Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't really know how I feel ab0ut this one. It's... very sad. It seems to have an upbeat tone to it and once we get through the truly awkward bits, Klara's true optimism feels like it ought to carry everything. But honestly? It's all so very sad.

At least to me, it is. But then, I've already experienced similar sadness through the game Detroit. Real people stuff. Of course, it's still very easy to apply all of this to ourselves and our inhumanity, but hey, this novel doesn't quite go THAT far. It stays close and all-too-personal.

But at least there's the sun. Right?



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The Iron Garden Sutra by A.D. Sui
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book does a few notable things. The biggest is a far-future blending of ancient Buddhism and AI body-integration.

Sound odd? It is a bit odd. But it carries in the story.

So what else does this novel do? Mystery. Derelict generational ship mystery.

But what does this book DO? Oh, that's easy--it just weaves interpersonal push-pull dynamics with trying to reach Samsara while directly facing the inherent irony of accepting death while being unable--or unwilling--to accept life. It's painful on many levels. But it feels genuine. And, of course, there's a murder ship. So it's not like it's dry or anything. It's quite interesting.

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Gray Lensman by E.E. "Doc" Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First read AFTER reading the books preceding it. 2/11/26

Enjoying it even more now that I'm continuing the adventures of the Unattached Lensman. It's very much a story of a roaming sheriff of the galaxy. :)

Very fun.


Original Review:

Sometimes, I'm a fool. I thought, perhaps, that the "so called" golden age of sci-fi before Heinlein would be as painful to read as the old Jules Verne. I even tried to read the first ten pages of the first book of the Lensman of E. E. Smith PHD and cringed down to my soul. I was thinking that nothing would be worth the pain of reading this trash. And yet, all of my favorite past couple of generations of sci-fi authors swore by the old doc, and there are still generations of readers that are surprised and delighted by the stories. Heck, the fourth book is considered by some to be the 98th best sci-fi book of all time. I buckled down, gritted my teeth, and picked up the fourth without so much as reading eleven pages of the first three.

I WAS DUMBFOUNDED. I was awestruck. I was plainly amazed and giddy in the reading of these little serialized bubblegum stories of sci-fi heroes. I'm too young to have watched Flash Gordon, but I understand the draw. I'm certainly old enough to have sat amazed through all the Star Wars at the inception. I've watched all of the original Star Treks, (not to mention every iteration after). I was forced to re-evaluate my entire internal consistency engine of sci-fi idea sources and lineage, and all of a sudden, the mitochondrial eve of sci-fi tropes (at least the best surviving eve) is FOUND. Now I understand. The light shines upon my mind. The great cosmic egg lights up like a big bulb.

So I asked in a small voice... "So the Lensman series is what encouraged the Green Lantern Comics into being? It also encouraged the biggest space operas? It took over as the sci-fi successor to all westerns and greek hero myths?" And E. E. Smith replied, "Yes, you dumbshit."

AAaaahhhh... ok... I feel like a moron now, but at least I didn't proliferate that weird-ass idea about galaxies colliding... whew... I'm back on my moral high ground again. :)

I might just have to read them in order again and ignore, dutifully, the Really Bad Physics in favor of the Great Fun.

Update:
I can't get this out of my head: The proper term for the collision of two planets is "Squishingly". I can't unread what I have read, so I pay it forward. :)

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Falling with Folded Wings 3 by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

LOL of course it had to go this way. The moment it really picked up steam and I was getting into the characters seriously, it has to be the last released. And the new directions the characters take are INTERESTING. I want to know what will HAPPEN now. Damn it.

Even so, this series really hearkens back to the early days of LitRPG with mostly standard classes and a full DnD 5 ruleset, including extra races, bloodlines, etc. Pretty cool for all that and while it's also pretty usual, it's also still pretty neat. There are better out there, but this was quite fun regardless.


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Falling with Folded Wings 2 by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The series is growing on me. Usually it's the first book that grabs because everything is shiny and new. But this wasn't the case. Indeed, it was only after these characters started getting their stride, branching off in new directions, or even joining Hogwarts, that it really grabbed.

Suffice to say, I'm happy I stuck with it. Now I'm rearing to read the next.

Progression fantasy, let's go!

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Falling with Folded Wings by Plum Parrot
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to say that this feels like a pretty generic LitRPG at this point. It might have been a bit hotter before, but with so many that do the straight level-up sequence and this one is just sitting pretty as a standard paladin, it doesn't really stand out.

That's not to say it isn't decent. It is. It even has a gentle love interest and a little politics in town. But that's just it.

I'm going to continue because it's still entertaining enough, but that's mostly because I've learned to trust the author in all his other works which WERE rather damn entertaining. Who knows? Maybe it'll get wild later.

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House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I think I really wanted to like this more than I did, so I wind up making more excuses for it than I probably would have, otherwise.

What's good? If you call it good? The feel of a labyrinthine mind trying to lay that string to work its way back out again, both literal and figuratively, both mirroring each other in the text itself. Indeed, I got the very distinct impression of a Borges literary romp. I LOVE the idea of it.

In actuality, I found myself wishing I was doing something else the entire time. Sure, the horror bits, whenever they came back around in their dry, existential horror of banal I-hate-humanity documents displaying all that's worst, was properly horrific. Sure, the maze drove me crazy.

But honestly? I didn't feel anything for the PoVs. And that's a death sentence.

It's very smart. Yes. It's also a bit insufferable. Sadly.

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