This novella from one of the proponents of “cozy” sci-fi was impressive in both scope and fullness. We follow the perspective of Ariadne, an engineer/scientist who’s part of a 4-person crew of explorers being sent by Earth to reach and study distant planets. As we get to know the four scientists waking up from the…
Tag: fiction
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle – Book Review
I have a long history with The Last Unicorn, even though I’ve only just finished reading it for the first time. As a child, I won tickets to the animated movie based on this novel and fell in love with the story of a unicorn who leaves the safety of her magical forest and sets…
Murder at Spindle Manor (Lamplight Murder Mysteries, Book 1) by Morgan Stang — Book Review
Lately I’ve been reading a number of books fitting into the category of magical murder mystery, or fantasy detective story, and I’m really enjoying them. That’s not surprising, since I love fantasy fiction, and ever since watching BBC’s Sherlock, I’ve been a fan of Victorian detective stories. Starting last year, I read The Tainted Cup…
The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea by Axie Oh — Book Review
Since I have a history with Chinese folktales from my childhood, I am always interested in reading new retellings of Asian stories. It’s also cool how they have kind of become a subgenre of their own recently. Because The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea (I’m not going to keep repeating this charming yet over-long…
The Grace of Kings (Dandelion Dynasty, Book 1) by Ken Liu — Book Review
I picked up The Grace of Kings because everyone raves about this series, and I was interested in exploring more Asian fantasy novels (especially during Asian Heritage Month). The first time around, I found the plot difficult to follow (it’s the epic history of an empire being torn down by a rebellion) and the many…
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer — Book Review
What a coincidence! I just finished reading Into Thin Air — the first-hand account, by journalist Jon Krakauer, of the harrowing and tragic 1996 climbing expeditions to summit Mount Everest that cost a dozen lives — only a week before the publication of the anniversary edition of the book, 30 years later. I inadvertently acquired…
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm – Book Review
What did I just read?! If you’re familiar with this popular scifi book about a secret government agency protecting the world from mysterious anomalies that can disappear themselves from people’s minds (i.e. everyone forgets they exist) you might be thinking that I’m doing schtick. You might think I’m making jokes in the tone of this…
Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories by Amal El-Mohtar – Book Review
Canadian poet and author Amal El-Mohtar is probably best known for writing two novellas: This is How You Lose the Time War and The River Has Roots and I had very opposite experiences reading them. The River Has Roots was probably my favourite thing I read last year, but I didn’t enjoy This is How…
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang – Book Review
I have not had the best track record when it comes to Asian-inspired modern fantasy stories. I was underwhelmed by Fonda Lee’s Jade City and Jade War, and reading R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War was so disappointing that I took a one-year break from the sub-genre. To motivate myself to try again, I decided to…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 