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3rdtimelucky's reviews
103 reviews
The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang
3.0
This definitely suffers from the problem of a novella feeling like a summary of a regular novel, even at this length. We tended to jump from scene to scene in a way that didn't always link up into a complete story and regularly left me with gaps regarding the characters' motivations and where they developed from.
That said, the scenes were generally compelling on their own and the prose feels very classic SFF - both simple and evocative. The magic system still feels hugely underexplored but it was well-enough established here for a first entry and I appreciate the attempts to explore how radically magic like this would impact society. Maybe not enough consideration of how a genderless upbringing and free choose of gender would actually impact how characters feel INTERNALLY about their (and others) genders, but at least they tried.
Telling a story about twins was a really well chosen vehicle to explore these topics about the body and destiny and so on. I wish the first novella was just about their childhood though, because 1. they were so cute and 2. everything up to their return to their mother ended up being irrelevant preamble. Their coming-of-age conflicts were so compelling it was disappointing to fast-forward through them for standard rebellion stuff.
Finally: I didn't mind the subtle fantasyspeak allusions to Islam, transness, etc. When it was blatantly just cameras and guns and telephones but magic, I got a little annoyed. When there's literally just a nuclear weapon, which they called "sunballs", I couldn't take it anymore. Either invent new things or just call them what they are...
That said, the scenes were generally compelling on their own and the prose feels very classic SFF - both simple and evocative. The magic system still feels hugely underexplored but it was well-enough established here for a first entry and I appreciate the attempts to explore how radically magic like this would impact society. Maybe not enough consideration of how a genderless upbringing and free choose of gender would actually impact how characters feel INTERNALLY about their (and others) genders, but at least they tried.
Telling a story about twins was a really well chosen vehicle to explore these topics about the body and destiny and so on. I wish the first novella was just about their childhood though, because 1. they were so cute and 2. everything up to their return to their mother ended up being irrelevant preamble. Their coming-of-age conflicts were so compelling it was disappointing to fast-forward through them for standard rebellion stuff.
Finally: I didn't mind the subtle fantasyspeak allusions to Islam, transness, etc. When it was blatantly just cameras and guns and telephones but magic, I got a little annoyed. When there's literally just a nuclear weapon, which they called "sunballs", I couldn't take it anymore. Either invent new things or just call them what they are...
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Oh gd when Richard gives her the flowers.... I need to read in print next time and it'll probably be 5* but it was sometimes so difficult to follow as an audiobook.
Interviews with Radical Palestinian Women by Shoal Collective
5.0
Read in one sitting and reminds me how useful a polyvocal experiential approach to politics is because by understanding what daily life is like for women in the OPT I felt a lot of the muddiness I always feel from trying to understand the situation with any nuance or depth recede. It's also just very useful to see how dramatically individuals' ideas are influenced by their particular experiences, especially how often those in better material circumstances seemed to be the ones who felt the most hopeless.
The conversations about the failure of nationalism as a "radical" movement were obviously so great, although I wish there was as much attention to women's experiences with Islamist movements as well, although there was a little bit it felt like because westerners are much more likely to adopt nationalist ideas in their allyship that was the focus.
I did find the academiaspeak essay contributed at the end by far the least compelling or useful part but that speaks volumes in itself....
The conversations about the failure of nationalism as a "radical" movement were obviously so great, although I wish there was as much attention to women's experiences with Islamist movements as well, although there was a little bit it felt like because westerners are much more likely to adopt nationalist ideas in their allyship that was the focus.
I did find the academiaspeak essay contributed at the end by far the least compelling or useful part but that speaks volumes in itself....
Truth & Dare by So Mayer
3.0
This is much more prose poetry than actual short fiction and being square I liked it more in the parts it was the least autobiographical and the most like standard prose fiction
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
4.0
The pacing was wild but it passes the rabbi bechdel test
The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri
2.0
zzzzzz sapphic fantasy authors for the love of HaShem stop trying to make me care about queens and empresses it just isn't in my nature
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is the first 500-page fantasy book in a WHILE where I wasn't kind of just waiting for it to be over by the 50% mark. I wanted to listen to Amina alternately complain about men and ogle their butts FOREVER, and I'm a lesbian who hates reading about men. Despite being hilarious it didn't have the problem where constant quipping undermines tense/emotional moments or makes characters who are supposed to be 40 sound like teenagers. I adored the palpable passion for Islam (and pluralism) that burst out of this book, and only occasionally (understandably) felt pointed when challenging the assumption that bigotry belongs in it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape