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couldbestephen's reviews
202 reviews
MORI: The Lost Ones Vol 1 by Michael Seagard
2.0
I recieved this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I ended up rating this book 2 stars and will not be recommending this book.
This is a cosmic story about a man who stumbles into an adventure much bigger than he could have ever imagined. Mori is a man down on his luck, His wife cheated on him and took his daughter when she was discovered. He moved to LA where he smokes and drinks himself to a slow death, with only a homeless man who likes to harass him and a neighbor who he has never seen to keep him company. When a voice in his head invites him to "commune," Mori thinks it's just a drug induced hallucination. He finds out it isn't. Cosmic fate and life purpose is explored in this pseudo-spiritual debut from Michael Seagard.
The best thing I can say about this is that it marginally reminded me of The OA, a show on Netflix. The power of community, shared vision, and multiple dimensions and how we echo across them are themes found in both pieces of media. The author's writing is solid, not the worst debut novel I've read. The plot is generally interesting.
The main character is terrible. Either the author was intentionally trying to write the most annoying kind of white, cis, straight, privileged white male to center his story around or this was a very bad self-insert on the author's part. I'm hoping it's the former. The way he views every single woman he encounters and interacts with them is very "men writing women badly." There is no sense that we are hearing from an unreliable narrator because whenever we are given the chance to see the woman as a full human, as a three dimensional being, we don't see it. The book can be very self-aggrandizing to the point of annoyance. You can tell the author thought he was writing fire when penning this almost 600 page debut that could have easily been 200 pages shorter. The views on spirituality feel very "white man writing about a religion he only knows about from reading about it on the internet from other white men," This book dripped with unexamined white privilege and weird masculinity.
If this book was approached as more of a third person perspective story rather than a first person logbook entry style story, maybe it would have saved it a little. What we are presented is a story that could be interesting if developed in better hands.
This is a cosmic story about a man who stumbles into an adventure much bigger than he could have ever imagined. Mori is a man down on his luck, His wife cheated on him and took his daughter when she was discovered. He moved to LA where he smokes and drinks himself to a slow death, with only a homeless man who likes to harass him and a neighbor who he has never seen to keep him company. When a voice in his head invites him to "commune," Mori thinks it's just a drug induced hallucination. He finds out it isn't. Cosmic fate and life purpose is explored in this pseudo-spiritual debut from Michael Seagard.
The best thing I can say about this is that it marginally reminded me of The OA, a show on Netflix. The power of community, shared vision, and multiple dimensions and how we echo across them are themes found in both pieces of media. The author's writing is solid, not the worst debut novel I've read. The plot is generally interesting.
The main character is terrible. Either the author was intentionally trying to write the most annoying kind of white, cis, straight, privileged white male to center his story around or this was a very bad self-insert on the author's part. I'm hoping it's the former. The way he views every single woman he encounters and interacts with them is very "men writing women badly." There is no sense that we are hearing from an unreliable narrator because whenever we are given the chance to see the woman as a full human, as a three dimensional being, we don't see it. The book can be very self-aggrandizing to the point of annoyance. You can tell the author thought he was writing fire when penning this almost 600 page debut that could have easily been 200 pages shorter. The views on spirituality feel very "white man writing about a religion he only knows about from reading about it on the internet from other white men," This book dripped with unexamined white privilege and weird masculinity.
If this book was approached as more of a third person perspective story rather than a first person logbook entry style story, maybe it would have saved it a little. What we are presented is a story that could be interesting if developed in better hands.
Don't Break the Rules by James W. Berg
1.0
AVOID THIS AUTHOR AND THIS BOOK AT ALL COSTS.
This book is great for horror fans who hate horror and love heavy exposition. Perfect for readers who love a book with a bewildering amount of indistinguishable characters and hate good writing. Berg continues to spend his own money indie publishing objectively horrible novels when he could spend that money on creative writing classes. Or hiring a competent editor (who isn't already his friend/mom/husband). Or more Funko Pops. I just need him to stop publishing his crappy books.
