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| 1250786142
| 9781250786142
| 1250786142
| 3.72
| 1,551
| Jun 15, 2021
| Jun 15, 2021
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not set
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May 25, 2021
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| 006304014X
| 9780063040144
| 006304014X
| 3.57
| 3,111
| Jul 13, 2021
| Jul 13, 2021
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really liked it
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Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live I am already inclined to focus on climate and man vs. nature in st Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live I am already inclined to focus on climate and man vs. nature in stories, but this year I’m really feeling the pull. So, let's just casually review this next book that deals with the impending doom the news is talking about so much more often these days. Of course, when I say casually, I mean really dig into my own feelings about the issues at hand and how this book made me examine them. Appleseed, by Matt Bell, is a science fiction epic that dives deep into the christian and western mythology that inspired the creation of the United States of America, while examining the nation’s relationship to nature and climate change, with profound prose and tight storytelling. Appleseed is a century- and millennium-spanning story that follows the lives of three folks and their relationship to nature within North America. Chapman is a faun (yes, that kind of faun) that travels the Ohio valley with his human brother, Nathaniel, as they clear cut forests and plant apple trees to sell to the growing number of settlers in eighteenth century America. Nathaniel hopes to civilize the savage and uncivilized land to add to the glory of God, while Chapman struggles with being not entirely human. John lives in the near future, the United States has abandoned the land west of the Mississippi river, and ceded the territory to a corporation called Earth Trust. John, in his younger years, founded Earth Trust, but abandoned them for life of illegally rewilding the west when his ex and CEO of Earth Trust, Eury Mirov, began taking liberties with the company's goals. However, he is pulled back in by other dissenters to try to shut Eury down once and for all. The final story follows C-432, a being that lives thousands of years in the future that tries to survive among the arctic wastes as glaciers reclaim what was once North America. How all these stories are connected and what they say about our experience is for the reader to discover chapter by chapter. Appleseed definitely falls into the “tough to judge” category for me. It’s an excellently written story with incredibly well defined and explored themes. Bell takes a lot of interesting risks with the story, and doesn’t hold the reader’s hand, allowing, and in some cases forcing, them to digest it at their own rate. Bell’s prose is fascinating as it changes pace and offers different details through the separate timelines, giving each one its own distinct feel. The characters are different enough from each other that the stories feel apart. But the stories and characters exhibit just enough of the same qualities to make the themes pop out throughout the whole book. I was astounded how easily I slipped back into the story every time I picked it up. The book urged me to consume it in a few days, and I accepted that this was the only way to truly experience Appleseed. However, I am woefully confused by my reaction to the book. I enjoyed my experience with it, but every time I sit down to dissect the ideas that Bell has put forth, I get frustrated. It is not an issue of coherence; Bell’s writing makes it incredibly clear what is happening. His prose, though detailed and full of wonder for the natural world to the point that it meanders at times, is explicit in its goals. Instead, I think my issue is that this book is a discussion piece. It is full of ideas and unreliable narrators that talk about their own problems against a backdrop of increasing scope. The world Bell posits in his stories is both enchanting and horrifying, playing off well worn western myths and more recognizable tropes within climate fiction. It takes you to places you dreamed of as a child in elementary school American history class, both idolizing them and dashing them against a rock. He envisions a future that is without people, a world in which humanity has failed to stop or slow the effects of climate change, and it is empty. It’s impossible to miss the “humans caused climate change” aspect of Appleseed. Bell succeeds in firmly rooting it within the creation of the USA itself. Using the myth of Johnny Appleseed, Bell dives deep into the heart of manifest destiny, and the un-wilding of North America into a godly paradise for good christian men. He deftly connects it to the middle timeline story of the near future and extremely far future through language, characterization and humanities relationship to nature. It’s an incredibly well thought out story that highlights the different steps along the way where we as a species failed to see the signs of our destruction. Where I take issue is that his exploration is unfortunately narrow, and limited to a very specific American experience and christian-tinged worldview. It caused a dissonance whenever there were nods to other experiences outside this particular window, hinting at the complexity of the issue, only to have the book snap back into place and follow a very distinct pathway. I had trouble reconciling this robust and thoughtful look into America’s relationship with nature, while the story accelerated to a neat and tidy conclusion, complete with a John Hughes style “here’s where we are now” montage ending. It felt weird to place everything being discussed within the book as a “human” issue when it’s also detailing a very specific and narrow experience. It didn’t necessarily ruin my experience with the book, but I had a harder time suppressing my discomfort with it as I continued the story. That all being said, Appleseed is still a fantastic experience. Bell’s grasp and use of language is truly a sight to behold. The book is an excellent example of how to tie major themes across different timelines, and pull from mythology to lend historical weight to the story. It is truly epic in that sense, with Bell’s use of western history and mythology. Unfortunately, it just started to feel a little too narrow for my taste when it comes to climate focused fiction. Bell merely hints at other ideas, instead of exploring them in relation to his themes, in my opinion, losing an opportunity to really dig into his themes of environmental stewardship. In any case, this is an admirable addition to the growing library of climate fiction. Rating: Appleseed 8.0/10 -Alex ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 23, 2021
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May 30, 2021
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Apr 20, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1250236215
| 9781250236210
| 1250236215
| 4.27
| 128,495
| Jul 13, 2021
| Jul 13, 2021
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Apr 20, 2021
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| 1984802607
| 9781984802606
| 1984802607
| 3.67
| 2,909
| May 11, 2021
| May 11, 2021
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really liked it
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Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live One of my favorite books from 2019 was Sarah Pinsker’s debut novel Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live One of my favorite books from 2019 was Sarah Pinsker’s debut novel, A Song for a New Day. She so perfectly captured the search for hope within a fairly boring and mundane dystopia. When I read the description for her new book, I knew I wanted to get my hands on it. While it certainly hits differently than her previous book, We Are Satellites is a detailed and incredible human exploration of how technology and culture smash into each other, especially within American society. We Are Satellites is the story of a single family as they navigate a world that is rapidly changing due to the invention called the pilot. The pilot is a neural implant that allows the user to focus better and multitask more efficiently. One, with the aid of a pilot, can enjoy a podcast, work on their excel spreadsheets, cook dinner and mind the children all at the same time. Julie and Val are the parents of David and Sophie. David has always kind of struggled in school, despite his best efforts and implores his parents to let him have a pilot installed so that he does not fall behind the other kids. Julie is on his side and convinces Val it would help him. Meanwhile, Sophie is unable to have a pilot due to her epilepsy, and in solidarity, Val chooses to remain pilot free herself. What follows is a story of how the family’s dynamic changes, with some of the problems being exacerbated by the technology. The characters in Satellites are well drawn, and Pinsker’s writing truly captures their individual struggles. They all feel believable and relatable in small ways, from their daily tasks to their immediate reactions to small events. Each character feels like a unique individual, not a set of traits that revolve around a specific instinct. The parents are excellently written, showing their strong relationship deteriorate through the story as less and less care is given to it. Julie loves the next hot technology and feels she would be better at her