Sunyi Dean's Blog, page 6
May 21, 2019
The True History of the Elephant Man by Michael Howell
The True History of the Elephant Man by Michael Howell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Well-written and well structured as a book. Far kinder than the only other book I’ve read on Joseph Merrick (which, I think, was from the point of view of the doctor, and rather distasteful if memory serves.)
I am, as ever with these sorts of stories, torn between morbid fascination and my own sense of unease at having that kind of fascination at all. One cannot quite escape the feeling that we are still keeping poor Merrick trapped in a perpetual freakshow, but one that is literary rather than physical.
And maybe that’s part of its point.
May 16, 2019
“Are You Gay, Like Your Character?”
I very much agree with the points made in this article. I tick quite a few #ownvoices boxes and feel that pressure, both spoken and unspoken, to flog them like job credentials. But I’d rather my writing spoke for itself, to be honest.
Update 5/3/19. The author and I are both surprised by how much this has taken off! She (and I) are grateful for the real, thoughtful discussions you’ve been having around this. I do want to note, though, because I’ve had lots of comments (which I have chosen not to approve) from white folks using this as an opportunity to say they should get to write other folks’ stories. A lot have been specifically talking about how they, as white authors, want to write POC struggle stories. That’s not the conversation we’re having, and that wasn’t the point the author intended to make, so please don’t take it that way. We believe in #ownvoices stories. We don’t believe in white folks taking over the space that POC authors inhabit. The author’s story was one of a person in a position of power (an agent or editor) policing her marginalized identity. It…
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The Garments of Caean by BJ Bayley
The Garments of Caean by Barrington J. Bayley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is one of those odd little gems that has stood out in my memory as a really sublime sf novel. On the outset, it’s a book about a psychic suit that bonds with, controls, and manipulates its wearer for amazing reasons which gradually unfold through the novel.
But the book is so much more than that: It freewheels through a variety of spacefaring human cultures who have evolved and adapted to their respective environments, and dissects with remarkable precision not only the role of fashion in human society, but also our concepts of body image and our sense of self, and how these these things impact our understanding of what it means to be human. (The best sort of scifi, in other words.)
Underlying all those great themes is the plot itself, which builds on those foundations to introduce its trickiest question: what we consider to be intelligence, and how our human centric perception shapes interaction with other lifeforms.
It really is a stellar read, an inspired and very original novel, combining two things i like (scifi and fashion) and putting it under a literary microscope in the context of cultural examination. Plus, I’m willing to bet you’ve never read the word “sartorial” so many times in a scifi novel before!
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May 9, 2019
Troika by Adam Pelzman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Very well written
Been awhile since i read any straight up lit fic without any speculative elements at all. This is the kind of book which is best read without spoilers or advance warning–all you need to know is on the back cover. It was very well written, with three excellent (if slightly improbable) character studies and a lot of brilliant microtension.
The slight improbabilty of one of the characters had me squinting a little and i actually think the book could have benefited from being longer. I’d have liked a trifle more of Pov3 in certain sections. Would still recommend happily, however.
May 4, 2019
Best of British Science Fiction 2018 Anthology
“–Good.” has been selected for the BBSF 2018 Anthology this year. It’s a small thing in the scheme of things–just one story in a reprint market–but I’m still quietly happy and very honored to sneak on the list 
April 20, 2019
The Outside by Ada Hoffmann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I received an ARC of this Angry Robot book via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. My opinions are my own
March 2, 2019
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
From 5 stars, to 2 stars: a great concept, enjoyably written, that nonetheless lacked payoff (either emotional or plot-based). The ending hinged on a very unbelievable revelation that I couldn’t buy into and which didn’t wrap up all of the interesting elements that came before.
FULL SPOILERS AHEAD:
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In addition to all the weird madness going on with his psychotic brother and hideous father, the various animal torture and bizarre oddities product of damaged people, another plot runs through the novel. MC (Frank) has lived his whole life believing he is a young man who was castrated in a terrible accident. This event has shaped his life in a variety of ways.
However, at the end of the novel, Frank discovers that isn’t a castrated young man, just a mauled young woman whose father has been giving “her” hormone drugs in a kind of cruel experiment to raise her as a boy. Frank states that what s/he’d assumed was the stump of a penis was actually a clitoris, and this I find difficult to believe.
An anatomy lesson for those who somehow don’t know: I would expect most men/boys to have an awareness that they are supposed to urinate through their penis. Women, though, don’t urinate through the clitoris. So what on earth s/he thought was happening down there for every toilet trip, I have 0 idea.
