An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon. This was the most difficult book I’ve read all year and perhaps the most worthwhile. The story takes place on a generation ship, where the wealthy white people live in luxury on the upper decks and the black people* live enslaved on the lower decks, forced to do manual labor and endure the cruel oversight of the white people (who have developed a(n even) weird(er) religion to excuse/justify their behavior). It’s definitely a book filled with vivid and shocking […]
How can I keep leading when the people I’m / Leading keep retreating?
Chalice might be my favorite book by Robin McKinley. I say might because, generally speaking, I really love books by Robin McKinley. Sunshine is another contender for the favorite spot and Pegasus might be too, someday, if McKinley ever get around to finishing it*. What I’m saying it, Robin McKinley is a really good author and if you have not read anything by her, you can pretty much pick any book to start with because with the notable exception of Pegasus** all her her books […]
Who doesn’t love birthdays?
Ursula K. Le Guin is the queen of short stories,* yo. Nobody does it better. The first six stories in the book are part of Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle,** the seventh may be, and the eighth isn’t. In the first story, Le Guin returns to the world of her novel, The Left Hand of Darkness. It is a planet populated by androgynes, who only have gender once a month, when they go into kemmer and can become either female or male. They spend a couple […]
This book gave me emotional whiplash.
UUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHH is my main reaction to this book. My feelings can also be summed up like so: The whole thing was just so very, very frustrating mostly because there was some legitimately brilliant writing but the sexism was almost overwhelming. There will be spoilers for the first book in this review and while I’m going to try to avoid major plot spoilers for the second book, it will be impossible to adequately convey my frustrations with the book without talking about some of the things […]
Wherein I disagree with every single other Cannonballer who has reviewed this book
I did not love this book. The more I think about it, I’m not sure I even liked it. Was some of the writing very pretty? Yes. Was the main character likeable? Sure. But that’s about it for positives for this book, in my opinion. Obviously I’m in the minority on this, so please don’t let my…ambivalence about this book stop you from reading it. A brief summary of the plot. Agnieszka is born in a village protected by the Dragon, who is a 150 […]
Goblins and emperors and airships, oh my!
Maia is the fourth, much despised, half goblin son of the of the emperor of the Elflands. He has lived his whole life in exile, banished for the crime of being borne of a bride that the Emperor did not want. Uneducated, uncouth, and unpolished, Maia is ill-prepared to become Emperor when his father and three older brothers die in an airship crash. But Maia is thrust into the position and must learn how to govern, how to be always surrounded by people but forever […]