job with the pilot, while Val remains skeptical. The children are equally interesting as they become the larger focus as the story progresses. David, who had a pilot installed as a teenager, is tortured by it and can’t get anyone to believe he is having trouble with it. Sophie, on the other hand, has to navigate the world without one, while also showing her own independence and ability to not rely on her mother’s constant worrying. Pinsker paints them so delicately and so beautifully it hurts to watch them unravel. The story itself is small, with big implications, which seems to be Pinsker’s forte. Each chapter is a snapshot into the character’s lives, highlighting how the pilot has changed their interactions with the world. I found it particularly enjoyable that the book doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s building to anything grand, but remains compelling nonetheless. The story is the people and their lives, not some overarching world domination plot, or cheap shots at dystopia. Pinsker sells this by having each character’s life play out as a reaction to the events in another character’s life. The shift from the parents being the focal point, to the lives of their children was especially well done and highlighted the slow, nearly invisible march of “progress” and “change.” When it comes down to it, Pinsker is truly a visionary when it comes to dissecting the cultural impact of a new technology. In the beginning, she plays an even hand, looking at the costs and the benefits to the pilot technology. Gradually though, Pinsker reveals how some are destined to be left behind by it, whether by privilege or due to conditions like epilepsy, and how those with access and more “conventional” brains will be catapulted by the advancement. She is also incredible at showing how such a technology would infect every aspect of being, to the point where not having one, or reacting poorly to one would ultimately marginalize you. She shows how businesses would look at you differently for not having one, by seeing you as less productive than someone with one, or how other people would consider you lesser on this road to a more “post-human” future. How government programs would be tailored to fitting people with one, instead of helping those without one. In particular, subsidy and grant programs to give them to children living below the poverty line so they may become more “productive” citizens. My favorite part is that she flirts with dystopia, showing it in it’s full regalia of everyday life, instead of explicitly stating “you’re in hell.” We Are Satellites is a great example of how technological dystopias come to pass. Pinsker does not beat you over the brow, saying “look how terrible it all is.” Instead, she shows you the steady slide into a “new” normal that most people didn’t ask for, but they bought it anyway. Through her diverse cast, she explores how different people with different jobs, priorities, mindsets, goals, and conditions interact with this new world. How change can just happen, slowly and without pomp and circumstance until it isn’t change at all, it’s how it has always been. She also does it with a levity and care that makes it more digestible than most dystopias. All this, while reminding the reader that one still has a choice when it comes to change. Rating: We Are Satellites – 9.0/10 -Alex ...more |
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Apr 18, 2021
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Apr 22, 2021
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Apr 20, 2021
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Paperback
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| 1250260248
| 9781250260246
| 1250260248
| 2.91
| 22
| unknown
| Jun 01, 2021
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Apr 13, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 0593306740
| 9780593306741
| 0593306740
| 4.03
| 19,545
| Jul 27, 2021
| Jul 27, 2021
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Apr 13, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1787585980
| 9781787585980
| 1787585980
| 3.78
| 60
| unknown
| Nov 09, 2021
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Apr 13, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1773214543
| 9781773214542
| 1773214543
| 3.93
| 571
| Jun 08, 2021
| Jun 08, 2021
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None
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not set
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Apr 13, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 0593081153
| 9780593081150
| 0593081153
| 3.77
| 1,000
| Jun 01, 2021
| Jun 01, 2021
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Apr 13, 2021
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Paperback
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| 1789093155
| 9781789093155
| 1789093155
| 3.65
| 294
| Sep 21, 2021
| Sep 21, 2021
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Apr 13, 2021
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Paperback
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| 1534443622
| 9781534443624
| 1534443622
| 3.28
| 633
| Oct 19, 2021
| Oct 19, 2021
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did not like it
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Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live I’m always up to visit the works of well established authors in th Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live I’m always up to visit the works of well established authors in the genre. Most of the time, I end up reading their newer work because it’s more relevant. So when a book is touted as being the return of an award winning author, my ears perk up and my nose picks up the scent of new prey, UwU. Unfortunately, this time the trail led me astray, and I found myself wanting. The Shadows of Eternity, by Gregory Benford, is a squandering of potential that spends more time trying to find a point than make one. The book is a series of stories that follows the life of Rachel, as she pursues her career as a librarian at a large SETI station on the moon. Here, massive amounts of data from far flung intelligent civilizations are compiled and given to AI personalities that serve as avatars for those civilizations. Rachel’s job is to communicate and bargain with these AIs to break their code and gain knowledge that is helpful to humanity. Over the course of decades Ruth solves several puzzles while dealing with several AI and the civilizations they are compiled from. However, she ends up being visited by a trailer from another star and becomes his primary envoy for the human race. And right now you are probably thinking, “How could a book with such a good premise go wrong?” From a technical standpoint, the book isn’t bad nor is it good. Benford does a decent job of describing bigger technical things in easy to consume ways. The characters are bland but not the worst I’ve seen. They’re there to move the story along. Rachel is just a woman with something to prove, no matter how often we’re told she’s becoming a prodigy among librarians. The dialogue is clunky and expositional without revealing anything about the characters. Every detail is told. Even when Benford decides to show, it feels like he doesn’t trust the reader, and goes out of his way to highlight it by spelling it out again in dialogue. The story itself is meandering, and the more interesting beginning stories just feel like stepping stones to the larger, less potent narrative. In the first story in the book, Rachel takes on one of the most enigmatic of these machines, having spent her life up until this point preparing to interact with it. She gets it to open up fairly quickly, and without much effort on her part. The book follows this sort of rhythm as Rachel runs into a wall with successive machines, eventually finding a way to break through. That is until she is visited by a traveler from another race, something that has never happened before in human history. And from there on, the rest of the book becomes an ongoing quest for bigger and greater technological advances hidden under the veneer of “building relationships.” It’s a boring slog that treads the burial grounds of science fiction. Where the book really struggles for me is it’s sexual politics. Rachel makes headway with the first AI not through her own ingenuity and understanding, but because she is essentially raped by the machine. It sees it as a quid quo pro transaction that rewards her with status and humanity with astounding technology to stick around for a while longer. I had issues with this because it’s sort of just hand waved away without acknowledgment. It could have been a “at the mercy of Gods” moment, but it’s just a thing that happens. Rachel is also written like a golden age sci fi masculine hero, thinking often about the men she wants to have sex with, and occasionally has the sex, then walks away without emotional attachment. She even fantasizes about a sexual relationship with an alien species. Now this wouldn’t be bad if it truly felt liberating, intimate, or even a character flaw. Instead, it feels vindictive as if to say “see, women can be powerful and treat the world as a sex object too” vibe. That’s not even to get into the sexless Noughts, a third gender “created” to be logical and non-emotional rational beings to serve the library. There are a lot of issues with them, but the most fascinating one is their complete lack of understanding of or willingness to understand sex and gender relations. I’m not saying that they should per se, but Benford spends little to no effort on why they would or wouldn’t, it’s just a fact of their nature. They view her rape as a necessary stepping stone and that she should just get over it, so she does. There are plenty of other situations in which they look down on Rachel and struggles she faces due to her sex and gender, but I’m going to avoid them to say it’s all just a mess. The worst part about going through all of this book, is that none of this seems to serve a point. Benford seems fundamentally uninterested in the world he has created, forsaking my curiosity as the reader. The Shadows of Eternity doesn’t really end anywhere. It builds and builds to pivotal moments that are just another thing-a-ma-bob. Hell the book ends with Rachel looking back and being like “haters gonna hate,” and it’s just tiring. There is not a lot redeeming about this book other than the central premise of the library itself. I wish there was more of it, and it’s a shame that this is just a chronicle of ideas from the past, packaged to look like the future. Rating: The Shadows of Eternity 3.0/10 -Alex An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts on this book are my own. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 19, 2021
