Wonderful to be in the hands of such a good storyteller. I loved Many Fishes, and Spinner is awesome. I can see why some people don't get on with KoliWonderful to be in the hands of such a good storyteller. I loved Many Fishes, and Spinner is awesome. I can see why some people don't get on with Koli, but I don't need my narrators to be smart!...more
I was looking forward to this having really enjoyed Capital and finding the premise intriguing. However, the novel was disappointingly slight. It is aI was looking forward to this having really enjoyed Capital and finding the premise intriguing. However, the novel was disappointingly slight. It is a near-future dystopia with sledgehammer subtlety. I didn't feel that it had anything to say that wasn't blindingly obvious: we need to take climate change seriously, and our privileged lives are an accident of birth.
The main character does not grow or develop: things simply happen to him. All of one character shows some development, or at least finds himself in a situation where he can show what he is made of. The ending is bizarrely flat, making the whole thing feel more like a thought experiment than a novel.
So why 3 stars? The writing is very good and moreish - I basically read this in one sitting - and the world is very well envisaged. I think I'm somehow giving it an extra star for its potential. Looks, these things are subjective, ok?...more
I don't often read science fiction, but I enjoyed Kindred so I thought I'd try this. I also don't often get on with fiction on audiobook, but this oneI don't often read science fiction, but I enjoyed Kindred so I thought I'd try this. I also don't often get on with fiction on audiobook, but this one worked.
A very interesting story, the sheer strangeness of the story makes you want to know what will happen next. Lileth is a great main character. She was prickly and antagonistic in a way I often found frustrating, but I appreciated the strong female main character and her mostly no-nonsense approach to her extreme situation.
I'll withhold judgment on the whole until I've finished the trilogy....more
An unsettling but undemanding read, with an imperfect narrator. It nods at various themes but doesn't burden the reader with too much thinking.An unsettling but undemanding read, with an imperfect narrator. It nods at various themes but doesn't burden the reader with too much thinking....more
A very positive 3 stars. This was a convincing and horrifying depiction of the world in a 100 years' time - after the icecaps have melted, after huge A very positive 3 stars. This was a convincing and horrifying depiction of the world in a 100 years' time - after the icecaps have melted, after huge migrations, with a handful of survivors trying to eke out an existence. It focuses on how family can define us: how it can support us or drag us down, and how we are all a product of all of our experiences. A great read to take my mind off being ill....more
I just got lost in this one. The world building. The diverse characters. Aster. The Surgeon. I can see why some found the ending difficult but I thougI just got lost in this one. The world building. The diverse characters. Aster. The Surgeon. I can see why some found the ending difficult but I thought it was thematically appropriate. Will be looking out for more from Solomon in future.
ETA: I just convinced my book club to vote for this as I wanted people to talk to about it. Reading the blurb as I set up the listing, I can see why some people might have had a different experience based on a physical copy with that written on the back. I audiobooked it. An argument for putting your books in plain covers and forgetting about the blurb while reading. ...more
Well, that was heaps of fun. A bit different, tightly plotted, and with entertaining, endearing and enraging characters. A bit too lightweight for 4 sWell, that was heaps of fun. A bit different, tightly plotted, and with entertaining, endearing and enraging characters. A bit too lightweight for 4 stars, but a definite 3.5. ...more
I wish the last 1/3 of this book didn't exist, but unfortunately it does, so I can only give the book 3 stars. Might have been 4 otherwise. Oh, and avI wish the last 1/3 of this book didn't exist, but unfortunately it does, so I can only give the book 3 stars. Might have been 4 otherwise. Oh, and avoiding reading the blurb or looking at the illustrations might improve your reading experience......more
Well, this is a modern classic for a reason. Margaret Atwood makes me a bit grumpy these days with her apparent snobbiness about genre, so I wasn't faWell, this is a modern classic for a reason. Margaret Atwood makes me a bit grumpy these days with her apparent snobbiness about genre, so I wasn't falling over myself to reread this for bookclub, but the fantastic language won me over immediately. It is a strangely easy read for such depressing and oppressive subject matter. An important book, I think....more
I devoured this book in two sittings. It follows an interconnected set of characters before and after a pandemic wipeBecause survival is insufficient.
I devoured this book in two sittings. It follows an interconnected set of characters before and after a pandemic wipes out 99.99% of the human race. The themes are the nature and purpose of art, the legacy each of us leaves behind on the people we touch, what it means to be human... y'know, the small stuff.
The writing is just lovely, elegaic. It reminds me of another Canadian writer, Guy Gavriel Kay, and given he's probably my all time favourite novelist that is high praise indeed. She beautifully evokes all the many different settings she takes us to, and uses sentence fragments to great effect, like GGK used to. Station Eleven is a mosaic of viewpoints, like the most successful of his novels, and it seamlessly slips into meditations on its themes without being heavy handed. The characters are very real and fallible, and their personal relationships are familiar and moving.
