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sipping_tea_with_ghosts's reviews
54 reviews
Midnight, Water City by Chris McKinney
Midnight Water City is a book I wanted to like but found myself avoiding completion for at any opportunity I could for other works. The premise on its own is interesting and some of the worldbuilding is creative but this story feels much more science-fantasy than it does science fiction, omitting any explanations for why the world is the way it is - hardly speculative or introspective.
The story itself is also lacking in the mystery department - delivering answers in a way that feels convenient at best and borderline magical at worst. The second half of the book is especially guilty of this, using hallucinations and dreams as hardcore evidence and a diary as the entire backstory for the main villain. Questions are raised and never answered, possibilities are given center stage but with no real point. As the last third approached and the culprit finally showed themselves, I started to wonder if my audiobook was buffering or reading from something else entirely but no, the tone shift really did go from old man detective with a railgun to anime fox girl with absurd mommy issues mutilating themselves for the sake of self ownership.
As the start of an alleged trilogy, this book unfortunately doesn't work as a satisfying one-off nor does it set up future adventures with much confidence. The main character is an 80 year old detective with nothing much more than the noir clichés and some superfluous differences such as color blindness and synthesia. The guy also rambles way too much about the same guilts and self doubts for far too long, so being stuck with him for two more books sounds like it'd be equivalent to getting locked into conversation at a painful family cookout by your condescending relatives. (Honestly if Goodreads didn't say it was going to be a trilogy, I would have never guessed. Nothing about this story indicates something bigger is going to happen later or that so much needs to still be explored by Detective Grumps.)
Overall, a disappointing mystery with a plodding pace, absurd plot points, boring characters and a wasted setting. I'd rather go to Rapture, at least my stay would be longer and more thrilling than what was advertised on this cover.
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Midnight Water City is a book I wanted to like but found myself avoiding completion for at any opportunity I could for other works. The premise on its own is interesting and some of the worldbuilding is creative but this story feels much more science-fantasy than it does science fiction, omitting any explanations for why the world is the way it is - hardly speculative or introspective.
The story itself is also lacking in the mystery department - delivering answers in a way that feels convenient at best and borderline magical at worst. The second half of the book is especially guilty of this, using hallucinations and dreams as hardcore evidence and a diary as the entire backstory for the main villain. Questions are raised and never answered, possibilities are given center stage but with no real point. As the last third approached and the culprit finally showed themselves, I started to wonder if my audiobook was buffering or reading from something else entirely but no, the tone shift really did go from old man detective with a railgun to anime fox girl with absurd mommy issues mutilating themselves for the sake of self ownership.
As the start of an alleged trilogy, this book unfortunately doesn't work as a satisfying one-off nor does it set up future adventures with much confidence. The main character is an 80 year old detective with nothing much more than the noir clichés and some superfluous differences such as color blindness and synthesia. The guy also rambles way too much about the same guilts and self doubts for far too long, so being stuck with him for two more books sounds like it'd be equivalent to getting locked into conversation at a painful family cookout by your condescending relatives. (Honestly if Goodreads didn't say it was going to be a trilogy, I would have never guessed. Nothing about this story indicates something bigger is going to happen later or that so much needs to still be explored by Detective Grumps.)
Overall, a disappointing mystery with a plodding pace, absurd plot points, boring characters and a wasted setting. I'd rather go to Rapture, at least my stay would be longer and more thrilling than what was advertised on this cover.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Murder
Roadside Picnic by Boris Strugatsky, Arkady Strugatsky
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Enjoyed my read, even if it felt more like a collection of ideas than a complete story. Brief but bursting with interesting bits of worldbuilding and a great "what if" scenario that warrants uncomfortable questions about our existence and how unimportant we are on the potential journey of others.