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Sep 26, 2021
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Apr 13, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1473232872
| 9781473232877
| 1473232872
| 3.79
| 2,573
| Aug 05, 2021
| Aug 05, 2021
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really liked it
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Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Lately, there has been no shortage of Eastern-inspired fantasy, an Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Lately, there has been no shortage of Eastern-inspired fantasy, and I doubt we’re even close to a drought. There are countless epics, wuxia, and even more personal stories. However, I personally have not encountered a lot of fiction that dives into the philosophy of eastern traditions. Luckily, J.T. Greathouse wanted to throw his western hat into the ring and add to this seemingly niche genre barely explored in either hemisphere. This next Dark Horse feels like a return to home after the many plot-heavy books I’ve read recently. The Hand of the Sun King is an enjoyable novel that pays great homage to the traditions and mythologies it borrows from while creating a delightful yet sobering tale of one man’s attempt to forge his own path between a rock and hard place. The Hand of the Sun King is the story of Wen Alder, or as his grandmother named him, Foolish Cur. His father is a merchant of the Sienese Empire, and his mother is sibling and daughter to two of the Nayenese’s more infamous rebels. He is a man split between worlds and wishes to become the first Hand of the Emperor from the new imperial province of Nayen. Arden dedicates his early life to studying for the imperial exams so that he one day may be accepted into its vaunted magical ranks. However, he must also hide his connection to the ancient magics of Nayen. Will he succumb to the Emperor’s will, or will he turn and fight joining his Grandmother and uncle in their eternal struggle? Or maybe there is a third way, that combines the two that allows Arden to rise above it all. First off, Wen Alder is a great character, even if he can be grating. He’s ambitious and full of himself, but also has moments of cleverness that back up his independent nature. Born of two worlds, he hopes to find a third way to avoid slipping into the violence of his grandmother’s rebellion, or the brutal assimilation perpetrated by the Sienese Empire. Time and again he finds ways to fuse the magic and philosophies of both to squeeze through the cracks, giving him an incredibly inflated sense of self. Greathouse portrays Alder’s reinforced arrogance well enough that I found myself rolling my eyes at Alder’s constant need to distance himself from the Sienese, even though he is clearly doing their dirty work, by stating his disdain for having been born into this life. It makes the lessons he learns the hard way much more powerful, and his journey much more interesting. Greathouse builds an incredible world through the book. While he borrows heavily from the geography and traditions of Asian cultures, he adds a flair that allows the mythical traditions to blend with the philosophy explored within the book. Magic is a system of systems within the land of Sien and its many neighbors. Regions have their own special forms of magic granted to them, while the Sienese Empire has the Canon, a collection of magics supplied by the Emperor himself to his many Hands. Over time Greathouse delicately explores the history of these systems, and the Canon as they are revealed to Alder. The magic is clever and feels important to the people who practice it in a way I rarely feel in fantasy. It’s not a collection of spells that highlight who a person is on the inside through their use. Instead, the magics are related to individual cultures, giving them a complexity that builds as more is revealed. For instance, one of the novel’s western cities can call upon the wind to make their trade ships faster, while conjuring water to feed their desert oasis. It leads to a culture that allows them to shift and dance amongst the Sienese merchants, but they are constantly grounded by the fact that they have to nurture the garden that provides for them. They can’t run without destroying an essential part of who they are. The fact that the magic feels so distinctly related to the philosophy is just more bonus points. Now, if you’re concerned about philosophy being the main course in the book, well, that’s just what it is. There are discussions about how one could live one’s life, or contribute to the empire, or rebel against it. Alder is questing to find a third way that distances himself from both of his backgrounds just so he can personally avoid violence in his ambitious search for power. What I enjoyed so immensely about Sun King was Greathouse’s ability to make all choices feel both clever and foolish simultaneously. No particular way of living stands out as the best way, and it’s through Alder’s journey that his own personal way of living is revealed. Greathouse avoids discussion traps by having these parables end in an application of Arden’s conclusions, whether they are influenced by logic or his emotions at the time. There are teachers of all sorts scattered through the book that challenge Alder, and push his limits, each with their own flair and relationship to the teachings of the empire. It’s encapsulated nicely and feels explored at just the right amount for it to be fun, but impactful. Sun King might be the easiest novel to describe I’ve read in a while. It’s a well-realized philosophical meditation sprinkled with fun and delightfully clever moments with a strong fantasy atmosphere. Alder can be frustrating at times, but Greathouse delivers on his arc in curious and heartbreaking ways. The world is explored enough to make the lessons and story work without getting in the way, but left open enough to be detailed in future novels. If you’re looking for something that wanders a little and spends time steeping in its ideas without making the tea bitter, pick up the Hand of the Sun King. Rating: The Hand of the Sun King – 8.5/10 -Alex ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 11, 2021
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Jul 18, 2021
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Apr 13, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1250769825
| 9781250769824
| 1250769825
| 3.81
| 3,745
| Aug 24, 2021
| Aug 24, 2021
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really liked it
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Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Despite a rough experience with the Night’s Dawn trilogy, I once a Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Despite a rough experience with the Night’s Dawn trilogy, I once again find myself enjoying Peter F. Hamilton’s ability to create worlds. I found myself lured by two of Light Chaser’s promises. One, Light Chaser is a novella instead of a 2000 page epic; and two, he has a co-author, Gareth Powell. I figured why not give it a shot? Light Chaser is the story of Amahle, a near immortal being (through the wonders of science and relativity) who travels the galaxy. Her mission is to trade trinkets and status for the memories of specific inhabitants on the various planets that populate her route. Her ship travels near the speed of light, creating vast separations of time between her visits to the same planets, allowing almost millenia to occur, making her a near mythical figure. However, in some of the memories she reviews, the same voice begins to reach out to her from different planets and different times. It warns her of a terrible secret, giving her the clues to solve the mystery and put an end to a nefarious scheme once and for all. Unfortunately for Amahle, it will take everything from her and destroy everything she knows. Right off the bat I’ll tell you, Light Chaser was more enjoyable than I expected. Given my history with Hamilton’s stories, I was more or less reading this to get a quick taste of what he’s been up to, expecting to see the typical strengths and weaknesses of his other works. However, this book does something weird. It starts at the end of the story. For readers of Hamilton this is definitely out of place, but it came as a welcome change to the typical formula. I’ve never read one of Powell’s books, so I can’t tell if this is his influence, or