Category: Books

Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

The world N.K. Jemisin builds in The Killing Moon is both incredible and deeply disturbing. It’s an Ancient-Egypt-like planet, where magic is drawn from dreams and death by a small group of Gatherers. Human souls are sacred but also sources of magical energy, harvested and consumed by the priests for healing and other purposes.

Only a chosen few, the Gatherers, are trained to collect this dream-magic. They’re moving through the city like thieves, stealing their tax rather than getting it voluntarily. The power of magic gives them a constant urge to take too much, to cross the line between service and corruption. Once that line is crossed, the Gatherer becomes a Reaper, a dangerous, soulless creature, that can end all life.

The concept reminded me of the Cosmere novels by Brandon Sanderson where all magic comes down to soul units, or The Runelords: The Sum of All Men by David Farlang where magic is forcefully extracted from humans at a great cost. Jemisin’s take is equally disturbing, closer to Farlang’s magical system than Sanderson’s. It’s disturbing and unpleasant but this alien world, where human life and honor are worth nothing to the powerful, is not supposed to be nice.

It’s not a comforting kind of fantasy, kind of the opposite of books like Legends & Lattes, and even worse than the Broken Earth series I recently featured here. Despite that, N.K. Jemisin is at the top of her game. Her writing is rich, her world-building precise, and her imagination is uncompromising. 5*/5

Books I read in September

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

Last month I read less than the recent months. Maybe I just didn’t click with the books I picked up, or maybe life was too busy. Either way, my stack was smaller, but there were still some highlights.

Best book

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin – The second book in The Broken Earth trilogy was great. In this world, the Evil Earth is a living, hostile creature. People with magical power can bend volcanos and seismic forces to their will. It’s apocalyptic, imaginative, and also a slow read. This was my only ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ book for me this month.

Other books

  • The Last Ronin (Collection) – A comic book that explores if we’ll like a story where the Ninja Turtles are dying or dead. The answer is that enough drama-loving readers gave this thing a high rating on Goodreads but I do not recommend it. The art is beautiful but the story is ⭐⭐ at best.
  • Sten: The Court of a Thousand Suns by Allan Cole & Chris Bunch – space opera, retro sci-fi with obsolete tech. It was funny, a bit silly, and I’d look for the continuation in the future, ⭐⭐⭐⭐.
  • The Unheard by Nicci French – featured with a blog post, an okay thriller ⭐⭐⭐ that explores our fears.
  • The Prisoner by Freida McFadden – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – a thriller equivalent of a bubblegum. Enjoyable in the moment, instantly forgettable after.
  • The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – same as the one before but the story was a tiny bit better, let’s say 3.75 vs 4/5.

Right now I’m juggling three books at once, giving each so little attention that I’m wondering if October will turn out any better. We’ll see.

The Obelisk Gate by N. Jemisin

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

Essun is going after her missing daughter Nassun, while the world is slowly ending. Ash and acid are falling from the skies and the wildlife is eating people in unusual ways.

She finds an old friend instead.

Earth is clearly no place for humans in this series and I don’t need the third book to see where it’s all headed. But there’s a tiny bit of hope that this very unstable world can provide home to humans. So I think I’ll continue with it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5. Also, the copy is beautiful.

The Unheard by Nicci French: a Primal Fear Unlocked

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

What if your child suddenly started saying and doing disturbing things – words and actions no kid should know? As a parent, a primal fear kicks in: someone must have hurt them. But who? What if it’s someone from or close to the family?

That’s the terrifying premise behind Nicci French’s The Unheard.

The book follows Tess, a single mother sharing custody of her daughter with her ex. Life is already difficult, but when her child begins showing troubling signs, Tess spirals into suspicion and paranoia. She goes to the police, desperate for someone to believe her. Instead, she meets resistance, threats, and outright gaslighting from her ex, her friends, the authorities, even from me as a reader.

Tess is almost unbearable. She’s obsessive, frantic, annoying. Nothing she does makes sense. But maybe that’s the point. As readers, we’re pulled into her unstable perspective. We feel her isolation.

The duo behind Nicci French crafts a psychological thriller that pokes at deep-seated fears. It’s not a comfortable read. It’s not about who did it, even though we’ll be presented with a name. The book is about the atmosphere. That part is maybe 5⭐️/5.

3.5⭐️/5, I didn’t like it but will keep reading Nicci French.

Daily Harvest

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

The book fair is over. I didn’t get as many books as I wanted because I already have too many. I need to be mindful about how much space they take and have not recently donated to the library to free up the shelves. I think I still got some pretty nice books.

On the photo:

  • Malice by John Gwynne
  • The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin
  • Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine