|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
my rating |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
141
| 
| 1447273281
| 9781447273288
| 1447273281
| 4.30
| 131,451
| 2015
| Jun 04, 2015
|
it was amazing
|
“Children of Time: Winner of the 2016 Arthur C. Clarke Award”. Most cumbersome book title ever (this is the full title of the edition I bought). Why d
“Children of Time: Winner of the 2016 Arthur C. Clarke Award”. Most cumbersome book title ever (this is the full title of the edition I bought). Why did the publisher have to tag the award thing on the book’s original title? Fortunately, on the bright side, this is my only complaint about this book! This book takes David Brin’s “uplift” concept and really runs with it. In Brin’s popular Uplift series, humanity have used technology to boost the intellect of selected species of animals to sentience level. I can’t quite remember the reason behind this, presumably to make them more useful and for other, more magnanimous, purposes. Indeed there is a direct tribute to Brin in Children of Time, in the form a little spaceship called Brin 2. However, the emphasis of the novel is not about the uplifting itself, but about the accidental sentient species that arise from the project and its subsequent interaction with humanity. The original idea was to uplift monkeys to sentient levels through an infection of an engineered “nanovirus”, and put them on a habitable planet, but someone sabotaged that project and all the monkeys are killed. However, the nanovirus is sent to the intended planet and infects several species of insects instead. Spiders turn out to be the chief beneficiaries of this project as the virus is most effective on them. This starts off one of the two main narrative threads which chronicles the rise of the spider race as the ruler of the planet. The other narrative thread concerns a group of humans fleeing from Earth which is destroyed by a final world war, on an “ark ship” called “Gilgamesh”. This massive spaceship is carrying working crew and thousands of people in suspended animation, to be defrosted when a habitable planet is found. Unfortunately the only habitable they manage to find, after hundreds of years and generations of crew have come and gone, is the nice planet now ruled by the spiders. [image] Wonderful Polish edition cover It has been a busy month so it took me almost three weeks to finish. Somehow it makes me appreciate the book even more as my constant companion to many places. The narrative is quite interesting from the first chapter and as characters, situations and world building are gradually laid down it becomes increasingly compelling, by the end of the book I was completely riveted. While the humans and spiders plotlines are given about equal time I was much more fascinated by the spiders, the culture, language and technology they develop after receiving their “increased cognitive capacity”. The spider protagonists are also very well developed, and quite admirable. I love sci-fi biotechnology, organic devices, homes and transportations. It is fascinating how the development spiders’ technology takes a different path from the humans, due to lack of metals and electricity. Their tech is based on hyper advanced biochemistry instead. I love how their society is ruled by the female, and the physically weaker and less intelligent males are generally disposable second class citizens. That is until a radical and messianic male spider comes along. The human side of the story is less fascinating but it never drags down the narrative. Their state of affairs is quite pitiful compared to the spiders. They spend hundreds of years on board “the Gilgamesh”, key figures going in and out of suspended animation as needed. Generations are born on the spaceship and never set foot on a planet. The ark ship becomes a “generation ship” even though it was never designed to be used as one and the living conditions on board become rather cramped as the on board population expands. This being the case their need to settle on the spider’s planet is understandable. Unfortunately the humans believe in the cold logic of a concept called “the prisoner’s’ choice” which is based on mutual distrust because the cost of betrayal would mean complete annihilation. As the humans and the spiders head for collision that would result in genocide of one side or the other I found myself curiously rooting for the spiders; mainly because the spider characters are generally better developed and they do have the moral high ground of being the invadees, not the invaders. Thematically it is mainly a story of racial prejudice and a plea for tolerance, with both sides thinking that there is a necessity to completely wipe out the other side for the survival of the race. Whatever the outcome Children of Time is one of the best space operas I have ever read, with a nice and clear writing style and a straightforward linear structure of the twin plotlines that make the book very accessible. The sci-fi tech is highly imaginative and the science behind it is clearly explained without resorting to infodumping; some very good characterization, thrilling plot developments and a very good ending makes this one of the greats for me. Highly recommended. [image] Notes: • In spite of the title this book has nothing to do with time travelling. • In some ways, parts of this book are like Watership Down for spiders, and that is high praise! It may also be Charlotte's Web for adults? I haven't read that one, but my spider-sense says yes. It also reminds me a little bit of a computer game called Sim Ant. • Tchaikovsky's study of psychology and zoology stand him in good stead here (he is also a keen amateur entomologist). Interestingly his fantasy series Shadows of the Apt is also based on insects. TBR'd! [image] Quotes: “There had been those back on Earth who claimed the universe cared, and that the survival of humanity was important, destined, meant. They had mostly stayed behind, holding to their corroding faith that some great power would weigh in on their behalf if only things became so very bad.” “The enemy they face is the child of a technology she cannot conceive of, advanced beyond the dreams of her own kind’s greatest scientists, using a technology of metal and fire and lighting, all fit tools for vengeful deities. At her disposal is fragile silk, biochemistry and symbiosis, and the valour of all those who will put their lives at her disposal.” “Life is not perfect, individuals will always be flawed, but empathy – the sheer inability to see those around them as anything other than people too – conquers all, in the end.” “That is the problem with ignorance. You can never truly know the extent of what you are ignorant about.” “I consider CoT to be an outreach program for literate-minded arachnophobics :) There has been a pleasant number of readers who really don't like spiders but (a) have got through the book; and (b) have come out of it willing to give the little guys the benefit of the doubt. Of course now I need to stealth-write a book that has spiders as utterly horrible people-destroying bad guys just to utterly throw my readership...” From Adrian Tchaikovsky's Reddit AMA. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Mar 07, 2018
|
Mar 26, 2018
|
Feb 05, 2018
|
Hardcover
| |||||||||||||
140
| 
| 4.04
| 191,830
| Mar 27, 2014
| May 13, 2014
|
it was amazing
|
“The children have never seen the world outside their home. Not even through the windows. And Malorie hasn’t looked in more than four years.” Bird Box “The children have never seen the world outside their home. Not even through the windows. And Malorie hasn’t looked in more than four years.” Bird Box caught my eye when it was one of the Goodreads’ "Best Horror of the Year" nominations in 2014. It did not win but the odd title intrigued me. So when Amazon offered the Kindle edition at a mere USD 1.99 I snapped it up; one of my more startlingly good decisions. I had no idea what the book is about, I knew it is a horror book from the GR nomination. I am happy not having any preconception, this is how I like to start most books. Having said that, I will do a wee synopsis because it is an integral part of my book reviews. Bird Box is a post-apocalypse novel. Ah! But what kind of apocalypse? Nuclear? Plague? Goddam zombies? None of the above! No one-word adjective can describe it, perhaps a “weird apocalypse” will do. It starts with news reports from Russia of people suddenly going mad, going on a murdering spree then killing themselves. Then the same incidents occur in other locations and eventually the US, where this novel is set. The concept of something turning normal people into psychopathic maniacs is not new, Stephen King’s Cell, James Herbert’s The Fog, and the movie The Crazies spring to mind. However, the “crazy trigger” of Bird Box is entirely mysterious. All we know is that the people who have been driven mad have all seen something, the mere sight of it breaks their minds. The most interesting aspect of the book is that it is not about people going mad, it is about the sane characters’ struggle to protect their sanity. As it is established that something seen triggers insanity, the solution is not to look. [image] The protagonist of the book is a woman called Malorie. At the beginning of the book, she is pregnant and living with her sister, once the apocalypse sets in they cover all their windows with blankets to block out any external view, if they venture outdoors they wear a blindfold. This is the new norm in this world. Soon Malorie’s sister dies she makes a dangerous trip to move into a house nearby where there are several occupants. There she gives birth to her baby and adopts another. When things go south at the house she has to raise the babies on her own and teaches them the peculiar survival skills they need to survive in this world. [image] There is something new under the sun after all. Bird Box is fiercely original, in spite of some familiar elements. I have read countless horror novels so the word “original” is very seldom taken out for a spin. There are many inventive ways in which several characters of this book devise to work around the problem of not seeing anything when they are outside. It is not blindness, when they are inside, if they are sure no weird “thing” is in the house they use their eyes. However, outdoors anything can pop into their field of vision without warning so they always have to have blindfolds on. They can not stay in the house all day because they need to get water from a nearby well, throw out rubbish and human waste etc. Sometimes they need to travel further to replenish their food supplies. There is a very claustrophobic, creepy and disquieting atmosphere to the book. The writing is highly visceral and it is not hard to feel what the characters are feeling. There is one scene where a blindfolded member of the house is getting water from the well and he hears something approaching, When it comes very close to him I felt just as creeped out as he is feeling. There are quite a few very intense scenes like this, and the book’s climax is literally jaw dropping. Josh Malerman packs a hell of a lot of story, atmosphere, and characterization into less than 300 pages. Malorie is particularly vividly drawn, she is resourceful, resilient and brave. She is just as vulnerable as anybody else and feels scared throughout the book but never out of her wits. Her children are also very resourceful and lovable and I felt fear for their safety. The unknown thing that is driving people around the bend is never described (because it would have short-circuited the readers’ minds), and the book is better for it. The pacing of the book is like the slow burn feeling of quietly gathering dread I get when I watch Japanese horror films like Ju-on: The Grudge or Ringu. Bird Box is a fun, intense reading experience, it also has a heart and a moral centre. The ideal horror novel really. [image] Notes: • The book has an alternating dual timelines structure, the present day and a few years ago. Both are very effective narratives. For some reason, Malerman’s prose is in the present tense throughout. I prefer past tense, but it’s no biggie. • The book’s title refers to a box with birds in it, used as an alarm system. There is also a metaphorical meaning explored in the book. •I like the Netflix movie adaptation of Bird Box, I think it is fun. There are some scenes in the book I wish they had included. It has a very high viewership but definitely not critically acclaimed. If you have Netflix and you like this book, or find this review interesting, then I would recommend it. [image] • The author, Josh Malerman is the lead singer of a band called The High Strung. I never heard of them but the bit I sample sounds a little faux-early Beatles. Bird Box is his first novel, I hope he takes up writing full time. [image] Quotes: “The Boy heard it, she tells herself. The Boy heard it because you raised him well and now he hears better than he will ever see.” “Still, some moods are infectious, and, as Rodney Barrett uncharacteristically plays some soft music, Malorie is able to smile, and sometimes even laugh, despite the unfathomable horrors that have become commonplace.” “In the new world, babies had to be trained to wake up with their eyes closed. They had to be raised scared. There wasn’t room for unknowns. “ “Whatever they are,” Tom says, “our minds can’t understand them. They’re like infinity, it seems. Something too complex for us to comprehend. “Still, she can see that something powerful burns within the woman in the glass. A fire that has propelled her for four and a half years, that demanded she survive, that commanded her to make a better life for her children.” ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
