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Tak!

Tak@reading.taks.garden

Joined 3 years ago

I like to read

Non-bookposting: @Tak@glitch.taks.garden

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reviewed Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor

Hayley Scrivenor: Dirt Town (2022, Macmillan Publishers Limited) 4 stars

When twelve-year-old Esther disappears on the way home from school in a small town in …

Dirt Town

4 stars

This is a novel so Australian that it goes from Milo to "no worries" to lamington in the course of a single paragraph.

Apart from that, it's kind of a typical crime novel following the investigation of a young teenage girl's disappearance.

The most interesting thing it does, in my opinion, is, among the chapters following various characters' viewpoints, adding "we" chapters that are meant to be kind of a combined viewpoint of the town's kids.

commented on The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

Malka Older: The Mimicking of Known Successes (Hardcover, 2023, Tordotcom) 4 stars

The Mimicking of Known Successes presents a cozy Holmesian murder mystery and sapphic romance, set …

commented on Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor: Death of the Author (William Morrow) No rating

The future of storytelling is here.

Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing …

My forthcoming novel DEATH OF THE AUTHOR (Jan 2025) is about death, disability, ability, the complexity of culture, immigrants & the next generations, machines, AI, gun ownership, creative writing, the space race, so much more. At its heart, it's about the power of STORYTELLING. And it has a hell of an ending.

mas.to/@nnedi/113255839459890691

reviewed Counterweight by Anton Hur

Anton Hur, Djuna: Counterweight (Hardcover, 2023, Pantheon) 3 stars

Counterweight

4 stars

Counterweight is a nearish-future scifi thriller set on the island of Patusan, which I have just learned today has a long literary legacy.

The plot follows an unnamed employee of the LK Corporation as he attempts to unravel a series of events revolving around the world's first space elevator, erected by LK on Patusan. I enjoyed the originality of the setting, but I found the whole thing fairly convoluted and somewhat difficult to follow.

The dystopian corporation-state future where having a literal worm implanted in your brain is a condition of employment is becoming all too plausible at this point.

#SFFBookClub

reviewed Cascade Failure by L. M. Sagas

L. M. Sagas: Cascade Failure (2024, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom) 3 stars

There are only three real powers in the universe: the corporate power of the Trust …

Cascade Failure

4 stars

Cascade Failure is an action-packed scifi novel about a ragtag spaceship crew of misfits that gets involved in Significant Events. It's snappy and engaging, but it's not heavy on horizon-expanding content - it feels a bit like a space-opera version of a Tales of the Ketty Jay novel

reviewed The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr

Suzette Mayr: The Sleeping Car Porter (Paperback, 2022, Coach House Books) 4 stars

When a mudslide strands a train, Baxter, a queer Black sleeping car porter, must contend …

The Sleeping Car Porter

4 stars

The Sleeping Car Porter is kind of an ensemble farce with subtle paranormal elements, experienced through a porter for a sleeping car on a transcontinental voyage across Canada.

The porter is a gay (or bi?) black man in Canada in the 1920s, and there's a strong focus on the various aggressions and disadvantages he's exposed to in light of that.

Weird and enjoyable.