What does it mean to "be-in-kind" with a nonhuman animal? Or in Dr. Sean Kell-Luddon’s …
Review of Feed Them Silence
5 stars
I've been looking forward to reading this since the authors essay on the subject matter was released on tor.com (I highly reccomend the essay). This is absolutely a book that will stay with me for a long time and one that is worth a slow burn, or if you're like me and can't put it down, then a re-read. It was devastatingly beautiful, brutally human.
The most fascinating and compelling aspect of the book for me was the interplay between the relationships: to the multitudes of inner selves and their relation and manifestation to other selves l, and to the feedback loop that exists with all social interaction. This is a story about how we relate to others (no matter their embodiment), and how those relations are influenced by our own perspective and habituated behaviors. It's also about so many other things that are best discovered first hand.
The sheer …
I've been looking forward to reading this since the authors essay on the subject matter was released on tor.com (I highly reccomend the essay). This is absolutely a book that will stay with me for a long time and one that is worth a slow burn, or if you're like me and can't put it down, then a re-read. It was devastatingly beautiful, brutally human.
The most fascinating and compelling aspect of the book for me was the interplay between the relationships: to the multitudes of inner selves and their relation and manifestation to other selves l, and to the feedback loop that exists with all social interaction. This is a story about how we relate to others (no matter their embodiment), and how those relations are influenced by our own perspective and habituated behaviors. It's also about so many other things that are best discovered first hand.
The sheer amount of depth and nuance in such a small space is a work of art and I'm sure a result of much painstaking effort. There is a beautiful economy of words, that when constellated, emerge as something entirely new.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, an …
Unfolding into the (Un)known
5 stars
I didn't know what to expect coming into this and I firmly recommend trying to go in with as little knowledge as you possibly can. The unfolding that occurs throughout the narrative was the payoff, the end just another event along a wave of experience.
A library book that has inevitably made it to my own collection, amongst the shelf of favorites that are destined to be reread over and over again.
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th …
Review of the Whole Series
5 stars
Having finished the series, I felt I was time to add a review. On the occasion I find myself interested in someone's take on an entire series before I commit, I'm often disappointed to not find a condensed review, so I though I'd try and provide that in the hope it helps someone.
I came to the series wanting more from the author, having finished The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. I was drawn to the strong female and queer representation in a time and place where this is uncommon.
This series was a rollercoaster, I went from hating it to loving it almost as much as I cycled between those feelings for every main character. It took me a long time to realize how masterful the writing was to be able to add such nuance to the characters, their flaws and virtues filling a vessel that is far more than …
Having finished the series, I felt I was time to add a review. On the occasion I find myself interested in someone's take on an entire series before I commit, I'm often disappointed to not find a condensed review, so I though I'd try and provide that in the hope it helps someone.
I came to the series wanting more from the author, having finished The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. I was drawn to the strong female and queer representation in a time and place where this is uncommon.
This series was a rollercoaster, I went from hating it to loving it almost as much as I cycled between those feelings for every main character. It took me a long time to realize how masterful the writing was to be able to add such nuance to the characters, their flaws and virtues filling a vessel that is far more than the sum of its parts. It takes a complex web of political intrigue and injects compassion into the brutal reality and it brings light to those that suffer most from the squabbles of the powerful. There is no true villain or hero to this story, just people on various stages of their life's path, trying to dig themselves out from the oppressive weight of their positions, the social expectations, and their ancestral legacy.
The pacing was questionable based on my own preferences at times, yet with the context of the whole I think it was satisfying. The lulls served as vignettes to deepen and enrich the characters and the world. It provided a sense of place that would have been lost in a high octane page turner. Even the companion stories in the fourth book add significant depth, though many of them are skippable if the main books weren't a hit for you. The main exceptions being by the alternate prologue and last story of the collection, which I vastly preferred over the prologue in the final book.
I recommend the whole series to those that like fantasy mixed with political intrigue, especially with a strong female voice.
In his debut novel, literary alchemist Jeff VanderMeer takes us on an unforgettable journey, a …
Narration is World Class
5 stars
The stories are what you'd expect from VanderMeer. I enjoyed going back to beginning of his writing career after having already read the majority of his works. So many of the spores that colonize the other novels can be found growing and mutating within the grotesquely beautiful new weird landscape of Veniss.
Bronson Pinchot absolutely nailed their portion of the narration. He was fantastic in his parts for Ambergris and Area X, but this was next level. Just when I was feeling completely lost in the incomprehensibly weird atmospheres of Veniss, the narration allowed me to feel my way into an understanding that my logical mind just couldn't fit into.
An existential manual for tragic optimists, can-do pessimists, and compassionate doomers
With global heating projected …
Conflicted, but absolutely recommend
4 stars
This book seriously started out as a 1 star for me that almost found itself in the did not finish pile. I find many of my perspectives amd unserstanding of the climate science to align with the author, so why was this almost a flop for me and what changed it?
Well to start with what didn't work, it really comes down to my expectations. I was expecting a journalistic approach of here's how we're all fucked and the inventive ways some revolutionary thinkers have devised to make a different inspire of everything. What ended up being presented was a multi-year process of churning breakdowns and rediscoveries that color the overarching narrative with a grasping for logic where there is none and a generous helping of turning away from reason because it doesn't match their personal worldview. So many contradictions abound, I felt very unsympathetic. I'm not a lifelong activist; …
This book seriously started out as a 1 star for me that almost found itself in the did not finish pile. I find many of my perspectives amd unserstanding of the climate science to align with the author, so why was this almost a flop for me and what changed it?
