juushika

Title: The Indifferent Stars: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride
Author: Daniel James Brown
Narrator Michael Prichard
Published: Tantor Audio, 2014 (2009)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 360
Total Page Count: 290,080
Text Number: 949
Read Because: interest in the Donner Party, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: The story of the Donner Party, focused on a young bride who was part of the Forlorn Hope. This focus means that later events at the winter camp are a little less substantial, a little harder to track (granted, the surrounding events have a lot of confusing redundancy re: the numerous reliefs). The impersonal tally of fates for the survivors and the unwieldy epilogue chronicling the author's journey are even less effective, and so the end of the book falls flat. But on the whole, the focus on a single figure helps to ground the history, making it human and accessible, and the cultural context and information about starvation/hypothermia paints a complete picture. It's atmospheric, harrowing, but refuses to be exploitative. The Forlorn Hope is the pinnacle of the text, realistically, sympathetically rendered; humanized and horrific.

(Here's a mistake you can make in the privacy of your own home neighborhood: read the Forlorn Hope section on audio while walking in at below-freezing temperatures! It was literally 29 degrees, it was "mildly uncomfortable," and "I am projecting way too much if I compare it even slightly to the text," but project I sure did!)


Title: Lovecraft Country
Author: Matt Ruff
Narrator: Kevin Kenerly
Published: Blackstone Audiobooks, 2016
Rating: N/A
Page Count: 50 of 370
Total Page Count: 290,460
Text Number: 952
Read Because: mentioned here, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: The depiction of racism is honest and doesn't appear to be exploitative, but reading it while wary of authorial missteps* is a double burden which is too much for me right now, especially without the payoff of early supernatural elements. I'd rather put my energy into an ownvoices book.

* I have no reason to anticipate them! The book has reviewed well on this particular issue! I just can't silence that paranoid voice right now. For another reader or me at a different time, this is probably well worth reading.


Title: On a Sunbeam
Author: Tillie Walden
Published: independent webcomic
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 545
Total Page Count: 291,135
Text Number: 954
Read Because: personal enjoyment, available for free online as well as in ebook & print
Review: A young woman joins a crew that repairs derelict, fantastical space structures, and discovers that they used to rescue refugees from the edges of the galaxy. This is some of the best science fantasy I've ever seen—the minimal, intentional color palette and thin ink lines are a perfect format for the massive, strange, evocative (playful, beautiful, profound) landscapes. The setting cradles a more intimate narrative about found family, love, and personal maturation with a likable and and diverse cast. Some of the later beats, both plot and emotional, are predictable; the narrative isn't as robust as I hoped for, or as closely tied to the setting's speculative elements. But the overall effect is superb. From the first chapter I wanted to inhabit this world and, by accompanying the protagonist, I can. I couldn't ask for better wish-fulfillment.

(really beautiful voids! the spacewhales are more in atmosphere than fact except, of course, that the ship is one! this is like a romantic fantasy version of my favorite nightmare aesthetics, and I couldn't love it more.)

Title: Binti: The Night Masquerade (Binti Book 3)
Author: Nnedi Okorafor
Published: Tor, 2018
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 210
Total Page Count: 251,775
Text Number: 810
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Binti finds herself the link between numerous conflicting peoples. This is reminiscent of the Who Fears Death books, particularly in the social dynamics, the protagonist's relationship with magic and death, and the rambling plot; it's id-level writing, and combines well with the vibrant worldbuilding and scale of the plot, but feels redundant within the author's body of work and doesn't make for an especially cogent, satisfying finale. The stiff dialog and overlarge emotional reactions don't help. I like this at remove, most especially for its intentional, complex intersectionality; Binti remains a great character. But I see more flaws here than in the other two books—flaws I see in Okorafor's other novels.


