16 May 2017

Review: The Names They Gave Us

The Names They Gave Us The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Emery Lord wrote my favorite YA book, so she’s always going to get something resembling a pass for me even if what she does isn’t perfect. When We Collided was a gorgeous emotional roller-coaster, but I can’t help but feel like The Names They Gave Us is a step backward in terms of what Lord has shown she’s capable of and the emotional gravity of her more recent work.

The story follows Lucy, a girl raised by a pastor in a very religious family. Her mother has cancer, her boyfriend wants to put their relationship on pause, and so it’s decided that it will be a good idea for Lucy to spend her summer at the secular summer camp nearby as opposed to the religious camp she has traditionally gone to each year. There, she meets a lot of new kids and counselors and has her horizons widened in ways she never predicted.

The good first: Emery Lord knows how to write a compelling main character who is flawed and interesting without making them unrealistic. Lucy is religious and semi-sheltered, but this isn’t presented in a shameful way, or in a way that shows her to be some sort of freak that we shouldn’t buy into, and that’s fairly refreshing. It makes for an interesting way to create some conflicts without being insulting.

The bad, though? Lord has succeeded, up until now, to putting together narratives that don’t appear to be checkbox worthy, and this just feels like a sort of tolerance tale that we’re along for the ride on. Teen pregnancy? Check. Trans issues? Check. Cultural differences? Check. Worse, Lucy (while, again, not being raised to be intolerant at all) does not give much of an impression about any internal struggle or confliction about any of these issues. On one hand, kudos to her (and Lord) for making it no big deal, but what instead happens is a complete lack of opportunity to demonstrate some empathy for the other side in an era where none exists. And that might be fine on its own, but with the current social situation in YA publishing, it’s difficult not to wonder whether it impacted things.

Overall, a good read, but it had a lot of potential to be better. As an evangelist for The Start of Me and You for years now, I’ll still be pointing to that for the best of YA. This one felt more Open Road Summer, which is a misstep at this point.

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Review: The Names They Gave Us

The Names They Gave Us The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Emery Lord wrote my favorite YA book, so she’s always going to get something resembling a pass for me even if what she does isn’t perfect. When We Collided was a gorgeous emotional roller-coaster, but I can’t help but feel like The Names They Gave Us is a step backward in terms of what Lord has shown she’s capable of and the emotional gravity of her more recent work.

The story follows Lucy, a girl raised by a pastor in a very religious family. Her mother has cancer, her boyfriend wants to put their relationship on pause, and so it’s decided that it will be a good idea for Lucy to spend her summer at the secular summer camp nearby as opposed to the religious camp she has traditionally gone to each year. There, she meets a lot of new kids and counselors and has her horizons widened in ways she never predicted.

The good first: Emery Lord knows how to write a compelling main character who is flawed and interesting without making them unrealistic. Lucy is religious and semi-sheltered, but this isn’t presented in a shameful way, or in a way that shows her to be some sort of freak that we shouldn’t buy into, and that’s fairly refreshing. It makes for an interesting way to create some conflicts without being insulting.

The bad, though? Lord has succeeded, up until now, to putting together narratives that don’t appear to be checkbox worthy, and this just feels like a sort of tolerance tale that we’re along for the ride on. Teen pregnancy? Check. Trans issues? Check. Cultural differences? Check. Worse, Lucy (while, again, not being raised to be intolerant at all) does not give much of an impression about any internal struggle or confliction about any of these issues. On one hand, kudos to her (and Lord) for making it no big deal, but what instead happens is a complete lack of opportunity to demonstrate some empathy for the other side in an era where none exists. And that might be fine on its own, but with the current social situation in YA publishing, it’s difficult not to wonder whether it impacted things.

Overall, a good read, but it had a lot of potential to be better. As an evangelist for The Start of Me and You for years now, I’ll still be pointing to that for the best of YA. This one felt more Open Road Summer, which is a misstep at this point.

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12 May 2017

Review: Experimental Film

Experimental Film Experimental Film by Gemma Files
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It’s probably apt that the book involving weirdness surrounding film that has gotten the best critical attention is my least favorite.

I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get my hands on a copy of this without having to buy a copy (library systems are both amazing and frustrating), and I was hoping, given the amount of positive press this book has gotten, that it would be up there with favorites like Flicker and Night Film for me. Unfortunately, this fell flat.

The book follows a film critic who heads down a rabbit hole after seeing the screening of a lost film at a festival. The exploration of the film results in a lot of strange finds and a deeper mystery being unraveled as a result.

