Tshania Sedai
I'm going to start this off by saying I'm a big fan of Robb Wolf - I've jokingly referred to him as my podcast spirit animal. However, I was hoping for a bit more from this book. I think, since I have listened to so many of the podcasts, I've already heard much of this information; there wasn't a lot I gained from reading the book. I do think this would be a great introductory book, but it is less helpful for someone who has geeked out on this stuff for several years. The book is good, just not what I was hoping for in terms of detail when I picked it up. I am excited to try some of the food options, and I likely should be considering the carb testing he recommends. Overall it's a good book, but one I could have bypassed in favor of listening to more podcasts. Recommended to those new to considering using dietary changes for health.
The Lost City of Z is a great look at the historical expeditions that explored the Amazon, especially those of P.H. Fawcett and his search for Z, a city whose history is closely linked with the fabled land of El Dorado. This book is a fascinating look at the history, ecology, and anthropology of the region, while still being an entertaining and fascinating read. A perfect book for summer reading.
The ending felt a bit rushed, after the rest of the story, but this is a fun, quick read with some interesting ideas.
The Sparrow can pretty much be summed up as “Jesuits in SPAAAACE!”
(space-space-space-space)
(We get an echo in here now. What?)
Anyway, the premise of this story is that the human race detects a signal from a distant planet that clearly shows signs of intelligent life, and, being humans, decide they have to go stick their noses into the affairs of others. Specifically, the Jesuits decide to make it their next great missionary project, and agree to foot the bill. The story is set in the-not-so-distant-future of 2019-2060 (space flight, relativity, etc. accounts for the time lapse), when non-governmental space flight is possible, though still uncommon. A bit more inventive is the type of spacecraft they use - a hollowed out asteroid. The events in the book are not told chronologically - the story jumps between the present (2060) and the past (2019) to build up suspense as to what happened on the alien planet. Although this is clearly a work of science fiction, the story is much more focused on the relationships of the characters rather than the technicalities of space travel. This is most clearly evident when, upon arrival to an alien planet, it becomes incredibly apparent that none of our astronauts had ever read the works of H. G. Wells. It's not much of a spoiler to say that things to do not end well, and the journey leaves the survivor(s) in pretty bad shape, both physically and emotionally.
The major element of this story is the characters and their relationships. Much of the first half of the book consists of bringing the crew together and setting the stage for the sort of interpersonal drama that can only happen when you are trapped for several months inside of an asteroid traveling at light speed. The crew consists of several Jesuit priests - Emilio Sandoz (a younger, attractive Puerto Rican who has an incredible talent and long training in learning new languages), his mentor D. W. Yarborough (compete with Texas twang), and two redshirts, errr...other priests. It also has several non-Jesuit specialists - Anne and George (an older married couple, George was head of the program that located the original signal), Jimmy (George's employee, who actually found the signal originally), and Sofia Mendes, the requisite MPDG (an AI specialist). One thing I appreciated about this story was that the relationships between the characters felt rather believable, and, well, adult. I'm a big fan of many of the YA series available, but, I have to admit it was sort of refreshing to read a story where the world didn't have to be saved by a fifteen year old. Granted, with this many characters the standard love triangle was bound to take shape, but at least it wasn't the central theme of the story. On the other hand, while I found the relationships to be believable, the characters themselves seemed a bit over-powered. They were all super intelligent, highly skilled, and extremely pretty. Or they at least had enough of a personality to compensate if they fell short on that last bit. Now, granted, if you were going to send a mission to a new planet, you would want to hire the smartest and most-skilled people you could find. But it seemed a bit odd that these hyper-intelligent, über-humans could foul things up so incredibly poorly when they reached the alien civilization. All of their mishaps were just believable enough that you could perhaps understand how they made their mistakes, but, honestly, they were all built up a bit too much to completely believe in their epic fall.
Overall I have to say I thought this book was ok. The story does its best to tug at your heartstrings, repeatedly, and I have to admit that I was sort of over the tugging by the time I got to the end of the book. Not that I'm so callus as to not have felt anything, but, well, when so many bad things happen it is a bit easy to get dulled to the pain of it all. Suffice it to say, if you are looking for a pick-me-up sort of a book, this isn't it. It also wasn't the sort of a book that I felt compelled to pick up while I was reading it - I sort of had to force myself to finish it in a timely manner for the book club. The writing itself wasn't bad - it was actually quite good - I just wasn't motivated by the characters or their story. Which is a bit funny, because several months later I can still remember many of the characters quite vividly. I don't think my estimation of the book has grown over that time - no, I haven't come to the sudden realized that this is the best book ever - but I do remember much of the story in more detail than I had expected I would several months down the road. So, there is that. In summary I would have to say that if SyFy and Oxygen got together to make a TV-miniseries special, it would probably come out something like The Sparrow. I can't really give a positive or negative recommendation - this book has things I enjoyed, and things I didn't. It is the sort of book that I think a certain audience would really enjoy, I just don't think I'm part of that certain audience.