Mostly, though, the novel fails to explore that revelation in (for me) a satisfying way. There’s a lot of mileage to be gained from examining that situation more, and the person Frank has become or could have been, but it’s not really delved into, and that’s a shame. That means, too, that the novel feels like it has no pay off, because the other aspects of Frank’s life (which are all intensely interesting in their own right) are left unresolved: the revelations about Frank’s sex come out of left field, and don’t tie up the character development or the unusualness of Frank’s horrific family.
The story suffers from one of my biggest pet peeves: it doesn’t end so much as simply ‘stop’ dead.
A real shame for me, because it started off strong and was only let down in the last 10% of novel. Particularly annoying since I feel it could easily have been a longer novel, and resolved those issues through more words (it’s quite a slim book, so hardly over-stuffed with story.)
February 18, 2019
A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read GoT about fifteen years ago, and my feelings on it have evolved over the years.
For me, Game of Thrones is like a bad-boy romance you had in your teens: exciting, thrilling, and edgy at the time, but a little bit cringe in hindsight. GoT wears cool clothes and swears a lot, and you’ve never met anybody so different from your usual. Awesome, you think, as he sweeps you off your feet and tells you he’s better than the rest.
But as time goes on, he doesn’t progress or mature–and you do. All that cocky behaviour starts to get irritating, and as you meet more and more people (books), you start to realise poor old GoT isn’t that special. He’s all promise and no pay-off. He can’t give you what you need so, eventually, you just move on.
Every now and then you check up on him, like FB stalking an old ex, only to confirm that nothing’s changed: he’s still turning circles, not progressing, not doing anything, not going anywhere.
Good riddance, and cheers to better lovers (books).
(Nota bene: For all that, I do think the first book in this series is very, very good for a variety of reasons. But it’s all downhill from Book 2 onwards.)
February 13, 2019
Cardinal Query Sins: Wants Nothing, Does Nothing, Has Nothing
Dear Agent Fullname,
Light Yagami wants nothing more than to get through each day of his senior school year without dying of boredom. When a mysterious notebook finds its way into his hands, Light is intrigued by its magical properties. The notebook—called the Deathnote—has the power to kill anyone whose name is written inside it.
Light soon discovers that the ‘owner’ of the Deathnote is Ryuk, a Japanese god of death with dark motivations of his own. Under Ryuk’s evil influence, Light is gradually seduced by the Deathnote’s potential and comes to believe he is capable to saving humanity–as long as he’s willing to use the Deathnote to kill those who deserve to die. He might even save the world from itself.
But as Light uses the Deathnote to kill more and more people in the name of justice, he risks losing sight of very principles which drive him.
(Comps + Bio)
The above query reads okay on a line-by-line level. Unfortunately, if I were reading this in a critique, I’d be putting it on the scrap-and-redo pile—and so would Essa Hansen, who is cowriting this article 
February 12, 2019
Planetfall by Emma Newman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Planetfall came to me well-recommended from a number of sources (two CPs, and my agent) so I was keen to give it a try.
Overall a very enjoyable book, and one I read at a fast pace. The mix of nuanced interiority, bizarre setting, and interpersonal drama appealed to me to a lot, with a touch of New Weird.
Structurally, though, I sometimes found myself frustrated. Reveals were erratically staggered; the narrative swung abruptly between interpersonal drama overarching plot. The effect is I feel like I’m learning no information at all for stretches of time, then lots of information all at once.
The ending also felt rushed, I think this is down to the same structural issues. Without wanting to get into spoilers, Ren beings the novel with a certain set of firmly-held opinions, and changes them towards the end of the story. But the reveals are staggered in such a way that there is not quite enough time to process Ren’s emotional transition, so the arc feels somewhat abrupt.
Overall, it’s rather like having a meal where, just as you are starting to enjoy one dish, it’s taken away with you and swapped with another; and just as you are acclimatising to eating in that fashion, you’re given a bite of dessert and shoved out the door.
If I were beta-reading this (I’m not, but you know) my feedback would be that the plot point reveals could do with smoothing out, or perhaps being better integrated with the drama in Ren’s life. All the ‘heavy lifting’ for Ren’s transition would then be done in advance and perhaps make the ending feel more like a natural conclusion, rather than a surprising plot twist which finishes too quickly.
Criticisms aside, I want to stress that I did enjoy it, and would have happily read it all in one sitting had the kids allowed. I’d probably choose a 3.7 rating if I could but Goodreads doesn’t allow that sort of a thing.
