Books I Read in 2021

2021 was a different in terms of the books I’ve read. Usually I stick to technical books, manuals and scientific papers, but this year I really wanted to get better at writing stories, especially for RPG adventures I tend to run as a GM, so I picked up a handful of fiction books to draw inspiration from. In this post I wanted to try reviewing them for future reference.

Sprawl Trilogy by William Gibson

This series is a specific take on the cyberpunk genre. The books don’t tell much about the society or politics of this future vision of the world. They focus rather on Corporations vs Corporations vs Individuals conflicts. I think that’s worth mentioning, because it is definitely different from, for example, dystopian Deus Ex (2000) game. I recommend reading the whole trilogy.

Neuromancer

The book is considered a classic cyberpunk novel and I cannot argue with that. Even though I was aware of its status I still was amazed how many concepts and ideas are still around (like ICE, or the matrix), remixed or adapted into other works. More than the actual story I very much enjoyed Gibson’s form. Complex descriptions and a lot of metaphors made this book read like an old film noir.

Count Zero

I think the one might be even better than Neuromancer. Gibson provides more amazing descriptions and shows off with vast vocabulary, which I loved. I think the plot and the characters in this one are more believable and their motivations hook better.

Mona Lisa Overdrive

I’d say this book is similar to Count Zero. It continues the plot from both previous books explaining unfinished threads. The ending is a bit disappointing in my opinion, but it’s still cyberpunk to the core.

The City & The City by China Miéville

A great weird-fiction book I found when I was looking for works resembling Disco Elysium game. It has a decent crime plot, but probably the most interesting part is the world and its nuanced society as built by Miéville. It does contain some inconsistencies, but the book is still definitely worth reading.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

I am conflicted about this book. The reviews for it are mostly favorable, and knowing some past books by Crouch I decided to give it a try. It hooked me rather quickly, and I must say I enjoyed most of it. The book took me by surprise in the second part of the plot though, where seemingly manageable conflict spiraled out of control and advanced to a doomsday situation. To not spoil it further I think that the ending is inconsistent with the rest of the book as it just rejects all the consequences of reality-breaking events described. I do recommend that book, but it might not be as impactful as a number of online reviews suggest.

Only Time Will Tell by Jeffrey Archer

I’ve been hearing a lot of good opinions about Archer’s works and I think they are right. This book is interesting, because it is composed of quite a lot of plot threads, yet they are relatively easy to follow and non-trivial at the same time. Archer knew what he was, as this book attracted my attention like no other and I think the technique is very similar to how horror movies work: The reader knows that a monster hides in the basement, yet the main character is highly motivated to go to that basement. I recommend.

Sus by Jonas T. Bengtsson

Initially I was not going to read this book. It is about abuse, desperation and life in Denmark slums, and I was a bit fed up with pessimistic visions of reality. Eventually though, I picked it up, and I don’t regret reading it. The form of it is unusual to say the least. The sentences are short, and they are composed of simple words without redundant descriptions. This book is almost surreal, but not in fantasy-like notion, its surrealism is well grounded in reality and I think that’s what got me properly engaged in the book. I recommend.

All That Remains: A Life in Death by Sue Black

A nonfiction book about death, anthropology and bits of anatomy. I expected this to be an anthropology primer for regular people, but most of the book is about philosophical aspects of death without actually touching philosophy. I must say I enjoyed most of it, especially the second part about anthropology applied during crises. Overall this book made me reevaluate my expectations: if I wanted an academic handbook I should’ve just picked one instead (and get bored to death while reading it, pun intended). I recommend the book despite the fact that in my case it provoked a fair amount of pessimistic thoughts.

The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton

This was a tough one, and I think I might never fully understand every aspect of this book. It is not a detective story, or rather, it’s not the detective story that really matters here. This work is about Order vs Chaos and Good vs Evil, and what I understood from Chesterton’s writing is that there is always some good in evil, and, to experience good, one must experience some evil as well. This might sound rather pessimistic, but it is a hopeful message after all. I agree with a number of reviews stating that this book is a criticism of public sentiment of the early 20th century, and therefore it’s probably way more difficult to understand it now. I recommend, but be sure to read up on nihilism and philosophical ideas of the early 1900s.

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

A very solid cyberpunk novel. Not as good as Gibson’s works, though. Altered Carbon is a bit inconsistent in whether it’s “show, don’t tell”, as most of the book is relatively easy to follow, but occasional narrative shifts are confusing at times. I’m not sure how the matters discussed in this book were important in 2001, but I’ve got an impression that the dilemmas presented by Morgan with regard to mind uploading are a bit naive and simplistic at times. Of course, the whole thing must’ve well thought, but, for example, the conflict between Christians and UN lawmakers seemed a bit like a stretch. Sometimes characters motivations were unclear, other times I noticed that the police forces in Morgan’s world can be either superhuman or plain dumb depending on what’s convenient at the time. Overall I recommend the book, but if you’re just starting with cyberpunk genre, I’d suggest picking up Gibson first.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor (DNF)

First, I love the title of this book. I’m not that enthusiastic on the plot though, hence the DNF. For a plot to be interesting, there must be some form of conflict in the world, something threatening the protagonists. Not in this book though. There definitely are conflicts and potential troubles, but the main character is presented as an omnipotent superhuman, further augmented by a variant of mind uploading, so whatever problem he encounters, it’s usually just a minor bump on the road and the consequences are meaningless in the long run. Watching the protagonist take over the universe with virtually nothing to stop him (or them) is just boring.

Talon Series by J. K. Franko

I am not going to elaborate much on these books. I found those as Goodreads’ recommendation described as being similar to Miéville’s The City & The City. That recommendation made me realize that their book similarity measure is utterly broken though. I expected a complex, layered plot, and instead received pulp-like sensation. Not that I am against such books, but at that time I certainly wasn’t looking for it. If not for Goodreads’ recommendation, I’d probably never even look at them. Now I take extra time to double-check a book before I pick one up.