So. I love Robert Jackson Bennett. His Divine Cities trilogy is probably my favorite fantasy series of all time; they are so good that I went and bougSo. I love Robert Jackson Bennett. His Divine Cities trilogy is probably my favorite fantasy series of all time; they are so good that I went and bought all of his other books as soon as I was done with those. And they are really amazing. But this novella just freaked the fuck out of me. In a good way? I read the synopsis, and I thought, “Jeez, Mr. Bennett, couldn’t you have stuck to fiction?”. He's clearly very angry at American gun culture, the media that takes fear-mongering to another level, the predatory way advertisers use social media, and the vapid devotion of the public to reality tv. This novella is how he patched those things together.
In an imaginary America, 30 or 40 years from now, marketers have found a way to monetize on mass shootings, by turning them into reality TV. This means that people who want to commit mass shootings can apply to be contestants on this show, which scouts out the optimal location to get as much viewership and interest as possible. Survivors will get money rewards, as will anyone who can actually take down the hostile shooters. But this particular episode of "Vigilance" goes awry in a horrifying way.
I’m Canadian: we have a lot of guns up here too, but we don’t do the mass shooting thing very often. It happens, sure, but not on a regular basis. My husband is American: we go see his family a few times a year, and I’d be lying if I said that I don’t feel a certain pressure lifting off of my shoulders when we cross the border back into the land of maple syrup.
I was sadly not surprised to see a few people found this novella heavy-handed and to be the work of a city slicker who doesn’t understand gun ownership. I am of the opinion that you don’t need to “understand gun ownership” (whatever that means) to grasp the idea that there are too many mass shootings taking place in the United States, and that sensationalism is what drives the media. How hard is it to imagine a marketer with zero moral barometer would simply choose to cash out on that?
A punch-to-the-gut novella by a very talented writer. It brought “The Sheep Look Up” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) to my mind, as it is as relevant and prescient as Brunner’s book. It is well-written, without frills (the topic doesn't really call for frills), and yes, it's a bit didactic, but it's an interesting portrait of what could happen...
Robert: I want to hug you and make you a cup of tea. You sound like you need a hug and a cup of tea. We all do.
Merged review:
So. I love Robert Jackson Bennett. His Divine Cities trilogy is probably my favorite fantasy series of all time; they are so good that I went and bought all of his other books as soon as I was done with those. And they are really amazing. But this novella just freaked the fuck out of me. In a good way? I read the synopsis, and I thought, “Jeez, Mr. Bennett, couldn’t you have stuck to fiction?”. He's clearly very angry at American gun culture, the media that takes fear-mongering to another level, the predatory way advertisers use social media, and the vapid devotion of the public to reality tv. This novella is how he patched those things together.
In an imaginary America, 30 or 40 years from now, marketers have found a way to monetize on mass shootings, by turning them into reality TV. This means that people who want to commit mass shootings can apply to be contestants on this show, which scouts out the optimal location to get as much viewership and interest as possible. Survivors will get money rewards, as will anyone who can actually take down the hostile shooters. But this particular episode of "Vigilance" goes awry in a horrifying way.
I’m Canadian: we have a lot of guns up here too, but we don’t do the mass shooting thing very often. It happens, sure, but not on a regular basis. My husband is American: we go see his family a few times a year, and I’d be lying if I said that I don’t feel a certain pressure lifting off of my shoulders when we cross the border back into the land of maple syrup.
I was sadly not surprised to see a few people found this novella heavy-handed and to be the work of a city slicker who doesn’t understand gun ownership. I am of the opinion that you don’t need to “understand gun ownership” (whatever that means) to grasp the idea that there are too many mass shootings taking place in the United States, and that sensationalism is what drives the media. How hard is it to imagine a marketer with zero moral barometer would simply choose to cash out on that?
A punch-to-the-gut novella by a very talented writer. It brought “The Sheep Look Up” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) to my mind, as it is as relevant and prescient as Brunner’s book. It is well-written, without frills (the topic doesn't really call for frills), and yes, it's a bit didactic, but it's an interesting portrait of what could happen...
Robert: I want to hug you and make you a cup of tea. You sound like you need a hug and a cup of tea. We all do....more
La suite de “Marius” est aussi merveilleuse en format bédé que dans les autres médias, et j’ai passé un beau vendredi après-midi ensoBilingual review!
La suite de “Marius” est aussi merveilleuse en format bédé que dans les autres médias, et j’ai passé un beau vendredi après-midi ensoleillé sur mon balcon à la feuilleter. Le même artiste qui a donné vie à l’œuvre de Pagnol via ces illustrations a fait un travail remarquable avec cet épisode de la « Trilogie Marseillaise » qui se tourne vers la petite vendeuse de coquillages en peine d’amour, qui cache un océan de courage sous son aspect si sage.
Marius est parti. César est misérable et furieux, et fait passer ces émotions sur tout le monde. Fanny est silencieuse et inconsolable, mais sa mère espère qu’avec le temps, elle se remettra assez pour accepter la demande en mariage de Panisse. Mais quand elle réalise qu’elle porte le bébé de Marius, Fanny se retrouve forcée à choisir entre sa loyauté envers l’homme qu’elle aime et la réputation et l’honneur de sa famille.
Ça peut sembler inconcevable pour quelqu’un qui lit cette histoire aujourd’hui qu’on fasse autant de drame au sujet d’une fille de la classe ouvrière qui a un bébé en dehors du mariage, mais dans les années 30, la pression sociale et religieuse que les femmes subissait était sévère et sans pitié. Les conséquences de cette grossesse non-planifiée aurait pu faire prendre au comptoir de poissonnerie de la famille toute leur clientèle, aurait pu la forcer à déménager là où personne n’aurait pu ête témoins de sa honte… Lire cette histoire avec des yeux modernes peut facilement rendre furieux, rien qu’à penser à la police de la moralité qui se donnait le droit de juger ainsi la sexualité des femmes, mais je n’irais pas plus loin dans ce sujet… Ce qui est remarquable dans cette histoire, c’est que l’instinct premier de Fanny n’est pas de se cacher ou de prétendre que son bébé est l’enfant de quelqu’un d’autre: elle veut avoir son bébé et attendre le retour de Marius, ce qui aurait exigé une grande bravoure d’une jeune femme à cette époque. Ce n’est, évidemment, pas comme cela que l’histoire se déroule, et Fanny prendra une décision qui va changer sa vie et le futur de la petite vie pour laquelle elle est maintenant responsable.
La seule petite critique que j’ai à faire est qu’un morceau de dialogue a été coupé d’une scène cruciale, qui est un des moments les plus émouvant dans le film, et j’ai été déçue de ne pas le voir sur la page. Mais c’est vraiment une critique de rien du tout venant de quelqu’un qui a lu la pièce et écouté le film beaucoup trop souvent, et ceci n’affectera en rien votre plaisir de lecture si vous en faites l’expérience pour la première fois.
Le dernier volume de la trilogie devrait arriver à ma librairie locale cette semaine et j’attends leur coup de fil avec impatience! Si vous avez accès à ces magnifiques livres, ils sont une magnifique façon de découvrir les histoires de Pagnol! Je recommande particulièrement cette trilogie ainsi que “La Gloire de Mon Père” et “Le Château de ma Mère”.
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The sequel to “Marius” is just as wonderful in graphic novel format as it is in other mediums, and I spent a lovely sunny Friday afternoon reading it on my balcony. The same artist who had been bringing the rest of Pagnol’s oeuvre to life with his illustrations did an amazing job with the episode of the “Trilogie Marseillaise” that focuses on the love-sick seashell girl who hides oceans of strength under her otherwise quiet demeanor.
