Speculative Fiction – Page 132

Well, that was NOT the book I was expecting to read

The Power by Naomi Alderman

December 22, 2019 by KStar Leave a Comment

… but really, that’s on me. I picked The Power out of a quick list of available novels from my library’s ebook app, after giving the synopsis a casual perusal. I thought I was checking out a low-stakes feminist YA fantasy that I could burn through in a couple of hours before moving on with myself. As is turns out, not every book featuring teenage girls and supernatural powers is a lighthearted fantasy romp with a conclusion that ties everything up with a convenient and […]

We don’t know whether this is a dream or a memory.

Space Invaders by Nona Fernandez

The Promise by Silvina Ocampo

The Fool by Anne Serre

A Short, Sharp Shock by Kim Stanley Robinson

Welcome to America by Linda Bostrum Knausgaard

Invisible Kingdom vol 1 by G Willow Wilson

Beyonders vol 1 by Paul Jenkins

Infinite Dark vol 1 by Ryan Cady

December 15, 2019 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

Space Invaders – 4/5 stars This short novel from Chile takes places in late 70s and early 80s in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship in which tens of thousands of dissenters were placed in concentration camps, killed outright, or both, often having their entire existence bureaucratically eradicated in the process. It was common practice bodies to be burned or dumped in the ocean as well. This novel is a novel of childhood as kids through a main narrator try to make sense of their world. […]

Just because you’re adequately good at something doesn’t mean that’s what you should do.

Severance by Ling Ma

December 10, 2019 by Sophia Leave a Comment

I decided to read Severance (2018) by Ling Ma after seeing it on NPR’s Best Books of 2018 List because it looked interesting and was a little bit outside my wheelhouse. I’m up for a Dystopian novel every once in a while, but the ones I read are more like adventure stories. Severance is different. It’s a little slower and more melancholy. The book mirrors our own lives in order to make us wonder how far from the sick we really are. Candace Chen is a first-generation American living in New […]

It’s kind of a lot (but that’s ok)

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

December 3, 2019 by alwaysanswerb Leave a Comment

I liked this, but at the same time, I’m experiencing a potentially problematic personal issue where I’m getting pretty fatigued by multi-POV “but like, how are they all connected, man?” stories. Which is (reductively) David Mitchell’s main wheelhouse. Sorry Dave! The problem is that, inevitably, there are some stories/sections I care about a lot, and others where I don’t quite connect to the character and with their relation to the greater plot. This was definitely the case with Cloud Atlas, the only other Mitchell book […]

A book I did not expect to hate.

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes

November 20, 2019 by narfna Leave a Comment

I think I mostly hated this? Yeah. I did. And I don’t really know why. I liked but didn’t love The Shining Girls when I read it a couple of years ago. I assumed I would similarly like not love this. And it does sound creepy and intriguing. A boy turns up dead in Detroit, his top half attached to the dead body of a deer. There are multiple narrators, including a detective on the case, a teenager, a journalist, and a homeless man. But […]

Started Off Promising…Descended into Chaotic Reading

Vox by Christina Dalcher

November 12, 2019 by Classic Leave a Comment

Damn it! My boss (number 2 at my agency) recommended this book to me. She was so excited when Amazon dropped it to $1.99 on Monday and ran over and told me so I could get it. I am so going to lie about enjoying this book because I am not dumb enough to tell her how I really feel about it. But I can tell you all. This book started off so strong and then just spiraled into mess. It didn’t help that I […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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