Justin, Jayson, and Jack join Justine, Mark, Trish, Tristan, Pat, Paul, Pedro, Bob, Bethann, Cory, Kat, Jolene, Oscar, Andre/Amanda and Ray on a road trip from Colorado to New York (good luck keeping track of anyone, they're all awful people with the same issues who do not have distinct personalities). When they all decide to stay in a small hotel in Nebraska, they find themselves in the middle of a battle for their souls. They need to survive the night. And not break rules. Idk guys, it's bad, don't read this.
There is nothing positive to say when discussing this book. This is such an obvious example of a self-insert novel, I got concerned with the amount of personal information Berg was divulging through his main characters. The writing is criminal, the characters are bland, the horror elements are nonexistent, and the plot is a boring cliche. The only thing I was impressed with was how after writing 6 books, Berg has managed to never improve his writing. In fact, I think this is the worst book he's published so far.
We have to start with how offensive this book is. Berg is bi-phobic, which we can see through his treatment of his "bi" characters (they are either gay or straight, they just haven't made up their minds yet). His transphobia shines when he deadnames his trans character and kills them off first, within chapters of introducing them. He didn't even try to hide his misogyny and lesbophobia. I don't think he's ever met another gay person irl, much less a drag queen because why were all the queer characters caricatures of gay people? And the racism... having the bad guys be a family of black people who use voodoo to capture souls?? BERG WHAT THE FUCK.
Berg has one of the clunkiest writing voices I have ever read. If this book is an example of how this man thinks, his brain is a wasteland. He looooves an exposition dump. Why "show" us anything through character dialogue and action when you can just... "tell" us. In explicit detail. Meet a character, learn their entire backstory immediately! When he does use dialogue, it "tells" us nothing (because the exposition already did that) and is always accompanied by the worst dialogue tags he could use. The amount of times characters "scream" when he meant "shouted" is astounding. It's clear Berg does not understand the "weight" of words, especially in tags. How this man still writes like an untalented fanfiction preteen author as an older man is a question for the ages.
The "survive the night" trope is a staple in the horror genre; the characters need to beat the odds and survive till morning, and generally in the process, learn something about themselves. Berg butchers the trope through horrific plotting and underdeveloped characters who never, ever, develop.
Every single character sucks. Why have 18 characters when none of them are written well. All of them are couples, all of them cheat on each other, no one is good, all of them die, don't bother keeping track of anyone. Every character is incredibly stupid. Straight up, a couple brings a dog into the hotel, illegally. The dog goes missing. The restaurant in town suddenly has a new soup CALLED "HOT DOG DOODLE SOUP" AND THE FUCKING COUPLE EATS IT. This book only works because everyone is a moron!
This book makes me angry. I desperately need someone in Berg's life to sit him down and tell him he isn't a good writer, that he needs to take some writing classes, that he needs to consume the media he writes about!! Does this man know anything about the horror genre?? He clearly doesn't know how to write! Please stop trying! I want a refund!
This book is great for horror fans who hate horror and love heavy exposition. Perfect for readers who love a book with a bewildering amount of indistinguishable characters and hate good writing. Berg continues to spend his own money indie publishing objectively horrible novels when he could spend that money on creative writing classes. Or hiring a competent editor (who isn't already his friend/mom/husband). Or more Funko Pops. I just need him to stop publishing his crappy books.
Justin, Jayson, and Jack join Justine, Mark, Trish, Tristan, Pat, Paul, Pedro, Bob, Bethann, Cory, Kat, Jolene, Oscar, Andre/Amanda and Ray on a road trip from Colorado to New York (good luck keeping track of anyone, they're all awful people with the same issues who do not have distinct personalities). When they all decide to stay in a small hotel in Nebraska, they find themselves in the middle of a battle for their souls. They need to survive the night. And not break rules. Idk guys, it's bad, don't read this.
There is nothing positive to say when discussing this book. This is such an obvious example of a self-insert novel, I got concerned with the amount of personal information Berg was divulging through his main characters. The writing is criminal, the characters are bland, the horror elements are nonexistent, and the plot is a boring cliche. The only thing I was impressed with was how after writing 6 books, Berg has managed to never improve his writing. In fact, I think this is the worst book he's published so far.
