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Oili Tanninen was a pioneer of minimalist children’s book illustration, using only scissors and colored paper to create her bold, graphic art. Her 1967 classic Hippu tells an entire story using just three colors: red, black, and white
https://fairplayprojects.com/products/hippu
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Question about bookselling around the world
I'm from Germany and here we have this law called "Buchpreisbindung" = "fixed book price", which means a book (only the ones in german though) must be sold for the same price everywhere, be it bookshop, super market or online, unless it is damaged. So when the store has books that don't sell so well they will damage the book slightly (usually some cuts on the spine or backcover) so that the Buchpreisbindung doesn't apply anymore.
When I first realized they damaged the books on purpose when I was a teen I was somewhat heartbroken. I am now wondering if that is a thing anywhere ekse around the globe, or if it's a typically german thing.
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The Railway Children
This was the first proper book that I remember very clearly reading by myself, clearly. Not reading with my mom, not reading in school, not a silly skinny little kid's book with bright illustrations on every page but a proper book with a few line drawings and all text otherwise, that you could riffle the pages with your thumb, reading fully by myself, in my own room, at home. I must have been around six then.
It was one of those old paperback Puffin books, with a bright orange back, and a photo from the TV show of the three children and their mom at the front. I must have read and reread it a thousand times before I was done with childhood.
I loved the E Nesbit books- The Enchanted Castle also deserves its own post at its own time, but being the first first book, ever, The Railway Children has a special place for me.
I can't quite do justice to how the adventures of the children hit me. I didn't want to be them, I didn't want to live in an English village, I wasn't fascinated by trains, I didn't want a poet/writer mother who raged at me if I asked for help, and a mysteriously absent father, I was quite happy with my nice life thank you very much- I just loved reading about them. Everything about the book was so strange and without being magic and Narnia, if that makes sense? The India silk dresses. The Russian exile. The Hare and Hounds game. The railway man furious that they made him a birthday tea and gathered presents for him. Oh yes, the class politics.
The family. Bobby's name being actually Roberta and then called Bobby. The poem Mother wrote for her birthday. I know the first lines by heart "Our darling Roberta, No sorrow shall hurt her"- but Mother, are you stupid, "Roberta" doesn't rhyme with "hurt her"!
I didn't like Mother. Even at the age of six, I knew that moving into a pretty white "cottage" where you only had one (or two) servants instead of however many you had in London was eye-rolling-worthy, and getting mad that the servant spread out our evening "tea" in the wrong room so you couldn't find it was not really a thing. I couldn't really believe she was supporting them all from her writing either, frankly, and I hated her for telling off Phyllis for using jam and butter instead of jam or butter, as they were too poor for both. Fuck off, Mother.
Do you remember the first proper book you ever read?
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The power of now by Eckhart Tolle , worth reading?
Hello, I've been wondering these past days if it's really worth buying the book "the power of now" by Eckhart Tolle l've read reviews online that it has changed millions of people's lives and I'm wondering if any of you have read this book and how impactful was it in you day to day life. Never been much of a reader but I want to start reading more as it's said that it is really good for mental clarity and wellbeing.
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time, I was disturbed by the mundane cruelties enabled within, and I sympathized with the women and children who had to live under an oppressive patriarchy.
Okonkwo is the perfect subject for a novel like this, an undeniably tragic and vile man sculpted by toxic masculinity. He strangely reminds me of Charles Marlow, not so much in personality, but in their respective roles. Both of them are staunchly against white imperialism after they’ve seen what it has done to their friends, family, and morals.
The irony with both men is that their moral compasses are inherently flawed due to their societal upbringing. Okonkwo is just as bigoted, if not moreso, than Charles Marlow. He views “effeminate” men, women, and foreigners in contempt. But like Marlow, the fear of foreigners stems from their sole interactions being violent and frightening.
The Importance of Perspectives
Unlike Conrad, Achebe does give the “other side” a voice. White people even get multiple voices. Mr. Brown, the first white Christian missionary to appear in the story, is open-minded and respectful of the Igbo people. He does not provoke them to anger.
