u/Glansberg90

I loved this book.

Invisible Cities has been one of the most unique books I have read yet. In it, Calvino writes about conversations between the Emperor Kublai Khan and Marco Polo as Polo describes the wondrous cities he has encountered in his travels. These cities are surely fantastical creations and yet the Khan humours Polo and even encourages him to continue describing these invented places.

It follows a structure in which each chapter begins with the Khan and Polo in conversation, followed by a series of distinct descriptions of cities Polo has traveled through, and closes with another conversation between the two characters. The cities Polo describes are fantastical, and dream-like, and frequently left me pondering these relatively short descriptions for minutes at a time before turning to the next page.

In this first read-through, the meat of the book for me came at the beginning and end of each chapter, in which Polo and the Khan are in conversation. These sections often featured dueling thought experiments on the imagining and creation of cities, their attributes, design, and utility. Much of the philosophy flew over my head, but what I did absorb I found really interesting and thought-provoking.

I read the 50th anniversary edition featuring illustrations by Karina Puente Frantzen. I found the artwork really enhanced my reading experience, and I think this is a really beautiful book, both as a physical object and as a literary work of art.

I can see myself returning to this book over the years and pulling something new from it each time.

Hi Folks,

Another five books down in my quest to leverage the 2026/2027 Bingo Challenge to make a significant dent in my physical TBR. I'm hoping to complete two full blackout cards this year. Two of these books really resonated with me and one in particular is now one of my favorite books of all time.

Reviews below.

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Book: Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Date Completed: April 22, 2026
Bingo Squares: Translated / Explorers and Rangers / Published in the 70s

⭐⭐⭐⭐½ - Excellent

My first Soviet science-fiction read and it did not disappoint.

Earth has been visited at several sites around the globe by extraterrestrial life. These aliens do not attempt to make contact with humanity, instead they spend a short time on the planet before leaving. In the wake of their landing sites, the rules of physics seem to no longer apply, and they leave behind discarded technology. The action of the novel takes place over a decade after the alien visit, at one of these sites now referred to as "Zones." We follow Red, a "Stalker", someone who illegally penetrates the Zone, navigating the deadly environment to collect and smuggle out alien artifacts to sell on the black market.

The Strugatskys subvert the first contact trope by posing the question of whether humanity is even worth the notice of alien life. What if we were nothing more than bugs to them, so inconsequential that Earth is nothing but a pit stop on their galactic journey to dump their trash and quickly depart? Red is not a genius scientist, a heroic military leader or an inspiring politician, he’s by most measures a regular person trying to scrape by and eke out a living.

The writing is incredibly strong, and I have to compliment the translator of this edition, Olena Bormashenko, as well as the Strugatskys. The setting, the characters, and the themes are all so well written and portrayed. I don't think this book is going to be for everyone. It's rather short, and at times it can feel like not a whole lot is happening, with very little "action." The focus really lies in the characters and the constant hold the Zone has on their lives.

A really excellent book. I also managed to find a used copy of the Strugatsky’s The Doomed City and my library hold for Hard to be a God should be available soon as well. I’m extremely excited to read more of their work.

Book: Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
Date Completed: April 26, 2026
Bingo Squares: The Afterlife (HM) / One-Word Title / Author of Colour

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Astounding

Delany really took me for a ride with this one. Babel-17 is the second of Delany's books I've read, and I continue to be extremely impressed by his writing.

Babel-17 is a space opera set during a period of interstellar war between the “Alliance” and an enemy faction referred to as “The Invaders”. The story revolves around a mysterious radio code which seems to have been transmitted just before and after several sabotage strikes made against the Alliance military infrastructure by the Invaders. Rydra Wong, who is the protagonist of the novel discovers that this “Babel-17” is no code at all, but a language. We follow her as she assembles a crew to travel through space to unravel and learn this language in the hopes of preventing more sabotage attacks.

I found Delany’s world building to be excellent and wonderfully creative. The opening act does a fantastic job of exploring some awesome concepts including life and death, consciousness, body modification surgery and sexuality. I think his social commentary largely holds up to today and still feels relevant.

The central idea Delany explores is the concept of language relativity (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis), which is the idea that the language someone speaks influences how they think and perceive the world around them. This theory is largely defunct and the science is certainly outdated, but I think this novel is still worth reading for Delany’s exploration of its concepts because he created an absolutely phenomenal story around it.

Delany is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers in science fiction. His writing is absolutely a pleasure to read, some of the passages in the novel left my jaw on the floor. Published in 1966, Babel-17 is largely considered to be Delany's first "New Wave" SF book. It won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1967. I’m extremely excited to continue reading his other novels.

I strongly recommend this book to fans of philosophical science fiction. I think if you’re a fan of Le Guin’s Hanish books that you might enjoy Delany as well. I’d also recommend his book Nova in which he blends mythic story telling with space opera to delightful results.

Book: Ice by Anna Kavan
Date Completed: April 29, 2026
Bingo Squares: One-Word Title (HM)

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Astounding

Of the books I’ve read so far in 2026 Ice by Anna Kavan has been my favorite. I have to give credit to the BookTuber BookPilled for putting this on my radar, he’s been an excellent resource to help me identify older books and authors of SFF that I otherwise would likely never have discovered on my own.

It’s hard for me to describe Ice. It's part climate fiction with dystopian elements, part feminist literature, part exploration of addiction and so much more. Just when you think you have a grasp on what the book is about Kavan changes gears completely and the book morphs into something else.

