I’ve seen the Swedish version (Let The Right One In) and the American version (Let Me In), so when I saw the book for sale for 75 cents at a used bookstore, I figured I’d give it a shot. The movies are both pretty slow and quiet (for a vampire movie), and the book is even slower. Lots more subplots, lots more characters, lots more badness. And not the vampire kind of badness – just the daily grind of life kind of badness. Oskar is […]
If you could have one fictional item, what would it be?
If we’re talking about trench-coated dudes who do supernatural stuff, I’d rather read Felix Castor. But since Mike Carey seems to think he needs to be writing OTHER wonderful things and not giving me more Felix, Isaac Vainio is an okay substitute. He’s a libriomancer, using magic to pull things (laser pistols, healing potions, fire spiders, etc.) from books. This leads to many fun nods to favorites, and adds to the ever-growing to-read list. This is the second book, and it’s actually got a list […]
No spiders, but some dying at the end
I liked John Dies at the End, and I loooved This Book is Full of Spiders, so I was very excited to get David Wong’s new book for Christmas. It is, as expected, bonkers and great. I think he’s growing up a little. This book is a little less Beavis & Butthead and a little more…I don’t know…Christopher Moore? There’s a bigger story, and a little less teenage boy nonsense, but there’s still a lot of humor, and still a lot of me pausing and […]
A murder mystery with a few unusual complications
China Mieville is one of those authors I read without knowing anything about the book. I don’t read the book jacket, I don’t read reviews – I just read. With this one, though, a little bit of advance knowledge might have been good. It took me a while to figure out what was going on. Once I did, though, it hums along pretty quickly. It’s much less dense than other China books I’ve read. Borlu is a detective in the split city of Beszel. Beszel […]
New Crobuzon has seen better days
It seems appropriate that I started this year’s Cannonball with Perdido Street Station (Bas Lag book #1) and end achieving my half-Cannonball with Iron Council (Bas Lag book #3), after falling madly in love with The Scar (Bas Lag book #2) during last year’s Cannonball. China Mieville books are always so hard to review. Usually at least a couple unlikeable characters, often a semi-unhappy ending, lots of terrible things happening…and yet. The writing, the world-building, the vocabulary, the atmosphere – all SO GOOD. This one […]
“Humans are a chaotic mess, but they’ve got potential for greatness”
I read this for the first time when I was about 15, and it blew my little mind. I figured it was time for a re-read. It holds up pretty well, although 30-something me doesn’t think it’s quite as profound as teenage me. Barion and Coyul are brothers, scientists, and recent college graduates…FROM SPAAAAAACE! They can change their forms, become energy, telepathically read other beings’ thoughts and energy, and all sorts of cool stuff. They go on an intergalactic partying trip throughout the cosmos to celebrate graduation, […]
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