Ash

Format read: Paperback
Reading time: 5-7h
Tags: apocalypse, alien invasion, war, military, humanity, horror, psychological, philosophical, biology, evolution, science fiction, speculative
Own a copy: yes
Reread likelihood: 10/10

I felt the first inkling of a thing that presently grew quite clear in my mind, that oppressed me for many days, a sense of dethronement, a persuasion that I was no longer a master, but an animal among the animals, under the Martian heel. With us it would be as with them, to lurk and watch, to run and hide; the fear and empire of man had passed away.
—The War of the Worlds p. 116

Review

The War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds

Surely if we have learned nothing else, this war has taught us pity–pity for those witless souls that suffer our dominion.
—The War of the Worlds p. 120

Wells' unnamed protagonist is an unsympathetic narrator. He acts in ways that count as lacking in humanity and compassion, despite the need to survive preceding all other needs. He is detached from what happens around him, and when he sees people dying all around him in horrible ways, he disengages emotionally and continues to move forward with the single idea of survival dominating his mind. This makes for a cold narrator who observes the world around him in a stoic and scientific way. Although he gives in to his emotions on a few occasions, he is disaffected for the better part of the novel. His companion for half the book, the curate, quickly becomes a nuisance to him rather than a friend and source of comfort. The narrator would rather be on his own than with the curate, yet when he does end up alone, he suffers from bone-deep melancholy and loneliness. Interestingly, none of the important characters are named in the narrative. The narrator, the narrator's brother, and the artilleryman are central characters in this story, yet their lack of identity makes it easier for the reader to ‘become' the survivalist in this tale. In an unusual twist, the named characters, such as the astronomers and scientists at the beginning, are the ones to die and do not add much value to the story.Perhaps it's because I'm currently reading a lot of SFF, but I saw an immediate relationship between the artilleryman's plan for humanity and the post-apocalyptic and dystopian society of E. M. Forster's [b:The Machine Stops|4711854|The Machine Stops|E.M. Forster|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347943820l/4711854.SY75.jpg|4776249]. Reading the two texts side by side, they provide a chilling and terrifying perspective on the future of humanity should we continue to go on the path of destruction we are currently on. Wells' writing in The War of the Worlds is impeccable, and there are many beautiful philosophical thoughts scattered throughout, and his evident support of peaceful cohabitation with Nature comes across on every page. The literature itself is beautiful and entrancing just as much as the plot is bone chilling and eerily accurate.There's a reason why this novel is considered to be a foundational text in SFF literature, and the explanation for it is obvious. Wells' story about an alien invasion may seem farfetched, but it is ultimately a cautionary tale about the evils of Man wrought against Nature and fellow men. The story acts as a social comment on humans' rights to impose their will on other living beings and, should the tables be reversed, humans would have no right to cry foul. Another species' supremacy and control over mankind would only be rightful karmic retribution.And before we judge them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its own inferior races. The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?—The War of the Worlds p. 3

