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jonathan.brodsky@bookwyrm.social

Joined 4 years, 3 months ago

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Paolo Bacigalupi: The Drowned Cities (2012, Subterranean Press)

more good post collapse YA

I enjoyed this one slightly more than the first, since it didn't so quickly unwind into YA tropes. It did, however seem to delight in the details of civil war, child soldiers, and total failed states.

William Gibson: Agency (Hardcover, 2020, Berkley)

They call Verity 'the app-whisperer,' and she's just been hired to evaluate a pair-of-glasses-cum-digital-assistant called …

its neuromancer 2

Its interesting to see gibson circle back on his hit - this is very similar to neuromancer, but more grounded, and somehow set last year, or a few years ago even.

There is a minor grandpa vibes developing too. I don't think gibsons politics are bad, they just feel more visibly centrist than they were in the past.

Charles Stross: Dead Lies Dreaming (2021, Little, Brown Book Group Limited)

In a world where magic has gone mainstream, a policewoman and a group of petty …

good nonsense

I like this silly series. Glad that it is branching out to tell stories that aren't focused on the laundry and just set in the general world.

Robert A. Heinlein: The Pursuit of the Pankera (EBook, 2020, CAEZIK SF & Fantasy)

Robert A. Heinlein wrote The Number of the Beast, which was published in 1980. In …

Review of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' on 'GoodReads'

yeah, this book is really good, I guess there is a reason that so many people feel fondly about it, like the characters are friendly to each other and seem concern about each other. Its pretty refreshing.

Iain M. Banks: Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1) (2005)

Consider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain …

Review of 'Consider Phlebas' on 'GoodReads'

I don't know why I was under the impression that this was a super important part of the sci fi cannon. It had some interesting imagery in it, but it was pretty silly action movie sequences for the large part. I am curious how the culture grows in the other books though, there were enough of these written that some in them must have stuck.

Don DeLillo: White Noise (2016)

White Noise is the eighth novel by Don DeLillo, published by Viking Press in 1985. …

Review of 'White Noise' on 'GoodReads'

I found this simultaneously a slog and super fascinating. The arc of the story reminded me of Ballard in a bunch of ways, it became increasingly hallucinatory as it went on, and was never truly grounded in the first place. Though it wallowed in mundanity in a way that reminded me of Ionesco for the first part of the book. I don't know that I could recommend it, and it possibly turned me off DeLillo forever, but its really hard to say. I think that there are moments from it that will stick with me for a long time, and that's really all I can ask for in a book.