Title: Wonders of the Invisible World
Author: Christopher Barzak
Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2015
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 350
Total Page Count: 252,125
Text Number: 811
Read Because: reviewed by Cheyenne Prescott, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Being reunited with his childhood friend makes a teenage boy suspect that something strange and supernatural explains his memory loss. This is a magical realist coming of age that morphs into a family saga, and it's significantly more successful in the former than the latter. The premise is great, and the melding of coming of age, sexual awakening, and dreamlike fantastic elements creates a fluid, flexible metaphor. But the entirety of the emotional investment lies in the protagonist and his immediate relationships; the glimpses into his family's past inherit none of that, and the revelations they contain are predictable, so the end of the book drags. This is exacerbated by Barzak's voice—I honestly thought this was a debut; it's not awful but it feels unpolished and immature in ways that particularly impact descriptions of emotion. My final impressions aren't strong enough to recommend this, despite its many good intentions.


Title: The Lives of Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space 9)
Editor: Marco Palmieri
Published: Pocket Books, 2000 (1999)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 375
Total Page Count: 252,500
Text Number: 812
Read Because: recommended by sixbeforelunch, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Nine short stories about each of the Dax symbiont's lives. Many of these stories end with a cover-up in order to render them canon-complaint; an understandable impulse, but tiresome. The plots are standalone minisodes, most of them are scaled well to short fiction and decently written, but they're not often about the Trill directly or, when they are, focus on the insularity of Trill society. It teases a lot of fascinating, nuanced issues: Trill who don't want to be joined; the ways that host and symbiont inform each other's identity; the role that joining plays in Trill social hierarchy, the limitations of the reassociation taboo, and the way that joining affects a host's prior relationships. But it lacks a concentrated, interior focus, and the potential for interiority is exactly what I want a novel tie-in to capitalize on. More navel-gazing, please; I can find cogent speculative plots elsewhere. I don't regret reading this; it's better than nothing—but still not enough.

Title: Season of Storms (Witcher Book 8)
Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Translator: fan translation
Published: superNOWA, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 380
Total Page Count: 218,085
Text Number: 661
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: After the short stories and before the other novels, Geralt goes on a quest to recover his stolen swords. Insofar as the best part of the series is Ciri, and Ciri is not here present, this is something of a letdown. There's plenty of nods to central characters and plot, but this story feels both less urgent and heartfelt. It's almost prosaic: somewhere between comedy of errors/slice of life/travelogue, the daily life of a Witcher down on his luck, resembling the short story collections more than the novels. That setup allows Geralt's personality to shine through and he is, as always, a delight; the Witcher setdressing is present, the subplots are successful, and there's even some profound, if coy, worldbuilding in the frame narrative. But without the interpersonal relationships that made me care about this series, I came away underwhelmed.

I was chatting with Devon about the Witcher series and mentioned offhand that there are eight books, the two short story collections, the five novels, and the... —and then I realized that I had never reviewed this later prequel, never even written notes for it; granted, I read it late last December, when I was reading less and a lot of my reviews got delayed, but the fact that I entirely forgot this book says something about it, I suppose.


Title: Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire Book 1)
Author: Yoon Ha Lee
Published: Solaris, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 385
Total Page Count: 218,470
Text Number: 662
Read Because: co-read with Teja, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An infantry solider named Cheris is selected to host Jedao, a long-dead traitor and brilliant general, in order to combat a heretical uprising. This has the inconsistent, piecemeal feel of a first novel: the beginning is almost deliberately obtuse (coming in familiar with the author's short fiction makes the style and worldbuilding more accessible, but patience serves just as well) where later sections are over-explained. But the experience entire is a remarkable journey. Math-as-calendar/-as-technology/-as-society is an engaging high concept, but the system's limitations and complicated cultural effects are what make it convincing. Lee's voice is an intense sensory experience, with evocative and alien synesthetic descriptions. The interpersonal relationships remind me of CJ Cherryh's uniquely implicit/explicit dynamics, where everything is tersely understated but functions on an intense, tropey level. The format, especially as a series opener, reminds me of Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch: it introduces an entire world and has a satisfying arc, but is obviously the first part of a longer battle.

I enjoyed Lee's short fiction, but also found it frustrating because iteration and length limitations turned otherwise fantastic voice and concepts into repetitive worldbuilding. His first novel is everything I hoped for. The same techniques and themes are here, but they're given more space and elaboration. It's distinctive, fulfilling, and fully realized. I recommend it, and look forward to the sequels.

