reubenalbatross's Reviews (521)

The puns were hitting ever harder than usual in this one (pun intended). LOVE IT. 

Fab-u-las Welsh rep.

The ending was maybe a little weak, but the joy I had reading the rest of it more than made up for that. 

This story was sandwiched by even more of Lewis’ fucked up ideas about how children should be raised and a good smattering of sexism. 

It definitely was not a promising start with the vilification of co-ed schools (this one being called "Experiment House"): 

1. The kids were "allowed to do what they liked", which meant "horrid things, went on" and the kids were never reprimanded (i.e. weren’t beaten up). 

2. Onus is put on the fact that "Bibles weren't encouraged" at the school, and also seemingly that women held a lot of the positions of power within the school. 

I truly don’t understand why Lewis was SO against children not being abused, let alone treated kindly, and apparently all in the name of God??? He was probably upset they weren't all still in the mines. This is obviously carrying on from the weird precedent of Eustace being evil because he was progressive (not even fucking anti-religious). 

Then when we return to the school at the end, when describing the headteacher of "Experiment House" he says:
 

SO goddamn sexist in context. The sexism isn’t anywhere near as obvious in Narnia, I assume because I’m used to sexism being more prevalent in this sort of fantasy world, but when we’re back in the real world, just oooof. 

However, this same paragraph does also contain pretty accurate commentary on people in power: 

But whether this was Lewis commentating only on women in power, or it expands to everyone in power, I’m not so sure. 

Then the whole time in Narnia was really great. Definitely the best ending until this point, and the story is probably the strongest. 

Puddleglum was 100% the star of the show; he’s the best bit of character work in the series by far. This was definitely aided by the fact that he’s been the least preachy ‘good’ character, but mainly its that Lewis portrayed him in a very comedic, Pratchett-esque way. A true gem. Also probably helps that I was picturing him as Tom Baker the entire time.   

So overall, a largely great read, only let down by Lewis’ crazy views on child rearing at the beginning and end. 

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced the whiplash of feelings towards a book as I’ve had with this one… What the actual fuck. 

Until the last 15-20% of it, I was convinced it was going to be a 5-star read, and possibly my favourite of the year so far. I loved: 

- The Britishness of it all, which isn’t hugely common in sci-fi. 

- The “after it turned out their Chancellor had a pig-related adventure at university” jab at Cameron. 

- The valid swing at America – “giant national disasters were just what happened in countries governed by gibbering religious extremists”. 

- The way Pulley incorporated linguistic ideas into the story (I don’t know how accurate those facts/theories were). Every time they were mentioned, the felt like a true addition to the story, rather than being an obvious author-insert to show off their knowledge (*cough cough* R.F. Kuang). If Babel had been written by Pulley, I might have been able to finish it at least. 

- The MAMMOTHS. 

- The characters and their relationships in general. They all felt really natural and authentic, at least when the politics was taken out of it. 

I did have a couple of gripes, one being that Pulley decided to give the Head of Security and a dog such similar names (Sasha and KASHA?). I kept getting them confused while reading. 

There was also a weird and OBVIOUS continuity error towards the end, where January is in prison and “Gale came to see him every week”, yet on the very next page Gale says January had “only been here a week.” So how long had it actually been?? 

I wish I could say those were my only two problems with the book. In fact, in a vacuum, without the context of the real world, this would have been a really enjoyable read. Unfortunately, the real-life implications of the themes in this novel are too egregious to ignore. 

There are already a lot of great reviews going into close detail about all the issues in this novel, so I’ll just outline my biggest red flags for my own record keeping. 

The worst thing for me was that the left-wing guy was a lunatic psychopath, and the right-wing guy was the loveliest person you ever did meet. Right until the last 15-20%, I thought Gale was being coerced into having right-wing policies, and there was going to be a reveal that showed he was actually a good person after all. When it became clear this wasn’t going to be the case, the gears really started turning for me, and the novel was shown to me in a new light. 

I would have been perfectly happy if the message of the book was that all political leaders have the capacity to be horrible people, but are able to learn from their mistakes/other people. But this wasn’t the case. Left was bad, right was good. End of. 

It’s also COMPLETELY unrealistic to me that someone as thoughtful and willing to change as Gale would ever be right-wing. No-one can be that kind in their personal life, then go about spouting as much hate as the right do. Again, this was one of the things that lulled me into a false sense of security about Pulley’s intentions and beliefs. 

And one of the ‘good things’ that happened at the end was that Earthstrongers gave their cage keys to other people. How is locking someone inside their cage going to make ANYTHING better? Mad thing to try and show as a good outcome. 

The gender stuff, which I was excited to learn about when I first started reading, also gives some pretty dodgy vibes. Not least Pulley comparing Gale’s reaction to January calling a kid “he” to that of as if “January had smacked a stack of pornography in front of them”. Sounds like a dog whistle if I’ve ever heard one. 

Either Pulley is a right-wing terf, or she’s completely naïve to how her writing comes across. Neither of which is good.  

In her author’s note, Pulley says: 

And now I know why. 

It was really nice to read a story in this world from the other side of the Raybearer/Anointed Ones circle. Seeing how their actions have affected the wider populace up close and the continuation of their stories from afar was a great way to continue the series. 

My one gripe, which is why I couldn’t give such a strong book a full 5 stars, was Sade’s last big blow-up at the Croc. It was one step too far for me. By this point in the story, they had both already done the hard work of beginning understanding each other and growing from it. Yes, there was more work to do, but they were getting there in a mature and realistic way. 

