Book Review: Dawnshard, by Brandon Sanderson (Book 3.5 of the Stormlight Archive)

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Book, Book Review, Brandon Sanderson, Cosmere, Fantasy, Reading, Stormlight Archive

I know things around here have been pretty quiet on the book front lately, but that has largely been due to my decision to reread the Stormlight Archive a short while back to prepare for Rhythm of War, the soon to be released fourth book in the series.  Somewhere along the way, however, I signed onto a Kickstarter campaign and with it got my hands on this new novella set between the events of Oathbringer and the new release.

Taking place a few months after the Battle of Thaylen Field, the story centers around the merchant, a popular interlude character, Ryan Ftori.  Since we last met her, she has been gifted control of a state of the art sailing ship named the Wandersail by her former master Vstim.  Despite harboring doubts about the willingness of the crew to accept her command in light of the injuries she suffered in Words of Radiance, Rysn is eager to go out and get acquainted with the ship.  Forgoing a number of more mundane trade missions, she ultimately chooses something far more adventurous for its first voyage after learning that the only hope for curing her pet Larkin’s mysterious illness is to bring it home to Aimia.  Knowing the Alethi have a keen interest in the forbidding land and the strange, Stormlight stealing creatures guarding it, Ryan approaches Navani Kholin, newly crowned Queen of Urithiru, and accepts a mission to search for the legendary island of Akinah.  Given the danger and sensitivity of the quest, a small contingent of ardents and Knights Radiant will go on the voyage as well, and they are headed by none other than Bridge Four’s own the Lopen.

I greatly enjoyed this novella and found it made me even more excited for Rhythm of War, something I wasn’t quite sure was possible.  As fun as it was to have more time with characters like Rysn and the Lopen, this story was no mere side quest.  No spoilers, but some major events happen to these characters that could greatly impact the balance of power on Roshar.   Perhaps even more interestingly, the story also contributes greatly to filling in some of the gaps in our knowledge about Roshar and provides some tantalizing clues about Cosmere lore as well.  For teasers, readers finally learn a bit more about the fate of Aimia and the Sleepless, and are treated to explicit references to the shattering of Adonalsium and the Horneaters’ role knowledge of Cultivation’s Perpendicularity.  More generally, it was also fascinating to see how quickly fabrial technology is advancing for the Radiant forces.  I’m really curious to see how this aspect of the story develops, especially as the various Cosmere novels start moving further along their timelines.

At this point I feel like there are so many things that I am tempted to explore and theorize about, but with a full length novel coming up (it’s out tomorrow!) I’m going to hit pause on that for now.  My next order of business is to get through my reread of Oathbringer to fully prepare me for that experience.  Hopefully I’ll be back soon with even more Cosmere stuff to share!

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Halloween Double Feature: Book Review: The Barrow Will Send What it May, Margaret Killjoy (Book Two in the Danielle Cain Series)

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Anarchists, Book, Book Review, Halloween, Margaret Killjoy, October, Reading

Good morning and Happy Halloween!  It’s time again for my annual double feature pairing a spooky story with a Halloween-themed beverage.  Tradition has the book going first and I see no reason to change that now.  Getting the honors this year is Margaret Killjoy’s The Barrow Will Send What it May, the second novella following the adventures of a young woman named Danielle Cain and a group of anarchist drifters turned demon hunters.

We talked about friends in common who weren’t dead or missing. The state of the anarchist movement and its role in fighting the rise of fascism and nationalism globally. Then, more interesting to me, the state of magic.

The story picks up almost immediately after the end of book one, with our heroes on the road and looking to quickly put some distance between themselves and the multitude of dead law enforcement officers left behind by their encounter with the demon Uliksi back in Freedom, Iowa.  They are headed west and debating whether it’s best to lay low or look for ways to further their understanding of magic and the occult.  That decision, however, soon gets made for them when they hitch a ride with a woman who claims to have been returned from the dead.  She drops them off in the town of Pendleton, Montana where they learn a bit more of her story from some like-minded folks squatting in/running the town library.  From that point on, it’s only a matter of time until they cross paths with the local necromancer and find themselves once again involved with some very powerful magic.

