...the Soul of Wit

Here are the reviews for some more of my latest reads. I am recently really trying to diversify my reading and not to get stuck on horror alone. That's why miraculously there are two regular fiction and one science fiction books among this week's short reviews. Enjoy! 

A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1) by Arkady Martine

The space station Lsel is requested to send a new ambassador to "The City", the capitol of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire. New attaché Mahit Dzmare is not only a connaisseur and admirer of the utterly compelling Teixcalaanli language and culture, she also carries within her a technology that even emperors would kill and certainly already have killed for. When, upon her arrival, she is confronted with the fact that her predecessor Yskandr Aghavn has died, she needs to solve the mystery behind this death as well as save herself and her Station in times of great political instability.
I finally found a new SF series that is profoundly interesting and intriguing enough to keep me glued to the pages. While reading A Memory Called Empire I was repeatedly impressed by the meticulousness and diligence with which Arkady Martine has created an empire, its culture, its intrigues, its workings and its language. If superlative universe building leaves you cold, then the mystery at the fulcrum of the book will keep you captivated. My only problem was that the really unusual name-formation in the Teixcalaanli language overstrained my humble brain and I was absolutely not able to remember any other characters than the five lead figures in the focus of this book. If you read it and have a trick please let me know. Can't wait for the second book!

By the way, we're reading this and the second of the Teixcalaanli series, A Desolation Called Peace, for a mega-moot in May for the online Otherland Book Club. Join us if interested!

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

Wonderful! I knew I would like this book but never thought I'd end up enjoying it as much as I did!
It would be true but too simple to say that Yu displays the reality of Asian American stereotypes recounting the lives of three generations of a family. And it would definitely be unfair not to mention what he actually accomplishes through the very form of this story.
Even in his own life aspiring actor Willis Wu literally plays the role of the generic Asian guy, even though he set his heart on becoming the Asian American dream: the Kung Fu Guy. Interior Chinatown is the story of him coming to touching and sheer overwhelming insights about his history, his family, his identity but also about poverty, old age and life in general, served to us readers in small film extracts. While reading Interior Chinatown I was in parts genuinely touched and sometimes I laughed myself silly. It takes a fine author like Yu to treat such grave subjects with such playfulness, in such a monumental way.

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Beautiful and striking Ayoola has an unusual problem: she tends to kill the men in her life. And whenever she does it again, her grumpy older sister Korede comes running to organize the aftermath; clean up crime scene, get rid of body, rehearse consistent statements as to what happened. Even though Korede isn't exactly happy about the situation and doesn't want be an accomplice in this murder game, she never really does anything serious to stop it. When Ayoola starts showing interest in Tade, a bright doctor at the hospital Korede works as a nurse, things become very complicated to say the least, because Korede has been secretly in love with him for years. She is left torn between wanting to prevent the worst-case-scenario and staying loyal to her family.
There are passages in this book so grotesquely funny that you will often find yourself facepalming and asking yourself just what in the world is wrong with these girls? And dispersed between these grotesque passages Braithwaite gives her readers the answer to that very question. Insights into the family history slowly but surely put each piece of the puzzle in its place, leading to a strong finale.
This isn't only the story of two sisters going on a killing spree through Nigeria. It is, if not heartwarming, still a realistic and comprehensible account of how family works and the comfort we find in it - no matter how dysfunctional it is. 

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

The subtitle to Michelle Paver's enthralling Dark Matter states that it is a ghost story, and it indeed is. But the horrors Jack Miller endured during a 1937 arctic expedition to Gruhuken, the most haunted (fictional) place in the Arctic, are also in big part due to his isolation, his being cut-off from the civilization he loathed so much under normal circumstances. And that aspect, so timely and insightful these days, is what interested me the most here.
No need to remark that Paver, as a real connaisseur of the big ice, does great at describing the polar landscapes and the awe-inspiring impressions they have on us. The character development was very plausible, making it easy to feel with and root for Jack and, on a last note, I really liked the tragic story of the ghost itself too.
So it was an all around delightful experience to read Dark Matter. This was a re-read for me, I had read this book a couple of years ago, but have read it again for a group discussion on goodreads and still enjoyed it. I maybe should add that I read it during the great snow storm we had this year, so it was all the more effective to me, who deeply hates snow. I hear the author has published other ghost stories too, so I might have a look at those in the future. 

Desperation by Stephen King

There comes a moment in the life of even the most avid Stephen King reader where they are puzzled upon encountering a King title they never ever heard of before.

There also comes a moment in the life of every great King fan that they read a book by him they absolutely hate.

Desperation is both to me.

This doorstopper of a book starts off with various groups of people being halted, tricked and abducted while traveling the Highway 50 in Nevada (the loneliest place on Earth) by the town deputy - an absolute giant of a man who is clearly insane and ... slowly bleeding from every pore and hole in his body. He throws these people into cells in the little mining town fittingly named Desperation. This is just the beginning of the story and my absolute favorite part of it, from here on there are so many left turns and twists that it will make your head spin.

Nevertheless, this book isn't my cup of tea. King often confronts pure good against poor evil and his inherent belief in good, which sometimes do take religious proportions, is the basis for most of his books. But with all due respect and love for Stephen King, I best like my books not-religious in any way and this one had a very strong numinous quality, too strong for me. Still, I found the Stephen King book I like the least, which is good to know too.