thebookbin's reviews
503 reviews

As much as I distrust the Washington Post, I do regard Craig Whitlock as an honest reporter, so I was definitely interested in this book. As a 27 year-old, the United States has been at war nearly my entire life. It was such a part of life that it never really registered to me as anything out of the ordinary. I am from the generation that has very foggy memories of 9/11 itself, and was rather traumatized by the teachers and school system that made us watch videos of people jumping to their deaths out of a burning building every year in the save of "remembrance."

When Joe Biden announced he was pulling American troops out of Afghanistan, I was sad for the Afghan women, but overall glad with the development. I am not ever in favor of imperialism, and there is no other way to describe the United States' actions in the Middle East. When this book was published, I was interested, but in the middle of trying to graduate, and I didn't get the time for it. After taking my time to really digest this book, the sins of the US are many indeed.

Whitlock details the war timeline alongside an examination of a few key indicators of the war: corruption, irresponsible spending, the opium trade, ect. As he takes us through all the documents he's recovered through his legal battle with the Pentagon and FOIA request crusade, and the details are astonishing. I think in this era of "respect the flag" discourse this should be required reading for Americans who have such devout blind faith in their governments. There are chilling quotes: 

“The Afghan army and police forces looked robust on paper. But a large percentage materialized as ghost billets, or no show jobs. Afghan commanders inflated the numbers so they could pocket millions of dollars in salaries — paid by US taxpayers — for imaginary personnel, according to US government audits.” 

That price paid by American citizens was $8 trillion and almost three thousand US military deaths, saying nothing of the millions of civilians who perished in the never-ending conflicts. Whitlock was able to glean much of this information from the Army's Center for Lessons Learned and their reports, which are astounding to read. While three American presidents claimed we were making progress to the American people, their Generals and troops on the ground were admitting defeat. 

 “Of all the flaws with the Afghanistan nation-building campaign—the waste, the inefficiency, the half-baked ideas—nothing confounded U.S. officials more than the fact that they could never tell whether any of it was actually helping them win the war.” 

While I’m loving Anakin’s “That’s my wife!” energy, this book lacks the charm of the High Republic novels and in trying to fill the gaps, just creates further plot holes. It’s taking Obi-Wan’s obliviousness to such extremes that it becomes comical in lieu of tragic. 

Instead of being some deep philosophical novel about the nature of love and duty, it instead actually claims they got married after like 3 meetings. The movies made it seem like a montage. While I fully accept Anakin as that stupid, I have a lot more faith in Padme. 

I don’t think I can read this book without it ruining the lore for me. 

I am currently frothing at the mouth because I finished The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter #1 by Kazuki Irodori and and it’s so fucking funny and just what I needed right now.

The manga is a standard isekai: a random high school girl gets absorbed into another world to become their holy maiden or whatever, and defeat the miasma. Only… she’s not the main character. Our main character, Kondou Seiichirou is an incredible workaholic and kind of a bootlicker, tbh. He’s overworked as his job as an accountant but he’s also a decent human, so when he hears a girl scream he tries to rescue her from being absorbed into the ground...? There’s no place for him in this new world, but he forges his own, taking the kingdoms accounting department by storm. But when he accidentally overdoses on a potion that’s supposed to keep him awake, he is rescued by the sword-and-magic-wielding captain of the guard who has been watching him suspiciously. The magic that Captain Aresh used to save him saves him from dying. But he didn’t realize that Kondou has absolutely no magical tolerance and he will still die unless he takes extreme measures.

These extreme measures are fucking. You don’t get to see it, it’s not an explicit manga, but he does ask for consent and this man who has never had a sexual thought in his life is railed for hours and the next morning the captain wakes up and is prepping breakfast and to explain everything to this man he just fucked into oblivion BUT THIS IDIOT WAKES UP AND FREAKS OUT BECAUSE HE’S LATE FOR WORK. Aresh's reaction to this is priceless.

Honestly my favorite thing about it is the play on tropes. I don’t really like isekai as a genre, not because there’s anything wrong with it but because generally the protagonists are mediocre boys who suddenly have a bunch of superpowered girls fighting over them. Not only is Kendou an extremely interesting main character, isekai are generally never gay. I am also really enjoying reading a manga where the focus is strategy and paperwork and not just fighting and flashy battles. Kendou is literally so good at his job that he accidentally uncovers a unscrupulous scheme happening behind the scenes. He is extremely competent, an unapologetic scab, and a total idiot. I love him.

