Lee Hunts

There has been a long-running debate among writers between how to best write prose. Simplifying a little, it can be broadly characterized as a division between those who argue for minimalism and those who argue for more ornate prose. Both sides have been derided—the former as "beige" or "dry," the latter as "purple." But I would say that minimalism is probably the most common form of writing, if only because it is easier. As a result of this, the debate almost always takes the form of someone like myself criticizing Sanderson for his prose, and a fan of his replying that his prose doesn't need to be ornate or poetic to be good. In other words, I usually find myself on the snotty "ornate" side of the debate. But I recently came across a few videos by Joseph V. Logsdon that seem to embody the literal caricature presented by the simple prose side, and I find myself on the other side of the argument. Now I want "minimalist" prose. Obvio...

An epic, anime inspired rebellion, a meditation on grief, a love story? All of it? The Sword of Kaigen, by M. L. Wang. This is a Japanese inspired fantasy, where a woman has long ago retired from her once violent past to become a housewife at the request of her father. She is now in a loveless marriage with a cold man and four sons who all seem to reflect his characteristics to varying degrees—save for one. She has struggled to find connection with her husband, and with her children, but that might be changing with her oldest starting to question the Empire that he has grown up in his whole life. This is the second perspective: the oldest son, practically a prodigy even though he is only fourteen years old. He is entirely fixated on uncovering his family's key secret, known as The Whispering Blade, a technique that is unparalleled in its power. His father is putting a lot of pressure on him, and he is not sure if he can do it. This book is well praised in the book community, though...

I wasn't planning on writing anything for Piranesi, if only because this is one of those books that I thought you should go into completely blind. I'm in agreement with pretty much everyone else on that because you can't really talk about this book without spoilers. I also balked at doing a spoiler review because I tend to do them when I have a lot to talk about, which is usually when I have issues with the book. It is safe to say I did not have many issues. But as I looked at some of the reviews and saw some of the interpretations of the book, I thought I would at least write something providing my take of the ending of the book, and also my interpretation of the story as a whole. Spoilers Ahead Greatest Strength The greatest strength of the book is the perspective shift. I don't mean that there is a shift during the plot of the book (part way through), but that the book's foundations are built on the "shift." We get the story from one perspective, and th...

I just finished reading Ubik, by Dick. You know the one. Frankly speaking, this is one of those novels that I think you should just go into blind. I'm beginning to notice a trend, though I've only read two of Dick's novels. Dick likes to smash his novels full to the brim with countless concepts that could be used to make a novel, all on their own. The mere act of describing this novel would make me look like a lunatic. I commented on this in Androids, and I see more of it here. That said, I do think that Ubik, as scattered as it seems to be in the beginning, manages to tie everything in the novel together in a way that is surprisingly parsimonious, and nothing short of absolute mindfuckery. I loved it. There are some things that are unfortunately underutilized, I can't even mention them for the sake of spoilers, but it really just comes down to the fact that Dick is thick with his conceptual construction. So much is there, so it is inevitable that some elements would ha...

I just finished reading the gargantuan novel, To Green Angel Tower, by Tad Williams. I thought about reading this book in parts, given its length. It's apparently up there with War and Peace in its length, and it is neatly divided into four sections—but I was engaged enough that I wanted to just finish the book. The fact that I heavily used the audiobook in conjunction with the ebook helped with that. This book is not only long, but it is the culmination of a trilogy. It finished The Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. I have already reviewed the first two entries beforehand, and I will link them below. To briefly recap, I thought The Dragonbone Chair had potential, and it had an amazing climax. Stone of Farewell was not good, save for scatterings of scenes. It was basically the instantiation of middle book syndrome. But because my critique was simply that it didn't need to exist, I was still committed to moving on to the last entry eventually. Right from the outset, I have to s...

I just finished reading Submission, by Michel Houellebecq. This book is French, though I read the translated version, for obvious reasons. The book is rather infamous for its content, which is naturally why I chose to read it. And perhaps, how you describe it says a bit about your attitude regarding it. I wanted to make a joke about how this was basically The Handmaid's Tale in France, except you replace the Far Right with radical Islam (assuming there is a difference?); as such, many on the left don't like it. But while it does depict a near future, where a Muslim Brotherhood group takes over France, in coalition with the socialists, all because they could not bear to let the Far Right party win, the focus of the story is actually elsewhere. What is this book about? Well, as it is often stated in right wing circles, empires are not defeated, they commit suicide. This book is about France's suicide. It is about the West's suicide. The reader is placed within the head of...