T. Kingfisher: Hemlock & Silver

A story about a princess, an evil queen, a magic mirror, and a poisonous apple. Sounds somehow familiar. But the book is much more than a retold Snow White fairy tale. And there are no dwarves.

After her cousin died from accidental poisoning as a child, Anja became extremely interested in poisons and antidotes. She has a rich and doting father, and she has been able to invest all her time in the study of poisons and how to help poisoned people. She has gotten some renown. She is surprised, though, when the king comes to meet her unannounced.  The king's daughter, Snow, has fallen ill. She has periods of vomiting and sickness, and periods when she is better. The best doctors have not found what is wrong with her and have started to suspect poisoning. But even if her foods and drinks are monitored as carefully as possible, nothing seems to help. How do the poisons get to her? And who is trying to kill Snow and why so slowly? Could Anja come to the castle where White lives and find out what is going on? As the question comes from the king, it isn’t something she can refuse.  Anja is escorted to the castle as part of the king’s entourage. She even has two personal bodyguards, as the king is afraid that whoever is poisoning Snow might try to stop Anja from arriving at the castle. 

When she gets to the castle, she is given a lavish room with giant mirrors. A former queen came from a town with the most skillful mirror workmanship and brought with her many exceptionally good mirrors. She meets Snow, who seems to be a smart child but is clearly ill. She tracks everything she eats, but nothing seems poisoned. And her symptoms don’t resemble any poison she knows. One day, when Snow doesn’t notice that anyone sees her, Anja sees her eating a strange metal-shaded apple. Anja grasps it and examines it - it looks very strange with a strange structure. After she feeds some of it to a rooster and it survives, she samples it herself. It tastes bad, but doesn’t seem to have much of an effect, until she falls against a mirror while chasing a misbehaving cat, and falls through the mirror to a strange world where everything seems to be mostly mushed colors and mirrored. What is that world? And what does it have to do with Snow’s illness? And then the story truly starts. 

A pretty good fairytale-like story with an interesting protagonist. A lot happens in the book, even if the beginning was pretty slow, and it seemed not to be a fantasy at all. After falling through the mirror, there certainly were many fantastic elements with very strange, dangerous creatures living in the mirror world and even an intelligent, talking cat who was able to move between the worlds pretty freely. The writing is good and there is a nice light tone, even when some of the events are not so light. The characters are mostly well described and interesting, except perhaps the king – but he is absent for most of the book. There is some romance, also. One of the bodyguards is pretty nice and polite, and even an old spinster in her 30s is affected. Will he return her feelings? This book is another excellent possible Hugo nominee. 

360 pp.

Matt Dinniman: The Butcher's Masquerade (Dungeon Crawler Carl #5)

The next Dungeon Crawler Carl book. Next level of the dungeon is not only filled with ferocious dinosaurs and cruel elves, but it also contains “hunters”, aliens who have paid good money to partake in the slaughter and to hunt crawlers, the humans who still survive. But this time, they are in for a surprise: the humans cooperate and fight back with good success, and the hunters will turn out to be the hunted. The level will culminate in “The Butcher’s Masquerade”, a grand ball meant for top crawlers and hunters. It is supposed to be a peaceful gathering and feast, but who would believe that? Not Carl and his companions and friends. And they are right, of course. 

This was a pretty long book, perhaps too long. Compared to the previous part, I didn’t like it as much, as things seemed to move a bit too slowly—there was a lot of staying in one place, waiting for other people to get things ready for the plots they were hatching. Most of these plots were not revealed to the reader. However, in contrast to the slow pace, the ending was a bit too rushed, with almost every character from the books involved. Since I have a very poor memory for names, it wasn’t easy to keep track of things. On the other hand, as most of the characters died, it didn’t matter so much in the end…  

Because of these pacing issues, I felt this wasn’t the best one in the series, and was worse than part four. However, my reading experience may have suffered because I had a few other books I “had” to finish while simultaneously reading this one. Even so, I am looking forward to the next; this wasn’t series-ending bad by any means. 

732 pp

Alix E. Harrow: The Everlasting

Sir Una Everlasting was a female warrior who pulled a sword from a yew tree, avenged the death of her parents, saved the queen, and led the kingdom to glory. Glory that the fairy militaristic state of Dominion still uses to recruit members to its army and raise nationalistic fervor. 

Owen Mallory was a coward who joined the army after seeing a recruitment poster with Una. He was badly wounded and now works as a professor specializing in folklore, especially tales of Una Everlasting.  One day, he gets a book from an anonymous sender. It is the story of the death of Sir Una Everlasting - a book which was supposed to be lost forever. He starts to examine it, but then the book disappears from his home. He gets invited to the personal office of the former war minister, who might soon be the prime minister. She has the book and tasks Owen with translating it. But as he opens the book, it is empty - he must first write it. And then he falls into the past just next to Una, who nearly kills him. Slowly, they come to an understanding - Una is on a mission to kill the last dragon, get the holy grail it is guarding, and use the grail to heal the ailing queen. They manage their mission and bring the grail to the castle, where there is an ambush. One thing Owen knew was coming from the surviving tales of the hero. At the last moment, he saves the life of Una, but she is shortly killed by one of the queen’s guards who has turned traitor. That makes a moving story, which will boost nationalism for centuries and present an appropriate enemy nation to hate.   

Owen returns to the present, but to the earlier point when he left. He doesn’t really remember the events from the past, but everything seems familiar. Things are perhaps a bit worse than earlier, a new war is coming, and nationalism is rising - and the nation needs stories on which to depend in hard times. He is ensnared again in the past, to rewrite the story, and again. But Owen and Una start to remember the earlier iterations. Can they escape their fate? Is Una doomed to die every time in a way that suits the needs of the propaganda of the future government, and increases nationalism (and the power of the ruler). And how many times have they already repeated everything before they start remembering earlier iterations?

