mgerboc's reviews
278 reviews

Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson

adventurous informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Fascinating. Some of the most riveting non-fiction I've read in a long time. Anyone interested in human civilization, linguistics, travel, early voyaging, history, the people of the Pacific Ocean, etc., should definitely read this book.

Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe by Gaston Dorren, Alison Edwards

informative lighthearted fast-paced

3.25

Pretty interesting and full of fun linguistic tidbits, this book fell a little flat for me (as someone who loves language and learning multiple tongues). I felt like there were many times when the chapters teased some fun facts but lacked any depth, while simultaneously getting to technical for a layperson to understand what he was referring to.

If you're looking for a collection of bite sized trivia about Indo-European languages and history, this is a fun read, but it doesn't really go beyond that.

Spy x Family, Vol. 1 by Tatsuya Endo

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Massacre in Mexico by Elena Poniatowska

challenging dark informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Haunting. For anyone vaguely aware of contemporary Mexican history, you'll know that the student movement if 1968 and the subsequent government repression, culminating in the massacre at Tlatelolco, left an enormous scar on the political and moral conscience of that country. When I was living in Mexico as a student in 2006-2007, there was a popular uprising in protest of the presidential election of 2006, and there were, among the million or so people occupying the capital, several banners and flags declaring the holders to be veterans of 1968. And as most violent political repression does, this was the first real crack in the domination of the PRI as the preeminent political party in México. It took another 30+ years to elect someone outside of that party, but it's hard to massacre hundreds of students at a peaceful protest while maintaining any veneer of progressive moral high ground.

Anyway, I digress. The real reason I'm here is to praise the work of Elena Poniatowska, who may be my favorite living author. Her collection of statements and memories of Tlatelolco and the events which led to it, while of course conflicting, are still the best way to really experience what happened (short of being present for it). The style she uses, of taking fragments of statements given to her - and honestly bless those family members and friends who were willing to recall such a nightmare fo the sake of public memory - slowly immerses the reader so you really feel like you're experiencing the events alongside these very real people. She moves effortlessly and logically from statements all in agreement to juxtaposing recollections of those on the ground with press coverage and government/military statements at the time.  Conflicting statements from students, activists, soldiers, and some random observers truly create a visual, visceral experience.

I personally liked her similar "Nothing, nobody: Voices of the Mexico City earthquake" a bit better, but this is still an absolute gem, which anyone interested in contemporary history, activist politics, the Cold War, Mexico, civil rights, etc., should absolutely read.

Flamefall by Rosaria Munda

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

3.5 stars. Again, there was not much character development outside of Harry Dresden himself, but as the mysteries surrounding him are leaked little by little, I'm more intrigued and want to continue the series even more. This was another fun, pretty gruesome story. It feels sort of like early, monster-of-the-week X-Files/Buffy, which is obviously a good time, but it sort of lacks the depth you get from knowing the characters more and seeing overarching plots, which I'm sure will be coming as the series progresses.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

I'll preface this by saying 3.5-stars is not reflective of a negative review.  I really enjoyed this book.  I love the hard-boiled detective genre and I love urban fantasy and I thought Jim Butcher did a great job marrying those two things.

The story was entertaining and suspenseful and moved along at a nice pace. I think my reticence comes from the fact that Harry Dresden is the only character with any real depth, and, as someone who knows Chicago pretty well, I thought this book could really have taken place anywhere - there was nothing particularly "Chicago" about it.

I will definitely continue with this series, because there are 17 books as of now and from what I've read, my biggest complaints - setting and character/relationship development - are explored more deeply as the series continues.

Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

5.0

Another exceptional entry into this most exceptional series.  I think there was more going on in this book than in any other up to now.  Redmask and the Awl in the East facing off against the expansionist Letherii army (even though they're now under Tiste Edur leadership) forces the reader into the minds and to feel empathy for everyone involved, despite the violence and destruction wrought by both sides.

The Malazan invasion of the Letherii continent, and the mysterious reasoning behind Tavore's motivations are epic and make me want to start Toll the Hounds like, right now.

Apart from that the Refugium, the friendship between Onrack and Trull, the Trull/Seren Pedac storyline, and the continent- and dimension/realm-spanning relationships between all of these characters, and the futility that you often feel when everything is put into such grand perspective, the nature of empire/expansion/capitalism, and the movement of the gods are all wonderfully written here.

This is probably my worst review of these books, but it's also the first huge book I've read since having a baby so my brain is kinda mush.

The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

Amazing ending to the new trilogy set in the First Law world. Joe Abercrombie is a true master storyteller. The characters are deep and colorful, the plot is exciting, and the whole world is so well realized.

The characters have always been Abercrombie's strong suit, and while this is categorized as grimdark, he manages to avoid over the top or truly evil characters. The arcs are true arcs - people change, even if that change is mostly guided by self-preservation, profit, and trauma. The senior leadership of the North, namely Sticky Rikke of the Long Eye, Caul Shivers, and Isern-i'-Phail, are actual perfection. Savine, Leo, and Orso (who, while as flawed as any other character is maybe the only one who is openly honest about it) in Adua are amazing as well.

The plot starts almost immediately after the end of The Trouble with Peace. I thought there was going to be a bit of build-up to the Great Change, but holy shit by page 25 we're in the middle of it, and Abercrombie does an amazing job of showing on-the-ground eye witness of a violent populist uprising. And the Breakers vs. Burners approach in the aftermath of the Great Change, historically informed by the the Menshevik/Bolshevik split in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, realistically portrayed the near impossibility of balancing that which worked from the old regime while denouncing it entirely and looking towards the future.

In the end, there are twists and turns, some of which were pretty predictable (but not in a bad way because they're still satisfying) and others which were not at all. Overall, this was an excellent end to probably my favorite ongoing fantasy series.

On a final note, this is supposed to be the final book in the First Law World. However, in addition to leaving a few loose ends, Abercrombie plants some very serious seeds for future stories (especially with Jonas Clover, one of my favorite characters). So, he either comes back to the world to explore more stand-alones or series, which would be beautiful, OR he never does, which proves a point he makes in the book that the struggle never ends, and the list of enemies will never be completely eliminated.

Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution by Carlo Rovelli

challenging hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

Yowza this is the first book I’ve read start to finish since having a kid and it was sort of a cumulative pileup of existential gut punches. Anyway, this was a wonderful and beautiful and optimistic and accessible reflection on the history and implications of quantum theory. So yeah, it’s sort of about everything and our place in the universe. Gorgeous.

“The things of nature are not collections of isolated elements in haughty individualism.”
- Carlo Rovelli, Helgoland

“The first term, the “I,” is the residue of a metaphysical error: the result of the common mistake of mistaking a process for an entity (Bogdanov - the individual is a bourgeois fetish)
- Carlo Rovelli, Helgoland