Marius is gone. César is miserable and furious, and he takes it out on everyone. Fanny is quietly inconsolable, but her mother hopes that a little time will help her recover enough to accept Panisse’s proposal. But when she realizes she is pregnant with Marius’ baby, Fanny finds herself having to make an impossible choice between loyalty to the man she loves and her family’s reputation and honor.
It can seem inconceivable to anyone reading this story today that people would make such a big fuss about a working-class girl having a baby out of wedlock, but in the 1930s, the social and religious pressures women had to face were severe and unforgiving. The consequences of this unplanned pregnancy could have lost her family’s fish-stall all their clients, forced her to move some place no one could have witnessed her ‘shame’… Reading a story like this with modern eyes can make you furious about the morality police who felt it was their place to judge women’s sexuality, but I’m not going to get too carried away here… The point is that in this story, Fanny’s first impulse is not to hide or try to pass off her child as another man’s: what she wants is to have the baby and wait for Marius to return, something that would have taken incredible bravery for a young woman to do at that time. But this is of course, not how the story goes, and she makes a decision that will change her life for the sake of the small life she is now responsible for.
The one bone I have to pick here is that some dialogue of a crucial scene was cut, and it’s one of the movie’s most moving moments, and I was a little disappointed not to see it on the page. But really this is a tiny nit-picking from someone who has read the source material and watched the movies way too often, and will in no way mar the enjoyment of someone who is coming to this story with fresh eyes.
The final book of the trilogy should arrive at my local bookseller soon and I can’t wait! If you have access to these beautiful books, they are a wonderful way to get introduced to Pagnol’s work! I especially recommend this trilogy and “La Gloire de Mon Père” and “Le Château de ma Mère”....more
Dual-language review, as I am fairly certain that non-French readers may not be interested in/have access to these graphic novels. I previously publisDual-language review, as I am fairly certain that non-French readers may not be interested in/have access to these graphic novels. I previously published this review under volume 1 and 2 of this graphic novel, which has now been printed as an omnibus edition)
Quatre ans ont passés depuis que j’ai trouvé en librairie la première bédé adaptée de l’oeuvre de Pagnol (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). Depuis, la collection a vraiment explosée, et j’ai fait le bonheur de ma librairie locale en commandant une grosse pile de titres il y a quelques semaines.
Je connais probablement le texte de “Marius” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) par coeur. J’ai lu la pièce une douzaine de fois et je ne compte plus les visionements du film réalisé par Alexander Korda (et plus récement, la belle version signée Daniel Auteuil – il n’est pas Raimu, mais il adore tellement l’oeuvre qu’on s’en fout pas mal). Mais le plaisir de visiter de nouvelles interprétations est quand même très présent. Je dirais même que de toutes les bédés de cette collection, à date, “Marius” est probablement mon préféré.
Le texte, écrit pour le théâtre, se traduit très bien en format de bande dessinée, et le petit texte en annexe témoigne du travail qui a été fait pour tenter de récréer le plus fidèlement possible le Vieux-Port de Marseille avant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, qui a défigurée une bonne partie du quartier ou se situe l’action. Les personnages ne ressemblent en rien à la distribution des films, ce qui est parfait: autant qu’on puisse adorer Pierre Fresnay et Orane Demazis dans les rôles principaux, ça ne servirait à rien d’essayer de capturer leur jeu sur la page. Sébastien Morice a donné aux personnages des visages nouveaux, mais fidèles à l’esprit de l’histoire que Pagnol imaginait lorsqu’il vivait à Paris et souffrait d’un grand mal du pays. J’adore également les petits clins d’oeil aux autres livres, films et pieces qui sont cachés dans les arrière-plans!
Bref, si vous aimez Pagnol, cette collection est un trésor et “Marius” en est le plus magnifique épisode.
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It’s been four years since I found the first graphic novel adaptation of Pagnol’s work in a bookstore. Since then, the collection has exploded, and I made my local book-seller really happy by ordering a huge pile a few weeks ago.
I probably know “Marius” by heart. I read the play at least a dozen times, and I can’t count how many times I’ve watched the classic Alexander Korda-directed movie (and more recently, the Daniel Auteuil adaptation – he’s not Raimu, but he loves the material so much that no one cares). It’s still an absolute pleasure to look at new interpretations. I would even say that of all the graphic novels in this collection to date, “Marius” is my favorite.
The text was written for the stage, and it lends itself very well to the graphic novel format, with a little annex discussing how much work went into faithfully recreating the Old Port of Marseille before World War II, as the bombings destroyed most of the neighborhood in which the story is set. The characters look nothing like the cast of the movies, which is perfect: you can love Pierre Fresnay and Orane Demazis in the main roles, but it would be silly to try to capture their performance on the page. Sébastien Morice gave the characters new faces, but kept them faithful to the spirit of the story Pagnol dreamt of when he was living in Paris and suffering from great homesickness. I also love the little references to other books, movies and plays that are scattered in the backgrounds!
In short, if you like Pagnol, this graphic novel collection is a treasure and “Marius” is its most magnificent instalment. ...more
This book is so adorable! The weird little girl who still lives inside my head delighted in following Millie Fleur's adventures in gardening the cutesThis book is so adorable! The weird little girl who still lives inside my head delighted in following Millie Fleur's adventures in gardening the cutest creepy plants! I think I am living proof that this book will enchant people of any age if they are fans of the Addams family, but it is sure to make little girls and boys giggle and hopefully, interested in gardening... lethal or non-lethal plants...
Stay weird, kids: you will find your tribe eventually!...more
When I was little, my mother had a beautiful edition of the “1,001 Nights” with lovely illustrations, and I spent hours leafing through it. I loved thWhen I was little, my mother had a beautiful edition of the “1,001 Nights” with lovely illustrations, and I spent hours leafing through it. I loved the completely exotic (to me, at least) settings, but mostly the fact that magic, gods, demons and other supernatural creatures seemed to be just as much a part of the normal life of the characters as did eating and working. “The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi” took me right back to that kind of story, one where the line between the mundane and the fantastic is quite thin.
Set in the 12th century, all around the Indian Ocean, this is the story of a middle-aged pirate of some notoriety who is forced out of her peaceful retirement when the mother of a former crew member comes to see her: her grand-daughter is missing and she believes she was taken by a man from the West and she wants Amina to get her back. That seems simple enough, and Amina feels like she owes this favor in memory of her former crew member, but she soon realizes that there is more to the story than she was told at first. The man who allegedly abducted the young girl is looking for a powerful magical relic, and Amina will need more help than she expected in order to fulfill her mission.
This was just so much fun. Well written, fast-paced, funny and evocative, I was always looking forward to the next chapter in this wild travelogue and grumbled every time I had to put it down to go to work. Amina is such a lovely character, well-developed and easy to root for. I am also always on board for a fantasy novel that doesn’t center itself around young and impossibly beautiful and perfect characters: I like a dose of realism and grit in my escapism, something I can relate to, and a female character in her forties who likes men, who is a strong leader of her crew and who had her heart in the right place feels both refreshing and engaging.
I am also quite impressed with the amount of research that clearly went into this book: the cities and societies we visit through its pages are described and explained in a way that isn’t ponderous but gives you a strong feeling of time and place. That said, this definitely falls into the cozier side of the fantasy spectrum, because things are often just… nice? Perhaps there is a touch of presentism there, but I feel like that place, at that time, would have been a lot harsher than the world we find in this book. I don’t mind a break from the grimdark type of fantasy, but I find a lot of those characters incongruously open-minded and accepting of certain things (open queerness, for instance) given the setting, but I also don’t think that it’s being annoyingly preachy; it’s simply trying to normalize a few things that feel awkwardly anachronistic – which I decided to forgive, given the ‘fantasy’ label. I too, fantasize about a slightly kinder world than the real one, after all.
