Olivia Wylie

Still A Delight After Decades

Reviewed: 10-14-23

The first time I listened to this story, it was on an audio cassette. I played it until the tape deck ate and mangled the tape for the last time.
Rediscovering it as an adult, I find that it's just as bittersweet, just as good, and just as right a fit for Halloween.

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Open the cupboard on a delightful little romp

Reviewed: 10-08-23 Listener received this title free

This deliciously dark little collection is just the thing to wile away an October hour. Enjoy!

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A Delightful Tale For The Spooky Season!

Reviewed: 10-03-23

I've been reading Charles de Lint's work since I was a teen. Now in my thirties, I'm still delighted by the charmingly spooky stories that are spun. This story is no exception! It's a tale full of twists and turns as well as surprising moments of support and affirmation. A delight, and the perfect thing for Halloween.

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Decolonizing The Script Makes This Story A Winner!

Reviewed: 07-22-23

While I'm on here, a quick shout out and props to the author Ben Aaronovitch for subverting colonialist scripts!
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So, Aaronovich's newest short story in his paranormal police Rivers Of London series is called Winter's Gifts. It focuses on his one American character. It's set in a part of my home state, and this author is writing as an outsider about tribal stories that are part of my tradition. And then the story starts playing with reanimated snow monsters trying to kill people. Being half Menominee, I roll my eyes. I see what's coming here. Wendigo, yeah yeah done that. Sacred Native American something or other, dude please no, not again! The only thing that keeps me here is that I like his characters and his work. I can see what's coming.
AND THEN HE FLIPS THE HOLLYWOOD SCRIPT.
The evil spirits ARE NOT the tribal guardians, they're the ghosts of the JERKS who set out an expedition to wipe out a winter camp of Ojibwe people and murder their guardian spirits. They died a deservedly stupid death and are still, STILL trying to commit genocidal murder all these centuries later, because some people really are that evil. And it's the guardians of the land who help the MC take these colonialist jerks down.
I did miss the smooth and smoky tones of the series' main performer, but the voice actor on this work did a decent job and the story was a joy.
THANK YOU for telling a decolonized story, Mr. Aaronovitch. So much.

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4 people found this helpful

A Fun And Irreverent Stroll Through Alphabet City

Reviewed: 11-27-22

Listening to this story is like wandering down a street in an old New York neighborhood. You hear all kinds of languages, see things both lovely and ugly, and smell the cooking of cuisine from around the world. People all have long memories, rich emotional lives--not always nice-- and plenty of opinions about one another. Portrayed in this work, these truths are not good or bad; it just is. And in spite of the jerry-rigged and mismatched weirdness of a community where Dominicans pretend to be Puerto Rican so Americans are okay with them, where Spanish folks learn Japanese to work in a sushi restaurant, where Jewish recipes get reworked to include bananas and people debate whether getting a lip piercing is kosher at the corner store, it is a community. It is a place to belong. And it has its own quirky beauty. I find it delightful.

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Another Delight!

Reviewed: 11-25-22

Oh boy, is this work a wonderful rollercoaster of a plot. By seeing through seven pairs of eyes and seven points of view, you’re allowed all the confusion of dawning realizations, but you’re also able to enjoy the literary thrill of putting all the pieces together. By the middle of the second book, a lot of what you thought you knew gets tossed out and you have to rethink a lot of assumptions. And it is glorious!

The book is polarizing because it pulls no punches about solipsistic attitudes: people and things who want to ‘put people in their place’, who want everyone to be ‘nice’ and match their expectations and behave in a subservient manner if they get to survive at all, are the enemy. And a lot of the people acting that way in our current world are white. Jemisin calls that out, and that freaks a lot of white folks out. So yeah, there’s that.

I did have a couple moments in Book 2 of going ‘wait…what the…how does this work?’ but the next battle with Tentacles From Beyond fixed that. And oh man, would this series make good movies. There are so many cinematic scenes in here.
In short, a treat for the ears and heart. Enjoy!

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Reviewing In Gratitude

Reviewed: 07-16-22

I'm writing this to say: thank you, Diane Duane. I was a lonely youngster. I felt like an outsider. I found 'so you want to be a wizard' when I was twelve. The relatable magic, deep courage, true friendship and stalwart hope got me through the bad days. In college, I got the audiobooks. I was going to class by day and working nights. Listening to this series got me through the bad days once again. And now I'm a thirty-six year old business owner, still listening to this series every other summer or so, and happily entertained and deeply validated every time.
Thank you for this work. Thank you for offering something to a lost girl and teaching me to call everyone 'cousin'. Thanks for the wit, the wisdom. And thanks, most of all, for the image of a universe that has goodness in it.

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1 person found this helpful

Thank You

Reviewed: 07-13-22

Thank you, Becky Chambers. Thanks so much. I needed this book right now. I need to see a healed world. I'm so glad you're writing it.

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Another Delight!

Reviewed: 04-19-22

I love this series so much, and this entry is no different. I re-listened to the whole series in preparation, and was well pleased with the newest addition :D

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1 person found this helpful

Eye Opening And Insightful!

Reviewed: 04-17-22

This is one of the books that will open your eyes. Insightful and wise, the work tracks the European settling and formation of parts of our country, giving us a clear look at the underlying ethos that underpins all the laws and policies of swathes of this nation. A lot of things I've thought but never been able to put my finger on were beautifully clarified in this work, and though it doesn't give us the hoped for path to reconciliation we all crave, it does give us a much better lens through which to understand our fellow countrymen.
The delivery can be a bit ponderous at times, and a touch dry, but if you've got a dull chore to do that day it's great as an accompaniment. And the insights are invaluable.

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