A pretty good story. The mechanism and practice of time travel didn’t make much sense, but that didn’t really hurt too much. What DID hurt a bit was that the term “fascism” was mentioned, and even that it was “making the trains run on time”. So, early 20th-century Italy was a thing in this world? It was pretty jarring. The middle part of the book was pretty slow, but perhaps it was necessary so the reader could get to know the protagonists and their way of thinking, and so the protagonists could get to know each other. The writing was very good, “fable-like” and enjoyable to read. And the ending brought tears to my eyes, even though I was reading it publicly on a train.  

309 pp

R.F. Kuang: Katabasis

Alice is studying practical and theoretical magic at the University of Cambridge. Her thesis adviser, an extremely esteemed professor Jacob Grimes, who has been known to overwork his students to the point of quitting their studies, is blown to (very small) bits due to a spell gone wrong. Actually, it was Alice’s fault, as she was the one who created the carefully constructed chalk drawings needed for the magic. As she was overworked, stressed, and sleep-deprived, she made a tiny mistake that spoiled the spell her professor was casting. 

So, she has a bad conscience. And of course, more importantly, she needs the professor to be able to finish her studies and to secure a good tenure from a well-established university. And she has some other plans, more revenge-oriented, also.  So, she has researched a way to get to hell and the afterlife. She has read her Dante and all available other accounts of hell, but as they don’t really agree on most things, she doesn’t really know what to expect. And cost IS pretty high - half of her lifetime, but as life without tenure at a high-class university isn’t worth anything anyway, she draws the needed pentagrams and is ready to leave.

At the last moment, another student, Peter, who has always been her worst and best competitor, arrives and steps inside the pentagram to go to hell with her. He is another student of the same professor, and it turns out that he has had similar plans. Could they together find the professor? At what level of hell would he be? What is his worst sin?

As hell appears different for everyone, they see hell mostly as a kind of collage. The final level is filing your dissertation, which must be perfect, with no room for improvement. And if it fails, there will be no reason given for the failure; you just must simply create it again, this time perfectly…no matter how much time it will take. The ultimate goal of hell is to bathe in the water of the river Styx, lose your memories, and be ready for rebirth. Practically all the damned could take the bath anytime, but they don’t have the will for it.  

Alice and Peter search for Jabob with little success while they encounter dangers and even some helpful beings, some of whom might have their own agendas. Their relationship and past are slowly revealed through flashbacks, and they learn something from each other – and even more about their connection. Perhaps there is something more important to be discovered during their journey than a dead, sociopathic professor with a tendency to steal the work done by his assistants.

A clever book filled with references to philosophy and game theory mathematics, which sometimes require googling. At the same time, a love story where two protagonists grow as people. The writing is excellent, the characters are well developed (except perhaps the professor, who felt like a caricature, but he was mostly seen from the point of view of students he treated very badly). The critique of the university world, and especially the postgraduate work, is also very good and even biting. This book was clearly better than Babel by the same author. And as that book was unfairly excluded from the Hugo awards, this will most likely be the next winner, partly as a sort of payback but also because of the sheer quality of the book.   

Robert Jackson Bennett: A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan #2)

The book continues the story from last year’s Hugo Award winner. This time, Ana Dolabra and her sidekick, Dinios Kol, are investigating another murder. A man, on important imperial business to a border town, has disappeared, and later, parts of his remains are found in a river. He had settled in for the night, locked his room, and vanished without a trace—except for blood-soaked bedsheets, confirmed to be his by people augmented with an impeccable sense of smell. How did he disappear from a locked room only to turn up dead deep in the jungle?

It begins as a classic locked-room mystery, but Ana quickly unravels the crime's mechanics. The real challenge lies in uncovering the motive and the method. Everything turns out to be part of an elaborate scheme to access a vault containing highly secure contents. From the vault, only one item—something secret—was stolen, and in its place was left a severed head and a note bearing a strange, incomprehensible message.

The political situation in the town is volatile. It is a part of a nominally independent kingdom, but under a century-old agreement, the empire is preparing to annex it soon. Just offshore looms the Shroud, a floating structure where the empire studies gigantic sea-faring leviathans. Their bodies hold the secrets behind the empire’s advances in biological science, but examining them is perilous and demands absolute cleanliness and security. Their blood and secretions trigger uncontrolled growth and mutations in any living matter—even a single plant spore can cause catastrophic consequences.

The culprit turns out to be a man who worked on the Shroud and was thought to have died in a freak accident that claimed several lives. He possesses augmentations that allow him to perceive connections between things so clearly that he seems almost able to predict the future. Why is he doing this? And how do you catch someone who can anticipate every move? Yet Ana Dolabra manages to outthink everyone.

This book is an excellent fantasy detective story—one I found even better than the previous installment. The characters are intriguing, more nuanced, and, in Ana’s case, even stranger than before. The writing is strong, the plot inventive, and the worldbuilding impressive. We learn a little more about the realm, though much remains a mystery. New questions arise as well: What is Ana really? And what significance might that hold for the future?

461 pp.

