L.S. Popovich's Blog, page 22
March 31, 2022
Review of The Exiles (Rift Walkers Book 1) by Rae Lewis
In Exiles, the first in a series, the reader is introduced to an orphan protagonist who might remind us in some ways of Ender Wiggins, or any really capable kid in fiction or film. In her futuristic, but still relatable setting, the author incorporates rich world-building, but in the background, opening with school drama and ominous […]
March 28, 2022
Review of Vox by Nicholson Baker
A single conversation, about 170 pages long. Baker’s exceptionally readable style renders the most mundane moments vivid. While the subject matter is titillating in some respects, the implicit aura of companionship, intimacy, and aesthetic appreciation shines light on humanity’s capacity to intricately fantasize. This platonic grokking between two in-synch individuals is the novel’s true, nutty […]
March 24, 2022
Review of The Idiot by Elif Batuman
Ramblings of a college student. Talk of books we’ve all read. Mostly harmless opinions. Prickling sensations seeming to indicate a love so ill-defined yet ever-present. Swimming, drinking, taking classes, taxi rides. Typical privileged college-age money mismanagement. A narrator who claims to be a writer but rarely, if ever, writes anything. Love letters. Nascent email drama. […]
March 21, 2022
Review of Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant
The first Maupassant novel I’ve read. Having enjoyed his stories immensely, I was not surprised I enjoyed this longer work. The easiest comparison is Chekhov. But this tale is a romantic one, about the amassing of wealth, the ambitions of a greedy set of upper-crust mustache-grooming gentlemen and perfume-spritzing ladies. A bit of high and […]
March 17, 2022
Review of The Complete Multiple Warheads by Brandon Graham
It’s a shame that such magnificent artwork is undermined by amateurish writing. The layouts and designs are reminiscent of Moebius, while the dialogue and plot are barely readable pulp, pun-infested nonsense. Plenty of good ideas, creatures, gadgets, and character potential beneath the immaturity, but it’s well-lathered with cringe-worthy speech bubbles. It is worth picking up […]
March 14, 2022
Review of Awakening (The Commune’s Curse Book 1) by Lucy A. McLaren
In this new debut fantasy novel, promising a series to follow, adaptable child protagonists deal with past hardships in a refreshing way. The conflict stems from a menacing society within the context of an intriguing fantasy world. Children play a key role in the world building of this novel at the center of which is a heartless […]
March 10, 2022
Review of Njal’s Saga by Unknown
This took me way too long to read. The Goodreads police put a warrant out for me for the number of in-progress books on my Currently Reading shelf. I flew through the beginning and hit an oil slick somewhere in the middle and slid into the rough. This book is very different from the Edda […]
March 7, 2022
Review of Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard
A stirring first-hand account by one of the most daring authors out there. I often suffer from Ballard fatigue, which is a syndrome wherein I suddenly hate Ballard after reading two or three of his books in a row. This illness has recurred at least four times. But this fictionalized account of Ballard’s childhood is […]
March 3, 2022
Review of Puttering About in a Small Land by Philip K. Dick
Puttering About is minor PKD. One of his sidelined realist novels. A quiet, marital struggle in a normal American suburb. It oozes nostalgia for a lost time and place, like an old sitcom, where ‘traffic jam’ refers to fifteen cars on the expressway and people still do things like get their television repaired, instead of […]
February 28, 2022
Review of Innocents Aboard: New Fantasy Stories by Gene Wolfe
Innocents Aboard is the first short story collection by Wolfe I’ve read. It is a diverse helping of mind-altering tales. Ranging from Melville satire to Egyptian myth and Chinese folktale, a plethora of ghost stories and atypical Arthurian fantasy, with a few Biblical allegories thrown in. Story after story, I was constantly surprised, and typically […]