It’s a tried and true plot, and very reminiscent of Flicker in many regards. For whatever reason, however, the plot didn’t grab me this time. I don’t know if it’s the style Gemma Files chose to write in, or just that I had a lot of trouble buying into the premise in this context. It may be that I’ve read two great books in this sort of subgenre and my bar is becoming too high to clear? I don’t know, but this didn’t do it for me.

Overall, I would still recommend Flicker or Night Film before this, but that doesn’t mean other readers wouldn’t enjoy this more – what tickles me about this subgenre will almost certainly have nothing to do with what might lead you down this path.

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11 May 2017

Review: Pond

Pond Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

If there was a “Jeff VanderMeer Book Club,” I think this would be one of the top ones on the list. Some of his recommendations are spot-on for me, but then there are books like Pond that leave me completely puzzled.

At its core, the book is 20 individual stories that could be taken as a cohesive-yet-fractured whole, and has a common setting to set itself in. As a piece of literature, the structure and format is unique and something I’m not recalling seeing elsewhere, but for me to really be wowed I need to really buy into the story being told, and it just didn’t work. The pieces were too short for me to be engaged for the most part, and the overall tale? Not all that compelling, either, to be fair.

I don’t know if it’s more the format or more the result here that took me out of the story, but it just didn’t work. I know some people enjoy literary for the sake of literary, so if you’re one of those people, this might be a hidden gem for you. Otherwise, though…

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Review: Senlin Ascends

Senlin Ascends Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I read a good number of subreddits about books, specifically fantasy and sci-fi. Among the books reddit loves? Blindsight by Peter Watts, a book I did not enjoy for a lot of reasons. Another one that was brought up again and again? Senlin Ascends, which involves a very large tower and a man seeking out his lost wife.

I am equally puzzled as to why people love this book, as it has a lot of interesting ideas but is so fatally flawed it almost completely failed to hold my interest throughout. Senlin moves from floor to floor with new characters and challenges, and it’s structured less like a cohesive narrative as much as a bunch of episodes with a tenuous relationship tying them together.

This is a rare case where I don’t have a lot to say beyond “this did not work for me” and it is one I cannot recommend. I also might need to rethink my relying on reddit for these recommendations, as what I’m looking for in books doesn’t seem to relate.

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Review: Available Dark

Available Dark Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The second Cass Neary tale, this is notable because a) Jeff VanderMeer recommended it on Twitter and I checked it out on that recommendation b) only to realize a quarter of the way through that this wasn’t actually the first book in the series.

So I read the second one first. Oops.

The good news is that reading this second didn’t take away from much. The book does an excellent job of reintroducing Cass, and the Cass in this book feels a lot more real than she does in the first (almost certainly, I would learn later, due to the events in the first). A result here is that the story here is definitely darker and more my speed, and probably better crafted as well.

I still recommend you read the first book first, but the overall necessity isn’t 100%. The only necessary thing is to check out this series, as it’s definitely a solid read for someone who is not really into the genre on a whole.

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Review: Generation Loss

Generation Loss Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first book in the Cass Neary series, this establishes Cass as a character and all the flaws and problems she faces, both due to her own actions and those of others.

In this debut volume, we learn about Cass’s past as a briefly-important photographer who hasn’t really done much since then, but she is drawn into the search for a reclusive artist that ends up overturning some stones that were better left untouched.

As someone who doesn’t generally read mystery books, I’m surprised at how easily I was hooked into this series, as Cass is a perfect example of a flawed and damaged yet compelling character with some real agency. It’s a book where I felt like almost everything mattered, which is a nice change of pace, and I didn’t feel like the traditional mystery tropes that generally turn me off from the genre were immediately present.

Overall, it becomes a good package. While not my favorite of the three currently-written books in the Cassverse (for lack of a better term), this works as an excellent introduction to the series and has been a book that I’ve recommended to a few people who have loved it.

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Review: Universal Harvester

Universal Harvester Universal Harvester by John Darnielle
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

As a fan of The Mountain Goats as well as enjoying Wolf in White Van, John Darnielle is making his case in the fiction realm for good with Universal Harvester. The good news is that the quality of the writing here remains strong, but the bad is that the plot itself is a bit of a retread and I don’t feel as if this stakes much of its own ground enough to turn the book into something special.

Taking place in the 1990s, there are videotapes being returned to the local rental store with mysterious scenes recorded onto them. The mystery deepens as more videos have this issue, and the book explores the phenomenon. Granted, in a sense, found video and mysterious film is a big subgenre ticky box for me, so I came into this read not only with high expectations, but a lot of expectations and beliefs about what makes a book like this work.

