mgerboc's reviews
278 reviews

Breach of Peace by Daniel B. Greene

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

It's sort of hard to rate this book because it's intended to be the first installment of a series, which leaves a lot of questions. However, there were good things and some not so great things. First, my personal preferences when reading tend toward character development and prose, which were probably the things that were most lacking here. For character, I think it's just hard to create depth in such a short amount of time, especially with such an emphasis on plot (which I'll get to in a minute), so that can be forgiven. The prose, however, was just kind of clunky and the dialogue could be a little cliched and cheesy at times. While the atmosphere was pretty well established, I could also have done with a little more description of the world.

Now, onto the plot - this is where Breach of Peace really shines. I was pretty sucked into the story right from the beginning. I didn't know how quickly I would read this because I've been in a bit of a slump lately but I was able to breeze through the book in a few hours and a lot of that has to do with the really great pacing of this story, paired with the truly intriguing mysteries that were hidden behind what was going on. It hooked me and my curiosity compelled me to keep reading.

Overall, for a debut attempt by an amateur writer, I give Daniel Greene big props and I'll definitely keep up with the series.

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

I know I've raved about Terry Pratchett before, but it's so well deserved.  This was my first non-series, non-City Watch Discworld book, and it did not disappoint. The characters, especially Brother Brutha and The Great God Om, are just perfect. The world feels so natural and filled in around you that you feel like you're experiencing the story along with the characters, no matter how absurd it is. And I think what Small Gods showcases as well as, if not better than, any other Discworld book I've read so far, is Terry Pratchett's clear outlook on life and humanity. This is definitely a critique of organized religion, but it never feels unduly cruel (even though, as it pointed out in the book, religion itself can be) or mocking. As with everything I've read by Pratchett so far, the overarching theme is profoundly humanistic and compassionate. If there is/are god(s) as we are taught, they are aloof and selfish, requiring unquestioning belief and faith, but Brutha points out that this belief should be a two way street. The god(s) that create(s) us should believe in us and our ability to think for ourselves. And when we focus less on an ethereal afterlife and the structures that are supposed to get us into the good version of that, and more on our relationships with each other, we can create a truly just society.

Here are some quotes I lifted from the book. As in most Pratchett books, you can basically quote the whole thing, but these stuck out:

“Another pause, a tar pit of silence ready to snare the mastodons of unthinking comment.” (about intentional pauses used by inquisitors during interrogation)

“We are here and it is now. The way I see it is, after that, everything tends towards guesswork.”
- The Philosopher Didactylos

“Do unto others before they do unto you.”
- The Great God Om

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I'm usually not a huge fan of short stories, but I'd read enough about Ken Liu to be interested in this and MAN it was good. The ideas presented throughout the collection are profound and deal with complex issues - time, memory, culture, immigration, time travel, space travel, history, technology, love and regret (among others) - but Liu writes with such clarity that the stories, short as they may be, affected me in deep and unexpected ways. Characters came alive around the ideas, which are often steeped in fantasy and science fiction, and the relationships are beautifully explored. From the heartbreaking (Paper Menagerie and The Literomancer and most of them tbh but the ending of Paper Menagerie legit had me crying) to the heartwarming (All the Flavors), almost every one of these stories triggered a real emotional response.

Ultimately, what I love most about this book was Liu's ability to combine a complex scientific premise with deeply human and empathetic sentiment. Definitely want to read more by Ken Liu.

Neuromancer by William Gibson

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

4.25 stars - Whoa whoa whoa.  From the opening scene to the end, this book is an acid-trip runaway train of cyberpunk noir.  I'm only sort of sure of what I read - the plot is a whiplash slingshot from place to place, ostensibly sort of a heist story, picking up new "characters" (the quotes are because some of the characters aren't really people) along the way.  I'm normally a character-driven reader.  As in a lot of sci-fi, that's not so much the focus here. However, the atmosphere and overall feel of this book makes up for any of the faults it may have. If you like any sort of gritty or stylized computer focused sci-fi from the last 35 years, you will definitely see influences from Neuromancer. It's like a dirtier Matrix. It's like a more high tech Mad Max. It's like pure rusty adrenaline, too little sleep and too many missed meals.

