bklassen's reviews
759 reviews

Neuromancer by William Gibson

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I don’t think it can be overstated enough how brilliant and ahead of its time this book is. Gibson had never seen or used a computer before, and his book came out around the same time as Blade Runner, which means he and Ridley Scott (who based the movie off of Philip K Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) had parallel ideas about a cyberpunk world and what it would look like.

I will say that Gibson nails the atmosphere – everything described and even the language gave off a dystopian futuristic world full of cybernetic enhancements, computer visualization, unique slang, and so much drug use.

It is such a well thought out world to its detriment, at least for me. The world at times became super vague, the plot became confusing due to its abstractness, and character motivation was confusing because there is little to no character development in this book. Someone pointed out that sci fi is not often known for super well fleshed out characters or deep development, and Neuromancer certainly does just that.

It felt like reading A Clockwork Orange or Dune with its own language that does not slow down or explain things for you, so if you’re willing to put in the effort, you can get a lot out of this book. I personally did not vibe with the book and especially didn’t really connect with the rather flat characters, so I did not feel very motivated to put a ton of effort into grasping the lingo or visualizing cyberspace. Also the women in this book feel not quite like women. It is all very odd. 
But Gibson definitely gets points for style, and major points for his legacy. I mean, the dude put words like “cyberspace” and “the matrix” out into the world and inspired pretty much every other piece of Cyberpunk media out there. Also street samurai and console cowboy are objectively cool terms.

How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis

inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

 This was such a validating read. It offers so much empathy to a human task that has somehow been given a moral value, as if you are a good person if you keep a clean home. 

There really doesn’t need to be the amount of guilt and shame associated with cleaning when we’re all out here trying to survive, and guilt and shame really don’t help you be a healthier or even cleaner person. 

K.C. also gives some great tips and strategies on how to balance mental health with organization and cleanliness, how to get past that negative self-talk, and how to find systems that work for you. 

Get out of the grind or perfectionist mindset and let yourself be human. You are not failing. You are struggling, and that’s okay. 

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really wanted to love this one. I’m a big fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia (SMG!) and her writing, especially her willingness or even passion for writing in other genres. I adored Mexican Gothic, Velvet Was the Night, and really enjoyed The Beautiful Ones and Gods of Jade and Shadow. I love the settings and the characters and the writing. 

Silver Nitrate just didn’t hit like I wanted it to. There were certainly things that I really loved, like Monserrat (or Momo, for short) Tristan. She is so good at writing layer and multi-faceted characters. They’re not perfect. They struggle. They have strengths and weakness, and their humanity can either get in their way or push them to be better. I especially love that SMG lets her female characters be cruel, harsh, less than beautiful, selfish, petty, acerbic, and just plain flawed. She lets them be real. 

While Momo is stubborn, cynical, bold, brave, brash, and the farthest thing from meek and simpering as you can get, Tristan is selfish, vain, flippant, cowardly, and often thoughtless. However, you can really feel the deep friendship the two share as they’ve been friends since childhood, despite their clashing personalities and small spats. 

Part of my disconnect with this book could be that it has a very slow pace, the horror didn’t feel very horrible (this book didn’t really scare me, and I wanted to be scared), and the subject matter of old school horror films just doesn’t really interest me. This book has a lot of “easter eggs” and tidbits dropped about old school Mexican cinema, especially low budget horror, as well as some more popular American horror films, but there was so much name dropping in this that it was making me go cross-eyed. Perhaps a lover of silver screen cinema would have connected with it more. 

I wanted this book to be scarier than it was, and the only scene that truly scared me was when Montserrat was in the old house and could feel a presence there. I wanted more of that. The villain didn’t really feel that scary to me, and while Nazi occultism has so much there to work with (Indiana Jones, anyone), it just didn’t really connect with me. 

100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife by Ken Jennings

funny informative medium-paced

3.0

 If you have ever wanted a brief dive into how the afterlife is presented in cultures, religions, mythologies, and pop culture across the world, look no further. Admittedly, there are times I’d like more of an anthropologist’s take on these afterlives, like what their heaven, hell, or purgatory/limbo said about the writer, group of people, culture, etc. I’d love to learn what values that society holds or held at the time that resulted in such beliefs in their afterlives. Admittedly, that gets deeper in a way that is less peppy and needs to be presented sensitively. 

Also, note to self: look up why so many afterlives involve or contain the number 9. 

However, it is a fun way to get a sampling of the multitude of afterlives out there and how similar or different some are to each other, all presented with Ken Jenning’s snarky humor that genuinely made me laugh out loud sometimes. 

