A new Book of the Week post! I’ve been looking forward to talking about this specific book for a while now, though I had to postpone it for various reasons (a very busy business trip to London and then nearly dying while traveling to Glasgow), but the result is that I have more context to talk about it, since I’ve read further into the series. Today, we’re going to take a look at The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe, the first installment in his acclaimed Book of the New Sun. Very slight spoilers after the jump.
science fiction
Book of the Week – June 25th 2015
StandardIt’s that time again! Every Thursday, I will be talking about a book that, for one reason or another, stuck out to me in the past. I’ll do a little review and summary (no spoilers, of course), and give a rating and recommendation.
This week, the Book of the Week is Ender’s Shadow!
Cup of Dcaf: Themes and Subtlety in Sci-Fi/Fantasy
StandardThis has been on my mind a lot lately. It’s pretty much par for the course that good SFF has more than just a basic story going on. The ability to construct new worlds, cultures, and environments gives authors an unparalleled ability to comment on things in our own world in a more nuanced, and if done well, more effective manner. This can cover things like racial topics, economic issues, religion, military strategy and policy…you name it. If it’s an issue in our world, it’s probably been written about.
But when you break it down, some books (and TV shows or movies) handle this much better than others. Continue reading
dcafwriting 