Iben Krutt

Pretty good!

Revisado: 12-21-21

This book is much like the first, but with cephalopods instead.

Too much of the book focuses on the cephalopods, which I didn’t found nearly as charming or interesting as the spiders from the first book. You really want me to believe that a society of creatures with the attention span and emotional control of toddlers managed to design spaceships? I love cephalopods and their biology, and this is generally a solid take on 'octopus aliens', but I think Eric Flint did it better in his 1997 novel "Mother of Demons".

Fabian and Artifabian stole the show in this one. Fabian is such a clever and angry little guy. I laughed out loud at the interactions between Fabian and Viola at the end of the book. The spiders can be quite cheeky when they want to. I do wish there were more human-spider interactions, and descriptions of their society, though.

The ending and epilogue felt a little rushed, but I’ll be reading the third book to see what happens next!

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Second verse, same as the first

Revisado: 12-21-21

Not sure whatever this brand of romance is called, but I find it excruciating. Less ’slow burn’ and more ’pull each of my teeth, one by one, with no anesthesia, and for no reason’.

I found the endless dithering, interruptions, second guessing, misunderstandings and confusion annoying in the first book. I started to dread getting through this when I saw a similar pattern crop up here. I had a sneak peek at the reviews for the third book, and yeah, seems to be much the same. I honestly can't imagine getting through SEVEN books like this.

Truly a pity, because I do want to know what happens to the actual story elements. Who killed the god? Will the technology from the Clocktaur Wars show up? Are the smooth men gone for good?
The world building is also pretty clever, for what it is. The Warrenmind, for example, desperately needs more screen time.

More creepy rabbits, less awkward fumbling in the dark!

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Decent sci-fi with solid concepts

Revisado: 08-31-21

Will definitely be reading the sequel «Children of Ruin» only because this really picked up speed towards the end and now I want to see what happens next.

There is a lot of technical jargon in this, but don’t mistake it for very hard sci-fi. The actual science falls apart pretty quickly. And there are some parts in which the author just hand waved some explanation that doesn’t make much sense if you look closer. To advance the plot, the story relies on massive doses of phlebotinum. Which is fine, honestly, where would most sci-fi be without it?

The phlebotinum isn’t a dealbreaker for me, because despite this, it’s well-researched on matters of entomology. The spiders and other bugs being the main draw of this book for me personally.
The spider parts also turned out to be the the highlights story wise. I found myself empathising with all of the spider characters, and almost none of the humans. Which might just have been intentional, now that I think of it.

Having a book populated solely with assholes is a gamble, though, as it makes the reader a bit apathetic to their fate. Luckily the spiders were around to lift my spirits.

All in all, a solid novel if you like xenofiction (non-human POVs) and first contact stories.

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Interesting in concept, lacking in excecution

Revisado: 08-21-21

I’ll still be reading whatever else this author writes next, because I loved «The Psychology of Time Travel» that much. That book instilled in me a solid faith in her ability to create interesting worlds. However, like with Psychology, the development of the characters and the plot itself fell a little flat.

I also think –if possible– this one might have even stronger undercurrents of «feminist literature». Which might be a plus, or it might be a minus – depending on who you ask.

Mostly I read it, and enjoyed it, for the magic realism and the way the dolls, the making of them and the trading of them are described. Here, the author’s passion really shines through and the solid knowledge and research put into this element, saves the novel from turning into yet another dreary family intrigue.

PS. There is no winged horse.

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Lovely and understated

Revisado: 07-13-21

The highly anticipated sequel to the wonderful novel «The Golem and The Djinni». Certainly one I never thought would see the light of day, even after placing my preorder for the audiobook. This has been eight years in the making, and I am delighted it is finally here.

In the first novel, the characters felt a little flat and distant to me, but this is rectified in the sequel where their personalities, motivations and intrapersonal relationships are explored in depth. Perhaps to reflect how the protagonists are increasingly enmeshed in the human world?
I really like how nuanced every character is, both the old an the new. We get to really (finally?) know Chava and Ahmad, and I really like how they grow as people throughout. There are some new characters introduced, as well – the ascerbic and intellectual Kreindal, the scrappy and upbeat Toby (as well as his mother), and of course Yossele the golem and Dima the jinniyeh. Every single one is interesting, flawed and wonderful in their own right.

Despite the fantastical elements, there is no epic twists and turns in this story. Instead, reading it feels like coming home, or like putting on your favourite jumper. It’s by no means cozy or shallow, but the prose is so lovely and I adore how the author dwells on everyday minutiae without bogging down the story. The storylines are meandering and weave together into a satisfactory conclusion. One that I enjoyed more than the «happy, for now»-ending from the first book, even if it's somewhat bittersweet.

I also love the historical elements and how much of Jewish culture is explored in this book. Wecker has done her research, and it shows. These details, too, are integrated beautifully into the story without ever feeling like the author is showing off.

