Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Honestly this one dragged for me, but that’s ok. By the last hundred or so pages, the change in perspective and use of repetition was really engaging. Don’t think I’ll read it again soon, but I still enjoy Tchaikovsky’s style enough to give him another shot later.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Popsugar 2022: A book with a constellation on the cover (stars, at least!)
Spells and Spaceships 2022: big book
I feel like I slept on Adrian Tschaikovsky for too long! I have loved everything I've read by him thus far and he's been around for quite a while! On the other hand, that means I've got a lot of books by him left to read, especially since he's pretty prolific.
My favorites so far are the "Children of" books. I am beginning to notice some commonalities in Tschaikovsky's writing. Some themes that he likes are: non-human intelligences and the nature of sentience, evolution of that intelligence, and how societies form in response to different paradigms of intelligence. This book in particular feels like a thought experiment in how and in what species intelligent life could have arisen in our world before humans arrived. The parts of the book that discussed these ideas were some of my favorite parts.
That means, unfortunately, that the actual plot of the book had just a bit of trouble standing up to the theories that the book was set to explore. I never really attached much to the human main characters, although I did enjoy the author skewering the British spy trope as jurisdiction of the British nation definitely does not extend through multiverses. There was a lot to pull together in this book, and it took some time to do that successfully. I think the payoff was worth it, and there are some images described in the book that I never thought I would be picturing in my head!
The end of the book got a bit timey-wimey and I'm not sure about it, honestly. But it was a great ride and I'm looking around for my next book by this author (Shards of Earth, maybe?).
Spells and Spaceships 2022: big book
I feel like I slept on Adrian Tschaikovsky for too long! I have loved everything I've read by him thus far and he's been around for quite a while! On the other hand, that means I've got a lot of books by him left to read, especially since he's pretty prolific.
My favorites so far are the "Children of" books. I am beginning to notice some commonalities in Tschaikovsky's writing. Some themes that he likes are: non-human intelligences and the nature of sentience, evolution of that intelligence, and how societies form in response to different paradigms of intelligence. This book in particular feels like a thought experiment in how and in what species intelligent life could have arisen in our world before humans arrived. The parts of the book that discussed these ideas were some of my favorite parts.
That means, unfortunately, that the actual plot of the book had just a bit of trouble standing up to the theories that the book was set to explore. I never really attached much to the human main characters, although I did enjoy the author skewering the British spy trope as jurisdiction of the British nation definitely does not extend through multiverses. There was a lot to pull together in this book, and it took some time to do that successfully. I think the payoff was worth it, and there are some images described in the book that I never thought I would be picturing in my head!
The end of the book got a bit timey-wimey and I'm not sure about it, honestly. But it was a great ride and I'm looking around for my next book by this author (Shards of Earth, maybe?).
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This one is 3.5 stars for me. The concepts & unique sci-fi elements are very interesting & the characters had some depth (could have done with more). The end dragged for me & though there were some delightful surprises & fun, bizarre creatures, it mostly fizzled for me.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Just the kind of woke and wacky fun I needed in these times. Having all the ‘aliens’ be from different versions of Earth a cool twist and I liked the evolutionary biology aspect of it. Godfrey-Smith’s Other Minds mashed with Mieville’s Kraken. Also, I don’t know if any single book can fight back against the current war on DEI but this one does its darnedest.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated