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maxturner's reviews
95 reviews
Hungers as Old as This Land by Zachary Rosenberg
4.0
I love horror, though Westerns have never been a genre I've delved much into, but having read some of Zach's short stories, I was eager to read this and it didn't disappoint! Novellas can sometimes feel a little incomplete but this is a whole, satisfying meal. The characters are great, with enough backstory/exposition to ground the story, and the premise is fantastic!
The horror element is nicely teased out, building tension towards the inevitable, and we are not disappointed when we finally meet the monster/s. Whilst it is a completed and well rounded story, I could definitely read more of this! I'd be here for sequels about what Esther and Siobhan do next, or a series of tales of the Hungers at different time periods. There is a rich lore here and I hope it gets revisited.
The horror element is nicely teased out, building tension towards the inevitable, and we are not disappointed when we finally meet the monster/s. Whilst it is a completed and well rounded story, I could definitely read more of this! I'd be here for sequels about what Esther and Siobhan do next, or a series of tales of the Hungers at different time periods. There is a rich lore here and I hope it gets revisited.
Terrific Mother by Lorrie Moore
4.0
This sort of short story is exactly my cup of tea, it's sort of weird fiction that isn't weird fiction in the sense we know it now, but in a much more real life, mundane sense. If life can ever be mundane after killing a baby. Yes the first scene packs the punch, but the whole way through this meandering tale of what happens next, in a life that will never be normal, it's always there. You can never forget what happened at the beginning, and by the end of the story all I could think about was what would I do? What would I be, who would I become if I had killed the baby, and how could I live with myself - we can never judge what she does next, never think we might do something different or live a different way, because we - hopefully - will never understand what it's like to be her. An astounding and thought provoking short story that is bigger than it's word count.
Bestia by A.E. van Vogt
1.0
This book is so awful I only skim read the final third - in the hopes that things might take a turn for the better: they don't.
Aside from being intensely boring, the story is disjointed and nonsensical. I've seen many reviews defend that this is because it is made up of three stories put together with linking material, but even the separate parts of just... boring and poorly plotted.
There is pretty much no real characterisation or character development. The personality of the main character is completely absent which makes it hard to engage at all. We learn some of his history and physical attributes but otherwise he is a completely blank slate.
When the story shifts POV it doesn't feel planned out, rather that the writer wasn't able to continue the story from the main character's POV and so is forced to change. The whole thing just feels like a poorly plotted first draft that no one went back over at any point.
I don't always buy into the "don't judge a book by its cover" but this one for me was definitely a warning for "don't judge a book by its blurb".
The back of my copy exclaimed:
"The time machine had brought together a strange assortment of people from many different centuries and left them at the mercy of the strongest - a brutal, primitive half-man, half-animal. Jim Pendrake was caught up in the machine, and began a frantic chase that carried him to the ends of the earth and beyond... to a world where, he learned, another of the Oaf's prisoners was a woman named Eleanor - Pendrake's wife."
I'd have loved to read that story, but unfortunately, that's not what I got.
Aside from being intensely boring, the story is disjointed and nonsensical. I've seen many reviews defend that this is because it is made up of three stories put together with linking material, but even the separate parts of just... boring and poorly plotted.
There is pretty much no real characterisation or character development. The personality of the main character is completely absent which makes it hard to engage at all. We learn some of his history and physical attributes but otherwise he is a completely blank slate.
When the story shifts POV it doesn't feel planned out, rather that the writer wasn't able to continue the story from the main character's POV and so is forced to change. The whole thing just feels like a poorly plotted first draft that no one went back over at any point.
I don't always buy into the "don't judge a book by its cover" but this one for me was definitely a warning for "don't judge a book by its blurb".
The back of my copy exclaimed:
"The time machine had brought together a strange assortment of people from many different centuries and left them at the mercy of the strongest - a brutal, primitive half-man, half-animal. Jim Pendrake was caught up in the machine, and began a frantic chase that carried him to the ends of the earth and beyond... to a world where, he learned, another of the Oaf's prisoners was a woman named Eleanor - Pendrake's wife."
I'd have loved to read that story, but unfortunately, that's not what I got.
The False Sister by Briar Ripley Page
4.0
There is a great immersive quality to this story that draws the reader in and makes you feel part of it. As a queer person who turned 10 in 1990 (albeit not in the US), I found all the child characters and situations so relatable, which for me as a reader, made the stakes higher.