The Radium Girls is an historical account of the women who worked in the dial painting factories at the turn of the century. Shortly after the discovery of radium by Marie and Pierre Curie, the element was touted as a magical cure-all, partly due to it's effect on cancerous growths. As such, it was considered at the very least harmless and at best beneficial to human health. Radium's ability to glow also made it valued as a material to paint watch dials, so that they could easily be read in the dark. Thus the radium dial industry sprung up, and the material was carefully applied to clock and watch faces by the young girls who employed a technique called lip pointing to ensure that the brushes were fine and accurate for painting. Over time, however, the radium built up in the body of the girls, and radiation poisoning made them very, very sick. This book focuses on the stories of several of these girls, and how they fought against the system to be properly compensated for the work hazards that destroyed their health and their lives.
This is definitely a sad book; the descriptions of the decaying girls are incredibly visceral. You don't have to imagine the pain of the girls; you can almost feel it as their stories progress. Many of the girls die, in horrible, painful ways. There is tragedy contained in these pages, and in today's world I can understand why a reader may choose to actively avoid such an experience. However, this book is also a very uplifting story as well. It is about the little guy fighting against the man, about female empowerment, and about seeking justice and creating it where there is none. Yes, there is ignorance, and pain, and death, but there is also a will to fight, to do the right thing, and to create accountability for those in power. Although I knew the tragedy that was contained in the book's pages, I was unprepared for the fighting spirit of these factory workers and their families. Their story was laid out in an engaging and incredibly thoughtful way. The Radium Girls was absolutely compelling, and incredibly inspiring. Although this book is about the injustices of the past, it gave me hope for the future, and I highly recommend this book to everyone.
Reading this right on the heels of Sarah Knight's other book, The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck, I have to say I found this book to be much more applicable to the sorts of inspiring wisdom I was searching for. The first book is really about deciding how much you care about things and resolving to not do the things you don't care about. While I do need to work on that, I was hoping for something a little more applicable to solving issues like finding purpose in life and figuring out how to not be overwhelmed on the daily. Get Your Shit Together is much more useful for hammering out the ways one should set goals and work to achieve them. Are there any earth shattering revelations? No. But did it get me to make a budget for next month and seriously start to consider my lacking retirement prospects? Yeah. It's definitely something I will want to refer back to, and I expect I'll come to appreciate it more once my shit really does start getting together. Also, the chipmunk metaphor is brilliant. The audio book is read by the author, which adds a nice extra zeal as well.
If you like your physics with a side of dad-joke level puns, then this is totally the book for you. It's a fun romp through some of the wilder aspects of physics, though if you've got a fairly high level of understanding to start with then this book might feel like something of a review. For those who don't know physics at all, I'd worry that they might not be able to distinguish some of the punnier jokes, but I think most people should be able to parse it out. Overall a fun read to get you thinking, with lots of interesting concepts. I highly recommend reading it in conjunction with The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu because a lot of the crazier topics have a fair bit of overlap.
I continue to like the style and concepts of this book while actively disliking all of the main characters.
I'm hoping that starting out dating a high-schooler and cheating on her leaves a wide space for character growth, but I don't know if I'm counting on it. Enjoying the art style though.
Frist off, I should say that I have been reading Tamora Pierce's works since the age of eleven. Without a doubt the target audience of her books are pre-teen and teenage girls (perhaps a bit more toward the teen depending upon maturity levels), but I decided long ago that as long as she keeps writing ‘em, I am going to keep reading ‘em. She was one of the first authors I really loved to read, and so I suppose I shall always have a soft spot for her books. In any case, even as I age, I still appreciate her stories and characters and continue to enjoy her books.
Tamora Pierce has created two main worlds in which her characters and magic systems exist. One is the home of the Circle of Magic books, and the other is Tortall, which has been home to a wonderful assortment of knights, mages, scoundrels, and nobility. While the setting remains the same, the characters and their stories have been excitingly different. It has been interesting to see how the beliefs and customs in this world have changed over time, while other things have remained very much consistent throughout the timeframe covered by her works.
Typically, in her Tortallian stories, Pierce creates a female character and follows their path to greatness through two, three, or four books. Mastiff is the third and final book in the Beka Cooper series, which details the progress of Beka Cooper as she gains position in Tortall's police force. Unlike Tamora Pierce's other books, the Cooper stories are written journal style in first person. Since Beka Cooper is one of Tamora Pierce's few shyer, quieter characters, this is an excellent way to understand and connect with the character, although she may not speak as much as many of the other characters in the story. The Beka Cooper stories date back the furthest in the Tortall collections thus far; so it is interesting to see how things have changed between her time on Tortall's police force and later in the timeline when Alanna must struggle to gain acceptance as a lady knight.
Beka's earlier stories detail her learning and growing into her position as a law keeper of the realm, but Mastiff highlights how skilled and mature she has become. This is without a doubt the most exciting of the three novels, as the stakes have never been higher and it pushes Beka and all of her companions to the limit. I won't deny that there may have been more than once during the reading of this book that caused me to get a little teary-eyed, a few moments that had me bouncing in glee, and more than a few moments that left me screaming at the book and wanting to throw it against the wall. And, despite seeing a few things coming a mile off, that still didn't affect my reaction once they actually turned up in the plot. Which speaks volumes about how easy it is to get wrapped up in the story and empathize with Pierce's characters. I suppose it isn't a surprise then, that this books kept me up well past bed-time three nights running. And I have to say - totally worth it.
