I’m on a roll with this series now. It’s a great measure of my own language progress how much easier it is to read these mangas. On this one I only needed to look up a couple of words, and I still remember struggling through the first issue, constantly looking things up. And the things I check now are also different - grammar rules for repeated patterns in addition to the expected “what is this kanji?”.

As always with this series, if you’re early on in learning Japanese (or any of the languages the series is published in) then I cannot recommend it enough.

This issue also covers an interesting quirk of English to Japanese translation which came up in my own studies just a couple of weeks ago. The distinction between 手伝う and 助ける, where in English both are under the umbrella of “helping” someone. The former though, is more everyday “help” - where someone needs support with something and the helper is joining in to aid them in doing something. The latter is more like “rescue” where the helper is getting someone out of a bad/dangerous situation. English does have the specifics (as I’ve just demonstrated with “rescue”) but it’s interesting that the broader English coverage of “help” doesn’t port directly to Japanese.

As for the story itself, the internal redemption of Irwin is interesting, and I’m looking forward to finding out if it sticks or if he goes back to his scheming ways when the crisis passes. Daphne’s distress is palpable on the page, in both the dialogue and the art.

もうすぐに次のクリスタルハンターズのまんがを読みます

Crystal Hunters #6

By Nathaniel French

See on Storygraph

See on Goodreads

20

/

19

Reference links: Why I like Storygraph, My concerns with Goodreads, How my scoring system works

I often think that to truly enjoy something, it has to line up with where you are in your life at that time. Not in a profound way (though that works too), but in a more mundane “this is the kind of thing I want to read/watch/play right now”. Unfortunately I think I picked this book up at the wrong time. Because it does seem that it’s very good, and something I would very much enjoy at the right time, but it didn’t grab me like it should’ve.

The tale of Phosyne, Voyne, and Treila is strange in a good way. It twists and turns outside reality, defying explanation but also not begging for it. The mystical world they live in is one that they don’t understand. And since we see it through their eyes, we don’t get to understand it either.

The blurb about the book talks about the Saints right away, but the book itself lingers in the time before that for longer than I expected. Everyone spends a significant amount of time starving, which does set the scene for the gluttonous outcomes the Saints bring with them. It also sets the downtrodden tone for the reader. Starting at desperate, the book’s characters soon find themselves cast adrift beyond mortal capability. And then non-mortal comes knocking.

This book is labeled as a horror. And I suppose I can see why. There’s a fair amount of cannibalism. There are teeth in the darkness that are more and less than human. But it’s not horror in the way that puts me off things. The dread, the strangeness, the desperate circumstances, all feel like a part of the story and never a threat to the reader. It doesn’t keep me up at night.

Overall I do think this book was very good. But I wasn’t in quite the right frame of mind to appreciate it to its fullest.

The Starving Saints

By Caitlin Starling

See on Storygraph

See on Goodreads

See on Libro.fm

20

/

15

Reference links: Why I like Storygraph, My concerns with Goodreads, Why I like Libro.fm, How my scoring system works

This series really is a treasure. Being able to read an actual story with my still-limited Japanese is a big motivator. And this series does an admirable job of telling an actual story with an extremely constrained vocabulary. I often think of Randall Monroe’s Thing Explainer when I think of this series, and how broad a vocabulary is necessary for even seemingly simple stories. And this issue in particular has an interesting narrative where one of the characters is secretly working against the others. Communicating that separation of reader and character knowledge, again with such a constrained vocabulary, is quite the feat.

This series has also tracked with my own learning journey. I’ve recently spent a few weeks in Japan on a language course, and reading this next entry in Crystal Hunters after that practice shows me that I have really improved. I look up less, I read faster, and I understand more of the implications in the grammar. It all comes together for a great reading experience.

If you’re learning Japanese (or any of the languages Crystal Hunters is published in) then I wholeheartedly recommend it.

