What are you reading in 2025?

[Autumnal]

Okay, that’s on my list.

 

[Mannahnin]

Last weekend I finished Gandhi's Satyagraha in South Africa, for my book club.

I found it very readable, though he omits some details I'd like to have seen.

I appreciate the generosity of Gandhi's approach; constantly giving people the benefit of the doubt, at least externally. Giving enemies and rivals "outs" to stop being enemies if and when their consciences or self-interest finally put them in a position to want to. He is generous in describing people's motives and virtues, and often a bit dry or understated when saying anything negative. One of the "harshest" comes from the beginning of the book, where he's describing the people and places of South Africa for context, and really struck me and reminded me of some modern phenomena. He's talking about the Boers, and tangentially about other Europeans. (This comes after talking for a couple of pages about how brave, fierce, heroic, strong, and disciplined the Boers are as a people).

"I have said above that the Boers are religiously-minded Christians. But it cannot be said that they believe in the New Testament. As a matter of fact Europe does not believe in it; in Europe, however, they do claim to respect it, although only a few know and observe Christ's religion of peace. But as to the Boers it may be said that they know the New Testament only by name. They read the Old Testament with devotion and know by heart the descriptions of battles it contains. They fully accept Moses' doctrine of an 'eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' And they act accordingly."

While the civil rights struggle in South Africa had some tangible successes, it was also clearly limited in how it improved the lives and welfare of Indians living there. It made me want to read more about and contrast how things went in India, throwing off British rule. Was the difference mostly one of sheer numbers (in SA the Indians were very much a minority, whereas of course the reverse in India), or did the tactics evolve significantly?

I finished re-reading Williams' Voice of the Whirlwind. Ten years ago, I think I was disappointed that it wasn't more like Hardwired. On re-read, I enjoyed the introspective narration, all the little details of the worldbuilding that shine through with a slower pace. I'm still not sold on aliens in cyberpunk, but I'm not as opposed to it as I used to be.

Same. Really dig this book. I read it first as a teenager and have revisited it repeatedly.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Same. Really dig this book. I read it first as a teenager and have revisited it repeatedly.

I was in my 30s when I first discovered it and Hardwired. I've re-read Hardwired multiple times since, but this was my first re-read of Voice of the Whirlwind.

 

[Retros_x]

The thing that ultimately really messes Perrin up happened on screen, and it is subtle and took a while to sink in for me, but it defines his central ethical conflict of a desire for pacifism clashing with the utilitarian need gor violence he finds himself in:

Spoiler: Regarding your spoiler

But that was actually not on screen, it basically fades to black to keep the TV terms and then when he was up captured, it was told to him that he killed two whitecloaks, he seemed to not be able to remember it. I think that is why it kinda flew over my head, we never read about the deed and in the chapters after we switch back to Rand. We see from his POV that Perrin is changed and moody and gloomy, but never get told why. I assumed it was a general feeling about his experience with the children of the light and his new found connection.

But now one later scene makes more sense where he kinda talks in a bad mood that he is now protected from the influence of the dark one. I wondered why he is so mad about it, being a "wolf man" sounds not too bad if it protects you from the dark one. But probably he blames this "power" that made him kill those two men.

I finished it yesterday evening. I enjoyed the last third a bit less than the rest. I thought the ending was a bit underwhelming, lot of handwaving and in the end I was left with ... a shrug? Rand think its finished, but clearly its not really, but we as a reader are left out of how much danger and dread is left. So I am not really dying to start the next book - which is fine because I wasn't planning to read this series back to back anyway, but I was surprised to be left like that.

There were also some chapters that felt unnecessary even with the focus of "the journey" that justifies the length of the book in general. The whole chapter (or were it even multiple chapters?) where Rand stumbles into the royal court was... clumsy. Hard to believe that a trespasser gets free like that. He also was just a bystander and it was weird to just passively see these characters act that as a reader we don't care at all about, because we just met them. And afterwards Rand was even so impressed by them as if he made some royal friends. But he barely really interacted with them. Its clear that they get relevant later in the series, but that was a clumsy introduction of these characters. Its the same kind of plotting I loathe in Sanderson's books: The author needs something to happen for later planned events, so he forces it instead of finding a natural story. Its being a slave to their own plot, not being able to kill - or at least change - their darlings. For me it would've been better to completely remove this chapter OR expand it so it actually is relevant to the plot of the first novel and not just later on in the unknown future. I think it stands out so much, because up until now Jordan was quite good with introducing characters and concepts in a more natural way that was connected with the actual plot of volume 1.

But overall I am very pleasantly surprised by WoT 1 it was a cozy adventurous read with immersive storytelling. I will definitely continue the series. I think volume 2 will be perfect for christmas/new years holidays.

 

[Parmandur]

I finished it yesterday evening. I enjoyed the last third a bit less than the rest. I thought the ending was a bit underwhelming, lot of handwaving and in the end I was left with ... a shrug? Rand think its finished, but clearly its not really, but we as a reader are left out of how much danger and dread is left. So I am not really dying to start the next book - which is fine because I wasn't planning to read this series back to back anyway, but I was surprised to be left like that.

There were a few issues with the end here, for sure. For one, Tor wanted there to be a definite ending in case the book was not a success, the other is that Jordan's planned ending for the first novel of his trilogy (yes, trilogy) ia thw climax for book 3. Book 2 does a better job providing an independent climax. (For the record, the intended climax for the second projected vook is in book o, and the third is in book 14. Outlining was not his strong suit).

There were also some chapters that felt unnecessary even with the focus of "the journey" that justifies the length of the book in general. The whole chapter (or were it even multiple chapters?) where Rand stumbles into the royal court was... clumsy. Hard to believe that a trespasser gets free like that. He also was just a bystander and it was weird to just passively see these characters act that as a reader we don't care at all about, because we just met them. And afterwards Rand was even so impressed by them as if he made some royal friends. But he barely really interacted with them. Its clear that they get relevant later in the series, but that was a clumsy introduction of these characters. Its the same kind of plotting I loathe in Sanderson's books: The author needs something to happen for later planned events, so he forces it instead of finding a natural story. Its being a slave to their own plot, not being able to kill - or at least change - their darlings. For me it would've been better to completely remove this chapter OR expand it so it actually is relevant to the plot of the first novel and not just later on in the unknown future. I think it stands out so much, because up until now Jordan was quite good with introducing characters and concepts in a more natural way that was connected with the actual plot of volume 1.

Yeah, I see where you are coming from there: Elaine in particular becomes one of the main characters starting in book 2. In general, the books get strong er as they move away from Rand as the only viewpoint character.

 

[Autumnal]

I finished Christopher Ruocchio’s Shadows Upon Time, and lemme tell ya, that was a great ending. The promises made throughout the series get fulfilled, but with a lot of fresh surprises and new context. I am really deeply satisfied.

Part of me wants to just go ahead and reread the series right now, which is a good sign. I won’t, but maybe in the new year.

An interesting thing about the large space battles. In his setup, pairs of ships can have low-bandwidth instant communication, the telegraph, using entangled particles, but there’s no general-purpose FTL communication or sensing. So ships rely on conventional means to see what’s going on, and the speed of light matters. This combo creates neat tensions and strategies, and there are several occasions where ships can warp relatively short distances and arrive well ahead of the light of their previous position. And it’s possible to time things so that the light of something significant arrives at a dramatic moment in a conference, and like that. Neat stuff.