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Personal blog devoted to long-form book reviews and criticism.

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Showing posts from 2020

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This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Review)

Posted by Eric Hendel December 31, 2020

Literary Works Multiverse Stories Novellas Reviews + Speculative Fiction

Literary Works Multiverse Stories Novellas Reviews Speculative Fiction

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A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green (Review)

Posted by Eric Hendel November 15, 2020

Absurdism First Contact Stories New Adult Reviews + Science Fiction

Absurdism First Contact Stories New Adult Reviews Science Fiction

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Strange Horizons review of N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became

Posted by Eric Hendel September 15, 2020

Absurdism Contemporary Fantasy Magic Realism Multiverse Stories + Updates

Absurdism Contemporary Fantasy Magic Realism Multiverse Stories Updates

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An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green (Review)

Posted by Eric Hendel August 20, 2020

Absurdism First Contact Stories New Adult Reviews + Science Fiction

Absurdism First Contact Stories New Adult Reviews Science Fiction

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The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (Review)

Posted by Eric Hendel May 30, 2020

Feminist Works Literary Works Magic Realism Reviews + Translations

Feminist Works Literary Works Magic Realism Reviews Translations

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Redshirts by John Scalzi (Review)

Posted by Eric Hendel April 30, 2020

Humor Multiverse Stories Reviews Science Fiction + Space Opera

Humor Multiverse Stories Reviews Science Fiction Space Opera

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The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor (Review)

Posted by Eric Hendel March 27, 2020

Absurdism Alternate History Horror Humor + Reviews

Absurdism Alternate History Horror Humor Reviews

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Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (Review)

Posted by Eric Hendel March 16, 2020

Feminist Works Literary Works Novellas Reviews + Translations

Feminist Works Literary Works Novellas Reviews Translations

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The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (Review)

Posted by Eric Hendel February 18, 2020

Epic Fantasy Multiverse Stories Reviews Steampunk + Young Adult

Epic Fantasy Multiverse Stories Reviews Steampunk Young Adult

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Lock In by John Scalzi (Review)

Posted by Eric Hendel January 21, 2020

Cyberpunk Dystopias Mysteries Reviews + Science Fiction

Cyberpunk Dystopias Mysteries Reviews Science Fiction

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Eric Hendel

Recently Popular Posts

Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang (Review)

(Cover Designer: Kelli McAdams ) Jumpnauts is exactly the opposite of the sort of novel which I expected Hao Jingfang to write, initially in a bad way, but also ultimately in a good one. Hao's debut novel, Vagabonds , was an extraordinarily subtle work of science fiction. Taking the form of a slow-paced and contemplative narrative, that earlier book detailed the deceptively complex story of how two seemingly analogous characters from human settlements on Earth and Mars voyaged to one another's worlds, only to come away from the experience with wildly contradictory views not of the planets they have just visited, but instead their respective homes. Vagabonds represented a novel whose dense and intricate plot wove together the lives of multiple generations of individuals, all of whom struggled to navigate an enduring political and social conflict requiring they confront the weighty question of how utopian societies should define themselves. By contrast, Jumpnauts ...

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (Review)

(Cover Designer: Tyler Comrie ) Yoko Ogawa's 1994 novel The Memory Police is unusual in part for how subtle the book's premise is. First translated into English in 2019 by Stephen Snyder, The Memory Police is ostensibly the story of a woman living under the rule of a totalitarian police state. There is a focus in this novel not only on the dehumanizing consequences of living in a dictatorship, but also on the quiet acts of rebellion that can be far more significant than they may outwardly seem. However, what makes Ogawa's approach to this material most unique is that, despite certainly being a book about characters who struggle to survive under the rule of an Orwellian government, it's never entirely clear to the reader how the oppressive force in this novel operates. For that matter, even in spite of the very real dangers that Ogawa's characters face over the course of this text, it's never clear to the reader whether or not this oppressive force which drive...

Babel by R.F. Kuang (Review)

(Cover Illustrator: Nico Delort ) R.F. Kuang's 2022 historical fantasy novel Babel (whose complete title is " Babel or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution ") was a book which I ended up feeling pretty conflicted about. In one respect, the majority of Babel's narrative represents a fascinatingly original work. Set in a partially fictionalized version of Britain during the early 1800s, Babel focuses primarily on the experiences of a boy from Canton, China who is inducted into a world-famous college in Oxford. The early half of Babel's narrative revolves around themes pertaining to the politics of translation, and how colonialist systems of power weaponize language as a tool of oppression. Throughout all of this, Kuang also simultaneously constructs one of the most original and fascinating magic systems I've ever seen in the fantasy genre, and skillfully overlays her story's subtly built supernatural el...

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