log(book)
Log
·
·
Queue
🔍 Catalogue
·
Stats
Poems
I'm currently
behind on reviews
, so don't be surprised if the recent reviews are a bit sparse.
List: awards:locus-award-nominees
Mr. Death
by Alix E. Harrow
· published 2021 · read 2022-08-12
★★★★☆
Extremely strong story of the protagonist serving as a Reaper in the Department of Deat. Take the CWs seriously, I cried (in a good way (but still)).
A Song for a New Day
by Sarah Pinsker
· published 2019 · read 2023-01-22
★★★★☆
This is not a bad book, and I like Sarah Pinsker a lot. I liked it, and it put my biggest worry at rest: that she wouldn't manage the transition from amazing short stories well. Her plot arc might be a bit wobbly, but her character work is incredible (and vibes for any given scene are obviously always on point). I'm still torn between three and four stars, because the twist wasn't a twist and the message was rather clear, but I'm in a mood to be generous, possibly due to the queer rep and how it made me feel feelings. Possibly feelings I wasn't ready for: It was written in 2019, published in September, but a pandemic with resulting never-ending oppressive lock-down is a major plot point. And how terrible things feel when everything is digital and nothing is real and the only people you see are your parents in the middle of nowhere or your unsafe insane flatmates in a locked-down city. So, you know. That kind of feelings. Two protagonists: the cool old musician who has to make do illegally, because she's not buying into the VR system, and the young woman growing up with all this and feeling very anxious about people, germs, and everything (and holy writing batman, that was well-written). Lots of vibes. Lots of excellent writing. Lots of pain. Not sure about the ending, and stuff, and it did still feel a bit episodic (solid choice when your biggest strength are excellent short stories!), but it made me happy to see Sarah Pinsker succeed at what she set out to do. She does all the things well, but I think the biggest one are vibes: How to feel anxious in a crowd. How to feel amazing in a crowd. How to feel live music come alive in your body. Man, so many good descriptions of music! (And a surprising amount of digital rights / privacy activism.) Also: “We should be getting back to normal,” one would say. “Before we forget what normal is.” “We have to find a new normal,” said another. I knew all their names by then, but it didn’t really matter who said what. It was the same conversation, over and over. Wonder what it felt like publishing this in 2019, and then waking up in 2020. Also, lmao at Superwally and the employee motivation posters: "You are valued but replaceable" is so on the nose but still made me laugh. But also the super invasive work for them as tech support ("Good job! The customer could hear your smile :)". Also also: Super cool ideas about people having playable tattoos and other musical body mods. Hell yeah. This book is part of the 2022 Backlog Incident.
Raven Stratagem
by Yoon Ha Lee
· published 2017 · read 2024-01-05
★★★☆☆
Kinda like the first book in the series – a lot of very cool worldbuilding, but … kinda too much coolness and not enough substance. If you look behind the window dressing, it's kinda just Omelas, yet again. Don't get me wrong: It's pretty. The writing is alright, the people are at least somewhat compelling, and I enjoy puzzling out the overly in-depth worldbuilding. But it also feels so very hollow (and why on earth is there a third part?).
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
by Alix E. Harrow
· published 2019 · read 2021-05-13
★★☆☆☆
Coming-of-age stories are possibly just not for me anymore. The book-driven portal fantasy is nice enough, and the helping of "remember how bad turn-of-the-century racism is" is not bad if a bit forced, but … I just didn't care about the predictable story. If only there had been a bigger focus on the portals, or the portal writing, or the portal worlds … I can appreciate why this book is popular, but it felt more generic than it should have to me.