Category: Review

Review: Toward Eternity

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“Music is as eternal as the universe, it is part of its very fabric, and a musician is only picking at a small corner of the universe, a tiny dot in it, when they turn air and time into sound. A musician’s task is not to create sound from nothingness; a true musician understands that music is the primordial state of the universe, the very first world, and silence is a cloak upon this state, and a musician’s job is to create a tear in that cloak to let out the music underneath. We do not create music, we draw it out from underneath the silence. I draw it out from my cello, my tear in the cloak.”

Title: Toward Eternity 
Author: Anton Hur 
Pages: 256 
Release: July 9, 2024 

Already renowned for his works of translation, Anton Hur demonstrates his prowess as a novelist in Toward Eternity, an engrossing exploration of the essence of humanity.

While the narrative initially embraces a slow pace and interiority for our protagonists, it begins to accelerate through time, challenging readers to keep pace with the plot’s ever-expanding Russian Doll-like recursions. I preferred the start of the story for its more accessible nature, but I understood the choice to jump through time to see how the past had reverberated into the future.

The novel truly shines when contemplating memory, artistry, and what it means to be human in the face of technological progress. Much like the Ship of Theseus paradox, if nanotechnology replaced our cells one by one, at what point do we stop being ourselves? And, from the perspective of artistic expression, if you are an instrumentalist playing notes written by someone else, are you any less an artist? Does your music not draw from your soul? I found these questions to be particularly interesting, especially considering Hur’s prolific work translating the words of other novelists and how that might inform his viewpoint on this.

Ultimately, there’s quite a bit to take away from Toward Eternity – you can latch on to the big ideas and philosophical questions it raises or you can just focus on the fun, sci-fi thriller aspects that make this so readable. Either way, Hur has written something really wonderful and I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

★★★★½

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Lost Ark Dreaming

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Title: Lost Ark Dreaming
Author: Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Pages: 192
Release: May 21, 2024

Within the confines of its short page count, Suyi Davies Okunbowa deploys truly impressive economical worldbuilding to situate us right into this literal fish(creature)-out-of-water tale.

The narrative unfolds within a massive skyscraper that towers above the flooded African coast, where societal classes are physically stratified – akin to turning the train from Snowpiercer vertically – the higher class residing above and the lower class below the ever-rising sea level, a literal manifestation of social hierarchy.

What sets this novella apart are the deeply felt interludes scattered throughout. These reflections delve into the complexities of humanity, trauma, displacement, class, intergenerational oral tradition, immigration, and more. It’s a tapestry of themes carefully woven throughout the narrative.

Lost Ark Dreaming is not only profound, but also approachable and exciting. It left me wanting more, and I look forward to seeing whatever Okungbowa writes next.

★★★★

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Floating Hotel

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Title: Floating Hotel
Author: Grace Curtis
Pages: 304
Release: March 19, 2024

What a fun read to kick off the new year! Each chapter of Floating Hotel features a different passenger or crew member on board the hulking Grand Abeona Hotel as it saunters through the galaxy and Grace Curtis paints vivid portraits of the ragtag cadre of characters. While spending limited time with and shifting through each person’s perspective may be disorienting for some, there is a captivating mystery at the core of the book that provides a compelling thread connecting each distinct section.

The tone of the book vibrates on a similar frequency as Josiah Bancroft’s “Books of Babel” series — there are airships, class divides, a dash of whimsy, and a hodgepodge of peculiar characters, each aboard the vessel for a different reason.

There were some deliciously dark details that might make some question the “cozy” genre classification, but the story and characters exude charm, Curtis’s writing flows beautifully, and I raced through each chapter until reaching the final page. All in all, I greatly enjoyed my time spent aboard the Grand Abeona Hotel.

★★★★

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Exordia

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Title: Exordia (January 23, 2024)
Author: Seth Dickinson
Pages: 544

The opening act of Exordia is extraordinary. It’s witty, engaging, and sets up a super intriguing first contact alien scenario. What follows that cracking start is a dense, technobabble bonanza that prioritizes impenetrable science abstractions over story and character. 

It’s frustrating because I’m fairly certain Seth Dickinson is brilliant. But he’s so brilliant that most of what he was writing about went well over my head. Or maybe I’ve just outed myself as an unlearned, poorly-read student of science fiction literature – but that’s for me to grapple with. 

I wish I had put this down and chalked it up as one of the many books that are “just not for me,” but the promise of that opening section left me hopeful that the story would eventually sink its teeth back into me. I lost the plot and never got it back as Dickinson dove deeper and deeper down a cosmological rabbit hole that I just could not follow (literally, figuratively, metaphysically). 

