DNF roundup
Jul. 23rd, 2026 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lightreadsThe Light Between Worlds by Laura Weymouth
YA historical fantasy about three siblings who are transported from their 1942 London bomb shelter to a fantasy woodland, also at war. The story picks up years later, after their return, when the youngest is away at school and wants only to go back to the woods. This is very good at what it is doing (thinking about Narnia, obviously, but much more than that). It is about grief and longing – this is post war England, so everyone has lost someone. But this book hit me at the wrong time, and it kept doing that optical illusion thing: is it a vase or two faces? Is it a tender portrait of teenaged depression or is it just super emo? That, and the jacket copy promised a plot which had not materialized in any way by over the halfway point, so I bowed out. A good book, I think, but not for me, not today.
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
I thought I could read this (copyright 1962) as historical document. But it gave me the ick so powerfully in the first 15% that I just cannot. The sexual politics ick, the racial politics ick, the everything ick honestly.
Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg
Fantasy from the early 2000’s about a criminal taking shelter in an abbey with his book of magical maps, something something something. Read 20% and was extremely bored. I definitely did not give this enough time to tell me what it is actually about, but I did give it enough time to really notice how there are no women here. At all.
The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard
Read exactly one (1) story, said “nope!” out loud, and moved on. I’m a hard sell on short fiction to start with. If you add in the sort of sexual politics I can only describe as “yikes,” I’m out. He might be a genius at this, but there are other geniuses.
Red City by Marie Lu
Urban fantasy romance about two lonely kids (both of color) who grow up together and then end up on opposite sides of something something alchemy gangs. I can tell this is interesting, but I got it out of the library twice and both times was not in the mood for quiet kid misery. Not the book’s fault, they do grow up and I would believe this is very good.
YA historical fantasy about three siblings who are transported from their 1942 London bomb shelter to a fantasy woodland, also at war. The story picks up years later, after their return, when the youngest is away at school and wants only to go back to the woods. This is very good at what it is doing (thinking about Narnia, obviously, but much more than that). It is about grief and longing – this is post war England, so everyone has lost someone. But this book hit me at the wrong time, and it kept doing that optical illusion thing: is it a vase or two faces? Is it a tender portrait of teenaged depression or is it just super emo? That, and the jacket copy promised a plot which had not materialized in any way by over the halfway point, so I bowed out. A good book, I think, but not for me, not today.
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
I thought I could read this (copyright 1962) as historical document. But it gave me the ick so powerfully in the first 15% that I just cannot. The sexual politics ick, the racial politics ick, the everything ick honestly.
Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg
Fantasy from the early 2000’s about a criminal taking shelter in an abbey with his book of magical maps, something something something. Read 20% and was extremely bored. I definitely did not give this enough time to tell me what it is actually about, but I did give it enough time to really notice how there are no women here. At all.
The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard
Read exactly one (1) story, said “nope!” out loud, and moved on. I’m a hard sell on short fiction to start with. If you add in the sort of sexual politics I can only describe as “yikes,” I’m out. He might be a genius at this, but there are other geniuses.
Red City by Marie Lu
Urban fantasy romance about two lonely kids (both of color) who grow up together and then end up on opposite sides of something something alchemy gangs. I can tell this is interesting, but I got it out of the library twice and both times was not in the mood for quiet kid misery. Not the book’s fault, they do grow up and I would believe this is very good.
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Date: 2026-07-24 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-07-25 01:12 am (UTC)I DNF's Man in the High Castle as well. Don't need it. Nope.