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selfmythologies's reviews
299 reviews
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
3.0
hmmm
this book isn't bad by any means, but i couldn't shake the feeling that i was just kind of......underwhelmed. I remember being absolutely in love with the Six of Crows duology, and while I haven't read the Shadow and Bone series (and I don't really plan to), I did enjoy the first season of the TV show a lot.
The thing is, generally, a lot of the things in here are great! The characters are interesting, especially Nikolai with his unstable identity, his doubts and the pressures of responsibility - his arc was pretty amazing, and my favorite chapters were in fact the ones with the flashbacks and backstories of the main characters.
I also liked the setting especially of Nina's chapters - finally something set in Fjerda! - and the whole mystery around that factory over the little town and the dreadful anticipation of what was really going on was really well-done.
So why didn't I like it more as a whole? I don't know if I just had too high expectations, but I felt the plot was just.....boring and so formulaic? The first half of the book moves at an excrutiatingly slow pace - and that doesn't have to be negative, of course, if the slow pace fulfills a purpose - like indulging in atmosphere or character development. But that didn't really happen here at all, it was just a very slow plot with very few surprises. The twist in the middle is briefly surprising, but then it becomes very standard for fantasy once again - Zoya having an empowerment arc, the villains tricking the heroes (and I found Elizaveta's character painfully basic).
Again, there's nothing wrong with using tropes and storylines that are familiar, but this book does absolutely nothing new with them. That's the main problem for me, I think - it feels like I've read all of this before in some form somewhere else, and the fact that neither most of the character development nor the writing really bring anything special to it.....is a problem.
I don't know if this is me just growing out of the YA fantasy genre as a whole, but I hope it's not. I guess I'll have to see how I like the second book, which I still plan on reading, of course.
this book isn't bad by any means, but i couldn't shake the feeling that i was just kind of......underwhelmed. I remember being absolutely in love with the Six of Crows duology, and while I haven't read the Shadow and Bone series (and I don't really plan to), I did enjoy the first season of the TV show a lot.
The thing is, generally, a lot of the things in here are great! The characters are interesting, especially Nikolai with his unstable identity, his doubts and the pressures of responsibility - his arc was pretty amazing, and my favorite chapters were in fact the ones with the flashbacks and backstories of the main characters.
I also liked the setting especially of Nina's chapters - finally something set in Fjerda! - and the whole mystery around that factory over the little town and the dreadful anticipation of what was really going on was really well-done.
So why didn't I like it more as a whole? I don't know if I just had too high expectations, but I felt the plot was just.....boring and so formulaic? The first half of the book moves at an excrutiatingly slow pace - and that doesn't have to be negative, of course, if the slow pace fulfills a purpose - like indulging in atmosphere or character development. But that didn't really happen here at all, it was just a very slow plot with very few surprises. The twist in the middle is briefly surprising, but then it becomes very standard for fantasy once again - Zoya having an empowerment arc, the villains tricking the heroes (and I found Elizaveta's character painfully basic).
Again, there's nothing wrong with using tropes and storylines that are familiar, but this book does absolutely nothing new with them. That's the main problem for me, I think - it feels like I've read all of this before in some form somewhere else, and the fact that neither most of the character development nor the writing really bring anything special to it.....is a problem.
I don't know if this is me just growing out of the YA fantasy genre as a whole, but I hope it's not. I guess I'll have to see how I like the second book, which I still plan on reading, of course.
Die Vermessung der Welt by Daniel Kehlmann
4.0
Yeah, this surprised the hell out of me.
I'll be honest. This book bored me to death the first about 80 pages. I put it down for a few days, even thought I wouldn't finish it.
I guess I just couldn't see the point - it seemed tons of information dump without deeper themes or interesting characterization. And sure, there was the subtle humor that has been praised about this book, but that alone can't carry the whole thing.