On the contrary, if he cannot convince them immediately, he throws up his hands and leaves them in peace. He also makes a conscious effort to learn more about Igbo culture, looking for compromises, and providing genuine benefits to the community through a school and a hospital.
Is he still a Christian deadset on converting others to his religion? Is he still part of an imperialist machine looking to change people’s way of life? God yes, he’s a white missionary from the 1800s. But he does so without demonizing the people he wants to “save,” something so rare for even real-life Christians in positions of power. It’s an ideal that balanced the Igbo people and the British, even if it was short-lived.
When he left, he was swiftly replaced by Mr. Smith, a more familiar flavor of Christian. He has no patience for the “primitive and pagan” ways of the Igbo people and dismantles the diplomacy Mr. Brown established with the tribe. It is his actions that lead to blood eventually being spilled between the British and the Igbo people.
Finally, we have the District Commissioner. Not even named in the narrative, and yet he is the POV that haunted me the most. A man who views the imperialist mission not with religious fervor, but as a job. After everything we know about Okonkwo, his desire for legacy and to bring pride to his people, flawed as he was, the Commissioner puts him down as a “fun” anecdote in a novel he’s writing about the pacification of primitive tribes.
I honestly feel this was Achebe calling out white authors who speak of colonialism from a purely white perspective. Even though Joseph Conrad was staunchly anti-imperialist, he did the same thing as the District Commissioner. He wrote a book about his experiences in Africa, where the African people become footnotes in a story about white men.
Final Thoughts
I know this post makes it seem like I’m hyping up Things Fall Apart and knocking down Heart of Darkness, but that is not my intention. I firmly believe they are great companion pieces to each other.
Heart of Darkness depicts the internal struggles and justifications that imperialists use to cope with their actions. It shows how in the neverending quest for material wealth and territorial power, colonizers lose more of their soul before it inevitably comes crashing down on them.
Things Fall Apart is the opposite, showcasing the experiences of native people forced to adapt to an unfamiliar and aggressive force. Even with their problematic past, the novel makes a case for the Igbo cultural identity, emphasizing that any flaws must be ironed out by the Igbo themselves. Not because white people hijacked their culture and replaced it with Christianity.
Anybody interested in the colonization of Africa owes it to themselves to read both. Frankly, more people should be open to reading contrasting works if the quality is this high for both. It paints a more complete picture of the time and
Cool idea for a book-related website!
Hi, everyone! Just came here with a thought, and I feel like many of you will agree with me. I’m a big reader of classics, and more often than not the editions of classics that I buy have an introduction or foreword to them, and I’m always wondering if reading it will spoil the book’s contents.
I saw down this morning with the Penguin Classics edition of Steinbeck’s Pastures of Heaven and couldn’t decide whether to read the book’s introduction before starting the book, because I really don’t want to ruin the story for myself if I can avoid it.
And I started thinking: how cool would it be if there was a website dedicated to letting readers know whether an introduction or foreword spoils the story or not? I do get that most introductions tend to spoil some elements of the story in one aspect or another—that it can be hard to give critical insight regarding a book without doing so—but there’s other books that have introductions that manage to avoid spoilers. Because I really like getting all of the background knowledge that I can regarding a novel before reading it, I generally will read an introduction before the novel if I don’t think I’ll be too invested in its story. But if I do know I’ll be invested, then I’ll avoid the introduction and come back to it once I’ve read the novel.
TLDR: It would be super cool if a website existed that lets readers know whether a book’s introduction spoils the novel’s story or not.
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Where can I print a book for myself? (within the EU anyway)
I have a collection of short-stories (ebook and in PDF) that were released in order to hype up the release of a videogame that has shut down since. These stories never received a physical release, and I've been wanting to treat them like a normal book read.
But I honestly have no idea where to even start. I've found some places online, but they were mainly US-based and were asking for absurd amounts of money. I've tried to print these myself, but it just doesn't look right and it's not as fun to read like a regular book.
It doesn't even have to be anything fancy, just a paperback would be enough for me. I'm more than open to suggestions!