Well to start with what didn't work, it really comes down to my expectations. I was expecting a journalistic approach of here's how we're all fucked and the inventive ways some revolutionary thinkers have devised to make a different inspire of everything. What ended up being presented was a multi-year process of churning breakdowns and rediscoveries that color the overarching narrative with a grasping for logic where there is none and a generous helping of turning away from reason because it doesn't match their personal worldview. So many contradictions abound, I felt very unsympathetic. I'm not a lifelong activist; I'm an introvert that does the best to manage my own impact and live up to my values to the best of my ability. So many of these appeals just fall entirely short for me. It was the interviews with some pretty extraordinary folks that kept me wngaged long enough for my opinion to gradually shift. I can appreciate the tone, and maybe it was more telegraphed than I was able to pick up on, this person has been on the front lines their whole life and this is something too large to fully come to terms with. Especially when it challenges everything they have lived and fought for their entire lives. This shift in my mind was enough to endear me to the more personal musings presented. I could have done with the gallows humor, I didn't find much of it funny or useful.
Many ideas within this book will stay with me for a long time and I have an expanded list of books to pursue based on the interviews. Many of the salient points for me touch on a more human approach: how to be kind and gentle to others in the face of large scale disaster, how to facilitate community that is resilient and kind, and how to change one's relationship to what is normal, what is comfortable, what is just. The interviews and discussions inspired by them made this book for me. I'm happy to have requested my library purchase a copy, and even happier to see there's a wait list for it. It's a book I'll be buying for others in my life as gifts. There are so many ideas in this book worth exploring as we all face a very uncertain future. Whether we look at it or not, great changes are coming and we have a chance to influence the outcome.
In the stories of Adjei-Brenyah’s debut, an amusement park lets players enter augmented reality to …
Enjoyed having read it, even if I didn't always enjoy reading it
4 stars
Some of the stories had a level of brutality that made me far more uncomfortable than the subject matter itself. At times it felt like it was shock value for the sake of it. My personal taste is having vulnerability and humanity be the force that shatters my heart, though it's good to be reminded of another facet of experience. Having finished, there are some parts of the stories that sank in deep and will stay with me. It is not a collection I will return to, nor would I heartily recommend it to the void, yet I am happy that I've read it.
In a ruined, nameless city of the future, a woman named Rachel, who makes her …
Haunting and Inspring
5 stars
Fantastic bit of worldbuilding and every bit as weird as I was hoping for. There is alot more fantastical elements to this story than Vandermeers previous books. This was a feature to me, while it may not be for others. Be warned though, this ride will be very pulpy and hard to stomach. The beauty is there, it just requires a greater toll.
Addon after completing the series, hopefully this helps someone know what they're getting into:
I would say Borne is great as a standalone and doesn't need any of the other two books. Strange Bird adds a heart breaking and beautiful layer of nuance to the world and makes for a great Duology. Dead Astronauts does for me what Strange Bird did, while requiring a huge cognitive lift to really enjoy.
This book reaffirmed my suspicion that I enjoy abstract unimaginable prose to direct linear storytelling. If that's not something you're in for, we'll unfortunately you've made it this far in the Borne series.
I would say Borne is great as a standalone and doesn't need any of the other two books. Strange Bird adds a heart breaking and beautiful layer of nuance to the world and makes for a great Duology. Dead Astronauts does for me what Strange Bird did, yet I really can relate to why there are so many that this book didn't click for. I've never read something that required so much heavy lifting to really integrate and engage with, and that's with reading all three books back to back in a short period of time. The effort was well rewarded in my opinion, but I feel compelled to warn potential readers that enjoyment feels predicated on …
This book reaffirmed my suspicion that I enjoy abstract unimaginable prose to direct linear storytelling. If that's not something you're in for, we'll unfortunately you've made it this far in the Borne series.
I would say Borne is great as a standalone and doesn't need any of the other two books. Strange Bird adds a heart breaking and beautiful layer of nuance to the world and makes for a great Duology. Dead Astronauts does for me what Strange Bird did, yet I really can relate to why there are so many that this book didn't click for. I've never read something that required so much heavy lifting to really integrate and engage with, and that's with reading all three books back to back in a short period of time. The effort was well rewarded in my opinion, but I feel compelled to warn potential readers that enjoyment feels predicated on a willingness to dive in deep. I feel like a re-read of the whole series is still in order to make all of the connections, and for many that's not a proposition of a good time.
This feels especially true since the books progress in weirdness more rapidly than Vandermeers other series. Area X feels like a traditional slow burn of escalation, Ambergris felt like steady ratcheting with a sharp descent near the end, and Borne starts weirder and quickly ramps up with each book.
If you didn't like the one with plants, this one distills the beauty and horror into a streamlined experience. If you did like the plant, then here's more texture and perspective woven into the world for your enjoyment.
Addon after completing the series, hopefully this helps someone know what they're getting into:
I would say Borne is great as a standalone and doesn't need any of the other two books. Strange Bird adds a heart breaking and beautiful layer of nuance to the world and makes for a great Duology. Dead Astronauts does for me what Strange Bird did, while requiring a huge cognitive lift to really enjoy.
Delightfully enchanting. On offer is an antidote to the jaded disillusionment of the way of things - the way things could be if one were to travel light.