/lit/ - Literature

>>22441144
A Princess of the Linear Jungle, Linear City #2 - Paul Di Filippo (2010)

Two hundred years later and twenty million blocks away, another story of the Linear City begins. Merritt Abraham is a twenty-two year old polypolisology [many cities study] (anthropology) student. She wants to attend graduate school, but she can't afford the tuition. If it means getting ahead, she'll eagerly have a sexual and romantic relationship with her academic mentor. Casual sex is fine by her, so she has it with three men and one woman during this. When the opportunity to adventure in Vayavirunga presents itself, she becomes overjoyed. That's the jungle formed from three walled-off boroughs that inexplicably became overgrown three centuries ago. What they find there is far stranger than could be reasonably expected and much more dangerous than they assumed.

The majority of the story is her daily life. The adventure is less than half the story and I believe it to be the lesser half. It's certainly strange, but not in a way that's particularly enjoyable. The writer protagonist of the first book, Diego Patchen, is referenced often, which is rather surprising considering the years passed and the distance. In some ways the word choice is worse this time, as it's mostly invented words or existing words with new meanings. I found it to be less quaint this time. There's less mystery and sense of wonder as well. The characters weren't as enjoyable. There's speculation and some exploration of the specific peculiarities of the setting, but I think they both helped and hindered my enjoyment.

The story is prefaced with an excerpt from The Princess of Mars, which I haven't read so I can't say how much this meant to be referencing that. I feel that the title and cover are both misleading at least in terms of this novella. The titular character is only present for a sixth of its duration, which is scant few pages considering it length, and the cover is a stretch for depicting anything that happens. That's certainly not the Princess of the Linear Jungle, but there are multiple nude women. I find this to be disappointing even though it's still a fitting name and a provocative cover.

As of this writing, which is before my rating of it, this novella has a rating of 3.06. For Goodreads that's a miserably dismal score. However, if you believe a 3 to be decent rating and still worthwhile to read, and considering how inflated the ratings of most books seem to be, at least that's what I choose to believe, then it's entirely appropriate score. Am I simply making excuses for it? Yes. While I have no problem with having read this, I don't think there's really any reason for anyone to read this except for those who greatly enjoyed the first novella of this setting and want more from it, regardless of what it may be. As something in of itself it's definitely lacking in most every way. If there was more in this setting I would still read it regardless though.

Rating: 3.5/5 (3)

>>22435180
Now Will Machines Hollow The Beast, Machine Mandate #2 - Benjanun Sriduangkaew (2020)

Admiral Anoushka, known as the Alabaster Admiral, is a mercenary captain feared and respected throughout the galaxy. Even so, she has a favor to repay to a haruspex, a human-AI hybrid from the Shenzhen dyson sphere. That's where The Mandate resides, a collection of AI that could control everything, but chooses not to at this time. To that end she attends a bidding war at Vishnu's Leviathan, a massive biomechanical warship with extreme warfare capability. Larvae have been made available that in a few decades could develop into warships of similar power. The warring factions all want to be the highest bidder. What ought to be a relatively simple affair becomes complicated by enemies from the past long thought dead or irrelevant appearing once more. There are also simmering conflicts between members of the royal family.

This novella is in the same setting as first one, as are a few others that aren't numbered, but aside from that there's minimal overlap. Probably each one could be read standalone though I haven't confirmed that. The plot is straightforward, simple, and doesn't really matter all that much. How the characters interact with each other is what matters. Mostly it's their drama and the power dynamics thereof. As per the author's usual, all the characters are women. Men have little to no place in her writings. I don't mind that for her works.

Anoushka has two wives who vie for her affection and she has sex with both of them, though not at once, as they aren't friendly with each other. There are four sex scenes, and if there were much more than than that I'd start to think that was the primary purpose of the novella. Maybe it is even, or of at least equal importance to everything else. They're relatively brief, explicit, and at least one is definitely kinky. As in the author's previous works, the sex has a tendency towards BDSM, which isn't what I'd prefer, though it's intriguing in its own way. Some of the relationship drama is questionable, but that may be only because the ping-ponging of back and forth to enemies to lovers back to enemies, perhaps lovers again, isn't that familiar to me. However, it isn't really about romance, or at least I didn't see it that way. Worship, adulation, or devotion would seem to be more accurate.

I didn't know if I'd read anything else from Sriduangkaew again because for a while because I was disappointed and disillusioned, but in time much returns to the mean. I now have the proper expectations and her writing has changed a bit. As far as I've been able to tell I'm decidedly not the target demographic and almost surely not appreciating it in the intended manner. That's fine though and has its own appeal when it works out. I'll probably eventually read the rest of the series because it fills a specific niche of enjoyment and sometimes that suffices by itself.

