The Two Doctors Górski

Title: The Two Doctors Górski

Author: Isaac Fellman

Summary: Annae, a brilliant graduate student in psychiatric magic and survivor of academic abuse, can’t stop reading people’s minds. This is how she protects herself, by using her abilities to know exactly how her colleagues view her. This is how she escapes the torturous experience of her own existence.

When Annae moves to England to rebuild her life and finish her studies under the seminal magician Marec Górski—infamous for bringing to life a homunculus made from his unwanted better self—she sees, inside his head, a man who is both a destructive force to everyone around him, and her mirror image. For Annae to survive, she’ll need to break free of a lifetime of conditioning to embody her own self and forge her own path.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Review: This is a book that I’ll be thinking about for a while. For a short book it sure packs a lot in. Not all my thoughts on it are positive, but they are interesting to consider. I adore books that get me thinking!

The most interesting aspect for me were the title characters. Marec Górski and his homunculus, Ariel. The idea of syphoning off the parts of yourself you dislike to make a new person, and the profound conflict that creates was morbidly compelling. Marec hated those aspects of himself so much he gave them away, but then leant heavily on Ariel emotionally. Is it easier to accept those parts of yourself when they are no longer actually a part of you? It’s a fascinating psychological concept and I could speculate and theorise on it all day.

We learn about both Górskis through Annae, who interacts with them both but also reads both their minds. Annae is another character I could analyse for a while. On the surface she seems fairly simple to understand, but there is depth to her. It’s a complex and murky depth that I think she herself is reluctant to explore. Instead, she reaches out into others’ minds to discover what they make of her. It leaves her much more focused on everyone’s thoughts and feelings but her own.

That’s where my biggest issue lies—with Annae, as the sole woman in the book, occupied with and managing the emotions of all the men around her. Quite literally, in one stand out moment. I do believe it’s an intentional part of the book and is making its own point. For that I respect it, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating to read.

The short length of the book works perfectly in its favour. Though that might be my own preferences showing. I love short stories and books not inflated by unnecessary descriptions or filler. This book gives us exactly the right amount of information to paint the story it’s telling. It didn’t feel short—there is so much to take in, digest, and enjoy. And none of it is given to you too easily, either. The pieces of the story and the concepts it’s exploring fall into place as you read, gradually adding more to think about.

I loved the ending. It leaves just enough unspecified for plenty of room for speculation, but also lets us know where the characters are a little further down the line. What place they are in compared to where they were during the events in the story. And what I particularly loved was the ultimate correlation between Marec and Annae—those that can’t do…

Overall the book was wonderfully written. So many vivid descriptions and memorable turns of phrase. It was a pleasure to read, regardless of what was happening in the story. Fellman certainly has a beautiful way with words, and I would happily read more of them.

The Trials of Koli

Title: The Trials of Koli

Author: M R Carey

Summary: Koli has been cast from his village and into the strange and deadly forest beyond. But he heard a story, once. A story about lost London, and the mysterious tech of the old times that was there. And if Koli can find it, there may be a way for him to redeem himself–by saving what’s left of humanity.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4.5/5

Review: This is the second book in the Rampart series, and I had absolutely loved the first, The Book of Koli. A worthy sequel, I loved this one too. It picks up where the first book left off, wiith Koli and co making their way towards London, following a signal from the mysterious Sword of Albion.

My biggest criticism of the book is that is was a little slow to get going. Travelling, camping, contemplating. Not bad things, per se, but not exactly an enticing start, either. And then it introduces a second point of view, which the first book didn’t do. Spinner remains back at Mythen Rood and her first chapter recounts what happened in the first book, which felt unnecessarily repetitive. Even learning more about Spinner as a character and having the story from her point of view didn’t quite bring enough, in my opinion.

Once Koli and co reach Birmagen the story actually starts to pick up. It follows them on a months-long, several seasons journey, and while I got a genuine sense of time passing as things happened and characters evolved, it didn’t drag. Seeing more of this world as well as what’s left behind of the old one was fascinating. More tech and threats posed by people from other places, streets of bones and decayed buildings. I couldn’t get enough.

