yumdirt's reviews
296 reviews

Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The answer to the question of Theseus's ship would be a wasted breath if we didn't need to sail somewhere in the first place. A solid piece of evolving, fatalist sci-fantasy. It has impeccable "world"-building; it's as vast and lived-in as any Dune or Hyperion, but has the eminently readable, deeply personal gray areas of those Red Rising entries. Ruocchio has improved since the first book, but l'm not the first or last to say this. I think it's because Hadrian is no longer a naive shitstain disowned by his corrupt father, but now slowly becoming this mythical fiend of fate and blind luck. I NEED MORE OF THIS STORY. This has the coolest antihero/ villain-of-the-week I've read in a while. I enjoy all the stuffy politicking and the the cornucopia of good ol' Horrors pitted against humankind. Our protagonist acknowledges that he knows more human monsters rather than xeno, but he stands with his own people. It's a choice, and it's leading us on a wild ride.
Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella Hammad

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challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Well done! A little bit of every sci-fi you've ever read, but it's uniquely greater than the sum of all those little recognizable tropes. If anything, this is structurally like a feudal low fantasy drama, with a starry-eyed, prodigal son waking up on a world in which he finds himself fighting to survive in, and subsequently climbing the ranks of its hierarchy with his rock-bottom learned empathy, his blueblood arrogance, and genius silver tongue. It has some interesting things to say about imperialism, class, linguistics, and I am a sucker for a flawed young protagonist. Hadrian is a simpering wet dog one moment and high opera aristocratic manipulator the next. My biggest gripe is the prose, ironically; Ruocchio writes with a gilded flourish - exactly as our messy space-dandy antihero would if he was telling us his life's story -  and I like the adherence to the voice. It's very characterized and feels right. But I felt certain simple rhetorical tricks being reused more than I'd like and the gestural details were really rinse and repeat with sighs, wide eyes, etc. Oh and the length is ROUGH. Pacing is slow, but the vast and patient setup and non-cliffhanger ending are refreshing tbh.
3.75/5, I will be continuing this series! 
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I don't have much to say about this, but it's good. I'm aware this found a resurgence in popularity either because of or in tandem with a reprint. You'll enjoy this short read if you like a morose, calm, naive, and avoidant narrator who is observing various household pleasures and the post- (ambiguous)fallout of bunker societies and the decay of her female peers and within herself.
Time and Navigation: The Untold Story of Getting from Here to There by Andrew K. Johnston, Carlene E. Stephens, Roger D. Connor

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informative relaxing fast-paced

3.5

War of the Foxes by Richard Siken

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I didn't know I was a coward...

There's SUCH good plotting here, and the science is fun as always with Weir. However, the protagonist is bafflingly annoying. Each time a reddit mannerism or childish attitude towards sex reared its ass, my eyes were rolling so fast my skull got warm. I could be more gracious towards this caricature of a lonely school-teacher-turned-mankind's savior.
Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

An innate part of me loves how unabashedly irrational these characters behave and how those behaviors somehow still feel perfectly normal. The character Magos drove me up a fucking wall and also melted my heart, probably because I've seen my mother grieve her father in a frustratingly stubborn and vicious way, planting her feet and vowing to war against la familia with her own personal monument of pain. Grief and infighting is universal, but, somehow, the Mexican passions I grew up seeing and feeling frightened of, inspired by, annoyed by, colored in these characters in a special way. A younger me dismissed any proud, animalistic flare as juvenile and ignorant, a signal for me to zone out and withdraw, but maybe I've just always been embarrassed by facing things that can lay you low longer than for a moment or two. Good writing, good book! Obviously not a pleasant story, so there's that aspect to mind. My only qualm is that it does feel slightly insular in scope and the characters felt foreign to me with their unfamiliar open-mindedness and forgiveness. (PERSONAL PROBLEM UH-OHH)
James by Percival Everett

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adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Holy Terror by Frank Miller

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.75