ergative's reviews
1057 reviews

Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera

I cannot give this a rating. I don't know what I think. I don't know if I liked it. This is not a book for mere mortals like myself to subject to something as vulgar and profane as reviewing. I will say, however, that there's a bit on pg 245 that sums up the entire reading experience. I just about thought I was getting a handle on what was going on, and then the narrator helpfully articulates my thoughts, and then grandmother says, 'You say you get it, but then you talk like you don't get it.' Kind of a slap in the face.

No! No comprehension for you!

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

3.5

There was a lot to like about this -- in particular the premise (independent spy-for-hire goes undercover to entrap a super-kooky enviro-commune group into murdering a politician). I really enjoyed the narrator's scorn for everyone she interacts with. But the group's fuondational big-daddy Bruno, whose emails the narrator hacks and reads, gets a sort of respect in the narrative that seems undermined by his profound kookiness. Is it a wisdom-despite kind of thing? Is the idea that, underneath all his weird ideas, Bruno has a kernel of understanding that is valuable? Or does Kushner actually want us to believe that Bruno was on to something deep when he insists that Neanderthals smoked tobacco and Polynesians navigated the ocean by attending to the sway of their testicles? Are the narrator's evident faults in perception and morality the very thing that makes her vulnerable to Bruno's kooky-ass influence? I can't tell. It all feels very literary, and the ambiguity makes me uncomfortable. I really do worry that Kushner might believe in testicle-compasses.

Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis

4.0

As fun as the first. I do love Falco's narration. And I'm always just barely holding on to the plot details with my fingernails.

DallerGut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee

3.0

This has a lot in common with 'We'll Prescribe You a Cat': A very whimsical, episodic tale about a supernatural institution whose role is to prescribe mundane elements of human existance to make people's lives better. In this case, the world-building was better conceived: Alongside the mundane waking world is a parallel world we go to when we sleep, with its own currency and inhabitants, whose primary jobs and economy are powered, Monsters Inc-like, by the production and sale of dreams. When you go to sleep, you appear in this parallel world, and can purchase particular dreams. Different dreammakers are revered as cultural icons in this dreamworld, with Oscars-like ceremonies to celebrate their creations, prizes for bestselling dreammakers, schools to train new generations of dreammakers, and so on. When you wake you have no memory of visiting this world and making your purchase, but you do recall the effect of the dream. 

It's all rather cute. One dreammaker specialises in dog dreams. But still: it was more an exploration of an idea, rather than a fully conceived story. Undemanding, with some surprisingly moving bits (dying people can buy dreams to leave behind for their loved ones), but I'm not raring to read more. The novelty of its conceit is pretty much all it's got going for it. The characters are one-dimensional and obvious; the plot is non-existant, and the writing (or quality of translation) is awfully pedestrian. And now that I've experienced the novelty, I don't see the need for more of the same.

The Wings Upon Her Back by Samantha Mills

3.5

 This felt a lot like it was doing the same sort of thing as Some Desperate Glory, but with less imaginative plot construction. I find interlacing timelines very, very hard to do well. There was nothing about Zemya's process of indoctrination that we learned in the past timeline that couldn't have been portrayed equally effectively by showing us the end state in the present. And I always get bored by the past timelines because I know how things are going to shake out. 

Seeing a Large Cat by Elizabeth Peters

4.0

I rather liked this one! The Manuscript H gimmick was a little bit too gimmicky, but it's nice to see the children forming their own little gang of crime-investigators. However, it does rather irritate me that, for alll the lip service given to women's equality, Neferet is perpetually forbidden from doing things that Ramses is allowed to do. It's just kind of a knee-jerk reaction: of COURSE Ramses goes into a tomb first, while Neferet must hang back. OF COURSE Ramses gets to chase after a young lady running alone into a shady park after dark while Neferet is bodily held back by Emerson. Some of the cases seem to be explicitly commented upon as double standards, but there are others -- like who gets to go first into the tomb -- that are accepted without question as appropriate. Neferet is two years older than Ramses! It's rather irritating.

The Dark Between The Trees by Fiona Barnett

4.0

This was basically all vibes, and not much plot. Very little is answered about the mystery -- like why the people keep getting cut open. (My hypothesis is that they're caught on a boundary of a fold in the woods.) But the vibes were very impeccable, and the repeated mentions of the risk assessments are quite funny, in an existential way, given what's happening. That last little kick in the teeth for poor Nuria was rough.

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

3.5

I feel a bit bad about rating this so low. It did what it set out to do incredibly well: re-imagining The Little Mermaid in a West African mythos. The recognizable components -- rescuing a Love Interest from drowning; a mermaid who can take human form because of the assistance of a sea witch; discomfort in walking, with pain in the feet -- were recognizable, but seamlessly integrated into an entirely different world. The plot was tight, with the Love Interest's goals aligning coincidentally with the mermaid's goals; and the eventual resolution of the love story was handled in a satisfying and unpredictable way. (Although I see it's book 1 of a series, so I expect that resolution is going to be walked back in favour of a more predictable ending, alas.)

But. But but but but. This book is firmly YA. It is aimed at a YA readership, and for that reason, although I recognize the skill at this beautiful reimagining of a familiar tale in a new context, I found myself getting awfully bored and restless at times. THat's not the book's fault. It's a good book that does what it does well. But it wasn't for me.

Asunder by Kerstin Hall

3.75

I'm not fully sure about this one. I really liked the complex religious-politics-history setting, which reminds me a bit of the Craft Sequence: old gods replaced by a new regime, with different nations split according to their affiliations w/r/t the conflict. That was incredibly rich world-building, and expressed without info-dumping, but by trusting the reader to figure it out. The more I think about it, the more I really, really liked that bit.

But I found the character arcs rather tedious. Oh No I Have Trauma From Daddy Issues! That whole reveal felt kind of . . . cheap? Like, it didn't really explain anything (and I find Daddy Issues as an explanatory device tedious even when it is effectively integrated). It was just chucked in to add depth or something. And the growing connection between Ferain and Karys feels dull too. I worry that if there is a sequel to finish the story (which is unfinished currently, given where it ends), it will focus more on the characters than on the world-building, which feels fully developed. And I'm not so interested in that, to be honest.

THe creepy, creepy ass Sabaster was delightfully creepy. That was great.

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

3.75

 ... dafuq did I just read? That is a gruesome, bewildering, but also fascinating ride. I'm not sure I'll be panting at the bit to read another book by this author, but I also wouldn't avoid it. I'd need to be in the right head space. I don't trust him, not an inch, but he's definitely got my attention.