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Added May 11, 2019
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Added Mar 24, 2019
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In Shucked: Life on a New England Oyster Farm, Erin Byers Murray chronicles her journey of quitting her Boston foodie magazine writer’s job to spend a year working on an oyster farm. The book is split up by seasons: the winter season, involving hand-harvesting and sorting oysters straight from icy water; the spring, full of preparation and nurturing oyster “seed” (baby oysters); the summer, where the farm explodes into a frenzy of raising oysters by hand, harvesting older patches, and supplying big-city restaurants with the harvest; and the fall, full of food festivals and transitioning back to the less active but still hard work of winter.
I really like the writing style of this book: she focuses on getting to know every person on the farm, and you can tell by the way you recognize all their nicknames by the end of the book (Berg, A2, and Pain are just a few). She’s also not afraid to make it personal, mixing in the way that the 5 AM morning alarm and three-hour commute affected her relationship with her husband and her struggle to transition from a privileged city-girl life to one of manual labor in scorching summer sun or biting Atlantic Ocean wind every day.
The end of the book becomes a bit of a blur as the author transitions from everyday life on the farm to working in the supply office and visiting a few of the Michelin-starred restaurants the oyster farm supplies its oysters to. In all, though, it’s fun to get such a comprehensive picture of the business, and it’s not hard to power through.
Think investigative/explanatory journalism + food!In Shucked: Life on a New England Oyster Farm, Erin Byers Murray chronicles her journey of quitting her Boston foodie magazine writer’s job to spend a year working on an oyster farm. The book is split up by seasons: the winter season, involving…
airyen's rating:
Added Mar 24, 2019
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You may have heard of the omgcheckplease webcomic created by Ngozi Ukazu, the first half of which is adapted for print in #Hockey. The graphic novel follows Eric Richard (alternately “Dicky” to his mom and “Bitty” to his hockey teammates), a hockey player from Georgia adapting to life on the Samwell University’s varsity men’s hockey team (affectionately #smh). The comic chronicles his adventures baking pies in the SMH frat house’s kitchen and struggling to adjust to checking after being recruited from his Georgian co-ed no-checking hockey club team, all alongside navigating life as a gay boy who’s not in the South anymore.
For a graphic novel about hockey, this book surprised me with how un-jock-like it was. The romance is fluffy with lots of mutual pining, and Bitty’s relationships with everyone from laconic SMH captain and hockey royalty Jack Zimmerman, scruffy gender studies major B. “S***ty” Knight, inseparable bros Ransom and Holster, and tiny freshman Sharks fan Chris “Chowder” Chow are wholesome and amazing. Another super compelling part: The title is an awesome pun.
Disclaimer: The Check Please! comic is intended to cover all four years of Bitty’s life at Samwell university. #Hockey only covers the first two years. Year 3 is published online, and you can read it for free, and Year 4 is not yet completed. Beware if you don't like reading WIPs!You may have heard of the omgcheckplease webcomic created by Ngozi Ukazu, the first half of which is adapted for print in #Hockey. The graphic novel follows Eric Richard (alternately “Dicky” to his mom and “Bitty” to his hockey teammates), a hockey…
Added Mar 24, 2019
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The Power is a speculative fiction story that starts in the world of today. But what if one day, all women woke up with a power no one else had, one that put a debilitating physical advantage over men literally in the hands of women? As the power spreads from younger women to older ones, from backyard tricks to geopolitical takeovers, from fighting back to fighting each other, The Power explores this new world from a multitude of perspectives. There’s a mixed-race orphan girl who discovers she has the finest degree of control she’s seen; a street-smart girl who uses the power to kill her mother’s murderers; a New England mayor who’s struggling to keep the tiniest bits of political power to do good in the world; a male photojournalist who becomes a household name documenting women’s revolutions; and a historian writing from centuries later with a perspective completely different from historians today.
The best part of this book was how complex and jarring it was. Every character has a unique perspective, and at times I was rooting both for and against each one of them. The power corrupts people in ways I never expected, but which made sense in the course of the novel. And just when I thought I had defined each character in my mind, the things that defined them could be ripped away and I’d have to reimagine them again. It was an experience to read.
