Marth Muffins
Perdido Street Station - 4/5
A pinnacle of the New Weird genre, this massive novel shines in its construction of the city of New Crobuzon. The city is the focus of this story, far more so than the plots or people within it. The city shines like a beacon of weird world design, uncanny architecture, unexplainable buildings and unknownable beings are greatly explored without overly explaining their point or purpose to the reader. We don't need to why, just that it is.
The story is more straightforward and the characters, whilst good, aren't the main focus. The main reason I've removed a star is because of a certain decision with one of the characters that I didn't particularly like Lin (who was my favourite character of the lot) disappearing for a large chunk of the book before turning back up at the end, only to quickly lose her mind to the Moths. It limited it her and it cut out one of the more interesting plotlines, Lin's search for her identity. It's almost as if Mieville didn't know what to do with her and so just wrote her out for a huge chunk of the novel, disapointing. however I still enjoyed the book regardless.
The novel is also very well written, especially those parts in first person but also much of the description of the city as well.
Overall, if you don't enjoy HIGHLY descriptive books, then this novel is not for you. However, if you love loads of detail and New Weird or the idea of it, give this a shot, I doubt you'll regret it.
A book of the military ‘highlights', if that's the right word, covering the carnage that was the First World War.
It covers most the major military events of the war on each front chronologically with some small tangents into other matters. If you know little about the war then this is a fine introduction to it's military aspect although (given its length this unsuprising) it misses out much of what occured over the four year long conflict.
Stone clearly has his own narrative in the war and opinions on certain indiviuals of the war which he freely shares with the reader, his dislike for Enver Pasha and the Young Turks compared to the praise he gives to Kemal Attatuk is one prominent example of this.
Overall, a good introduction and overview of the major military aspects of the First World War.
The Stone Sky - 5/5
The third book in The Broken Earth Trilogy delivers a satisfying and emotional conclusion to our journey and the parrallel journey of our daughter through the newest of the Fifth Seasons. It doesn't shy away from hard questions and the answers they sometimes (often) bring or how cyclical systems of systemic oppression can progress not just through one society; but through those who follow on after.
It's also, perhaps most importantly, about being a mother. Motherhood, as well as fatherhood, is hard, and whilst we in this world do not have to deal with kids who can rip the ground apart; we can still do wrong by our children.
Overall, this is a series well worth reading and I am more than happy with the time I spent in the Stillness.
Moonshadow - 5/5Interesting story with this one, I never bought it or got it from a library, it was found. My aunt's were cleaning up their house and came across this, alongside the entirety of the original [b:Sandman 23754 Preludes & Nocturnes (The Sandman, #1) Neil Gaiman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1411609637l/23754.SY75.jpg 1228437] Series by [a:Neil Gaiman 1221698 Neil Gaiman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg] in some dusty part of their home. Uninterested they donated them to me, being young and interested in those comic books. I thank them wholely for that decision.I can see why people don't like this comic, finding it prentious, somewhat sappy (it's based on a Cat Stevens song by the gods!) and overly wordy for a comic book. I loved it though, with the beautiful watercolour artwork and a engaging episodic story across a weird and wonderful galaxy. The last part, Farewell Moonshadow, is probably my favourite section and acts as a perfect epilogue to the tale.Overall, I'd recommend it to those who liked Sandman by Neil Gaiman and those who don't mind a book written like it came from the Romantics such as Mary Shelley.
Not Fade Away - 6/5
Ah... books like this are hard to review, so much of my enjoyment is wrapped up in the experience of the book itself, which is true of all stories but especially with this one.
Just know that if you pick this novel up your in for a demented ride around America with plenty of drugs, demented hitchhikers and philosophy which should seem pretentious, but feels profound.
A Moment of War - 2/5
Laurie Lee's memoir of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) which is, as the book often highlights, considered by some to be the prologue to the Second World War, though not to dismiss the impact and brutality of this conflict however.
This book is more removed from the political side of the conflict than George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia but similarly covers the boredum, dirtiness and pointlessness felt by soldiers, only for it to be so quickly interupted by sudden action. It also covers some of the absurdity of the Republican side of the war, whose complete disorganisation, conflicting beliefs on Spain's future and their inablitiy to agree on a strategy to defeat Franco was one of the main causes of their eventual defeat.
The Spanish Civil War is still viewed by many as the first true fight back against the spread of European Fascism by not just Spainards, but the International Brigaders of which Laurie Lee was a part.
“Without recognition, often ridiculed, they saw what was coming, jumped the gun, and went into battle too soon.”
The Obelisk Gate - 4/5
Continues to be well written, contains great (and relevant) theming on power dynamics and oppression, and multi-layered (faceted maybe?) characters with complex motivations and goals.
This book does suffer more from overuse of exposition to getting things through to the reader, especially in Essun's (our?) chapters, hence the downgrade of a star from book one. The use of second person is even more prevalent than before so if that rubbed you the wrong way inThe Fifth Season then it'll be an even bigger problem for you here.
