Amber H

• Rated 2 stars

“If the actual writing were half as inspired as the writer and illustrator obviously were, this could have been an exciting return to the genre roots of sf. ”

Amber H wrote this review Monday, April 26, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“This book is making its way through one of my friend circles and it's been pressed into my hands now. I wouldn't normally be drawn to a story like this, so I'm interested to see what all the fuss is about.”

Amber H wrote this review Saturday, April 10, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Really cool premise: three household pets are bioengineered and trained to work as a remote-operated killing squad...and to speak LOLcat. Way too short and quite a bit more gory than I'd like, but the animation is absolutely top notch. Some pages show the influence of the ever flashier, to the point of seizure-inducing, film work we see in action movies these days. It looks cool, but reader comprehension can suffer. It's usually used in the most violent scenes or outrageous stunts, so maybe it's indicative of things we really don't want to see, or aren't even physically/emotionally able to see. Looks cool, nonetheless.”

Amber H wrote this review Wednesday, March 17, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Generally not a fan of superhero stories, but I really like the way that the super powers were brought front and center, dragged right out into the streets, and made the main subject of the series. The line between regular- and super- human heroism is very thin in this city, and therefore more accessible to me as a mundane reader. The bodies of the sups are drawn (like other books) completely exaggerated and hypersexualized, but there's evidence of some self-awareness about that in the writing. The noir style detective characters, the skillful framing, and the gorgeous glossy pages are also really easy on the eyes.”

Amber H wrote this review Monday, March 15, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

0 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“Infernal devices loaded onto mechanized horses being catapulted to the moon by geniuses in corsets and/or top hats--does it get any better than that? Well, no, it doesn't; but, it's already devilish fun as it is, so why quibble? This collection is full of some very fun and accessible stories in a genre that is better known for its costumes and collector's items than for its writing. For new recruits, there is also a fine survey of steampunk in the comic book and animation media included at the end of the book.”

Amber H wrote this review Monday, March 15, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“There are some moments in this short story collection that resonate deeply, moments when the words of one of the usually nameless narrators seem to be riding the nuclear winds of a moral holocaust howling their way across the lonely hollows of my sort of Gen-X heart. The stories themselves tend to be less compelling and don't quite do enough to earn the title.”

Amber H wrote this review Monday, March 8, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Anyone with an interest in gender identity just has to read this book eventually. If you don't do it on your own, it will be assigned to you in your next Queer Studies class. Brutally, heart-wrenchingly, unabashedly told--it's not the most literary thing you'll ever read, but the transgendered voice is one that needs to be heard a lot more often.”

Amber H wrote this review Thursday, February 12, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Narrated by a loner librarian with intimacy issues and an obsession with a young man who has gigantisim--I thought that I would like this a lot more than I did. It's a solid book, but I just never really liked the main character. She's aloof, which can be interesting, but she goes past the point I would fondly described as "quirky." At the end, I just felt indifferent to the so-called romance. It's strange because I love the idea of an ironic, non-traditional, strange romance. I'll definitely read something else by this author to see if this was just her warm-up first novel.”

Amber H wrote this review Thursday, February 12, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“This book swept me off my feet or off the floor or into the dustbin or off a steep cliff or into the ocean or onto a slip-stream-of-consciousness-word-association bender or into a neat pile that was later partially hoovered up and partially blown out the window by a little breeze that may have been the sigh of Princess Diana's ghost. The language will either put you off or pull you in from page 1. I'm glad it pulled me in because the themes and characters couldn't be more fascinating. Overall, I feel as if I didn't really "get" everything that Smith was doing (or maybe just gesturing toward) with her play on verb tenses, but it didn't take away from the stories at all.”

Amber H wrote this review Sunday, January 25, 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 2 stars

“I read this such a long time ago that I can't be sure if I would have the same opinion of it now, after drastic changes in both my world-view and in the way I read books; but I was not impressed with it. It bored me and left only the lingering image of excrement filling a street and rising up the cracked wall of a building, reaching up toward vines of jasmine, which in turn retreat up to the roof-top where an old man is having a siesta. Rather than a certain taste, it leaves a certain smell.”

Amber H wrote this review Saturday, June 7, 2008. ( reply | permalink )