Another compelling thing about The Power was the “historical” perspective. The book starts with a series of letters between two authors, one a man, about the “history” of the era described in The Power that imagines criticism from a matriarchal society’s perspective. Interspersed through the chapters are drawings of “archeological finds” that reflect this. For example, one of the figures is an iPad welded onto a Sumerian statue (but not described as an iPad, of course). And finally, the entire story of The Power is presented as a historical fiction novel written by one of the authors before. It definitely makes you reorient the entire narrative in your mind and is a real “trippy” mental exercise to go through.The Power is a speculative fiction story that starts in the world of today. But what if one day, all women woke up with a power no one else had, one that put a debilitating physical advantage over men literally in the hands of women? As the power…
Added Mar 24, 2019
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This book is styled as a retelling of the Great Gatsby set in the hypercompetitive world of high school policy debate at the fictional prestigious Northern California boarding school Bannerman Prep. Winning the state championship in policy debate last year allowed self-labelled white trash Tanner McKay, the story’s “Nick,” to being recruited by Bannerman. He’s hoping that success on Bannerman’s debate team can get him a scholarship to Stanford and a ticket out of his family’s poverty. When he gets to Bannerman, though, he finds out he’ll be partnered with the Duke: a mysterious playboy who seems to do none of his debate research, choosing instead to break rules and throw parties. Tanner must navigate his relationship with his family, his debate partnership with the Duke, the hyper-privileged world of Bannerman, and the mysterious identity of the Duke. Will he fit in? And will he be sucked into the Duke’s schemes or achieve Stanford-level success on his own terms?
I love the idea of modern retellings of classics in general. The author (a former high school English teacher) says that one thing she’s noticed teaching The Great Gatsby is that some students struggle to understand the difference between the old-money and new-money, and she says she wrote The Duke of Bannerman Prep to translate that class divide to the idea of private schools and privilege based on college admissions.
I initially picked up this book because I love The Great Gatsby, and I’m a high school policy debater myself. However, I found myself disappointed by the end of the book. The first half of the book has a ton of exposition, since policy debate has its own culture and weird jargon. But even with all the time spent explaining it, the book’s depiction of debate was immersion-breakingly inaccurate to me. For example, one of the big plot points of the book is cheating -- the Duke doesn’t do his own research and borrows from other teams instead. However, a huge part of policy debate culture is the idea of open source evidence, in which all teams share their evidence cites online as a way to promote transparency and better research for everyone. It’s only in the second half of the book that the Gatsby-esque plot picks up (after all the exposition).
Another disappointment: the 1920s misogyny didn’t translate well to modern day. In other modern retellings of classics I’ve read, one way to circumvent misogynistic tropes is genderswapping characters, but Nelson keeps all of that in place, leading to a lot of female characters with very little agency and a lot of male characters who seem to be only defined as playboys.
The cover is pretty generic but aesthetically pleasing. The building depicted is probably part of Bannerman Prep’s super-fancy campus, looking out over the San Francisco Bay. It doesn’t tell you that much about the contents beyond that the genre is realistic, which was disappointing to me -- even though I didn’t end up liking the book, I would definitely have read it a lot sooner if someone had more clearly pitched it as “The Great Gatsby, but make everyone high school debaters in modern-day Northern California.”
⅗ stars -- if you’re a huge fan of Gatsby, I’d recommend, but it doesn’t work great as a stand-alone or as a book about debate itself.This book is styled as a retelling of the Great Gatsby set in the hypercompetitive world of high school policy debate at the fictional prestigious Northern California boarding school Bannerman Prep. Winning the state championship in policy debate…
Added Oct 18, 2018
Added Feb 24, 2018
The Grace of KingsThe Grace of Kings, BookBook One of the Dandelion Dynasty
by Liu, KenBook - 2015Book, 2015
airyen's rating:
Added Feb 24, 2018
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This book chronicles a Game of Thrones-style fantasy epic in the Asia-inspired archipelago of Dara. As Dara suffers under the imperial rule of its conquering emperor, two men among others are inspired to rise up. Kuni Garu grew up in a middle-class household, but soon abandoned the education he was given in favor of a life of partying and banditry. When he falls in love with the noblewoman’s daughter Jia, he forms his life into a semblance of respectability—which means working for the empire—to marry her. When he has the choice between defiance of the empire and sure punishment, he becomes a bandit king at the head of the shifting revolution.
