Tag: reading2020

All Systems Red by Martha Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a short novella introducing the character of Murderbot, a free agent security android on its final contract with a surveying team on an uninhabited world, as it tries to avoid interacting with the clients (the humans) as much as possible and chill out watching serials and reading books. An introvert’s dream!

Unfortunately for Murderbot, the world is not as uninhabited as the team were told and Mb takes some serious damage rescuing two of its client scientists from the maw of a very large, very chompy hostile entity. Investigating how The Company could’ve neglected to warn the team about the local fauna highlights some discrepancies they have to work together to figure out and escape the planet alive. Much to Murderbot’s annoyance as those serials won’t watch themselves!

The story is told first person by Murderbot and this adds to the appeal of this story as Wells successfully gets us to empathise with and root for a rogue AI who has dubbed itself MURDERBOT (not the most sympathetic of names, is it?) but who really just wants to be left alone. The action is fast-paced but not rushed; the world building is just right for such a short book and the ‘touchy-feely’ parts that Mb hates so much make you think. A good all-round balance and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kevin R. Free, which was 3h 40m long, and while Free’s narration style sounds an awful lot like Wil Wheaton it definitely fits well with Murderbot’s sarcastic and misanthropic demeanour.

This was book 40 of my Goodreads Challenge 2020.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Silent Patient is a mystery/thriller with a twist I did not guess. That’s a claim a lot of PR tends to make only for it to not be true. There are a lot of books out there that I have guessed the endings to and while I was expecting something a little different to the standard cookie-cutter thriller (my theory in the first half of the book was it would be some sort of Shutter Island switch-up) the ending was well disguised.

Alicia murdered her husband and never spoke again; Theo thinks he will be the one to “save her” and get her to talk again. They both had a tumultuous upbringing with asshole fathers, which Theo believes gives him an edge to figuring out why Alicia stopped speaking. All the while, telling us about his unfaithful actress wife, Kathy. Some of Theo’s white-knighting and general attitude towards women is frustrating and disappointing, although stick with the story as it feeds into the ending.

In between Theo’s narratives we have entries from Alicia’s journal that she began to keep in the weeks running up to the murder of her husband Gabriel. These offer us a glimpse into the character of Alicia who – present day – is silent. It’s a clever mechanism to build up a rapport and empathy with a character that would otherwise be inaccessible.

There are plenty of little twists and turns in the story along the way that will keep you guessing at what’s going to happen next. It’s a great read, well written, paced and with good character development on both Theo and Alicia’s part. As Michaelides begins to peel back the Big Reveal, and it starts to click into place, it’ll have you thinking “Hang on a second…!” before hitting you with the full secret. Expertly done.

salt slow

This little book by Julia Armfield has a lot to offer. Nine short stories all with a shade of the Gothic or the macabre about them as they explore different comings, goings and phases in women’s lives. All are well-written, clever and engaging. These are stories that can make you ache with feeling.

There are romantic relationships – queer and straight – that are fraught with difficulties, pain and loss. There are sisterly relationships; both affirming and fractious. There is a hint of the monstrous in each story, which seems to make each one evermore human.

The missing star between 4 and 5 is simply because some of the stories didn’t hit 5/5 for me, personally, and you should definitely read salt slow for yourself as they may resonate with you perfectly.

4/5

 

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (sneak peek)

This was the first ~300 pages of upcoming novel by Christopher Paolini (of Eragon fame) – not a long enough review to warrant its own post but definitely a title to keep an eye out for later this year!

This ‘sneak peek’ was excellent and I’m excited for the full book’s release this September. It is a brilliant start to a story I really want to keep reading and I’m now a little dismayed I have to wait another 3 and a half months to see where Kira is taken next. This feels like the beginning to an epic tale and I cannot wait to jump back in.

5/5