The Library of the Uncommons

infryq reviewed Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Gods of Jade and Shadow (Paperback, 2020, Del Rey, Del Rey Books)

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the …

A fairy tale about justice

4 stars

This is a story told in dream logic, where you believe the impossible things that are right in front of you because to deny them would just waste everyone's time. The protagonist is unflinchingly practical, and learns to use her temper to her advantage. The antagonist is an embodiment of the petulant powerful who fear being laughed at, and find that that somehow justifies the disproportionate misery they inflict on others. The setting is a concentrated infusion of off-axis 1920s that seeps into every crevice of the narrative. Beautifully delivered.

infryq wants to read The Magic of Recluce (Saga of Recluce) by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.: The Magic of Recluce (Saga of Recluce) (2018, Tor Fantasy)

The Magic of Recluce (Saga of Recluce) by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Gunnar, who has kept himself and his family alive using druidic techniques taught by his brother Justen, sends his son …

infryq wants to read Time To Orbit: Unknown by Derin Edala

Derin Edala: Time To Orbit: Unknown (EBook)

No rating

Time to Orbit: Unknown is a science fiction story set on the colony ship Courageous. …

A friend mentioned this gives them similar feels to Murderbot

infryq wants to read Hum by Helen Phillips

Helen Phillips: Hum (EBook, 2024, Simon & Schuster)

Hum by Helen Phillips

From the National Book Award–longlisted author of The Need comes an extraordinary novel about a wife and mother who—after losing …

infryq reviewed Machine by Elizabeth Bear

Elizabeth Bear: Machine (2020, Blackstone Pub)

Stitched-together but pretty fun

3 stars

This reads like a collage of (at least) Iain M Banks, Becky Chambers, Jodi Taylor, and Ann Leckie, which would normally be a slam dunk for me but the execution is disjointed -- not enough time to melt together, individual lifts still too recognizable to feel like a cohesive thought.

It may have suffered a bit in the reading; I would 100% listen to Adjoa Andoh all day every day but either she was blindsided by the layers necessary for the protagonist or she'd never listened to Zara Ramm's rendition of Madeline Maxwell, which hits similar character development notes but does it while making the character, not the reading, seem fractured.

Nevertheless! I want to know more about this universe and how it functions, I enjoyed racing the characters to the end, and I was delighted by several surprises. The treatment of disability and assistive technology was refreshing; neither rosy …

This reads like a collage of (at least) Iain M Banks, Becky Chambers, Jodi Taylor, and Ann Leckie, which would normally be a slam dunk for me but the execution is disjointed -- not enough time to melt together, individual lifts still too recognizable to feel like a cohesive thought.

It may have suffered a bit in the reading; I would 100% listen to Adjoa Andoh all day every day but either she was blindsided by the layers necessary for the protagonist or she'd never listened to Zara Ramm's rendition of Madeline Maxwell, which hits similar character development notes but does it while making the character, not the reading, seem fractured.

Nevertheless! I want to know more about this universe and how it functions, I enjoyed racing the characters to the end, and I was delighted by several surprises. The treatment of disability and assistive technology was refreshing; neither rosy nor disposable.