So I thought. And then continued after all because I don't like dnf'ing books. And slowly started being a little interested. And then the last 100 pages were just - fantastic. I don't think I've ever done such a complete 180 on a book, and it kind of confuses me.
But this story really builds on itself and becomes more complex and intriguing and really comes together at the end with its themes. And they are actually........really really fascinating.
Okay, so I'll try to explain. I knew from the go that Kehlmann wasn't just writing an ~ode to imagination and the scientific spirit~ as you might think from the synopsis - in fact, even though the novel often seems almost like a parody, with the ridiculous dialogues where people completely talk past each other - what really characterizes it is a radical sense of realism.
'One scientist discovers something and then the next generation knows even more until it's all over', is basically what Humboldt says toward the end. The story, step by step, completely demystifies history and the heroification of historical people by depicting the real, sometimes tragic, but oftentimes ridiculous and completely random nature of human life, and the way it just goes on and doesn't really have a point or purpose and then gets replaced by the next generation which inevitably knows and dicovers more and has a wider worldview and leaves the last generation who thought THEY revolutionized the world, behind completely.
It's this last idea that really stuck with me. You might disagree with me but to me this novel is ultimately about time, its inevitable movement and the resulting struggles of aging and being replaced. Both Humboldt and Gauß are depicted at the beginning as misunderstood revolutionaries who do these great things that no one has ever done before - Humboldt with his travels, Gauß with his mathematical discoveries. No one really CARES about what they're doing in the beginning, or they only care about what seems interesting to them, not what's really important. (which is still kinda how most people see science today. when it's popularized and easy, it's cool, but no one actually cares in a deeper way). They're the typical Misunderstood Genius trope (even though they both deal with it in different ways).
And then the world catches up and they're famous, and they're at these meetings and gatherings with empty conversations and suddenly their image is more important than their actual actions. And when they try to work again, like Humboldt did at the end, they discover that they have effectively been replaced by the younger generation, and they're just there for representative functions, more as a myth than anything else. They've become old, and the world has moved on without them.
Man, that is CHILLING. That doesn't just represent scientific biographies, it can be applied to life in general. From youthful spirit, from the wish to go wider and deeper and where no one has ever been before (in reality, or with your mind)...to the realization that what you once thought was revolutionary is now something obvious, and the world just mercilessly continues on.
Of course, this topic is also interesting against the historical backdrop: coming from the period of enlightenment, where the spirit of discovery was everywhere, to the complicated political landscape that came with Napoleon, to the sort of lazy years of restauration in Germany in the early 19th century. It's all very easily built into the story and characterizes the mood in the different parts of the story. I don't think this story would've worked with these themes that I just mentioned if it took place in any different time. It fits perfectly.
So, yeah. I'm almost tempted to give it 5 stars because of this thematic point of time and the ~cycle of life~, leaving me behind with a sort of wide, melancholy feeling that I just LOVE. I truly think Kehlman (whose writing I really had my beef with in the past, but it works here really well) has created something masterful here.
But the fact stands that the beginning is boring as hell, and some of the details were just uninteresting. I get that it's part of the larger realism of the story. But man, if I'm almost tempted to put a book down toward the middle, it would've needed to be a little more exciting.
But as it is, I'm so glad I didn't. This is a strong 4 stars.
I'll be honest. This book bored me to death the first about 80 pages. I put it down for a few days, even thought I wouldn't finish it.
I guess I just couldn't see the point - it seemed tons of information dump without deeper themes or interesting characterization. And sure, there was the subtle humor that has been praised about this book, but that alone can't carry the whole thing.
So I thought. And then continued after all because I don't like dnf'ing books. And slowly started being a little interested. And then the last 100 pages were just - fantastic. I don't think I've ever done such a complete 180 on a book, and it kind of confuses me.
But this story really builds on itself and becomes more complex and intriguing and really comes together at the end with its themes. And they are actually........really really fascinating.
