Middle-Earth series.
I particularly enjoyed ‘The Son Behind the Father' by Vincent Ferré which analysed Christopher's contributions and writing style, comparing passages from HoME and the published Silmarillion to draw attention to Christopher's critical contributions and how he was clearly an accomplished writer in his own right (I'd love to read a longer essay on this!). Furthermore, Brian Sibley's essay on portal images in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings tickled me in exploring an aspect of Tolkien's writings I've always found curious (where where you when I was writing my dissertation and had a piece on threshhold imagery in Moria! Kidding). The essays range in topic from maps to the forgotten BBC radio drama of LOTR to the creation of the mythology, and includes essays by Tom Shippey and John Garth. Carl F. Hostetter providing examples and analysis of Tolkienian manuscripts, detailing what a herculean task editing such papers was for Christopher, is also a highlight.
Maps, paintings, letters and photographs of the Tolkien family are also on display here in high quality.
I'm glad I read this collection and it will certainly hold a special place on my Tolkien shelf. Christopher Tolkien's impact on the field of Tolkien studies and the greater understanding of his father's mythology cannot be understated. Thankfully, that's being recognised by the experts in the field and thus relayed to those who may not have realised. We would not have much, if any, of the quantities and quality of Tolkien's work available to us now if it were not for Christopher Tolkien's time, effort and care.
And to top it all off, the name of this volume comes from a much loved LOTR quote:
“‘Don't the great tales never end?'
‘No, they never end as tales,' said Frodo. ‘But the people in them come, and go when their part's ended.'”
As a big fan of the 2008 comics, this book had me at the Bug cameo. Fun tie in to a fun game.
A short and sweet novel that is beautifully written and haunting. I saw this toted as ‘Annihilation but gay' which, while it made me laugh, isn't entirely off the mark. Plus, Annihilation is one of my favourite horror novels so anything that can be compared to it is a bonus in my eyes.
Like Annihilation, it begins with a partner returning to a wife after a long absence due to a mission gone wrong, and their behaviour is erratic and changed afterward. Plot wise, (from what I remember of Annihilation - it's been a few years) ‘Our Wives Under the Sea' is different after the initial concept. We get point of view sections alternating between Miri and Leah (the wife under the sea). We get the before, the during, and the after. Yet tonally it remains similar, with a familiar sense of eerie creeping dread. This is so short, I don't want to say more because of spoilers, but Julia Armfield really succeeds in packing an emotional wallop.
What I will say though, is that this is ultimately a novel about grief and love, and how those two things are intrinsically linked. It is less interested in explaining how, or why, than using horror and the ocean to explore such themes in a way that manages to be both profoundly tender and unsettling.