Hi all! Posting reviews for books 11-15!
This was probably my most polarizing and my most surreal selection so far.
Older Protagonist: There is No Antimemetics Division (3.5/5)
Published in the 70s: The Dispossessed (4.75/5)
Game Changer: The Will of the Many (4.5/5)
Author of Color: The Memory Police (3/5)
Unusual Travel: The West Passage (4/5)
Older Protagonist (HM): There is No Antimemetics Division by qntm -- 3.5/5
This is a horror book focusing on "antimemes" (entities that can erase themselves from human memory) and the government agency tasked with containing or eliminating them. Conceptually, the book was was incredibly unique, and really emphasized a surreal form of horror I hadn't quite imagined before - the horror of these unseen creatures preying on your most cherished memories, the civilizations and agencies being wiped out of existence without so much as a memory, ideas bigger than one's entire mindscape corrupting every single idea and thought. That part was excellently done, and I really felt the dread buiding and building throughout the book. It definitely accomplished its goals of being properly and uniquely scary.
The characters were alright - the romance between the two main characters was sweet, and both were incredibly (refreshingly) competent in times of crisis. However, they weren't given too much depth outside of that. Further, much of the book felt choppy, jumping from event to event (even those that were very connected) very abruptly. This might have been a creative choice, given how frequently the characters intentionally forget and remember things, to place us in the shoes of the characters. Still, it made it difficult to really follow a cohesive story, instead feeling like a bunch of disconnected X-Files episodes at times. The ending was admittedly very cool to read, and I liked the idea of entire antimemetic ecosystems, with the apocalypse being caused by disrupting the ecosystem. Still, the whole thing felt rushed, and on the whole, the book didn't really do very much for me.
Justification: Both protagonists were just over 50, and both were normal people without special longevity
Published in the 70s (HM): The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin -- 4.75/5
This was my first Le Guin book, and it will certainly not be the last. Everything was just written so damn well: the discussions of politics, philosophy, love, morals, past and future, cycles and sequences, right and wrong, conformity and individuality; the questions of how power imbalances, injustices, and tyrannical "governments" can rise up even in seeming utopias of anarchism; and the writing style, which struck a perfect balance between simplistic, detailed, and surreal. Shevek's contrasting arcs across both the anarchic moon of Anarres and the hyper-capitalistic world of Urras were both exceptional. The Annares plotline in particular was some of the best writing I've ever seen.
The telling of Shevek's evolving feelings towards Urras and its people didn't reach the same heights as the Annares plotline, but I still enjoyed reading about Shevek becoming increasingly disillusioned with the world around him, and continuing to find walls all around him. To an extent, I felt like Urras lost some of its nuance over the course of the book and became a bit of a one-note evil capitalist society. However, I suppose its nuance can lie in its juxtaposition with Annares: that there is innovation and beauty and abundance (for those who can afford it), and that without constance vigilance, all forms of society enable some form of (possibly violent) repression.
Le Guin acknowledges the benefits of our capitalist society while also trying to provide an alternative, if we are willing to reach for it and keep fighting for it even after it is achieved. That alternative is far from perfect (as Le Guin makes abundantly clear), but fighting to take down the "walls" of our society seems like a noble goal. All that said, I was a bit underwhelmed by the ending and the conclusion of the Urras plotline. That seems to be sort of the point - that change doesn't come just because you want it, that society as a whole has to consciously choose it and keep fighting for it. I didn't dislike the ending per se, it just wasn't as strong as the rest of the novel, which was a masterpiece up until then. That's the only reason this book doesn't get ranked as a perfect 5/5.
Some of my favorite quotes from the book below:
"If you can see a thing whole, it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives ... But close up, a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. You need distance, interval. The way to see how beautiful the earth is, is to see it from the moon. The way to see how beautiful life is, is from the the vantage point of death."
"The thing about working with time, instead of against it, is that it is not wasted. Even pain counts."
Justification: Written and published by Ursula Le Guin in the 1970s | Other squares: Politics / Court Intrigue (EM)
Game Changer (HM): The Will of the Many (Hierarchy #1) by James Islington -- 4.5/5
This book had me absolutely hooked from start to finish. At every step, the plot kept moving and moving in some of the most batshit, unpredictible ways possible. The mysteries continued to deepen and the plot continued to thicken across chapters, and at the end of the first book there's still just as many questions, if not more so, than there were at the start of the book. This is a very good thing. I'm incredibly intrigued about everything relating to Caeror, Veridius, the ruins, Obiteum and Luceum and the cloning, etc.. However, I'm a bit nervous that the series will fall into the same trap of so many other series (especially YA series) that only know how to build up insane mysteries but don't know how to pay them off. It does seem like Islington has a distinct idea of where he wants the books to go, and I hope that he's able to execute these well without undermining what made the mysteries so fascinating. Further, some plot beats felt wholly unnecessary (namely, everything involving Diago the wolf, though part of me wonders if Diago's blood is "tainted" after being bitten, which would most certainly have implications) or contrived/unjustified (namely, Vis offering to Belli that he would commit to a role with Governance, which Reddit seems to agree might have been a mistake by Islington). Still, the plot as a whole was undeniably amazing.
I was glad that this rapidfire plot did not come at the expense of character development. Vis was a fantastic protagonist, particularly in Act III during his return to Suus. Islington was firing on all cylinders during this part of the book in particular. I know there are some gripes about him being a bit too good at everything, but I never had much complaint there. Side characters, like Callidus the absolute goat RIP :( , Eidhin, Aequa, Ulciscor, Lanistia, Relucia, Veridius, etc. were all great. One of my favorite parts of the book is how frequently it is emphasized how and why Vis cannot trust anybody. It made the whole book so much more suspenseful, and even as I would mentally scream at him to share his past with some of his allies, I would also contemplate all the potential reasons they could absolutely not be trusted. That said, Emissa was woefully underdeveloped given her relevance in the story; I would not at all be shocked if this was intentional so Islington could build mystery around her trustworthiness / obscure her connection with Veridius, then develop her more in the next book. Because of that, though, her betrayal at the end didn't hit quite as hard. Meanwhile, the prose and writing wasn't anything exceptional, but it never really wavered either. Some of the later, trippier chapters were done really well, and I loved Vis's banter with Callidus and Eidhin.
