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pineconek's Reviews (816)
Reading the Candy House is like looking at its cover: a messy conglomeration of small pixels, some related, haphazardly on a page and yet a meaning emerges.
This novel feels like confetti. There are a lot of characters and they appear in each other's stories/sections, sometimes under pseudonyms or unnamed for a big chunk of their screen time and, as the reader, we therefore get to experience the Collective.
This is speculative fiction with one sci-fi element: social media, but one step further. Objective memory uploading to a public cloud. All the events in this book are tied to and influenced by the Collective but priority is still given to the relational dramas between family members, friends, colleagues... I love books that explore a concept through many lenses and provide this kind of a tapestry.
Recommended if you enjoy reading about the mundane, including mundane conflicts, find yourself wondering what unseen effects social media has on our relationships with one another, and don't mind losing track of characters.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/PzkEfMJg21M
This novel feels like confetti. There are a lot of characters and they appear in each other's stories/sections, sometimes under pseudonyms or unnamed for a big chunk of their screen time and, as the reader, we therefore get to experience the Collective.
This is speculative fiction with one sci-fi element: social media, but one step further. Objective memory uploading to a public cloud. All the events in this book are tied to and influenced by the Collective but priority is still given to the relational dramas between family members, friends, colleagues... I love books that explore a concept through many lenses and provide this kind of a tapestry.
Recommended if you enjoy reading about the mundane, including mundane conflicts, find yourself wondering what unseen effects social media has on our relationships with one another, and don't mind losing track of characters.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/PzkEfMJg21M
The necessity of violence.
This book has received a lot of attention and rightfully so. It scratches the dark academia itch perfectly while also criticizing elitism, colonialism, and various types of exploitation. The language is rich and beautiful and the book is clearly very thoroughly researched. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, which is read superbly and includes accurate pronunciations of terms in many languages.
Anyway, I didn't expect myself to read a chonk of a book about translators, especially not if there's also a magic system, but here we are! And I don't regret it! I've shied away from fantasy (including urban fantasy, which I guess this is?) in general as an adult reader but this may the book that converts me to exploring the genre.
Recommended widely, but especially if you wanted to like the classic dark academia books but found the elitism frustrating, enjoy lots of footnotes, and think etymology is cool.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/PzkEfMJg21M
This book has received a lot of attention and rightfully so. It scratches the dark academia itch perfectly while also criticizing elitism, colonialism, and various types of exploitation. The language is rich and beautiful and the book is clearly very thoroughly researched. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, which is read superbly and includes accurate pronunciations of terms in many languages.
Anyway, I didn't expect myself to read a chonk of a book about translators, especially not if there's also a magic system, but here we are! And I don't regret it! I've shied away from fantasy (including urban fantasy, which I guess this is?) in general as an adult reader but this may the book that converts me to exploring the genre.
Recommended widely, but especially if you wanted to like the classic dark academia books but found the elitism frustrating, enjoy lots of footnotes, and think etymology is cool.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/PzkEfMJg21M
Playing with genetics is fun.
Playing with genetics accurately is extra fun (seriously, the science in this is a+).
So I'm not quite sure what didn't click for me in the book. I overall enjoyed it but it's definitely my least favourite Blake Crouch book. Dark Matter and Recursion felt like they had far higher stakes and I found myself unable to turn away. Upgrade, by contrast, was remarkably predictable and had very little suspense. This is possibly because that's how our narrator experiences the world after his upgrade. This was a disappointment to me since I'd gone into the book expecting a fast-paced thriller full of morally grey and complex characters... which this had the potential of being, but didn't quite pan out for me.
All that said, I appreciated many aspects of the book. Not only is the science plausible, but the writing is lovely and includes scenes reminiscent of both the Island of Dr Moreau as well as The Stand. Recommended if you want to contemplate the ethics of playing god to save the world and don't mind a semi-predictable action/adventure plot. 3.5 stars rounded down.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/PzkEfMJg21M
Playing with genetics accurately is extra fun (seriously, the science in this is a+).