The non-linear structure makes this a more cleverly crafted book, and makes it more artistic. However, it detracts from the narrative drive and there is no real conflict or tension, which at the end of the day I think a novel needs to be truly satisfying. That's my only reservation about a truly wonderful read. ...more
Ultimately, apart from the first 50 and last 50 pages, this book wasn't written for me. I raced through it though, and teared up at the end, thanks toUltimately, apart from the first 50 and last 50 pages, this book wasn't written for me. I raced through it though, and teared up at the end, thanks to the strength of the character building. Melanie in particular is a fantastic creation. In Carey's hands the different character viewpoints work perfectly. I'd definitely recommend it, but I wouldn't be surprised if waiting long enough means you can see it in the cinema instead!
It's safe to say now I will snap up anything Mike Carey publishes. I have even forgiven him for Faker, possibly the worst reading experience I have ever subjected myself to. I love that he isn't afraid to experiment with different genres (see also China Mieville) and media (see also Neil Gaiman). His experimentation within The Unwritten is what has impressed me most. Also, he writes women extremely well and doesn't have to make a fuss about it. They are just people: that's the whole point. The best thing is that he's insanely prolific. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next....more
I feel like there's both too little and too much going on here.
I loved the concept and the execution of a novel written in a "shadow tongue" that is I feel like there's both too little and too much going on here.
I loved the concept and the execution of a novel written in a "shadow tongue" that is the Old English of the time of its setting, modified to be comprehensible to a modern reader. It has a lovely flavour and rhythm. It makes you sound out what you're reading in a way you don't normally need to (the author's notes about the sounds was very helpful: g is often y (Elge for Ely), sc is sh (scepe for sheep)), except perhaps when reading poetry, which I don't generally (need to fix that).
Was it the limits of the shadow tongue that meant the thoughts and words of the characters seemed so unsophisticated, their personal relationships so sketchily drawn? Or was that a factor of the protagonist/viewpoint character apparently suffering from schiophrenia? The author wanted to use the language of the time to reflect how people of the time might have thought and felt*, but are we really to think that their thought was so basic, perhaps because they were illiterate? I'm not convinced.
Then the plot. It's a fantastic premise: exploring the guerilla risings that followed the Norman Conquest in 1066. But the novel didn't really tell me anything I wouldn't have assumed: that the people living in England weren't happy that a load of Frenchmen invaded, built castles and seized their land. There didn't really seem to be much by way of historical fact, and certainly almost no action (perhaps I shouldn't have expected any). It was far more about the protagonist and his attitude to the world. This is fine, but with so many unfamiliar factors at play, it's difficult to tease out what anything means.
One aspect that struck me as successful was the tension between the "eald gods" and "fuccan crist" (in buccmaster's words). That was fantastic.
Overall, I think I set this book up to high in my mind. It tries to do too many ambitious things. It is still an impressive accomplishment, but I can't help but think that had the author focussed on just one or two of his goals, he might have written something incredible.
*This must be something translators of novels struggle with. Thinking of Japanese, the language I'm most familiar with, the way the language works is so incredibly tied into the way people think about their roles in society, their relationships with others, their tendancy not to commit to saying anything they don't have to (minimal use of personal pronouns for example). There's really no way to translate that....more
Once I got over the sheer absurdity of the set up (view spoiler)[mass blindness leads to widespread suicide within 24 hours, while those luckily unaffOnce I got over the sheer absurdity of the set up (view spoiler)[mass blindness leads to widespread suicide within 24 hours, while those luckily unaffected are thinking post-apocalyptic thoughts about rebuilding the entirety of civilization within the same time frame (hide spoiler)] this became a well-written and moderately enjoyable book.
I read this because it was recommended by a bookclub friend who is also a member of a post-apocalyptic book club: the same reason I recently found myself rereading my childhood favourite Children of the Dust. Both disappointed, and it seems the common theme was the preachiness. Neither author could resist the urge to share their opinion on which type of new society would succeed which would fail, but without any more support than the fact that they agree with the successful society's ideology. The Day of the Triffids never really explores why the societies it describes meet their fates. Children of the Dust uses terrible science to reach its goal and plays the God card: both no-nos for me.
My favourite post-apocalyptic novel remains Neville Shute's deliciously bleak On the Beach.
My pathological fear of weird plants has abated somewhat as I've aged but after one experience of visualizing the description of triffids and their movements I quickly found myself mentally shying away from those passages. *shudder* It goes without saying that Wyndham's treatment of women and the blind in this novel is terrible. Perhaps it is a product of its time but the novel needs to justify people continuing to read it. I'm not convinced this does....more
I'll think twice before I revisit another childhood favourite. I had extremely fond memories of this book from when I was 11 or so, but was completelyI'll think twice before I revisit another childhood favourite. I had extremely fond memories of this book from when I was 11 or so, but was completely put off as an adult by the incredibly heavy-handed moralizing. The first section is very moving and nicely done, but after that it is just annoying to hear the characters think the author's unoriginal thoughts about war, society and morality.
Also the science is wrong and bad beyond forgiveness.
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