Reviews and Comments

Wild Woila

wildwoila@wyrms.de

Joined 2 years, 7 months ago

I have #mecfs so I have a lot of time for reading, mostly #fantasy and #SciFi but I'm happy to dip into nearly anything.

Ratings: 1 star: I didn't like it 2 stars: it was okay 3 stars: I liked it 4 stars: I really liked it 5 stars: it was brilliant

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Richard Flanagan: Question 7 (Paperback, 2024, Penguin)

Damn he can write!

An exploration of life & death, love & fate, encompassing everything from his family history to HG Wells and the development of the atomic bomb. Damn he can write! The description of his near-death experience is mesmerising. Didn't fully come together for me, but suspect it will benefit from a revisit.

reviewed Akarnae by Lynette Noni

Lynette Noni: Akarnae (Hardcover, 2020, Lost the Plot)

Fairly derivative YA fantasy

Fairly derivative YA fantasy: teenage girl crosses into a parallel world, where she becomes a fish-out-of-water at a school for talented students, and discovers she's the only one who can prevent the obliteration of humanity. Some ingrained patriarchy - why do female heroes always have to be hot? Totally needless. Nice enough but nothing special.

Fríða Ísberg: The Mark

Empathy or freedom?

An attempt to enforce empathic behaviour creates stark divisions at all levels of society. Very effectively conveys the ambiguous ethics and the entrenched positions taken by opposing sides. Strong parallels with toxic masculinity and vaccination.

Homer, Emily Wilson: The Odyssey (2017, Norton)

Easy flowing translation

Travel back in time for a little insight into the worldview & values of the ancient Greeks. Fickle meddlesome gods, male honour, rampant war and liberal violence, slavery & female subjugation. Easy flowing translation, though I sometimes lost the rhythm.

reviewed The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (The Thursday Murder Club, #2)

Richard Osman: The Man Who Died Twice (2021, Penguin Books, Limited)

The stakes are higher but doesn't feel so fresh

More fun times with the crime-solving (& committing!) pensioners. The stakes are higher but doesn't feel so fresh. A bigger role for the inscrutable Bogdan is welcome. Laughs off some pretty substantial abuse of the justice system.

Bernard Cornwell: Enemy of God (The Arthur Books #2) (AudiobookFormat, 1997, Books on Tape, Inc.)

The continuing story of Arthur, the second in a trilogy which began with THE WINTER …

Hard, dirty & cynical

The Saxons threaten to overrun Briton; a search for a legendary artifact to bring back the Old Gods; a little blissful romance; Lancelot is a backstabbing, cowardly bastard; oaths, what are they good for? A touch more magic than in the first book, but just as hard, dirty & cynical.

Georgette Heyer: The Grand Sophy (Paperback, 1981, Jove)

When the redoubtable Sir Horace Stanton-Lacy is ordered to South America on business, he leaves …

More wit than romance

A irrepressible cousin comes to stay and causes a great upheaval, but between cunning plans and good luck it all works out neatly. More wit than romance, but it does that well.

Tsitsi Dangarembga: Nervous Conditions (Paperback, 1996, Seal Press (CA))

This is a book about the oppression of women by men.Men in a society have …

A familiar refrain in African literature

Becoming a familiar refrain in African literature: girl fights for education & freedom against patriarchy & colonialism. This one, set in pre-independence Zimbabwe, might be the original (?) and the best, with carefully crafted & evolving characters. Ends very suddenly, though.

Octavia E. Butler: Mind of my mind (1977, Doubleday)

this book is about the inner workings of a black woman born in 1947. her …

The god-like mutant Doro finally breeds his race of super-powered telepaths

The god-like mutant Doro finally breeds his race of super-powered telepaths. Can they hold it together, and can he tolerate them? Not much narrative tension or interesting characters, and not a lot happens.

Easy to imagine myself in his shoes

After an unsettled life of freelance writing, the author takes on the family farm. A memoir of his father and the land, an ode to regenerative agriculture, and an example of how to connect with Traditional Owners. The author is only two degrees of separation from me, so I found it easy to imagine myself in his shoes, going down a route that appeals but was not available.

reviewed The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)

Robert Jackson Bennett: The Tainted Cup (EBook, 2024, Random House Worlds)

In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a …

Standard whodunnitwith very cool world-building

A murder mystery fantasy novel - why is this a first for me?! Fairly standard whodunnit which escalates to political intrigue, made distinctive by very cool world-building: an empire built to defend against leviathans attacking from the sea, whose bodily fluids enable a raft of fantastical bio-enhancements. Interesting characters and the potential for more fleshing out give the series much promise.

Fredrik Backman: Anxious People (Hardcover, 2020, Atria Books)

Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes …

The portrayal of people and their idiosyncracies is a joy

A bunch of charming idiots (i.e. everyday people) get thrown together and muddle their way through a crisis in the only way humans can: messily, and hilariously. Occasionally heavy-handed but the portrayal of people and their idiosyncrasies is a joy.

Ed Conway: Material World (2023, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)

Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium. They built our world, and they will transform …

A high-octane tour

A high-octane tour through the materials that underlie our civilisation: sand, salt, steel, copper, oil & lithium. So many intriguing side notes that sent me off down rabbit holes (African ghost miners!). Really brings home the mammoth scale, complexity & interconnectedness of these critical industries that we take for granted. But also highlights their fragility, the environmental damage they cause, and the immense difficulty of reforming them to be sustainable.

reviewed Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (/Howl's Moving Castle)

Diana Wynne Jones: Howl's Moving Castle (Paperback, 2001, Eos)

As the oldest daughter, willful, outspoken Sophie knew that her life could lead to nothing …