Permutation City Blog

A last vestige of humanity survives on a far-off planet where they war with Basics from a neighbouring world. Both use captives to breed a race of slaves, mankind has made dragons of legend. An okay story but without depth. A second story with some similar themes is included in the book. This time men are almost too gentlemanly to fight.

I picked this up because it won the Booker Prize. It took me a long time to get into this story, a fictional account of the Indian Mutiny. However once the siege was underway it was much more involving. A fight against overwhelming odds has it's appeal.

During a time travel project to restore Coventry Cathedral a time-lagged historian hides in victorian England but must desperately try to fix historical incogruities that have been created. I like time travel tales, this one spent a bit too much time on local colour.

I got hold of this to compare to the film. The book is surprisingly sparse without the rich colours of the film and without one of the characters as well. The other world is presented as more sinister from the start. I like this book for it's dark tones and simplicity.

Moomin books a short, sweet, and strange. I'd recommend them. This one deals with the hobgoblins hat and transformative powers.

I was very taken by this book. A man adrift in life goes to hospital suffering from an indetermined pain. His life then changes as he starts to pay attention to the world again. He meets new people and helps them. He meets familiar people and learns more about them. PS. This book won't save your life.

This literary trick is translated from the French. Neither the translation nor the original use the letter e, the most common letter in both languages. Surprisingly it is possible to write an entire book like this although the text does feel strange. While clever I'd question whether this was worth it. To be honest I lost track of what was happening part way through and only picked it up again towards the end.

The sequel to Darwin's Radio mostly following the social change after the appearance of the Shevite sub-species of humanity. A mystical element is introduced that seems unusual given the context. I'd rate this less than the first book.

A nice little tale about a pig saved by a girl. Wilbur the pig makes friend's with Charlotte the spider. It tries to present both life and death.

A book of the past, the future, and many world lines. There was a lot of back and forth with this one, it tried to capture complexity and chaos. Overall it didn't hold together for me.