a new direction from Hamilton, but this piqued my interest to say the least. If you’re hoping for a playlist of Hamilton’s greatest hits, in some sense, you get what you pay for. His classic gigantic worldbuilding based around a pairing of technological innovations is all over this book. I wish there was a little more variety, and a little more meat on the bone in some of these scenarios, but Hamilton’s contributions are on shining display and serve the story well. Powell, on the other hand, seems to be in the driver seat for character and story, of which there is plenty. There is a frenetic and deliberate pace to the story that is focused around Amahle’s development of and complicity within the system she participates in. It is a more character focused story, the worldbuilding serves as impetus instead of it being the main focus. The plot and the worldbuilding enhance each other, creating a pleasant if sometimes bombastic mixture of the authors’ strengths. The duo also goes through great pains to try and keep the time-based aspects of the story in check. It may not hold up under tight scrutiny, but they don’t just wave their hands and say “it’s our version of time,” while misdirecting you with witticisms. Instead, it plays both a functional and thematic role within the story and the life of Amahle. However, I have a couple of complaints. The story does sometimes drag, especially towards the center of the low page count. The lack of variety, mixed with Amahle’s general apathy and dearth of curiosity, while poignant and thematically purposeful, sometimes made me want to scream “I get it!” It’s not bad, and it may work for most people. But for me it just feels like a little more could have been done to round out the more nefarious aspects of the society Amahle is a member of. After my frustrations with some of Hamilton’s solo work, I feel collaborative projects might be to his benefit as it rounds out the strengths and weaknesses of his writing. He has a real talent detailing how societies would and do coalesce around specific technologies and use them to amplify existing power structures. It’s just the stories around that skill rarely interact with it, and Powell knew how to interact with it. He makes Amahle feel like a real person trapped by the overwhelming benefits of the system, who has to learn to make good. With their powers combined, Hamilton and Powell have written a neat novella that explores light speed in a fun, intense, and interesting way. Review: Light Chaser 8.0/10 -Alex An ARC of this book was provided to us in exchange for an unbiased review. The thoughts on this story are my own. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 24, 2021
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Aug 27, 2021
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Apr 13, 2021
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Paperback
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| 1473230942
| 9781473230941
| 1473230942
| 3.44
| 407
| Feb 04, 2021
| Feb 04, 2021
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it was amazing
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Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live A couple years ago, Cole gifted me Adam Roberts’ The Thing Itself. Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live A couple years ago, Cole gifted me Adam Roberts’ The Thing Itself. I enjoyed the book greatly, and it lives in a special place within my heart, but I also felt inadequate to the task of reviewing it. It is a dense 350 page book that mixes philosophy with cyberpunk movie action, asking: what is alien? But I’m not here to talk about The Thing Itself, not yet anyway. The book I actually am here to discuss is Roberts’ 2021 release Purgatory Mount, which is a heartrending dive into the things we do to each other as individuals, and as a society and what atonement might look like. You don’t have to take my word for it, it’s in Robert’s acknowledgments. But does it succeed? Millenia into the future, a ship piloted by the gods is approaching a planet with a mountain that ascends to the heavens. The mountain is not natural, and the gods want a chance to explore it, understand it, and stamp their name on history. But there is also another story, one taking place in the 2030s. America is on the brink of civil war as cities and states have already begun taking sides in the splinter. Soldiers from a previous war walk around with their brains augmented by their cell phones due to weaponized neonicotinoid-induced amnesia. In the middle of it all, the U.S. government is trying to steal something from a small gang of teenagers, something they think will help them recover after the war has been won. Can Ottoline and her friend survive the scrutiny and chase? And what is it that they are hiding that the government and its many opponents want from them? Purgatory Mount is a challenging novel, and while it endears me to it, it does mean you will have to work to grok Roberts’ task. There are two stories within the novel, The bookends following the crew of the spaceship, and the middle chunk titled “The United States of Amnesia.” The middle section follows Ottoline and her friends as their lives are upended by a borderless civil war within the United States. It’s a harrowing experience that contains prose that is up to the task of capturing the fear and uncertainty. Roberts does not shy away from the brutal realities of the state, its institutions, and its actors, but he also portrays the horror of the war through the eyes of children. Adults are going about their everyday lives as towns are bombed and transportation lines are disrupted. Rarely are the kids in the conversation as chatter and rumors settle like fog on the war. It makes the whole experience unsettling and unknowable. Being in a war alone must be hell, but being a child when adults are constantly trying to justify that it will all work itself out in the end while the world spirals into oblivion seems an even worse fate. This is compounded when the adults are sure you’re the one with the solution to it all, and they will stop at nothing to get it from you. I personally love the in your face commentary highlighting the sons shall pay for the sins of the father, while that payment is requested by the sinning fathers. It’s The Amnesia storyline is oppressive in its portrayal both in style and substance as children wander an America under constant air raids. However, Roberts brings a bit of levity to the crushing dread. Ottoline is a sure-headed teenager who despises swearing. So even when she is in the midst of an interrogation in a black site, her personality shines through. Each section has little reminders like this that even though it may be bleak, these individuals still have their own will to place on the world. Granted it’s not much, but it breaks up the endless march of war and death in unexpected ways. A warning to those excited about the space story, it’s short, sweet and to the point. It could have been its own whole ass book, digging into the various ways that kind of voyage would have sucked for people. But Roberts’ has a goal, and he hones this quarter of the book to its sharpest edge. He plays with concepts surrounding time dilation and time perception that create whole religions. Augmented humans seen as gods by others, prepare to explore an alien artifact as people who are both slaves and food struggle to comprehend why the gods have become active after centuries of minimal change. There is not a lot of time to accomplish what most readers might seek. Roberts’ writing seems to indicate that he knows this, and pushes fast and hard towards his conclusion in the final chapter. Weirdly, it works. The density of the story takes hold and his preferred goal starts to take the stage. And when it ends, it feels heavier than you can imagine, but your shoulders feel a little freer. In Roberts’ own words, he is digging into the concept of atonement. It is a concept that feels foreign to me, especially in books that I read. People often get away with their crimes, or continue to perpetuate their own evil, bolstered by the systems in place. Where Purgatory Mount succeeds for me is not that it tries to engage with what atonement looks like, but instead shows these systems that harm people, harm children, and states frankly “pay for your sins,” and by god, sin is all over the pages of this book. It extends beyond the book, into the past that leads to this book. It extends to the founding of the United States, and its continual forgetting of its own history. It crawls through the pits and climbs the mountains of Dante and Christian mythology. Normally, a little nuance is my flavor, but here the bluntness of it all washes that need away. Had I written about this book immediately after finishing it, I may have found myself a little less praiseworthy, but in the weeks I’ve had to chew on it, I could not stop thinking about it and its implications. Much like The Thing Itself, it has become a permanent brainworm that has changed my perspective on books, and the world itself. Purgatory Mount is a chilling read. It’s bleak, tough, and mean, but not gratuitously so. It feels like the right balance to highlight Roberts’ stated themes. It’s not gory, and the experienced scale of the issue is not despair-inducing. But the oppressive weight of it all hangs like a sword of Damocles, just out of sight, but always there, dangling. If you’re afraid you’ll need a degree in philosophy to understand what’s going on, do not worry. Roberts explains what he means upfront, and spreads his easter eggs as small thematic pieces that tie it all together. This book reminds me that I need to read more of his work and that there is still space for weird genre mashups that don’t shy away from big-picture themes. If you’re looking for a lot of bang in a smaller page count, please pick up this book. Rating: Purgatory Mount – Grab your climbing gear and spiritual baggage, it’s time to ascend. -Alex ...more |
