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Phil in SF

kingrat@sfba.club

Joined 1 year, 4 months ago

aka @kingrat@sfba.social. I'm following a lot of bookwyrm accounts, since that seems to be the only way to get reviews from larger servers to this small server. Also, I will like & boost a lot of reviews that come across my feed. I will follow most bookwyrm accounts back if they review & comment. Social reading should be social.

2024 In The Books

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Phil in SF's books

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Currently Reading

2025 Reading Goal

64% complete! Phil in SF has read 18 of 28 books.

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Yangsze Choo: The Fox Wife (Hardcover, 2024, Henry Holt & Company) 5 stars

'Vivid, enigmatic, enchanting' M. L. Rio 'Irresistible' Sunday Times

Some people think foxes go around …

Excellent story

5 stars

A unique and well written revenge-ish story of a very unique life. Dealing with crushing sadness and how life is lived when you feel you have nothing to lose. Though the book is more heist-y than sad.

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reviewed The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (The First Law, #1)

Joe Abercrombie: The Blade Itself (Paperback, 2008, Pyr) 3 stars

Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too …

boy fantasy, all grown up

4 stars

starting this immediately after Jitterbug Perfume gave me such tonal whiplash and my reaction within the first couple pages was “oh, this is Boy Fantasy.” I’ve read a lot of Boy Fantasy in my time, and it’s not a bad thing—just not something I would generally seek out myself. I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would in those first couple pages (and straight up just enjoying it, period), and I’m curious enough about where this series goes to have added the next book to my TBR.

Paulette Jiles: Chenneville (AudiobookFormat, 2023, HarperAudio) 5 stars

Consumed with grief, driven by vengeance, a man undertakes an unrelenting odyssey across the lawless …

Excellent Western

5 stars

John Chenneville wakes up in a Union Army field hospital after being unconscious for months due to a serious head wound. He returns home only to find out his sister has been murdered while he was a soldier. The murderer appears to be a local deputy, so the sheriff doesn't seem inclined to do anything about it. John swears revenge, and thus begins a multi-state chase via foot, horseback, and boat. Along the way John meets a young female telegrapher but he is resolute on revenge instead of love.

The story is made by lots and lots of details about life on the post Civil War road that illustrate both his personality and what life was (presumably) like for an unattached veteran at the time. Additionally, the narration by Grover Gardner has just the right amount of gravelly old gentleman in it for the story.

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reviewed Neon Gods by Katee Robert (Dark Olympus, #1)

Katee Robert: Neon Gods (Paperback, 2021, Sourcebooks Casablanca) 2 stars

He was supposed to be a myth. But from the moment I crossed the River …

Not much of a retelling.

2 stars

So this was overall enjoyable, but if you're thinking of reading it due to being touted as a "retelling" of Greek myths with some spice sprinkled through, just skip it. The names and the places are the only part that really have to do with Greek mythology. This could have easily just been skinned over with a different world and felt the same. Even the power struggles are pretty minute. Definitely over-hyped, but I've read worse. I'll be continuing with some of the books just to see how they measure up.

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Cherie Dimaline: The marrow thieves (2017, Dancing Cat Books, an imprint of Cormorant Books Inc.) 4 stars

In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, …

The Marrow Thieves

3 stars

This book is off the #SFFBookClub backlog, and I saw it mentioned on Imperfect Speculation (a blog about disability in speculative fiction).

The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic near future world where most people have lost the ability to dream, and the only "cure" is through the exploitation of bone marrow from indigenous people who still can. The book follows Frenchie, a Métis boy who has lost everybody he cares about and travels with a found family trying to find safety and community. The metaphor here resonates directly with the horrors of Canada past, as armed "recruiters" capture anybody who looks indigenous to send them off to "schools" to extract their bone marrow.

I know this is a YA novel, but I wish some of the characters and the protagonist Frenchie had more depth. Maybe this would land better for somebody else, but I also don't have any room …

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reviewed Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (Iron Widow, #2)

Xiran Jay Zhao: Heavenly Tyrant (Hardcover, 2024, Tundra Books) 4 stars

After suffering devastating loss and making drastic decisions, Zetian finds herself at the seat of …

Heavenly Tyrant

4 stars

Overall feelings: the ideas were fun, the middle felt like it dragged on, and the politics often felt heavy handed

The part of this book that I enjoyed the most and felt like was the strongest was all of the interpersonal dynamics. The first book ends with waking up the legendary emperor Qin Zheng, who in this book takes control immediately. The triangle dynamics of Zetian, Shimin, and Yizhi from the first book are broken up, with Shimin hostaged, Yizhi becoming Qin Zheng's advisor, and Zetian becoming Qing Zheng's wife. There's a lot of good tension between the fact that Qin Zheng is an authoritarian tyrant that rules with violence, but also establishes some policies that try to address inequalities from the previous regime. Zetian loathes his controlling nature, but also finds that he listens and can be extremely reasonable when given policy advice. And, all in the background, the …

Mark Mills: Preparations (EBook, 2010, Tor.com) 2 stars

Ronald T. Turner is prepared for anything. And the zombies are prepared for him.

Zombies get him anyway

2 stars

Content warning Spoils a punch-line that's not good enough to really worry about spoiling but nevertheless here we are