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imaginary_space's reviews
217 reviews
Paperclip by Seb Doubinsky
adventurous
challenging
dark
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
An engaging speculative fiction novel. I requested this book because of the intriguing cover design, which I rarely ever do, so kudos to whoever was responsible for it. I was rewarded with interesting worldbuilding, several POV characters (which I always enjoy) and some cool story ideas. Oh, and I love birds, so that helped.
"Paperclip" is not the first novel in Doubinsky's alternate reality universe of competing city-states, but the first one I have read and for me, it totally worked as a standalone. I never had the feeling I was missing some vital information from a previous book. This seems to be the case with all his novels, so if this fictional universe sounds like something you might be interested in, I suggest you chose whichever book appeals most to you.
I found a lot to like about this book. The bird chapters were what I loved most, not just because I like birds, but because I found them to contain the best writing and some very interesting insight and inner monologue. The worldbuilding is interesting, fans of speculative ficiton will find some creative, yet believable ideas. The characters are layered, not simply good or bad. Everyone is good, but everyone's also an asshole in some capacity. Their motivations are clear and understandable. All in all, just what I like in my POV characters.
The story is driven by the characters and their actions, it has layers and touches on a lot of subjects. Things that do not seem connected in the beginning tie together in the end, motivations that are not clear at first glance become understandable later. There are some disctinct surreal elements that, in my opinion, go nicely with the more down-to-earth and plausible worldbuilding. Not everything is explained or even resolved. I like this in a story, but I am aware this is a matter of personal taste. The choice pays off and makes this story more intriguing.
What I did struggle with was the writing. The chapters were too short for my taste, so there was a lot of jumping around between the different POVs. The characters all seem to have the same voice; although they are different, they are not written differently. The author sometimes jumps from one thought to another without transition and the inner monologues are rather matter-of-fact, very short or not there at all. I would have wished for more insight into the character's minds. This made the writing seem incoherent and a little bland to me and contributed to the fact that, even though I enjoyed the world, the story and the characters, I did not particularly enjoy the process of reading the book. This is not due to lack of talent or editing, but rather a creative choice, because the bird chapters are written very differently and show that Doubinsky can write and knows what he is doing. So I might of course be wrong here, but I think the distinction between the story-focused and the more instrospect writing is intentional, and it does fit the content of the respective chapters. It might just not be my cup of tea. I guess I will have to read more and find out. Because I am intrigued.
tldr; I am glad I read this book and will read more of Doubinsky's works. I struggled a lot trying to decide if I wanted to give "Paperclip" 3 or 4 stars, but ultimately landed on 3.5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and Meerkat Press for the eARC.
"Paperclip" is not the first novel in Doubinsky's alternate reality universe of competing city-states, but the first one I have read and for me, it totally worked as a standalone. I never had the feeling I was missing some vital information from a previous book. This seems to be the case with all his novels, so if this fictional universe sounds like something you might be interested in, I suggest you chose whichever book appeals most to you.
I found a lot to like about this book. The bird chapters were what I loved most, not just because I like birds, but because I found them to contain the best writing and some very interesting insight and inner monologue. The worldbuilding is interesting, fans of speculative ficiton will find some creative, yet believable ideas. The characters are layered, not simply good or bad. Everyone is good, but everyone's also an asshole in some capacity. Their motivations are clear and understandable. All in all, just what I like in my POV characters.
The story is driven by the characters and their actions, it has layers and touches on a lot of subjects. Things that do not seem connected in the beginning tie together in the end, motivations that are not clear at first glance become understandable later. There are some disctinct surreal elements that, in my opinion, go nicely with the more down-to-earth and plausible worldbuilding. Not everything is explained or even resolved. I like this in a story, but I am aware this is a matter of personal taste. The choice pays off and makes this story more intriguing.
What I did struggle with was the writing. The chapters were too short for my taste, so there was a lot of jumping around between the different POVs. The characters all seem to have the same voice; although they are different, they are not written differently. The author sometimes jumps from one thought to another without transition and the inner monologues are rather matter-of-fact, very short or not there at all. I would have wished for more insight into the character's minds. This made the writing seem incoherent and a little bland to me and contributed to the fact that, even though I enjoyed the world, the story and the characters, I did not particularly enjoy the process of reading the book. This is not due to lack of talent or editing, but rather a creative choice, because the bird chapters are written very differently and show that Doubinsky can write and knows what he is doing. So I might of course be wrong here, but I think the distinction between the story-focused and the more instrospect writing is intentional, and it does fit the content of the respective chapters. It might just not be my cup of tea. I guess I will have to read more and find out. Because I am intrigued.
tldr; I am glad I read this book and will read more of Doubinsky's works. I struggled a lot trying to decide if I wanted to give "Paperclip" 3 or 4 stars, but ultimately landed on 3.5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and Meerkat Press for the eARC.