Coming in at a crisp 104 pages, I flew through this story completely entertained throughout.  It had a lot of great energy, mixing in elements of mystery, suspense, humor, and politics (in particular examinations of power and gender) into a bundle of eerie fun.  While the story was perhaps a bit episodic, it successfully provided some much anticipated character development and world expansion.  While in retrospect the supernatural elements were a bit cliche this time around, I didn’t so much mind as the strength of these stories so far is really in the characters.  The cast is quite diverse, with a variety of races and orientations well represented and welcomed throughout the story.  My favorite characters at this point are probably the white female lead Danielle, for her witty and honest internal monologues and Vulture, a black trans man with a slight obsession with Instagram an anarchist exploits.  Overall, though, I enjoyed them all individually and collectively and liked seeing how the various companions, friends, lovers, and those somewhere in between get along with each other and react to the unusual direction their lives have gone.  They just seem like good people and are now officially in the running as one of my top literary crews.

My only regret about this story is that the series hasn’t continued on yet.  Given some of the possibilities left open by certain developments there needs to be at least another novella of two!  I absolutely love my time with these characters and am eagerly awaiting another chance to go on an adventure with them.

Book Review: The Traitor Baru Cormorant (Book One in the Masquerade Series), by Seth Dickinson

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Book, Book Review, Fantasy, Masquerade, Reading, Seth Dickinson

It’s hard to believe, but this was the first full length novel I’ve read this year!  The ebook had been available for free via the Tor Publishing newsletter a little while back and despite my best intentions, I promptly let it collect virtual dust upon download.  Fortunately, one of my goals for the year is to make a more determined effort to actually read the books I own and this felt like a good place to start my journey.  Published in 2015, this hard fantasy novel is both the author’s debut effort and the beginning of the much acclaimed Masquerade series.

The story is told from the perspective of a young woman named Baru Cormorant.  Born in the small seaside nation of Taranoke, we first meet her as a child seeking to understand what the arrival of ships from the Imperial Republic of Falcrest, informally referred to as the Masquerade on account of the masks worn by its officials, signifies and why it troubles her family.  Through her inquisitive nature, Baru inadvertently attracts the attention of an influential patron and with his encouragement attends the local branch of the Imperial Academy where she excels in her studies despite her own misgivings and parents’ disapproval.  Upon graduating she is appointed the Imperial Accountant of Aurdwynn, a divided and rebellious nation that serves as a vital strategic asset for Flacrest.  While some question whether an inexperienced youth from a newly acquired territory can fill the position, Baru, however, fully realizes the power granted to her and how to wield it.  Finding allies will be a delicate game though, for as much as the local Dukes and her Imperial colleagues have their own agendas, Baru is willing to sacrifice anything to fulfill her own; the power to destroy the Flacrest’s empire from within.

I’m just going to come out and say this book was amazing!  I loved the non-stop intrigue and couldn’t bring myself to put it down no matter how many times the story punched me in the gut.  This was a decidedly heavy novel, not so much on account of the writing style but rather in the harsh decisions made by Baru along the way.  What really made the story stand out were the lengths to which Baru was willing to go in the grim pursuit of her ultimate goal, betraying herself in heartbreaking and often brutal ways time and again.  Along these lines, I was rather surprised by the ending even though I called it pretty early on.  It wasn’t necessarily what happened that got me, but rather that the author actually went there.  At one point I said out loud to myself, “man it would be pretty messed up if they did X,” and low and behold that’s exactly what Baru decided!