 It looks on track to be an extremely fun story as well as beautifully drawn. I can’t wait for the second volume!

5/5 gay workaholic stars 

 I just finished River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey and I have never been more excited by a premise in my entire life. Gay hippo-riding anti-hero cowboys??

Literally the best thing ever. I’ve read Sarah Gailey’s work before, namely Magic for Liars and Upright Women Wanted and I wasn’t impressed. I think they’re fantastic at coming up with premises but not as great at execution. When I learned this was their debut novel/novella I was shocked. In my opinion, it’s the best thing I’ve read from them so far. The characters are crazy diverse and likeable, the story is action packed, violent and imaginative. The writing isn’t the best but it’s more than made up for with the crazy awesome plot. Honestly Sarah Gailey should just keep writing these. Forever. 

The main character Winslow Houndstooth is gay and he’s decidedly not a hero. He wants revenge for his ranch and the hundred hippos he raised himself that burned to death in an act of sabotage. Madame Archembault, known as Archie to her friends, is thick French conwoman who uses her brains and her wiles to seduce men and kill them with her meteor sling, and she has a loyal albino hippo, Rosa. She has a starry-eyed young assistant Neville who comes along for the adventure. Hero Shackleby is a non-binary munitions expert who is firmly retired. But when a handsome cowboy asks them to come out of retirement, they consider it for those dark eyes. Cal, the man who betrayed Houndstooth and burned down his ranch, and Adelia, the most notorious assassin on the bayou. Except they have to find Adelia as part of their caper, and when they do she looks nothing like what they expect (she is heavily pregnant. Still really good at killing though). All these characters meet and interact in such fascinating ways and the only problem with it in my opinion is that it’s just too short. 

4/5 queer hippo riding antihero cowboy stars 

 *I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

I just finished Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach, a goblincore fungipunk Māori post-apocalyptic scifi(?) and it’s so unlinke anything I’ve ever read it’s hard to quantify. The story follows Yat Jyn-Hok, former street rat, current cop, very soon to be murdered. This is a post apocalyptic world where inorganic materials such as metal and plastic are shunned. The city is made of fungus—it’s alive. Doors can be regrown to the hinges, bodies can be modified to promote far-sightedness and gender modification, and the city reclaims the dead. But in this alive city, not everything is as it seems: extreme wealth disparity, a never ending war with a far-off island, and disappearing people. 

When Yat is murdered, she is thrust into the dark underbelly of the city she thought she knew. She’s confronted with the dark reality that her indifference to the realities of the city and her role as a cop is just as cruel as the violence around her. Meanwhile, her aging partner, a smart man who’s seen too much, is trying to help her in the only way he knows how. And the Māori gods are calling her, tugging on the threads that keep her alive. The story is such a fantastical mix of everything. Such interesting world building, a mystery, the mythological elements bringing a touch of fantasy, and a woman trying to find her way in a society that doesn’t accept her. 

The book does have extreme homophobia, but Yat does find a found-family in the form of a raging queer pirate crew that consists of a literal goddess of a captain, her trans wife (who has to shave because while she knows who she is she is also comfortable with her body as it is) a non-binary boatswain who plays a nose flute, and a chonky strong Tigress crew member who Yat is mysteriously drawn to. Such a fascinating read. I think I’ll want to read it again honestly. I think because I’m unfamiliar with a lot of the mythology and cadence I didn’t fully grasp the story the first time. 

4/5 sapphic fungipunk stars

A rollercoaster of a book. Mostly takes place on an alien planet, which is cool, but there's lots of trauma as per usual. A child wishes he could die. They watch over 100 heroes commit suicide so they don't get captured by the Yeerks. They choose to sacrifice their own lives to save a planet not even their own. These are 12 year-olds. Absolutely can't wait to get to the next one. 

I listened to Pearl of the Desert at work while shelving and it was such an informative experience.

I didn't know much about Palmyra, other than it's existence before reading this book, and I think it does a great job of introducing the laymen to this fascinating city. The way the author describes all the funerary practices and relics was both educational and highly evocative. But I wanted a little bit more from this book. Maybe I've been spoiled recently by Paul Cooper's Fall of Civilizations podcast, that combines lost histories with stunning visual descriptions and engaging, beautiful prose.

Also, it's a bit nit-picky but the text refers to itself more often. I have a lot of sympathy for nonfiction writers. Not only do you have to relay the facts, you have to do it in an engaging way.

4/5 funerary portrait stars