While Beka Cooper isn't my favorite of the Tortallian legends (my favorite stories are in The Immortals Quartet), I still thoroughly enjoyed reading her story and watching her journey. I love how her tale, despite being a century removed from most of the other events in the Tortallian legends, is still connected and important to those future events. As always, I greatly enjoyed the cast of characters, the exciting events, and the constant snark that is so prevalent in Tamora Pierce's work. All in all this book was quite satisfying, and I found it thoroughly enjoyable.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is the story of Julius who decides to pursue his childhood dream of living in Disney World's The Magic Kingdom after finishing his fourth doctorate. Set in the future, the Earth's new Bitchun Society is a place where technology has made material goods overly abundant and death a minor annoyance. Julius finds a girlfriend and a new life in Walt Disney World, working to maintain some of the Parks iconic attractions like the Presidents Hall and The Huanted Mansion. Things start to get a bit strange when it seems like a group of Imagineers want to take over and change some of the most historic aspects of the Magic Kingdom. Julius, his girlfriend Lil, and his college buddy Dan must go to extremes to try and preserve the soul of the park.
Despite having a somewhat light premise (living inside Disney World), Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom actually explores some rather dark and serious themes. In a world where you can live forever, would you want to? And, if you didn't, how would you know when it would be time to go? Would living forever be worth losing your memories? Or would it be better to restore yourself from backup before a point of major emotional damage? It's the sort of book that probably would make you feel better if you couldn't totally identify with the main character. I mean, sure, he does some things that I wouldn't necessarily condone, but all of the big question life stuff he ponders... Yup. Been down those roads before.
Overall I would have to say this was a surprisingly deep book for such a quick and easy read. I don't know - maybe the idea of running away to Disney World after finishing up a chemistry degree holds a special appeal to me - but I found myself to be very empathetic with the main character. I mean, sure, I don't have to deal with the possibility of an infinite future, but otherwise I can very much understand why he is so distraught over the choices he has to make, and why he so desperately wants to preserve relics from a time before this overly technological society took over. Some of the science fiction elements seem sort of ridiculous yet surprisingly prophetic - especially the concept of “Whuffie” - where the amount of respect you garner is the most important aspect of your social standing. In an age where everyone reminds you to “Hit the Like button,” I can totally see how this could relate to people gaining overwhelming influence in society. Despite the outward levity (I mean, Disney World, “Bitchun” Society, and Whuffie?) this book packed a surprising punch of reality and honesty about things that we have to think about in today's world, and makes us ponder what it would be like if we had the option to erase them from our minds or deal with them for an eternity. I can see how the crazy science fiction terms could put people off, but I think this book is definitely worth a read, especially for anyone who “grew up Disney” and has a soft spot for The Haunted Mansion.
A solid 3.5 Stars. I was very much on the fence between the 3/4 rating, but decided to round down because, much as I loved the concept of the world, I never fell in love with the characters. Well, maybe the pirate; he kinda stole the show. But I never found myself really rooting for the main characters, and that left me feeling a bit disengage from the story.
The great thing about this book is that it is very general about styles of fashion, which makes it applicable to everyone. The exercises at the beginning of the book, geared toward designing a wardrobe that fits an individual's lifestyle, also seem really helpful, if somewhat time intensive. The details at the back of the book about looking for good quality pieces are also very informative. The only possible downside is that it is perhaps too general - while the author does provide some examples of how to generate a personal style, come up with a color palette, and decide what pieces are necessary, it can feel really vague if you aren't following along and doing the exercises as you go through the book. Definitely a book I will be revisiting, though partially because I'm a stats junkie who thinks it would be fun to make a pie chart comparing my actual life to my wardrobe's theoretical function.
This book is a contemporary fantasy set in the outskirts of Chicago. Danny, a young country boy, finds himself a witness to a road accident on his way to the big city. His training as a paramedic allows him to gain favor with Mr. Patrise, one of the town's most prominent patrons. Ford introduces us to a large and varied cast of characters, including Cloudhunter, one of the Elves who has returned (along with the presence of magic) to this world.
Danny finds himself given a new identity (Doc Hallownight, or more commonly just Doc), and new responsibilities. He (along with the reader) learns about the very different world that he now inhabits. He enjoys the glamourous parties and outings sponsored by his new patron, but he also must deal with some less-than-glamorous experiences in the gang-controlled sections of town. Danny eventually settles into his role as Doc as finds his way and his place in this new and magical world.