Another highlight of this book was its impressive world building.  Even though the action was largely centered around a few specific locations, the world felt huge and well thought out.  Closer to home, the Masquerade’s imperial ambitions combined with its horrifying social conservatism and eugenics programs made a compelling and sadly very believable enemy.  It allowed for some excellent reflections upon the ways a colonizing force can exert its will over subject populations without explicit military intervention.  There was also plenty of political intrigue going on both inside and outside of Falcrest’s borders that I suspect will grow more complex as Baru continues her journey.  

Although I feel like I barely scratched the surface of this one, here is where I’ll wrap the review up.  While I sincerely doubt there’s a happy ending coming in this tale, I am nonetheless very eager to get started on the rest of the series since I may be able to complete it in relatively short order.  Book two, The Monster Baru Cormorant, was published last year while the third installment is currently slated for later this year.

Book Review: Your Favorite Band is Killing Me: What Pop Music Rivalries Reveal About the Meaning of Life, by Steven Hyden

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Book, Book Review, Music, Non-Fiction, Reading, Steven Hyden

This next read was a welcomed departure from my previously scheduled reading list which, given the current state of the world, was looking a bit too heavy at the moment.  I needed something to lighten the mood a bit and this 2016 release seemed to be just what I needed. Its author, Steven Hyden, certainly had some interesting credentials as well, having worked as an editor and writer for Grantland and AV Club, as well as appearing in Rolling Stone, Slate, and Saloon.

Music rivalries don’t matter until they matter to you personally.  When that happens, it’s as vital as protecting your own sense of identity.

The book is divided into sixteen chapters, each more or less a standalone discussion about how a particular musical feud (real or imagined) between artists and/or their fans speaks to larger philosophical and psychological issues in our society and what the sides we take reflect about our sense of identity.  Drawing examples from American popular music of the 1970s through early 2010s, Hyden’s topics include the likes of Eric Clapton vs. Jimi Hendrix, Roger Waters vs. Pink Floyd, Prince vs. Michael Jackson, and Nirvana vs. Pearl Jam along with what is considered requisite coverage of The Rolling Stones vs. The Beatles, Biggie vs. Tupac, and Kanye West vs. Taylor Swift.

This book covered so much ground no musically and culturally I’m not going to even attempt trying to unpack it all in this review.  I will say, however, that I found it to be an incredibly fun and enjoyable read that was both lighthearted and insightful. My opinion is undoubtedly swayed by the fact that I am perhaps squarely in the book’s core demographic by virtue of being roughly the same age as the author, having a similar worldview, and sharing at minimum a passing familiarity and connection to nearly all of the artists covered.  Not surprisingly, I most enjoyed those sections that focused on artists that I had the deepest connection to, though I was nonetheless captivated by Hyden’s humor and knowledge throughout. To offer up some sort of recap, here are a few of the highlights for me in no particular order:

1. As a big fan of Nirvana, I really enjoyed the sections in which Kurt Cobain appeared.  Most notable of these included a chapter on the somewhat one-sided rivalry between Nirvana and Pearl Jam which served as an excellent reminder of Cobain’s humor and, well, occasionally righteous snark.  That Cobain’s dismissal of Pearl Jam’s music as inauthentic fueled a segue into Bruce Springsteen’s repeated public dismissals of Chris Christie was an added bonus.  There was also much discussion throughout the book about the absurd confrontation between Cobain and recurring villain Axl Rose at the 1992 Video Music Award (more on this later) and was enthralled at the lengths the author went to in unpacking it all.

2. I likewise was very interested in the chapter featuring Billy Corgan.  Despite having loved them as a teenager, I find it incredibly difficult to re-listen to the Smashing Pumpkins.  Part of it is getting over a lot of that angst, but it’s mainly on account of Billy Corgan’s distinct voice making it nearly impossible for me to separate his “real life” descent into the alt-right from the music.  While he was likewise repulsed by the singer’s politics, I found the way the author framed Corgan’s lunacy as that of an awkward, insecure Midwestern guy trying (and failing) to fit into a scene he was otherwise a star of.  He concludes, however, after a lengthy and surprisingly not entirely unsympathetic comparison to Richard Nixon that:

It’s not the system, it’s him.  His insecurity over cool people believing he’s awful has made him awful.

