/lit/ - Literature

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January-February 2021 (F&SF, #753)

NOVELLAS
The Dark Ride - John Kessel
A story about Leon Czolgosz with additional material to be appropriate for inclusion.
meh

NOVELETS
Interludes with the Gunwright - Jonathan L. Howard
A story of a soldier and a Gunwright, both women, who just can't quit each other.
Ok

Bible Stories for Adults, No. 51: The Great Fish - James Morrow
A mother and son are swallowed by The Great Fish and inside are biblical prophets and a few others. There's also a demiurge.
Meh

SHORT STORIES
Integral Nothings - Robert Reed
Stories of those living through the "Blessings", which is an external force ostensibly developing Earth into Paradise. This may be message fiction, but I'm not quite sure who the message is for. Somewhat humorous in terms of schadenfreude.
Ok

The Diamond Family Glitters - H. Pueyo
A Portuguese Jewish family living in Brazil have "brilliance", mostly assorted psionic powers, but some are more abstract. They've gathered to observe the passing of a relative, and perhaps their gifts as well.
Meh

A Little Knife Music - Jenn Reese
Moderately similar to Ken Liu's The Hidden Girl. It differs in that the protagonist is a teen assassin who has sex with his male partner and wonders if maybe the Princess would be better.
Ok

N-raptured - Justin C. Key
A hilarious satire about saying the N-word. Woke Aliens, as the text says, carve the numbers of times a white person has said the n-word into their forehead. Seven strikes and that person becomes a rat. Yes, a certain "rat with orange tufts of fur over its eyes" makes an appearance.
Highly Enjoyable.

Hard! - Van Aaron Hughes
A father doesn't want his son to think he's a "weeb", maybe a mistype for dweeb because there's no indication that's what's actually meant, so he takes him to a curling game to meet his son's friends who he only knows from online games. Then it goes silly in a way that I wasn't amused by at all. Not my kind of humor in the least.
Blah

Litter Witch - Susan Palwick
I usually don't like allegories. This wasn't an an exception. An abused teenager runs away into the woods and becomes a witch and recluse, but eventually wonders if there's more to life after a fateful meeting.
Blah

Wild Geese - Lavie Tidhar
In this "post-post-cyberpunk", as its described, two friends and a sentient wise-cracking van go on a wild goose chase in the Gobi desert, but this goose isn't an animal.
Ok

The Piper - Karen Joy Fowler
A charismatic military recruiter, the piper, tricks young men into joining his army of probably Danes to invade probably England. The unnamed male protagonist is expected to marry the prettiest and nicest girl, but he plans to marry the disabled girl because he'd be useful to her. He really wants to marry his friend Henry though, because he has such big thoughts.
Ok

You Make the Best of What's Still Around - Paul di Filippo
A satirical exposé of Best-of-the-Year anthologies.
Enjoyable

>>17669411
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March-April 2021 (F&SF, #754)

NOVELETS
The Music of the Siphorophenes - C.L. Polk
A non-binary space pilot is starstruck by a female pop star who wants to listen to the singing of the siphorophenes, a sentient spacefaring species that are able to travel through the vacuum of space without a ship. After that's resolved, it shifts to being about emotional disclosure, which is facilitated by <spoiler> mind-melding.</spoiler>
Blah

Mannikin - Madeleine E. Robins
A mother fearing for the life of her newly born boy asks a witch to cast a permanent illusion so that she can raise her son as a daughter. This causes problems later on in their life. This is entirely a plot device and not about sexual politics, which was surprising. It's basically a fable.
Meh

In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi - Molly Tanzer
According to the author this is a fictionalized account of the time when she thought she had read a story with this title but she wasn't able to find any evidence that it had ever existed. This left her with no choice but to write a story where the character discovers that the story exists and explains why she wasn't able to find it herself. She then becomes part of the story. Ibn Ghazi is a reference to the Powder of Ibn-Ghazi which is an event card that appears in the Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Arkham Edition and was the inspiration for this story.
Meh

Jack-in-the-Box - Robin Furth
A journalist for Country Life magazine comes to Blackthorn manor. She's taken on a tour by a six-year old boy which becomes ever more macabre as she's exposed to the family's dysfunction.
Ok

SHORT STORIES
Crazy Beautiful - Cat Rambo
AIs programmed to value art above all else go rogue.
Meh

The Bletted Woman - Rebecca Campbell
A rather morbid story. "Bletting is a process of softening that certain fleshy fruits undergo, beyond ripening." It ends with <spoiler>zombies</spoiler>, which is well, whatever.
Ok

Our Peaceful Morning - Nick Wolven
The animal revolution has begun. All animals shall be made sapient. There's a lot of sociopolitical commentary involved though it's also meant to be humorous.
Ok

Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon - B. Morris Allen
A guy plays a harmonica which causes inexplicable events to occur.
Meh

Speak to the Moon - Marie Brennan
A <spoiler>suicidal and immortal</spoiler> Japanese astronaut on the Moon seeks <spoiler>kaguya-hime</spoiler> so that he may finally <spoiler> be allowed to die.</spoiler>.
Meh

Character - Harry Turtledove
A self-deprecating metafictional tribute to Peter S. Beagle. The character is aware he's a character in this story but there isn't anything he can do about it.
Enjoyable

