The sixth hardback collection of Fables collects three story arcs (maybe four, but the middle two are linked). The first takes us into the occupied HoThe sixth hardback collection of Fables collects three story arcs (maybe four, but the middle two are linked). The first takes us into the occupied Homelands, and tells the story of two of Geppetto's wooden people who fall in love and petition him to make them flesh, and the price that is extracted from them. This is interesting as it's the first time we've had a story from the point of view of the occupying forces of the Homelands. It's nominally tangential to everything else that's going on, but the end suggests that plans are being laid.
The second story sees Mowgli's search for Bigby through Asia and North America, and his eventual return to Fabletown, where Prince Charming makes him an offer he can't refuse. The third story starts out with Bigby's mission (and the trip to the cloud kingdoms is really fun) and ends with him and Snow White finally getting their Happily Ever After.
The final story is a really fun adventure with Cinderella as she tries to sign a treaty with the cloud kingdoms to get their cooperation against the Adversary. It shows her in full badass mode, chewing gum and prodding buttock. I don't think we've got to see much of Cinderella thus far, and showing her spy skills and getting to do cool action stuff is really good fun.
I enjoyed this volume a lot. With the Bigby/Snow White plot winding down, it feels like a good place to pause the series. Regular artist Mark Buckingham shares duties with guest artists for the first and last arcs. All the artists are excellent at their work and make reading the book a pleasure. Now, I just need a bit more of Flycatcher and Red Riding Hood......more
Dr Brookllyn Jens is a rescue specialist on an ambulance ship operating out of Core General - the biggest and best equipped hospital in the Synarche. Dr Brookllyn Jens is a rescue specialist on an ambulance ship operating out of Core General - the biggest and best equipped hospital in the Synarche. She's currently got a mystery on her hands regarding an ancient generation ship off course and with a missing crew, and a modern ship attached to it, with its crew in hibernation. Bringing them back to Core General sets her investigating a bigger mystery that could crack open everything she's worked her life for.
The first book in this series involved space pirates and the philosophy of government and social order. This one involves space rescues and a deep dive into the nature of faith, especially faith outwith religion. This series shows that Bear is a master at packing in big ideas in entertaining ways.
I've been a big fan of James White's Sector General stories for years, so a book so obviously inspired by them was an obvious choice for me (Bear talked about this in an article about it, and again in the author's note at the end of the book). I loved all the little callbacks to Sector General (from the giant but oh-so-polite flying bug as the protagonist's best buddy [he even liked spaghetti!], to the name of the administrator of Core General's oxygen sector). One of the things that I really love about White's work was that it was non-violent. The heroes were medics, working to save lives, not shooting blasters indiscriminately. We see that here too, as Llyn and her team work selflessly to save the crew of the generation ship - including the badly damaged shipmind.
Of course, there's a dark secret lurking in the heart of Core General, and when Llyn eventually discovers it, it shakes her to her core. It makes her question the thing that she's dedicated her life to and, indeed, the only thing that she's ever had faith in. This was nicely built up, through Llyn's PoV over the course of the novel, and the inevitable reveal is as heartbreaking for the reader as it is for Llyn.
Goodlaw Cheeirilaq, the giant preying mantis of a police officer from the previous book, is the only character from that book to have a major appearance in this one, although Singer does turn up as well. I was sort of disappointed not to see Haimey (although I can see that it might have been difficult to get her in), but Connla ended the last book working as an ambulance pilot for Core General, so I was disappointed that he didn't show up, even as a cameo.
The mystery in the book held my attention well. I really liked Llyn as the protagonist and Core General is a wonderful setting, a worthy successor to Sector General. I'm sure there are more stories to be told in the Synarche, and I hope that we get to see them....more
Ned Henry is suffering from time lag from too many drops into the past too quickly. Taking pity on him, his supervisor offers him a couple of weeks inNed Henry is suffering from time lag from too many drops into the past too quickly. Taking pity on him, his supervisor offers him a couple of weeks in the nineteenth century, just as long as he does one simple task first. It's just a shame that Ned's too time-lagged to remember what that was. And if he doesn't, the whole of history could unravel.
I'm really glad I read Doomsday Book before I read this. Not because it needs it - there's almost no connection between the two books other than the setting and the character of Mr Dunworthy - but because if I'd read them the other way around, I would probably get shellshock at the drastically different tones the two books have. The former is a serious, quite dark at times, tome about survival and plague, while this is a jaunty romantic comedy. And while, the former was good, this is good and enjoyable to read too.
Three Men in a Boat is explicitly referenced, as Ned spends time in a boat on the Thames (yes, with a dog) but it reminded me more of P. G. Wodehouse's farces. There's definitely something of the Awful Aunt about Lady Schrapnell and the star-crossed lovers really need Jeeves to sort them out.
Detective fiction of the era (Christie, Sayers etc) are referenced as well, and the trope of the first crime actually turning out to be the second crime. This is something that resonates at the end, when resident boffin TJ drops something that could change how we view the whole set of what's just happened. It's a nice little coda to the story, to suggest that the universe is not only weirder than we think, but weirder than we can believe.
Once I got past the awful Lady Schrapnell and Ned was safely in the Victorian era, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It was fairly gentle, and although the stakes were theoretically quite high, it never felt like history was in any real danger - and this isn't a bad thing, it let me enjoy Ned and Verity's adventures in the Victorian era, complete with eccentric professor, ex-colonel, domineering matriarch, scatterbrained friend and highly competent butlers. A rocking great read that never felt nearly long as its actual 500+ pages....more
This is a good little collection of fiction where a number of authors write a flash piece around the quote "She was warned. She was given an explanatiThis is a good little collection of fiction where a number of authors write a flash piece around the quote "She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted." It's an unsettling quote and all the authors take a good stab at "persisting". Obviously, some stories work better for any individual than others, and for me the contributions by Maria Dahvana Headley about the first American non-human astronauts, and Charlie Jane Anders' story about a woman who creates an unauthorised AI stand out in the "fun" mode.