So I'm not quite sure what didn't click for me in the book. I overall enjoyed it but it's definitely my least favourite Blake Crouch book. Dark Matter and Recursion felt like they had far higher stakes and I found myself unable to turn away. Upgrade, by contrast, was remarkably predictable and had very little suspense. This is possibly because that's how our narrator experiences the world after his upgrade. This was a disappointment to me since I'd gone into the book expecting a fast-paced thriller full of morally grey and complex characters... which this had the potential of being, but didn't quite pan out for me.
All that said, I appreciated many aspects of the book. Not only is the science plausible, but the writing is lovely and includes scenes reminiscent of both the Island of Dr Moreau as well as The Stand. Recommended if you want to contemplate the ethics of playing god to save the world and don't mind a semi-predictable action/adventure plot. 3.5 stars rounded down.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/PzkEfMJg21M
This rocked. The writing is engrossing and the imagery is so neat. The house made me think of a cross between Versailles and a mausoleum.
I'm a sucker for unreliable narrators and stories that reveal themselves in pieces, so this was a really satisfying little puzzle. I'll definitely be picking up Susanna Clarke's debut now that I've seen what her brain can do.
Recommended for everyone as a fun treat but especially if you enjoy genre-bending head scratchers.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
I'm a sucker for unreliable narrators and stories that reveal themselves in pieces, so this was a really satisfying little puzzle. I'll definitely be picking up Susanna Clarke's debut now that I've seen what her brain can do.
Recommended for everyone as a fun treat but especially if you enjoy genre-bending head scratchers.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
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Reread review (may 2021): this book is such a delightful fun gothic horror adventure. It's got it all - unreliable narrator, creepy old relative, a loyal cat, grand staircases, a fortune, and lots of poison. (I say this mostly tongue in cheek because the book is also quite sad)
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
I'm just in awe of Octavia E Butler and want to read everything she's written. This is my third book of hers and I continue to be absolutely floored by how much she packs into her fiction. The characters are alive, the plot is thrilling, the book induces reflections that stay with you long after you've finished reading.
The premise of Kindred is brilliant and asks difficult questions about race, power, and not-so-distant history. There was a fantastic essay about the book at the end of my copy that highlighted some excellent points about the literary significance of this novel as well as the deep symbolism throughout. I highly highly recommend reading this book.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
The premise of Kindred is brilliant and asks difficult questions about race, power, and not-so-distant history. There was a fantastic essay about the book at the end of my copy that highlighted some excellent points about the literary significance of this novel as well as the deep symbolism throughout. I highly highly recommend reading this book.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
Amazing and incredibly on-the-nose for this strange time in my life.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
Oh gosh this was good and I needed this.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
Sometimes I just need to read this book. I'm so glad it exists.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
Oops I stayed up until 4 in the morning reading, effectively finishing this in one "day"...
Nina LaCour writes the kind of YA fiction that I want to read and wish I had in highschool. This book was a tremendous exploration of grief and what follows. The exploration of the tension between moving on and keeping a memory alive was astounding.
Hold Still reminded me of Speak, one of my favourite favourite books, in both tone and emotional impact. It's a similarly constructed novel narrated in a voice not unlike Melinda's and the tree and seasonal imageries also echo one another. While an emotionally intense read, I'm so happy this book exists and I think it will resonate with anyone who's dealt with (read: experienced or witnessed) self harm, suicide, or loss.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04
Nina LaCour writes the kind of YA fiction that I want to read and wish I had in highschool. This book was a tremendous exploration of grief and what follows. The exploration of the tension between moving on and keeping a memory alive was astounding.
Hold Still reminded me of Speak, one of my favourite favourite books, in both tone and emotional impact. It's a similarly constructed novel narrated in a voice not unlike Melinda's and the tree and seasonal imageries also echo one another. While an emotionally intense read, I'm so happy this book exists and I think it will resonate with anyone who's dealt with (read: experienced or witnessed) self harm, suicide, or loss.
More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/nmjUwPk8f04