There will be a bloc of readers who love Exordia, and I wish I could count myself among their numbers. But consider me among the lesser mortals who could not connect with the frequency at which Dickinson is operating here.

★★

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: After World

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Title: After World: A Novel (December 5, 2023)
Author: Debbie Urbanski
Pages: 368

  1. What is the best way then for humanity to survive a failing Earth?
  2. What is the best way for a failing Earth to survive?
  3. What if the answers to questions 1 and 2 are radically different?

After World imagines a future that is solely concerned with question 2. In order to save Earth, a deadly pathogen is released that sterilizes the human race – thereby swiftly and efficiently eradicating humans from the planet. Its telling is bleak, grim, and unforgiving – and yet, it makes for incredibly compelling reading.

Author Debbie Urbanski has considered every element of the future down to the most granular detail. Those looking for a fun, post-apocalyptic romp will be letdown, as this story self-consciously subverts the post-apocalyptic trappings that fans of the genre are familiar with and focuses on the cold realities that such an end of days scenario would create.

The AI-human romance angle is a bit oversold in the book’s synopsis and is a bit undercooked in the way it’s implemented in the text, but this book is so rich in its worldbuilding and the way it weaves in its unique metanarrative that it hardly matters. With the proliferation of artificial intelligence and the way it is reshaping our (warming) world – this book is a perfect complement to our modern technological time.

★★★★½

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Other Valley

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Title: The Other Valley (February 7, 2024)
Author: Scott Alexander Howard
Pages: 304

This is a quiet gem of a novel. Scott Alexander Howard takes a unique premise and executes it beautifully – never relying too heavily on his fantastical plot device to convey young Odile’s heartfelt story. 

I loved the exploration of the moral and practical reasons a citizen should and should not be allowed to visit their neighboring valley to the east (20 years into their future) and to the west (20 years into their past). A more scrupulous reader might uncover some time travel plot holes here that I tried not to think too hard about – but if you suspend your disbelief and take the story at face value, you’ll find a thought-provoking and wistful tale that I, for one, greatly enjoyed.

★★★★½

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Hexologists

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Title: The Hexologists (September 26, 2023)
Author: Josiah Bancroft
Pages: 386
Series: The Hexologists #1

How does Josiah Bancroft fare once he leaves the comfortable confines of the Tower of Babel? Pretty well, in fact! Bancroft leans into the charming voice and delightful prose that brought The Books of Babel to life in order to kickstart this delightful new series. 

Bancroft effortlessly establishes the new setting, the stakes, the lovable main characters, and the magic system all while employing his trademark wordplay flourishes and clever turns of phrase. The Hexologists shares plenty of structural DNA with his previous novels, so longtime fans will surely feel right at home while Bancroft charts a slightly different course here.

While I initially felt that a 5-star review would be in order, the story lost some steam in the back half and I was not wholly invested in the mystery at the heart of things, so we settled into a very solid 4.0. Our lead pair, Iz and Warren, are a great duo and I hope to follow their adventures for several more books to come!

★★★★

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Same Bed Different Dreams

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Title: Same Bed Different Dreams (November 7, 2023)
Author: Ed Park
Pages: 528

Ed Park spins historical fact into brilliant literary fiction with Same Bed Different Dreams. His gripping prose and flair for unconventional storytelling makes even the most opaque sections completely engrossing. This book will coast onto yearly Best-of lists (including my own) and it should be in contention for major literary awards. I was simply blown away.

It’s a mesmerizing fever dream of a novel, with an expansive story that contracts on a whim. It’s sprawling, yet intimate. The subtle interconnections between its nested layers are a joy to puzzle out and it begs to be re-read. Starting over with more enlightened eyes (and maybe a character web to track the broad cast of players and their connections) would certainly yield a different, yet still satisfying, experience.

While it’s difficult to describe the book in terms of plot, if you’re an enjoyer of secret societies, doomsday cults, alternate histories, coded messages, spies, double agents, artificial intelligence, and the history of Korea – give this book a go. If you bristle at the thought of an unconventional narrative structure without much hand-holding, perhaps skip it. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was certainly mine. 

★★★★½
✪ SPECULATIVE SHELF STARRED BOOK

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Circumference of the World

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Title: The Circumference of the World (September 5, 2023)
Author: Lavie Tidhar
Pages: 256

Reading a new Lavie Tidhar novel is always a treat. You can count on engaging prose paired with an inventive story and The Circumference of the World certainly fits that bill.

Jumping between seemingly unrelated narrative threads, Tidhar spins a tale about an elusive novel that galvanizes everyone in its orbit. We rarely stick with one thread long enough to reach a resolution, but in the end, the sections tie together in an intriguing way.

If you’re looking for a brisk read from a unique voice in science fiction, give this one a shot!

★★★½

My thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.