Excellent book though, can't wait to read The Stone Sky soon!
Fantasy's Othering Fetish By Phenderson Djeli Clark - 3/5
(Note: This is based on the free online version found in three parts on the Media Diversified website, if there are any differences between this version and the £5.65 Kindle version then sorry in advance - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3)
This is an incredibly interesting and informative article that I think any and every fantasy fan should read. It very effectively explains the huge issue that much of fantasy literature has with ‘othering' non-European peoples, religions and cultures and how many non-Europeans are cast in both stereotypical and racist roles, intentionally or not, limiting their voices as actual characters and, by extenstion, the people they represent.
I do have some issues with the article however (some of which may seem like nitpicks but I digress) which I'll discuss now -
Equation of skin colour with culture/religion
The article often seemingly paints regions/continents with the same brush. The world is an incredibly diverse place and undoubtedly more of it needs to be better represented in popular literature, however, this applies to Europe as well as the rest of the world.
This article argues that European's, or white people, are often over-represented in fantasy. I'd argue that whilst yes, white people make up an overabundance of main characters in fantasy fiction and that European-like cultures are less likely to be ‘othered', this only applies to selective groups in Europe. The main focus of much of Western fantasy has been on western Europe or Greece, verey little time has been spent with focuses on Eastern European cultures or on true representations of Celtic peoples that are not stock savages from the Northern Wastes, coming to take your women and dance naked to heathen gods before the honourable Christian (or in-universe equivalent) goes to righteously slay them.
Europe is vastly over-reperesented yes, but only certain parts, the parts that Tolkien focused on (e.g. the Anglo-Saxon and Norse Legends). There is not much that actually lives and breathes Eastern European mythology (Witcher being an obvious exception) or Celtic mythology (please share any stories that do) without ‘othering' it in a similar way.
Misrepresentation of some European art/fossil evidence
The examples used to represent a more diverse nature to Medieval Britian were not very accurate.
This is an image of St Maurice, found throughout Europe (he was patron saint of Holy Roman Emperors) he is the mythological leader of the Roman Theban Legion. He refused to worship the pagan gods of the Roman Empire alongside the rest of the Legion he led and was killed with them as a Christian martyr. It is unknown how true this story is but some of it was likely to have happened. However he lived during antiquity, not Medieval times and most likely never reached Britian.
This statue was carved in 1715, at the tail-end of what is considered the early modern period in European history when interaction with sub-Saharan Africa was much more common for Europeans (mainly through the Trans-Altantic Slave Trade which was at its hieght at this time). Not an example of Medieval art.
This is one of the Magi (wise men) who supposedly visited Jesus when he was born. Western Christianity (Catholisism and most Protestants) believe only 3 Magi came to Jesus' birth, other Christians say up to 12 did from across the world from Ethiopia (all of sub-Sahan Africa to the Europeans), India and possibly further.
Additionally another aricle is linked discussing the unearthing of a black woman's remains dating back to Roman times but again this was in the Roman era when the world was much more connected by a huge Empire and people moved much more freely. Whilst people of different ethnicities could be found in trading centres across Europe and the world, residents from Africa or Asia (excepting the Romani who, by their culture, travel large distances) were incredilby rare.
Finally, some comments on ASOIAF/Game of Thrones
The article makes a fair point about the ‘othering' of the non-white characters as they are often shown to have ‘strange, savage ways' or are ‘decadent, slave-owners with no morals'. However, I disagree that the Westerosi are portrayed much better, most of those shown in the story are amoral bastards who kill, rape and burn for fun. Sure, the Seven Kingdoms have banned slavery but the lowborn peasants are treated little better than the slaves of Yunkai and Meeren. They are shat upon by the high lords and treated like dirt just the same, their ownership is just a little more vague and loose. However, there is little depth the the cultures outside of Westeros other surface detail and it should be improved.
Additionally, I see Daenerys (bookwise anyway) as more of a deconstruction of the white saivour trope, all of her attempts at ‘saving' the people of Meeren end terrilby (people are selling themselves back into slavery for food, disease and dragons have destroyed the city, the noble class have completely turned against her, the economy of the entire region has collapsed and all of the surrounding cities want her dead. In Qarth she has plunged the city into chaos by killing much of its leadership and she'll do the same with the Dothraki). She's also a little insane as we can see from the perspecrtive of the other characters now meeting up with her (who are all white boys, yes another problem).
Overall
This may have seen incredibly negative but I really do agree with this article, I just had some serious problems with it as well. Thanks for reading if you have made it this far!
The Broken Sword - 5/5
Beautiful, lyrical melodrama at it's best. The tragedy of Skafloc, Freda and their doomed love (in the literal sense), the torment faced by Valgard as he struggles with his identity and place as the ‘shadow' of Skafloc, and the blue and orange morality of the elves and trolls as they fight for dominion over the crumblng remains of Farie works so well in holding you to the tale.
