Laith

This is my second foray into “published” fan fiction and I feel short-changed. The description seemed right up my alley but I am realizing that the sort of people who write fan fiction really love getting lost in the weeds. I read the omnibus 2200 page epub not realizing that this series was broken up into smaller more digestible releases, so this is a review of the series as a whole. It hardly matters since this is basically all one story. The arcs aren't really distinct from each other, and this whole story takes place in the same timeframe as The Sorcerer's Stone.

This is a Rationalist take on Harry Potter. What that means in practice is that Harry in this series is a child prodigy raised by a muggle professor, and as such is highly educated and possesses an adult understanding of the world around him. His behavior, personality, and thought process are significantly divergent from the original work. We largely follow the plot and setup of The Sorcerer's Stone but there are minor differences in the setup alongside the largescale changes to characters.

There is a lot of the scientific method, a lot of decision theory, and a lot of ethical debate and philosophy in this book. This story is written by a self-taught but by all accounts legitimate scientist/researcher who is using Harry Potter as a medium to talk about his area of expertise. This author is not a novelist and you can tell. This book is really leaning hard on the structure and story beats of the original while at the same time actively dismantling that structure. The parts where he is making up a “brand new story” are well crafted but are lacking when it comes to prose and polish. His story beats are logical and easy to follow but lack any of the punch and drama that come with OG HP.

The draw here is seeing how a “smart” Harry would have dealt with the challenges he faced at age 11. He makes different choices with his friends, he reads into the power structure of the wizarding world early on, and he is constantly trying to introduce science and the scientific method into the magic system. Watching Harry pick apart problems and plots in two or three chapters that were sustained throughout the entire original series is pretty satisfying in its own way. There's also a Sagan-esque quality to this whole thing; Harry introduces and applies various models of logical and rationalist thought/problem-solving. Through hypotheticals and examples, there's a real effort made to explain the rationalist worldview and philosophy. What is best about this book is the logical reordering of events. Despite how bogged down this fic is, it does stick to its own rules and maintains consistency as events play out - though it does cheat a little with small details and tweaks to the setup (For example: Draco's mom is presumed dead for much of this story and it does factor into his motivations and decision making)

There are hiccups. Science and reason don't map onto the Harry Potter universe very well, a lot of Rowling's world is just silly nonsense at its core. Taking the rationalist approach means that everything needs to be logically consistent and explained, but the world of Harry Potter is intrinsically irrational. Thanks to that incongruity there is way more hypothesis and speculation in this book than there needs to be. Maybe some readers liked the conjecture and structure that was added to the magic system here (because I will admit the lack of structure did bother me in the original) but I did not and it choked the pacing something fierce.

I finished this work only to see the complete version of events. All things told I didn't like this series, and a lot of it has to do with this version of Harry (honestly I didn't like any of the altered cast, but it all flows from this Harry). He seriously lacks the charm of the original; this oddly aged-up Harry man/child thing that is the main character really put me off. He got on my nerves from the outset; the way this Harry speaks to people early on is so unnatural and condescending. What really got my goat was his multi-person inner dialogue and his “mysterious dark side” alter-personality, the whole thing reads like bad manga to me. The further the story goes the more “Eighth Grader Syndrome” gets injected into his personality and I think by the halfway point I'd totally written him off and considered dropping the novel. There is an explanation provided by the story, Harry's scar horcrux imprints a part of Voldemort's personality rather than merely establishing a psychic link like in the original. It's a plausible explanation for this whole telling of events but man is it lame. I'm not trying to be a weeb by calling this out either, there is a distinct and unwelcome anime/anime-trope slant to this whole thing and it spoiled any sort of atmosphere or tonal consistency for me.

This is HP nerdcore and if you aren't a serious head then I recommend skipping this one. If you want to know what happens do yourself a favor and read the Wikipedia summary instead.

TL;DR: “smart” Harry Potter, an 11-year-old boy genius uses the powers of science and rational thinking to speed run the plot of the original series. This is a quality rewrite but it is also nerdy, dense, and stilted.

I think I'm a Becky Chambers fan. I've only read [b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet 22733729 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) Becky Chambers https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405532474l/22733729.SY75.jpg 42270825] so maybe that's premature but I really liked that book, and spoiler: I loved this book. This is a spoonful of sugar, a warm cup of something on a perfect fall day; and I read this at the perfect time, peak spooky season, the leaves have turned and it is nice and cool and rainy. What a cozy and comfy vibe. I feel like expounding on how cozy this is might actually undercut some of the coziness and I would hate to take the full blast away from anyone. Just trust me when I say the cozy element of this book is there and it is perfectly done, and if that's what you want to key in on: it's in there go read it. I also don't want to give too much of the actual plot away so I'll be extremely reductive. A Tea Monk named Dex and a robot named Mosscap go on a hike and have a cup of tea in the woods. What really stands out about this book is the world-building. This world has lore and it rocks, it's a utopia where humanity frees the sentient robots and gives them half their world. It's like Terminator but with tea-1000s. The joy is in exploring a world and culture so foreign as to allow that kind of outcome, what the people are like, what the robots are like. It's hopeful.It's actually more than hopeful, this book is an optimistic supernova ball of sunshine of a science fiction story. If it were just perfectly executed cozy it might not rate super high with me, but it's such a breath of fresh air. Not only for me as a reader but for the SF genre. It could just be the books that I have been choosing to read - not to complain about some excellent books- but it seems like anything that is popular and well-reviewed tends to be dark/hard/violent. I love it when I run across a book that scratches that SF itch in a different way. I have caught myself thinking about TLWSA a fair few times and for much the same reasons. I think this book will stick with me in much the same way. While these are two very different stories, I think it's proved that Becky Chambers can write some absolutely lovable characters. Dex and Mosscap are kind and thoughtful and are so good to each other in a way that not only subverts SF convention but fills you with warmth. I did have one gripe, and I did debate docking a point for it. This book is a little short, and the way it ends absolutely demands a continuation. While there is a complete story told here, I feel like maybe this didn't need to get split into two books. Part 1 and Part 2 as a thing of economy. But then again, this did come out in a pandemic year so the content demand probably had something to do with it. This won't crack my favorites list on its own, so the sequel better rip.TL;DR: A Tea Monk named Dex and a robot named Mosscap go on a hike and have a cup of tea in the woods.PS: 2021 really had some great books

This was a pleasant surprise, I think I was expecting something a little more self-serious but what I got instead was nicely digestible satire.

The plot is simple: Enter Charlie, a laid-off journalist turned substitute teacher whose life has gone off the rails. His wife left him, his dad died and so has his estranged billionaire uncle Jake. Reduced to squatting in his father's home while the estate settles Charlie receives quite the windfall when his uncle's last request winds up making him the inheritor of his uncle's enterprise. His uncle the parking lot mogul turns out to have had a much more diverse portfolio than expected; not mentioned in his obituary are the volcano lair, talking dolphins, and spy cats.

Yeah, this is a pretty silly premise but it sets up a nice fish-out-of-water commentary on post-covid society. Personally, I prefer my satire a little more subtle and biting but this is fine, turns out that the “villains” of this story are billionaire nepo-babies with a Blofeld affectation (who would have guessed). This whole story is really just a setup for a series of punch lines, the largest one being a villain convention attended by aspirant tech-bros and finance-douche-alphas.

I think if I were a cat person I'd have loved this, but I'm not. There are some really funny bits either way; I absolutely loved my comrade dolphins (Fuck Northwestern!), and the idea that every villain's master plan amounted to starting a subscription service definitely earned itself a spit-take.

EDIT: I completely forgot to mention that the audiobook is a Wil Wheaton narration! It's an excellent choice of narrator for such a funny story, and you can tell audibly just how much fun he is having with the material. I listened to the first half of this book and I think he does an excellent job. I definitely recommend the audiobook for this one.

TL;DR: A light and funny read, nothing too serious. Talking animals, space lasers, general bond-villain silliness.

