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What Are You Reading? Second Quarter, 2023


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Also, have finished The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix. It was pleasant and undemanding; an old-fashioned YA-ish yarn harking back strongly to the Susan Cooper and Diana Wynne Jones school of children's literature. 

I would have liked more plot, and possibly fewer heavy-handed attempts to tie the book to its eighties setting through frequently referencing brands, types of clothes. 

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Just started my first ASOIAF reread in years.

 

So far, totally holding up. Impressed with the writing as per. One caveat; the Lannister ironic ‘sweet sister/brother’ thing is really overused and gets fucking annoying. Thankfully George really toned that down over time…I think. He did, right?

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Just finished Babel, or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang. Sad to see I missed a great discussion on it in the previous quarter's discussion thread, as I actually got the book for Christmas but found no time to read it before the Easter holiday. The book left an impression, but I don't think it was a positive one overall.

It's well written and captivating. The author deserves some praise for constructing a magic system that runs on fluency in multiple languages, of all things. However, as the book progressed, I found it got increasingly preachy about the topic of colonialism at the detriment of everything else, and by the end it was pretty much a parody of itself by letting that message take over completely. Practically everyone associated with the university turn out to be evil (to the point that ...

Spoiler

... the university professors turn out to be the masterminds behind the Opium War on China)

, practically every English character is shown to be either malevolent or ignorant, and the quartet of main characters play "More Oppressed Than Thou" with each other, each drip-feeding bits of their backstory about how badly they were treated by the Evil Westerners. At the same time, they utterly neglect to explain their struggles to the English girl "because she probably wouldn't understand anyway", while also refusing to even acknowledge that she has ever faced any struggles. It genuinely seems to be the author's opinion that being a (white) woman in 1830's England is so much less difficult than being a person of colour that the struggles of the former is completely negligible. The other main characters just berate her for failing to inform herself, as if literature on contemporary systemic racism could be picked up in every corner shop in 1830's Oxford.

I mean, the book is bringing up some very valid points, but when they are delivered in a way that's increasingly reminiscent of the "help, help, I'm being oppressed" peasant of Monty Python and the Holy Grail by every turn of the page, the message is lost in the delivery. Again, it's well-written and a page turner, but it has this creeping feeling of something being off as the story progresses and the message is hammered in with the subtlety of a pile driver.

I think my impression of the book was finally lost with the ending. Veering into heavy spoiler territory here, but I think I gotta rant for a bit.

Spoiler

So it turns out that pretty much all the magic in England is run through a single building in Oxford university, which also holds the national reserve of the silver required to create such magic. By way of what TVTropes calls an "Ass Pull", there turns out to exist a way to make any amount of silver completely useless for future magic, so the main characters decide to do just that to all the silver stored at Oxford. This to get revenge against the evil British Empire, trash its economy, and prevent the Opium Wars from happening. As a fortunate bonus, this also completely destroys Britain's only relevant magic research centre / workshop / factory, and sparks revolts that seem to put England at the brink of civil war. Happy ending achieved, except most of the main characters are killed in the process.

The realism of the setting dies a bit with the extreme vulnerability of this one building to internal revolt, as it is shown to be rather easy to hijack by insiders with fatal consequences, but also mostly staffed with multinational people whom all of society has otherwise conspired to oppress as badly as possible. The message of "we don't trust you with anything except the most important piece of infrastructure in the British Empire" is so lacking in internal consistency that it sticks out a bit sorely. The setting also portrays an England where pretty much all the engineering of 1830 exists just like it did in real life, but that it's completely dependent on magic at the same time. They have steam ships, but they don't work without magic. Horse-drawn carriages, but they just crash without magic. Sewage systems, but without magic they fill up with gunk. With the ending in mind, this makes the magic system seem as if it was constructed entirely for plot purposes, in a "let's create a setting where the British Empire has a single weak point that can be fatally attacked by my main character" sort of way.

In the other thread, somebody used the term "revenge fic" when discussing the book, and I can't help but agree with that. The author seems to be so mad about the way China was treated in the Opium Wars that they wrote a 600-page story wherein a Chinese boy defeats the British Empire single-handedly while also showing the world how evil Britain is.

As a critique of academia and colonialism, it also fails to discuss what would be a realistic alternative in the circumstances. So, the British Empire is defeated in the 1830's. What takes its place? Realistically, something equally bad or worse. It's not like the leading powers fundamentally disagreed about the concept of empire at the time, that anybody even tried not to be xenophobic, or that any framework of international law existed. The rule of "every nation grabs as much to pillage and plunder as they can, and sod the natives" was very much in effect. Ironically, the book also portrays a world where the West is even more technologically advanced compared to the colonies than was the case in real life. Britain didn't need magically enhanced ships to subjugate China during the Opium Wars, so it's not like the actions of the main characters would do anything to alter history.

So yeah, my take-away opinion is that the book went way too heavy-handed with its message, to the point where you start to wonder whether it was such a good message to begin with. A book that made me think, but not for the intended reason.