May 30, 2017
|
Jun 02, 2017
|
May 30, 2017
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
138
| 
| 4.26
| 33,081
| Apr 01, 1984
| 1994
|
it was amazing
|
“ ‘Druss the Legend. Mightiest man of his era. A killing machine, a warrior. And why? Because I never had the courage to be a farmer’, Druss told hims
“ ‘Druss the Legend. Mightiest man of his era. A killing machine, a warrior. And why? Because I never had the courage to be a farmer’, Druss told himself. ‘When I die’, he thought, ‘everyone will mourn for Druss the Legend. But who will mourn for me?’ ” Now compare the above quotes with this famous line from the movie Notting Hill: “The fame thing isn’t really real, you know. I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” Two very different kinds of story somehow conveying a similar idea. One of the central themes of Legend is “the legend vs the man”, the difference between how people perceive you on the basis of your reputation and the actual you. The central plotline of Legend concerns the invasion of The Drenai Empire by a powerful tribal nation called Nadir. In order to take over the empire, the Nadir need to break through the fortress of Dros Delnoch. The earl who runs the fortress summonses 60-year-old Druss (with his swollen knees and an arthritic back) from retirement to aid in the fortress town’s defence and to help train the military to fight against the overwhelming odds of the enormous and unstoppable Nadir force. Meanwhile, several heroic Drenai characters are also heading toward the fortress to lend their aid, all of them are aware of the impossibility of winning the war. [image] Druss is the most vivid and larger than life character in a book full of vivid and vibrant characters. There is so much energy in his characterization that he practically leaps off the pages. He reminds me of Cohen the Barbarian from the Discworld book The Color of Magic. An elderly but still deadly killing machine who is very lonely and sad underneath it all. [image] Druss the Legend by LawtonLonsdale In highlighting Druss I am merely scratching the surface of a very lively cast of characters, including the reluctant new earl who views himself as cowardly but automatically becomes a “berserker” when the fighting starts, a Robin Hood-like archer, a female assassin with a dark secret etc. Even the main antagonist Ulric, the Nadir’s great war leader is a complex and honorable man. The narrative is told from both sides of the war, while we are clearly meant to be invested in the Drenai people who are under attack, the rationale of Ulric who wants to annex other nations to his own, for the sake of long-term peace and prosperity, is understandable. Gemmell was the master of plotting, pacing and —most of all—characterization. His world building is not as complex or detailed as today’s leading purveyors of epic fantasy like Brandon Sanderson or Patrick Rothfuss, the upside is that Gemmell’s books are generally much shorter. The magic side of the story is sparingly used, similar to what you would expect in an Arthurian fantasy. Gemmell was much more concerned with exploring the themes of chivalry, honor, redemption, and particularly the deeper meaning of heroism. I feel like there is Gemmell renaissance going on just in my head. He was my single favorite fantasy author during the 80s, I don't know whether that is still the case today, or even who holds the mantle now; there are just too many great fantasy authors still working and they are quite diverse in style; it is not really worth ranking them. Sadly, David Gemmell passed away in 2006, though he left behind a considerable legacy of very well written fantasy books. The first time I read Legend was more than twenty years ago, I have forgotten most of the details so this is almost like a first read for me, though there are one or two highly remarkable scenes which I have never forgotten (only the context of how they come about). If you enjoy fantasy in a medieval setting but have not read any Gemmell yet you have a lot to look forward to. [image] Notes: • I distinctly remember reading these Drenai books in random order during the 80s, this was before the advent of e-books, and it was hard to find all the titles in bookstores to read sequentially; so I read whatever I could find. Each novel is self-contained so there is no cliff hanger to worry about. • That said, with e-books available now I look forward to reading them all in order. Though I would like to read his Troy series which I never read before. • Gemmell is something of a writer’s writer where the epic fantasy genre is concerned, there is even a David Gemmell Award named after him (comparable to the Arthur C. Clarke or the Philip K. Dick awards). Patrick Rothfuss is a proud recipient of this award, as he mentioned in his own review of this very book. Quotes: “What does the philosopher say of cowards and heroes?” “The prophet says, ‘By nature of definition only the coward is capable of the highest heroism.’ ” “And what is a man? He is someone who rises when life has knocked him down. He is someone who raises his fist to heaven when a storm has ruined his crop—and then plants again. And again. A man remains unbroken by the savage twists of fate.” “That our defense will fail is no reason to avoid the battle. For it is the motive that is pure, not the outcome.” “Yes. He is a strange one. A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination, and now a hero by necessity.” “Beyond the legendary armor and the eyes of icy fire, he was just another old man. Tough and strong as a bull, maybe, but old. Worn out by time, the enemy that never tired. ” ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Feb 26, 2017
|
Mar 03, 2017
|
Feb 26, 2017
|
Mass Market Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
136
| 
| 0765326361
| 9780765326362
| 0765326361
| 4.76
| 367,173
| Mar 04, 2014
| Mar 04, 2014
|
it was amazing
|
“For Oliver Sanderson, Who was born during the middle of the writing of this book, and was walking by the time it was done.” Aww, I have never started “For Oliver Sanderson, Who was born during the middle of the writing of this book, and was walking by the time it was done.” Aww, I have never started a review with the book's dedication before, dedications are usually “read it and forget it” affairs, nice for the dedicatee, nothing to do with me. However, this one is charming and noteworthy in that I seldom consider how long it must take authors to write lengthy books. This dedication makes me appreciate the time and effort Brandon Sanderson puts into the creation of this book. The world building and attention to details in this book is mind boggling, the beautiful artworks scattered inside the book and the complex (but easy to follow) structure makes the book seems like a huge undertaking involving not just Sanderson but also the illustrator and probably a book designer, not to mention the publishing and marketing side of it. It seems almost unfair that I read this book in about three weeks but it took Sanderson over a year to write it. At 1328 pages for about 9 US Dollars the book is incredible value for money per page. That is if you place value in great epic fantasy books; I do, and this book is a bargain. Words of Radiance is volume 2 of Sanderson’s ambitious Stormlight Archive series, which is projected to span ten similarly gigantic volumes. The main story arc concerns humanity’s struggle against a nonhuman* race called Parshendi who seek to destroy them for their own survival. The Parshendi are not evil per se, but there are forces at work which prevent the two races from living in peaceful coexistence. As with most epics, the story is told from the perspective of several main characters in multiple plot strands. These main characters are the movers and shakers of Roshar, the world of this series. So we follow the adventures of Kaladin the Radiant knight with wind riding abilities, Shallan the scholar with eidetic memory and the ability to create illusions, High Prince Dalinar who receives visions from the gods and will do anything to save his people from destruction, and several others. [image] Shallan In spite of being a very long book, the narrative just flows and flows, it never grinds to a halt. This is not to say that it is relentlessly fast-paced the pace varies according to the needs of the scene being depicted; discussions, battles, ruminations, romance, bantering etc. all require different pacing to make the scenes work. Each plot strand has something of interest going on, there are no long dry passages of expositions, yet the world is complex and richly imagined. I only have one very minor complaint in that Sanderson's jokes seldom land for me, they are just generally too bland, and too safe; but at least some of them make did make me smile, and I appreciate the author for including some humour (even if it is too tame) to balance the more intense parts of the book. Characterization is very important for this kind of book because we have to spend such a long time with the main characters and be invested in what they are doing. Sanderson spends a lot of time developing the characters, their strengths, and foibles. We get to know them very well by the end of the book and look forward to seeing them again. Kaladin still spends a little too much time moping and doubting himself, but there is much less of this than in the previous book, The Way of Kings. [image] “Magic system” is now a popular term among the modern fantasy fans. Nowadays the old school “Abracadabra!” conjuring trope just does not cut it anymore for many readers. Magic should have some kind of logical basis, cause and effect, it is equally impossible regardless of whether it is systematic, but the internal logic has to make sense for its application to be believable. Sanderson is probably the king of magic systems, if you read his Mistborn series you will know exactly what I mean. For the Stormlight Archive series magic is fueled by stormlight from the “high storms” that infuses gems and is used almost like electricity, for lighting and various purposes. The word technology even appears a few times, unusual for books in this genre. Roshar is full of numerous bizarre life forms, quite a few of which are beautifully illustrated in the book. My favorites are the “sprens” which are like elemental spirits. A few of them are also very entertaining as characters. One is a Tinker Bell-like creature called Syl that follows Kaladin, and the other is called Pattern and is literally a living pattern that acts as Shallan’s very strange sidekick. There is so much depth and details in this book that it is hard to write a readable, comprehensive review. The best I can do is ramble on as I