This was the book club pick for October and I loved it. That might be an understatement, this book alone justifies an entire year of meh picks and really highlights the value of reading books that are off of your radar. To my eye this is nearly a perfect book, it's got rollercoaster pacing, true-to-life dialogue, humor in spades, and the most cohesive/tight plotting of anything that I've read this year (and I finished The Culture this year). I cannot believe that outside of some technical manuals, this is Scott Hawkins' debut; this is a first try that has left me in awe. Before I dive in I usually do this for books that need one: Here is your mature content warning, this book has basically every possible trigger under the sun, there's graphic murder and gore, rape and sexual assault, there's mass murder and violence to animals. The story revolves around Carolyn, one of several orphans taken in by a mysterious and god-like figure known as Father. Each child is assigned a specific catalog of knowledge to master, and Carolyn's domain is the Library, a place that houses unimaginable secrets and powers. When Father goes missing, the children, now adults with god-like abilities, must confront the mysteries of the library and the past. If the summary left you glossy-eyed and uninterested I can't blame you, but this is one of those books that the blurb on the jacket won't ever be able to do justice to.As I draft this review I think I've written the phrase “unlike anything i've ever read” at least a hundred times only to delete and rephrase as I think about it a little more. The thing is that there are works that are similar to this in premise, atmosphere, or tone; examples from my list are [b:The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1: Apocalypse Suite 2795053 The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1 Apocalypse Suite Gerard Way https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327877097l/2795053.SY75.jpg 2820826], [b:The Wasp Factory 567678 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1434940562l/567678.SY75.jpg 3205295], [b:The Book of the New Sun 968868 The Book of the New Sun Gene Wolfe https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388595738l/968868.SX50.jpg 6965668], and [b:American Gods 30165203 American Gods Neil Gaiman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1462924585l/30165203.SY75.jpg 1970226]. But from a writing standpoint, this book is wholly unique, I saw it written in another review and I cannot help but agree, that reading this book is an exercise in trusting the author. So let's talk about the writing for a second. This is a complex and challenging book, it is non-linear in structure and the story is fragmented, with flashbacks interspersed every few chapters to drip-feed the reader the backstory and context. There is a distinct feeling of unreliability in the narration, reading this gave me the sense that I never once had the complete picture and that there was something truly horrible looming just over the horizon. If you're someone who reads a lot of fiction that sense of mystery and unease usually dissolves as you get a sense of what type of story is being told, but that moment is never within reach in this novel. Just when you think you've figured out the rules of the world, Hawkins throws in a curveball that leaves you questioning everything.Part of that unpredictability is rooted in the characters, and we have a whole host of eccentric and terrifying characters, not least of all the main character, Carolyn. All I can really say is that she is one scary-ass lady. As more of her is revealed in each increasingly horrible flashback the tension of this book ratchets up another notch as you piece together the plot and Carolyn's role in the story. It's not just Carolyn, this book reveals more and more facets of each of its characters; the more we know the more we have to take into account. Characters that you thought you knew can change completely with a simple revelation, all of their actions and your reckoning of them completely upended and leaving you blown away in the chaotic swirl.I don't want to paint this book as overly serious and dark, Hawkins is a master at pairing levity with horror. As much as this book made me wince and shift uncomfortably it made me laugh out loud at just how fun all this madness can be. This story jumps from one horror to another but he never fails to use humor expertly as a relief valve; the president could be beheaded in one paragraph and his head would blow raspberries and kisses in the next. Much of the humor is in the banter and dialogue which I also loved, Hawkins writes these absolutely wacky characters but gives them frank and believable dialogue with much of the humor being couched in absurdity and wit. I've got two closing notes and that's a wrap. The first is that I loved how direct the prose was in this book. This isn't to say there is an absence of beautiful and flowery language, because there is, but it's only used when appropriate. The majority of this book is direct and brutal, people don't get shot or pierced through, people get “Half their guts blown out” or get their “heart and lungs obliterated, sending a good bit of tissue out a fist-sized hole in his back”. The second note is that I loved the ending, it felt like every little puzzle piece fell into place and the things I took note of were addressed in a complete and satisfying way.TL;DR: The best description I can give is that there's a team of super kids with an unfathomable and terrifying father, intense flashes of violence and mayhem paired with dark humor, and non-linear dream-ish storytelling.

This is an adequate sequel and conclusion to the series, GGK's prose and world-building continue to improve on what I thought was a perfect rendering of a fantastical Byzantium. I'm not even sure if I want to classify this as a sequel, it felt more like an expansion; with new characters, more depth, and a greater emphasis on city life. Unfortunately, issues that I wrote off in the first entry have returned and are even more obvious, my two main issues being the romance/portrayal of women and the ending. I will admit that I finished the last third of this book while fighting a nasty cold, but I really felt this story come apart as I approached the closing chapters.

This book picks up right after the first and details the remainder of Crispin's stay in Sarantium, the affairs of a newly introduced Bassanid (Persian) physician, and Emporer Valerius II's plan to reconquer Rhodia. The bulk of this novel is devoted to the characters and their development; Crispin in particular. I did not love the balance of plot to development in this one, it felt like none of the characters had any influence on what was going on, and their development was likewise forced and poorly articulated, which is a surprise given how amazing and lyrical the prose was.

The main problem that I kept running into was with the female characters. First of all every single female character in this book is otherworldy gorgeous, mensa-level intelligent, and witty, and fashionable, on-and-on. There are no normal women period, and GGK writes every interaction and description of these pseudo-goddesses as if he'd never spoken to or met a woman in his life. The descriptions of sex and the intermingling of sex and politics are written from such a bizarre and detached perspective. The emotions involved totally absent from the dialogue, the female characters acting more like tools than women. It's a serious issue given how prominently the female characters feature in the plot and in the development of the principal male cast. A big part of this novel is Crispin's relationship with the four most powerful women in the story, and which of them he ultimately beds/couples with. Given the way they are written, it's hard to get a sense of the characters' feelings for each other, so the fact that any one of them was interested in Crispin came off as contrived.

My knowledge of Byzantine history largely agrees with the details that GGK has included in this series, with my only real question remaining being whether Rhodias is supposed to be Greece or Italy. Where Sailing to Sarantium largely stuck to the record, this book deviates significantly. I get that this is historical fiction and that GGK was trying to tell a historically flavored story not a retelling of Justinian and Theodora, but this book breaks many of the conventions established in the first entry. It makes me question the need for such attention to the historical record when the plot never intended to respect it in the first place. I would normally be fine with deviations, but where this story deviates it turns into a very generic fairy tale with themes pulled straight from the catalog of the Brothers Grimm. It offended me to see such lyrical prose, incredible world-building, and historical detail wasted on a nonsense plot.

This brings us back to the issue with the women in this novel. It compounds with everything else to make the entire novel worse off. What I loved in the first book, the fantastical realism and attention to detail, are still there but robbed of their authenticity and diminished by the presence of what I am coining as Machiavelli-fuckdolls™. I can see some readers saying that this portrayal is by design and that women in this period of history were to some degree as this book portrays them. I'm not buying that. I could understand a lack of agency being excused by the historical record, but these women don't lack agency at all, instead, they're politically focused robots even at their most intimate moments. Real women aren't like that, and I don't care if they're part of some ruling caste and trained from birth to be pragmatic and unfeeling, it just doesn't jive. As I've noted above this entry doesn't even care to stick to the historical record all that closely, so the women are as they are by the deliberate choice of the author. It sucks.

This book gets full credit from me for the quality of the writing, and the city of Saratium is spell-binding, to say the least. The Chariot race in particular is probably my favorite moment of the entire series. All that said this is a little bit like putting lipstick on a pig because the core story mechanics just weren't there.

TL;DR: Come for the city and the chariots, Stay for the Machiavelli-fuckdolls™.

A slow start but I wound up really enjoying this. This series and author were recommended to me as an Eastern alternative to dominant Western-focused fantasy. This series is something along the lines of GoT or The First Law in plotting and quality but it does not retread the same Swords and Sorcery/Medieval Court story beats that are ubiquitous in the fantasy genre.

The Sarantine Mosaic is a historical fantasy set in a world that closely resembles the Byzantine Empire at the beginning of the Justinian dynasty. We follow a mosaicist named Crispin, who is summoned to Sarantium by the emperor to create a mosaic for the new sanctuary. The story unfolds against a backdrop of imperial politics, religious conflicts, and the vibrant life of the city. Contrary to the book's title the first half of the story concerns itself with Crispin's overland journey from Rhodia to Saratium, with not a boat in sight.

One of the real joys of this story is just how well G.G.K interweaves real history; it is dependent on how well you know your Roman/Byzantine history, but there is a constant barrage of small easter eggs and minor details that sell the world as authentic. Bath culture, chariot partisans, factional conflicts, landmarks, court culture, almost every detail even down to the exclusive scent of perfume that the empress wears are tied to the real historical record. I think I could safely assign this as course reading for a history class and it wouldn't stray too far from what the history books say concerning Justinian's reign. Hopefully, everyone who reads this knows enough to realize that the sanctuary Crispin is working on is actually the Hagia Sophia because that was such a cool reveal. Massive points for putting history in historical fantasy.

Considering the novel from a writing perspective it also gets full marks from me, this book is gorgeous to read. GGK is lyrical and poetic, and his prose is a delight to unpack; his style is one with tons of emotional depth and accuracy. As I noted previously this story has a slow start, one of the problems I had at the outset of the story was what I felt to be unnecessary shifts in perspective that were delaying the start of Crispin's story. I will acknowledge that it pays off in the end, but there were moments at the start where I had to put the book down since I was getting a little bored. That issue gets cleared up almost as soon as Crispin sets out for Sarantium, and honestly having a little grounding in the mythos and rules of this world serves to elevate the thrill to found in his journey.

This is a perfect premise for this author and it is such an appropriately titled series. The main conflict in this story is a political one that is complex and interconnected, a puzzle, a.... mosaic. It's more involved than that obviously, the prose is a key part in helping all of the different themes and beats layer over each other providing depth that wouldn't otherwise be there.

If you're a sword and sorcery STAN then this might be a boring read for you because it's not high octane and the magic is nebulous. This is a slower and more methodical read than I think many fantasy fans will be used to. That doesn't make it bad by any stretch, but be aware that this story is outside of the norm, this book has more in common with War and Peace than it does LOTR.

Oh Man, this was a toughy to rate. This book might just be the most niche thing I've read all year, it's pulp military sci-fi and it's turned to 11. It's like a Rambo sequel but John Rambo is the Iron Giant and there are a million of him. But that's making it sound more exciting than it actually is, It's more like Iron Rambo Giant contemplates the logistical hurdles of mobilizing a military-industrial complex for interplanetary war. There's more than a little military fetishization but that's not all this book is about.

What this book is actually about is Earth as it was in 2000 and contact with a federation of neighboring alien races. The Federation is composed of non-violent species, some so non-violent that it would basically kill them to harm another person. As the book phrases it “at the time of our nation's founding the Federation was at war with the Posleen”. The Federation has been getting its ass kicked by a warrior race called the Posleen, and things are so grim that they've had to reach out to the real ass-kickers for help. That's us, humanity, we're the ass-kickers. More specifically it's the special forces. Which ones? oh, all of them silly.

