Scan barcode
A review by clauleesi
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson
3.0
My rating: 3.5 stars
This tiny little novella is 165 pages and it has taken me eleven bloody days to finish. Eleven. Did I think it was a horrible book, that it was dull and bland? Not at all - the new season of Sense8 just came out, it has been sunny in Sweden and I've discovered an amazing manhwa. Poor Vellitt Boe was simply, and unfortunately, put to the side. Still, I'm very happy that I finally finished this.
'The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe' starts off slow, and the writing continues in that way, mostly focusing on describing the beautiful and vivid dream world that is our setting. I did feel that it dragged at times, and that I would have liked more dialogues or action or character exploration - but it was without a doubt masterfully done, and even though I haven't read anything of H.P Lovecraft's work - that this story is heavily influenced by - I still got a clear picture of the dream world and all its strangeness. Granted, I was a bit confused at the beginning, and I do believe that someone who has read and enjoy Lovecraft would like this book even more.
From what I've heard though, Lovecraft wasn't the nicest guy - his books seem to lack female characters and tend to be a tad racist. And so I really love what [a:Kij Johnson|110153|Kij Johnson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1220146486p2/110153.jpg] has done - taken his beautiful world and made an old woman it's main character. It's also feminist in many other ways, Vellitt always going her own way and being so damn tough and selfless, something you can also see in Jurat, who I adored in the few pages we actually got to spend with her.
So even though my reading experience unfortunately was somewhat lacking, it wasn't due to the book. If you love worldbuilding and detailed descriptions of everything I would recommend you pick up this book. Or if you just read Lovecraft and felt that you just wanted something more feminist. Because even though Vellitt wonders to herself "when were women anything but footnotes to men's tales?" this book is the lovely opposite of just that.
This tiny little novella is 165 pages and it has taken me eleven bloody days to finish. Eleven. Did I think it was a horrible book, that it was dull and bland? Not at all - the new season of Sense8 just came out, it has been sunny in Sweden and I've discovered an amazing manhwa. Poor Vellitt Boe was simply, and unfortunately, put to the side. Still, I'm very happy that I finally finished this.
'The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe' starts off slow, and the writing continues in that way, mostly focusing on describing the beautiful and vivid dream world that is our setting. I did feel that it dragged at times, and that I would have liked more dialogues or action or character exploration - but it was without a doubt masterfully done, and even though I haven't read anything of H.P Lovecraft's work - that this story is heavily influenced by - I still got a clear picture of the dream world and all its strangeness. Granted, I was a bit confused at the beginning, and I do believe that someone who has read and enjoy Lovecraft would like this book even more.
From what I've heard though, Lovecraft wasn't the nicest guy - his books seem to lack female characters and tend to be a tad racist. And so I really love what [a:Kij Johnson|110153|Kij Johnson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1220146486p2/110153.jpg] has done - taken his beautiful world and made an old woman it's main character. It's also feminist in many other ways, Vellitt always going her own way and being so damn tough and selfless, something you can also see in Jurat, who I adored in the few pages we actually got to spend with her.
So even though my reading experience unfortunately was somewhat lacking, it wasn't due to the book. If you love worldbuilding and detailed descriptions of everything I would recommend you pick up this book. Or if you just read Lovecraft and felt that you just wanted something more feminist. Because even though Vellitt wonders to herself "when were women anything but footnotes to men's tales?" this book is the lovely opposite of just that.