Ryan

Rebellious frontier librarians in a post-apocalyptic future. The only problem with this, like with Gailey's other cowpoke fantasy work, is that there isn't more of it. I need at least a half a dozen more stories with these characters as soon as possible.

This was a good summary of how to avoid ROT, self-serving bias, and the fundamental attribution error, not only when playing poker but in other situations as well. I'd like to think I already do that fairly well, but I recognize that the self-serving bias is probably causing me to think I'm better at it than I actually am.

This is a retelling of Aphra's story from the Darth Vader series, but told from her perspective, which adds a nice twist to it.

Aphra's still a great character - she's an amoral ‘rogue archeologist' trying to carve out a place for herself in a world dominated by the Empire. She's fun, interesting, and adds a level of depth to the antagonists of the Star Wars universe.

This was a phenomenal read. Moreno-Garcia has always shown a lot of skill in her ability to convey mood and emotion through her prose, and here she's on full display. This was a wonderfully creepy haunted house story.

This was a neat idea for a flash fiction collection - a set of short stories and poetry centred around a politically infamous phrase said of Elizabeth Warren - “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” All the stories feature that phrasing and interpret it in different directions.

The most amazing thing about this collection, though? The authors! What an incredible, all-star collection of writers of both the present and future of the sci-fi and fantasy community. Reading through the table of contents felt like looking at my recent reads and TBR pile.

Vinegar Girl is billed as an updated version of The Taming Of The Shrew, which I thought would be interesting, as Shrew's plot is misogynistic in ways that would be completely unacceptable in a modern environment. It would be an interesting and difficult problem to solve.

What Vinegar Girl does instead is take the basic premise of a father wanting to arrange a marriage for his independently-minded daughter and go off on its own direction from there. The result is a fairly pleasant romantic comedy with a somewhat unsatisfying-yet-inoffensive romantic resolution.

This was an absolutely brilliant novel about New York, about the joys and struggles of city living, and about how our environment can shape our identities. It was a little difficult reading this in a year when so much of what makes cities amazing has been robbed of us due to COVID, but it's a good reminder of the energy that they can give us.

For years I'd heard people talk about this book, but I hadn't really understood the type of book that it was. It's long, and it's dense, but it's also quite enjoyable as a satire about conspiracy theories that mostly hits the mark about understanding the conspiratorial mindset.

Reading this in 2020, when mainstream political figures will gladly share information about Qanon or “The Great Reset” added an interesting wrinkle to my appreciation of it.

This is an absolutely essential read for understanding the injustices and racism that Black Canadians face in the 21st century.

I don't know what I can add here that the title doesn't explain.

This was a great continuation of the Alphabet Squadron story that expands their story a lot now that the whole team is together. In terms of plot, this series seems to be following the structure of the original films - this is definitely the Empire Strikes Back of Alphabet Squadron. If you're a Star Wars fan this trilogy should be high on your list.

I can see why some people love this, but it really wasn't for me.

It's a cowboy caper (sorry, “operation”) where the cowboys ride hippos. I was sold from the start, but Gailey's wonderful characterization of both human and hop is really what sells the book. I'm excited for more.

Very reminiscent of the Rogue Squadron novels from the old EU. Compelling characters with tragic backstories brought together as a ragtag fighter squadron so that they can go pew pew at the bad guys. Perfectly Star Wars.

You would have to be a fan of not only Star Wars, but specifically of the Heir To The Empire trilogy, to enjoy this. But for those of us that did enjoy that series, this is an interesting look at Thrawn's origin story, and how he rose through the ranks of the Imperial Navy in the early days of the Empire.

This was a really interesting book. The world-building was intriguing, the technology and the politics were fascinating, and the writing itself was an absolute treat to read.

On the personal character level, Mahit's interaction with the memories and personality of her predecessor were really interesting - it's almost a shame that the plot required them to be separated from each other for such a large portion of the story! As it is, though, it's a perfect mirror of the larger story of Lsel Station trying to resist being integrated into the Teixcalaanli Empire - the macro and micro levels of storytelling are really well intertwined throughout the novel.

