Ethan Poole
I'm a huge fan of Mindy Kaling. This memoir was laugh-out-loud funny and entertaining, but also insightful and inspirational.
Overrated. The premise is cool, but the story itself was dull. The protagonist was devoid of personality.
A delightful dose of nostalgia! I decided to reread Harry Potter by listening to the audiobooks. It's been nearly twenty years since I first read this book as a kid. I had forgotten many details of the story and also how fast-paced the plot is. Definitely a feel-good activity!
Like the first book, [b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 22733729 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) Becky Chambers https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405532474s/22733729.jpg 42270825], this was a fun and (mostly) light read—thoroughly enjoyable. The plot follows two individuals, an AI given a “body kit” and a human who was bred to work in a factory, both of whom must find their way in a vast society which they were essentially designed never to partake in. It is very much a feel-good story, which we all need now and then.
This book is a collection of quasi-mythological short stories. The stories overall were a little dull. I would have rather just (re)read actual mythology instead.
Going in, I expected a somewhat lackluster, run-of-the-mill fantasy story whose popularity reduced to it being a “classic”. In some sense, it was just that. But it was also a bit more, and that bit more is what made it enjoyable. The writing is very rich and poetic. While the story is simple, it is endearing and heartfelt. The book is full of irreverent humor, which I had not expected, but thoroughly enjoyed.
Interesting concept and entertaining plot, but the characters and the relationships between them were meh.
I don't usually read books about dragons, but I picked this up based on a recommendation and it having been on sale. While the premise of the book is interesting and I enjoyed the world that Novik created, nothing really happened throughout the book. As such, it took me awhile to get through the book because of the lack of plot development. However, I can see how the story might get more interesting in later books, with this one having set everything up, but it isn't high on my reading list.
A really great start to the trilogy! McClellan has cleared honed his writing craft as well.
Overall, I found the book silly. The concept of traction cities, while interesting, feels not completely thought out. How do cities grow? If they can't grow, where do the extra population go from cities that have been gobbled up? How do airships find a city if it's constantly moving? Where do they get their fuel? The plot and characters felt cookie-cutter, as well.
Overall, a great collection of short stories. As a linguist, I was hesitant to read “Story of Your Life”, because many (most?) scifi authors grossly misinterpret linguistics. But, I really enjoyed that story—easily 5/5. It is Sapir-Whorf (ugh), but in an interesting and (crucially) non-racist way, and coupled with ideas (probably not the right word) from physics; it was an interesting combination. I also really enjoyed “Hell is the Absence of God” and “Seventy Two Letters”.
While I enjoyed this book, I thought that it was trying to fit too much into a single novel. On the one hand, there is the criticism of the broken patent system and a dystopian-like future where people are essentially commodities for megacorporations. On the other hand, there are the issues surrounding gender and, to some degree, homophobia. The latter was, in my opinion, underwhelming and overly simplistic (a robot "fixes" their genderlessness in the eyes of one homophobic human by simply changing their pronouns). The world building and character development were well done.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and can clearly see why it won a Hugo award. The world-building continues in an unobtrusive way, we learn more about old characters, and meet two-ish crucial new characters. A lot of the writing and plot innovations that made [b:The Fifth Season 19161852 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) N.K. Jemisin https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386803701s/19161852.jpg 26115977] so refreshing continue in the second book, though they understandably don't feel as innovative the second time around. My only complaints are that it suffered a little from middle-book syndrome (perhaps this is unavoidable in a trilogy), and some parts with Essun really dragged on. I went into the book knowing that I can already read the third one, so this didn't bother me as much.
Loved it. But it's downright weird and hard to describe. Definitely a book that I want to reread.
Ninefox Gambit wasn't bad per se, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I had trouble understanding the intuitions behind “calendrical math”, even as someone working in a math-adjacent field. Math is by definition abstract and cannot in and of itself affect reality; it is an explanation of our physical world, but is not the physical world itself. So, I had a hard time connecting the notions of weaponizing math, “exotic” effects, formations, etc. These pieces of the world building felt incoherent. As a result, I really had trouble visualizing the scenes in my mind as I read. Setting those issues aside, the plot is chaotic at points, especially towards the end. The ending really had no grounding in rest of the story; it felt like an appendage. In sum, an interesting concept, but a not-so-great execution.
Its themes and setting remind me of Lilith's Brood (surviving, control and freedom, prejudice, humans and aliens interbreeding, what it means to be human). The latter is much better, both in terms of writing and plot, so I can see why Butler didn't want this book reprinted. (On that note, it was rather hard to obtain a copy of Survivor; I ended up checking it out from a university library, lol.) I don't think the book stands well on its own, but anyone who enjoyed the other Patternist books and Butler's work more generally will find Survivor interesting and worth reading.
I had been meaning to read this book for some time, so I'm glad that I finally got around to it. The book was very whimsical and fantastical, but also dark and bleak at times. It has the feel of a fairy tale, but without the predictiveness and formularity. I really enjoyed the setting and the characters.
More a concept book than a character book. I enjoyed the concepts and the writing, but I found it hard to connect with the book because what few characters there were were also quite dull and lifeless—basically names.
Kinda boring. Nothing at all like the previous three books in the series (which I recommend!).
This was definitely a new subgenre for me—a mixture of supernatural, horror, and historical fiction. It was a very enjoyable Halloween-esque read. I haven't read any Lovecraftian fiction before, so I'm sure that some of the allusions were lost on me.
