Reading!

[lunabee34]

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I didn't like this as well as I typically like VanderMeer. He usually knocks it out of the park for me, and this was just a solid base hit. The novel explores his usual themes: the ecological horrors we are wreaking on the planet and on ourselves, the resulting fragmentation from each other, the longing we feel for something better and different and the often dangerous and maladaptive ways we try to find it.

One of the things I didn't like about this book is the repeated use of sentence fragments. I'm totally fine with the occasional one as a stylistic choice, but they're constant here, and I just subjectively didn't like them.

I respect the choice to make pretty much all the characters of this novel unlikeable; I don't need to identify personally with the protagonist to enjoy a book, and I don't need to like the characters to like the work. But unlikeable characters coupled with a bleak setting and a great deal of violence also made this a more difficult read for me than something like Borne or the Southern Reach where the setting is bleak and violence abounds but I really like the characters.

It's a good book, and if you like VanderMeer, you should read it. I'm just not wishing this site would let me give eleven stars like I often wish when I review his work. :)



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Witch King by Martha Wells

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is so so good. The plot is fantastic, the characters are wonderful, and the world building is amazing. I love the way the narrative weaves together the story of what's happening in the present with the story of what happened in the past. I love the depth the characters and their relationships are given. I love the complexity of the world Wells creates and all the places in that world that are left to explore. Highly recommend.



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Encounters with the Archdruid: Narratives About a Conservationist and Three of His Natural Enemies by John McPhee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a fantastic read. It's sobering to see that we have made so little progress in figuring out how to deal with water use in arid regions, our competing desires to mine minerals from the earth and to preserve the places where those mines are located, and our competing desires to recreate in nature and to protect nature from the consequences of our recreation.

The five men featured in this book by McPhee are interesting in that they are all multi-faceted and contradictory in some ways.

Highly recommended.



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The Vintage Tea Party Book by Angel Adoree

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is exquisitely beautiful. The illustrations are so lovely as is the photography. It must have cost an absolute fortune to produce.

If you're a drinker, lots of gorgeous cocktails in here.



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Comments

[sallymn]

I will look out for that last one :)

[lunabee34]

It's by the Escape to the Chateau people if you ever watched that on BBC.

[princessofgeeks]

I enjoyed Witch King very much and I wish it was longer! Like a trilogy longer!

[mecurtin]

I strongly suspect that Witch King is set up to be the start of another series, for when Wells wants to take a break from Murderbot. There are a BUNCH of "next story goes here" hooks.

[lunabee34]

I completely agree with you. It's just too rich a story with too much back story to explore and too many what happens next moments to be a stand alone.

[lunabee34]

OMG, yes. So much more to explore. And, of course, I really want to know what happens next.

[nyctanthes]

Is hummingbird salamander the cloak one? That was a tough one for me, and I'm not sure it was worth it.

[lunabee34]

No, that one was The Strange Bird, which was one of my favorites of his, actually. But I read that one as a metaphor for disability and chronic illness and found it hopeful and comforting in that regard.

[nyctanthes]

Now I remember. I DNF this one and yes, the choppy sentences got to me.

But I read that one as a metaphor for disability and chronic illness and found it hopeful and comforting in that regard.

Oh that's very interesting.

[lunabee34]

INORITE? It was very choppy; it did not work for me as a stylistic choice. I just don't buy that people think in that choppy way (and that's probably a failing on my part because probably some people do!).

[nyctanthes]

And I think the choppiness had something to do with her physical appearance (they were supposed to match somehow?) which didn't work for me either.

[gloss]

I love reading your reviews so much.

[lunabee34]

Awwwww, *blushes*

Thank you.

[timespirt]

Martha Wells used to write SGA fanfiction.

[lunabee34]

I have heard that before but I haven't read any of her fic. I assume it's awesome.

[timespirt]

She wrote some good stories, she removed it all when she started publishing. SGAmadison did that with one of her fics that was an SGA story called Raincheck. It was a good story.

[lunabee34]

*nods*

I think that's standard operating procedure when people go pro.