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Resellers and Goodwill Thrift bookstores. Why do they get under my skin?
I LOVE my local Goodwill bookstore. It’s a treasure hunt with some great finds for my collection. I credit the Goodwill bookstore with me first reading my favourite authors Ursula K Le Guin. Most books are are $2.50 - $5.99 for paperbacks and $7.99 for hardcovers. Of course this is what attracts the resellers.
About once a week, you’ll noticed them with a scanner to check the value of books, grabbing anything that is in good condition. At most times it’s 3-4 people combing the whole store (which looks like a lot since the store is so tiny. This really annoys me when I walk in to see this and I’m not to sure of the real reason why. From the perspective of the Goodwill, they get their money, but it does feel like there’s something wrong going on.
I really don’t know…What’s your take on these practices?
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What are the best audiobooks ?
I just finished DCC and it was amazing. I think it set a new standard for audiobook quality in the modern times. Now the question is - what's next?
I've already listened to The First Law and Red Rising, both of which I loved. Next on my list are Gentlemen Bastards, The Blacktongue Thief, or Project Hail Mary.
Any recommendations on which to start next or something else entirely? It doesn't necessarily have to be fantasy, and I know it’ll be hard to match DCC's production quality.
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What Do I Do Now?
So, I am currently reading Mystic River (my first Dennis Lehane novel) and I am seriously terrified that this guy might have ruined other authors for me. I have never read an author that does the character work that I am experiencing in this book. I have lost count of the moments that feel like actually magic. Not hyperbolic magic, but straight up witchcraft in the way that it makes me feel. He takes the little things we all experience but never think to talk about, and he highlights it in a way that creates a tapestry of the human condition. If this sounds like nonsense, I’m sorry. I’m not Dennis Lehane. Anyone who loves to read who has yet to check this guy out, clear your TBR.
Like…right now.
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Inside the Blurb-Industrial Complex: One of Literature’s Most Ancient Traditions Is Under Threat. Authors Are Thrilled.
https://slate.com/culture/2025/02/simon-and-schuster-blurbs-book-publishing-marketing-authors.html
https://redd.it/1ijxs8w
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Joint Letter Objecting to Censorship in New White House Executive Order on Gender Identity: Letter Signed by More Than 50 Organizations Representing Authors, Publishers, Booksellers, Librarians and Advocacy Nonprofits
https://pen.org/press-release/joint-letter-objecting-to-censorship-in-new-white-house-executive-order-on-gender-identity/
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Weekly Recommendation Thread: February 07, 2025
Welcome to our weekly recommendation thread! A few years ago now the mod team decided to condense the many "suggest some books" threads into one big mega-thread, in order to consolidate the subreddit and diversify the front page a little. Since then, we have removed suggestion threads and directed their posters to this thread instead. This tradition continues, so let's jump right in!
**The Rules**
* Every comment in reply to this self-post must be a request for suggestions.
* All suggestions made in this thread must be direct replies to other people's requests. Do not post suggestions in reply to this self-post.
* All unrelated comments will be deleted in the interest of cleanliness.
____
**How to get the best recommendations**
The most successful recommendation requests include a description of the kind of book being sought. This might be a particular kind of protagonist, setting, plot, atmosphere, theme, or subject matter. You may be looking for something similar to another book (or film, TV show, game, etc), and examples are great! Just be sure to explain *what* you liked about them too. Other helpful things to think about are genre, length and reading level.
____
All Weekly Recommendation Threads are linked below the header throughout the week to guarantee that this thread remains active day-to-day. For those bursting with books that you are hungry to suggest, we've set the suggested sort to new; you may need to set this manually if your app or settings ignores suggested sort.
If this thread has not slaked your desire for tasty book suggestions, we propose that you head on over to the aptly named subreddit /r/suggestmeabook.
