![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaTitle: Fever Dream
Author: Samanta Schweblin
Translator: Megan McDowell
Narrator: Hillary Huber
Published: Penguin Audio, 2017
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 165
Total Page Count: 274,240
Text Number: 889
Read Because: recommended here, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A woman is interrogated by a young boy, walking her through the events which lead to her poisoning. Well titled, with a strong execution of that concept: a shifting, fluid logic/illogic which is immersive and smooth despite the density, using clever narrative tricks. The marriage of ominous atmosphere to critical social themes a successful one; it dangles and denies its reveal without feeling unsatisfying, which is no small feat. This probably wouldn't work as a longer text, but at this length it solidly executes a tricky premise—a captivating read.
Title: Stories of the Raksura, Volume 1 (Books of the Raksura Book 4)
Author: Martha Wells
Published: Night Shade Books, 2014
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 350
Total Page Count: 274,590
Text Number: 890
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Four stories (two long, two short) connected to the main series as episodic continuations and flashbacks. I appreciate the new Chime content, and there's potential in exterior views of Moon and the Indigo Cloud court. But the only story that adds anything of significance is "The Tale of Indigo and Cloud," which successfully back-engineers a prequel with well-sketched characters and less-petty-than-usual Raksura politics. On the whole, these are too similar to the books—same narrative voice; same reliance on setpieces, same predictable pacing—but lack the space for the slow, organic character growth that won me over. They're readable but unexceptional additions.
Title: The Michigan Murders
Author: Edward Keyes
Narrator: Pete Cross
Published: Dreamscape Media, 2017 (1976)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 355
Total Page Count: 274,945
Text Number: 891
Read Because: reviewed bytruepenny, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Meticulously researched, but not glacially paced; unsensationalized, with a decent authorial voice; gripping, particularly before the trial starts. But this lacks the sense of purpose that I look for in my non-fiction-about-death book selections—there's some closure, but no strong summary arguments about the nature of the crimes or the society that surrounded them. Perhaps all that indicates is that most true crime isn't for me; in other ways, this is perfectly adequate.
Author: Samanta Schweblin
Translator: Megan McDowell
Narrator: Hillary Huber
Published: Penguin Audio, 2017
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 165
Total Page Count: 274,240
Text Number: 889
Read Because: recommended here, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A woman is interrogated by a young boy, walking her through the events which lead to her poisoning. Well titled, with a strong execution of that concept: a shifting, fluid logic/illogic which is immersive and smooth despite the density, using clever narrative tricks. The marriage of ominous atmosphere to critical social themes a successful one; it dangles and denies its reveal without feeling unsatisfying, which is no small feat. This probably wouldn't work as a longer text, but at this length it solidly executes a tricky premise—a captivating read.
Title: Stories of the Raksura, Volume 1 (Books of the Raksura Book 4)
Author: Martha Wells
Published: Night Shade Books, 2014
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 350
Total Page Count: 274,590
Text Number: 890
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Four stories (two long, two short) connected to the main series as episodic continuations and flashbacks. I appreciate the new Chime content, and there's potential in exterior views of Moon and the Indigo Cloud court. But the only story that adds anything of significance is "The Tale of Indigo and Cloud," which successfully back-engineers a prequel with well-sketched characters and less-petty-than-usual Raksura politics. On the whole, these are too similar to the books—same narrative voice; same reliance on setpieces, same predictable pacing—but lack the space for the slow, organic character growth that won me over. They're readable but unexceptional additions.
Title: The Michigan Murders
Author: Edward Keyes
Narrator: Pete Cross
Published: Dreamscape Media, 2017 (1976)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 355
Total Page Count: 274,945
Text Number: 891
Read Because: reviewed by
truepenny, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County LibraryReview: Meticulously researched, but not glacially paced; unsensationalized, with a decent authorial voice; gripping, particularly before the trial starts. But this lacks the sense of purpose that I look for in my non-fiction-about-death book selections—there's some closure, but no strong summary arguments about the nature of the crimes or the society that surrounded them. Perhaps all that indicates is that most true crime isn't for me; in other ways, this is perfectly adequate.
no subject
Date: 2018-10-27 02:39 pm (UTC)