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Dec 26, 2023
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Dec 29, 2023
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Apr 13, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1094086304
| 9781094086309
| 1094086304
| 3.47
| 1,748
| May 25, 2021
| May 25, 2021
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it was ok
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Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Have you ever wondered what it would be like to start over every f Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Have you ever wondered what it would be like to start over every four years? I don’t mean politically, I mean your entire life. Just a blank slate, all your wrong doings, cherished memories, ex lovers, wiped away so you can start fresh? Well if that sounds like a dandy way to live, you might want to check out our latest dark horse, Reset by Sarina Dahlan. Reset takes place in the Four Cities, a post-apocalyptic utopia, designed and built by the enigmatic Planner. It is seemingly the only place humanity exists after the devastating Last War, in which the world destroyed itself. The people in the Four Cities live a peaceful life, without concern for material needs, and have all their worries taken from them. The price being that of their memories. Every four years they have to undergo the process of Tabula Rasa, and have them wiped. The Planner felt that the only way for humanity to attain peace was to consistently remove the past to avoid prejudicial buildup. The book follows a few characters as their lives get tangled up in the final months before the next Tabula Rasa. Metis, a concert pianist by day, and the mysterious Sandman by night, leads a small group of folk known as the Dreamers. They are consistently in search of the past, even though it is forbidden. Metis is searching for the next Sandman to take his place over the next four years, and happens upon Aris, a woman who is deeply embedded in his dreams. With only four months left in this life, will he be able to convince her that she must be the next Sandman? Unfortunately, I have mostly negative feelings about Reset. I was sold on the premise, but the execution left me wanting. Before I get to the meat of my issues, I want to highlight some things that I really enjoyed about the book. It’s clear that Dahlan thought through the central idea and how people would end up living their lives in this new normal. The Four Cities, while not deeply explored, feel thought out and “planned.” There is a central and pervasive mythology about the history of the place, and it's incredibly tangible while having a vague sense of dread attached to it. Dahlan explores these mixed feelings in small and incredibly interesting ways. A lot of these smaller ideas felt like they could easily be expanded upon through short stories, enriching the world of Reset in cool and thoughtful ways. The one that stuck out to me the most was the Memory Market, a place where discarded items from people’s past were laid out so people could wander through and see if anything sparks something within them. Unfortunately, these ideas were relegated to paragraphs or sentences, and didn’t add much to the specific story being told. I will say, a lot of my issues with this book do stem from personal taste. The majority of the book is romantic in nature, and focuses very heavily on how one’s relationships would be affected by the Tabula Rasa. While I’m not against romance in my books, I have a hard time with unrequited love stories, and Reset is all about that. Metis is haunted by Aris, and can’t stop thinking about how to get her to understand who she is to him. His memories of her are vibrant and full of desire and passion, yet she does not remember him in any way. A friend of Aris’, Benja, is similarly plagued by his dreams of a man in a white hat, and can’t stop talking about him to Aris. Thane, a sort of secret police officer, is also an admirer of Aris after a date with her and is jealous of her closeness to Benja. Meanwhile, Aris is just a free floating woman who does what she wants, and does not care for romantic or sexual attachment of any kind. This love square/triangle (Benja also has feelings for Aris, but accepts that she sees him as a friend), is the central focus of the story and it became very tedious for me very fast. I think it would have been easier to swallow had the characters been people to root for. I’m not one to shy away from some good romantic drama, but I just didn’t feel for any of the characters. Aris was the most relatable in that she wanted no part of everything, but she didn’t really seem to have a reason to not be attached. She didn’t have other passions or needs to fulfill; she just felt like someone who needed to be shown the error of her ways when it comes to love. Metis and Benja were tough to relate to. They were just at eleven the whole time, pining for their innately chosen lovers, every aspect of their life consumed by it. Unfortunately, a lot of the emotions that are explored are theirs, so it only caused me to sour through the rest of the book. Thane, someone who could have had some interesting development, felt like a wet rag. There was a chance to explore his competing desires of duty and jealousy, paired nicely with regret and anguish, but he’s just there, draped in the corner waiting to be washed with the rest of the rags. I could go on and on, nitpicking my individual issues with the book, but it would just feel mean and petty. I just couldn’t get into it beyond those small moments of interest. Part of it may be that I had bigger expectations when it came to the exploration of memory, and the idea of loss in relation to it. I wanted more ambiguity, more questioning, more concern for the society that had been created. Dahlan has expressed some of those ideas in small doses, and placed them in the story in just the right spots to flare up interest and exploration, but fails to deliver beyond their immediate relation to the love square. I wanted to like this book, but it just wasn’t meant to be. If you’re into unrequited love in a time where memory is fleeting, you might find something special here, but there are plenty of other books out there for me to explore. Rating: Reset - 5.0/10 -Alex ...more |
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May 15, 2021
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May 20, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1786699605
| 9781786699602
| 1786699605
| 4.33
| 2,347
| Oct 19, 2021
| Oct 19, 2021
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it was amazing
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Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Terra Ignota has been living in my mind like lightning trapped in Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Terra Ignota has been living in my mind like lightning trapped in a bottle ever since I picked up Too Like The Lightning. Ada Palmer’s use of language, her creative vision for the future, and the intricate ways she reveals the workings of her world astounded me. The successive books only cemented my appreciation and love for the series. The philosophical nature of the series, Palmer’s strangely addictive dense writing and genuine engagement with the ideas of utopia just hits the spot. All of these elements combine to transform a book that could have been a slog into something magical. With all of that baggage going into this, I was anxious and incredibly excited to get my hands on this book. While the final installment of any series is always bitter-sweet, and Ada Palmer’s Perhaps the Stars is more than just the end of a story. It is the opening of a Pandora’s Box of secrets and ideas that closes out Terra Ignota with style, substance, and serenity. Mild spoilers for the series ahead, if you haven’t read the other books and want to remain completely pure you can find earlier reviews here. War is upon the Hives. The Remakers are pitted against the Hiveguard. Mitsubishi has fielded a fleet in the Mediterranean to rescue J.E.D.D. from the Masons. J.E.D.D. Mason is awaiting the unconditional surrender of anyone and everyone to his will to remake the world. The Cousins are working to stave off the majority of the violence. Utopia seems to be everyone’s target after they sequestered all of the harbingers and captured those who could possibly make them. It’s hard to tell which figures are on which side, and what the sides are actually fighting for. Alliances are shifting, Hives are fracturing, and all of the normal lines of communication are down. The fog of war settles across the Earth, and it’s up to the ninth Anonymous to make heads or tails of the situation to ensure as few people are harmed as possible. Will the Hive system survive, or will geography reassert its dominance and re-establish physical nations? Perhaps the Stars is an absolute whopper of a finale in terms of story, revelations, density, and page count. I will level with you, this book is a herculean effort to read - in a positive way. It is the kind of book that you can only read 30 pages of at a time and requires a huge amount of percolation on its ideas. It feels like this is the