incipientdreamer's reviews
570 reviews

<b>1.5 stars</b>

Justin Cronin saw the red pill/blue pill scenario and proceeded to choke on both pills at once.

The premise for <i>The Ferryman</i> sounds amazing, a cross between The Matrix and The Island, however, the premise is the only thing Cronin has to offer. Reading this made me feel as if Cronin got this cool idea and wanted to run with it. But he just didn't have enough meat for the bones of the story to carry on. The book starts interesting. Speculative fiction is my favourite genre. It is weird and strange and believe me I love weird books. The more a book confuses me the more I get into it, but the second half of the book just unravels and ends up being exceedingly disappointing. He aims to make a statement on classism and fascism but his book ends up harmfully endorsing the very things. Gross, uncomfortable and an absolutely horrible experience. It had the hallmarks of a pseudo-intellectual undergrad stroking his chin and thinking he wrote the most philosophically groundbreaking "woke" novel.

The characters are some of the most boring humans ever. They have no substance to them and I did not care about any of them. At one point the running theory I had was that Proctor with his main character syndrome is the main character and everyone else is an NPC given how lifeless and robotic they seem. The female characters made it obvious that this was a book written by a man, they fall into archetypes, they are nothing more than a daughter/wife/mother because that is all women can be, something in relation to a man. Imagine my lack of surprise when

Thea ended up being pregnant

.

The whole plot made no sense whatsoever, the explanations which the reader kind of guesses early on but would still like to know the WHY of is explained in a hand-wavy exposition dump that does not stand under the scrutiny of the minutest logic.
The villains who we are supposed to be afraid of seem not threatening at all because, once again, there is no logic to their actions and they just come across as dumb and petty.

Why did they think creating a police state would ever be a good idea? The whole motivation behind the story is, and I kid you not, that <b>poor people need to be oppressed and treated like slaves because it builds character and makes them stronger for the next hardship</b>. Like are you fucking kidding me?? What kind of a message is that?? Justin Cronin read "fuck the rich" and proceeded to give the rich a blowjob? The anti-state and anti-capitalist premise that he builds up in the first half of the book falls apart under the very classist and sexist overtones he ends up expressing as part of the main conclusion to the conflict. The reviewer who DNFed this early on stating that the book seems to be propagating classism was so spot on, I can't believe I got catfished by the premise and the first half.

Talking about sexism, you have a grieving heavily traumatised woman and instead of helping her heal by giving her therapeutic help, you proceed to put her in a coma and continue to live in the very essence of a blue pill ending, when you have been advocating the audience to open their goddamn eyes and smell the shitshow.

About that ending

the bad guys woke up from the cryo-induced coma, saw that the planet they had landed on was very cold (think Finland) and decided that that sucks so we are gonna go back into the coma, not wake anyone up and fuck up everyone's dreams because <b>the dream weather is nicer :)</b> WTF kind of logic is that??? why would anyone do that?? I did not understand them at all, did they hate the rich or did they hate the poor, or did they just hate winters??

The writing was nothing remarkable either. And I do not mean that it wasn't flowery or pretty so that makes it shit. The sentences felt flat and there was no heart to it. The overuse of exclamation points made me want to bash someone's head in. I don't know how Cronin managed to fuck up so badly and I have no idea how this made it onto bestseller lists or was even allowed to be published. Men can get away with anything huh?

 5 stars

This might be the best Murderbot book yet (I know I say that every time, but this time it's for real) (It was gonna be hard topping Network Effect and Exit Strategy but Martha Wells managed somehow!)

This picks up a bit after the events of Network Effect, so I am really glad I decided to reread it before starting this otherwise I would have been very lost. So advice to anyone picking this up: do a refresher of Network Effect before you start this!

I love the ART and Murderbot duo, maybe even more than how much I Love Dr Mensah. I really hope the future books have more of Three in them because it was barely in this one. The angst levels were through the roof this time, and Murderbot was finally forced to confront its emotions that it had been suppressing ever since the events of Network Effect. System Collapse wraps up the arc that started in Network Effect. For the first 30% of the book, the pace is pretty slow, the focus is more on what Murderbot has redacted from its memory storage and the dilemma of saving the colonists of the alien remnant planet. So it's light on the action but heavy on the emotions in the first bit. In the final 3 chapters, however, the plot moves at breakneck speed, the suspense is crazy and it's packed with Murderbot's emotional turmoil.