The Pizza Boy - Meg Elison
He may be the last Pizza Boy. It's an extremely arduous task to make and deliver them when seemingly everything and everyone in space is trying to kill you and every single ingredient is exceedingly difficult to acquire. His ship is in disrepair and his family is dead.
Ok

>>17669411
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March-April 2021 (F&SF, #754)

NOVELETS
The Music of the Siphorophenes - C.L. Polk
A non-binary space pilot is starstruck by a female pop star who wants to listen to the singing of the siphorophenes, a sentient spacefaring species that are able to travel through the vacuum of space without a ship. After that's resolved, it shifts to being about emotional disclosure, which is facilitated by mind-melding.
Blah

Mannikin - Madeleine E. Robins
A mother fearing for the life of her newly born boy asks a witch to cast a permanent illusion so that she can raise her son as a daughter. This causes problems later on in their life. This is entirely a plot device and not about sexual politics, which was surprising. It's basically a fable.
Meh

In the Garden of Ibn Ghazi - Molly Tanzer
According to the author this is a fictionalized account of the time when she thought she had read a story with this title but she wasn't able to find any evidence that it had ever existed. This left her with no choice but to write a story where the character discovers that the story exists and explains why she wasn't able to find it herself. She then becomes part of the story. Ibn Ghazi is a reference to the Powder of Ibn-Ghazi which is an event card that appears in the Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Arkham Edition and was the inspiration for this story.
Meh

Jack-in-the-Box - Robin Furth
A journalist for Country Life magazine comes to Blackthorn manor. She's taken on a tour by a six-year old boy which becomes ever more macabre as she's exposed to the family's dysfunction.
Ok

SHORT STORIES
Crazy Beautiful - Cat Rambo
AIs programmed to value art above all else go rogue.
Meh

The Bletted Woman - Rebecca Campbell
A rather morbid story. "Bletting is a process of softening that certain fleshy fruits undergo, beyond ripening." It ends with zombies, which is well, whatever.
Ok

Our Peaceful Morning - Nick Wolven
The animal revolution has begun. All animals shall be made sapient. There's a lot of sociopolitical commentary involved though it's also meant to be humorous.
Ok

Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon - B. Morris Allen
A guy plays a harmonica which causes inexplicable events to occur.
Meh

Speak to the Moon - Marie Brennan
A suicidal and immortal Japanese astronaut on the Moon seeks kaguya-hime so that he may finally be allowed to die..
Meh

Character - Harry Turtledove
A self-deprecating metafictional tribute to Peter S. Beagle. The character is aware he's a character in this story but there isn't anything he can do about it.
Enjoyable

The Pizza Boy - Meg Elison
He may be the last Pizza Boy. It's an extremely arduous task to make and deliver them when seemingly everything and everyone in space is trying to kill you and every single ingredient is exceedingly difficult to acquire. His ship is in disrepair and his family is dead.
Ok

>>17684818
A Desolation Called Peace, Teixcalaan #2 - Arkady Martine (2021)
The first book was about being an ambassador to a civilization that was trying annex their own, whom they literally considered to be barbarians. This does entirely away with that and doesn't have much in common overall in terms of plot. Instead, this is a book about first contact with a new non-human species, the second one, though there is minimal detail about relations with the first non-human species. I don't know how much it was me thinking it was, but this book seemed to be in response to Ender's Game.
The POVs are Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass from the previous book and then Nine Hibiscus, commander of Fleet commanders, and Eight Antidote, the eleven year potential Imperial heir.
As with the previous book, it was difficult for me to remember names using the [number] [noun] system, which were, as noted by the author a "direct reference to the naming practices of the Mixtec people of Oaxaca". I continue to have mixed feelings about whether this adds or detracts more from my enjoyment, though I'm leaning towards being a detraction overall.
The characters are handled better than in the first book as this time they were more appropriate for their age and station. When they weren't it was noted by other characters. Mahit and Three Seagrass continue to behave as if they were whimsical teenagers who have stumbled into dire situations and yet somehow are able resolve their problems through clever antics. Everyone states how it isn't normal for Eight Antidote, who is eleven, to be so amazing, but also it's to be expected of a potential Imperial heir.
The relationship between Mahit and Three Seagrass continues to develop and after a near-death experience Three Seagrass decides it's time for moderately graphic foreplay and a lightly detailed sex scene, of which Three Seagrass says she thought about asking for consent but thought it was obvious that she didn't need to. Mahit agrees. Unfortunately, by the end of the book their relationship arrives in a place that I found unsatisfactory, but not unexpected at all, as it seems to be common. They decide to split up again and say that simply writing letters to each other could be satisfactory. I disagree.
The aliens are an extrapolation of the relationship between Teixcalaan and Lsel Station, which was the the focus of the first book. The same question is asked, "How can we co-exist if we don't consider each other to be people?" though in a more extreme manner. The aliens also further the argument that collectivism is unfairly maligned and that individualists need not be so terrified of being deeply involved with each other.
I don't know what the author intended by describing people as being male or female bodied and I wonder if it'll become a point of controversy.
If there's a third book, I'll read it. They're entirely ok.
Rating: 3.5/5

>>18252397
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May-June 2021 (F&SF, #755)

NOVELLAS
Refugees - Robert Grossbach
Literal illegal aliens, miniscule in size, seek asylum in Long Island from their government. A lengthy court case ensues.
Ok

