Makamu > Recent Status Updates

I really enjoyed this alt!historical take on a Jewish steampunk homeland in the historically verified Khazaria and its struggle against Nazi Germany (nice irony that Khazaria has at this point existed for a 1000 years in this timeline). Though a non-Jew myself, I found the reflections on Judaism and what it means to be human very engagingly presented, and the book felt almost too short for me.

While this is in some respects a quite controversial book, I enjoyed reading it and learning about Butler's conception of the conflict and how some Jewish thinkers may offer divergent perspectives on its resolution

I really enjoyed the depiction of Aztec culture and mythology as lived reality in this book. Especially how, even when characters do use blood magic, the book does not depict as gratuitous but as an integrated part of a much larger and broader cultural framework that may be alien and exotic to readers, but that to the characters is just the way the world works (sometimes literally, given how present gods are in this

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding and the character voices and characterisations in the book. Especially the magic systems and the intertwining with the history of slavery is something that will stay with me for a while. The only reason I don't consider the book quite as good as Master of Poisons is that the ultimate mystery feels a bit rushed on first read and not quite as well-prepared as it could be

This book is easily one of my best reads of 2021 so far. I particularly enjoy the themes, the different thematic focus points and the nuanced contemplation of ethics. Getting used to non-European narrative reference points also helped me question the Eurocentric norms of classical epic fantasy and shows how diverse (in the best sense of the world) speculative fiction can be. Highly recommended!

I knew that Emrys is a good writer before this, but reading her short stories allows you to appreciate just how precise her writing is on a small canvas.

So far, this has been my favourite Realm of the Elderlings series in terms of themes, characters and plot. Which is an even bigger achievement if you know that neither dragons nor pirates are among my favourite trope clusters in fantasy literature. Looking forward to starting The Tawny Man right away after this.

This book struck a nerve I didn't expect to have: the idea to create a time-travel adventure that is also a satire of (U.S.) government agencies and bureaucracy and using different kinds of textual sources to illustrate this would not have struck me as all that interesting if I had known this was what the story was before starting it. As it is, I really liked the themes and the characters, though the pacing lags abit

I really enjoyed the ending of the book - precisely because the book did not end as I expected it to. I also loved the genre-bending of the Syn-Analyst chapters and the reflections on oppression it offered. But the ending was very different from what I expected: largely because it... didn't focus on a traditional climax, but again, like the post-apocalypse it referred to before, the ending focused on what comes after

I really enjoyed the wordbuilding and the subtle characterisation of the main characters in this book. It also serves as a great example of the importance of narrative voice to a book and how subtly one can weave unreliable narration if you make an effort. And though I usually don't comment on author's notes: the ones in this book have to be among the most charming I have ever read! I look forward to reading the rest

The last book of the trilogy had a huge tonal shift in places compared to the first two books in the series and was seemingly more plot-driven. Some of the information came at the reader a bit too fast for my taste, but this book reads like it would make a huge change for how we re-read the other two. As I am definitely planning to re-read the other two soonish, I look foward to testing that theory.

I enjoyed the ending of this book even more than the ending of the first, at least as a commentary on the deus ex machina trope. I also enjoyed the expansion of the world and the hard questions regarding time and place (including colonialism) that arose from that. And luckily my favourite Renaissance philosopher did not remain a jerk and understood what he had done wrong in the first book! Kebes on the other hand...

Although the first book is appropriately enough more focused on ideas and character development than plot, I really enjoyed the way it talks about philosophy, history, art, mythology and consent. The narrative is also very good at making all of these thematic concerns accessible to people not very familiar with either Ancient Greece or philosophy. This is largely achieved through a cast of interesting characters.

Sorry to interupt your reading, but I have a question: for some reason, the books on my shelves are not complete: when I go to the page of a book I have read recently (e.g The Monster Baru Cormorant), the book is listed as being on that shelf. But in "shelf view", it's not there. Does anyone know what causes that bug?
Thanks in advance and have a great reading time
Makamu

I really enjoyed the slow and very observant pace of this book and how it shows the slow but steady change of Nazneen's understanding of what it means to be a woman and what having a family means in Bangladesh, the immigrant communities of England and white England. I also thought that the way her loves were portrayed - important, but they do not determine her - made for a great thematic focus of Fate vs Choice.

