Reviews and Comments

Tak!

Tak@reading.taks.garden

Joined 3 years, 6 months ago

I like to read

Non-bookposting: @Tak@glitch.taks.garden

This link opens in a pop-up window

Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Silver Nitrate (Paperback, 2023, Random House Large Print)

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican …

Silver Nitrate

This one takes a while to get going - after several chapters, I was convinced that this was going to be a slice-of-life novel about the glory days of the mexican movie industry as seen from the 90s. (Which it is not (I mean, it is, but there's also more))

It reminds me quite a lot of The Skeleton Key(2005), in a good way.

Good characters; fun, creepy, twisty plot; unique setting.

Blade of Dream

Blade of Dream is a very good sequel to Age of Ash. Instead of continuing the events from the previous book, it tells the story of different characters during the same time period. There are only a few points where events overlap, so it doesn't give that "ugh, I'm just reading a different flavor of the same story again" feeling that you can get from this approach.

I found it especially interesting that one of the main characters in Blade of Dream was a very marginal character in Age of Ash that one of the narrative characters had dismissed as a silly girl with no real agency (and thus the reader implicitly seeing her that way as well), and seeing the stark contrast here.

Jared Pechaček: The West Passage (2024, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom)

When the Guardian of the West Passage died in her bed, the women of Grey …

The West Passage

This is eldritch horror without the Cthulhu. It is weird and obscure and extremely obsessed with architectural minutiae. It rambles quite a bit in the middle, but that's honestly consistent with the tone of the world.

Malka Older: The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles (Tordotcom) No rating

Investigator Mossa and Scholar Pleiti reunite to solve a brand-new mystery in the follow-up to …

Yume Kitasei: The Deep Sky (2023, Flatiron Books)

Yume Kitasei's The Deep Sky is an enthralling sci fi thriller debut about a mission …

The Deep Sky

A great combination scifi thriller / space whodunit. It's much more Serious than The Stardust Grail, but explores some similar themes, e.g. betrayal and loss.

Emma Mieko Candon: Archive Undying (2023, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom)

War machines and AI gods run amok in The Archive Undying, national bestseller Emma Mieko …

The Archive Undying

The Archive Undying is a kind of postapocalyptic fantasy kaiju novel that (d?)evolves into a philosophical treatise on the nature of the self. It's entertaining and extremely well written, but I got plot twist exhaustion after a while.

Yume Kitasei: Stardust Grail (2024, Flatiron Books)

Save one world. Doom her own.

From the acclaimed author of The Deep Sky comes …

The Stardust Grail

A story about friendship, betrayal, and the aftereffects of colonization (in space!) with heists.

The aliens are alien, there's some interesting exploration of wormholes and first contact dynamics, and the action is engaging and unpredictable.

Annalee Newitz: Automatic Noodle (2025, Tor Publishing Group) No rating

From sci-fi visionary and acclaimed author Annalee Newitz comes Automatic Noodle, a cozy near-future novella …

COVER REVEAL! It's my next book, "Automatic Noodle," a cozy, near-future story about a group of food service bots in an abandoned ghost kitchen who take over their own delivery app account. They rebrand as a neighborhood lunch spot, and start making tasty hand-pulled noodles. Set in San Francisco after a horrible war, this is about rebuilding and finding love after political disaster.

Coming 8.5.25!⁣ Please pre-order! us.macmillan.com/books/9781250357465/automaticnoodle ⁣> Art by Eric Nyquist ⁣ Design by Christine Foltzer

wandering.shop/@annaleen/113489071832052670

Adrian Tchaikovsky (duplicate): Alien Clay (2024, Orbit)

Professor Arton Daghdev has always wanted to study alien life in person. But when his …

Alien Clay

Another great Tchaikovsky take on the truly alien, this time with added revolutionary fervor. If you like near-to-mid-future scifi rooted in existing social issues and aliens that aren't just humans with weird foreheads, Alien Clay is for you!