Cheng Bogdani > Recent Status Updates

I'm ready for the background setup to get finished.

Not a big fan of the phoneticly spelled poor english, but I'm getting used to it. World building is brilliant, and the characters are interesting.

Am I bad person because I'm much more interested in the Carryx's story than I am the human drama?

NGL, I am not interested spending my time reading about the made up bureaucracy of an imaginary university and if this wasn't SA Corey I probably would've DNF'd already. I'm hoping the alien invasion shakes it up enough to redeem the first fifth of the book.

Solivagant by Angela Slatter
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Domestic abuse is bad enough; but what if the abuser is a vampire with superhuman speed, agility and appetites. Who could escape such a situation? Our protagonist, after years of being ground down to a nub of a person, finally finds a friend who understands her situation, and knows how to help. But is she strong enough to do the necessary to gain her freedom?

The Debt I Owe by Alex Sobel
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A mother's love goes maybe a little too far - and is it really love to keep the children trapped without letting them change? What happens when they have to face the real world? Strong vibes of 'Flowers in the Attic' but without the sexuality.

That Maddening Heat by Ray Cluley
⭐️⭐️
A creature-feature that spans a couple of generations, leaving more questions than it answers. This was not a great example of epistolary writing, the whole "I'm sharing now what I've never told anyone and heres the letters from way back too" trope feels threadbare in this telling.

The Terms & Conditions of Kindness by James Bennett
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is why I'm a subscriber to The Dark. This is a brilliantly crafted story about a young woman in rural medieval England who makes a deal with the devil to save the family farm, and very nearly gets away with it - but the devil doesn't get all of his due, either.

The Sea-Change by Sara Omer
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A family hides in an underwater shelter trying to survive the catastrophic rise of the sea, and eventually the systems start failing - both mechanical and familial. The children eventually find their own freedom, but not in the way they expect.

Labyrinth by Beth Goder
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Very well crafted, but I've seen so many other stories treading this ground (you can't step in the same river twice) with basically the same characters (frustrated and vaguely disattached) that I found myself following along not for entertainment but instead to try and pick apart the details. It held up to my cynicism; kudos to the author.

Rivergrace by E. Catherine Tobler
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was another moody piece that asks the reader to fill in a lot of pieces, and this time the payoff was totally worth it. The world was sketched in broad strokes, highlighting only the parts necessary to drive the characters forward, and the resolution was absolutely worth the effort.

The Abandoned by Jack Klausner
⭐️⭐️ 2 Stars
This is a very moody piece; the setup seemed like it would be on the 'suspense' end of the scale but it became a self indulgent reflection on loss and the inability to let go. If I had known how it ended, I would've given up on it a lot earlier - I was hoping for a supernatural showdown and didn't get it.

John Hollowback and the Witch - Amal El-Mohtar
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
They saved one of the best stories for last. Very strong "monkey's paw" vibes - be careful what you ask for, you might not like what you think you want. With a heaping dose of revenge in the mix, too. Brilliantly executed, this is what I was hoping to find when I picked up the anthology.

The Cost of Doing Business - Emily Y. Teng
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hell is unfettered capitalism. It's the little acts of solidarity that make it bearable.

The Academy of Oracular Magic - Miyuki Jane Pinckard
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ritual is all fine and good, but real power comes from shaping the world with the power of your words.

Witchfires - E. Lily Yu

Revenge of the women in a world that borrowed heavily from The Handmaid's tale tv series version of Gilead. I liked it.

Night Riding - Usman T. Malik
⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a straightforward story with some interesting setting and mechanics. Modern science interfered with Ancient Forces Beyond Understanding and heartache and pain ensues.

Mask of the Nautilus - Sheree Renée Thomas
2 stars ⭐️⭐️
So, it was 2AM and I couldn't sleep when I tried to tread this. This story demands a lot from the reader; it immerses you in an unfamiliar world and expects you to figure it out right away. I didn't have the energy for it, and the bits I could glean weren't especially interesting.

Book 1: Jhereg ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm going to mark this DONE and then update as necessary for the other books so I have enough room to write a review

Another deep dive into Snow Crash! SQUEEE!

Referencing Snow Crash on the second page has endeared this book to me already.

The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another knockout story. Seems I'm more excited about the stories where Mr. Chiang takes more time to develop and evolve his ideas. This story interrogates the fallibility of human memory, the different types of truths we know and the liminal space between objective and subjective facts. No notes.

Dacey’s Patent Automatic Nanny
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another story that delves into the nature of parenting and what it means to grow, but not nearly as engaging as "The Lifecycle of Software Objects". Gorgeously written with an amazing command of the language and victorian tone.

The Lifecycle of Software Objects
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
No notes. This story cemented me as a Ted Chiang fan for life. I've read plenty of stories treading these same ideas, but Mr. Chiang takes to a whole new level - and then even farther. Topics covered include sentience, self-determination, the logic of emotion but mostly it's about parenting and the sorrow of letting your kids grow apart from you.

What’s Expected of Us
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A short letter from the future reminding us to "not worry, be happpy". Mr. Chiang is an amazing writer but this feels a bit subpar in the imagination department. Three stars for the exquisite implementation of a story that otherwise would have been forgettable.

Exhalation
⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
The second story in this anthology is written from the POV of a scientist from a population of sentient mechanisms. The story questions ideas about immortality, the nature of free will, and draws inspiration from the "grey death" of cosmological thermodynamics. It's engaging and has an interesting mechanism driving the conflict, but I don't think it has the rereadability for four stars.

The Merchant And the Alchemist's Gate
4 stars
A very well written story about the fine line between regret and remorse, written around a time travelling mechanism that works by actively disregarding paradox.

[I forgot to do a couple of updates, so this is going to cover about 30% of the book]
The frozen queen is no longer timeless
The beautiful prince shows a darkness
The goblin jester makes herself known
The beautiful prince becomes the key to enlightenment - and a scapegoat
The fairy tale land is torn asunder
The two princesses drift into new lands, each alone