It's an absolutely goofy premise that's adhered to with serious, stone-faced conviction. This book takes itself seriously and honestly, it's such a strange juxtaposition. I really do buy that the military functions exactly as described in this book. It's a Tom Clancey novel set like Armmegedon (1998) with big Willy. It should be a popcorn/pulp book but it cares so much that we know about the command structure, the acronyms of all the various units, the tolerances of the weapons, the lethality, the brutality, and the honor in battle. There's Kipling all over this thing by the way, can you tell that it's a conservative military man's wet dream yet? You didn't? Well, this book is also obsessed with tactics and modern military combined arms warfare, it's this insane bizarro meld of legitimate/authentic military tactics and jargon and tabletop (warhammer 40K) strategy game vibes. I don't actually think the theory of war as it is applied here is on sound footing, but it's in here to sell us on the universe, not for us to dissect al la Sun Tzu.

If you're still reading this I bet you've decided to skip this one, but I also bet you're wondering why I liked it. Because it's got flaws aplenty, and this book can be D R Y and dusty when it wants to be.

I think that this was scratching a part of my brain that wanted a heady action movie, something that was explosively entertaining but fleshed out its world and the politics and reasons and probabilities. There is a really interesting political landscape being painted in this story, and the politics of the 2000s are similar enough to those of today that the scenario is plausible. Honestly, this is so gratuitous that it provides enough separation such that it invites its reader to question the message. The politics are different enough to give this enough contextual distance from reality, it's all imagined so who's to say? I'm not saying it isn't dated, but it's dated to a time I am nostalgic for and it's definitely of a type of book that I am nostalgic for. This is a kind of cool that exists in action movies, it's a little all over the place but it's authentic, interesting, and just as complex as anything else I've read this year.

It's a preposterous premise and the messaging is yuck, but the joy is in accepting it and marveling at the depth of detail we have been given. This book reminded me of Starship Troopers (in both of its incarnations) and to a lesser degree Red Storm Rising and a host of other Tom Clancy books from the 80s. What this book is doing is aping Starship Troopers but with even less nuance, this is Starship Troopers the Movie the Novelization with a treatment by Tom Clancy. Maybe there's a little bit of Legend of the Galactic Heroes in there too, at least the boardroom bits. It's dated, it's derivative, it's conservative in a way that borders on (probably is) alienating, but damn if it isn't cool. It's like someone watched Starship Troopers and missed all the satire, better yet it's like someone watched Starship Troopers and disagreed, they decided to amp it up past what even the Heinlein novel was at. It works for me, I can see the flaws and in looking past them I see a cool story, a cool concept, and just a solid classic pulpy SF novel in the modern mil-fic style.

TL;DR: This could have been a 3/5. It's Starship Troopers (1998) + Tom Clancy without any of the satire of the film, and from 2000. It's dated, but entertaining and complex and detailed.

So usually I break a book down in my reviews and comment on the style, but this is Stephen King. I think anyone who came to literacy in the last 50 years knows what they're in for. He is a master, and this story is one of his masterpieces, that's all I need to say. If you like time travel stories, or you're interested in JFK, hell even if you don't like those topics, this book is still worth the read. I had a big Stephen King phase in high school. I totally overdid it. In fact, I read so much of him in such a short time that all the books sort of blended together and I managed to get turned off of his stuff. In my experience, Stephen King is a master at getting readers to binge the first half of a story like it's crack and then letting his stories slowly fizzle out. I pretty much swore off of King by the time this novel was published, and shortly thereafter I was firmly off of the reading wagon altogether. What's that got to do with 11/22/63? Well aside from having the most engaging premise mankind's ever seen fit to imagine, 11/22/63 also happens to have an ending that wasn't entirely composed by Stephen King. It is his son, Joe Hill, to whom we have to thank for a Stephen King book with a proper ending. I can't stress this point enough because it was this little tidbit that got me to read this book to begin with, can you imagine it? A Stephen King book without the drawback of a shitty pissy little half-assed ending!There are a few things about 11/22/63 that are special, these are small touches that elevate it beyond standard SK fare in my eyes:The first is that it takes place in the same universe as many of King's other popular works, most notably [b:It 830502 It Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334416842l/830502.SY75.jpg 150259] and the town of Derry features prominently. This is a book aimed squarely at the fans, there are more small nods than I could try to list, and as I worked my way through the book I was constantly finding them (to my delight). The second is that this book is not a reference for reference's sake kind of story. I think it would have been all too easy to get lost in the nostalgia sauce/exploration of the late 50s/early 60s; this book does have a ton of 60's material to get lost in but it's doled out with a measured hand. This could have easily read like a 60's Highlights/SK bibliography highlight reel, but everything that Stephen King has added to the pot is in there for a reason.The final touch is one that ties it all together; the theme and tone of the book are just perfect. This is a story of echoes, and the focus is on harmonics and repeating patterns. With every little detail, the story is meant to evoke a sense of Deja Vu, and there's plenty of that to be had between the nostalgic 60's callbacks (a decade which thanks to TV and film we are all nostalgic for, even if we never lived it) and in-universe references. Everything the main character sees and does is mirrored bizarrely in another section of the book, and the story itself reads more like a collection of stories set in the lead-up to, and aftermath of, the Kennedy assassination. There's a lot of interplay is the point, and the more you pick up on it, the more it amplifies the feelings that King wants you to feel as you read the story. I am a sucker for this kind of attention to detail, it's rare and hard to pull off but like I said before, we are in the hands of a master for this one.TL;DR: Finally an SK novel with a proper ending. For my money, this is the best thing he's ever written. It's definitely aimed at SK and JFK fans, but I wouldn't consider it necessary to care about either to enjoy this book.

This was the book club pick for September, and this is yet another off-my-radar pick. I found some moments in this book extremely engaging but I did not like the overall structure or the mosiac/pastiche style of storytelling. This is a book that is not constrained in any way by its choice of genre and is absolutely one of the most unique SF books I've read so far. This is also a book that lacks a plot and is more of a coming-of-age type of story.

China Mountain Zhang, Zhang or Rafael for short, is the name of the main character, and as explained in the book it's like being named “George Washington Jefferson” or “Joseph Stalin Lenin” just in a Chinese context. Zhang is a gay man working as a construction tech in New York City, he lives with an ex-boyfriend who is his only real friend. The twist is that the US has had a socialist revolution and China is the dominant world power, which means being Chinese is an advantage, and being gay will get you sent to the labor camp. We follow Zhang as he leaves his job as a construction tech to work in the Arctic Circle in hopes of earning a position in a China-based engineering college. This story takes us all over this world, from the frozen north to mainland China to Mars to Coney Island.

Can you believe this got a Hugo nod? I do, this is the book equivalent of Oscar bait. Let's run the checklist while keeping in mind this was published in 1992: This book features a non-standard narrative structure, this book features a gay main character, this book embraces multiculturalism despite the Chinese-dominated world it's set in, and the book has some keen/plausible technological extrapolation. It was so far ahead of its time, and hindsight really helps to highlight this as a predictor of the trends to come in SF.

All that said, it doesn't mean that this is a good read. Whatever virtues made it unique and fresh in 1992 have basically all been adopted in some way by modern storytellers. In 2023 it reads dated, it's like the author focused so much on making their book different from standard SF fare that they forgot to include a plot. Reading this reminded me of eating cookie dough, it's sweet and digestible but I would have preferred it fully baked. The book is extremely dreamlike, with hints and nudges concerning the larger world but never outright explaining it in full detail. This is definitely a personal journey for Zhang but it felt like he didn't really get a complete character arc. This feeling I have is probably being amplified by the change in perspective every other chapter.

I usually like it when the point of a story is a little understated, but there is a difference between burying the lede and never getting to the point. CMZ is guilty of the latter, there is never a moment in the book where Zhang confronts the world around him. The fate of his boyfriend in China and his first lecture are the closest this book ever gets to commenting on the world it has imagined for us. The problem is that those moments are also pulling double duty; They are supposed to be cathartic moments but they are also ironically the moments where the book introduces the concept it is commenting on. This book DOES make social commentary, it's just in the details and not loud enough.

TL;DR: This is Oscar bait in book form. There's a point to this book but good luck finding it.