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32 minutes ago, Kyll.Ing. said:

the book went way too heavy-handed with its message,

As someone who knows and studies these matters, spends a great deal of time with those from the lands that have inherited the consequences of the British colonial/slavery regimes, and has for years, I must disagree.

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1 hour ago, Zorral said:

As someone who knows and studies these matters, spends a great deal of time with those from the lands that have inherited the consequences of the British colonial/slavery regimes, and has for years, I must disagree.

I have to agree with Kyll.Ing that the book does sort of read like revenge porn, where an author gets so involved in punishing the antagonists that he or she neglects to write a sensible story.  The reader is put off from the writer's point because the writer fails to write a coherent story.

Also, if you could choose your European colonizer for the 19th century, the British are probably the least-bad choice.

Is it good to be colonized?  No.

But there are far worse options than the British, who at least built some infrastructure and installed some legal systems that had the facsimile of a rule of law.

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That may be the silliest thing I've read on this forum in a while.

For pete's sake their North American colonies didn't like being colonies of Britain, for a single instance, and they got off easiest being relatives and all.

Edited by Zorral
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Little Women - this one took me eons to finish. It’s endearing and rather timeless in the life lessons it imparts. Sweet coming of age novel that I should probably have read in my early teens. still, I struggled to connect with any of the characters, I struggled to immerse myself in their world, I struggled to care what happens (that is, until it became clear that something entirely different is going to happen than it did in the latest film adaptation). If I ever had a daughter, I would read this with her when she’s a preteen. *(But I would make a toxic parent, so in spite of all the egg freezing, maybe I should spare my offspring from coming into existence and just recommend this book to people’s preteen daughters) **(Yes, my book reviews absolutely need to include TMI rambles) 

Who Would Believe You - is a horrifying true crime memoir. It isn’t as focused on the crime resolution aspect as the true crime podcast after which audible put it in my recommendations. It is mostly a long and horrifying account of the sexual assault crimes and their impact on the author’s struggle with alcohol in her adult life. Of course it is really important for awareness and coping with the trauma to get these stories out. Just be mindful going into this story that psychologically it’s really difficult to read (even though it’s a page turner in the sense that you want to find out if the author is doing okay in the end and if justice was eventually served). 

How Dogs Think - this is super educational and uniquely interesting, sometimes a bit too scientific but generally enjoyable and useful. It also comes free with your audible membership. 

Intercept - this is a listen in progress, but I want to share it because it’s one of those very rare cases when the first couple chapters bored the life out of me but I pushed through and didn’t regret it. Picks up pace and gets quite engaging around chapter 4. I will report back when I finish it, but so far, I’m quite glad I persisted. 

Edited by RhaenysBee
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13 hours ago, Wilbur said:

But there are far worse options than the British, who at least built some infrastructure and installed some legal systems that had the facsimile of a rule of law.

That is certainly what their PR would like you to think, sure. I mean, we're all here speaking their language, reading their books and their accounts of history. For example, in the "Nine Years War" fought in Ireland in the early 1600s, 80% of surviving sources are English.

As somebody who comes from the only country in the world that has a smaller population now than it did in the 1850s, we got to see how things like "Rule of Law" can be weaponised for grinding other cultures out of existence so that, generations later, there is nobody to speak up for them when others say, "At least the British weren't as bad as X or Y. I mean, if they were so awful in Tasmania, why aren't the extinct Tasmanians complaining? If the torture camps set up in Kenya in the 1950s with specially designed castration devices were so bad, then why aren't they part of the school curriculum in the same way the much earlier Belgian depredations in the Congo are?"

An excellent book to read if you genuinely want a different perspective is Shashi Tharoor's Inglorious Empire

Having said all that, I have to agree that Babel did indeed read like revenge porn. I don't blame the author for feeling that way, but if the bad guys in a story lack complexity or basic humanity, everything else suffers too. They were human beings with enormous power over others and it's pretty rare in human history that such a position is not exploited with ruthless selfishness.

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On 4/10/2023 at 10:44 PM, James Arryn said:

Just started my first ASOIAF reread in years.

 

So far, totally holding up. Impressed with the writing as per. One caveat; the Lannister ironic ‘sweet sister/brother’ thing is really overused and gets fucking annoying. Thankfully George really toned that down over time…I think. He did, right?

Nuncle!

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On 4/10/2023 at 4:57 PM, polishgenius said:

The new Malazan book, ICE's Forge of the High Mage. Always a welcome return. This one feels like it's starting to bridge a little towards the later Malazan novels- even ICE's- in terms of tone and style, compared to the much simpler first three Road to Ascendancy books. I'm not complaining, like. 

 

 

Before that I screamed through Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, mentioned by a couple others here, which is a good bit of fun. Very deliberately feelgood fantasy about an orc opening a coffee shop. 

 

 

 

And also Left Hand of Darkness for the first time. What can I say, it's Left Hand of Darkness.

 

 

 

 

 

Weirdly, ICE seems to have Greymane’s invasion of Korel not only being underway but getting fucked up much earlier than it should, given it was still underway in the earliest Erikson books, and as of Forge, the Empire still hasn’t hit 7 Cities yet.