Okay, so I'll try to explain. I knew from the go that Kehlmann wasn't just writing an ~ode to imagination and the scientific spirit~ as you might think from the synopsis - in fact, even though the novel often seems almost like a parody, with the ridiculous dialogues where people completely talk past each other - what really characterizes it is a radical sense of realism.
'One scientist discovers something and then the next generation knows even more until it's all over', is basically what Humboldt says toward the end. The story, step by step, completely demystifies history and the heroification of historical people by depicting the real, sometimes tragic, but oftentimes ridiculous and completely random nature of human life, and the way it just goes on and doesn't really have a point or purpose and then gets replaced by the next generation which inevitably knows and dicovers more and has a wider worldview and leaves the last generation who thought THEY revolutionized the world, behind completely.
It's this last idea that really stuck with me. You might disagree with me but to me this novel is ultimately about time, its inevitable movement and the resulting struggles of aging and being replaced. Both Humboldt and Gauß are depicted at the beginning as misunderstood revolutionaries who do these great things that no one has ever done before - Humboldt with his travels, Gauß with his mathematical discoveries. No one really CARES about what they're doing in the beginning, or they only care about what seems interesting to them, not what's really important. (which is still kinda how most people see science today. when it's popularized and easy, it's cool, but no one actually cares in a deeper way). They're the typical Misunderstood Genius trope (even though they both deal with it in different ways).
And then the world catches up and they're famous, and they're at these meetings and gatherings with empty conversations and suddenly their image is more important than their actual actions. And when they try to work again, like Humboldt did at the end, they discover that they have effectively been replaced by the younger generation, and they're just there for representative functions, more as a myth than anything else. They've become old, and the world has moved on without them.
Man, that is CHILLING. That doesn't just represent scientific biographies, it can be applied to life in general. From youthful spirit, from the wish to go wider and deeper and where no one has ever been before (in reality, or with your mind)...to the realization that what you once thought was revolutionary is now something obvious, and the world just mercilessly continues on.
Of course, this topic is also interesting against the historical backdrop: coming from the period of enlightenment, where the spirit of discovery was everywhere, to the complicated political landscape that came with Napoleon, to the sort of lazy years of restauration in Germany in the early 19th century. It's all very easily built into the story and characterizes the mood in the different parts of the story. I don't think this story would've worked with these themes that I just mentioned if it took place in any different time. It fits perfectly.
So, yeah. I'm almost tempted to give it 5 stars because of this thematic point of time and the ~cycle of life~, leaving me behind with a sort of wide, melancholy feeling that I just LOVE. I truly think Kehlman (whose writing I really had my beef with in the past, but it works here really well) has created something masterful here.
But the fact stands that the beginning is boring as hell, and some of the details were just uninteresting. I get that it's part of the larger realism of the story. But man, if I'm almost tempted to put a book down toward the middle, it would've needed to be a little more exciting.
But as it is, I'm so glad I didn't. This is a strong 4 stars.
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
What's the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination?
That's the question in the blurb, and it really is the perfect summary of what this book is about. It centers around the lives of people on the Exodus fleet, the spaceships that carried humans away from a destroyed Earth into the galaxy.... but now they've been accepted into the larger galactic community, most humans have moved on, settled on other planets, mingled in with the rest - as they planned to do all along. But what's the purpose then for those staying behind?
That's what all the characters here grapple with in one way or another, and it's kind of truly fascinating as a topic, but one that fits well to Becky Chambers as a writer like no one else - after all she is known for her character-centered approach to science fiction that pokes at the big questions. Now this book as a result is even less plot-centered than the two before it - there is really not much happening at all until about 3/4 in. But in this case more than in the previous books, that approach to storytelling makes SO much sense for the topic of the book, to the point where I felt like the whole thing came together so perfectly - content and form and style.