The author wove together multiple stories--not just of the revolution’s leaders, but of families on opposite sides of the fight, the home front, the mechanics of the corrupt empire, even the gods watching over Dara--and treason and mistrust on all sides. The Grace of Kings can be thought of as a much more refreshing version of A Song of Ice and Fire--the violence is told in a reserved way, women and women’s issues are dealt with well, and the setting isn't the overworked medieval Europe, but an ocean archipelago inspired by Asian (and other) cultures. At the same time, the plot unfolds with the same ingenuity as a good heist story as the leaders of both sides display remarkable strategy. You're never sure who you're rooting for or who will come out on top.
Pioneering its own genre—silkpunk (steampunk rooted not in Victorian but in East Asian and Roman imperial aesthetics)—while simultaneously being an epic low fantasy unlike any seen before, The Grace of Kings is fantastic!This book chronicles a Game of Thrones-style fantasy epic in the Asia-inspired archipelago of Dara. As Dara suffers under the imperial rule of its conquering emperor, two men among others are inspired to rise up. Kuni Garu grew up in a middle-class…
airyen's rating:
Added Feb 24, 2018
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The Soria family are known as Saints: not in the Catholic sense, but because they have the ability to perform unsettling miracles to vanquish the darkness inside people. It is to see them that pilgrims flock to the desert town of Bicho Raro. But the three cousins of the latest generation of Sorias want more than to see other people’s darkness exposed: Joaquim runs a underground radio station out of the family box truck; Daniel, with spider-eye tattoos on his hands, obeys family tradition as a Saint in all ways but one; and Beatriz is known as the girl without feelings, wanting to analyze her curious family and wondering if the Saints are doing something wrong.
This book is an amazing blend of deep, dark, and humorous. The humor is dry and sarcastic; the description of Soria miracles is magical but feels gritty and real; and even the side characters are able to have lives of their own. If you like character-driven magical realism (albeit by a non-Chican@ author), this book is for you.
If you love Maggie Stiefvater because of her Raven Cycle series (tetralogy) or stand-alone The Scorpio Races, you’ll find it matches the tone of this book. It’s very different from the modern Wolves of Mercy Falls series, though, so if you prefer that one you might not prefer this one? I also personally loved the tone of the humor in All the Crooked Saints, but if you don’t like your humor in the form of sarcastic one-liners and description, it might come across as disrupting the rhythm of the book for you.The Soria family are known as Saints: not in the Catholic sense, but because they have the ability to perform unsettling miracles to vanquish the darkness inside people. It is to see them that pilgrims flock to the desert town of Bicho Raro. But the…
airyen's rating:
Added Feb 24, 2018
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Ancillary Justice is a powerful experience to read. One of the most immersive parts is the book’s approach to gender and worldbuilding in general. All Radchaai citizens go by she/her pronouns and gender effectively does not exist (leading to some conundrums when Breq, on other planets, needs to appear non-Radchaai and has to figure out the concept of gender on the fly). As I read and found myself inadvertently gendering characters, this part of the book led to some interesting self-reflection. The worldbuilding around the concept of ancillaries are also fascinating: the Radchaai conquest formerly had an aim of collecting humans in suspended animation to later be ancillary bodies, with implants forced into them that effectively killed them and slaved their bodies to the AIs of ships; however, new reforms in the Radch have banned “manufacture” of ancillaries although ships continue to operate with ancillaries, which they consider parts of themselves and near-impossible to live without. The prose is also very sparse with just enough description to let you imagine a whole world outside the characters—think J.K. Rowling.