Universal Harvester works for the genre it’s in, but not so much in this subgenre. Darnielle is too good a writer to fail completely, but the lack of real oomph or urgency in this story is the real issue keeping this book from being something special. I felt, personally, that the things which drove me to the plot of this book were secondary in ways they weren’t in books like Night Film or Flicker, both of which are masterpieces in combining their genre slot with this sort of film mystery. I could have even taken something like The Ring as a point of reference for this book – goodness knows the setting would absolutely lend itself to it – but we didn’t get that.

Overall? A well-written book that didn’t grab me. If it had followed through better on its hook, it would move from good to great.

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Review: Ninefox Gambit

Ninefox Gambit Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the sci-fi “it book” of the moment, getting all the award attention and all the hype.

Reading this on my Kindle, I got it pretty early on – the book just immerses you into this universe immediately and expects you to catch up and catch on by yourself, and I have a lot of respect for that. Then the plot, for me, came to a screeching halt and any reasons I had to care for what was going on was gone. This book ultimately tries to straddle the line between a few science fiction genres, and I do wonder if I’d appreciate this more if I hadn’t read so much in the genre up to this point, but it gets bonus points from the sci-fi intelligentsia for a lot of reasons thus the awards excitement.

This wasn’t bad, but I can’t say it was especially good, either, and had more flaws than positives for me on a whole due to some rough plot construction and an inability, for me, to follow through with the early potential. I can list off dozens of science fiction books better worth your time on a whole. Closer to a 2.5.

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10 May 2017

Review: Kubrick's Game

Kubrick's Game Kubrick's Game by Derek Taylor Kent
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think I’ll start by saying that this is a goofy book. There’s nothing wrong with goofy at all, but the way this book presents itself in contrast with the subject matter provided is just strange. With that said, this was a fun and light romp that ultimately hit a lot of my interest points, resulting in a really enjoyable read.

The story follows a college film student obsessed with Stanley Kubrick. He probably knows more than his professors do on the subject, and is quickly brought in on a “game” created by the director himself. The game involves a bit of a worldwide scavenger hunt, involves some of the great theories of Kubrick’s work, and threatens to uncover some interesting secrets that people in the know might never actually want out.

In terms of a straight fiction tale, as I said – kind of goofy. But when you approach the book as sort of a fun ARG simulation where an author can freely explore a few interests s/he has all at once, it makes a lot more sense. To approach this with that in mind made for a quick and breezy read that, as reveal after reveal occurred, kept me smiling throughout.

This will win no awards, but if you like crazy conspiracies or are a Kubrick nerd, there’s a lot here to enjoy.


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Review: Bird Box

Bird Box Bird Box by Josh Malerman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having spent a good amount of time in the last few years in the weird/horror space after decades of avoiding it, the one thing I’ve been surprised by up to this point is how it’s one thing for me to be uneasy or grossed out or whatever by something I read, but not often do I become unsettled or scared. So hello to Bird Box.

The conceit is creepy in and of itself, where people just randomly start going mad and killing themselves and perhaps taking others with them. It’s quickly assumed/figured out that there’s a sort of creature or monster that, when viewed by a person, triggers said madness. Society quickly shuts down, squirreling itself away in homes and only going outside blindfolded or with covered eyes. The story follows one woman who ends up with a group of survivors and how they’re dealing with the situation.

The story is super unsettling because the author just does a great job of putting the fear and uncertainty front and center. Everything is so uneasy and the way the mysteries are sometimes-but-not-fully revealed as time progresses is really brilliant. Rarely did I feel like I had an idea as to what was coming next, and some of the reveals were outright heartbreaking both in terms of how it advanced the story and the result. It’s rare for me to get that sort of response from a book, especially a horror one, so you know this is something special.

I have nothing negative to say at all about this. If you like weird, creepy, unsettling stories? Find a copy of this immediately. I’ve never read anything like it, and it’s one of the better things I’ve read as of late.

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07 May 2017

Review: All Our Wrong Todays

All Our Wrong Todays All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It should be noted, before we go any further, that I'm a sucker for time travel novels.

With that out of the way, here is one of the latest in the genre, All Our Wrong Todays, which has a premise where the timelines are screwed up once someone goes back to a time and messes with the event that introduces massive technological change in the world. Quickly, it becomes a story about alternating timelines and advanced technology and what have you.