Format read: hardcoverReading time: 7+ hoursTags: found family, scifi, fantasy, robots, dystopia, post-apocalyptic, quest, lgbt (ace, m/m)Own a copy: yesReread likelihood: 2/10SummaryIn a luscious forest, deep in Oregon, lives Giovanni Lawson, an inventor, father, and android. His son, Victor, is human; an aberration in the world since humans were completely wiped out by the robots they created. Victor is an inventor, like his father, but he is also enjoys tinkering and fixing up old, broken machines. Victor's robot friends, Rambo and Nurse Ratchet, work together to collect scrap metal to help with Victor's and Giovanni's inventions. One day, Vic happens upon a conscious android in a heap of metal and decides to fix him and add him to his family. When Giovanni is kidnapped right before his eyes, Vic has no choice but to travel crosscountry with his friends and the new android to save his father from a fate worse than death.ReviewBefore I jump into it, let me just put out a disclaimer that I love Klune's books. [b:The House in the Cerulean Sea 45047384 The House in the Cerulean Sea T.J. Klune https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1569514209l/45047384.SY75.jpg 62945242] was my favourite book last year, and I still think about it because it was just that good. [b:Under the Whispering Door 53205888 Under the Whispering Door T.J. Klune https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1652374208l/53205888.SY75.jpg 67745728] was super imaginative, and while I didn't like it as much as Cerulean, it still holds a special place in my heart. By contrast, In the Lives of Puppets just didn't hit the mark this time, and here's why:I'm no stranger to sci-fi and android narratives. In fact, it's something I quite enjoy. My favourite book in this genre is [b:Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 36402034 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507838927l/36402034.SY75.jpg 830939], which I can't help but think its title inspired Klune when he named his android city the City of Electric Dreams. This book was a mishmash of literary influences, starting with [b:Adventures of Pinnochio 568989 Adventures of Pinnochio Carlo Collodi https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png 2685281] as per the author's own avowal. However, what no one said is how much this book relies on Mary Shelley's masterpiece [b:Frankenstein: The 1818 Text 35031085 Frankenstein The 1818 Text Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631088473l/35031085.SY75.jpg 4836639] and Baum's [b:The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 236093 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz, #1) L. Frank Baum https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1398003737l/236093.SY75.jpg 1993810]. Of course, the most glaring of all is [b:I, Robot 41804 I, Robot (Robot, #0.1) Isaac Asimov https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1609035271l/41804.SY75.jpg 1796026] in how the world is constructed. Other reviewers have mentioned how there are also similarities with Terminator. All of these influences aren't a bad thing, only that they overshadow Klune's own brand of originality and whimsy. After reading his two other “cozy fantasy” books, I've come to be used to his distinctive form of weaving and storytelling. Puppets didn't have much of that because all I could think of was all the other books in the background that are, as sad as it is to say, infinitely better than Puppets.Puppets falls flat with its characters. Apart for early-book Giovanni and Nurse Ratchet, every one else was either incredibly annoying or just flat and lacking any defining characteristics. In the first category, I place Rambo, and in the latter, Hap. Rambo almost single-handedly made me DNF the book with his constant annoying, nagging chatter. I've seen that many reviewers here really love the vacuum, but I really fail to understand why. As for Hap, he is so one-dimensional that half the time I forgot about him entirely. If it weren't for the mildly creepy “imprinting” on Vic, Hap could have been just any other piece of metal in the book and there wouldn't have been much of a difference.Speaking of creepy, the ‘romance' this time was just weird, honestly. I've read other examples of human/android romances that worked and made sense in the universe they were set in, but Vic and Hap just didn't. To me, they had absolutely nothing in common, and Hap only liked Vic because he saw him as his saviour/creator. The ending kind of shows that again when Vic manages to bring Hap back. Even though he has forgotten almost everything about Vic, we are meant to believe that it's a HEA for this strange duo. Also, the fact that Vic's mortality is never addressed is a huge plot hole. There is no mention of what will happen to Gio, Ratchet, Rambo, and Hap once Vic dies–and he will eventually, obviously. Also, there's no mention of what this will do in terms of humanity. Will earth never be repopulated? Will it forever be a wasteland of rusting robots, devoid of feelings? Who knows.Finally, as many have mentioned, the book is rife with juvenile sex jokes that are really off putting and break the immersion. Whenever the characters face something serious, one of them (usually Ratchet) will randomly drop a sexual innuendo or ‘joke' that does nothing to break the tension (in fact, it ruins it). I don't know why a bunch of robots are so obsessed with sex, genitals, and bodily fluids, but every other page featured a poop joke or a sex joke. It was all very unnecessary and annoying to read after the first handful of times.Overall, it's not so much that I hate the book, but I'm just really disappointed because I expected more. I still maintain that Cerulean is one of the best cozy SFF out there, but Puppets doesn't match up in the slightest. Hopefully, Klune's next novel will be back on track with his signature style.

Scalzi does not disappoint with this latest novel! Personally, I'm a big fan of everything that he writes, so maybe I'm a bit biased, but one thing I'm not overly excited about is Jurassic Park/Godzilla/monster-type narratives. But, that being said, Scalzi made me love this kind of story.

The world was imaginative and the events were exciting. I loved the characters, especially Martin Satie (give it up for my fellow Québécois! He was such a badass, I love him) and Jamie Gray (who supposedly just “lifts things” but is obviously much more useful and helpful than that). Jamie's friends at Tanaka Base were all colourful and interesting to read about (except Niamh–they were too whinny and annoying to my taste).

The Kaiju themselves were characters in their own right. The naming tradition was so banal that it made it hilarious (a several hundred-foot tall monster named Kevin? Let's go!!). The whole mating scene with Bella and Edward (yes, that Bella and Edward) was so funny and irreverent, I think I'll remember it forever.

Despite the seriousness of the situation behind some of the scenes in the book, the characters find a way of being snarky and funny throughout, which lightens the mood and makes giant Godzilla-like creatures seem like moody Pomeranians rather than monstrous killing machines. As I said at the beginning of this review, I don't particularly like monster movies like Godzilla, but the fact that Scalzi's story doesn't take itself seriously makes it much more fun and exciting than a typical Hollywood cash-grab.

