manuphoto's reviews
924 reviews

The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White

3.5

The City & the City by China Miéville

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is basically a “whodunnit” with a science fiction twist.

On one hand it’s very classic, even reminiscent of old sci-fi stories from the 50’s (old cop, walking in dark alleys at night under the rain), but it also takes clues from cyberpunk and other more modern stuff.

I like the core concept of the book, and the fact that it’s never totally explained. It’s a “show don’t tell” approach and I prefer that. I do have some small issues with the execution though.

The characters are interesting if a bit clichéd. The main one, Tyador, is your typical cop who gets emotionally invested in a case. The supporting cast gets convinced by him and everybody does stuff they’d never do normally to move the plot forward. Effective but not very original.

Also, and that’s typical of cyberpunk-type books (even though it isn’t a typical book from that sub genre), Miéville throws in brand names and specific technologies (Windows, 486, MySpace) which date the book very firmly… and will mean nothing to readers in a couple of decades.

I mean, why make your book look dated by design? There is not that much of it but it made me cringe each time. Although to be fair, it’s a relatively minor issue in this novel.

That being said, the book is well paced, very readable, funny at times and quite clever. The action scenes are also well executed. Miéville plays a lot with his concept of the two cities and does it with gusto and talent.

So overall, I liked this book, I enjoyed reading it, a lot actually, but it belongs to a sub genre that I appreciate less. Nevertheless, I recommend it, it is interesting and entertaining.

Babel by R.F. Kuang

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Let’s start with the good. “Babel, An Arcane History" is very readable and touches on many important themes. Racism, colonialism, sexism, class conflict and more highly relevant society subjects are tackled in this novel and put together in a smart and coherent narrative. They never feel too much on the nose, contrary to some other novels that tried the same thing ("The Calculating Stars" comes to mind, at least for the racism and sexism).

The magical elements get revealed as the novel goes along and do not feel too heavy handed. Overall, I liked the pacing of the book and its structure. Despite its length, it’s a rather easy read. The characters are diverse and interesting, and some are quite relatable. You quickly get a clear idea of their different roles and aspirations. 

The plot is also quite interesting. For quite some time, we aren’t sure where the story is headed. It builds gradually and takes us for a long and beautiful ride. I really liked those aspects of the novel. I also liked the whole analysis of languages. The author explains quite well that we do not think abstractly, we think using a language. This models how we are thinking, and part of our culture and soul. This is something that is rarely discussed in science-fiction and fantasy, and I think she did a very good job at it in this novel.

The depiction of colonization is a great strength of the book. The perversity of the process, the hypocrisy of the colonizers, the blatant racism, the denial of the “good” white people despite obvious evidence, etc. Kuang presents this with intelligence and care, showing you all sides of the story. Colonialism is complex and deserves to be analyzed thoroughly, and it is remarkably well done in this book, despite its being a work of fiction and not a historical analysis. I can only commend Kuang for her investment in this difficult topic.

I do have quibbles with the execution though. First, the prose. Although very readable, it’s not very literary. I believe it’s on purpose, I think Kuang wanted her novel to be accessible. But it almost reads like a YA novel at times. Sadly, it is somewhat of a trend in fantasy from what I’ve read. The writing is not that great as the audience is not trusted to appreciate a higher level of prose. So it gets dumbed down somewhat. It’s a shame because it feels like Kuang is holding up her capabilities, the whole thing feels very restrained.

Secondly, for a book about languages and translation… there is quite a few translation errors, at least for the parts in French. Example: “He translates Haroun Alrashids concubines as dames ses favourites. Favourite ladies. How do you get "favourite ladies" from "concubines"?” 

“Dames ses favourites” doesn’t mean anything. It’s probably “ses dames favorites”. It’s obvious to any francophone.

Another: “Elémens de la grammaire chinoise” it’s “Éléments”, not “Elémens”.

And there is more.

This really pains me as someone, either the author or the publisher, really didn’t pay attention to these things, and it’s really a shame. For a book that wants you to care about languages and culture, there was certainly a lack of care here and it’s very detrimental to the “ensemble”. 

Finally all the twists and turns in the book are fairly predictable and the whole thing is a bit bloated. The characters behave sometimes in very clichéd ways and you really can tell what’s coming. Even though the story is nice, I can’t say the suspense was good. And the book needs to lose 100 pages, easy.

So I mostly enjoyed reading it, I liked what Kuang tried to achieve here and I think she did manage partly what she wanted to do. But these blatant translations errors and relatively lack of care for the literary aspect of the book makes it lose some points for me. Call me a snob, but I think it’s only a good book, not at all a great one, despite its core ideas and very relevant themes. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Batman/Superman: World's Finest Vol. 1 by Mark Waid

adventurous fast-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? No

3.75

A fairly good story, with nice action and adventure. The Doom Patrol mixed with Batman/Superman, sounds a bit silky but it works fine here. I had a good time reading this.

