book
Rated The World We Make 10/10
<div>A really excellent conclusion to this story of living cities, though the ending leaves just enough wiggle room for another story, should NK Jemisin decide to come back to this universe. I always enjoy how inventive and detailed she is with her world-building, but never at the expense of character. I'll read anything by her.</div>
Wants to read Too Cool for School: A Memoir
Rated Torchwood: Fall to Earth 10/10
This was really great -- funny, dramatic, all the makings of a good Torchwood episode.
Rated Torchwood: The Conspiracy 8/10
John Barrowman's acting loses much of its appeal when you're not distracted by looking at him, but I enjoyed this story (or beginning of a story) quite a lot.
Rated Torchwood: The Lost Files 8/10
Really great set of three Torchwood stories. John Barrowman's acting weaknesses are more apparent when you can't see him interacting with others, or aren't distracted by his loveliness, but I'm glad I gave this a listen.
Rated Unfollowers 8/10
<div>Having female characters make unlikable decisions, as well as adding depth to complex male friendships — without resorting to caricature for anyone — is something I will always be a fan of. The subjects of doubt and colonization are handled in a way that seems believable for these characters, though some of the supporting cast seems to be there only so our main people can see their own reflection. Which is realistic in its own way, but not always necessary. I also wished some of the queerness in certain characters was less danced around, even for characters who don't quite know what to do with such feelings. Still, there's a lot about this book I liked.</div>
Rated Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome 8/10
<div>I'd had this novella kicking around on my kindle for a long time, and it did make me interested in the novel that follows. Weirdly, I've followed John Scalzi on Twitter and now Bluesky, but I hadn't actually read anything by him until now. He writes about a pandemic in a way that we now know, 10 years after this came out, is not unlike how people would behave in real life. </div>
Rated Villager 7/10
<div>I think I enjoy Tom Cox's non-fiction more than his fiction, but I still liked this weird, sprawling look at the fictional (though Dartmoor-inspired) area of Underhill. He jumps around in time through past centuries and our future, occasionally dips into both folk-horror and music journalism, and we meet a lot of different voices along the way. Some I liked more than others, but I respect the scope and strangeness of it all. I'll always want to read what he does next.</div>
Rated We Travel the Spaceways 10/10
<div>A really excellent short story, and definitely worth listening to the audio version.</div>
Rated Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race 8/10
I recommend this to nearly every white person, even if they think they know what's what when it comes to racism, both overt and invisibly structural. Some of her past moments made me cringe, and some moments made me think more deeply, though there were a few places where I wish she had explored more deeply herself. A very good book.
Rated Whiteout Volume 1 – The Definitive Edition 8/10
Rated What Stalks Among Us: A Creepy and Atmospheric YA Thriller About Teens Trapped in a Haunted Corn Maze 10/10
<div>Absolutely LOVED this. I'm not a regular reader of YA — not for any snobby reasons; it's just not where my attention usually takes me — but I'd read and enjoyed Sarah Hollowell's previous book (A Dark And Starless Forest), so I knew I was in for a good time. Well... a tense time! <br><br>And WOW does Hollowell keep up the tension! Two high school seniors encounter a mysterious corn maze in springtime Indiana and soon find themselves trapped, unsure of the new rules for their environment, and also... is that a dead body that looks just like one of them? What a beginning! <br><br>The story also deals with the lingering effects of emotional abuse and other toxic relationships in a way that intertwines with their current circumstances, but never feels predictable or cliché. I genuinely did not know how the story would shake out until the main characters did. I also very much appreciated that the main characters are just friends. No shoehorned romance here! There's too much to deal with!<br><br>If you enjoy psychological horror with characters who feel very true to life, do pick this up.</div>
Rated Why Our Decisions Don't Matter 6/10
In essence, the book argues that, while we may be able to control our reaction to the world, we cannot control the world itself. Like the rest of the WHY series, it's thought-provoking and covers a wide range of source material. Good stuff.<br><br>(Full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-our-decisions-dont-matter-by-simon.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)