We have to start with how offensive this book is. Berg is bi-phobic, which we can see through his treatment of his "bi" characters (they are either gay or straight, they just haven't made up their minds yet). His transphobia shines when he deadnames his trans character and kills them off first, within chapters of introducing them. He didn't even try to hide his misogyny and lesbophobia. I don't think he's ever met another gay person irl, much less a drag queen because why were all the queer characters caricatures of gay people? And the racism... having the bad guys be a family of black people who use voodoo to capture souls?? BERG WHAT THE FUCK.
Berg has one of the clunkiest writing voices I have ever read. If this book is an example of how this man thinks, his brain is a wasteland. He looooves an exposition dump. Why "show" us anything through character dialogue and action when you can just... "tell" us. In explicit detail. Meet a character, learn their entire backstory immediately! When he does use dialogue, it "tells" us nothing (because the exposition already did that) and is always accompanied by the worst dialogue tags he could use. The amount of times characters "scream" when he meant "shouted" is astounding. It's clear Berg does not understand the "weight" of words, especially in tags. How this man still writes like an untalented fanfiction preteen author as an older man is a question for the ages.
The "survive the night" trope is a staple in the horror genre; the characters need to beat the odds and survive till morning, and generally in the process, learn something about themselves. Berg butchers the trope through horrific plotting and underdeveloped characters who never, ever, develop.
Every single character sucks. Why have 18 characters when none of them are written well. All of them are couples, all of them cheat on each other, no one is good, all of them die, don't bother keeping track of anyone. Every character is incredibly stupid. Straight up, a couple brings a dog into the hotel, illegally. The dog goes missing. The restaurant in town suddenly has a new soup CALLED "HOT DOG DOODLE SOUP" AND THE FUCKING COUPLE EATS IT. This book only works because everyone is a moron!
This book makes me angry. I desperately need someone in Berg's life to sit him down and tell him he isn't a good writer, that he needs to take some writing classes, that he needs to consume the media he writes about!! Does this man know anything about the horror genre?? He clearly doesn't know how to write! Please stop trying! I want a refund!
If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura
4.0
What would you give up to live one more day? What would you take away from the world to have an extra 24 hours? This novel explores the final week of a terminally ill man's life as he makes a deal with the devil for extra time on earth. I enjoyed this quick read and would recommend it.
When our main character finds out he has a tumor in his head and months left to live, he's struck by the irony of his situation. His mother and first cat died the same way. As he wonders what he should do next, the devil (yes, the actual devil) shows up at his apartment to let him know that he doesn't have months, he has a day. If he wants an extra 24 hours, all he needs to do is pick an item that will completely vanish from the world.
The writing style and pacing are what you would expect from a novel translated from Japanese. If you aren't familiar with what I mean, I feel like this book would be a great example of what you can generally expect. There's a dream-like, surrealist quality to the work that is delightful but can "drag" the pacing a little (I don't have a problem with it, I think it really works for a character who is revisiting memories before he dies).
The book explores our relationships to time, people, and ourselves. What can we afford to lose for an extra day? If phones went away, how would we cope? What if we lost movies? What if we lost... cats? What is our line in the sand? Who are the important people in our lives that we would want to reconnect with?
When our main character finds out he has a tumor in his head and months left to live, he's struck by the irony of his situation. His mother and first cat died the same way. As he wonders what he should do next, the devil (yes, the actual devil) shows up at his apartment to let him know that he doesn't have months, he has a day. If he wants an extra 24 hours, all he needs to do is pick an item that will completely vanish from the world.
The writing style and pacing are what you would expect from a novel translated from Japanese. If you aren't familiar with what I mean, I feel like this book would be a great example of what you can generally expect. There's a dream-like, surrealist quality to the work that is delightful but can "drag" the pacing a little (I don't have a problem with it, I think it really works for a character who is revisiting memories before he dies).
The book explores our relationships to time, people, and ourselves. What can we afford to lose for an extra day? If phones went away, how would we cope? What if we lost movies? What if we lost... cats? What is our line in the sand? Who are the important people in our lives that we would want to reconnect with?