All in all, this is a great book amidst pandemic anxiety (which is constantly referenced in the novel) with the signature humour and frequent pop culture references that readers of Scalzi will be accustomed to.

This is one of those “why am I still reading this bullshit” kind of book.

Why is this so popular? Why was it expanded into a whole series? Why do reviewers hype it up so much?

It's beyond me why I decided to stick through with this, no matter how painful and full of mistakes it was. The biggest issue I have with this book–apart from the fact that 1) there is no character development, 2) the main girl is a typical brainless, moody teenager, and 3) the love interests are as dumb-witted as the mud on their boots–is that it took me 45 chapters to discern which of the two dudes was the prince and which one was the assassin. I'm not going to lie, for 45 chapters I thought that Rafe was the assassin and Kaden the prince... apparently I was wrong because ch 45 finally puts a name to the descriptions. This book insulted my intelligence in every way possible. Never have I mistaken two characters for the better length of a novel. Clearly the author needs to work on better describing her protagonists or, even better yet, not swap their personalities midway and create unnecessary confusion. Now, some reviewers say that this trick is “clever” and that the author is a “genius.” No. There is nothing clever about the way this was executed; it's sloppy and lazy writing, period.

Also, allow me to address the elephant in the room: there is nothing about this book that makes it a fantasy book. I don't care that it takes place in a pseudo-medieval, vaguely “other world” setting; It. Is. Not. Fantasy. Fantasy is my preferred genre... I've read hundreds of books in this genre. This is not it.



Do yourself a favour a save your precious reading hours for another, much more worthy book.

I give this book two thumbs waaaay down. I wish I could rate it with negative stars.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! I don't usually read mystery/detective novels, but I found that this one was interesting and engaging. I was unsure throughout the book which fact was “real” and which one was Guy's imagination. It was an interesting way of tackling the subject of amnesia and the search for one's self.

This is one of those rare occasions when the star rating and review do not reflect the content of the book, but rather its historical significance and value. Reviewing the Hic Mulier and Haec Vir is not an easy task, especially the former, but with the mindset of the 1600s, and disregarding modern conventions (as one should when reading a text of this age), things become a little bit clearer.

The Hic Mulier is, essentially, an anti-crossdressing pamphlet targeted at women. The review addresses young women of the time who prefered “broad-brim'd hat[s]” and “French doublet[s]” to long, modest gowns. The author makes a case that women who dress as such go against moral principles set by nature and God, yet praises the virtuous women who follow the normal social conventions:

“... with all honour and reverence do I speak to you: you are Seneca's Graces, women, good women, modest women, true women: ever young because virtuous, ever chaste, ever glorious: when I write of you, I will write with a golden pen, on leaves of golden paper; now, I write with a rough quill and black ink, on iron sheets, the iron deeds of an iron generation.”

Haec Vir

I had such high hopes... This was supposed to be a time travelling/high seas adventure, but it ended up being about a whiny, annoying, obnoxious girl with no feelings whatsoever for people other than herself. I'm used to insta-romances in YA but this was beyond ridiculous. The only redeeming quality this book has is having a Black man as the leading character.

This was just too much nope for me. If you want to read a fun, YA time travel narrative, don't waste your time on Passenger and read A Thousand Pieces of You instead.

DNF 28%

"Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."

Rereading The Art of War for the third time makes me rediscover why I love this book so much. This military treatise by Sun Tzu is strangely applicable to so many other areas of life. It can be read as a guide to self-realization, to success, and to triumph. Sun Tzu's military advice on how to advance and retreat in the face of an enemy is brilliant, yet its reliance on ancient philosophical principles makes it an enlightening read in the same respect as the [b:The Daodejing of Laozi|2691694|The Daodejing of Laozi|Lao Tzu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1267028689l/2691694.SY75.jpg|100074] or [b:The Analects|27297|The Analects|Confucius|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309201523l/27297.SY75.jpg|3320969]. The Art of War is truly a masterpiece that I keep returning to when in need of guidance.

This was a wonderful short read about what Farland calls ‘resonance' in literature. From what Farland explains, I gather that this idea of resonance in writing can be simplified to literary inspiration. Farland makes a great case of proving that by using Tolkien as an example and showing how other works influenced or inspired him to create his masterpiece [b:The Lord of the Rings 33 The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566425108l/33.SX50.jpg 3462456]. As for ‘internal resonance,' Farland explains how themes and plotlines can echo one another within the same piece of writing, creating an effect of familiarity for the reader. All in all, this little book held a lot of information that might seem to be common sense at first, but is nevertheless important to put down on paper and to explore. This idea is worth thinking about when starting out as an aspiring writer.