Eight years is a long time to wait for a sequel, but I’m just glad we got one at all.

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A huge let-down, 2.5 stars

Revisado: 07-12-21

P. Djèlí Clark writes the most WONDERFUL short stories, but my first novel of his definitely leaves something to be desired.

Let me start by saying how much I was looking forward to reading this. I first encountered this universe in the short story «A Dead Djinn in Cairo» from 2019 -- a Tor.com-original that is marketed as a prequel of sorts (’Book 0.5’). But which I believe kicked off this author’s amazingly fresh foray into this wonderful universe. The short story introduces us to agent Fatma el-Sha’arawi, who then comes off as both very smart and capable, and her gorgeous sidekick and part-time girlfriend, the mysterious Siti.

In another prequel, the novella «The Haunting of Tram Car 015» introduces another odd couple, we meet agents Hamed al-Nasr and Onsi. Both Fatama and Siti have cameos in that one, if you know what to look for. I might even have liked that one even more than «Dead Djinn» because the characters are such great fun and the plot develops nicely while introducing us to the wider universe of this magival new Cairo without too much exposition.

Sadly, very little of what I liked so much about the prequels show up in this novel.

Firstly, where did the amazing agent Fatama go?! Unlike in the prequels, here she comes off as bumbling, vain and not very smart. Sure, we’re TOLD she’s this super dapper detective with insane skills of observation. But she constantly misses obvious clues, spends most of the book getting told what to do and where to go by other characters, and obsesses endlessly over her suits.
And oh the romance between her and Siti feels forced and bogs down the plot way too much. I really wanted to root for them, but they have zero chemistry until the very end of the book.

Secondly, the plot itself moves at a snail pace and feels disjointed. I almost put down the book several times because of it, but luckily things kicked into gear in the last quarter. However, until then, it was very difficult to care about the characters and what they were doing. The villain was also somewhat predictable. I think a lot of that could be fixed simply by writing another novella, instead of a whole novel.

Lastly, I miss Hamed and Onsi! I really, really hope we get to see more of them in future works, because they play off each other so wonderfully.
One of the saving graces of this novel was the introduction of agent Hadia, Fatama’s new partner that is forced on her by the Agency. She’s such a delightful character and I love how she grows throughout the book. Sadly, there are way too few scenes where we get to see Fatama and Hadia develop their professional relationship and eventual friendhsip. Instead, way too much time is spent on the romantic plot-tumor of Fatama and Siti. I like Siti, but I think she would have worked better as a supporting character with less screen time.

I will, however, read anything the author writes for this universe in the future. It’s shaping up to become a great series, one which would make a great televition series down the line.

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esto le resultó útil a 13 personas

My favourite first-contact novel!

Revisado: 04-29-21

Yes, yes, YES! Finally, some novel freaking aliens!

I’m so tired of reading sci-fi filled with humanoid aliens. I get that there is budget reason for that in TV land, but there is really no excuses for that in a book. Unless you’re just not that inventive. Or want to make it less weird for the humans to have sex with the aliens.

Regardless, this is such a solid book. I can’t believe it’s one of Flint’s first either. Yes, it does bear some marks of immature writing, but it’s a solid novel none the less. Very inventive. There are loads and loads of characters in this one, some with very alien names. I found them hard to tell apart in the beginning, but got accustomed to it soon enough.

I just love how the human colony develops, and how we’re treated to snippets of alien biology and culture. I liked the historical perspectives, too, even if they got a tad preachy on occasion. The wry humour also worked for me. And finally, I am SO glad this managed to avoid almost all of the tristest of the first-contact clichés.

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Pleasantly surprised!

Revisado: 04-29-21

This was my first foray into T. Kingfisher's works and I'm very happy with my purchase. An all-around well-plotted and well-written novel. My favourite element is the death of the god and the ensuing fallout. Such a neat scenario that I haven't seen explored like this before.

Both protagonists were very likable and I found myself rooting for them. However, I stuck around for the rest of the plot and not the romance. The endless misunderstandings were just a little too awkward and juvenile for my taste, so I'm happy that it didn't take up any more screen time than it did.

Despite this, I’m eager to dive into the next instalment of this series – I hear it has nuns and bears!

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

One to watch!

Revisado: 04-29-21

This novel hit so many of my sweet spots, it was just a joy to read. I didn't have any expectations going in but was tremendously pleasantly surprised, especially considering I usually avoid time-travel-plots like the plague.

I was so disappointed when I discovered that this author hadn't published more. I'll definitely be keeping tabs on her in the future!

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Lovely!

Revisado: 04-29-21

A collection of animal-centric short stories. Some funny, some sad, all of them makes you think. I'm always on the lookout for good xenofiction (non-human POVs), and while some of these take a lot of artistic liberty with regards to biology, I enjoyed every story regardless.

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