If you like a good swashbuckling roller coaster and get queasy when things are too gory, this is a fantastic little nautical adventure that reminded me of Sindbad’s journeys. I understand two more books are planned in this universe: here goes another book I thought was a stand-alone and is being turned into a series! Oh well, I look forward to another fabulous travel with Amina and her crew!
I had been eying this book for some time now, and when I was on vacation, I saw it in two different indie bookstores I visited, so I ended up getting myself a copy at the lovely Lift Bridge Book Shop in Brockport, NY (https://www.liftbridgebooks.com/). Check it out if you are in the area, that place is a little gem!...more
Obviously, I couldn’t go on vacation without throwing at least one book by T. Kingfisher on my vacation read pile, and since I am a completist at hearObviously, I couldn’t go on vacation without throwing at least one book by T. Kingfisher on my vacation read pile, and since I am a completist at heart, the first one I thought of was the last book from the White Rat universe I still hadn’t gotten around to, “Swordheart”. I had avoided that one because the summary seemed to indicate it leaned further into the romance aspect than the other books she wrote which are set in this universe, but hey, I was going to be chilling by the lake with a glass of wine, a little romantic crap won’t hurt.
Well, first off, the summary mislead me: this is as much a romance as any of the “Saints of Steel” books, so yeah, it’s a central element, but the setting and the characters are so strong and interesting that the romance never feels silly or forced or unrealistic.
Halla is a middle-aged widow and has been taking care of her ailing uncle (by marriage) for years, and when he dies, he leaves his estate to her instead of leaving it to his other relatives, who are not too happy about that. They lock Halla up and plan to force her to marry her late husband’s brother in order to keep the house and the money in the family. Finding no solution to this situation, she takes a old sword her late uncle had hung up on a wall of her bedroom, with the intention to kill herself. But when she pulls the blade out, a man appears out of thin air. Apparently, the sword was enchanted with a guardian, and the act of wielding the sword means Halla is now the person he must serve and protect…
Halla can certainly be annoying and comes across as dim-witted because she is sheltered and inexperiened, but she’s a lot smarter than she lets on, and for very good reason. Kingfisher is very insightful, and I love the way she managed to write about the way women have to develop weird coping mechanisms in order to not be killed and/or rapped – even in a fantasy universe as cozy as hers. Her dynamic with Sarkis, who has the mercenary with a heart of gold thing down to an art, is hilarious and eventually really tender. I know it’s fluffy as fuck, but I did enjoy how they are better working together than apart because their strengths compliment each other and all that pap. It's cute and wholesome.
I was also quite happy to see Brindle the gnole again, and I was glad he had an ox to take care of (that gnole loves his ox), and Zale is a perfect example of why I love the Temple of the White Rat so much: help people and get things done should be the motto of any religious institution worth it’s salt. And the not-possessed-but-definitely-not-normal bird deserves a special mention as the weirdest pet I ever read about.
This is a Kingfisher book, so it’s funny and inventive, her characters are awkward and realistic, her world-building is a great riff on the usual fantasy tropes, managing to be both familiar are alien at the same time – and like her other “White Rat” books, reading it felt like drinking a lovely mug of hot chocolate with plenty of marshmallows. Also, I want to go live there: there are jerks, but it seems like a generally great place to live.
Don’t skip this one if you love this woman’s work: it deserves a space on your cozy but smart fantasy shelf!...more
This was the book that got my friend Erika hooked on T. Kingfisher, and she is the one who got me reading the “Saints of Steel” novels, so I felt likeThis was the book that got my friend Erika hooked on T. Kingfisher, and she is the one who got me reading the “Saints of Steel” novels, so I felt like I should check it out, as this is basically patient zero of this cozy fantasy epidemic I have been spreading all year. Now a word of warning: this is definitely more of a YA novel than the other Kingfisher works I have been reading and reviewing! But it’s still loads of fun, completely original and features a plucky heroine who has no idea what she’s doing, but she’s going to do her best!
Mona works in her aunt’s bakery as an apprentice, but she is not an ordinary baker: she is a magician, and she can do some very unusual things with dough! Nothing she considers to be especially remarkable, but it certainly makes her work more interesting. Until the morning when she finds a dead body in the bakery, of course. Too much summary would spoil this very fun little book, so I won’t go into details, but sufficed to say that Mona will uncover a conspiracy festering at the heart of her city-state and will have to be inventive and brave to save herself and those she loves.
Mona is a fantastic heroine, very aware that she is 14 and that none of this is supposed to be happening to her and that she has to do this because grown ups have failed – and I loved her so much. I also envy her relationship with her sourdough starter, Bob, because I was never an ambitious enough baker to go near sourdough – even after years of making my own no-knead bread at home.
This is a fun little romp, but I do prefer Kingfisher’s work aimed at so-called grown-ups. However, her ideas, humor and insight is present in every page, and it’s well-worth checking out if you enjoy her work....more
Early this year, I got a nasty cold and spent a couple of days on the couch in a NyQuil haze. This seemed like a good time to my severely addled brainEarly this year, I got a nasty cold and spent a couple of days on the couch in a NyQuil haze. This seemed like a good time to my severely addled brain to watch "Elvis" and "Priscilla" back-to-back. Both are incredible, albeit wildly different works of art. The first is bombastic, loud, glittery, and borderline hallucinogenic (or maybe that was the cold medicine) and the second is quiet, subdued and elegant. I don’t have a favorite, in case you are wondering: I never thought of those movies as competing to tell the same story, that’s really not what’s going on here. But "Priscilla" made me very curious about the book it was based on, Priscilla Beaulieu Prestley’s memoirs of meeting, falling in love with and living with Elvis. I wanted to see what Sofia Coppola had not put on the screen.
I want to clarify that while I really enjoy a lot of his music, I am a very moderate Elvis fan. His musical legacy is massive, but it’s also complicated, so I enjoy his work, but I never really idolized him.
While I read this book, I kept thinking: "poor, sweet little Cilla…"
The term ‘grooming’ is kind of weird, isn’t it? English is not my first language, and the first time I heard it, I thought of the lovely lady who used to trim my long-haired cat’s fur into a lion cut every summer. That’s not what it means, of course: it means to subtly (or overtly, in some cases) manipulate a generally young and inexperienced person into an idealized partner, the implication being that they don’t know any better, which puts them in a position where they are almost always being taken advantage of, if not simply abused. I thought about that term a lot while reading this, because dang! What Elvis did here is kind of textbook…
Priscilla was 14 years old when she first met Elvis. I tried to remember what I was like at 14, and I admit that’s far enough to be quite fuzzy now. I know I would have loved the attention, especially if it came from the biggest heartthrob of my generation. But even at that age, a ten-year difference would have felt like a lot… And while she insists, repeatedly, that Elvis was always nothing but a gentleman to her, that nothing he ever did was weird or perverted and that they didn’t have penetrative sex until they were married… she also often says that he taught her how to dress, how to do her hair and make up, how to keep house, and shared his drugs with her very liberally. I believe her when she says that he would never have hurt her or let anything bad happen to her, but at the same time, what he did was still manipulative and controlling. He didn’t like it when she talked back, when she behaved (in his words) like a man, by being strong and fighting back, he didn’t want her to go to college or get a job. Poor Cilla basically had to divorce him to have the space and the freedom to discover who she was, and I can’t help but find that tragic.
The book is strangely paced: they only get married in the second half of the book, and while they weren’t married very long, it still feels uneven. Priscilla loved Elvis with her whole heart (and probably still does) and she clearly wants to keep all her memories of him good, and that’s the way she spins – consciously or not. I don’t not get it; it must be difficult to think of such a major part of your life having been abusive. But from an outsider’s perspective, there is something off about what she thinks of as a great love story.
