Vikings and Zombies and Magicians and Dinosaurs, Oh My!
Graydon Saunders has “committed book” again. The Human Dress is live at Google Play Books. If this is the kind of thing you like, you will like this thing—I like it very, very much. Vikings and zombies and magicians and dinosaurs and much much much more.
It is not a book to skim: I am sure that I missed great and important things about the antagonists and their motivation and purposes. And I am also not sure whether the name of the ship really is “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility” or not; or whether the principal heroine named “Red Harvester” is a Dashiell Hammett reference or not. And I still have many unanswered questions about just what happened...
I certainly did not expect so many important characters to be eaten by dinosaurs, or for the eating to have such consequences. Nor have a looked up what the runic inscription on the cover page means—although I suspect that there is a message there. Nor was I expecting the principal hero to say “ and you so neat with your food” at that time and in that place.
This is the fourth book that [Grayson Saunders] has sent out into the world. The first three are:
- The March North: a meditation on feasible socialism disguised as a grimdark milfant novel...
- A Succession of Bad Days: A meditation on the impact of nanotechnology on civil engineering disguised as a wizard school bildungsroman...
- Safely You Deliver: meditation on the forms of human connection disguised as a political-factions quasi-thriller romance about sparkly unicorns...
All highly recommended. Cosma Shalizi reviewed the first:
Cosma Shalizi: Books to Read While the Algae Grow in Your Fur, March 2014: "Graydon Saunders, The March North: Mind candy.... I picked this up.... I am glad I did..... The set-up calls out for sequels, which I would eat up with a spoon..."