have and make a strong recommendation to fantasy fans not to miss this mighty series. The third volume of this series is scheduled to be published around November. I'm on board for all ten books, providing the author does not jump the shark somewhere down the line. [image] * They are not aliens because they are just as indigenous to the world of Roshar as the humans. • Opinions differ on this issue but, the way I see it, there is no need to firmly commit to reading all ten volumes, especially as the series will probably not be finished for another decade at least. As readers, we should just enjoy the journey and not worry too much about the destination. Each book so far wraps up quite nicely at the end, some major questions are answered, leading to intriguing new ones to be explored in the next installment. • The fight scenes in this book are extremely well done, vividly depicted and pulse pounding. • The paintings in the book (two of them shown above) are by the great Michael Whelan, the gray scale art by Dan dos Santos, there are also some amazingly detailed drawings by Ben McSweeney (not shown here). [image] “On an individual basis, in most interactions, this thing we call power—authority—exists only as it is perceived.” “It’s not that you aren’t witty, Shallan. I just feel like you try too hard. The world is not a sunny place, and frantically trying to turn everything into a joke is not going to change that.” “Using a fetching face to make men do as you wish is no different from a man using muscle to force a woman to his will, she’d said. Both are base, and both will fail a person as they age.” “I like to learn to use the local weapons,” Mraize said. “It is a quirk, though I feel it is justified. If you want to understand a people, learn their weapons. The way men kill one another says far more about a culture than any scholar’s ethnography.” [image] Kaladin vs. Szeth ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Dec 18, 2016
|
Jan 10, 2017
|
Dec 18, 2016
|
Hardcover
| |||||||||||||
135
| 
| 1500453307
| 9781500453305
| 1500453307
| 4.18
| 153,906
| Jul 29, 2014
| Jul 29, 2014
|
it was amazing
|
“I wanted to create a setting in which space felt like a place for everybody. This is a story about the ordinary people living within an intergalactic
“I wanted to create a setting in which space felt like a place for everybody. This is a story about the ordinary people living within an intergalactic society, the people who walk through the spaceport behind the heroes, who are normally not at the forefront of the story.” An Interview with Becky Chambers I first heard of this book when the SF Book Club I (barely) help to moderate picked it as Book of the Month for October 2015. Being such a terrible moderator I ignored the selection as I do 95% of them. Then recently Carol invited me to join her The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet Flash Group, this intrigued me, because Carol has impeccable taste, especially for SF/F, so if she deems this book worthy of an entire discussion group it is surely worth investigating. Still, I am a bit cautious about trying new authors, so I downloaded a 30 pages (approx) sample from Amazon and I was quickly sold on Becky Chambers’ writing style. In the first chapter, she vividly describes space life in a tiny craft for a single traveler and then the life aboard a large spaceship. I like to be transported by books (especially when I’m supposed to be working at the office!) and Ms. Chambers is skilled at providing such transportation. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is basically about the adventures of the motley "multi-species" crew of the spaceship Wayfarer. That’s it, in a nutshell. However, the book is by no means thinly plotted; the first half of the book introduces us to the myriad members of the crew who are all interesting in their own ways. Each of them has their own secrets and issues, I like that there is no single protagonist and each character takes center stage at some points. The narrative is appropriately written in the third-person, switching to each crew member’s point of view when the story is focused on them. For once I don’t feel it necessary to reveal much of the plot as the first half of the book is an exploration of the characters, humans, and aliens. The overarching plotline really kicks in at about half way through the book and the Wayfarer travels to Hedra Ka, the titular “small, angry planet”, so-called because of the unfriendly and bad tempered Toremi aliens living there. In a space opera which focuses on a crew of a spaceship the crew is usually military, mercenary, smugglers or rebels. In The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet the crew is civilian, they are “tunnelers” who construct a sort of hyperspace bypass to facilitate FTL travel. The overarching plotline concerns their commission to make a tunnel from Hedra Ka to join up with the Galactic Commons (a sort of intergalactic UN), part from the immensely long distance the Wayfarer has to travel due to lack of preexisting “tunnel” (hyperspace passage) the job seems quite routine and well paid, of course it is not. If you like Star Trek and Firefly TV shows you should find much to like in this book. Both shows focus on the characters as well as the plot, in some episodes, the story is secondary to the character study, in others the plot is prominent. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is also episodic at times and the balance between character development and plot makes this book stand head and shoulders above the average sci-fi novels. Interestingly the Wayfarer’s technician, a bubbly, excitable girl called Kizzy is very similar to Firefly’s Kaylee*. [image] I don’t want to go on about the individual characters, the captain is very well drawn, the aliens are great and suitably strange. There are quite a few subplots, one about loving an alien, one about loving an AI with a “real girl/Pinocchio” philosophical discussion, one about alien parenting, one about cloning etc. The If there is a caveat to this book I would say it is the pacing during the first third of the book (about 160 pages). Nothing “exciting” happen during this early part of the book, but – for me – it is never less than charming and interesting. It felt like I was just hanging out with the characters, shooting the breeze. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, is up there with the best of Alastair Reynolds and Peter F. Hamilton, it also has an advantage of being neither too long nor too short (about 500 pages). It certainly is a very confident, very well written and spectacular debut novel. It has practically everything, if it was a number it would be 42. ______________________ Notes: * Becky Chambers has never seen Firefly prior to writing this novel. The sequel A Closed and Common Orbit to be published later this year sounds fabulous, featuring the sympathetic AI from The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Can’t wait! According to Becky Chambers , her sci-fi influences are: “Ursula K. Le Guin, hands down. Her work is what made me want to write science fiction. I hugely admire her ability to write truly alien aliens. Octavia Butler falls into that category as well. I also admire John Scalzi's ability to write accessible, super fun SF. That's a quality I aim for in my own stuff.” ______________________ Quotes: “Humans’ preoccupation with “being happy” was something he had never been able to figure out. No sapient could sustain happiness all of the time, just as no one could live permanently within anger, or boredom, or grief.” “In Jenks’ eyes, the only real difference in cognitive development between Humans and AIs was that of speed. He’d had to learn to walk and talk and eat and all the other essentials before he’d begun to have a sense of identity. Lovey (the AI) didn’t have to worry about those things. There hadn’t been a need for her to spend years learning how to monitor systems or switch off circuits. She had started life out with all the maturity and knowledge she needed to do her job competently.” “Humans can’t handle war. Everything I know about our history shows that it brings out the worst in us. We’re just not … mature enough for it, or something. Once we start, we can’t stop. And I’ve felt that in me, you know, that inclination toward acting out in anger. Nothing like what you’ve seen. I don’t pretend to know what war is like. But Humans, we’ve got something dangerous in us.” ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Sep 21, 2016
|
Sep 29, 2016
|
Oct 05, 2015
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||
132
| 
| 3.91
| 1,190
| Sep 1940
| unknown
|
it was amazing
|
One of my all-time favorite short stories. And He Built a Crooked House is about a house built in the shape of a tesseract: [image] When the architect o One of my all-time favorite short stories. And He Built a Crooked House is about a house built in the shape of a tesseract: [image] When the architect of the house, the owner of the house and his wife go to have a look around they find that an earthquake from the previous day has caused parts of the house to be folded into the fourth dimension; leaving only one room visible and accessible. Unwisely they enter the house and major dimensional weirdness ensues. The warping of space and dimensions remind me of M. C. Escher’s drawings, “Relativity” in particular: [image] The story is humorous in tone and quite mind blowing. I cannot tell you any more without spoiling the story; I can, however, make a link to an awesome demo of this crooked house. If you would like to read this story online just google the title, I am not sure what the copyright status of this (1941) story is so I won’t put in a link. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Sep 21, 2015
|
Sep 20, 2015
|
ebook
| ||||||||||||||||
131
| 
| 0307279901
| 9780307279903
| 0307279901
| 3.67
| 48,651
| 1992
| Dec 05, 2006
|
it was amazing
|
Ugh! I don't like the cover of this book (the one showing on this page). Don't get me wrong, I like Clive Owen, and the 2006 movie is not too shabby b
Ugh! I don't like the cover of this book (the one showing on this page). Don't get me wrong, I like Clive Owen, and the 2006 movie is not too shabby but it does not have much to do with the original text apart from the basic premise; and Theo the protagonist of the movie is the polar opposite of the novel’s character. The author P.D. James is best known for her crime fiction novels mostly featuring defective detective Adam Dalgliesh who is also a poet. I have only read a couple of these Dalgliesh books and never really cared for them. A “poet-detective” just seems too pretentious and unappealing to me. When I heard that they were filming Children of Men I was intrigued though, I did not expect Ms. James to write a science fiction book worth filming, I thought she was one of those mainstream authors who just want to take a stab at sci-fi without really understanding the genre. Anyway, I first read Children of Men in 2006 shortly before the movie was released because I prefer to read the original source material before watching the movie. I owe P.D. James an apology, she did a stupendous job. That said this book is more “speculative fiction” than sci-fi because there is very little science in it. It is more of a thought experiment where the author explores the social any individual implications of the basic premise, the sort of thing Ursula K. Le Guin excels in. Children of Men can reasonably be labeled as a cozy apocalypse or even a cozy dystopia. It has a high concept premise where in the year 1995* women all over the world suddenly became infertile. As extinction events go this is a very polite one, but quite alarming when you consider the implication. Imagine the human race slowly winding down with a global aging and declining population. In the UK where the novel is set this leads to general despair and ennui in the middle aged and older age groups and uncontrollable wildness in the youngest generation. The year 1995 is called Omega, and the people born in 1995 are called “Omegas”. These Omegas are generally wild and literally allowed to get away with murder because they may be the last hope for mankind's continuation. The