The Neurospicy Bean

  Hmmm so many complicated thoughts on this one. I genuinely love the premise – anything with prehistoric creatures is an automatic draw for me. In fact, all of the bits of this that were original were pretty compelling. But man, as soon as it got into the traditional thriller elements, there were some problems. Most importantly, Cash was an incredibly one-dimensional cliche of a strong woman. She had no personality beyond being offended by men doing things for her. She kept dropping hints about some kind of incident in her past, but then it never actually got revealed? And then the sheriff was nearly as bad. Take a generic cop, put a cowboy hat on him, and that’s about the impression I got. All the characters were pretty much along these lines; every interpersonal dynamic was predictable. Also, content warning for animal death. Without spoiling anything, there was a scene I found deeply upsetting as far as that goes. But the fundamental concept was great, and there was clearly a t...

  Unfortunately I just don’t remember much about this book. Mostly, there are just a few bits and pieces – there was a story about a girl who gets trapped in the body of a service robot, which was reasonably compelling; one was a story told by the days of the week; but beyond those impressions, nothing really stuck with me. I think a lot of the stories could have been really strong if they were longer, or if more attention was given to characters. But because they were, for the most part, so short, I struggled to get invested or engage at all emotionally. Beyond that, I really don’t have much to say.

  I really have no idea what to think here. It’s not that any individual component of this book was actively bad; it’s just that there are so many different components going on that it all starts seeming very odd and hard to follow. Half of the book takes place in a futuristic world where one of the main characters, Mica, is being hunted by a cult that has infiltrated the government because they believe they can bring forth their god by sacrificing her. The other half takes place in Animkii’s world, where technology is forbidden and clans cling to survival through a system of rituals and structures that seems like a grab bag of a whole variety of indigenous traditions from around the world. It’s all a bit jarring.  Also, Animkii is shown as white on the cover, and although her race isn’t specifically discussed that I remember, like I said her world seems to be drawing very heavily from indigenous cultures, which feels a bit appropriation-y.  Come to think of it, I’m not s...

  This was so thoroughly not what I was expecting it to be. We’re introduced right off the bat to Tamsin, who’s just the most irritating girlboss, treats all her coworkers like crap, and also is working to conceal from the public the fact that the city is sinking and no one knows why but it might be related to her research. As I said. Girlboss. But then an apparent clone of her shows up from the door that has mysteriously appeared in her basement and things get REALLY WEIRD. A lot of the book (maybe more than necessary) is spent watching Tamsin’s classic descent into madness. Which she also works to conceal from everyone around her, including her handler, Lachlan. I have to say, Tamsin’s relationship with Lachlan (and Lachlan as a character) was actually the highlight of the book for me, and I really wish there had been more of it. It became shockingly sweet and gentle, and also I really want a tall hot lady with a prosthetic arm to come busting into a basement to rescue me.  ...

  This is such a clever premise for a book. It’s entirely different from any dystopian/apocalypse story I’ve ever seen, and it manages to be surprisingly horrifying in a way that lets it compete with any zombie apocalypse. That being said, the execution was a bit odd. There wasn’t as much tension as it felt like the story warranted? The stakes were clearly high, and a fascinating sort of political intrigue gets laid out across the book, but the actual tension was missing for me for a lot of the book. In the scenes where it worked, it really worked, but so many crucial moments got told in the form of a diary entry that a lot of the tension and drama got lost. Also, the story spanned a really long time. Which is fine because it gave it a very unique structure and, I think, allowed a story of parenthood and what we owe the world to be told that would be really challenging to tell if it didn’t span a lifetime. Unfortunately, it also meant that a lot of relationships sort of got pushed ...