That macro/micro connection applies equally well to the political intrigue parts of the story - the tension between Lsel's understandable need for independence and the Empire's need for expansion, and the political aspirations of the Emperor and his court are both compelling and interesting (even though a lot of it might be things we would consider unappetizing in a real-world setting).

Lastly, Martine's storytelling and ability to describe Teixcalaan are absolutely wonderful, and you can really feel yourself inhabiting, or at least visiting, the world that she describes. It's sun-drenched an full of beautiful street art with unique a rhythm and flow.

If anything, the novel struggles to contain all of the ideas that are stuffed into it - there truly is an entire universe contained in the pages here. You sort of hope for a giant, multi-media Star Wars type project to spring forward from it, as the world would definitely be rich enough to support that.

The central metaphor at the heart of The Deep is both beautiful and sorrowful, a what-if of historical fantasy branching away from one of the worst things one group of humans has ever done to another. If the story was just that, it would have been good. The story Solomon weaves around that metaphor elevates The Deep to greatness.

This was a fun little romp! Ikea as doorway to the multiverse is a solid idea to build a story from, and Cipri build off of that with a tale of broken relationships, missed opportunities, and doses of swashbuckling.

This is obviously very niche in terms of who would be interested in it - you need to not only be a Senators fan, bit also a history lover. Luckily for me, I am both of those things, so this was an enjoyable and fairly comprehensive look at the team's history.

This was a nice little trip back to the Vorkosigan Saga that takes a somewhat underserved character and gives her some space to breathe on her own. I've liked Ekaterin since she first appeared in Komarr, but it was always a little difficult to get a complete read on her, as Miles' intense gravitas always obscured her a little.

The story itself seemed like an attempt to wrap up some loose ends - we spend a whole lot of time in the Vashnoi Exclusion Zone, we get a followup on the butter-bug plotline from A Civil Campaign, and as mentioned we get some more time with Ekaterin. All around, a pleasant read.

I started to read this because I'm a regular viewer of the Kim's Convenience TV series, and I want to start by saying that the two are very different from each other. This makes a lot of sense given the very different media that they were created for, but it's worth noting.

Kim's Convenience is simultaneously heart-breaking and heartwarming, darkly funny while still being at times melancholy. Ins Choi does a fantastic job of balancing those emotions and the tension that is created by trying to be both at the same time. In the introduction to the play, Ins Choi makes a comparison to Death of a Salesman, and that's a very apt comparison - both plays look at aging men, the legacies they try to build, and the ultimately devouring nature of capitalism.

Classic Hiassen. A little bit darker and more violent than a lot of his other books, but still full of that sun-baked neo-noir, dark humour, and sardonic mockery of media culture.

This was an interesting look back at stories from the history of professional hockey from the unique perspective of the best player in the game's history. The book is structured more as folklore than as a straight history - if you've ever had the experience of sitting down to watch Hockey Night in Canada with an older relative who peppered in anecdotes about Eddie Shack or Jean Béliveau between the play-by-play, that's basically the experience of reading this book.

Of special interest were the parts of hockey history that Gretzky was personally involved in - getting an on-ice perspective about things like the Canada Cup and the Oilers' dynasty years was really interesting.

This started with a great premise, and the action scenes throughout were really well-done and exciting. It felt like the focus on the action really took away from character development, though - hopefully as the series continues it will get a bit more depth in that area.

Margaret Atwood makes a much-anticipated return to the world she created in A Handmaid's Tale with this. Not so much a sequel in any direct sense, but a larger examination into the dystopia she created, the story follows the lives of an Aunt, a schoolgirl, and an outsider and we learn more about the society of Gilead that gets created.

The Aunt Lydia storyline was amazingly well-done, and provided a lot of insight into what a system like Gilead's would do even to those in privileged positions. She doesn't quite become a sympathetic character, but serves as an interesting reminder that the bastards will grind you down if you let them.
Agnes' story was really interesting as well. Seeing the perspective of someone raised in Gilead, and who accepts the basic tenets of that society without question, is horrifying in ways that even the original novel failed to achieve.

The only part of the book that I didn't particularly care for was the epilogue - it felt tacked on, and lacked a lot of the understatement and subtlety that Atwood featured in her storytelling to that point.