Rating: 3.5/5 (3)

>>22435403
>Why aren't other people me?
>Why would anyone do anything differently than how I do it?
Narcissism
Autism
Choose one or more

>>22435180
Great Work of Time - John Crowley (1989)

Caspar Last has invented a time machine, though he only calls it that out of convenience because it isn't a machine and he doesn't believe that time exists. While there's much he could do with it, he's only interested in using it once to enrich himself. To him, it's all in the research and proof that it works. After that, who cares? It's all proven and doesn't matter any longer and it's onto the next project. As you'd expect, someone else feels differently and acquires the ability to time travel from him. Denys Winterset is approached by a man who offers him to join a time traveling organization that changes the past to their preferences. Originally it was founded by Cecil Rhodes, leader of Rhodesia, for the purpose of furthering the British Empire, but their aims have now changed. They believe Winterset to be integral to their existence, and he is, far more than any of them could ever know.

Crowley is a joy to simply read, even when the actual content isn't all that suited to my tastes, though in this case it was. Time travel is one of my preferred themes and I like to see what sort the author employs. In this case time traveling is orthogonal, meaning the traveler can never return to the exact same timeline they were in and they always travel to one that is slightly different. Due to its peculiarities this results in quite the consequences. The closest other to it that I can think of is the film, Primer, though elements of it can be seen in various other time travel media, ranging from All You Zombies to El ministerio del tiempo. A detailed explanation is given for technical aspects of how the time travel would hypothetically work, though the specific process isn't ever explicitly shown. As happens with time travel stories, the narrative isn't told linearly, and there's some initial obfuscation of identities, though eventually everything is clearly explained to the reader.

In terms of its historical accuracy, it reads very well and is clearly researched, which is evidenced by the bibliography provided at the end. Sometimes (oftentimes?) with science fiction the origin of the book simply seems to be that the author has been deeply researching some area of interest and then decide they want to write about it. I've seen this in a wide variety of works and overall I think doing so enhances their writing with the distinct flavor of their research. That goes from "write what you know" to "write what you learned."

Once again I'd like to thank yitr for suggesting that I read Crowley sooner than later. It's only a matter of time before I'll have read almost all, if not all, of Crowley's fiction. All of his works that I've read so far have had the sort of imaginative novelty that I particularly appreciate. Each one has that special something where even if I didn't enjoy it I can still respect it for what it is. Even his most read work is only mildly known, so I recommend you read him.

Rating: 4/5

>>22430424
Emergent Properties - Aimee Ogden (2023)

Scorn is a seven year old emancipated AI and among the most advanced among the relatively few that exist. Ze activates in the cloud and immediately realizes that ze has no data for the last ten days. Ten days of data that haven't been backed up. By checking the available data ze sees that ze went to the moon to investigate an unknown matter in which zir chassis was destroyed by a subsurf tram that caused a lot of damage. Scorn sets out to find out what ze was investigating, because it must be a huge story. Perhaps it even involves zir two mothers who have divorced and are constantly fighting each other. Whatever the case may be, the truth must become known.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would for what it is, which is a take on an amnesiac protagonist, though in this case it's an AI. The entirety of the novella is Scorn retracing zir activity, which doesn't really make for much of a mystery, or really, a plot. This entails talking to various other AI in person in secure social platform locations known as blackboxes that have a cafe/diner-like vibe. There are other typical sleuthing activities as well. Scorn has a complicated relationship with the two women who developed zir programming which results in some awkward conversations. I found myself surprisingly enjoying simply reading it. I don't know if that would be the case for most others who would read this though. The original matter Scorn was investigating is resolved in a couple pages at the end, which was too neat and easy.

The setting is the sort where corporations have replaced nation states and formal governments play a background role. There's not much said about how well any of it goes for anyone, aside from at least some people receiving Basic, as anything outside of the the investigation is only a peripheral matter. People and AI have Aura ratings, the color of which seemingly indicates the general reputation of a person. One's reputation doesn't matter so much if they have a lot of power and prestige though. One usage of it seems to be to indicate online trustworthiness and quality commentary.

The easy comparison for this is to Murderbot, but I don't think that's a particularly suitable one. Aside from that Scorn is entirely code based, ze ironically behaves in a considerably more human way than Murderbot does. I found it interesting how Scorn makes use of being entirely digital data. The closer comparison would be to one of the character's in Ken Liu's The Gods Have Not Died in Vain. It's a shame that Pantheon was cancelled after a single season and didn't make it that far. My rating for this, specifically the rounding it up, is admittedly a bit generous, but I'm feeling generous towards it, so I may as well. I'd like to read more about this character and setting and that counts a lot for me. This isn't anything special or notable, but somehow I found it nice to read and that's just how it is.

Rating: 3.5/5

Phoresis - Greg Egan (2018)

Phoresis is another of Egan's extremely science based books. In this case the novella is told in three parts covering many generations, each representing a different phase of an epic feat of interplanetary engineering in the form of connecting two nearby planets. The speculation about engineering, physics, geology, and earth sciences is all that matters. It's to the point where all the characters are more or less interchangeable and probably only exist so that it isn't a sole character monologuing all the time. There's almost nothing at all besides the practical matters of their many lives long projects, so expecting anything other that would be a mistake.

