02.02.26
An interesting premise, poorly executed. The author needed to spend less time thinking about how it would adapt for Netflix and more time improving her writing skills.
Showing posts with label science fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science fiction. Show all posts
The Bones Beneath My Skin - TJ Klune
12.01.26
The genre might vary but a Klune novel will always have a male/male romance, found family, a supernatural element, awkward dialogue and jokes in surprising (sometimes inappropriate) places. This was essentially an action thriller with an eye on a Netflix adaptation but that made it feel rather superficial and I doubt I'll remember much about it in six months.
The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal - Jodi Taylor
10.11.25
Perhaps it's my own fault for reading the original story of characters I didn't know from a series I haven't read but it was supposed to be standalone and, well, funny and exciting, but instead it felt like an in-joke that hadn't been explained with a very ragged plot. And it would have been much more interesting if they hadn't (spoiler) fallen in love at the end.
(This novel gets incredibly high ratings on Amazon and Goodreads but I've tried and failed to get on with Taylor's books before so clearly everyone else is wrong.)
The Frozen People - Elly Griffiths
13.06.25
Griffiths' depictions of North Norfolk have always been fanciful, so perhaps it's no surprise that she's gone full sci fi with her new time-travel series. It made no sense, the characters were poorly developed and the plot full of unresolved (worm)holes but it was a lot of fun - the culture-clash scenes set in Victorian London were particularly engaging.
Starter Villain - John Scalzi
11.12.24
Talking cats! Comedy villains! What a shame the premise was better than the execution. It just all seemed so half-hearted - it needed more action, more conflict, more coherent plot, more character development, more humour - and less pointless paragraphs of nothing. And how disappointing (spoiler) that the main character gave up villainy before he even got started.
Mister Magic - Kiersten White
"What did I just read?", as the young people like to say. I enjoyed the writing style and the ideas but I had no idea what was going on most of the time. I think that was intentional, to some extent, but it did mean that nuances and any deep messages were lost, considering it was supposed to be a comment on Mormonism. Still, points awarded for offering something different.
Pretties - Scott Westerfield
This suffered from the usual 'second in a trilogy' problem of being more of a bridge to the last book than a destination in itself. It had moments of brilliance but mostly the author seemed not to know where the story was going, so it was hard to care. And the heroine's superpower for attracting the attention of useful young men - just bogus, as she might say.
The Space Between Us - Doug Johnstone
59%
The last book of the year and it was a pretty good one - although I've deducted marks for the incessant comma splices that made it a struggle to read - I wouldn't have liked to have been the copy editor having that argument with the author. But the story - Scottish sci-fi road trip - was fun (if emotion-free) and raised some interesting metaphysical points. I even liked the open ending - perhaps a bit of a cop out but it could go anywhere from here.
My Murder - Katie Williams
70%
The idea of a clone trying to solve their own murder isn't new but I really enjoyed this take on the theme. It's strikingly well written on both a sentence and chapter level, the characters are interesting, the worldbuilding is clever and the issues of identity, parenthood, death and the ethical use of technology are well explored. What spoilt it was the annoying ending that exposed various plot holes and didn't address its own implications. But the first 90% - fantastic!
Uglies - Scott Westerfield
Interesting concept and world building, with its pace hampered by being split into a trilogy, so that, in the end, it felt incomplete.
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
59%
Beyond all the tediously detailed science (which I mostly skipped) and the ultimately pointless backstory (which I mostly skimmed), this is a sweet story about an unlikely inter-alien friendship that saves two worlds. I didn't warm to Weir's rather amateurish writing style, and would have liked to know much more about the journey to where they ended up, but it gets points for the lovely interactions between the two main characters.
Impossible - Sarah Lotz
06.06.22
Weird, maybe, convoluted, definitely, but impossible? Well, given I couldn't understand what the protagonists saw in each other, or why they did what they did, or why it resolved so awkwardly, then yes.
Also: 'pointless pandemic-themed epilogue' warning. Why did the publisher evidently insist on this 'realistic' afterthought when the whole point of the story is that it's 'impossible'?
Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro
72%
I loved this. I described Never Let Me Go as 'science fiction with depth' and this explores the same themes from a different angle. You don't need a thrilling plot to create a compelling story, and this beautiful, gentle and detached narrative encompassed the nature of humanity, of diversity and love and life and death. And how I cried for poor, sweet Klara at the end.
Constance - Matthew Fitzsimmons
17.01.22
Three main things made this 'thriller' relentlessly unthrilling. One: the confusing plot, bogged down with existential questions. Two: the characters with no character. Three: the effort that instead went into the endless, pointless descriptions, detailed to the extent of irrelevantly stating the race of even each one-scene bit-part - please let the reader construct their own visual world.
Idoru - William Gibson
15.11.21
Beautifully written, creatively imagined and surprisingly boring cyberpunk.
So boring, in fact, that I have absolutely zero recollection of having read it before.
Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
74%
07.01.21This multi-textured modern fairytale/mystery/philosophical musing could have been pretentious and awkward. It mostly - miraculously - wasn't. I loved it as much as I did Strange and Norrell. I'd be surprised if I read anything else as good this year.
Dark Matter - Blake Crouch
12.09.19
Ridiculous multi-universe, quasi-quantum, badly characterised thriller that still manages to be oddly engaging.
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
15.01.19
A friend sent me this for Christmas, or I'd never have read it. And I'm glad I did, from an intellectual point of view at least. Despite being nearly 60 years old, it's a strikingly modern look at, well, everything - prejudice, culture, morality, academia, the nature of intelligence, sexual and emotional development, Freudian psychology... the term 'science fiction' seems rather limiting for this classic.
The City & the City - China Miéville
05.10.18
This came highly recommended from another editor, and the concept and standard of writing were indeed pretty fantastic, cleverly layered and thought provoking. It was a pity the characterisation was non-existent and the murder-mystery plot really just a means of conveying the complex world of the cities. (Apparently, it's been recently televised and I would be interested to see exactly how they handled it.)
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
17.07.16
Yes, it's written well enough, and the space-worlds and characters are carefully thought out. It's nice to have a generally upbeat story... but should a good book really be 'nice'? Shouldn't it be a little challenging, a little subversive, a little less derivative, a lot less, well, twee? I enjoyed it well enough but I doubt if I'll remember it in a month or two.
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