Ancillary Justice is highly acclaimed, but the plot itself is not the most compelling independently (the two sequels, Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy, fill in plot holes). I was compelled enough by the concept of ancillaries, Radchaai culture, and Breq’s character to keep reading, but if you can’t immerse yourself, the plot can seem to drag. If you can stick through it, though, the story picks up in the latter half/third and definitely gets better in the later books.
It’s not for everyone, but I definitely liked reading it and couldn’t put it down—I’m still rereading! Something about it struck a chord with me, though I can't put my finger on it. It's immersive and gorgeous, a space opera in every sense.Ancillary Justice is a powerful experience to read. One of the most immersive parts is the book’s approach to gender and worldbuilding in general. All Radchaai citizens go by she/her pronouns and gender effectively does not exist (leading to some…
Summary:
In the empire of the Radch, massive spaceships are powerful sentient AIs that operate armies of ancillaries, known as “corpse soldiers”—formerly human, now with implants that join many ancillaries together as part of their ship’s one mind, serving the Radch in its ever-expanding conquest of planetary system after system. Breq may look human, but she is a rare lone ancillary body from a long-destroyed ship. Thousands of years later, she remains disconnected from the majority of what she once was as the troop carrier Justice of Toren. Ancillary Justice follows two stories of Breq—first the story of how she as Justice of Toren was betrayed and reduced to her single body, then her quest for revenge, interrupted by an encounter with an officer who served on Justice of Toren in the distant past.In the empire of the Radch, massive spaceships are powerful sentient AIs that operate armies of ancillaries, known as “corpse soldiers”—formerly human, now with implants that join many ancillaries together as part of their ship’s one mind, serving…
PastwatchPastwatch, BookThe Redemption of Christopher Columbus
by Card, Orson ScottBook - 1996Book, 1996
airyen's rating:
Added Feb 24, 2018
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In a distant future where the problems of climate change and world hunger have been averted, scientists have developed machines to look into the past and formed Pastwatch, an organization of historians who use these machines. When Tagiri, one of the prodigies of Pastwatch, traces her family back through history and witnesses the horrors of Atlantic slavery through her family’s history, she begins to pioneer the Columbus project. Because it seems that Columbus sought a crusade to Constantinople, not Asia, the Columbus Project seeks to find out why he tirelessly worked to gain support for a trip west and whether he can be stopped to end the bloodshed caused by European conquest. The novel follows Tagiri, her daughter Diko, and other members of Pastwatch as they uncover an alternate history that could have been, as well as seek to create an alternate history to erase the bloodshed of their world
I thought the premise of the book was fascinating: time machines to see the past but not visit it (or can they?), women (of color no less) looking at history and demanding correction of its wrongs, and conceiving an alternate history where Columbus did not lead European conquest of the Americas. Orson Scott Card is great at building whole worlds off a concept, and it was interesting how he introduced conflict from the past into a utopian future.
This was actually a reread of this book for me; the first time I read it, I loved it. The second time, though, I don’t like it as much. There’s a lot of shoehorned and even harmfully stereotyped diversity (there are no white characters in the book, but the Black characters still live in grass huts and the Turkish character is nearly fanatically religious; the Black characters’ stories are solely tied to their tragic family histories of slavery). Despite following multiple generations of Pastwatch researchers (Tagiri, then Diko), the story isn’t character-focused at all and will often spend chapters discussing dry historical finds, then bounce back into some romance subplot with not a lot of chemistry. Lastly, the plot can just be boring sometimes: the story alternates chapters back and forth between the Columbus project and Christopher Columbus himself, who frankly isn’t that engaging as a character. Characters make choices that seem extreme or illogical, and it seems like a lot of big assumptions are made (even considering this story is speculative fiction about time travel and alternate history) about cultures.