I bumped this to the top of my list based on the premise alone, and hey Brandon Sanderson loves this series so why not? I wasn't in love with it immediately but I have to say that the last third of this book is a whirlwind that excites and delights. For something that seemed to be tailored to my tastes, I wound up liking it less than I'd hoped but it is competing with much heavier hitters and this is a Debut novel. This was a competent story, an excellent opening to a series, and one of the best author debuts I've read, I will definitely be picking up the sequel, [b:The Crimson Campaign 17608111 The Crimson Campaign (Powder Mage, #2) Brian McClellan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1659901305l/17608111.SY75.jpg 24566794].Promise of Blood kicks off the Powder Mage series with a bang (get it?). This is a gunpowder fantasy book with a strong emphasis on world-building, its magic system, and the politics of its universe. This is a fairly unique blend of fantasy and the Second Industrial Revolution, and the plot hinges on a populist/military coup in the country of Adro. The story follows the perspective of three characters, Field Marshal Tamas, his son Taniel, and the investigator Adamat in the immediate aftermath of Tamas taking power in Adro. The focus shifts from politics to magic and back as more of the world and its structure are revealed. This is a fast-paced book with tons of twists and turns. The pacing works for me, but in addition to the pace we have to contend with a sizable cast and it can be a little disorienting to keep track of everyone.I found the writing to be clear and concise, I would consider this one of the more accessible mil-fic style books I've ever read. McClellan has a talent for writing dialogue as well as action scenes, and with such an imaginative premise and complicated plot, he really gets to flex those skills. I found the dialogue to be charming, humorous, and alive. A lot of the character development is done in the dialogue and you get a very clear sense of everyone's personalities and quirks. My eyes usually glaze over when it comes to poorly written action, and while not every action scene in this book is gripping or interesting he's done it well where it counts, the last 10% has one of the most engaging action scenes I've read in a long time (the battle at the manor). I think the real draw here is the magic system and the world-building. I've never read anything that had this unique blend of gunpowder and magic, Fantasy typically grounds gunpowder in science/tech so it was really interesting to read about the powder mages. I would also like to shout out the world-building here, the universe is interesting, and the politics are complicated the whole package evokes a “real” feel. The world felt alive and complex, and the further you get in the novel the more mystery gets added into the package. This is a Debut so there are a few issues/quirks that the book has. I think first and foremost the themes we've got kicking around are pretty tired and uninteresting. Questions of loyalty and the burden of authority are nothing new, and whatever exploration of those themes there is in this book is trite and uninspired. This is a fairly big oversight since it robs the story of any additional depth, and it's not like there wasn't room for a little political discourse or the introduction of a powder mage named Joeseph Stallin or Lyon Trutski or something. This is a book set in a facsimile of 1860's Europe and there is no mention/reference to the revolutions of 1848 or the labor movement, it's borderline unforgivable. I can understand if this stuff got cut out in editing since this is a pretty complex story already, but the book is worse off without its inclusion. There is a workers union in this book, the Warriors of Labor, but they do not feature outside of a handful of paragraphs. This is indicative of the second major weakness of this book, and the issue that kept it from earning an otherwise well-deserved 5 stars. There is a serious lack of secondary character development. There are enormously interesting side characters and factions in this book that operate with little to no backstory whatsoever. I would have preferred turning the pace down just a touch so characters like Ka-Poel, Bo, and the Prime Lector could have had more to them in addition to being a bigger influence on the story. This book and series seem tailored to my interests but it might not be for everyone. The book is definitely leaning hard on tropes found in Mil-Fic, the emphasis on action and battle is obvious and there's an imbalance when it comes to action v. exposition. Strong female characters are few and far between, and of the two that feature most prominently one is mute. I guess I'm trying to say that this might be “boy-fic” as opposed to “chick-lit”. TL;DR: This is a strong Debut, a fast-paced action-packed romp with both magic and gunpowder. It's a little weak when it comes to anything not action or magic-related, but it's good enough to get me to read the sequel.

I was a little hesitant to pick this up because I didn't really connect with the first book. I kept thinking about the Dresden Files and how if I was going to read something so similar to it I might as well read some more of that series. But the premise was interesting and Leigh Bardugo really knows how to lead into a sequel. I took a gamble on this one and damn dude, this shit rocks.

Before I jump into this sequel I want to address a few of the flaws that held Ninth House back for me. I guess I didn't like Alex's nature in the first book, I'm all for a flawed main character but she just kind of face-rolled the scenario while complaining the whole way through. She came off as overly slick and unreliable. I wasn't buying it and I don't care how tragic her back story was. That disconnect lowered the sense of stakes for me, I didn't like Alex and I didn't especially care about what happened to her.

I want to highlight these failings because Hell Bent has totally filled in the gaps for me. This book has one major change from the first; Alex is kind of the badass now. She's a badass now, and I buy it somehow. I think that this book starts off strong and does an amazing job filling us in on Alex's summer, and it does a lot to rehabilitate her character for me. It seems like Alex has matured/is maturing into the role of Virgil, and her previous weakness is largely written off as inexperience. But she's a badass ghost bitch now, and Darlington is trapped in hell.

This whole book had a Stranger Things meets Hell Boy meets Dresden Files vibe to it, and that's such an amazing combination of ideas and themes. I think that I have fully accepted that we're playing by the Dresden Files set of rules and I am more than okay with it. I am glad that this series is pulling from the strengths of DF and not its weaknesses; if Alex gets a duster and a wide-brim hat and starts to wax poetic on how old-fashioned she is in the next one I think I will burst a blood vessel. I think that explains a lot of my shift in opinion, this is better than the Dresden Files in all the ways that matter.

(Since you asked, I don't cringe when Alex interacts with the opposite gender, and I don't have to look past how much of a dork she is because she's not a dork.)

Let me stop meandering.

Hell Bent is damn good. I was really impressed by the jump in quality across the board, but hey this series is not in the highly marketable Grishaverse so we had to wait four years. The book is better off for it, Leigh Bardugo continues to evolve as an author, and this book is proof. The choppy pacing is gone, the prose is much improved, and this book really banks on the world-building of the previous entry.

Alex Stern is going to hell, and nothing is going to get in her way. That's the plot and we stick to it this time, no pauses to let us know how Pam is feeling or how fucking cool these 150-year-old arches are. No, we are going to hell, we are getting Darlington and that's what's happening. I really love the plot this time around, it's as simple as it gets but the places it goes are unexpected and interesting. I won't spoil it suffice it to say we get as many answers as we do new questions concerning the nature of Alex's powers and the nature of magic in this universe.

I like that the references this time were more Shakespearean in nature, it's cool to have those English surveys from college count for something. I like that the story occupies the span of a year so the chapter titles aren't as confusing as they were the first go around. The story is still non-linear but not to the obnoxious degree of the first one.

The biggest change between this and Ninth House is the absence of social commentary. We've been there and done that, and now we can get to unofficial Lethe business. I have to say I prefer it this way, the more grounded focus really lets this book piggyback on the gritty charm of the Dresden Files.

The only thing holding this book back is that you need to read Ninth House first. I am looking forward to the next one.

Here's the book club pick for August, and I found it to be much better than the last two picks ([b:Planetfall 24237785 Planetfall (Planetfall, #1) Emma Newman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1424627926l/24237785.SX50.jpg 43823353], [b:Fourth Wing 61431922 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1) Rebecca Yarros https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1666994927l/61431922.SY75.jpg 96945623]). Ninth House is a masterfully written piece of Dark Academia/Urban Fantasy, it's also a multilayered ode or dirge to Yale- I'm not sure exactly how to take it. If you like that spooky girl shit this will be right up your alley, and if you like the Dresden Files well congrats because this is very similar (with less misogyny and a tighter plot to boot). Also right at the top here's your mature content warning: This book has some pretty visceral scenes of sexual violence/rape/date rape, it's not in there for no reason but it will make your skin crawl.Ninth House is set in the modern day and is about Galaxy “Alex” Stern, a girl who possesses the ability to see ghosts and is granted a full scholarship to attend Yale and become the Dante of Lethe. her job? To monitor the activities of its secret societies. You heard it right, Yale is Hogwarts, the secret societies that pump out modern-day elites? Magic. Definitely not nepotism or the hidden mechanisms of an Oligarchy.I found the pacing to be excellent, there's a good mix of suspenseful fast-paced sections and slower contemplative passages that Bardugo uses to fill us in on the workings of Lethe and Yale. I loved those quick sections they have that “just one more page” quality that all the best books have. On the other hand, the slow sections do kind of drag as we get the intricate details of the magical world and secret societies. While these moments might slow down the overall narrative pace, they contribute to a richer understanding of the characters and the complex dynamics at play. I can see other readers disagreeing on pacing, particularly if they are more invested in the action and suspense.I didn't get a ton out of the prose or the writing for this one, it read neutral to me. I guess atmospheric is a good word to describe the vibe here, Bardugo pays careful attention to the world-building and tries her best to fill the air with mystery. I think I'd have been more impressed if I'd read this before I read The Dresden Files.I think I would have put this book down if it had just been a 1:1 Yale is Hogwarts kind of a story, but thankfully it isn't. Ninth House is a very complex, very aware kind of story; it trades in magic and mystery but it's careful to include a particular focus on power, privilege, and the weight of one's actions. The best books reflect the real world in their subject matter and Ninth House does a great job on that front. The world of secret societies serves as a metaphor for the unchecked privilege and entitlement that can permeate certain (cough Elite cough) spheres of society. The members of these societies often come from privileged backgrounds, and their actions are shielded from consequences due to their status. In the real world, the secret societies at Yale wield immense influence and authority, creating a microcosm where power struggles are often concealed beneath a veneer of tradition and exclusivity. I don't think the layman knows just how much power originates from Yale, take a look at how many Yale grads wind up running the country. This dynamic is paralleled in the magical world, where different characters possess varying degrees of supernatural power, leading to questions about control, exploitation, and responsibility. I really resonated with this lens that the Ninth House views its world through, it asks all the right questions and it's enormously satisfying to see someone holding the elites responsible (even if it's just fiction). The story serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of unchecked ambition and the importance of critically examining the systems and structures that govern society.I can't pinpoint exactly what kept this from earning 5 stars for me. I found myself reading this book and enjoying it but constantly waiting for it to lock me in the way [b:Babel: An Arcane History 57945316 Babel An Arcane History R.F. Kuang https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1677361825l/57945316.SY75.jpg 90789229] did, but I made it to the back cover without ever fully connecting with this story. From my perspective Dark Academia is a touchy subject, it's been done to perfection so many times that a new entry in the genre has a very hard time distinguishing itself. As much as I loved Alex taking the privileged students of Yale to task, the college setting didn't do much for me; I think that the unique elements of this book would resonate with a slightly younger audience. TL;DR: Yale is Hogwarts, and Harry is an ex-junkie who sees ghosts. If you've ever wanted to cave Jared Kushner's skull in with a marble bust and you liked the Dresden Files this might be exactly what you are looking for.

