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galacticvampire's Reviews (366)
"Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes. [...] How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?"
Babel presents a compelling thesis while weaving a tight and cohesive plot. There's so, so much to think and absorb about imperialism and systems of power, but the story itself is also impossible to put down.
In an alternative 19th century England, words are literally magic. The lost meanings between translations can come to life with the right tools, but what happens when globalization begins introducing foreign concepts to everyday English and the gap between original and translation gets smaller and smaller? The Empire imports.
Following four Translation students, each brought from a different country to provide Babel with new languages to use as resource, the story explores the challenges of being a minority in academia, the comfort of individual success in exchange of systemic change, the ethical dilemma of violence in face of oppression, and the exploitation of POC youth to maintain colonialism. All while presenting the prose as both narrative and academic paper full of footnotes¹.
Babel is enraging, it's heartbreaking, it's purposely Too Much because it's also Too Much for them. The writing is beautiful and the characters fascinating, and even when it was hard to get through heavily detailed descriptions, it was even harder not to care.
"How slender, how fragile, the foundations of an Empire. Take away the center, and what's left? A gasping periphery, baseless, powerless, cut down at the roots."
¹ Really, really full.
Absolutely incredible. If you can get the audiobook I highly recommend it, as Philomena's deadpan delivery only makes all the nonsense she speaks sound even funnier.
This book is several "how many The Rise of Skywalker loose threads can we explain" under a trenchcoat.
Some of them work. We have a clear reasoning as to why and how Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter. How a sith dagger with the location of a wayfinder ended up in Pasaana. Why Lando was there. But none of that matters when many of those decisions were wack to begin with, and there's only so much an author could do.
Having both Rey's parents and Lando/Luke looking for them felt like a desperate attempt to patch up two unrelated stories, and Lando's missing daughter is the biggest example of that.
We don't know who her mother is, how she was kidnapped, how Lando felt facing fatherhood. The only reason for that was to explain his involvement on the plot and a throwaway line in a deleted scene of the movie. This is a whole new level of fridging.
All that aside, the book isn't bad at all. We have some quite cool action scenes, and everything that expanded on the dark side was very interesting. But the wobbly reasoning for the whole set up made the entire thing fall flat.
The audiobook narration and production are great though. Absolutely carried the story.
Some of them work. We have a clear reasoning as to why and how Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter. How a sith dagger with the location of a wayfinder ended up in Pasaana. Why Lando was there. But none of that matters when many of those decisions were wack to begin with, and there's only so much an author could do.
Having both Rey's parents and Lando/Luke looking for them felt like a desperate attempt to patch up two unrelated stories, and Lando's missing daughter is the biggest example of that.
We don't know who her mother is, how she was kidnapped, how Lando felt facing fatherhood. The only reason for that was to explain his involvement on the plot and a throwaway line in a deleted scene of the movie. This is a whole new level of fridging.
All that aside, the book isn't bad at all. We have some quite cool action scenes, and everything that expanded on the dark side was very interesting. But the wobbly reasoning for the whole set up made the entire thing fall flat.
The audiobook narration and production are great though. Absolutely carried the story.
Camp Damascus is a entertaining thriller that expands on themes of queer horror.
The first half of this book was a solid 5 stars. The gaslighting, the feeling of dread, the religious brainwashing and unsettling interactions; it was all executed extremely well. You can really feel Rose's fear and confusion, and it was also a thriller really well crafted for the reader to slowly put the pieces together.
I particularly love Chuck Tingle's writing style. It's captivating and funny without dampening the creepy elements, and I really want to see more horror out of him.
The second half of the book felt under baked. It moves really quickly from a religious mystery to a YA save-the-world mission, with the characters just telling each other things instead of we actually following the actions and development.
From Rose's abrupt break from 20 years of religious indoctrination (no doubting herself, no trying to justify it. Just straight up ok they're evil) to her flavourless romance (if SHE doesn't know why she's in love how can we?) it just felt like a lot of wasted potential. Even the most important thing they do to stop the villains happens off-page!
In the end, it was a quick and fun read, and since most of my issues were with structural elements, I believe Chuck Tingle has a great future within the genre.
The first half of this book was a solid 5 stars. The gaslighting, the feeling of dread, the religious brainwashing and unsettling interactions; it was all executed extremely well. You can really feel Rose's fear and confusion, and it was also a thriller really well crafted for the reader to slowly put the pieces together.
I particularly love Chuck Tingle's writing style. It's captivating and funny without dampening the creepy elements, and I really want to see more horror out of him.