Robin Hobb: Taikuuden laiva (Ship of Magic, The Liveship Traders #1)

 

Robin Hobbin Fitz-kirjojen väliin sijoittuvan trilogian avausosa. Tapahtumapaikka ei ole sama kuin Fitz-kirjoissa, mutta joitain samoja henkilöitä kirjoissa esiintyy ainakin sivuhenkilöinä, ja aika moni tämän sarjan henkilöistä ovat Fitz-sarjan päätösosassa mukana - tosin kääntäjien laiskuuden vuoksi eri nimisinä. Tässä myöhemmin käännetyssä kirjassa henkilöiden nimet ovat huomattavasti paremmat, kuin aiemmin käännetyissä teoksissa (jotka kirjasarjan sisäisen aikajärjestyksen mukaan tapahtuvat myöhemmin kuin tämä kirja). 

Kirja seuraa useampia eri hahmoja. Althea on ainakin aikaisemmin hyvin varakkaan kauppiasperheen tytär. Hän on ollut vuosia mukana kauppamatkoilla perheen elolaivalla, Railakkaalla, hänen isänsä toimiessa aluksen kapteenina. Elolaiva on alus, joka on rakennettu velhopuusta, joka on elossa ja tietää itse reitit ja osaa välttää myrskyt ja vaarat. Elolaivat ovat kytköksissä aina sukuun, joka ne omistaa, eikä niillä purjehtiminen onnistu vierailta. Kun riittävän monta sukupolvea on omistanut laivan ja kuollut laivan kannella, laiva herää todelliseen tietoisuuteen, jonka jälkeen se pystyy keskustelemaan laivassa olevien kanssa ja hallitsemaan liikkeitään vielä tehokkaammin kuin aikaisemmin.

Althean isä on sairastunut ja laivan viimeisimmällä matkalla on toiminut kapteenina Althean siskon mies Kyle, joka ei ole syntyperäinen Vestridien suvun jäsen, eikä kunnolla ymmärrä mitä elolaivat todellisuudessa ovat ja miten ne käyttäytyvät. Althea on odottanut perivänsä Railakkaan, mutta kun hänen isänsä kuolee, laiva meneekin hänen siskolleen ja Kyle tulee jatkossakin toimimaan kapteenina. Koska laivassa pitää olla mukana jokin verisukulainen, Kyle pakottaa poikansa, jo pappisopinnot aloittaneen, Wintrowin mukaan matkalle vastoin tämän tahtoa. Kyle halveksii poikaansa pehmeänä ja tahdottomana, eikä heidän suhteensa ole hyvä - eikä se kehity laivalla parempaan suuntaan. Althea häädetään laivasta, joka ei ole hänen (eikä Railakkaan) mieleen. Hän päätyy poistumaan kotikaupungistaan ja yrittää päästä mihin tahansa laivaan töihin, mikä ei nuorelle naiselle ole helppoa eikä vaaratonta. 

Samaan aikaan toisaalla merirosvokapteeni Kennit tavoittelee suuruutta - hän haluaa yhdistää merirosvot yhtenäiseksi voimaksi oman johtajuutensa alle. Hänellä on toiveena saada itselleen elolaiva. Perämiehensä kanssa he päättävät tavoitella sellaista, mutta perämies vaatii, että osan ajasta he käyttävät orjalaivojen kaappaamiseen ja orjien vapauttamiseen. Tämä johtaa lopulta Kennitin maineen nousuun, kun hän palauttaa orjiksi kaapattuja kotiinsa ja alkaa muodostaa orjista ja kaapatuista laivoista omaa laivastoaan, joiden miehistö on hänelle elämänsä velkaa.   

Kolmannessa juonisäikeessä seurataan Westridien suvun matriarkan, Ronican ja hänen vanhimman tyttärensä Keffrian kamppailua suvun omaisuuden säilyttämisestä. Rahat ovat loppumassa, ja velanperijät ovat menettämässä kärsivällisyytensä. Ainoa toivo on, että Kyle palaa pian kotisatamaan tuottoisan lastin kanssa. Lastina olisi orjia, sillä niistä saisi parhaan tuoton, vaikka Ronica vastustikin orjakauppaan lähtemistä ja pelkäsi, miten tietoinen laivan kaikki tapahtumat syvästi kokeva elolaiva edes soveltuisi tämänkaltaiseen toimintaan. Lisähuolena on Keffrian tyttären Maltan käytös. Hän on vasta 12-vuotias, lähestymässä 13 vuoden ikää, mutta haluaisi jo päästä osaksi seurapiirejä ymmärtämättä kunnolla mitkä sen päätöksen seuraukset olisivat. 

Kirja on pitkä, ja edellä on oikeastaan enemmän juonien alkutilanne, joissa tapahtuu aika paljon etenemistä. Tästä huolimatta kirja vaikuttaa enemmän nappuloiden asettelemiselta pelilaudalle, ja “varsinainen” juoni on mitä ilmeisemmin alkamassa vasta seuraavassa kirjassa. Henkilöhahmot olivat hienosti luotuja, ja monessa tapahtui jo tämän kirjan mittaan kehitystä. Ei tosin Maltassa, joka oli ärsyttävä kakara koko kirjan. En ymmärrä miten hän on onnistunut pysymään niin tietämättömänä kulttuurinsa tavoista ja kirjoittamattomista säännöistä, vaikka olisikin elänyt aika suojattua elämää. Hän todennäköisesti joutuu seuraavassa osassa kasvamaan aikuisemmaksi hyvin nopeasti. Hieno ja vetävästi kirjoitettu kirja, parempi kuin osa Fitz-sarjan kirjoista, mutta ehkä heikompi kuin parhaat ko. sarjan teokset. 

 

 

I am not going to describe the book in this English part of the review. The book is long, and a great deal happens in it. Despite this, it feels more like the positioning of pieces on a game board, with the “actual” plot clearly only beginning in the next volume.