The characters are what truly drive Koli’s story. Koli himself is so naive in many ways yet so unintentionally wise in others. He is the perfect narrator for this story. Cup, with her energy and untapped intelligence, but also trauma and dysphoria—I adore this book and Carey for not shying away from Cup being trans, along with the struggles and triumphs that come along with that. I loved the gradually developing and begrudging relationship between Ursula, the older-but-not-always-wiser, and Monono, the dead girl who was never really alive. How much more they understand about the world and now little they see eye-to-eye on it.

While Koli’s story is very much a group effort, with each character bringing something to their journey and goals. Spinner’s story, however, is very much a one-woman show.

Spinner is all but alone while learning the secrets of the Ramparts and their tech back in Mythen Rood. Despite it all being new to her, she asks the right questions and has the right kind of intelligence to get results. I love the guarded respect Catrin and Spinner have for each other, and the unspoken games they are playing. Seeing the pieces fall into place and Spinner managing to take advantage of them was very satisfying.

The end of both stories left me desperate for more. Spinner riding back to Mythen Rood a champion and setting her sights on the future of the town. Koli and co setting out to the sea over a flooded London and sailing straight into The Sword of Albion.

It won’t be long until I’m picking up the third book in the series!

Square Eyes

Title: Square Eyes

Author: Anna Mill & Luke Jones

Summary: Look – anyone who invents something really great has a moment where they think it’s going to destroy the world.

For the first time in her life, Fin is off the network. A few months ago, she was the inventor of a programme so powerful, so unusual that she was untouchable.

Until she wasn’t.

Now she is locked out of the virtual systems that control society. Another woman is living in her apartment. And she can’t remember how any of this happened.

Meanwhile, people have started disappearing from the streets of the city and the technology she created might be implicated.

Square Eyes is a graphic novel about a future where the boundaries between memory, dreams and the digital world start to blur. It’s a kaleidoscopic mystery story which asks: in a city built on digital illusion, who really holds the power? What is weakness? And when is it most dangerous?

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Review: Graphic novels are the only books I will buy on a whim. If the story sounds interesting and I like the art style, I will often buy it without looking up reviews. I find impulsive comic purchases a much safer bet than written books. And Square Eyes was one of my random finds. It’s been sitting on my shelf for a while, but whim took over again and I finally decided to pick it up to read.

Square Eyes is set in a world where everyone is connected to one network and everything is controlled digitally. You can’t pay, travel, live, or work without being online. The main character is Fin, a programmer who created something new and unheard of… before having a breakdown and losing access to the network entirely.

The story explores ideas around identity, reality, memory, and freedom. As the back of the book itself says: In a city built on digital illusion, who really holds the power? In some ways these concepts are thrown at the reader so obviously and clearly, but it’s also open enough that the reader needs to do some work themself to put more subtle pieces together and consider what life in a world like this would genuinely be like (spoiler: it’s not good).

While the story and concepts are interesting, it is truly the art that brings them to life. It’s outstanding. The level of detail, use of colour, the overlaying of reality with the digital world, the digital interfaces, the use of negative space. Every page, every frame, is an entire piece of art worthy of being framed and hung. I took my time reading this book in order to fully soak up the art and I never got tired of looking at the pages.

The book itself is large, hardback, and somewhat cumbersome, but it is worth it. The pages should be large to fully display the artwork. The cover should be solid because this book would make an excellent coffee table book. …If only I had a coffee table.

Authority

Title: Authority

Author: Jeff VanderMeer

Summary: Welcome to Area X. The Southern Reach is a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten.

Following its tumultuous twelfth expedition into Area X, the agency is in chaos. Its new head wants to be known as ‘Control’ and he needs to control Area X. From interrogations, hidden notes and profoundly troubling video footage, the mysteries of Area X begin to reveal themselves.

And they are more sinister than anyone could have known.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Review: Creepy. My one word for the first book in the Southern Reach trilogy was weird. My one word for this, the second book in the series, is creepy. In a very excellent way. This book follows Control (not his real name), who is brought into the Southern Reach following the events from the first book and the failed twelfth expedition into Area X.