The exploration of Murderbot's trauma (from all the abuse it suffered as well as all the horrifying alien shit it had to deal with) was very very well handled. The snippets added from its sessions with Dr Bharadwaj and Mensah were brilliantly done. I love a good emotional payoff when a character finally has the time to break down and deal with the consequences of the Plot and the Horrors. Not every writer knows how to write the aftermath well without making it seem superficial, but Wells just knocks it out of the park for a non-human character.

We had some of ART's humans in this one. I would like to read more about Iris and her relationship with ART. Ratthi is always a joy when he's part of the squad but the highlight of the book was ART and Murderbot's relationship. One thing I've always loved about these books is how the bots/constructs interact with each other. Last book it was Murderbot and TargetControlSys and this time it was AdaCol2. The interactions are usually always in very simple language but I love how much weight they end up carrying even when Murderbot is interacting with a lower sentient being. It's a really interesting exploration of what is sentience and how different entitities experiance emotions and feelings.

Another thing I loved about System Collapse was how Wells amped up the importance of art and media and how they are capable of changing a person to their very core (code?). Media has always been a very central part of the Murderbot Diaries, the role it played in shaping Murderbot into the person it now is after it hacked its governer module and how ART and Murderbot first bonded watching an episode of Wolrd Hoppers

Art and media really do change the world huh? I don't know what I will do with myself once the final Murderbot book comes out. For now, though, we do have at least 3 more books planned, and I am so excited for more Murderbot, ART and Dr Mensah. 

 3.75 stars

Mona Awad's Rouge tackles the horrors of the beauty industry and how racist and toxic it can be, in this muddling story of obsession and envy and the relationships between mothers and daughters. It's a very cleverly crafted tale with an unreliable narrator which makes the plot dizzyingly confusing at times, but that ends up working in favour of the book. Very weird and disturbing, I found myself being unsettled by my reflection after I read this.

The writing is also really good, bordering on lyrical which works to highlight the dreamy nature of whatever breakdown the MC is going through. My favourite thing was probably Belle (the protagonist) and her relationship with her mother. It was twisted and fucked up but at some moments tender, but felt so so real and wrought with tension. It worked as brilliant plot fuel. What I didn't enjoy very much was the random romance subplot that was shoved in for no reason. It did make the last scene very striking and aesthetically charming but other than that I felt like the book could have stood well on its own.

This was my first book by Mona Awad and it was a pretty promising read. I am adding her backlist to my to-read shelf because I love books that focus on intense and complicated relationships between people and I feel like Rouge was brilliant at that.

First book read in 2024 and it did not disappoint! 

This was one of the volumes that I read as it was released on Webtoon so I'm not entirely sure which parts are part of the published book but it was very cute, Really glad these two are so good at communicating and i'm gonna be so sad when it ends with vol 6

 4 stars

Journeys end in lovers meeting indeed.

A dizzying tale of madness and loneliness. Hill House was very different from what I was expecting before I started it. Jackson has a very peculiar writing style. It isn't exactly lyrical but at the same time, it is very very personal while seemingly like it doesn't try very hard. There is this ongoing feeling of acceptance; finally having a place to call home that we see almost immediately with Eleanor and the house. It also reminded me of Alix E. Harrow's Starling House which was about how these magical creepy houses always attract people with wild imaginations. The people who live on the margins of life, always drifting and never feeling home anywhere.

Eleanor was a very interesting character though I know many readers might find her annoying. But I feel like Hill House is a very personal horror story. In the sense that it might affect some people more than others. Jackson makes us feel the horror purely through Eleanor's eyes. Who herself is not a very reliable narrator and is scared by some things more than others. In that way, if you end up relating to Eleanor's fear of being left behind, and not being considered important the horror is very much there. It is a very cool style of storytelling, particularly horror storytelling, in that the horror itself is not explicit. It is all in how Jackson writes it. Sometimes you will be dropped in the middle of a conversation, mirroring how Eleanor has a fear of missing out which is mapped onto the reader.

The foreshadowing is pretty strong in this one. Probably one of my minor complaints. It feels a bit too strong though it might feel like you only end up putting the pieces together a tad bit too late. Just like the characters, you see the inevitability of their actions when it's too late.

I liked the theme of how Hill House seemed to be a way station or a refuge for the lonely and the castaway, the queers rejected from society. A meeting place for lovers (whether Hill House itself was the lover or if it was Theo is a separate debate). Also the paralleling between the "female companion" of one of the sisters and now Eleanor. It was a nice bit of foreshadowing as well.

There are almost too many "sentient house" horror stories these days, and at times they can feel a bit too formulaic if you read more than one back to back. I like how Jackson was able to use that well-worn horror genre to create something creative and new, which still feels fresh and timeless even so many years later. 