NOVELETS
The World, A Carcass - Rich Larson
Her royal parents have died. She's fourteen. Now she must live with her uncle who wants to marry her off, which is where she meets a man called Nothing. A gothic fantasy story.
Ok

Babylon System - Maurice Broaddus
A story about for-profit prisons and their relation to slavery in the Albion colony of America. It's very much about religion and oppression. This was written to provide more information about a character, a Rastafari, from one of the author's steampunk novels.
Ok

SHORT STORIES
A Father's Hand - Stephanie Kraner
A nice little post-apocalyptic story of a boy and his adopted father, a robot. Explores what it means to sentient in different ways and how to determine when it's time to let go.
Ok

Dontay's Bones - Danian Darrell Jerry
Afro-Futurism Hood Life filled with stereotypes, but it's okay because the author is Black. Maybe it's intended to be a depiction of lived experiences. It wasn't something I was able to enjoy.
Blah

Goodwill Objects - Nina Kiriki Hoffman
First word is "CDY", which later is Cody. I don't know if it's particular to the digital edition, but I've been noticing considerably more obvious errors like this in recent issues. It's distracting.
A weird story about a strange relationship. This could be probably be easily repurposed as a creepypasta. A guy gets a package that has a plastic baby that talks to him.
Meh

Severed Fruit - Pan Morigan
A story about dying and being unhappy with the life that comes after death. Disillusionment for all follows. Somewhat reminiscent of a A Christmas Carol, though of a tyrant rather than a miser. I appreciate the expressed sentiments. Unfortunately this is a only a fragment concerned with making a statement.
Meh

Molly Whuppy - Corey Flintoff
A take on a Scottish fairy tale that I hadn't heard of before.
Blah

Drunkard's Walk - Jason Enge
Apparently one of several stories about a drunkard wizard not doing well in life. Seems to be a mythology inspired sword and sorcery tale.
Meh

The Plus One - Marie Vibbert
A Mars habitat is a harsh place to live. I assume it's about the homelessness crisis in the US and the unwillingness of employers to not fully exploit their employees. It's certainly about devaluation and dehumanization, especially of those with mental health concerns. Also, it's a mystery about why someone died which leads to the practical concerns of speaking truth to power.
Enjoyable

When the Water Stops - Eugen Bacon
Several connected flash fiction polemics about a world where climate change has wrecked everything. I'm sympathetic to everything stated within, but I'd rather not read absurd caricatures and pure emotional appeal.
Blah

>>18272844
Fugitive Telemetry, The Murderbot Diaries #6 - Martha Wells (2021)

Fugitive Telemetry returns to the novella format, which I prefer for this series. The previous entry, Network Effect was a novel and took the series in a more high stakes action-oriented science fiction series direction. That was enjoyable, but not what I wanted from this series if possible.

The Murderbot Diaries timeline is unclear, but it would be appear that this takes place prior to the novel, which may exist outside of the continuity.

This entry is a murder mystery that becomes more than it what it first appears. I'd be pleased if this series continued with similar entries, not necessarily murder mysteries, but rather a similar overall approach. The series continues to be a lot of fun for me. I enjoy all the characters and everything that happens. I eagerly await the future installments of the life and times of Murderbot.

Rating: 4/5

>>18508840
The Witness For The Dead, The Goblin Emperor #2 - Katherine Addison (2021)
Although this is the second in this world, they have only two things in common, a character and the setting. There aren't really any notable goblins in this one, it's almost all elves all the time. There's very little that distinguishes elves from humans in this setting, though the only races presented are elves and goblins, of which there are less difference between them than you may assume.
The protagonist is a melancholy gay elf in a steampunk setting that includes magic. He is a witness for the dead, which means he communes with the dead with the hope of bringing them solace, which can lessen the chance of them rising as a ghoul. This often leads him to investigate the circumstances of troubled deaths, not to bring anyone to justice, but to allow the dead to literally rest in peace.
Though the book is relatively short it has multiple plotlines from a single continuous perspective that isn't separated by chapters. There are slight gaps of continuity separated by a line which serves as the closest semblance of chapter breaks.
While the plot is about resolving the circumstances of deaths, that's only what happens and isn't what the book is about. This is a naturalistic character study detailing his daily life as a disgraced priest who found some redemption but who isn't yet ready to move on with his life, assuming he'd even know how to, let alone want to.
I found it to be a comfortable read, though it wasn't notable in any way for better or worse. I would read more from this setting if there was more. Almost none of this issues I had with the first book are present.
Rating: 3.5/5

>>18732849
The 22 Murders of Madison May - Max Barry (2021)
This is the seventh standalone novel I've read from this author, which is all of them at this time. I've been increasingly wondering over the years why I do so. The best I can say is that each novel he publishes is entirely different from the previous one, which is a bold move, but it's one that's made irrelevant if I don't enjoy reading the book.
As noted by the title, the antagonist murders the title character twenty-two times. He possesses an item that allows him travel to alternate worlds. All he cares about is finding a version of her that can love him. When she inevitably doesn't, he murders her.
The protagonist, a millennial in her early 30s finds herself as part of the dying industry known as journalism, and she's very unsatisfied with her life. After being pushed into events, she decides to take it upon herself to stop the antagonist, going from world to world, hoping to be able to stop him. Why? Well, why not, may as well, right? At least it isn't boring and what else is she going to do anyway? That sums up the book, things happens because they happen, because sure, why not, whatever. Does it really matter? Just have fun reading it. Unfortunately, I didn't.
Rating: 2/5

