Kaiju Reviews > Recent Status Updates

Sure, I know I'm being grandly manipulated, but damn, I'm loving this. The chapter Advent blew me away. Having Scylla and Charybdis used to describe a menu already had me gushing, but everything about this chapter was just terrific - yes, even the long footnote. Loved that too. And yes, the breaking of the 4th wall. Excellent. Call it the literary equivalent of a bon bon if you must, but it's literary nonetheless...

Left Hand of Darkness - a beautiful book. Should be required reading. Actually, reading these novels, 4 now, back to back reveals elements that had i read independently I'd have missed. Like in City of Illusion, Left Hand relies heavily on a journey along which one is mostly misled until a revelation occurs, both staggering to this reader. Both integral to the theme.

Last Water Baron was an enjoyable read, if thin, while Mizuba didn't work for me. I appreciated the intent, but see this as a fail to deliver.

Left Hand is very different than the prior novels. Taken a bit off guard, but not unpleasantly so. This, clearly, is a more fleshed out narrative. The switching perspectives so far have been well handled, but the luxurious prose is less at the forefront here, having taken a back seat to exposition and character development.

A cat was just burned alive for no reason, and reported in graphic detail. Man, this book sucks... can i quit a book on page 649??

Decent start. Opening poem by Alex Demitrov was solid, the story Feeling Artist was just okay, but not bad.

This will be the dumbest novel I've read to completion in a really long time.

Loved City of Illusion - totally understand the slow pace having reached the end. Left Hand has an excellent start as well. I've grown to completely trust Le Guin and have really enjoyed reading these books back to back.

Nic and Viv is a fun story. Haven't liked McIntosh too much in the past, but the low stakes tale suits his style and this one works.

Father doesn't do anything new, but it is told well and also just struck me as a good solid story.

Something extremely different here than in other books of a similar type. Most books these days, especially F&SF, focus on a detailed world and plot, have thin archetypal characters, and obvious YA-esque themes. In Planet of Exile, themes take the front stage. That isn't to say the characters are thin or archetypal, they aren't. Nothing about this felt familiar to me at all. I was always captivated and held.

This is epic fantasy. Enjoyed book 1. Less highbrow than i expected. Actually, quite accessible if you can get past the old english.

I'm having a lot of fun with this one so far. It's like Clive Cussler with monsters (with less sexism and better writing).

Planet of Exile has an excellent start. The writing is beautiful. The links to Rocannon's World are subtle and meaningful. I'm early in, but this seems like it could have been a seed for GRRMs Song of Ice and Fire. Some interesting parallels anyway (but, like I said, early on, could totally change direction.)

So far, this book is predictable, poorly written, and honestly, just dumb. I'll give it to 40% before I bail, because it is fast past and easy to skim. I doubt my opinion will change, but you never know... "He clenched his fists. His feelings for Rose McBride were getting the better of him."

Rocannon's World: I loved the writing, the references, the slow and steady pace, and the feeling of loneliness, loss, melancholy, and exile, yet perseverance.

This is my first longer work by Le Guin to read, and I'm glad I waited. My prediction is that context is everything. Had I stumbled across this in a magazine as a young man, shoved between more standard stories, I'd have probably found it meandering and overly pastoral. Within the context of my current self-taught master class on Le Guin, I found it fascinating and delightful.

This would be amazing if I were reading it in a dorm room... as a full grown adult, I find it juvenile, but creative

Yeah, I'm reading this. So far, it's great.

Have Many Rabbit = a fine 5 star poem. Favorite read in this issue so far. The story Rabbits was okay. I appreciate the funny editorial aside putting these together, but otherwise unimpressed. Zagajewski poems very good.

Return to the Red Castle is a good story, but one that needed a lot more. There are multiple stories here, all fascinating, and not much resolution. I'd love to see this expanded, maybe even as a novel.

Loved the Spencer Reece poems and loved the concept of Bishop translating Max Jacob, but the poems themselves didn't work for me (except for maybe 'Urgency'. The impossibility to convey the full poem in translation is very clearly explained in the introductory essay - 'Rain' being the best example. If wordplay is so pivotal in a poem, i'd argue it shouldn't be translated.

Through the Gates of the Silver Key is a strong contender for favorite Lovecraft story, I'm surprised to say. It just really hit me right. The story itself, the plot, isn't amazing or anything, but the set pieces and strange descriptions and Carter's arc in general really sparked my imagination.

Eve was a touching story, and nice way to say goodbye to a lot of those characters, but nothing earth-shattering (or hell shattering).

The Gaudium Option - loved the art in this one, but the story fell flat for me. Goudium and company in general I never really grabbed on to.

Didn't like Exodus. It bored me. The Denial of Death by Gluck was quite good though.

As good as this book is (if you work really hard), I'm super sick of reading it. End in sight...

So long as we both - decent premise, weak execution

Evensong left me wanting more, but I enjoyed it.