That said, her writing is sweet, if not terribly sophisticated, and while I often felt sad for how isolated she was during her years in Graceland, I also enjoyed learning what it was like living at the heart of this almost legendary place. It’s a shame that Elvis kept her so sheltered, because I think he might have been impressed with the woman she became....more
I’m not sure how this novella by Kealan Patrick Burke slipped under my radar, but ‘better late than never’ will be my epitaph, as I am constantly catcI’m not sure how this novella by Kealan Patrick Burke slipped under my radar, but ‘better late than never’ will be my epitaph, as I am constantly catching up! I have been a fan of Burke’s work for a long time; he is an amazing storyteller, he really knows how to find the horror in the mundane and grief is a theme he has explored often, with chilling results.
Mark’s grandmother passed away, and between this lost and the realization that the girl he loves will never love him back, he decides he is done with this small town and needs to move on. He decides that spending the evening alone at home after his grandmother’s funeral is a bad call, so he decides to go into work, as a bartender at a seaside resort past his prime. An epic snowstorm rolls into town, and while the guests and staff start going home, those who stay behind are surprised to welcome a last-minute group reservation…
Sure, Burke spends some time setting up the story, and maybe a few details could have been dropped, but once it gets going… If you’ve read other works by Burke before, you know he cranks up tension and horror elements very skillfully. I think he is also especially good a shorter form stories, and this novella is perfectly sized for an evening – though I would recommend reading it in summer…
As is often the case with him, Burke wraps up his story with a strange and unsettling twist. While this novella may not be his best work, it would be a wonderful introduction if you’ve never read his stories before, and if you have enjoyed his twisted imagination in the past, don’t miss this one!...more
I’m going to start this review with a PSA: if you are going to read the “Clocktaur War” books, do yourself a favor and just read them back-to-back: thI’m going to start this review with a PSA: if you are going to read the “Clocktaur War” books, do yourself a favor and just read them back-to-back: they are both pretty short, and feel more like a novel cleaved in half than like two separate books.
“The Wonder Engines” picks up immediately where “The Clockwork Boys” left off, so I am going to be very brief here, as I don’t want to give away too much. Sufficed to say, our little bunch of miscreants is back and ready to try and fight the clocktaurs! This book is where the action really ramps up, which is another great reason to read both books from this duology as close together as possible.
Our bunch of misfit adventurers finally arrive at Anuket City, after a rather harrowing journey, but they don’t really get much of a break before they have to face the real enemy they have been sent to defeat.
The relationship between Slate and Caliban is, in trademark Kingfisher fashion, a sweet and awkward courtship dance between two damaged people who don’t think of themselves as someone anyone would want to be with but find comfort in each other. I have never been great at noticing it when people flirt with me, but even I know that when a guy consistently has hankies for you when you have allergies, he definitely cares. A lot.
I would say that I liked this book a tiny bit more than the first simply because I was now familiar enough with the characters and the set-up that I could really just kick back and enjoy. Even Learned Edmund, despite his many, many faults, was now someone I looked forward to reading about every time I picked up the book. Their dynamic is great, complex and engaging - and Kingfisher doesn't rely on the easy or cliché to define them, which is wonderful.
Kingfisher has become my go-to when I need something fun and comforting, and I get the feeling that I will be revisiting her “World of the White Rat” novels when I need something warm and fuzzy and smart to read. I must say I prefer the “Saint of Steel” books because they are longer and have more breathing room for plot and character development. These books were fun, but they would have been even better with an extra hundred page each, to flesh out the story even more. All the elements that make the “World of the White Rat” universe wonderful are here, these just feel a bit rushed. If she sees fit to write more books set in this universe, I will cheerfully throw money at her.
Not to be missed if you want something cozy and clever....more
Nathan Ballingrud is a writer I have been keeping on my radar since I devoured his short story collection “North American Lake Monsters” a few years aNathan Ballingrud is a writer I have been keeping on my radar since I devoured his short story collection “North American Lake Monsters” a few years ago, and he has never let me down. I was very intrigued by the premise of his new novella, since he has shown with “The Strange” that he writes very interesting what I can only label as ‘weird sci-fi’. This one feels rather more Gothic than his Mars novel, but he obviously finds space eerie, and I am here for it.
The story is set in an alternate 1923, which includes not only space exploration by humans, but also a moon that is nothing like the one we know. On this moon, there are forests, and a very exclusive sanatorium a woman named Veronica is committed to by her husband. She suffers from melancholia, and the doctors who run this institution are reputed to be the best at treating such an ailment. But when she gets there, her room is hardly different from a jail cell, and the treatments are not what she expected at all.
At just about one hundred pages, this little novella can be gobbled up in one or two sittings, and carries Ballingrud’s trademark prose, which manages to be both strong and evocative, and his atmospheric and unsettling settings I love so much. Through the bizarre setting and unnerving events, there is a very interesting reflection about bodily autonomy and how violent the act of taking someone’s voice away actually is.
Despite the title, the spiders are not the scariest bit of this story. We learn early on that a huge spider once dwelt on the moon, and that its silk has medicinal property the sanatorium’s doctor is using on his patients’ brains – but the spider is said to be dead. The real terror dwells in Veronica’s isolation and helplessness when she is dropped in a place she is unfamiliar with, and tries to figure out what the true purpose of not only the institution she is clearly a prisoner in, but also why her presence seems to matter so much to those already there, especially a group of Scholars who are closely involved with the ‘treatments’ given to patients.
This story has a very fever-dream quality to it, and I have grown to appreciate books in which the author doesn’t give the readers all the answers and explanation. I like to understand what I am reading, but sometimes, the purpose is simply to make you feel the way a writer imagines their characters would feel, and this is where Ballingrud absolutely succeeds with “Crypt of the Moon Spider”. I see that he means for this to be a trilogy, and I am looking forward to see what else is going on with the moon Ballingrud has imagined.
Especially recommended for fans of psychological horror and anyone who likes weird stories that keep your brain churning. Watch out, however, if you don’t like body horror, because there is quite a lot of that here. Weird and haunting, which is Ballingrud at his best....more
A friend encouraged me to watch the tv series “The Boys”, knowing my love for the darker type of superhero comics, like “Watchmen” and “Doom Patrol” .A friend encouraged me to watch the tv series “The Boys”, knowing my love for the darker type of superhero comics, like “Watchmen” and “Doom Patrol” . I was about two episodes in when I clocked that this just had to have been a graphic novel before it was a tv show, and a few clicks confirmed that my suspicions were correct. Of course it’s a Garth Ennis graphic novel, too! With the gore and the language, I feel like I should have expected that! I got a copy of the first volume after wrapping up the first season (I am now officially all caught up!).
In a situation like this, it’s very difficult to not automatically compare the graphic novel and the tv show, and I might be voicing an unpopular opinion here, but I have a slight preference for the show. Part of that is because I very excited by the amazing cast: so many alumni from all my favorite nerdy franchises! Jack Quaid, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg!! And that’s just in season 1! But seriously, the cast is great, the show very well shot and the first season’s arch, which establishes the world, the main characters and the ideas, was gripping and smart.
I feel like this is a very contemporary, late-stage capitalist nightmare spin on Alan Moore’s idea of ‘who’s watching the Watchmen’ and in this case of course, it’s a CIA black ops team – the titular Boys. The ‘supes’ have organized themselves in a massive corporation that more or less loans them to cities in need of superhuman crime fighters, merchandizes the shit out of them, uses them as spokespeople for various brands looking for endorsements, makes terrible movies based on stories of their various exploits… while the so-called heroes rake in the cash and indulge in, well, whatever they want, really, since they are not really accountable to anyone. The Boys are a small team that tries their best to keep them in line when they can and expose their abhorrent behavior when all else fails, but how do you control people with insane super-human powers and broken moral barometers with a huge PR team behind them?
