This evening we'll light 8 candels in our Hanukkah Mennora's.
On this occasion I've decided to highlight the 8 books that made an impression on me in the past year.
Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro
Adam-Troy Castro is such a catchy name, I was sure I've read somehting by him before, but apparently this was by firs Adam-Troy Castro novel.
Emissaries from the Dead is a novel about the interaction between humanity and a god like AI taking place on a cylindrical space station / artificial world.
In places it echoes John Varley's, Titan.
It is an engaging murder investigation and no one is entirely innocent.
But ultimately it is a study of free will in an unjust universe.
How would capitalism react to fines placed on causing extinction?
I was impressed by Beauman's understanding that you don't need to be evil to participate in the ecology's destruction. The extinction industry arseholes aren't competent or smart, just indifferent and greedy.
Making the main arsehole a bumbling Australian was a stroke of genius. especially In the audiobook, that accent makes him friendly and nonthreatening. Otherwise the tension between him and Karin would have been unbearable.
There is allot of info dumping here. I know it's not considered good writing, and it was noticeable but it didn't bother me too much and I guess it helped keep the novel short witch I appreciate.
I don't always have the language to express why a book is great.
Spear, flows. The prose flows, Griffith's narration flows.
The words flow like a clear stream bending around the rocks of toxic masculinity that litter such fairy tales as the Arthurian myth. Reshaping them, smoothing their rough edges into a tale sweet to modern / woke, ears.
It is excellent dystopian sci-fi that focuses on the characters but doesn't skimp on the world building. Mixing a familiar 1984 totalitarian dystopia with the uncanny.
The modern and traditional mix as a westernized Harvard graduate goes back to Malaysia with her parents.
At first I was a bit put off when Jess's overbearing grandmother's spirit starts bullying her. I didn’t' want a book that just places the domineering grandmother in the spirit world and that is its claim to fantasy and I wanted Jess to have more agency.
I need not have worried. The fantasy world is rich and meaningful and Jess finds her own way out of the mess she landed in.
I know Lethem from his Sci-Fi, but the human condition is the focus of all his books, no matter the setting.
Exploring life with Tourette Syndrome in the first person was far enough from my lived experience to engage my love of reading about different worlds.
But mostly, it was very impressive to find such a well written disabled character in a book from the late 90s. Incorporating things I've only learned about proper portrayal of persons with disabilities in the past few years.
Another excellent installment in the For Every Heart a Doorway.series on novellas.
Despite McGuire's reassurance that Antsy will find her door and get away, I did put this novella down when the gaslighting started.
I waited for a time when I was more relaxed and able to deal with triggering material.
I need not have worried so much, the blatantly abusive section is mercifully short and Antsy finds her door when she wants it.
Add comment