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is my first Brandon Sanderson book – I know he’s a powerhouse name in the fantasy world (a genre I have dipped my toe in), and I was a little disappointed to learn that this is his not his normal style of writing. That is not to say that his writing is bad or that I wouldn’t like it, but I loved the omniscient narrator that had a delightful sense of humor that greatly reminded me of Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman. It should not come as a surprise then that in the post script, Sanderson mentions that William Goldman’s tone in The Princess Bride was the one he was trying to emulate, with Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman being a second close comparison. 

I love Good Omens. Seriously, if you have read Tress of the Emerald Sea but not Good Omens, drop everything and pick up that book, because it’s amazing. It’s hilarious, fascinating, and has a compelling story and unforgettable characters. 

From what I could tell, this book definitely feels like an introduction to fantasy book, and not only because it is a standalone. It felt a little like “cozy fantasy” in the sense that there isn’t really any talk of sex, there’s no swearing, and while there is some violence, it’s pretty minimal compared to other fantasy I’ve read, which is again, quite limited, so take this whole review with a grain of salt. I know Sanderson is considered pretty clean, and a clean book or lack of sex/violence/swearing does not preclude fantastic fantasy, or a compelling and well-written story. I suppose a book that involved so much piracy and a truly heinous and villainous pirate captain did not go to the places I expected it to. Maybe that just gives you some insight into my biases or assumptions. 

But beyond the psychotic Captain Crow, all the other pirates on board fall in love with her. I think it’s that the book lacks grit and cynicism, because being kind and thoughtful and generous wins the day here. Again, I’d like to reiterate, this is not a bad thing. I like books that believe in the goodness of humankind and that you don’t have to be cutthroat, cruel, or cynical to achieve your goals or “win”. But it definitely does set the tone for the book, and I am a firm believer in understanding the tone of a book before you read it more than anything else (I guess the exception is sensitive material), because understanding of tone allows you to set your expectations reasonably. 

It's all highly likely that this just a “me” thing. Carry on. 

Similarly, it felt like there were some slight plot holes. There are so many moments that felt like a character didn’t ask the oh-so-obvious question, like

Huck avoiding questions about curses (or something similar – I just remember telling the book “Huck is clearly cursed; he’s avoiding the question as they’re talking about curses!”

. Or maybe I’m just being too harsh and expecting every author to be a mega genius that’s always 15 steps ahead of the reader. It is nice to have foreshadowing or irony that pays off later. 

Finally, my last qualm is that there are some highly suspenseful and intense moments that seemed to lack, for lack of a better word, payoff. For instance,

Captain Crow is set up as this badass pirate who is not only bloodthirsty and unkillable, but also just able to hurt others and beat others into submission without even relying on her seed eater status that makes her unkillable. She single-handedly takes down 4 of the best and toughest crew members and removes any sense of hope they have in a mutiny. It’s truly an incredible scene and at that moment, I hated Captain Crow in the best of ways. 

But when we get to a major moment in the book, the penultimate crux that the book has been leading toward and the defeat of a major villain and hinderance to Tress’ journey, it felt like a letdown. We meet this awesome dragon who lives under the spore sea who will take Tress as a servant forever to remove the captain’s terminal condition. 

How does it resolve? Tress and the captain exchange reasons why the other would be a better servant, and for most of that exchange, Tress is obviously the better choice as someone who is generous, smart, good at cooking, hard working, humble, and meeker than the captain. But Tress is clever and fearless, so how does she use her quick thinking to tip the scales in her favor? She passionately cries that she will always try to escape so that she can go save her true love from the Sorceress. And the dragon just accepts it, gags Captain Crow to shut her up, and lets Tress go with some gifts. It has that fairy tale for children quality, except that the scene beforehand of Captain Crow mercilessly beating up the mutinous group and cold-heartedly shooting her helmswoman in the leg really lent a lot of suspense and high stakes, only to be so easily resolved with a passionate speech that didn’t feel like it held up against this badass scene beforehand. 

Again, a counterpoint is that Sanderson copied Goldman or Gaiman/Pratchett in these built-up climaxes that, mostly for comedy’s sake, turns out to be an easy fix by a simple solution or talking up the villain/powerful being. Like in the Princess Bride, the trio of Fezzick, Wesley, and Inigo scaring away the massive group of guards with a wheelbarrow, a torch, and a cloak. Or even Wesley being brought back to life with a miracle pill. I think my expectations were a bit out of whack, because it’s not like the tone of the book isn’t cheeky or sweet or sincere. I’m starting to think it’s the so-close juxtaposition of this cutthroat captain fight scene against a simple exchange of words. Your mileage may vary.

Reading this, you may think that I didn’t actually like the book, which isn’t true! I really enjoyed it! I loved the setting, the pirate ship, and the characters. Tress is a fantastic character that grows quite a bit during her time on the pirate ship and finds something that she’s passionate about. She’s level-headed, reasonable, intelligent, kind, practical, and tenacious. It’s funny when the narrator, Hoid, mentions the thwarting of a miscommunication or plot advancement by a character’s assumptions when Tress decides to pause and think of alternate reasons or options instead of jumping ahead. It’s a nice subversion of a trope or “cheap” plot advancement (not always cheap, but easily can be considered cheap in a great many books). 

