Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The story plays with the themes of memory, recollection, and authenticity. Did something really happen if no one was there to record it? Is an account true if filtered by our fallible memories? If someone tells a story, can we ever be sure they’re not lying?
Some people found an anti-technology message in this story. I really don’t. It just asks some important questions about a technological … (Read more)
Word Puppets by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A good collection, with many strong (and some less, but still enjoyable) pieces that showcase Kowal’s evolution as a short fiction writer. Most of these I had read before, either on the author’s website or on different magazines, but they didn’t lose anything on a second read.
The last three stories of the volume, including Rockets Red, original to this book, share the same universe as the extremely … (Read more)
Speak Easy by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have mixed feelings about this on a first read. While Cat Valente’s writing style is always luscious and overflowing like a fountain, perfectly capturing the slang, essence, and style of the 1920s, I don’t think it helped favourably the pacing and narrative of the story. Barely over 140 pages, it felt enormously longer to read. What seemed to be the story of Zelda turned out to be … (Read more)
Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Do you remember when you started reading Jules Verne, marvelled at the places he described, the ruins of Atlantis, the rivers of Africa, the caves at the centre of the Earth? Do you remember when you realised his world was not actually our world, but one made of myths, of hearsay, of wonder and imagination – maybe not real, but definitely more romantic*?
Valente’s solar system in Radiance is … (Read more)
The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu
My rating: 0 of 5 stars
3.5 stars, rounded up because I ultimately liked it.
Is it weird to judge a series of which you haven’t read the first installment? Well, I started reading with The Deaths of Tao, which I got as part of this year’s Hugo package and, while I do intend to read The Lives of Tao at some point, I do not feel the urge to do it right … (Read more)
Of Noble Family by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is a heavyweight – and not just because it’s almost twice as big as the earlier ones.
(mild spoilers follow)
Whereas Valour and Vanity was a historical heist novel, Of Noble Family could be seen as a psychological thriller. What should have been a simple engagement or even a relaxing vacation turns soon into horror, and Jane and Vincent have to bear the effects of … (Read more)
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was… nice? OK? I really have a hard time finding much about it that I didn’t like, but there isn’t much of particularly exceptional either. (Except for Csevet. Csevet rules.)
(mild spoilers follow)
Maia is a particularly nice main character who main characteristic is being nice. Granted, I’m extremely glad that he has enough political knowledge not to be the stupid kind of nice who makes … (Read more)
Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Haunted castles! Stitched-up minions! Walking suits of armour! Bats! donkeys! Several kinds of not-quite-dragons! And a 12-year old Wicked Witch who isn’t exactly who she says she is. These are the ingredients of Ursula Vernon’s latest novel and all I can say is I need a sequel now.
If you read my other reviews you already know what I love about Ursula’s books: the humour, the clever resolutions, … (Read more)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 stars, really.
Before elaborating, I’m going to quote from two other reviews here on Goodreads because I think they summarize my opinion quite well.
Flannery: “This book is nostalgia porn.”
William Cline: “Ready Player One doesn’t draw from 1980s popular culture; it just name-drops it all over the place.”
First things first: I liked Ready Player One, it’s a solid first book, and I’m curious of what else … (Read more)
The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“When your future husband is a mad sorcerer, following hedgehogs sometimes seems like the only option.”
Initially born as a retelling of Bluebeard, this story stands on its own and becomes something else entirely. For one, most of the wives are still alive in this version, and for some of them that’s definitely not an improvement.
Kingfisher/Vernon has a rare skill, in that she can imbue a book … (Read more)