Because, instead of things happening, things changing and characters having to react to that change - which is ultimately what most stories are about at a very basic level, I guess - this book is about having to deal with a world that does not change, where everything happens according to an established cycle of routines - from managing resources to the structure of a day to the cycle of life and death itself (beautifully written about in Eyas' chapters). And the question is not 'how do we deal with all of this?' but 'we're dealing just fine, our way of life has kept us going - but what's the point of all of it?'
I also just love the idea of the Exodus fleet as basically this ecosocialist commune. I just want to live there honestly. Everyone lives in a little community that is a part of wider communities, all work is valued and respected (especially the ugly work no one wants to do), and all resources are carefully managed so nothing goes to waste and everything is re-used or re-purposed in some way - even human bodies after death. and it influences their whole philosophy, placing a strong emphasis on their ancestors' legacy and memory. Because everything they live by, literally, is formed by the past.
As I said in the updates though, none of this is idealized either - because the community is so insulated and closed-off, there is a certain scepticism towards foreigners that can tip into prejudice, and because of the strong focus on preserving the past, there are tensions around developments such as new technologies replacing old ways of life. But I loved how nuanced this whole idea of keeping the past alive was approached - after all it's at its core a very conservative notion, and yet it doesn't have to be close-minded or constraining, and can actually be very progressive. idk, there are so many layers to this and this book just felt so.....human (heh), so warm and thoughtful.
Now there are some characters and perspectives I liked more than others - I liked the alien ethnographer in Isabel's chapters a lot (the 'alien species commenting from the outside about humans' thing NEVER gets tiring to me), I loved everything about Eyas and her profession. I thought Kip's story was a pretty standard teenage coming-of-age story that fit really well into the story but personally I connected to a bit less. And I guess a similar thing can be said for Tessa's perspective as a mother. I liked it, it just didn't feel as relevant to me personally. But of course, as usual, the variety of different (forms of) relationships depicted is beautiful and validating, and I loved reading about all the different constellations and how they worked.
Then of course there is the one event that happens in the middle of the book......man, I'm not okay. It makes so much sense, in retrospect, and it really drives home the themes of this book in the most bittersweet way but I was so not prepared and was actually really shaken by this character death...... maybe because Sawyer's story was the one I think I saw myself personally in the most? The way he was always anticipating and hoping for this feeling of community and belonging and kept being let down by the world around him which was never terrible to him and treated him just fine but also never really was what he expected or dreamed of...... and then he always tried to tell himself that it's okay but kept being quietly disappointed.... ouch. Ouch ouch ouch. Yeah, that got a little too real. And he was such a good soul. I felt so close to him and so sorry for him.
But I loved how the aftermath of it unfolded with everyone coming together in some way. It nearly made me cry.
So what's the answer, at the end, what's the purpose? I don't know but to me, just reading about this world made me realize once again how beautiful and absolutely awe-inspiring it can be to literally just be alive, to be in the world. To walk around in a garden. To share a meal with someone. To do work that gives you a sense of purpose and meaning. I imagined sitting in that theatre room where videos of the Earth were projected all around the viewers, and that realization of 'hey, this is where we're from. and in that vast expanse of space, we're here together now in this moment'. Maybe that's what it's all about.
I didn't necessarily like this more (or less) than the first two books, just differently. This book strikes the perfect balance between comfort and melancholy (with emphasis on the comfort), and ..........obviously, I love it. I mean. No surprise. I think I'll even get that main Exodus phrase printed to put on my walls. (From the ground we stand, by our ships we live, by the stars we hope. That's just so beautiful.)
(review from 2021)
That's the question in the blurb, and it really is the perfect summary of what this book is about. It centers around the lives of people on the Exodus fleet, the spaceships that carried humans away from a destroyed Earth into the galaxy.... but now they've been accepted into the larger galactic community, most humans have moved on, settled on other planets, mingled in with the rest - as they planned to do all along. But what's the purpose then for those staying behind?
