The Hungry Gods by Adrian Tchaikovsky My rating: 4 of 5 stars “Sometimes future demands sacrifice.” Having read a string of quite unsatisfying novellas recently, I was about to start doubting the genre. But then Adrian Tchaikovsky as always swoops in and seemingly effortlessly shows how it’s done, how a sharply and skillfully written novella … Continue reading “The Hungry Gods” by Adrian Tchaikovsky| books are life
Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard My rating: 2 of 5 stars The idea of this world seemed interesting — who doesn’t like wormhole travel complications? Even if the premise of human navigators that belong to specific clans using their “Shadows” coming from their vitality to help navigate the ships to avoid the horrors living … Continue reading “Navigational Entanglements” by Aliette de Bodard| books are life
Yosemite: The Complete Guide: Yosemite National Park by James Kaiser My rating: 5 of 5 stars I read through this book twice. The first time when the only idea of Yosemite National Park I had was that (a) it probably wasn’t Yellowstone, and (b) there may be bears there. The second time after actually falling … Continue reading “Yosemite: The Complete Guide” by James Kaiser| books are life
Shark: The Illustrated Biography by Daniel Abel My rating: 5 of 5 stars Sharks. The teeth in that wide inviting grin. The speed. The sheer persistence of a very successful existence for roughly 450 million of years. They just can’t help but be incredibly fascinating. “This book is an unauthorized biography, since obtaining permissions, and … Continue reading “Shark: The Illustrated Biography” by Daniel Abel and Sophie A. Maycock| books are life
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar My rating: 2 of 5 stars Holy symbolism. Holy heavy-handed symbolism. The problem when you make your characters so abstract and indistinct that they are little but vehicles for the message you’re getting across is that while themes may be important, it’s really hard to … Continue reading “The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain” by Sofia Samatar| books are life
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane BradleyMy rating: 2 of 5 starsThis book, it seems to me, is unsure about what it wants to be. It’s trying to dip into several genres – romance and science fict…| books are life