This book took me two months to finish and it would have dragged on for much longer if not for the folks behind the audio.worm project, I regret only finding it after reading volume 30 (90% through). Before I get into this book I want to thank that group of likely insane fans for the hundreds of hours they took to read and record this behemoth. To any potential reader, I highly recommend finding the fan-made audiobook on Apple podcasts because simply finding the time to READ this whole thing was driving me insane.

This has been a constant in my life for the last two months so I'm sorry if this review runs a little long. I think for a book like this I need to change up my review format, so I will frame this as a Q&A for potential readers.

Q: What is Worm?
A: Worm was/is a superhero web serial novel published between Jan 2011 and Nov 2013, It has 30 Volumes/arcs and was published bi-weekly at a pace of around 80 pages a week. If that doesn't drop your jaw consider it like this: Wildbow was basically publishing a complete novel a month, every month, for nearly THREE YEARS. Reading this in 2023 means reading the presumably edited epub edition (though you can read this chapter by chapter for free online) with minor changes to the original story.

Q: Okay maybe I should have been more specific smartass, What is Worm about?
A: Worm is set in a world where people start getting superpowers, usually this process occurs after some type of deeply traumatic incident. The story follows Taylor Hebert, a high school student who has recently lost her mother in a car accident and is facing a targeted campaign of bullying at school. As a result of the bullying Taylor awakens a power to control all of the bugs in her vicinity and her priorities change. With the purest of intentions, Taylor dons the tights of justice only to find out that the distinction between hero and villain isn't as clear cut as she thought.

If this sounds like every other cut-and-dried superhero premise that's because it is. But Worm is something a little more, It's not obvious from the premise or the early chapters but this is the sort of superhero story cut from the same cloth as Watchmen and The Boys. Taylor's early attempts to fit herself into the mold of a hero run into a series of setbacks that erode her faith in the establishment. She opts to cross the line, adopting the monicker “Skitter”, Taylor joins a group of up-and-coming villains called the Undersiders.

But that's just the premise and early plot, what Worm is really about is escalation. This is a story about someone making all the right decisions at the moment, only to have that decision trigger an even larger crisis, rinse, and repeat until the stakes are beyond global.

Q: What makes this special, why should I read something like this?
A: A concise answer would be the intricate world-building, well-defined characters, and intricate power system. The author delves deep into the psychological and emotional aspects of being a superhero, as well as the consequences of their actions on society and themselves. The narrative is both engaging and unpredictable, filled with twists and turns that keep readers hooked.

Worm has a lot in common with traditional superhero stories, but where it excels is where it subverts the trope and convention of the genre. Characters face realistic consequences for their actions, and there is a constant sense of danger and stakes. The story also delves into themes of identity, morality, and the blurry line between good and evil. The author's willingness to explore these themes in a thought-provoking manner sets “Worm” apart from more conventional superhero stories.

There's something to be said for the medium as well, your standard superhero story has almost always existed within the pages and the conventions of comic books. Worm trades the convenience and artistry of illustrated chapters for the depth and nuance that comes with an all-text story. Every character has a backstory that gets explored, details about the world are plainly stated, and as a reader you are made aware of all of those small things that would have traditionally been hidden in panel art.

Q: Okay you've talked pros, give me some cons, what's wrong with it?
A: I want to say clearly before I dive deep and nerdy into this that If I didn't like this series I wouldn't have stuck with it to the conclusion, I wouldn't be masocistically contemplating reading the sequel either. That said there were a number of things that bothered me enough that I almost DID put the book down, and I am not sure how much of me powering through was due to Worm's overall quality and how much it was me trying to complete a challenge I'd taken on.

The early chapters suck and I knew that going in, I am under the impression that Wildbow went back while editing the epub and strengthened some of these early chapters but that doesn't really impact how good/interesting it is at the outset. Every hero and villain needs their origin story, and at this point in the novel, the story reads like most other fan fiction. It takes a while for the narrative engine of escalation to take hold in the universe; I would wager that it's not until the introduction of Coil and Dinah (nearly 4 or 5 Volumes into the series) that the story finds the beats that will continue to run throughout.

This story was published and planned piecemeal. Wildbow has stated that he would often write himself into deadends and then force himself to write back out just to keep the tension of the narrative going; after all, if even the author doesn't know where this is going how can the reader know? I'm sure that this piecemeal approach allowed the story to benefit from reader feedback in real-time, and to his credit, there is a significant amount of tension surrounding key moments in the story so it's a partial success. But not having a planned story really fucks with the flow of this book, the pacing is all over the place, there are time skips and the additions of whole hosts of never before seen heroes, and the backstory has been delivered in donation-driven interludes that breakup this already gasping story even further.

Another consequence of working from a rough or non-existent outline is that your story runs the risk of losing the reader even at the best of times. There are whole volumes in Worm that I cannot riddle the meaning or significance of, some revelations are buried in detail-rich text and leave you scratching your head for hours of storytime. We never get a consistent villain and the world continues to evolve and confound with each twist. When Wildbow is on the ball this is the most exhilarating part of reading the book, but the quality is not consistent chapter by chapter.

Q: Anything else I need to know?
A: Worm is exciting, varied, and endlessly complex. Just reading the wiki could entertain you for hours and hours. The peaks are high and the valleys are low. I thought that reading the edited epub compilation would mean that I would skip over some of those valleys but I was wrong. Do not go into this book expecting to read something that's been run through with a fine tooth comb, expect some ends to remain loose, and for developments to be nonsensical or even cartoonish. All things told though this is a superhero book at its heart and it's okay to be all of those things.

I really wish that Wildbow had sat down and read this whole series over and just went to town with the red pen. I see no reason why the retail publication had to be the same as the web publication, warts, and all. This could have been a 3,000-page, 4 or 5 Volume box set, and I am positive that all of these arcs could have been condensed into 6-800 page books. Portions of the plot could have been reworked, interludes brought into the primary narrative, and foreshadowing could have been added retroactively. There is so much potential in here and this is not the publishing release I would have hoped for.

I want to talk about fanfic for just a second as well. There is such a City of Heroes RP vibe coming off of this book and I don't know if it's intentional or just a consequence of writing a scenario like this to begin with. I don't say that to put anyone off, but if you're thinking of picking this up you should know that there is a whole fanfic universe that surrounds Worm, lots of readers who write in this universe. Obviously, I am not a contemporary reader but some of the unexplained gaps and surprise characters seemed to be Wildbow folding in some of those fanfic stories and heroes. I could be wrong on that point so don't quote me.

I wouldn't pick this up unless you have some time to kill, all the reviews that say this is nectar from the gods are from serious nerds that have probably already read more comics than everyone you know put together and have been dying for more content. Worm is good, even great at times but there are so many better ways to spend your time. If Wildbow ever comes back to this volume I hope he really considers a partial rewrite and some serious consolidation. I enjoyed this book a lot but I would not recommend something like this to 99% of the people that I know, it just isn't in a state that invites someone to read it.

"I don't deserve this." he breathed.
"No one gets what they deserve."

I don't think there was a moment when I was reading this and didn't wish that HBO had chosen to adapt this series and not GoT for TV. I think that's enough of a recommendation honestly. It's constantly said that this is a landmark series and I can't agree more. I loved every single second and once I burn through a little more of my backlog, I will pick up The Age of Madness Trilogy.

This is the third and final book in The First Law Trilogy, it is the culmination of two books worth of setup and plotting. The pacing is relentless, and the narrative never slows down. While this keeps the reader engaged, it also leaves little room for reflection or breathing space between intense moments. Some may find this approach exhausting, as the story moves from one harrowing event to another. In this reader's opinion, we've had two books to stew and this is the pot boiling over as it ought to. Given the pace, Abercrombie's ability to maintain tension and keep readers on the edge of their seats became a standout feature of the book.

The story is divided into several interconnected plotlines, each following different characters and factions as they maneuver for power and survival. Abercrombie masterfully handles the multiple story arcs, providing a balanced blend of action, intrigue, and character development. In many ways, this book is the inverse of the first, with our parties breaking apart and the individual stories of our characters reaching their culmination.

“Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he's a cunt”

“This is how most of us go, isn't it? No final charge. No moment of glory. We just ... fall slowly apart.”

Last Argument of Kings

“I have my answers already.” Then why do I do this? Why? Glokta leaned slowly forwards across the table. “We are here for our amusement.”

Gah! This was so interesting! Personally, I love to read alternative creation myths. If Prometheus (2012) was interesting to you I think you would like this piece of speculative fiction from the James S.A. Corey writing team.

The Novella follows Roy, he's a member of a planet colonization team. Well that's not entirely accurate. It's actually a copy of Roy that's a member of this team, all the members of this team are copies that are “beamed” out and “unfolded” on their target planets. His mission is to start the colonization process, and once they are able- to beam out a new copy to a new planet. Rinse and repeat.

What really makes this book cool is the non-traditional narrative. It quickly becomes unclear which Roy the narrative is following, with each new passage written from the perspective of a different Roy who made different choices in his life. I'm a fan of stories like this, and it's to the credit of Novellas as a medium, I don't think this would be a fun full-length book to read, but at just 37 attention-grabbing pages, this was short and sweet.

I mainly chose to read this because I wanted to check out a sample of James S.A. Corey's writing, so I was surprised to learn that this is part of the new The Far Reaches collection of novellas. These are a ton of cool stories by some of the best SF authors doing it right now, and they're in nice little non-intimidating chunks. I will definitely be checking out the other entries!

Don't you love it when a sequel comes out swinging for the fences? No middle book syndrome, not a single weak chapter, paragraph, or sentence in the whole thing. Before They Are Hanged is everything that I loved from The Blade Itself taken to the next level.