3. Finally, the author quickly succeeded in selling me on his unrestrained love of the  1992 MTV Video Music Awards by finding a new way to bring it up in nearly every chapter.  I’m officially inspired to do a YouTube dive for it at some point during the Great Quarantine of 2020 by endorsements like this:

The ’92 VMAs are just the best.  You had Nirvana vs. Guns N’ Roses.  Nirvana vs. Pearl Jam. Dana Carvey as Garth Algar playing drums with U2.  You had Bobby Brown performing “Humpin’ Around” and Elton John performing “The One” on the same show.

The one place where I really disagreed with the author was over his thoughts on Kanye West, though in fairness I will say that this chapter simply did not age well.  At the time of his writing in 2016 he assumed it was over and done with. How could he imagine Kanye going completely off the rails of sanity, good taste, and ego to keep this tire fire burning?  That said, I do still think Hyden was overly charitable about both Kanye’s intentions and musical abilities. His perspective did, however, bring remind me of a point long since lost in the whole debacle about how it was originally perceived:

For those inclined to view awards shows as fundamentally prejudiced against artists of color (an impression supported by the historical record) Kanye interrupting Taylor…seems like a righteous “fuck you”….For those inclined to view awards shows as fundamentally prejudiced against female artists (another impression supported by the historical record) [it] seems like another instance of a man saying “fuck you” to a woman…

And I could easily go on.  If you have any interest at all in American popular music from the 1970s through early 2010s I highly recommend giving this a read.  It’s fun, irreverent, insightful, and full of fantastic stories about some of the biggest musicians and rivalries of those eras.

Book Review: Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor

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Binti, Book, Book Review, Nnedi Okorafor, Novella, Reading, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction

Once again I am back with a novella to share with you all!  This is another popular one on the review scene that also had the honor of taking home both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novella in 2016.  This is my second time reading something from Nnedi Okorafor and the latest in what is apparently a lengthy line of Tor novellas on my reading list.

The story begins on Earth in the distant future and introduces us to Binti, a young Himba woman living in Nairobi.  She is the first person from her community to earn admission to the prestigious Oomza Uni, the galaxy’s most elite technological institute.  Her acceptance, however, is not without controversy.  Despite being renowned for their mathematical and technological skills, the Himba people rarely leave their home city and often face extreme prejudice from others.  Binti is determined, however, and decides she can’t pass up the opportunity so she sneaks off one night to catch a space shuttle to the university, leaving behind her home and family forever.  The universe (of course) has other plans, for just as Binti starts to settle into her new life, the shuttle is intercepted by a group of hostile aliens.  Protected by a mysterious trinket she brought from home, Binti finds herself held captive aboard the ship and must use all her wits to not only remain alive, but prevent further bloodshed as well.

I enjoyed this read and found myself really getting drawn into it.  The author’s decision to slowly reveal the full scope of her world to the reader as it was encountered by Binti really added to the mysteries and surprises of the novella.  There was one moment early on where the story throws an absolute shock at you and from that point on I couldn’t put it down.  You’ll know it when you get there.  Equally importing, I found Binti herself to be a very engaging protagonist in her own right.  There was a lot of tension in her character from being an outcast from her homeland (by choice) and new surroundings (by prejudice) that had a very profound impact on her actions throughout the story.  It was also interesting to see how her cultural traditions, in particular her cosmetic rituals, shaped the way she looked at and interacted with the universe and the other beings in it.  I was likewise intrigued by how her fellow Himba approached mathematics as a spiritual undertaking.  I am admittedly baffled by higher math, but I nonetheless find that sort of thing fascinating to contemplate.

