Book reviews

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and Recursion by Blake Crouch

Genre: Adult, sci-fi, thriller

I was suddenly in the mood for multiverse sci-fi and went looking for books that could scratch that itch. However, I DNF'ed both of these books (Dark Matter at around Chapter 5 and Recursion after Chapter 1).

I decided to combine my thoughts about these two books in one section, partly because they're by the same author, partly because they're the same/similar genre (sci-fi multiverse thriller) and partly because my issues with them were similar. Blake Crouch seems interested in the idea that if you could only choose one between career success and having a traditional nuclear family, having a traditional nuclear family is superior.

And that's just so annoying to me.

First of all, why can't someone have both? In Dark Matter for example, the alt-universe Jason could have revived his relationship with Daniela, but instead he's (for reasons I don't know because I DNF'ed the book) convinced it's "too late" and would rather swap places with another universe's version of himself. In Recursion, I don't know why the woman in the first chapter is convinced that her professional success as a financial something-or-other means she can never have a relationship in her 30s or 40s or however old she was.

Secondly, it just feels like a very classist, heteronormative, patriarchal, Boomer-focused sermon on "what really matters in life." The idea that "having financial success doesn't matter" just doesn't jive for millennials who grew up in the wake of the early 2000s recession.

Also, Dark Matter made me think Blake Crouch is the Dan Brown of sci-fi thrillers, with the exception being that I actually like Dan Brown books, in spite of the criticisms leveled at them. I don't know whether the multiverse aspect was supposed to be a big reveal; since I already knew it going in, I lost patience with how long it was taking Jason One (so to speak) to understand what was going on. Jason One's constant pursuit, death, and capture to be locked up "for mental issues" just got really old to read about very quickly and strained credulity for me.



Strike the Zither by Joan He

Genre: Young Adult, fantasy

I am a big fan of He's Descendant of the Crane, so when I saw she was doing another Chinese fantasy novel, I wanted to give it a shot, even though I don't have any feelings about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Unfortunately, I DNF'ed this after four or five chapters.

First off, I'm not always a big fan of "take a male-dominated classic, and make every single character female instead." I don't know, I just thought the "lordess", "ministress", etc. titles felt silly after a while.

I also felt like this was one book that really suffered from being YA. It was silly (again) that 16-year-olds were running war campaigns in fantasy China and claiming to be the smartest strategists ever. Are there any adults in this world at all? And if not, why not?

But my biggest issue was that none of the characters were interesting. I don't mind an arrogant female protagonist, but I dunno, there was nothing to Zephyr outside of that except a stock tragic backstory involving a dead little sister. We're given very little reason why we should be on the side of Xin Ren (the Liu Bei expy, as I understand it). Again, I've never read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so I have nothing to say regarding how accurate/faithful of a retelling STZ is. And based on everything I've seen Joan He say, she doesn't seem to care if readers who are used to Western stories (waving my hand here as a Chinese American who grew up on Western stories) like STZ or not, due to the fact that it breaks Western storytelling conventions.

Fair. But then, you can't really be surprised or upset when readers decide to give up rather than make an investment in your story.

And my issue isn't with how STZ is structured; it's with the fact that I found none of the characters compelling enough to push through the story.

It's just weird to me that He seems so fixated on having a "faithful adaptation" when the mid-story twist (which I only know about from reviews) is not at all faithful to Romance of the Three Kingdoms (and arguably reduces the character of Zhuge Liang). In my very humble opinion, maybe she should have considered deviating from the source material more just to make the characters more compelling.

(And yes, in case you're wondering, I'll admit it—I don't really like it when authors defend their books too much. A book should stand or fall on its own merits, and people are free to not like the creative choices an author makes.)



Dark Room Etiquette by Robin Roe

Genre: Young Adult, contemporary

Trigger warning: Implied/non-graphic on-the-page sexual assault, confinement, psychological abuse

( Read more... )

Go Hunt Me by Kelly deVos

Genre: Young Adult, horror

I actually finished this book, lol.

So...I thought this would be an And Then There Were None-style thriller, but it's really more of a straight-up horror novel where people die one by one. I actually liked the sort-of dual timeline aspect, wherein each chapter ends with an excerpt from the investigation into the deaths after Alex escapes Castle Prahova.

I have to say, straight up, that this is a story that rests mostly on the final chapter twist. And that has its pros and cons. The upside is that there's some interesting subversion going on with certain characters (which I won't spoil). The downside is, well...

Some other reviews have said that the main horror aspect of the book was silly. I don't read enough horror to be able to judge, but I can see that point. But, because of the final twist, it's kind of intentional, in a way.

Yet...is it worth it to read an intentionally clichéd, cheesy horror story because the final twist proves it was all intentional?

I don't know. (And I'm sure people who are more of a horror buff than I am would have stronger feelings about it.)



Never Coming Home by Kate Williams

Genre: Young Adult, thriller

Never Coming Home is a straight-up retelling of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, except with Gen Z influencer protagonists. Even the writing style was similar, with the constant POV-hopping that I generally dislike but instantly recognized as characteristic of ATTWN.

So, of course, I had a fun time with this, even though it was such a close retelling that none of the plot twists were that unexpected. I expect anyone who's never read ATTWN would find this book more surprising. And it was genuinely cool how well the plot could be retold in modern times, with modern technology.

( The rest cut for spoilers )

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

Genre: Young Adult, fantasy

I've been eagerly waiting for this book ever since I finished Legendborn. My final thoughts on it are...complicated.

And a major part of that complication has to do with the fact that this book pretty much didn't do anything I expected.

( Spoilers for Bloodmarked beneath the cut )