Jimmy Brewster

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata is about fitting into society, and the struggles that accompany living with childhood trauma and other mental health issues.

I wanted to read this book because I previously enjoyed The Convenience Store Woman by the same author. I am sure that everyone who enjoyed TCSW will not enjoy Earthlings. Earthlings is like the dark, twisted, horrific cousin of The Convenience Store Woman.

I liked this book a lot because of the elements of darkness and the absurdity of the characters. I also found the questions about society and the pressure to fit in to be relatable.

If you enjoy authors like Chuck Palahniuk you will probably like this book.

Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold is the omnibus collection of two books, Shards of Honor and Barrayar, the first and the seventh books in the Vorkosigan series. I had not read anything from Lois McMaster Bujold but I have heard good things about her novels. I wanted to read Barrayar, however, it was easier to find the omnibus.

Firstly, there should be trigger warnings for rape, sexual violence, and birthing trauma. None of the scenes are very graphic, however, the topics do come up multiple times.

I enjoyed the mix of fantasy and space opera. At times, the novel could easily be considered a fantasy novel. Long sections of the story pass without much or any mention of space or sci-fi technology. In fact, there is very little space, especially in the second portion Barrayar.

The entire story focuses on Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan. First on a mostly unexplored wilderness planet, then on Barrayar, an older imperial planet with birthright nobility, emperors, and councilmen. Barrayar has all the tropes of a fantasy or historical fiction including patriarchy, schemes, betrayals, and tests of loyalty.

It is implied that there is a larger multi-planetary universe beyond the narrow scope of these characters, but it never gets explored very deeply. I was left wondering about the history of Earth at the point of this story, how Barrayar and the other planets came to be colonized, and more of the interplanetary politics. Perhaps some of this is explored in the other books in this huge series.

Overall, the first part of the omnibus, Shards of Honor, was the less interesting portion of the book. I would give the second portion, Barrayar, a higher rating on it's own.

If you enjoy authors like Isaac Asimov or Ursula Le Guin you will probably enjoy this. If you are a fantasy reader who wants to add a dash of science fiction and technology to your reading list, you will probably enjoy this.

I wanted to like this book. I like parts of it like the themes of class and capitalism. I like the writing, there were moments where I thought the story was going to get interesting. But overall, the story never managed capture my interest and I had to force myself to finish the book.

I enjoyed this book for many of the reasons people dislike it; it is a pretentious slice of life story that can be confusing at times. I really like this author's style of writing. The world building is deep without ever being fully explained. The main character often accepts the illogicality of his situations without question which forces the reader to do the same. There are elements of magical realism, family drama, fascism, revolution, and philosophy. I am sure that I don't "get it" fully and I don't care.

In the fall of 2023 after watching the second season of the Foundation show on Apple+, I began reading Asimov's books (robot/empire/foundation) in the order which he suggested in an author's note in Prelude to Foundation.

Finally, after almost 2 years I have finished the titular book.

I enjoy the overall story of Foundation, however, the writing is not my favorite from Asimov. The entire book is essentially men having conversations about ruling the galaxy and how to manipulate the future for the good of mankind. Using dialogue to advance the plot is a device that Asimov uses a lot in his writing, and Foundation is the quintessential example. For the most part, nothing really happens, but there are a lot of conversations about things that have happened or are happening.

Also, where are the women? Asimov's women characters are sparse and often poorly written stereotypes. The single woman who gets a few lines of dialogue in Foundation would rank high as one of the worst examples.

If you want to read a single Asimov book, I would not recommend Foundation. If you are trying to complete the entire Foundation series, well, I guess you have no choice.