Reviews and Comments

James Ravenscroft

jamesravey@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years ago

Tech professional, science fiction and fantasy nerd - I read the odd non-fic pop sci book too.

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Rachel Wilkerson Miller: How to Bullet Plan (2017, Pan Macmillan)

A more fluffy take on Ryder Carroll's original

Rachel goes through the basics of bullet journalling with an injection of humour and self deprecation. The most useful aspect of this book that is not shared in Ryder Carroll's Bullet Journalling book is the layout designs, stationary tips and some of the FAQs around how to maintain your BuJo habit.

reviewed Sleeping giants by Sylvain Neuvel (Themis files -- book one)

Sylvain Neuvel: Sleeping giants (2016)

"17 years ago: A girl in South Dakota falls through the earth, then wakes up …

Giant Robot Sci-fi with an unusual narrative style

What I didn't realise before I picked this book up is that the story is told via a series of fictional interview transcripts and news articles.

The book doesn't take itself too seriously and features a few cliches but it's generally a good sci-fi action romp.

Arkady Martine: A Memory Called Empire (Paperback, 2020, Pan Macmillan)

Won the 2020 Hugo for Best Novel. Ambassador Mahit Dzmare is posted far from her …

The slow-burning love-child of House of Cards and The Expanse

If I'm honest I first picked up this book because of the image on the cover but once I picked up the book I remained interested and the aesthetic remained pretty cool throughout and gave me vibes from the "Coup" and "The Resistance" board games.

The book really focuses in a lot on the political manoeuvrers of the central character Mahit and her allies (and enemies). There's a fair amount of political theatre and description of Mahit's internal monologue which reminded me of House of Cards. The world building meant that the plot does take a little while to really get going but once it does get going, there's a fair amount to be excited about. The last few chapters were pretty gripping and more reminiscent of something like The Expanse.

There is a lot of description of the culture and language used in the Teixcalaanli Empire which for me, …