I moved on to Upgrade first (no connection to the Leigh Whannell movie). This was not quite as good as Recursion, but it was a very good speculative thriller.
In the near future, genetic tampering has gone wild and caused such catastrophic events that it’s now been outlawed. Our main character is tricked into being “upgraded” with a genetic tampering cocktail that begins to make him into a kind of superhero level human. He’ll need those abilities to save the world when he discovers who was behind his upgrade and what they plan to do to the entire world.
Now on to Dark Matter. It has gotten rave reviews, including in reviews for Crouch’s other books where readers say the other books were not quite as good, so I’m expecting greatness.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang is fantastic. I gave it a chance because it had a rave review from Stephen King.
The book, written by a Chinese American author, is about a white author stealing a deceased Chinese American author’s unpublished manuscript and then publishing it as their own. Things seem well until the walls start caving in and it becomes undeniable that someone out there knows the truth.
I worked in publishing for many years and loved the insider takes and asides on Twitter and Goodreads, and what happens inside publishing houses looking to make their next big diversity splash. Very true to life.
Looks like the author mainly writes military fantasy fiction? This was quite a diversion for them, but I’m glad they wrote it. Only took a few days to blaze through it to the end.
Can Xue is a pretty good pick here for the normal DEI reasons. I’ve read The Last Lover, and her putative masterpiece Five Spice Street and a couple of short stories. I’d rather eat glass than read her again. If anyone makes a mint betting on her please consider sharing with me. Winter will be here before you know it and I’m trying to save up for a pair of socks.
I was wrong. It was bound to happen sooner or later:
I confess to not getting it, but would love to hear from any of you who do. I was astonished to see The Vegetarian placed somewhere around 40 in the NYTBR list. I suppose my tastes are just too sophisticated for the Nobel Committee.
the previews are coming out every Monday. I’ve enjoyed some of it, but the legal code stuff made me lose braincells, hopefully it’s a fakeout and not something he was writing earnestly. Would be a regression back to the Elantris writing days
And yes, he’s the anti-Martin. Casually writes 4 extra books in 2 years. He has a schedule and has always been early
This was HARD to finish. It’s much more about science fiction ideas than story and characters. And the twists are more teases and coy reveals than omg wtf now it all makes sense kind of twists.
I wish it had been more accessible. It made me think of Michael Crichton if he weren’t so easy to read. I am looking forward to seeing the Netflix adaptation and appreciating everything that was done to make it accessible and engaging for wide audiences.
I am also a quarter of the way through a re-read of Sphere by Crichton and am enjoying it very much.
How much do you all read? I think I read at a pretty faced pace, but I don’t seem to get through books as quick as everyone else so I feel that my reading volume is far lower than average.
I probably average 4 nights a week, for 30 minutes at a time. Then maybe on the weekend I’ll get an hour session in one time.
So I guess I’m reading a book for about 3 hours a week…
I ride the bus and read while I’m at work, so I average maybe 15 hours a week at a clip of 1-2 books per week. I also listen to audiobooks, but those tend to be books I’ve already read.
I read a lot at work on my phone and then some at home around bed time. If I’m really into a good series I might read 2+ hours every day, other times when I’m not into anything I might go days without opening the Kindle.
Read Justin Cronin’s The Ferryman. I dug his Passage series, this one fell a little flat for me. Stephen King said it was “Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying.” so mileage will vary.
The islands of Prospera lie in a vast ocean, in splendid isolation from the rest of humanity—or whatever remains of it.
Citizens of the main island enjoy privileged lives. They are attended to by support staff who live on a cramped neighboring island, where whispers of revolt are brewing—but for the Prosperans, life is perfection. And when the end of life approaches, they’re sent to a mysterious third island, where their bodies are refreshed, their memories are wiped away, and they return to start life anew.
Proctor Bennett is a ferryman, whose job it is to enforce the retirement process when necessary. He never questions his work, until the day he receives a cryptic message:
“The world is not the world.”
These simple words unlock something he has secretly suspected. They seep into strange dreams of the stars and the sea. They give him the unshakable feeling that someone is trying to tell him something important.