今度はもっと漢字を分かりました。このまんがはクリスタルハンターズ一から四までよりはやく読みました。嬉しいです！

Crystal Hunters #5

By Nathaniel French

See on Storygraph

See on Goodreads

20

/

19

Reference links: Why I like Storygraph, My concerns with Goodreads, How my scoring system works

There’s nothing like a long plane journey to power through a significant portion of a book in a single sitting. And spending that long with a book at once definitely enhances the experience: you remember more of the specific details between scenes and catch callbacks that you otherwise would’ve missed in shorter daily sessions.

The Faith of Beasts though, is a tough book emotionally to dive into like that. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an incredibly good book. But it is also bleak. Like holy shit. You think you’ve read about terrible things happening to fictional people, until you see the long form existential dread the situations this book puts its characters in.

From a sci-fi premise perspective, I haven’t seen one quite like this. Humanity often struggles against its foes in sci-fi. Sometimes humanity is the big imperial villain. But this series posits: what if we just lost? Like, immediately. Which, given the disparity in technological capabilities of a vast star-spanning empire and a single early space age planet, is quite a reasonable outcome.

The Carryx, said empire, are both bizarre and consistent. They clearly operate by rules that neither the characters nor the reader fully understand. And the whole story also exists within a larger context that now in the second book, we’re starting to scratch the surface of.

Who is the deathless enemy? Who made the swarm? Where did the humans from Anjiin come from? How did they become separated from their progenitors?

All questions that would contextualize the brutal reality that the characters live in the present day of the book. The emergence of the Deep Lothark, and that they have their own resistance against the Carryx (of a sort), shows that there are other potential allies for humanity within the great cattle farm of species the Carryx keep.

You need to be ready to read The Faith of Beasts. But if you are, it’s an incredibly well done story.

The Faith of Beasts

By James S.A. Corey

See on Storygraph

See on Goodreads

20

/

19

Reference links: Why I like Storygraph, My concerns with Goodreads, How my scoring system works

This right here. This is riveting shit. Right from the get-go, a first hand, first person account of Alexei Navalny’s experience being poisoned by novichok nerve agent is a high stakes way to open a book. The experience that he describes is not at all what I imagined being poisoned would feel like, and it seems like he had similar thoughts. It’s not gruesome, but instead bizarre. The way the story is told sucks you right in, wondering how he survived it (I did know he survived the poisoning from the news).

The poisoning is the headliner and draws the reader in. But there’s much more and deeper to this book. It goes back, after the poisoning, to Alexei’s childhood in the Soviet Union. He describes a time of ridiculous falsehoods and pervasive propaganda that were clearly not believable, but the society around them had to pretend to believe it. At the same time, it was a strangely unmonitored place where young boys could blow up discarded munitions without attracting much attention.

Then the book marches forward toward the present, through the happenings in Russia from the end of the Soviet Union and up toward today. When it reaches 2021 it becomes a kind of prison diary, of the time Navalny spent in various Russian prisons and being ferried between various sham trials and preposterous criminal charges. It follows his struggles there through his notes and Instagram posts communicated through his lawyers, until his eventual death in 2024.

It’s quite the series of events. I don’t want to agonize trying to do this story justice, because I don’t think I can. Suffice to say this book stands out as an abject lesson in the essential nature of freedom in society. Alexei Navalny stood up against corruption and was killed for it. He’s not a man without flaws, but it seems ridiculous that I feel compelled to point that out. The long arc of his objectives clearly aim to make the world a better place.

It’s easy to talk about freedom in the abstract. It’s easy to talk about democracy in the abstract. This book makes it real. This is what happens when you don’t have those things. This is the end state of Trump, Farage, and the other wanna-be dictators who seek to control free society. Vladimir Putin clearly won’t live forever, but the evils he commits don’t end with him. I’m sympathetic to the opinion that threats to democracy are too far away, too removed from people’s lives, to be the deciding factor on votes when people have so many other problems. Those other problems should be fixed, and with urgency. And without the freedoms that are necessary for a just life, all those other problems become systematically unsolvable. That’s why it’s important to care about democracy and freedom directly too. Votes can only change things when a society is free enough to have them.