Alyssa Wong and Seanan McGuire's stories are hard-hitting and brutal, while Nisi Shawl and Amal El-Mohtar provide melancholy and eerie stories.
The collection won't take long to read, each story being only a few pages long, but it's thought-provoking and definitely worth your time....more
There's been some positive buzz around this book on social media which intrigued me, but I was wary that it was the first part of a trilogy, until somThere's been some positive buzz around this book on social media which intrigued me, but I was wary that it was the first part of a trilogy, until someone I trust said that it was (mostly) readable as a standalone. I'm glad I did pick it up, as it's very enjoyable. I especially like the narrative voice of the protagonist, Gideon. She's fairly young at just eighteen, and something of this immaturity comes across in her voice, in a good way (I laughed much more than I should have done at the "that's what she said" jokes).
Gideon is an indentured servant of the Ninth House - owing them for her upbringing. She's been trained as a swordswoman, and when the head of the house, the necromancer Harrowhark, is called to service by the Emperor, she reluctantly follows Harrow as her cavalier. They find themselves along with pairs from the other Houses in a race to unlock the secret of immortality.
There's something a little And Then There Were None about the way that the groups are taken to an isolated location with a mystery to be unlocked in a race against time, which I enjoyed quite a lot. The necromancer/cavalier pairs from the other houses were distinctive and interesting, from the jovial married couple of the Fifth House to the "terrible teens" of the Fourth to the creepy, sanctimonious Eighth. Maybe the military Second House didn't get much beyond being uptight military types, but they were probably the exception.
I loved the relationship between Gideon and Harrow, how these two girls who have known and hated each other their entire lives have to start to rely on each other to survive the challenges they're thrown and how that eventually turns into trust. It's an old trope, but carried off with aplomb.
The world is classic science fantasy. Although there's a thin veneer of SF in the form of space travel and genetics, most of the action involves magic and the fights are all sword fights. I'll handwave it away via Clarke's Third Law though. There's enough worldbuilding to keep us interested without drowning us in exposition (although there are more hints in the glossary at the end).
(view spoiler)[From the moment we find out what Ianthe had to do to achieve Lyctor-hood, we sense that Gideon's days are numbered. This is a shame, but what a way to go out. There's scope for her to come back in some form (they never found the body!) and there's still a number of mysteries around her. As I said above, I enjoyed her narrative voice a lot. I'll miss her if she's gone permanently. I mean, I'll read a book about Harrow, but I'll be thinking about Gideon. (hide spoiler)]
The epilogue sets up the next book and I'll be intrigued to see where it goes - it seems to be getting ready to widen the scope an awful lot, from a single isolated mansion to the whole galaxy. I can't wait to see where the story goes....more
It took a while to get into this story, but once I figured out the flow, it was much smoother. It's a tale told from both ends of history: in the earlIt took a while to get into this story, but once I figured out the flow, it was much smoother. It's a tale told from both ends of history: in the early 22nd century, Dr John Holland is a scientist studying the remains of Mars' native life, before the terraforming effort wipes it out; while in the far, far future, Mars is dying a second time and the disgraced champion Yoechakenon and his spirit lover Kaibeli are tasked with finding the long-lost Great Librarian of Mars to save it. We also have chapters that cover the future history between these two time periods, as we jump further and further into the future, and see how the two are linked.
I really liked the tone of the piece. I liked that the voice of the near future was so different to the far future. The near-future stuff was no-nonsense hard SF, while the far-future felt much more mythic and grand in scope, reminding me of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom.
The novel is also concerned with AI and how it will co-evolve with us over the millennia in a symbiotic relationship. Add to that a form of human immortality, as a person's memories are recorded at death, and later returned (to some degree) to other, newborn bodies at some time in the future, and we have the makings of a love story that spans the ages, as an AI spirit follows the one she chose across time and space.
I'll confess that I wasn't sure it was all going to come together, but it did so in the last few chapters, as it tied the whole story together and links Holland's time to that of Yoechakenon. So a lot of good ideas and some writing that's very enjoyable to read. It can be a little clunky at times, but I found it worth persevering....more
This is a thoughtful space opera, that combines action, character and philosophical musings on the balance of the rights of the individual versus the This is a thoughtful space opera, that combines action, character and philosophical musings on the balance of the rights of the individual versus the collective. Haimey Dz and her salvage partners find something amazing on the edge of known space, and they have to try and get it back to the Core before pirates catch up with them.
I enjoyed the world building that went on here, especially in regard to the interstellar, inter-species society known as the Synarche. The balance between individualism and society is very much a core concept here, with members of the Synarche, including humans, undertaking "rightminding" to alter their minds such that they will want to be better citizens, all working for the common good. Of course, this isn't without problems, both with the "clades" that take it too far, becoming introspective cults where they are all programmed to agree with each other (Haimey is a survivor of one of these clades) and those who reject the concept entirely and live on the edges of society, parasitical upon it, and proud of their sociopathy.
Haimey is an interesting protagonist: her past in the clade has damaged her, despite the psychic reconstruction that she underwent after she escaped. One example is that she's afraid of relationships, so has had her sexuality turned off entirely so that she can avoid them. She mostly avoids thinking about her past, but as the book goes on, is forced to confront it. We don't get as much insight to her salvage partner Connla, just some tantalising hints about his own troubled past, growing up on a world that fetishises hyper-masculinity, and suppresses their feelings. The AI, Singer, is probably the most balanced of the crew, but even he decided that he wanted to spend his time barely making a living, on the edge of known space. It's also convenient that he's a politics geek, making an easy way to fill in the world-building of the society.
