Bronwyn Knox

I'm generally interested in variations on fantasy more so than the traditional High Fantasy. I tend to categorize all of High Fantasy as the same story over and over about chosen ones, quests, rings, swords, good vs. evil, and so on.

The Blade Itself is an adult version of fantasy, though it does take place in a world of Kings, Princes, and wizards. The story focuses on three jaded characters (as opposed to heroic young adults) trying to survive a brutal world where different kingdoms are constantly at war, struggling for power, not to mention internal politics that can get someone killed easily should they cross the wrong people.

The three characters whose POVs we see are not the power players but rather those who must survive in a dystopian world. They may not be likable, heroic guys, yet their struggles make them relatable. Even the spoiled rich kid gains a little depth as he figures out there may be something he wants from life besides drinking and gambling.

I prefer series where each book has a resolution; the plot of The Blade Itself isn't resolved by the end. But I enjoyed this so much that I will continue with the other two books.

This is one of those books that leave me undecided about whether I like it or not. (I'm giving a three-star to be generous.) I loved the idea of an alternate universe where the silent movie era is coupled with space travel. Wonderfully imaginative idea, I thought. It's Georges Méliès-inspired like the Scorsese film, Hugo. I would have enjoyed a straight-forward narrative but I'm open to experimental styles too, if there's something intense or profound or even humorous for me to grab onto. Lines like this made me think there would be humor throughout:“She is dead. Almost certainly dead. Nearly conclusively dead. She is, at the very least, not answering her telephone.”But that was the only time I got a little laugh.Valente offers a pastiche of media styles. Each individual chapter is inspired by any number of styles such as: Classic Hollywood, children's animation, commercials, film noir, documentary footage, celebrity gossip columns, gothic tales, science fiction, steampunk, not to mention fairy tales and mythology. She has a distinct prose style that's almost lyrical or poetic. It's not enough to make me fall in love with the book, but I can see how it stands out from the ordinary. There are a lot of broader concepts that the author touched upon. First there are the characters like filmmaker Percy and his daughter Severin who cannot exist without having their lives recorded on media. Percy even goes so far as to have events, such as Severin arriving as an infant in a basket, restaged so he can catch them on film. There's also characters who mix their fiction with reality, embodied by actress Mary Pelham, who tries to emulate the film detective she plays on screen to solve “real-life” mysteries.Beyond individual characters, the world of Radiance has Imperialism in the form of Earth nations that have now taken over solar system planets. There's also the propaganda to influence the masses with the product Callowmilk. Along with this is some environmental commentary about using animals for their products. Then there is the conspiracy with the disappeared civilizations and people on the various planets. That's a lot of things for Radiance to be about, and it doesn't take any of them very far. The novel goes wide but not deep.Throughout, Valente makes meta comments about story types and the nature of stories. The main takeaway is that stories don't have endings. “There is no such thing as an ending. There are no answers. We collect the pieces where we can, obsessively assemble and reassemble them, searching for a picture that only ever comes in parts. And we cling to those parts.”What I'm looking for is for each of the parts to be interesting on their own as well, if parts is all we get. With the exception of the mythology of Anchises, most of the mini-stories didn't engage me. An example of fiction done in a meta style that did work for me was Auster's [b:The New York Trilogy 431 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924429l/431.SX50.jpg 2343071]. I recognized it for what it was but I was also very involved with the stories.Radiance reminds me of a film beautiful to look at, something like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which had innovative and amazing effects for the time. After watching for a while, I realized that the characters and plot were just not that intriguing. Years have passed, and all I can remember is the visual style.

Kazuo Ishiguro's book's never leave you with an upbeat feeling, do they? Of course I certainly won't ever forget about any of them either.

Reading this was similar to reading Never Let Me Go—I couldn't put it down because I was dying to discover what was really going on. Patience is required since Ishiguro's books are mostly focused on the internal experiences of those characters, not the plot.

When We Were Orphans is set up as a thriller or detective novel. Charles Banks, the narrator and protagonist of the story, has chosen detective as his profession. This is an interesting contradiction since his blind spot is the traumatic incident around the disappearance of his parents when he was a child in the British colony in Shanghai.

Banks went back to England, an orphan for all purposes, finished school and quietly decided detective was the future for him. He lived most of his life in a childlike haze or delusion, a lot of it admittedly created by trusted adults who lied and kept things from him as a child. He met another orphaned adult named Sarah, with whom he had in common a need to be part of some great work, to help out the world in some significant way but found out how difficult it was to overcome their own needs.

You would think that as a detective he would have prioritized going back to Shanghai to find his parents. Instead he spent time building a name for himself in London. Once he finally decided to go to Shanghai, he doesn't see things realistically, trusts the wrong people and misidentifies a random Japanese soldier as his childhood friend. In other words, he didn't act as the clever and objective detective he's supposed to be. In the climactic scene, he rushed through the streets of Shanghai in the middle of fighting between the Japanese and Chinese, but he never let go of his personal goal of finding the house he believed his parents were held in, ignoring the chaos and violence all around him.

Like many, Banks' life of relative comfort came at the cost of others who suffered, but he wasn't aware until it was spelled out. The background of Banks' story includes the history of China/British relations and Imperialism leading up to WWII. I appreciate that Ishiguro doesn't take a one-sided approach to these larger issues.

This is my fourth Ishiguro novel, and I've come to the conclusion that all are unique and well written but all leave me with the same empty feeling that comes from identifying with a character's missed opportunities and misunderstandings that get resolved too late to change anything.

I tracked this collection down because I was interested in Cyberpunk beyond William Gibson. There are a couple of Gibson stories that I already had read in his Burning Chrome collection, “Gernsback Continuum” which is one of my favorites, and “Red Star, Winter Orbit.”

The best new (to me) story in this collection was “Petra” by Greg Bear which isn't a Cyberpunk story at all. It's a Weird Fiction apocalypse where reality and rationality break down. Dreams and nightmares become real. Stone statues and gargoyles come to life and buildings become trees, etc. A new world order develops among the new half-stone and half-gargoyle beings. Very imaginative and compelling.

One I liked that was a bit more Cyberpunk in nature was “Stone Lives” by Paul Di Filippo, about a blind man from the slums who is chosen to receive eye implants and an unusual job. It reminds me a lot of all those Gibson stories where a poor underdog gets involved in a mystery and is exposed to how the other half lives.

The most humorous tale is “Mozart in Mirrorshades'' by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner. An unscrupulous company robs, corrupts, and exploits alternate timelines of resources like oil, art, and Mozart for example. I've seen things like this done before in films and other books but this little story was funny and well done.

The other stories were fair to good but it was worth my time to explore a few more authors from the genre.

One of the best horror books I've read in awhile. The real-life fears of bullying, alcoholism, pedophilia, loneliness, and poverty juxtaposed with the supernatural terror of vampirism.

It is genuinely chilling and emotionally moving.

I was invested in all of the characters, including feeling empathy for the “villains.”

The ending was amazing, a little bit open-ended but also satisfying.