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ergative's reviews
1057 reviews
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
3.0
Thank you to netgalley for an ARC.
A whimsical romp in which the moon one day, inexplicably, turns to cheese. Rather than following the implications of this in the form of a story, Scalzi instead gives us a pastiche of entertaining set pieces: how does the local church respond; how do the proprietors of competing cheese stores respond; retirees in a coffee shop; Holywood execs; popular science writers; NASA; asshole billionaires; has-been musicians; and so on. There's not really a plot, just a series of conversations. This both does and doesn't work well. I think the series of set pieces is a nice way to explore the implications of something so huge and also so silly as the conceit of this book. But also, Scalzi is not great at characterization. Or rather, he's not great at varying his characterization. Everyone speaks in the same voice; and every conversation has the same fast-paced, reasonably witty back-and-forth. When you have a smaller cast of characters, this isn't so much of a problem. But when you have a book where each chapter introduces new people in new settings with ostensibly new perspectives on the phenomenon, and they all sound exactly the same, it lampshades Scalzi's reliance on this one neat trick pretty saliently.
A whimsical romp in which the moon one day, inexplicably, turns to cheese. Rather than following the implications of this in the form of a story, Scalzi instead gives us a pastiche of entertaining set pieces: how does the local church respond; how do the proprietors of competing cheese stores respond; retirees in a coffee shop; Holywood execs; popular science writers; NASA; asshole billionaires; has-been musicians; and so on. There's not really a plot, just a series of conversations. This both does and doesn't work well. I think the series of set pieces is a nice way to explore the implications of something so huge and also so silly as the conceit of this book. But also, Scalzi is not great at characterization. Or rather, he's not great at varying his characterization. Everyone speaks in the same voice; and every conversation has the same fast-paced, reasonably witty back-and-forth. When you have a smaller cast of characters, this isn't so much of a problem. But when you have a book where each chapter introduces new people in new settings with ostensibly new perspectives on the phenomenon, and they all sound exactly the same, it lampshades Scalzi's reliance on this one neat trick pretty saliently.
Rats, Lice, and History: Being a Study in Biography, Which, After Twelve Preliminary Chapters Indispensable for the Preparation of the Lay Reader, Deals With the Life History of Typhus Fever by Hans Zinsser
5.0
This is a remarkable book -- not so much for its accomplishment of what it promises on the cover ('A bacteriologist's classic history of mankind's epic struggle to conquer the scourge of typhus'), but for 1) its insight into the world of medical science in 1934 (when it was written) and 2) the author's delightful rambling personality. We get very little actually about typhus, but quite a lot about the problems with biographers these days (too Freudian); the distinction between art and science with commentary about the silly modernists these days (especially Gertrude Stein); a fond, affectionate description of the life cycle of the louse; chapters upon chapters upon chapters of discussion of histroical epidemics that are not any of them typhus, with chapter headings saying things like, 'This, we promise, is the last serious digression from our main theme'; and then a few chapters later, which still is not yet about typhus, 'The need for this chapter will be apparent to those who have entered into the spirit of this biography'.
Accompanying these more light-hearted commentaries are digressions in which Zinsser makes his political view clear. He never loses an opportunity to comment on how bankers are parasites upon the worker; or, oddly, to criticise the New Deal, and he becomes remarkably eloquent on the horrors of war, and how it is diseases, rather than military strategy, that are often deciding factors.
One does not read this book to learrn about typhus. There actually isn't all that much about typhus in it, and I'm sure a modern book of popular science (a genre which Zinsser despises, for which reason he gives very little information about what is known scientifically about the disease; how discoveries of its spread and action were made, or anything of that sort) would be much more effective in teaching the reader about the disease itself. But from the perspective of 2024, this 90-year-old book is a remarkable window into the personality of a passionate and peevish bacteriologist.
Accompanying these more light-hearted commentaries are digressions in which Zinsser makes his political view clear. He never loses an opportunity to comment on how bankers are parasites upon the worker; or, oddly, to criticise the New Deal, and he becomes remarkably eloquent on the horrors of war, and how it is diseases, rather than military strategy, that are often deciding factors.
