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We are an opinionated group of friends reviewing all sorts of fantasy and science fiction media. Don’t forget to get to know the curators and visit our curated Collection, where we discuss the stories that never cease to transport us to another world.
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- Novel written by Mary Shelley
- Published 1 January 1818
- Standalone
Listened to the audiobook with Simon Vance, loved his narration.
The first showing of Guillermo del Toro’s new Frankenstein movie at the Venice International Film Festival is coming up, so I figured it would be interesting to reread the original book to best prepare for the inevitable watch parties. Turns out the release on Netflix is only in the fall though. Unfortunately.
So back to the book. There a multiple ways to review a book like Frankenstein. If we look at it from the perspective of what Frankenstein did for the genre – and what it meant in 1818 – it is very difficult to overstate its importance. It is already incredible that a teenage girl could write this, but now consider she wrote it in the 1810s! 5/5.
It might be different if we look at it from the perspective of the 2020s. We know what Frankenstein meant for science fiction, but what if we look at it as a piece of entertainment rather than a piece of history?
I think there are a lot of elements to the story that wouldn’t fly in a modern publication. There are quite a few ways in which the story is simply old fashioned. For example, aside from Victor Frankenstein, the characters are pretty underdeveloped, especially the female ones; and the prose is very dramatic (to a level which is sometimes more funny than emotional).
In addition, there are a couple of nit-picky criticisms that I feel might have been resolved with some editorial l input in a revised version. For example, while the reader will understand that for the story to work the monster needs to learn basically everything somewhere, I still think it is a fair criticism that the way it actually happened was very convenient. And Frankenstein does a lot of thinking, but it just never seems to occur to him to tell anyone what is up, or to take action to prevent the monster from getting its way. I realise its not that type of book, of course, but I feel a modern version would have found ways to make it make more practical sense.
On the other hand, there is more than enough that carries over the 200 years since the book was written. The core message – of a person being driven to do unspeakable things because of unfair rejection by fellow humans, of unfair rejection by fellow humans because of immutable characteristics like appearance – is as relevant now as it was in 1818. And sure, the story is old and the prose is a little melodramatic, but that is also fun! It makes for a very atmospheric tale. And finally: it has a frame narrative, so that means I’m sold.
So overall: I enjoyed Frankenstein. I’m just a sucker for the classics. If I’m honest, I probably mostly liked it for the history attached to it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth reading for its own sake.
- Novel written by Alice Hoffman
- Published in 1995
I’ve heard a lot of good things about the movie Practical Magic, but I’ve never seen it. Still, it meant that I was intrigued when I found this novel at the thrift store, and I’m really glad I picked it up.
I read Practical Magic in the middle of summer. Though it’s a bit of a Halloween-y book, it’s perfect for the summer. The overall vibe of this book is very 90’s. It made me nostalgic for American summers that I’ve never actually personally experienced.
Is the plot particularly interesting? No. Are the characters super deep and compelling? Also no, though I would argue the Owens sisters are reasonably well developed. The side characters, however, are almost cardboard cutouts. Does every man fall in love at first sight in this book? Absolutely. However, as I was reading, none of that really bothered me. Practical Magic is American in the best way.
After finishing the novel, I found myself missing it. I suppose that means I should just watch the movie, but I think the fact that I would have liked to spend more time with the Owens family is a pretty good indication of how much I enjoyed Practical Magic.
If you’re looking for a very cosy read for late summer/early fall, this is it.
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- Novel written by Ken Liu
- Published 7 April 2015
- Part 1 in the Dandelion Dynasty Series
Listened to the audiobook with Michael Kramer. Fine narration.
After finishing Ken Liu’s The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, I was very keen to dive into his debut novel The Grace of Kings. I was really curious what a (very) long form fantasy novel/series by the same author would be like.
The Grace of Kings is advertised as a ‘silkpunk’ epic fantasy and that gave me the mistaken impression that it would be an alternate history focussing on the development of Chinese or more generally East Asian technology.
Instead, I was presented with an uninspired, mostly culturally agnostic epic low fantasy with a couple of completely out of place technological developments tossed in to make it speculative.