moment that Palmer has been building to, and for fans of the series, she absolutely delivers. The war without borders is a veritable nightmare. Even with months of preparation, the Hives are unevenly prepared with no clear objective stated for the many sides of the war. The lack of transportation reintroduces time and distance, something the Hives have not dealt with. Adding to the tension of the war, the story is mostly told through the eyes of the ninth Anonymous as they work to feed information about changes to the wider public. Palmer does an amazing job of making the chaos of war feel real. Her control of narrative makes perfect use of unreliable narration to put you into the conflict. Conflicting information and propaganda clash as Romanova tries to sort through the noise to find the signal. It feels both removed from the situation and heavily pressured by it. One of the things that Palmer excels at is creating truly historical scenes. There are moments throughout the series that feel like you are witnessing something historical and I always get chills when I think of them. Palmer doesn’t stray from this mentality and even further indulges the reader in them. Mostly these come in the form of the truly gargantuan battles littered throughout the book. They are some amazing spectacles that will shock and awe. Rarely does she engage in a play by play, allowing the dialogue and the confusion to stew as the narrator recounts it. Palmer clearly understands how to portray inertia, and the horror of watching it change in a matter of seconds. War in Perhaps the Stars is terrifying, despite the amount of effort put towards reducing its impact on human life. Perhaps the Stars also cements Palmer as a mastermind of payoffs. Perhaps engages in this strange and innovative decentralized storytelling that can make the plot of the book feel like 50 subplots in a trenchcoat. Throughout the previous books, there have been little quirky mysteries scattered about. Since they are written with such a conversational and almost conspiratorial tone, it feels like Palmer has hidden entire stories in her sleeves. Luckily, Palmer keeps her magician’s cloak on and slowly and confidently pulls them out revealing them with both grace and subtlety before the mindblowing prestige. I can’t believe the amount of information she was able to hide in plain sight. The core plot of the book feels similar to a boat that is ferrying all of these tiny mysteries to their destination. I found myself chatting constantly with others about the small stories in the book as they are these tiny pearls of brilliance. I could talk endlessly about this series. I have talked a lot about it, with people who have and haven’t read it. It’s weird, it’s fun, it’s supremely clever, and it’s a dazzling spectacle grounded by legal minutiae. I want more people to take a crack at it, and Perhaps the Stars closing the series out makes it even easier to recommend. Palmer brings everything together, addressing every question you have as a reader. If you’re already a fan, and haven’t picked up this book, go out and find a copy. Take my copy, just make sure you give it back. If you haven’t tried the series, give it a go. It’s challenging, but so are most things of any value. Rating: Perhaps the Stars 10/10 -Alex ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 10, 2021
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Nov 18, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1250272580
| 9781250272584
| 1250272580
| 3.20
| 19,529
| Oct 05, 2021
| Oct 05, 2021
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None
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Notes are private!
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0
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not set
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not set
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Apr 12, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1982603720
| 9781982603724
| 1982603720
| 3.45
| 6,887
| Sep 07, 2021
| Sep 07, 2021
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really liked it
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Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Cadwell Turnbull’s sophomore book, and opening novel in the Conver Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Cadwell Turnbull’s sophomore book, and opening novel in the Convergence Saga defies expectation and easy definition. Turnbull’s first book, The Lesson, was one of my favorite books of 2019, so this next one was saddled with high expectations. In a lot of ways, those expectations were met, but I also experienced a lot of confusion that approached baffling disappointment. Only became even more troubling to my mind when I read the acknowledgements in the back of the book, only to find my main feelings addressed by the author himself. So how can I approach this review in a way that highlights the strengths of the book, without making it sound like the confusion feels bad, especially when it seems so deliberate? No Gods, No Monsters is an ambitious and ambiguous start to a saga that shows promise, but requires the reader to work for it too. Laina awakens to find out that her wayward brother was shot and killed by Boston Police. Since she was estranged from him, the suddenness of his death, while shocking, didn’t feel immediately mysterious. However, a voice over the telephone promises she can get her a copy of the bodycam footage of her brother’s demise, opening Pandora’s box. Meanwhile, Laina is also visited by one of her brother’s friends, Rebecca, who tells her that he was getting his act together, and that she’s planning something to help the world remember him. Laina finally receives a flash drive, and upon opening it up, she sees what looks to be a werewolf shot by the officer, until he looks again to see just a man, her brother Lincoln. Days later, Rebecca and a group of others hold a small highway protest wherein they transform on national television into their wolf forms, only to be forgotten as some collective moment of hysteria. So what is Laina, and the rest of the world to do, when monsters seem to be real? If you’re looking for a light hearted urban fantasy romp, I think Turnbull’s style is going to turn you off. No Gods, No Monsters doesn’t have a lot of linearity when it comes to the perspective shifts. There are many characters, and most of them only get one or two chapters with which to view their lives. They are sometimes directly connected, but some are also ships passing in the night. Turnbull tends to pull them in at different times in the narrative, making them slightly disjointed so each switch is an adjustment. It’s enhanced by Turnbull’s excellent writing ability, which provides a solid ground for the reader to stand on during the many shifts. I often felt myself asking who is this character? Have I met them before? What do they believe? Some readers will see this as a lot of work on their part, and it is. I would argue that most of it pays off, but it’s not a breezy reading experience and the reader will have to keep track of a lot of information. “How does it pay off?” one might ask. Well, that comes from Turnbull’s ability to provide an incredible amount of nuance to something that most people would assume was cut and dry. Most of the characters are in over their heads in one way or another, as the truer nature of the world is revealed to them. Turnbull makes it interesting by having the reader as the sole keeper of all the knowledge, while individual characters are privy to some of the goings on. All Turnbull does is give the reader the pieces of the puzzle while shredding the box and burning the shreds. This forces the reader to watch the characters deal with the revelations in a myriad of ways, causing dominoes to fall asymmetrically, sparking reactions from other characters, who in turn cause their own cascades. It is written with a deep level of empathy, while creating just the right amount of distance to be analytical about it. Where one might have trouble is that the narrative doesn’t really wrap up. It ends in a weird spot, that feels like it could be an ending, but it doesn’t quite cause that satisfaction that the first novel in a series usually closes on. It’s always an opening to a wider world, and a bigger conflict, but usually it closes with a sense of accomplishment, that this is just one small victory in a line of defeats and victories that will make up a series. Instead, there is an ambiguous threat that closes out No Gods, No Monsters and it’s unsettling. And given the rest of the story, this feels right. This, I think, has to do with the themes and the subject matter Turnbull drudges up in No Gods, No Monsters. The book’s second opening starts with the murder of a black man by the cops, in which the cop describes killing a monster, only to see a man dying in the street. This is a story that has been told again and again in our own world that it’s hard to ignore it in any fashion. The revelation that the man in question actually was a werewolf, and monsters are in some sense real, further complicates this incredibly horrifying trend in how police tend to view those they kill. Mix in some clandestine secret societies, leftist bookstore worker co-ops, protest marches and mass hallucinations through media manipulation and you have a stew most people would have a hard time swallowing. However, Turnbull navigates the blurred lines deftly, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions before bringing the bigger picture into a less fuzzy focus, providing a clearer understanding of the problems at hand. He not only takes the idea that some people see monsters with hatred at face value, he asks, how do we then navigate this world when those monsters have no power or recognition, and help them to build that power? Turnbull doesn’t have the answers, and I think that’s why after finishing this book, I felt a little more drained than I expected. It’s the first in a series, and the first book never has the answers. His only answer seems to be that there is not one answer, but that answering is the one thing we can actually do whether it’s wrong or not. Is this book for you? I sincerely hope it is, because it’s just too damn weird and uncomfortable to not be experienced. It’s not that it deals with important relevant events, so much as Turnbull explores the feelings of powerlessness that comes from witnessing such events in such an empathetic way. No Gods, No Monsters is a challenging book that is well worth the effort that pushes urban fantasy into deeper and more uncomfortable territory. Rating: No Gods, No Monsters 8.5/10 -Alex An ARC of this book was provided to us by the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. The thoughts on this story are my own. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 2021