The characters are finely drawn, and many of them already undergo noticeable development over the course of this book. Malta, however, does not—she remains an irritating child throughout. I find it hard to understand how she has managed to remain so ignorant of her culture’s customs and unwritten rules, even if she has lived a fairly sheltered life. She will most likely be forced to grow up very quickly in the next book.

A fine and engagingly written novel, better than some of the Fitz books, but perhaps weaker than the very best entries in that series.

 810 pp. 

Matt Dinniman: The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl #4)

The next entry in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I thought I would take a little break from the series, but no—I didn’t have enough willpower for that.

This time, the crawlers are split into small pocket “worlds,” each containing four castles they must conquer. The crawlers in Carl’s world are mostly pretty mediocre—at least until they meet Carl and his team. Under his lead, they don’t stay mediocre for long… if they survive. The team must face feral gods, nearly unbeatable opponents, though through cunning, their encounters become at least survivable. Meanwhile, the AI running the dungeons seems increasingly unhinged. At times it appears to favor Carl; at others, it seems to want him dead—preferably in the most gruesome way possible.

Carl and his posse, of course, overcome their challenges and reach the staircase to the next level in time. Along the way, they manage to disrupt the game in a major way. Even before that, their new, exceptionally rude PR person (a sentient worm inhabiting someone else’s body) suffers an “unfortunate accident” resulting in her(?) death. No one can prove Carl had anything to do with it—it was just a string of very unfortunate events, naturally.

The backstage scheming is beginning to affect more and more people in the dungeon, especially high-profile figures like Carl. There seem to be powerful factions that want him dead, but he also has surprising and unknown supporters. His own goal, however, hasn’t changed: burn it all to the ground and avenge the destruction of the Earth.

This was a much better book than Part 3. The pace was even a bit too fast in the latter parts. The political maneuvering will likely grow more important as the series continues. I wonder what the AI (or the author) will throw at the team next. The epilogue hints at some very awkward encounters ahead. The writing may not be the best in the world, but it is undeniably entertaining.

586 pp. 

 

Blake Crouch: Pimeää ainetta (Dark Matter)

 Jason elää rauhallista elämää perheensä kanssa Chicagossa. Hän on fysiikan opettaja keskitasoisessa koulussa. Hänellä on vaimo, Daniela, ja poika, ja heidän elämänsä on varsin tasapainoista ja onnellista.

Eräänä iltana, kun Jason on pistäytynyt entisen ystävänsä juhlissa (ystävä oli voittanut merkittävän tiedepalkinnon), hänet kaapataan. Kaappaaja ruiskuttaa häneen jotakin ainetta, joka aiheuttaa sekavan olon, ja hetkeä myöhemmin Jason herää laboratoriossa vaihtoehtoisessa Chicagossa.

Tässä maailmassa hän ei ole mennyt naimisiin, vaan on jatkanut tieteellistä tutkimustyötään ja kehittänyt lopulta laitteen, jolla voi matkustaa vaihtoehtoisiin todellisuuksiin. Daniela puolestaan on kuuluisa taiteilija, joka on juuri avaamassa uutta näyttelyään.

Organisaatio, joka on ollut mukana laitteen kehittämisessä, ei ole erityisen ystävällismielinen. Kun Jason ei tietenkään muista tämän todellisuuden tapahtumista mitään, organisaatio käy kärsimättömäksi ja lopulta väkivaltaiseksi — se muun muassa murhaa tämän maailman Danielan, koska Jason on etsinyt hänen luotaan turvaa. Jason joutuu pakenemaan takaa-ajajiaan läpi monien rinnakkaisten maailmojen etsien samalla oikeaa ja alkuperäistä perhettään.

Kirja on varsin kevyt ja nopealiikkeinen, mutta kokeneelle scifin lukijalle siinä ei ole juuri mitään yllättävää. Tarina on kyllä sinänsä kiinnostava, mutta kerronta tuntuu paikoin yksinkertaiselta — melkein kuin selkokieliseltä tai nuoremmille lukijoille suunnatulta — ja muutenkin hieman “löysältä”. Tapahtumat tosin vievät välillä selvästi vain aikuisille sallituille alueille.

Kirja on ihan mukava luettava, mutta ei erityisen mieleen jäävä. Kielellisesti se toi jopa Dan Brownin mieleen — mikä ei tässä yhteydessä ole kehu.

Jason lives a peaceful life with his family in Chicago. He works as a physics teacher at an average-level school. He has a wife, Daniela, and a son, and their life is quite balanced and happy.

One evening, after stopping by a party hosted by an old friend (who had just won a major science award), Jason is kidnapped. His abductor injects him with some kind of substance that leaves him disoriented, and moments later, Jason wakes up in a laboratory in an alternate Chicago.

In this world, he never got married but instead continued his scientific research and eventually developed a device that allows travel between alternate realities. Daniela, on the other hand, is a famous artist who is just about to open a new exhibition.

The organization involved in developing the device is far from friendly. Since Jason, of course, has no memory of this reality’s events, the organization grows impatient. Eventually, it turns violent — even going so far as to murder this world’s version of Daniela, because Jason had sought refuge with her. Jason is forced to flee through numerous parallel worlds to escape his pursuers.

The book is relatively light and fast-paced, but for an experienced science fiction reader, there isn’t much that comes as a surprise. The story itself is interesting enough, but the narration feels somewhat simple — almost like it was written in plain language or aimed at younger readers — and overall a bit “loose.” The events themselves, however, clearly belong in the adults-only category at times.

It’s an enjoyable enough read, but not particularly memorable. Stylistically, it even brought to mind Dan Brown — which, in this case, is not a compliment.