One does not read this book to learrn about typhus. There actually isn't all that much about typhus in it, and I'm sure a modern book of popular science (a genre which Zinsser despises, for which reason he gives very little information about what is known scientifically about the disease; how discoveries of its spread and action were made, or anything of that sort) would be much more effective in teaching the reader about the disease itself. But from the perspective of 2024, this 90-year-old book is a remarkable window into the personality of a passionate and peevish bacteriologist.
Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy
3.75
I quite enjoyed this one. I thought the magic system was pleasing; I loved the worldbuilding of the wilderwoods, and it's always rather refreshing to read a book that starts off with students in Magic School (tm) preparing for Magical Trials (tm), in which none of the key events actually revolve around the Magic School (tm) or Magical Trials (tm). The slow burn between Grim and Leo felt genuine, and I'm pretty sure that in book 2 there will be a revelation involving whether or not the counterspell was actually necessary, given a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in the climax that seems to be the payoff of a not-terribly-subtle bit of foreshadowing from the sorceress.
Honestly, what I liked most about this book was how there was, really, any antagonist. There was a magical problem to be solved, and people who had to be persuaded, one way or another, to help solve it; but the main thrust wasn't man vs. man, but more man vs. mistake. Overall, then, this was a fun romp, with some nice character moments and pleasing worldbuilding. I'll read the next book with pleasure. I love the idea of wild monsters in the scary magic wood that really just want to settle down for a singalong.
Honestly, what I liked most about this book was how there was, really, any antagonist. There was a magical problem to be solved, and people who had to be persuaded, one way or another, to help solve it; but the main thrust wasn't man vs. man, but more man vs. mistake. Overall, then, this was a fun romp, with some nice character moments and pleasing worldbuilding. I'll read the next book with pleasure. I love the idea of wild monsters in the scary magic wood that really just want to settle down for a singalong.
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
4.0
This was a wonderfully constructed book, whose interleaving strands were so deftly connected that all the way through I felt myself on the edge of tears as each new hint revealed a new point of contact between the different plot threads. But somehow, at about the 80% mark, as the plot threads started coming together, the book began to drag. The final culmination of all the storyliness didn't do anything that hadn't already been hinted at. The things that I knew were coming did come, but they came exactly as I expected them to, based on the hints, and somehow that felt like a let-down.
The problem, as I see it, is that this book is brilliant at evoking stories in their absence, but struggles to evoke them in their presence. The moment when Arthur returns to the Yazidi village and learns that they were massacred in his absence, was incredibly effective. Actually *seeing* Isis massacre the Yazidis in 2014 on the page, was not. Watching Narin's treatment in captivity to Isis made me feel nothing; but learning that she had been there for *four years* before being rescued evoked so much more horror off-page than anything that happened to her in the text. Learning about the connections between Narin's family lore and Arthur's quest, and the links between Arthur and Leila, right down to the revelation that Leila's grave is positioned so that she can watch over him in the cemetary, was beautiful. Seeing Arthur meet Leila on the page was a complete snoozefest.
So: this is a remarkable book, with an exquisite structure, but somehow it didn't quite land the way its premise set it up to do. And that is quite a pity; I was all prepared to rave about it up until I realized that I wasn't.
The problem, as I see it, is that this book is brilliant at evoking stories in their absence, but struggles to evoke them in their presence. The moment when Arthur returns to the Yazidi village and learns that they were massacred in his absence, was incredibly effective. Actually *seeing* Isis massacre the Yazidis in 2014 on the page, was not. Watching Narin's treatment in captivity to Isis made me feel nothing; but learning that she had been there for *four years* before being rescued evoked so much more horror off-page than anything that happened to her in the text. Learning about the connections between Narin's family lore and Arthur's quest, and the links between Arthur and Leila, right down to the revelation that Leila's grave is positioned so that she can watch over him in the cemetary, was beautiful. Seeing Arthur meet Leila on the page was a complete snoozefest.
So: this is a remarkable book, with an exquisite structure, but somehow it didn't quite land the way its premise set it up to do. And that is quite a pity; I was all prepared to rave about it up until I realized that I wasn't.