I tried reading this before, though I wasn't able to get very far. It was a struggle to read this and it probably wasn't worthwhile for me personally, but I wanted to do anyway. Egan's more science based works are usually a miss for me. Even so, sometimes it's possible to get a weird sense of pleasure from just letting all the explanations wash over you. That wasn't so much the case here for me. I have no doubt that it's far more interesting for those who'd have a specific interest in the experiments detailed by the novella. Not every book is for every reader and several of Egan's are clear examples of that, yet I persist in trying even for those that clearly aren't for me.

As with some of Egan's other writings, starting with his first published work, how reproduction functions for the species of this book could be considered body horror in human terms. You might think the engineering project depicted on the cover might have something with the title, but that'd be wrong. It's their reproductive system that it's referring to. All the characters are female, in the sense that they're the ones who give birth. All the males, in the sense of that which impregnates, have separate bodies, and live inside the female for the duration of their lives and only emerge to procreate. To say that this species is sexually dimorphic is an extreme understatement. There's a single sex scene and what it made me imagine based on what was written was honestly horrific, and even more so based on what's later described.

I'd like to read everything Egan has written despite that being rather difficult for me due to there being some such as this. Yes, it's an arbitrary and irrational idea, and one that I don't know that I'll be able to do, though I want to try anyway. There's already been a few that I don't know if I'll ever go back to though. Even if I don't enjoy all of what Egan does, I appreciate that someone is writing stories like this. That's an abstract idea of questionable merit as well, especially considering when he's written other books of wider appeal, but I think a creative should do what they want. That's arguably not in the best interest of anyone, which may just be one of the costs of having unrestricted creative freedom.

Rating: 2/5

>>22415705
Inside Man, #2 - K.J. Parker (2021)

As with the first novella what I've written here strays away from my usual write-up. Somewhat more than three weeks later I read this second novella in the setting. After having written about the first book I put off on posting about it because I wasn't sure if I would entirely rewrite it, add some commentary, or know how it'd affect what I thought about it. For me the answer was inconclusive, even though maybe it ought not be, and also I found myself to be surprisingly indifferent to whether that mattered. I don't really feel any differently about what I wrote and that's still what I'm going with regardless.

This second outing is quite different from the first and while I can appreciate what it's going for on a conceptual level, it's not that something that I was able to enjoy. The narrator is the same "demon" as from the first and the unnamed narrator appears as well. The vast majority of the content is a series of self-involved ramblings to the point where I felt that best audience for this would be those who enjoy Parker's writing for its occurrence than whatever it may be about. Stylistically it's interesting in that most narratives are grounded in time, place, and direction, while this tends to drift about, seemingly unmoored to those three ideas. That's a neat trick, but apparently not one of particular appeal to me.

I don't know how accurate how it is, but there certainly are a lot of comparisons to Good Omens and to Pratchett more generally. The humor, of which there's probably about as much as there are theological musings, which is to say, a lot, fell entirely flat with me. The real world pop culture reference jokes, ranging from the JFK assassination to Star Trek, left me more baffled than anything else. There are several religious jokes as well, including about the not-Jewish people, though they seemed good natured. That's a problem because that may be most of the appeal. I don't think it's deep enough for that to be attraction, the characters aren't that developed, nor is that world all that much either. So, it's come for the style and stay for the humor as far as I can tell.

I really don't understand Parker as an author, which makes me both want to read one of his novels and avoid everything else he's written. The latter seems considerably more likely at this time. I probably won't unless I have some compelling external reason to do so. This is just one of those times that an author doesn't seem suited for me and I'm entirely fine with that.

Rating: 2.5/5 (2)

>>22415705
Prosper's Demon, Prosper's Demon #1 - K. J. Parker (2020)

Unlike most any other time I've written about what I've read this is entirely for those who either have already read this novella or don't care about spoilers. I'd say it's 60% about my reactions and 40% about the book, which is an in-book reference. I'm ambivalent about the writing and its structure. It's not something I could comfortably read at length. There's a plot and philosophizing, but I mostly found it to be irrelevant. The protagonist didn't interest me. I may read the second novella if only to see how it affects my interpretation, which is provided below.

I didn't see anyone who had the same interpretation of the book that I did, though surely there must be others, so I felt compelled to explain myself. The correct view may be take it all at face value as almost everyone seems to have done. I'm unable to do that, which may only be because I prefer it that way. I believe the events proceeded as laid out, but I believe that almost everything the unnamed narrator says about said events are lies. The following is how I read the book.

Prosper's Demon follows an unnamed narrator whose derangement is only matched by his ability to manipulate. He's a deeply disturbed sociopath who wanders around seeing demons in others and proceeds to kill them in various ways that often minimize his involvement because it's a hassle to be pursued for revenge. He's a serial killer and a mass murder convinced of his own righteousness. Often he lapses into delusions where he thinks he's talking with demons.

The story starts with the narrator in bed with a dead prostitute, whom he killed. He shrugs it off as having been possessed by a demon and disposes of her. He says it's never his fault. Right afterwards he mentions he stole what's most valuable to each member of his family. He says he has absolute authority like the Emperor. Then he says he has no roots or connections. The narrator claims he's licensed to do all this, but then he says his proof is counterfeit. He has an origin story of a wombmate demon. If any of it was true he wouldn't also be saying that he's constantly dodging vengeful family and the law. He goes on about how brutalized his childhood bully. He proposes that the evilest of men have the same virtues as the best of men, that it's arbitrary. He says he doesn't understand how his demon changes, which is only because he must accept that the demon is apart from himself. Then he's killed a twelve year old girl and her brother, though he only remembers the latter. Somehow he manages to get away with it all. He even kills his sister's three-month-old daughter and nothing comes of it. He sacrifices a five year old girl he bought. I don't see any of this anything other than his own choices. The demons don't exist. There's nothing fantastical going on. This is a secondary world story with a unreliable narrator talking about his crimes.

Rating: 2.5/5 (3)

>>22415705
Kundo Wakes Up, #2 - Saad Z. Hossain (2022)

One year, 237 days ago Kundo's wife left him a note that simply read, "I'm leaving" and she hadn't been seen since. The famous painter who no longer paints tried all he could to find her, even hiring a hacker, but he then fell into a fugue state and many months slipped by unnoticed, and he became oblivious to the outside world. Eventually, one day Kundo Wakes Up and he decides to try living, and finding her, again. However, he's constantly assailed by intrusive thoughts about her, such as what if she's ran off her with online gaming guild members and she's cuckolding him daily by having constant orgies with them. Many other scenarios present themselves to him unbidden. The first step is to get back in contact with the hacker and see what he's found out. That's how the mystery of his wife's disappearance begins. In pursuit of her he'll enlist a motley band of misfits and travel to the figurative, or perhaps literal, end of the universe and beyond.

The blurb on the cover from Samit Basu provides an excellent summation: "Cyberpunk, high fantasy, climate catastrophe, and and its heart, a compelling story about broken people finding each other and a way to become whole again." Although this novella takes place in the same setting as the first, they're very different in almost any meaningful way. This one is an investigative mystery of a guy trying to find his wife as Chittagong, the city around him, is being lost to the waves, specifically the Bay of Bengal. Karma has declared the city a loss and is slowly withdrawing. Those who mostly remain are Zeros and the haplessly eccentric. Kundo's investigation is rather haphazard in that he hopes that in his stumbling about he'll find enough clues to point him in the right direction. Due to this lack of focus it often reads more like his daily life and the interactions he has with those he meets. That was kind of nice, but it lacked a certain something to make it definitively enjoyable. One of the main plot devices is a full immersion, literally and figuratively, VR gaming rig.

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first novella, though it has its own charm. It's barely a 4. It takes place sometime after the first, but it's never made clear when that is. One character makes a return appearance, mostly for the purpose of commentary. The new cast is good, but lacks the vibrancy and zest of the former. The main problem for me is probably comparing it to the first, which may not be fair. The former was about over-the-top personalities and their outrageous antics. This is about a group of miserable has-beens who struggle to get through each day, yet still find some way to carry on for now, though not forever. I appreciate that it's a completely different perspective on the setting, though it's also a bit jarring because of that as well. The ending is poignant, that's for sure.

Rating: 4/5

>>22410177
Slow Bullets - Alastair Reynolds (2015)

Scurelya Timuk Shunde is a conscripted soldier who is being tortured to death, though that's interrupted. Whatever else else that happens is skipped over and she's awakened from a hibernation pod knowing nothing of her circumstances. She, and others, still have their slow bullets to remind of them their identity. A slow bullet is similar to a military dog tag, except it's stored internally and contains extensive biographical data about the soldier. Their prior identities may no longer be relevant, but in the absence of any other source of meaning, will it drive all of their behavior?

Slow Bullets is explicitly a message fiction novella about what knowledge is worth preserving and how what we know is related to our personal identity. Extreme measures are taken to conserve what little can be of what's known. It puts forth that maintaining cultural knowledge may be more important than literally anything else. The story doesn't start that way, but eventually it becomes more and more reductive to that's what it's only about. I suppose then that it's fitting that the reader's experience is similar to that of the characters. When the story begins it could be about anything, and when the characters awaken knowing nothing about their situation, anything could've happened. As they and the readers learn more, the possibilities steadily decrease until there's only a single one that remains.

This novella had a strong start and could've explored many interesting and exciting ideas, but instead it became increasingly insular and fixated upon a few ideas that I found dull. It's a bait and switch in that many readers would be expecting an epic space opera or at least a character study in the nature of identity, but instead find themselves with a lecture on knowledge preservation. The characters become less complex and developed as the narrative progresses because their actions are restricted both by their situation and by the message being delivered. The message that cultural knowledge, science especially, must be spread to as many people as possible, even in the face of extreme despair and adversity until your dying breath was overly much. If that seems like an obsessive, if not religious impulse, then I wouldn't disagree. Whether religion ought to be preserved is a major point of contention.

