Really great anthology. There was no unified theme to the stories, except that the main character’s viewpoint was not that of a white Western person, which was incredibly refreshing. They were all good, no duds, and I think the one that might stay with me the longest was Anil Menon’s “The Robots of Eden” – the tone is almost boring to start, but the subtle wrongnesses add up to creeping horror at the end – really well done.
Category: quick reaction
Hench, by Natalie Zina Walschotts
This. Was. Amazing. In a world of superheroes and supervillains, Anna Tromedlov is a down-on-her-luck henchman, just working temp desk jobs to pay the rent, when she finds herself caught in the middle of a hero/villain confrontation. The violent aftermath leaves her with lifelong injuries, as well as an obsession with forcing heroes (and their worshippers) to face the actual financial, mental, and physical costs of superhero action. The book just kept getting better, uncovering layers upon layers of conspiracy and dark history. Super enjoyable read. (I put this on the to-read list because it was one of the Canada Reads books, championed by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee of Kim’s Convenience. It didn’t win Canada Reads, but it should have!)
Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
A memoir; after Zauner loses her mom to stomach cancer, she finds herself crying in Korean grocery stores while shopping for the foods that her mother loved. I felt so much empathy for her, especially her journey in trying to recreate the foods of her childhood. We second-generation kids count on our parents to provide a link to the culture of the old country, and when we lose a parent, we also lose that bridge. (To be clear, I am super fortunate in that I have not lost a parent! Don’t go anywhere Ma and Ba! But I’m super grateful every time you answer the phone to handle random questions like “what does this menu say” and “how do you order that dim sum dish I like again”.)
Minecraft: The Island, by Max Brooks
This felt like it was written for children (and my kids loved it!) – really simplistic and repetitive narration, very slapstick action. I didn’t really enjoy the tone or the framing of the book, but I did like the ending which tied it together well, and I also liked the wry acceptance of how things in the Minecraft world don’t quite jibe with normal physics.
Vengeful, by V. E. Schwab
Sequel to Vicious and just as well-paced and violent, this novel continues to really dig into the gray areas between good and evil. No one gets to escape; characters who had previously been certain of their moral standing find themselves forced to make compromises.
A Good Wife, by Samra Zafar
A memoir by a woman who escaped an abusive arranged marriage. Zafar, born in Pakistan and raised in Abu Dhabi, was married off at sixteen to a Canadian man who promised that he would help her continue her education; however, once married and a new mother, she slowly realized that her in-laws and husband had no intention of allowing her any independence. Her story of resilience and eventual escape takes time to tell, but leaves you in awe of her strength, grateful for her lucky breaks, and appreciative of all the people who helped her along the way.
The Seventh Sun, by Lani Forbes
This book was suggested based on the magic system and its callouts to Aztec mythology, but sadly that was the only good thing about the book. Otherwise it felt like the cool magic system was grafted onto a story about modern teenagers, complete with contemporary turns of phrase in their dialogue. Much of this story is literally The Bachelor where a bunch of hot, catty girls (ok, their magic powers are pretty cool) participate in meaningless contests to impress the eligible prince. The central character is a Sailormoon-esque clumsy goodhearted princess, whose defining character trait is that she selectively reads scripture to suit her personal preferences and arbitrarily chooses which to follow, which for me hit a little too close to home given all the “I did the research! By which I mean I looked for corroborating evidence on the internet and ignored everything that said otherwise!” nonsense going on these days. Nearly everyone in the story is a hot teen and the supporting cast is suuuuper two-dimensional. Maybe this is more YA that I’m too grumpy to read, but again, I don’t think I’d be complaining this much if it were done better.
The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden
I should have read this book in the winter; the imagery of bone-chilling cold and starving frost is really well done. it’s set in medieval Russia, with familiar characters from Russian fairy tales. There’s just enough of familiar politics and religion to set the scene, all of the characters are beautifully put together, and the pacing of the story is excellent. Also, I liked how heroine Vasilisa’s efforts to save her village were complicated not only by evil spirits, but also by traditional gender roles and family dynamics. Gorgeous writing, wonderful story.
The Bone Season and The Mime Order, by Samantha Shannon
I kind of feel like these would have been better books without all the invented vocabulary, but I did like the quasi-Victorian? Cockneyish? language of the street dwellers. In an alternate future dystopian London, people with extrasensory abilities (clairvoyants, or “voyants”) are hunted down by the government; because their very existence is illegal, voyants band together in street gangs and mobs to survive. Our heroine Paige has powers that put her pretty high up in her gang; however, when she is captured by the government, she finds out that captured voyants actually become enslaved in a crazy medieval prison (it’s the old Oxford campus) run by – wait for it – aliens! The aliens are using the psychic energy of the voyants to fight a war on another plane of existence entirely, with the government’s cooperation. The insanity just keeps ratcheting up. The first book has plenty of action but honestly feels mostly like setup, introducing mad amounts of vocabulary alongside crowds of characters and doing its best to convince you of the multiple layers of weird that comprise this world; the second book was a little more focused. Two books in I’m still honestly not sure I completely buy the premise, but at least Shannon’s writing is smooth and the characters are well-crafted.
The Doors of Eden, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Doors of Eden / Adrian Tchaikovsky
I expect this of Tchaikovsky by now, but no one condenses centuries of hypothetical evolutionary development like this guy. Interspersed with totally plausible and yet very different ways life could have evolved and thrived (or not) on Earth, we follow some really well-crafted characters through events that get really strange. Really ambitious book, great journey, though the ending felt weak and didn’t quite live up to the development.