The Legacy of Arniston House by T.L. Huchu
0.25
I kind of struggled with this one. For some odd reason, Ropa's voice, which was so effective and charming in the first three books, felt slightly forced and artificial in this one. I can't explain why; It just stopped working for me. The plot, too, seemed unformed. A whole lot of it revolved around sitting down and learning about Ropa's grandmother's history, which, honestly, seemed fairly unrelated to the main power struggle within Scottish Magic (although it was nice to finally learn the whole story about the Catastrophe, which has been only referred to pretty vaguely up until now). And it ends on a cliffhanger, which is very irritating. The whole series has been so nicely self-contained within each book up until now, so I didn't appreciate being left on a limb, after having been trained to expect a satisfying conclusion from the last three books. I don't see myself reading the next book.
The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo
3.0
First of all, this book takes a TURN that renders it substantially less similar to the bluebeard-esque narrative that it resembles for the first three quarters. That is to the good, and I was taken quite by surprise when it happened. But all the same, I keep reading these books in the hopes of recovering the structural brilliance that so impressed me about The Emperess of Salt and Fortune, and WHen The Tiger Came Down the Mountain. But I think Vo has abandoned that type of storytelling for this series, and I keep getting disappointed, as I was here. I think I might give up on the series, at this point. It's just not giving me what I want out of it.
Venus in Copper by Lindsey Davis
4.25
I liked this the best of the first three books in this series. The plot was twisty but not convoluted, and I was able to keep up with it; and it did a wonderful job of evoking Ancient Rome as a proper setting. The first two books do a certain amount of travelling, so we never really spend serious time in Rome The City. This time we did, and it really came alive.
I also enjoyed the musical chairs poisoning shenanigans. I love me a good poisoning.
I also enjoyed the musical chairs poisoning shenanigans. I love me a good poisoning.
Nettleblack by Nat Reeve
3.75
A lively, queer romp about a small town's benighted detective agency, in which a severed head keeps disappearing and reappearing inconveniently, murderous hair-thieves are terrorizing the populace, and quite a lot of Gilbert and Sullivan is referenced. Also a ferret. Possibly a smidge longer than it needed to be; a lot of the entertaining chaos could have been tightened up a bit. But overall, a fun ride.
Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
4.0
I really enjoyed this! It did the meta-fictional thing quite well, tying together Rae's experiences in the real world with her reactions to the world of the book quite beautifully. I'm not entirely sure that the head-hopping worked, because that shifted the narrative from this self-aware genre-savvy approach into people who were fully embedded in the world, and took everything seriously; but I could see what Brennan was doing with it: sort of prompting the reader to start approaching these characters as real pepole, exactly the way Rae starts doing, by showing us this secondary world through their own eyes. In the end I was fully on board with it.
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
3.0
This book was trying to do three things, of which it did only one well. (1) A meditation on immigration and assimiliation in an alien world; (2) a time-travelling spy thriller; (3) a romance.
The first was . . . fine. Competent, but not terribly deep. I was struck by the moment when our narrator reveals 20th century atrocities by mentionoing the Holocaust (or, in another timeline, 9/11) -- when her whole Thing is that her mother escaped the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. It seems like kind of a missed opportunity to tie her own backstory with the events of the book.
The time-travelling thriller was not terribly satisfying, and I ended up getting confused about who the baddies actually are. Like, if Quentin was the (first) mole, then why did he give all of those key documents to our narrator?
And the sex was just not at all sexy. Like, extremely unsexy, actually. I'm not going to say what needed to change about it, because I have no expertise in this area. Even in my fanfiction years I never tried to write smut. But gosh, it left me cold.
The first was . . . fine. Competent, but not terribly deep. I was struck by the moment when our narrator reveals 20th century atrocities by mentionoing the Holocaust (or, in another timeline, 9/11) -- when her whole Thing is that her mother escaped the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. It seems like kind of a missed opportunity to tie her own backstory with the events of the book.
The time-travelling thriller was not terribly satisfying, and I ended up getting confused about who the baddies actually are. Like, if Quentin was the (first) mole, then why did he give all of those key documents to our narrator?
And the sex was just not at all sexy. Like, extremely unsexy, actually. I'm not going to say what needed to change about it, because I have no expertise in this area. Even in my fanfiction years I never tried to write smut. But gosh, it left me cold.