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3 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Weirdly, ICE seems to have Greymane’s invasion of Korel not only being underway but getting fucked up much earlier than it should, given it was still underway in the earliest Erikson books, and as of Forge, the Empire still hasn’t hit 7 Cities yet.

 

The timeline is not important the timeline is not important the timeline is not important

 

 I think this had to have been the case even before this book. Greymane couldn't possibly have been where he was in Return of the Crimson Guard if he'd still been a Malazan commander as of the beginning of the series, surely. 

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36 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

 

The timeline is not important the timeline is not important the timeline is not important

 

 I think this had to have been the case even before this book. Greymane couldn't possibly have been where he was in Return of the Crimson Guard if he'd still been a Malazan commander as of the beginning of the series, surely. 

To be fair, he may just have been disgraced around or priornto the beginning of the series, only word had yet to reach Darijhistan etc. RotCG was a few years later, and he was a fairly new member. 
 

 

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Oops! Posted this in the wrong thread...

 

I'm about a quarter the way through M.R. Carey's Infinity Gate. Excellent so far and reminds me a bit of Robert Reed. I shilled for Mr. Carey's Ramparts Trilogy everywhere I could, but I still know few people who gave it a go. Anyway, looking forward to the rest of this.

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I read Max Gladstone's Dead Country, the start of a new trilogy following on from his Craft series. The previous book set in this world, Ruin of Angels, had finished with the discovery of a looming threat that could be potentially apocalyptic. As the book starts its lawyer/necromancer protagonist Tara is pre-occuppied by worrying about this threat but has to set it aside after she learns of a death in her family, leading her to return to her hometown. Since she had previously been chased out of that town by a mob wielding pitchforks and torches it's something of a tense homecoming. One of the defining features of the series has been its portrayal of a world-building that in many ways feels like a modern society but one whose economy is based on magic rather than technology. This book is a bit of a departure because there's little magic present in the frontier town it is set in, although it does face a threat from the supernatural Raiders. This means there is a bit less focus on the world-building than in previous books. The early parts of the book are often quite reflective as Tara tries to deal with the culture-clash of returning home, but things do get more tense in the latter stages as the Raiders threaten to obliterate the town. Tara also unexpectedly finds herself with an apprentice and I thought the interactions between Tara and Dawn had some of the best characterisation in the story. Although it mostly feels smaller in scope than earlier books in the setting I did think it was a compelling story and the ending is a good set-up for the rest of the trilogy.

I've now started Shannon Chakraborty's medieval Arabic pirate story The Adventures of Amina-Al-Sarafi, which I am enjoying so far.

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On 4/10/2023 at 9:36 PM, dog-days said:

I guess there are different ways of approaching the challenge of writing dialogue that sounds natural and modern but that's true to history.

Yeah, you're right that dialogue in historical fiction is not actually going to be accurate and probably wouldn't be very readable if the author made a genuine effort to translate the language of whatever period you're talking about into modern English. I suppose it's about making it 'feel' right enough and that's pretty subjective. As I said there were enough instances I found jarring to stick out to me.:dunno:

Anyway, speaking of historical fiction I'm going to try a new author to me with my next read with Damion Hunter/Amanda Cockrell's Shadow of the Eagle.

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I finished re-reading The Shadow Rising. This is one of my favorites of the series, and it did not disappoint. Tanchico is a bit of a weak link, but this is Perrin at this best and the entire Aiel storyline is excellent. Will probably hold off a bit before getting into the next one.

I finished listening to Dune. It had been a while since I read it and it was fun revisiting a great book. Didn't love the narration style with voice actors for the dialogue though.

Now I am listening to Royal Assassin, a great book though suffering a bit from middle book syndrome in the first Farseer trilogy. Am loving being frustrated and sad all over again!

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Like dog-days further up the thread, I read And Put Away Childish Things by Tchaikovsky.  Pretty good, though of the author's six novellas for Solaris, this might be my least favorite. 

The Collected Enchantments by Theodora Goss, a big collection of the author's short fiction and poetry.  I'm a big fan of the author's work so I really enjoyed this.

Lastly, I read The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang.  This is a science fantasy version of Joan of Arc in the far future.  It was quite good, certainly made a lot of points on the dangers of religious fundamentalism.  I did wish for more resolution at end where things just kind of peter out. 

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On 4/15/2023 at 10:17 AM, Peadar said:

Oops! Posted this in the wrong thread...

 

I'm about a quarter the way through M.R. Carey's Infinity Gate. Excellent so far and reminds me a bit of Robert Reed. I shilled for Mr. Carey's Ramparts Trilogy everywhere I could, but I still know few people who gave it a go. Anyway, looking forward to the rest of this.

Was just rereading the end of Kolis Fall..Love the Ramparts Trilogy..

 

Fall of Koli...

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Currently, I’m 25% of the way through book #6 of the Starship for Sale series. I just keep flying right through them. They are hard to put down because each book ends with a big cliffhanger.

Edited by Teng Ai Hui
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