liana

Good nerdy pageturner. Ready for the movie

Review a week after finishing...

This book brought me out of a couple-month reading hiatus. I started reading small sections so it took me a very long time to realize the jumpy pattern of the book. But once the story clicked I finished it quickly, similar to how I felt about Left Hand.

I enjoy this book because I loved understanding its place in science fiction (I love Speaker for the Dead and see the enormous influence). I enjoyed the perspective on freedom/prison, social fabric, the authors repeated ability to take me to a new world, understand a new society.

freshly finished take:
I could tell while reading that this author grasped my attention less than other modern-retellings-of-greek-mythos books. I found some passages repetitive, or like firm in that I could tell their purpose is to remind me that the author is referencing greek mythos.

Additionally there is something about the narrative that I find offputting. I can't quite verbalize it well yet but its mixed up with how we're conflating?comparing? gender roles with mortality and the power dynamics that result in suffering of many. I will need to noodle on this but something about it feels like it could have been more nuanced through more character development. From a cursory read of Ariadne's wikipedia, it seems like this could have been a much deeper and more thoughtful story.

Wow it's kinda crazy to me that this has so many 1 stars.

I enjoyed this book!

A story about a journalist becoming infatuated with a convicted serial killer. A story about food, indulgence, temperance, gender roles and the equilibrium that one finds for themself through trial and error.

Goated and makes me hate blade runner more

Good beach book.

The pause
Babies are rational and can learn
The cadre- no is absolute but try to always say yes
You can do anything in your room but you must stay in there

Winter is an interesting, beautiful, and harsh place. I enjoyed learning of new kingdoms, folklore, and societies. I enjoyed our protagonists and their journey of loyalty and duty.

The “theme” of ambisexual Gethen is more a background story setting than core to the conflict of this book. I would continue reading her books to understand more of the history of ekumen and hopefully the fate of Gethen and Genly.

Her books always hook me and also leave me unsatisfied.

I wished for a darker ending. What would have been more tragic and hellish would to either be to perish in hell or return to a life with full memory of her sins, committed by her full doing and living with her regrets.Just as I do not root for Grimes, I do not root for Alice and Peter.

I understand the criticisms of her laborious academic rants and references.



I do enjoy her work though, I am consistently enraptured by RFKuangs ideas and devour each book quickly.

Tragic. Boring at times. Her writing is remarkable regardless. I'd like to read her poetry.

It was sad to see Tove take so long to find a love that saw and challenged her in the way she needed, not until the end it seems

Oh no I am murderbot.

“If I got angry at myself for being angry I would be angry constantly and I wouldn't have time to think about anything else.) (Wait, I think I am angry constantly. That might explain a lot.)”

This is my favorite book so far. I enjoyed the breathability of having the full-length novel. Though the “wait who is the bad guy?” sometimes gets lost, the “here are the possible conclusions” MB summaries are helpful as I primarily read for the self-exploration tidbits that I get between the drama, espionage, and action.

Excited to realize there are more books. I can't wait to see if we see 4.0 and what 3 chooses to do.

IMHO worse one of the series so far because it had the least amount of murderbot existential crises.

Granted I maybe disliked it because I'd gotten like 30% through Network Effect before realizing I was reading it out of story-choronological order, then hopped to Fugitive Telemetry, and then hopped back to Network Effect.

Yeah idk just enjoying that it's like an episode of The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon with some real “what is life” sprinkled in.

Idk it was a quick read and while the first few pages are a little rough - murderbot is endearing

It's been a few weeks since finishing and I still think about the characters in this story. It was beautifully complex and felt so realistic. I think some parts were slower and harder to read but that's life

Read it pretty quickly.
Felt meh. Worse than songbirds and very much like OG hungry game but less good. Would have preferred a new district, a new POV, anything really.

2.5?
Were unraveling a bit... I guess I'll finish the trilogy though

I didn't know precisely what I was getting into, just that I'd enjoyed RFK's other two books (Babel and Yellowface).

This book is extraordinarily dark, not for the feint of heart and not because of fictionalized violence. It definitely not a cutesy academy YA historical fiction. While I finished it quickly, it was a tough read.

I prefer her later works.

I read this book right after Sy Montgomery's “The Soul of an Octopus” so I was expecting more educational octopus knowledge.

Going into this book unknowing I was almost thrown off about 20% through out of confusion. But I think that gave me time to appreciate the unraveling of the story appropriately. I was delighted by the satisfying, saccharinely sweet, happy ending.

Read it in one day for family book club.

A haunting, unsettling vignette. I am left with many questions, and also answers I didn't want? A compelling read though perhaps unsatisfying. PS weird plot point that felt homophobic almost?

Am I a boiled egg or a boiled potato?
Either way I'll be in a potato salad.

Work book club.

Wish there was more time with Amy and Adam.
Steve is surely the protagonist here. Kind, intelligent, humble, and processing grief.

I just didn't find the who-dunnit particularly thrilling. Some of the core conflict was so odd and unexplored but I expect we'll see more of those in future books of this series.

Sad and good and boyhood and brotherhood and vulnerability

Not my most favorite sci-fi. I'm interested to read more but curious how it continues.

I actually really really liked a moment in the book where they use the same passage verbatim.

It's maybe like a 3.5 or 4. It's not quite a 5 for me.

Was interested but didn't pay off I don't think? Or was maybe too ethereal for me?