Goran Lowie

I wanted to love this, I really did. And I did for the first half– what a wonderful, gentle character-focused work about a THE SIGN OF THE DRAGON-esque kind leader who truly means to do good in the world. Politics, culture, identity, revolution, all interwoven in a very satisfying story of kidness and slice-of-life nothingness.

Unfortunately, it became too much nothingness. Our Kip here is so accomplished that there seems to be no real conflict or character development left to be done. The plot also, unfortunately, keeps getting more and more repetitive as it goes on– constantly Kip needs to remind people who he is in a grandiose speech, or gets upset at someone offending him and explains why in a very detailed manner, or explains to his family why he feels wronged by them, and we're reminded at all times of how amazing and clever he is. This also has one of my least favourite tropes, one I first acquired a distaste for as a kid in the prehistorical EARTH'S CHILDREN series, where the protagonist seems to invent and fix a great many important things that it just seems completely unrealistic.

I still enjoyed reading it, but was saddened to almost hate it by the end. I'd still like to give the rest of the series a try, because THE BONE HARP was truly something else, but it's with some reservations I now intend to try the others.

Really liked this initially but was a struggle to finish. Bit too black-and-white and YA for me, this is a Babel-type book where the social justice aspect (which I usually adore in books, when done right) feels so shoehorned in that it ruins the actual story. At no point does the protagonist actually struggle, she just points out what's wrong with the blatantly evil colonialist society and she's applauded for it. Coming from A WOMAN OF THE IRON PEOPLE which I finished recently, a tremendous exploration of indigenous-based SFF, this was a big miss. Enjoyed it for its cozyness but wish it had been more.

A weak effort by Shafak standards, sadly. It won me at the start with the compelling relationship between the boy and the elephant, but then it became a very plotless affair going from event to event, reading more like a collection of vignettes with a vague overreaching plot than a real novel.

There's some other silliness in here... The protagonist keeps confronting people who then monologue about their motivations, he keeps being miraculously saved by the same people along with other coincidences, and many of the relationships in this book feel very unbelievable.

Two stars for the prose, which is as great as Shafak has always been. But this was a very disappointing book.

Read aloud with Darla, Lucas and Rich– which is an excellent and most of all very fun way to “read” a play.

A very fun read and feels like some proper Beagle, even if it's probably at his most generic. But hey– you have a poor boy plucked out of his existence to be in the service of a king on a mission related to missions. It's fantasy christmas and it almost feels like I'm discovering McKillip again. It's a great comfort read, is what I'm saying, and I was very fond of the characters.

Labatut is such a tremendous writer; with just the two books of his I've read he has so intelligently weaved different subjects together in a way that is nothing short of mind-blowing. Whereas When We Cease to Understand the World was awe-inspiring, this one inspired sheer terror in me– if there's one common thread, it's of some of humanity greatest minds being shaken to their core, often to the point of mental breakdowns, by stunning “progress” in the worlds– top mathematicians who are stunned by the very foundations of maths being questioned; physicists broken by the developments of the second world war and the advance of the impossible-seeming, now taken-for-granted computer; and the greatest minds of chess and Go having their entire goals and existence put into question by AI opponents. It's a magnificent read, but it instills a small terror.

NOMINATED FOR THE 2024 URSULA K. LE GUIN PRIZE FOR FICTION

Certainly not the most Le Guin-esque book I've read on these shortlists. It's a strangely hopeful book, celebrating our planet and the people who live on it. The thing I loved about it most is the prose– some stunning sentences can be found on nearly every page. Can't say I was too impressed by the overal message, it reeks of oversentimentalism– this entire book is basically just the “overview effect” turned into a long-form story.

ALIEN CLAY is a very interesting first-contact tale of body horror that feels a bit like ANNIHILATION with a bit of revolution thrown in. You've got the usual interesting biology that Tchaikovsky is so good at. The entire book feels like propaganda against individualism. Fascinating read!

Very well written and a nice take on the parallel universes trope, but not without its flaws storywise.

Thrilling and well-written account of the Essex sinking before, during, and after.

The anger is so palpable in this. Fantastic read.

What a magnificent read! It's been a very long time since a book made me want to drop everything else and just read it. I still had some self-restraint and ended up intentionally stopping at points just to savor it a little longer- only to now be faced with such a big book hangover.

