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Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – Book Review

10/04/2024 by dr. gunga

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – Book Cover

Tamsyn Muir has taken a step forward from her debut Gideon the Ninth, which was extremely promising but quickly descended into childishness. Its sequel, Harrow the Ninth, managed to shed some of its growing pains but in return became utterly incomprehensible. With Nona the Ninth, the Australian author continues her utterly unique sci-fi fantasy series that propels necromancy into space. But it feels like a few things in this part aren’t COMPLETELY clear either. For example:

Who, where, and what?

Oh, and why?

Let’s start with the easiest question: “Where?”

Both of the first two parts were set in pretty confined locations. Even though Tamsyn Muir’s universe opens up wide, the author—who exclusively moves necromancers, otherworldly monsters, and skeletons around—shoved them all into one single place. Nona the Ninth finally steps out into the world of humans.

This fixes one of the biggest shortcomings of the first two parts. Sure, it’s fine that the omnipotent emperor of the universe rules everything through necromancy, but wouldn’t it be even more interesting to know how that affects ordinary people? Spoiler: Not well, by the way. Not well at all.

And the answer to “Where?” is: in the city of Who-The-Heck-Knows on the planet God-Knows-Where. Or somewhere like that.

Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado – Book Review

08/31/202409/06/2021 by dr. gunga

Award-Winning Tribute to the Female Body

Why was this book nominated for a billion awards? Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties has won several accolades, including the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize, which sounds like a significant recognition at first glance. Oh, and it also won the Lambada Literary Award. Alright, enough with the jokes—it’s actually the Lambda Award, which honors the best LGBTQ-themed books.

And here, I’d like to quickly advise the conservative and religious readers of this blog to skip this piece for the sake of their mental well-being!

Her Body and Other Parties (and Carmen Maria Machado) might just be onto something. They certainly know how to title a book.

Surreal Stories

The title, the blurb, and other elements like the Lambda Award promise a dense mix of surrealism, erotica, and sex. Predominantly lesbian sex. Surrealism is present in all but one of the stories, while overt erotica is mostly found in the first one, and the amount of lesbian sex decreases as you progress through the book, eventually fading away completely.

Everyday Female Desires and Strange Mysteries

What you do find in the stories of “Her Body and Other Parties” are the unvarnished depictions of everyday female desires, but even more so, various trauma situations (abuse, body image issues, depression), which are always accompanied by some sort of bizarre mystery that keeps you hooked on the stories: What will happen if the ribbon around the woman’s neck is removed? Will the girl survive the apocalypse? Whose child is that, anyway? And so on. The most interesting thing is that these bizarre situations often serve as a mere framework for the story, but the reasons or meanings behind them are almost never revealed. So, after finishing a story, it continues to linger in your mind. Very clever.

Mostly. There are also some stories that are just strange in a head-scratching way. Except for the pseudo-Special Victims Unit one (Especially Heinous), starring the ghost-seeing Stabler and the unstable Benson. This creation, being a collage of story fragments and casually thrown-in half-sentences, is nearly impossible to interpret within the confines of the known universe.

Beauty and Female Sensitivity

Carmen Maria Machado’s writing is, however, undeniably beautiful and consistently high-quality. I’d even add that it’s written with a female sensitivity, which usually doesn’t imply a positive trait, often leading to excessive sentimentality. But that’s not the case here. And there you have it—an explanation for all the awards and nominations.

The two exceptions that break the overall smoothness of Her Body and Other Parties interestingly disrupt the two most powerful stories: The Resident, which exudes a Stephen King-like ominousness from start to finish—possibly a reflection of the author’s childhood trauma, as she deliberately places her monogram in the text—is ruined by an overdone, out-of-place ending.

And The Husband Stitch contains some forced authorial instructions on how it should be read: “If you are reading this story out loud, make the sound of the bed under the tension of train travel and lovemaking by straining a metal folding chair against its hinges…”

Certainly, dear Carmen! Certainly!

Rating: 7.6/10

Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado
248 pages, Paperback
Published in 2017 by Graywolf Press

Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda – Comic Book Review

08/22/202405/15/2021 by dr. gunga

Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda - Comic Book Cover

In Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda’s Monstress comic series, a 17-year-old girl explores her own past after a devastating war waged by humans against the Arcanics, who are roughly similar to humans. Roughly. This usually leads to bloodshed. Especially since many Arcanics possess animal characteristics, such as fox tails and ears, wings, or goat heads on their necks. (So it might easily happen that you yourself would strike first and ask questions later if you encounter one in a rougher neighborhood.)

Fortunately, Maika Halfwolf belongs to the more striking Arcanics. And not only has she been sold into slavery, but an ancient entity resides within her, seeking to take control over her. So, Maika has plenty to do and problems to solve as she embarks on a Kill Bill-esque revenge spree against her enemies, while Monstress – Volume 1: Awakening touches on themes such as genocide, reckless lust for power, or humanity in an inhuman world.

But what can be said about a comic that appeals to both amputation fetishists and cat lovers? Perhaps that it’s beautiful? Yes. Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening is beautiful, occasionally hauntingly erotic, with some panels that resemble detailed, baroque paintings created seemingly just for the joy of drawing. And you haven’t seen characters exuding such ethereal beauty in a comic before. Compared to them, even the equally beautiful characters of Locke & Key look like simple gnomes.