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its_kievan's reviews
169 reviews
City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Definitely needed a bit of trimming, but Tchaivoksky has created an absolutely fascinating world with a keen eye for characterization. Fantasy writers love a revolution, but I've never seen anyone do it right until now. Deserves a better rating, frankly - the 3.5 stars say more about where I was at when I read this than about the book itself. I have another Tchaikovsky book on my shelf and I can't wait to read it at a better time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
Definitely among the weakest of the Discworld books, but it’s also one of the earliest so fair enough. I wish Coin had been given a bit more space on the page, he could have been a really fascinating character. I’ll always have a soft spot for Rincewind though.
Unruly: A History of England's Kings and Queens by David Mitchell
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
It’s David Mitchell, so it’s very funny, surprisingly informative, and probably could have used another round of editing.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence and Antisemitism
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
challenging
mysterious
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? It's complicated
2.0
Deeply underwhelming. Lacks the character depth of Death on the Nile or Murder on the Orient Express - let alone the masterpiece that is And Then There Were None - and without that there wasn’t really anything to carry me through to the ending. An ending which was unexpected, sure, but felt redundant and anticlimactic. Christie’s writing is still good, and there’s something I find so fascinating about the little slice of mid century English country life that she portrays, but this might be the last one of her books I try for a while. At least Poirot wasn’t too annoying in this one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Antisemitism
Republic by Plato
challenging
slow-paced
Chose not to rate this because it took me over a year to read and I was taking notes the whole time.
Crazy book. So funny that it’s considered a foundational text of political philosophy when so much of it is Socrates/Plato saying “obviously we all know that the human soul has three parts so the ideal city should have three groups” and Glaucon or whoever is like so true bestie.
Still a fascinating book to read, despite the frequent unhinged leaps of logic. The actual politics part of it was much more tangential than I was expecting: he’s not trying to describe the perfect city, he’s explaining how the perfect city would arise from the philosophical framework he’s created. The city itself is deeply bizarre, devoid of most art and poetry and guarded by a warrior caste raised from birth on propaganda. I definitely don’t agree with Plato’s politics or the philosophy underpinning them, but I can see why this is the book for so many other philosophers.
Crazy book. So funny that it’s considered a foundational text of political philosophy when so much of it is Socrates/Plato saying “obviously we all know that the human soul has three parts so the ideal city should have three groups” and Glaucon or whoever is like so true bestie.
Still a fascinating book to read, despite the frequent unhinged leaps of logic. The actual politics part of it was much more tangential than I was expecting: he’s not trying to describe the perfect city, he’s explaining how the perfect city would arise from the philosophical framework he’s created. The city itself is deeply bizarre, devoid of most art and poetry and guarded by a warrior caste raised from birth on propaganda. I definitely don’t agree with Plato’s politics or the philosophy underpinning them, but I can see why this is the book for so many other philosophers.
The English Civil Wars, 1640-1660 by Blair Worden
informative
fast-paced
2.5
Promises a straightforward, easy-to-digest overview of the English Civil Wars, and provides exactly that (albeit with a bit of clunky language).
The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I saw a lot of reviews talking about Bear’s prose. And, yes, her writing is very pretty, with long paragraphs describing elaborate clothes or grand throne rooms in exquisite detail. But it comes at a cost. The Stone in the Skull is a fairly short book, and to make room for this descriptiveness Bear jettisons plot and character and structure. All the characters feel curiously blank, and huge events like the kidnapping of a prince and the destruction of an entire city are given less attention than the gold dust scattered on a palace floor. Bear is clearly talented enough to hold a coherent narrative together despite all this, but she handicaps herself from the very beginning and never quite manages to recover.
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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? No
2.5
Look, it’s a cute book! I liked the characters, I liked the central idea, I enjoyed reading it. But if I can be boring for a second, the politics of Legends & Lattes (and, by extension, the cosy fantasy genre as a whole) are really weirdly conservative.
The central conceit of L&L is that friendship and idealism will get you a happy ending without violence - so long as that happy ending is a very individualistic one. A big subplot is the presence of an organised criminal gang powerful enough to co-opt the local police force, which extorts all businesses in the cities. Viv refuses to pay them off, but also refuses to fight back. Instead she… gives them pastries? Which is just extortion with extra steps. At no point is there any attempt to examine the morality of this arrangement, no hint that Viv might bear some responsibility to other members of the community who will continue to be extorted. Nope, instead the local crime lord helps rebuild her coffee shop so I guess everything is fine. “Fuck you, I got mine” is hardly a “cosy” slogan, but it seems to be the motto of this book. I get - believe me I get - the desire to withdraw from real-world politics, but what happens when your comfort world simply swaps one set of politics for another? There are ways to write comforting stories without writing a weird reactionary fantasy about small business owners getting a leg-up from the mob.
I don’t know. Like I said, I liked the book. It was cute, and fun (if underdeveloped), and let me kill a couple otherwise-boring hours at work. It’s just weird.
The central conceit of L&L is that friendship and idealism will get you a happy ending without violence - so long as that happy ending is a very individualistic one. A big subplot is the presence of an organised criminal gang powerful enough to co-opt the local police force, which extorts all businesses in the cities. Viv refuses to pay them off, but also refuses to fight back. Instead she… gives them pastries? Which is just extortion with extra steps. At no point is there any attempt to examine the morality of this arrangement, no hint that Viv might bear some responsibility to other members of the community who will continue to be extorted. Nope, instead the local crime lord helps rebuild her coffee shop so I guess everything is fine. “Fuck you, I got mine” is hardly a “cosy” slogan, but it seems to be the motto of this book. I get - believe me I get - the desire to withdraw from real-world politics, but what happens when your comfort world simply swaps one set of politics for another? There are ways to write comforting stories without writing a weird reactionary fantasy about small business owners getting a leg-up from the mob.
I don’t know. Like I said, I liked the book. It was cute, and fun (if underdeveloped), and let me kill a couple otherwise-boring hours at work. It’s just weird.
All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
hooks is obviously an incredible writer and thinker, but what you get out of All About Love really depends on what you put in, and for whatever reason I just wasn’t able to put much of myself in. Maybe the blend of self-help, spiritualism, and practical politics just didn’t do it for me. I don’t know. I almost feel bad giving any kind of numerical rating, because this is such an intensely personal reading experience that I’m rating myself more than anything. Anyway. Shout out Ms. hooks, love your work, sorry this didn’t land for me but I think you’d be okay with that.
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
adventurous
challenging
slow-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
2.5
Would have been sick as hell to read if I was getting it a chapter a day in 1800s France. Unfortunately I am not a 19th century Frenchman, so instead it was a slow, meandering slog where I felt like I was missing pretty much all the context for everything that was happening. There were glimmers, here and there, of what made The Three Musketeers so influential - not enough to make me love it, but enough that I get why other people do. I can guarantee any decent movie adaptation will be infinitely better, simply because time constraints mean they have to keep the good stuff and cut out the bullshit parts. Maybe that's sacrilege in the literature sphere, but I stand by it.
Also, D'Artagnanstraight up rapes Milady . Like, I know it was a different time and all but jesus christ.
Also, D'Artagnan
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Rape