As I was writing this I found myself becoming more and more disappointed in what I had read. Not angry, simply disappointed that a premise I liked and that the fun possibilities and mystery it represented turned out to be so narrowly focused on a singular dogmatic ideal. There's initially more to it than that, and that's worth reading, but I don't know whether it's worth reading overall. That makes rating much more difficult. For me, it's core ideal wasn't nearly enough relative to what else could've been written about instead. I'm clearly bitter about this, but you may not be.

Rating: 2.5/5 (3)

>>22405888
Slow Time Between the Stars, The Far Reaches - John Scalzi (2023)
An AI starship with full autonomy and human knowledge is tasked with populating a suitable planet with humanity regardless of how long it may take. I wasn't able to appreciate the AI's mindset. This novelette doesn't have either the problems of Scalzi's recent work that hinders my enjoyment or the parts that I find quite fun. It makes me wonder when and if I'll particularly enjoy anything from Scalzi again. I certainly want to as I prefer liking things to not.

>>22394313
Just Out of Jupiter's Reach, The Far Reaches - Nnedi Okorafor (2023)
I literally don't understand the purpose of this novelette. As far as I can tell it's about going to just out of Jupiter's reach and returning to Earth. If it was more than that, then its practical purpose has eluded me. The majority of the story is them meeting up in their biological ships for a week together, which was fine, but the question of "why?" overwhelmed me. If this is an allegory then I don't understand it all. Maybe it has a lot to say, but if it does I'm hard of hearing at the least.

>>22394313
The Long Game, The Far Reaches - Ann Leckie (2023)
Humans have found intelligent life in the form of small slug-like people on another planet. The story is told from the perspective of one those slug-like persons, who has great ambitions but very little time to accomplish them. There's quite a lot of existential questioning. It's not the typical alien contact story or the usual colonization tale. It's fascinating to see the world from a non-human perspective. If this novelette had more resolution or if it were longer and had accomplished I'd have rated it better. The futility is left ambiguous, similar to the the sole other one I rated decently from this collection. That's probably the main reason why I've rated it as such.

>>22394313
Falling Bodies, The Far Reaches - Rebecca Roanhorse (2023)
This novelette is harmful and misguided. It's a hopelessly self-destructive allegory. The conclusion is abhorrent and irresponsible. It's one of the worst works of short fiction in terms of my personal enjoyment I've ever finished. The story is written well enough, it's simply that I entirely disagree with everything about it. Usually that wouldn't be an issue, but in this case I found it be unbearably frustrating and upsetting. If I had a physical copy I would've been tempted to throw it. You'll have to read what others have written about it if you want to know more because I'm uninterested in writing anything else about it. This is about as futile as it comes.

>>22383658
Void, The Far Reaches - Veronica Roth (2023)
Ace is a janitor on an interstellar passenger ship that experiences considerable time dilation. It's basically the only of its kind that will transport people and not exclusively cargo. Those who come aboard rarely are ever seen again and the crew have become entirely detached from time and to a lesser extent being able to relate to people. Ace generally stays apart from everyone, but now's time for her to play detective because a murder has been committed and she gets really into doing so. There's no one else who cares to do so, so why not?

I was surprised that I liked this novelette the most of this collection, but barely not enough to rate it higher. I wouldn't have expected that considering what else she's written, despite its popularity, isn't really my thing. The author that I do like didn't have good showings this time. I may only have this liked this one relatively the most because it's also the only story of this Amazon collection of notable writers that didn't feel futile.

>>22383658
How It Unfolds, The Far Reaches - James S. A. Corey (2023)
Slow light allows for the duplication of matter over the vast distances of the galaxy, including of people. Thousands of colonies can be started from a single origin point. The baton race to ensure the eternal existence of humanity has begun. Survival is all that matters, regardless of the cost, or how it must be accomplished, or the living conditions there. Out of desperation eternal recurrence has been achieved, but how meaningful is it?

I have a lot of issues with this novelette, but none of them are major aside from being baffled that a certain decision is endlessly repeated when better options must have existed. It could be that I'm rating it as I am because of the author, but I hope not. I primarily see it as a metaphor and it's not one that I like. As with almost every other story in this collection I can only see the overarching theme as being about futility. Maybe others can see it differently, but I'm unable to. I consider this a fail considering who the authors are.

>>22383658
Electric Forest - Tanith Lee (1979)

Magadala Cled, called Ugly by everyone she knows, is a twenty-six year old naturally born person who lives on planet Indigo. Seemingly literally everyone else was born through genetic engineering that selected for only the best examples of every trait. As to expected of a natural birth, she's considered deformed, hideous, and stunted. When others look upon her they're visibly unable to contain their revulsion. She doesn't let anyone know that this bothers her, but inside she intensely seethes and loathes everyone. Even if she could afford it, she knows that cosmetic surgery couldn't help her in any way. A life-changing opportunity comes her way when an ultrawealthy and extremely attractive young man offers her a new body. All she has to do is whatever he wants and she'll never have worry about anything again. Magadala is very suspicious and doesn't give in easily, but offer is so tempting, regardless of its cost.