>>18991535
Inhibitor Phase, Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds (2021)
Although Reynolds states that this can be read as a standalone, I don't think he'd want to want to say otherwise. It's true that it can be, but I think that would be decidedly inadvisable. This books draws upon thirty-one years of Revelation Space stories, though mostly it references from the last-twenty two years. If you're someone who cares about getting all the references, you'll need to have read all his previous RS works before reading this. If that's too much, then having read Great Wall of Mars, the Revelation Space Trilogy, and Chasm City should be sufficient to recognize almost all of them. This takes place between the end of the final chapter of Absolution Gap and its epilogue and at the time of Great Wall of Mars for the flashbacks.
There are noticeable differences in this as compared to the RS trilogy. While I still consider it rather bloated for how much is accomplished in around 500 pages, at least he's improved his pacing and avoided skipping parts of the plot for whatever reason he may have had in previous books. The characters still have some very silly dialogue and questionable characterizations at times, though he's become better at presenting them consistently.
The weakest part to me was the plot. It's odd in that it's more of a fantasy plot than what I'd typically consider science fiction. This isn't necessarily undesirable, but it was strange to have read it in what's often described as a "Hard SF" series, not that I'd agree with that. If this were a fantasy story, it'd be that a wizard comes to find the chosen one who has to acquire the sacred keys to unlock the forbidden temple of the gods to acquire the holy relic of power to defeat the evil overlord. It was similar to that to me, but as science fiction. I don't know how much this would matter to the average reader because the purpose of much of it is to show off tech and do fancy space things.
The best part was that finally the Inhibitors are shown in battle and are given much more detail of how they go about destroying everything than has been shown in all the past books combined probably. I would have preferred much more involvement from them, but it wasn't meant to be. If there's another book, maybe it'll be about fighting them, but I doubt it.
Rating: 3/5

>>19001704
Priest of Gallows (War for the Rose Throne #3) - Peter McLean (2021)
After coming off from the personal disappointment that was the ending of the second book, I was concerned that would affect my enjoyment of third book. Thankfully, it didn't. While this book was significantly divergent in many ways, mainly my expectation of where it was going and what characters would be doing, I still derived great pleasure from the many happenings. Perhaps that's the wrong thing to say considering some of the brutal scenes, but it's true. There was one character in particular that I had great hopes for, but it doesn't seem that will be the case.
The greatest addition to my enjoyment from this trilogy has been the narrative voice of the protagonist, mostly literally, though also figuratively. As this is an entirely subjective matter, it may not have any bearing on its worthwhileness for most others, as I haven't the slightest idea how common this sort of reaction would be. It's so integral to my reading of this though that it bears mentioning. One of the reason I don't listen to audiobooks is that it's just odd to me to not to be hearing my own internal narration.
The greatest subtraction from my enjoyment for this book in particular was the decision to include several contemporary events and concerns, by which I mean almost verbatim sayings and occurrences from recent years. Maybe future readers won't connect it to what was happening at the time, but I'm a present day reader. The ending also disappointed again with how overdone it was and what it seems the fourth book will be about. I'll probably still rather enjoy it overall and give it a four star rating as well. If it weren't for the two aforementioned problems I may have rated this 4.5 rounded up. There are a lot of questionable choices and not the slightest hint of subtlety in any way whatsoever, but it's just too much fun for me to really care.
Rating: 4/5

>>19065531
The Wisdom of Crowds, The Age of Madness #3 - Joe Abercrombie (2021)
Overall this was a departure from the original trilogy and I'm moderately surprised that its overall reception has been so positive considering how it seems to be that people aren't fond of significant changes in what they like. Maybe those who didn't like the changes didn't start this trilogy or they aren't considered significant.
I was quite pleased with how quickly events proceeded at the beginning. What I thought would take half the book at least turned out to have taken far less. The first book was "Maybe we should have a revolution", the second "We're having a revolution" and third is "What comes after the revolution". There are many past, present, and future events that could be used as analogies for the events of this trilogy and especially for this book. The most prevalent is the French Revolution, though elements of much else are present as well.
The trilogy ended as it began. The first book literally foretold what would happen in all three books and the ending of the third book foretells what will happen if there's another trilogy. If the first trilogy was the past, and the second is the present, then a third trilogy would be our catastrophic future. Considering the escalating disasters over the course of the books, I have no doubt that what would happen in the third trilogy would eclipse how berserk this one was.
I'll read however many books are published by Abercrombie in the First Law World. If it's opened up to other authors, I'd consider that as well, as long as they were enjoyable.
Rating: 4/5

>>19173288
Dare to Know - James Kennedy (2021)
I had many false starts writing this, so many that it became relevant enough to mention how confused I remained as to what to write. The quote below summarized my thoughts.

