Tak! commented on Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (duplicate)
o fix the world they first must break it further.
Humanity is a dying breed, …
I have encountered the word "yeeted" in a sophisticated literary novel, and now I can die happy
Reviews and Comments
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Non-bookposting: @Tak@gush.taks.garden
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Tak! commented on The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
Fetter was raised to kill, honed as a knife to cut down his sainted father. …
THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS has been out in the world just over a year. As of today, it's collected NINE award nominations (today's news: the Dragon Award shortlist is out) The Ignytes and Dragons are now open for public voting! See the post for how to vote. vajra.me/2024/08/05/ten-toes-in/
Tak! reviewed Exordia by Seth Dickinson
Anna Sinjari―refugee, survivor of genocide, disaffected office worker―has a close encounter that reveals universe-threatening stakes. …
Exordia
5 stars
Exordia is a wild, weird scifi novel with snappy writing and a surprising level of commentary on genocide, imperialism, and american exceptionalism.
cw: so much violence
Tak! commented on Exordia by Seth Dickinson
Anna Sinjari―refugee, survivor of genocide, disaffected office worker―has a close encounter that reveals universe-threatening stakes. …
I'm not sure how many more Anna puns I can withstand
Tak! reviewed Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
"A daring post-apocalyptic novel from a powerful rising literary voice. With winter looming, a small …
Moon of the Crusted Snow
4 stars
Content warning plot discussion
This reads like a parable of the european takeover of the americas, except that the natives realized their mistake (just) in time this time around.
There wasn't much scifi or fantasy, except for the implied apocalypse that happened out of frame.
I was constantly frustrated with the characters for not being more proactive about stuff like: checking what happened with the power, being suspicious of Scott, following up on Scott after multiple red flags, etc. - but maybe I'm having unrealistic expectations about characters who don't know they're in a story.
I liked the strong themes of community and mutual support, even in the face of (imo realistic) uneven participation.
Overall a good read, I enjoyed it.
Tak! reviewed The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
Fetter was raised to kill, honed as a knife to cut down his sainted father. …
The Saint of Bright Doors
3 stars
The setting is unique and interesting, and I loved the final segment, but I felt like it went off the rails at around 50% and just kind of floundered around for like … half the book.
Tak! wants to read Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
Philip K. Dick once called Dhalgren “the worst trash I’ve ever read,”
This gave me an immediate and urgent desire to read Dhalgren
Tak! commented on Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
"A daring post-apocalyptic novel from a powerful rising literary voice. With winter looming, a small …
The July 2024 #SFFBookClub pick
Tak! commented on The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
Fetter was raised to kill, honed as a knife to cut down his sainted father. …
Today, I learned en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/haecceity
Tak! reviewed Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum
A bestseller in South Korea, Bo-Reum’s English-language debut is a tranquil if meandering slice of …
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop
3 stars
This is not my usual type of read - in fact, I almost put it down early on, but then I identified so hard with the first Minjun chapter that I stuck with it.
It's very much like a version of Bookshops & Bonedust without the fantasy trappings and the larger plot - characters with a variety of personal issues come together around a bookshop.
It's well written (and well translated! which is not a given!) - what I'm really missing is something actually happening. The characters each go through their different journeys of personal discovery and/or growth, but nothing is materially different at the end of the book. 🤷
Tak! commented on Steelflower at Sea (The Steelflower Chronicles) by Lilith Saintcrow
Content warning character development spoiler
This is the third major character who's exiled royalty
Tak! reviewed Steelflower by Lilith Saintcrow (The Steelflower Chronicles, #1)
Thief, assassin, sellsword—Kaia Steelflower is famous. Well, mostly famous, and mostly for the wrong reasons. …
Steelflower
4 stars
Steelflower was kind of a rollercoaster for me.
The world-building was nice, and I like that it avoided both the elves/orcs/humans/hobbits and fantasy-china/fantasy-italy/etc. tropes - I particularly enjoy the habit the author has of reconstructing words from their components (e.g. telescope => farseer).
I got really annoyed with the main character's level of melodrama and self-victimization around halfway in - I get that it was probably intentional, but I still found it aggravating. Overall I do enjoy that the characters are complex and that the protagonist isn't a perfect chosen one.
I don't feel like there was a whole lot of conclusion at the end, it kind of just segues into the next book without anything really being resolved. …so I immediately started the next book. 🙂
Tak! commented on Steelflower by Lilith Saintcrow (The Steelflower Chronicles, #1)
Thief, assassin, sellsword—Kaia Steelflower is famous. Well, mostly famous, and mostly for the wrong reasons. …
It's not that often I find myself actively disliking a book's protagonist
Tak! commented on Steelflower by Lilith Saintcrow (The Steelflower Chronicles, #1)
Thief, assassin, sellsword—Kaia Steelflower is famous. Well, mostly famous, and mostly for the wrong reasons. …
100% human-created. No part of this book or its cover art was created with “AI”.
Tak! reviewed Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty (The Midsolar Murders, #1)
Amateur detective Mallory Viridian’s talent for solving murders ruined her life on Earth and drove …
Station Eternity
5 stars
I really liked Six Wakes, and Station Eternity makes it clear that it was not a fluke.
I loved the different alien species, the way the plot continually unfolded new dimensions, and the depth and variety of the characters.
I would unreservedly recommend this book to anybody who has any interest in science fiction, mystery thrillers, or just good storytelling.