The narrative revolves around three primary characters. An unnamed male protagonist which we follow in a first person narrative as he pursues an unnamed woman and is looking to free her from another man who is most often referred to as “the Warden”. The narrator's quest is relentless and obsessive and it’s clear he is not some benevolent figure, his quest is driven by the need to dominate. He chases her and the Warden through unnamed European countries ravaged by war and there is always this looming apocalypse in the background of either total climate collapse as a wall of glacial ice is descending the globe destroying everything in its path, or, the threat of pending nuclear annihilation.

Kavan’s prose totally captivated my attention. She weaves conscious and subconscious thought through the narration which can be really confusing at times. It left me questioning what aspects of the story were real and what were hallucinations, or if any of it is real to begin with. The narrator and narrative seems to change from moment to moment which I struggled with at the beginning but was able to re-center myself in the story pretty quickly. She has this beautiful way of turning the recognizable into something dream-like and uncanny, specifically with aspects of the natural world like snow, ice and forests.

Ice is a very bleak and disturbing read. If you’re sensitive to themes of addiction, abuse, violence and sexual violence in particular I’d recommend reading some deeper analysis and reviews before giving it a try. At only 192 pages Ice really packs a punch. I found it to be a book that I’m really eager to reread again. I strongly recommend with a few caveats and recommend that readers go in with the proper expectations.

Much of Kavan’s work is out of print now, most of what is available are short story collections. Ice is one of her only novels that seems to be widely available online and stocked on bookseller shelves. If you’re looking for a totally unique reading experience do yourself a favor and seek it out.

Book: Sundiver by David Brin
Date Completed: May 2, 2026
Bingo Squares: Explorers and Rangers / One-Word Title / First Contact / Murder Mystery

⭐⭐ ½ Stars - Okay

Sundiver is full of some really incredible science fiction concepts, but unfortunately those elements didn't come together to create a compelling story.

Set in the 24th century, the novel takes place in an era where humanity has become a member of a galaxy-spanning, multi-species civilization. The central concept revolves around "uplifting," which is the idea that all intelligent life in the galaxy has been engineered by older, advanced species, creating long lines of client-patron relationships amongst species. Humanity seems to be the only exception to this, having no known patron and being possibly the only known species to have evolved intelligence independently.

I think Brin's exploration of this idea, and specifically how it would create divisions within humanity as well as how it would affect the attitudes of alien species towards humanity is incredibly interesting. Unfortunately the story itself never grabbed me. The characters felt largely archetypal and the plot never really surprised me or took me in an unexpected direction. The edition I read seemed to be rife with errors missed in editing. This is not something I normally care about, but it was so overly present in this novel that it really drew my attention.

I do plan to read the sequel, Startide Rising. I've heard great things about it, and that Sundiver is often presented as a book you just need to get through to understand uplifting and the general world building before getting to the point where the series takes off.

Overall, I thought that Sundiver was okay. It explored some interesting ideas, but in execution it didn't work for me.

Book: The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
Date Completed: May 5, 2026
Bingo Squares: Older Protagonists (HM) / Author of Colour

⭐⭐⭐½ - Very Good

The Buried Giant is a historical fantasy set in post-Roman Britain shortly after the reign of the mythical King Arthur.

Ishiguro describes a land in decline. Roman villas and roads lie wasting away to ruin, and the once united Britain under Arthur is collapsing into petty kingdoms as old anxieties between Saxons and Britons begin to rekindle. The land lies coated in a strange mist that seems to be affecting both the personal and cultural memory of the island's inhabitants. The people seem to be unable to hold onto a memory or thought beyond whatever their most immediate need is.

We follow Axl and Beatrice, an elderly couple who undertake a journey to visit their son at his village a few days' travel away. They remember very few details about their son, where he lives, and their own past, but both Axl and Beatrice feel a strong urge to undertake the journey, as if their son is expecting them.

I find Ishiguro to be an interesting author as he often dabbles with science fiction and, now with this novel, fantasy elements. Like with Klara and the Sun and Never Let Me Go, here Ishiguro tacitly embraces some of the elements of genre writing without wholeheartedly embracing them, as if doing so would lessen the impact of what he is trying to communicate with his writing. This is something Ursula K. Le Guin noted in her short, critical essay on The Buried Giant titled "Are they going to say this is fantasy?", published in March 2015, in which she criticizes Ishiguro's fear of his novel being labelled as "fantasy" and therefore being seen as immature and childish. I recommend reading the essay after finishing the novel.

Ishiguro's prose throughout his novels is largely detached, impersonal, and relatively non-descriptive, which runs counter to the norm in fantasy fiction. At the same time, I really do enjoy reading his writing. The detached and impersonal style enables me as a reader to interpret the novel on my own terms, which I find to be an extremely engaging way of reading.

I do, maybe to Ishiguro's horror, view The Buried Giant as a fantasy novel, albeit one that selectively uses fantasy's aesthetics with surface-level depth. I thought it was very good, but it is my least favourite of his books that I have read, although I think they are all good if not great. I would recommend this to readers who enjoy fantasy with a literary bent. It is a slow-paced, character-focused story, and I think its exploration of memory will stick with me for a long time.

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Up next I'm going to take a bit of a break from bingo focused reads and move over to Gene Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun. After that I may focus on some short story collections but we'll see what I'm vibing with at the time.

[43/84] Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Night's Master by Tanith Lee was Great!

Which Robert Silverberg Book Should I Read Next?