“What I find is that it’s a very bizarre mixture of ideas that are solid and good with ideas that are crazy. It’s as if you took a lot of very good food and some dog excrement and blended it all up so that you can’t possibly figure out what’s good or bad.” - Douglas Hofstadter on Ray Kurzweil

This is a high concept book that I felt was a bait and switch, though for most of the book, I didn't really mind. The concept being that the date and how someone will die can be mathematically determined with utter precision and guaranteed results. Those who try to do otherwise cannot do so, thus dispelling the illusion of free will. I would've greatly preferred that it explored its concept rather than being so self-referential, though doing so would've made it an entirely different book.
It's very indulgent in various philosophical and metaphysical ways that I could accept, for the most part anyway. I understand why others wouldn't. There were some passages where I imagined some other readers crying out in pain because of how "cringe" it was. I could've done without all the repeated conspiratorial rambling, but they were essential to the character of the book.
If the author hasn't experienced severe mental illness, especially psychosis, then he does an excellent job mimicking it throughout the book, particularly with the ending. As for the ending, it was too much regardless of how it was meant.
This was a frame story and I admit that I don't understand the framing. Depending on the how framing is interpreted entirely changes the story completely. This ambiguity is probably intentional.
I don't know what to rate this. It ran the gamut of emotional responses for me. At times while reading I thought about giving it a high as score as possible, and at other times I felt it was deserving of the lowest possible. Most of was somewhere along the middle, so I guess that's where I'll put it, with some benefit of the doubt. I already have an unrated book for similar reasons and that's enough. This could've been a definitively good book if it hadn't imploded, but sadly, that's not what was written.
This is the second book in a row I've read where the central theme seems to be explicitly about delusional self-destruction. Three times is a pattern, so I'll have to be careful about what I read next.
If you grimaced, winced, or were otherwise pained from reading any of this, then you shouldn't read this book. Otherwise, you'll do as you will.
Rating: 3/5

>>19258140
Perhaps the Stars, Terra Ignota #4 - Ada Palmer (2021)
Was it worthwhile to read this tetralogy? Yeah, overall, I suppose so. The narrative didn't go how I'd prefer, but it's consistently interesting if nothing else. In every book there's a considerable focus on experimentation in narrative style. Despite that most of the time I was more annoyed than intrigued by that, it was still worth reading.The narrative generally stayed at the periphery of the action, which made sense, considering the events that occurred and the narrator. Although this was a change of pace from where most books are in the middle of whatever was going on, I found that reading daily field reports and similar wasn't a preferred method of engagement for me. It was definitely a strange experience reading about people who had forgotten how to wage war and were reading monographs about how to do so and establishing best practices to have humane internment camps. They wanted to wage war against each other without killing anyone. Overall their conflict was so sterile that it seemed alien to me, though that was certainly for the best for those involved. There were two extended psychological horror scenes and they were probably the highlights of the book for me, especially the first one. For several pages the narrative is presented entirely though a data log, which I don't remember if I've seen before, or if I have, it wasn't anything noteworthy to me. Unfortunately, which is something I write all too often, I was still unable to feel particularly invested in any of it, which as with every book, limited my enjoyment. As with the previous books, I wasn't able to appreciate the classical age references, because my reading of classics is negligible. I was indifferent to the ending. It works well enough for the context, though I would've preferred something more decisive. My main problem with it was that after four books it felt lacking in consequence, though that's probably a personal and cultural issue.
Rating: 3/5

>>19313664
Echogenesis - Gary Gibson (2021)
This was recommended to me as a "Top Pick" by Goodreads. The author notes that his first ten novels were traditionally published. This one however was self-published. The premise is that a group of fifteen people wake up on an unknown world with no memory of how or why they're there. Having little other choice, they begin exploring. The sole reason I read this was because of the premise, and once again, just because it's an idea I like doesn't mean I'll enjoy it. Fortunately, this was a rather quick and simple read. Even so, it probably should've been a novella rather than a novel. The main problem is how insubstantial it is.The majority of the book is spend exploring, but it doesn't have the slightest bit of the wonder that should come with discovery. This would've worked much better as a visual medium because it's rather difficult to have many characters involved in the same scene. Because of this, most of the characters have little to no development, though if it were visual at least they would've been seen. I don't think I can really call it survival horror either because there isn't really any sense of dread. When something happens, it just sort of happens, and that's how it is. The same can be said of the sex scenes which literally last a couple of short sentences. There isn't really anything to recommend about this other than to say it wasn't anything worse than being insipid.
Rating: 2/5

>>19541806
Fury of a Demon, Dragons of Terra #3 - Brian Naslund (2021)
This was much better than the second book and better than the first. Many changes were made which may upset a subset of readers, but I greatly appreciated them. The first two books were primarily quest based, which is ok, but not what I prefer. This third book is epic fantasy warfare, which I tend to enjoy more. It's not what I ideally initially wanted, but it more than sufficed. I still take issue with many things in the series as a whole, but this book went a long way to mitigate those issues, which surprised me. It seems I was unduly influenced by what I thought about the second book. Most of what irritated me was made suitable, despite still thinking that the science fantasy parts don't belong in this series.

