Reviews and Comments

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infryq

infryq@books.theunseen.city

Joined 3 years, 5 months ago

Bring me all the speculative fiction. Whose stories have I been missing out on?

Rating system calibration:

1 star - not worth reading 2 stars - worth reading, but has major problems 3 stars - satisfying read, may have minor problems. Most books live here. 4 stars - inspiring read, overshadows any issues 5 stars - life-changing read

Reading log for @infryq@social.wub.site, @infryq@sunny.garden

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reviewed We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

Cat Sebastian: We Could Be So Good (2023, HarperCollins Publishers)

Nick Russo has worked his way from a rough Brooklyn neighborhood to a reporting job …

The title is way more whiny manipulative than the actual story so don’t let that put you off

A lovely mutual-pining gay romance set in the late 50s. Solid usual prose from this author, extra cookie for being well researched. Medium spicy. Bi representation ftw

reviewed Sleeping giants by Sylvain Neuvel (Themis files -- book one)

Sylvain Neuvel: Sleeping giants (2016)

"17 years ago: A girl in South Dakota falls through the earth, then wakes up …

A grimdark AART

This was indeed a grimdark version of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. It pairs well with Three Body Problem (either the books or the Netflix series) and rhymes a bit with Foundation and Pacific Rim (the 2013 movie).

Execution is an interesting take on the epistolary; the book is entirely made up of interview notes and other transcripts with no real other narrative text. It works great in a full-cast audio recording but I have no idea if it would be easier or harder in a visual text medium.

Content notes: People die, sometimes violently, and it’s pretty horrible. Some light body horror. Also the main instigator is a manipulative sociopath, and a lot of people have a Bad Time because of it. A nicely crafted Bad Time! but a Bad Time regardless.

started reading Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

Marlon James: Black Leopard, Red Wolf (2020, Riverhead Books)

Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: "He has a …

So far this has an order of magnitude greater subtext:text ratio than I'm used to and also an awful lot of token/gruff/brusque sex. Any tips on how to read it?

reviewed Sanctuary (The Dragon Jousters, Book 3) by Mercedes Lackey (Dragon Jousters (3))

Mercedes Lackey: Sanctuary (The Dragon Jousters, Book 3) (Hardcover, 2005, DAW Hardcover)

Third in the Swashbuckling Fantasy SeriesThe dragon-boy once known as Vetch has returned to his …

Yikes, if servicable

...okay, it's ancient egypt fanfic, the treatment of dragons is patronizing even by the characters who see them as more than livestock, and the main character seems to have mysteriously acquired life experiences that were explicitly excluded from the described history, but it's still pretty fun