Reviews and Comments

Another Hopeful Fool Locked account

BEZORP@books.theunseen.city

Joined 2 years, 5 months ago

Mostly read around bedtime. Mostly.

He/him/they cishet white fragile trying dreamer antiracist gullible.

Since the ratings on the Bookwyrms don't impact authors' livelihoods, I feel comfortable getting more granular and using all the stars, so if you see a 3/5 rating on a book I say I liked, this is a rough breakdown of what I mean by my stars:

  • ★☆☆☆☆ I was offended. I think this book has serious flaws.
  • ★★☆☆☆ Not really my thing, and may have been a struggle.
  • ★★★☆☆ Liked it, maybe even a lot. Might re-read.
  • ★★★★☆ Loved this, and I want to talk about it.
  • ★★★★★ I am obsessed. I may even be shaking right now.

As always, the text of my review is a much more accurate representation of my feelings.

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reviewed Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #6)

Martha Wells: Fugitive Telemetry (Hardcover, 2021, Tor Books)

The security droid with a heart (though it wouldn’t admit it!) is back in Fugitive …

Another winner

Loved the detective/investigatory angle. Reminds me of some of the old Asimov robot stories in a way, while introducing more of the politics and ethos of Preservation.

Pleasant little bite of Murderbot with some great Pin-Lee moments, but definitely not as heavy (plot wise, or--speaking subjectively--emotionally) as some of the other entries.

started reading Juice by Tim Winton

Tim Winton: Juice (2025, Pan Macmillan) No rating

Two fugitives, a man and a child, drive across a stony desert. As dawn breaks, …

Friend who's a big activist lent this to me. Excited to get into my first actual cli-fi novel.

The presentation is really interesting; super minimal, no quotation marks or chapter headings -- it's all just from the protagonist's perspective/retelling. No exposition that I can see, you just have to figure out what things are by context.

Reading kind of like a diary so far.

Lauren Berlant, Lee Edelman: Sex, or the Unbearable (2014)

Sex, or the Unbearable is a dialogue between Lauren Berlant and Lee Edelman, two of …

Bearable

I enjoyed it. Though even on close reading, it went absolutely over my head. I feel like this book does its readers a minor disservice by not recommending some prerequisite reading.

I struggled through most of the book to connect the phantasmic imagery to real scenes or projects, but maybe that's me missing the point--maybe the point of this book is the dialectic between two experts, focusing on fundamental structures of their field?

I don't know what book I would recommend as an intro to queer literary studies, but it's not this one.

I do think this book would probably be great if read by a group, or studied by a class, but as a solitary endeavour it's a bit of a bear.

So like the titular subject, probably better experienced with friends.

reviewed Operation Baracuda by Tom Clancy (Tom Clancy's splinter cell)

Tom Clancy: Operation Baracuda (2005, Berkley Books)

He is quiet, invisible, deadly--and the newest weapon on the front lines of a technologically …

Mission Fish

All over the place. Fun and exciting at times, achingly dull and cliched at others. Totally unbelievable, many chase scenes, shallow romance subplot, male gaze-y descriptions of every female character, much gadgets, kind of a lot of product placement, and what feels like a denouement that was hacked into a press piece for some stealth watercraft with an eye-rolling acronym.

I won't lie and say I didn't enjoy it, but there wasn't exactly a lot of soy on the bean on this one. It's a Hollywood blockbuster that goes down easy if you don't think too hard.

reviewed Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #4)

Martha Wells: Exit Strategy (2018)

"Martha Wells's Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling …

More like Entry to my heart Strategy

I've kind of been hopping about the Murderbot books, so I'm just going through them chronologically now. I had missed this one in my earlier readings, but now I realize it's kind of the tonal "key" to the shift in SecUnit's attitudes in Network Effect.

The ending of Exit Strategy is such a great payoff. It's so understated and compassionate. I loved it.

started reading Operation Baracuda by Tom Clancy (Tom Clancy's splinter cell)

Tom Clancy: Operation Baracuda (2005, Berkley Books)

He is quiet, invisible, deadly--and the newest weapon on the front lines of a technologically …

Sigh... I'm not proud. Literally found this in a wet box at the side of the road and fondly remembered reading a Rainbow Six a couple lifetimes ago. If nothing else, I don't much care if I drop it in the bath while reading. :p

Peter McLean: Drake (Paperback, 2016, Angry Robot)

Noir that doesn't strain too hard to prove itself

Not my usual thing, and normative af, but the pacing and imagery were good, characters distinct and punchy, never felt lost, and I cared about the plot all the way to the end, so it did something right.

I want to say I didn't like it, because of what that would say about me, but I actually did enjoy it, despite myself. :)

Anthony Doerr: Cloud Cuckoo Land (Hardcover, 2021, Scribner)

A kind of a grey optimism

Lovely book that reads like cashew butter. Pretty diverse vignette of characters, but with a definitely through-line. As usual, the inner jacket gives pretty major spoilers, but the details of the story are so emotionally charged, it doesn't really matter if you already know every single plot point and twist--it's just a plain old captivating tale.

My first time reading anything of Doerr's, and I don't know why but I was somewhat resistant to emotionally investing in this book for about the first half, but the characters and their hopeless trials, and their tiny triumphs, eventually won me over.

I love the main thesis of the book. It's kind and pragmatic, while still being foolishly hopeful in a thematically endearing way.

I'm updating my review because I can't stop thinking about this book. It's infected me with a kind of radical, unreasonable hope. Moreso than I thought …