Overall I thought this was an excellent story that I would recommend to other sci-fi readers.  There are two other books in this series that I am looking forward to reading once I can get my (virtual) hands on them.  This one ends on something of a cliffhanger and I really am curious to see what direction the story goes from there.

Book Review: The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djeli Clarke

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Book, Book Review, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Mythology, P. Djeli Clark, Reading

Now I’m really getting back into the reading spirit!  This 2018 novella is my second story from author P. Djeli Clarke and one that I had been looking forward to for some time now.  This book seemed to be showing up everywhere where it first came out and after really enjoying my last work from this author I knew I had to get it off of my TBR list. 

The magic of the Afrikin gods is part of this city, ma maman used to say, buried in its bones and roots with the slaves that built it…

The story is set in the mid-1880s in an alternate history New Orleans.  Serving as a neutral port between the United States and the Confederacy, the city is a hub of intrigue, trade, and entertainment for people from both sides of the conflict.  It is also a popular destination for citizens of the newly independent Haiti and the Free Islands of the Carribean who won their independence from the colonial powers through the use of superior technology and a powerful, weather altering weapon dubbed the Black God’s Drums that drastically altered the balance of power in the region.  It is here that we are introduced to a teenage street urchin named Creeper who lives in a secluded part of an airship dock. Resourceful and street-smart, Creeper has been touched by Oya, the African Orisha goddess of wind and storms, and often is the beneficiary of her powers in times of need. One day while watching the city, Creeper happens to overhear a conversation between a Creole man and a group of Confederate officers.  It seems a Haitian scientist is conspiring to sell weapons technology to the Confederacy, a potentially deadly development for all involved given it catastrophic side effects. Feeling the need to act, Creeper seeks to enlist the help of the Midnight Robber, an airship under the command of the famed pirate Captain Ann-Marie and a pair of Sisters of the Holy Family to prevent a tragic loss of life.

I loved this!  The story hit so many of the right notes for me I’m not sure where to even start singing its praises.  New Orleans is a fantastic, magical place in our real world, but this book succeeded in making it even moreso in a way that felt authentic to the city.  I really enjoyed the way the author mixed in the essential parts of the city’s experience, everything from the local culture, dangerous storms, and revelry, with the more supernatural elements and African mythology.  The aesthetics of this story were also quite engaging, offering a mesmerizing balance of cool and terrifying devices and imagery. Right from the start the author invoked a steampunk vibe with descriptions of a dock teeming with gas lamps and airships before moving into the darker territory of weapons of mass destruction and the gas masks used in the Confederate States to create docile slaves.  On this note, I really liked how the technology fit seamlessly into the historical and cultural context of the story, making it feel all the more real.

What brought these ideas to life, however, were the fantastic characters.  The two mains, Creeper and Captain Ann-Marie were real standouts for me. Creeper was a fun and resourceful person to follow, and the ways in which she was guided by and interacted with the piece of Oya within her gave her a depth that went well beyond her years.  Ann-Marie was likewise fascinating, fully capable of all the carousing and fighting one might expect from a pirate captain, but also with an unexpected depth that made her really memorable as well. Although they had a relatively minor part in terms of page time, I can’t leave the two nuns out of this review.  Curiously well connected and supplied, they offered some formidable aid to Creeper and Ann-Marie in their quest.

Put them all together and these elements made for one fascinating story that every bit lived up to my expectations.  The ideas, world building, and characters were all top notch and I could easily have spent another 300-400 pages more in this world.  That the author wove in an exciting blend of history, mythology, and steampunk imagery made it all the better for me. I am definitely adding more of his works to my priority reading queue and I recommend you all consider doing the same.

Book Review: The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion, by Margaret Killjoy

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Anarchists, Book, Book Review, Danielle Cain, Fantasy, Horror, Margaret Killjoy, Reading

Hello again, long time no post!  I’m getting back into action and taking a step into the paranormal with this 2017 novella from new to me author Margaret Killjoy.  Since the author’s bio inspired me to read a bit more about them, I found that they are, among other things, a proud trans woman, anarchist, prepper, and electronic/death metal musician who maintains a Twitter feed worth reading.  But these are all topics for another day. Let’s end my review drought and bring on the book!