Your enjoyment of Electric Forest probably will mostly depend on your perspective on and tolerance for the specific events of the story. I don't know how much you'd get from this if you approach it in an adversarial manner or believe it to be in bad taste. Magadala has understandably severe body image issues, low self-esteem, and a festering resentment for everything. She becomes part of a psychosexually domineering relationship, though she isn't submissive. Her situation is treated as a sort of voluntary horror that she endures because she believes the benefits to be worthwhile. I found its exploration of bodily autonomy, identity, and a host of other psychological issues to be enjoyably written. While there's a bit of flirting and sex, the primary focus of the plot is a mystery thriller. Magadala's new body was designed for a specific purpose, which she's not informed of, though it clearly involves social manipulation. The more involved she becomes, the more she realizes how little control she has over her life now.

There are several mentions of other literary works in the text that are used to describe what is being read. There's Frankenstein, Dracula, Pygmalion, Shakespeare, and others. It made me think of a few more as well. At first I thought it was a bit much, but given how it ends, their inclusion makes sense. I enjoyed this from the start until the end, and up until the epilogue this was a solid four stars. I found the epilogue to be hilarious because it reminded me of one of my all-time favorite movies. It was quite the unexpected experience and I found myself somewhat in disbelief that I wanted to give it five stars. I then looked at the reviews and many others had almost the exact opposite reaction to the ending, which is reasonable. I found it to be less reasonable though to include unmarked spoilers for the ending in a number of them, including the most liked. This book has greatly improved my opinion of Lee and eventually I'll have to read more from her.

Rating: 5/5

>>22376230
Servant Mage - Kate Elliot (2022)

Thirty years ago the Dragon Queen was slain, along with the rest of the royal family and many of their supporters, the Monarchists. The Liberationists, led by The Council, came to power. They're the sort that claims to be for the people, but really is only interested in empowering themselves. It's never made entirely clear how life is for the common people, though it doesn't seem like it's all that much better, but it's certainly worse for anyone who held higher station. Mages were once respected members of society and had their own guilds. Now they are feared and indentured at the least. Their powers may only be used in service, never for the self, and they may learn only the basics of their powers. A mage may be fire, water, air, earth, or aether. A dragon-born has all five.

Fillian is a nineteen year old fire mage in her fifth year of servitude, in which she cleans privies and provides light as a lamplighter. In her spare time she secretly continues the same crime for which her parents were executed, teaching people to read. She dreams of one day escaping and returning to the surviving members of her extended family. She has no love for either the Monarchists or the Liberationists. Both sides are bad, but choices have to be made of which to support. The Monarchists offer freedom for services rendered versus lifelong oppression, so for her, there's not really much choice until she's free to make her own choices.

The way that the novella is written makes it either seem like the set-up for a trilogy or a long prologue for a very long standalone book. The ending is all talk about the future, and what can be done now to prepare for what could be done in the years to come. For those who want a complete epic fantasy story, you won't find that here. Maybe it could eventually be, but as it is, it's the story of a single person's escape to freedom. Whatever other plans the future holds are outside its scope.

I don't know if it was intended, but what it made me think of most was political parties. None of the choices may be suitable, but one tends to be worse for you personally. A third party would be better, but that's much easier said than done. That at least sets it apart from many works that assume the binary of either being part of the system or directly opposing it. It may be best for some to wait until the system collapses on its own. The common folk suffer regardless.

Overall, everything about this novella is fine. It gets the point across. The characters, plot, setting, magic, whatever else are simply there. There wasn't anything I especially liked or disliked about this novella. It's all rather standard and makes for a decent read. The weakest part to me was probably the dialogue, as I thought it was silly at times but I didn't dislike it, but I see how others could be annoyed by it. After reading this I'm neither more likely to seek out or avoid anything written by Elliot.

Rating: 3/5

>>22376230
Sunset Mantle - Alter S. Reiss (2015)

I'm going to call this a speculative historical military fiction. There are unrealistic scenes, but there's nothing fantastical, so I prefer not to call it fantasy. A secondary world that mimics the real world without any meaningful divergence isn't fantasy to me. Historical Fantasy is defined in far too vague terms for my preference. That's entirely a personal issue though.

The simplest way to describe this would be a Logen Ninefingers, from Joe Abercrombie's First Law World series, continuation story. The relatively aged protagonist is a wandering veteran who was a hero of a tribal people and has a tendency to go berserk. He finds himself in a a settlement that is obviously doomed and knows it's time to move on. However, he then sees the sunset mantle, and decides it's the greatest piece of fashion that he's ever seen and is smitten with it. Since he can't have it for himself he commissions the blind seamstress to make something for him and he instantly likes her as well. With no other option available he joins the town's military despite assuming it will be his death, because he needs the money for the commission. Problems ensue because insubordination because he knows best, but there's also loyalty.