I’d recommend this book if you can read past some questionable plot points, “romance,” and insensitivity, because the concept is still pretty cool. But this book is definitely written by a classic sci-fi writer, and while the idea that Columbus may not be a hero but a villain may seem groundbreaking for him, the execution isn’t the best.In a distant future where the problems of climate change and world hunger have been averted, scientists have developed machines to look into the past and formed Pastwatch, an organization of historians who use these machines. When Tagiri, one of the…
Added Oct 17, 2017
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Sophie Hatter knows she’s not cut out to be a heroine or have adventures: in the fairy-tale land of Ingary, the eldest sister is never destined for greatness. Instead, she is resigned to inherit her father and stepmother’s provincial hatshop while he sisters are apprenticed to sorceresses and popular merchants. When the Witch of the Waste, who has been threatening Ingary, invades the shop and curses Sophie into an old crone, Sophie must flee town. She takes refuge in the terrifying moving castle of the Wizard Howl, hoping he can remove her curse or that she can make a deal with his demon Calcifer to do so. As she lives in the castle, Sophie learns about who Howl and Calcifer really are—and that she and her siblings might be more magically entangled than she originally suspects.
While the premise might seem like a massive fairy tale cliché—unlikely, snarky heroine; mysterious, brooding wizard—Howl’s Moving Castle manages to turn all those on their head. Howl is a drama queen. Sophie invades the castle and appoints herself Howl’s cleaning lady with terrifying ferociousness. The final sorcerer’s battle is intense without being over-the-top. At the same time, the magical world of Ingary and the Moving Castle is beautifully described, with a magical system that’s complex and enchanting (no pun intended).
I’d argue that one of the most compelling aspects of the book is that it goes into detail and immerses the reader in the world, but the pacing can be slow. There’s not much of an overarching plot; instead, most of the conflicts are represented in episodic format. If you’re not a fan of world- and character-based stories, you might be disappointed.Sophie Hatter knows she’s not cut out to be a heroine or have adventures: in the fairy-tale land of Ingary, the eldest sister is never destined for greatness. Instead, she is resigned to inherit her father and stepmother’s provincial hatshop while…
The Long Way to A Small, Angry PlanetThe Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet, Book
by Chambers, BeckyBook - 2016Book, 2016
airyen's rating:
Added Sep 22, 2017
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I love the way Becky Chambers writes found family, from the interspecies relationships to the tensions that arise on a year-long trip through deep space. She writes the relations between species in the best possible way: there’s galactic peace, but “interspecies sensitivity training” and a long history of wars makes it anything but utopian. Humans aren’t the center of the universe (literally or metaphorically): they’re the weak species, learning to make a place for themselves alongside the stronger, smarter, more peaceful species that rule the galaxy and have let them in as refugees. The story is also much-needed “fluff” if you’re not into grimdark, war-focused sci-fi. It’s about the power of humanity among a found family of non-humans.
I’d heard great things about this book and was overall not disappointed, since I’m a big fan of found family, sci-fi, platonic relationships, and logical worldbuilding. However, if you dislike perspective switches, character-driven plots (very few dramatic battle scenes), or episode formats (no real overarching conflict), this book may not be for you.I love the way Becky Chambers writes found family, from the interspecies relationships to the tensions that arise on a year-long trip through deep space. She writes the relations between species in the best possible way: there’s galactic peace, but…
airyen's rating:
Added May 21, 2017
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At the most elite ballet academy in the world, everyone knows they’re jostling for the top one or two roles, the ones that will secure them a career. Bette has been dancing at this academy since she was three, and everything about her is a legacy: her sister’s lead soloist role, her mother’s generous donations, and even her boyfriend, whose father is head of the academy. June’s half-Korean heritage and her struggle for the ultrathin ballet body type endanger her very ability to continue dancing, even as she’s using them to pull herself upwards. And most dangerously, Gigi’s status as a Black-girl transplant from California and her exquisite dancing are marking her out as a target for the other girls as relationships and roles slip away from them all.
This book is effortlessly diverse, with characters whom everyone can see themselves in. While I was drawn towards Gigi and June, I could even root for Bette at times. This sense of allegiance means you’re never sure who will come out “on top,” or how the authors could possible finagle a happy ending for every character you love.