And I don’t think I can talk about this book without talking about Russia’s war in Ukraine. This book is much more about Russia than Ukraine - about how Russia could be a better place but isn’t, and how that’s intentional on Putin’s part. Navalny was in prison when Russia invaded Ukraine (again) in 2022, and the bulk of the story takes place before 2021. He opposes the war and says so in the book, as you might expect, given his other positions. In the context of this story, you can see how such a terrible war is prosecuted in service to a corrupt regime. The lies and greed lead to atrocities that cost thousands upon thousands of lives.

Navalny’s story shows what happens when freedoms are lost. Throughout this book he makes impassioned and convincing arguments for why those freedoms are essential. Why they help everyone, and why they are necessary to solve the other, acute problems like food, fuel, and shelter. I hope his vision for a more free and fair Russia does some day come to pass.

This is a heavier, more serious review than I usually write. And that’s because the book and the subject matter warrant it. It’s a bit strange to post this alongside my smart home minutiae and video game musings. But I’m reminded of a tweet I read back in 2020 that made me stop and think and it has stayed with me as good advice. Paraphrasing, the author said that she had heard people held back from posting serious criticisms of racism or their opinions on it because it seemed out of place: that their regular lighthearted content that was all around those messages detracted from the severity of that topic. She said: don’t do that. Post your criticisms of racism between your spicy TV show takes and daily life. Because most people agree. But they also don’t talk about it. And every message helps others to see that truth, justice, and freedom are things that other people support too. She didn’t say it exactly like that, because that was too long for a tweet, but hopefully you get the idea. I like that idea. It’s why I still thought it was worthwhile to talk about freedom and democracy here, even though usually I’m reviewing books about dudes with swords casting spells. (Racism is bad btw.)

Anyway, back to Alexei Navalny. This book is incredible. It’s a much more nuanced and funnier read than my review here. You should read it.

The book’s called Patriot, but honestly the man’s a hero.

Patriot

By Alexei Navalny

See on Storygraph

See on Goodreads

See on Libro.fm

20

/

20

Reference links: Why I like Storygraph, My concerns with Goodreads, Why I like Libro.fm, How my scoring system works

Heaven’s River is still fun, but I think its changed focus detracts from what made the previous Bobiverse books more effective. Bob and all of his clones are a revived 21st century software developer, so despite the sci-fi setting, their modern day reference-laden and colloquial way of speaking makes a lot of sense. The fact that they’re replications of each other also explains why they have very similar voices in terms of how they speak. That also lets the author use their own voice to inform Bob’s deeply - he sounds like a person like him should sound.

In Heaven’s River, I can see the limits of that where the book needs to break away from it. Bridget speaks too much like Bob, considering she’s supposed to be an entirely separate person, unlike the clones. She has different motivations, but it’s also clear from the narrative that they aren’t really as deep as Bob’s.

And then I think the primary story in the titular Heaven’s River megastructure is unfortunately the weakest part of the novel. The parallel story, about the war in the Bobiverse was much more interesting, but occupied less space on the page. Not to mention that the entire plot in Heaven’s River, while understandable how it happened, turns out to be wholly unnecessary. The Bobs could have contacted ANEC directly, as Hugh does toward the end. It would’ve been different. but given the success of that negotiation, their positions weren’t radically different at the beginning of the infiltration compared to the end.

I also think there were some continuity errors in the story. Bob’s low bandwidth connection was a great way to create isolation, but later on he still remotely accesses other clones’ VR despite the premise of that isolation being that such a connection wasn’t possible. (Otherwise the other expedition members could have joined in in the reverse direction.)

The notion of replicative drift was very interesting, and the continued technological ramp up is also done well. Overall the story still is a lot of fun, but I feel it fell short of its predecessors.