That is pretty tough criticism, but I really had to push through and very nearly failed to finish The Grace of Kings altogether.
My main issue with the book is that none of the characters come alive. The book covers a lot of time and a multitude of events, and the result is that it is mostly a long and continuous description of developments from a bird’s eye view, with the occasional line of dialogue or scene mixed in to keep the story at least somewhat tied to the nominal main characters.
If I had to compare The Grace of Kings with anything else I’ve read, it comes closest to Herodotos’ Histories in style, with the footnote that it is entirely (as opposed to mostly) made up.
Now, I understand from reading a little online (and feeling that some of the plot elements were very familiar) that Liu draws heavily on Chinese legends from the Chu-Han Contention in the late third century BCE. And maybe a retelling of those legends for Western audiences could have been written in the style that Liu used for The Grace of Kings (and maybe that would have been a better project).
But as a modern fantasy novel, I just found the non-personal, plot-focused style …boring. The fact that Liu took a lot of the more interesting character background straight from existing legend does not exactly help to raise my opinion of the book.
The result is that I was never invested in any of the outcomes in The Grace of Kings and it felt like a 22 hour outline of a yet-to-be developed fantasy novel. In the end, I think The Grace of Kings is a missed opportunity to bring a new culture into the realm of fantasy and to tell a story that is fundamentally different from run-of-the-mill medieval European fare.
I could add a number of minor gripes to this review – I did not think the politics were particularly clever, I did not like Liu’s treatment of battles, I did not like the role of women in this book, I did not like the just-so nature of technological innovation, I zoned out throughout pretty much all of the deity dialogues. But I think I have made my point clear.
Looking at reviews online, I find that the book is pretty divisive, with some people praising it to high heaven as one of the best books they have read, versus an exceptionally high number of people who didn’t bother to finish.
My take away from that is that if the book does not grip you in the first 100 pages or the first few hours of listening, you’re probably in the second group and I would recommend you not waste any more time. There are plenty of other books to read instead if you’re craving Asian-inspired fantasy with larger narratives (such as The Priory of the Orange Tree or She Who Became the Sun).
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- Collection written by Ken Liu
- Published 8 March 2016
- Standalone
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories is a collection of novellas and short stories. I’m rating and reviewing the book as whole, but I’ll include a couple of lines on the separate stories below.
I have said before that I like short form fiction, because it allows writers and readers to explore themes and ideas without the investment and complications necessary for novel-length speculative fiction. I think Ted Chiang is probably the best example of that kind of storytelling I know.
So I was very interested in The Paper Menagerie, and it did not disappoint! The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories belongs on the shelf right next to Exhalation.
I was particularly impressed by the broad range of topics and genres that are included in the collection – they range from effectively fantasy, to alternate history, to historical fiction, to science fiction.
The stories in The Paper Menagerie do share a common theme: most of them, on some level, are about cultural interchange. In particular, many of them are about the experience of Chinese – or more generally, Asian – immigrants in the US. That may appear to be a strange theme for a collection of speculative fiction, but that literary theme married to interesting speculative ideas works surprisingly well.
And while The Paper Menagerie works as a collection, several of the individual stories also really stand out. Only one of the individual stories felt like a dud, and there are several that I am burning to recommend to specific people.
Overall, The Paper Menagerie is certain to delight thoughtful readers of more literary fare as well as curious readers of speculative ideas. Pick it up – I am sure there is a story in there you will remember for a long time!
The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species: 3/5. Fun thought experiments on how different alien species could be to us, through the lens of their possible writing; not the slam-dunk opener I would have gone for though!
State Change: 5/5. Really cute short story about metaphors for one’s personality having a physical shape. It takes a couple of pages to get into it, but I loved it, probably one of the best stories in the book.
The Perfect Match: 4/5. Poignant short story about algorithms deciding our lives. It overdelivers a bit at the end (surprisingly reminding me of Vigilance a bit).
Good Hunting: 4/5. More standard fantasy fare, a character driven, gaslamp-fantasy type short story about technology replacing magic.
