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Title: Places in the Darkness
Series: ———-
Author: Chris Brookmyre
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 448/DNF on page 11
Format: Digital Edition
| My Thoughts: |
Main character was talking to her male coworker and brings up the fact he might be leaving the space station to go be with his male partner.
At some point I will simply have to give up on SFF because of the pervasiveness of such perversions presented as normal. I don’t know what my tipping point would be though. A monthly total, a yearly total, something else? I take this subject matter pretty seriously and so I guess I really need to sit down and think about just what my tipping point actually is. I have to admit I’ve been avoiding thinking about it but as this seems to be happening more, I just can’t shrug it off as an aberration on the writer’s part. Giving up a whole genre seems like a lot but at some point the apple is so riddled with worms that it is better to throw the apple away than to try to eat the few remaining good parts.
All choices have consequences.
★☆☆☆☆
Is this an older book? Thanks for being honest about it. 👍
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I just checked, it was from ’17.
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If you give up on SFF, go into non-fiction history 🙂 I’ve been reading mostly that for the last 5 or 6 years, and I really like it. And there’s so much history to read! Just in the last year, I’ve read/listened to books about China’s emperors, India’s independence and partition with Pakistan/Bangladesh, World Wars 1 and 2, and the shameful expulsion of the Cherokee from the southeast (Trail of Tears).
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I couldn’t give up fiction for it, but do agree that history is wilder and more tragic than any fiction you will ever read.
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And that is the problem. I don’t want wilder and more tragic in regards to real life 😦
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Well, I know what you mean. Book are supposed to bring some kind of meaning / resolution out of the tragedy. In history, the meaning isn’t always immediately obvious.
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I hate history though. It does nothing but depress me. Seeing what God has allowed for so long always casts me into a rocky place.
That being said, I’m wondering if I’ll head down that History Trail anyway…
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My kids & I are studying Jamestown and the Plymouth colony just now. The conditions of the voyage and the first winter at Plymouth were not conditions I would willingly put my characters in, because realistically they would be fatal. And sure enough, said conditions were fatal to the Pilgrims too …
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One of the most moving things I heard recently was a conversation between David Rubin and Douglas Murray, both gay men. They agreed that they don’t like the identity system where people are only allowed to speak on certain subjects if they have cards. That said, both recognize that on that system they are holding the “gay” card. And they said they should use it to speak out against cancel culture. They said, “We have to help them.” By “them,” they meant straight people who don’t have any cards. Almost made me misty-eyed.
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I read this one, it was okay but you’re probably not missing out on much. I forget a lot of the plot already! Anyway, thanks for your honesty and I respect your religious views and decision to DNF. Personally, I have no issue with LGBT in my books, but it does bugs the hell out of me when it’s thrown in willy-nilly as tokenism or an attempt by the author to seem “woke”. As in this case, I don’t recall that part you described being relevant to the book at all, so that to me is a sign of just pure virtual signalling.
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Thank you.
Thankfully, I haven’t had any drive-by hate comments on reviews such as this while on WP. It DID happen quite a few times on Booklikes, which is why I used to just state that I dnf’d the book for personal and theological reasons.
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I have no issue with gay relationships in real life or gay characters in books but to be honest if I see anything marked LGBT on Goodreads I tend to avoid it, purely because I’m just not interested in reading it. I avoid books heavy on sex and relationships anyway but I’ve never been interested in reading LGBT dominated books as I don’t personally relate to it.
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I understand how this might be an issue with you, but abandoning speculative fiction to avoid the mention of possible triggers might equate with throwing away the baby with the bathwater… (apologies for the poor joke). Maybe acquiring more information about the story before picking the book might prove helpful? 🙂
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I like your idea, in theory. But most people don’t review with the same standard I do and picking up on a single line for that issue isn’t going to be something I’ll easily find.
Now for an author like Mercedes Lackey, well, that is easy enough 😀
It might also lead me to just be super selective about any “new” books. Someone presented that idea to me before, and the more I think of it, the more it has its attractions.
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When I read books (etc.) like this, I feel like I’m being brainwashed. Another reason to love the classics!
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And I feel the same way, which is why I react so strongly. I will NOT have my ethical standards changed by familiarity…
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I can only echo Mogsy’s comment above. (I know I enjoyed this when I read it, but now I don’t really remember much about it).
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That is weird. I never liked this comment before. Probably means I didn’t see it. Well, I like your comment, even if 8 months late 😀
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And I thank you for liking it! 🤣🤣🤣
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It’s quite sad but it is indeed something you’ll encounter A LOT more with post-2016 books, if you ask me. It’s getting rarer and rarer to not see it sneaked into a book and I can only imagine you dropping it instantly at some point while reading any SFF book now. I fear you’ll have to find a reliable source that can confirm its presence or not in books you’d want to try before trying them now… Or else you’re probably stuck rereading older content…
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Thankfully, there is a LOT of older content. I’ll just have to search it out I guess
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Man oh e manoooooh?, why? Just why are people writing about these kind of things in sf😖
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Because “A Cause” is greater than actually being an intelligent story teller 😦
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I went to uni with Brookmyre, he was a walloper then too.
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Huh, talk about a small world! I never in a million years thought I’d meet someone online who knew this guy.
♪it’s a small world after all♪
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I never miss the chance to stick the boot into him if I get a chance!
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Hahahahaa! That made me laugh 😀
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Oh, I have to ask, how did you find this review? I’m curious.
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Good question; through the tags in the right, using a laptop, I immediately saw a chance to cheaply and gratuitously slander my rival at the University Guardian arts pages.
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Ha, the author tag snags me a view and a bunch of fun comments. Success!
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