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uhhuhthem

uhhuhthem@wyrmsign.org

Joined 1 year, 9 months ago

nonbinary. mtl. interested in speculative fiction, weird fiction, scifi, fantasy, horror, folk horror, folklore, zines. currently mostly reading ttrpg lorebooks

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reviewed Days of Shattered Faith by Adrian Tchaikovsky (The Tyrant Philosophers, #3)

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

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

enjoyable but not quite lovable

4 stars

I've spent the last few years saying that Tchaikovsky is my favourite sci fi writer but something about this foray into fantasy just didn't hit for me, and I'm not exactly sure why. the writing was still beautiful and inventive, but the entire series felt somehow impersonal-- the characters more of a mechanism for conveying plot than actual people.

commented on Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Rebecca Roanhorse: Black Sun (2020, Gallery / Saga Press) 4 stars

The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of …

epic fantasy in a world based on the pre-columbian americas rather than medieval europe. very compelling characters, plenty of queerness and transness that didn't feel tokenizing. the ending was... abrupt

reviewed Blindsight (Firefall, #1) by Peter Watts

Peter Watts: Blindsight (Firefall, #1) (2006) 4 stars

Blindsight is a hard science fiction novel by Canadian writer Peter Watts, published by Tor …

interesting concept, flawed execution

3 stars

I loved the attempt to describe an alien that is fundamentally /alien/. trying to find a scientific basis for having vampires in the story was... interesting. the "climax" of the novel made no sense, although in its favour, I guess that made it a surprise. the casual and incredibly pervasive misogyny was tiresome, and seems to be on the part of the author rather than just another characteristic to make the protagonist unlikable (it wasn't necessary), considering that there are relatively few slurs in the novel but four misogynistic ones, and one of those is slung by the author in his endnotes at three scientists whose work he thinks insufficiently deals with their areas of research.

part of me wants to know how the core ideas spin out in the sequels but the much bigger part of me wants to avoid anything else by this author.