So yeah, welcome to Freedom, Iowa.  For the past year, we’ve had this benevolent, murderous spirit watching over us.  Which is weird, but it’s gone fine.

The story is set in the near future in a quasi-distopian United States and opens with our protagonist, a nomadic young woman named Danielle Cain, pulling a knife on an overly friendly man she hitched a ride with on her way to an anarchist commune in Freedom, Iowa.  In going there she hopes to find answers surrounding the final days of her friend Clay, who had finally settled down there only to eventually wander off and kill himself. The town, however, may hold more mysteries than answers for upon her approach to it Danielle encounters a number of horrifically mutated animals, most notably a strange deer feeding upon the carcass of a small animal.  Upon meeting the locals, she learns that the deer creature is the spirit Uliksi, a demon they summoned to prey upon those people who would seek authority over another. Suddenly her grim quest for answers gets a whole lot more complicated.

I enjoyed this for what it was: good, easy reading fun. While I can’t say it was particularly deep, the book’s commentary on the allure of power felt a bit cliche, it did have a certain charm that really drew me in.  The main characters were an immensely likable (if somewhat one dimensional) group of punks and anarchists and the potentially rogue Uliksi provided an intriguing dilemma. I also enjoyed that the book had a very familiar-to-me feeling sense of humor mixed with just enough action to help me make short work of its 84 pages.  Upon learning more about the author, I could see how their own experiences shaped this story and I absolutely enjoy supporting these types of characters and political ideals. As such, I am on board for reading the sequel and curious to see where the series goes from here.

Book Review: The Island, by Peter Watts (Sunflower Cycle)

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Book, Book Review, Peter Watts, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Sunflower Cycle

As I promised the other day, here we go with another short work from the Sunflower Cycle.  Although it was the first of these stories to be published all the way back in 2009, this is currently the third act of the series and takes place a very long time after my initial point of reference, 2019’s Freeze-Frame Revolution.

Although it came first, this work reads like it was a fresh installment of a long running series in terms of how developed the world and characters were and how cohesively it fits into with the stories that would come later.  Set aboard the spaceship Eriophora as it continues its unending mission to construct transportation gates, this 40 page short story references (or rather foreshadows) a lot of things that happen in Freeze-Frame, most notably the crew’s efforts to limit the authority of Chimp, the AI that controls the ship and mission.  In these pages, we join the eternal Sunday Ahzmundin as she is awoken to investigate an unexplained signal emanating from the area of the ship’s next construction site.  When the source is determined to be a sentient life form unlike anything conceived of before, Sun and Chimp have a profound disagreement over their obligation to avoid harming it.  Adding to the intrigue is that the only other person around is a rather odd crew member named Dix, an artificially conceived child of Sun with some very complicated loyalties guiding his view of the argument.

I found this story absolutely fascinating for a number of reasons.  First and foremost for me was the alien lifeform. It was just so far outside the scope of human comprehension and the norms of what you tend to come across in most sci-fi stories that I couldn’t help but be drawn to it, and the outcome of its encounter with Sunday and Chimp left me even more taken in by it.  Speaking of the two leading characters, it was a whole lot of fun watching their calculated aggressions against each other, all the while both fully aware of how much they ultimately need each other. This dynamic between the two also shaped my other two highlights of this story (and indeed the series in general), those being the psychological effects of a life divided up into short moments across the eons and the exploration of humanity’s place alongside advanced artificial intelligence.  With both of these topics, the author manages to create a great deal of tension in the stories that doesn’t necessarily always have a resolution which is definitely something that will keep me coming back for more of this series.