The summary promises a much more epic adventure than what is actually presented in the book however - coming off as half a dozen vignettes exploring an aspect of the Zone, lacking a real sense of progression. The main character is also about as complicated and welcoming as a porcupine seat cushion. The second half of the book was much more entertaining to me since it focused on two men debating existence at a bar instead of following around the barbed personality protagonist and his mutated daughter with no personality besides kid_behavior.exe and wife with subserviant_doe.exe
So if you're going through the classics like I am, then I'd say its great on delivering those intriguing introspections but lacking in a compelling journey. For less than 200 pages though, you could do much, much worse.
The summary promises a much more epic adventure than what is actually presented in the book however - coming off as half a dozen vignettes exploring an aspect of the Zone, lacking a real sense of progression. The main character is also about as complicated and welcoming as a porcupine seat cushion. The second half of the book was much more entertaining to me since it focused on two men debating existence at a bar instead of following around the barbed personality protagonist and his mutated daughter with no personality besides kid_behavior.exe and wife with subserviant_doe.exe
So if you're going through the classics like I am, then I'd say its great on delivering those intriguing introspections but lacking in a compelling journey. For less than 200 pages though, you could do much, much worse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, and Violence
The Last Universe by William Sleator
3.0
Didn't expect much when I picked up this small paperback from a dusty shelf in a closing bookstore, but William Sleator did a nice job with the concept and the story isn't too long or full of exposition dumps to drag down the pace. If you like parallel universe sci-fi with some wacky scenarios and tolerable teenage protagonists, then feel free to pick this book up for a quick weekend read.
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky
3.0
If you're a fan of the games and want to read the material it was originally based on, I will just warn you to leave your expectations at the door because the media created by 4A Games is only based on the world that Dmitry created and their entries don't follow the author's plots beat for beat. The tone, pacing and characterization of certain key players is almost completely juxtaposed from medium to medium.
With that being said, the actual book is alright. If you're looking for a Russian post-apocalyptic story that has a unique and patient way of displaying desperation and bleakness, then anything by Dmitry is something that'll be right up your alley. That being said though, this was one of the author's first efforts and it shows in certain areas such as the pacing. This book is not an action packed thrill ride by any means, and at points it feels like a horror movie with how often you think the main character is about to escape peril only to get thrown right back into it by a different adversary. When that's not happening, our leading man, Artyom, is having a lengthy philosophical and political discussion with someone he met a chapter ago. These intervals combined with the overarching plot or goal that hardly changes does make for an exhausting read at points.
The 2013 English translation I received is ok for the most part, but some passages felt like they were fed through Google Translate instead of coming through an editor.
Metro 2033 is a fine read overall, but I wouldn't say its essential.
With that being said, the actual book is alright. If you're looking for a Russian post-apocalyptic story that has a unique and patient way of displaying desperation and bleakness, then anything by Dmitry is something that'll be right up your alley. That being said though, this was one of the author's first efforts and it shows in certain areas such as the pacing. This book is not an action packed thrill ride by any means, and at points it feels like a horror movie with how often you think the main character is about to escape peril only to get thrown right back into it by a different adversary. When that's not happening, our leading man, Artyom, is having a lengthy philosophical and political discussion with someone he met a chapter ago. These intervals combined with the overarching plot or goal that hardly changes does make for an exhausting read at points.
The 2013 English translation I received is ok for the most part, but some passages felt like they were fed through Google Translate instead of coming through an editor.
Metro 2033 is a fine read overall, but I wouldn't say its essential.
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
2.0
Autonomous is split between two stories that eventually intersect at the end but the journey, as well as the destination are not worth the effort. The writing style is fine and works well at explaining the more advanced concepts, even to folk who like sci-fi but aren't scientifically literate. However, this was a story I had to motivate myself to finish. I wanted to believe it would get better, but it only got dumber and strayed away from the elements that made the first fourth of it captivating. As soon as it was done, I threw my hardcover in the trash. Focus shifts away from the interesting piracy and pharmaceutical debauchery and dives head first into the romance between a sentient piece of cardboard that apparently has a name and a machine, and it wasn't an even split. I would have been fine with going off on these tangents if the author had actually tried to put a spin on the tired trope but they don't and the regular detours into sex and awkward romance just pulled me out of any semblance of tension trying to be set up.