The Literomancer: 5/5. Harrowing literary historical story about making friends across cultures and how Americans think they are saving the world, but it turns out they are not.
Simulacrum: 5/5. Very short story about how something more lifelike than a recording existing interferes with the privacy and personal lives of both the recorded person and the watcher.
The Regular: 3.5/5. Detective story, not quite novel length, very Black Mirror-esque, about the murder of an escort.
The Paper Menagerie: 3.5. The story gave its name to the book and won both the Hugo and Nebula award, but it is not the one that stuck with me most; but it is a well-written literary story, that might have speculative elements but that is not about those at all. I think that this one particular story is the one that most strongly exemplifies the through line in the book, of Chinese or Asian characters attempting to fit into a foreign world.
An Advanced Readers’ Picture Book of Comparative Cognition: 2.5/5. This one never clicked for me. It switches back and forth between descriptions of possible outlandish sentient life forms and the story of an ark launching into space. I honestly forgot it was even in the book until I made this list for the review…
The Waves: 3/5. An interesting short story about growing up, the meaning of immortality, and choices made to conserve resources on an ark ship in space, though the premise seemed a little forced to me.
Mono No Aware: 4/5. A Hugo-award winning short story, about the the peculiar culture of Japan holding strong in the face of the apocalypse, the mingling of culture on ark ships and the duty of sacrifice.
All the Flavours: 4/5. A novella, the longest story in the book. All the Flavours is about Chinese immigrants in the Old West, perfectly fitting the book’s overall themes, but it views those themes at just a bit more of a distance since we are separated by time from the characters in the book. I like that the story portrays two sides of the society the Chinese immigrated into: both the welcoming Americans that admire Chinese industriousness and food, as well as the inevitable racism of those that try to exploit them.
A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel: 4/5. An alternate history short story that really tickled my imagination, though the plot itself is perhaps not the greatest.
The Litigation Master and the Monkey King: 3/5. A fine story about a clever lawyer and his inner monologue with a legendary figure, a couple of nice twists but not this book’s highlight.
The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary: 5/5. A great story about the geopolitics and activism in history, the emotional versus the academic side of history, and the personal attrition of a scientist that wants to do good.
Tagged:
- Adults, Aliens, Alternate History, Artificial Intelligence, Book, Cyberpunk, Discrimination, Fantasy, Hard Science Fiction, Hugo Award, Investigation, Literary, Locus Award, Low Fantasy, Male Author, Minority Author, Near-Future Sci-Fi, Nebula Award, Philosophy, Science Fiction, Short stories, Space Voyage, Stand Alone, Thought-Provoking
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- Novella written by Robert Jackson Bennett
- Published 29 January 2019
- Standalone
Listened to the audiobook with Mark Boyett – well read.
Seldom have I read a sci-fi story that is at once so cynical and scathing and so true to life.
No, I don’t really expect TV networks to start organising mass shootings to bring ratings up. But all small elements that make up American society in Vigilance – the overt racism and sexism, the cynical appeals to patriotism, the casual audience manipulation – all resonate strongly with the kind of society that MAGA-republicans are actually on their way to creating. Bennett was writing in 2019, towards the end of the first Trump presidency, and I think he had a really good feeling for the direction the US had taken.
Especially in the first half of the story, Bennett does an amazing job of setting a great stage and defending his absolutely bonkers premise. I was sucked straight into his disgusting and fascinating dystopia.
I think Vigilance had the potential to be really good.
Unfortunately, Bennett wasn’t quite content with just a well-executed premise. Towards the end of the novella, Bennett attempts to place the story of Vigilance in a wider geopolitical context with a grand finale. I feel his conclusion takes the reader’s attention away from the Vigilance-event at the core of the book and takes it over the top to where my suspense of disbelief snapped.
I think it is a pity. I feel like that big finale wasn’t necessary to make the point Bennet was trying to make, and it detracts from the message it does send by taking the novella from unlikely but creepily familiar Black Mirror-territory to more safely impossible speculation.
Having said that, I think Vigilance is well worth your time despite its probably overambitious finish – the cynical picture of the US Bennett paints – even if it borders on caricature – is a good reminder of where the world might be heading if we don’t stand up and reject those politics.
