Tuesday, January 07, 2020

Dear Mr. Fantasy

It seems like deconstructionism is taking its toll on me. Even just reading for escapism, I can't seem to get loose of politics and economics.
  1. "Quillifer the Knight", by Walter Jon Williams, 2019, 643 pages. The 2nd of this series, the 1st is blogged here. Court intrigue, dragon slaying, etc. Williams is reliably enjoyable. But, another novel that is, if not glorifying, at least spreading the memes of feudalism. Sigh.
  2. "Ninth House", by Leigh Bardugo, 2019, 643 pages. I kept seeing references to this on various lists, so I decided to give it a try. Who knew that Yale was secretly Hogwarts??? Did we really need a book about Yale secret societies? The author is a Yale grad. Gee, I'm so disappointed we didn't have secret magical societies at MIT. It is a good read.
  3. "The Ten Thousand Doors of January", by Alix E. Harrow, 2019, 417 pages. I was reminded at 1st of "The Never-Ending Story" - a good thing. A very nicely constructed story of the multiverse.
  4. "The Scar", by China MiƩville, 2002, 767 pages. The 2nd of the Bas-Lag (the name of this world) series. I think I read the 1st, "Perdido Street Station", shortly after it came out in 2000. I have come to appreciate MiƩville's writing more in recent years. More horrorish than I prefer, but very impressive world-building and bizarre races and creatures. This is an interesting story, but the protagonist/narrator is fairly unlikable. It still works though. I have purchased the 3rd book of the series, "Iron Council".
On to some short stories, I think.

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