event of the novel itself takes place in 2021, 26 years after the year of Omega. The protagonist is called Theo Faron, a disillusioned English gentleman who happens to be related to the Warden of England, a position of supreme power, far in excess of the office of Prime Minister or the President. He used to be a close adviser to the Warden until the day he up and left because he could not stomach the abuses of power. At the beginning of the novel he basically spends all his time just pottering around, not needing to do any work. One day he is approached by a girl called Julian who asks him to contact and petition the Warden about various woes of the British society and the outrageous abuses of power. The petition goes badly leading to the birth of a less than competent group of dissidents. Initially the Warden views these dissidents as something of a joke but soon something momentous happens which causes Theo, Julian and her dissident friends to go on the run. The England P.D. James depicts in this book is a lonely, depressing place where suicide is common, and even encouraged and facilitated by the government. I won't reveal the plot beyond the basic outline already mentioned so far, I do find the book to be very nicely plotted, melancholy, eventually thrilling and the denouement is more than satisfactory. The prose is exquisitely written and makes me want to pick up some more of those Adam Dalgliesh novels just to read more of her beautifully crafted sentences. The main characters are very well drawn, particularly Theo who is very flawed, sympathetic and believable, someone you can really root for. He starts off as a kind of wishy-washy anti-hero: “I don't want anyone to look to me, not for protection, not for happiness, not for love, not for anything.” I like how his character gradually transforms by his circumstances as the story progresses. The character of Theo is the polar opposite of the character of the same name portrayed by Clive Owen in the movie version. P.D. James’ Theo is a very polite middle aged and middle class English gentleman, kicking ass and taking names is not in his purview, he is rather awkward and bumbling at times though when push comes to shove he does whatever he has to do. The dialog is also praise worthy with characters getting burned left and right. The switches between the first person epistolary narrative format and the third person narrative seems a little pointless as the narrative point of view is always restricted to Theo and follows the same linear timeline. Still, I am sure James has her artistic reasons and these switches do not impede the readability of the book at all. Children of Men is one of my favorite dystopian books alongside 1984, Brave New World, Make Room! Make Room! etc. This sub genre continues to be very popular today, though the modern dystopian novels tend to be teen adventures for some reason. Children of Men is the real McCoy. _________________ * In my PrintSF sci-fi discussion group I often see someone comment that they don’t want to read “old sci-fi” where the author got their prediction wrong and the future setting of the novel is now the past and these old books are not worth reading because the author was so far off the mark. Well, excuuuuuse me! It is not the job of sci-fi authors to predict the future, the whole point is to speculate and explore the implications. Children of Men is a case in point, P.D. James certainly was not anticipating global infertility to occur 1995 (the book was first published in 1992). This novel – like many great sf novels – is asking “what if”. I shouldn’t mind really, it’s their loss missing out on so many great books but it’s a bee in my bonnet you know. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Aug 11, 2015
|
Aug 16, 2015
|
Aug 11, 2015
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||
130
| 
| 0441014038
| 9780441014033
| 0441014038
| 3.88
| 11,387
| Jun 27, 2006
| Jun 27, 2006
|
it was amazing
|
John Scalzi claims to be a gateway drug into science fiction literature, I suppose he may well be but I believe Charles Stross is almost the opposite
John Scalzi claims to be a gateway drug into science fiction literature, I suppose he may well be but I believe Charles Stross is almost the opposite of that. Stross is deservedly one of the most popular active sci- fi authors today but readers not familiar with the genre may find him a little bewildering. His target readership seems to be those who are quite au fait with the common tropes of the genre and also some computer programming terms. Those “in the know” love the science he puts in books like Accelerando and The Atrocity Archives while the likes of me struggle. I certainly had problems understanding much of these two books but less so with Singularity Sky. It did occur to me that his fiction is probably not for me but I keep coming back to try again because I like his wit and imagination, plus he is a great guy and very approachable to readers in online forums and such. Today I am happy to say I have finally found a Stross novel that I absolutely love and works completely for me. It is Glasshouse. This Hugo nominated novel is set in the 27th century when our 21st century is viewed as part of “The Dark Ages”, presumably pre-singularity (called “the acceleration” here). Most of the book takes place in a sealed experimental environment where participants sign up to reenact life in the 21st century for research purposes. The protagonist starts off as a man named Robin who has part of his memory deleted for reasons unknown, presumably to forget some traumatic experience that he wants to do without. After he signed up for the isolated social experiment he backs himself up and his backed up personality wakes up inside the experiment as a woman called Reeve who has no idea why she has chosen to change her gender. She soon settles down to a married life of a nuclear family as part of the experiment, but begins to feel that the “experiment” is not really an experiment and some very disturbing things are going on. Io9 calls Glasshouse “One of Stross' most challenging books”, I have not read enough of his books to confirm or deny this but I do find it to be his most accessible book so far. Certainly some tech expositions still go over my head but they never impede the storytelling. Whenever I don’t feel inclined to Google the programming terms I was able to gloss over them and enjoy the story. I do hope many more Stross books are like this, and I intend to find out. I don’t remember any of Stross’ characters from his other books that I have read but I doubt I will forget the main characters in this book. This is particularly true for Robin/Reeve whose experience and character growth is unlike anything I have read before. The book is surprisingly feministic in tone after Robin becomes Reeve. Stross seems to have a lot of empathy for the trials and tribulations of womanhood. The emotions, the interactions with other women, the social pressure etc. are all convincingly portrayed (I hesitate to say accurately portrayed as I am not of the gender). Interestingly once Robin’s backup is activated as Reeve we have no idea what becomes of the original Robin, but with all these backups and restores we don’t even know whether the original Robin ever appears in this book. As for Reeve, she has to be one of the most unreliable narrators ever (I won't tell you why though). Of course regularly readers of Charles Stross are probably not exactly looking for books that deal with feminist issues, I imagine the cool tech to be his main attraction. Glasshouse is stuffed to the gills with cool sci-fi tech. The posthumanism reminds me of both Altered Carbon and Permutation City*, the memory editing is similar to PKD’s short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (filmed a couple of times as “Total Recall”). However, this is not a derivative novel, the sum of the different influences make for a very original book which is mind blowing, thought provoking and even poignant at times. The wilds ideas and amazing tech are underpinned by a surprisingly touching story of a loving relationship. Glasshouse is definitely the best Charles Stross book I have read so far and I hope that even better ones are in store for me. __________________________ * Unlike the virtual world featured in Permutation City, the social experiment of Glasshouse takes place in an actual physical environment where the activated digitized personalities are stored in human bodies. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Aug 03, 2015
|
Aug 10, 2015
|
Aug 03, 2015
|
Hardcover
| |||||||||||||
129
| 
| 4.17
| 317,062
| Apr 28, 1968
| Sep 01, 2000
|
it was amazing
|
When I first read this book as a teenager I hated it, I thought it was so dry and impenetrable. I loved the Kubrick movie for its weirdness though. Cl
When I first read this book as a teenager I hated it, I thought it was so dry and impenetrable. I loved the Kubrick movie for its weirdness though. Clearly I was not one of the brighter kids of my generation. Having said that while I like it very much on this reread I can see why I could not appreciate it in my teens. Clarke’s scientific expositions can be very detailed but I would not call them dry now because I find them quite fascinating. The fact that when you are on the moon Earth is the moon, the details about the composition of Saturn’s ring and the description of Jupiter and its moons are clearly explained, interesting and (gulp!) educational. They really facilitate visualization of these planets. What I particularly love about Clarke’s writing now that I did not appreciate in my foolish teens is the wonderful minutiae of his descriptions of various aspects of the space faring life. For example the practical design of the toilet on a spaceship for zero gravity conditions (a badly design toilet would mean getting shit all over you). Also things like the thick sticky sauce on pork chops and salad with adhesive dressing to keep food from floating off the plate during dinner. After dinner the velcro slippers are great for walking around the ship without levitating. [image] Spacecraft Discovery I have only mentioned the minor details so far, the main plot is of course absolutely epic though it is so well known it is hardly worth describing. 2001: A Space Odyssey gets off to a rollicking start during 3 million years B.C. The first five chapters basically tells the story of how ape-men were “uplifted” (to use David Brin’s term) by dogooding aliens from silly primates to sentient “people”. Then the story jumps forward to the (cough) future of 2001 AD where a mysterious monolith is discovered on the moon. This main section of the book is entirely set in space so we don’t know if Clarke would have predicted iPads and Tumblr. [image] (Monolith on the moon) The middle section of the book where astronaut David Bowman is battling crazed and homicidal AI HAL 9000 (of “Daisy Daisy” fame) is my favorite. The short section of the narrative told from HAL’s point of view is particularly wondrous. After dealing with HAL with extreme prejudice Dave has a lonely and depressing “Major Tom” period marooned in space. Fortunately he soon embarks on his famous trippy trip through a stargate. If you are puzzled by the Kubrick movie this book may help to clarify almost everything for you, except that according to Clarke Kubrick and himself had different idea of the story they wanted to tell and Clarke’s answers are not necessarily the correct one! I have no idea how much input Kubrick had on the novel, only that he helped to develop it. The book is – however – entirely written by Clarke. The last couple of chapters are less surreal and psychedelic than the film but relatively understandable yet quite mind blowing for all that. While he is a sci-fi legend to this day Clarke is often derided (along with Asimov) for his journeyman prose but I am always quite happy to defend Clarke’s style of writing. He used the right tools for the right job and his science expositions are accessible and a pleasure to read. He is also quite capable of some dry wit. Characterization is not Clarke's forte, he preferred to concentrate on the epic plot development instead, which is fine for me as he succeeded in his storytelling aim. Having said that both Dave Bowman and HAL 9000 are two of sci-fi's most memorable and enduring characters. If you like the film adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey but have not read this book you should. Ditto if you have not seen the film. It is deservedly a classic. Star rating: Oh my God! – it’s full of stars! [image] Note: My review of 2010: Odyssey Two [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jul 07, 2015