- The Management
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2025 Book #13 - Fever House by Keith Rosson
Keeping it vague but basically a mob enforcer, two black ops agents, a shut-in musician and her son come into conflict over a severed hand that puts violent thoughts in people's heads. This book is just cool, it does something that I always like to see and that's remove plot armor for the characters. Basically, nobody is safe regardless of how much development they've been given. This book goes into a lot of topics: police brutality, a government plotting against its own citizens, torture as a means of getting information, how people respond to crisis, it's a lot. But the best thing is just the escalation, the stakes are constantly being upped until you hit a point where you can't see a resolution. The book ends on a pretty big cliffhanger, and there is a sequel which I'll be checking out soon but on its own it's still something worth checking out. My second 5/5 after James by Percival Everett. This has been an...interesting year for books so far, a lot of 3/5's but this is one of those that's really lit a fire of motivation under me for reading.
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Lost Horizon by James Hilton a.k.a. the book I would have never thought to read if not for The Road to El Dorado (No Spoilers)
I'm sure plenty of people know of this book because it can run in and out of the "classics" circles (or any number of other reasons), but I came across it rather differently. One of my favorite movies as a kid was (and still is to this day to be honest) The Road to El Dorado.
In an adventure montage fairly early in the movie, the accompanying montage song, The Trail We Blaze sung by Elton John, always caught my attention. And there was one lyric in the second verse which I could never quite decipher by ear, so eventually I looked up the lyrics.
>Paradise is close at hand.
Shangri-La, the promised land.
"Shangri-La" was the part I couldn't understand by ear, so I looked it up and learned that it comes from a book first published in the 1930s called Lost Horizon. Out of love for this movie, I decided to impulse-buy that book pretty much on the spot. That was around 4 years ago now, and I finally got around to reading it this week.
I didn't really have any expectations going in, but I'm glad I didn't because it was a beautiful story. It's nothing earth-shattering, I don't think it's necessarily anything spectacular in terms of literary genius. But at the same time, it firmly held my attention for reasons entirely unrelated to the actual plot in ways that I don't think can be done without a certain level of literary mastery. It was serene and unsettling, contemplative and simple, short and rich. While there wasn't a single part of the story that really "hooked" me, a calm and enduring fascination persisted from start to finish.
I think in a way those sensations capture the essence of Shangri-La and its occupants. And I felt a pleasant stillness upon finishing it this evening.
This was also a great way for me to open the door to a reading goal of mine, which is to read more works which are directly referenced in some way within other books/movies/shows/art which I already love.
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Struggling to transition from Audiobooks to reading books.. any advice?
Hello. I became an avid audiobook listener last year, I got a Libby account because who doesn’t love free books? I also received a Kindle for Christmas because I want to read more books rather than listen to them, but it is so hard to change! I pop in an audiobook every time I drive for work or if I’m doing chores.
I haven’t even used my Kindle yet! 🫣
Any advice on how to change this?
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Recent read: What You Are Looking For is in the Library
I recently finished reading What You Are Looking For is in the Library! I really enjoyed it. I wish it were longer and that we got to see more of the futures of each person. The main thing I didn't like was how every perspective described the librarian, it was totally unnecessary and rude!
Have you read this book? Do you want to?
The author has a new book coming out soon that I'm super excited to read. I'm really enjoying cozy fiction! If you have any recommendations please let me know :)
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I never before realized that the first chapter of The Gunslinger is a complete nesting doll.
Most anyone who has read the first book in the Dark Tower will agree that it feels like experiencing a fever dream, particularly the first chapter. The Gunslinger is wandering through the desert, where he comes across a man in a hut, who he tells a story about the last town he came across. In that story, the woman he becomes intimate with tells him a story about the Man in Black. Then it comes back to the story of the town, then when that story concludes, it returns to the hut in the desert, before finally Roland continues on through the desert alone.
What I didn't realize until now is that there's another layer of nesting to the story.
The first chapter of the Gunslinger is divided into 20 subchapters. In the first subchapter, Roland is pursuing the Man in Black. Then night comes and Roland makes camp. In the second subchapter, he comes across the man in the hut, dragging his mule along. Only in the first subchapter, he didn't have a mule. Then before he leaves the man in the hut towards the end of the entire chapter, his mule dies, so he leaves it for the man to eat. In the final subchapter, he wakes and breaks camp and continues pursuing the Man in Black.