Heaven's River

By Dennis E. Taylor

See on Storygraph

See on Goodreads

20

/

13

Reference links: Why I like Storygraph, My concerns with Goodreads, How my scoring system works

Since I started listening to audbiobooks, I’ve listened to quite a few memoirs from famous folks that I was just interested to know more about. Arnie definitely qualifies as one of those people. But that means that I went into this expecting a memoir, and it’s actually a self help book. Not generally the kind of book I want to read, but I’d give Arnie a shot. Narrated by the man himself, the book benefits a lot from his narration. It wouldn’t have the same character or authenticity in its recommendations without his distinctive voice to go along with it.

And really I can see how this book could help people. It’s got some legitimately good advice in it. If I were to summarize what the advice is trying to help you do, it’s a set of strategies for achieving big things. What the absolute size of “big” is will vary from person to person. Schwarzenegger has clearly achieved some big goals, between bodybuilding champion, action movie star, and California governor. And he uses stories from his own life to drive home the point of his advice and how to really turn thoughts into plans and plans into actions.

The actual story of Schwarzenegger’s life that we get along the way is an interesting one. I knew about the big headline achievements going in, so these details filled in a lot of color of how and why he did what he did. I’ll also admit that I fell into the trap that he said many people did with him: assuming he was more brawns than brains. Genuinely, the way he thinks about his plans and makes his dreams a reality and brings people along on the journey, it’s all from an extremely level-headed, curious, and driven person. The driven part was obvious from the outside, but the others not as much. It does explain why he succeeded in such disparate spheres of the world.

At its core, this book lays out a very positive and encouraging way to interact with the world. To achieve what you set out to by uplifting others and making the most of the help offered to you.

Overall I’m very impressed. I already liked Arnie before I read this, but I definitely have an even greater appreciation for him now.

Be Useful, Seven Tools for Life

By Arnold Schwarzenegger

See on Storygraph

See on Goodreads

See on Libro.fm

20

/

17

Reference links: Why I like Storygraph, My concerns with Goodreads, Why I like Libro.fm, How my scoring system works

Halcyon Years sets out to be a noir crime drama and also a sci-fi book. Surprisingly, it does manage to very truly be both, without them treading on each others’ toes. At first I was worried that the trappings of noir: the rotary phones, the gumshoe detective, the cigarettes, and the dame in the red dress, that they would all seem forced in the wider context of a story that clearly takes place in the future. But Reynolds handles that balance well after the start, and it does become clear why Halcyon (the ship) is how it is.

The choice to have Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space, as the protagonist was an interesting one. Over the first few pages, I wondered if they were just a namesake, but it very quickly piles up factoids that indicate this character is intended to be the historical figure. How does that happen? Well, you should read to find that part out.

I enjoyed Halcyon Years a lot, but I wouldn’t say I was necessarily thrilled by it. I enjoyed the mystery, but I think folks spent a bit too long explaining the pieces of it at the end. The pieces needed explaining, but it all came as too much of an explanatory flood. The layers of mystery were also handled well - the case Yuri investigates, his client, the nature of the ship, all of those had layers that fit together and complemented each other well. There were surprisingly many copywriting errors too - typos and the like, but I particularly remember one paragraph where I’m sure the names were jumbled in an edit, because it didn’t quite make sense.

Overall I think the good easily outweighs the bad here. It’s a fun space story that is somehow also a throwback to the past.

Halcyon Years

By Alastair Reynolds

See on Storygraph

See on Goodreads

20

/

16

Reference links: Why I like Storygraph, My concerns with Goodreads, How my scoring system works

I love that Brandon keeps playing with the entire format around delivering stories. This book is a set of two short stories that were first distributed… as decks of collectible cards during a convention. Bizarre place to start. But not only that, this book is… double sided? Elsecaller starts from one end and is one way up, and then you reach the end of that story and flip the book over and read King Lopen the First of Alethkar starting at the other end! It has two front covers! (So I’ve included both in this review.)

And on top of that, Brandon also didn’t write these stories himself. The shorthand here is that he has canonized some fanfiction, but that’s not quite true either. Dan and Isaac are folks he works with, and Brandon was involved in the writing and revising of each story. In the end, their merging has worked well - the stories feel very true to the Stormlight series and the characters feel like themselves as they are seen in other books.