Before They Are Hanged picks up just after the events of Book 1 and wastes no time in catching us up with our protagonists starting with Glokta. Where the last book had many scattered perspectives as our cast was assembled, Before They Are Hanged settles on bouncing between three parties; Glokta in the South, West and Threetree's gang in the North, and our main party of Logen, Ferro, Jezal, and Bayaz in the west.

I don't want to get too specific on plot; each party is accomplishing a unique task and their stories are largely independent. Logen has joined Bayaz on his quest into the Old Empire seeking a forbidden power. West is fighting the Union's war in the North against King Bethod. Most interesting of all, Glokta is now the superior of Dagoska and tasked with rooting out corruption while organizing the city's defenses in advance of a war with the Gurkish. All your favorites from the last book are finally in a position to begin their adventures and boy is it entertaining. As I mentioned with the last book, there isn't anything exceedingly unique as far as the premise goes, what The Fist Law series is really about is injecting nuance and cynicism into traditional tropes. So despite the trite premise, the plot proves to be exceedingly engaging.

As far as the theme goes this book is consistent with The Blade Itself, we've got a focus on the harsh realities of war and violence right at the forefront of it all. There is a persistent thread concerning the settling of scores, of reaping what you've sown, those concepts being echoed between the different storylines in both their narratives and in the prose itself. I think it's needless to say that Joe Abercrombie is a master of character writing and dialogue, but I will say that as a consequence of reading this series a lot of the recall I associate with traditional fantasy has been overwritten with old logan ninefingers and his motley crew. There are catchphrases, I totally forgot to mention that last review; personally I liked them, They fit in great and these books tend to be hilarious when appropriate.

More than anything I think I love the vibe of this series the most. It really benefits from the classic setting and story; it's dark and atmospheric and not always but now and again the story slips into a nostalgic almost a tabletop campaign-y vibe. I think I can safely say that I am hooked and I'll probably read the next series in this larger world/universe. I also can't believe that there hasn't been an adaptation of this yet!? The dialogue is so good that it sometimes feels like I am reading a screenplay for an hour of premier television. We've all wanted more Game of Throne-ish content, here's something that's arguably better!

This was the book club pick for July, yet another book that was completely off of my radar. I had surprisingly few notes, Planetfall is a competent SF mystery with a mentally ill narrator. The novel is packed with interesting speculation and subscribes to the 3D printer future of the Bobiverse and Snow Crash. There's really only one thing holding this book back and that's Emma Newman's commitment to a “grand reveal” that managed to surprise no one. Oh and the pacing kind of sucks.

Planetfall is the first novel in the Planetfall series but I think anyone who picks this novel up will be forgiven if they feel the need to double-check since the bulk of this story is set 20 years after colonists land on a planet. These colonists have traveled an undisclosed distance to settle on this planet in the hopes of meeting god, who is implied to be resting at the top of a towering bio-mechanical structure that the colonists have called the City of God. I won't spoil the setup any further, but a wrench is thrown into the plan when the grandson of the missions' leader wanders into the colony from the wilderness, a descendant of survivors of one of the botched landing crews.

While this is an SF mystery the core conceit of the novel concerns personal tragedy and mental illness. This is yet another in a spate of books that I have recently read in which some type of disability has featured prominently. The main character and narrator in this story is suffering from an acute bout of hoarding. In Planetfall this feature is simultaneously the book's biggest strength and the source of its weakness. It is RARE that we get such a well-composed and sympathetic glimpse into the mind of a mentally disturbed person; Emma Newman takes us deep into this exploration, and I appreciated this spotlight on the mental element of space exploration. This thread begins and ends with the MC, so it might be a bit of a stretch to call it a larger theme, but most SF works jog right past mental health.

The problem I had with this novel was directly related to the depth of this personal exploration. This is a character-driven story, but we are locked in the head of the narrator to the point of claustrophobia. Call it a narrative device if you want to, but this book's singular focus on the MC's issues meant that details relating to the plot, the setting, and the cast were few and far between for the majority of the story. I don't need a book to spell things out for me, but this is a case where the author intentionally leaves us in the dark so they can progress a personal narrative thread. There are LARGE chunks in this book where nothing is happening. I wouldn't call it a pacing issue so much as an issue of focus, we get a lot of answers concerning the MC's condition but very little concerning the world and her mission past the basics.

I think this book could have redeemed itself with a strong ending, but this book ended just as things were getting interesting. I believe that Emma Newman's other writing gravitates more towards mystery and procedural crime, and her insistence on keeping details close to the chest really did not do this book any favors. The “big reveal” was more focused on the issues of the narrator (issues that we as the reader have known about since the halfway point), the problem being that this focus totally robs the reader of the larger and more interesting goings on of the colony.

I do like the writing overall, and there were moments in this book that captured my imagination (before moving on and leaving the thought half finished). I think that this book suffers a little bit more since it's the beginning of a series. I don't think I've ever read a “first book” with as few details concerning its world as this book does, and the next book in this series precedes the events of this book so it's not much of a setup or an incentive to read the next book. I must say that I am still interested in reading the next book in the series since it's a different flavor (more of a crime/mystery novel than an SF novel).

TL;DR: Hoarders in space. It has its moments, and the subject matter is very unique and inspired. The story has long stretches where nothing is happening, and nothing is revealed. 2.5 /5(3).

I read The Grace of Kings earlier this year, and it was an imperfect book that I came to enjoy immensely by the end. The Wall of Storms is the second entry in the series, and it made me realize that while The Grace of Kings was competent as a standalone book what it was really meant to do was load the bases for this grand slam of a story. This is Epic Fantasy at its very best, and this entry in the series personally ranks itself next to The Wise Man's Fear as among my favorite “second books” and more generally as one of my favorite takes on the genre.

The Wall of Storms directly follows The Grace of Kings and brings us up to speed on the last few years of Emperor Kuni's (Ragin) Reign. The title of this story is a reference to both the tumult of a young dynasty as well as a geographic feature of the world of Dara, Kuni Garu puts it best himself, “a young dynasty must pass through a Wall of Storms before the first succession.” This is a story about succession but more than that, this story serves to expand the world and introduce us to new characters that will carry the remainder of the series. I don't want to give away any more plot than that, if you liked GoK chances are you're going to love this book.

More generally I want to say that while I appreciated the prose in GoK, Ken Liu really put some effort into this book to take it to the next level. Often, I find that fantasy novels like to inject in-universe poetry and philosophy to introduce chapters or backfill the world; rarely if ever does the story directly reference those tidbits. What Ken Liu has done is bind the poetry and philosophy of his world directly into the plot, the people of his world really do follow this in-universe philosophy and every piece of poetry is not only beautiful wordplay but chock full of puzzles and foreshadowing. Nothing that bloated the first half of GoK has gone to waste, with the solid foundation GoK provided Wall of Storms has built something magnificent.

I did a little research and found out that the author considers this book and its sequel The Veiled Throne to be two halves of one entry in the series, so I am very excited to see where the story goes from here. Ken Liu has also gone on record to explain that this story is a fantastical retelling of the Han foundation myth (the chu-han contention, for anyone trying to google up), and the series is more generally a de-westernized interpretation of the “narrative of modernity”. This is a new flavor for a lot of fantasy readers, and I personally can't get enough of it. I mentioned this in my GoK review, but I really love the infusion of different tropes and ideas; this series has done a fantastic job of repurposing what was for what will be.

I only had one small critique if you can even call it that: for all the time we spent with Kuni in the first book this second entry largely bypasses his character. While we never get another glimpse from his perspective Kuni still features in this novel, he does not take a prominent role and is not the center of the story. I haven't read the third book so there could very well be amazing flashbacks to his perspective still to come but I was still disappointed with how distant he was from the readers' perspective. If you opt to read this story it will make sense why this is the case, but I largely signed on to read this sequel in the hopes for some quippy badassery from everyone's favorite low-born bandit emperor.

TL;DR: If you liked No. 1, you'll love No.2. On a macro level it seems this is everyone's favorite entry in the series and it's for good reason. Do not sleep on the Dandelion Dynasty.

This book is sad, it's probably the saddest thing I've read since Zlata's Diary. Heart-breaking page-turner is an apt description; I didn't put it down until I was done. That said, if I am honest with myself, I wish I could unread it. That's not to say that this book is bad, there are strong characters and a gripping premise, it's well written, sweet, and profound, but it's also a devastating exploration of subjects I prefer not to grapple with (namely infertility).

I'm not sure if I have this right since I am essentially a virgin to contemporary romance novels but it seems to me that the genre is split down the middle. There's spicy romance replete with extended and explicit sex scenes, then there's whatever this book was. Let's call this other half sad romance, where the sex is beside the point, and it seems like the author is doing their best to make you cry. I am sure some readers really appreciate emotional catharsis, and I'm guessing that those people are die-hard Colleen Hoover fans. Call me out of touch with my feelings, but I don't really enjoy books whose main purpose is to make me sad regardless of quality. It seemed to me to be sadness for sadness' sake, I read depressing and bleak stuff all the time but I guess it hits differently when it's grounded in reality like this book is (as opposed to more cosmic/general sadness, or the horrors of a bleak future, etc.).

Let's talk tropes. It seems to me that when it comes to Romance novels the quality of the writing isn't the main appeal, there's a baseline for quality obviously, but what separates these books from their peers is largely a question of which tropes and themes the author chooses to incorporate. This applies generally, across most genres, but when it comes to Romance the tropes are the MOST important indicator of whether or not a reader will like the book. If I had to tag this novel I would probably say that this is a “love-conquers-all” story with a little bit of “second chance at love” mixed in there. There is also an undercurrent of “fated lovers” going on here which is a trope that personally hate because of how it undercuts the believability of the story. Thankfully it's only mentioned a few times and is never a viewpoint that the narration adopts.