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
5.0
Have you ever thought, "Hm, I want to read a mystery novel set in a biopunk world about a queer assistant who uses poppers to aid his older, autistic detective in solving a series of strange murders! And I also wish there were kaiju!" First of all, weird, niche request but you are in luck! Cuz this is it!
A man is dead, killed by the plants that seem to have grown out of his body. Din, a genetically modified human with a perfect memory, is the assistant to Ana, the eccentric investigator who is tasked with solving this mystery. The two quickly find out that this murder was not an isolated incident and that the walls that keep them safe from the leviathans outside are in jeopardy. This Sherlock/Watson style mystery set in a rich world with augmented people is a blast and one I 100% recommend.
Bennett is a solid writer in general, but his characters and their relationships with each other are so well done, and his characters are always my favorite parts of the books. Ana (the detective) and Din (the assistant with a killer memory) are the perfect pair. Their interactions with each other made me laugh, made me giggle, made me kick my heels, they were a delight. I love this dynamic so much; I'm a sucker for the quirky detective with strange habits and their sidekick who is telling the story getting swept up in a grand adventure. It's fun! It's a vibe!
I can see this book being a little too "dense" for casual readers. It's a slow mystery that you aren't really trying to solve as you go? You wait for it to all be revealed to you in pieces. You're dropped into the world right away, with all its terminology and complexity, and it might take a chapter or two to feel steady in the world. I personally wished the small romance between Din and [redacted] was fleshed out a little more, they were so cute together!
Just a delightful read all around, it ticked all the boxes off for what I like in fantasy and mystery.
A man is dead, killed by the plants that seem to have grown out of his body. Din, a genetically modified human with a perfect memory, is the assistant to Ana, the eccentric investigator who is tasked with solving this mystery. The two quickly find out that this murder was not an isolated incident and that the walls that keep them safe from the leviathans outside are in jeopardy. This Sherlock/Watson style mystery set in a rich world with augmented people is a blast and one I 100% recommend.
Bennett is a solid writer in general, but his characters and their relationships with each other are so well done, and his characters are always my favorite parts of the books. Ana (the detective) and Din (the assistant with a killer memory) are the perfect pair. Their interactions with each other made me laugh, made me giggle, made me kick my heels, they were a delight. I love this dynamic so much; I'm a sucker for the quirky detective with strange habits and their sidekick who is telling the story getting swept up in a grand adventure. It's fun! It's a vibe!
I can see this book being a little too "dense" for casual readers. It's a slow mystery that you aren't really trying to solve as you go? You wait for it to all be revealed to you in pieces. You're dropped into the world right away, with all its terminology and complexity, and it might take a chapter or two to feel steady in the world. I personally wished the small romance between Din and [redacted] was fleshed out a little more, they were so cute together!
Just a delightful read all around, it ticked all the boxes off for what I like in fantasy and mystery.
Wish of the White Tiger by Joseph Harkreader
2.0
We have got to discuss the difference between writing a world that is inspired by a different culture and writing a world that *is* that culture but is handled terribly. This confusing retelling of the Aladdin story amateurishly stumbles through a bizarre amount of cultures without establishing a strong world of its own. I rated this book 1.5 stars and would not recommend.
Baihu (Aladdin) is a palace guard thrown into a cosmic battle when he tries to escape sexual slavery. He stumbles across Div (Jasmine), Div’s familiar Tiki (Rahja), and a golden lamp containing a purple genie, Lian. The group must work together to overcome Mohan (Jafar), an evil sultan who wants to conquer the Dreamland.
When I started the book, I forgot Wish of the White Tiger was marketed as adult romantacy and thought I was reading a middle-grade fantasy. The world-building is childishly simple and explained through some unforgivably clunky exposition. The writing style is repetitive (get used to the phrases “jasmine aura” and honey eyes” when Div is being described) to the point of being distracting. Then you hit the explicit sex scenes, curse words, and weak attempts at writing “violent” action and are reminded this is supposed to be an adult novel.
