🤯📚Mind-blowing Sci-fi from China and an Epistolary Novel

 

    Death's End is the final installment of Cixin Liu's series The Three-Body Problem. The final book was translated by Ken Liu. This series is mind-blowing. Liu introduced me to new ideas concerning strategy, space travel, and human psychology. He has a dark view of humanity, depicting it as easily panicked and capricious in its moral compass. The central figure of Death's End is a compassionate woman who continually tries to make loving and kind decisions only to find that it plunges Earth into further danger. Lius wrestles with leadership styles and breaks them into masculine and feminine, which is unfortunate. Liu's plot roams over a wide range--culture, gender, technology, space exploration, string theory, multiple universe theory, power, and physics--all in service of the plot. Death's End is a space opera involving enormous stakes. 

    Sometimes, writers who are terrific at science could be better at character development, and I think Liu's characters, especially the women, are somewhat one-dimensional. His females could be interpreted as weak and the cause of humanity's dangers. I have seen reviews where Cixin Lui is called misogynistic. My take is that he is unfamiliar with the interior lives of others—men and women--causing his books to be plot-driven, not character-driven. Even with all that, this is a fantastic series.

Here is a link to my other reviews of the series:

https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=three+body

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    Julie Schumacher's short book, Dear Committee Members, is snarky and poignant. It is written as a series of letters—primarily recommendations for jobs at the request of former students—in which an aging English Professor, Jason Fitger, gives much more than advocacy but also an opportunity to air his grievances with academia. In a short work, Schumacher critiques the waning budgets of English departments as compared to economics and other sexier departments. She makes a strong case for the humanities. It's quite clever and well done. There are at least two more books featuring Professor Fitger, and I'm looking forward to reading them.

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🏰🦄👠❤️‍🔥 Fantasy, Contemperary Fiction, and Christian Self-Help

 

   Cursed by Marissa Meyer is the second in a fantasy duology. Here is a link to my review of the first, Gilded. Meyer commands the story arc so well. There are zigs and zags that I didn't see coming but were within the realm of the story. This second book fits well with the first, and I wonder if it was all one work at first. Being a fairy tale, I believed it would have a happy ending, but Meyer didn't shy away from dark, dismal places. I asked myself if this fairy tale was more of the Grimm variety. 

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    I had never read the book by Lauren Weisberger, The Devil Wears Prada, which spawned the movie, so this week I did, and I also rewatched the movie (SO GOOD!) The book shows Andy giving up her soul a piece at a time, much like the movie. However, the book has several subplots that the movie doesn't, and the ending is changed. I thought the book would be an easy, breezy romp, but it delves into a body-shaming culture and a not-at-all-cute abusive relationship. I found it worth the read because what was kept and ditched was surprising.. 

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I recently attended a Marriage Enrichment Conference sponsored by the Allender Center. I decided to read Bold Love by Dr. Dan B. Allender and Dr. Tremper Longman III, a book that's been on my shelves for years. I'm not sure how to classify this book--Christian self-help is probably the closest to what it is. Allender and Longman make the case for a love that isn't meek in its approach to loving difficult people. It's not tough love, per se, but more about valuing yourself in the equation. The cover (see above) boasts, "Know the difference between loving an evil person, a fool, and a normal sinner." Ouch. This book is helpful and challenging. I felt convicted about how I've failed to love others but also encouraged that there are hopeful pathways toward healing. It took me several weeks to read it, and I'm glad I took it slowly to absorb it and think about their proposals. I would like to reread it because the material does not have the usual message of "forgive and forget." It's made me think.

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🪿🏰⚔️ So Much Fantasy! 😍

   This will be a week of fantasy for me, and I’m so excited!

