mothymusings

[mothymusings]

Small Life Update and Apologies!

Hey! With December already here I just wanted to let yall know that I have been working on finals but I’m in the home stretch! As such I apologize for the lack of updates last month but! I have an extra two reviews I will send out within the next week and the Winter break to make up for November!

Thank you for your patience!

-The Mothy Muser

[mothymusings]

Second Entry

“In the end, a simple happiness is better than a complex disillusion.”

― Janelle Monáe, The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer

Synopsis

Memory Librarian and Other Stories is an anthology inspired by Monae’s album Dirty Computer. Each story is set in the near future, where a new government called New Dawn controls everything a person does down to their memories. Within each short story is a message of Queer, POC, and Female resistance against the rigid conformity New Dawn tries to impose.

There are five stories within the anthology, every single one could be read independently of the other, however there are references interspersed each novella. The titular story, Memory Librarian, follows Seshet as one of the high ranking officials in New Dawns order. Her job focuses on categorizing as well as monitoring the memories of her city until strange circumstances cause her to question her loyalties and even her own memories.

Nevermind follows the residents of the Pynk Hotel, a resistant group of queer women who have run away from New Dawn, dubbed Dirty Computers. However things are not as harmonious as they assume, as tensions between those who try to restrict what it means to be Pynk threaten to destroy the safe haven forever.

Timebox centers around two women who have found out that their closet has time altering powers, and the arguments on how best to use such a valuable resource as time for the benefit of the whole, or the individual.

Save Changes also deals with time, as Sisters Amber and Larry deal with being outcasts due to their mothers status as a reformed resistance leader. Gifted with a stone that their late father claims to rewind time, Larry tries to save her sister and mother from fates worse than death.

Timebox Altar(ed), the final story, is about a young child named Bug, who with their friends find and create art in a clearing with the help of Mx. Tangee, a strange woman who almost seems to have magical powers.

First Impressions

Wow! Memory Librarian blew me away with the descriptive prose and inventive stories of rebellion and love in an oppressive society. I enjoyed each story and the messages they imparted. I think my favorites were Nevermind and Save Changes, especially Save Changes with how well it mixed technology and magic together. I think for me it was definitely a fun read all the way through

The Good, The Bad, and The Fuzzy

The good has to go to the inventive worldbuilding of the setting Memory Librarian is in! Details are kept vague in terms of how New Dawn gained power, how memories are able to be used as a resource as well as what being a Torch entails. But I think that vagueness is in its favor from a narrative standpoint as the characters we meet already know all these things (Save for Bug and their friends), as well as for the reader to keep drawing you back in. It’s a nice blend of sci-fi contemporary without being set in such a heavily futuristic setting, there’s technology everywhere but it doesn’t feel like it’s the main focus or detracts from it.

The bad, I will admit I had trouble reading through some of the prose, especially in the Memory Librarian novella. I had to go back and reread many large paragraphs to try to figure out what exactly was going on. I think other than that I couldn’t really find anything else I had a problem with?

The fuzzy is more to deal with plots being abruptly cliffhangers, however I don’t find it as a fault due to the formatting but I still had moments where I would go “And then what??!!” before turning the page to be met with a new story.

Conclusion

Memory Librarian and Other Stories from Dirty Computer is an amazing anthology that talks about being different in a society that tries its hardest to stamp it out through the lenses of black queer women. Its sci-fi setting is friendly enough to those who aren’t familiar with the genre while also providing an interesting spin on the genre. I think this is a perfect read for those that enjoy evocative short stories within the same world as well as fans of Monae’s music. Listening to Dirty Computer while reading definitely helped immerse me in the world of New Dawn.

Rating

A nice 8.9/10 lamps!

Upcoming…

Next entry in this blog will be Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir!

[mothymusings]

First Entry

“Esto es verdad, y no miento. Como me lo contaron, lo cuento.” ― Donna Barba Higuera, The Last Cuentista

For my first (and a few after this one) entry into this blog, I've decided that I would review books I've read in the near past before exhausting my queue. So let's jump in, shall we!

Synopsis

A story spanning centuries and across worlds, The Last Cuentista follows young Petra Peña, the daughter of scientists and the granddaughter of a storyteller as her entire sense of reality crumbles in the wake of an apocalyptic event. Leaving behind the only place she, or any other person in history, has called home in hopes of starting civilization over on a new planet, Sagan. 

Petra has to come to terms that all she ever knew, the landscapes and stories from her abuela are gone as she and the rest of her family enter hypersleep, hoping to wake up once the journey is over. However in the ranks of those whose fate is to watch over their pods for generations never to see Sagan itself, conflict is brewing; change is coming. 