First reading the story, I thought there were 3 layers to the chapter, but there's actually 4, because at the very start, Roland has already experienced everything we're about to read. The first chapter is flashbacks all the way down and back up again, and I didn't even notice until I critically consumed the text. The entire chapter, Roland is dreaming about the notable moments of his time in the desert, and that's really cool. It's especially creative and experimental storytelling on King's part, particularly early in his writing career.
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lets people come to their own conclusions.
Hopefully, the conclusion is that colonialism stinks.i
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"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe and "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad are amazing companion pieces that highlight the importance of different perspectives in literature
When I read Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” I was surprised at the reactions to my opinion. Curious minds can look up my post for themselves, but a name that came up during the discussion was Chinua Achebe, particularly his critique of the iconic novel. Some praised his bold take while others felt he was too dismissive of an important aspect of anti-colonialist literature.
I feel it prudent to re-share my thoughts on Heart of Darkness before diving into Things Fall Apart.
A Product of Its Time
I adored its ruthless depiction of the Congo, from the greedy white men pillaging it to the mysterious natives dead on keeping these men away from their homes. As an introspective piece on the individual guilt and trauma that men can go through, it’s incredible. I do not deny the novel’s strengths as a narrative, nor the haunting final chapters with Kurtz and its impact on so much of modern storytelling.
That said, I found common ground with Chinua Achebe’s critique regarding the African natives. Their depiction is excessively steeped in crude and often insulting language. I understand fully that the perspective is from the very racist Charles Marlow. But even so, I found his voice being the only perspective detrimental to my overall experience.
In my research of the book, I discovered critics at the time also didn’t find it particularly compelling. Even Conrad himself did not think much of the novel after writing it. This does not invalidate the praise from countless readers. It does do away with the narrative that Heart of Darkness was seen as purely “anti-racist” for its time. It was far more concerned with what imperialism does to the white man than what the white man does to the oppressed.
Again, I want to emphasize this: Heart of Darkness did not have to give voice to the African people. It was a great story with a laser focus on the white man, and it did its job admirably. What I take issue with is the proposal by some that it’s the “best anti-racist novel” ever written. I simply cannot agree with that, when it is indisputably a novel where the oppressed are an accessory for the white characters to explore their flaws. That’s why so many adaptations of the story can change the setting without much impact on its core.
I couldn’t help but imagine the takeaway readers back then would have had of the African people. While horrifying to us from the racist lens, to readers of the time, it may have further alienated the African people from the zeitgeist, even if in small ways. In the end, Conrad wrote a fantastic book about white imperialism for a predominantly white audience. That is not an indictment, that is just a fact.
Literature shaped perspectives on other cultures then just as it does now. I couldn’t sit idly without having read the perspectives of the colonized in Heart of Darkness, which many touted as the peak of anti-colonialist literature. So when I read Chinua Achebe’s critique and discovered he had a novel depicting Igbo culture from a purely native perspective, I had to read it.
Authentically African
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is such a unique book, told in English and yet undeniably wreathed in Igbo storytelling techniques. I loved the opening conversation between Okonkwo’s father, Unaka, and his friend. It encapsulates the proverbs that would dominate the novel’s dialogue.
Achebe makes it clear from the get-go that this is an African book by an African voice. Despite the loving adaptation of Igbo oral tradition to paper, Achebe does not hold back from the well-recorded brutality of that culture. He does not make the Igbo people “innocent children,” suddenly soiled by a white oppressor. Instead, they are complex people just like any other, with good and bad traditions by the dozens.
That honesty makes the story so much more alive. I loved learning about Igbo culture in the 1890s. At the same
Multi-level barrage of US book bans is ‘unprecedented’, says PEN America
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/07/book-bans-pen-america-censorship
https://redd.it/1iknfi0
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Simple Questions: February 08, 2025
Welcome readers,
Have you ever wanted to ask something but you didn't feel like it deserved its own post but it isn't covered by one of our other scheduled posts? Allow us to introduce you to our new Simple Questions thread! Twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday, a new Simple Questions thread will be posted for you to ask anything you'd like. And please look for other questions in this thread that you could also answer! A reminder that this is not the thread to ask for book recommendations. All book recommendations should be asked in /r/suggestmeabook or our Weekly Recommendation Thread.
