Book Reviews by Eitan

I received an ARC of this book from Tor in exchange for an honest review. It took me until about halfway through The Atlas Six to re-calibrate my idea of what I was reading. Despite getting the opening chapter, and the most attention to their thoughts and goals, Libby and Nico are not the only protagonists. Despite suggesting occult knowledge, dangerous rituals, and a Triwizard-Tournament-like competition, the book's biggest secrets are deferred to a sequel. Rather than giving us a post-college Harry Potter with more ambition, sex, and violence, Blake uses the competition as backdrop to give us six messy, complicated people bouncing off of and into each other for an entire novel. Once I settled into this way of looking at it, The Atlas Six became much more entertaining to read. Six characters is a lot to juggle, and by necessity three or four of them must fade into the background in each scene, but a steady rotation of points of view ensures that no one is entirely left out. That...

December The Muppets Christmas Carol The Power of the Dog The Matrix The Matrix Reloaded Belfast The Matrix Revolutions The Matrix Resurrections Swan Song January Passing First Cow King Richard Azor The Tragedy of Macbeth Burn After Reading True Grit O Brother, Where Art Thou Fargo No Country for Old Men The Last Duel Eternals February The Big Lebowski Groundhog Day (re-watch) The Hand of God The King’s Man Parallel Mothers March West Side Story Turning Red Spider-Man: No Way Home April Everything, Everywhere, All at Once The Godfather The Godfather Part II Good Will Hunting The Batman Cyrano The Godfather Part III May Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (re-watch) Star Wars (re-watch) Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (re-watch) El Robo del Siglo Top Gun Top Gun: Maverick
The Lost City Senior Year June Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Mad Max: Fury Road July Elvis Before Sunrise Before Sunset Before Midnight August O Brother, Where Art Thou (re-watch) Luca (re-watch) September G...

January Silk and Steel (anthology) The Thousand Eyes, AK Larkwood The Jade Setter of Janloon, Fonda Lee (novella) February Carrying the Fire, Michael Collins The Atlas Six, Olivie Blake Spear, Nicola Griffith Piranesi, Susanna Clarke The Vanished Birds, Simon Jimenez March Kalpa Imperial, Angelica Gorodischer (tr. Ursula LeGuin) Under Fortunate Stars, Ren Hutchings The Confidence Men, Margalit Fox Last Exit, Max Gladstone The Discord of Gods, Jenn Lyons Locklands, Robert Jackson Bennett April Trafalgar, Angelica Gorodischer (tr. Amalia Gladhart) Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke The Chancellor, Kati Morton The Echo Wife, Sarah Gailey She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan How to Take Over the World, Ryan North The Dispatcher: Murder by Other Means, John Scalzi (novella) May Elder Race, Adrian Tchaikovsky (novella) A Spindle Splintered, Alix Harrow (novella) The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, Becky Chambers Fireheart Tiger, Aliette de Bodard (novella) Ammonite, Nicola Griffith...

I received an ARC of this book from Tor in exchange for an honest review. The Unspoken Name, the first book in this series, was saddled with comparisons to Ursula K. Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan , and instead told a story that was drastically different in tone. Free of such comparisons, The Thousand Eyes takes those characters much further and, with liberal use of time-skips, allows them to grow into their own. Having left Belthandros Sethennai enthroned, Csorwe and Shuthmilli have become itinerant adventurers, a lifestyle that leaves plenty of opportunity for banter and encounters with the grumpy but ultimately supportive Tal. The first third of the book unfolds much like the second half of The Unspoken Name , as our protagonists search out powerful relics while trying to stay one step ahead of the mysterious forces behind the search. Already, having less need to establish characters allows these experiences to feel more realistic and vivid, without the need to acquaint the reade...

I received an ARC of this book from Subterranean Press in exchange for an honest review. The Green Bone Saga told the story of the Kauls and their struggle for power in the highest echelons of Kekonese society. In The Jade Setter of Janloon , Fonda Lee shows us life outside the halls of power, and brings a fresh take to a classic detective story. Jade Setter has many of the classic scenes we've come to expect from a Green Bone tale; duels, fancy cars with outrageous names, shady shine dealers, and the looming presence of Ayt Mada. However, our protagonist, Pulo, has more with fan-least-favorite Bero than any of the Kauls, trying to make a living in the shadow of the No Peak versus Mountain feud rather than shaping it. Fortunately, Pulo is much more likeable than Bero, allowing Lee to use him more effectively to show us the common man's impression of the mighty protagonists who dominated the Green Bone Saga. The contrast between Pulo's view of Kaul Hilo (minor spoiler, but ...