As much as I respect Bloom's scholarship, and have enjoyed other of his work, this reader's digest of Macbeth falls short of expectations with very little insightful commentary or analyses scattered in between the long quoted passages. I expected this type of book to be a deep character analysis of Macbeth, but it ended up being a beginner's guide to the play.

I would not recommend this book to fellow scholars who are looking for critical insight into Macbeth. However, this would be a good introductory look at a complex play, and it might make the work more accessible to every day Shakespeare readers and enthusiasts.

Remember Inception with all of its layers of dreams? Well, this is fairy-ception with layered worlds and dreams too. Fay, the main character, travels through different versions of London on a quest to retrieve her lost daughter in the Land of Death. Starting in our world's London, Fay ends up in a strange jungle-like overgrown place called London Beyond where she meets strange fairy folk who start calling her Queen Orfeia. From there, she moves to London Beneath, to King Alberon's castle for a night of revels, and then finally to Nethermost London where the lands of Dream and Death collide, to meet the Hallowe'en King (Death himself). During her journey, Fay struggles to remember her life in London as the more that she dives deep into Dream, the more she sacrifices her memories. In the end, the only thing that remains is the memory of her daughter, Daisy, and a wavering shadow on the ground. This novella was jam-packed with beautiful writing and poetics, and the careful descriptions of the different world brought vivid images of what fairyland might look like. For anyone who is familiar with the folklore, the characters and world will be familiar/expected, such as the fairy king being Oberon, or the land called Elfhame, but there were fresh elements to the story that added a bit of mystery and wonder. To me, this story is reminiscent of what happens to the fairy queen Titania in Shakespeare's [b:A Midsummer Night's Dream 1622 A Midsummer Night's Dream William Shakespeare https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327874534l/1622.SY75.jpg 894834]. I loved reading about Fay's progression through the worlds, and her dealings with the trickster fairies. Overall, the world was beautifully crafted and the narrative itself was very dream-like and magical.Now I have to read more from this author!

3 1/2 for wenzhou supremacy and Chengling being the cutest disciple in existence ♥ (I'm biased, don't judge me).

While clearly not one of Priest's best works (looking at you SPL), the story enfolds nicely and the brevity of this tale makes for less talking and more action. I actually like that the story progressed faster than usual. This made for a high-paced reading jammed with information about the pugilistic world. Priest did a splendid job of introducing each character well enough for me to quickly become attached to many of them and, in true Priest fashion, her wit and charm as a writer came through on each page and reminded me of her later works where she really “layed it on thick.” I look forward to volume 2!

Mmmmm. I now get why a lot of readers take issue with this book. To me, the whole first-person, fever dream narration was just too much at times, and the MC's unhealthy obsession with Oliver was borderline all sorts of wrong. I draw the line at the MC wanting his love interest to die so that he doesn't have to deal with the emotions he's feeling, or even imagining his own death as being a possible solution to his teenage angst.

No, this line of thinking isn't cute, quirky, nor romantic. That's just plain wrong. Also, the stalking: this isn't cute, quirky, nor romantic either. That's one step away from assault, which the MC actually plans out in great detail (creeping into Oliver's room at night to force him to sleep with him??).

Overall, I'm glad I read it just so that people can stop annoying me and telling me I “have to read it,” but I'm equally unhappy I read it because I'll never get those hours back.

3½ stars

This didn't age as well as other books on the same topic. The mysogynistic approach in some places really showed that the criticism was embedded in the 60s. However, the collection of stories for the various plays was interesting and offered a look into the deep cultural significance of such works.

1 star for Spock being the true hero, as always, and 1 star for the art.

Retelling some missions from TOS? Ok, not the most original thing in the world, but that's fine.

Changing the OG actors' faces for the reboot crew? Mmmm... ok, fine. I'll accept it (reluctantly).

Spock x Uhura? HELL NO. THIS PAIRING DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. AT ALL.

3 1/2 The Treasury made me think of the [b:The Arden Shakespeare Miscellany 11944463 The Arden Shakespeare Miscellany Jane Armstrong https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1315695071l/11944463.SY75.jpg 16905911] in how it provided tidbits about Shakespeare's life, his plays, and important people that are tied to his legacy (for e.g., famous Shakespearean actors and directors). Overall, it was a very pleasant read that would be most suited to readers who know little about the playwright and who would like to learn more about the history behind the plays. Academics might find this a bit too reductive and not enough in-depth, but it remains nonetheless a good overview of basic information about the Bard.