I got lost a couple of times as big idea piled on top of big idea - symbiont that lets the host sense and modify gravity; sentient space whales; incredibly ancient spaceship from lost super-civilisation; structure imposed on reality; big dumb smart object outwith the galaxy. Despite this, there's a lot to enjoy, and hopefully some more of this will be explained in future White Space novels....more
Alongside the excellent pun in the title, this is probably one of the better recent Peter Grant graphic novels, as the Folly is called to investigate Alongside the excellent pun in the title, this is probably one of the better recent Peter Grant graphic novels, as the Folly is called to investigate a drowned boy racer with a boot full of very unusual cargo. Once again, Peter finds himself entangled with the fey, reliant only on his wits to help him through.
Moreso than even usual, this graphic novel was Grant-heavy, with minimal appearances from Nightingale and Guleed (and none whatsoever from Molly, boo). There was an incident with Guleed that I think would have been interesting to expand upon, although with space restrictions, they made do with what they could, and the visual medium does help here, with facial expressions and body language.
The artist has changed again for this story. They're good, and handle the fast action of the car racing well, but I still miss Lee Sullivan.
The story is very plot-heavy, with little character development, and possibly the most interesting snippet in that area comes right at the end, with some internal captions from Beverley musing on her relationship with Peter which is both sweet and kind of ominous.
Like the last volume, there's some articles at the end discussing the historical background to some of the story elements, including street racing and fairy myth. These are interesting, but I'd have preferred it if the text were in straight columns rather than at an angle. It might look cool, but it does make it a bit harder to read.
All in all, a fun, standalone story. Not essential, but a good read for fans of Peter Grant and his world....more
This third volume of the Sandman epic consists of four short stories, with differing artists, themes and tones. The first story Calliope tells of a stThis third volume of the Sandman epic consists of four short stories, with differing artists, themes and tones. The first story Calliope tells of a struggling author who "buys" a muse that had been captured many years before and forces her to inspire him. It's a grim story of slavery and obsession.
A Dream of a Thousand Cats is a very different story, as a wanderer comes to town and all the local cats come out to see what she has to say. She tells them a story of loss and her own visit to the Cat of Dreams to find out the secret history of their species. It's oddly poignant, especially as you realise how fruitless the storyteller's quest is.
I think A Midsummer Night's Dream is the first time in the series that we meet William Shakespeare as part of the bargain that he made with Dream. Here, he's just finished the eponymous play and he and his players find themselves performing it for the lords and ladies of the fae. It's an odd story, as much there to tell us about Morpheus's past dealings with mortals and the sorts of bargains he makes as how the fae react to this tale nominally about them.
Finally, Façade features the despair of a metahuman, Rainie, and her feelings of loss and loneliness. She can't be helped by dreams, it's another of the Endless who hears her anguish and comes to Rainie's side. Despite having a dark subject, this is possibly the sweetest story in the book, and the one with maybe the most hopeful end.
The collection is rounded off with Gaiman's script for Calliope. That was an interesting read, comparing it back to the finished pages and panels it refers to, both for the detail that goes into it, and how much freedom the artist had in straying from the writer's vision.
The first two stories are illustrated by Kelley Jones, and I find myself not hugely fond of the scratchy look of that artist. The third is drawn by the wonderful Charles Vess whose art I'm very fond of, and the last by Colleen Doran, which sort of fits in the middle.
I think this is a palette cleanser volume, sitting between the larger, more epic stories of The Doll's House and Season of Mists. Certainly worth your time....more
Irene is juggling the peace treaty between the dragons and the fae, helping her pal Vale out on a case, dealing with a new apprentice, and trying to kIrene is juggling the peace treaty between the dragons and the fae, helping her pal Vale out on a case, dealing with a new apprentice, and trying to keep up the day job of stealing books for her interdimensional Library. She's quite put out, then, when there's a number of assassination attempts on her and her friends, pointing to a mysterious new criminal mastermind. Irene needs to find them and stop them, before it's too late.
This is very much a book of two halves. Whilst you can't complain that the first half of the book is slow, the pace definitely picks up in the second half. We get to meet Irene's new apprentice, Catherine, and start to get a feel for her as a character. She's fae, so is inevitably drawn into stories and archetypes. She wants to be a librarian archetype (subtype TBC, but not spy) and so is quite upset that her work involves more running and hiding than cataloguing and recommending). It's early days, but I'm warming to Catherine quite a lot already.
The rest of the supporting cast is present and correct, with Vale a major presence in this one, which I always like to see. I wonder where Vale's story is going - since he's got fae heritage and the "Moriarty" character plays into his Great Detective archetype. I fear as much as Irene that he might get sucked into his own story. We also get to meet more of Kai's family, no spoiler to say that we end up liking them about as much as Kai does.
The second half of the book really shifts up a gear as revelation is piled upon revelation, old enemies crawl out of the woodwork, and Irene has to work harder than ever to just stay alive. This feels really exciting, even if you're reasonably confident that our protagonists will get out of it in one piece. And the epilogue gives us just a taste of the secrets buried in the Library itself.
There are some great set-pieces, with the oversized science fair (in my head like something out of Girl Genius) being my favourite. But there's also time for some character beats. There's a moment near the end where we're reminded about how ruthless that Irene has to be and the sorts of split-second decisions that she has to make, and that she'll have to live with the consequences for the rest of her life.
An excellent addition to one of my favourite series, I can't wait to see where it goes next. ...more
The final volume of the excellent The Wicked + The Divine brings the series to a close with a bang. This collects the final two volumes of the main stThe final volume of the excellent The Wicked + The Divine brings the series to a close with a bang. This collects the final two volumes of the main story, as well as a set of historical specials that help contextualise it. We learn Baal's big secret, find out about the Great Darkness and have several fist-pumping moments of pure comic book joy, as well as reveals that break the heart and a surprisingly tender coda that left me in tears.
Jamie McKelvie continues to draw the main story, with guest artists for the specials, which fit just before the last chunk of main story and look back at previous Pantheons including the Roman era, the middle ages and the 1923 one we saw right at the start of the story. That one is a mixed comic/prose story that works really well.
