there's a fine line between skilled lyrical writing and relentless verbosity and i think this novella wavered between the two. great concepts tho2.5/5
there's a fine line between skilled lyrical writing and relentless verbosity and i think this novella wavered between the two. great concepts though, for sure. and i did like the paradox of body horror being described in beautiful writing....more
(having a big overwhelming emotion) i am so very extremely normal about murderbot.
system collapse had pretty big boots to fill in, being the direct s(having a big overwhelming emotion) i am so very extremely normal about murderbot.
system collapse had pretty big boots to fill in, being the direct sequel to one of my all-time favorite books ever, network effect. and it didn't disappoint in the least. we get the same snarky tone and deadpan humor we've grown to love, well-executed anti-capitalist themes of the violence that major corporations can cause, and a high-intensity, fast-paced plot.
plus, this time we see murderbot struggling with PTSD, trying to balance protecting their humans with managing their past trauma. i really appreciated the thoughtful exploration of mental health and i just love seeing murderbot dealing with their human side because god forbid having human emotions. i also love that murderbot has grown to have so many friends who care so much about them, we've truly come a long way.
now i'm gonna need book #8 soon for my health and wellbeing....more
i'm always impressed when an author is able to tell a fully developed story with multiple elements, a complex protagonist, and a fitting conclusion ali'm always impressed when an author is able to tell a fully developed story with multiple elements, a complex protagonist, and a fitting conclusion all in less than 150 pages. also really liked the lesbian established relationship and sprinkling of family drama. ...more
it's not everyday you come across a huge, buff, over 6 foot tall retired pirate muslim woman in her 40s who's also a mother as the protagonist of an ait's not everyday you come across a huge, buff, over 6 foot tall retired pirate muslim woman in her 40s who's also a mother as the protagonist of an adventurous fantasy novel (and with a demonic estranged husband as a bonus). like this fact alone should have you picking up the book.
aside from the premise, the novel itself is fairly good too. it's a predictable, straightforward fantasy story but with a compelling writing style and a unique protagonist. i really liked seeing amina go back to doing what she loved after a decade of retirement, struggling between her duty as a mother and her ambitions of becoming a sea-faring legend. i also appreciated the portrayal of flawed people still practicing their faith because, regardless of what many religious people unfortunately think, religion is for everyone. and i'm glad this book exists for all kinds of muslims to see themselves in.
my issues with this book are that it's way too straightforward (the story not nearly as interesting as its main lead) and, apart from raksh, the side characters are pretty forgettable. i'm also uncertain about the future direction of this series - the plot going forward doesn't really interest me and i wish amina could've had more agency in deciding its course. but i'm tentatively looking forward to the sequel, if only for more hilariously volatile interactions between amina and raksh. hopefully the sequels will have a more interesting and memorable plot than this one did.
overall, more of a 3.5 but rounding it up to 4 for now....more
"sometimes, you cannot survive and still be who you were."
this was such a beautiful story about how deeply grief and loss can change you, how memories"sometimes, you cannot survive and still be who you were."
this was such a beautiful story about how deeply grief and loss can change you, how memories and stories shape a person, how many unknown sides there can be to people you love. i really liked seeing chih return to their home after years and coping with the inevitability of change and unfamiliarity. they may be a side character in other people's stories but i loved that their feelings were so present here. nghi vo refuses to miss with this series....more
maybe it's on me for wanting a book called the water outlaws to be more about the water outlaws than everything else.
first, what i loved: the women amaybe it's on me for wanting a book called the water outlaws to be more about the water outlaws than everything else.
first, what i loved: the women and genderqueer bandits of course. i love seeing people living in the margins of society banding together to defy oppression and injustice. i especially love it when those people are tough, hardened, muscular, clever, skilled women from all walks of life. i will never get enough of huge, brash, physically strong women like lu da and li kui and i'd love to read a book entirely focused on them. also, the battle scenes were fantastically written. the writing in general was very sure and easy to read.
so my problems with this book: i think the focus was on the wrong main characters. i just didn't care enough about lin chong and li junyi; their respective hypocrisy and cowardice made it hard to read at times (yes they redeem themselves in the end but it came a bit too late for me). li junyi's chapters were particularly frustrating, taking away from what should have been the real crux of this novel: the titular water outlaws. i wanted more of the outlaws, their found family, their dynamics with each other. for me, when side characters are far more interesting and compelling than the leads, that's a problem.
i also found the mindset of the bandits a little baffling: "let the empire be the emperor and the people, not those others who would use their power to destroy everything civilized..." over and over, it's emphasized that the bandits are loyal to the emperor, as if corruption and oppression are somehow separate entities from the leader and the system. i do understand wanting to believe in the system and the empire, to believe that simply removing the rot from the system will fix everything and not that the system itself is the rot (and i wouldn't even complain about this element of the book if it wasn't so present throughout).
i'm glad that the ending redeems this a bit and highlights taking power away from oppressors and into the hands of ordinary citizens. it's just that everything about the ending was a bit too late and rushed for me. still though, it's a good ending and the final battle was well done.
overall, i think character-driven readers might struggle with this book but plot-driven readers will likely enjoy it. i do think it's worth the read for everyone....more
"nobody would lift a finger to change the world for us. to make a place for us. what choice did we ever have but to do it ourselves?"