Apart from the world/atmosphere building, which was phenomenal, and the breakneck pace, I loved the writing style. It felt classical and futuristic at the same time.  Invented slang reflecting a dark, overly technified, drug-infused culture which really encapsulates what I think of when I say neo-noir. In addition to the inventive language, I also really liked the implied-world through what seem to be throw-away references, like "He was a product of the rubble rings that fringe the radioactive core of old Bonn." The history of what happened to Bonn (which, remember, was the capital of West Germany, still a country at the height of the Cold War when this was written) is never explained, but goddamn that one sentence says a lot.

Anyway, while I would have liked to have seen some more character development/history of this world, I overall really enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone at all interested in a darker/grittier sci-fi noir.

The Councillor by E.J. Beaton

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The Councillor sounded amazing and it started out so well that I thought it was going to be a 5 star book right away. However, the story starts to meander and have severe pacing issues about a third of the way through that, with a few exceptions, don't really resolve by the end. The characters are interesting and some are well developed, but I feel like there were times when the characters did things or made decisions that didn't really fit in with how they'd been portrayed.

Overall though, the plot was interesting enough, weaving Machiavellian politics into a nicely crafted world with solid commentary on class and gender. There is a sequel in the works, and seeing as this is a debut novel, I'll definitely give the second entry into this series a shot.

The Price of Spring by Jackie Aber, Daniel Abraham

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The Price of Spring was devastatingly good. While I think I liked Autumn War a bit more because of the perfect pacing of that story, the way Abraham brought everything together in Price of Spring was just terrific. While Maati and Otah have the longest story arcs and are the real center of the story, I think Eiah may have become my favorite character.

But first of all, Maati is one of the most heartbreakingly tragic characters conceived in modern fiction. His desire to help, which seems selfless, is so often tinged by his subtly selfish desire to be a hero and it backfires on him every time. I love that even in the end, there really was no redemption for him, but he's still a sympathetic character! Watching Otah, who is so warm and human, try to make cold and calculating decisions about how to progress as a society was so good. His letters to Kyian (who I found myself missing dearly) and his admission that he would let the world go to hell instead of killing his daughter were so perfect. And I think that's what's so good about this series - the characters stay true to themselves throughout the 40+ year arc of this series. For better or worse, their decisions are predictable and right for the characters that Abraham created.

Now onto Eiah. While initially frustrating in the beginning of Price of Spring, I do understand what she feels - that her father, as emperor, is only viewing women (including her, his only daughter) as vessels for reproduction. Her arc, idealistically following Maati, realizing over time how weak, physically and perhaps psychologically, he is for the task at hand, witnessing what happens with Vanjit and Blindness (by the way holy shit that was a slow-burn terror to read), and what she does with the Andat in the end was perfect. She was the only character who, when presented with the power of the Andat, uses it for one specific but enormous task and then immediately dismisses it forever. By that alone, I think she's the strongest character (emotionally, psychologically, mentally) in the series.

An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Whooaoaaaaa buddy I wasn't entirely sold on this series after parts 1 and 2, but man they certainly laid a solid foundation for this - the character development and relationships that began in previous entries in this series have always been a strong suit, but they're even better here. The quiet, intimate moments are so powerful and laden with subtext and implication. The world-building also expands in this book. We've always known about the wider world, but we get some perspective from a Galtic character. While we're at that, Balasar Gice, introduced in this book's prologue and set up to be the...antagonist? Wait that can't be right, protagonist? Nah it's not that either. In any case, in a short amount of time, Gice becomes as complex a character as the rest. He is ruthless and violent and makes cruel decisions but damn if this story doesn't pretty well justify it (on a similar note, in the real world, if you knew a way to completely annihilate nuclear weapons, but it required the murder of everyone who had anything to do with the development and maintenance of said weapons, plus the burning of all knowledge surrounding them, would you do it?  Would you be a hero or a villain?).

The rest of the cast (Otah, Kyian, Liat, and Maati) are depicted in such a mature, real way. Their journey to where they are now informs their character as it would in real life. The choices they have to face based on problems they've inherited and the decisions they made in their youth play out in such a realistic, sympathetic way.