The desperate futility of the characters as they are inevitably drawn towards their weird's with no way of escape perfectly contrasts with the dying world of Farie as the influence of the ‘White God' and his son enter the Viking world, driving the denizens of the old religons, both in the north where our story is set, and further south in the Mediterranean world and even farther afield, into irrelevance or death as they are hunted down by servants of rising faiths.
The writing is excellent as well, poetic and flowery in all the best ways, evocative but not over-long, stylised but very readable. You'll find yourself rereading passages just to digest the way it was written.
All this achieved in little over 200 pages, incredible.
Strata - 2/5
This book gets 2 stars solely due to a few interesting lines near the end and for what insight it gives into the development of Sir Terry's later Discworld series, such as the presence of a flat Earth, there being a myth that the disc is carried by elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle, and a basic version of Death turning up as an android to provide a few examples. Apart from those aspects there isn't much to recommend reading this as a novel in it's own right. It's okay, and that's about all.
Children of Dune continues to have an interesting world, an engaging (for me personally) look at philosophy and politics, and an exploration of ecology and the long view of history. However, the flat characters with their long melodramatic speeches and sudden changes in motivation because “Ah saw it with prescience” really grated on me.
I never really cared for Leto II or Ghanima or even the returning characters of Jessica and Duncan. The just seemed to follow the plot because hats what Herbert wanted rather than with much motivation of their own. Alia and the Preacher Paul where slightly more engaing with their struggles but they were still incredibly melodramatic.
Overall, interesting ideas and philosophy that ultimately bog down the book and make the characters unbelievable and wooden.
Rating: 3/5
Elric at the End of Time - 4.5
The title story is an easyly the best in this collection. Elric travels to the end of time, meeting characters that I'm sure are familiar to people who've read those stories but also Una Persson who appears in the Oswald Bastable novels 9and, I assume, the End of Time series). Fun commentary on who Elric is and how moody and melodramatic a character he is.
The Last Enchantment - 3/5
This story was a fun and weird non-canonical short Elric tale as the Albino Prince of Ruins is transported to a chaos realm and has to do some quick thinking to escape. Nothing stellar but good none the less.
Sojan Shieldbearer - 2/5
These stories are passable. It's interesting to see some of the first work Moorcock ever produced but he has definitely substantially improved, even by the early 60's. Nothing very good but if you like to see an author's evolution, this will give you an idea of where Moorcock started out as a teenager.
The Essay's - 3/5
The various essays were interesting to read though, aside from the Elric one, were seemingly irrelevant to the rest of the stories within, mainly focusing on Jerry Cornelius who is only briefly mentioned in the title story. Good insight into the author and the diferent things he's been invovled in such as the New World magazine.
The Stone Thing - 3/5
Funny little short that satirises many of the tropes that Elric and other fantasy heroes of Moorcock make use of. Funny, short read.
Overall - 3/5
An uneven collection that isn't really about Elric at all. The Elric stuff is all pretty good, its just a shame that the majority of the content is based around the uninteresting character of Sojan.
First 3 issues get 4 stars, good resolution to the plot from the first volume with some good old weirdness and we learn what happened in Newcastle.
The next single issue gets a 3.5. Weird as fuck but eh, that's part a the charm.
The annual gets a 3. The story of one of Constantine's ancestors who's, unsurprisingly, a bit of a shite. Alright but not too engaging.
The Horrorist miniseries gets a 2. Do you like grim and depressing storytelling? Do you like it continually for 120 pages, without a break? Then this is for you! Seriously, it doesn't end it's just gratuitously grim for page after page. Artwork by David Lloyd is stellar though and if it were only that it would easily reach 5 stars.
The New Face of War 2 1/2 Stars
Essentially one extended fight scene to save everyone from deadly gas (oh noes!), alright but nothing special. Durge is silly, especially when he flys.
Blast Radius 2 Stars
Lot's of Jedi die in underwhelming ways. Jedi seem incredibly depowered and you don't really feel anything when 4 rando Jedi get burned to death or eviscerated. Durge still silly, he's trying much to hard to be cool, was he bullied at bounty hunter school by Jango or something?
Catspaw or Jedi: Shaak Ti 4 Stars
Saved the collection. Shaak Ti takes Brentaal 4 with Quinlan Vos' help whilst dealing with the woman who killed her Padawan. Shaak Ti's concern for life is slightly undercut by her treatment of the Clones but still a great story.
Overall, a little underwhelming but the Jedi issues still continue to be banging.
Read as part of the Earthsea Quartet collection.
There's always something so calming and peaceful about Earthsea. Many fantasy books have grand battles or tense political scheming or heist action but Earthsea is at its best with the quiet, peaceful moments. Whilst Ged and Arren are sailing the archipelago to save it from destruction it's the times when they're floating serenely along, fishing and swimming that are the most enjoyable.
The slightly surreal village of rafts off the edge of the world is amazing in its atmosphere as is the land of the dead and it's empty, barren landscape.
The story itself wasn't very interesting for me but the feel was excellent (have I said that enough?).
Easily recommended to fans of the first 2 books.