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Aug 07, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1250274559
| 9781250274557
| B08R2KQ1CP
| 3.91
| 6,455
| Oct 12, 2021
| Oct 12, 2021
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Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Last year, when I read Axiom’s End, I had to confront my feelings Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live Last year, when I read Axiom’s End, I had to confront my feelings about the book and try to pry them from the influence of Ellis’ work on my own styles. However, with her second book, The Truth of the Divine, I found this process less daunting and I was able to slip into the book and take it for what it was. Fortunately, the second book within the Noumena series is a strong sequel that expands on the world, remaining enjoyable even in its darker and more bleak atmosphere. The Truth of the Divine opens shortly after where Axiom’s End left off, with Cora as the main translator between Ampersand and the United States government. The events of the months passed are forever embedded in Cora’s memory as she suffers PTSD from nearly dying. The truth about the aliens is now circulating and the US government is playing damage control, hiding as much as they can from the public. Questions about personhood become the main topic of conversation in political circles and online chat rooms. Meanwhile, another of Ampersand’s kind is on their way to Earth, and in Ampersand’s mind, that spells trouble. Cora, feeling that Ampersand, much like the government, is not telling the whole truth. In their absence, Cora builds a bond with investigative journalist Kaveh Mazandarani, who has ties to her father. As more information is revealed, the pot starts to boil over, with Cora and the only people she can trust in the middle of it all. Ellis continues to build mood into the story, just as she did in her debut. The random newspaper clippings, the text chains, and the internet chat rooms that pop up through the book cast a dark shadow across the story. Divine is not a happy story, it’s bleak and at times draining, but that feels purposeful. Ellis shows a world on the brink, the president has just stepped down after admitting the existence of intelligent alien life on earth. The economy is in a death spiral, and political opportunists along with rabid militia men are throwing their hat in the ring. The slogan from Cora’s father “Truth is a Human Right” has been twisted to push hidden agendas. In the middle of it all Cora is trying to deal with her PTSD, and the things Ampersand might not be telling her. The only real bright spot in the story is the new perspective Kaveh. Stepping outside of Cora’s mind was at first a little rough. But as the book progressed, I welcomed the wider perspective as it helped to expand the world, while avoiding having to try and write suicidal tendencies from within a character’s head. It helps that Kaveh is an interesting character, despite his questionable behaviors. The uncomfortability with his thoughts though felt purposeful, making him a flawed human, instead of a pure arbiter of justice and good. He’s a great foil to Cora in terms of readability, his grounded willingness to fight for good countering her justified doom spiraling. But he also serves as an antidote to Cora’s father, who comes off more as an opportunistic bomb thrower in Divine. Kaveh’s search for truth and unveiling of it always has something beyond the mere act of speaking truth, it comes with an agenda and he readily admits. The amygdalines definitely took a backseat in this book, which upset me a lot less than I predicted. Ampersand spent a majority of the book throwing tantrums and trying to clean up the myriad of messes that seem to follow them around. They ignore Cora and have trouble connecting with her, adding a tension to their relationship and a new facet to their character. Nikola, a new alien with unclear allegiances, befriends Kaveh and offers a deeper understanding of the superorganism that is their species. While not a lot is revealed specifically about their culture, Nikola frames everything in relation to humanity and what could come next as the superorganism inexorably marches toward Earth. He leant a heavy sense of doom to everything, while being incredibly zen in his perceived villainy. It was always a delight to read interactions with him because he was oddly charming in his ability to wax poetic about the meaninglessness of everything. It’s hard to talk about what I appreciate most about this book without it becoming a list of things. Ellis’ pacing is weird, but it doesn’t feel uneven, allowing for moments of philosophical conversations and intense chaos within pages of each other. Her more philosophical conversations recognize the implications behind greater intelligent life, highlighting their importance on the human scale, while diminishing their grandiosity with the nature of an uncaring void. She writes people with warts in a way that allows you to embrace their goodness while acknowledging their inner worst tendencies. Everything feels ambiguous, and you’re not sure who to trust except for those who need help right in front of you. There is a lot to process in this second book and it’s hard to scratch every itch it fathered in a single review, but I “enjoyed” The Truth of the Divine in the ways one would expect to enjoy a dark book. Ellis’ clearly pushed her abilities in writing this novel, trying new things that mostly paid off. The exploration of “truth is a human right” juxtaposed against the conversations on the definition of personhood in the face of intelligent life is a great choice. Kaveh was the perfect character to expand the world and see Cora from a distance as she fractures. I can’t wait for the next book, and the things Ellis will put the reader through. Rating: The Truth of the Divine 9.0/10 -Alex ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 2021
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Nov 06, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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Kindle Edition
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| 0756417031
| 9780756417031
| 0756417031
| 3.69
| 1,092
| Jan 19, 2021
| Jan 19, 2021
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Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live It’s time for another Dark Horse! This is one I have been wanting Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live It’s time for another Dark Horse! This is one I have been wanting to get to for a while, but it’s hard to right a ship after just completely blowing past your destination. I was caught in its wake first by it’s insanely gorgeous cover, and second by the promise of its story and potential to deliver environmental themes. When I read about Joshua Philip Johnson’s prose, I was even more curious. The Forever Sea is an impressive debut with an intricate world painted by colorful prose that is somewhat marred by the lack of deep character. The book follows Kindred, a twenty two year old woman who is a member of Errant’s crew. She is a keeper of the ship’s hearthfire, tending to the magic fire that keeps it afloat above the miles of grass that makes up the world’s oceans. The Errant, captained by Jane Caraway, glides across the grass in search of the ever dwindling medicinal and magic grasses that uphold civilization. When returning from a voyage that nearly killed them, Kindred learns that her grandmother, known as the Marchess, walked into the sea from her own boat. She can barely understand it, but the Marchess has always had a more intimate connection with the grasses than most other people. The sea was dying. Water was harder and harder to come by as larger swaths of grass began to turn grey, becoming resistant to the rejuvenating fires that occasionally light up the sea. After a conflict with the local senator on Arcadia forces the Errant and her now fugitive crew onto the sea, Kindred tries to unravel the mystery her grandmother sacrificed herself for. Johnson’s prose is perfect at building the world. The landscape and natural elements often feel like moving stained glass, especially out on the sea. Arcadia, meanwhile, is rigid and grey filled with rules and a sense of dread. The action scenes are tense, particularly when Kindred is directly involved, and feel detached