There are definitely a lot of loose ends. They're all answered in the sequel, but since the book may seem like a stand-alone it can be off-putting.At the most elite ballet academy in the world, everyone knows they’re jostling for the top one or two roles, the ones that will secure them a career. Bette has been dancing at this academy since she was three, and everything about her is a legacy:…
Suitability
Ages 13
airyen's rating:
Added May 21, 2017
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Beka Cooper grew up in the Cesspool slums of Corus, the capital of the kingdom. Her skill at detective and police work got her family rescued and fostered by the Lord Provost, the head of law enforcement of the entire kingdom. Now Beka is entering the Provost’s trade as a Dog (as police are nicknamed for their tracking skills, as well as their non-noble status). She vows to be the best Dog before she's even completed the first year, with her years of learning under the Provost and her undying allegiance to the weak and exploited of the Cesspool slums. It doesn't hurt that she has a touch of magic, speaking to the souls of the dead and picking up whispers from the city winds. Soon, Beka’s on the trail of murders and scams, but people doubt whether her Dog teammates and her own abilities can keep up.
The entire world is extremely well-drawn. The world of the Dogs, for their weapons to their ranks to the elaborate systems drawn up around small legal bribes, is realistic enough that it could be today. Beka’s trilogy imagines a kingdom before the patriarchal norms of chivalry have fully set in, so things like child slavery and lady knights are accepted, if not common. The author deals with these issues in sensitive ways while still drawing in representation.Beka Cooper grew up in the Cesspool slums of Corus, the capital of the kingdom. Her skill at detective and police work got her family rescued and fostered by the Lord Provost, the head of law enforcement of the entire kingdom. Now Beka is entering…
I Will Always Write BackI Will Always Write Back, BookHow One Letter Changed Two Lives
by Alifirenka, CaitlinBook - 2015Book, 2015
airyen's rating:
Added Mar 23, 2017
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I Will Always Write Back is a true story, even describable of a memoir, of the journey of two students from children to adults, separated by an ocean and worlds of cultural difference but connected by the simplest yet strongest of ties: words. When Caitlin Stoicsitz rather unwillingly picks Zimbabwe as the country to which to send her pen pal letter in seventh grade, it is received by Martin Ganda, a boy whose long-fought-for position as top student in his rural school allows him access to the few letters his school receives. Although many of Caitin’s classmates stop writing to their pen pals over time, Martin’s promise that he will “always write back” -- one of the few promises that he knows he can keep in the politically and economically torn climate of Zimbabwe, and one that he struggles with even in its simplicity -- leads them both to become extremely close and share their vastly different coming-of-age struggles.
This book was the most hopeful story, made even better by the fact that it is true, that I have read in a long time. Through Caitlin’s boy-craziness and first-world problems, through Martin’s terrifying experience of turmoil in Zimbabwe, through 9-11, through college admissions, there is always hope in the writing.
However, I felt that the language did not do justice to the story. Aside from the obvious concession to the fact that the first letters were written by a seventh-grader and that Martin’s first language is not English, even the narration between letters, even by Caitlin, comes across as rather basic. While this does contribute to the sense of hope and simple humanity of the entire book, I felt it took away from the flow and experience of the story.
White savior narrative? A little. But honestly, if you're looking for a bit of hope in the world at all—and who isn't—this book is the easy read for you.I Will Always Write Back is a true story, even describable of a memoir, of the journey of two students from children to adults, separated by an ocean and worlds of cultural difference but connected by the simplest yet strongest of ties: words. When…
airyen's rating:
Added Mar 14, 2017
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Robert Gu, formerly a star poet, had succumbed to Alzheimer's in the
early 2000’s. However, modern medicine has been able to restore him to
coherent life. He struggles to adjust to life in a world where
everyone's clothes and contacts connect to holograph nodes implanted
everywhere. Learning to “wear” is a struggle for him, although his
granddaughter, who is attending classes at the same school he is, has
learned to do it from childhood and easily accomplishes connectivity
without detection. While he is adjusting to live in the new ecosystem
of connectivity, he is drawn into an international conspiracy
involving biotech, an internet presence known only as “Mr. Rabbit,”
now-aged friends from his days as a professor at UCSD, his
granddaughter and her friends, and his Department of Homeland Security
son and daughter-in-law.