The pacing of this novel is... not good. The story constantly interrupts itself by yanking Baihu out of his world and into the “spirit world” for him to keep learning about his “chi” power. Seriously. The number of times we’re tossed back and forth between realms is nuts. You know what else is nuts? How poorly the characters were written. Everyone is a one-dimensional character who rarely displays more than the 3 personality traits given to them. The genie flips between caring for the main characters and not trusting them, Baihu is such a flat, boring character it hurts and Tiki... is a guy? I don’t know man, this was not a good novel.
Now... we’ve got to talk about the strange amount of cultures Harkreader steals from. Aladdin is a Persian/Arabian/Indian story, so you would think that those are the cultures that Harkreader would focus on, right? Nope. Baihu is Chinese-coded; his name is Chinese, he wields “chi” like a weapon/magical power, he taps into the power of a white tiger god. Div and the kingdom he is from is Indian. Lian, the genie, has a Chinese name but is a mix of Arabian/Indian interpretations of Jinn. The bad guy has an army of undead samurai (that show up once), which are from Japan. They fight Wendingo’s, which are from Native American lore. They fight the Grim Reaper, who takes on the 14-13th century Germanic appearance. GREECE AND IT’S PANTHEON ARE JUST HERE. GREECE IS REFERENCED. ALONG WITH THE ENTIRE INDIAN PANTHEON OF GODS. AND HINDUISM. IS THIS OUR WORLD OR HARKREADER’S ORIGINAL CREATION? It started feeling offensive near the end, because this wasn’t a world inspired by the culture of 1001, this was a poor reskinning of real-life cultures.
If you are making a world inspired by actual cultures, you need to be careful of what you’re taking. RF Kuang’s The Poppy War Trilogy takes real history and culture and makes something original and interesting. Catherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale is so clearly inspired by Russian culture but again, still gives it an original twist. Harkreader gives up on creating an original world halfway through the novel and just regurgitates actual mythos and uses actual religions instead of building his own. This novel was definitely a letdown in many ways, from the childish/amateur writing, to the lazy and offensive world-building.
Baihu (Aladdin) is a palace guard thrown into a cosmic battle when he tries to escape sexual slavery. He stumbles across Div (Jasmine), Div’s familiar Tiki (Rahja), and a golden lamp containing a purple genie, Lian. The group must work together to overcome Mohan (Jafar), an evil sultan who wants to conquer the Dreamland.
When I started the book, I forgot Wish of the White Tiger was marketed as adult romantacy and thought I was reading a middle-grade fantasy. The world-building is childishly simple and explained through some unforgivably clunky exposition. The writing style is repetitive (get used to the phrases “jasmine aura” and honey eyes” when Div is being described) to the point of being distracting. Then you hit the explicit sex scenes, curse words, and weak attempts at writing “violent” action and are reminded this is supposed to be an adult novel.
The pacing of this novel is... not good. The story constantly interrupts itself by yanking Baihu out of his world and into the “spirit world” for him to keep learning about his “chi” power. Seriously. The number of times we’re tossed back and forth between realms is nuts. You know what else is nuts? How poorly the characters were written. Everyone is a one-dimensional character who rarely displays more than the 3 personality traits given to them. The genie flips between caring for the main characters and not trusting them, Baihu is such a flat, boring character it hurts and Tiki... is a guy? I don’t know man, this was not a good novel.
Now... we’ve got to talk about the strange amount of cultures Harkreader steals from. Aladdin is a Persian/Arabian/Indian story, so you would think that those are the cultures that Harkreader would focus on, right? Nope. Baihu is Chinese-coded; his name is Chinese, he wields “chi” like a weapon/magical power, he taps into the power of a white tiger god. Div and the kingdom he is from is Indian. Lian, the genie, has a Chinese name but is a mix of Arabian/Indian interpretations of Jinn. The bad guy has an army of undead samurai (that show up once), which are from Japan. They fight Wendingo’s, which are from Native American lore. They fight the Grim Reaper, who takes on the 14-13th century Germanic appearance. GREECE AND IT’S PANTHEON ARE JUST HERE. GREECE IS REFERENCED. ALONG WITH THE ENTIRE INDIAN PANTHEON OF GODS. AND HINDUISM. IS THIS OUR WORLD OR HARKREADER’S ORIGINAL CREATION? It started feeling offensive near the end, because this wasn’t a world inspired by the culture of 1001, this was a poor reskinning of real-life cultures.