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 Marissa Meyer was new to me and was recommended by one of my daughters, who shares my love of fantasy. Gilded is a retelling of the story of Rumplestiltskin. Meyer creates an imaginative world with a plucky heroine. Sirelda is a poor miller’s daughter who lies to the king of the Undead, the Erlking, telling him she can spin straw into gold. Sound familiar? From that familiar fairy tale, Meyer creates an intricate plot with unforeseen twists and turns. She is not afraid to “kill her darlings,” which gives the story an edgy intensity. Gilded is part of a duology. I’ve got her second one Cursed, locked and loaded. Stay tuned.

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    After going a while without any T. Kingfisher, two books become available in the same week! Score! Here is a link to the many, many other T. Kingfisher, AKA Ursula Vernon books I’ve reviewed: https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/search?q=kingfisher. A Sorceress Comes to Call is a take on the fairy tale The Goose Girl. I was unfamiliar with it, so I looked it up on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goose_Girl), and it’s a Grimm tale. 

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This book has horror elements making it one that I prefer to listen to during daylight. I admire Kingfisher’s ability to tell a story from multiple voices, playing them off each other. She also chooses unlikely heroes like a fifty-year-old spinster with knee trouble and an overwhelmed fourteen-year-old fighting a powerful evil sorceress. 

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    Paladin’s Faith is fourth in the Saint of Steel series, and I think there will be more. This book features previous characters, Margarite, the cynical spy, and Shane, the self-loathing Paladin. The more I read of Kingfisher, the more I appreciate her damaged characters who struggle to make their way in the world trying to do more good than damage. Each book in the series revolves around a quest and a romance, making for a spicy, intriguing read. So good!

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🦠😷🤒 Memoir, Short Stories, Murder Mystery, Fantasy, and Sci-fi--The Post Has It All!

    Due to a series of unforeseeable events--COVID--I was unable to post last week. This is two weeks' worth of books.

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     Reading books by people of color and other backgrounds than mine help me grow in my understanding of the dialogue surrounding race. I get to see and feel through another's eyes. Marcie Alvis Walker's excellent essays about growing up in the '70s and '80s with a mentally ill mother, in her hateful grandmother's home, the only black child in an all-white school are gripping, eloquent, and heart-wrenching. 

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    Amor Towles's book of short stories, Table for Two, could be a lot better. I'm guessing some of his earlier work was added not for its excellence but to fill out the page count. However, his last story is worth the effort. It relates to a captivating character, Evelyn Ross, in his book Rules of Civility. 

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    Lindsey Davis is a master of mystery. Death on the Tiber continues her series with informer Flavia Albia as she faces the terrors of her past. Even though the plot takes place in Ancient Rome, the characters face human struggles common to every age: crime, abuse, children, relationships, and conflict. Her mystery is well crafted, and the plot moves quickly and steadily. I find her quite reliable.

Here are other reviews about Lindsey Davis: https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/2024/04/theology-murder-and-fantasy-typical-week.html

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        House of Salt and Sorrow by Erin A. Craig retells the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I like a reworked fairy tale, but this one didn't appeal to me. The pace was plodding, and I became annoyed at how long it took for things to happen. Craig has built a clever, robust world, but it lacked spark. 

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    The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu is the second in a sci-fi trilogy. Here is a link to my review of the first, The Three-Body Problem. 

  https://barbpruittwrites.blogspot.com/2024/06/its-all-about-sci-fi-and-fantasy.html

The Dark Forest had a different translator than the first book, and the transition into English could have been smoother; however, the story was incredible. There is a concept in Christianity of the depravity of humans. It doesn't mean we don't always choose to be self-serving over philanthropic, but the possibility and likelihood are there. The Dark Forest turns on the premise that the way to survival in the universe is to remain undetected. Once other worlds know of our existence, we become a target. The best we hope for is an uneasy détente. Even with this bleak premise, the book is fascinating in the way it examines humanity. The characters' struggles with moral dilemmas feel genuine and compelling. As a fan of sci-fi, I very much enjoyed the excellent writing, the sciency bits, and the philosophical depth.

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