Book Reviews

[ABB]

This is what I love about this site. I will do some research, because the story I've heard from my parents jives with the book they gave me, so thank you for your input, appreciate it.

this site always makes people realize just how much their parents lied to them.

 

[osubuckeye4]

Platform Decay, Martha Wells. The newest "Murderbot" novel. I didn't much like the one before this because it was a bit talky; this one is the exact opposite. Our Murderbotting hero is in the process of pulling off an extraction of some of his "family" members on a space station, and pretty much the entire book his him and his allies overcoming obstacles and opposition in an attempt to escape. Good read.

I also enjoyed it, but it felt more like a 'side quest' than a complete novel/novella.

My one real gripe with it is was how unexplored Three's actions (and the potential consequences of those actions) were. Given the page count I wasn't expecting a huge sprawling story like Network Effect... but I did think there was more than enough runway for 25-50 more pages where they got back to Preservation and Mensah filled Murderbot in on the extent of Threes actions and what it means going forward.

Wells has said that she's only contracted for one more Murderbot novel. I think just a little more at the end of this one could have set up an epic final book... which we might still get, but I feel like the first 25-50 pages of it are going to be what should have been the end of this one.

It was a fun short read though and I enjoyed it quite a bit more than System Collapse (though not has much as Network Effect)

 

[Brick]

I also enjoyed it, but it felt more like a 'side quest' than a complete novel/novella.

My one real gripe with it is was how unexplored Three's actions (and the potential consequences of those actions) were. Given the page count I wasn't expecting a huge sprawling story like Network Effect... but I did think there was more than enough runway for 25-50 more pages where they got back to Preservation and Mensah filled Murderbot in on the extent of Threes actions and what it means going forward.

Wells has said that she's only contracted for one more Murderbot novel. I think just a little more at the end of this one could have set up an epic final book... which we might still get, but I feel like the first 25-50 pages of it are going to be what should have been the end of this one.

It was a fun short read though and I enjoyed it quite a bit more than System Collapse (though not has much as Network Effect)

I tend to agree; I thought the whole extraction escapade would be the first third to a half of the book and set up something else, but it was the entire book.

 

[Brick]

Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Set in 1950s Mexico, a pretty Mexican wealthy socialite living a party life in Mexico City gets a disturbing letter from her cousin, who has married into a once prominent but faltering (and slightly off) family in the countryside, so she ventures out to their dilapidated mansion to help her cousin, although help her "with what" she isn't sure. Has all the "Gothic" elements of the title; countryside/creepy manor, dashing strangers, weird happenings, isolated location, misty cemeteries, etc. Very well written story, it starts out quick and keeps up the pace as our heroine tries to figure out what is going on. Supernatural occurrences? Scientific explanation? Or are we just hearing from an unreliable narrator? Good novel and satisfactory finish (won a bunch of awards). I'll probably return to this author at some point.

It was slightly odd, though; I reviewed What Moves the Dead (Ursula Vernon) last year, which was a retelling of Poe's Fall of the House of Usher in which Vernon attempts to layer in more concrete explanations for the paranormal activity that Poe leaves largely unexplained. The odd party is that Vernon and Moreno-Garcia land on virtually identical causes of the strange happenings. Seems at first blatant plagiarism (Vernon's book came out after Mexican Gothic), but as it turns out it was a coincidence, and Vernon was half-way done with What Moves when she learned about MG and almost shelved her project because of the similarities, but instead finished and published and chose to address the similarities head-on and explain the coincidence. I tend to believe her.

 

[Tosh]

Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Set in 1950s Mexico, a pretty Mexican wealthy socialite living a party life in Mexico City gets a disturbing letter from her cousin, who has married into a once prominent but faltering (and slightly off) family in the countryside, so she ventures out to their dilapidated mansion to help her cousin, although help her "with what" she isn't sure. Has all the "Gothic" elements of the title; countryside/creepy manor, dashing strangers, weird happenings, isolated location, misty cemeteries, etc. Very well written story, it starts out quick and keeps up the pace as our heroine tries to figure out what is going on. Supernatural occurrences? Scientific explanation? Or are we just hearing from an unreliable narrator? Good novel and satisfactory finish (won a bunch of awards). I'll probably return to this author at some point.

It was slightly odd, though; I reviewed What Moves the Dead (Ursula Vernon) last year, which was a retelling of Poe's Fall of the House of Usher in which Vernon attempts to layer in more concrete explanations for the paranormal activity that Poe leaves largely unexplained. The odd party is that Vernon and Moreno-Garcia land on virtually identical causes of the strange happenings. Seems at first blatant plagiarism (Vernon's book came out after Mexican Gothic), but as it turns out it was a coincidence, and Vernon was half-way done with What Moves when she learned about MG and almost shelved her project because of the similarities, but instead finished and published and chose to address the similarities head-on and explain the coincidence. I tend to believe her.

I have this book on my short list, planning to pick it up on the weekend. Appreciate the insightful review.

 

[Tosh]

I question the accuracy of this one a bit. As I recall, these bonuses were not promised before the war to trick soldiers into signing up, but rather were approved after the war, and set to come due 20-25 years later, with interest. The soldiers decided they didn't want to wait, and wanted their bonus now, hence the protests. If these Dickson and Allen characters are selling a different "pre-war government deceit" story, I'd look into their motives, because it does not seem they are being honest with the reader.

@Brick you are one hundred per cent correct, this book is skewed vaguely and incorrectly, and my OAF relative is also incorrect. I truly appreciate your input, I would not want to repeat this and be so wrong. Thank you.