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So behind on book reviews. Oh well.
#48: The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher. 3.5. In which Butcher does steampunk. It's not bad--entertaining and skims along easily enough. But I couldn't help but feel like I've seen most of the elements elsewhere, and more compelling. I think part of the problem is that he's trying to be a little arch but ends up mostly just disengaged.
Hugo novellas: shall I count these? I guess I shall.
#49: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor. 5. Original, engrossing, well-paced. Reminds me of Le Guin's Hain books more than anything else, but not at all derivative.
#50: The Builders by Daniel Polansky. 4. Nihilistic Redwall. On one hand, I'm not sure I wanted to like this--it's so grimdark as to be almost comical. But it's weirdly compelling and surprisingly funny. Shouldn't have worked, but it did.
#51: Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold. 5. Minor story in Chalion. Works ok even if you haven't read the novels. It's just adorable. Total innocent proto-geek gets saddled with all-powerful demon, does surprisingly well for himself.
#52: Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson. 4. A novella's the closest thing you're getting to a short story from Sanderson. Not particularly deep, but a lot of fun. Fully exploits the brain-in-a-bottle concept.
#53: Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds. 1.5. Meh. The plot is fine, I guess, but not told in a particularly compelling way. No real interest in the characters, and the set up doesn't have a great deal of logic to it other than to create a highly unlikely set of circumstances under which to make a not particularly interesting moral choice.
Back to the novels.
#54: Kraken by China Mieville. 3.5. I usually like Mieville's layered insanities, but there was just a little too much going on in this one. Breathless pacing, which is fun, as crazed squid cultists run around a slipstream London, but there are just a few too many ideas flying around and then things end a little too pat.
#55: The Stand by Stephen King. 2. *headdesk* So much talent, so many problems. I loved the beginning of this, as an unstoppable plague spreads across the US. (Bad timing? Reading an incredibly creepy and evocative set of vignettes about people acquiring a portentous summer cold, while suffering from a summer cold.) Great apocalypse. But then when we get into the post-apocalypse, things go downhill fast. I was only half on board with the good vs evil magical duel being set up. But the mounting, awful sexism and once again the magical Negro...can we just not? And then in the end...the protagonists don't do anything. Other than I guess play Isaac for a crazed God who doesn't offer a reprieve this time--there is literally no agency for anyone in this book. All the suffering, all the planning accomplishes nothing. The bad guy would have offed himself without their help. Oh, and don't get me started on his paramour. At least Harold struggles some with his decision to defect, and has some legit reasons for being upset. She can only be stopped by being deflowered, which she wants, but instead just goes and joins evil and loses her mind because women? Mindless baby machine sluts anyway.
#56: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge. 4.5. Brilliant bit of near-future extrapolation. Slightly dated already, which was bound to happen, but still mostly stands up. Meme battles which cast Pokemon Go in a new, pretty awesome light. Total asshole protagonist who is nonetheless fun to follow. Convoluted plot about international mind control virus shenanigans, the destruction of libraries, and homework that mostly detangles itself by the end. A lot of fun.
#57: Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice about Children by Ann Hulbert. 3. A little disappointing. I wish there had been more actual analysis, especially of the earlier stuff, and comparison of how experts actually influenced parents behavior, and less delving into the various experts' respective childhoods. In the later chapters, things improved, but it makes the book very unbalanced.
#48: The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher. 3.5. In which Butcher does steampunk. It's not bad--entertaining and skims along easily enough. But I couldn't help but feel like I've seen most of the elements elsewhere, and more compelling. I think part of the problem is that he's trying to be a little arch but ends up mostly just disengaged.
Hugo novellas: shall I count these? I guess I shall.
#49: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor. 5. Original, engrossing, well-paced. Reminds me of Le Guin's Hain books more than anything else, but not at all derivative.
#50: The Builders by Daniel Polansky. 4. Nihilistic Redwall. On one hand, I'm not sure I wanted to like this--it's so grimdark as to be almost comical. But it's weirdly compelling and surprisingly funny. Shouldn't have worked, but it did.
#51: Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold. 5. Minor story in Chalion. Works ok even if you haven't read the novels. It's just adorable. Total innocent proto-geek gets saddled with all-powerful demon, does surprisingly well for himself.
#52: Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson. 4. A novella's the closest thing you're getting to a short story from Sanderson. Not particularly deep, but a lot of fun. Fully exploits the brain-in-a-bottle concept.
#53: Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds. 1.5. Meh. The plot is fine, I guess, but not told in a particularly compelling way. No real interest in the characters, and the set up doesn't have a great deal of logic to it other than to create a highly unlikely set of circumstances under which to make a not particularly interesting moral choice.
Back to the novels.
#54: Kraken by China Mieville. 3.5. I usually like Mieville's layered insanities, but there was just a little too much going on in this one. Breathless pacing, which is fun, as crazed squid cultists run around a slipstream London, but there are just a few too many ideas flying around and then things end a little too pat.
#55: The Stand by Stephen King. 2. *headdesk* So much talent, so many problems. I loved the beginning of this, as an unstoppable plague spreads across the US. (Bad timing? Reading an incredibly creepy and evocative set of vignettes about people acquiring a portentous summer cold, while suffering from a summer cold.) Great apocalypse. But then when we get into the post-apocalypse, things go downhill fast. I was only half on board with the good vs evil magical duel being set up. But the mounting, awful sexism and once again the magical Negro...can we just not? And then in the end...the protagonists don't do anything. Other than I guess play Isaac for a crazed God who doesn't offer a reprieve this time--there is literally no agency for anyone in this book. All the suffering, all the planning accomplishes nothing. The bad guy would have offed himself without their help. Oh, and don't get me started on his paramour. At least Harold struggles some with his decision to defect, and has some legit reasons for being upset. She can only be stopped by being deflowered, which she wants, but instead just goes and joins evil and loses her mind because women? Mindless baby machine sluts anyway.
#56: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge. 4.5. Brilliant bit of near-future extrapolation. Slightly dated already, which was bound to happen, but still mostly stands up. Meme battles which cast Pokemon Go in a new, pretty awesome light. Total asshole protagonist who is nonetheless fun to follow. Convoluted plot about international mind control virus shenanigans, the destruction of libraries, and homework that mostly detangles itself by the end. A lot of fun.
#57: Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice about Children by Ann Hulbert. 3. A little disappointing. I wish there had been more actual analysis, especially of the earlier stuff, and comparison of how experts actually influenced parents behavior, and less delving into the various experts' respective childhoods. In the later chapters, things improved, but it makes the book very unbalanced.