|
Jul 14, 2015
|
Jul 14, 2015
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
128
| 
| 0446675504
| 9780446675505
| 0446675504
| 4.21
| 176,919
| Oct 1993
| Jan 01, 2000
|
it was amazing
|
When I started reading this book I immediately felt inclined to rate it five stars even before finishing the first sentence. Hardly fair or reasonable
When I started reading this book I immediately felt inclined to rate it five stars even before finishing the first sentence. Hardly fair or reasonable I know, but that's love. I have loved Octavia Butler since reading Wild Seeds a couple of years ago, I went on to read Kindred and the Lilith's Brood trilogy which only solidified my love for this dear departed lady and all she stood for. Having said that, I initially felt a little disappointed with the first chapter of Parable of the Sower because the setting is rather mundane, not fantastical like the other Butler novels that I have read. Butler had such an immense imagination that her sci-fi books are always full of a sense of wonder, but Parable of the Sower’s setting seems like a typical dystopian scenario, nothing very outlandish walk the Earth. However, once I settle into the book and became familiar with the characters I was swept away by the storytelling and it no longer matters what the setting is, what genre is, or even what the basic plotline is. I was there with the characters, the only thing that matters is what is happening to them on the current page. Parable of the Sower is a dystopian novel set in what seems like a post-apocalypse America but there was never a single apocalyptic event, no nuclear war and blasted irradiated landscape. It seems that the world just went down the toilet of its own accord. If I can just steal this line from Octaviabutler.org: “When unattended environmental and economic crises lead to social chaos, not even gated communities are safe.” The central character is Lauren Olamina, an eighteen-year-old girl, at the beginning of the novel she lives a stable and relatively safe life with her family but one day her family and the entire community is destroyed by drug crazed pyromaniac raiders. Lauren – the smartest character in the book – anticipated such a disaster from the current state of affairs so she was able to grab a prepared emergency pack and hit the road (her family is all killed though). Lauren has a long-term ambition to found a community and a religion of sorts which will ensure the survival, recovery and even progress of mankind. A project she calls “Earthseed”. So after the destruction of her family the story is of her trek with across America – with a few friends she meets along the way – to find a place where they can settle in and start building a meaningful life. Parable of the Sower is a very bleak yet optimistic novel. The story is driven by Lauren’s indomitable will and her grace under pressure. “The weak can overcome the strong if the weak persist. Persisting isn’t always safe, but it’s often necessary.” Lauren’s only weakness is her "hyperempathy", a condition that causes her to feel the pain of any person she perceives to be feeling pain (not by any kind of telepathy, it is more of a psychological condition from a birth defect). This makes fighting and self-defense very difficult, but she always does whatever she has to do to survive. The US depicted in this book is mostly in a state of anarchy, there is some kind of ineffective government in place and the police are mostly as bad – or worse – than the savages, robbers, rapists and cannibals roaming the land. As I expected, the book is powerfully and beautifully written (in epistolary format). The characters are complex, vivid and entirely believable. If you are particularly squeamish some violent parts can be hard to read, though it is nothing compared to modern day “grimdark” fantasy like A Game of Thrones. Though the book’s title is taken from the New Testament Parable of the Sower is not a religious novel, much less a Christian one though Lauren’s Earthseed concept uses aspects of religion to inspire potential followers. More importantly it is a moving and thought provoking story about what makes living worthwhile. There is a sequel called Parable of the Talents which I will read fairly soon, I intend to read all her novels anyway, unfortunately, there are only a few left that I have not read. ________________________ Update Dec 2015: I have read the sequeal Parable of the Talents, it does not disappoint! ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jul 03, 2015
|
Jul 10, 2015
|
Jul 03, 2015
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||
127
| 
| 006093316X
| 9780060933166
| 006093316X
| 4.06
| 30,703
| Aug 07, 1989
| Nov 03, 1999
|
it was amazing
|
To label The Great and Secret Show a horror novel would be to do it a disservice. "Arty horror" would be closer to the mark but that sounds silly and
To label The Great and Secret Show a horror novel would be to do it a disservice. "Arty horror" would be closer to the mark but that sounds silly and would still be inadequate. “Dark fantasy” sounds good to me though it deemphasizes the horror aspect of it a little too much, may be it is more phantasm than fantasy. Not that labels really matter, a good book is a good book regardless of whatever label you slap on it. I am only going on about it just to have some kind of intro! To tell you what this book is about is a fairly complicated undertaking (best left to undertakers perhaps). It starts with one Randolph Jaffe’s quest for mastery of “The Art”, not just any old art but a craft or power that has the capability to tear a hole in the fabric of reality and create an opening to another dimension called Quiddity. Quiddity is a mystical dream sea, a sea of the mind that most people visit twice in their lives. “Once the first night you slept out of the womb. The second occasion the night you lay beside the person you loved.” That does not make much sense out of the context of the book so just imagine the weirdest goddamn sea you can and then pile on extra weirdness on top. The Quiddity sea changes you and is generally extremely bad for your complexion: [image] Credit Gabriel Rodríguez Pérez (from graphic novel adaptation) Jaffe’s pursuit of the Art leads to his eventually becoming something other than human and triggers a possible supernatural apocalypse that threatens all human lives. What starts out as a man’s quest for power becomes a titanic struggle between good and evil where the battles often takes surreal forms. [image] Randolph Jaffe (AKA The Jaff). Again credit Gabriel Rodríguez Pérez. That little synopsis barely scratches the surface of the novel’s plot. The Great and Secret Show is a dark fantasy of epic proportions (though “epic fantasy” has an entire different connotation, usually associated with Tolkien’s or George R.R. Martin’s kind of fantasy). With this book is Clive Barker is at the peak of his creativity, here he has created a brand new mythos about the nature of dreams and reality that is mind blowing. The storyline is quite complex but clearly narrated so there is never any problem following it. Fans of bizarre critters should have a field day with this book which is populated by some very bizarre and often disgusting creatures. For example you know how low budget horror movies from the 80s often feature shitty monsters? This book literally has shitty monsters made from actual fecal matter! There are also various other bizarre creatures made from fear and others made from dreams that I can not even begin to describe. The book is full of horrific moments, surreal dream-like moments and even comical moments and romantic bits. I would not recommend it to anyone who is easily offended though. If you avert your eyes at Game of Thrones’ most outrageous scenes then leave The Great and Secret Show on the shelf. Barker's prose style is hard to pin down, sometime he takes flight into lyricism, other times he dives into the language of the gutter (he certainly seems to use the “C word” a lot). The multiple protagonists are all well drawn. The most memorable one being the evil Randolph Jaffe (AKA The Jaff) and the kickass heroine Tesla. I am quite impressed by how quickly Barker can introduce and develop characters that are vivid and believable, in a few pages within a single chapter mostly through dialog. At the end of the day I can whole heartedly recommend The Great and Secret Show to anyone looking for a fantastical – or perhaps phantasmagorical – read. You won’t be disappointed (if you are, you shouldn’t be!). ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jun 07, 2015
|
Jun 20, 2015
|
Jun 07, 2015
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||
126
| 
| 0345481399
| 9780345481399
| 0345481399
| 3.99
| 11,267
| 2002
| Jun 28, 2005
|
it was amazing
|
Amazon's e-book samples are too short, only about 18 pages in length, good luck applying that ol’ “50 pages rule” here. Fortunately The Speed of Dark
Amazon's e-book samples are too short, only about 18 pages in length, good luck applying that ol’ “50 pages rule” here. Fortunately The Speed of Dark (2003 Nebula Award winner) is immediately intriguing and I was sold on it by the end of the short sample. I keep hearing good things about Elizabeth Moon and Elizabeth Bear in sci-fi websites and forums, I get them mixed up a lot as I have not read either one until now. Elizabeth Moon surpasses my expectations with this book, hopefully Elizabeth Bear can do likewise very soon. The title The Speed of Dark has a very sci-fi ring to it, it is actually a phrase to contrast the speed of light. The idea is that there is always darkness before light, therefore darkness must somehow travel faster than light because it is always ahead. This is a metaphor the author is employing to represent knowledge illuminating ignorance, so it not some kind of crazy bad science. The book is set in the near future, the protagonist Lou Arrendale is an autistic man working in a department of a company that exclusively employs autistic people for their superior concentration, greater pattern recognition or other cognitive abilities. Lou copes admirably with his autism and is generally happy – if not quite content – with his life, then one day he is informed that there is a cure for autism and his life immediately changes even without before the cure becomes available to him. The Speed of Dark is often compared to the classic Flowers for Algernon as both books deal with improvement of the brain through neuroscience. Both books are also poignant, brimming with compassion and tug at the heartstrings. Don’t worry about having your heart broken by the author though, Elizabeth Moon is not Thomas Hardy. Prior to reading this book I knew next to nothing about autism, not having met any autistic person. I can not claim to know a lot about it now as this is a work of fiction but Ms. Moon’s son is autistic so I believe her depiction of autism to be realistic. In any case her portrayal of autistic characters has the feel of verisimilitude. Most of the novel is told in the first person from Lou’s perspective (with the occasional switch to a few secondary characters where Lou is not privy to what is going on in his absence). This is the first book I have ever read that take me inside the head of an autistic person. The very clever first person narrative of Lou is fascinating in and of itself. Lou’s stilted use of language is very formal, polite and precise. Here is an example: “ "Don can be a real heel," she says. “Don is not a heel; he is a person. Normal people say things like this, changing the meaning of words without warning, and they understand it. I know, because someone told me years ago, that heel is a slang word for “bad person”. But he couldn’t tell me why, and I still wonder about it. If someone is a bad person and you want to say that he is a bad person, why not just say it? Why say “heel” or “jerk” or something? And adding “real” to it only makes it worse. If you say something is real, it should be real.” More importantly Lou’s narration enables me to feel the gulf between himself and “normal” people. Social nuances or cues are entirely beyond his ken, as are voice intonations and most facial expressions. He is also hopeless with colloquial terms, idioms and metaphors. All the characters in this book are very believable, the autistic characters are particularly vivid and sympathetic. They all seem to have a pure heart, I don’t know if this is true for all “autists” in the real world but the selfish and prejudiced “normals” they come across raises the question of whether normality may be overrated. After all, only a “normal” person would consider hurting someone who has never done them any harm. Most of the book reads more like contemporary mainstream fiction than science fiction, the sci-fi component of it only comes into play well into the second half of the book. This is not a sci-fi thriller, this is not a page turner, I did not want to turn the pages quickly to find out what happen next, I wanted absorb the story page by page and hope that Lou will be alright. From what I have heard Elizabeth Moon generally writes action packed military sci-fi or fantasy so I guess this book is atypical of her works. It appears to be a heartfelt story based on her own experiences with her son that she wants to share with us. I feel privileged to have read it, it is a beautiful book that I will never forget. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