Lastly, and this is coming from someone with zero experience in the craft of writing so take it with a grain of salt, I noticed a marked improvement in Daniel Abraham's writing. The ideas, world, and characters were all strong in books 1 and 2, but the prose never really hooked me, and I found myself slogging through at times and easily distracted. An Autumn War had me hooked from the prologue. The pacing was near perfect and the tension that built throughout the entire book had my heart rate soaring at points.

Anyway, I can't recommend this enough.  If you're starting this series, remember that these are relatively short books (especially for the fantasy genre) and try to at least make it to this entry.  I can't wait to start the fourth and final chapter tonight.

Here's a quote that hit home hard for me, from the perspective of a character in middle age thinking back on her life and whether or not she would change anything:

“It was too much. The changes, the differences were too great to think of as good or bad. The world they had now was too much itself, good and evil too tightly woven to wish for some other path. And still it would be wrong to say she found herself without regrets.”

A Congregation of Jackals by S. Craig Zahler

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

4.5 stars.  I'm a sucker for a Western. I have no nostalgia for this brutal era and no admiration for how people are traditionally portrayed in this genre. But for some reason, the tropes tradition to Westerns, for me, are among my favorites. This book certainly won't be for everybody. It's one of the most brutally (and creatively, to be honest) violent stories I've ever read.  Like, nightmare-inducing imagery.  The characters are different and interesting, but the real star here is the plot.  I was reading breathlessly throughout.  The author does such a good job of creating a sense of doom looming on the horizon, moving ever closer.  The doom is grim, growing ever more grotesque as it approaches, and when it finally arrives, it is somehow worse than you could ever imagine.  I only wish we'd had a bit more development of the antagonist gang, especially Quinlan, but I guess the fact that we know so little about him as a person adds to the ethereal sense of evil that surrounds him.  Anyway, great, fast-paced, suspenseful, and terrifying Western is that's your scene.

House of Chains by Steven Erikson

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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

Not sure why it took me so long to read this book.  For some reason I typically read a ton in January and February and then have a major slump in March.  Seems like 2021 is no different than the past couple of years.

ANYWAY, I loved this book. I feel like it's cliche at this point, but I feel completely in awe at the creativity in this series. The world of Malazan is so intricate and enormous and beautiful and frustratingly opaque at times, but the truths that are the real through-line of this series remain clear: empathy and compassion are the ultimate rewards of experience and wisdom.  The quiet moments of mercy between these characters, often set against a backdrop of the most grisly types of large-scale violence, are heartbreaking and tear-jerking.  Without spoilers, just some names/scenarios for my own remembrance and for those who know what I'm talking about: Pearl/Tavore - they're brief encounter near the end; Omtrack and Trull Sengar "I weep because he cannot."; Karsa Orlong's entire arc; The Ritual of Tellann as a stand-in for moral surrender.

And here are some quotes:

“And so, he faced only what every mortal faced. The solitude of death, and oblivion’s final gift that was indifference.”

- Heboric POV

“Duty and courage had been made animate, and this was all the T’lan Imass were, and had been for hundreds of thousands of years. Yet, without choice, such virtues as duty and courage were transformed into empty, worthless words. Without mortality, hovering like an unseen sword overhead, meaning was without relevance, no matter the nature - or even the motivation behind - an act. Any act.”

- Omtrack POV

“The stigma of meaning comes later, like a brushing away of dust to reveal shapes in stone.”

- Felisin POV

“‘When I began this journey, I was young.  I believed in one thing.  I believed in glory.  I know now, ‘Siballe, that glory is nothing.  Nothing.  That is what I now understand.’
‘What else do you now understand, Karsa Orlong?’
‘Not much.  Just one other thing.  The same cannot be said for mercy.’”

- Karsa Orlong and 'Siballe

Underland by Robert Macfarlane

adventurous challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I don't really know how to review this book.  It was great.  In general it is about what exists under the world we usually exist in.  It is, however, more specifically how humans interact with nature.  Through personal storytelling, philosophy, and research/data analysis, Macfarlane paints a vivid picture of human history, earth, and the universe, with gorgeous prose that is completely immersive and captivating.