On to the stories themselves, I was definitely more excited about Elsecaller - seeing what happened to Jasnah after she (Words of Radiance spoiler) disappeared from the ship with Shallan was something I’ve wanted to know more about for quite some time. And seeing an (Oathbringer spoiler) earlier version of her character before she returned was also fascinating. Alas, the story was over very quickly!

King Lopen surprised me and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Lopen is a fun character to be around and I can definitely see where Sanderson was going in the foreword for this story, in making sure that Lopen didn’t become too much slapstick or too absurd. It’s also a real pull at the heartstrings to see (Oathbringer spoiler) Elhokar again, and the redemption arc that never was.

This book is short and not essential to the larger Stormlight story, but it is nice flavor to sprinkle on top of the Stormlight main courses that makes the full dish all the better.

Elsecaller and King Lopen the First of Alethkar

By Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Isaac Stewart

See on Storygraph

See on Goodreads

20

/

19

Reference links: Why I like Storygraph, My concerns with Goodreads, How my scoring system works

I read the previous book in this series, The Blinding Knife, back in 2016, so it has been a while since I’ve visited this world. I’m aiming to read a few books this year to get back to my real long-tome epic fantasy book roots, with someone aside from Brandon Sanderson. I can see from my stats that I’ve trended toward shorter books in the past few years, so here’s a little of going the other way.

According to my own previous ratings, I very much enjoyed the first book in the Lightbringer series (The Black Prism, which I gave 5 stars), but did not nearly as much enjoy The Blinding Knife (3 stars). A long time has passed since 2016 though, and this seemed like a good long read to return to. I didn’t reread the previous books, because that’s not what I do, so I’m very impressed by how much sense this book still made to me. I’m also impressed that as I started and we picked up with Gavin as a galley slave on Gunner’s ship, I actually did remember that that had happened at the end of book 2.

Brent Weeks has an interesting writing style that occasionally dips into the direct thoughts of the point of view character without any of the usual typesetting information that would accompany that. (No thoughts in italics or quotation marked with “she thought” or any similar device.) It means that sometimes you realize you’re getting a direct line into the character’s head, not just one influenced by them, but only after you’ve read part of it. It works well and gives the different point of view characters a lot of flavor.

In epic fantasy style, this book has a big cast, and a large world wrapped in intrigue that branches off in a bunch of directions. It does a great job of pulling characters in unexpected directions without feeling disjointed. Characters have agency, but they also suffer consequences, and there is always something exciting happening for the entire 800+ page duration, which is a difficult trick unto itself.

I like Kip, he’s a fun primary protagonist and combines an unusual set of personal hangups. I remember him being overweight in the previous books, but his training has changed that by the third book, but his mind hasn’t caught up with it yet. And his relationship to Andross is an interesting one. Andross plays the primary antagonist in this book, despite that you’d expect that role to go to the Color Prince, who instead exists largely outside the story that’s happening for most of the book. The Color Prince is more like a force of nature for the moment, an encroaching, larger context problem that is set to upset everything the characters are trying to do in their own worlds. The balance between how much we see of both of those worlds is a good one, keeping the Color Prince threatening and relevant, but still letting the main narrative stretch its own legs.

Teia’s arc throughout this book didn’t go where I thought it would, and she ends up being the closest to the titular Broken Eye organization. Karris also goes through a lot but generally handles it very well.

There is an element of tragedy to many of the characters’ relationships, and we see that through Brent Weeks’s style, how their thoughts and actions don’t always line up because circumstances don’t let them tell someone what they need to hear. This can feel very forced in a lot of books, but Weeks does a great job of realistically preventing the “sit down and talk about it” resolution that is normally frustratingly absent. I believe that the occasions where that would’ve solved the characters’ problems were genuinely obstructed by circumstance, instead of just narrative convenience.

Overall, I’ll keep going with this series again, after a long hiatus. On to The Blood Mirror.

The Broken Eye

By Brent Weeks

See on Storygraph

See on Goodreads

20

/

17

Reference links: Why I like Storygraph, My concerns with Goodreads, How my scoring system works