Literary-Fiction

Shorefall was a James Bond film, set in the Foundryside universe. Start with a caper, introduce a cookie-cutter villain, then spend the next few days going from one exotic locale to the next, blowing everything up in the process. In this installment, we find the old gods, who are coming back and are angry, and then spend the rest of the book fearing their wrath. Our heroes never really have time to catch their breath, and Bennett is deliberate with the chaos. ...

2025 Re-review Sometimes, a fragment of a book stays with you - like a song you can’t get out of your head. That’s what has happened with Sanderson’s first ideal. The ideal itself is pure Sanderson: cliche, optimistic, noble. But the structure works. Plug in some different ideals, and the grammar has worked as a prayer ever since. “Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.” * 2020 Review: 21st book of 2020. ...

7th book of 2020. A story about a boy who thinks he’s smarter than everybody else (check), who grew up with a traveling troop of nomads (carnival?), was homeless before eventually ending up at university while scraping pennies together studying magic (code?). So I guess this is the fantasy drama version of my life from 16-20.

2nd book of 2020 When I was a kid, the X-Wing series was perfect for my imagination. After devouring a few of the books, I could spend entire evenings just imagining an X-Wing dogfight in my mind. I was curious what a new-generation X-Wing series would look like. The book was fine, and I was amused at how much time the author spends focused on bureaucratic wrangling, and leadership posturing within the team. I’m not complaining, this is my jam. Yet no detail or character was memorable enough for me to recall 6 months on. I’ll pass on the sequel.

59th book of 2019. I liked the two main characters Iad and Tane, didn’t really like the secondary characters, and didn’t like the plot. Throughout the entire book, the plot felt like special effects with the wrong lighting and color. The rules of the magic seemed arbitrary, the politics of the kingdom felt simplified, and the religious reconciliations played out in a wish-fulfillment scenario of world peace. Maybe it just felt like things tied up too neatly in the end, and maybe I’m just too used to fantasy like George RR Martin such that other things start to feel fake.

54th book of 2019 – I enjoyed it. It felt like a sci-fi version of bureaucratic fiction (i.e. 驻京办主任) where the grinding gears of tradition and succession are as much an element of the plot as the living characters. Moreover, it captures the feeling of being a foreigner, and to quote another review: “This is for all those who have ever fallen in love with a culture that was not their own.” ...

A great American novel I missed when too busy reading Dragonlance growing up, now it’s time to catch up. For the first 2/3 of the book, I wasn’t sure what made this book special, as the plot, characters, and setting all felt mundane. I can see, however, why teachers and parents would recommend it as a must read for American students, as this felt like me the sort of story that affluent parents would want to tell themselves and convince their kids about their own interactions with children and society. ...

A book more of ideas than plot, I liked the premise and enjoyed Le Guin’s curious explorations of gender (akin to Ancillary Mercy) rather than exhibitionist sexual deviance that seems to be common in modern Sci-Fi (Too Like The Lightning, Raven Stratagem).

Does a great job trashing standard dogmas, but felt like it introduces new dogmas in their place. I kept hoping for some objective way to measure single vs. mixed use, and never found it. The section on cars was great (and sadly ignored) and what I found most interesting were definitions of slums and the chapter explaining the positive value of old buildings. Definitive required reading for anybody thinking about neighborhood or city planning.

Two 70’s Sci-fi writers discover a species hitherto unknown to man, a species so fascinating that they struggle immensely to describe these creatures in detail. One alien among a sea of men, where misunderstandings and strife are all but guaranteed. What are these strange aliens called? Women.