Ces reines qui ont gouverné la France by Philippe Tourault

informative medium-paced

4.0

The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke

adventurous informative medium-paced

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

3.5

Although well conceived and executed, The Fountains of Paradise is not my favourite Arthur C. Clarke novel. 

I like how he describes the different cultural, political and technical challenges in attempting to build a space elevator, but I had some issues with the characters. Morgan is pretty much the only one who gets decent treatment and he’s not that interesting to follow.

Although the last third of the novel is more compelling it felt forced to me. It didn’t flow as well as other novels by Clarke.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this book and I think it’s worth reading, but it think it’s only “good” not “great”. I enjoy hard science fiction and there is some of that here, but for some reason I had a harder time connecting with it that I thought I would.

All that being said, Clarke remains an excellent writer. The cultural passages are clearly better “felt” than the technical ones and you can see that he wanted to convey a message on the importance of respect, understanding and curiosity regarding other cultures. That can only be lauded. 

Also, there is a whole discussion about religion, put in the context of first contact with aliens. It was interesting but felt quite underdeveloped, I’m not exactly sure why it was included in this novel, it almost felt like an afterthought, even though the subject was dear to Clarke from what I understand.

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

dark inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

A truly excellent read. Kate Wilhelm writes beautifully and "Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang" is intelligent, touching and purposeful. 

From the first pages of the novel, I could tell I was reading excellent work. The characters are all well defined, without the need of actual description. Their behaviour and actions speak for themselves.

They carry the plot forward effortlessly and Wilhelm's nuanced and elegant prose takes us for the ride. 

It's a story about our individuality as human beings as well as our strengths and weaknesses as societies. It's remarkable how many themes and topics this book covers, especially given its short length.

I don't want to spoil anything about it, I just think everyone should read it. One of the strongest Hugo award winning novels I've read.

Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Certainly the most original take I’ve read on a first contact story. Instead of the classic meeting with aliens, with possible conflict, State and scientists running along with some outsider playing the wild card, we have a down to earth story. Pun intended.

If Alien is “truckers in space” this is “gangsters in the Zone”, with the Zone in question being an alien contaminated space. We follow Red and his acolytes in their tribulations around a town that was visited by aliens for some reason… at some point.

Everything is deliberately unclear, not perfectly defined. It’s clearly by design, as the characters themselves often have no clue as to what is going on. It’s quite compelling to read and really funny at times.

It’s also dated in some ways. Everybody smokes and drinks, a lot, and there are brawls here and there. And the women are… well the female characters are usually defined by the size of their breasts and are only in the story to serve food or drinks, literally. Don’t expect anything else there. It does fit in the storyline, as the male characters are often brutes, but it can be rough. That being said, it doesn’t feel like the authors are presenting this lifestyle as good, mostly the opposite in fact. It’s violent, risky, criminal and sexist. 

But that violence is part of this world, and it does make for a compelling tale. It’s not perfect, some passages are actually redundant, but it is a pleasant read and an entertaining one. It’s also quite short, so definitely worth the time investment

Oms en série by Stefan Wul

adventurous inspiring fast-paced

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

3.75

Une histoire original sur le déclin des civilisations et sur notre humanité. Usant de personnages simples (même caricaturaux), Wul transmet un message efficace avec une certaine dose de sous-texte.

Le roman est court et très facile à lire, je pense qu'il serait idéal pour de jeunes lecteurs. On y retrouve une certaine profondeur qui sera plus apparents aux lecteurs plus aguerris. 

Il paraît que la traduction anglaise est assez mauvaise malheureusement, c'est dommage pour les lecteurs anglophones.

Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

emotional hopeful sad slow-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

5.0

Blue Mars provides an excellent conclusion to an epic of over 2200 pages and a story that last over two centuries and spans over the entire solar system.

Kim Stanley Robinson delivers an outstanding tale and a superb conclusion. The characters got more and more attention as the story went, and with Blue Mars, they grew even more. This book is different from the two previous ones. It focusses a lot more on the characters with Mars being used as a background more than anything else. In the previous books, Mars was evolving and taking part of the story. It still does in this book, but we are seeing it through the lives of the characters on the surface more than through scientific analysis. In Blue, we get to live on Mars, not only explore it.

We also get more of Earth in this book, as well as some other planets in our solar system. In Red Mars, it was almost claustrophobic, with people living in tents on the red planet, but here, they are part of the human experiment in space. The remarkable build up of the two previous books, both on the human side, and on the terraforming side, pays off in Blue Mars.

As for the previous books, it could feel tedious if you don’t appreciate the characters and the pacing . And it is completely understandable. But I, for one, really appreciated it. It’s well characterized, the science is sound, the (little) action swift and funny, and it’s grandiose in scale.

KSR touches on important human themes: love (of course), but also growing old and senescence, as well as grief. He takes what he built over the last two thousand pages and uses it to try and show us something about ourselves, something we rarely want to see. Whatever we do, no matter how good, mean, strong, weak, tall or small we are. We all eventually die. The ultimate common denominator.

To me, the trilogy is totally worth the time investment. It’s amongst the best science fiction series I’ve read and a remarkable literary accomplishment.