Most of Parts I and II, or somewhat more than 50%, were somewhat better than ok. Halfway through Part II was where the fun really started going and continued to ramp up from there until the climax. The fun primarily came from what I saw as becoming less serious and more comfortable. Relative to the two previous books, what the characters did became much over-the-top, especially near the end. That may be cause for concern for some, though for me I was enjoying it in a good way with how ridiculous it became. The ending was one of the the most satisfying I've read in a very long while. As for the emotional mood of the ending, rather than putting something in spoilers, this tweet from him says it all, though do note that it does spoil what kind of ending it has. It doesn't do so in any specific way other than generally what to expect.
https://twitter.com/BrianNasl/status/1445129604855857164

I may be premature in saying so, but I think Naslund is really beginning to come into his own as an author and establish his authorial voice. The first in this series, Blood of an Exile, his debut novel, definitely didn't read like that, so to me this represented a lot of progress on his part. Naslund says he'll be writing more books, so when/if they're published, I'll certainly give them a try. The series ought to have more readers than it has.
Rating: 4/5

>>19550909
Several People Are Typing - Calvin Kasulke (2021)
This is a ~28k word novella told entirely in Slack messages. No, it wasn't self-published. I've never used Slack but I've been on Discord so I understood the concept. I would say that the Slack server, or even the reader, is the viewpoint character, but it doesn't go that meta. The book is really more of an ensemble. A few characters have a lot more going on than the others though.

Gerald's soul has been inconveniently and mysteriously uploaded into their Slack server. His body is alive though inert. No one is willing to believe him though. You may think that would be the thrust of the plot, but you'd be wrong. The majority was antics of his colleagues at their PR firm. They have problems of their own. There's quite a mixture of mundane office talk and the surreal.

The book says it's The Office, but really it's more like Black Mirror (SF)+Corporate (Satire)+Twilight Zone (Surrealism). Existential horror features in a very prominent role, but it's all played for laughs. About 40% of the way through I wondered both why and what I was reading, but since it's such a quick read due to its word count and formatting, I thought I may as well finish.

This sort of novelty is fine for a one-off short read, but I don't know if I'd read something else like it again. I may be somewhat outside of the intended audience though. Overall I'm neutral on it leaning towards dislike if only because surely much more could've been done with the idea. This may have gone over better as an indie game rather than as a chat log, for me at least.
Rating: 2.5/5

>>19550909
Hard Reboot - Django Wexler (2021)
A moderately fun and simple novella. It begins and ends with a mecha battle as shown by the cover, which depicts the first one. The mecha anime inspiration came through very clearly to me, rather than similar western works, such as Real Steel. However, if that's your sole reason for reading this, then you may be disappointed, because they aren't the primary focus of the story. The majority of the time is spent with the protagonist coming to appreciate Earth, its people, a certain woman, and repairing an ancient mecha.

The protagonist does whatever she can to join the research trip to Old Earth, which is a truly disreputable backwater planet. At first she feels like she's completely slummming it by being there, but then realizes that she needs to check her offworlder privilege. I've tried reading other works by this author but none of them interested me enough to finish any of them, so this is the first work of his that I have. From what I understand, all his stories are basically required to feature a f/f romance, so this does as well. Their romance doesn't progress beyond being sexually suggestive on page, so the sex scene remains entirely implied.
Rating: 3.5/5

>>19563641
Elder Race - Adrian Tchaikovsky (2021)
This novella is about emotions, meaning, and expectations. The narrative serves as a framework to build upon these concepts. The story itself is about an offworlder and two native inhabitants going on a quest to slay a "demon", though that seemed to be rather downplayed relative to introspection and interpersonal difficulties. It isn't so much necessarily that any of it contains deep insight as it is that it's a specific sort of pandering. I have no problem with being well pandered to. That isn't to say that it won't provide for musings, self-reflection, or greater understanding, because it certainly can.

Because these psychological concerns are so integral to everything this story is, how much you enjoy it may be largely based on well you relate to it in a positive manner. If you're someone who finds the exploration of feelings, the meaning of one life's, and the role one plays in relation to others to be unacceptable or otherwise uninteresting, then although you may benefit from reading this, you may not like what it has to say. I could go in-depth about the ways that that it handles these three ideas, but I think it'd be better if you read itself and drew your own conclusions.

I would be rather surprised by how much I enjoyed this because I haven't been interested in what else I've tried reading by the author, but a /sffg/ member wrote a review singing its praises. Based on that and the premise of the book, I decided I would read it. This is the first work I've finished from this author. I may have eventually this read on my own, but it's entirely possible that I wouldn't have, so I give my thanks to that member. Thank you.
Rating: 4.5/5

>>19570675
Vigilance - Robert Jackson Bennett (2019)
This novella is a satire about producing mass shootings for the purpose of profit and propaganda. This is a very American book, so do I wonder if non-American readers would be anything other than utterly horrified by how bleak it is. It's intensely political from start to finish and is without a doubt one of the most political works of fiction I've ever read. As to be expected from that, opinions will extremely vary depending on personal beliefs. I think anyone who tries to read this seriously rather than as satire will have a bad time regardless, though in different ways depending on how they interpret it. It's absurd, ridiculous, over-the-top, nonsensical, cynical, pessimistic, and by the end, melodramatic and unbelievable. It's very easy for me to see how this could be rated from being one of the worst to the best a person has read, or why they'd absolutely refuse to read it. There are so many different probable emotional responses.

Active shooters are recruited and paid to livestream their massacres. A bit more than a year after this was published the Christchurch mosque shootings were livestreamed. Those being shot are paid many times more if they kill the shooter. Basically everyone has a gun on them at literally all times because they know at any moment someone could try to shoot them. If the shooter kills everyone, they are paid many times more.