Die kleinste gemeinsame Wirklichkeit: Wahr, falsch, plausibel - die größten Streitfragen wissenschaftlich geprüft by Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
5.0
Noch bevor ich mich näher mit dem Inhalt befasst hatte, war mir direkt aufgefallen, wie gut das ebook produziert ist: Die Grafiken sind auf EInk-Displays gut erkennbar und es sind Weblinks zu größeren Versionen eingebettet. Die Anmerkungsziffern sind verlinkt und beim Tap darauf öffnet sich ein Popup mit der Quellenangabe.
Ein großes Lob an die Produzent:innen dafür! Ich mag es, wenn moderne Formate ihre Möglichkeiten ausnutzen und nicht nur "Buch, aber in digital" sind.
Die Aufmachung des Buches ist insgesamt sehr gut. Viele Grafiken veranschaulichen die Aussagen, die Kapitel haben die richtige Länge, um Informationen zu transportieren und trotzdem nicht zu langatmig zu werden. Die Sprache ist für Laien gut verständlich, ohne infantilisierend zu sein. Man merkt, dass sich hier nicht nur um den Inhalt Gedanken gemacht wurde und dass Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim ein Profi auf dem Gebiet der Wissenschaftskommunikation ist.
Auch inhaltich konnte mich "Die kleinste gemeinsame Wirklichkeit" überzeugen. Ich wollte es vor allem lesen, da erklärtes Ziel des Buches ist, für große (und oft emotionalisierte) Streitfragen eine Faktenlage zu präsentieren, auf der überhaupt erst diskutiert und gestritten werden kann. So behandelt die Autorin in ihrem Buch Themen aus dem aktuellen politischen und gesellschaftlichen Diskurs, von denen die meisten auch in einigen Jahren noch interessant sein werden: Von Gewalt in Videospielen bis zum Gender Pay Gab und über solche kontroversen Schlagwörter wie "Big Pharma" und Impfungen, aber auch weniger medial ausgeschlachtete Themen wie die Vererblichkeit von Intelligenz. Unaufgeregt präsentiert sie, was wir zu diesen Themen eigentlich mit welcher Sicherheit wissen und belegt ihre Aussagen mit unzähligen Quellenangaben. Auch für jene, die in dem einen oder anderen Thema schon sehr gut infornmiert sind, ist dieses Buch wertvoll, denn es präsentiert die Fakten und Argumente in konsolidierter Form und dient gleichzeitig als Nachschlagewerk.
Als jemand, die eher selten Sachbücher liest und Informationen im Artikelformat bevorzugt (womit ich vermutlich genau in die Zielgruppe falle), kann ich nichts Schlechtes über dieses Buch sagen. Höchstens, dass es bei denen, die es am nötigsten hätten, vermutlich nicht ankommen wird. Aber das liegt nicht daran, dass Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim es nicht versucht.
Die Themen sind aktuell, ich habe einiges gelernt, es gibt viele Quellenangaben zum Weiterlesen, der Text ist gut geschrieben und die Aufmachung ist super - von mir gibt es eine eindeutige Leseempfehlung.
Und aus ihrem Schlusswort würde ich am liebsten alles zitieren:
"Dass wir Wissenschaft, insbesondere die Naturwissenschaften, fast schon wie eine Art nerdiges Orchideenwissen behandeln, steht einer aufgeklärten Gesellschaft nicht. [...] Wissenschaftliche Allgemeinbildung ist ein Impfstoff gegen Desinformation. [...] Die Wissenschaft beruht nämlich auf Denkweisen und Haltungen, auf einem "wissenschaftlichen Spirit", von denen wir auch in unseren plitischen und gesellschaftlichen Debatten unbedingt mehr gebrauchen können."
- Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, "Die kleinste gemeinsame Wirklichkeit"
"Konstruktive Debatten und konstruktive Problemlösungen brauchen wissenschaftlichen Spirit - wissenschaftliches Denken, wissenschaftliche Methoden, wissenschaftliche Fehler- und Diskussionskultur. [...]
Denn wir sollten nicht den Fehler machen zu glauben, dass die Suche nach dem Konsens, die Suche nach der kleinsten gemeinsamen Wirklichkeit, dem freien Meinungsaustausch und einer freien Debattenkultur im Wege steht. [...] Ohne ein gemeinsames Verständnis von Wirklichkeit, auf dessen Fundament wir unsere Debatten austragen, streiten wir nur auf der Stelle und nicht vorwärts.
Wissenschaftlichkeit heißt nicht, weniger zu streiten, sondern besser."
- Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, "Die kleinste gemeinsame Wirklichkeit"
Vielen Dank an den Droemer Verlag für das Zurverfügungstellen eines Rezensionsexemplares im Gegenzug für ein ehrliches Review.
Ein großes Lob an die Produzent:innen dafür! Ich mag es, wenn moderne Formate ihre Möglichkeiten ausnutzen und nicht nur "Buch, aber in digital" sind.
Die Aufmachung des Buches ist insgesamt sehr gut. Viele Grafiken veranschaulichen die Aussagen, die Kapitel haben die richtige Länge, um Informationen zu transportieren und trotzdem nicht zu langatmig zu werden. Die Sprache ist für Laien gut verständlich, ohne infantilisierend zu sein. Man merkt, dass sich hier nicht nur um den Inhalt Gedanken gemacht wurde und dass Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim ein Profi auf dem Gebiet der Wissenschaftskommunikation ist.
Auch inhaltich konnte mich "Die kleinste gemeinsame Wirklichkeit" überzeugen. Ich wollte es vor allem lesen, da erklärtes Ziel des Buches ist, für große (und oft emotionalisierte) Streitfragen eine Faktenlage zu präsentieren, auf der überhaupt erst diskutiert und gestritten werden kann. So behandelt die Autorin in ihrem Buch Themen aus dem aktuellen politischen und gesellschaftlichen Diskurs, von denen die meisten auch in einigen Jahren noch interessant sein werden: Von Gewalt in Videospielen bis zum Gender Pay Gab und über solche kontroversen Schlagwörter wie "Big Pharma" und Impfungen, aber auch weniger medial ausgeschlachtete Themen wie die Vererblichkeit von Intelligenz. Unaufgeregt präsentiert sie, was wir zu diesen Themen eigentlich mit welcher Sicherheit wissen und belegt ihre Aussagen mit unzähligen Quellenangaben. Auch für jene, die in dem einen oder anderen Thema schon sehr gut infornmiert sind, ist dieses Buch wertvoll, denn es präsentiert die Fakten und Argumente in konsolidierter Form und dient gleichzeitig als Nachschlagewerk.
Als jemand, die eher selten Sachbücher liest und Informationen im Artikelformat bevorzugt (womit ich vermutlich genau in die Zielgruppe falle), kann ich nichts Schlechtes über dieses Buch sagen. Höchstens, dass es bei denen, die es am nötigsten hätten, vermutlich nicht ankommen wird. Aber das liegt nicht daran, dass Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim es nicht versucht.
Die Themen sind aktuell, ich habe einiges gelernt, es gibt viele Quellenangaben zum Weiterlesen, der Text ist gut geschrieben und die Aufmachung ist super - von mir gibt es eine eindeutige Leseempfehlung.
Und aus ihrem Schlusswort würde ich am liebsten alles zitieren:
"Dass wir Wissenschaft, insbesondere die Naturwissenschaften, fast schon wie eine Art nerdiges Orchideenwissen behandeln, steht einer aufgeklärten Gesellschaft nicht. [...] Wissenschaftliche Allgemeinbildung ist ein Impfstoff gegen Desinformation. [...] Die Wissenschaft beruht nämlich auf Denkweisen und Haltungen, auf einem "wissenschaftlichen Spirit", von denen wir auch in unseren plitischen und gesellschaftlichen Debatten unbedingt mehr gebrauchen können."
- Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, "Die kleinste gemeinsame Wirklichkeit"
"Konstruktive Debatten und konstruktive Problemlösungen brauchen wissenschaftlichen Spirit - wissenschaftliches Denken, wissenschaftliche Methoden, wissenschaftliche Fehler- und Diskussionskultur. [...]