4.5/5
this boo
"nobody would lift a finger to change the world for us. to make a place for us. what choice did we ever have but to do it ourselves?"
4.5/5
this book gave us tragic furious vengeful villainous hopeful compassionate queer people, how could i not love it (and hate it).
he who drowned the world shows the desperation and rage of people pushed to the fringes of society and absolutely refusing to be rendered inferior. the sheer ugliness and brutality of these characters burst out from every page in a way that's both painful and strangely cathartic. in real life, most marginalized people have no choice but to swallow the everyday hurt and violence and keep going, so it's strangely satisfying to read about people who feel every inch of their fury and injustice and throw that horror back into the world that rejected them simply for being who they are.
"he was the eclipse that sucked the light and life out of the world. he was the moon eating the sun, and it was his racing shadow that stole the life from the world below."
don't get me wrong though, this book is incredibly hard to read. its bleakness and hopelessness gets so extreme at one point almost bordering on nihilism that i wanted to stop reading. but the author's writing is so gripping you simply cannot look away. and i'm glad i didn't because there is a delicate thread of hope for a better future running throughout the novel that slowly gets stronger towards the end. i loved the ending so much, it was (almost) worth going through the wringer for.
the plot itself was so well executed - the political machinations, the scheming, the betrayals, all the good stuff. there's also a brilliantly haunting battle sequence that kinda took my breath away - shelley p. chan is actually pretty great at action scenes and i'm gonna need more of that from their future work.
zhu yuanzhang was a fantastic main lead with her gritty determination and outlandish plans. ouyang and madam zhang's POVs had me feeling pity and understanding but also frustration and anger. ouyang is a pretty memorable character in just the utter tragedy of his existence. ma xiuying was a breath of fresh air (and maybe i wish she had better choices).
as for wang baoxiang - he's the star i fear, my insane unhinged wrathful fave. this was truly his book. the painful doomed sibling relationship of him and esen is one i won't be forgetting anytime soon.
i'm gonna miss this deranged cast but i'm also relieved to be free of them (and to imagine them being free too somehow)....more
queer women and non-binary librarian spies fighting against fascism in a western dystopia is a pretty cool concept and executed fairly well for a3.5/5
queer women and non-binary librarian spies fighting against fascism in a western dystopia is a pretty cool concept and executed fairly well for a novella here. the dialogues really stood out to me in how natural they seemed plus the writing itself flowed nicely too....more
"some worlds are built on a fault line of pain, held up by nightmares. don't lament when those worlds fall. rage that they were built doomed in the
"some worlds are built on a fault line of pain, held up by nightmares. don't lament when those worlds fall. rage that they were built doomed in the first place."
this was such a stunningly bittersweet finale, i'm left with a whirlwind of emotions. i don't entirely know how i feel but know that i have a LOT of feelings.
the stone sky is perhaps the only adult high fantasy book i've ever read that dares to ask the questions: does a society built on the foundations of colonialism, bigotry, violence even deserve to be fixed? should it be allowed to exist at all? does such hatred and injustice deserve any kind of redemption? is there any hope for a world that constantly repeats these cycles of violence, that reinvents oppression over and over?
the way these themes are intertwined with the magic system, the overarching plot, and individual character arcs is honestly brilliant. i love that this book gives voice to the immense violent rage of victims of oppression, i love how we're shown that individual atrocities often can't be fully understood without confronting the wider systems of oppression they exist in.
nassun's chapters were everything to me - her unmitigated fury, her hopelessness, her love for schaffa. it hurt to see essun once again find a community to truly belong in and knowing she couldn't keep it. i also really enjoyed hoa's POV about the origins of the fifth seasons (his chapters do come off as info-dumpy but i'm so fascinated with this world i was eating them up. plus the tense build-up towards the inevitable end was so good).
as for the mother/daughter confrontation - honestly, no words can describe essun and nassun's painful reunion, it's just something you have to experience and feel on your own. n.k. jemisin's stark portrayal of love and hate and generational trauma being couched together within parent/child relationships is just incredible.
i'm not sure if i'm satisfied with the ultimate fate of certain characters but it definitely feels fitting. i still wish we could've seen at least a bit of what happens next and get a bit of reassurance. the ending is full of hope though and i can live with that.
essun, alabaster, nassun, schaffa i'll never forget you....more
"mothers who move the earth to destroy their enemies but cannot save one little boy."
so this is how you write a second book full of setup and slow
"mothers who move the earth to destroy their enemies but cannot save one little boy."
so this is how you write a second book full of setup and slow-paced plot yet avoiding second book syndrome.
even though nothing much happens in the larger plot until the last quarter, jemisin makes sure to keep you engaged with small events that have huge impact on the characters. nassun's chapters in the first half are just slowly travelling with jija but her horrifyingly tense interactions with him, her trauma, the death of her childhood, all of it had me gripped and on the edge. essun's POV was equally engrossing as she tried to fit into her new community and form new bonds plus her INSANE dynamic with alabaster - their hate and love for each other had me going crazy.