Thank you and enjoy!
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This 120-Year-Old Police Docket Documented Crimes Like Reckless Horse Riding
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-120-year-old-police-docket-documented-crimes-like-reckless-horse-riding-180985985/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
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How The New Yorker Will Celebrate Its Hundredth Anniversary
https://www.newyorker.com/news/press-room/how-the-new-yorker-will-celebrate-its-hundredth-anniversary
https://redd.it/1ik5tdk
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I had a tumultuous relationship with Shark Heart. It was great! And then it just kept going...
Part of this is because I read it on kindle, so I had no physical representation of how much was left in the book. So I'm going through this melancholy, bittersweet love story. Watching a young couple grapple with the trials of having love, and losing it. Slowly seeing the person you knew turn into some you didnt.
It escalates wonderfully. The juxtaposition of the serious and practical Wren becoming overwhelmed by grief she hasnt fully processed and stuck in the idea she can somehow fix it via flights of fancy, watching Lewis apply his artistic view of life towards acceptance, but also the profound grief of what he was losing.
They get to the beach, they share a moment, she breaks down and he comforts her. But he's still gone. Scene. The reader is left to ponder: how would you feel? What would you do? Is love worth the pain? Can we grow past these moments? It's a complicated and open ended reflection.
Except wait? No, sorry now we're going to follow her on her grief roadtrip alone. OK, that's fine. A little of an odd button but acceptable enough. I dont need closure from my books, but plenty of people do so this is good for them.
Oh wait, now we're in her mom's story?
OK well, I felt like I had enough info about her mom from the hints to infer their relationship. But like I said before, some people need answers from books and dont like having to infer. And this is a good story too! It puts on some rose colored glasses about exactly how good teen motherhood is for abuse victims. But not every story has to be about how teen pregnancy will ruin your life so that's fine!
Oh wait? We see the shark's perspective. OK well. Now there's really no mystery is there. There's no sense of losing someone to something we can never truly know. Wren lost Lewis. But the reader didn't. I am now no longer really defending this via "some people like answers". How is this a continuation of the same writing I saw in part 1? Why was it necessary for me to know exactly how his shark life goes???
and holy shit now the ending. Just kidding this is actually an overtly optimistic book that shows women that you can lose your husband but it will be ok because being pregnant and having the baby will bring you joy (iykyk) again. What's that? you were a recessive carrier of the dementia-parallel disease that ruins lives and your husband was a dominant carrier? OK, give it 1 paragraph of thought and hand wave it. Besides look! Your kid is perfect and there are no struggles beyond occasionally missing your first husband. You never confront the fact that you have signed a 80%+ horrific death warrant for your daughter, she's actually incredibly joyful and your in-laws help out and you never want for anything again.
You take her to the beach, and your teenager happily splashes in the waves, emotionally stable and content to have fun in the waters where her biological father lives after his inheritable genetic disease took his life and forced him there. She is content with this, and holds no complicated feelings towards her mom.
Scene.
I'm sorry I am just at a loss. I feel like I read a 9/10 short story, then a 8/10, then a 5/10 scifi speculative, and finally wrapped up with a crisis pregnancy center leaflet. What the heck happened?
ETA for clarity: I do not think that the decision to have Wren keep her pregnancy was "bad" because it's not what I would have done. I think it was bad writing because it is thrown in with no real insight to why the character thinks its ok, and has no repercussions despite being a deeply complex decision that affects multiple lives. In a book that has already decided to over-explain the shark perspective it was jarring to realize that her daughter was being completely sidelined as a non-character plot device.