Can I take a moment to talk about the edition itself? All the Deluxe Editions are absolutely gorgeous, but this final year of the story was so big that they needed an extra volume to fit it in. The core of the story fits into one volume (which is, itself, bigger than the previous Deluxe WicDivs), and the supplementary material that normally goes at the end -- the alt covers, the makings of and, of course, the writer's notes, as well as a couple of additional specials that aren't essential to the story -- is in a whole separate volume.
The two remaining specials are the "Christmas annual", which tells some side stories that were hinted at previously but are now made explicit (and include a lot of the cast getting it on with each other), and the "funnies", little stories written and drawn by people that the creators invite, often poking fun at Gillen and McKelvie themselves. My favourite of these was The Wicked + The Canine, which imagines all the gods as dogs, and my goodness are they adorable (the alt cover with dog-Amaterasu is the best thing ever).
We finally get Ananke's story here, as her history and that of the gods finally spills out. We see some of that history (in fact, we see something out of each recurrence), and because the internet is sometimes amazing, someone out there has written a set of blog posts that give you the real world history of the time and place of each recurrence (warning, there are spoilers here if you've not read the book yet).
Gillen also gets to heavily troll the readers in one issue with 90 panels, across 10 pages that are just black. This made me laugh out loud at his audacity, but it definitely fits with some of the playfulness of WicDiv, in amongst the grief and pain.
This has been an epic journey, which ended on a much more hopeful note that I expected, and it'll definitely be an experience to go back and read the whole story again at some point, with the full knowledge of the characters and events....more
I was introduced to Robert Sheckley when I was in my 20s, by a friend who was keen to promote him. I took to Sheckley a lot and devoured pretty much eI was introduced to Robert Sheckley when I was in my 20s, by a friend who was keen to promote him. I took to Sheckley a lot and devoured pretty much everything my friend had, although I don't remember this one from back then. Incidentally, this is the first Sheckley book that I've encountered that hasn't been second hand. I thought all his work was out of print, so I'm very glad to see this available, and hopefully it'll help introduce a new generation to his work.
Carmody, a human, is randomly selected in an interstellar sweepstake to win a prize (sorry, Prize). He collects this, and then has to set off on an epic voyage to return home, encountering gods, dinosaurs, parallel worlds, and, most terrifyingly of all, bureaucrats, along the way.
Once we're off the Earth, the majority of the book is a sort of travelogue of Carmody's attempt to get home, accompanied only by his not-so-trusty sentient Prize while being chased by a Predator tailored to him. He has conversations about the purpose of godhood; about the invention of science; and the meaning of death.
Sheckley is, first and foremost, a humorist. His work has been compared to Douglas Adams and, stylistically, it's easy to see why. The humour is easy and unforced but present in just about every page, combined with satire regarding the world he saw around him. Like Arthur Dent, Carmody is an everyman (although less tea-obsessed), and he even meets a person whose profession is building planets (including the Earth) - all over a decade before Adams' Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy series.
There's an awful lot to enjoy here, and there's a surprisingly poignant ending. I'm glad to have rediscovered Sheckley and hope that there's more on the way (although I do think that his best work was in short stories, rather than the longer form)....more
In a Victorian London much like our own, Thaniel Steepleton comes home one day to find someone has broken into his home and left a gift for him - a poIn a Victorian London much like our own, Thaniel Steepleton comes home one day to find someone has broken into his home and left a gift for him - a pocket watch. It's only when that pocket watch saves his life after an explosion at Scotland Yard some months later that Thaniel goes searching for the watchmaker, Japanese immigrant Keita Mori. Around the same time, Grace Carrow is trying to prove the existence of the ether, while simultaneously trying to avoid being married off by her parents. These three lives eventually intertwine in unexpected and life-changing ways.
I think it's safe to say that this isn't a plot-driven book. For most of its length, it's slow and fairly gentle. Spending time mostly with Thaniel and Mori, with Grace not getting nearly as much airtime as she deserves. It speeds up towards the end, in a way that was quite confusing (albeit deliberately so) and there's a relationship that completely blind-sided me. Looking back, I can see some subtle signs of it building up, but it turns out that if I've not had it explicitly signposted, certain sorts of relationship just completely pass me by.
There was a strong focus on Japanese characters (the author spent some time there, as an academic) and the book delicately draws the distinctions between the immigrants and the locals, without ever resorting to crude bigotry from its characters. (Subtle bigotry, on the other hand...) It also shows the balance that immigrants have to strike when they move to a new country between their history and traditions and blending in with their new home and where different people draw that line.
As you would expect, clocks, clockwork and time play a large role. Mori is a genius with clockwork, with his masterpiece being his somewhat adorable mechanical octopus, Katsu (who has a thing for stealing socks). Timing of events, and probability of others are important, and not just in relation to the bomb that nearly kills Thaniel near the start of the book.
So a charming novel, with a good heart, not to mention a very interesting female scientist, who's bolshy and flawed. I also now totally want a mechanical octopus (even if I'd have to buy a lock for my sock drawer).
(view spoiler)[I totally shipped Thaniel and Grace, even though their marriage was literally one of convenience, and it was probably that which blindsided me to Thaniel's blossoming relationship with Mori. (hide spoiler)]...more
My sister recommended this short epistolary novel to me, and while I'm not usually a reader of historical fiction, I absolutely devoured it. Set just My sister recommended this short epistolary novel to me, and while I'm not usually a reader of historical fiction, I absolutely devoured it. Set just after the end of the Second World War, author Juliet Ashton has just finished a tour for her last book and is now casting about for what to do next. Serendipitously, she gets a letter from a stranger on the Isle of Guernsey, which leads to a correspondence and an introduction to the eponymous Society.
Guernsey was the only part of the UK that was occupied by the Germans during the war, and the correspondence between Juliet and the members of the Society teases out the complexities of the occupation and the relationship. It was a terrible time, and there were many atrocities, but there were kindnesses and love as well, and the book balances that well.
