Here are some books I’ve read recently, and a short bit about what I thought of them. Note that there may be minor spoilers to some of the books discussed here.

The Worst Journey in the World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard

publ. 1922, read 2023-03

– STILL READING –


















Soul Music - Terry Pratchett

publ. 1984, read 2023-03

“Being sixteen is always difficult, even more so when there’s a Death in the family.”

Terry Pratchett is really such a good comfort-book author. Easily read, very witty, likeable characters. I liked this one a bit more than the one I read last, Lords and Ladies.

I liked Pratchett’s take on rock culture. Ridcully is starting to grow on me as a character.










Beren and Lúthien - J.R.R. Tolkien - Edited by Christopher Tolkien

publ. 2017, read 2023-03

I liked this one. Tolkien’s fae roots are very evident in this version of the story (an older version than the one in The Silmarillion), with a group of large, talking cats being important antagonists.















The Fall of Númenor - J.R.R. Tolkien - Edited by Brian Sibley

publ. 2022, read 2023-03

“When therefore the last portent came they heeded it little.”

I read a lot of J.R.R. Tolkien in my teens, and he was probably what sparked my interest for reading. I still feel that no other author can write with the same magic and enchantment that Tolkien can. I am honestly spellbound much of the time when reading Tolkien.

I thought this book was very interesting, as there is not a lot published about the second age of middle-earth.

The theme, as is often the case with Tolkien, are very biblical. The Fall of Númenor, specifically, is very much a story about the fall of man. What I find interesting about middle-earth is that man’s actions are often put in context of elves’ actions.

Babel - R.F. Kuang

publ. 2022, read 2023-03

“You have such a great fear of freedom, brother. It’s shackling you. You’ve identified so hard with the colonizer, you think any threat to them is a threat to you.”

What a fantastic book. The level of character development achieved in such a short span is astonishing.

Silver-working as a premise is very interesting, and served very well as a tool for making the world interesting at first, while not taking away from the very real atrocities committed by colonialism and colonizers. I think that it was very smart not to change history too much, as it made the theme of the book ring more true.




Leviathan Falls - James S. A. Corey

publ. 2021, read 2023-03

“The stars are still there.”

The ninth and final book of the Expanse series. I thought it was very good, the ending was very bitter-sweet. I think that the new POV character was maybe not too impactful, but other than that I thought that the book hit all the right notes.












Tiamat’s Wrath - James S. A. Corey

publ. 2019, read 2023-02

“Speed isn’t the only measure of progress.”

This might be my favorite book in the series so far. Something I appreciated with the earlier books was the mixing of the supernatural threat of the protomolecule and the effect it had on human society. Books five and six are of course an extension of the effects, but they had less to do with the protomolecule directly. This book had the perfect blend, in my opinion, of those two elements.

The characters all evolved in interesting directions, and the ending was very bitter-sweet, in a way that left me wanting to start reading the next book right away.





Persepolis Rising - James S. A. Corey

publ. 2017, read 2023-01

“No, Captain Holden. No sticks. When you fight gods, you storm heaven.”

Persepolis Rising begins with a time skip of 30 years or so. I don’t know that I like time skips all that much, but I think it serves a good purpose in this book series.

The Laconian threat felt very credible, and I liked the escalation of how the threat in books five and six was a distraction orchestrated by the leader of Laconia.









Babylon’s Ashes - James S. A. Corey

publ. 2016, read 2022-11

“Where the air began and the crash couch ended was lost.”

This book served as the payoff to Nemesis Games’ setup. I think it worked well, this book had characters from pretty much every major character in the story so far, which I liked. Making Filip a point-of-view character was a nice way to provide some insight into the antagonist.

My only gripe is in the conclusion, I felt that the final conflict was resolved in a very unpersonal manner.








Nemesis Games - James S. A. Corey

publ. 2015, read 2022-11

“Seems like the sort of thing Holden’d do.”

I found this book to be a little dissapointing. It’s the first book to focus solely on Holden’s group. I found the characters’ motivations flimsy, and the story’s conclusion anti-climactic.

Something I did like was that this book focused a lot more on setting up future stories.











The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, The Judgement: A Story for F - Franz Kafka

publ. 1913, 1913, 1919, read 2022-11

“At that moment, a quite unending flow of traffic streamed over the bridge.”

This book consists of three short stories in one collection.

Something I really like about Kafka’s books is their dense writing. A lot of information is conveyed with very few words. Having read The Trial, I knew that the law, and judgement, was a major theme Kafka wrote about. This continues in all three short stories here, I would say.

Gregor is judged by his family for his metamorphosis, the officer judges the inmates of the penal colony to a torturus execution, and Georg’s father sentences his son to “death by drowning”.

Having read more of Kafka I wish I knew more about literary analysis.

Cibola Burn - James S. A. Corey

publ. 2014, read 2022-11

“I don’t go for half.”

Fourth one down.