Denn wir sollten nicht den Fehler machen zu glauben, dass die Suche nach dem Konsens, die Suche nach der kleinsten gemeinsamen Wirklichkeit, dem freien Meinungsaustausch und einer freien Debattenkultur im Wege steht. [...] Ohne ein gemeinsames Verständnis von Wirklichkeit, auf dessen Fundament wir unsere Debatten austragen, streiten wir nur auf der Stelle und nicht vorwärts.
Wissenschaftlichkeit heißt nicht, weniger zu streiten, sondern besser."
- Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, "Die kleinste gemeinsame Wirklichkeit"
Vielen Dank an den Droemer Verlag für das Zurverfügungstellen eines Rezensionsexemplares im Gegenzug für ein ehrliches Review.
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Lagoon is an absolutely wild ride and I loved every bit of it.
I'm not big on comparisons, but "Doctor Who in Africa" is a really good one for this book, because of the wild mix of themes that you'd never think would go well together, and that Nnedi Okorafor pulls off anyway. It's funny, entertaining, deep, informative, hopeful, sad and every once in a while it rips your heart out. For me, the best kind of science fiction is one with a base deeply routed in reality, and that's what Lagoon is. I feel like I learned a lot about Lagos and Nigeria in general, and at the same time I've enjoyed a very original and inventive science fiction story.
What other book makes you cry overthe death of a side character and then laugh about the president of the country meeting an alien that takes the form of Karl Marx to make a point about his political aspirations ?
But although I enjoyed the diverse cast of characters, I would have liked the three main characters to be a bit more fleshed out, especiallyAnthony . Some of the side characters get more complexity, which I loved. Towards the end I think the scope got too big, the POVs too many and it all felt a bit rushed, although I do think I understand why the author made that choice. The book would have been a 5 star read for me it more of that time was dedicated to the charaters.
I'm not big on comparisons, but "Doctor Who in Africa" is a really good one for this book, because of the wild mix of themes that you'd never think would go well together, and that Nnedi Okorafor pulls off anyway. It's funny, entertaining, deep, informative, hopeful, sad and every once in a while it rips your heart out. For me, the best kind of science fiction is one with a base deeply routed in reality, and that's what Lagoon is. I feel like I learned a lot about Lagos and Nigeria in general, and at the same time I've enjoyed a very original and inventive science fiction story.
What other book makes you cry over
But although I enjoyed the diverse cast of characters, I would have liked the three main characters to be a bit more fleshed out, especially
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
adventurous
funny
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? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed that this was different from the former Murderbot stories, more of a "slice of life", a look into Murderbot's new life on Preservation and how it settles in and gets along with what must be a very weird situation for our favourite killing machine.
Through an interesting "whodunnit" plot, we get to see how the people on Preservation react to Murderbot and the questions and problems a non-human, non-robot entity with no clearly defined state of personhood poses to a society. Those were the parts of the story I enjoyed the most, because murder mysteries are generally not my cup of tea, although I like that Martha Wells shakes things up a bit plot-wise and Murderbot can't realy on its usual hacking capabilities to solve everything, but muster interact with (gasp) humans!
After all, this is the sixth installment in the Murderbot series, so I do appreciate her giving us a variety of stories to keep things interesting. What threw me off a little was the extensive use of parenthesis.
Through an interesting "whodunnit" plot, we get to see how the people on Preservation react to Murderbot and the questions and problems a non-human, non-robot entity with no clearly defined state of personhood poses to a society. Those were the parts of the story I enjoyed the most, because murder mysteries are generally not my cup of tea, although I like that Martha Wells shakes things up a bit plot-wise and Murderbot can't realy on its usual hacking capabilities to solve everything, but muster interact with (gasp) humans!
After all, this is the sixth installment in the Murderbot series, so I do appreciate her giving us a variety of stories to keep things interesting. What threw me off a little was the extensive use of parenthesis.
Wedge's Gamble by Michael A. Stackpole
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This was real fun. Yes, you need some suspension of disbelief for the plot and I would love for the characters to be a bit more fleshed out, but in the end, this is an action-adventure novel and I was immensely entertained reading it. And of course, there are the childhood memories, so I can't be totally objective here.