The setting was compelling and fascinating, from the holograph nodes
to the “net boards” like today's forums to the concept of contact lens
overlays that made environments look completely different. It
integrates well with the plot, harkens “back” to today's San Diego,
and lets the reader imagine stories continuing well beyond the plot.
The book switches perspective while always remaining in third person:
at times, its focus is on international magnates, Robert Gu, his
granddaughter Miri, or artificial intelligences. At times, this made
the book confusing, especially as exposition is limited and readers
find out identities only by implications.Robert Gu, formerly a star poet, had succumbed to Alzheimer's in the
early 2000’s. However, modern medicine has been able to restore him to
coherent life. He struggles to adjust to life in a world where
everyone's clothes and contacts connect to…
airyen's rating:
Added Mar 14, 2017
Comment:
Taking place in a gritty fantasy world in a city resembling nineteenth-century Amsterdam, Six of Crows follows a heist undertaken by a rough but intriguing group of six criminals: a former acrobat captured from her homeland to become a slave, now the best spy of the city; a hardened young man whose ruthlessness and crime have led him, even among the gangs of the city, to be known by the grudgingly respectful name “Dirtyhands”; a still-loyal soldier imprisoned miles from his nation; the girl with powers to turn people’s own bodies into weapons against themselves who happens to have a history with him; a sharpshooter with a gambling a problem and a longing for trust; and an almost hilariously innocent rich man’s son who’s fallen in with these teenagers of ill repute.
This book is utterly amazing. It seems to bridge genres: young adult fantasy, with a tinge of LGBT fiction, as well as a heist narrative, combined with an action plot full of twist after twist. Each of the main character simultaneously makes the reader adore them and hate them. Each plot twist elevates the plot and keeps the reader completely engaged--the book is virtually “unputdownable.” It’s also followed by an, if possible, even better sequel and preceded by a trilogy, letting readers who are hooked dive even further into the author’s worldbuilding.Taking place in a gritty fantasy world in a city resembling nineteenth-century Amsterdam, Six of Crows follows a heist undertaken by a rough but intriguing group of six criminals: a former acrobat captured from her homeland to become a slave, now…
airyen's rating:
Added Mar 14, 2017
Comment:
Crossing the genre boundaries of both Afrofuturism and fantasy, Zahrah the Windseeker is the story of a girl born with dada hair, a sign of wisdom, mischief, magic, or horror, depending on who you talk to. In the culture of the Ooni Kingdom, any kind of difference, wise or not, is feared, even in a society where flora computers are grown personalized from seeds, where baboons named after gorilla kings tell the future, where injections are offered by directing special insects with proboscises imbibed with medication to sugar-solution-swabbed parts of one’s body, and where “civilized” is a synonym for “stylish.” Zahrah and her friend Dari are rebelling when they venture first into the secret Dark Market within the thriving marketplace of the Ooni Kingdom, and next into the Forbidden Greeny Jungle that borders the kingdom. When misfortune arises, the formerly conforming Zahrah must use every power she has to venture deeper into the jungle to save her friend.
The worldbuilding and setting of this book are amazing. While some could push aside the entire genre of Afrofuturism as just token diversity, this book proves that fantasy and sci-fi benefit immensely from taking place in colorful, colored settings and not the overdone, conventional, medieval settings or the sterilized, whitewashed, dystopian ones.
The plot is a rather basic childhood adventure, though I felt the setting and Zahrah’s dada powers made up for it by far. In fact, the plot allows you time to focus on the gorgeous setting, though some could be turned off by it at the beginning.Crossing the genre boundaries of both Afrofuturism and fantasy, Zahrah the Windseeker is the story of a girl born with dada hair, a sign of wisdom, mischief, magic, or horror, depending on who you talk to. In the culture of the Ooni Kingdom, any…
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