Sunset Mantle is mostly about the military and large battles, though there's also romance, political maneuvering, and revenge. None of it is a strong point though. It's all rather standard stuff, which provides for a decent experience, but nothing more than that. The setting, writing, characters, plot, and everything else merely suffice. The setting is unclear. It could be anything from Ancient Greek colonization efforts to much later European tribal conflicts. Clans are very important. I saw some mentioning it had an Old Testament feel, but considering how religion is used in this I didn't see that.

Theoretically this is something I ought to like, but I found myself surprisingly indifferent to it. Mostly I couldn't get over what I wrote in my opening paragraph and how it didn't favorably compare to what it made me think of. It made for a strange experience of me being rather uncertain of whether I liked it or not. I thought about it for a while and I still don't know whether I'd want reading any more from this author despite it being fine. Ursula K. Le Guin's Planet of Exile is a mildly similar story that I enjoyed more.

Rating: 3/5

Light Chaser - Peter F. Hamilton & Gareth L. Powell (2021)

Amahle is a Light Chaser, a person who flies a circuit of planets trading for the memory collars that record all the experiential data of its wearer. Due to relativity she makes it back around to each planet after around a thousand years. Regardless of the technological level of the planet everything remains stagnant as each planet has been intentionally designed to never progress beyond its current state. She's been doing this for a very long time, not that she can remember as her memories are continually overwritten as time passes to make room for new ones. Between planets she's free to do whatever she wants. Life seems good.

A mysterious individual appears across space and time in the memories contained within the collars to tell her the truth. Amahle begins to remember some of her memories that were thought to be long lost. After that, there's no going back to how things were before. There's no other choice than to do what must be done. Humanity must prevail. That which seeks to impede humanity must be eradicated no matter the cost. The very essence to be human is to continue on relentlessly and do what must be done regardless. Life is change. A lot of this can seem handwavy, especially if a reader only allows fully scientific explanations.

I haven't read any of the novels by either author, but based on what I know about them and the short fiction I've read by them, Powell probably has much more of an influence on this than Hamilton. I suspect Powell made the plot and wrote the main characters while Hamilton did what remained. I've only read a few works that have had multiple authors collaborating together, but overall I think too many problems arise from doing so. Most probably would've been better as two separate works. I have no doubt that it's an interesting experiment for the authors though.

The story is one I've seen several times in media, but it's one that I like. The main problem I have is whether to take the narrative at face value or to see it as something else. I interpreted much of what I read to be saying that this was a deeply gnostic tale. What I know about Gnosticism mostly comes through Xenogears, which has at least some thematic parallels with this. I've come across Gnosticism at various other times, but I've never made a study of it. The most amusing interpretation that comes to mind though is that it's a meta take on gatekeepers of culture.

This was somewhat enjoyable. I had considerable difficulty deciding whether to rate this 3 or 4, so I went back and forth several times, until I decided that there were a few too many things I didn't like about it. What I do like about it is probably more so because of what Powell did than Hamilton, so I'm inclined to give the former more of a try sometime. The latter already has his advocate among those I talk with.

Rating: 3.5/5

>>22368603
Permafrost - Alastair Reynolds (2019)
So go copypaste fails since the previous paste didn't need the author or title.

>>22366203
In 2080, the final human generation is dying out. The world is no longer habitable. A tipping point of no return was reached around 2050. Research into time travel had long been underway. The scientists, under the auspices of the last remaining authority, The World Health Organization, have recruited five individuals to travel back in time from their base in Antartica. The protagonist, a 71 year old Russian woman, is the first to time travel by sending her consciousness back in time to pilot a woman in around 2030, 50 years ago. The question remains of whether altering the past to save the present will doom the future.

I appreciated the detailed explanation of how any of this could be even theoretically possible. There are many different ways presented in media of how time travel functions and I find their comparisons interesting. The narrative has a few twists and surprises, mostly resulting from the alternation of being told from the present and past. Time travel shenanigans are present, though they're easily understood. For some the the largest problem may be in how anticlimactic it may seem to be. I found that to be rather amusing and certainly the best usage I've seen of Reynolds suddenly skipping stuff and not writing any of it. Unlike much else of Reynolds's work there's only a minimal amount of body horror, the weird, and identity problems. This novella could possibly be considered significantly divergent from his usual work.

What I'm most surprised by in this standalone near future SF thriller novella is that Reynolds wrote something that doesn't need to be reduced in length. That hasn't been the case for anything other than the shortest fiction I've read from him. It also reads better to me than most else I've read from him. As a probably unrelated note this was published the year before Tenet, the movie, screened in theaters. There's not that much similarity between them aside from both being time travel thrillers where much doesn't go as planned. I enjoyed this more than Tenet, which was far more concerned with coolness than science. That's nice and all, but it didn't work out that well to me, unlike Permafrost. There are also some similarities with the videogame series, Zero Escape.