This book focuses on the people outside of Area X trying to figure out what the hell is going on inside the border. We learn about what has been happening over they years along with Control. What the research approach was, what results they’ve had, what approaches and theories they worked with. I thought this would give the reader more information and insight into the science fiction mystery presented in the first book… and it both does and decidedly does not do that.

Like the first book, this one also balances the focus between characters and plot around the mysteries of Area X… and perhaps how very entwined they are. We learn of Control’s childhood, his ambition to follow in his mother’s footsteps, his failures. We learn about the director (the psychologist from the first book) and how much of a hold Area X had on her. We learn about the people who have been working at Southern Reach for so, so many years, how they are each acutely peculiar in their own way and the eerie, creeping, unsettling suspicion that Area X is somehow the reason for that.

I can’t express just how great the writing is. It’s not showy or obvious, it’s just so, so well crafted. The meaningful and dangerously eerie elements of the Southern Reach and Area X are juxtapositioned with reluctantly humorous moments of levity in some of Control’s observations and takeaways. At times while reading I almost felt myself falling into a trance along with Control—his mindset and experiences felt so well captured.

And somehow, amongst it all, with so much more information on the table… I still feel just as far away from any answers. I absolutely freaking love it. At this point, I’m not here for the answers. I don’t want everything explained and to suddenly make sense. I’m here for the journey. The vibes. The absolute off the wall wild speculation. I want to experience the terroir of it all.

I am very much looking forward to the third book in the series, though won’t be jumping straight into it. I think this book was only better for the breathing room, and I hope the next one will be too.

The Tower in the Sea

Title: The Tower in the Sea

Author: B. Mure

Summary: B Mure returns to the world of Ismyre for another quiet and fantastical mystery tale, set in an old world of ordinary magic. Off the coast of Ismyre, a group of illicit magicians have been gathering for years, schooling others in the ways of long forgotten divinations. From high up in this forbidden home, a young scholar keeps dreaming visions of a terrible future and looks out across the ocean for answers…

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Review: This is the third book in the Ismyre series, and is just as quiet and beautiful as the previous books. While things began kicking off in the world and surrounding areas of Ismyre itself in the previous two books, this one focuses on a place outside of Ismyre’s control. A school for orphans who have divination powers.

When our main character, Miriam, begins having reoccurring dreams about the end of the world, she asks her teachers for advice. Then she and her friends have to decide if they are going to try to help save the world or stand by and watch it happen.

As the title suggests, the tower and the sea are featured locations, and I couldn’t get enough artwork of the sea. I found it gorgeous and completely mesmerising, whether there were boats traversing the waves, characters standing by the sea, or simply speech bubbles overlaid on the endless blue.

I also loved the link and parallel for a particular pair of panels, from Miriam’s dream to the hopeful ending. From her being alone without knowing what to do, to her having support and taking action. Just so wonderfully done.

I have one more book in this series, and I am very much looking forward to diving into it. All the books in the series stand alone, but I can’t wait to see the threads from each come together to weave a stronger, deeper story.

Monsters of Men

Title: Monsters of Men

Author: Patrick Ness

Summary: Three armies march on New Prentisstown. The New World is at war. Todd and Viola are caught in the middle with no chance of escape.

How can they hope to stop the fighting? And if war makes monsters of men, what terrible choices await?

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Review: The third and final book in the Chaos Walking series. I originally started reading this book way back in December 2019, and soon after I began to struggle with reading and finishing books (thanks, global pandemic!). I’m finding my way back on to the reading horse and have been picking up previously unfinished books. I think it’s quite nice that I finally finished this one in December 2022—three freaking years after I first picked it up. Woo!

