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Supergiants
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 13, 2025
I received this arc from River Street Writing in exchange for a fair review.
A strange and almost surreal collection, Supergiants takes us out into the vastness of our universe if only to reel us back in to look critically at ourselves.
The first half of the collection, I will admit, had me kind of scratching my head. I love space, but what I love is the exploration aspect, the "strange new worlds" idea. I like the idea of space as being full of possibilities, a place that humbles us and broadens our understanding. And while space as space can do that, I’m not as interested in the science. So the first half of this book, which is composed of experimental poetry like pictures of sky charts paired with geographic coordinates, I will admit, didn’t work for me too much.
YET, the last section, which consists of more typical poetry, I thought was fantastic. These took different types of stars (e.g. red dwarfs) and prescribed them human traits, or, more broadly, human archetypes or movements. Red Dwarf, Blue Giants, and Red Supergiants were my favourites. These had such evocative, deeply descriptive lines that brought forth images that were easy to picture, as well as interesting comparisons and simlies. I found these absolutely stellar, to use a relevant pun.
Overall, the last section is really great if you like poetry. If you like more experimental stuff or if you really like space, you will enjoy the first bit. There's something for everyone!
A strange and almost surreal collection, Supergiants takes us out into the vastness of our universe if only to reel us back in to look critically at ourselves.
The first half of the collection, I will admit, had me kind of scratching my head. I love space, but what I love is the exploration aspect, the "strange new worlds" idea. I like the idea of space as being full of possibilities, a place that humbles us and broadens our understanding. And while space as space can do that, I’m not as interested in the science. So the first half of this book, which is composed of experimental poetry like pictures of sky charts paired with geographic coordinates, I will admit, didn’t work for me too much.
YET, the last section, which consists of more typical poetry, I thought was fantastic. These took different types of stars (e.g. red dwarfs) and prescribed them human traits, or, more broadly, human archetypes or movements. Red Dwarf, Blue Giants, and Red Supergiants were my favourites. These had such evocative, deeply descriptive lines that brought forth images that were easy to picture, as well as interesting comparisons and simlies. I found these absolutely stellar, to use a relevant pun.
Overall, the last section is really great if you like poetry. If you like more experimental stuff or if you really like space, you will enjoy the first bit. There's something for everyone!
Read
August 20, 2025If you or someone you know is a huge solar system/universe/moon landing/space fan, then Kyle Flemmer’s collection ‘Supergiants’ is perfect. If you aren’t deep into the nuances of space, then this may be the start of a learning experience into the nuances of space.
There was one section in particular that blew me away, and was truthfully my favourite in the collection. It focuses solely on the flag assembly kit and setup that was used with the American flag was first pushed into the moon. I didn’t even consider how sun radiation would affect the dye molecules and the fabric itself, causing the flag to deteriorate quicker than I expected. Each page within this section has the flag (as a image of squares) and the preceding update about it, until by the end, the flag is barely considered a flag due to it’s deterioration as demonstrated with the image. Blew my mind! I’m actually quite curious to know more about this niche detail/topic and have it on my list of curiosity to-dos.
Did you notice there’s no rating for this? This was another book that I was clearly not the intended audience for, especially as someone who doesn’t spend much if any time thinking about space outside of a sci-fi book with a fictional star system involved. While the flag section blew my mind, I didn’t understand anything else until I read Kyle’s notes in the back of the book explaining each section (which honestly did help). But like I said, any space fanatics or people who follow all the goings on in the universe will likely enjoy ‘Spacegiants’ to the fullest extent.
Thank you @riverstreetwrites and @brickriderbook for sending me an arc in return for an honest review.
There was one section in particular that blew me away, and was truthfully my favourite in the collection. It focuses solely on the flag assembly kit and setup that was used with the American flag was first pushed into the moon. I didn’t even consider how sun radiation would affect the dye molecules and the fabric itself, causing the flag to deteriorate quicker than I expected. Each page within this section has the flag (as a image of squares) and the preceding update about it, until by the end, the flag is barely considered a flag due to it’s deterioration as demonstrated with the image. Blew my mind! I’m actually quite curious to know more about this niche detail/topic and have it on my list of curiosity to-dos.
Did you notice there’s no rating for this? This was another book that I was clearly not the intended audience for, especially as someone who doesn’t spend much if any time thinking about space outside of a sci-fi book with a fictional star system involved. While the flag section blew my mind, I didn’t understand anything else until I read Kyle’s notes in the back of the book explaining each section (which honestly did help). But like I said, any space fanatics or people who follow all the goings on in the universe will likely enjoy ‘Spacegiants’ to the fullest extent.
Thank you @riverstreetwrites and @brickriderbook for sending me an arc in return for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews