I have...complicated feelings about this book. It's mostly good (until the wheels fall off the political narrative bus at the end), it's interesting wI have...complicated feelings about this book. It's mostly good (until the wheels fall off the political narrative bus at the end), it's interesting with interesting characters in Dismé and Nell, but it's full of some stuff that's just too weird and off-kilter even for Tepper.
And then there's the end religious stuff, which...idek. It's ridiculously didactic even within Tepper's usual didactic prose....more
I didn't think I'd like this. It's as dense as a fruitcake and uses images and language and ideas that are sometimes pretty damn repugnant. But I did.I didn't think I'd like this. It's as dense as a fruitcake and uses images and language and ideas that are sometimes pretty damn repugnant. But I did. It's...imbued with a queer sensibility, and despite not being usually very good with experimental fiction, I found that queerness and the realism of characters that eat/sleep/screw/shit/piss to be almost refreshing.
There isn't much to say about it in a wee review such as this, other than that you'll either get something from it or you won't. My gleaning from it was much less to do with SFF or with literature than it was to do with the nature of creating art and what that means to the artist.
As I said on Twitter, I'd like to sit down and do a comparison of Dhalgren with The City, Not Long After. Maybe I'm mixing the two a bit too much in my mind, but I feel that Dhalgren informs Murphy's work more than anticipated. (I certainly find that it informs early William Gibson, but that's sort of obvious, considering the forward in this edition.)...more
By the by, if you can't find the narrative in this, consider: - Could the story be something you hadn't consideShattering my heart on read number four.
By the by, if you can't find the narrative in this, consider: - Could the story be something you hadn't considered? - Why should having a narrative be the point?...more
Rereading this, I have no bloody idea how it got a Hugo nod. Maybe if I'd read Heinlein's Friday, I'd appreciate it more, but I'm finding it even moreRereading this, I have no bloody idea how it got a Hugo nod. Maybe if I'd read Heinlein's Friday, I'd appreciate it more, but I'm finding it even more problematic this time around and not up to Stross' usual par. For example, with regards to the...er...eroticism...it's really hard to tell what's Oblivious White Dude Writing or clumsy deconstruction of the fembot trope, and what's Freya being an unreliable narrator.
There ARE some good ideas here, especially around the idea of the limitation of robotic programming taken to its furthest extent (is highly structured and confined free will really free will?), but it gets lost in the rather mediocre political plot and the fact that, for me anyway, Freya is a massive whiny pain in the ass, and eventually a massive 'badass' pain in the ass....more
Despite being a radical, Jim Munroe manages to avoid being excessively preachy in this story. Quirky alterna-Toronto and the post-apocalyptic situatioDespite being a radical, Jim Munroe manages to avoid being excessively preachy in this story. Quirky alterna-Toronto and the post-apocalyptic situation at hand are definitely not what they seem, which is the best part....more
Impossible to put down, interesting characters, fascinating world that I'm sure will only be revealed more in the other two books once my library getsImpossible to put down, interesting characters, fascinating world that I'm sure will only be revealed more in the other two books once my library gets them to me.
This would have been five stars were it not for the massively obvious YOU ARE NOT BEING TOLD STUFF ON PURPOSE thing that runs throughout the whole book. Yeah, first person limited narrator is good, yeah, this is YA, yeah, my heart was in my throat throughout the whole thing. But still, so. obvious....more
Probably the best book of the best series Frank Miller has to offer, really. Martha Washington's twenty-first century is a satirical sucker punch to tProbably the best book of the best series Frank Miller has to offer, really. Martha Washington's twenty-first century is a satirical sucker punch to the gut even in our own twenty-first....more
This would be three and a half if I could give it. While there are some seriously problematic things in here, it's also conceptually really interestinThis would be three and a half if I could give it. While there are some seriously problematic things in here, it's also conceptually really interesting and worth reading just for that.
It should, however, be a requirement to have read the original novel first, or at the very least have watched the full 1995 BBC miniseries, or you'll be missing a bunch of stuff and nuance that gets glossed over....more
Finally finished while plopped down in the Mitchell Library with time to kill. I didn't have enough left to merit another checkout, because I haven't Finally finished while plopped down in the Mitchell Library with time to kill. I didn't have enough left to merit another checkout, because I haven't seen this in paperback yet and it is heavy. And, well...heavy; while Shades is wickedly funny, it's also far more depressing than Fforde's other work.
As usual, he does a fabulous job of skewering white male British culture and class, but that remains the extent of his deconstruction. It'll be interesting to see where he goes with the later books....more
Mind-blowing. That's pretty much all there is to say.
Oh, except for a hint: don't try to quantify the narrative, or try to get something sensical and Mind-blowing. That's pretty much all there is to say.
Oh, except for a hint: don't try to quantify the narrative, or try to get something sensical and linear out of it. That's not the point of the novel. The point is to convey the themes therein: life, death, the necessity of change and creative thinking....more
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