400 pp.

Matt Dinniman: The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Dungeon Crawler Carl #3)

I continued this series almost immediately after the previous book.

The next level in the dungeon is strange. It consists of different trains running between stations and monsters travelling on them, and filling most of the stations to the brim. And in many cases, they are replicating at a speed that makes it practically impossible to clear out a station. So, the level is pretty deadly. How to survive? Especially when Carl and Princess Donut lose their guide for most of the time they spend on this level. On the other hand, Carl has received a guidebook about the workings of the dungeon, but he can’t tell anyone about it, or it will disappear from his inventory. Well, they survive by reckless behavior and taking a lot of risks and high inventiveness, and with good cooperation with other “people” (most have so many enhancements and have chosen different races/classes that they mostly don’t look too much like humans anymore), in the dungeon. And by not trusting certain people, even if they seem trustworthy or friendly. 

 The book was quite confusing, as the train system and its functioning were nearly impossible to understand. There was even a warning in the foreword about the complexities of the system and how you should not care about that. Perhaps the better choice would have been to create something easier to understand and ditch the warning? Because of that, this was the least favorite book of the series so far for me.  

534 pp. 

Brandon Sanderson: The Lost Metal (The Mistborn Saga #7)

The final book of the second Mistborn trilogy. Science has been progressing and cars are commonplace, cities are growing and there are technologies which even utilize the magical properties of the word, it is for example possible to store time alternating effects some people have in a grenade of sorts.

The city is under threat. There is a growing distrust between different settlements. Wax’s sister appears to be scheming for something, and it soon turns out that it is possible to construct a weapon equivalent to a nuclear device using rare allomantic metals. If they are combined in a properly exact way, there will be an enormous energy surge, enough to level a major city. The group leader, the sister, is planning to use that weapon - they have trouble developing the delivery mechanism. She is serving another god, who would like to get control of the planet and replace the current god (who is in talking terms with Wax). Are Wax and Wayne able to stop the attack and the possible death of millions of people?  

That was a relatively crude synopsis: it is challenging to write a summary of the third part of a trilogy when most plotlines established in the earlier books are resolved. Everything is, of course, not completely resolved - there will be new books in this series, but at least most of the protagonists (the mortal ones) will change, and there will be a significant forward leap in time.

This was fun, entertaining, and fast-moving, perhaps the best of this trilogy. And, surprisingly, for Sanderson, there were a few dirty (and not bad) jokes. The magic system used in the book is interesting; the world appears to be based on magical principles that are, in essence, practical science, and can be harnessed and utilized in various ways, just like natural laws and mechanisms in our world. I really wonder what kind of “science” this world will produce? Waiting for the following parts. 

507 pp

Emmi Itäranta: Lumenlaulaja

Lumenlaulaja kertoo Kalevalan tarinan toisesta näkökulmasta, eli pohjan akan, Louhen näkökulmasta, jossa Kalevalan sankarit ovat ryöstäjiä ja raiskaajia

Kirja seuraa Louhen koko elämäntarinaa lapsuudesta kuolemaan (ja sen yli), paljastaen hänen motiivinsa ja tekojensa taustan. Tarinan pääpiirteet ovat samat kuin perinteisessä Kalevalassa, mutta näkökulma on toinen ja Louhen syyt nousevat kirkkaasti esiin.

Kirja on täynnä luonnontaikuutta. Louhella on vahvat kyvyt, mutta niin on myös Kalevalan sankareilla – etenkin Väinämöisellä, joka kuitenkin esitetään enemmän vanhana ja hiukan säälittävänä miehenä, joka ei pärjää Louhen tyttärien kilpakosinnassa nuoremmille. Paitsi Pohjola, kirjassa on tärkeässä asemassa Metsänpeitto, Tuonela ja hahmoina hiidet ja Tapio ja muut luonnon jumalat.

Pidin kirjasta todella paljon, se oli yksi parhaita kirjoja mitä aikoihin olen lukenut. ja kielellisesti se toi mieleen Suomaa-romaanin, mutta meni mielestäni jopa sen ohi. Kieli oli kuvailevaa, lyyrisen kaunista ja samalla selkeää ja luettavaa. Se ei sortunut tekotaiteellisiin kikkailuihin tai vaikeamman vaikutelman tavoitteluun, vaan melkein jokainen lause oli oma pieni nautintonsa.

Juoni oli toisaalta tuttu (ehkä jopa olisi voinut ottaa hiukan enemmän vapauksia), mutta näkökanta niin erilainen, että tuntui kuitenkin riittävän uudelta, ja taustat tulivat laajemmin esiin, ja niissä siiten tietysti oli kirjailijan omaa mielikuvitusta myös mukana. Jos tämä ei ole Finlandia ehdokkaiden joukossa, niin kyseessä on suuri rikos.

Lumenlaulaja retells the story of the Kalevala from a different perspective—that of Louhi, the witch of the North, where the so-called heroes of the Kalevala appear instead as raiders and rapists. The book follows Louhi’s entire life story from childhood to death (and beyond), revealing her motives and the background to her actions. The main outlines of the story remain the same as in the traditional Kalevala, but the viewpoint is different, and Louhi’s reasons come clearly to the fore.

The book is full of nature magic. Louhi possesses strong powers, but so do the heroes of the Kalevala—especially Väinämöinen, who here is portrayed more as an old, somewhat pitiful man who cannot compete with younger suitors in vying for Louhi’s daughters. In addition to Pohjola, the story also assigns an important role to Metsänpeitto, Tuonela, as well as figures such as the hiisi spirits, Tapio, and other deities of nature.

