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Finished Glass Cannon by Yoon Ha Lee
Jan. 30th, 2022 10:28 pmGlass Cannon was a pretty fun story.
Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee
Jan. 28th, 2022 06:32 pmI finished Revenant Gun. Kujen is my favorite. Probably due to my fondness of mad scientist villains who want to be immortal. Also because I enjoy characters who have a sense of style. And because I love villains who are clearly enjoying themselves while being unaplogetically ruthless.
I think this trilogy does a good job with its reveals. There are usually multiple plot-related reveals in this book and in the larger series, and I appreciate the way they're constructed to both illuminate details about the worldbuilding and function as satisfying twists and turns.
This series is quite consistent in its style and quality, so I think whatever a person's opinion of the first two novels are will likely transfer over to this one as well. That was certainly my experience. I enjoyed the fantastical math/science/engineering aspect and how that was employed throughout the series.
I feel the second half of the novel is where it really picks up for me--the first half is a bit slow for my taste. I'm a very impatient person so this is something that makes a significant difference to me. Though I've still read much slower novels.
I would have liked for a certain plot thread to have received more attention. I'll have to see if maybe there's a satisfactory conclusion for that one in Glass Cannon.
Anyway, those are a few of my thoughts about this novel.
Finished Raven Strategem
Mar. 1st, 2020 11:55 pm Finished reading Raven Strategem today. Definitely an interesting novel, with some interesting reveals at the end. One of them was one that I already knew about from reading the first book, but even then it was interesting to see how the POV characters reacted to that. The other reveals were quite surprising, though. I definitely plan to read the sequel. I had a hard time with the first part of this novel, but I'd say the payoff made it more than worth the trouble.
Raven Strategem
Jan. 31st, 2020 04:15 amAm currently reading Raven Strategem by Yoon Ha Lee and am partway through chapter 10. These are fairly character-driven stories, which is something I appreciate, but the large amount of military minutiae here is really not my thing. I don't skip over things like that, though, especially since it's an important part of the story.
I do find the worldbuilding intriguing, though often confusing as well. The worldbuilding is extensive, and the universe (galaxy? galaxies??) Yoon Ha writes about is truly alien even while the people seem to be mostly human. It takes a while to even start to understand a lot of the terminology which is immediately thrown at you, and even after it's explained somewhat I tend to blink and think 'did I understand that correct?' Example: Composites apparently refers to more than one person (I get a sense this is usually a small number, like 2 or 3) being somehow merged into one person? That one's weird but at least somewhat understandable. I still don't understand threshhold winnowers, except that they sound truly terrible. The worldbuilding is off the charts in this series, and one of my motivations for reading through the story is trying to get a better handle on that. The worldbuilding has had quite a bit of significance to the overall story so far, so I try to pay attention to those sorts of details.
I find it difficult to categorize the plot. Is it action? There is some action, but less than one might expect in a book about space battles. Mystery? I feel like a mini-mystery is solved every time I learn more about how this universe works, and there are some significant reveals at the end of the first book, but it doesn't really quite have a mystery feel to me. Psychological thriller? This one probably seems like the most accurate to me, though I think it's probably taking a somewhat nonstandard approach to that.
This has been a difficult series to read through for me, for a number of reasons. It doesn't shy away from upsetting things, and while I appreciate that in a story about war and intricate political machinations, it can also be a bit too much for me at times. I certainly do want to see where the characters and story eventually end up, though, and dicipher the complex universe the author has built.
I do find the worldbuilding intriguing, though often confusing as well. The worldbuilding is extensive, and the universe (galaxy? galaxies??) Yoon Ha writes about is truly alien even while the people seem to be mostly human. It takes a while to even start to understand a lot of the terminology which is immediately thrown at you, and even after it's explained somewhat I tend to blink and think 'did I understand that correct?' Example: Composites apparently refers to more than one person (I get a sense this is usually a small number, like 2 or 3) being somehow merged into one person? That one's weird but at least somewhat understandable. I still don't understand threshhold winnowers, except that they sound truly terrible. The worldbuilding is off the charts in this series, and one of my motivations for reading through the story is trying to get a better handle on that. The worldbuilding has had quite a bit of significance to the overall story so far, so I try to pay attention to those sorts of details.
I find it difficult to categorize the plot. Is it action? There is some action, but less than one might expect in a book about space battles. Mystery? I feel like a mini-mystery is solved every time I learn more about how this universe works, and there are some significant reveals at the end of the first book, but it doesn't really quite have a mystery feel to me. Psychological thriller? This one probably seems like the most accurate to me, though I think it's probably taking a somewhat nonstandard approach to that.
This has been a difficult series to read through for me, for a number of reasons. It doesn't shy away from upsetting things, and while I appreciate that in a story about war and intricate political machinations, it can also be a bit too much for me at times. I certainly do want to see where the characters and story eventually end up, though, and dicipher the complex universe the author has built.
