Lewis
Added to listOwnedwith 2 books.
The premise was really interesting, but I felt like it had tonal issues, where it neither avoided nor embraced the potential horror elements of the premise. I liked that was got to see various generations of the human society, but there were some aspects of the time-skips that made it harder to appreciate. I'd also have appreciated the book making it clearer what Stevland's limitations were, before they became plot relevant, so that we had a better sense of what threats he posed, and what threats he was able to address. Ultimately, my biggest dissatisfaction with this was that the alien intellect didn't feel as alien as I would have liked.
The premise was really interesting, but I felt like it had tonal issues, where it neither avoided nor embraced the potential horror elements of the premise. I liked that was got to see various generations of the human society, but there were some aspects of the time-skips that made it harder to appreciate. I'd also have appreciated the book making it clearer what Stevland's limitations were, before they became plot relevant, so that we had a better sense of what threats he posed, and what threats he was able to address. Ultimately, my biggest dissatisfaction with this was that the alien intellect didn't feel as alien as I would have liked.
Harrowing story, but ably told.
Harrowing story, but ably told.
Interesting worldbuilding and plot hampered by one of the two protagonists being extremely unlikable, and to be rewarded for his manipulation and arrogance with ascension to an even more condescending state of superiority at the end of the book.
Pacing of revealing the mysteries was a bit too slow, and keeping the audience in the dark about some elements felt contrived (and not necessary since we could appreciate the core mystery even if we got the architect only details earlier).
Interesting worldbuilding and plot hampered by one of the two protagonists being extremely unlikable, and to be rewarded for his manipulation and arrogance with ascension to an even more condescending state of superiority at the end of the book.
Pacing of revealing the mysteries was a bit too slow, and keeping the audience in the dark about some elements felt contrived (and not necessary since we could appreciate the core mystery even if we got the architect only details earlier).
Read for a speculative fiction short story book club.
I’ve read a number of speculative fiction short story collections in the past couple of years, and this one leaves something to be desired, for me. I think it is not the best showcase of Black Canadian Speculative Fiction that it could be, though there are a couple of stories in it that worked reasonably well. The volume would have benefitted from being longer/including more stories, a bit more editing/revision for some of the stories, and probably also benefited from the inclusion of authors’ postscripts or editor’s notes on the stories (this is a general preference I have for any collection like this, but I think some of these stories in particular would have been aided by contextualizing notes).
The stories that I most recommend from the volume are: Ravenous, Called Iffy (Chimedum Ohaegbu) and Just Say Garuka (Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga).
Read for a speculative fiction short story book club.
I’ve read a number of speculative fiction short story collections in the past couple of years, and this one leaves something to be desired, for me. I think it is not the best showcase of Black Canadian Speculative Fiction that it could be, though there are a couple of stories in it that worked reasonably well. The volume would have benefitted from being longer/including more stories, a bit more editing/revision for some of the stories, and probably also benefited from the inclusion of authors’ postscripts or editor’s notes on the stories (this is a general preference I have for any collection like this, but I think some of these stories in particular would have been aided by contextualizing notes).
The stories that I most recommend from the volume are: Ravenous, Called Iffy (Chimedum Ohaegbu) and Just Say Garuka (Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga).
This was a decent read, it went along at a good clip, but it was framed as a sort of mystery and the mystery wasn’t super satisfying.
A bunch of young folks are on a privately funded generation ship headed to settle some distant Planet X, when there is a mysterious explosion. Our protagonist was investigating the mysterious object spotted on the hull when it exploded killing her friend who was also doing the spacewalk investigation, and so gets deputized by the captain to figure out who was behind the bomb (since she is most likely to be innocent as she almost died in the explosion). Oh and also everyone on the ship has augmented reality implants to keep them from going stir crazy on a boring spaceship during the voyage. Asuka (our protagonist) is not the best detective and her implant seems to be on the fritz post-explosion.
It was a decent read but could have stood to be a bit more challenging.
This was a decent read, it went along at a good clip, but it was framed as a sort of mystery and the mystery wasn’t super satisfying.
A bunch of young folks are on a privately funded generation ship headed to settle some distant Planet X, when there is a mysterious explosion. Our protagonist was investigating the mysterious object spotted on the hull when it exploded killing her friend who was also doing the spacewalk investigation, and so gets deputized by the captain to figure out who was behind the bomb (since she is most likely to be innocent as she almost died in the explosion). Oh and also everyone on the ship has augmented reality implants to keep them from going stir crazy on a boring spaceship during the voyage. Asuka (our protagonist) is not the best detective and her implant seems to be on the fritz post-explosion.
It was a decent read but could have stood to be a bit more challenging.
amazing premise (mysterious object transports an entire town to an alternate world that has different history and religious theocracy), but the worldbuilding and exploration of the premise is far too thin.
amazing premise (mysterious object transports an entire town to an alternate world that has different history and religious theocracy), but the worldbuilding and exploration of the premise is far too thin.
amazing premise (mysterious object transports an entire town to an alternate world that has different history and religious theocracy), but the worldbuilding and exploration of the premise is far too thin.
amazing premise (mysterious object transports an entire town to an alternate world that has different history and religious theocracy), but the worldbuilding and exploration of the premise is far too thin.
This book made me feel gross.
effective horror, but wraps things up a bit too neatly, I think
effective horror, but wraps things up a bit too neatly, I think