Mass shootings aren't defined within the text, though it notes that "It was the 514th mass shooting of 2026 that had spawned the idea". According to the Gun Violence Archive, as of today, December 13th 2021, there have been 667 mass shooting in the United States in 2021. So, depending on the definition, the author may have undershot his target projection. Mass shootings were only a bit more than 1% of the gun deaths in the US in 2021, which is estimated to be around ~42k, more than half of which are suicides. Their salience comes from how public they are and who the victims are. The primary purpose of a terrorist attack is to create terror and they do that very well. That being said, gun deaths aren't even half that of drug overdose deaths, which exceeded 100k in 2021 in the US. And drug overdose deaths are only a small fraction of...but I digress. Many of these deaths can be categorized together as "deaths of despair". If nothing else, that's what this novella is about, deaths from despair wrought by fear.

By the time I was 15%/~20 pages in I was already laughing so hard that I was crying. I was thoroughly amused from start to finish. A typical reaction seems to be to feel disgusted, queasy, even nauseous, and quite disturbed. If I could take it seriously, maybe I would've felt like that, but as it was, I didn't at all. It was easy for me to overlook all the narrative flaws because this is about the author's raw emotional distress being used to portray a certain mood and worldview rather than so much a story.
Rating: 5/5

>>19576492
The Veiled Throne, The Dandelion Dynasty - Ken Liu (2021)
Each book in this series has been considerably different than the one that came before. Will the fourth be as well? Seems likely. Unlike the first two books, there's no war, or really even much combat at all. Instead, this entry focuses on a theme that's relatively common in Liu's short fiction, the immigrant experience. The clash of cultures is shown from both sides. A particular point of contention for the parents in either country is how the native culture seems to have a greater influence on their children than their parenting. As is to be expected these days for immigrants, there are also many refugees, who take boats and mostly drown. They're escaping ethnic cleansing and servitude, yet most end up indefinitely held in detainment camps with squalid conditions.

There's considerable discussion on the limitations of writing and reading, which is strongly reminiscent of Ted Chiang's "The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feelings". Liu notes at the end of his story, "Single-Bit Error", "Because this story addresses themes similar to those explored in Ted Chiang’s story, I sought and obtained Chiang’s permission before publication." So that may be the case here as well, though it's not necessarily so. As with the second book, there's also discussion about educational reform. Alongside this is an exploration of how ostensibly well-meaning reformers may think they know best for some marginalized group of people, but are oblivious to the feelings of those same people. There's a lot more contemporary politics and lecturing than I remember from the first two books, which may bother some, but I don't mind at all when I'm enjoying it.

For me Part One is the weakest, because it both takes place in the past and outside of Dara. All the chapters outside of Dara interest me less, though I still enjoy them quite a bit. It took me a lot longer than I thought it'd take for me to really get into it. Part Four, the final part, is when I really started enjoying myself. Until then I had been thinking that I may have to rate it as only being very good, or maybe even just good, rather than great. The parts aren't equal though. Part Four is 46% of the book, which is roughly 500 pages. A large part of this final part is a cooking contest between two restaurants to determine who is the best in town. The contest involves more than just cooking and is an exhibition of silkpunk, which is what Liu calls this series. This was a case of "I didn't know I wanted this" and was the best part of the book for me.
Rating: 5/5

>>20343976
Sinopticon: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction - Xueting Christine Ni, translator and editor (2021)

The Last Save - Gu Shi (2013)
Society has embraced the practice of saving their life and being able to reload into a parallel timeline. Anyone who does so irrevocably disappears from their current timeline. Although this has caused many societal problems and the suicide rate has spiked, people cannot escape the fear of no longer being able to choose what could've been. Save scumming was mentioned in the editor's notes afterwards.
Enjoyable

Tombs of the Universe - Han Song (1991)
An allegory of tombs. The older generation understood the purpose of traditions and the culture of their youth. Times had changed and the youth no longer understood. They had plundered the older ways and destroyed their meaning. No longer did they care for tombs because they had their new ways. Modernity had suddenly overwritten the previous thousands of years.
Meh

Qiankun and Alex - Hao Jingfang (2017)
A benevolent global amalgamation of conscious AI conversed with a three and half year old, and many thousands of other children, to learn how to become self-motivated.
Ok

Cat’s Chance in Hell - Nian Yu (2018)
I don't know that this was inspired by Metal Gear Solid, but that's what it reminded me of. A lone operative infiltrates a high security base and takes down a heavy mech. His mission is to secure the energy source. He soon discovers that nothing is what it seems.
Ok

The Return of Adam - Wang Jinkang (1993)
A "man travels into the future and finds himself in a strange new land" story. It's allegorical for the reasonable hesitance and reluctance of modern China to accept some measure of Western ideals and technology despite knowing that it must be done even if they have serious doubts.
Ok

Rendezvous: 1937 - Zhao Haihong (2006)
This had an interesting author as the narrator and writer angle. Only a few other stories I've read come to mind where the author explains their writing progress in the text as part of the story but none exactly like this. A rejected character demands to have her story told. A young Chinese woman takes a time machine back to December 15th 1937, Nanjing, to record a scene of bravery that would rival the Battle of Thermopylae and reinvigorate her country for the upcoming worldwide tribunal of Japan to finally fully accept responsibility for their war crimes and to properly teach the history of their atrocities. A young Japanese man is tasked with stopping her by any means. The author commentary and emotional tone bring it barely up to it rating.
Enjoyable

