Reviews and Comments

Leaving_Marx

Leaving_Marx@wyrmsign.org

Joined 2 years, 7 months ago

Printer, anarchist, illustrator, & enthusiast of the printed word.

FediBanter: @Thundering@kolektiva.social

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I want everyone to read it and think of it often ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great book, fun, and uncomplicated ⭐⭐⭐ Good, feel complicated about if I wasted my time ⭐⭐+⬇️ I hate read this

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Callum Angus: Natural History of Transition (2021, Metonymy Press) 4 stars

A Natural History of Transition is a collection of short stories that disrupts the notion …

Trans fantasy short stories

4 stars

I got this one as a lender with the premise of, "ooooo you'll love the historic Quebec City trans convent story" and they were right, I did. It is a fun collection, taking fantasy and flights of fancy to make transitions beautiful and grotesque, bleeding a bit of body horror at times with resolving dysmorphia and imagining worlds where gender is less static and so are the limits of our flesh to change.

Most memorable stories include the convent story, the self-titled story and one which features someone transitioning into a rock face then a mountain.

it is riddled with Canadiana and references that you might pick out from your travels. a worthwhile read I am happy i had it out and picked it up and put it down over the past few months

reviewed Red Rising by Pierce Brown (Red Rising Saga, #1)

Pierce Brown: Red Rising (Hardcover, 2014, Del Rey) 4 stars

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of …

Is it a trope

4 stars

Started this series literally cause it is sci-fi on mars and talking about class conflict. This first book follows some really tired trends in sci-fi, overdone by YA fiction, of a school for youth who are trained in conflict to prove themselves. but this isn't a YAF booked, there is copious amounts of blood, the politicking, and alliances are more complex. It was definitely a slow burn for me where by the end of this first book i was invested enough finish the series.

a sneak peak to book two is I like it much better so consider working though it. Definitely a space opera for those who despise them, so you have been warned.

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Days of Shattered Faith (2024) 4 stars

Welcome to Alkhalend, Jewel of the Waters, capital of Usmai, greatest of the Successor States, …

A Trilogy with 3 separate themes

4 stars

This was the final book in the Tyrant Philosophers series, I appreciated the overarching narrative of the series though the first book really stood out as the strongest offering.

Basically, first book got me with the colonial/resistance stories of early industrialism in a magical word. Felt really exciting and had the morals and outcomes I love to see with the underdogs.

second book takes place in the medic tents of the colonial army and even with the mutinous and subversives in the narrative it felt like so much more a book of complicated compromises.

this final book was like an exploration of statecraft and power struggles among the rules and while those can be fascinating stories, i just would so much rather the earlier narratives, lessons and outcomes.

but i think some of you freaks love that big picture and powerful people fighting vibes so i could see it really …

reviewed House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky (The Tyrant Philosophers, #2)

Adrian Tchaikovsky: House of Open Wounds (2023, Head of Zeus) 4 stars

City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world. …

Book 2 lets go

5 stars

Really loved the first book in this series so even with developing the characters and world further and the addition of a demon sex workers character, it can only get a 4.5 to differentiate it from book 1.

set in a military camp this time, it appeared as a departure from a lot of the themes from the first book but it maintained the polygod central plot.

Definitely enjoyed and would recommend and am not sure where book three is gonna take us, but i am in for the ride.

reviewed City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky (The Tyrant Philosophers, #1)

Adrian Tchaikovsky: City of Last Chances (2022, Head of Zeus) 4 stars

Arthur C. Clarke winner and Sunday Times bestseller Adrian Tchaikovsky's triumphant return to fantasy with …

Second Go this time with the sequels

5 stars

I really think this is one of my favourite AT novels I have read.

My simple pitch, this is the fantasy novel equivalent of Fredy Perlmans "Worker-student action committees".

full stop.

reviewed Lords of Uncreation by Adrian Tchaikovsky (The Final Architecture, #3)

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Lords of Uncreation (Paperback, 2023, Tor Books) 5 stars

He's found a way to end their war, but will humanity survive to see it? …

Finale

5 stars

Just wrapped up this series and very much appreciated it. It had both the scale of everything but still kept the story and characters within a time and place that was easy to comprehend.

many sympathetic characters and many despicable.

By the end I had trouble keeping track of the different factions involved in the grand scale of all the issues, but I appreciated the application of three way fight logistics, and cataclysmic problems.

happy I read it and for anyone Adrian Tchaikovsky pilled it is a great series.

reviewed Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky (The Final Architecture, #1)

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Shards of Earth (Paperback, 2022, Orbit) 5 stars

The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . .

Idris …

reread for 2025

5 stars

I just devoured this one for a refresher before starting the next two books in the trilogy. Really like AT's world building and how his prose really paints me a picture that looks just like 70's sci-fi mate paintings and book covers.

and as always this book features invertebrates as a plot point like so many of his stories!

....and multi-party conflicts, world ending crisis, class and gender politics, revolutions, the occult and cults, and other standards of good sci-fi in my opinion.

Stephen King: Salem (French language) 3 stars

'Salem's Lot is a 1975 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It was his …

Officially over trying with S.K.

2 stars

This book was a bit of a punishment to get through. I just really hate Stephen King's writing and not gonna try another book. I have liked some film adaptations and was hoping for easy reading from his works but they drag, they aren't scary, they do not age well. I shouldn't expect much but every women is intellectually dumb and every man is emotional dumb and they are all so two dimensional.

Ursula K. Le Guin: The  Dispossessed (Hardcover, 1991, Harper Paperbacks) 5 stars

Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, …

The dispossessed

5 stars

Listened to the '87 CBC audio drama of it and it was such a time capsule to audio productions from another era. The specific seductive feminine voice, the music, the way shevek sounds like he is the voice actor for some favourite Canadian children's cartoon.

Peter Gelderloos: Organization | Continuity | Community (Paperback, Detritus Books) 4 stars

False modesty has prevented us from seeing how effective we’ve been, ego has prevented us …

Wanting to win big.

4 stars

To start off 2025, I wanted to read a gelderloos essay because I find his writing usually focuses on posi, optimist, and big picture topics and I had just got my hands on this pocket book.

The title essay is broken into 3 sections, starting off with a look at formal and informal formats and trying to suggest when and how these different forms support a struggle, and when adherence or critique of any one form will hinter an expansive struggle.

Second section looks what keeps people going, keeps people around and in the scene, and has people burning out. Mostly it focuses in the ideas and dynamics that create that inner fire people have to push forward against opposition and resistance.

The third section looks at community, which in this content really is an exploration of power dynamics -- formal or informal -- within a scene, how they play …