Purveyor of finest boredom since 1969. Lost causes catered for. He / him. English / deutsch / français. @kopischke@mastodon.social (@kopischke on BirdSite)
My ratings can look harsh, because they aim to reflect the overarching, enduring resonance of the books I read – which is not quite the same as how much I enjoyed reading them. I quite like a lot of books I “only” rate three stars, and I wouldn’t necessarily enjoy re-reading everything I rate above that, but the only service I use which helps me express that kind of nuance is Letterboxd. For reference:
★★★★★ Flawless
★★★★☆ Must read
★★★☆☆ Above average
★★☆☆☆ Oh, well
★☆☆☆☆ Blargh
Avatar by Picrew Shylomaton, courtesy of @Shyle@mastodon.social
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Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way. …
Still labouring with my feelings about Tchaikovsky’s Final Architecture novels, and this one (which works well; hat tip to Soh Kam Yung’s review) makes me suspect the issue is emotional dissociation from the characters and how that works out for the novel in question. Anyway, good read.
Jamie’s dream was to hit the big time at a New York tech start-up. Jamie’s …
KPS is not, and I say this with absolutely no slight intended, a brooding symphony of a novel. It’s a pop song. It’s meant to be light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you’re done and you go on with your day, hopefully with a smile on your face.
Not much to add to that, really.
It’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; …
There isn’t much I can add to loppear@bookwyrm.social’s review; once again, Chambers is simply wonderful. Here, she is running with the wholesome if slightly insipid promise for the future Solarpunk holds to explore human condition and (not entirely incidentally, I suspect) thumb a very long nose to the whole “machine uprising” crowd. I don’t know how someone can be so relentlessly, melancholically upbeat, but I do know I had to finish this before work, and that I had a little happy cry when I did.
Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. …
Calling a serious, revisionist study of a key event in the Pacific war a page-turner may sound odd, but in this case, it is warranted. Its authors manage the singular feat of combining a sober overall assessment of the Battle of Midway, a keen eye for the doctrinal aspects of military operations, a tremendous amount of factual groundwork breaking from received narratives (and catching up with Japanese military historiography) with a breathless style of narration worthy of an action thriller.
With all the fire and fury fans have come to expect from internationally bestselling author …
This pseudo history of House Targaryen’s conquest and early reign over Westeros, the fantasy kingdom A Game of Thrones is set in, exhibits all of Martin’s strengths and weaknesses as an author. Unluckily, the chosen format, an erudite fake history, makes the former – Martin’s ability to write engrossing, believable characters and tell a rich yarn through their eyes – mostly shine through their absence while the latter – Martin’s notorious lack of understanding of the histories and societies he draws his inspiration from – are painfully highlighted. Apparently, in the 150 or so years the book covers, the society, economy, technology, even fashion (judging from the illustrations) of Westeros did no evolve one iota; more vexing even, in the light of a radical paradigm change in warfare, dragons (and let’s not go into the naive nerdy Wunderwaffen belief that lies a the core of that; I’ll refer you to …
This pseudo history of House Targaryen’s conquest and early reign over Westeros, the fantasy kingdom A Game of Thrones is set in, exhibits all of Martin’s strengths and weaknesses as an author. Unluckily, the chosen format, an erudite fake history, makes the former – Martin’s ability to write engrossing, believable characters and tell a rich yarn through their eyes – mostly shine through their absence while the latter – Martin’s notorious lack of understanding of the histories and societies he draws his inspiration from – are painfully highlighted. Apparently, in the 150 or so years the book covers, the society, economy, technology, even fashion (judging from the illustrations) of Westeros did no evolve one iota; more vexing even, in the light of a radical paradigm change in warfare, dragons (and let’s not go into the naive nerdy Wunderwaffen belief that lies a the core of that; I’ll refer you to the strategic bombing campaigns of the 20th century, especially the Napalm fuelled ones of the US’ Vietnam war, to figure out how much of it has a foundation), neither weaponry nor tactics seem to change the least bit.
Much like the Ice and Fire series it silmarillions off of, Fire & Blood seems to be intended as a morality tale about people in power, disguised as the musings of those involved (or, in this case, later observers). I suspect much of that will go right over the reader’s heads, being entirely too subtle to hold its own against the sheer narrative spin, while some parts are so heavy handed they make you wonder if Martin is phoning it in (Elmo and Kermit Tully? Really?).
In this character driven novel of first contact by debut author Sue Burke, human survival …
A multigenerational story of mankind having to become symbiotic with life forms beyond its understanding to survive, this is marred by pedestrian prose, a narrative structure that leaves no room for characters to feel for, and a take on an alien, vegetable life form that has all the charm of a chemistry lesson. Read Children of Time if you like the idea done well.
With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The …
Chambers’ Wayfarers cycle, of which this ostensibly is the last instalment, is the rare kind of SF that works its magic though the heart more than through the brain. The story of five aliens marooned, for a little while, on what is, essentially, an intergalactic road stop, will make you cry over a smile, rekindle your belief in humanity (even if nary a human plays a part) and, at times, laugh out loud (apparently, the matter of cheese is the most befuddling issue aliens would have with humankind). Or at least it made me do so.
Nearly a thousand years removed from Earth, the remnants of humanity cling to existence inside …
In her closing notes, Drayden speaks of what an uphill battle finishing this novel was; sadly, that shows. While her universe of human colonies living parasitically inside vast spacefaring beasts is as wildly and immersingly imaginative as ever, this reprise of Escaping Exodus suffers from halting character arcs, choppy pacing and a deus ex machina resolution that lets whole plot threads dangling.
An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with …
… to ensure that Hugo was deserved after all.
EVERY EMPIRE DEMANDS REVOLUTION.
Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to …
Clark’s debut is promising: an unconventional settling, a compelling narrative, and the guts to spell out what colonialism does to people – both the ruled and the rulers. It also veers distressingly close to “chosen” fantasy tropes, and its haphazard character arcs and perfunctory resolution make it unable to fulfil that promise. Maybe the next volume of the series will.
No, I didn't kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn't dump the body …
Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries is the rare gem: the series that gives on giving. This sixth instalment has all the qualities of its predecessors: it’s short, on point, and keeps us up to date with the evolution of her cyborg protagonist’s unplanned feature upgrade (a personality) with all its quirks (people), all in the guise of an entertaining SF whodunnit.