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In which C. reviews the best scifi and fantasy books read recently.

Adrian Tchaikovsky, Walking to Aldebaran

2/8/2019

 
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Adrian Tchaikovsky, Walking to Aldebaran, Rebellion Publishing, 2019.

Good day, and welcome to your annual review of a Tchaikovsky story (and I haven't even read yet Children of Ruin...)!
This latest offering is a dark and compelling scifi novella that will take you into a maze full of monsters...

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Hari Kunzru, White Tears

10/5/2018

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Hari Kunzru, White Tears - Review
Hari Kunzru, White Tears, Penguin, 2018.
Available as an audiobook on Audible.

White Tears isn't a fluff and easy read with endearing characters. Nonetheless, it is an engrossing and important fantasy/horror story about cultural appropriation, with a writing style bordering sometimes on the vertiginous.

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Cassandra Khaw, Food of the Gods

1/3/2018

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Cassandra Khaw, Ruper Wong - Review
Cassandra Khaw, Food of the Gods, Abaddon, 2017.
Audio version available on Audible.

I had already read and enjoyed (and reviewed here) Hammers on Bone, but I had yet to try the Rupert Wong series, also by Cassandra Khaw. As it is shortlisted for the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards, it was the perfect occasion to dive into it. Food of the Gods (which comprises two novellas, Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef and Rupert Wong at the Ends of the Earth) proved to be a delightful and funny read, despite some "Eeks!" and some minor nitpickings.

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Tade Thompson, The Murders of Molly Southbourne

1/2/2018

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Tade Thompson, The Murders of Molly Southbourne - Review
Tade Thompson, The Murders of Molly Southbourne, Tor, 2017.

I had been very impressed by Rosewater, Thompson's previous novel (1), so I had to read this new story. Nonetheless, I was a bit wary of reading this novella that Tor, the publisher, presented as horror. It turns out that, yes, there is gore. But it's not so much the gore than the very dramatic story that makes it so striking.

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Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom

1/7/2017

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Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom - review
Victor LaValle, The Ballad of Black Tom, St Martin's Press, 2016.
Audio version available on Audible and on Kobo.

Almost ten years ago, I had read Big Machine by Victor LaValle. I had found it ok. Because of this lack of enthusiasm, I didn't really followed what LaValle did after that. But one person told me I had to read The Ballad of Black Tom. Then another. Then another.
Guess what? They all were right. I had to read it, and so do you.

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Helen Oyeyemi, White is for Witching

10/3/2017

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Helen Oyeyemi, White is for Witching
Helen Oyeyemi, White is for Witching, Pan McMillan, 2009.

I was grabbed from the first page. By the second page, I knew I would review it. At the third page, I was tweeting "Wow". By the fourth page I wasn't doing anything else but reading because I was too engrossed in the book.

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Indra Das, The Devourers

1/2/2017

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Indra Das, The Devourers
Indra Das, The Devourers, Del Rey, 2016.

Here was The Devourers, popping up on a few of "Best of scifi 2016" lists. I'm always wary of those lists on which I often find the latest thing everyone raves about and that I barely managed to finish. Only one way to find out: I picked it up, started reading... argh, no, werewolves! Is it going to be Twilight all over again? But I kept on reading and I loved it. (And it's definitely not Twilight!)

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M. R. Carey, The Girl with all the Gifts

1/5/2016

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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...

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Charlie Stross, The Laundry

1/4/2015

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Charles Stross, The Laundry Files
  • The Atrocity Archives, 2004.
  • The Jennifer Morgue, 2006.
  • The Fuller Memorandum, 2010.
  • The Apocalypse codex, 2012.
  • The Rhesus Chart, 2014.
  • The Annihilation Score, to be published in July 2015.
The series also include short stories and novellas.

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...

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    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.
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