It's almost annoying how realistic Ennis’ conceit is, in the sense that if superheroes did exist, at this stage, yep, I would expect them to incorporate and run mostly on PR, running shoe endorsements and action figures. Of course, it would all get dysfunctional and gross really fast (like making female superheroes wear extremely revealing kits for no good reason, going around assaulting anyone they don’t like because who is going to stop them and so on), and of course people who would give the supes money would expect them to take their sides and espouse their views, because that’s how sponsorship works… The premise in and of itself is a fascinating speculative rabbit hole. It’s also a clear jab at the big franchises (the Seven are basically a looking-glass world version of the Justice League) and intellectual property right owners who aggressively merchandize other people’s art for an easy cash grab (*cough* Disney *cough*)– and my understanding is that Ennis has plenty of experience dealing with the corporate overlords and their desire to control creative output. I am very much on board with the criticism of all those things, which I believe makes me his target audience.
I understand the criticism about the crudeness, the often-gross violence, the deep unlikability of the Boys, which make this series a superhero comic with… no actual heroes because everyone… kind of sucks. I think that in this regard, the tv show does a better job of bringing a certain nuance to the characters: Hughie clearly struggles with his anger and the violent impulses brought on by his grief, he abuses Starlight’s trust but obviously hates doing it, he takes pleasure in his first kill, but also feels deeply uncomfortable that he did… It’s a lot to process for a character, and that might be easier to illustrate through a good actor than through drawing. I also think that while the illustrations of Homelander are wonderfully sinister, Anthony Starr brings the character’s dead-eyed insanity to another level that isn’t quite captured on the page; it’s not easy to be menacing while you smile, but he pulls it off (not to mention the fact that he ruined milk for me for ever)!
I will probably read the rest of the series, but more out a curiosity to see how both versions differ from each other than out of enthusiasm for the books. Eric Kripke took the spirit of Ennis’ story and ran with it, and that makes the comic undeniably good. I just happen to enjoy the show more – still totally worth reading if you find the ideas intriguing....more
Last year, my husband read "The Infinite Jest" and he has been a little bit obsessed with David Foster Wallace since then: we had a little road trip pLast year, my husband read "The Infinite Jest" and he has been a little bit obsessed with David Foster Wallace since then: we had a little road trip planned to visit his family and we spent a significant amount of that drive listening to DFW’s surprisingly warm and soft voice as he read some of his short stories and essays. This audiobook also has a few interviews he gave to various platforms, as well as his famous Kenyon College commencement speech.
I haven’t read any of his work, though I am about to correct that, because I found myself enjoying this collection a lot more than I anticipated – even if I can’t really figure out why some of these pieces were selected for it, as they are kind of all over the place. Due to the fuzziness that I associate with listening to audiobooks on the road, I would be hard-pressed to give very specific examples of what drew me in, but I found the intricacies of his thoughts, his dedication to making the reader feel the setting he had drawn and the tragic yet hilarious humanity of his characters really fascinating.
The very insightful and erudite way he explores the topics of the various short pieces of this collection were really fascinating, and while I am well-aware that those words were strung together 30 years ago (in some cases), there was a freshness to them that really engaged me. A lot of the work explored here was really dark, often getting squarely into bleakness, and I know enough about DFW to see the battle with mental illness behind the words. But mostly, what strikes me is the nuanced thinking and intellectual rigor and honesty that informs his writing.
I think Jason was hoping to get me excited about reading "The Infinite Jest" myself after listening to this, and while I have been meaning to do it for a long time, I am definitely more excited about it now than I was before, though I will start with some of DFW’s slightly lighter work first. A very good little amuse-bouche to pique one’s curiosity about a man who cast a rather imposing shadow on modern literature. I am not sure this is the ideal way to dip your toes in his work if you’ve never read it before; the collection might be too dark for some palates, but I enjoyed it a lot, and would definitely recommend it to fans who haven’t gotten around to it yet....more
This is my first novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, and well, I am a little lost for words here. I cracked open “The Feast of the Goat” relativUh. Ok. Wow.
This is my first novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, and well, I am a little lost for words here. I cracked open “The Feast of the Goat” relatively ignorant about its subject matter. I knew that the Trujillo regime had been a brutal dictatorship that had kept the Dominican Republic in a state of terror for many years but that was about it, really. Consider my ignorance remedied now, as I constantly looked up events and people featured in Vargas Llosa’s novel.
“The Feast of the Goat” is a beautifully, intricately written work of historical fiction that explores these thirty years of Dominican history through the eyes of Urania Cabral, the daughter of one of Trujillo’s disgraced (and fictional) senators, and through the story of the conspirators who took part in the plot to assassinate the Generalissimo. After thirty years abroad, Uriana comes back to visit her now-incapacitated father, and her return to the Dominican Republic brings up memories of growing up in a strange time and place. Uriana struggles with reconciling what she perceives as contrasting facets of her father’s personality, knowing fully well that for many years, he sheltered her from the horrible things that happened to other women (wives or daughters) who were close to the Trujillo family, and yet worked to keep people he knew were capable of monstrous acts in power – often by being complicit to many atrocities himself. Intertwined with her recollections are the stories of a handful of men who made the decision to put an end to El Hefe’s rule in the only effective way they could think of, and what strange and often violent pasts brought them to this point. In a third story line, some events are seen from the perspective of Trujillo himself, as he looks back on some of the most infamous moments of his dictatorship while coming to grips with his failing health and the unavoidable end of his reign.
The non-linear narrative, which brings together the present moment and vivid memories is seamless, the prose both gorgeous and heartbreaking. As mentioned, I knew very little about the history of the Dominican Republic, and this eye-opening narrative brought that history to life in a deeply affective and personal way. The multiple points of view give a very rich and layered portrait of what it was like to live in what was then Ciudad Trujillo, and how the aftermath of the assassination upended the characters’ world. Vargas Llosa describes the brutal corruption and acts of great violence very graphically – but do not for a minute think that this is done gratuitously. He shows the horrible power of blackmail and manipulation, the way power itself is given and taken away in such a cruel and decadent setting to warn readers of the dangers of absolute power and misplaced loyalties.
Using Trujillo’s voice for one story line was also a clever move on Vargas Llosa’s part, because while the other two narrations serve as a testimonial that some things should never be forgotten lest history repeats itself, we also need to remember that despots and narrators often think of themselves as saviors and well-intentioned people. It’s not easy to summon empathy for Trujillo, but we see here a terrible dictator who is, also, a bitterly disappointed parent, an insecure old man who can feel his death hot on his heels and someone who let his thirst for power and control override his capacity to be empathic. I’m not sure I felt sad for Rafael Trujillo, but I felt sad for the pathetic old man on the page.
This novel is unusually gripping for historical fiction, as the events escalate into a shocking climax that brings all three narrative lines together. I saw that another reviewer was reminded of Roth’s “Human Stain” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) while reading this, because it is just as intimate, perhaps strangely, as the story of Coleman Silk, and similarly engineered into a beautiful clockwork that delivers a devastating bang at the end. Stunning is really the best word I can think of to describe this book. Everyone should read it.
Merged review:
Uh. Ok. Wow.
This is my first novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, and well, I am a little lost for words here. I cracked open “The Feast of the Goat” relatively ignorant about its subject matter. I knew that the Trujillo regime had been a brutal dictatorship that had kept the Dominican Republic in a state of terror for many years but that was about it, really. Consider my ignorance remedied now, as I constantly looked up events and people featured in Vargas Llosa’s novel.