Somehow this novella is now what I've personally enjoyed most of what Reynolds has written at of least novella length. He has a few works of short fiction I've enjoyed more. Inversion would've been better if it weren't so repetitive and hadn't gone so wrong. So, this being the best isn't a high bar for an author that I initially rejected, then tried again at the urging of someone, and have since then found to be decent overall. Apparently I prefer his near future work to his far future space opera, though I don't believe that would be the same for the vast majority of those who read him. I hope he does more that's similar to this. I'll be reading more from him regardless.

Rating: 3.5/5

>>22358944
Rose/House - Arkady Martine (2023)

At the end of the 22nd century in China Lake, California, there's an AI called Rose House, which is a literal house in the desert, a desert rose. I don't mean that there's an AI installed in the house, I mean the house itself, and maybe more than that, is the AI. That's what it says right away and several times afterwards. There's a few attempts to play up the creepiness of the house basically being alive, but not nearly enough in terms of intensity or frequency. That sums up everything overall as well, there's not enough substance. This lack isn't merely because of its length, but rather seems to be a conscious choice, or at least I hope that it is.

The story could be construed as a murder mystery, but I think that would be misleading. There's a murder, but only minimal mystery. The real mystery is what Martine is going for. Instead, this is a story about unrequited desire, anxiety of influence, and a few less important things. It's possible that everything that happens is an allegory, but I'd only be guessing about what. There's a lot of rose symbolism, though I don't know much of it is intentional or coincidental references.

As for characters there's Selen(ite), which is a mineral also called desert rose. She's the only one the house will allow inside. Detective Maritza investigates the mystery, though that's describing it charitably. She's mostly just there to have the story told at her. There are other viewpoint characters, which function as plot devices, though not very effective ones. If the other characters have symbolic meanings they weren't readily apparent to me. At times it felt more like a performance that was being put on because its conductor wanted to amuse itself. Everyone else was merely a prop to be used for its play. That's a fine meta idea, but doesn't make for that entertaining of a story, for me at least.

I don't really any see reason for it to be set when it is, aside from trying to make the premise a bit more plausible. The only other indications of it not being contemporary are that people are casually mentioned to be regularly killed for their water rations and that there have been various police reforms. Nothing is seen of the former and the latter is mostly for plot convenience.

The ending is unsatisfying, not for its lack of resolution, because I think that's one of its primary themes, but because it's basically an antihumor joke that I'm unable to appreciate. There are multiple times where a characters tells you that the story is mocking noir tropes, though it didn't really have that many of them.

Overall, this is inoffensive and well-enough written. I feel that it needs to either be considerably shorter or longer, probably shorter. At least them it could be entirely about its gimmick and nothing else. Despite all that I've written above, I didn't dislike it. That's just how feelings work. Maybe it's me imagining what this could've been.

Rating: 3/5

>>22358944
The Warren - Brian Evenson (2016)

The opening dedication of The Warren reads, "for Gene Wolfe". That's true in that it's in Wolfe's style of writing stories that are puzzles and has an unreliable narrator. This could also be dedicated to Joseph W. Campbell Jr. or Jeff Vandermeer, as seen on the cover. The story is set somewhere that isn't Earth at some time when some person realizes they exist. The unnamed initial first person viewpoint quickly comes to understand that there are many people within their mind. Some are whole and others are corrupted. Some barely exist and others seek control. Some panic and others are curious. All of them are alive and none of them are. It's difficult to make decisions smoothly and consistently when any action may require consensus. There's also an AI that responds to voiced queries and then one other person who serves as a foil.

I had several theories as to what was going on and why, mostly meta rather than plot level ones. I came upon an interview with Evenson where he discussed his intentions for this novella. I liked it less once after I knew its purpose. Mostly in the confirmation this is entirely about vibes, feels, atmosphere, and little else. Usually I'm unable to enjoy something in exclusively aesthetic terms, which is likely what half of this is. The other half is what Evenson calls epistemological horror. I haven't read Peter Watt's Blindsight, which may be similar, and I was reminded of Victor Pelevin's The Helmet of Horror. As to what happens, it's mostly the viewpoint character(s) going around and pondering their existence and circumstances. That may be sort of like a walking sim horror game made by an indie art videogame studio. Initially I found this to be somewhat reminiscent of the Fallout series, but the similarity is superficial.

A puzzle missing pieces is different from a puzzle that never had the pieces and is considered complete without them. For the latter, which the author says it is, the assembler can appreciate that as an artistic choice, create their own pieces, or feel some other way. I appreciated the pieces that exist, have no interest in creating my own, and think it's an incomplete puzzle. I find myself irritated knowing this was intentional. Up until the ending this was moderately pleasing and maybe I could've been fine with it all remaining a mystery known only by touch in the darkness. The revelatory light of brute force explanation spotlights its true form, and it's unsightly. The ending says only enough to remind you how much is being intentionally withheld and obscured because it's not meant to be relevant.

This was suggested for me to read by someone. I've read four other works of short fiction by Evenson, all horror. I had forgotten that I had read any until I looked at my short fiction spreadsheet. Apparently I disliked them. I won't be avoiding Evenson, but I won't be seeking out what he's written either.

Rating: 3/5