Black Ambrosia by Elizabeth Engstrom
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Okay, yes, Lestat is super whiny and it's annoying as hell. But I can live with that, since it's also kind of a core point of his character that he always wants what he can't have, especially if it's dangerous.
What I could not deal with was him being constantly distracted by the stupidest things. I mean, David (whom Lestat allegedly loves deeply) is here coming up with plans and doing all the work and Lestat goes from "I want my body back and will do everything in my power, this is my only goal" to "So... can we have sex now?" several times in five minutes.
I blame lack of editing.
I blame lack of editing for a lot of things in this book.
Because it is an intriguing story, the characters are great, it's something fresh and new and a great book to write after the first three in the Vampire Chronicles. The story is very urban fantasy, in a good way, I like the antagonist and I love everything with David in it. Lestat is not only whiny, but an immense a**hole at times, but since he never was a likeable protagonist, so that's fine with me. I love the fact that he wants to be human at all costs and then absolutely hates it, not out of glee, but because I find it a believable reaction from a being that is so absolutely removed from being human and enjoys it.
There are a lot of meaningful conversations in this book, as always with Anne Rice, but also a lot of back and forth and repetitions of the same thing over and over, so it could definitely have benefited from some editing. And it could have been a lot shorter.
All in all, in my "great and possible several years-long re-read of the Vampire Chronicles and maybe the Mayfair Witches completely out of order", this book ranks below "Pandora" (the first book I re-read, this being the second) because of lack of editing and focus.
Next up: Memnoch the Devil
What I could not deal with was him being constantly distracted by the stupidest things. I mean, David (whom Lestat allegedly loves deeply) is here coming up with plans and doing all the work and Lestat goes from "I want my body back and will do everything in my power, this is my only goal" to "So... can we have sex now?" several times in five minutes.
I blame lack of editing.
I blame lack of editing for a lot of things in this book.
Because it is an intriguing story, the characters are great, it's something fresh and new and a great book to write after the first three in the Vampire Chronicles. The story is very urban fantasy, in a good way, I like the antagonist and I love everything with David in it. Lestat is not only whiny, but an immense a**hole at times, but since he never was a likeable protagonist, so that's fine with me. I love the fact that he wants to be human at all costs and then absolutely hates it, not out of glee, but because I find it a believable reaction from a being that is so absolutely removed from being human and enjoys it.
There are a lot of meaningful conversations in this book, as always with Anne Rice, but also a lot of back and forth and repetitions of the same thing over and over, so it could definitely have benefited from some editing. And it could have been a lot shorter.
All in all, in my "great and possible several years-long re-read of the Vampire Chronicles and maybe the Mayfair Witches completely out of order", this book ranks below "Pandora" (the first book I re-read, this being the second) because of lack of editing and focus.
Next up: Memnoch the Devil
Pandora by Anne Rice
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I love my girl Pandora but after two thousand years she should really have learned something about toxic relationships. Accidentally, this makes her one of the most relatable of the Vampires, which in itself is very sad.
Given all her desire to be independent in her mortal years, her immortal life is defined by her relationships and the men she meets. Which is also sad. And in the endshe does it all over again ...
All of this makes this book and this character just so very believable and I did get the feeling none of it was romanticized, so I still love it as a tragic story about how we sometimes make the same mistakes over and over again. And a basic rule of Rice's Vampires is: we never really change, we just become more and more who we really are. But I still wanted something more substantial.
Given all her desire to be independent in her mortal years, her immortal life is defined by her relationships and the men she meets. Which is also sad. And in the end
All of this makes this book and this character just so very believable and I did get the feeling none of it was romanticized, so I still love it as a tragic story about how we sometimes make the same mistakes over and over again. And a basic rule of Rice's Vampires is: we never really change, we just become more and more who we really are. But I still wanted something more substantial.
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It's been a few years and I was afraid this book wouldn't hold up. Fortunately, I was wrong.
I love the focus on the details, the simplicity, the old man as a character and the way this book makes me feel hopeful and sad at the same time.
There is so much to take away from this story.
Life can be hard and also good.
"He took all his pain and what was left of his strength and his long-gone pride and he put it against the fish's agony."
I love the focus on the details, the simplicity, the old man as a character and the way this book makes me feel hopeful and sad at the same time.
There is so much to take away from this story.
Life can be hard and also good.
"He took all his pain and what was left of his strength and his long-gone pride and he put it against the fish's agony."