This is really a coming of age story, but it is handled with great subtlety and depth. The writing assumes an audience smart enough to pick up on the subtle hints and clues left by the characters. So much of the richness in this story comes from being able to read between the lines, and picking up on what the characters don't say, as much as what they do. I think this is rather fantastic because, very often, this is how people actually seem to communicate. Despite being thrown into a world of elves, odd crimes, and strange magic, there is not much exposition to slow down the story. In fact this story seems to start at a quick pace, and only speeds up as the story moves along. I think one of the great things is that as much as you learn about this world, you still want to know more. And even as details get filled in, it leaves you with yet more unanswered questions. There is a depth and richness to the world and the characters, and despite the elves and other magical properties, they all seem to have oddities and personality quirks that make them very realistic.
My only real complaint about this story is that there doesn't seem to be enough of it. I want to spend more time with these characters, and I want to know more about this world. I mean, as a whole this book is fairly satisfying - we see Danny grow as a person both personally and professionally as he accepts his new role in life as Doc Hallownight - but there is a depth to this world that I feel I really didn't get to explore.
In the end I would recommend this book to fans of the fantasy genre, but especially those who really enjoy nuanced, detailed, and subtle writing. Also, who can say boo to elves in leather jackets sporting machine guns? I mean, really, it makes Legolas look like a total pansy. I definitely think I would enjoy this book even more with a re-read, and I look forward to enjoying more of Ford's works in the future. This was a fun and fantastic read, and I highly recommend it to others.
Likes: The concept of a fuck budget is brilliant.
Dislikes: It feels a bit focused on dealing with things I already don't give a fuck about.
Dashed hopes: I was hoping for a bit more insight in how to decide what exactly I should give a fuck about, but perhaps I shall be enlightened when she tells me how to get my shit together in the sequel?
This is a short story available of Syfy's website (http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse/drive/) as part of their promotion for the new tv series. It is a brief look at the life of Solomon Epstein, the inventor of the drive that will make interplanetary travel feasible, allowing for the events preceding the start of the series. It is a quick story that does a nice job of setting up the politics of the world. It is well worth the read.
Perfect State is the story of Kai, the conquerer of the world. Well, at least of his world. Kai is actually living in a simulated world that is perfectly tailored to making him a hero. Which means he is fantastic at everything. Until he is told by the higher powers that he need to procreate, and is forced to go on a date. With the usual Brandon Sanderson flare, hilarity and awesome adventures ensue.
I've read nearly all of Brandon Sanderson's works, so I've become quite used to his style as an author. I have to say that Perfect State stood out from the rest, in a good way. Sanderson gets a bit edgier than in his other works, and it really worked for this story. The world-building and plot, as always, are fantastic. The setup of the story allows for all the cool things, while still making total sense, which makes my geeky little heart do a happy dance. The characters are fun, and definitely have the typical Sanderson snark that I've come to expect from the non-cosmere crowd. I suppose one could criticize how all of his characters have the same tone when they banter, but it's fun banter, so I really don't mind at all.
I really loved the ending of this story. It is the perfect blend of depressing, thought provoking, and hopeful. There are so many little details that I loved about this story, but I don't want to give away too many spoilers, so I won't list them here. I'm just going to say “I loved it” and leave it at that. The story is fairly short and reads very quickly - I read it while traveling and finished it in one sitting between other books during the trip. This is the sort of story I think everyone will enjoy. It's fun, it's quick, it's inexpensive, and it's good. Highly recommended.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant is a fantasy novel about a young girl who wants to overthrow the empire that has colonized and destroyed the culture of home. Baru is a very intelligent child, and asks probing questions about the nature of the new people who have come to trade with the people of her home nation. Trade, of course, is only the start of the interactions between the empire (commonly called the Masquerade), and the people on her home island of Taranoke. Baru is aware of the problems that the empire will bring to her home, and vows to find a way to stop them. She is chosen to attend the empire-sponsored school, where she is an intellectual prodigy, and earns a position as an accountant in another of the empire's holdings. While there, Baru uncovers the plot for a rebellion, and must choose when the time to strike out against the empire is right.
There are a lot of things I really loved about this book. The first section of this book, when the empire was taking over Taranoke, was heartbreaking and beautifully written. The reader was given the perfect amount of space to take in what was happening to the people of Taranoke, without the revelation feeling either too graphic or too cold. Anyone who has ever studied any sort of history of colonization could have seen the disaster coming, and also known there wasn't anything to stop it. I also really liked the general concept for the book - a woman on a mission to bring down an empire from the inside. It is an interesting revenge story and provides a great framework for intricate political plots full of intrigue, double-crossing, and betrayal. I also absolutely loved the very end of the book. I thought the way the afterward was presented in the form of letters was brilliant, and succinctly tied up any loose ends that may have been left at the end of the story.