May 20, 2015
|
May 26, 2015
|
May 20, 2015
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||
125
| 
| 0553804685
| 9780553804683
| 0553804685
| 4.25
| 146,086
| Jun 21, 2007
| Jul 31, 2007
|
it was amazing
|
I read the blockbusting The Lies of Locke Lamora in July 2014 and I just read this second volume of the Gentleman Bastard series today May 9, 2015, a
I read the blockbusting The Lies of Locke Lamora in July 2014 and I just read this second volume of the Gentleman Bastard series today May 9, 2015, almost a year apart. I tend to do that with second volumes in most series I read for some reason. (I am only sharing this mind numbingly uninteresting fact with you because I have no idea what to write for the opening paragraph of this review!) Red Seas Under Red Skies is a worthy follow up to The Lies of Locke Lamora which made Scott Lynch one of the elite fantasy authors working today. The story feels more like a “further adventure of Locke and Jean” than a direct continuation, making each of these two books almost standalones though I do not recommend reading them out of order, and there really is no need to as the first book is a great read. As with the previous book Lynch likes to use the literary device of scrambling the timeline with flashbacks and flashforwards, probably to create tension or anticipation and – of course – to tease. I personally prefer a straight timeline but novels are works of art and authors generally know best how they should be presented. In any case Lynch is too skillful to make a mess of the narrative, there is never any confusion in reading the book. I think the main appeal of Lynch’s writing is the vivid and lively characters he is able to create, be they heroes or villains. With Red Seas Under Red Skies he has outdone his accomplishment in the previous book. Locke Lamora is still the same lovable rogue we are already familiar with but his partner/BFF Jean Tannen is very well fleshed out in this book in spite of not having the story told from his point of view, we only see him through Locke’s eyes in this book. I tend to find that the secondary character in fantasy novels are more interesting and likeable than the protagonist, in the way that Ron Weasley is more interesting than Harry Potter or Samwise Gamgee is much more likeable and capable than Frodo. The same applies for this Gentleman Bastard series (so far) but the dynamic between Locke and Jean works very well where Locke is the brains of the operation and Jean is usually the brawn, not that Jean is unintelligent or even uneducated, he is just more honest and less devious. While I enjoyed the witty repartees of The Lies of Locke Lamora I did find it a little overdone in that every single character major and minor seem to always be ready with the quips, even incidental characters who only appear in the book for a few paragraphs. The dialog of Red Seas Under Red Skies is better, more balanced and more believable. Characters seem to have more distinctive voices this time around. As the title suggests Red Seas Under Red Skies is mostly a nautical adventure as complicated circumstances lead our heroes find themselves joining a pirate ship. In this book we meet wonderful lady pirate captain Zamira Drakasha* and her equally badass Lieutenant Ezri Delmastro. Tough, fighting women in fiction seem to be based on Ellen Ripley (from Alien) most of the time but these two ladies show more feminine and even maternal sides in certain situations making them more believable and likeable. The pacing of the book is a little slow to begin with while Lynch is setting up his pieces through pages of dialogues. Once we get to the high seas adventure part the narrative shifts to higher gear and become something of a romp. The book is densely plotted and our heroes and their allies seldom have a moment to unwind as the odds are stacked against them. The language is deliberately flowery at times as it is Locke’s stock in trade as a con artist. There is even a little romance and some lump-in-the-throat poignant moments. Magic is not much in evidence in this book and weird monstrosities are only glimpsed from time to time, though there is quite a lot of alchemy and numerous steampunk-ish clockwork devices. I much prefer this kind of “low fantasy” to the traditional ones with wizards conjuring entire houses or turning people into newts, my suspension of disbelief can only stretch so far. If you like The Lies of Locke Lamora as most people seem to do you probably don’t need me to recommend this book to you. I already have the next volume The Republic of Thieves so I doubt I will wait almost a year before getting to it. ________________________________________ * A reader has foolishly taken Scott Lynch to task about this female pirate character, his reply is epic! ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Apr 25, 2015
|
May 09, 2015
|
Apr 25, 2015
|
Hardcover
| |||||||||||||
124
| 
| 1849903271
| 9781849903271
| 1849903271
| 4.23
| 6,053
| Jul 2012
| Mar 15, 2012
|
it was amazing
|
“The stranger looked between her and the spectrograph and seemed to come to a decision. He smiled suddenly and unexpectedly, with teeth like two rows
“The stranger looked between her and the spectrograph and seemed to come to a decision. He smiled suddenly and unexpectedly, with teeth like two rows of great gleaming tombstones. ‘Hello, I’m the Doctor,’ he said, extending a hand.” Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum (etc.)… Ooo-ee-ooo OooEEooo… oooooEEooooo… OoooEoooo… oooeEoooo… Du Du Du Du… Du Du Du Du… Sorry, I always get the urge to do that when I review a Doctor Who book (this is only my second one*, perhaps I can refrain from doing this by the third book). I imagine “teeth like two rows of great gleaming tombstones” is enough of a clue for most diehard Whovians to figure out which Doctor this book is about. I mean who can forget these pearly whites: [image] Shada is a novelization of Douglas Adams’s script for a six parts 1979 Doctor Who serial that was only partially filmed and never completed due to a writers strike at the time. The incompletely filmed script has been adapted several times for animated direct to video release, audio drama and whatnot (see Wikipedia’s Shada entry). The only adaptation that concerns is here is Gareth Roberts' novelization. The basic plot of Shada concerns a psychopathic alien’s plot to find an ancient Gallifreyan book that will lead to his dominion of the universe (a minimal goal for most Who villains**). It is up to the toothy Fourth Doctor, cute Time Lady Romana II, and the wondrous tin dog K-9 to save the day; added by an elderly Time Lord and a couple of regular earthlings. The Doctor, Romana II, and K-9, with these three names I already have no resistance to this book, if it was very bad I would probably still quite like it. Fortunately it is the polar opposite of very bad. The breezy, affable narrative tone through most of the narrative is reminiscent of Adams’ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, and a bit of Terry Pratchett. I have not read anything by Gareth Roberts before so I don't know if this is how he normally writes, though I am quite familiar with his works on NuWho episodes, namely "The Unicorn and the Wasp", "The Lodger", "Closing Time" etc. These episodes clearly indicate that he is no stranger to comedic writing. However, beside being very funny Shada is also a proper Doctor Who adventure. It is not wall to wall jocular silliness, the stakes are high, there is death and destruction, and even moments of pathos. The humorous tone of the narrative during the first half of the book recedes noticeably in the second half to make room for the sci-fi thriller aspect befitting any well balanced Who story, though it is still there in the background. The characterization work in this book is top notched, The Fourth Doctor, Romana II, and K-9 are exactly as I remember them on TV. It is very easy to imagine Tom Baker and Lalla Ward acting out the story and dear old K-9 the tin dog has some dialog to die for. The supporting characters are all very well written, with the befuddled Time Lord Professor Chronotis being particularly memorable. The trusty TARDIS, the sonic screwdriver, and the wibbly space-time vortex are all present of course. Shada really is a blast to read from beginning to end and should not be missed by Whovians and other Earthlings. It is even better with a bag of Jelly Babies. Do read it, and don’t wander off! [image] * The other one is Alastair Reynolds' Doctor Who: Harvest of Time featuring the Third Doctor (Pertwee!). It is also brilliant, a ton of fun, but lighter in tone than Reynolds' legendary Revelation Space (non-Who) space opera series. ** The truly ambitious ones would seek to dominate all multiverses. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Apr 19, 2015
|
Apr 24, 2015
|
Apr 19, 2015
|
Hardcover
| |||||||||||||
122
| 
| 0061020648
| 9780061020643
| 0061020648
| 4.34
| 212,607
| Aug 1989
| Aug 2001
|
it was amazing
|
At the time of writing, Terry Pratchett passed away about a week ago. Beside making me sad, the news also triggered a sudden urge to read a Discworld