“The Feast of the Goat” is a beautifully, intricately written work of historical fiction that explores these thirty years of Dominican history through the eyes of Urania Cabral, the daughter of one of Trujillo’s disgraced (and fictional) senators, and through the story of the conspirators who took part in the plot to assassinate the Generalissimo. After thirty years abroad, Uriana comes back to visit her now-incapacitated father, and her return to the Dominican Republic brings up memories of growing up in a strange time and place. Uriana struggles with reconciling what she perceives as contrasting facets of her father’s personality, knowing fully well that for many years, he sheltered her from the horrible things that happened to other women (wives or daughters) who were close to the Trujillo family, and yet worked to keep people he knew were capable of monstrous acts in power – often by being complicit to many atrocities himself. Intertwined with her recollections are the stories of a handful of men who made the decision to put an end to El Hefe’s rule in the only effective way they could think of, and what strange and often violent pasts brought them to this point. In a third story line, some events are seen from the perspective of Trujillo himself, as he looks back on some of the most infamous moments of his dictatorship while coming to grips with his failing health and the unavoidable end of his reign.
The non-linear narrative, which brings together the present moment and vivid memories is seamless, the prose both gorgeous and heartbreaking. As mentioned, I knew very little about the history of the Dominican Republic, and this eye-opening narrative brought that history to life in a deeply affective and personal way. The multiple points of view give a very rich and layered portrait of what it was like to live in what was then Ciudad Trujillo, and how the aftermath of the assassination upended the characters’ world. Vargas Llosa describes the brutal corruption and acts of great violence very graphically – but do not for a minute think that this is done gratuitously. He shows the horrible power of blackmail and manipulation, the way power itself is given and taken away in such a cruel and decadent setting to warn readers of the dangers of absolute power and misplaced loyalties.
Using Trujillo’s voice for one story line was also a clever move on Vargas Llosa’s part, because while the other two narrations serve as a testimonial that some things should never be forgotten lest history repeats itself, we also need to remember that despots and narrators often think of themselves as saviors and well-intentioned people. It’s not easy to summon empathy for Trujillo, but we see here a terrible dictator who is, also, a bitterly disappointed parent, an insecure old man who can feel his death hot on his heels and someone who let his thirst for power and control override his capacity to be empathic. I’m not sure I felt sad for Rafael Trujillo, but I felt sad for the pathetic old man on the page.
This novel is unusually gripping for historical fiction, as the events escalate into a shocking climax that brings all three narrative lines together. I saw that another reviewer was reminded of Roth’s “Human Stain” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) while reading this, because it is just as intimate, perhaps strangely, as the story of Coleman Silk, and similarly engineered into a beautiful clockwork that delivers a devastating bang at the end. Stunning is really the best word I can think of to describe this book. Everyone should read it....more
Henry James can be a bit of a tough nut to crack. I’ll be very honest; I prefer Edith Wharton, who was his protégée. I just find her funnier and sharpHenry James can be a bit of a tough nut to crack. I’ll be very honest; I prefer Edith Wharton, who was his protégée. I just find her funnier and sharper. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love and appreciate Mr. James' very interesting insights into his society, the upper crust on the American East Coast during the Gilded Age.
I find characters like Daisy Miller truly fascinating, and I love that while he doesn’t explore the events from her point of view, James still managed to write a fairly nuanced female character who isn’t a typical heroine of the age. Daisy is smart, stubborn and well-intentioned. She thinks that if people know her, they will understand that she acts in transparency and innocence. But that’s not how society works. For her, gentleman friends and suitors are pleasant to know and spend time with, but do not really mean anything beyond that. But other people make assumptions about the true nature of her acquaintances, her suitors’ intent, the implications of time spent together… You know, all that junk that may mean nothing but that reputations are built and destroyed on.
I think the central question of this book is book is: is Daisy simply an innocent girl, unaware of the potential ramifications of her actions, or is she too stupid to truly understand them? Is she being toyed with or is she simply enjoying herself? James never really settles that question, and while that may be frustrating, I appreciate it. I think he wanted the readers to decide who they thought Daisy was. I’d like to think she wanted to just be herself, and that the society gossips were more annoyances than meaningful critics to her, that she wanted to live a life she got to define, regardless of what they have to say.
I am also aware that this might say more about me than about Daisy, or Henry James, and that’s OK. Some books are Rorschach tests, and if this is well done, no one will interpret it the same way. I think this is one such book. It’s also a very quick read, if you are intimidated by James’ longer works. Recommended....more
I am all out of “Saints of Steel” books, but I am not yet ready to leave T. Kingfisher’s world (not to mention that I needed a book that would chill mI am all out of “Saints of Steel” books, but I am not yet ready to leave T. Kingfisher’s world (not to mention that I needed a book that would chill me out a bit after reading a very anxiety-inducing work of sci-fi), so I made sure to get my hands on “Clockwork Boys” and “The Wonder Engines” as soon as I could. It’s not like those books were a hard sell for me: same universe as the paladin stories I’ve been enjoying so much this year, written by a woman who manages to blend wit, horror, tenderness and laugh-out-loud humor like a freaking wizard, and who always whips up characters that feel very real and that I want to hang out with. Of course I’ll read it.
The titular Clockwork Boys are an army of automatons soldiers/creatures that could mean the ruin of an entire city-state. Fighting against these beings is extremely dangerous, as they are nearly impossible to stop and can destroy anything that stands in their path. So, obviously, a rag-tag team of brilliant but criminally inclined misfits is assembled in the hopes that their combined expertise can find the key to defeating the Clockwork Boys.
Insert obvious joke about heist montage here.
But seriously, Kingfisher made me fall hook, line and sinker for her romantasy (which I didn’t think was possible), so if anyone can make me love a “Suicide Squad” kind of story, it would be her. The compassions to Terry Pratchett don’t feel quite right to me: I love Sir Terry, but he wrote satire in a fantasy setting, and Kingfisher isn’t writing satire, she’s just hilarious and happens to write fantasy stories. And just like in her paladin books, she succeeds at writing flawed and wonderful characters I was rooting for immediately. Also, carnivorous tattoos, yikes!
It must be noted that these books were published before the “Saint of Steel” series, but as usual, I read everything backwards: Caliban is mentioned a few times in the other series, but here, he is one of the main characters, and I was very excited to finally get his story, which is hinted at in the other books.
I love the way Kingfisher writes her characters: one of my biggest pet peeves about a lot of fantasy is the emphasis placed on how beautiful and perfect everyone is, and it’s obviously something Kingfisher also loathes, as she makes a point to write characters that look and sound like normal people, with physical flaws, psychological baggage, weird quirks and weirder senses of humor – and I love it. Take note, other fantasy writers: ordinary people can be criminals, ordinary people can be sexy and fall in love, ordinary people can do awesome stuff. There, rant over. And yes, I loved Slate immediately. Awkward, smart, well-aware of what her strengths and flaws are, and I do love her relationship with Caliban. There is a weird bond that’s created between people who need to look after each other, and this was very well captured on the page. I also really appreciate how honest Kingfisher is about women being horny a lot. Even the great-grandmothers are flirty, and this makes me very happy.
I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I really just wish it had been a bit longer, a bit more fleshed out – the way the ‘Saints of Steel’ books are… Perhaps the second book will round up the story!...more
After giving us the ‘how we got here’ in “Shift”, Howey brings his readers back to Juliette’s timeline from “Wool”, so that we may see how her story eAfter giving us the ‘how we got here’ in “Shift”, Howey brings his readers back to Juliette’s timeline from “Wool”, so that we may see how her story ends. I was so excited to get to this book, but also kind of annoyed that it would be the end of this fantastic trilogy. Once again, big thanks to Aunt Karen for sharing my enthusiasm for sci-fi and for enabling my book hoarding!