The premise is great, and the story is a real page-turner! If I had one complaint, it's that I'd love to have seen more of the lore of Narrowbrook - this was all so fascinating and chilling once you understand the scale of it. I'd have happily read a few more chapters of post-fetish Crys and co.
If Briar ever decided to write more stories based in Narrowbrook, exploring more of the mysteries there, I'd snap them up in a heartbeat!
A great read for fans of queer horror and folkloric mysteries!
The premise is great, and the story is a real page-turner! If I had one complaint, it's that I'd love to have seen more of the lore of Narrowbrook - this was all so fascinating and chilling once you understand the scale of it. I'd have happily read a few more chapters of post-fetish Crys and co.
If Briar ever decided to write more stories based in Narrowbrook, exploring more of the mysteries there, I'd snap them up in a heartbeat!
A great read for fans of queer horror and folkloric mysteries!
Infected by James Schannep
3.0
I really wanted to love this book. I enjoy zombies, I loved CYOA as a kid, so I was excited.
Overall, the premise is great, and the story itself is fine. The issue is the lack of consistency/forethought in the options.
One of the first choices I made was for my character to NOT have the stuff that was clearly going to turn everyone into zombies, however, - later through an unfortunate series of events - I became a zombie and it referred back to me having taken the stuff. So, despite giving the option at the start, there is no nuance in the available choices to allow for it in later choices. I found this disappointing and couldn't be bothered to start over making different choices, so left it at that.
Overall, the premise is great, and the story itself is fine. The issue is the lack of consistency/forethought in the options.
One of the first choices I made was for my character to NOT have the stuff that was clearly going to turn everyone into zombies, however, - later through an unfortunate series of events - I became a zombie and it referred back to me having taken the stuff. So, despite giving the option at the start, there is no nuance in the available choices to allow for it in later choices. I found this disappointing and couldn't be bothered to start over making different choices, so left it at that.
Andrion by Alex Penland
4.0
This is such a fascinating premise, that my only complaint is that I wish it was longer and explored in more depth!
As someone with an academic background in Greek Antiquity, I really loved this alternate take on the time period. That said, it did take me a while to get into as a result of that - and especially the attitude towards slavery which, whilst it makes sense in the context of the book, isn't immediately recognisable as the attitude of Athenians towards slavery in that time period (outside of the sophists). But that aspect, along with the amazing automaton elements (think Steampunk but ancient Greece instead of Victoriana), build this whole other world that is both recognisable as ancient Greece and something entirely new and wonderful to explore.
As I said, I would have loved this to be longer! Although I understood why it ended where it did, it does feel like half the story, and we definitely need a sequel! And just in general, I would have loved to further immerse myself into a world of flying owl lanterns and automated servers and all the various ways that have impacted the culture and society of this world.
As someone with an academic background in Greek Antiquity, I really loved this alternate take on the time period. That said, it did take me a while to get into as a result of that - and especially the attitude towards slavery which, whilst it makes sense in the context of the book, isn't immediately recognisable as the attitude of Athenians towards slavery in that time period (outside of the sophists). But that aspect, along with the amazing automaton elements (think Steampunk but ancient Greece instead of Victoriana), build this whole other world that is both recognisable as ancient Greece and something entirely new and wonderful to explore.
As I said, I would have loved this to be longer! Although I understood why it ended where it did, it does feel like half the story, and we definitely need a sequel! And just in general, I would have loved to further immerse myself into a world of flying owl lanterns and automated servers and all the various ways that have impacted the culture and society of this world.
Mind Palace: The Complete Series by Dave Dwonch
5.0
I'm not great at remembering to go back and finish reading webcomics as they update, so this paperback copy of Mind Palace was a must buy for me.
It's equal parts love letter to Fuller's work and a mind-bending mystery in its own right. I really enjoyed this from start to finish, and the underlying tale of Muffin Buffalo is both bittersweet and beautiful.
A must have for fans of Fuller's works, wanting to know what has become of the characters since the cancellation of his various shows.
It's equal parts love letter to Fuller's work and a mind-bending mystery in its own right. I really enjoyed this from start to finish, and the underlying tale of Muffin Buffalo is both bittersweet and beautiful.
A must have for fans of Fuller's works, wanting to know what has become of the characters since the cancellation of his various shows.