At the time of writing, Terry Pratchett passed away about a week ago. Beside making me sad, the news also triggered a sudden urge to read a Discworld book which needed to be satisfied immediately. I haven't read any Terry Pratchett books for years. I have always liked them but there are just so many books in the world and you know how it is, one thing led to another and somehow they didn't lead back to Sir Terry. In the meantime, I have been reading many inferior “flavor of the month” books like The Martian. I have been doing myself a disservice really. Guards! Guards! is one of the most popular Discworld books and I have not read it, this makes it the ideal candidate for a reentry into this unique and wonderful series. Anyway it is nice to be back in Ankh-Morpork, the most chaotic city in fantasy fiction. At the most basic level Guards! Guards! is Pratchett’s take on the police procedural, but his imagination is too immense to constrain the book to just a single genre parody so there is much more to this book than just the City Watch, Ankh-Morpork’s feeble excuse for a police force. The Watch mean are happily doing a crappy job, which basically involve ringing bells at certain times of the night to announce that all is well in the city. It takes the arrival of an extremely honest and straight-laced human orphan raised by dwarves to remind the Watchmen what they are supposed to be; and a huge dragon summoned from another dimension burning up the citizens and half the city to spur them into action. [image] Art by SharksDen One reason I only read Terry Pratchett occasionally is that I personally prefer books where humour is a minor element of the story rather than placed at the front and centre. After reading Guards! Guards! I have to admit this is my misconception of what Pratchett was doing with the Discworld series (after the first few straightforward fantasy parody books). The humour takes centre stage but underneath – not even far underneath – Pratchett was using Discworld as a mirror to explore, lampoon and critique our world with its many ills and injustice. Certainly Guards! Guards! explores the theme of the policemen’s duty and honor against personal safety and interest, what makes a good cop and a bad cop so to speak. He also skewers the masses’ tendency to blindly accept whoever has the biggest gun (or fire breathing talent). These and other serious issues are explored without ever missing a humorous beat. The book is a laugh fest from beginning to end, I don’t think there is a single page that did not make me at least chuckle. I actually laughed out loud several times, my favorite joke involves the phrase “Bjorn Stronginthearm is my uncle” which highlights the bizarreness of the British phrase “Bob’s your uncle”. Also the patrician’s questioning of dragons’ penchant for sleeping on a huge pile of gold instead of a comfy mattress is brilliant. Don’t worry I have not spoiled the book for you, I am barely scratching the surface of the many ingenious satires, jokes and witticisms to be found in this book. [image] Captain Vimes (no idea who the artist is, sorry) The characterization of the protagonists and antagonists is also very strong. Captain Vimes is silly and funny yet flawed, sympathetic, honorable and extremely likable. I am not surprised he one of Pratchett’s most beloved characters. The formidable Patrician Vetinari is another extremely vivid and lively creation, in a TV adaptation of another Discworld book he is perfectly portrayed by Charles Dance so you can imagine the dry wit and suavity of the man. His method of escaping from captivity in a dungeon is pure evil genius. Guards! Guards! is effortlessly a five-star book and if I may leave you with a quote from this book that works perfectly even out of context: “The reason that clichés become clichés is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of communication.” The irony is that there is not one cliché in this book, unless you count the ones that Pratchett turned on their heads. R.I.P. Sir Terry, you were the best. [image] Credit celticwren Note: Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Might Be The Highest Form of Literature on the Planet - by Brandon Sanderson ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Mar 15, 2015
|
Mar 21, 2015
|
Mar 15, 2015
|
Mass Market Paperback
| |||||||||||||
119
| 
| 3.87
| 1,093,089
| Oct 1915
| Mar 01, 1972
|
it was amazing
|
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” This very effective opening sent “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” This very effective opening sentence entirely encapsulates everything I knew about this story prior to reading it. I remember as a teenager watching a few minutes of Steven Berkoff’s televised adaptation and shortly changing the channel for some greener posture. I remember there was this bloke contorting on the floor pretending to be an insect and I just did not want to know any more. Before I read The Metamorphosis had no idea what to expect, I thought perhaps some PKD weirdness, something surreal, probably with some kind of message. The weirdness is definitely there (though not in PKD style) and Gregor’s cavalier reaction to his transformation is quite surreal. What I did not expect though was how sad, poignant and tragic this story is. In spite of being amply bizarre, the strangeness of the situation almost seems to be beside the point. After waking up to find that he has morphed into a horrible giant insect overnight Gregor seems to take it all in stride. Not one to waste any time WTF-ing Gregor rallies like a champ and simply gets on with his insectile life. He worries more about how his situation will affect his family’s welfare than how horrifying his predicament is. What a guy. Gregory lives in a shabby apartment with his parents and a younger sister. Initially they are all sympathetic of his condition, but as time goes by and their financial position deteriorates their patience and sympathy begin to evaporate. I don't want to elaborate any more on the plot as it is a short story (novella). Throughout the story Gregor retains his goodness, even through the gradual loss of his humanity. The opposite seems to be the case for his family. His sense of alienation and isolation is very palpable (especially as I was reading the story in a very quiet environment). What befalls Gregor is so tragic Thomas Hardy probably wishes he had thought of it. Even the “happy ending” makes me sad. Of course the entire thing can be interpreted as an allegory, there is a school of thought that it is all in Gregor’s mind and he has simply gone completely cuckoo one fine morning (working in textile will do that to you). As a sci-fi nerd I reject this hypothesis and choose to believe that the poor fellow does metamorphose during the night. Probably due to a stray cosmic ray from another dimension, or just a demented Dalek having a laugh at his expense. In any event this is a story that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Note: Thanks to Glenn for recommending this book to me. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
not set
|
Mar 01, 2015
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
116
| 
| B005AJQ9U6
| 4.31
| 22,302
| Mar 1994
| unknown
|
it was amazing
|
If I was a billionaire who can afford to commission a novelist to write a custom made book just for me the desired end result would probably read some
If I was a billionaire who can afford to commission a novelist to write a custom made book just for me the desired end result would probably read something like a Lois McMaster Bujold book. Her prose style just clicks with me. Always very clear and accessible, yet graceful, passionate, witty and often humorous. Her writing is never clunky or clumsy, never a word out of place. Even before getting into the actual storyline of the book the narrative style in and of itself is already a pleasure to read. The Vorkosigan Saga is one of the most beloved long running science fiction series of all time. Unlike classic sci-fi series like Dune or Foundation the individual Vorkosigan books are written as standalones and are therefore not numbered. In theory you can start reading the series with any random title and read other volumes in any order you want. However, for a richer reading experience you may prefer to read them in some kind of order, here is Ms. Bujold’s recommendation. Mirror Dance tells the story of Mark Vorkosigan, the clone of the series’ main character Miles Vorkosigan. Originally raised to assassinate Mile’s father, Mark is now a free man and a crusader to liberate other clones from a fate worse than death. Well, not “worse than” exactly the clones are kept alive as replacement bodies to eventually have their brains removed and replaced with the original person’s brain. Similar to the theme explored in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. The book starts off fairly slowly as a lot of political wrangling, bluff and counter bluff take place. The lengthy dialogue in the early part of the book was in danger of becoming repetitious when Ms. Bujold suddenly shifts gear and all hell breaks loose. The sections of the story told from Mark’s point of view are almost equal to the sections told from Mile’s point of view, though the balance leans a little more toward Mark’s side of the story. Any way, if you are already a fan of the series you will not be disappointed as Mark is just as damaged as Miles but in different ways. He is less physically damaged, not having suffered chemical poisoning at birth, but his conditioning as an assassin left a lot of psychological scars (and a “very particular set of skills” as Liam Neeson would say). Mirror Dance is a versatile novel that swings through quite a few different moods and narrative styles. Sometime it is romantic, sometime mysterious, funny, exciting, harrowing and even horrifying. The universe of Vorkosigan series is not as epic as something like Reynolds’ Revelation Space or Peter F. Hamilton’s Commonwealth saga. There are no aliens to speak of and no A.I. overlords but it does depict a human galaxy spanning empire where planets are colonized through FTL travel via wormholes (nobody says hyperspace any more). The setting is more “near future” than these other series and science more believable (FTL travel notwithstanding). Bujold will always have an advantage in the emotional components of her story telling. Her character development is second to none and she always manages to tackle serious issue without sacrificing the story telling aspect. You can not help but sympathize with the characters’ identity crisis and moral dilemma. The author is always very good at depicting romantic relationships but these are minor aspects of the book. If you prefer scenes of ass kicking to hugs and kisses you will not be disappointed. The details of biotechnology is also nicely worked out with an eye for details and dry wit: “Patients don't come popping up out of cryo-stasis like a meal out of a microwave. It takes just as much healing as if the original injury hadn't killed them, and more. It will be a couple of days before I can even begin to evaluate his higher neural functions.” The above passage is both humorous and informative. Bujold’s own particular set of skills. Mirror Dance is a thrilling, riveting entertaining and even poignant read. No reason why someone can not start reading the series with this particular book, though the author recommends reading Brothers in Arms first. In any case I can foresee spending a lot more time reading from this series in future (this is my fourth). ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jan 31, 2015
|
Feb 08, 2015
|
Jan 31, 2015
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
115
| 
| 4.09
| 460,382
| 1968
| Jun 1996
|
it was amazing
|
Probably my favorite Philip K. Dick book, Goodreads' favorite too by the look of it. As you are probably aware the classic sci-fi movie Blade Runner i
