I have a friend who likes to loan me sad books, and when I finish one and say “OMG that was sad!”, she’ll say, “I know, but wasn’t it SO well written?” I have a feeling that my friend and KatSings would get along well. My Book Exchange buddy got me this lovely, sprawling book, which is beautifully written and has an air of pervasiveness melancholy about it. I adored it anyway, and I appreciate that KatSings got me to read something that would not […]
Decent beginning + cool idea still manages to = meh
I don’t think I can recommend this one. The concept was interesting, the beginning was good, and the climax was well done. But the middle and the very end dragged it down too much. Jubal is a planet that was only recently settled by humans. Giant crystal structures poke up out of the landscape all over the planet. The humans call them Presences, and they are very sensitive to sound. If they’re too bothered by noise, they explode, sending shards of crystal into anyone or […]
Sleeping Beauty, Environmental Warrior
Beauty is a complicated fantasy novel about fairy tales, feminism, environmentalism and the end of the world. It involves fairies, angels, humans, and time travel, and places a heavy emphasis on darkness vs. light, on creativity and destruction. There is a whole helluva lot going on, sometimes maybe more than the author can handle, but author Tepper, who died last year (because of course she did, it was 2016), certainly demonstrates great passion for her subject matter. The novel begins in 14th century Westfaire with […]