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What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble's Surprising Turnaround?
https://www.honest-broker.com/p/what-can-we-learn-from-barnes-and?r=398h8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
https://redd.it/1ijy2aq
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How librarians saved the day in World War II
https://lithub.com/how-librarians-saved-the-day-in-world-war-ii/
https://redd.it/1iju8ht
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The use of fantasy genres to reflect on society - what have you re read or stumbled on that it more than its cover?
I just finished Rebecca Yarros onyx storm.
This series presents: a fantasy world with strong female leads, dragons, romance and comedy with easy to immerse intrigue.
Taken deeper, it’s a shockingly apt and amazing commentary on the construction of history surrounding politics and war. I am loving the re read.
The books are clearly works of a fantasy genre and could even be shelved with the Romance novels. But they are shockingly and amazing more. In such a saturated genre, they delight and challenge and question reader’s assumptions.
I remember discovering Dan Browns works. Stories set in a “real world” using “real world” “truths” to re weave and write a narrative that someone from another time and world could mistake as pure fact.
What authors have I missed that have done this with their works?
Are there any autobiography or biographies that provoke thought and challenge what if this way? I am looking to challenge my ideas on narratives outside of start conflict and resolution, and would love to hear others stories on books that made them go, wow, that was clever.
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The 86 series by Asato Asato is pure glee, and pure pain.
So 86 is a Light Novel series set in the future where ‘unmanned’ drones are used to fight a legion of AI unleashed upon the world by the Giad Empire. The manner of which the war started I don’t know, it’s never really established in the 6 volumes I’ve read or watched (it has an anime adaptation which I’ll talk about later). But I digress. The ‘unmanned’ drones are actually commanded by ‘86s’ who are any non-‘alba’ (silver hair, silver eyes, white skin) being used by the Republic of San Magnolia, they fight in the 86th district of the Republic which is basically anywhere not in the 85 districts. Hence where the name comes from. Also just a note this isn’t a spoiler it’s established on the blurb.
The story follows the 86 and seemingly their only ally among the Alba who command them as they navigate this brutal world where no one is safe.
It’s just utterly heartbreaking to read, I mean this in the best way possible. So many of the characters who you can get attached to die and the manners of death are horrifying. At times it feels like the Legion they’re fighting is just trying to be brutal.
There is also an element of romance to it, which sounds twisted but is done very well and often to illustrate the effects of war. With the story focusing heavily on its characters it’s within reason that there is a bit of romance. And that’s another good point, the character focused story really drives home the anti-war and anti-racism point with the dynamic between the rough living 86 who can die at any real time and their Alba commander who lives in luxury, sheltered from the war is really well made.
The action scenes are also made really well, the movements and weaponry are described in great detail and you truly understand where and what is happening on the battlefield.
Also, just a thing to note, there are quite a few plot twists in the first few books alone which took me by surprise.
There are also a few illustrations throughout of what might be talked about by an artist called Shiirabi, who does their job extremely well and makes great illustrations.
I also mentioned an Anime adaption, which is really good despite only having one season. It adapts the content well and just adds a whole new level of storytelling with the addition of being able to use visual storytelling. It was my introduction to the series and is perfect.
The emotional payoffs of this show is just brilliant, on top of the great action, characters and storytelling it creates an awesome story that should be read.
Also, just a note for anyone who might decide to buy the series now. Volume 7 is very hard to come across, I don’t know why but it seems to be very popular. It is being reprinted so maybe the supply issues will be alleviated but that’s yet to be seen. (I also wouldn’t recommend looking up Volume 7 if you haven’t reached it because the cover has spoilers)
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Can someone convince me to finish Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice, please?
I’m about 1/3 of the way through the book and I’m just SO bored. I thought the concept sounded interesting and I’ve had so many people recommend it to me, but it’s such a snooze. I love a good horror/mystery novel but this doesn’t feel like one at all. It feels like the ramblings of a morally superior vampire. I think the fact that there are not chapter breaks makes it even more difficult to stay engaged. I only want to be convinced to finish it because I’ve already read so much (yeah I know, sunken cost fallacy lol but just give me a break). For those of you have finished, without spoilers, would you mind explaining why? Thank you!
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