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I'm so hyped for this book. In the start i didn't connect as much, but each chapter i'm enjoying it more and more

Really funny how you think Frank Herbert should do other things instead of being the unique writer he is. It just simply wasn't for you. You don't have to put down others who do enjoy it. That's not a hot take, that's just you being an elitist about character development. It felt a lot less like personal opinion and more like "i dont get why you like this garbage".

LFG!!! Rotten honey and the horror of area X seeping in to the Southern Reach.

Mieville is always place near VanderMeer as one of the early figureheads of the new weird fiction genre/movement yet I never read anything of his besides the one issue of the comic Hellblazer. Interested to hear the review when it comes out. Didn't know he wrote a book with Keanu Reeves. I know Keanu co-wrote, well, in the same capacity as this novel probably, a comic (graphic novel?) some time ago. Seems like he really likes print media. As for The Drop, I can safely say that like many of Lehane's standalone novels(except for one), are among his best work. It started as a short story that was adapted into a movie that no one saw, sadly and got reworked into a novel. Anyway, still going to submit The Imago Sequence as my rec. Fits perfectly with the ongoing Area X trilogy.

Control, himself, is going crazy. Can't wait.

Don't forget to ALSO upvote comments of suggested books since I can only pick 5. Or we might be in another poll off.

"He had a sudden image of information floating out the side of his head in a pixelated bloodred mist."

Guess I need to make a pretty version of my map 😅 I really like how he chose to do the back and forth. I sometimes don't like that in books but it feels so right in this setting, a very puzzle-y vibe.

2nd Floor by Julian Greystoke! She's fellow indie BookTuber and once you read it, you can interview her!

Great review and I agree that the slim characterization is intended. I just posted my own gushing review th-cam.com/video/ms79givTPRI/w-d-xo.html

Cold Skins by Albert Sanchez Pinol- a VanderMeer "influence" referenced in that one article. Just got in from the library so that's my vote

Blacktop Wateland or some other SA Cosby. B/c you got me to order it, so I selfishly want to also hear your thoughts.

monstrilio by gerardo sámano córdova

Well, I'm just getting all the attention today aren't I? 😊😊 I hope you enjoy The Drop, it's definitely a good starting place for Lehane I think. It was one of my first aside Shutter Island. It's also not very long so you could knock it out pretty quickly. Also the movie's great too, with a phenomenal final outing from James Gandolfini (God rest 'im.) As for Mieville and Keanu's collaboration...well, I hope you enjoy it. I haven't read it yet but I don't know if that's where I'd start. I'd hate if you got a bad impression from just that book, because when Mieville's cooking, he can be really great. I don't know what to go with...how about City of Thieves from David Benioff. Now before you blow me off, it's a really good book. He can really write when he's not botching endings of beloved franchises. Great video!

Hmm. Not sure The Paths We Have Taken: Volume II You might have to finish it in a week. The most miserable experience of your life.

I'm so pleased you enjoyed My Death! I really enjoyed it too. I'm looking forward to your review of the Keanu Reeves book. On the fence if I want to try it 😅

I like Malazan but it’s definitely not a character driven work. I liked it more for the world building and lore, but I do think the later books have more interesting characters. Have you read Robin Hobb? Character driven work is her thing. My favorite author of all time

Such surface level critiques from Shapiro, it’s not difficult to wonder why he’s a failed writer. Good writers have the ability to write povs of characters with a different worldview, and put themselves into someone else’s shoes to create an interesting character. But Ben Shapiro is too obsessed with his politics and ideology, the politics is literally his identity. He lacks the ability to think and emphasize, which is why he is a failed writer. He literally cannot write a human experience. You should look at his Barbie film review 😂 that was my first video from him and I was shocked to see a guy getting so angry over a film about Barbie. Basically cannot criticize media without injecting his own politics into it Also I find it very sad that no matter how many shows like The Last of Us exist, people like Shapiro will never change and refuse to emphasize. His politics comes first, which is why he totally missed the point of the episode. All he says is: gay, gay, gay, gay like a parrot 😂 Hopefully he doesn’t watch Arcane, otherwise he’ll rant and go: “lesbian, black cannot exist!!” 😂😂 I think Shapiro just wanted the show to be completely heterosexual, because he doesn’t see gay people as human beings, therefore he rejects episode 3 as a depiction of the human experience.

Yeah, I would have loathed this book, lol. Going off of another comment in this section, utopia is impossible because it is partly psychological. We are evolved to reproduce in a broad sense, which requires some semblance of problem solving, at least in the context of human beings. The instant we fix one problem, we'll search for another. The fact that we went from "how do we feed ourselves?" to "this person misgendered me," all the while treating each as a great moral crime, says mountains about what we are.

