"Klara and the Sun" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Klara and the Sun is the latest work by the Nobel Prize winning author Kazuo Ishiguro. This is a Sci-Fi novel set in not such a distant future, where one can go to a store and purchase an Artificial Friend (AF) for one's child. In fact, the entire novel is written from the point of view of an AF called Klara. We first meet her in the store, where she, along with other AFs, is waiting to be chosen by someone's child. We then follow her, as she is taken into a home of a teenage girl named Josie, who lives with her mom and a housekeeper outside the city. 

Overall, I really liked this book. In many places, Ishiguro just hints at things. We might be guessing what is going on, but (a) we see the world through the eyes of an AF, and (b) nothing is truly spilled out. We do not know the specifics of the geopolitical/economic/social landscape. We get hints that come through bits of conversations heard by Klara. She does not read or listen to the news, and most of the information comes to us from interactions with and around her. Ishiguro leaves a lot of things to the reader's imagination. 

It's a great book to read with a book club or a group of friends and discuss. It touches upon things like: what makes us human, what is friendship, human attachment, how we deal with grief. One thing that struck me in this book was how socially awkward all the characters are (except for possibly Rick and Josie's father, who are by no means "the normal people" in this society). Gene editing is a reality already, and in this fictional society, majority of children get some sort of gene editing procedure - what are the moral/ethical issues that go along with that?

I did really enjoy this book and I am looking forward to discussing it with my book club. 5 out of 5 stars. 

"Circe" by Madeline Miller

Circe would appeal to anyone interested in Greek mythology and reimagining or giving a story to some of lesser known characters. Circe was the witch that turned Odysseus' crew into pigs and kept him on her island for a year. That is pretty much all we learn about her from Homer. Miller masterfully creates the story that is Circe' own. Not only does she give her a voice, she skillfully shows how stories written by men traditionally marginalize or vilify strong female characters. One thing that struck me in this book was how horrible all the gods (even minor ones) are. You sort of get that impression from reading myths, but in this book it was particularly jarring. I guess being immortal and having powers does terrible things to one's personality and erodes the ability to empathize or care about anything but oneself.

Even though I really liked the story, the writing style did not work very well for me. It took me longer than usual to read this book, and some portions were extremely slow. This might be just my personal impression as I know plenty of people who flew through this novel and had no issues with the pacing or the style. Overall, I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars, and will definitely read the author's other books.

Thoughts on Epic Fantasy and S.A. Chakraborty's Daevabad Trilogy

Last year, The City of Brass, book 1 in S.A. Chakraborty's Daevabad Trilogy was one of the best books I read in 2020. I just recently finished book 2 The Kingdom of Copper, and must say that this trilogy is quickly becoming my favorite epic fantasy.

I am usually not a huge fan of epic fantasy series and I definitely try to avoid reading chunky books as (1) I tend to lose interest, and (2) they take me a while to get through as I am not that fast of reader. This particular trilogy, however, has just the right mix of interesting characters, unpredictable plotlines and a fascinating world that manages to keep my interest. I have always liked Middle Eastern folklore and fairy tales, and Chakraborty draws heavily on that region's mythology. There are also very interesting political machinations and moral dilemmas. Daevabad is a diverse and highly complex jinn society where centuries of conflict between various ethnic groups have sown mutual distrust and volatility. It does not help that the ruling family does everything to keep that distrust simmering and closely adheres to the ancient wisdom of "divide and conquer". 

Since this is book 2, it is hard to talk about the plot. I will just say that this trilogy is a very good entry point into reading epic fantasy. Compared to some other famous series, the books are manageable in size (the first was just over 500 pages, and the second one - just over 600), There are no extensive battle scenes or any kind of military subplot. The story revolves largely around the political and societal conflicts and a struggle for power. I do highly recommend this trilogy, and will be picking up book 3 very soon.