Decent world building but no twists, no surprises and nothing to satisfy the reader when it's done.
Decent world building but no twists, no surprises and nothing to satisfy the reader when it's done.
Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel
2.0
The lackluster and bloated end of a trilogy that honestly started losing steam as soon as the first book ended. I never regarded this series as gospel at any point, but even my modest expectations were steadily dashed, disappointment manifesting to a point where I had to force myself to finish this slog of a third entry.
Neuvel's choice of writing style honestly comes off as a product of laziness more than a stylistic endeavor, abandoning well told exposition and descriptive set pieces for people screaming what's happening. It all just reads like the chats you have with people on Facebook, including exaggerated lettering and stretching out of words.
(Example being: IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII HHHHHHHHHAAAATTTTTTEEEEEEEE YYYYOOOOOUUUU)
This was tolerable in the first book where the story was more about discovering the properties and implications of alien technology on Earth, but as the series heightened its conflict to world ending stakes and giant robot fights, this consistent back and forth of Character A says they've been hit, Character B swears, Character A screams leaves the brain mentally starved of cool visuals that could be provided by the writer actually doing their job and making a scene to imagine.
But onto issues regarding this book specifically, did you want an epic finale that possibly pushes the stakes even higher or raises new questions on how humans can deal with the horrid events that took place in Waking Gods? Well you're not getting it here.
The entire story is basically two plots:
a.) Daughter gets into a screaming fight with her dad all the time
b.) A bureaucracy simulator on an alien planet that's basically as vague, boring and plodding as real life politics. I get it if that was the point, but that doesn't make it fun to read.
When the story isn't focusing on that stuff, it just divulges into dollar store clearance philosophy about why humanity is self destructive and how everyone will discriminate against others for the most minute of reasons. If this was actually handled well and didn't make characters sound preachy, I'd be ok with it but it has about as much place, nuance and subtlety as the out of place pop-culture references in the text as well.
I really hoped this book would turn its slow beginning around and make the 330 page read worth it, but it didn't. This last book is twice as long than it needs to be, feels like it was rewritten once or twice and even the ending is limp and uninteresting. Just read Sleeping Giants and give up after that.
Neuvel's choice of writing style honestly comes off as a product of laziness more than a stylistic endeavor, abandoning well told exposition and descriptive set pieces for people screaming what's happening. It all just reads like the chats you have with people on Facebook, including exaggerated lettering and stretching out of words.
(Example being: IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII HHHHHHHHHAAAATTTTTTEEEEEEEE YYYYOOOOOUUUU)
This was tolerable in the first book where the story was more about discovering the properties and implications of alien technology on Earth, but as the series heightened its conflict to world ending stakes and giant robot fights, this consistent back and forth of Character A says they've been hit, Character B swears, Character A screams leaves the brain mentally starved of cool visuals that could be provided by the writer actually doing their job and making a scene to imagine.
But onto issues regarding this book specifically, did you want an epic finale that possibly pushes the stakes even higher or raises new questions on how humans can deal with the horrid events that took place in Waking Gods? Well you're not getting it here.
The entire story is basically two plots:
a.) Daughter gets into a screaming fight with her dad all the time
b.) A bureaucracy simulator on an alien planet that's basically as vague, boring and plodding as real life politics. I get it if that was the point, but that doesn't make it fun to read.
When the story isn't focusing on that stuff, it just divulges into dollar store clearance philosophy about why humanity is self destructive and how everyone will discriminate against others for the most minute of reasons. If this was actually handled well and didn't make characters sound preachy, I'd be ok with it but it has about as much place, nuance and subtlety as the out of place pop-culture references in the text as well.
I really hoped this book would turn its slow beginning around and make the 330 page read worth it, but it didn't. This last book is twice as long than it needs to be, feels like it was rewritten once or twice and even the ending is limp and uninteresting. Just read Sleeping Giants and give up after that.