While the book takes a while to get off the ground in terms of plot - the longish set-up really only begins to work when you look at it from the hindsight of the excellent WW2 and post-WW2 chapters -, the characters and the thematic connections between the colonial histories of India and Burma captivated me from the beginning and the book definitely deserves a re-read.

For some reason, the display on my 'read' shelf no longer updates, although the books still appear in the list... Is anybody familiar with that problem, or is GR just being buggy again? :)

This is a strange book. On the one hand, it has all the strengths of a good Rushdie (great phrases, great commentary on religions, narratives, the nature of power, relations between Eastern and Western nations, clever characters; on the other the book relies very much on readers being able to make the plot connections for themselves and on being familiar with at least Renaissance Florence, if not the Mughals.

This book was really well written and gives a good overview of the role played by the Immortal Elves in both Tírs and how Aina and Harlequin fit and do not fit into either. Some people familiar with Earthdawn may think Alachia's characterisation a bit too extreme (and I personally could have done without her actually being a historical person), but overall, I really enjoyed the book.

The ending... on the hand, the democratising of miracles and what miracles are is a great and fascinating concept, and the comments on the power of time are great. On the other hand, the reflections on the passing of time and generation were also great, but I had tears in my eyes at the end. Overall, this was a fitting ending to one of the best fantasy series I have read in a while.

Reading this book is really beginning to expand my sense of the complexities of the situation on the various grounds and in the thick of the events of 1918. I particularly appreciated the view of Germany as a colonialist agent in Africa and the detailed explanation regarding the fear of Bolshevist revolution that motivated Ebert and the MSPD.

I knew instictively that we would see Shara again, but, boy, did the way it happened still hit me right in the feels! And I also noticed how much of this book is about time and the effects of time - and about how time passing in the broadest sense is a good thing; but also how traumas - social and individual - can affect and even halt our sense of time, something that may in fact be or become dangerous & deadly

Well, that's a rare occurence and probably an indication of just how disappointing I find this book. I chose to not finish it at 252 pages. I wish characters and the world had been better developed and actually described, rather than assuming that readers know the world. I also wish that the villains had been less stereotypical and the metaphysics of the interaction between resonance and magic had been shown more

This book is really not good. So far, the plot is not very recognisable as such, and the characters act inconsistent from one scene to the next. The worldbuilding and the connection to the larger Shadowrun universe happens by fits and starts and by being stated rather than shown or developed. Maybe it will get better in the second half, but I doubt it... And what's worst is that Weldon is not a bad writer otherwise

I love the sense of familiarity and detachment that permeates both Sigrud's narration and the reader's third visit to this world, which seems extremely modern and like the primary world now. I also love the hints of a conflict within Saypur and its effects on the characters. And lastly: I love the quiet character growth Mulaghesh has undergone since we last met her - she still seems as opinionated but also calmer?

And yet the book still doesn't take off the way any of the Divine Cities books have done for me. The action scenes are gorgeous, the worldbuilding is clever, but the character voices feel more generic here than I like. Or to be more precise: this feels more obviously like the first book of a trilogy: the board and the pieces are being set up, but they are not moving very much yet.

With the introduction of Clef and Gregor and the politics of Foundryside, the book has really taken off for me, largely because the book has now also provided an explanation for why Sancia's narration looks the way it does, and it's quite compelling. And trust RBJ to be good at evoking social criticism in his urban spaces without it coming across as heavy-handed in the slightest.

So far, I really struggle with getting into the mind of the focaliser character and she does not seem all that interesting as an individual apart from her fairly unique ablities. The world and the way it treats objects are far more interesting by comparison and I look forward to reading more about it. The style of this book is also very pragmatic and straightforward and fits well with the character's attitude so far

The book ends on a very interesting high note for me as it asks how Native cultures have shaped and continue to shape what it means to be American and what the US as a state is and how it functions. I have read academic books on these questions before, but this book is a really accessible non-academic introduction to the topic and the questions it poses