All that being said, there were, however, a lot of things that I thought could have been better about this book. Much of this book focuses on the time that Baru spends as accountant, and the rebellion she must deal with in that position. This meant that much of the book was political and economic discussions being held between one or two characters at a time. Now, I'm as excited about a good cost-benefits analysis as the next reader, but I feel that this hindered the world building and that is made the “intrigue” not quite as intriguing as it could have been. I also think that it was probably more of a let down because the introduction to the book was so brilliant. At a certain point I stopped reading because I was enjoying it, and was reading it because I felt I needed to get it finished. There were a lot of moments of dialogue where I felt I could have mentally swapped names of the characters in the scene and it would have played out the same. It wasn't that I couldn't keep track of all the dukes and duchesses and governors running around - it was that I just kind of stopped caring. I think the characters just needed to have more character. I know that part of the plot device was to have all of their motives be secretive, so that the reader could never be sure of what was going to happen, but I think I've seen that sort of device used better. If the reader doesn't have a chance to establish what they think a character should do, then they can't really get that feeling of being blown away when they see what a character does do. This problem bleeds into the end of the story; the novel ends with a very dramatic event that should have been absolutely gut-wrenching, yet I couldn't feel the anguish I wanted because I just didn't feel that invested in the characters. Similarly, I thought that Seth Dickinson's idea for a masked empire was wonderful, and worked very well thematically with the story, but I wish it had been developed a bit more. The mask was something that should have sent fear or terror or hated up my spine by the end of the novel, but was visually absent for much of the story, and sort of lost its punch by the end of it.
I do, however, have to commend the book for striving to focus on issues of gender, race, and acceptance. Baru is already a strong, smart, ambitious woman, who also happens to be from a repressed and broken race of people. She also happens to be a homosexual, which is violently discouraged by the empire. Much of the story centers around her trying to hide this fact for her own self-preservation, and dealing with the expectations of leaders trying to promote a heterosexual society. I think that the science fiction and fantasy communities have been clamoring for more diverse characters for a while now, and I think it is great to see them starting to appear in books that are being promoted by several of the more main stream fantasy publishers.
So, overall, I have very mixed feeling about this book. I think that mostly I am disappointed because it was a pretty good book when I think it could have been amazing. The concept for the plot, the characters, and the world was great, and I really liked that this book wasn't afraid of dealing with difficult topics. I just don't think the execution of the story lived up to the promise that the idea of it had. The fact that the writing was so lovely at the start of the story doesn't help, because it just made me want the middle of the story to be as good to match it. Unfortunately, I think this is the sort of story that either needed to be much longer and developed more, to give the reader more time to become involved with each of the characters, or less bogged down in the middle so that the reader could see everything play out from more of a distance. Personally, I'm in the needs more development camp. I wasn't in love with this book as much as I wanted to be, but I am very excited to see what Seth Dickinson writes in the future. I think his ideas are great, I just wish there was a bit more character development and world-building in this novel. I think this is a great novel to recommend to someone who is either searching for more diverse fantasy stories or who is on the lookout for new and upcoming authors. For readers who are looking for more elaborate fantasy worlds with rich histories and complex magic systems, this might not be the book for you. I'm glad I read it, but I'm also ready to move on to another world with new characters.
Heart in a Box is the story of a girl named Emma who has just gone through a breakup, and wishes that she could get rid of her her heart so that she will no longer have to deal with the emotions of pain and loneliness. Of course, after “Bob” shows up to grant her wish, she realizes having no heart is worse than having a broken one, and goes on a journey to reunite the pieces of her lost heart.
This is one of those sorts of stories where I the entire time I was reading it I was like, “yes.” The author just gets it. From the awesome gay best friend to the need to do weird shit to your hair after a traumatic event, everything in this story just felt so connected to reality, despite the fact that the entire plot is based on a fantastical heart loss and reclamation system. The character's journey takes her on an epic cross country road trip, with stops in several major cities. I haven't been to all of the places Emma visits, but I've been to enough of them to appreciate the authentic vibe the writer and illustrator have given the setting. Mostly, though, it is being able to identify and empathize with Emma on every step of her journey that sells this story. Granted, Emma's actual situation is a bit unique, as are many of the ordeals she must face on her quest, but the emotional issues she deals with are universal and completely understandable.
The art in this graphic novel is unique, strange, and beautiful. It took a little while for me to adapt to the style, but it is visually striking and suits the story. The artwork really started to grow on me after a bit, and I really fell in love with it by the end of the story. The visuals greatly contribute to the feel of the characters and setting as the story progress. It is incredibly well integrated with the story being told.
Overall I think this is a fantastic story, with beautiful art, and a charming and heartfelt message. I love all of the characters and how they interact with each other and the world around them. The book feels effortlessly truthful in a way that many other stories strive for, yet fail to achieve. It is depressing, heartwarming, entertaining, and thought provoking, all while being a quick read. It leaves a lasting impression, and is a story I'm sure I'll want to revisit in the future. Highly recommended.
Mitosis is a fun (very) short story in Sanderson's young adult Reckoners series. The premise of this world is that Calamity has happened and a few people of the Earth have been granted super-powers. Which in theory sounds great, but in actuality is not so fun when you consider that only evil people get to use their powers. An underground resistance, known as the Reckoners, have started to fight back in Newcago (the city formerly known as Chicago).
Mitosis is set between the events of the first and second books in the series, and provides a small glimpse of how life has changed for our team of evil-fighting Reckoners. There isn't much to say about the story that won't spoil the plot, but, basically, a Reckoner's work is never done, and there is always another Epic to fight. It is fun to see more of the Epic superpowers and weaknesses that exist - the characters haven't quite figured out the rules to the Epics' powers yet, so any extra tidbits are fun clues for both the characters in the story and the reader.
