Cas Russell will do any job for pay, because it’s better than being alone in her own head. Her superpower is not casual violence (though there’s plenty of that) but sheer mathematical ability; she calculates vectors of people and bullets, and plots her way through fights, until she’s the only one left standing. (Huang has a math background, so the math is actually readable and not just gibberish.) A standard rescue starts to go wrong when Cas is suddenly being pursued by an enemy too big to handle; on top of that, her thoughts and emotions no longer seem like they are her own. Cas is a prickly, untrusting person who is nevertheless fiercely loyal to a certain few, and it’s a joy to watch her gradually opening up her circle. Between dodging bullets, of course. I thought that there was a bit too much new plot being introduced near the end, but then I found out it was the first of a series. What a delight! Bring on more Cas, I am looking forward to seeing where she’s going.
Month: June 2022
Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, by Annalee Newitz
This was fantastic! Newitz studies four cities from previous civilizations (Çatalhöyük in Central Turkey, Pompeii in Italy, Angkor in Cambodia, and Cahokia in the US) and uses archaeologists’ findings to bring them to life with incredibly vivid detail, describing both the inhabitants’ everyday existence as well as their social and cultural dynamics. She explores the rise and growth of the cities as well as their decline for various reasons; although all these cities now lie buried, she still finds lessons in their existence. I love how she finds both warning and celebration in the ruins: yes, communities can rise and fall, but look how beautifully we built something together.
Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
SF, but the kind of soft-around-the-edges SF that creates a world for you without really needing to get into the details of how it works. The viewpoint character Klara is a solar-powered AF, an artificial intelligence designed to be a dedicated friend to some child wealthy and lonely enough to need one; that lonely child is Josie, whose parents have made choices that now define their lives and hers. Klara’s combination of innocence and fiercely detailed observational skills allow her to make piercing insights about the human characters, while also remaining childishly naïve about the humans’ motives. I particularly loved Ishiguro’s rendering of her understanding of the world, which brought items to the foreground of her attention depending on their urgency, and categorized actions into shifting area boxes; when she is disturbed, the boxes and priorities devolve into a colorful, shifting mess of meaningless geometries. Very well done.
Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Really short and focused compared to previous Tchaikovsky reads. It starts out feeling like a fantasy novel, with a princess running away to seek the help of an legendary wizard… but then you find out that the wizard is actually a hapless anthropologist, stranded when he came to study a far-flung space colony, and his fabled magics are really just Clarke’s third law in action. The characters were thoughtfully created and beautifully executed, and their internal, interpersonal, and external conflicts were all brilliantly woven together, with the narrative giving each time to develop and grow. Really solid piece.
Fevered Star, by Rebecca Roanhorse
It’s been long enough since I read the prequel (Black Sun) that I wasn’t sure I’d remember anything that led up to the climactic cliffhanger, but this one was really good at summing up the events of the first book without being boring. Even though this one was mostly about politicking, as opposed to the action that drove the prequel, it still felt dramatic and tense. Roanhorse takes a very show-don’t-tell approach to world establishment, letting the characters’ interactions with one another establish the salient features of each clan or gang or other organization, which is great but also confusing; there were many players with different affiliations, and I could have used a crib sheet. If I had to nitpick, it would be to say that this felt a bit characters-in-service-to-the-plot instead of the other way around; some previously forceful characters were weirdly passive as events shoved them about. Still, great reading; I’ll just have to remember to reread the prequels before the third one comes out.
Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
Lamott’s advice to her creative writing students, gathered in book form. Written with attitude, but also with heart and kindness; Lamott endorses writing as a kind of therapy, encouraging her students to explore their pasts and their fears, and mine those experiences for inspiration. She also warns students to temper their expectations regarding glamor or fame in publishing. Warm and self-deprecating in tone and very enjoyable to read, but mostly it’s Lamott talking about herself and her experiences, only thinly disguised as advice to new writers.
Realm of Ash, by Tasha Suri
Sequel to Empire of Sand; the first book was good, and this one is even better. Arwa’s sister shook the foundations of the empire in the previous book, and in this one, Arwa is left trying to pick a safe path through the crumbling Empire. Arwa and her sister Mehr are very different people: Mehr rebelled and embraced her status as a low-caste tribesperson, whereas Arwa tried to hide her past and blend in. Like her sister, she finds herself in a position to use her background for the greater good, but her relationship with her heritage is fraught. I loved her journey, and how it illustrated the impact of cultural erasure on the descendants of persecuted peoples.
Bitter, by Akwaeke Emezi
Prequel to the amazing novel Pet, but unfortunately I think it’s not as strong or as focused. Narrator Bitter has survived trauma to find solace in art, but finds it hard to justify being an artist in a world full of injustice, corporate greed, and police brutality, especially when practically all of her friends have joined an implausibly well-organized resistance movement in which teens demonstrate against societal racism. Much of the book is spent on Bitter’s self-doubt; it makes the otherworldly spirits and fast-paced action that dominate the last quarter of the book seem jarring. Lots of really piercing commentary on social injustice and human nature, but unfortunately the book doesn’t come together smoothly for me.
The Cloud Roads, by Martha Wells
It’s been awhile since I read a fantasy world this fearlessly inventive. Moon can shapeshift into something with scales, wings, and talons, but no one else in the village can, so he hides it. However, when he’s banished and encounters his own species, he finds himself a misfit among them as well. Pretty standard trope, but before you know it you’re drawn deep into an incredibly detailed and alien ecology and culture, where very different rules apply and like Moon you have to figure out how things fit together. Moon is a very relatable hero, someone who hates bullies but also hates fights, who just wants to be left alone but also needs other people. Like Murderbot (Wells’ other hero that I’ve read), he prefers to process his emotions quietly, on his own, rather than talk to anyone about them, and as his history unspools you come to understand why. Great character work alongside really cool worldbuilding.
Point of Hopes, by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett
I think I got this off a list of LGBT-friendly fantasy novels, but if the two leads show any kind of romantic interest in one another… it’s not in this book. It’s not even a slow burn love story, but more of a slow burn friendship story growing out of mutual respect. Policeman (or “pointsman”) Rathe is trying to investigate a spate of missing children across the city, while retired soldier Eslingen is just trying to find a job under trying circumstances. The mystery is high stakes but low urgency; it feels like the authors’ focus is more on establishing the world and its magical timekeeping structure, rather than actually chasing down the criminals. The plot doesn’t pick up until the last quarter or so of the book, after all kinds of unnecessary fiddling around by the main characters.