Probably my favorite Philip K. Dick book, Goodreads' favorite too by the look of it. As you are probably aware the classic sci-fi movie Blade Runner is based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Great as the movie is when I first saw it I was very disappointed as it bears very little resemblance to this book. The filmmakers jettisoned most of what makes this book so special and focused only on the android hunting aspect though at least it does explore the moral issues involved. The movie’s visuals are certainly stunning, and the world of Blade Runner is beautifully designed. However, it not the world of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is set in a dystopian Earth much dilapidated after “World War Terminus”, most of the populace have already emigrated to the colony on Mars. This is not a post-apocalyptic setting, however, as government, the police, and businesses are still functioning though everything seems to be quite shabby. Radioactive dust has killed off most of the animals and the dust is still everywhere, not to mention the masses of “kipple”, basically rubbish that seem to grow by itself. [image] This is the cover of my old copy of this book. Love it! This coveting of animals is one very crucial aspect of the book not used in the film adaptation. Ownership of real animals (as opposed to electric ones) is a status symbol, much more so than fancy cars which nobody seems to be interested in. The protagonist Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter for the San Francisco Police Department whose job is to hunt down and exterminate androids that escaped their life of servitude on Mars to live among humans on Earth in the guise of humans. His dream is to own a large real animal, but at his salary, he has to settle for the eponymous electric sheep. The questionable morality of hunting down androids is nicely explored here. They are machines but they are also living, thinking beings, they have souls, or in a more secular term, sentience. Human life on Earth is generally miserable but they do have some interesting ways of alleviating their mood. The most direct way is by the “Penfield mood organ” with a dial for adjusting moods to numerous settings, then there is the “empathy box” that let you live the life of a Messiah while you are plugged in; entertainment on TV is basically just one show “Buster Friendly and his Friendly Friends” somehow broadcasting live 24/7. This is one of the most well written Philip K. Dick books, Dick’s writing style is often criticised as poor or clunky, and his dialogue is often said to be stilted. I think his critics are missing the charms of his minimalist prose style which is an ideal vehicle for the bizarre stories he had to tell. His admittedly stilted dialogue seems to be very fitting for the universe his often eccentric characters occupy. Also, now and then he suddenly slips in the odd poignant passages like “You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation; this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe.”. He was quite capable of writing elegant prose when it suited him. However, the stories and the ideas were more important to him. [image] A cyberpunk-ish cover Some of the dialogue is also oddly hilarious: “I can't stand TV before breakfast.” “Dial 888,” Rick said as the set warmed. “The desire to watch TV, no matter what's on it.” “I don't feel like dialing anything at all now,” Iran said. “Then dial 3,” he said. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? has some of Dick’s best characterization. The characters are more vivid than most of his other books. Deckard and the “chickenhead” (brain damaged) J.R. Isidore are particularly believable and sympathetic. The androids are generally rather callous but quite pitiful all the same. There are also moments where reality seems to wobble wonderfully in the patented PKD style but this time without the aid of any hallucinogen. I can not praise this book enough, it really is one of the all-time greats. It is a pity that Hollywood is now planning to make Blade Runner 2 instead of making - for the first time - a faithful adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Note: Interestingly Dick foresaw an android model called "Nexus 6", but I bet he did not imagine they would look like this. [image] Graphic novel cover ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Nov 23, 2014
|
Nov 26, 2014
|
Nov 23, 2014
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
114
| 
| 0345419626
| 9780345419620
| 0345419626
| 3.91
| 153,524
| 1988
| Nov 29, 1997
|
it was amazing
|
I read a lot of Anne Rice in the 80s, both her Vampire Chronicles and her Mayfair Witches series. I always find her very readable and there is always
I read a lot of Anne Rice in the 80s, both her Vampire Chronicles and her Mayfair Witches series. I always find her very readable and there is always some dark beauty in her prose. However, like most series the quality tend to drop off after three or four volumes, the authors either begin to repeat themselves or try something radically different or experimental which does not work. As far as The Vampire Chronicles is concerned I think Ms. Rice has done a bit of both, and I lost interest after the fifth volume Memnoch the Devil. Most readers of The Vampire Chronicles agree that the first three books of the series are the best. I would go as far as to say that these are the best vampire fiction I have ever read. Bram Stoker has nothing on Anne Rice as far as literary talent is concerned. Stephenie Meyer does not even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath. OK, enough useless preamble. I reread The Queen of the Damned as part of my Halloween horror binge. I have long neglected the horror genre in favor of sci-fi, fantasy and even mainstream fiction. It never occurred to me to reread the first two Vampire Chronicles books Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat because I still remember the stories very well even decades after reading them (the Tom Cruise movie adaptation is even more fresh in my memory). The Queen of the Damned however, is only remembered in term of broad plot outline, and I the denouement totally escaped me. I think this is because there is so much in this book. It is more epic is scale and more complex in structure and characterization. [image] Akasha. Art by by Klodia007 In the previous book The Vampire Lestat Lestat, the rebellious star of the Chronicles has become a rock star with hit albums (I think he made some kind of hair metal with weird lyrics). His vampiric brand of metal mayhem has the unfortunate effect of waking up Akasha the original vampire, with megalomaniac tendencies. Soon she is dispatching young (or crappy) vampires left and right with her mental powers and human males in general are on her (s)hit list. Who can stop the most powerful vampire ever? I won’t spoil it for you, but it is probably not whoever it is you are thinking of. There are long flashback chapters where the narrative is set in ancient Egyptian time where the human queen Akasha is turned into the first vampire almost by accident. This part of the tale involves good and evil spirits, cannibalism and curses, it really is quite riveting. The sections set in the modern world is almost as exciting, Anne Rice’s world building and vampire mythos is some of the most vivid fantastical creation ever. I particularly like the Talamasca, the secret society for investigation of the paranormal where Fox Mulder would feel right at home. Anne Rice’s prose always go down well with me, I particularly like her description of the elation and shame of vampire feeding: “When they drank the blood they felt ecstasy. Never had they known such pleasure, not in their beds, not at the banquet table, not when drunk with beer or wine. That was the source of the shame. It hadn't been the killing; it had been the monstrous feeding. It had been the pleasure.” [image] Akasha by Deathstars69 Her descriptions of characters are always quite vivid: “Her skin was white and hard and opaque as it had always been. Her cheek shone like pearl as she smiled, her dark eyes moist and enlivened as the flesh puckered ever so slightly around them. They positively glistered with vitality.” The Queen of the Damned is definitely worth rereading if you have read it ages ago like I have, of course if you have not read it before it is even more of an imperative though I would recommend reading the previous two books in the chronicles first. This should not be much of a hardship as they are seriously gripping reads. That said if you were to read it as a standalone I think it would still be quite understandable. A great read from first page to last. [image] Notes: • Fans of Twilight may find this interesting: [image] • The 2002 movie adaptation is indeed a mess, but Aaliyah actually did a good job, and she died soon after the movie's release, poor girl 😢 [image] Aaliyah as Akasha ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Oct 20, 2014
|
Nov 18, 2014
|
Oct 20, 2014
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||
113
| 
| 0061147931
| 9780061147937
| 0061147931
| 3.84
| 139,239
| Feb 13, 2007
| Feb 13, 2007
|
it was amazing
|
Joe Hill, definitely “a chip off the old block”, the old block being mega-author Stephen King of course. From what I have read Hill tried his best to
Joe Hill, definitely “a chip off the old block”, the old block being mega-author Stephen King of course. From what I have read Hill tried his best to keep his relationship with Stephen King a secret and forge his own career as an author. Happily he became a successful author before the identity of his Dad was publicly disclosed by Variety magazine. Heart-Shaped Box is his first novel, as of now I think he has four to his name, excluding comics and anthologies. Basically Heart-Shaped Box is a story of a vengeful ghost, but there is a lot more to the story than that. The setup is quite original, the protagonist is a rock star who likes to collect weird macabre things, one day he buys a ghost off an eBay-like online shopping website. The ghost is bought in the form of an item that belongs to the dead man, in this case a suit that comes in a heart-shaped box; much grief ensues. It probably is not much of a spoiler to tell you that the suit is more important than the eponymous heart-shaped box, the box just becomes a creepy motif after it and similarly shaped boxes are mentioned a few times. The less I elaborate about the plot the better I think, as the story takes many unexpected twists and turns and Hill’s conception of what a ghost can do is quite original and disturbing. I enjoy scary horror novels, but most such novels are like hamburgers, easily consumed with some pleasure but not very memorable. For a horror novel to be memorable it has to transcend just being scary, it has to have characters worth caring about. This is why Stephen King’s best books are head and shoulders above the majority of horror fiction, he writes characters the reader cares about. I imagine Hill learned this lesson well from his father. His protagonist Jude is a flawed individual with a lot of issues but is a good man underneath all the rock star callousness. His girlfriend and the secondary character is equally damaged in her own way (not to mention very potty mouthed) but when push comes to shove really rises to the occasion. I actually worry about these characters and that is the highest accolade I can give to a work of fiction. Even Jude’s dogs are endowed with personalities and heroic qualities. The author’s fondness for dogs is obvious and it is something I can really identify with. The sense of compassion in the book also makes it much more meaningful than the average horror novel. Hill’s prose style in this book is straightforward and without frills or literary flourishes, what little humor that can be found within the book are mostly through the dialogue. The narrative moves at a breakneck pace and I gobbled then entire book up in just a few days, much more quickly than I normally read. Personally I am hoping to see more finesse in the prose style in his subsequent books but I have no doubt at all that I will be reading them; all of them. It is October 26 as I write and I can heartily recommend Heart-Shaped Box for your Halloween read. If you are reading this in February or whatever, I’d still recommend it for a few hours of excellent and creepy escapism. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Oct 20, 2014
|
Oct 25, 2014
|
Oct 20, 2014
|
Hardcover
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
my rating |
|
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
141
|
| 4.30
|
it was amazing
|
Mar 26, 2018
|
Feb 05, 2018
|
|||||
140
|
| 4.04
|
it was amazing
|
Jun 02, 2017
|
May 30, 2017
|
|||||
138
|
| 4.26
|
it was amazing
|
Mar 03, 2017
|
Feb 26, 2017
|
|||||
136
|
| 4.76
|
it was amazing
|
Jan 10, 2017
|
Dec 18, 2016
|
|||||
135
|
| 4.18
|
it was amazing
|
Sep 29, 2016
|
Oct 05, 2015
|
|||||
132
|
| 3.91
|
it was amazing
|
Sep 21, 2015
|
Sep 20, 2015
|
|||||
131
|
| 3.67
|
it was amazing
|
Aug 16, 2015
|
Aug 11, 2015
|
|||||
130
|
| 3.88
|
it was amazing
|
Aug 10, 2015
|
Aug 03, 2015
|
|||||
129
|
| 4.17
|
it was amazing
|
Jul 14, 2015
|
Jul 14, 2015
|
|||||
128
|
| 4.21
|
it was amazing
|
Jul 10, 2015
|
Jul 03, 2015
|
|||||
127
|
| 4.06
|
it was amazing
|
Jun 20, 2015
|
Jun 07, 2015
|
|||||
126
|
| 3.99
|
it was amazing
|
May 26, 2015
|
May 20, 2015
|
|||||
125
|
| 4.25
|
it was amazing
|
May 09, 2015
|
Apr 25, 2015
|
|||||
124
|
| 4.23
|
it was amazing
|
Apr 24, 2015
|
Apr 19, 2015
|
|||||
122
|
| 4.34
|
it was amazing
|
Mar 21, 2015
|
Mar 15, 2015
|
|||||
119
|
| 3.87
|
it was amazing
|
not set
|
Mar 01, 2015
|
|||||
116
|
| 4.31
|
it was amazing
|
Feb 08, 2015
|
Jan 31, 2015
|
|||||
115
|
| 4.09
|
it was amazing
|
Nov 26, 2014
|
Nov 23, 2014
|
|||||
114
|
| 3.91
|
it was amazing
|
Nov 18, 2014
|
Oct 20, 2014
|
|||||
113
|
| 3.84
|
it was amazing
|
Oct 25, 2014
|
Oct 20, 2014
|
Loading...