I’ll keep this post short and sweet and close by saying that this was an absolutely brilliant short and one that I highly recommend.  That this story managed to pack so much depth into such a small amount of space is truly amazing and something that must be read to truly appreciate. There are still a couple of Sunflower Flower stories out there that I really enjoyed, but in the interest of keeping things fresh around here, I might not review them for a little while.  My schedule is freeing up a bit in the near future and I have a number of other books I’m eager to get to!

Book Review: Hotshot, by Peter Watts (Sunflower Cycle)

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Book, Book Review, Peter Watts, Rifters, Sunflower Cycle

Alright, time to get back to the books!  While looking back on my reads from the past year, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed Peter Watts’ 2019 novella titled The Freeze-Frame Revolution and how excited I was to find out that it was part of a series called the Sunflower Cycle.  Luckily for me, the rest of these short stories are freely available here on the author’s website.  For those keeping track, this work was originally published in 2014 and marks the chronological beginning of the series.

The sun’ll die long before we do.  We’re gonna outlive the whole damn galaxy.

In the book we meet a young woman named Sunday Ahzmundin who is about to embark on a mission that will span the eons.  The product of a specialized breeding program and some rather extensive genetic and psychological manipulation, it is a role she was literally born to fulfill.  That knowledge, however, does little to curb her tendency to push back against the people running the program and mock their claims she is free to decide her fate.  Rebellious and often destructive to herself and others, she recruits her friend Kai to accompany her for an experience she hopes will provide a sense of acceptance and inner peace regarding their upcoming mission.

I liked this story a lot, though I’m not sure how I would have felt about it not knowing a little bit more of the story, especially some of the details about the mission.  Conversely, this also filled in a few things from Freeze-Frame that I had wondered about, so I don’t feel like I made a mistake in my reading order.  Chronology and understanding seem to be rather fluid here, which is perhaps appropriate given the complicated relationship these characters have with time.  Indeed, there seems to be a general consensus among readers that the order isn’t particularly important for these stories and that there is even a benefit to weaving your way through them along different paths.

Moving on from that, what I enjoyed most about this particular work was its psychological profile of Sunday and the very long view of it takes of human development from the perspective of people about to become outside observers.  There was also an interesting look at technology here as well, specifically at its uses and limitations and what room these leave for human action and agency in an age of highly advanced artificial intelligence. There was a whole lot of this content packed into a mere 23 pages and that was definitely more than enough to inspire me to read on!

Book Review: The Test, by Sylvain Neuvel

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Book, Book Review, Fiction, Politics, Reading, Sylvain Neuvel

And here we go with my first book review of 2020!  Checking in at 254 pages, this February 2019 release is also my first foray into focusing shorter works this year.

Set in near-future England, we meet a man named Idir who who is preparing to take a citizenship exam.  In the first chapter we experience the test from his point of view, reading along with the questions and learning through his internal monologue about how he and his wife Tidir came to the country some years prior from Iran after no longer feeling safe there.  Things are going great after the first few questions until suddenly armed men storm the room and Idir finds himself tested in an entirely different manner; for every fifteen minutes that go by without their demands being met, the terrorist leader will force him to assess two hostages and determine which will die.

Talk about starting the year off strong!  This was an intense read that I could not put down.  The author did an excellent job making Idir an immensely likeable and sympathetic character before the absolutely jarring introduction of the terrorists.  To say he inspired in the reader some of Idir’s feelings of shock and helplessness is perhaps an understatement. Moving beyond the raw emotion and the abrupt surprise, there was a lot to unpack with this one.  It raised a lot of questions, not just about immigration policy, but also about professional ethics and how certain forces within a society (de)humanize some individuals at the expense of others.

There were a few other twists and turns to this story that I won’t mention here, but suffice to say I really enjoyed this work.  It was smart, it was gripping, and it was powerful. My relatively short amount of time in this world was an intense, emotional roller coaster so I am calling this book an incredible success for the author.  It is most definitely a read that I recommend checking out.