This story is very short - I was able to read it in less than an hour - but it is fun. It was great to read it as a refresher for this world just before the second installment of the main series (Firefight) is about to be released in a few weeks. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who hasn't read the first book in the series; firstly, because it will spoil the ending of the first book, and, secondly, because this story would probably feel a bit dry if you didn't already have a more detailed picture of the characters built up in your head. I can't know, but I highly suspect, that this events of this story won't be required to appreciate the upcoming second book, but it was a fun quick read nonetheless, so if you are a fan of the Reckoners series you will probably enjoy this brief adventure in Newcago.
Uprooted is the story of Agnieszka, a girl who learns she has magical powers after being chosen by “the Dragon” - a mysterious wizard who protects Agieszka's village from the evil woods. The Dragon chooses a young woman every ten years as payment for his services. While most of the young women he chooses tend to act as his personal servant, Agnieszka's abilities make her life with the Dragon quite different. Agnieszka must learn to use her magical abilities to help the Dragon to fight against the evil woods, while trying not to upset the political issues of the realm.
The novel contains many of the elements of a classic fairytale - a grumpy wizard, a mysterious evil wood, a young person who must learn to use her powers and save the day. Where it differs significantly from a traditional fairytale is in the attitudes of the characters. Agnieszka is no damsel in distress. If anything she is the rough and tumble tomboy getting her hands dirty kinda of a character. The Dragon is a bit like Sherlock Holmes - trying to uncover the mystery of the woods while really just wanting to stay in his bachelor pad, and annoyed by the incompetence of everyone around him. He's kind of an ass, but does just enough cool things that you end up liking him anyway. You've also got the perfect best friend, the ultimate frat boy, and “rival detective” running around keeping things interesting.
Despite how modern the characters feel, they didn't seem out of place in a distinctly fairy tale world. The writing allowed for a perfect blend of traditional tropes and modern ideas to blend and create a rather enjoyable story. It contains a lot of traditional Polish folklore (some of which has been stolen by other fantasy stories over the years), while weaving a lot of modern issues (gender roles, sexual consent, etc.) into the story without being preachy. The book is still about telling the story. The only strong complaint I have is that the pacing of the novel feels a bit inconsistent. I found the start of the novel quite engaging - despite the limited, terse interactions between the Dragon and his apprentice, this portion of the novel felt fairly fast paced. However, as the novel wears on and Agnieszka is tested with ever more challenging foes, the length of the battle scenes seems to stretch on a bit more than necessary. It is one of those things where I can understand the desire to not trivialize death and to give the situation its due, but, on the other hand, when there are a bunch of previously unknown characters fighting a huge battle it is sort of hard to feel an emotional connection to them as a reader. We see the battles from Agnieszka's view - not exactly removed from the action, but not always the center of it either. Which makes sense, but isn't the most engaging thing to read. The battles also felt a bit like an annoying roadblock - can we please let the main characters get on with more important things, like magic-ing some evil trees? - which is possibly another reason that these scenes felt so stretched out. My level of attention wavered from fully engrossed to mildly interested at different portions of the books. The smaller, more intimate scenes involving just a few characters are extremely well done, but I don't know that I cared as much when there were thousands of people on the page.
Overall I thought this was a really enjoyable book. Definitely well worth a read, especially since it is gathering such a buzz at the moment. It is a fun story with an interesting mix of classic and modern elements. Highly recommended.
Neuromancer is a novel set in a futuristic Matrix-like world where humans can jack into the vast systems of computer networks to access hidden information. This book follows the story of Case, once one of the best criminals in the system, who's career was ended when a former employer destroyed his nervous system. He is found by Molly, a warrior with enhanced capabilities, who puts him in contact with her employer, and restores his lost abilities with a very experimental surgical procedure. The remainder of the story follows their adventures as they work to uncover the secrets hidden by the target of their operation: the Tessier-Ashpool business group.
I have to say that, while I enjoyed segments of this book, and while I appreciated the detailed and other-worldly descriptive passages, there were (a lot of) times when I was pondering exactly what was happening. Sometimes I questioned if I was reading something that was absolute brilliance or total gibberish. At times I even questioned if I was smart enough to understand what was really happening in this book. But I continued on to the ending, and I must admit that in the end I was able to find some enjoyment in the book. There are still sections that I don't know if I fully understand, and some portions that would make my brain hurt to re-read, but I did think that the end result was worth it.
I don't know if this story is for everyone - the techno-babble and and convoluted plot could be a turn-off for a lot of readers - but I do think fans of the science fiction genre will enjoy this book. The descriptive passages allow the reader to imagine some rather unique and stunning visuals, but a lot of this writing is wedged between long segments describing the almost indecipherable descriptions of the world's technology. I did like this gritty, non-utopian view of the future, and I can appreciate that this writing style forces the reader to be fully immersed in this world. On the other hand, I don't know if the characters or plot are as complex or well-rounded as I would like them to be. I can't deny that this novel has an important place in the genre, but I don't think I would consider this one of my favorite science fiction novels, though it was definitely a very interesting read. I am glad I spent the time to read it myself, but unless you are a real science fiction buff I don't know that I would recommend it to others.