I loved a lot about this book, but a lot of it wasn’t the things I’d loved about the other two books in the series. And I don’t think I can truly talk about why without giving away some spoilers. So read on with caution, if you haven’t already read this one…

My biggest gripe would be the length. It did not need to be 600 pages long. There wasn’t enough plot or action to warrant the amount of words. It was only really the last 150-200 pages where things really picked up. Most of the book sees Todd and Viola having the same conversations over and over again. No one trusts the Mayor but they’ve got to keep an eye on him. No one trusts Mistress Coyle but they’ve got to get the truth out of her. Everyone wants peace but some people want glory to go along with it. Yadda, yadda, yadda. As much as it was easy to read, a large chunk of the book felt like a bit of a slog. I’d read 40 or 60 or 80 pages but the plot wouldn’t have moved forward much at all.

My second biggest gripe is how no lessons seem to be learnt re: the mayor and Mistress Coyle. Come on, folks, of course the mayor is up to something! Of course Mistress Coyle has secrets up her sleeve! Was it supposed to be surprising when the mayor flew the scout ship? Was it supposed to be a shock when Mistress Coyle blew herself up in an assassination attempt? Was it supposed to be a massive revelation when the mayor admits he’s been inside Todd’s head the entire time? Because none of them were. These things were telegraphed to me in details throughout the book. When they happen my only reaction was, “Well yeah, I knew that.”

Despite these issues there were a lot of things I loved. I loved the Spackle—the Land—finally being fully involved and learning more about them. I loved the parallels between Todd and the mayor, Viola and Mistress Coyle, and the Return and the Sky. The parallels weren’t exactly subtle, but seeing all these characters, ostensibly from different groups and culture and backgrounds, all going through the same struggles and learning the same lessons was really quite powerful.

As much as I was always rooting for Todd and Viola, they weren’t my favourite characters in this book. They were playing the same tune the entire way through, that they’ve been playing since the first book. Seeing them get together was also kind of odd, as I’d got such strong platonic vibes from them the entire time. They love and trust each other immensely, but I saw that as more of a familial bond than a romantic one. Kinda awkward.

My favourite characters were the Return and the Sky. As much as the Return frustrated me a lot, being driven by his emotions and desire for revenge, I could sympathise and understand. And the Sky was such a wise character, gently guiding the Return and offering him a way back to the Land. I’m only sad their parts of the book were shorter (or, more accurately, that the other parts were too long!).

Ben, of course. That was a genuine surprise to me. And a very happy one at that. Losing him twice previously I did not expect him to be back, and in such a meaningful, wonderful way. I loved him anyway, but as a part of the Land, and bridging the gap between them and the Clearing was perfect.

And of course Wilf. Big love for the Wilfster. Standing there with his Noise wide open, being the unofficial Sky of the Clearing. His vibes are immaculate and I adore him.

Of course the best thing about the book, the driving theme of the entire story, and the thing I’m still thinking about, is summed up nicely by the title. Throughout the book the overwhelming message from the several groups of people is a desire for peace. A desire to live a simple life without fearing for their lives or having to take up arms. Yet it is the actions and desires of a few—the few in charge, the few with power and influence, the few with selfish personal motivations—that dictate the course of action. That create monsters out of people and drag them into a war they’d rather not be fighting. It is a depressingly accurate account, I think, of power and how those who have it often choose to wield it.

I will admit to skipping a head a time or two, simply to ensure my very favourites lived, or to at least prepare myself if they didn’t. But honestly, the thing that hit me hardest and had me sobbing was Acorn. It was so clear it was coming, and I hated it. It was Manchee all over again and I was not okay. The strong emotional connections characters make with their animals through Noise is actually beautiful.

I loved the open but incredibly hopeful ending to the book. That what Todd and Viola fought for for three long books has still not happened, but is finally, possibly, within reach. That’s it’s left open for the reader to imagine what peace in this world and a life together might look like.

The Sundial

Title: The Sundial

Author: Shirley Jackson

Summary: From the sky and from the ground and from the sea there is danger; tell them in the house…

Mrs Holloran has inherited the great Holloran house on the death of her son, much to the disgust of her daughter-in-law, the delight of her wicked granddaughter and the confusion of the rest of the household. But when the original owner – long dead – arrives to announce the world is ending and only the house and its occupants will be saved, they find themselves in a nightmare of strange marble statues, mysterious guests and the beautiful, unsettling Holloran sundial which seems to be at the centre of it all.