A pair of quotes, for posterity; I adore the language, the weird math-fantasy-science, how unsettling and evocative and strange it all is.

( Read more... )


Title: Home (Binti Book 2)
Author: Nnedi Okrafor
Published: Tor, 2017
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 175
Total Page Count: 218,645
Text Number: 663
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: One year after the events of the first book, Binti makes a pilgrimage home. I enjoyed the first novella in this series, but wanted more from it, specifically more complexity. This is more. It's as vivid, with equally satisfying character growth (these books would make fantastic movies, they're subplot-free and just the right length, and the world is so engaging) but Binti is working between points of intense, unpretty emotional conflict, and her cultural background is rendered with increasing complexity—it's a more complicated, difficult story. But unlike the first book, which is complete almost to its detriment, this one ends at the conclusion of Binti's character arc and leaves the plot with a cliffhanger; I'd've preferred a finished, novel-length work. But I still enjoyed and recommend it, and will read the next installment.

Title: The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland—For a Little While (Fairyland Novella)
Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Published: New York: Tor, 2011
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 204,305
Text Number: 604
Read Because: continuing the series, free on Tor.com
Review: Long before the events of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland, Mallow lives a quiet life on the edge of a fairy village—until a grand event in the capital draws her into the wider world and its dread Politicks. Valente's voice is particularly lovely in short form, where her distinctive imagery and rich language can run rampant. Fairyland is the perfect setting for that style, and tolerant of prequels with their cameos and backstories; the bittersweet tone keeps the whimsy in check. Mallow, reserved and appropriately genre-aware, is fantastic, especially in view of her eventual fate. I love the first Fairyland book so much that I've avoided the rest of the series, afraid it wouldn't live up to my expectations. This feels different, more grown-up and sketched out, but it's satisfying in its own right.


Title: Central Station
Author: Lavie Tidhar
Published: San Francisco: Tachyon Publications, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 275
Total Page Count: 204,580
Text Number: 605
Read Because: reviewed by Kalanadi, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A piecemeal narrative about the various individuals and cultures that reside around Central Station, a spaceport in Tel Aviv. The chapters were originally written as independently published short stories, and that origin shows: interconnecting characters and threads run through the novel, but each chapter its own experiment. Although the Middle Eastern setting is vivid and alive, the worldbuilding is never convincing—but I'm not sure it's intended to be. This is Science Fiction by the way of New Weird or Magical Realism: creative, even whimsical, big ideas in experimental arrangement, fueled by culture and desire more than logic. The characters are unremarkable in comparison, and their small dramas underwhelm. This an idea novel, an experiment of form and concept; perhaps not successful as a finished work, but certainly engaging.

( A great quote about whales )


Title: The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Author: Elizabeth George Speare
Published: New York: Dell Publishing, 1986 (1958)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 250
Total Page Count: 204,830
Text Number: 606
Read Because: this Tumblr quote, paperback from my personal collection
Review: Kit leaves Barbados for a bleak Connecticut colony to discover a challenging life entirely unlike the one she lived before. The title and cover of my edition made me remember more witches, but sadly there are none; everything else lives up to my memory. The plot relies on a couple boring tropes, the ending is far too neat, and the romantic relationships are excessively broadcasted—approximately the flaws one would expect—but otherwise this is lovely, both as a book from my childhood and a book from 1958. It's a coming of age within an American colonial setting, engaging historical detail and the shadow of the witch trials to frame a narrative about outsiders and girls who don't conform, about learning to respect society while maintaining personal independence. Speare's descriptions of the colonial landscape are fantastic, characters are distinct and nuanced, and I appreciate the themes. This isn't perfect, but it's held up remarkably well and I enjoyed revisiting it.


( That quote )


I remain something like 4 book reviews behind; please send help. I feel like my reading has slowed to a crawl this month because I've been playing a lot of video games, but apparently it is still fast enough that I am forever behind on writing things up.