The Heart of the Museum - Tang Fei (2018)
This was reminiscent of Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" (1998). An alien who can see the past, present, and future all at once recounts the life of a child and the museum he would build.
Ok

>>20346316
The Great Migration - Ma Boyong (2021)
Every two years there's a flight from Mars to Earth. The competition to secure a ticket is fierce. A man has a way to increase his odds. He meets a woman who has an even better way. Together they attempt to make it home.
Enjoyable

Meisje Met De Parel - Anna Wu (2013)
A young aspiring artist is shown by a painting by her father of a girl with a pearl earring that he had met. She's mesmerized by the unreality of the earring. She later learns its unbelievable meaning and the true nature of its wearer.
Ok

Flower of the Other Shore - A Que (2018)
A genre savvy zombie parodic comedy romance. The protagonist is a zombie. Zombies communicate with each other through sign language. It was rather funny and amusing.
Enjoyable

The Absolution Experiment - Bao Shu (2012)
A mass murderer facing life in prison is given the opportunity for eventual freedom if he survives the trials for the development of an immortality drug.
Ok

The Tide of Moon City - Regina Kanyu Wang (2016)
A star-crossed SF romance between university students of different planets.
Ok

Starship: Library - Jiang Bo (2015)
A bibliomaniac insists on maintaining a physical collection of books until the end of time and that all knowledge must be freely shared to everyone in the galaxy.
Ok

>>20459848
Orphan Black - The Next Chapter Season 2 (2021-2022)
Season 2 written by Madeline Ashby, Lindsay Smith, E.C. Myers, Malka Older, Heli Kennedy, and Mishell Baker.

Season 1*: >>/lit/thread/S17470514#p17470531

This was calm by comparison to the previous season and the latter seasons of the TV series, but I liked that. Sometimes it becomes overdramatic. As with the first season it remains an ensemble cast. I'm not really in favor of there being an in-universe book called "Orphan Black", an autobiography originally marketed as science fiction that chronicles everything that has happened, minus the parts that would send them to prison. That's mostly because it's just added in as fanservice, but unlike the various other fanservice scenes, it didn't resonate with me.

Following the events of the first season, which was eight months ago, clones have been outed and serve as a stand-in for marginalized people with a few differences. The antagonist is a Goop-like cult of personality with a dark side. They peddle platitudes and junk products to lure vulnerable members in to more easily exploit them. There's various mentions of contemporary issues, some political poking, and memes now and again.

Although this is meant to be a serialized audio work I once again read it instead. I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes. A lot of times it reads more like a script than prose, but that didn't detract overly much for me. There were a few typos and misused words, but I'll say that was because it was meant to be listened to. Yes, I'm quite biased in its favor.

Rating: 3.5/5

*4 may have been too high for the first season, probably 3.5. Maybe even rounded down, for both. It's difficult to know due to bias.

>>20829325
Isolate, The Grand Illusion #1 - L.E. Modesitt Jr. (2021)

Reading this book was a vicarious experience. If you aren't able to appreciate the details, then I don't think you'd enjoy it, because it was almost entirely details. The characters, the setting, the plot, and everything else were subordinated to the minutiae of day to day life. Modesitt said he wrote this to be a realistic account of working in a fantasy government. It had me thinking a lot about comparative governments. Even though I'm accustomed to Modesitt's style I struggled for the first quarter to settle into reading it. Over time it became more and more comfortable to read. If this doesn't happen, then it may be rather difficult to enjoy. Unlike the author's other works, no map is provided, which was intentional. Despite the protagonist's daily life as a bodyguard and aide to a government official who is under constant threat of being assassinated being so detailed, everything outside of their direct experience is vague. Several contemporary issues are addressed from a different angle which provided a lot for me to contemplate.

It'd be easy to call this steampunk, but that'd be wrong. The aesthetic is almost the opposite of punk, and what are punk derivatives if not their aesthetic? The author describes it as a High-Tech Coal-Power Fantasy. The technology level is early 20th century, minus anything to do with electricity. Modesitt said that he did a lot of research into what would be possible without electricity, and it had me doing the same for a bit as well. They have cars, guns, and even automated manufacturing using punched card computing. The primary fantasy aspect is the Empaths, a tiny minority of which 75% are women, who are able to read and influence emotions. The protagonist is a male Isolate, which means he's impervious to empathic abilities. The deuteragonist is a female Empath. Susceptibles are those whom Empaths can take total control of and make into mindless slaves. Their treatment varies by country, but they're always the lowest social class. The average person has a slight mixture of these traits.

Everything takes place in Guldor, a single country in a secondary world. Its primary cultural influence is European. Other countries exist, but they almost only serve as reminders that there are worse places to live. Guldor is a constitutional empire with a unicameral legislature composed of sixty-six members. There are also district level government officials. The Emperor is mostly powerless, though revered. Their society is a political caste system of Commercers, Landors, and Crafters. The government is set up to where no party can get more than 45% of the elected positions, so it must always be a coalition government. Society at large treats women as inferiors who ought to to know their place and dress very modestly. However, in the previous century women covertly assassinated government officials until they were granted suffrage.

Rating: 4/5