Shirley Jackson blends sinister family politics and apocalyptic terror in a masterpiece of the macabre.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Review: I have a shelf full of Shirley Jackson novels, but similar to my collection of John Wyndham and William Golding books I’ve been rationing them, knowing there won’t be any more. But I decided it was time to pick another one up.

It was the blurb that made me choose to start reading The Sundial. Shirley Jackson writing an apocalyptic horror? Yes, please. Of course, it’s not quite as simple as that, because as with every Shirley Jackson novel it is more of a psychological horror.

The Sundial is about a mixed group of well off people living together in ‘the big house’. There are friends, there are family, but no one really seems to like anyone else. When most of the residents find themselves facing eviction from the house, one of them suddenly has a visit from her long-dead father to tell her the end of the world is coming. It’s okay, though, he built the house and those that remain in it will be safe.

So begins the chaos of a group of people begrudgingly entertaining a middle aged lady’s frightened hallucinations and the slow meander they take into believing them, stockpiling supplies, saying goodbye to everything they knew, and readying the house for the coming end of days and ushering in of the new world.

What makes this story for me are the characters. I didn’t like any of them, really, though they would annoy me more or less in turn. But the way they hate and interact with each other was highly entertaining. The standouts are Mrs Holloran, the new owner of the house whose malicious ego knows no bounds; Aunt Fanny, who is proud and lonely and clinging to the visions of her father; Fancy, a sheltered and only slightly homicidal young girl; and Essex, a not-so-young-anymore man who pays for his keep with backstabbing and gossip.

How they all manipulate each other, show open animosity, but still somehow mostly get along is… fascinating. And seeing them on this journey to accepting the world is going to end, what that means to them, and how they hope the new world and they themselves will be changed… It’s equal parts meaningful and ludicrous and I loved it.

My favourite part of the book was Julia, one of the young women, trying to leave. She had travel arrangements made for her and found herself on a(n unexpectedly solo) journey out of town. With the creepy taxi driver and her disappearance into the fog reads like a slasher horror. It could have been a self-contained short story and I wanted more of it.

For a psychological end-of-the-world horror story, I perhaps laughed a little too much, but as the reader I could enjoy the comedy in those moments the characters couldn’t. What I could also see, that the characters couldn’t, is that they were shielding themselves from the outside world and whatever catastrophe might be coming, when all along the real horrors lay inside the house with them.

Annihilation

Title: Annihilation

Author: Jeff VanderMeer

Summary: Welcome to Area X. An Edenic wilderness, an environmental disaster zone, a mystery for thirty years.

The Southern Reach, a secretive government agency, has sent eleven expeditions to investigate Area X. One ended in mass suicide, another in a hail of gunfire, the eleventh in a fatal cancer epidemic.

Now four women embark on the twelfth expedition into the unknown.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Review: Weird. That would be my one-word review for this book. I like weird. It’s about four women who enter the mysterious Area X to investigate where previous groups have tried and all met unfortunate ends. Seems like a pretty neat set up for a science fiction novel, except it is so much more than that.

It’s certainly science fiction, though not your typical kind. There is no newfangled technology. No spaceships. No aliens. It is speculative science fiction, in that almost everything is simply conjecture because we don’t know anything. Area X covers a small coastal village and the surrounding areas. There is some sort of border. Strange things go on within the border of Area X. That’s it, that’s all we can really know for certain. Everything else is purely speculation. Even the “facts” given to the women entering Area X are questionable. Even their own experiences and accounts  inside Area X are unreliable. And I found that absolutely fascinating.

We never learn anyone’s name. The four women are simply known by their professions. The biologist (our narrator), the surveyor, the anthropologist, and the psychiatrist. Even other notable side characters are not named (the linguist, the crawler, my husband, the lighthouse keeper…). And as people (past and present) lose themselves in Area X, never knowing their names makes a kind of poetical sense.