For him to have kept this secret from Sade, and for her to make such a big deal of it, felt immature and 'just for the plot', rather than being an authentic conflict. It was also a stupid reason for them to break off their friendship for a whole YEAR. The idea of them being apart for that long is in no means bad, it’s probably the best thing they could have done in their circumstance, but it really didn’t need to be on such bad terms. 

However, apart from that, their relationship was really lovely. In fact, all the relationships in this book were. They weren’t perfect, and they had heart, just like in real life. An authentic and heartfelt read throughout (apart from that one gripe). 

Uncharacteristically for Williams, the first two parts (130-ish pages) of this were pretty uneventful. It was an awful lot of going back and forth without much happening - action, plot, or character development wise. Some of it was necessary for context, but the pinballing around the same locations went on for a bit too long. We definitely could have been given the context in more varied ways. 

However, the rest of it was absolutely marvellous. Seeing the earlier days of Osten Ard was great and learning more of the history of the Tinukeda’ya was really interesting - especially them being given leadership of 3 of the 9 original settlements. 

I really need more Tinukeda’ya history in general, I’m so bloody riveted by it. And Williams gave such a powerful portrayal of an indentured community losing their identity and it being subsumed by their 'betters'. 

I really want a Silmarillion-esque prequel from the very early days. The Gardenborn story is such a play on 'what would happen if the LotR elves were completely cut off from Elvenhome. 

It's all just started to annoy me, and I can't really be bothered to carry on.

This book really tapped into my deepest pessimistic beliefs about humankind, and it was nice to wallow in them for a while. 

It also has great autism rep – some of the most true-to-life I’ve read. And of course, it’s always fabulous to see a woman in her 40’s as the main character. 

The majority of the book was really strong, and I was definitely gripped beginning to end. Such visceral body horror, but also points of hilarity and tenderness. 

Unfortunately, the ending was a bit weak for the lack of explanation. There were a lot of questions left unanswered (1. What was Tommy’s actual motivation for wanting to (I think?) help Becky, and why did it lead to so much killing right from the offset? 2. How did the video stuff actually work? 3. Who were the Rylak Corporation and what were they doing?), and while I’m not someone that needs everything to be explained, in this instance some explanation really would have heighted the book. 

None of the questions I had about the core of the story were answered, which left it feeling half-baked. I was left wondering if Sodergren simply couldn’t come up with good answers for any of them, rather than the, I think, intention of leaving it all a mystery for effect. If just one of my big questions had been explained, even partly so, I would have come away a lot happier. 

All in all though, I still had a great time reading this, and am looking forward to my next Sodergren read. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t love this one as much as the first two. 

One reason for this is the blatant sexism in play, which didn’t feel as present in the first two books. E.g. Susan is basically called a bimbo – she’s the “pretty one” of the family (which is massively looked down on, even though not something she can help), bad at school, but in every other way is “older than her age”. Blurgh. 

And then Caspian didn’t want to marry someone because she “Squints, and has freckles” – a failing of character that isn’t commented on at all - but when Lucy is a little envious of her sister’s beauty, it’s a massive sin. 

Another reason was Eustace’s background. As a character he gave some great comedic moments, and I especially enjoyed the diary entries, but he made absolutely no sense to me. I don't see how a kid raised in such a seemingly progressive household could be such a twat, and it seems like Lewis made that choice just to make a point. I was getting pretty strong right wing propaganda vibes… 

Lewis portrays Eustace as being coddled his whole life by parents who think kids should be looked after/wrapped in cotton wool (which is what the right think of leftist education/child protection reform etc.), which has turned him into a brat because he doesn’t think of others. But the WHOLE POINT of the sort of progressive people Lewis describes his parents as is that that THINK OF OTHERS. 

In real life, the blundering oaf would be the right winger, stuck in their ways and unable to have empathy for others in any way or see another’s point of view. 

The only way Eustace would make sense as a character is if he was rebelling against his parent's ideals, and purposely going against them. But he’s essentially described as being a clone of his parents at the start of the book, so that clearly was not the case. Apparently, people who don’t eat meat and want kids to stop getting abused are sinful, selfish cretins? 

The ending also fell down a little because there’s a gaping omission – what happened to Rhoop?? He was put into a sleep with the three other lords, with the intention of being woken when the others were, but in the last paragraph all it says is “And the three lords woke from their sleep.” No mention of Rhoop at all. 

In saying all this, I did still have a good time with the book, as my main issues were condensed at the beginning of the story, so most of the read was perfectly pleasant. I really liked the first proper sign of the Aslan/God situation at the end, even though it instinctively disgusted my deeply atheist soul. And Reepicheep will forever have my heart. 

This was a surprisingly good book – an antidote to Colleen Hoover’s bullshit. 

If I’d just read the blub before reading it, I don’t know if I would have read it, and there was so much potential for a toxic mess. Thankfully, I think it handled all the complex topics really sensitively and realistically. It made for an insightful and powerful read. 

The book was even based around two elements I usually hate – miscommunication and memory loss. However, unlike most times they’re used, both made complete sense with the book’s premise and were used realistically. 

It was also really nice to read a book set in Australia, especially when listening to an audiobook. 

I just don’t care enough to continue this book. The core of it seems fine, but something in the writing feels off – whether it’s the original text or the translation, I’m not sure. 

It reads pretty distantly, and the grammar is really off at points. 

One example being the chapter heading image of a sign reading “Book. Coffee.” – surely it should be “Books. Coffee.”?? 

Another is when a character says ‘a crotchet’ as a singular thing, which would never be said. 

The conversations are also starting to feel stilted and unnatural, which doesn’t help for a book all about meaningful relationships between characters. 

It’s not bringing me joy, so off it pops.