The members of the Society are well-drawn, and, interestingly, one of the clearest is someone who doesn't write any letters of their own but is a prominent figure in many of the others. To say any more would be a spoiler. Possibly my favourite character is Isole, a hedge witch and keen practitioner of phrenology. She's an awful lot of fun and I love her voice when she's writing. A delightful romance also develops later in the book which is lovely to read.
The epistolary form through an entire novel is unusual and, I imagine, hard work to do. I did enjoy it though. The voice for the period is mostly well done as well.
I had all the feels while reading this book, I loved it....more
This is a remarkably sweet and uplifting book for a story that starts with genocide. The planet of Sidira is destroyed, leaving only small groups of sThis is a remarkably sweet and uplifting book for a story that starts with genocide. The planet of Sidira is destroyed, leaving only small groups of survivors. One of these groups is resettled on the planet of Cygnus Beta, a world that prides itself on welcoming all those who seek refuge. A government civil servant, Grace Delarua, is seconded to help the new settlement. When the colony decides to scour the planet looking for those with genetic heritage from their world, to help rebuild their society, Grace is assigned to travel with a group, including Dllenahkh, one of the Sidiri leaders.
There's not a huge amount of plot to this book, it's mostly a travelogue through various societies on Cygnus Beta, having minor adventures en route. It's the characters that shine through. The warmth with which they're portrayed is delightful, especially given the awful nature of the event that brought them there. The Sidiri are known as an intellectual and thoughtful people, not prone to burst of emotion (I pictured them as slightly more laid back Vulcans) and the dry wit that Dllenahkh shows, and his surprisingly tender romance with Delarua is a pleasure to read.
This also feels very much like a book for our times, showing us an example of how a society should handle those in need of refuge: with grace and open arms. In a world where more and more countries are turning their backs on their fellow peoples, we need to be reminded of the alternative. Where the host encourages those who come to them to develop and grow and become they best they can be, while those who take up that offer in turn grow into their host culture, while maintaining their own traditions.
The focus here is very much on Cygnus Beta, with only minor hints being dropped in about the wider galactic society and the four peoples (including Terrans) who make up humanity as a whole. The world-building is nicely done, and slides neatly into the story.
This isn't a flashy novel, but it's one that I found has worked its way into my heart without me really noticing. I cared about the characters and their relationships, which, to me, means the book is a success....more
I have a tendency to race through graphic novels at breakneck speed (well, that's true of most novels, but especially so of comics). Hence I really liI have a tendency to race through graphic novels at breakneck speed (well, that's true of most novels, but especially so of comics). Hence I really like the writer's commentary at the end that lets me re-read it, more slowly, a few pages at a time, paying attention to things that I never noticed first time round, and generally decompressing a bit. This was especially helpful here, in issue 27 where I had been reading so quickly that I didn't even notice that I was reading panels out of order (this is a neat section with multiple stories being told on the same page, in differing layouts, with panel borders linking stories). I got the gist of it, which was all I wanted at the time, but it was good to go back and read it the way it was intended.
But, my goodness, WicDiv repays a close reading and then some. This third year covers the whole of what Gillen calls the Imperial Phase, following Ananke's death, how the remaining gods turn things up to eleven and how that goes very, very wrong, culminating in two huge twists (or "reveals", as Gillen prefers) at the end of the book.
WicDiv has always been a story of excess, whether that's hedonism, sex or love, and all the gods give in to that excess in the Imperial Phase. There are tough themes covered in the story, from the co-dependence of the goth kids to Sekhmet's nihilism and Persephone's fatalism. some are shocking and some are just heartbreaking.
While there's a lot covered here, and we finally get a glimpse of the Great Darkness that Ananke had talked about before, we don't really get much idea of what it is or what the gods are doing about it (although I suspect that may be coming in the final year). I can't wait to find out - even if I'm sure it's going to be mostly heartbreak and misery for the cast....more
**spoiler alert** Warning: although I try to avoid spoilers in my reviews (or at least hide them), the stuff that is worth talking about in this book **spoiler alert** Warning: although I try to avoid spoilers in my reviews (or at least hide them), the stuff that is worth talking about in this book is all spoiler, from the second paragraph onwards. The executive summary is that it's a fast-paced thriller with a likeable protagonist, but has Problems that mean that I'm done with the series.
The biggest problem for me in this book is that it made me want a child to die. Literally - I wanted a four-year old child to be killed. The child in this case is Matthew, the antagonist for our protagonist Teagan and her team, who can not only create earthquakes with his own telekinetic powers, but positively relishes doing so. He is lacking in any empathy whatsoever, has no self-control and hurts people (and kills them) for fun.
And what he wants to do is set off earthquakes. In California. He's also a genius and after learning about tectonics, he deliberately triggers the San Andreas Fault, and then goes after an even bigger fault called Cascadia (which I'd never heard of, but Wiki says is A Thing). His mother is completely unable to control him - he's never been told 'no' by anyone around him and has, as a result, learned to be sociopathic and compassionless.
Yes, a horrible person - but a four year child. And the author made me want him dead, and be disappointed when Teagan prevented this from happening. And I'm not sure I like that.
Also, is the moral of the series that unless you're held in indentured servitude by the government, with the threat of vivisection hanging over you, any superpowered person will automatically be awful? Every powered person we've encountered so far in the series, other than Teagan (who just wants to be a chef), is a monster - an impression not lessened when we find out about the Director of the "school" that created Matthew right at the end.
Also, Teagan seems to be losing members of her team at the rate of one a book. While Carlos's betrayal and demise in the first book was well-done, and a good twist, Paul was killed off just to show that Matthew is a Bad Person.
The book was well-written and is a good thriller, in that it keeps you engaged and keeps you turning the page. But I'm not engaged in the world any more at all....more
I'm really very fond of this series, but I'm starting to lose track of it. At this point, I think I might pause and wait for the story to complete befI'm really very fond of this series, but I'm starting to lose track of it. At this point, I think I might pause and wait for the story to complete before I go back to it, although I can't seem to find how long that might be. In this volume, the long-threatened war between humans and arcanics finally erupts, and Maika pauses her own plans to help defend the city of Ravenna.