If you are making a world inspired by actual cultures, you need to be careful of what you’re taking. RF Kuang’s The Poppy War Trilogy takes real history and culture and makes something original and interesting. Catherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale is so clearly inspired by Russian culture but again, still gives it an original twist. Harkreader gives up on creating an original world halfway through the novel and just regurgitates actual mythos and uses actual religions instead of building his own. This novel was definitely a letdown in many ways, from the childish/amateur writing, to the lazy and offensive world-building.
The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick
3.0
World War III rages on the surface of the earth, fought by robots produced by humans hidden underground. These humans, living in colonies called tanks, live in poor conditions, find the strength to brave their new reality through messages broadcasted by their president, Yancy. Here's the thing... World War III is over and the people in the tanks are kept there for manual labor. Yancy's speech writers hold all the power aboveground. And they don't want the undergrounder's to come up.
I think I just might not like PKD's style of writing. The story was fascinating; the themes of propaganda and how even bad propaganda works, exploration of the characters who write said propaganda, and time travel(??) were so fun! But it's like PKD gave up near the end, we were building to something interesting and then he shut it down, almost leaving us with a cliffhanger ending that didn't even get me excited for another story. I'm not sure if it's his prose or pacing that throws me off more. But there's something that keeps me from feeling connected to the story.
A very interesting read that builds to nowhere, a solid 3/5 star read.
I think I just might not like PKD's style of writing. The story was fascinating; the themes of propaganda and how even bad propaganda works, exploration of the characters who write said propaganda, and time travel(??) were so fun! But it's like PKD gave up near the end, we were building to something interesting and then he shut it down, almost leaving us with a cliffhanger ending that didn't even get me excited for another story. I'm not sure if it's his prose or pacing that throws me off more. But there's something that keeps me from feeling connected to the story.
A very interesting read that builds to nowhere, a solid 3/5 star read.
The End of the World by H.S. Gilchrist
Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.
DNFed at 30%
I was given a digital ARC of this book for an honest review.
The world the author was trying to build looked interesting. The characters were ok. But the overwritten, purple prose that filled the novel kept me from ever being immersed. This book could be a lot shorter and more compelling if the author and an editor went through and cut out so much unnecessary descriptions and flourishes.
Mica is a scavenger, hunted by a cult while surviving some sort of apocalypse. Animkii was a soldier connected to a hive-mind who finds her connection severed. The two women must team up to help each other survive.
I really think this book would have been more readable for me if the author had opted for simpler prose. “Purple prose” is hard to get right, and unfortunately Gilchrist doesn’t quite have the skill to pull it off. There’s a solid foundation there, just needs more work. I’m sure there will be readers who love this style of writing, I think it hindered the story.
I was given a digital ARC of this book for an honest review.
The world the author was trying to build looked interesting. The characters were ok. But the overwritten, purple prose that filled the novel kept me from ever being immersed. This book could be a lot shorter and more compelling if the author and an editor went through and cut out so much unnecessary descriptions and flourishes.
Mica is a scavenger, hunted by a cult while surviving some sort of apocalypse. Animkii was a soldier connected to a hive-mind who finds her connection severed. The two women must team up to help each other survive.
I really think this book would have been more readable for me if the author had opted for simpler prose. “Purple prose” is hard to get right, and unfortunately Gilchrist doesn’t quite have the skill to pull it off. There’s a solid foundation there, just needs more work. I’m sure there will be readers who love this style of writing, I think it hindered the story.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
Easiest 5 star read I’ve read in a while. Dickinson weaves a beautiful, tragic story about colonialism, rebellion, and power. If you’re a fan of RF Kuang’s work, this book is a must read.