I still like the series, although I’ve identified some issues for me personally.

  • I wish the books were less episodic. Maybe this is something that changes in later books, but as it is now, every book introduces an immediate threat, and then neatly resolves that threat.
  • At least with this last book, I felt that some of the threats were beginning to feel too large and too many. Maybe this is by design, but for me it lead to it feeling excessive and unfocused.

Otherwise I felt that the book was good, the plot is interesting and moves at a quick pace, which is nice considering that I see these books almost as the book-equivalent of popcorn movies.

Abaddon’s Gate - James S. A. Corey

publ. 2013, read 2022-10

“Optimism expressed as conservation of delta V.”

The third entry to the Expanse series. I’m a sucker for stories about precursors and made-up histories of made-up peoples, and this book delivered that in spades.

Something I like about the series so far is that every subsequent book tries to both expand the scope and introduce new perspectives. The first book focused a lot on the noir-vibe, and the second focused more on the political aspect. This book introduces a new character, a priest, and wants to, sort of, answer the question of what belief in God means in a universe with aliens in it. I also think Corey balances well the tightrope between having real consequences for characters, while also keeping enough important characters alive that the reader grows attached to them. It sometimes verges on the unbelievable, but I still think it is quite good.

Caliban’s War - James S. A. Corey

publ. 2012, read 2022-09

“We’re all traitors now.”

An exciting sequel that properly establishes the scope of the series. It has a little bit less noir, and a little bit more political intrigue. I think what I appreciated most in this book was the way that it further fleshed out the world that the characters inhabit. We get a better look into the socio-politics of Earth and Mars, and more of an inside look into how they treat Belters (people who live in the Jovian system).

I appreciate Corey’s commitment to making varied characters, something that was seen in Leviathan Wakes as well. All four of the point-of-view characters in this book have very different outlooks on life, and changing point of view feels substantial.



Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey

publ. 2011, read 2022-09

“Compared to the whole, it seemed no larger than a toe, a little finger. It was Captain Darren’s head.”

The first book in The Exapnse series, an interesting blend of sci-fi, noir and horror. What I liked most about this book was the two point-of-view characters. Holden and Miller are appealing characters in their own rights, but together they create a nice contrast between idealism and cynisism. I also found the book surprisingly heart warming at times, which I thought was very nice. I generally dislike books that are overly pesimistic.

I think this is a promising start to the series, and I am excited to continue reading.





Ronja Rövardotter - Astrid Lindgren

publ. 1981, read 2022-06

“Men han fattas mej, skrek Mattis. Han fattas mej så det skär i bröstet!”

A Swedish classic! I was raised on Astrid Lindgren’s books, and the movie adaptations of her books. This book is a tale inspired by Romeo and Juliet, about two opposing bandit clans, Mattisrövarna and Borkarövarna, sharing a fort.

What I appreciate most about this book is how emotional everyone is: “Hon är vacker som en liten vittra, håll med om det! Lika smidig, lika mörkögd och lika svarthårig. Ni har aldrig sett maken till gran unge, håll med om det! - Mattis, to a newborn Ronja. It is refreshing that a masculine character like the chieftain of a bandit clan can show genuine vulnerability.



One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez

publ. 1970, read 2022-06

“[…] he was unable to bear in his soul the crushing weight of so much past.”

The first book I’ve read that belonged to the genre of magical realism, and what an amazing book it is. When I read One Hundred Years of Solitude, the themes that stood out to me most were the passage of time and nostalgia. Gabriel Garcìa Màrquez has crafted such a convincing family and village, where every person has unique desires and goals.

Something that I really liked about the book was its ability to convey the passage of time, and how it is never portrayed as a straight line. The Buendía family tackle numerous setbacks, among them a downpour that didn’t stop for several years and an insomniac plague.



Lords and Ladies - Terry Pratchett

publ. 1992, read 2022-05

“If cats looked like frogs we’d realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That’s what people remember.”

The thirteenth book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. I really appreciate how optimistic, joyful, and funny Terry Pratchett’s books are. For me they are the ultimate ‘comfort food’ books, easy to read and easy to enjoy.

This book is about mythology, in the same way that ‘Small Gods’ is about religion. Terry Pratchett does a good job of exploring mythological concepts in a way that feels fresh. With this entry specifically I really enjoyed the character development. Terry Pratchett has a way of making characters that simultaneously feel grounded and utterly fantastical.



Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

publ. 1969, read 2022-05

“And so it goes…”

An antiwar book about the bombing of Dresden, where almost twenty-five thousand people were killed. Kurt Vonnegut, the author, was present for the bombing. The book is partly him coming to terms with the war. The book follows Billy Pilgrim, an American soldier in the second world war. It is told by an unreliable narrator, in a non-linear order.

The story features a lot of science-fiction elements. At first I was thrown off by this, thinking that this book was to be a more ‘realistic’ depiction of the war. After having read it I think that the science-fiction elements serve to underline the cruelty of the war.