Haven't read much so far, but god have i missed Mycroft's voice, he's so absurdly, obnoxiously, incomprehensibly derangend in absolutely every word he writes; i keep having fun imagining what one of his actual readers would think, since he's explicitly writing this for publication soon after the events he's describing
(i'm kinda anxious about how much i like i'll like these books this time overall though — been years since i read this, and i might disagree with Ada more now than I did before, but we'll see)
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover …
I'm at the end! This book really has no right to be anywhere near this good.
There's a sequel which I didn't find as good last time, but maybe I should read it again? But perhaps take a break from this and read something else first.
This is a fun one, in a way, but I'm not sure I'd call it good? There's a fun idea (a videogame-like "save and reload" function for real life, introduced by an all-powerful company) and what I think is a fun if somewhat obvious message (sth like "aim at making the right choices, but don't obsess about past wrong choices, and have the confidence to do so")
Or at least, I can only really read it as a metaphor; I had real trouble suspending disbelief enough to accept that this world would work as the story requires it to — it feels like a morality tale ruminating on what makes a (single) person good, and less like a sf story exploring how the ostensible premise (i.e. the save-and-reload technology) would shape the society within which it exists.
Coder, décoder : un processus essentiel à la vie, à nos relations sociales, à nos …
Neurostar (Jacques Barbéri)
No rating
I don't think I understood this one at all (at least partially because of language issues, but also does this ever have a lot of moving parts for a 25-page story)
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover …
Content warning
thoughts on teixcalaanli succession laws
okay, so, i've not really thought about this before, but apparently one can become Emperor by being simply acclaimed by … one's soldiers? the people in general? (i don't think the protesters in plaza central seven are meant to be military?)
and sure, the general expectation is that this'll work out, and that one has enough military prestige that one either actually becomes emperor (is there any body deciding if an emperor is 'official'? i don't think one is mentioned?) or is defeated by whoever currently holds power.
… but like, this feels weird? like it feels like the lead-up to a crisis-of-the-3rd-century style empire fragmentation once the yaotleklim realise they can just have themselves be acclaimed emperor and try to take power, and that's an accepted mode to become the legitimate ruler that's not seen as even slightly iffy; Nineteen Adze says it's not even illegal to try. Like does this state just periodically fragment itself when multiple emperors can't defeat each other?
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover …
Content warning
Teixcalaanli reaction to imagos
i like how Twelve Azalea's immediate reaction is to assume the dead person takes over entirely. A neat bit to show how past-obsessed his culture is (& also a hint for later, of course)
Coder, décoder : un processus essentiel à la vie, à nos relations sociales, à nos …
Une faute de goût (Christian Léourier)
No rating
This one's fun, and not too long. Also I'm jelous of the food now (it's about an alien species which mainly communicates through things humans can only perceive as taste, so 'talking' means 'creating elaborate dishes')
but also it ends so sad, and unrevokable? i like it though
Phileas Fogg, gentleman anglais, parie avec les membres de son club qu'il fera le tour …
somewhat disconnected thoughts (but i thought i'd try to write an actual review)
No rating
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought! It's a fun adventure story, and I think probably fits in a lot better with other 19th century adventure stories than it does with other science-fiction of the time, though it's also not as if they were too distinct back then. But while it does obviously focus on technology and how it has changed (and continues to change) the world, it's definitely meant as a realistic, contemporary (published as a serial in 1872, afaict with the dates in the story roughly matching with actual dates) story — e.g. at particularly desperate moment the idea of crossing an ocean by balloon shows up, but is dismissed immediately as undoable.
Definitely the best parts are when Verne pokes fun at the whole British-Empire-gentlemen culture and its absurdities. It's not in any way anti-imperialist, but ig it's refreshing to read this sentiment in …
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought! It's a fun adventure story, and I think probably fits in a lot better with other 19th century adventure stories than it does with other science-fiction of the time, though it's also not as if they were too distinct back then. But while it does obviously focus on technology and how it has changed (and continues to change) the world, it's definitely meant as a realistic, contemporary (published as a serial in 1872, afaict with the dates in the story roughly matching with actual dates) story — e.g. at particularly desperate moment the idea of crossing an ocean by balloon shows up, but is dismissed immediately as undoable.
Definitely the best parts are when Verne pokes fun at the whole British-Empire-gentlemen culture and its absurdities. It's not in any way anti-imperialist, but ig it's refreshing to read this sentiment in "the other way", given how embedded making fun of frenchness often is in english culture and writing?
(also, since at some point i got asked: the voyage in the book is fictional, but apparently its popularity led to people actually trying this, and Nellie Bly did it in 72 days in 1890)
Oh also it's a product of its times, so expect racism and such, but tbh i have read much, much worse from this period, and in most of the chapters it's easy enough to ignore.
Phileas Fogg, gentleman anglais, parie avec les membres de son club qu'il fera le tour …
done! still think the best parts are whenever Verne can poke fun at Britian & its empire. The adventure stories are also fun to read, but well, they are 150 years old now, and not everything has aged well …
Phileas Fogg, gentleman anglais, parie avec les membres de son club qu'il fera le tour …
they're in the USA! *immediately get cought in a riot*
sections on Hong Kong & China are sadly short, but perhaps that's for the best given Verne's (tbh probably not untypical) perception of them? (though he did write an adventure novel set entirely in China, wonder if i should read it sometime)
