Christian’s Subsection of the Internet

Aaaaand, we’re back! This review won’t contain spoilers for this book, but at this point it’s becoming impossible to write anything at all about any of these books without touching upon events in previous books, so do not read this unless you’ve read up to and including Book 2 of the Rouge Castes part of the Frontiers saga! ….. With Rebellion, this series finally got back to what I think it does best: page-turning action that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but does take itself seriously enough that there is some proper meat on the bone under the surface. On the surface, this book has an excellent nerve: real risk needing to be taken for significant gain, and the plot is focused and easy to follow, despite a lot going on. We’re back to the strength of characters being used to drive the plot, and it’s great to have Nathan back as a character, and also see the revival of the dynamics with the rest of the gang. Even though the story is far away from the “formula” of the early books, and both the settings and the events are very different, I once again felt at home. There are also some interesting things going on under the surface that will be fun to follow… without typing it all out, there is just so much wonderful ambiguity both around identity and who the adversaries are, and who the good guys are - and what the good guys would be prepared to do, relative to what they think they’re fighting for… I feel that the series is very much back with this book, and I’m very much here for the continuation!

High expectations is a double-edged sword. I dove into this book expecting more of what I got in the first book in the series: a proper spy-novel with a bunch of humour in it. It’s a fine balance to strike, and, for me, this book didn’t manage to strike it. This felt like a book which was intended to be funny, with a spy-plot, rather than a spy-novel which was also funny. The plot felt contrived in a way where it might have just about got away with it if it were told with more background/side-plots/elaboration which made everything just a little bit more plausible. That’s not to say the book wasn’t enjoyable. The characters hold up, and still feel remarkably well-rounded, considering how little time is actually spent on each of them. The funny parts are funny most of the time, but at times it just becomes a little too much: the constant asides occasionally distract too much from the plot. That said, off of the strength of the characters alone, and the potential of the premise, there is no way I’m not continuing to follow this series.

Resurrection was… variable for me. To review what I felt were the two components of it: the “space battle stuff” seemed to be a notch down from what I’m used to from these books. There was a lot going on, but I feel that most of it just happened, without really feeling that I cared about it. The parts critical to the story were clearly flagged, but the rest just seemed like filler to me. Other than that, this book has a relatively dark mood, in a way that works well. There are some interesting questions relating to ethics which I feel could have been expanded upon a bit further, but generally, I feel that this book did a good job putting the reader into the pessimistic state of mind that the reader should have at this point. And it’s always nice to get goosebumps during the last few pages of a book.

Mrs. Spring Fragrance is a short story collection consisting of stories taking place mostly within Chinese communities in the US (seemingly around the Seattle area). Most of the book consists of short stories which are very much for adults, with a few short stories for children toward the end. The short stories, as a whole, can be described as rather dark. The overarching theme is that of a clash between those who grow up in or moved to the US, taking on the culture and values you’d associate with the US (mostly women), and those who live their lives in the Chinese community of the US in what they see as the traditional Chinese way of life (mostly men). I don’t know to what extent the attitudes depicted are accurate - but I expect they are based on the lived experience of the author. Fortunately, these stories were written over 100 years ago, so I’d expect a lot to have changed since then. The stories mostly revolve around men with a possessive attitude toward their wives, and the ladies they want as their wives, and the stories just get darker and darker. Occasionally, I almost laughed out loud at the creativity with which a story which was always going to end badly ended up badly in a different, unexpected way. Despite the thematic darkness of the main short stories, the stories for children are lovely! The general theme is that of “the greatest rewards and happiness come from making others happy”, and they follow a nice line of being fairytale-like while still not being entirely predictable. Overall Mrs. Spring Fragrance was an interesting collection to read. Some stories are weaker than others, but at least half of them pack a proper punch.

Hello there! If you’re reading this, it means that I’ve redone my personal website again for the first time in quite a long time. This time using a static site builder (Hugo), partially as a way to mave a bit of a frontend view into the new way in which I want to track books that I read/want to read. I believe there has been an addage about x % of content on static websites being about the making of a static website, so I won’t contribute too much to that myself....