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- Novella written by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Published January 2002
- Standalone
The Years of Rice and Salt is certainly speculative, but it is also a little different from most speculative fiction that we review. We have labelled a number of the works we have reviewed ‘alternate history’, but most of those are masquerading as a fantasy world or have other speculative elements as well.
The Years of Rice and Salt is very pure alternative history in that it changes one historical circumstance – the lethality of the Black Death in Europe in the fourteenth century – and progresses history from there, in this case imagining a world ‘without’ Europe, in particular without the impact of European exploration, expansion and colonialism.
The big downside of an alternate history book that really wants to explore the impact of a single change over the centuries, is that it needs to describe those centuries and thus can’t follow the narrative of short-lived set of characters.
Robinson solves this problem by following a small cast of characters that reincarnate together into different societies at different times. They might not be the same people each time, but they share certain character traits and relationships and it allows for some semblance of continuity over a story that spans eight centuries.
Still, this is not a character-driven book but an exploration of what might be. The Years of Rice and Salt is very much a Kim Stanley Robinson book. It is dripping in research and laced with themes of the triumph of science, utopianism and rationalism. It is a book of ideas.
To be honest, that does show. The Years of Rice and Salt is well written, but it is slow going. It doesn’t suck you in the way more character-driven stories would. It relies on the reader’s curiosity to find out where history goes.
Still, some of the shorter stories that make up the book have some fun vignettes. For example, I liked the invention of the scientific method by a disgraced alchemist in Samarkand, and the accidental discovery of the Americas by drifting Chinese ships. It is these kinds of windows into what might have been that make a book like this so interesting. little windows into what might have been that make this book so interesting.
Overall, The Years of Rice and Salt is a tough book to get into. It takes commitment to get to the end and it won’t be for everyone. But I like Kim Stanley Robinson and his belief that scientist will usher us into utopia, so I enjoyed my time with it and I know many others will too.
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Review: Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus – Mary Shelley
Victor Frankenstein discovers a formula for imbuing inanimate objects with life. He builds a man, but is so repulsed by his creation that he flees in horror – and leaves the creature to fend for himself. Rejected by his maker and by society at large, Frankenstein’s creation returns to his creator to demand his pound of flesh.
Review: Practical Magic – Alice Hoffman
The Owens sisters have always been different from their peers. All Sally and Gillian wanted was to get away from the kids and school, who shunned and teased them for the magic that surrounded them and their aunts. When an unexpected death brings the sisters back into each other’s lives years later, they discover that the love of a family is its own kind of magic.
Review: The Grace of Kings – Ken Liu
Kuni Garu is a charming bandit that cheats and finesses his way into a leadership position in the rebellion against the Emperor. Mata Zyndu is a stern aristocrat and scion of a noble family that was wronged by the regime. At first, they find themselves brothers, fighting for a new order in the place of the old one. But when that battle is one, their visions for a brave new world turn out not to be compatible.
Review: The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories – Ken Liu
What happens when a recording becomes too life-like? What happens when you can go back to actually review history, but only once? What happens when Chinese immigrants come to the States during the Gold Rush? What happens when algorithms start deciding our every choice in life? The fifteen stories in this collection focus on the role of immigrants and intermingling of cultures, especially the integration of Asians in Western society, as well as the impact of technology on our daily lives.
Review: Vigilance – Robert Jackson Bennett
In a not-too-distant future, the United States has ceded global hegemony to China. The young and bright emigrate and leave behind a society governed by fear, prejudice and gun violence. In this degenerate America, mass shootings have become an excellent marketing opportunity for advertisers.
Review: The Years of Rice and Salt – Kim Stanley Robinson
When the Black Death hits Europe, it isn’t just devastating, it flat out depopulates the continent. The world moves on. Without Europe, who will ‘discover’ the Americas and develop modern science? Who will repopulate empty Europe? Will humanity make the same mistakes it did under European hegemony? Nobody knows, but Kim Stanley Robinson is speculating and he is taking us with him.