That's what all the characters here grapple with in one way or another, and it's kind of truly fascinating as a topic, but one that fits well to Becky Chambers as a writer like no one else - after all she is known for her character-centered approach to science fiction that pokes at the big questions. Now this book as a result is even less plot-centered than the two before it - there is really not much happening at all until about 3/4 in. But in this case more than in the previous books, that approach to storytelling makes SO much sense for the topic of the book, to the point where I felt like the whole thing came together so perfectly - content and form and style.
Because, instead of things happening, things changing and characters having to react to that change - which is ultimately what most stories are about at a very basic level, I guess - this book is about having to deal with a world that does not change, where everything happens according to an established cycle of routines - from managing resources to the structure of a day to the cycle of life and death itself (beautifully written about in Eyas' chapters). And the question is not 'how do we deal with all of this?' but 'we're dealing just fine, our way of life has kept us going - but what's the point of all of it?'
I also just love the idea of the Exodus fleet as basically this ecosocialist commune. I just want to live there honestly. Everyone lives in a little community that is a part of wider communities, all work is valued and respected (especially the ugly work no one wants to do), and all resources are carefully managed so nothing goes to waste and everything is re-used or re-purposed in some way - even human bodies after death. and it influences their whole philosophy, placing a strong emphasis on their ancestors' legacy and memory. Because everything they live by, literally, is formed by the past.
As I said in the updates though, none of this is idealized either - because the community is so insulated and closed-off, there is a certain scepticism towards foreigners that can tip into prejudice, and because of the strong focus on preserving the past, there are tensions around developments such as new technologies replacing old ways of life. But I loved how nuanced this whole idea of keeping the past alive was approached - after all it's at its core a very conservative notion, and yet it doesn't have to be close-minded or constraining, and can actually be very progressive. idk, there are so many layers to this and this book just felt so.....human (heh), so warm and thoughtful.
Now there are some characters and perspectives I liked more than others - I liked the alien ethnographer in Isabel's chapters a lot (the 'alien species commenting from the outside about humans' thing NEVER gets tiring to me), I loved everything about Eyas and her profession. I thought Kip's story was a pretty standard teenage coming-of-age story that fit really well into the story but personally I connected to a bit less. And I guess a similar thing can be said for Tessa's perspective as a mother. I liked it, it just didn't feel as relevant to me personally. But of course, as usual, the variety of different (forms of) relationships depicted is beautiful and validating, and I loved reading about all the different constellations and how they worked.
Then of course there is the one event that happens in the middle of the book......man, I'm not okay.
But I loved how the aftermath of it unfolded with everyone coming together in some way. It nearly made me cry.
So what's the answer, at the end, what's the purpose? I don't know but to me, just reading about this world made me realize once again how beautiful and absolutely awe-inspiring it can be to literally just be alive, to be in the world. To walk around in a garden. To share a meal with someone. To do work that gives you a sense of purpose and meaning. I imagined sitting in that theatre room where videos of the Earth were projected all around the viewers, and that realization of 'hey, this is where we're from. and in that vast expanse of space, we're here together now in this moment'. Maybe that's what it's all about.
I didn't necessarily like this more (or less) than the first two books, just differently. This book strikes the perfect balance between comfort and melancholy (with emphasis on the comfort), and ..........obviously, I love it. I mean. No surprise. I think I'll even get that main Exodus phrase printed to put on my walls. (From the ground we stand, by our ships we live, by the stars we hope. That's just so beautiful.)
(review from 2021)
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
5.0
i thought i'd love this book because it does interesting things philosophically and formally, and it definitely does, and it's fascinating, but the reason i ended up loving it is because I got deeply attached to the main character and his view of the world, and it made me feel.......so comforted. and that's worth the most actually
i have a lot more thoughts but at the same time i also feel like that's all i really need to say
definitely recommended, extraordinary and amazing on so many levels. best to go in with no knowledge and be taken on a journey
i have a lot more thoughts but at the same time i also feel like that's all i really need to say
definitely recommended, extraordinary and amazing on so many levels. best to go in with no knowledge and be taken on a journey