This is character-driven fantasy at its best. It's a great depiction of two people who feel utterly alone and alienated from their surroundings. Yes, it's about immigration, but they felt more like Herzogian Kaspar Hausers; people who don't fit it and know they never will, trying to come to terms with this. Such a charming and gentle story.

Some of the best prose I've read in ages but completely incomprehensible.

Been a while since an audiobook did the trick for me (they always take so long compared to normal reading) but this one worked for me. Helped that it was a full cast audio production with soundtrack and sound effects. Listened to the entire book while dungeon crawling in VR, which was the perfect combination with a sword and sorcery book like this.

This book is a very depressing read because Chantal Akerman was obviously very depressed while writing it. It's almost paralyzing– filled with regret, anxiety and a lost sense of purpose. A sobering read.

For the first hundred or so pages, this book is an interesting eco-survival thriller about settlers exploring an unfamiliar planet. It's a challenging world with strange plants and animals, but the story becomes truly interesting when they encounter an intelligent plant species.

I very much enjoyed these early chapters of first contact between the humans and the plants, the attempts at communication and the palpable excitement of the humans interacting with something so alien. Big shades of Stanislaw Lem!

A big narrative shift happens when the humans meet the aliens they've long suspected of inhabiting the planet among them. Suddenly it becomes a kind of reverse Xenogenesis story, where the humans first try to make peaceful contact but soon realize they're a danger to humans and themselves, and decide to imprison and control them. At the same time, the intelligent plant becomes a rogue AI type character with a very bossy personality.

A fantastic book, honestly. Very much looking forward to reading the sequel.

I'm going to start with my usual preface that Lemberg feels like the perfect author for me yet with every book of theirs something hasn't clicked– the writing not working for me, or I can't decipher the story, or I feel disconnected from the characters.

But I'm glad to say I've finally loved a Birdverse story with YOKE OF STARS! This is a treat for any fans of literary fantasy fans. You've got the usual Lemberg craziness here, toying with gender and deepnames and politics in very delightful ways, but this time mixed with a really interesting storytelling device that reminded me at times of ALWAYS COMING HOME.

You've got two people who are meeting up just for a job telling their stories to each other- seemingly unrelated at first, but as the story progresses you get more and more of the big picture. A great concept executed quite well. I particularly liked the way it played with language. For example, Lemberg explores a language in here that doesn't use verbs. They also explore bilingualists in a pretty cool way, as well as migration and diaspora.

It's a fantastic novella and I'm so glad a Lemberg finally worked for me. The problem is me, not them!

Thanks to Tachyon for the ARC.

LOST ARK DREAMING grew on me. At first, it seemed like your typical YA dystopia with the classic “oh-no-the-government-is-evil-and-has-been-secretly-hiding-something-from-us” trope, mixed with the Snowpiercer-esque blunt metaphor of people from different physical “layers” of a train/ship/skyscraper being different classes (a trope I also recently encountered in AN UNKINDNESS OF GHOSTS)—and it very much can be distilled to those two tropes, but a unique part of this novella can be found in its interludes.

Sometimes poetry, sometimes newspaper articles, or general reflections related to the novel's themes, it's an interesting way of adding a little extra to the book. I'm not sure if it always worked for me. It's nice because it feels different, yet it also sometimes took me out of the story because there are a lot of interludes for such a short story.

Nearing the end, it reminded me the most of an obscure little Polish film, “O-bi, O-ba: The End of Civilization”, in which a post-apocalyptic society has as its only hope a mythical vessel which is said to come to rescue them some day. It's a common trope in these hopeless generation ship stories, but it works quite well here, but I won't say too much else about it because that would spoil things.

Overall, it's at the very least an interesting work and a great example of a novella done well.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

LEARNING TO HATE YOURSELF AS A SELF DEFENSE MECHANISM is a rare one-author short story anthology that isn't uneven. That is to say, most of the time when an author collects a bunch of their short stories it tends to contain a few great stories and a bunch of whatever. But reading this made for a very strong collection, only getting better as I kept reading.