The world building and magic system feel second to none – the descriptions and complexity are top notch and highly vivid and thought out, which reminds me a bit of the world building in Locke Lamora. Another thing I know about Sanderson is that his magic systems and world building are complex and highly examined; no hand waving away explanations from him. It felt like a union between science and magic, which is cool. 

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – this book is really funny. I am a huge fan of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Monty Python, and other tongue-in-cheek artists (which usually seem to be British – is that just my perception or is it the dry or absurdist British humor?) Sanderson nails that tone and I remarked multiple times that the tone and writing absolutely were in the same vein as Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams. 

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.

Eh, this one really isn't for me. I really wanted to read a story set in Cuba, but I feel like I'm noticing a trend of books relying on a present-past dual POV writing style that really falls flat. I can't put my finger on it, and I may be noticing a pattern that isn't there, but I intend to look into it.
 
The writing style felt mediocre and relied on so many phrases or idioms that feel lazy or cliché. The main characters felt flat, the impending romance already felt too insta-love and contrived for my taste, and the writing was just descriptive in a way that feels like they're describing every micro action like it's a too-detailed screenplay. The same style as "I sat on the couch, crossed my feet on the coffee table, opened up my laptop in my lap and typed in my password so that I could open my favorite internet browser." SNORE. It's repetitive, unnecessary, and doesn't propel the story or explain the character in any way.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.

This book really isn’t for me. I got through a third of it before I had had enough. And it’s a shame because I like Xiran Jay Zhao’s YouTube videos (they’re really snarky and have a wealth of entertaining information on Asian and Asian-inspired pop culture, among other things), as well as multiple things that I love to read about: Chinese fantasy worlds, female rage, giant robot battles a la Pacific Rim, queer representation, etc. 

Needless to say, I was disappointed that I didn’t love this; I just don’t think this book is for me. 

This book felt very YA in a way that doesn’t jive with me: purple prose, inconsistencies galore, poor or shallow characterization, not-like-other-girls-itis, and I hate to say, a lack of realism that has nothing to do with this sci fi/fantasy world and more like inconsistent world building or a lack of understanding in human nature and what causes people to act the way they do. 

For starters, I love that this is sci fi dystopian novel set in a traditional Chinese patriarchal world: women are considered the lesser and meeker yin to a man’s stronger yang, they practice lotus feet  binding, and women are disposed of for men to be powerful and strong. There are so many aspects that are ripe to be ripe and challenged, many views that are still held today, and not just in China. 

However, this book has all the subtlety of a dump truck racing toward you at 100 mph and the only progressive characters are the three main characters, but it’s hard to understand how those three became so progressive in such an old fashioned society. I grew up in a household that was quite conservative and held traditional values, but only by leaving home and meeting other people, gaining new experiences, and being exposed to new ideas did I gain a different ideology. So how did Zetian become so liberated? Why is her childhood friend/crush/obviously future romantic partner so liberated when they live in a world where literally everyone else still holds traditional and backwards views. I want to see the why and how they became who they did. 

Also, this is getting nit picky, but for a society that is supposedly super traditional and stifling, the most Zetian gets when she yells like a modern-day teenager in her fit of teenage rageTM is that she gets a stern talking to and gets sent to her room. 

The shallow reason given is that Zetian’s sister died as a concubine for this Chrysalis pilot that has killed so many girls and women over the years, and now Zetian is filled with feminist rage and wants to avenge her sister. And yet, we don’t get a great view of relationship with her sister. We don’t get to see any scenes of them together. Show me why I should care about these sisters and show me why how much they love each other that results in Zetian going on the warpath for revenge! I know plenty of people that have distant or disconnected relationships with siblings. It’s not enough for the author to tell me about a character’s personality or relationships – you need to show me. 

For a book that is pitched as super feminist, I didn’t feel like it was actually feminist. The main character rages at every woman and girl, who are all silly and stupid for believing this outdated and unjust patriarchal views. The other girls are vain,  catty, petty, selfish and willing to pick a fight over a hair pin. Oh, and they all fight over the super hot popular guy. Not once does Zetian actually form friendships with other women or try to change their world views. Nope, it’s just call them stupid and shallow and that’s that. But oh, this super hot, edgy, mysterious guy that she gets paired with is worth talking to and examining. Let’s only give him the chance to grow or show that he’s a complex human being. 

The final nail in the coffin, besides the contrived future romantic relationships and the hypocrisy of a book claiming to be feminist, was these really powerful leaders who are traditional patriarchal assholes and have complete control over what happens to Zetian. She has shown insane skill to use the chrysalid and kill the original pilot, but she mouths off to them and they just roll over and say “wow, you’re a very powerful teenage girl; we would be really stupid not to believe you”. 

