Tak! commented on David Mogo by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Nigerian God-Punk - a powerful and atmospheric urban fantasy set in Lagos.
Since the Orisha …
The #SFFBookClub pick for May 2024
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Tak! reviewed Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic. "No maids, no …
Siren Queen
3 stars
This one just wasn't for me. I feel like it was one of those books that's all setting and no plot - and the setting was great, but I just couldn't engage with it.
Tak! reviewed Crossing the Line by Karen Traviss
Shan Frankland forever abandoned the world she knew to come to the rescue of a …
Crossing the Line
4 stars
It kept very much to the themes of the original: genocide, greed, betrayal, and the sheer amount of damage a few bad-faith actors can do in a system not designed to account for them
Finished just in time for #SFFBookClub sequels month 😅
Tak! commented on Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic. "No maids, no …
#SFFBookClub pick for April 2024
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, …
Babel
5 stars
Content warning I don't think I can review this without some vague spoilers
Babel is a story of colonialism, racism, sexism, whiteness, Englishness, loss, betrayal, and despair. It's basically a modern parable grittily illustrating the causes and consequences of colonialism.
I love the translation magic mechanism, and I found the embedded etymology tidbits super interesting.
I also appreciate that the author had the courage to allow Bad Things to happen to major characters - not in a GRRM torture porn kind of way, but just as a kind of natural consequence of the world and the characters' interactions.
Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, …
By the time Professor Richard Lovell found his way through Canton’s narrow alleys to the faded address in his diary, the boy was the only one in the house left alive.
— Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang
Tak! reviewed How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work …
How High We Go in the Dark
4 stars
A series of bleak, gritty glimpses of what's in store for us over the next few decades.
The tone is lightened a bit here and there with injections of optimism, but I think it works against itself a little when the optimism feels unwarranted.
The way that the characters from the different stories are linked reminds me a bit of Cloud Atlas (although I only saw the movie (sorry)).
Tak! commented on How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work …
Wow, the second story is bleak. Do not recommend for people with children in their lives.
Tak! commented on How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work …
The #SFFBookClub January pick is How High We Go In The Dark, by Sequoia Nagamatsu. Thank you to all who voted and/or suggested books.
Tak! reviewed Wondrous Journeys In Strange Lands by Sonia Nimr
Award-winning historical fantasy and literary folktale. Winner of the presigious Etisalat award.
In a tent …
Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands
3 stars
I enjoyed the setting, and some of the substories were compelling, but as a whole it was too rambling and incohesive for me.
I feel like it would have worked better as a series of stories about different people from the same village or whatever instead of repeatedly being like "despite being in the middle of this incredibly urgent life crisis, the main character decides to spend six months teaching an older woman to fold laundry" or "despite having a very bad outcome two chapters ago, the main character decides to engage in exactly the same dangerous behavior with no additional precautions"
Tak! commented on Wondrous Journeys In Strange Lands by Sonia Nimr
Award-winning historical fantasy and literary folktale. Winner of the presigious Etisalat award.
In a tent …
Let's see if I finish this one in time for #SFFBookClub
Tak! reviewed The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu
The Library of the Dead
4 stars
A touch more original than a lot of urban supernatural, and highly appropriate for the Halloween season
Tak! commented on The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu
The #SFFBookClub selection for October 2023
Tak! commented on A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys
On a warm March night in 2083, Judy Wallach-Stevens wakes to a warning of unknown …
The #SFFBookClub selection for September 2023
Tak! commented on Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes this reimagining of the classic …
The #SFFBookClub pick for May 2023