when she is watching from afar. The ships and the culture of sailing feel grand and small at the same time. It feels like Johnson is highlighting their importance to the people, while reminding the reader how incredibly big everything is. There is a mystery to the sea that feels intimate and dangerous on a cosmic scale. If you haven’t noticed, Johnson’s book is filled to the brim with these dichotomies. Johnson’s prose is so lush and deliberate, these opposing ideas stand out purposefully, providing substance to the plethora of style. The frequency with which Johnson shows them off caused me to see these contrasts as the main theme, finding balance. I could cheat and pull sections from the book, but even then, it’d be like pulling a thread from a tapestry and trying to explain the beauty of the whole piece. It’s impossible. The magic system is also a delight. I imagine some people will have trouble with it; it’s incredibly vague and there aren’t many rules. In fact, most of the rules that guide the handlers of magic are made up by the users. I found it charming, and it easily played into the endless dichotomies already mentioned. I was entranced that the ships were kept afloat by a magic that requires the bones of dead ship captains, leaves of grass, and singing to fire. It allowed Johnson to occasionally take liberties with the system, having Kindred experiment in dire situations without much other context than “feeling”, but it did not feel inconsistent and oftentimes felt like learning.. It highlighted Kindred’s innate curiosity with the world, while also forcing her to push her boundaries and break the “rules.” Kindred herself is likeable enough, but feels a bit lacking compared to the world. She felt young and brash, selfish and loyal at the same time. Kindred is an intriguing, if easy, window into Johnson’s world. She had a connection with the hearthfire that was a nice melding of both learned and innate, and she is incredibly dedicated to finding out why her grandmother walked into the sea. I think some readers might find it annoying that her character was mostly, “break the rules, fix the holes later,” but I for one was glad she was young, lost and overconfident in her abilities. I think she would have been more interesting if there had been more conflict between her learned and natural talents. However, she gets to be fallible and sometimes lies to get her way, but it always felt in service to a greater need for discovery, not power over others. If anything, she stood out too much in those ways because the other characters were lacking. The other characters, however, were a mixed bag of underdeveloped auxiliary characters and sharply drawn tropes.They often felt more designed to deliver the themes within the book than they were people in and of themselves. It might be more apparent to some than others, but I didn’t really think about it until after I finished the book. If anything, they were just there instead of being problematic or annoying. This is most recognizable in how several of the characters embodied one side of an argument or another, without any personal stake in the matter. The only character who came close to transcending this was Little Wing (Kindred’s closest foil), but even she became more of a one-dimensional force than an actual character. The uneven pacing didn’t help either, with the story lurching forward every now and then to pick up the pace from some of the descriptive spirals. Some folks will also probably be put off by the framing narrative, but I found it compelling even though it always felt like it butted in at the wrong points. I was satisfied by the story, and even more fulfilled by Johnson’s themes. As I mentioned, the book is full of dichotomies and finding the in between. Occasionally, they were blunt, but oftentimes he subtlety weaved them into the narrative. The upfront one is climate change, and how it affects the perception of resources and its origins in the overuse of said resources. This one is marrow deep, lurking within every interaction from the rationing of water, the monocultured collection of sea grasses, and the society’s relationship with the sea itself. There were a few clunky issues here and there, especially with the blunt approach he takes with the Once-city, but Johnson mostly sticks the landing. Ultimately, I had a good time with this book. Everytime I picked it up, I was carried on a breeze through a hundred pages or more, lost in Johnson’s prose. The magic is on the softer side (like warm blades of grass), but significant to the world and characterization. There are truly some awe inspiring moments, and cute little touches here and there that made the experience definitely worthwhile. Despite the flash characterization of the folks around Kindred, and some of the weirder pacing choices I enjoyed it. I just hope the next book has more than Kindred and her laser focused quest. Rating: The Forever Sea 7.5/10 -Alex ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 11, 2021
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Apr 18, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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Hardcover
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my rating |
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| 3.72
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not set
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May 25, 2021
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| 3.57
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really liked it
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May 30, 2021
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Apr 20, 2021
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| 4.27
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not set
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Apr 20, 2021
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| 3.67
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really liked it
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Apr 22, 2021
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Apr 20, 2021
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| 2.91
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not set
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Apr 13, 2021
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| 4.03
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not set
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Apr 13, 2021
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| 3.78
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not set
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Apr 13, 2021
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||||||
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| 3.93
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not set
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Apr 13, 2021
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| 3.77
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not set
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Apr 13, 2021
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| 3.65
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not set
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Apr 13, 2021
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| 3.28
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did not like it
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Sep 26, 2021
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Apr 13, 2021
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| 3.79
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really liked it
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Jul 18, 2021
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Apr 13, 2021
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| 3.81
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really liked it
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Aug 27, 2021
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Apr 13, 2021
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| 3.44
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it was amazing
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Dec 29, 2023
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Apr 13, 2021
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| 3.47
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it was ok
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May 20, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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| 4.33
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it was amazing
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Nov 18, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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| 3.20
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not set
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Apr 12, 2021
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| 3.45
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really liked it
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Aug 07, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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| 3.91
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Nov 06, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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| 3.69
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Apr 18, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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