I am going to keep this brief for the sake of keeping things as spoiler-free as humanly possible, but it must be noted that the trilogy absolutely should be read in order of publication, as this is where the story lines from books 1 and 2 finally collide, and the ultimate fate of the silo(s) is finally decided. It’s very difficult to discuss without giving anything from the previous books away, but I was amazed at how Howey manages to crank up the tension in an already incredibly tense situation. I cursed every time I had to put the book down because oh look, a curve ball I never saw coming was just thrown my way! Somehow, mysteries are still getting unravelled, so many lives hang in the balance and the existential threats keep piling up!
It's a lot.
Juliette is a fantastic character, who is thrown in a much more complicated situation than she was prepared for at the beginning of “Wool” but who stepped up to the challenges that were thrown at her in a remarkable way. I was very excited to be reunited with this reluctant hero, and I am always amazed at the way she deals with situation. She is smart, strong and terribly stubborn, but really, I can’t blame her for reacting the way she does after everything she has been through. Her determination to save her people is incredible, and while her temper often gets her into more trouble than she needs, she persists. She’s not perfect, but frankly, I wouldn’t want to get on Juliette’s bad side!
One of the strengths of these books is the pacing: the plot is structured in such a way that makes it very difficult not to go ‘just one more chapter!’ several times in a row, and the next thing you know, a hundred pages have gone by – and this remains the case with “Dust” until the very end. The vivid (if kind of terrifying) world-building is also one of the remarkable aspects of these books: the way Howey fleshed out his universe is so detailed and palpable that I am not tired of reading about it! I get the feeling that these books will still be really fun on a second read, and while the story Howey set out to tell is finished, I would happily read spin-offs set in the same world.
Yes, most of his characters are not terribly well-developed, I have no issues admitting that. It’s not his strength, and he tends to tell more than he shows when it comes to how his characters feel, but I also think that his intent had a different focus. This book (and the whole series, really) is about resilience, survival and fighting for the truth, so there isn’t much focus on the more personal emotions of the characters – yet he still wants to impress on his readers that they are motivated by love. A sheriff following his wife into a deadly wasteland, a man fighting to figure out what happened to the woman he loved (and in the tv series, a woman doing everything in her power to figure out why the man she loved died); that stuff is obviously a big deal to him, he just writes it a little too dry.
(As a sidenote, I know I am a bit emotional these days, but I can’t really deal with even tiny story lines about missing or dead pets lately. It really sets me off, and while this isn’t a big part of this book, one short chapter was hard to get through, and even if everyone, animals included, were fine by then end of it, I wasn’t. In my current mood, I think I’m going to need a book just about puppies living happy lives, hit me if you have any recommendations.)
Those books deserve all the praise that they get and are important works in the contemporary sci-fi cannon. Howey’s note at the end of this book mentions that a theme he cares a lot about is ‘not letting the cruelty of the world change who you are’, and I think that not only is that a very important and relevant theme, but I think that he did a good job of making that a core value of this series. Very highly recommended. ...more
I basically devoured “Wool” earlier this year, and then I got busy with a lot of other books, but I really couldn’t wait to get my hands on “Shift”. OI basically devoured “Wool” earlier this year, and then I got busy with a lot of other books, but I really couldn’t wait to get my hands on “Shift”. One of the biggest unanswered questions of the first book is: how did this strange underground society come to be? Who built the silo? What cataclysm forced humanity to hide underground to survive all these years?
“Shift” is more of a prequel than a sequel, because it turns the clocks back so that we, the readers, may see how things got from life as we currently know it to the strange, claustrophobic world we have come to know in “Wool”, but it doesn’t disconnect us from the people we met in the silo completely. Of course, trying to write about this without spoiling this book or the first tome of the series is basically impossible, so I will keep things simple, because those books are probably best read for the first time with as little information as possible: discovering the world is a big part of the fun with this series, and if you are as curious as I am after the first one, you will want to gobble this one up very quickly. And yes, they should definitely be read in order of publication.
One timeline is set in a fictional mid 2000s in the United-States, and follows a young congressman named Donald (no, not that Donald), who is shocked to learnt that his old architectural designs are being used for a secret government project based in Georgia. The most surprising aspect is that the powers that be want to take his design of a towering cylindrical building and put it… underground… As he begins to work on the project, believing it to be about making nuclear shelters that will never be used, he begins to notice some odd changes being made to his designs by people way above his pay grade. Another timeline forwards to the 2100s, where a man named Troy is being awakened from a cryogenic sleep and treated with a memory-altering drug, as he prepares for a 6-month ‘shift’ working in a strange place from which he can see a ravaged landscape readers of the previous book will feel familiar with…
Yeah, that’s about as much as I can tell you without spoiling stuff, but if you liked the first book, you will enjoy exploring the world further. Howey has crafted a very immersive environment, and I found myself completely sucked in very quickly. Donald and Troy are not as interesting as Juliette is, but as protagonists go, watching them trying to figure out what mess they got themselves into and discovering what’s going on along with them is very interesting. There are a few tropes (scheming double-crossing politicians, oh my!), but they are used intelligently to send the reader on a near-future sci-fi trip that isn’t that hard to imagine. Unfortunately.
I love (in a ‘purely as a theoretical concept’ kind of way) the idea of a pill that erases traumatic memories because most people are so desperate to put bad things behind and act like they have never happened. Pardon the segway, but recent reports show upticks in covid cases pretty much everywhere and when I mention this to people, a lot of them act as if the pandemic had never even happened or was a thing from such a distant past that worrying about it now makes no sense to them – which flabbergasts me. This might be a natural response from people who simply desire to move forward and leave the past and their suffering behind, but Howey uses this as a clear metaphor for the age-old aphorism, that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it… Add to that the fact that no one gobbling down those pills is dealing with their collective trauma adequately, something which has a way of biting people in the ass… and you get this claustrophobic and bizarre society we discovered in “Wool”. My point is, this is a brilliant idea and is a sure-fire recipe for disaster, especially when it becomes a thing at the same time as when humanity finds a way to blow itself back into the stone age, and I loved the way it was used in the story of the silo.
I was reminded a bit of “A Canticle for Leibowitz”, which was a fascinating speculation on a post-nuclear disaster Earth when the destruction has been so complete that even the knowledge of how to recreate the cataclysm was lost, and people could only vaguely speculate on what life had been like before based on whatever random artefact they could get their hands on. The “Silo” series obviously doesn’t have the religious element “Canticle” did, but there are still interesting parallels to be drawn between the two books.
Not unlike “Wool”, this is the kind of book that quickly becomes very difficult to put down, as the short chapters and rapid pacing become very addictive very quickly, and the 600 or so pages went by in a flash. In fact, I think I found this book even more tense and hard to put away than the first. I had a few days of growling at anyone who tried to pull me away from the book for silly things like eating and working – feh! Howey definitely has a knack for writing things in a very cinematic way, and hopefully, the wonderful Apple+ tv show keeps going long enough that we can have the pleasure of seeing this part of the silo’s story on the screen, because it is perfect material for adaptation.
One of the underlying themes of the series so far is corruption, and the consequences of hoarding knowledge and restricting access to information and technology – even when it’s allegedly for the greater good. I had noted in the first book that I kept thinking about Soviet Russia as I read about the way labor is organized, compartmentalized, and staggered; I also thought about the USSR reading this one, but more about the realpolitik and truth manipulation aspect of the Soviet Union. I have a pet theory that the USA is way more like the USSR (albeit in sneaky ways, though shit like Project 2025 is making it seem less and less sneaky) that they will ever admit – much more so now than when Howey wrote those books, but he may simply be very smart and prescient. There was also an echo of my readings about the Chernobyl disaster because of a team of workers who have to proceed with extremely dangerous work that they don’t want to do but must, because someone has to.
