my rolodex

The Dagger in Vichy by Alastair Reynolds

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

dates read: 3/20/25 - 2/24/25

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I think that anybody who has any anxieties about the numerous artificial intelligence large language models, and what that could mean for books, the publishing industries, movies, television shows, and all the creative fields, should pick up this book regardless if they like novellas and/or sci-fi, or they don't. The reason is, that this is the first work of fiction that I have personally read that deals with these anxieties in a raw and tangible way. While I am sure this won't be the last of this theme in the years to come, I am willing to say this is one of the firsts. And because of this, when it comes out, I need you to pick up a copy and digest and sit with what this book is trying to communicate.

In this book, we follow a young man named Rufus in an entertainment troupe in a far future, post-industrial and post-technological France which has practically reset to the medieval times, retaining very few technological advancements from the previous ages and civilization. The entertainment troupe leader helped Rufus escape the death penalty, granted that he reformed his criminal ways. Because of this, Rufus feels a debt is owed to the leader. However, when the leader gets ahold of some old technology, Rufus must contend with his morals or the man who saved his life.

Again, I cannot express enough how much I want you guys to read this book if you have even the slightest anxieties about the future to come with websites like DeepSeek, Copilot, and ChatGPT, especially in the creative fields. Once again, while I am 1000000001% this won't be the last book with these themes, this is one of the first books with this theme that I can discern and I think everyone should read it.

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The Women's Revolution: How We Changed Your Life by Muriel Fox

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

dates read: 4/25/2024 - 4/31/2024

Reading Updates:

March 25, 2024 – 24%: Remembering that the founder of NOW was very homophobic (see: "Lavender Menace") and so I almost worry about how this book will go on.

March 28, 2024 – 33%: i wish this author wld stop misgendering trans people and referring to people switching sexualities

March 31, 2024 –73%: the way this lady talks about lesbians makes me want to crawl out of my skin

Review:

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Women's Revolution by Muriel Fox reminds me of Azealia Banks and Ronnie Radke, in that Muriel Fox writes about feminists and their accomplishments and then BOOM! they think one of the following:
a) black people are bad
b) lesbians are bad
c) transgenders are bad

Nonetheless, this is a good starter book looking to get into one's own journey with feminism, especially since Muriel can't seem to form an opinion on anything that plagues the modern women (see: thinks that TERFs are "complicated"). But I can't deny that NOW, despite their very clear issues, have irrevocably changed how women are viewed in the United States, and thus this book is a good jumping off point for someone wanting to read something basic and accessible with no "complex" political influence.

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