The tales in Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang cover an interesting range of ideas, but the topics of math, genetics, language, and religion are fairly strong throughout. I had a wide range of reactions to each of the stories in this collection, so I think it would be most fair for me to review each one individually.
Tower of BabylonThe Tower of Babylon follows the journey of two miners as they ascend the Tower of Babylon in the hopes of finding their way into the vault of heaven. Much of the story is concerned with the practical issues of having a tower that is so tall, which I found mildly interesting. The ending of the story is perhaps what ruins it for me - the realization of the main character and how he comes to his conclusion feel a bit forced, especially from a character that has felt a little flat the whole time. Overall the story felt a bit long and drawn out, without an entirely satisfying conclusion. Probably my least favorite in the entire collection.UnderstandUnderstand follows the story of a brain-damaged man who, upon receiving experimental medication, becomes a super genius. I rather liked seeing how his mental state changed throughout the story; his progression felt like a natural path and didn't seem awkward or forced. The story felt like it built to a natural conclusion, albeit an interesting one. I did feel that there was a bit too much explanation in this story, but then it was dealing with the academic thoughts of a hyper-intelligent being, so I'm not sure there would have been an easy way around that. I liked this story quite a bit when I read it, but I am wondering if that is only because I found it much more enjoyable than the first story in the collection. After some time away from it, I have to admit I wasn't blown away by it. I think the execution of the writing wasn't quite up to the ideas contained within the story. Because so much of this story takes place in one man's head, I don't know how you could get away from the fact that much of this story feels like you are being given an inadequate description of a mathematical process. Also, although the tone of the writing changes slightly as the main character gains intelligence, I don't know if the tone of the writing changes enough to really emphasize how drastic it is. Although many of his behaviors are different, the character at the end still feels very much like the same person that existed on the first page, and I think someone experiencing the sorts of changes he is would have a more drastic change in personality. I liked this story, but I think more could have been done with it. It was interesting, but it hasn't really stuck with me in the way that some of the other stories have.Division by ZeroDivision by Zero is the story of a woman who is driven to depression by her proof of the inconsistency of mathematics, and her husband, who is trying to understand her changing demeanor. First of all, I have to say I really enjoyed this story. It was one of the shorter stories in the collection, and it felt very concise, tight, and focused. I enjoyed how the elements of the story were revealed, and how the segments added up to a complete view of the situation. I always find it interesting to see what breaks people in a story, and I really enjoyed seeing the process from two perspectives. Of course, it probably helped that I am something of a math person - the main character's surly behavior during her research and extreme reaction to her changing world view wasn't as incomprehensible to me as it was to the other characters in the story. I sort of felt as though the reader was supposed to identify with the husband, but I found myself identifying more with the mathematician. Perhaps not unexpected from spending too much time in higher education. Anyway, I really liked this story, and I think it is one of the more enjoyable and accessible in the collection. Story of Your LifeStory of Your Life is the story of a linguist who has recently lost her daughter, and is recalling moments from her daughter's childhood, how she met her husband, and her work translating the language of a visiting alien species. This was definitely one of the more successful stories in the collection. Like Division by Zero, it focuses more on the people in the story, and allows the mathematical and scientific concepts to be interesting without taking precedence over the story itself. I actually rather liked the way this story was structured and composed as well. It had an appropriately somber tone, without being melodramatic or dull. It felt like someone was wistfully remembering happier times from their past in the context of a recent tragedy. For me this story was a highlight of the collection.Seventy-Two LettersSeventy-Two Letters is the story of a man who is working to create a dexterous automaton, and then gets involved in a project to create a way to propagate human life when it is discovered that the fertility of the human race is coming to an end. In my opinion, this was one of the less successful stories in the book. It wasn't so much that the ideas of the story were bad (actually, I found the premise rather interesting), but I wasn't very excited by the way the story progressed. Too much time was spent discussing, explaining, or hypothesizing about the fictitious nomenclature system that would bring the automata to life. The characters were rather dull, and the social and political implications of the research that were discussed in the story have been more successfully examined in other works of fiction. It was a bit of a slog for me to get through this short story, and just when I was starting to get excited by the action, the main character "figured it out" and the story was over. I thought the solution was sort of obvious, so the conclusion in itself wasn't really enough to win me over, and the journey to the ending wasn't all that enjoyable. This story felt rushed in parts, and sluggish in others. It either needed to be a much longer story (to give us more insight to the characters and make their journey as individuals more interesting), or it needed to be a much shorter one that didn't spend so much time redundantly discussing ideas of the nomenclature system. This is close to Tower of Babylon for me; I was only slightly more excited by this one because of the action sequence at the end.The Evolution of Human ScienceThis story was originally published as a short piece in Nature under a different title ("Catching Crumbs from the Table"). [Side note: Dear Nature editors, um, what?] It is told as a futuristic journal article, discussing how regular humans need not worry about lacking the capabilities of the new metahumans, who can digitally download and share information. Although short, I actually rather liked this piece - it felt like a futuristic op-ed column. It was also sort of interesting putting it into perspective with today's world, where the technology gap can be rather wide in some places. I didn't think this story was as strong as some of the others, but, for what it was, I did enjoy it.Hell is the Absence of GodThis is the story of how Neil Fisk lost his wife and found God. It takes place in a world where angelic visitations are regular events, and hell is occasionally on display. