I think I’ll never look at a forest or a tree quite the same way again after reading this! A beautiful book that really illuminates the lives of treesI think I’ll never look at a forest or a tree quite the same way again after reading this! A beautiful book that really illuminates the lives of trees and forests. I was particularly fascinated to get a sense of the incredibly long timescales on which their lives work, the misconceptions that have long plagued the forestry industry, and the importance of understanding their needs so we can better preserve and manage what forests remain. As someone who doesn’t read a lot of non-fiction, I did sometimes struggle to keep focus and absorb all the details, but the topic was intriguing enough and the book short and well written enough that I still enjoyed and finished it....more
I'm impressed by how consistently this author delivers with this series – for me the Murderbot books are always enjoyable, engaging reads that I breezI'm impressed by how consistently this author delivers with this series – for me the Murderbot books are always enjoyable, engaging reads that I breeze through in no time, and this one was no different. Once again I love the reluctant, grouchy sec unit hero and their jokes (this book had a few especially good ones). I also liked some of the new setting details introduced in this book, particularly the idea of a historic space colonisation ship and how high tech things like that might be maintained and museum-ified in future. Given the short novella length, the story of course doesn't have much room to be particularly deep or earth shattering in its contents – it's basically a short murder mystery set in space with a lot of humour thrown in – but it's plenty of fun to read and the character is as loveable as usual, and that's what I keep coming back to this series for. If there are more books, I'll no doubt be reading those too!...more
I adored the previous two books in this series, and while I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as those, it was still an intriguing read that had manI adored the previous two books in this series, and while I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as those, it was still an intriguing read that had many of the things I loved its predecessors for: creative extrapolations, unique ideas, surprises, fascinating imaginings of non-human intelligences, and fun characters.
I liked that we got to know one of the previously discovered alien beings more due to them being a point-of-view character. The way their guilt for past deeds and inner conflict about their identity was explored was really interesting. I also liked that we once again got to see Kern playing a major role, as I always really enjoy her appearances.
There was an allegorical fairy tale aspect to the whole story that, while at times perhaps a little over emphasised and repetitive, added a nice depth and atmosphere to it.
The book also left me with two very haunting, moving, and thought provoking images which I don’t think I’ll forget for a long time. To avoid spoilers I’ll simply say that one related to the old ship in orbit, and one related to Liv and her fate. When you think about futuristic things like space colonisation and terraforming you rarely think about the hardships and stacked odds involved.
The one thing that lessened my enjoyment of the book was that it was pervaded by an ever-increasing sense of illogic and confusion while reading, with a lot of things not adding up. Eventually the reveal that made sense of it all did come, as I suspected it would, but it took so long to get there that I spent a lot of the book feeling slightly frustrated and not as invested in the story and characters as I wanted to be. This was compounded by the fact that there were quite a few scenes that felt inessential to the plot, with characters waxing lyrical or repeatedly cryptically hinting at the source of the confusion without ever revealing it. However, when the big reveal came I did find it very clever and ultimately a satisfying and intriguing resolution.
So overall I enjoyed the book and am glad I read it, and I’ll be curious to see what worlds and intelligences Tchaikovsky explores in the next one....more
A really compelling, creative, dark novella told from the amusing perspective of the slightly crazy main character. The setting of the ‘crypts’ was veA really compelling, creative, dark novella told from the amusing perspective of the slightly crazy main character. The setting of the ‘crypts’ was very intriguing and I loved the unusual encounters he had in them. I’m not normally a fan of short-form stories but this one immediately drew me in and made me laugh, and I really enjoyed it....more
A really satisfying conclusion to a series I just loved. I’m really impressed how secrets and threads that were woven in the first book come together A really satisfying conclusion to a series I just loved. I’m really impressed how secrets and threads that were woven in the first book come together in this one, so I suddenly saw previous events in a new light. I feel like I can also see so many allegories for real-world problems in the issues dealt with in this book, even though there are no explicit references. For example, the idea of doing harm to get ahead and help your own, and how difficult it is to get different people (and nations) to work together and share when they could get more advantage and power by not doing so, reminded me a bit of CO2 emissions and climate change (even though in the book it’s all monsters and magic!). That made it a really thought-provoking read, in addition to being an entertaining, creative, and moving one. This whole trilogy has made it on to my all-time favourites list, and I can’t say much more other than I loved it from start to end!...more
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