This volume highlights the bitterness of war and the choices it forces us to make. We've always known that Maika is an angry and hard person, but here we see her kill just to make a point to pull others into line. Zinn, meanwhile, has gone from an unknowable creature of shadow to some sort of rambling, lost child, trapped in his own mind.
The one shining light amongst all the misery is Kippa. She doesn't get it easy here, not by a long shot. She makes mistakes and poor choices, but her heart is pure and, like Maika, I'd drop everything to save her if she needed it.
As for the rest of it, the politics; trying to remember who's currently possessed by what; the plots and counter-plots; who is allied with whom and why (or who wants to double-cross whom), I think that needs a clear run to be able to follow it. I'll keep an eye on the series, I think, because the story it's telling is one worth being told, and Sana Takeda's artwork remains magnificent, but given the complexity, it's hard to keep up with the overall story when we only get a few chapters a year....more
It's been a while since I've read a Diana Wynne Jones book, and I'd forgotten how convoluted that her plots could get. This one involves an interstellIt's been a while since I've read a Diana Wynne Jones book, and I'd forgotten how convoluted that her plots could get. This one involves an interstellar empire, a powerful machine called the Bannus, hidden on Earth and turned on when it shouldn't have been, that draws a web of intrigue around itself, leaving Ann, Mordion and Hume to try and sort it out.
I had to read the first few pages of part two several times over to try and make sense of how it followed on from what had come before. That was what reminded me of Jones' twisty plots. This one's quite timey-wimey as well, with time being all over the place, as a side-effect of the field that Bannus creates, meaning that it's not a book that you can read thoughtlessly. Don't let the relatively straightforward language, and the youthful protagonist fool you, it might be YA, but you need to keep your wits about you.
I confess that there were bits that did pass me by. I think the book could do with a reread soon after the first read, while it's still fresh in my mind, but I also don't think I'll do that. It might gain from it, but I don't care enough to go to the effort.
It's an enjoyable book, as long as you concentrate, with some interesting twists and turns. There is enough of the wider worldbuilding to keep me interested (and wish for more) while the main story is quite tight. Importantly for me, while Jones isn't always great at endings, this one comes together well at the end....more
I bought this book when it came out in 2003*, as I did with all new Discworld books at the time, read it once, and for whatever reason, it never quiteI bought this book when it came out in 2003*, as I did with all new Discworld books at the time, read it once, and for whatever reason, it never quite gelled with me, so it's been sitting on the shelf and has never been reread. But I know lots of people for whom Night Watch is their favourite Discworld novel, so eventually I thought I should give it another go. And I'm quite glad that I did, because it's a very good book. There's a lot of depth to it, with complex discussion of justice, revolution, complicity and much more.
But (you knew there was going to be a 'but'), for me, the best Discworld novels marry complex themes with a light touch and lots of humour. While there are lines here that made me smile, there were none that made me laugh. And, to be fair, even Pratchett would struggle to wring humour out of torture and police brutality. So while I enjoyed this book a lot (and will probably reread it again), I still pined a bit for Men at Arms.
Here, Vimes is pulled out of his comfortable life, shoved back in time and left with nothing. He's got to capture a dangerous criminal who came back with him, teach his younger self how to become a copper and worry about a revolution, all without breaking history. We're introduced to an older, more dangerous Ankh-Morpork, one that hasn't yet been tamed and strengthened by Lord Vetinari, where a paranoid man sits on the Patrician's chair, seeing plots wherever he looks. And has his special Watch squad, the Unmentionables, out "dealing" with them, while the rest of the Watch looks the other way, and tries not to think about the special cells under the watch house.
So, a good book, a very good book. Lots to think about, and, despite everything, a lightness of touch as well. I can see why so many people love it - it's got a good plot, complex characterisation (for Vimes, at least) and interesting themes. But for me, it's a little too dark and is a little short on the humour that I feel characterises the cream of the Discworld.
* Yes, I'm one of those cheapos who waits for the paperback** ** That reminds me, another (lesser) complaint is that there's far too few footnotes in this book...more
I've been enjoying the Giant Days series a lot but there were a few things in this volume that I didn't like. This one takes us through the end of theI've been enjoying the Giant Days series a lot but there were a few things in this volume that I didn't like. This one takes us through the end of the coven's first year at university, their summer and into the start of their second year.
The first thing that I felt was off in this was when the girls were at a music festival and someone spikes Susan's drink. Here it's mostly played for laughs (Susan gets really high and Esther looks after her), but it's a serious topic and the way it was done jarred for me. There's no real context behind it either, it's a guy that Susan appears to have known, but he appears a page earlier and then disappears until the end of the chapter, where he makes a very brief reappearance without any understanding of who he was or why he did it. I don't really see the point of it, and it seems to make light of a serious subject.
The other major thing I didn't like, which is much more subjective is that I found Daisy's girlfriend (oh yes, remember the German girl from the end of the last book? They get together) deeply unpleasant. This is much more a personal thing, because I just don't like Ingrid's personality. She's completely lacking in impulse control and draws out the worst in others. And I really don't think she's good for Daisy (yes, I'm quite emotionally invested in our little coven by now).
But beyond those, there's a lot to enjoy here, with various adventures to be had and adulting to be done, as they move into their own flat for second year, including the discovery of Ikea and dinner parties. There's also an ongoing situation with their elderly next door neighbour, and we get to meet Susan's dad, who is awesome.
There's the third (and, I think, last) webcomic at the end of this volume, which sees Susan and Daisy making friends with Erin from the Indie Music Society. I'm not sure if I missed something, but I don't remember her from the main comic, which is a shame, as she seems like a fun character who I would have liked to get to know more.