Now Petra, the sole person to remember the past and Earth as it was, has to navigate an eerie and dangerous landscape all while grappling with the fact that even the things she thought she’d keep through her journey to Sagan may very well be memories in the wind. 

First Impressions

The Last Cuentista felt to me like it nailed the central themes and overall narrative about remembering the past and honoring the traditions of our ancestors even in the face of conformity. I remember reading it on a plane ride, squished against a total stranger in the dimly lit cabin and never taking my eyes off the pages. I felt the loss and the anger, the tension, fear, grief and solace as I walked through this interstellar journey with Petra and the other kids of Zeta Group. 

The book felt simultaneously easily digestible due to its middle-grade rank and still complex enough to ponder what it was conveying. I came away feeling at peace, there isn’t technically a happy ending I would argue, not after all that went on right before. But it was a start after the end, left open ended not in hair pulling agony; rather slumping in exhaustion and taking a moment before gathering up the pieces left. 

The Good, The Bad, and the Fuzzy

Now here’s where we get to the Nitty Gritty of book reviewing. I’ve already outlined the Good in my First Impressions but I will place more of the Good I saw in the book smiles. I enjoyed the vivid descriptions, especially tied into the uncanniness of the augmented Collective. It kept me wondering why they would want to radically change their own genetic makeup if the memory of Earth had been (supposedly) all erased. The trauma Petra experiences and her reaction to it is realistic, and I felt for her as someone who also recently lost a loved one dear to me. It’s hard, and the moments where you feel like letting go are visceral. Plus less about the story but the cover illustration is absolutely gorgeous, shout out to the illustrator for such an amazing design!

The Bad…as a preface I will never be too harsh on a book since again, this is for my own entertainment and overall my reading list is catered to what I like. But still, no book is ever perfect. One of the problems I had was my suspension of belief in the fact that the ark ships had the technology for suspended animation and the ability to upload any topic of the world’s collective knowledge in the modern day. Not to mention how the Collective simply “purged” the adults because they were too finicky to brainwash. Even still, those were valuable resources they could have used instead of relying on the limited amount of children on board. It reduces risk of course, but surely having maybe one or two adult scientists around per generation, even if confined, would have sped up their technological advances. Plus for the book’s title to be the Last Cuentista, The Last Storyteller, the stories Petra herself tells Zeta crew feel almost rushed and unsubstantial. 

The Fuzzy, where things feel lost in the fluff. I had so many questions throughout the book, mainly about Voxy and what will happen to him on Sagan since the Collective seem to be deathly allergic to something in the environment. Why Chancellor Nyla kept the personal effects of the ship's inhabitants instead of purging them like the rest of the risks. How Ben managed to upload an ai/computer program into Petra and the fact that she was only able to access it in hypersleep and not normal sleep. I understand that this book is middle-grade rated and that may provide some restrictions and boundaries, but I still felt that there were so many what-ifs?

Conclusion

The Last Cuentista is one of the few Sci-Fi books featuring a Latina protagonist I’ve seen, with an interesting narrative weaving tradition with promises of the future together while arguing against conformity as a solution to previous misdeeds. It’s a good read that I feel definitely would have completely captivated Middle School me hard, and even now as an adult I still enjoyed it despite its moderate use of what I can only describe as ‘trust me’ poetic faith. Overall this book is one I would recommend as an easy sci-fi read that also provides good emotion to keep you invested and feeling. 

Rating

A solid 7.6/10 Lamps! 

Upcoming…

Be On the Lookout for the next book being reviewed, The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae!

[mothymusings]

Welcome!

Hello! My name is Satu, the Not-So-Wormy Bookmoth! Welcome to my little corner of book reviews called Mothy Musings, where we try not to eat the pages and dig into the fuzz and fluff of literature. This blog is purely for fun while also giving me the opportunity to chat about some of the books I read, feel free to stop by, get comfortable, and get your muse on!

My main focuses and also what I prefer to read are Sci-fi, Cosmic/Weird Horror and Fantasy novels with a spotlight on POC and Queer authors :3! As a warning I’m personally not that big of a fan of romance (with some very selective exceptions) and will try to avoid reading romance centered novels!

I tend to choose my picks based on how interesting the synopsis looks or if it’s been recommended to me, however for the foreseeable future I will sadly not be taking new recommendations as my to-read list is very very (oh so very!) long. But I hope to open polls on what to read next on my queue based on your opinions later this year! 

Each Book Review will be live monthly on Mondays, either the first or second of the month at 12pm CDT!