"you hated him, loved him, missed him for years, made yourself forget him, found him again, loved him again..."
"don't rust it up, essun. innon and i didn't love you for nothing."
essun, alabaster, and nassun have my whole heart, schaffa is weirdly growing on me, i'm undecided on hoa but intrigued.
once again, the worldbuilding is fantastic and the plot reveals are just so cool and interesting. there are still mysteries left to unfold but i find that exciting instead of frustrating. i've seen some people saying this book is really confusing and i fear they were simply not paying attention. yes, this series requires you to focus a little, to be patient, to make assumptions on your own. the author trusts her readers and i like that.
i can't wait to read the finale but i don't know if i'm mentally ready for essun and nassun's reunion. jemisin doesn't play around with the themes of parenthood and generational trauma....more
"they are the gods in chains...the tamers of the wild earth, themselves to be bridled and muzzled."
4.5/5
a list of things i loved about this book:
-
"they are the gods in chains...the tamers of the wild earth, themselves to be bridled and muzzled."
4.5/5
a list of things i loved about this book:
- gorgeous, engaging prose. - phenomenally done worldbuilding that plays an active part in the plot and themes. - elemental magic system (of sorts) with unique, mysterious twists. - ALABASTER TENRING. my unhinged, broken, insanely powerful man. - all the POVs - i need essun to catch a permanent break. - casual inclusion of queer/trans characters. - just really clever writing, revealing the right details at the right times, providing hints and obscure facts that make sense later on. - a whirlwind, action-packed, heart-in-mouth finale. - the ending plot twists/reveals are truly worth it. and there are so many intriguing questions left at the end but i'm also scared to continue, like jemisin really hits where it hurts....more
exhausted wizard intern accidentally adopting a demon prince of hell is a pretty cool concept and for the most part, this was a fun little book about exhausted wizard intern accidentally adopting a demon prince of hell is a pretty cool concept and for the most part, this was a fun little book about an unusual found family. i also loved how the protagonist being genderfluid was conveyed to us by one character calling them "jie" and another "ge" (since the story is told in second person).
but i just wasn't as emotionally affected as i should've been, which is the whole point of a found family story. there were parts where i knew i was supposed to be feeling the feels - as these characters awkwardly come together to form a sweet sibling-like relationship - but sadly, i didn't. i think we needed to spend more time seeing these people interact - i just wasn't convinced by how quickly they came to care for each other.
overall though, i'd still recommend this novella since it's a great concept and the writing is fairly good. ...more
this was such a soothing read with a beautiful, unique concept intertwining nature with magic alongside a close-knit community and the yearning t3.5/5
this was such a soothing read with a beautiful, unique concept intertwining nature with magic alongside a close-knit community and the yearning to belong. i also loved how the artist infused such gentleness and dreaminess into the art style....more
this book reads like one of my university essays - a long-winded crowd of words, circular arguments, saying the same thing in different ways over and this book reads like one of my university essays - a long-winded crowd of words, circular arguments, saying the same thing in different ways over and over, anything to reach the word limit in time.
i'll say some nice things first: there's an interesting plot twist that i didn't see coming and i liked how it made sense. the ending (aka the last 4-5%) was done fairly well in a satisfying way. the worldbuilding is as solid as ever. also jovis and mephi's bond remains my favorite thing about this series. that's it.
in all honestly, the bone shard war simply did not have enough substance for 600+ pages, which you can tell from the sheer repetitiveness of the story and the useless subplots. the quest taking up the entire first half of the book is rendered completely pointless later on. characters have the same debates over and over, the same scenes occur again and again in different fonts. instead of clever strategies or schemes or intrigue (which you might expect from an action-packed political fantasy), we get a character making the same arguments and the same negotiations over and over until the other party eventually gives in. this isn't good writing, this is racking up your word count.
there are also way too many antagonists in this book - which could've actually made for an engaging plot if all these antagonists didn't have literally the same goal and such similar ways of going about it. it just added to the repetitive and tedious nature of the story and made some POVs feel tired.
plus, i have very mixed feelings about jovis's arc here. it felt like his character not only regressed but became completely different. we were introduced to him as this really smart, quick-witted smuggler and you're telling me it took him over two years to figure out an incredibly simple solution to his entrapment??
overall, a lackluster conclusion to a series that started out so promising. i wish the bone shard daughter could've been a standalone instead. sorry but not everything needs to be forcefully stretched into a long ass trilogy if you only have ideas for at most two 400 page books....more
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