I truly loved this book—it was one of the best I’ve read in a long time. Stylistically and linguistically, it even reminded me of another book by a Finnish female author,  Suomaa by Maria Turtschaninoff, though in my opinion, it surpassed it. The language was vivid, lyrically beautiful, and at the same time clear and readable. It never slipped into pretentious tricks or straining for sophistication, but instead offered sentences that could each be admired on their own.

The plot was in some ways familiar (perhaps it could even have taken a few more liberties), but the perspective was so different that it still felt fresh. The backgrounds were fleshed out more broadly, and of course, the author’s imagination was woven into them as well. If this book does not make it among the Finlandia Prize nominees, it will be a grave injustice.

410 pp

Matt Dinniman: Carl's Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2)

The next part in the series is where a (fairly) ordinary man and his former girlfriend’s Persian cat are forced to play live-action D&D to entertain galactic TV audiences. The book continues straight from the last one and covers the third level of the dungeon. The opponents are more challenging, but the protagonists have also levelled up a lot. On this level, it was a bit more complicated than just hack and slash, as there are two pretty complicated quests they are facing, the last of them a near “doomsday” scenario which would destroy a significant portion of the dungeon with all “contestants” in the area if failed, so there is some pressure to succeed. All that while taking part in alien talk shows, gathering followers, and trying not to irritate too much those who are organizing the competition, and being wary of the fellow human contestants. 

 This was a fun book, but slightly less so than the first part, which was hard to beat with its frenetic energy. Things are turning somewhat more serious, and the back plot with different alien factions and planet scheming against each other is growing more important. The writing is smooth, not very “literary”, but straightforward and easy to read and understand. I will return to the next part sooner or later. 

364pp

 

Matt Dinniman: Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl #1)

After reading a lot of praise for this series, I decided to try it myself. I was a bit hesitant to start, since the premise sounded so, so stupid: most of Earth’s inhabitants are instantly killed when all structures—of every kind, from doghouses to vehicles—are destroyed and sucked into the ground. Those who happen to be outside at that moment have only a short window to escape through portals leading to a Dungeons & Dragons–style game—played for real, with real monsters that can actually kill you.

The main characters are Carl, a former Coast Guard officer, and Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend’s Persian cat. They survive because Donut had escaped through an open window, and Carl, rushing to fetch her in his underwear and without shoes, happens to be outside at the exact moment the world is destroyed. Needless to say, they are not very prepared for the monsters awaiting them in the dungeon. Fortunately, there are safe houses and a brief orientation about what they’re facing before they must start killing monsters, gaining experience points, and leveling up. Before long, Princess Donut gains sapience and the ability to speak, becoming an equal adventurer alongside Carl. All of their battles are broadcast galaxy-wide to trillions of viewers.

Between dungeon levels, the most accomplished and most followed fighters (with live statistics tracking followers and favorites) are whisked away to perform on talk shows. Social media fame turns out to be critical—especially in the early stages of the dungeon—because more followers mean better weapons, stronger buffs, and other advantages.

The premise is utterly ridiculous—but the execution is terrific. There’s always something exciting just around the corner. The banter between Carl and Princess Donut, and especially Donut’s personality, is delightful, and their growing friendship is well done. The monsters are imaginative, fun, and ironic. The social media layer adds a lot to the story, and there are intriguing hints about the politics behind it all—since not even the organizers agree on everything. Still, it seems that none of the thousands (or tens of thousands) of viewers see anything wrong with destroying entire planets and their populations purely for entertainment. I wonder if that will become a factor in later books.

 446 pp.

Pierce Brown: Red Rising (Red Rising Saga #1)

The first part of the series that has seen a lot of praise. The book takes place in a fairly far future (at least hundreds of years, perhaps thousands of years in the future). The society is divided into strict classes, which are color-coded. The ”Reds” are the bottom class; they are manual laborers. ”Golds” are the top class; they are the rulers. Darrow is a miner who mines for Helium-3 under the surface of Mars. The miners are told that the mined Helium is used for terraforming Mars, and they are doing vital work for future generations. That is a lie: Mars was terraformed centuries ago. Darrow and his wife are captured in a forbidden area and flogged. His wife sings a forbidden song in defiance and is hanged. Darrow is also hanged later, but it turns out to be a mock hanging. An underground organization of Reds drafts him. He is supposed to pretend to be a red and go to the “Institute,” which would open the most prestigious positions of the gold people for him. Unfortunately, no one really knows what happens in the institute. It turns out that people are divided into different houses, and the houses are supposed to fight with each other until there is a winner with few rules. Before that, all students were paired and forced to fight to the death.  

Darrow is in the Mars clan and slowly gains influence, even if the clan is very divided, and there is little cooperation at first. As can be guessed, Darrow eventually wins the game, even if it is very rigged to favor the son of Mars's ArchGovernor. 

The world and events of the book are a strange mix of Sparta, Rome, feudalism, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Lord of the Flies. The book has a powerful YA vibe. Young people have grueling experiences and eventually achieve victory through absolute misery. I wonder how society would work with such a huge disregard for life? How many children do the Reds usually have? How many children do the _Golds_ have, as their class is also pruned with a very heavy hand? And there is apparently some fighting going on with a heavy and influential military. Against whom? Do the planets battle with each other?

The writing was adequate, perhaps a bit below average – there were no fancy sentence structures. It was a pretty fun read, but perhaps slightly too long. I didn’t entirely get why there has been such a fuss about it. I am not sure if I follow with the next part, I'll see, perhaps at some time?

382 pp.

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Alien Clay

The last of the Hugo-nominated novels this time.