I can see the appeal in this book, but like I said, it’s not for me. I think I need a more nuanced and less YA take on dismantling powerful and long-standing misogynistic systems. Also more female friendships, please. I want more Mad Max Fury Road for female strength and complexity, and less YA “girl power”. I also feel encouraged to seek out more fantasy or sci fi based on or set in Asian worlds, countries, or settings. 

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was just a lot of fun to read. Black girls in a post antebellum (or maybe antebellum, as the Civil War was put on hold due to the zombie infestation) killing zombies? Hell yeah. I’m a sucker for historical things, and ones with a twist like this can be a blast if done correctly. 

I loved seeing this alternate past, especially one in which an author has put a great deal of research and thought into world building. The two main characters, Jane and Katherine, are fantastic. Jane is much more impulsive, almost arrogant, and definitely a competent fighter. Katherine is more into fashion, society rules, being proper, and is certainly more rigid than Jane. This leads to a great dynamic between the two girls, almost like the fairly odd couple, that involves plenty of friction and banter. You don’t need to worry about a love triangle, either, because

Katherine is asexual, which is some nice representation! And Jane is bisexual! Absolutely fantastic.

. 

It does take a bit of suspension of disbelief with the concept of a teenager being so much more competent than a group of adults, but hey, it’s YA. And it’s fantasy because zombies don’t exist, so all good. Oh, and I suppose I also sort of rolled my eyes at every crush or description of attractive men in the book because Jane is a bit boy crazy, but thankfully there was no romance in this book. I am so primed to think that in YA any description of an attractive male means the main plot becomes sideline for a half assed romance story, but I should have given the author more credit. She wrote from Jane’s perspective, who notices attractive men, but didn’t lose sight of the important plot. 

It was a fast read full of fun and zombie slaying set in a Civil War period and I loved how Ireland (the author, not the country) interprets what racism would have looked like not only back then, but also during an apocalyptic time. 

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Grady Hendrix, you old sun of a gun! 

This one scared me so much that I actually went out to find spoilers because I was so tense and apprehensive. Kudos to you, Hendrix. 

This book is about the consequences of denial, secrets, and childhood trauma. Sweeping things under the rug never helps anyone, and the longer things fester, the worse they get. 

I loved how Hendrix redeemed the brother, Mark. From Louise’s POV, Mark was clearly the bad guy, a failure in life, and solely there to torment her. Then as the book goes on, you see that thread of secrets and trauma wound around the two siblings’ relationship and how it soured them. True friendship and healing couldn’t begin until they faced reality, opened up, and told the truth. You also get to see the past from Mark’s perspective and how everyone deals with trauma in different ways. Your concept of someone is purely based on your perception of them, but that’s all we really have to judge on. Once Mark opens up about his past, Louise can see him more for who he is and understand why he acted the way he did. 

I did hate Mark in the beginning, and I did think that their family was very strange, and I also felt secondhand anger at the fights and pettiness between the two siblings who had one of the most dysfunctional relationships I’ve seen depicted. 

This book had an absolutely bonkers premise that scared me half to death at times, and I did like the somewhat unconventional structure, which follows the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I know that the model is actually referential to a person facing their own mortality and upcoming loss and not grief of a loved one, and that everyone experiences a different order and combination, but it’s still a nice framework for the book that uses shorthand for grief that everyone is familiar with. 

As usual, the depth of characters and bananas story makes this a wild ride that I enjoyed every second of. 

Oh, and puppets and dolls will never not be scary, and that’s a fact. 

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

 

What a fascinating account of the history of North Korea and why it has become a dictatorship with some of the worst records of human rights. It is heartbreaking to read the accounts of people just struggling to live, never being able to voice their true thoughts and opinions for fear of being arrested, and kind of being gaslit into thinking that everything in North Korea is great when it so clearly is not. 

I certainly wouldn’t call this a fun read, but it provided historical background to explain why North Korea got to the point that it is and told the much needed stories of citizens’ experiences while they lived in North Korea and afterward, having defected. I can only imagine the struggle someone must experience attempting to live life in the outside world after having been brainwashed and struggled to survive for most of their life in North Korea. The rest of the world is just as hard to live in, but for other reasons. I suppose it becomes more complicated when life doesn’t just mean “find a way to feed yourself and your family”. 

Even more tragic are the reasons other countries have for not doing more to disassemble this dictatorship abusing its citizens, although I wouldn’t exactly nominate the US for the job. We have enough history of overthrowing governments and then seeing an even worse result for the denizens of that country. 

I truly hope that we can see a better future for North Korea in my lifetime, but I wouldn’t count on it.