I’m trying hard to talk around things, so as not to spoil anything. It’s very difficult.

There were many layers to the story that I really loved. It’s a science fiction mystery—what the hell is Area X and what is happening there? But it’s also a character study of our main character, the biologist—her desire for solitude, her preference to stand apart and observe, her reticence to open up and share herself with others. And it is also about the biologist’s relationship—how she and her husband tried (and failed) to understand each other, what kept them apart, and what pulled them together. And all these things, too, link back to and provide further depth to Area X.

Annihilation is a very well-crafted story. One that I will be thinking about for a while yet. I love how open everything is. We are given so many clues and so much information, but absolutely no answers. As wildly as the biologist observes and speculates, that’s also all the reader can do.

As much as I’m looking forward to reading the other two books in The Southern Reach trilogy and gaining a little more reliable information, I also hope we’re left with plenty of questions and room to ponder and theorise. For me, that’s the fun part.

 

Terrible Means

Title: Terrible Means

Author: B. Mure

Summary: In the city of Ismyre, something is stirring.

In B. Mure’s prequel to their Ismyre series, an aristocratic businessman reveals the latest must have: a pillar of crystals that when placed within a home allows for the creation of beautiful illusions and more powerful spells to be performed.

But when a strange imbalance emerges in the world’s ecosystem and magic, Henriett, a disgraced biological professor whose plants start inexplicably dying, and Emlyn, a young magician, find themselves working together to discover the source.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Review: This is the second book set in the fantasy world of Ismyre. I read the first a few years ago now and loved it. I’ve had this one on my shelf for a while, quietly moving up in my to-read pile and it finally made it to the top.

While the first book in the series was mostly beautiful, quiet moments between characters and minimal plot, this book was mostly plot with a few significant moments between a whole new cast of characters. It was different, but also the same.

The art has the same dreamy quality, with the simple colour palette blending together and stark contrasts in turn, creating such a variety of moods. And the line work keeps the same casual almost haphazard style while also being incredibly detailed. I remain in awe of the art and any frame or page would look gorgeous framed and hung.

Now, the plot. This is a prequel to the first book, so goes some way to expanding on the slices of story there. We see the rich and influential residents of Ismyre throwing lavish parties and enjoying the novelty of newly discovered crystals that enhance people magical abilities. At the same time people in smaller towns and villages further afield are experiencing dying plants and rivers turning black. Could these things be connected? (Spoiler: they are!)

I read the first book over several days, fully wanting to appreciate and spend time in the scenes portrayed. This book, though, I devoured almost in one sitting, the plot fully driving the book on. I adored it.

There are two more books by Mure set in Ismyre, and I look forward to losing myself in them soon.

Binti

Title: Binti

Author: Nnedi Okorafor

Summary: Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti’s stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself—but first she has to make it there, alive.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Review: I read and enjoyed Okorafor’s Lagoon—gosh, five years ago now! I had mixed feelings on that book, mostly thanks to my own expectations. I’m a little sad it took me so long to pick up another of her books, because I loved Binti!

Binti is a short book at only 90 pages, but those 90 pages pack a lot of world building, character exploration, and story. It felt significantly longer than it is and most definitely in a good way!

Binti is the main character, ostracised from her home for sneaking away to go to university, she is an outsider in every way. I liked her immediately. There are quite a few other characters mentioned in passing, but only a couple we spend any significant time with. Okwu is the other important character, and even though at first there is strong animosity between them and Binti, I liked Okwu immediately.

Considering most of the story is spent on a spaceship, and a significant portion with Binti confined to one room of that ship, we get such a sense of several different worlds. Binti’s home world, Oomza University, as well space travel and how it works (living, breathing spaceships? I want to know more!). We also hear about multiple cultures and species, how war has spread between them, and how even through all their differences the motivations and emotions—the good and the bad—are so very recognisable and relatable.

It’s just a great story told beautifully and succinctly. I can’t wait to read the sequel and to see more about Binti and Okwu, their time at university, and the worlds only glimpsed so far.