Here are three reviews for interesting books I’ve read in the last few months.
I’m long overdue a review of Lessons in Birdwatching by Honey Watson – this disturbing sci-fi has plenty of strange charm as a group of future leaders find themselves embroiled in conspiracies on the planet they are studying on behalf of their empire. Unfortunately it’s a hard book to recommend, as the punchy narrative leaves a lot unsaid, and builds to an unsatisfying conclusion. There’s also no clear protagonist, and certain scenes (featuring the consumption of something that should not be consumed) made me feel almost physically ill. I’ll be looking on with interest at the author’s future career as she proves herself competent at building a fascinating world, interesting characters and has a strong writing style.
I also recently read The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan which was a compelling sci-fi mosaic novel about Apex City (once Bangalore) that took surveillance and social metrics to extremes, with the bottom ten percent being excluded from the wealth and amenities of the top 90, and the top 20 given far more freedom than the 70 below. But is anyone in the city truly free when holding unpopular opinions could cause your downfall? Each story stands alone perfectly fine, but together they weave a tapestry that builds to an exciting conclusion.
He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan is a bloody powerhouse of a novel, delivering wholesale on the major themes of the duology by having each POV character embody those themes in different ways. In the case of power, see Madame Zhang, who believes she can only rise to power off the back of someone else, or Baoxiang and Ouyang, whose lust for power only extends to how they can use it to get their means of revenge. And then there’s Zhu, who wants to use her power to change the world (and others that seek power only for their own gain). Each will go to terrible lengths, and each will lose almost more than they can bear. My only complaint would be that too many important things happen in quick succession – we rarely get to see the protagonists outside of important or emotionally charged moments, which can get a little exhausting. Of course, the counter to that is that no scene feels wasted and the plot ticks along at a brisk pace. A great capstone to the duology.
Writings of a Doomscribe 