Professor Arton Daghdev has been sentenced to forced labor on the planet Kiln. Earth is ruled by a tyrannical regime known as the Mandate, which tolerates no dissidents. While it is nominally pro-science, it only supports research that confirms its rule and upholds the andromorphic principle, the belief that the human form is the pinnacle of evolution.

Daghdev has conducted research not approved by the Mandate, and it later emerges that he has also been involved with rebels opposing the regime.

Life has been discovered on a few other planets, but nowhere is it as diverse as on Kiln. Though not fully compatible with Earth-based life, the differences are not extreme. Kiln’s organisms are inedible to humans, and while most of their poisons don’t affect us, they can live on and inside the human body. One example is an older scientist who lives in a cage, apparently driven mad, occasionally screaming as Kiln life thrives on her. Yet surprisingly, she remains alive.

Kiln also contains several ruins that appear to have been built by intelligent beings. One of the camp's goals is to discover who built them and decipher their inscriptions. So far, there have been no results—no signs of intelligent life, no tombs, no remains of any builders.

Daghdev is assigned to study the planet’s strange life forms. Most of his work consists of dissecting specimens and performing repetitive statistical analyses. Kiln’s life is bizarre: its animals are assembled from other organisms in an intricate web of symbiosis and parasitism. It’s as if they’re built from biological LEGO bricks, modular, adaptable, and capable of forming nearly infinite new life forms.

Daghdev eventually joins an organized mutiny, which ends in complete failure. As punishment, he is assigned to the “Excursions”—teams sent out from the camp to explore new ruins. The work is extremely dangerous, and everyone on it eventually dies. On one mission, everything goes wrong, and their copter is destroyed. No rescue will come; the camp doesn't value the lives of a few prisoners. The group decides to attempt the long, deadly walk back through the jungle, teeming with alien, poisonous, and hostile life.

But Kiln harbors more than anyone has realized. For those willing to accept it, the planet’s life may offer unprecedented benefits and a strange sense of completeness.

A very good book, with a truly fascinating vision of evolution and alien biology. The writing is solid, the characters may be slightly caricatured, and the ideology of the Mandate could have been explained in more depth—but overall, it’s a strong novel that delivers a real sense of wonder. It gave me a déjà vu of Isaac Asimov’s Misbegotten Missionary. This will be my top choice on the Hugo ballot.

390 pp. 

John Wiswell: Someone You Can Build a Nest In

Shesheshen is a shape-shifting monster. She is awakened from hibernation by an attack — a few monster hunters are trying to kill her. She quickly assembles various parts to rebuild her skeleton and fights back, killing and absorbing a haughty nobleman. However, she is struck by an arrow poisoned with rosemary (which is extremely toxic to her). Badly injured, she falls off a cliff.

Disguised as a human, she is rescued by a kind woman named Homily, who nurses her back to health. Shesheshen has never encountered such kindness before, and the two become very close. But complications soon arise: Homily turns out to be the sister of the nobleman Shesheshen killed and absorbed. Homily believes her family is cursed by the monster and considers it their duty to destroy it. Shesheshen, however, has no memory of ever cursing anyone.

And it turns out that Homily’s mother killed Shesheshen’s mother years ago. And as Shesheshen grows more emotionally attached to Homily, her eggsack begins to develop. It appears to have a will of its own, intent on being implanted in a human host so that her offspring can consume the person from within.

So, there are a few complications in their love story.

But love conquers all — even when there are many, many obstacles along the way.

A fun and unusual romantic story.

The book could have benefited from tighter editing. The monster’s life cycle also raised some questions — how were the eggs fertilized? There were no male monsters present, though it was stated that monsters could be either male or female, implying two sexes. Additionally, if each female only produced one eggsack in her lifetime, and if implanted offspring fought to the death until only one survived, that would mean only one child per female monster — an unsustainable reproductive model.

Shesheshen also seemed a bit too human in her thinking. At times, she was portrayed as naïve, yet she could also grasp complex psychological concepts and recognize signs of mental abuse. Given her lack of prior contact with humans, this felt implausible.

Still, the book was a fun, light read overall.

310 pp.

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Service Model

 The next Hugo-nominated book: Charles is a valet robot who works for his master. He dutifully puts up his travel coats (though his master hasn’t traveled in years), checks his master’s wife’s calendar (she has been dead for a long time), and coordinates everything with the other robots in the household. He is aware that much of what he does is redundant, but as these tasks are on the list, so he completes them nonetheless.

One day, Charles makes a tiny mistake. His hand movements are only about two centimeters off, but when you’re shaving your master’s beard with a razor, that’s a big deal. Strangely, he doesn’t remember the actual event and can’t find a decision tree that leads to that action. When he discovers a human is dead, he notifies the authorities. A police robot arrives and begins interviewing all the household robots, even though Charles makes a full confession. After all, the task lists must be followed even by police robots.

Eventually, the police can identify the murderer: Charles. He is ordered to report for maintenance at the Diagnostics department because he is clearly defective. He is also stripped of his name and thereafter called Uncharles. 

When Uncharles arrives at Diagnostics, he finds a long line. Some robots have already rusted in place, while those still functioning wait patiently for their turn. The Diagnostics department operates very inefficiently, as no humans have overseen the work for some time.

Uncharles meets a Wonk, an apparent robot who claims that Uncharles has caught a “free will virus” and is able to function outside of his programming. Uncharles doesn’t think so—he hasn’t noticed any free will. He decides to find a new place to work—surely there are still humans somewhere who need his services. After all, his mistake was small; he has only killed one employer. It can’t be that serious, right?

