mariebrunelm's Reviews (478)

 Un roi millénaire, souverain d'Hyperborée, part en quête de réponses dans cette bande-dessinée philosophique et nostalgique de Mathieu Bablet. Des paysages à donner le tournis se déploient sur les pages dans des camaïeux d'une grande subtilité. Les dialogues, réduits au minimum, laissent la pensée vagabonder au fil du périple de ce personnage sans nom, qui croise sur son chemin divinités, esprits et humains qui lui renvoient une image kaléidoscopique de lui-même et des habitants de la terre. Certains passages évoquent Le Roi et l'Oiseau de Paul Grimault et Jacques Prévert, d'autres The Fountain de Darren Aronofsky. 

The first story was dizzyingly intricate, with story-strands weaving in and out of focus, characters blending into one another and atmospheric descriptions. These stories beg to be studied, picked apart and marveled at, just as much as they beg to be enjoyed for the sheer beauty of their prose and symbolism. I felt like I was walking along a baroque corridor, noticing dozens of doors slightly ajar on either side of me. I couldn't turn my head to see what lay beyond, but I knew there were many doors of equal splendour waiting for me if I stepped just a little out of the main narrative path.
Oyeyemi's writing has this hypnotic quality that makes me not-quite-conscious of the things I'm reading. It's really hard to describe. I'm reading about something, and without my being conscious of it, the focus shifts and suddenly I find myself reading about something else entirely. It made it quite impossible to keep track of the content warnings, for instance. I'm sorry for this messy review, but this collection was quite challenging in a good way.
I'd recommend this book to fans of The Shadow of the Wind and The Starless Sea looking for even stranger and deeper fiction.
Rep: queer MCs (bi, lesbian, gay MCs), black MC.

 Do you enjoy books about writing but wish they were more specific? Ursula K. Le Guin, as often, has the answer for you. Steering the Craft isn't a book about creative writing in general, about motivation or how to get to the end of a first draft. It's a textbook about language, how to learn its rules the better to break them afterwards and craft your own style. She talks punctuation, grammar, syntax, with a no-nonsense, tongue-in-cheek voice that I found delightful. Each chapter is short and to-the-point, and followed by writing prompts focusing on craft rather than ideas, as well as points to discuss with a writing group. All these make Steering the Craft a new staple on my shelf of books about writing, one I know I'll come back to regularly, and especially in the revision process. 

After Andy Weir's The Martian almost became a new favourite last year, I was eager to read more by him and so I took advantage of my father's birthday to gift him Artemis so that I'd be able to read it after him. And when I was in need of pure fun and escapism, I picked it up and the book delivered. Artemis has the same defiant optimism and fast pace as The Martian, with a wider focus since it involves a main character interacting with a group of allies rather than one isolated on a planet with no hope of survival. Artemis's MC, Jazz, was born on Earth, in Saudi Arabia, but she emigrated to the Moon at a very young age and does not intend to come back. She's become estranged from her father after some very poor life choices, and ekes out a living as a courier navigating the domes of Artemis, the Moon's human settlement. When a contact hires her for a dangerous job that could bring her financial woes to an end, she doesn't hesitate long. But of course, things don't exactly go as planned and Jazz finds herself with a target on her back.
This book really was entertaining, and I was pleasantly surprised to find so many diverse characters. I wasn't as emotionnally attached to the characters as I'd been to The Martian's MC, but that was partly because the plot reached farther than the mere survival of one person whose every action could mean their death.  Artemis did have heist vibes, which was perfect as I'd been considering re-reading Six of Crows for pure comfort and enjoyed witnessing first a lone wolf and then a cast of mis-matched characters devising a less-than-perfect plan and going for it. I don't think Artemis is better than The Martian, but I'm looking forward to reading Weir's third book, Project Hail Mary.
Rep: MC from Saudi Arabia, very diverse cast of characters, including several queer characters and one disabled secondary character.

