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

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Review: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Posted by Eric Hendel March 28, 2024

Dystopias Mysteries Reviews Science Fiction Space Opera

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Update: Strange Horizons review of Twice Lived by Joma West

Posted by Eric Hendel March 20, 2024

Magic Realism Multiverse Stories Speculative Fiction Updates Young Adult

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Update: Review of Naomi Kritzer's Liberty's Daughter at Strange Horizons

Posted by Eric Hendel January 20, 2024

Dystopias Science Fiction Updates Young Adult

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Eric Hendel

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2024 3
- March 2024 2
  - Review: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
  - Update: Strange Horizons review of Twice Lived by ...
- January 2024 1
  - Update: Review of Naomi Kritzer's Liberty's Daught...

2023 7
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Dystopias22
Science Fiction19
Speculative Fiction15
Absurdism11
Feminist Works9
Fantasy8
Humor8
Literary Works8
Magic Realism8
Multiverse Stories8

Space Opera7
Novellas5
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Young Adult4
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Recently Popular Posts

Review: Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang

There's a deliberately unsettling quality to Hao Jingfang's 2016 novel Vagabonds, and I think this derives in part from how the story skillfully balances itself between two contrasting genres of fiction. First translated into English by Ken Liu in 2020, Vagabonds follows a woman named Luoying Sloan who voyages to Earth from a far-future martian colony several generations after a deadly interplanetary war. Hoping to bridge the gap between two politically and socially isolated societies, Luoying spends five years studying alongside the "terrans" of Earth, eventually learning to navigate the complicated and politically fraught issues that divide both planets. Normally this would imply that Vagabonds was the story of a protagonist seeking to build unity between two isolated societies, and yet Hao's novel (the English edition prints the author's surname first) is not actually the story of Luoying's experiences on Earth, or the pro

Review: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

It's very easy to poke fun at religion, and that's paradoxically why it's usually a good idea not to. All an author needs to do is throw in a few comments about biblical plot holes, or maybe point out some of the more glaring logical inconsistencies evident in theological concepts such as omnipotence, and suddenly they've made themselves at least seem smart. That is, it's "fun" to look at something someone else values and see it as stupid, just like it's comforting (at least for a time) to convince yourself that the driving force behind the lives of so many people is actually meaningless.

Review: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

It may seem strange to say that Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy is a series whose political and social themes have been under-appreciated. However, this was my main impression when recently rereading the first book in this series -- 1995's The Golden Compass (which, incidentally, is also published under the title of Northern Lights in the United Kingdom). While the complete His Dark Materials trilogy is frequently characterized as an extended allegory for the dangers of religious institutions, after rereading this book, this ultimately struck me as somewhat misplaced. While it's true that the characters of the His Dark Materials trilogy eventually declare -- and win -- a "war on God," I think the assertion that Pullman's work acts only as an allegory against religion misses a fundamental aspect of what he accomplishes with this story. Pullman examines not only themes of corruption and abuse of power, but also the complicated and someti

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