Wonderful analysis. Regarding what you said about "When you have perfection, what is there to be upset about?", I interpreted that as the entire point of the novella. Just look at our own real lives. We live in an era in which humans are generally safer, wealthier, and with more food security than any point in our species' existence, yet it hasn't translated to happiness. For a self-aware/thinking being, there's more to life than the essentials, therefore a utopian setting where all the basics are met is the perfect setting to explore these purposes. Agreed about the philosophical themes. Chambers is a wonderful writer, but I personally wish for a little more oomph in the philosophy and science departments to really drive her wonderful premises home.

Interesting to hear some points you mentioned during the discussion a few weeks ago but more fleshed out

I've seen this around, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. Seemed a bit saccharine for my taste.

Inclusive character - check. Take your Hugo. 🎉 I still think you gave up on Fifth Season too soon.

Do you write? Or just bitch about writers?

I would love it if you reviewed my short story called "Quattuor IV:The book of Aurelius". It was a first official attempt at writing a story that would be published. I can only hope that I get you to review it.

No offense, but this coming from a white man is pretty ironic and insulting

I definitely prefer this one over Annihilation. It's more detailed, and I prefer that over the lean and mean. Both are good, though.

Great video. I think I also feel less engaged, enjoy this second book a little less than the first. For me it might just be that the shift in context to the offices of the Southern Reach makes the story (so far) a bit more conventional and less exotic. I feel like I started out watching Alien, but now I'm watching Severance. It's still creepy, quirky and mysterious, but in a different way. This is my first reading, so I don't know what comes next, but you alluded to Control going to Area X himself. I am looking forward to that because since this book is more distant, second-hand, and removed from Area X, that also makes it less engaging for me.

Also the message is a knife 🔪😮 thinking about that a lot

🐜👀 I love the line about being the ant or the woman. Is control the spy in the southern reach or... 🐜🐜🐜

Catching up on Annihilation content now- great video! Helped me notice some things I didn’t pick up on. I confess as I didn’t realise it was a report on my first read I assumed it was all factual so it’s interesting to consider the unreliable narrator on a second go. It’s interesting how her identity is blending into area x but arguably her identity eroded even before she entered as her name was taken away. Great chapter and I love the sense of foreboding with the tunnel/tower. It was perfection!

Working on a book series, "Cathead", which is about animal-human hybrids being created as artificial lifeforms (think Beerus having the same backstory as Cell). I'm illustrating the story and cover art, which is fun to do.

Business man!

I thought this book was awful. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Fidati che se sei una donna, odierai Wallace abbastanza da emettere un gridolino di gioia alla fine ;)

Plot over character is a tough sell for me as well. Great review of this. Love and agree with the objective/subjective breakdown.

I'm sorry to be basic but your voice is impeccable, even if it sounded weird in the intro 😂

I like it. Well done on a creative, immersive approach 🎉

You did it, you actually did it, you actually got it, didn't disappoint, it's not 1:1 with my own pessimism but holy hell, you god damn figured the movie out. (What the hell is this world coming to where I have to congratulate something so basic?)

Yes, exactly how I felt when I read this book. Great review. Thank you!

Was confused at first when the thumbnail has 6 and thought I missed out another the other 5 instead of it continuing from the Annihilation series. Lol. Excited for this one. Authority is my favourite. Annihilation is great. Felt fresh and new but still a bit traditional in terms of weird fiction goes. Authority though, a different beast all together. Better on rereads too. The shady government agency stuff gave some Barron or the Green Delta books in term of weird fiction stories.

Thank you for this review! This was the second LaValle book I read, and while I do not like it as much as Changeling or Devil in Silver, I still liked it. I think it is difficult to talk about this book and its quality without going into race, racism, and the black experience. This I find very difficult to talk about myself, as a white man. Nonetheless, I feel LaValle's idea was to take a popular Lovecraft story and focus its horror and message on something very different than what Lovecraft did. For example, as you say he gives up the ghost and loses you on the fear of the unknown, but to the Lovecraft experienced reader, there is no unknown here. We have read Red Hook, we know how it goes and we know generally what the reveals and machinations of the Elder Things are. The real horror I think Lovecraft is going for is the very real social horror of what life was like for minorities in Lovecraft's time and elsewhere. SPOILERS The real horror for Tommy isnt Cthulu. it's the violence perpetrated on his father by the police. I dont want to ramble too much because I do not have the qualifications, but in short i dont think the book is just "i want to do race and racism because Lovecraft was racist," but instead to answer the question "who would be the ones who would be so angry at the world that they would want to summon Elder Things and destroy it?" I hope i did not overstep my bounds here. Thank you again for the review, and i look forward to hearing more of them as i continue to dip my toes into horror as a genre.