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this story. I found it compelling to read, and got through it quite quickly, but I still feel conflicted now that I've finished. The funny thing is, I actually liked the ending. It seemed fitting, and appropriate if you accepted the world that Chiang created. Problem is, I don't know if I fully accepted it. I mean, I found the idea that angelic visitations would be something akin to natural disasters rather interesting, and the idea that they would bring a balance of creative and destructive forces made sense to me. I also liked how Chiang sort of implied that these things could happen because heaven, mortality, and hell were intersecting planes of existence. So I suppose I enjoyed the more scientific side of things. The religious descriptions... made me oddly uncomfortable. Which, I suppose, is good in a way. I do think it is important to push yourself out of a comfort zone, at least occasionally. I just don't know if I like the direction this pushed me. I don't know. I think if it was making me question my own beliefs or examine how I treat the beliefs of others I would feel differently about it, but I really just left the story thinking that I'd been preached at a bit too much, and that everyone got their just desserts at the end. I think this story was successful in what it was trying to accomplish, I'm just not sure if I liked it.Liking What You See: A DocumentaryThis was a documentary-style story about "lookisim" - judging people based on their looks - and finding ways to remove it from society. Although I think Story of Your Life was probably the best executed story in this collection, Liking What You See was definitely my favorite. It was the one story in the collection where I just sat, read, and enjoyed. The concept was interesting (if we could turn off a portion of our brain that makes us consider people differently, would we? Should we?), and the format was equally so. Apparently this story was nominated for a Hugo, but Chiang refused the nomination because he felt the story was rushed by his publishers and not quite what he had envisioned. Which is too bad, because I thought it was great. The conversation within the story is exactly the sort of conversation people would be having if this were a possibility, and the emotions and actions of the characters are exactly how people would feel and behave. As with so many scientific discoveries, the debate would soon turn to one that was much more political. It felt very plausible to me, and the format of the story only elevated that believability. Of all the stories, this one was probably the lightest in terms of scientific technicalities, but had the most depth when it came to how the characters were dealing with them.
Conclusions
I liked this story collection, but I did feel that some of the stories were not as enjoyable as others. I feel that Chiang's most successful stories focus on the people dealing with science/technology/math/religion, as opposed to the ones where the ideas take center stage. Which is a bit funny, because I think his strong suit as a writer is examining interesting topics. I suppose it comes down to one's opinion on what constitutes good writing. I've read enough science fiction and fantasy to be able to say that for me, a cool idea isn't enough. The way that idea is explored and presented matter a great in how receptive I am to the story as a whole. Here, I thought the stories that allowed me to connect with the characters while discovering the concepts worked very well, and were actually quite enjoyable. In other stories I felt that the information would have almost been more interesting if I were sitting in a lecture hall, rather than reading about characters that served little purpose other than as a means of expressing the idea behind the story.
I also had issues with the lengths of some (ok, many) of the stories. Some felt too long, like they were dragged out to fulfill some arbitrary word count, or so he could reiterate the main scientific idea behind the story a few too many times. Other stories felt too short, and I wish that either the characters or the idea had been developed into something longer and more substantial. Perhaps because of this, the endings of many of these stories felt a bit rushed, as though the character made a huge discovery just so the story could end. I found that I wasn't entirely satisfied with many of the endings, not because of what happened, but because of the abruptness of how and when it happened.
Also, I realize that the stories were printed in chronological order, but I don't know if that best-served the book as a whole. I wasn't very motivated by the first story; perhaps I would have been a bit more receptive to the work as a whole if it had been one of the others (actually, switching the first two would have probably made me much more excited for the rest of the book). Similarly, it was rather disappointing to have one of what I consider the weaker stories (Seventy-Two Letters) following one of the strongest (Story of Your Life). Perhaps using The Evolution of Human Science as a breather between those two stories might have helped it not feel like so much of a let down. The placement of the other stories felt appropriate, and I suppose it would have been silly to rearrange only a few out of chronological order, but I can't help but think that it might have given me a more favorable overall impression of the book. I know one shouldn't judge a book by its cover (though this cover is actually really cool), or in this case a collection by its first story, but humans are sort of hard-wired to do that. I don't think the order necessarily ruined my enjoyment of the following stories, but I do think it set me up to look for issues of story construction that I otherwise might have ignored.
In the end, I'm glad I read this story collection. Being something of a math and science geek, I found a lot of the topics in the stories really interesting, and despite my complaints, I actually really enjoyed a few of these stories. I don't know if I would recommend this collection of stories to everyone - I think you have to be able to nerd-out on some of the concepts when the storytelling gets a bit weak. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of hard-core science fiction though, as it does examine topics of math and science in interesting ways.