Alex DiFrancesco, All City, Seven Stories Press, 2019.
Audiobook available on Kobo. All City is a near future apocalypse/post-apocalyptic (climate) novel told from different points of view. It deals with gender, class, race and mental health issues, and, to put it bluntly, I loved it. Claire G. Coleman, Terra Nullius, Hachette Australia, 2017.
Audiobook available on Audible. I'm sorry I missed this book when it was published in 2017. It feels like being late to a party, but better late than never. This scifi dystopia certainly makes for a grim party, but it is a powerful, unmisseable one. Suyi Davies Okungbowa, David Mogo, Godhunter, Rebellion Publishing, 2019.
David Mogo, Godhunter is an interesting debut fantasy novel. It has its flaws but who could resist the lure of a deserted post-apocalyptic Lagos as the setting? Sam J. Miller, Blackfish City, Orbit, 2018.
Audio version available on Audible. Blackfish City is a near-ish future scifi novel, built upon climate change disasters and a socially conscious discourse. I've had some issues with it, but it's nonetheless a well written story, with interesting character dynamics. Walter Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz, J.B. Lippincott, 1960 (original publication), SF Masterworks, 1997 (reprint).
Audio version available on Audible. I couldn't remember if I had read A Canticle for Leibowitz or not. But the fact is that if I did, it was in my early teens, almost thirty years ago, so it was as good as if I hadn't. Cue my "Novels published before 1978" series, a wonderful opportunity to (re) read it. But I ended up realising that this classic scifi novel was actually highly problematic. Why am I reviewing it then? It's an interesting novel to debate and it should also be a warning to anyone being told that it's a classic to not go into it blindly. Third in my series of novels published before 1978. Leigh Brackett, The Long Tomorrow, SF Masterworks, 2014.
Audio version available on Audible. Originally published by Doubleday in 1955. The Long Tomorrow had been sitting on my to-be-read piles for ages. One of the few recognised female writers during the so-called "Golden Age" of science-fiction, Brackett intrigued me. This novel proved to be interesting to read some 70 years later and also, sometimes, irritating. Second in my series of reviews of novels published before 1978. John Ayliff, Belt Three, Harper Voyager, 2015.
Nothing I've read recently has quite made the cut for the blog. So here I was, wringing my hands, "What to review?", when I remembered Belt Three by John Ayliff. I read it a few months back, but at the time I was in a run of very strong stories and it fell off the podium despite some solid qualities. I'm glad this space opera got now its second chance because it is well worth a look. W. E. B. DuBois, "The Comet", Darkwater, 1920.
Audiobook available on Audible. Reprinted in Dark Matter: The Anthology of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction by Black Writers, edited by Renee Sheree Thomas and Martin Simmons (2000). It's not my habit to read nor review short stories. They are, as it says on the tin, a tad too short. Nonetheless, I really wanted to read "The Comet", which is not only considered as a scifi classic but also written by one of the earliest Black American scifi writers. I wasn't disappointed. First story in my series of reviews for stories written before 1978. Art by Josh Kirby for the cover of Hogfather. Christmas is coming and you want to fill the world with your love of scifi and fantasy? Alas! The ruffians that are your family and friends used The Lord of the Rings to start a chimney fire, they think that Foundation is the name of a beauty product and they said that Earthsea would be nice if only there wasn't so many spells and invented stuff in it.
But here is a way to sneak upon them science fiction and fantasy novels! All the following books have been tested and approved by people who are usually allergic to space ships and magic. As usual in the collections, they are by chronological order. Adrian Barnes, Nod, Titan Books, 2016 (reprint).
Audio version available on Audible. When I will begin to talk about Nod, people who are old hands at apocalypse novels will watch me with a raised eyebrow: "But C, why are you reviewing it? It sounds like so many others of the same apart from the concept." Very true, but bear with me, because it has redeeming qualities. Short stories... I don't like short stories... Mainly it's because I read too fast: I barely have time to get into the story that it's over. It's a bit like going to a gastronomic restaurant when you haven't eaten for two days.
But sometimes, however short, a story grabs you and the world and characters it depicts remain with you for a long long time. So, there. I don't like short stories and stories that are short, except when I like them. Those are all short stories (and two novellas.. and two anthologies) I've read and liked in the past twelve months or so, and, as usual, they are by chronological order. Alexis Wright, The Swan Book, Constable, 2015.
Audio version available on Audible. The Swan Book is by more way than one a novel that blur the genres. It is also something quite unique and if you are the right reader for it, this politically and ecologically engaged fantasy novel from Australia set in the near future will be a delight to read. Jennifer Marie Brissett, Elysium, Aqueduct Press, 2014.
Audio version available on Audible. By the first chapter, I was intrigued. By the second chapter, I was starting to elaborate theories. By the fifth chapter, I was going "What the heck?" By the tenth chapter, I was going "What the frigging heck?" By the ending, I was in no doubt I would review it. N.K. Jemisin, The Broken Earth, Orbit.
There aren't many novels that have received the Hugo Award and that I've really liked. But The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin grabbed me from the first pages and I couldn't leave it until I had reached the end. This review has been initially published in October 2016 and substantially updated and enriched in August 2017 after I've finished reading The Stone Sky. It nonetheless remains spoiler free. Iain Pears, Arcadia, Faber & Faber, 2015.
Last month, I was writing: "The 2016 Arthur C. Clarke Award will be chosen between Adrian Tchaikovsky and Nnedi Okorafor." That was before reading Arcadia by Iain Pears which is also shortlisted... M. R. Carey, The Girl with all the gifts, Orbit, 2014.
I really really really don't like zombies. Not at all. So no, I've never watched and will never watch The Walking Dead, 28 Days later, Shaun of the Dead nor any of Romero's films. But I didn't know when I picked the book that it would be a zombie story. And by the time I realised it, I was already gripped by the story... Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time, Tor, 2015.
In the future, humanity is divided because of projects that aim to terraform uninhabitable planets, and then to introduce animal species whose evolution will be guided by a nanovirus. Dr Avrana Kern is about to finalise one of these projects with a population of apes. But right when she's about to press the button for the final launch, one of her team, who secretely adheres to the faction opposing the projects, destroys the orbital station in which they all are. It's only the first terrorist action of a war that will decimate humanity... Emily St John Mandel, Station Eleven, Picador, 2014.
It all begins an evening in Toronto. A man goes to see King Lear with his girlfriend. A famous actor plays Lear but during the madness scene he collapses on stage. The man, who has medical training rushes to the stage to help but the famous actor dies. He goes out of the theatre. It's night, everyone is gone, his girlfriend didn't wait for him. He starts walking back home when he receives a call on his mobile from one of his friend who works in a hospital. He tells him to stock on food and to lock himself in his flat: a pandemic is spreading... Charles Stross, The Laundry Files
Bob Howard is a civil servant and takes care of the IT in his department. His department? The Laundry, a parallel branch of the British Intelligence services, that deal in the supernatural threats. Because yes, magic is real. But it's nothing more than digital algorithms and equations. So it's a bit of a problem when everyone has a PC and can casually summon the monstruous horrors of the neighbouring dimension... Jane Rogers, The testament of Jessie Lamb, Cannongate Books, 2012.
Reading The testament of Jessie Lamb was quite an experience: the teenager I was and who still exists in a corner of my head and the adult that I am were spending their time arguing about the book. |
All reviews are spoiler free unless explicitly stated otherwise.
I only review stories I have liked even if my opinion may be nuanced. It doesn't apply for the "Novels published before 1978" series of blog posts. Comments are closed, having neither time nor the inclination to moderate them. |