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victoria_mh's reviews
37 reviews
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
adventurous
dark
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
There are some really cool concepts here and as someone with an amateurish interest in spiders, the book appealed to me. The writing style was one I enjoyed for the most part, though (to be nitpicky) there were a few sentences or short paragraphs where he repeated words and it occurred enough times that it irritated me. I felt the first half of the book in general went at a better pace than the latter; it felt like the excitement had worn off a bit by then. Some of the technology, particularly that of the spiders, seemed hand-wavey, or at the very least I struggled to imagine how it would actually work. The book really shines with its description of spider society and how they communicate with each other and other species; it was interesting to see how their social mores and understanding of science and divinity evolved over generations. Also as someone with an interest in languages both ancient and modern, I could see a bit of myself in the classicist (and main human character) Holsten - though I would have loved more detail on the linguistic problems touched on in the book!
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English by Hana Videen
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
I picked this up not realising it was part of a trilogy - it's not openly labelled as such, and I only twigged part way through reading it that this was a counterpart to 'Oryx and Crake' (which I have since picked up but have yet to read). So I feel I have perhaps missed some context to tie everything together.
I have read other Margaret Atwood books and enjoyed them (in a manner of speaking, because they've all been rather depressing on some level or other); the last one I read was 'The Blind Assassin', several years ago now but I remember that book just 'clicking' with me; there was just the right amount of detail and plot. With 'The Year of the Flood', however, there's almost too much plot going on, while I would have liked more detail in places. Overall, something about this book didn't quite ring true for me. I felt an odd distance from the characters, though I liked the two main characters well enough. I also struggled to get a sense of physical scale - for instance, there's a spa within some grounds that I pictured being like a small park, but at some point characters travel across these grounds and they are vast. Conversely, people seem to able to walk around a city quite quickly. I don't know how much of that was a failure on the author's part versus a failure in my reading comprehension.
The writing seemed very heavy-handed in parts; the naming of some things was silly (CorpSeCorps in particular - a Big Bad but can anyone take that name seriously?); I felt there was a level of smugness or preachiness, of 'don't be too consumerist, kids; now here is another eeeevil corporation'. And I am someone who agrees that many corporations have unethical practices and that we need to take better care of the planet - but there was little subtlety here. It didn't feel like a particularly believable depiction of the future.
The sexual violence - and there's a lot of it - made for very uncomfortable reading, but that was probably the point - and depressingly, when I think about it, it probably is one of the more believable aspects of the dystopia portrayed here. If women aren't safe in a 'stable' society, what hope do we have in one that is falling apart?
One positive is that the book held my interest most of the time, and I read it quite quickly, eager to see how things would turn out - thoughthe ending was strange and inconclusive and I hope things are tied up in 'MaddAddam' (which I plan to get hold of) . Others have mentioned not liking the hymns or sermons interspersed between the main action, and to an extent I agree; they could feel dull and forced when I just wanted to see what would happen next. On the other hand, there was something quite comforting about them in a book that is otherwise full of awful depressing things. Overall I thing they were a positive addition.
I have read other Margaret Atwood books and enjoyed them (in a manner of speaking, because they've all been rather depressing on some level or other); the last one I read was 'The Blind Assassin', several years ago now but I remember that book just 'clicking' with me; there was just the right amount of detail and plot. With 'The Year of the Flood', however, there's almost too much plot going on, while I would have liked more detail in places. Overall, something about this book didn't quite ring true for me. I felt an odd distance from the characters, though I liked the two main characters well enough. I also struggled to get a sense of physical scale - for instance, there's a spa within some grounds that I pictured being like a small park, but at some point characters travel across these grounds and they are vast. Conversely, people seem to able to walk around a city quite quickly. I don't know how much of that was a failure on the author's part versus a failure in my reading comprehension.
The writing seemed very heavy-handed in parts; the naming of some things was silly (CorpSeCorps in particular - a Big Bad but can anyone take that name seriously?); I felt there was a level of smugness or preachiness, of 'don't be too consumerist, kids; now here is another eeeevil corporation'. And I am someone who agrees that many corporations have unethical practices and that we need to take better care of the planet - but there was little subtlety here. It didn't feel like a particularly believable depiction of the future.
The sexual violence - and there's a lot of it - made for very uncomfortable reading, but that was probably the point - and depressingly, when I think about it, it probably is one of the more believable aspects of the dystopia portrayed here. If women aren't safe in a 'stable' society, what hope do we have in one that is falling apart?
One positive is that the book held my interest most of the time, and I read it quite quickly, eager to see how things would turn out - though
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual assault