Critiques et Commentaires

el dang

eldang@bookwyrm.social

A rejoint ce serveur il y a 4 années

Also eldang@weirder.earth

I'm currently the coordinator of the #SFFBookClub so a lot of what I'm reading is suggestions from there.

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el dang a publié une critique de A Closed and Common Orbit par Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #2)

Becky Chambers: A Closed and Common Orbit (Paperback, 2017, Hodder & Stoughton)

Once, Lovelace had eyes and ears everywhere. She was a ship's artificial intelligence system - …

made me cry more than once

5 étoiles

I absolutely adored this book. I realise that part of this is that it was a perfect little escape while I was stuck at home with covid, but I do also think it's really wonderful.

It has some similar strengths to the first in the series, in that it's mostly about the relationships between a few outcast characters that become a chosen family and just happen to be in space. But if anything I think it's better written (I guess Chambers getting into her stride with book 2), and benefits from being a more focussed story of a smaller number of characters. And has some weightier things to say about embodiment, the tension between fitting in and freedom, and loyalty & reciprocity.

I am excited about the rest of the series.

el dang a publié une critique de Ammonite par Nicola Griffith

Change or die: the only options available on the Durallium Company-owned planet GP. The planet's …

Ammonite

4 étoiles

Avertissement sur le contenu Ammonite (whole book)

I enjoyed this book a lot, and it's the kind of juicy food for thought that I've spent the week since finishing it digesting. Elements of it felt like an homage to The Left Hand of Darkness, but not heavily enough that to get in the way of Griffith having her own story to tell. There's also a big echo of the stories of early European colonies losing people because they either couldn't handle the environment they were trying to colonise or "went native", liking the cultures they were supposed to subjugate better than their own.

It's beautifully written too, but at times some of the human interactions felt implausibly easy. We get the protagonist almost dying a few times, but she seems to settle in to a wholly alien culture quicker & more easily than I've managed moving between countries on one planet. And the resolution at the end of the book feels too convenient.

SFFBookClub

el dang a publié une critique de Lonely Planet Travel Photography par Richard I'Anson

Richard I'Anson: Lonely Planet Travel Photography (Paperback, 2004, Lonely Planet Publications)

Review of 'Lonely Planet Travel Photography' on 'LibraryThing'

4 étoiles

Useful manual. Fairly concise, but with enough information to still be helpful to people like me, who know the basic technical stuff pretty well but have plenty to learn about composition and material. Not much of it is actually specific to "travel", but then why would taking a picture of some other city be magically different from taking one of where I live?