So Wonk and Uncharles start a journey through a decaying landscape where they mostly encounter robots trying to function according to their programming, but failing due to the lack of human intervention. What has happened—and why?

A fun, ironic book with some obvious digs at modern corporate greed—if something looks good on a quarterly report, it’s deemed good, regardless of long-term repercussions. 

Especially in the beginning, the writing felt a bit long-winded; the descriptions of Charles/Uncharles’s task list and his (in)ability to edit it took up too much space. A bit of condensation might have improved the pacing overall.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty good book—but it won’t be my top choice this year, there are even stronger contenders.

376 pp.

Robert Jackson Bennett: The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan #1)

This was the first Hugo nominee I read on purpose. The story is a classic Holmesian detective tale, featuring a brilliant investigator, Ana Dolabra—official investigator of the Empire—who solves crimes with the help of her (only slightly) less clever assistant, Dinios Kol. Another apt comparison might be the Nero Wolfe novels, as Ana rarely leaves her home.

The setting is particularly intriguing. The coast is bordered by an enormous wall, protecting the land from colossal sea monsters—leviathans larger than King Kong. If they breach the wall, widespread destruction and death follow. The most desirable places to live are far inland, where the threat of monsters and contagion (which also originates from beyond the wall) is minimal. The Empire's military is massive, but it exists primarily to battle these creatures, not other nations.

People in this world have undergone some kind of (possibly genetic) augmentation—for strength, enhanced senses, or, in the case of Dinios Kol, perfect memory. He can recall crime scenes and witness interrogations in flawless detail. However, he has a secret: reading is incredibly difficult for him, and he survived his studies solely thanks to his intelligence and photographic memory.

The worldbuilding is intentionally sparse but provides just enough context to follow the story and understand most aspects.

The central mystery kicks off when an officer, who had been visiting the estate of a powerful noble, is found dead—with a tree having grown through him, the floor, and the ceiling of his bedroom. It's a gruesome scene. Ana and Dinios quickly determine how the murder was committed and identify the mansion employee who executed the mechanical aspects of the plan. But who commissioned the murder, and why, are much harder questions. Then, a series of similar deaths follows. This time, the rapidly sprouting trees breach the coastal barrier, allowing a monster to escape. A wide-reaching conspiracy begins to unfold—one with potentially massive implications.

The characters felt vivid and real, and the world was both creative and compelling, even though we learned relatively little about it. (Is it a terraformed world where the seas still harbor the planet’s original, partly toxic life? That seemed the most plausible explanation.) The writing was strong, and the plot mostly held together well. The one weak point was the ultimate motive behind the conspiracy—it didn’t feel entirely convincing. The level of greed and emotional detachment required seemed a bit too extreme.

Still, it was an entertaining read that sparked a lot of curiosity about this unique world. Hopefully, the author has indeed fully developed the setting—and not just thrown in odd details without a cohesive world-building "bible" behind them.

410 pp

Katherine Arden: The Warm Hands of Ghosts

The book is set during the First World War, in the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion. A young nurse, Laura, has returned from working in a field hospital after sustaining an injury. She lost her mother in the explosion. Her brother, Freddie, is fighting in Europe and is presumed lost. Laura receives his jacket and dog tags in the mail. But was he really lost? How could those things have been sent back home? Determined to find out what happened, she decides to return to the front—especially after a pair of elderly women who conduct séances claim that Freddie is not dead.

Freddie’s story is told in alternating chapters as flashbacks. During an attack, he finds himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with no visible means of escape. He resigns himself to a slow death—until he discovers he’s not alone. An enemy soldier, Hans Winter, is also there. After a period of suspicion and tension, they become unlikely comrades. Eventually, they manage to escape and end up wandering in no man's land. Neither wants to abandon the other, but they can't return to either side—one of them would be considered the enemy and likely imprisoned or worse.

As Laura makes her way to the front, she encounters a strange man who appears to run an impossible restaurant just behind the trenches. There is wine, fine music, and a mysterious atmosphere—but something feels off. Rumors surround the place, and it’s said that no one ever returns from it. Freddie’s path eventually leads him to the same man (while Winter, after being treated in an Allied hospital, escapes as soon as he’s well enough). Freddie is essentially captured by the mysterious man and begins to lose parts of himself.

The book is perhaps more of a historical novel with supernatural overtones than a pure fantasy. Somehow, it didn’t really engage me. At times, it felt slow and carried a sort of translucent, dreamlike tone. The mythical elements were never fully explained or grounded in any sensible logic. The man simply captured fragments of souls to create music—but how or why was never clear. I wonder if even the author knows. I’m not a big fan of mild (very mild) supernatural horror with romantic undertones, and ultimately, I wasn’t a great fan of this book.

325 pp. 

Robert Lynn Asprin: Little Myth Marker (Myth Adventures #6)

 

The next in the Myth series, Skeeve, a still-learning magician, and his friend Aahz from the dimension of Perv are living pretty comfortably. They have managed to get into a position where they are able to collect fees both from the mob and the town they are supposed to protect from the mob. One night, Skeeve manages to win a lot of money in poker even if he doesn’t know the complicated rules of the game. As collateral for part of the winning, he gets to his surprise a young girl. New females in his life won’t stop there: he gets as a present from a mob leader a “molly”, a nice looking young woman, who is supposed to be his girlfriend and is very friendly. At some point, he finds out that there is someone who is aiming to destroy his reputation, and he is supposed to take part in a very high stakes poker game as he was good at the earlier game. 

Not nearly as good as some of the first installments of the series. The humor is pretty forced and mostly not very funny. The main characters are starting to be pretty irritating and the plot feels forced (and very aged).  

208 pp.