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Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang
“Languages aren’t just made of words. They’re modes of looking at the world. They’re the keys to civilization. And that’s knowledge worth killing for.” Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution is an fierce indictment against colonialism. Within this superbly written slow-burner of a bildungsroman, R.F. Kuang presents her…
1820s, 1830s, 19TH CENTURY, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, 4 STARS, abuse, academia, Adult, ALIENATION, alternate history, anxiety-inducing reads, atmospheric, babel, Babel or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution, belonging, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, brothers, child abuse, CHILDHOOD, China, chinese american author, class, cliques, colonialism, coming of age, cultural dissonance, dark academia, DEATH, england, FANTASY, fathers & sons, female authors, friendships, great storytelling, growing up, GUILT, HISTORICAL FICTION, history, identity, India, language, lgbtq+, LONDON, loneliness, Longing, MAGIC, morality, MURDER, muslim side characters, My reviews, MYSTERY, orphans, oxford, philosophical, politics, PRIVILEGE, psychological, published in 2022, queer undercurrents, R.F. Kuang, RACE, read in 2022, reading, revenge, secret societies, secretiveness, ship, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, strong sense of place, SUSPENSE, teachers, terrific prose, tragedy, travel, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, URBAN FANTASY, war -
How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole
“A princess and her lady knight—the kind of fairy tale she’d always wanted, if she had to be a princess.” Perhaps I hyped myself so much so that disappointment was inevitable. How to Find a Princess was one of my most anticipated 2021 releases and I can’t say that I loved it. It had its…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, Alyssa Cole, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, drama, f/f, female authors, How To Find A Princess, HUMOR, ISLAND, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, light reads, My reviews, Neurodiversity, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, RETELLINGS, road trip, rom-coms, ROMANCE, royals, sea, ship -
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
For a work that was first published in 1998 Daughter of Fortune strikes me as something more suited to the 1970s. Don’t get me wrong, I love Isabel Allende’s work and she is one of my favourite authors, however, at the risk of coming across as an oversensitive zillennial, her mystification of China struck me…
1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, ADOPTION, Adult, adventure, America, California, chile, Chilean American author, China, class, daughter of fortune, doctors, drama, FAMILY SAGA, favourite authors, female authors, GRIEF, heavy on telling, HISTORICAL FICTION, ISABEL ALLENDE, latin america, latin american, latinx author, MAGICAL REALISM, MARRIAGE, MELODRAMA, miscarriage, orphans, pregnancy, problematic, prostitution, published in 1998, road trip, ship, slow pacing, survival, TRANSLATED FICTION, travel, unrequited love, voyage -
The Rebellious Tide by Eddy Boudel Tan
This is one of those rare cases where I genuinely feel bad for not liking a book. The more I read The Rebellious Tide, the less I liked it. Yet, I really tried to pretend otherwise. Having loved Eddy Boudel Tan’s debut novel (it moved me to tears, something that does not happen often to…
2.5 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, canadian author, cheesy, class, Contemporary, cruise, drama, Eddy Boudel Tan, fathers & sons, gay, Greece, Italy, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, m/m, male authors, Mediterranean, MELODRAMA, myths, netgalley, published in 2021, queer, read in 2020, sea, ship, The Rebellious Tide, voyage, weak prose, work culture -
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
“A smart Teek survives the storm, but a wise Teek avoids storms altogether.” It took me awhile to warm up to Black Sun and during its first half I worried that I would find myself once again in the ‘unpopular’ opinion camp. As I’d read and liked Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lightning I was hoping…
3.75 stars, 3rd pov, adventure, AMERICAN AUTHOR, between earth and sky, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, Black Sun, disabilities, FANTASY, female authors, FOLKLORE, gods, great storytelling, high fantasy, indigenous, lgbtq+, MAGIC, morality, myths, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, non-binary side characters, political intrigue, pre-Columbian inspired setting, prophecies, published in 2020, queer, read in 2020, Rebecca Roanhorse, ship, voyage -
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
“That’s the problem with summoning demons, you see. Sooner or later somebody else raises them against you.” Readers who enjoyed Stuart Turton’s previous novel will probably find The Devil and the Dark Water to be a far more captivating read than I did. While I personally was not enamoured by The Seven Deaths of Evelyn…
17th century, 2.5 STARS, 3rd pov, British author, cat and mouse, curses, DETECTIVE, HISTORICAL FICTION, Indonesia, ISLAND, male authors, MURDER, MYSTERY, mystery puzzle, netgalley, Netherlands, published in 2020, read in 2020, sea, ship, Stuart Turton, SUSPENSE, The Devil and the Dark Water, THRILLER, voyage -
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel — book review
“But they were citizens of a shadow country that in his previous life he’d only dimly perceived, a country located at the edge of an abyss. ” Emily St. John Mandel’s prose in The Glass Hotel is certainly striking. She deftly weaves realism with a dreamlike atmosphere, while also adding an elegiac touch to otherwise…
2000s, 3 STARS, Adult, affairs, ARTISTS, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, canada, canadian author, class, Contemporary, drama, Emily St. John Mandel, female authors, ghosts/spirits, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, MEMORY, MYSTERY, prison, published in 2020, read in 2020, rich people, sea, ship, The Glass Hotel, Vancouver/Vancouver island, white-collar crime, work culture -
Temporary by Hilary Leichter — book review
“The gods created the First Temporary so they could take a break.” Temporary is a wonderfully bizarre novel. Readers who prefer to read stories that are grounded in reality or that are ruled by logic and reason may be better off steering clear from the sheer absurdity that is Temporary. “She noted the fallacy of…
4 STARS, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, female authors, Hilary Leichter, HUMOR, Kafkaesque, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, office, pirates, published in 2020, read in 2020, ship, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, SPECULATIVE FICTION, surreal, Temporary, temporary workers, unnamed narrator, weird, what ifs, work culture -
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton — book review
“A person’s fortune always changes in the telling of it.” Turns out that reading The Luminaries was a phenomenal waste of my time. Eleanor Catton writes well, and the concept behind her novel had the potential of being interesting, but on the whole The Luminaries seems to be little more than a dull rehash of…
1860s, 19TH CENTURY, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, astrology, big books, bombastic style, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, BOOKWORM, CRIME, drama, Eleanor Catton, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, Hokitika, ISLAND, LITERARY FICTION, man booker winner, murder mystery, MYSTERY, mystery puzzle, new zealand, New Zealand author, prostitution, published in 2013, READ IN 2019, REVIEW, sensation fiction, ship, The Luminaries
luce [is reading] 