killa_bunnies's reviews
41 reviews

Echopraxia by Peter Watts

challenging dark informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I would not call Echopraxia a sequel as it does not start where the previous book – Blindsight – ended. Even Watts himself calls it “sidequel”, which is more fitting. It happens parallel to the story of the first book, with different perspectives and situations, but some connections to the story of Blindsight are here (mostly in form of allusions to some of the characters). 

The main story revolves around vampires, their clash with a trans-humanist cult and the idea of free will. As in the previous case, Watts explores with meticulous precision the topic of consciousness, the free will, or more like its absence (or non-existence, to be more precise). Free will is a concept that from the scientific point of view is more than debatable, since our reflexes, instincts, or internal processes are independent of our will and carry on without our intervention. Thus, free will is just an illusion. The term “echopraxia” that gave the book its title refers to the psychological condition, in which a person involuntarily mimics what it sees (thus again, the question of free will).

Well, that’s just one of the themes in this hard science fiction packed book. And although its pace is as in previous cases rather slow-ish, it rewards patient readers with lots of ideas to think about. If that resonates with you and you are not afraid of complex books, go for it. 

Just a side note: both books could be found in one edition under the title Firefall (Head of Zeus, 2017). 

Megalex by Alejandro Jodorowsky

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Blindsight by Peter Watts

challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Well, I heard a lot about this book, but whoa, I did not expect that… First thing first, it is a heavy read. Not in terms of the story itself, but because of all the thoughts Peter Watts put in this book. And you could be sure there is a lot of fuel for thoughts. The fact that Watts is an academic himself, a marine biologist to be specific, is clear from the very first pages. He is considered as an author of hard science fiction, meaning there is a science theory behind everything in the book (it goes beyond that, here Watts added also footnotes, citations and list of additional reads and studies). The sheer amount of work and research beyond this story is simply stunning. But it takes its toll, since many scientific terms and theories referenced here want you to put the book down and go to wiki to read more before coming back. Don’t get me wrong, I love that, but be ready – it is not an easy read, the tempo is slow-ish and if you are not an English native speaker, you might spend more time with a dictionary than you might like. 

That aside, the whole story reimagining the first contact scenario, a meeting with an extraterrestrial life form, is going through several avenues of current science, even bringing to life vampires as another species parallel to human evolution (with charming scientifically probable way explaining the “crucifix glitch”). But the overall theme here is consciousness and sentience of one’s mind. Free will basically does not exist as we are slaves to our biological processes and instinctive behaviour, that basically denies any free will. The latter is more explored in the follow up book, Echopraxia. But be aware that this is just my very simplified view here. These themes are explored from different angles and under different conditions, so it will give you a lot of thoughts. 

So all in all, if you are a geek like me and love to have a story leaning towards a hard scientific point of view, stemming from our current knowledge of the world, this is a perfect book for you. If you expect an action story full of space vampires, well, you will get it, but not in the way you might think. Would recommend it in any case. 

Final Incal by Alejandro Jodorowsky

adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Incal by Alejandro Jodorowsky

adventurous challenging dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Before the Incal by Alejandro Jodorowsky

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Klášter nejsvětějšího srdce by Štěpánka Jislová

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

3.75

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A collection of Evenson’s short stories is a tour-de-force of psychological horrors. Great collection of imagination and paranoia, wrong thoughts and obsessions. Some stories feel gogolian in a way they pretend to be something else, some are just bizarre absurdities (bodies falling from the sky), some are lovecraftian in the depiction of the creeping madness. An exploration of an obsession taken to an extreme, to a collapse of one's mind. The stories are very different, but the emphasis on the psychological side of characters, the inner worlds, obsession, paranoia and other manifestations of a decaying mind is the thin line tying them all together. Highly recommend it to your attention!  

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Hit Parade of Tears by Izumi Suzuki

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This is the second book of short stories by Izumi Suzuki translated to English, the first being Terminal Boredom. Again, several stories, ranging from fantastical, to absurd, surreal modern-day narratives, that are either goofball crazy (The Walker), completely funny (Trial Witch), or dark, bringing the feeling of being another episode of Black Mirror (Hey, It’s a Love Psychedelic!). Compared to the first book of stories, Terminal Boredom, this feels a bit like the second class, or shorts that did not make it to the first batch. I am not saying they are bad, but not that stunning as those in Terminal Boredom (which left me mind-blown on several occasions by the on-point ideas articulated by some of these stories). Still, definitely a great book, but I highly recommend getting both of the books, including Terminal Boredom. 

Suzuki’s life ended abruptly, by her own hand. It is a great loss of such a talent. From what I had a chance to read, I was stunned by her prophetic vision and the way of thinking forward. Hopefully there will be more of her work translated from Japanese, especially the novels.