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Blog | Eric Hendel

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

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Showing posts from 2023

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The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Posted by Eric Hendel December 16, 2023

Absurdism Humor John Scalzi Multiverse Stories Novels Reviews Science Fiction

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All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Posted by Eric Hendel September 16, 2023

Dystopias Martha Wells Novellas Reviews Robots Space Opera

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Strange Horizons Review of Kaisa Saarinen’s Weather Underwater

Posted by Eric Hendel August 03, 2023

Articles Climate Fiction Dystopias Feminist Works Kaisa Saarinen Literary Works Novels

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Strange Horizons Review of Lavanya Lakshminarayan's The Ten Percent Thief

Posted by Eric Hendel May 31, 2023

Articles Climate Fiction Cyberpunk Dystopias Lavanya Lakshminarayan Literary Works Science Fiction Short Fiction Anthologies

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Babel by R.F. Kuang

Posted by Eric Hendel April 30, 2023

Fantasy Grimdark New Adult Novels R.F. Kuang Reviews Speculative Fiction Steampunk

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Strange Horizons Review of Stacey McEwan’s Ledge

Posted by Eric Hendel March 12, 2023

Articles Dystopias Epic Fantasy Fantasy New Adult Novels Speculative Fiction Stacey McEwan

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Strange Horizons Review of Paul Cornell’s Rosebud

Posted by Eric Hendel January 29, 2023

Absurdism Articles Dystopias Humor Novellas Paul Cornell Robots Space Opera

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Eric Hendel

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Popular Posts

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

(Cover Artist: Dan Funderburgh ) Occasionally I'll read a book whose ending completely alters the nature of the story that preceded it, and which as a result requires that I fundamentally rethink my opinion of how that story functions. While this is almost always a good thing (since it means that I have a ton to think about when it comes to discussing that novel), it also makes writing a review of that book difficult. Because my opinion of the novel revolves, in the end, around events that only become apparent at the book's conclusion, I can't really discuss what I feel is the most important dimension of that story without destroying the effect for future readers. I can't talk about the book without talking about its ending, but I can't talk about the ending without spoiling what I feel is the entire point of the book. Obviously, Nnedi Okorafor's 2025 novel Death of the Author is this sort of work. Much of Death of the Author is divided between two parall...

Arrival by Ted Chiang

The most striking quality of the stories appearing in Ted Chiang's anthology Arrival (which was originally published in 2002 under the title Stories of Your Life and Others ) is the author's ability to use fiction as a rhetorical device. By saying this I don't mean that Chiang's work is comprised only of messages which he seeks to impart upon his audience, or even that his stories explicitly take the form of moral/ethical parables aimed at demonstrating some kind of lesson to his readers. Rather, it's more that throughout this collection, Chiang produces fiction which often strives to explore the tension that exists between two or more subtly contradictory ideas, examining various perspectives on his subjects through the medium of narrative. Via stories as diverse as a very contemporary-minded retelling of a biblical parable, an alien first-contact story that touches on themes of predestination and free will, and a fictional documentary about the ethics of limiti...

Strange Horizons Review of Nikhil Singh’s Dakini Atoll

(Cover Artist: Elena Romenkova ) A review I wrote of Nikhil Singh's novel Dakini Atoll is currently up in the most recent edition of Strange Horizons . This book was a very complex and fascinating story that skips between several different interconnected narratives, all of which are ultimately woven together into a work exploring themes of mass media and the nature of human awareness. The main storyline follows an actress named Delilah Lex, who as the novel opens realizes she has become trapped within the simulated reality of the television program she currently stars in (a virtual TV show called " Good Morning Delilah! "). However, this surreal narrative is also interspersed with the experiences of Anita--a corporate agent working for a quasi-religious organization called "Angelinc." There is also a storyline following a friend of Delilah's--a movie director named Fortunato who unexpectedly becomes drawn into an investigation of a mysterious global plague,...

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