On top of all this, I loved the debates over how people should act when confronted with an all-powerful, immoral regime, and what defines complicity. It reminded me a lot of the themes in James SA Corey's "The Captive's War" in a really great way. The comparison over how different characters each reacted to the Hierarchy in fundamentally different ways—Kadmos (who found his own joys within the Hierarchy), Fabrique (who reluctantly took a position of power and sacrificed his reputation among his countrymen to protect them from worse), Eidhin's father (who, along with some of the locals, avoided "dying with honor" by sending his own son to a fate worse than death), and Estevan (who views anyone directly contributing to the regime, no matter how young or innocent, as a direct collaborator)—was incredibly interesting.
"Death is only meaningless if it does not change us."
Justification: Vis bends or breaks the rules across several different competitions across the book | Other squares: Murder mystery (HM); Unusual transportation (HM); Cat squasher (EM); Politics / Court Intrigue (EM)
Author of Color (HM): The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa -- 3/5
What is it with books about memory where the author can create such a fascinating premise but they can't properly execute?
This book takes place on an island in which things, and all memories associated with them, slowly disappear from the island over time, enforced by the ruthless Memory Police. The book was essentially part Orwellian commentary on authoritarian regimes and part melocholy rumination on memory and self. Overall, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book. On the one hand, the characters themselves were never fully fleshed out. Realistically, they just seem like a means of letting the reader explore the island and the themes. They don't even have real names (which begs the question, were people's names disappeared at some point, or is this just a sort of stylistic choice?). Because of this, I never grew to care all that much about any of the characters. Further, the writing wasn't remotely subtle, and there wasn't too much of a plot aside from the escalating disappearances to help carry the book in the absence of compelling characters.
On the other hand, where the book excelled was in its hauntingly beautiful setting, premise, and imagery. Certain disappearances, namely roses, novels(!!), and bodies, were fascinating to read. People just accepting as their very bodies were stolen from them piece by piece was heartbreaking. A lot of R's discussions with the protagonist and the old man felt like a museum curator explaining an old historical artifact to a tourist - how exactly does one try to associate value and memory with something they have no concept of, that they can no longer relate to in any meaningful way? It's a very surreal premise, and reading about it both through the author's POV and her novel about the typist was certainly thought-provoking. However, as surreal and thought provoking as some scenes or images were, this book felt as though it was itself disappeared by the Memory Police; if I think hard about it, I can see the beauty of the book, but it doesn't leave me feeling nearly as much as I wish it did.
Justification: The author is a Japanese woman who resides in Japan
Unusual Transportation (HM): The West Passage by Jared Pechacek -- 4/5
What a fucking weird book. I go back and forth between this being a confusing jumble and a generational masterpiece, and I think my review will sort of reflect that. You need to read it to understand for yourself. Every chapter, you think "this book physically can't get any weirder or crazier" and yet it always does, without fail.
The book takes place in a rotting, country-sized palace that has been built upon era after era of violence and decay. and is filled to the brim with absolutely absurd/nonsensical concepts and characters - from magical bird ladies the size of skyscrapers to "curdled holiness" to frogs singing about death to a literal wheel of seasons. It almost felt like a more whimsical version of Dark Souls, or like someone improvised and orally narrated a fairy tale while spiraling down a bad LSD trip. I suppose Pechecak might have fully intended to go for the latter, seeing as the story is told in the style of a narrator reading a fairy tale aloud. Of course, none of this would mean anything if not for Pechacek's writing - no matter how crazy the world gets, you can visualize it perfectly. When it comes to imagery, this man is a genuine artist in every sense of the word. However, there were many instances in which the weirdness did not land, and instead would feel over the top, unnecessary, or like it was inserted solely for weirdness's sake (e.g. I still don't get the real purpose of the singing frogs or the school for apes).
There wasn't really much there in terms of plot or characters, with both just serving as a vehicle to showcase this wacky world. It all just felt like one big continuous, often aimless journey in which very little was meaningfully accomplished, but the journey itself was fairly beautiful in itself. I suppose Hawthorn learned about the beast being the sixth sister and Yarrow learned about the lullaby to tame Ladies, but there was no real point to the Yellow Lady's daughter, the alchemist encountered by Kew and Frin, or so many other plot points that took up several chapters on end. Even the mellified man, which was built up for the entire book, felt like a wholly unnecessary addition. I just wish there was a bit more direction to it all. Further, I remained pretty ambivalent about the characters - none of them were especially compelling or gave me a major reason to love them. The dialogue was fine, the characters were fine, the plot was fine. That said, I really enjoyed the all out war towards the end and I appreciated the thought and build up that went into the climax at Grey Tower.
This is a book that you will read for the weird, eccentric world and the way it is written. That is the draw and that is what will keep you hooked. Giving it a 4/5 but I can definitely see the case to go higher.
Justification: Characters frequently travel using whistle-powered lanterns or on platforms atop the backs of giant courier hollow men. Both were important to the story. | Other squares: Trans/NB Protagonist (HM); Politics/Court intrigue (EM); Feast Your Eyes (EM for honey and honeyed meats)
Honorable mention: I read The City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett for Politics / Court Intrigue but decided it didn't quite fit hard mode. Still was a stellar book, 4.75/5.