There's a few themes in these stories that keep returning—cultural appropriation and exploitation, being (ab)used by others, modern and refreshing takes on social media and how they've changed the way we interact, AI, time travel and time loops. What I loved about these stories the most is that they never overstay their welcome. Most of them are flash fiction or slightly longer than that. Too many short story writers don't know when to stop, but Kriz does.

I think I'd read maybe one story by her before in Clarkesworld or something like that, so this was a pleasant introduction to the author. Feels like something AK Press might've published.
Thanks to the Interstellar Flight Press for another strong ARC.

I hated, hated this collection.

It's the type of poetry I would expect from one of my students—heartfelt, yes, but completely unsubtle and often lacking in substance. It very much reads like “Instagram poetry”, like someone wanted to share a meaningful message but thought just putting it like that would be boring so they inserted some line breaks and called it a day. Easy read? Certainly, but it still felt like a waste of time.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sunrise Press for the ARC.

This collection is an excellent sampling of modern speculative poetry. I read a lot of it (but I often don't get around to reading the poems from these particular magazines) and was pleased to find many familiar names here—people who are well-established in the field and whom I enjoy. However, I pleasantly jotted down some new names I'm completely unfamiliar with to hopefully delve into some other time!

The best thing about this book is the sheer variety of poems within. Many different themes are explored in different styles. Will every poem in this collection be to your taste? Absolutely not, but that's the beauty of it. As the editor says in the foreword—these poems contain multitudes, braiding themes and ideas in a truly refreshing way.

If there's any nitpick I have, it's the somewhat limited selection. But this is of course a feature and deliberate limitation of the book—when you make a best-of of specific magazines you are of course limited to the poems from those magazines. I would love to see another modern poetry anthology from Interstellar Flight Press (probably the single best publisher in the field right now!) focusing on a bigger variety of voices, no repeated authors, across many different magazines, to truly showcase the state of modern speculative poetry.

Favorites:
- ARCHEOLOGISTS UNCOVER BONES, BIFOCALS, A TRICYLE by Steven Withrow
- BILLETS-DOUX by Brittany Hause
- ANSIBLES by Ursula Whitcher
- PACKING FOR THE AFTERLIFE by Mary Soon Lee
- MUSIC REMEMBERS by Ashok K. Banker

My sincerest thanks to Interstellar Flight Press for the ARC!

Reminiscent of Sciamma's PETITE MAMAN, in which a young girl befriends a mysterious girl- who ends up being the younger version of her mom. It's a fascinating concept executed quite well, and this book does it even better, only making you realize it right at the end. A wonderful children's novel.

THE TELLING eluded me for years. For a long time it's been the only Hainish novel I haven't been able to get my hands on. Finally, with the Library of America collection of Hainish stories, I've been able to get a proper paper copy of it. It took some time off in the winter and me deciding to read the books I truly want to read, and now I've finally finished this book.

It's so interesting to read a Hainish story so late in Le Guin's career. It's so different from the other Hainish stories- it feels less narrative-driven and more “I've got something to say” than usual. Many of Le Guin's core themes and passions are featured here– the importance of narrative, revolution, the obliteration of one culture by another... all so quietly, gently brought. A magnificent read.

I was about halfway through this book and loving it. It's the type of story I love– some extremely talented creative pouring all their energy and dedication in creating something truly unique. Passion, perseverance, the exhilaration of creation. I was intrigued by the kind of creative relationship the protagonist had with his partner.

But halfway through, I got hit with some kind of narrative disassociation and suddenly the whole book stopped working for me. Suddenly the characters seemed completely unbelievable. They felt like caricatures, only there to serve the plot. The relationships felt barely developed and extremely toxic. It also started to feel more and more like a “hot topic” novel throughout, when suddenly we weren't just handling non-binary videogame protagonists and (anti-Asian) racism, but suddenly also homophobia and gun issues.

Pick something and stick to it, but don't try to work every single hot social issue into your novel. And then there's the story in general- this feels like such an absurd invention of a game company's birth. Just go read MASTERS OF DOOM instead. You have actual human characters, a similar hate/love relationship between the creators which actually feels believable, and the joy of reading about truly talented people at work.

This is stunning! Feels like Miyazaki telling an Earthsea story. Mythical, folkloric and straightforward, beautifully told and illustrated.