The guys get some love too. Both Ed and McGraw are present and correct, and both adorable, in their own different ways. McGraw is as handy with a screwdriver as ever, and Ed gets a bit of screen time in an adventure with Esther (maybe some tension there?!).
I'm still enjoying this series, but there don't seem to be any more of these beautiful hardback editions. I might have to start slumming it in the ebook world....more
I've been listening to the 99 Percent Invisible podcast for quite some time now and it's one of my favourites. I was excited when I heard about the boI've been listening to the 99 Percent Invisible podcast for quite some time now and it's one of my favourites. I was excited when I heard about the book and made sure I pre-ordered it. There's a lot to enjoy in the book, but much of it is adapted from stories that the podcast has run over the years (at over 400 episodes at the time of writing, that's a lot to choose from), but as someone who has listened to all of them, it's a little disappointing that there wasn't more original work in the book. The stories themselves are well-chosen for the most part, although some could do with a bit more depth than the page or two that they get. They're grouped first into chapters with very wide scope and then into sub-chapters that collects related topics, whether that is signage, synanthropes (animals that have adapted to live alongside humans in cities), or safety.
The one big thing that's missing from the book are photographs of what it describes. There are some neat line illustrations by Patrick Vale that give you an idea, but sometimes they're not clear enough to properly illustrate the subject under discussion. I can see that using the illustrations gives the book a unifying feel, and that getting appropriate photographs might have been more difficult, but it is something that I think would have really helped a book that is, fundamentally, about architecture and design.
The stories are all very much 99PI though so are all interesting to read, even if I recognised them from before. And I couldn't help but read the whole thing in Roman Mars' delicious voice....more
This second volume of the Giant Days comic follows the adventures of Daisy, Esther and Susan in their second semester at the University of Sheffield. This second volume of the Giant Days comic follows the adventures of Daisy, Esther and Susan in their second semester at the University of Sheffield. There are shenanigans in student politics, flat-hunting and film-making, along others. Along the way hearts are broken, the Night World is explored, and questionable decisions are made.
The key relationships between Susan, Esther and Daisy is unshakeable, and they're all there for each other, whenever it matters. Outwith that "coven", the friendship between Ed and McGraw is pretty strong, and usually a pleasure to read. There's a lovely visual gag early on where McGraw builds a fake wall in front of his bedroom door to hide from "Big Lindsay" (who turns out to be not as scary as made out).
I'm looking forward to seeing what they get up to next. In the mean time, night be with you....more
Reborn picks up the Supervillain Rehabilitation Project story about a year after the last book finished, with Prism heavily pregnant but as busy as evReborn picks up the Supervillain Rehabilitation Project story about a year after the last book finished, with Prism heavily pregnant but as busy as ever. The driving force of this book is that Aiden, Prism's brother, is alive (following the revelation for the reader at the end of the last book). Now on the one hand, it's an long-established trope that superheroes rarely stay dead for long, but on the other, I had thought the treatment of Prism's grief and growing acceptance of Aiden's death in Redeemed was very well done, and this revelation felt like it undermined it a bit.
Still, the book does deal with the consequences of finding that Aiden is alive. Prism will stop at nothing to get him back, and she finds her mental balance thrown, as it's repeatedly pointed out to her that there might not be enough left of him to save.
It's Fade that's most interesting here though. He's someone who's never had anything to lose in the past, and now he has not only a wife, but a child as well. This leads to some... dubious decisions. We didn't see much in the way of consequences of that this time, but I expect chickens coming home to roost at some point. It also led Fade becoming over-protective to the point of being on the edge of being controlling. It'll be interesting to see if that goes anywhere, or if I'm just being overly sensitive.
As always, there's not enough Keeper (and Yui) - but then I'm biased towards there being more Scots in media - nor enough Tanvi, who's probably my favourite character at this point. We got cameo appearances from some of the teens from the last book, along with their adopted parents, which was nice to see.
As with the rest of the series, the book is extremely readable. I enjoy the superhero world writ large, and this series scratches that itch admirably. Intrigued by the hook in the epilogue and already looking forward to the next one.
Note: I received an ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an unbiased review. ...more
This was a fun coming of age story, which I enjoyed quite a lot. Sheetal Mistry is the daughter of a mortal man and a living star, who came to earth fThis was a fun coming of age story, which I enjoyed quite a lot. Sheetal Mistry is the daughter of a mortal man and a living star, who came to earth for a while, fell in love, had a child and then left again. Sheetal has grown up having to hide her silvery, glowing hair and her heritage, but as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she finds her powers harder and harder to control, until she accidentally seriously burns her father, and has to go on a quest to the immortal realm and find her mother to save him.
Sometimes it feels like you don't realise how important that representation in media is until, after a decades long drought, you start to see yourself. In the last few years, we've had a slow drip of south Asian characters appear in our stories (I'm a big fan of Yaz from Doctor Who), but characters living in the West, with a Hindu upbringing are still pretty rare. That was a lot of what I loved about this book, seeing the foods of my childhood, and recognisable archetypes of my family and others while growing up.
And speaking of representation, Sheetal's best friend, Minal, is gay, which is something that is also rarely (ever?) seen in the media. Being gay in south Asian culture is still a bit of a big deal, so it's good to see this treated like the normal, non-event that it is (and the relationship that Minal forms with Padmini, a member of the court, is very sweet).
This is a YA book and Sheetal's emotions are writ large, with everything feeling like the most important thing in the world (although, I mean, in her case she does literally have her father's life hanging on the line). At that age, things do feel like that, but her reaction to finding out her boyfriend's secret and the lack of willingness to communicate with him did frustrate me.
The immortal realm that Thakrar imagines is both a magical, ethereal place, and a very "human", for want of a better word, place, full of intrigue, politics and back-stabbing, with her own family at the heart of it. She has to discover and come to terms with a family she has never met, and at the same time, worry about their motives.