I read this book because of Fourth Wing. It was mentioned in a discussion that there was a correlation between people who thought that book was average and the male audience. The implication is that boys + romance is the reason it was mid and not a reflection of the quality of the book. I chose this Romance novel from the Best of booktok list at random and gave it a read. I can safely say that I didn't have an issue with the quality of the book at all, this is head and shoulders above 4W in almost every way. The characters are real, the premise is grounded, the prose is consistent and unambiguous, and most importantly the whole scenario is generally believable. The difference between this book and 4W is stark, where this romance is carefully crafted and well thought out, 4W was lazy, horny, and all too fond of taking shortcuts.

This is a sad romance. If you like sad romance you're probably the reason Colleen Hoover keeps making the best-seller list and you don't need me to plug this. If you're in the mood for a good cry, or the idea of a grounded romance about two people working their way through something awful sounds amazing to you, give this a read. Points for quality, but I didn't really enjoy it.

PS: This book is set in new england, the MC is the estranged daughter of an irascible and wealthy mother who really only cares about wealth and standing. If this is ringing any bells it's because this is the setup to Gilmore Girls. The MC is Loreli, Graham is Luke, and her mother is Emily.

Anathem is a mixed bag of a book, a real doozy if you will. On one hand, Stephenson has managed to deliver one of the most intelligent and eloquent series of ideas I've ever had the privilege to read. On the other hand, I think it's best to be up front about the plot not starting until you're 150-200 pages in. This is a book with middling characters, some downright awful pacing, and some of the most indulgent tangents i've ever read. This is also a book that I feel smarter for reading, and managed to snowball into something that I could not put down until I finished it. I think this is very much a you-have-to-read-it-yourself book, I can see why opinions vary wildly depending on the reader. To anyone looking to read this for the first time I can safely say that you are not wasting your time, and if you can look past the obvious flaws there is a fairly large nugget of gold in here.

I usually try to start a review with a summation of the book, but Anathem is very strange in that what it is about factors heavily into the plot; to describe the premise is to spoil the book, so instead i'll try to describe the world. Anathem takes place on an Earth-like planet called Arbre; Arbran civilization is much older than ours on Earth. Their society is organized around Mathic Concents and the Saecular world a system that has been in place for ovcer 3000 years. The Concents are scientific monasteries/hermitages where the “avout” live in isolation from the outside world. These concents take the form of massive clocks, and the avout who live within are separated by their maths (orders). Depending on the math they join, either a unarian, decenarian, centanarian, or millenarian, the avout can only leave the concent when the gates of the maths open for 10 days during apert every 1, 10, 100, or 1000 years respectively. We join a young decenarian avout named Erasmus on the eve of his first apert.

Let's talk about strengths because this book has quite a few. There has to be something said for the worldbuilding, this is an aspect that I value heavily and while the world of Anathem is a little austere and generally non-techy it is captivating, complete, and atmospheric. Somewhere in between the giant clock compounds and the in-universe dictionary (to which you will probably need to refer) I did start to lose my patience with the depth that's provided but that's complaining about too much of a good thing. More than anything Anathem's biggest strength is its delivery, there are a set of ideas that Stephenson wants to explore, and by god he explores them. This book is a physics, philosophy, art, and rhetoric class rolled into one, this book is definitely meta at times too. Finally, I have to shout out the humor because it definitely helps to break up the dense idea salad Stephenson is serving. This book is funny, and it's not afraid to riff on itself either. Whether it's giving all the tech silly names or commenting on the absurdity of a capitalist economy, or jokes buried in the footnotes/dictionary there's a light-hearted touch that carries on through the bulk of the novel.

This is my first time reading a Stephenson work cover to cover but I've been exposed to a number of excerpts from Cryptonomicon and a number of his short stories. I only mention this because of his style; Stephenson is fond of extremely complex plots & heavily detailed passages and if that sounds headache-inducing here's your first warning to pull the ripcord. Accordingly, Anathem has a very intricate plot that's centered around two schools of thought (I will be using their earth names): Platonic realism and Nominalism. To grossly simplify, Platonic realism is the idea that things outside of the body exist objectively, while Nominalism posits that anything outside the body is simply what we have observed, interpreted, and labeled. The book takes its time developing these concepts, and it does so with that patented Stephenson attention to detail, so to the reader: be patient and attentive.

Anathem is not flawless. It precluded itself from a perfect 5 when I had to learn a completely new vocabulary in the first 15 pages. I know I said that you can never have too much worldbuilding, and it is true that once you decipher the vocabulary it does serve to enhance the story (and in many cases deliver the humor) but there are almost 260 made-up words in this book and it's a burdensome ask. I don't think I would have had as much to complain about if the characters in this book were done better. Outside of their role in the story, they were flat and uninteresting, especially when compared to the emphasis placed on the ideas. It must be said that the characters are not the focus of this book.

What is really holding Anathem back is its pacing. For a plot to not get underway within the first 100 pages is inexcusable, there is very little to hook a reader aside from the worldbuilding early on. The mathic world is fascinating but I can see a lot of people putting this down after one or two, of seemingly endless philosophy lectures or the 10 pages of clock winding early on. Once the plot gets going Stephenson liberally applies the brakes every other chapter with one thought experiment detour after another. In my opinion, the constant distractions ultimately pay off, and understanding the ending is predicated on these philosophical detours. I may have fallen prey to the sunk cost fallacy but as I learned more I had more questions, and that slowly snowballed until I had to know what was going on. I could easily see it the other way.

I came away positive on this book, I saw it said somewhere else but I think I agree, “Anathem is the best book I would never recommend”. 7/10 (Closer to a 3 than a 4)

The Fourth Wing is spicy fantasy, I'm not sure how high it ranks within that crowd of books (mainly because I don't usually read spicy fantasy) but it was a good read, I liked it. The premise is a crowd-pleaser, who doesn't love dragons! And the school/academy setting puts it among the rest of the heavy hitters. I enjoyed the characters and their growth, I found the dialogue charming and contemporary, if a little out of place. It's no wonder this book is topping the charts right now.

This was a book club pick so I just dove right in, the buzz about the internet was that this was the start of a great new fantasy series so I figured it'd be in my wheelhouse. I will give credit where it's due, as a fantasy story this book has an incredibly strong opening and introduction into its world. The imagery and illustration of the magic were also top-notch! This is a story about a college where new adults are transformed into dragon riders, and getting to go along for that first ride was exhilarating (Really the high point of the book for me). There's definitely a world to explore around here, and I found myself getting impatient to explore it. It was about halfway through that I realized that while this is a fantasy book, it is a romance novel first.

I did know that I was diving into something a little explicit here, but I didn't realize that the second half of the book would transform into a full-on romance. This being the first romance I've read in a while, it took me a while to catch on to the quirks of the genre. The romance is worth reading, I liked our characters and I liked how the romantic plot played out (Team Xaden for sure). I also have to say that I liked the language choice when it came to the explicit portions, I hate it when authors get too artsy or too clinical with their smut, this is how it should be done. If I had one note as far as the romantic plot was concerned it was that the main love interest seemed incapable of saying the wrong thing. I swear that guy had a line for everything, and from the brief glimpse into his perspective, it seemed like he was incredibly self-aware. There is such a thing as too perfect of a guy, and he's toeing the line.

There is a reason that I don't really gravitate to this genre, and it's primarily because of its overreliance on tropes. I think that when your story is focused on the intimate details of its characters it tends to paint the plot in broad and predictable strokes. I enjoyed the romance, a nice and steamy enemies-to-lovers romp, vanilla but not too vanilla, right in the pocket. I did not enjoy having my access to Dragons shut off just so the horny 20-somethings can get it on, especially when it's a little bit of a slow-burn romance that takes up the next 200 pages. (I totally agree that this could have used 50% less horniness and about 50% more dragons and world-building). When the big reveals happen they fall a little flat; if the author gives me half a book's worth of time to ponder the story I am going to figure it out before they want me to. I think I knew how this book would end around the halfway point, (once they get the map) and this book is totally guilty of putting its story on pause while the romance develops.

A final note: Please tell me I am not the only person who kept thinking of the slut dragons episode of Rick & Morty. I hate to bring the show up because of the negative connotation the fan base has rightfully engendered but this book is eerily close to that premise. I guess when you mix sex, soul bonding, and dragons you are already playing in the same ballpark. This book was ruined just a touch for me once I made this observation, and the episode kept ringing around my head. I would not be surprised to see some version of the soul-orgy phoenix dragon make its appearance at some point later on in the series.

TL;DR: Slut Dragons. This is a perfect book for someone, but that someone isn't me. A fairly standard dragon-focused fantasy with some excellent romance smashed at the end of it.

I can't believe this didn't win Goodread's Fantasy Award for 2022 because I absolutely loved this book. I have to be upfront and say that I can't be objective about it, there's too much overlap with my life, I have my own Robyn, I'm bilingual and I work in a linguistic/translators capacity so this slid right in the pocket. Whether or not any of that is true for you, do yourself a favor and add it to your list; if you've had it on your shelf, make it your next read.

Set at Oxford during the leadup to the First Opium War (1830s/1840s), Babel: An Arcane History is a mashup of Fantasy and Historical fiction, a well-thought-out combo of Harry Potter and The Professor and the Madman. This is a book where magic silverwork has supplanted steam as the engine of the First Industrial Revolution, engraved silver serves as a medium to capture the meanings lost in translation. The translators of this universe are its sorcerers supreme, our main character Robin, and his cohort of multicultural fledgling translators are the next generation to unlock this power.

