Monday 22 August 2016

United States of Japan

& The Man in the High Castle
Peter Tieryas, 2016
(August 2016)



The first time I read The Man in the High Castle was way back, before I ever imagined I might end up living in Japan. Reading it a second time, it became apparent that there was a hell of a lot I missed, in terms of both the Japan-related stuff and just as a side-effect of being younger and dumber. The plan, however, was merely to refresh my memory before moving on to United States of Japan, which is something of a tribute/homage/reimagining of Dick’s seminal work. I wasn’t really going to talk much about the latter, except to the degree it informs USJ.

Friday 19 August 2016

Voyage of the Basilisk & In the Labyrinth of Drakes

(August 2016)




I’ll refer you back to my previous comments about needing a bit of a breather after reading The Vegetarian, and what better way than with Marie Brennan’s Darwin genderswap mind candy? I mean, it’s a superior sort of mind candy, certainly, but it’s exactly the sort of world you can sink into without having to challenge yourself to analyse every detail, should you so wish. And I so wished.

Monday 15 August 2016

The Vegetarian

(August, 2016)
  


Neither a pleasant nor an easy read. Extraordinarily well written, but in many ways that just makes it worse.

Friday 12 August 2016

The Devourers

(July 2016)



Early (well, more like halfway through) contender for book of the year. There is so much going on here, so once I’ve given due prominence to the utterly raw and visceral nature of book as a whole, I’m going to retreat into a bit of philosophising while I try to get the rest of my thoughts in order.