One thing that I did grumble about was the political organisation of the heavens. As I grow older, despite what people say, I seem to be turning into more of a grumpy old lefty, and the idea of "a few royal houses govern[ing] the masses" makes me unreasonably annoyed. A society as long-lived and slowly changing as the stellar court would be pretty conservative, but it seems to me that they could learn a thing or two from the humans they constantly claim to inspire.
A fun book that may have made a greater emotional impact if I'd read it 25 years ago but which is still an enjoyable read....more
After receiving signals from another world that may be part of the diaspora of fallen Earth, the Portiids and Humans of Kern's World launch an expeditAfter receiving signals from another world that may be part of the diaspora of fallen Earth, the Portiids and Humans of Kern's World launch an expedition towards the distant star. There, they find something that the terraforming team that had launched at about the same time as Avrana Kern had stirred up and which may have been best left buried.
So this book is to octopodes, octopi, octopuses, what Children of Time was to spiders. One of the terraforming team that comes to the worlds later known as Nod and Damascus is fond of the creatures and harbours hopes of uplifting them. The cephalopods have the advantage of not having to start from scratch, and are able to build on the technology that their human creators left them, creating a civilisation that expands to fill their solar system, to the wonder of the Humans and Portiids that find them.
What I loved about this book was just how alien the octopus mind was. Tchaikovsky extrapolated from modern octopuses and the way that the tentacles have almost their own sub-mind to create a very different way of thinking for his creatures. At times I struggled to comprehend such a way of thinking, where the surface, conscious, level is all emotion and reaction (the what), while the logic and maths (the how) is left to the tentacles, without the seat of consciousness necessarily being aware of what was going on.
Communicating with such creatures is necessarily difficult, but Tchaikovsky manages to both describe the difficulty and the way that the gap is bridged in a strong, and interesting, way.
One of the more unexpectedly interesting characters in the book was Avrana Kern, who is something between the operating system for all Portiid technology and grumpy old mentor. We see multiple instances of Kern, running different systems, and get somewhat inside her ant-filled head (I still love ants as computing substrate). The complexity of a thinking AI that is aware of how much it has lost in terms of ability to feel emotions is fascinating.
(view spoiler)[And that epilogue! A true co-operative interstellar civilisation. It raised goosebumps as I was reading it. And can we get a book about corvids next, please? (hide spoiler)]
A worthy sequel to Children of Time, with lots of great ideas and characters. Also a great attempt at writing a non-human sentient species that isn't just humans with lumpy foreheads.
Oh, and never has the phrase "we're going on an adventure" been so sinister......more
This collection follows in the footsteps of Flotation Device: A Charity Anthology in being pulled together quickly near the start of the Covid-19 panThis collection follows in the footsteps of Flotation Device: A Charity Anthology in being pulled together quickly near the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in order to raise money for the NHS in the UK. Floatation Device was the local effort of the Glasgow SF Writers' Circle, while this was edited by Ian Whates of NewCon Press so has access to a much larger range of writers. There are over fifty stories here, comprising nearly a quarter of a million words. In all that, there are bound to be some that work better for an individual taste than others.
There are stories from across genres: lit-fic, SF, fantasy, horror and more. I'm not really a horror fan so those didn't really work for me, but there were more than enough others to make up for it. There are stories from well-known names including Stephen Baxter, Christopher Priest, Tade Thomson, Lauren Beukes, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Peter F. Hamilton and many, many more. It's hard to pick out individual stories in such a large collection, read over so long, but I really enjoyed Tchaikovsky's Wars of Worldcraft (the pun in the title along endeared it to me) and Ian McDonald's An Eligible Boy, set in the same world as his novel River of Gods.
So if a story doesn't work for you, just move on, it's not not like you're short on choice. And it's for a good cause.
Despite hearing good things about this series, I wasn't really sure what it was about. Recently though, I was looking for something to read, and this Despite hearing good things about this series, I wasn't really sure what it was about. Recently though, I was looking for something to read, and this was recommended to me again, so I thought I'd give it a go. I'm quite glad that I did - it follows three flatmates in their first year at university and their various (mis)adventures.
I like the art styles here, which was done by Lissa Treiman for the first three quarters (chapters 1-6) and then Max Sarin for the last two. The styles are quite different and when I was flicking through it after first getting hold of it, I thought that the change would be jarring. But when it came to it, I was so absorbed in the story that it barely registered.
I like the three main characters, they've all got a lot of personality and are different enough that they complement each other well. It's very believable that they would be friends, despite being so different. They have the same problems and concerns as other young adults just starting university: getting to know themselves; finding people to love; trying new experiences; making mistakes. It's a lot of fun, and I look forward to seeing where it goes next.
My one, minor, niggle is that although it's set in a UK university and written by a British writer, it sometimes feels very American. I'm not sure if this is just me, but it does occasionally draw me out of the story....more
This book picks up a few months after the events of Reformed, with the whole team still reeling over the shock of Aiden's death in the previous book, This book picks up a few months after the events of Reformed, with the whole team still reeling over the shock of Aiden's death in the previous book, but with Prism and Fade a strong couple. Tanvi injures a sable who she sees breaking into a house and is shocked to find that it's a just a teenage girl. She persuades Prism to recruit the girl, Alma, as the next recruit for the Supervillian Rehabilitation Project. But Alma has secrets of her own and is running from her past.
I enjoyed this short book a lot. Prism and Fade being an established couple works much better for me than bringing them together, and the interpersonal problems of a devoted Christian and a hand-waving theist make for surprisingly real drama.
I liked that we got to see much of both Tanvi and Bob this time round, although they're still not PoV characters, and Yui also played a much more active role in the plot. Sidenote: I really liked the idea of Bob's wife always being around, but nobody has any idea about it. It's a neat little idea that tickled my fancy.
The true villain of the piece, Handler, was one that made me want to shower every time he was on the page. I really hate the idea of mind control, so his powers (not to mention his ruthlessness) made him an effective villain in my eyes.
Unlike the previous book, this one definitely ends on a cliffhanger, and I look forward to reading the next two books in the series, as they come out....more
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