Souris, cigognes, ratons-laveurs, lézards,... Quel serait votre alter ego dans un monde de fantasy animalière ? Projets Sillex nous convie à un périple aux côtés de compagnons de tous poils et plumes dans ce recueil haut en couleur. Des histoires captivantes servies par des styles variés mais toujours ciselés. Un régal, même si le genre de départ n'était pas ma tasse de thé!

 Are you sometimes frustrated not to know more about a fictional world you enjoy? Robin Hobb has the solution for you. In the Tawny Man Trilogy, without spoiling you, characters often refer to the legendary figure of the Piebald Prince, without his story being told in full. Ten years after the publication of the last tome, Fool's Fate, the author released this two-fold novella, The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince, exploring the history behind the folk tale. And while the Prince is the one most alluded to in Tawny Man, his story begins with a wilful princess whose fate is told in the first half of this little book adorned with beautiful illustrations in black and white by Jackie Morris.

You won't be surprised to know I love this addition to Hobb's worldbuilding. She tells these two stories in an oral tone quite different from what she has accustomed her readers, with the rhythm of a minstrel and sprinkled warnings by the narrator. Thanks to this little-known volume, we get to know more about the story of the Six Duchies and its people, and although you can very well enjoy Tawny Man without knowing about The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince, I highly recommend you pick this one up either before or after the trilogy to make the pleasure last that little bit longer.

Rep : lesbian MC, character with a disfigurement.

I don't exactly know what I've just read  but wow, that book is a ride. 
We follow several scholars of literature in the 1980s, investigating the case of a famous (fictional) poet, Randolph Henri Ash, and his mysterious connexions. There follows an immensely lyrical, dark academia tale of 19th-century poetry, longing and expressing what refuses to be put into words. A.S. Byatt manages to create imaginary 19th-century poets interacting with famous names from history, to compose the poems of these artists, and to write pages of academia studying these poets and their texts. I'm truly baffled. The elaborate language she uses sometimes lost me, but I am certainly in awe of what Byatt has achieved here. She weaves the two timelines (the poets' and the researchers') in a myriad of literary forms including novel, poetry, letters - and what letters! Her characters are nuanced, and so are their relationships, with no clear-cut definition which leaves room for a lot of representation. The purely British atmosphere is tactile, and her description of a quaint bathroom alone is worth a read.
Rep : polyamourous character, ace-spec characters (with a frustrating outcome, but I won't spoil the last pages).

This is the epitome of the comfort book. A grand-mother spends her time cooking traditional recipes to her family and friends. The drawings are really cute, and even if my vegetarian heart was sometimes a little hurt, the overall cosiness and warmth this book wrapped me into more than made up for it.

Addie is autistic and she would very much like people to stop treating her autism like a disease, thank you very much. The trouble is, her teacher and classmates refuse to see past their prejudices and see the real Addie. When the young girl discovers the history of her village, and especially the witch trials that sentenced to death women just for being different, she launches a campaign with all her might to acknowledge the errors of the past and do what is right.

Honestly, this book should be handed out everywhere for everyone to read. It's so touching, infuriating, heart-warming and important. Elle McNicoll writes an entertaining story with a lot to consider as a neurotypical reader about biases and perspective.

Rep: autistic MC (own voice).

On est en 2048 et une femme parle à sa fille d'espoir et de résilience, sur Home, une planète loin de la Terre d'origine. On est en 2147 et la colonie lointaine reçoit une visite inattendue d'un vaisseau terrien. Entre les deux époques, le journal de bord de la dernière personne à abriter des souvenirs de la Terre sur Home.
L'écrivain et artiste same et norvégien Sigbjørn Skåden signe une fable de science-fiction toute en délicatesse. C'est un récit minimaliste, qui se facette entre trois voix à quelques dizaines d'années d'écart les unes des autres. Comme les pas des personnages qui s'effacent dans les sables balayés par les vents, ce n'est pas un texte qui me laisse beaucoup de traces. Mais sur le moment, j'en ai savouré la fausse simplicité. 
Rep : personnages muets communiquant par écrans interposés.
CW : mort d'une femme en couches.