Marthia

I was honestly somewhat disappointed by this. I liked it fine, but after how much praise and awards it received, I expected something more from it then just being okay.

The characterisation for the humans feels very sparse, which might be die to the very short length, but it really hinders the themes of the book and means the ending doesn't feel as impactful as it maybe could.

The idea of a murderbot who just wants to watch TV is funny, but as it is developed here, I don't think it's quite enough to carry the whole story because (at least in this first entry) it just doesn't evolve much beyond initial pitch. There's interesting themes being touched on - about dehumanization of workers, neurodivergence or the difference between difficult real relationships and the easy attachment to fictional characters - but all these themes really do only get brushed on lightly. The humans mostly feel interchangable and the series the protagonist is obsessed with is similarly undefined, so neither the protagonists discomfort with social interactions or their desire to watch tv get much room for development beyond this basic premise.

I like the voice of the narration, but it wasn't enough to carry the rather thin plot for me. Some of my problems could be attributed to how short the book is, but that short length also meant that it didn't overstay its welcome for me and I still had a good enough time with it, even if this review is going to sound mostly negative. I think on my end it really suffered from inflated expectations too, and if this had been a random library pickup rather then a book I'd been recommended repeatedly, I probably would have more positive feelings on it.

I'll be giving the second book a shot soon, but this series might just not be for me.

I loved the writing and imagination on display here, and it could have been 5 stars for me if it wasn't for the girl character. The other characters are all multifaceted and interesting (especially the priest), but Delphine doesn't feel like she gets the same internal complexity that's afforded to the adult men. When Delphine is acting as a character in her own right, I like her, but she's often simply treated as an instrument of divine will who acts based on godly intuition or what the angels tell her, and the book doesn't really dwell on how she feels about this or what impact it has on her. Especially compared to how Matthieu's alcoholism or homosexuality are handled.

I went back and forth on her character a lot, but the finale ultimately left me unsatisfied. Delphine's body is ripped apart as she births (this is literally the word the book uses) a host of angels and then she just vanishes from the story, to reappear later without any memories of the events of the story. Delphine dying is part of her being a Jesus figure, but Jesus in the Bible got to struggle with his purpose as a sacrifice. He bargains with God and cries out about being forsaken on the cross. Delphine doesn't get a scene like this, or any opinion at all about being a divine instrument.

I also have mixed feelings (leaning negative) about the story ending with them killing the demonic impostor pope so the good real pope can return to call off the impending crusade and tell everyone to be less antisemitic like the crusades and antisemitism were demonic incursions on the church and not perpetuated by real non-demon popes.

There was still a lot that I liked. The supernatural elements are creative and well used and the descriptions are vivid, one that especially stood out to me was the preparation of the corpses for the orgy towards the end. Generally I think these worked better when they were more subtle, but the grandios fights between heaven and hell still at least had imaginative descriptions. The characters are good, including Delphine. (Delphine being lively and opinionated otherwise is part of why the lack of her perspective on the angels bothers me so much)

I read this a few months ago and am thinking about it again because I picked up Wild Sheep Chase from the library (haven't started it yet) and this is the only Murakami book I've read so far. I'm still not really sure how I feel about it, because while I generally liked the individual stories, the collection as a whole left me underwhelmed. The stories all end rather vague and inconclusively, which I understand to be a trademark of Murakami, and I don't see this as a criticism for the individual stories. But reading the tenth story in a row, the vagueness and lack of an overarching theme (at least one that I could identify) aside from the randomness of everyday life and its tragedies was wearing thin for me.

I enjoyed this a lot more then the first one. The story just overall feels much livelier, which works well for this kind of comedic light read. ART especially added some much needed personality to the story. in the first book, it felt like the protagonists desire to watch TV was just constantly said out loud, but here, there are more scenes where people actually have an emotional response to the shows they are watching. The interactions with the humans feel more nuanced and interesting this time around as well.

This book can still be very blunt with its themes, but this time the themes feel more present in the fabric of the story, unlike the first book, where it felt like there was very little substance besides what the narration stated directly.

The Butcher of the Forest is simple story, but it's oozing atmosphere. The titular forest really feels like a hostile, unknowable fairy land, and every encounter with its inhabitants is unsettling in a new way. It's brought to life beautifully and the biggest draw to this book is definitively the forest itself, but the human society is painted just as vividly. I especially liked Veris conflicted feelings towards the children she is charged with saving.

The broad strokes of the story feel predictable, but the details bring them to life with dreadful intensity. This book really scratched an itch for me for fantasy that actually feels fantastical, with unknowable and untameable magic, when most fantasy I've tried to read in recent years has felt rather stale to me.