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avatar for Tak@reading.taks.garden

Tak!

Tak@reading.taks.garden

Joined 3 years ago

I like to read

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

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commented on Infomocracy by Malka Ann Older (The Centenal Cycle, #1)

Malka Ann Older: Infomocracy (2016) 4 stars

It's been twenty years and two election cycles since "Information," a powerful search engine monopoly, …

Content warning discussion of character traits, addiction

reviewed The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

T. Kingfisher: The Twisted Ones (Hardcover, 2019, Saga Press) 5 stars

When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she …

The Twisted Ones

5 stars

This is the best/worst book to have just gotten into when a bout of insomnia strikes, so you can lie reading in a dark, silent house while the level of creepiness steadily builds, and something outside makes a tok-tok-tok noise

reviewed What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

T. Kingfisher: What Moves the Dead (Hardcover, 2022, Tor Nightfire) 4 stars

From T. Kingfisher, the award-winning author of The Twisted Ones, comes What Moves the Dead, …

What Moves the Dead

4 stars

I'm sure I read The Fall of the House of Usher at some point, but I didn't retain enough that I had any particular expectations for the direction of the plot, etc.

However, I did read Mexican Gothic relatively recently, so I spent a good deal of What Moves the Dead, once the overall shape of the story became apparent, nodding along and waiting for the characters to catch up - it gave me a chuckle to see the reference to Mexican Gothic in the author's note.

Great writing, an intriguing reimagination of the classic.

reviewed City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Tchaikovsky: City of Last Chances (2022, Head of Zeus) 4 stars

Arthur C. Clarke winner and Sunday Times bestseller Adrian Tchaikovsky's triumphant return to fantasy with …

City of Last Chances

4 stars

There were a lot of scenes I loved, and the sequence in the beginning where the narrative is passed along a chain of serially coinciding characters is wonderful. When I read the reunion near the end, I literally exclaimed "Hahaha, yes!" As a whole, it felt a touch rambly, but I have no regrets. One area where Tchaikovsky excels is departing from (or maybe just ignoring?) genre tropes, and this is no exception.

commented on The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri (The Burning Kingdoms, #1)

Tasha Suri: The Jasmine Throne (Paperback, 2021, Orbit) 4 stars

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an …

I enjoyed the setting and the characters, but I really felt like I was having to slog through it - maybe just because of my current circumstances of small slots of reading time, I'm not sure. I'll definitely check out the next installment in any case.