It's been a while since I read a book like this -- a nice modern weird fantasy/scifi book. (I just checked, and every novel I've read so far in 2024 wIt's been a while since I read a book like this -- a nice modern weird fantasy/scifi book. (I just checked, and every novel I've read so far in 2024 was published earlier than 1975. There are only five of them (four science fiction and one Middlemarch), but still! Anyway.)
I read it really quickly, it is exciting and interesting and I like the world building. It's a bit darker than I like things to be these days -- it ends on a pretty grim note -- but that's okay. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the trilogy, though I'll have to have good luck at a used bookstore, as my library doesn't have it (womp womp). Three point five stars.
(view spoiler)[Also I figured out how the three narrative threads were going to fit together, and I was a little proud of myself for that. It wasn't all that mysterious for the normal reader, probably, but usually with stuff like this it's revealed and then I'm like "aw man I probably could have figured that out if I had thought about it" so this time I DID and I was right. (hide spoiler)]...more
Honestly this is kind of a 2.5. Which I feel kinda bad about. I like Sam Irby! I think she's funny! I really liked the first book of hers that I read,Honestly this is kind of a 2.5. Which I feel kinda bad about. I like Sam Irby! I think she's funny! I really liked the first book of hers that I read, her IG is hilarious, and I subscribe to her (free) Substack that is mostly recaps of Judge Mathis episodes, which are also funny.
But this collection of essays didn't really do it for me. I think the back half was better than the first, but it was still only okay. Also did they make her cut back on extreme numbers of consecutive punctuation marks?????????? It sure seemed that way sometimes!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe it's just hard to continually write essays about yourself, you start running out of material. Understandable!...more
I think the end of this is even sadder than the end of the previous volume! Still loving this series, despite all the changes. I do like seeing Marko'I think the end of this is even sadder than the end of the previous volume! Still loving this series, despite all the changes. I do like seeing Marko's mom....more
This is book is just so, so beautifully written. It's like a poem. It almost tricked me into thinking the protagonist was okay. She's not, though. ButThis is book is just so, so beautifully written. It's like a poem. It almost tricked me into thinking the protagonist was okay. She's not, though. But it's so lovely to read....more
This is very much a gothic novel, which is a genre I'm not crazy about (I read this for book club). And for a while I wasn't really feeling it. But thThis is very much a gothic novel, which is a genre I'm not crazy about (I read this for book club). And for a while I wasn't really feeling it. But the explanation of why the house is weird and scary was interesting (and kind of right up my alley, I'm sorta kicking myself that I didn't figure it out beforehand), and I definitely enjoyed the last third of the book or so and was interested to see how things shook out. If you like this sort of book, you will probably like this one a lot!...more
So . . . I finished this series about a month ago (in May of 2020 probably; it's May of 2021 now). So I don't really remember specifics. But here's mySo . . . I finished this series about a month ago (in May of 2020 probably; it's May of 2021 now). So I don't really remember specifics. But here's my overall review of the series:
I read this for the first time back in 2009. A lot of it has not aged well. They say "retard" a lot, like, more than is necessary. I know it didn't quite hit the same back then as it does now, but it was definitely, like, frowned upon . . . it's jarring to read now and I don't like it.
I think that if this book were written today, there'd be a whole lot more transmen in it. Like, a whole lot more. It's touched on briefly a few times, but then sort of dismissed, as though they'd be a super-minority. I really don't think that's the case, and I think an interesting opportunity was missed.
By book 4 or so, it's like three years later, and the world is still in shambles? It's hard not to find that insulting. I understand there would be a period of unrest of whatever, but come ON. Women are competent and adaptable. We'd figure shit out. Give me a break.
The art is great when it's the regular artist. Overall it's a readable series and some of the characters are likeable . . . but I don't think it holds up as well as we'd probably like, and you should just go read Saga instead of making a special effort to seek this out....more
Started listening 2/6/21, last listened 6/21/21, ~43% complete
What can I say, I never listen to audiobooks anymore (I'd fall too far behind on my veryStarted listening 2/6/21, last listened 6/21/21, ~43% complete
What can I say, I never listen to audiobooks anymore (I'd fall too far behind on my very important podcast-listening) and as always, I struggle with non-fiction. If I'm honest, I'm unlikely to come back to this one....more
As my mother-in-law is wont to say, this is very nice, but it's not for me.
This is less a novel (actually I guess it's a novella?) than a poem. EverytAs my mother-in-law is wont to say, this is very nice, but it's not for me.
This is less a novel (actually I guess it's a novella?) than a poem. Everything is all flowery and abstract and metaphor, and it was hard for me to find anything to hold onto. The prose is very lovely, but it's also nonsense. There's nothing like a plot until the very end, at which point I was actually a little interested, but then it was over. And sorry but there aren't many surprises in a story that is literally only about time travel. Like, yes, you're your own grandfather obviously (or whatever).
Also people falling in love for no reason is the opposite of my jam....more
This was really, really great! I had never heard of Samantha Irby before, but I like her a lot. Only a couple of the essays didn't do anything specialThis was really, really great! I had never heard of Samantha Irby before, but I like her a lot. Only a couple of the essays didn't do anything special for me; most were engaging and delightful and sometimes heartbreaking. Really wonderful.
Also, just like that Le Guin book we read late last year, I like how she writes dialogue for cats. That is, I think that people (or I, at least) have conversations with their pets, and we know what they are saying/what they mean, and it's nice when authors just write it like that....more
I liked this book at first but somewhere around page 185 or thereabouts I realized that the writing wasn't great and then it was hard not to notice.
II liked this book at first but somewhere around page 185 or thereabouts I realized that the writing wasn't great and then it was hard not to notice.
I think I liked everyone's respective origin stories, but after that the narrative seemed aimless, and I didn't really understand the point of anything. Their powers seemed randomly assigned and not all that advantageous in a battle (which is the only thing they ever do) except for June Dey but all he does is just generally beast around, tossing men into palm trees and shrugging off bullets. The author greatly, in my opinion, overestimates the usefulness of being invisible in a gun fight (he's knocking the guns out of EVERYBODY'S hands all the time flawlessly really quickly, before anyone can use them? And no one is grabbing a floating gun out of the air as he runs to the next guy? okay) and what is the point of Gbessa, again? She's supposedly a witch but she can't do anything interesting except not die. That's it? To what end? I kept waiting for everyone's power to be ultimately, specifically useful in a final battle/confrontation but they all just kept doing the same things they were doing before which, again, I thought only marginally effective.
I dunno, it just seemed like there were all these random details and explanations that came out of nowhere, the story didn't seem to be moving along like this leads to this leads to this leads to this, it was like this happened and then this other thing happened and then this other thing, but they weren't related at all.
So, overall I was disappointed and I wouldn't recommend it. HOWEVER, if the author writes another book and it gets good reviews I'd consider reading it because as I said, the beginning was good and there's potential there. And it was theoretically an interesting subject; I'd never read anything about Liberia before and didn't really know anything about it besides that it exists, so I'm glad I learned things....more
Loading...