The second half of the book felt under baked. It moves really quickly from a religious mystery to a YA save-the-world mission, with the characters just telling each other things instead of we actually following the actions and development.
From Rose's abrupt break from 20 years of religious indoctrination (no doubting herself, no trying to justify it. Just straight up ok they're evil) to her flavourless romance (if SHE doesn't know why she's in love how can we?) it just felt like a lot of wasted potential. Even the most important thing they do to stop the villains happens off-page!
In the end, it was a quick and fun read, and since most of my issues were with structural elements, I believe Chuck Tingle has a great future within the genre.
Last Shot follows Lando and Han as they are pulled back to action by troubles from their less-than-honest past. Switching back and forth both between the two of them and their past selves, this book really gets to shine when developing the characters.
Scoundrels aren't meant to mature, so what happens when they do? While Han struggles with fatherhood and a government position, Lando can't admit to himself that he wants to settle down. The internal conflict in both cases is spectacular, Lando specifically being more tridimensional than ever
The plot is quite whatever. The villain is a non-issue and completely uncharismatic. I really didn't feel stakes rising at any point. The back and forth between now and then also hurt the pacing, and didn't add anything to the story other than interrupting the flow. (I have a feeling they were added solely for the cameos).
I understand that it's a Star Wars novel, and for Lando and Han fans on top of that, but I believe this would've been an extremely strong addition to the saga if it had trusted itself to be an adult narrative about maturing and left the action more to the backdrop.
(my favorite scenes 100% were the ones with baby Ben. He could've been so much if not for all the muder :'()
Scoundrels aren't meant to mature, so what happens when they do? While Han struggles with fatherhood and a government position, Lando can't admit to himself that he wants to settle down. The internal conflict in both cases is spectacular, Lando specifically being more tridimensional than ever
The plot is quite whatever. The villain is a non-issue and completely uncharismatic. I really didn't feel stakes rising at any point. The back and forth between now and then also hurt the pacing, and didn't add anything to the story other than interrupting the flow. (I have a feeling they were added solely for the cameos).
I understand that it's a Star Wars novel, and for Lando and Han fans on top of that, but I believe this would've been an extremely strong addition to the saga if it had trusted itself to be an adult narrative about maturing and left the action more to the backdrop.
(my favorite scenes 100% were the ones with baby Ben. He could've been so much if not for all the muder :'()
This is a very short short story, so I think it's really hard not to feel like wanting more... Nevertheless, this was great!
The details are truly disgusting and gut rolling, a true feat of writing. With so little the author manages to paint a uniquely disturbing atmosphere and I was enthralled.
The details are truly disgusting and gut rolling, a true feat of writing. With so little the author manages to paint a uniquely disturbing atmosphere and I was enthralled.
This book is beautiful. It shows the core of what being a Jedi was like, a multitude of different ways they impacted lives. The plot was interesting, specially the more action-driven Depa and Mace's povs.
Even then, I think it would've been a more tight story if we had fewer narrators. The idea of letting us see the perspective of each High Council member plus other surrounding characters like Qui-Gon helped shape and give life to the institution, but it made for a clunky narrative.
Even then, I think it would've been a more tight story if we had fewer narrators. The idea of letting us see the perspective of each High Council member plus other surrounding characters like Qui-Gon helped shape and give life to the institution, but it made for a clunky narrative.
I overall like the characters and their dynamic, but the premise was way too fucked up for me to really get into the couple and the resolution was kinda underwhelming.
This is not a romance, and the story is better for it.
Honey Girl explores what comes after success. How to face the world after your plans end, and ultimately, fall apart. It's the story of a black queer woman trying to navigate life and academia, and overcoming perfectionism.
For all that, the book is beautiful. And also why the end isn't really satisfying. It was the ending of a romance. It's cute, but doesn't really works to wrap up a story that wasn't really about that. I'd much rather have had a scene with Grace's father, for example.
Honey Girl explores what comes after success. How to face the world after your plans end, and ultimately, fall apart. It's the story of a black queer woman trying to navigate life and academia, and overcoming perfectionism.
For all that, the book is beautiful. And also why the end isn't really satisfying. It was the ending of a romance. It's cute, but doesn't really works to wrap up a story that wasn't really about that. I'd much rather have had a scene with Grace's father, for example.
If you have any interest in dinosaurs and fossil hunting, this is the book for you. It's fun, impressively deep and descriptive, and super engaging. It makes the story interesting without being fictitious and now I really want to visit the Smithsonian.