While Howey is better at plotting than he is at character development, he also brings a very practical human element to the genre of post-apocalyptic sci-fi, and I really appreciate that line of speculation and find it much more interesting than “Hunger Games”-type of dystopian pageantry. That might be because I am more the type to worry about what I would do should the shit hit the fan in my lifetime (I was recently reminded that I once put together a go-bag when I was 9 years old, so obviously, I have issues to deal with there) than the type to imagine what things would be like a hundred years after that (I won’t be there!).
If you enjoyed the first book of this series, or are simply curious as to how it all came to be, this is a great, if stressful and claustrophobic ride. Very recommended!...more
I think that at this point, even if those books weren’t great (which they are), I would just keep reading them, because I am so invested in the ideas I think that at this point, even if those books weren’t great (which they are), I would just keep reading them, because I am so invested in the ideas T. Kingfisher has decided to put on the page, and so excited about the way she has structured this series – taking a supporting character from the previous book and promoting them to main character in the next – and so attached to her characters that I will just read as many of these “Saints of Steel” books as she sees fit to publish. If I may place a request, Ms. Kingfisher: twelve more, please.
This fourth foray into this lovely series brings back Marguerite, Grace’s spy bestie from “Paladin’s Grace”, who had pulled a disappearing act at the end of the first book. Marguerite has been away for a few years, but she is forced to come back and ask the Order of the White Rat for help when she uncovers a secret: a former employer of hers has identified a new technique for harvesting salt which might upend the entire economic system across several cities and make them lose a lot of money, so their plan is to destroy it and neutralize the person who invented it; and now that Marguerite has acquired this knowledge, she is also in their crosshair. In order to survive long enough to stop the nefarious plan, she asks Bishop Beartongue to help by providing her with paladin bodyguards to keep her safe while she does… whatever it is spies do. She ends up with Wren and Shane, both of whom have lurked around the corners of the pages of the previous books without ever getting too much spotlight.
So yeah, if your thing is sexy bodyguard, this is the “Saint of Steel” book for you (but you should still read the whole series)! As with the previous books, there is a good deal of tension between two people who fall for each other but are both convinced that they will be a danger and/or not good enough for the object of their affections before they inevitably give in, but Kingfisher knows just how to make this fun and endearing, and how to draw up characters dealing with trauma and damage so none of that angst feels exaggerated or gratuitous. And yes, this is deliciously female gaze-y (though only moderately spicy, by my admittedly filthy standards) and it’s awesome!
Marguerite is a wonderful character to follow around, and I am sure that she would be a nightmare to actually protect; spies, after all, rarely stay put or in safe situations. And the Saint’s paladins are dealing with their own rather hardcore PTSD, an element that I had been/keep hoping would be explored more deeply through the series, and we dig into it a bit here through Shane’s experience of his god dying and the empty space it created in his life. A clear pattern that has been established through the series so far is that a person who cares for someone accepts them as they are, flaws and damage and all, and there’s something perennially lovely about seeing these traumatized characters find solace and support with someone (“I’m less broken when I’m around you”… Jesus, Kingfisher, my heart!!!). Maybe that’s truly what keeps me so happy and excited about these books: they are so full of hope in how much healing a person can do when they feel loved, and that’s wonderful.
Even if Wren is not as central to this book as Marguerite and Shane, I was really glad that we got to be more familiar with one of the women paladins; her character, a skilled warrior who has essentially lived with half a dozen older brothers for years, is both funny and very touching, especially in contrast with Marguerite’s more experienced and worldly personality. I totally understand why Shane would want to beat up anyone who hurts her feelings, and I hope we see more of her in future books.
I think I have mentioned this in previous reviews of books from this series, but I love the Order of the White Rat, and if there is anything from this world-building I wish was real, it’s them. Bishop Beartongue is an awesome character, but their entire organization is the stuff of my dreams: their dedication to help and heal people warms my heart every time. I also never tire of Kingfisher’s tone, which is light, wry, conversational, and clever, without ever becoming pretentious or silly. Her dialogues are sharp and sound perfectly real. It’s nearly impossible for me not to read these books with gluttony, because she combines that really great writing style with good pacing and awesome characters. I may have missed my metro stop and cursed loudly a few times while reading this one during my daily commute…
When I got my copy of this book, I was under the impression that this would be the last one, but apparently, there have been rumors of a fifth and sixth book! This makes me absurdly happy (though outraged that I have to wait for them to be published, gawd!), and someone should tell Amanda, who will also be thrilled. Thanks a whole heap to Erika, who convinced me to check out these books knowing I would pretend to vomit as she explained that they were romantasy novels but that I would, somehow, still like them. You have excellent instincts, my friend/we really are peas in a pod, regardless of the distance. I am going to be hunting down the “Clocktaur War” books to make the time pass until we have a publication date for book 5!...more
As soon as I managed to get my hands on a copy of “Paladin’s Hope”, it immediately went to the top of the book pile. If you had told me last year thatAs soon as I managed to get my hands on a copy of “Paladin’s Hope”, it immediately went to the top of the book pile. If you had told me last year that I would be squeaking in excitement about this sort of book, I might have laughed in your face, but I guess T. Kingfisher is the one laughing now, because as soon as I realized book 4 was available in paperback, guess what I did?
As with the previous books in this series, this is a fantasy/romance (gag) involving one of the surviving paladins of the Saint of Steel. This time, the story focuses of Galen, who is known in the series so far for being a ginger and not really into women, if you catch my very obvious drift. The story begins when a body washes up on the shore of the river, dead from a large wound that seemed to have punctured his back, but there is no clear way to determine what could have caused such a wound, even for Piper, the lich-doctor the paladins have worked with before. Earstripe, a gnole belonging to the city guards seems to think, however, that this death is connected to other dead bodies that were discovered recently, but his captain won’t let him investigate further. But Galen and Piper agree that something seems odd, and they decide to go with Earstripe to see if they can’t solve this mystery, and proceed to get stuck in a strange place that makes the cave at the end of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” look like a cake walk.
I am quite excited about Piper the pathologist (that’s not really what they call him, but I love an alliteration) being brought front and center in this story because I always find that line of work fascinating, and it is not often written about in fantasy settings. He also has a fantastic gallows’ humour that I really enjoyed – as one might expect from someone in his line of work. The budding romance with Galen is just sweet enough for me, and I really appreciate that Kingfisher created a fantasy world where no one freaks out at queerness and just lets people be who they are. The idea that as a society, they decided that they had bigger problems to worry about than who sleeps with who is so refreshingly sane! Alas, just like the White Rat being an order of kind and efficient bureaucrats, that’s how you know this is fantasy… The point is, those two are cute together, and even people who have shrivelled husks where their hearts should be would be mollified by the way they behave around each other. More than with the previous two books, this one addresses gnoles and their place in society on a deeper level, with Earstripe being such an integral part of the story. That seemed a bit forced to me at first, but as the world expands and the stories involve the little guys more and more, it actually makes sense to expand our view of their society and their relationship to humans at the same time.
As with the previous books of the series, the humor – dry, a little dirty, very witty - shines on almost every page and makes it a delight to read. Kingfisher also has such a charming and quirky way with words (like when she describes Galen has having cheekbones you could slice cheese with, or when Galen wonders if Piper got toned lugging dead bodies around, because those are heavy!), and I am really enjoying the way she broadens the world with each book. I know these technically belong to a larger series set in this universe, and I might get around to them some day, but until then, I am loving the way she introduces the reader to new elements of world-building with each book, which keeps the series fresh because there is always something new to discover. The mysteries of the Ancients and their machines is awesome, though I suspect it has been explored in some of her other books…
I have so much more fun than I expected with this series, these books are my new favorite treats, and I can’t wait for the fourth book to arrive!...more
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