On the merits, I give it a 5. On the overall, though, there's a lot wrong with the way this races to the finish line and gets a little too confusing. Also, the structure of the book itself is unique but often frustrating in that chapters are 2-3 pages each and create a sort of disjointed narrative that, while likely intentional, took me out more than I wanted it to.

Overall, though, high marks for this one. A lot of fun in spite of the few flaws, and ultimately a good time.

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Review: Wonder Woman, Volume 1: The Lies

Wonder Woman, Volume 1: The Lies Wonder Woman, Volume 1: The Lies by Greg Rucka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Closer to a 3.5.

I've been reading Wonder Woman for at least a decade now, and the common theme seems to be "what have they done with her?" I didn't hate what I read from the New 52 run, but I also know that non-Rucka efforts have been lacking.

So how's Rebirth? Well, it's an interesting way to pull everything together from the previous retcons and reboots, but my biggest complaint so far is how little actually happens here. Diana lacks any real forward motion, the motivations are slow to come about, and the whole thing just feels like some of the more middling older efforts.

I trust Rucka enough to not screw it up, so to speak, but my optimism, combined with the current comics culture and the overall reduction in quality of the major comics publishers leaves me a little worried.

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Review: Borne

Borne Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had some electrical work done on my house today, and I've had Borne sitting on my desk/end table/work bag since it came out, so a morning without electric power seemed like a perfect time to settle in with a book about sentient bioengineered amoebas and flying bears. Jeff VanderMeer is perfect for things like this, where the surreal seems so commonplace and the unsettling so typical, and Borne is maybe the best effort surrounding it that I've read from VanderMeer so far - and that's speaking as someone who thinks Area X is one of those pinnacle reads.

The story concerns Rachel and a... thing she finds and names Borne. Borne sort of resembles a sea anemone, or something, but it eats and feeds and grows and eventually talks and learns and what have you. In Rachel's world, a post-climate change post-corporate wasteland, Borne might have been bioengineered or worse, but Borne and Rachel form a bond of sorts. Rachel's friend, however, is a little more skeptical, and there's just a lot of mystery surrounding the whole situation of their area. Oh, and flying bioengineered bears. That wasn't a joke.

It's hard to describe books by Jeff VanderMeer and make them sound serious or, if you're not one to stretch your literary wings, even all that compelling. But Borne, while having a steady and deliberate ecological strain flowing underneath it, is really a story about relationships and trusts. The relationship between Rachel and Borne mirrors a lot of what one might expect in readily-identifiable ones, and the situations of trust and of coping with the reality that's in front of you is stronger here than what I've read in more traditional reads. It's just really brilliant.

I didn't expect to read this all in one, powerless sitting, but I did. The prose is so compelling, the story so solid even in spite of a lot of absurdity on the surface, that it was very hard to put down once I was fully immersed. I knew I'd like this a lot, but love was something I didn't see coming. Give this one a shot, especially if you still haven't jumped on the VanderMeer bandwagon.

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02 May 2017

Review: Skitter

Skitter Skitter by Ezekiel Boone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Closer to a 4.5.

Skitter is the book the original story, The Hatching, deserved to be. While the first book was like a silly b-movie, for whatever reason Skitter raises the stakes by giving us an opportunity to see how people are coping (or not) with the spiderpocaylpse.

So many things I loved about this. The surprise deaths, the political machinations of the President, the international intrigue, the way the book kept me guessing. And the end of the book is a surprise in and of itself, and something I never expect to see in fiction and is executed perfectly here.

Honestly, as someone who didn't love The Hatching, this was a breath of fresh air. These books are light enough fare where you can tear through the first to get to the second easily, and if you have any joy for silly MST3K-style bad movies or crazy monster tales, this is a book that should get fully onto your radar.

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Review: City of Miracles

City of Miracles City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Closer to a 3.5

the latest (final?) book in what’s been a really interesting series by Robert Jackson Bennett, this book still doesn’t reach the heights of City of Stairs, but is miles ahead of City of Swords. What this does well is bring a lot of the great parts of both books into place for this third act. Lots of callbacks to everything that’s gone on, a classic trope to tie everything together, and a fairly worthwhile conclusion.

I liked it a lot, but I didn’t love it. I wanted to love it because I love so much of Bennett’s other work, but the bar was simply set too high with Stairs and it never quite gets to that point. Still, the characters here are more compelling than in Swords (and that includes being written in a more compelling way when we have returning people), and the story itself has a more investigative tone that was unexpected, so it’s far, far, far from a failure. Overall, though, this will seemingly always remain a series that missed a lot of its potential.

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