Babel: An Arcane History is a book with two faces, the characters of this story are indeed the miraculous chosen few, but they are also products of the horrors of colonialism, assets to their masters. Robin is uprooted from Canton and adopted by Professor Lovell; in exchange for his deliverance from poverty, he is strictly raised to exercise his language skills in the interest of the British crown. Robin is one of many children taken to England, once he grows up to attend Oxford (Read: Hogwarts) he meets Ramy, Victoire, and Letty (the only white European member of their cohort) a group of children from across the empire raised similarly to him. Almost immediately they are excluded by their privileged peers and come together as a group of their own. We join them as they choose between living lives in “naive, ignorant, luxury,” as tools of their oppressors, or risking their safety to resist the oppressive system.

The pointedly anti-colonialist message is mirrored by the efforts and attention directed at the majesty of language and the depth of its historical accuracy. Kuang elaborates beautifully on this period of history, it should come as no surprise but she really knows her stuff about this time period. It was difficult to tell where the worldbuilding ended and the historical facts began in some cases, and the in-universe footnotes took the immersive feelings I was having to the next level. There is also an expert's level of depth and understanding of language in this book, R.F. Kuang is a linguist in her own right and that's clearly on display. Whether it's a treatise and theory or simple fun facts (Did you know “very sad” in French is triste comme un repas sans fromage? sad like a meal without cheese) she's an in-universe expert too; it's refreshing to read about a magical world from a well-considered perspective.

At this point in my reviews, I try to list at least one flaw but for this novel, I only have a few observations and notes: Robin and his dormmate Ramy are both implied to be gay and attracted to each other. Since the story is told from the perspective of Robin, once we get to Oxford most of his attention is focused on his half-brother and Ramy. The rest of the main cohort is female, they barely register on Robins' radar and the novel suffers for it. In stories with similar setups, the romance between characters is the narrative vehicle for their backstory. The lack of romantic ties between our male and female characters kills off the de facto method of characterization for Letty and Victoire (at least early on). I can't believe I'm saying this but this story needed a much stronger love triangle!

Letty in particular gets poor treatment, very little of her character came across- she was little more than a well-meaning white friend. Letty is tragic in a sense, she experiences her own form of exclusion as she is a woman at Oxford in the 1830s and the campus is not hospitable to women. She's also excluded within her own cohort- she doesn't share in their differences and cannot accommodate their worldview. Given Letty's ultimate betrayal of the group, this token attribute of her character can make it seem like Kuang is painting with a broad brush. Given the importance of colonialism to the story, a lot of the depictions of the characters and their treatment within the story have some racial charge. Letty's betrayal seemed to be a critique of the complicity of all the white people who had a chance to stand against injustice but chose instead to sit aside or worse still, aid the forces of oppression for personal gain. I expected to see Letty transformed by her experience, but that subversion of expectation helped to amplify the central message of the story. I'm not sure how much of this interpretation is the conscious choice of the author or a byproduct of the narrative's structure.

TL;DR: Loved the crap out of it, definitely a must-read.

I think that one of the most challenging claims to make in the modern day is to say that you aren't a fan of Marvel. Whether you're a boardroom executive or a Somali pirate everyone knows who Captain America is, what color the Hulk is, and which aisle of the hardware store Thor is liable to beeline towards. Ever since 2008's Iron Man, Marvel has dominated the box office, and their IP has transitioned from something niche and misunderstood to one of the central pillars of modern pop culture.

All of the Marvels is exactly what it says on the tin. In this book, we are taken from the early cape comics of the 1950s and early 60s to the modern crossover-event-driven era. After a thorough and disclaimer-ridden introduction, Douglas Wolk takes us character-by-character and event-by-event in a looping survey of the most beloved and relevant stories from within the canon. All of the Marvels tries to give the reader all the background required (and then some) to appreciate the nuances and allegory that are packed into the very best storylines and anthologies. I knew that Marvel was a self-referential body of work, but All of the Marvels opened my eyes to the depth with which the artists and writers have imbued their comics.

All of the Marvels is a great guide for new comic readers and gives an overview of major Marvel universe events. That said, it's too meandering and unorganized to get a gold star for readability. There is a lengthy (and much appreciated) introduction that aims to explain the objective and structure of the book but purposely omits a reading order. The body of the work mainly jumps between the popular Marvel characters and in each section tries its best to explain their individual stories chronologically. The appendix is a decade-by-decade encapsulation of the general trends of each Marvel era. As a casual fan, I found myself getting lost during the scenic tour of the Marvels. It would have been helpful if the appendix had been provided as a roadmap from the beginning.

Personally, I continue to find my interest in Marvel waning; I've read through some comics but I'm with the majority in saying that I primarily interact with the IP through their films. Maybe it's because I've aged out of the golden demographic and the movies aren't made for me anymore, or maybe my perception of declining quality is accurate. I hoped this book would rekindle my interest in Marvel or point me toward something better suited to my tastes. While my hopes were let down on that front, reading through Marvel at such a distant remove does highlight how the corpus has changed over the years and how I am just one of the latest set of fans to find the earth changing beneath my feet.

TL;DR: This book delivers on its promises to bridge something like 60 or 70 years of storylines across a single book. It does a passable job of filling modern readers in on the unappetizing bulk of Marvel's back catalog. It's also short! I didn't realize at the time of purchase but this book is actually 50% index.

I first watched Cosmos when I was no older than 5, PBS has always had a love affair with Carl Sagan and the Cosmos program became the most widely watched piece of public media in the world. I, among countless others, can credit Cosmos with turning my attention to the stars. It is a piece of media so finely produced that even now, almost 45 years later, it's a staple of Middle and High School science classes the world around. I can gush for hours about the television program, but this is my first time reading Cosmos, and to my ignominy my first time reading Carl Sagan.

This is yet another foundational text that I am very happy to have finally sat down to read. I didn't realize how much of the message of Cosmos I had internalized through a childhood of rewatches; reading Cosmos was rediscovering the seeds of a lifetime of shower thoughts. There is a surfeit of information contained within 439 pages, containing the history of scientific advancement by the human race and a thorough accounting of our understanding of the universe as it stood in 1980. Sagan trudges across the centuries, takes us on a jaunt through the solar system, and points the way forward- toward the ever-expanding sky.

Reading Cosmos was just as moving as the first time I watched it; I know now why I always find myself tearing up when observing the stars on a clear night. Contained within these pages are cautious optimism, an unshakable belief in the spirit of discovery, and a humanist esprit de corps through scientific advancement. If science had a holy book I think it would be Cosmos; there is more to Cosmos than scientific information, there is a dream of a world saved by science, a crowded universe waiting for us to make our debut would we not just get our collective shit together.

Cosmos is a sober accounting of all of our achievements, and all of our missteps on the road to a world collective. For every triumphal step humanity took forward, we took several bloody and ignorant steps back, and Sagan rightly condemns the diseases of the human condition. Cosmos is steadfast in its condemnation of war and religion, the tales of Copernicus, of Hypatia; literal parables of the dangers of ignorance and blind faith. Where he condemns and tears down the old and new orders of fear and control, he replaces that expired world view with faith in the observable universe and our chosen tool of observation, the scientific method. Sagan preaches, and while I typically roll my eyes when any sermon is directed my way, I have to say that this message is the only one that would serve to improve the human condition. There is a philosophy contained in Cosmos, one that hopes to go beyond the understanding facade of our current enlightened age and achieve the dreams of those first few who looked to the stars and wondered. We should all embrace a philosophy that would put down our differences and guide us to the next step, are we not all the same when considered from a Cosmic perspective? Afterall:

The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.

Cosmos

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage

This is my second pass at The Blade Itself, I first read this in the midst of a finals crunch. I never gave this series a fair shot at lodging itself in my brain, I somehow read the whole book and retained next to nothing. Imagine my shock, the shock of finding something undeniably great on a second reading!

This series is often compared to Game of Thrones and is the poster child for the Grimdark Fantasy sub-genre; Grimdark is the clarion call of ambiguous morality, grit, and violence. The First Law is about a darker age, where magic and horror abound- where the environment is often the deadliest enemy- but certainly not the only one to be wary of.

The Blade Itself is very much a setup book. If you've read or watched GoT then you'll be forgiven for finding the plot a little tired; a war between kingdoms all the while an alien threat brews in the frozen north. The real draw of this first book is the characters on offer, I felt like there was someone for everyone to latch onto, fierce barbarian warriors, spoiled nobles, and ancient magi. Personally, I loved the character of Sand Dam Glokta the tortured POW turned sadistic inquisitor. There is no shortage of backstory or mysticism either, this is a fully fleshed-out world and I'm excited to see how all these characters will choose to play in this exquisite sandbox.

The real charm is in the dialogue and its presentation. The Blade Itself reads like multiple hours of carefully crafted television, particularly in ensemble passages where the conversation is so natural that it could be confused for a transcript. In my imagination, I was watching an entire season of TV produced by HBO, and that feeling only gets stronger as the story progresses and more and more of our characters gather in the same physical locations. Switching between print and audiobook only made this quirk of the narrative even more obvious, I absolutely ruined a pot of rice while listening to a confrontation between the magus Bayaz and Glokta because the mental scene was so captivating.

I usually hate setup stories but this book is something a little more. The text demands quite a bit of your attention but there is definitely a payoff. I don't think I've gotten to the Entrée of the series but this appetizer holds its own.