Tak! commented on Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic. "No maids, no …
#SFFBookClub pick for April 2024
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Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, …
Babel
5 stars
Content warning I don't think I can review this without some vague spoilers
Babel is a story of colonialism, racism, sexism, whiteness, Englishness, loss, betrayal, and despair. It's basically a modern parable grittily illustrating the causes and consequences of colonialism.
I love the translation magic mechanism, and I found the embedded etymology tidbits super interesting.
I also appreciate that the author had the courage to allow Bad Things to happen to major characters - not in a GRRM torture porn kind of way, but just as a kind of natural consequence of the world and the characters' interactions.
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, …
By the time Professor Richard Lovell found his way through Canton’s narrow alleys to the faded address in his diary, the boy was the only one in the house left alive.
— Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang
Pablo reviewed Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell
Ocean's Echo is a stand-alone space adventure about a bond that will change the fate …
Brilliant second novel
5 stars
The second novel from Everina Maxwell is just as delightful as the first. She builds a complex world with a background of competing factions and layers of politics.
One of the things I really love is that homosexual and heterosexual relationships are viewed the same and gender identity is just something personal and people can control the level they share. Huge strides have been made for #LGBTQ progress but from growing up in a world where you are still treated as other to seeing one where it is not even a concern is a subtle but poignant paradigm shift.
If you like Becky Chambers then definitely read Everina Maxwell!
Tak! reviewed How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work …
How High We Go in the Dark
4 stars
A series of bleak, gritty glimpses of what's in store for us over the next few decades.
The tone is lightened a bit here and there with injections of optimism, but I think it works against itself a little when the optimism feels unwarranted.
The way that the characters from the different stories are linked reminds me a bit of Cloud Atlas (although I only saw the movie (sorry)).
Tak! commented on How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work …
Wow, the second story is bleak. Do not recommend for people with children in their lives.
Tak! commented on How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work …
The #SFFBookClub January pick is How High We Go In The Dark, by Sequoia Nagamatsu. Thank you to all who voted and/or suggested books.
Tak! reviewed Wondrous Journeys In Strange Lands by Sonia Nimr
Award-winning historical fantasy and literary folktale. Winner of the presigious Etisalat award.
In a tent …
Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands
3 stars
I enjoyed the setting, and some of the substories were compelling, but as a whole it was too rambling and incohesive for me.
I feel like it would have worked better as a series of stories about different people from the same village or whatever instead of repeatedly being like "despite being in the middle of this incredibly urgent life crisis, the main character decides to spend six months teaching an older woman to fold laundry" or "despite having a very bad outcome two chapters ago, the main character decides to engage in exactly the same dangerous behavior with no additional precautions"
Tak! commented on Wondrous Journeys In Strange Lands by Sonia Nimr
Award-winning historical fantasy and literary folktale. Winner of the presigious Etisalat award.
In a tent …
Let's see if I finish this one in time for #SFFBookClub
Tak! reviewed The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu
The Library of the Dead
4 stars
A touch more original than a lot of urban supernatural, and highly appropriate for the Halloween season
Tak! commented on The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu
The #SFFBookClub selection for October 2023
Tak! commented on A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys
On a warm March night in 2083, Judy Wallach-Stevens wakes to a warning of unknown …
The #SFFBookClub selection for September 2023