Baru Cormorant was a young girl when The Masquarade slowly took over her home and honed her into a weapon, an Imperial Accountant. When she’s assigned to the Aurdwynn land to quell the rising rebellion, she’s faced with an awful choice; follow her plan to save her original home or save Aurdwynn from itself.
I don’t think this is a book for everyone. Framing war and rebellion through the eyes and mind of an accountant is genuinely fascinating, but if you’re looking for an action packed romance fantasy novel, you’ll be disappointed. The main character is an accoutant. There is a lot of accounting. The battles and skirmishes are told in a clinical, “historical” way. They are exciting! But not for everyone! Seth Dickinson’s prose can be a dense, but he makes it work. It’s flowery and beautiful, and sets up the world of the Masquerade so well.
I’m looking forward to finishing this series. Dickinson has set up a deeply fascinating world filled with horrifying politics and tragic characters. Be warned, misogyny and homophobia are featured in this novel and may be hard for sensitive readers. This novel will be sticking in my head for a while. Brava Seth. Brava.
5.0
It's not what the Masquerade does to you that you should you fear... It's what the Masquerade convinces you to do to yourself.
Easiest 5 star read I’ve read in a while. Dickinson weaves a beautiful, tragic story about colonialism, rebellion, and power. If you’re a fan of RF Kuang’s work, this book is a must read.
Baru Cormorant was a young girl when The Masquarade slowly took over her home and honed her into a weapon, an Imperial Accountant. When she’s assigned to the Aurdwynn land to quell the rising rebellion, she’s faced with an awful choice; follow her plan to save her original home or save Aurdwynn from itself.
I don’t think this is a book for everyone. Framing war and rebellion through the eyes and mind of an accountant is genuinely fascinating, but if you’re looking for an action packed romance fantasy novel, you’ll be disappointed. The main character is an accoutant. There is a lot of accounting. The battles and skirmishes are told in a clinical, “historical” way. They are exciting! But not for everyone! Seth Dickinson’s prose can be a dense, but he makes it work. It’s flowery and beautiful, and sets up the world of the Masquerade so well.
I’m looking forward to finishing this series. Dickinson has set up a deeply fascinating world filled with horrifying politics and tragic characters. Be warned, misogyny and homophobia are featured in this novel and may be hard for sensitive readers. This novel will be sticking in my head for a while. Brava Seth. Brava.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
3.5
I felt like I should have liked this book more than I did. It had everything that I liked: a story about someone who used to be in a hive mind on their own, intriguing political machinations, solid writing… it was all there. I think the story structure hindered my immersion. I rated this 3.5 stars and would still recommend!
The story follows Breq, a former ancillary of the starship Justice of Toren. Ancillaries are bodies controlled by ship AIs. When her ship is destroyed, Breq makes her way to the leader she holds responsible.
This book takes place in the “past” (when Breq was still a part of her ship) and the “present” (when she’s seeking revenge. Bouncing back and forth between the two times threw me off and didn’t let me get fully involved in the story until the final fourth of the book, when the “past” arc resolved and we were fully in the present. This was mostly just a personal thing, I can see why this book has gained so much popularity. The takes on gender (the empire Breq is from doesn’t differentiate between genders, everyone is “she”) were really cool, the culture of the Raach was fascinating and well explored. The themes of empire and annexation were good, but didn’t offer any new takes. Looking forward to finishing the series!
The story follows Breq, a former ancillary of the starship Justice of Toren. Ancillaries are bodies controlled by ship AIs. When her ship is destroyed, Breq makes her way to the leader she holds responsible.
This book takes place in the “past” (when Breq was still a part of her ship) and the “present” (when she’s seeking revenge. Bouncing back and forth between the two times threw me off and didn’t let me get fully involved in the story until the final fourth of the book, when the “past” arc resolved and we were fully in the present. This was mostly just a personal thing, I can see why this book has gained so much popularity. The takes on gender (the empire Breq is from doesn’t differentiate between genders, everyone is “she”) were really cool, the culture of the Raach was fascinating and well explored. The themes of empire and annexation were good, but didn’t offer any new takes. Looking forward to finishing the series!