 Absolutely insufferable.

DNF @ 27%

It was painful getting through the 70 or so pages I read of this book. Might not be the sole reason for the book slump but the blame does lie in part here. I absolutely hated the narration style and the entire narratorial voice came off as snobby and pretentious which is the one thing I most hate in spec fic novels. I don't care how mind-blowing your plot or idea is, can not deal with obnoxious storytelling. I was probably not the target audience for this but with the way marketing works these days, it's hard to actually figure out what a book is really about apart from the buzzwords attached to it. 

 My second Scalzi book so far, and it has been the best of times. The Kaiju Preservation Society was among my favourite reads from last year, which meant I had very high expectations for this. Still kinda sad it didn't win the Hugo :( I loved the humor, and the banter. His main characters are always likeable and fun to read. There was so much going on in this book and it was a pure shot of serotonin. Plus that cover, and the upper management cats and the dolphin labor union and the evil volcano lair. All very absurd but in the best possible way. This book had me laughing and giggling at 3 a.m. and still begging for more. Definitely here for whatever this dude writes. Maybe a full proper review later on. 

 First time reading anything by Valente, and kind of disappointed. While I like poetic stories with pretty writing and non-linear plot, this kind of didn't impact as much as I was hoping for. I kept waiting for that "oh" moment where everything would tie in nicely and I would go "Yes this was something different and wonderful". It has a sweet sappy message but just didn't work for me. The writing is very pretty and lyrical, very easily readable and the narrative voice is something I didn't hate either. I am simply very disappointed by this year's English Hugo nominees. 

 What I like about Tchaikovsky's stories is that they are pretty clever in terms of the topics they deal with and how he unfolds the narrative. It's always nice to read an author who is creative in tackling the speculative fiction genre because sadly there are too many authors that manage to stagnate a genre that should be impossible to make monotonous. I wouldn't say I'm a veteran of reading his books, but the stuff I've read has always been pretty cool so far.

Ogres much like his Elder Race is written in a similar theme of the borders between magic and advanced scientific technology. Ogres are these giant people who rule over the smaller-sized "monkeys" since God has made them superior beings. It's pretty obvious to realize what actually is going on behind the so-called magic/religion but it takes a skilled author to sell the idea of magical vehicles to a reader familiar with the concept of air-conditioned cars. But that flip in perception is something I really enjoyed.

The story is told in 2nd personal narrative, but it's nowhere near my fav use of that style. It is a bit hard to get into because it's written in a very cold and impersonal way. I had a similar issue with Elder Race even though it wasn't in 2nd person, I found it hard to really be engrossed with the story. But that difficulty in getting through the start is what made this book seem longer than it is. The conclusion is a pretty nice twist that I did not see coming, and really made me raise up my rating from 2 to 3.5. Still, when it comes to Tchaikovsky's novellas I prefer his One Day All This Will Be Yours more. The humour is right up my alley, and it is so so readable and with really nice twists. Elder Race was a Hugo nominee last year and Ogres is a Hugo nominee this year, let's see if Tchaikovsky manages to break the lack of male author winner streak with his short stories or his Children of Time series next week. Personally, I'm rooting for T. Kingfisher for the novella category. 

 Truly the trio of all time.

Reading the book felt like coming home after a long and tiring day. I think the last Percy Jackson book I read was in 2014, so it has been almost 10 years since I last saw the character. Chalice of the Gods is about nostalgia. It is about missing simpler times from your childhood and missing the simplicity of youth but at the same time learning to embrace the fact that we all have to grow up. Rick Riordan writes about accepting the fact that childhood might be over but you have your entire life in front of you and how amazing is that! I loved how emotionally evocative Riordan was in showing Percy making peace with the fact that growing old is not the worst thing to happen to you, especially when it's a chance to spend your life with the people you love. Percy rejecting the gods' offer of immortality in The Last Olympian is such an integral part of his character and I'm really glad it was dissected even more here. I was not expecting to be crying over a PJO book in 2023 at 3 am but the world works in funny ways.

I missed these characters a lot, partly because they were such a big part of my childhood and we are always looking back to the "good old days" and it can be hard looking old age in the eye and saying "I see you, and I see how wonderful you are". The way Riordan puts that into perspective in terms of immortality for the Greek gods is wonderful. Glad to say that these books and these characters have not lost their magic. Truly a timeless classic.

I am really glad I picked this up, and I would encourage other fans of the PJO series to check this out, I'm sure you will love it as much as I did. Now begins the wait for the TV adaption...