[image] This well written, consuming, lunacy did not live up to my teenage adoration. When I was younger I appreciated the sprawling story but mostly… [[image] This well written, consuming, lunacy did not live up to my teenage adoration. When I was younger I appreciated the sprawling story but mostly… [image] Now, there are so many enraging aspects to this story… the magic is gone. [image] [image] [image]...more
[image] Damn but King can write. Every fantasy author these days thinks they can write a tome. Whelps this is how grand stories are structured to punch[image] Damn but King can write. Every fantasy author these days thinks they can write a tome. Whelps this is how grand stories are structured to punch.
Part One: Just two characters. Just two POVs. This is an intimate, grounding, beginning into the world of Haven.
Part Two: Stories from a dozen other residents of Haven as they experience the “becoming.”
Part Three: Battle Royal!
I would read high fantasy more than once a year if they could just stick to this golden formula.
Overall, it was looking like a four and half star review until the man dropped a tentacle on me at the end of part two! How do you just drop a tentacle ...more
[image] “The fact that it was he who in the end had underestimated the Starflyer gave his situation its wretched poignancy.”
Good endings are are [image] “The fact that it was he who in the end had underestimated the Starflyer gave his situation its wretched poignancy.”
Good endings are are hard, great endings are Peter Hamilton. Oh, I had my doubts, my disagreements, a character I could have done without (Orion), but this blockbuster came through! Dreaming heavens, The Planets Revenge lived up to its name.
I would read a whole book on Paula Myo and dearly hope she appears in subsequent books. Perhaps the Cat too?
*audible note: The narrator is generally good but forgot about the accents he had given characters in book one. That was annoying....more
Old age, true death, and lack of space are things of the past. Wormholes have given us new worlds, peace, and prosperity.[image] Welcome to the future.
Old age, true death, and lack of space are things of the past. Wormholes have given us new worlds, peace, and prosperity.
Through a grand cast of characters, side stories and back stories, Peter Hamilton makes you a resident of the Commonwealth. Nine hundred pages of investment before the nuke hits the mountain and your gut clenches.
I downloaded the kindle and audiobook to Judas Unchained before writing this review....more
[image] "In this cold, teeth can shatter after two or three hours—actually explode—sending shrapnel of bone and enamel flying inside the cavern of o[image] "In this cold, teeth can shatter after two or three hours—actually explode—sending shrapnel of bone and enamel flying inside the cavern of one’s clenched jaws."
This was a well researched well written historical fiction with just a dab of magical realism.
I had been expecting a full blown supernatural horror. Nope.
What you will find: The horror that were 18th Century Englishmen. The horror of the deep cold. The horror of scurvy.
There was much unenjoyable humanity: Heart of Darkness on the Ice.
But the last seven chapters were a revelation! A beautifully written redemption of heart and spirit....more
[image] "Saul shivered. Behind the calm voice and the human puppet was a man who had directly murdered scores - perhaps thousands - of human beings." [image] "Saul shivered. Behind the calm voice and the human puppet was a man who had directly murdered scores - perhaps thousands - of human beings."
The epic scope of The Eight. The gut clenching agony of Schindler’s List. The paranormal malevolence of Stephen King.
Oh my friends, this was something special. An absolute Must Read for the Horror Fan. I will remember it always... and shudder.
"Winter is coming. And I am very, very hungry." [image]...more
[image] So... there was no reason that a four hundred page story needed to be eight hundred pages long.
So... this felt less like a Space Opera and mor[image] So... there was no reason that a four hundred page story needed to be eight hundred pages long.
So... this felt less like a Space Opera and more like journey-to-adulting. Yes there was space, and philosophy, and sex, and politics but without the drama, passion, war, and violence I expected out of so lavish a title as Opera. To be fair I've never made it to the end of an opera without falling asleep in my chair.
But... I still enjoy opera and, while I didn't find this book riveting in the least, I had a lukewarm enjoyment for Lawrence's journey to the obvious: There's no place like home.
DNF @ 10%. I'm waving the white flag. Every time I pick this up it takes me a shocking amount of time to figure out who is talking - Russian names/nicDNF @ 10%. I'm waving the white flag. Every time I pick this up it takes me a shocking amount of time to figure out who is talking - Russian names/nicknames are unnecessarily difficult. So far the story is just the sad state of Russia and sad family squabbling. I'm not rating this because I'll try again next year with a physical copy and we'll see....more
[image] "She had wanted to find some trouble, and the Shorter Way Bridge had never steered her wrong."
This is my first Joe Hill and I ate it up[image] "She had wanted to find some trouble, and the Shorter Way Bridge had never steered her wrong."
This is my first Joe Hill and I ate it up. Kate Mulgrew read this audiobook into a page turner, I haven't gone through a thousand pages this quickly ever! Even The Stand and Pillars of the Earth took over a week. And unlike those books this story didn't drift, I didn't feel one or two hundred pages could be cut here or there. It was a tight thousand pages, if you can wrap your head around that.
There were times I thought I was reading King. The only differences I could point to were a lack of sex and that wild, semi hysterical and depraved humor that's hard to describe. [image]
Anyway, so few laughs here but a fast pace of small town heroes with special powers and lots of love fighting a seemingly immortal evil force. Sounds familiar, right King fans? He doesn't let us down. One of my favorite things about reading King is all the little references to his previous works, it makes you feel included, a true citizen of Kinglandia. Joe does the same, tying the lands of the junior and elder King together, along with various others, to create one large inscape; a mad alternate reality it is our dark pleasure to visit.
A must read for Horror Aficionados everywhere and a personal four point five for me that I happily round up for truly excellent readability....more
Half of this book is endless warfare with ninja turtles over gems inside monstrous snails told from the POV of a slave with depression.
Yes, he [image]
Half of this book is endless warfare with ninja turtles over gems inside monstrous snails told from the POV of a slave with depression.
Yes, he had depression before he became a slave.
Yes, you get to read all about it.
Yes, that is why it took me so long to finish.
In the same way great writers like Jane Austen and Cheryl Strayed can fill your heart with joy Sanderson can crush it.
It is hard picking up a book knowing you will feel worse when you put it down.
That said this book was epic. Not since Dune have I read a story that combined strong women, magic, politics, destiny, and an unknowable, deep sense of history.
I just finished and already feel like reaching for The Gunslinger all over again, because ka is wheel, may it do ya fine. This time it will be[image]
I just finished and already feel like reaching for The Gunslinger all over again, because ka is wheel, may it do ya fine. This time it will be different, every time it will be different. The journey was long and will be a part of me always...
...and I'm pissed all over again that this is going to be stripped down and twisted into a summer action movie. Worse than desecration is having to endure millions of people who paid twenty bucks for two hours and now feel they know something. Every single time it's going burn because...
You have not come ten thousand wheels, felt the sand, the sun, the bone deep cold. You have not killed, or bled, or died. You have not loved, you have not lost, you are not ka-tet. You can't remember the face of your father. You know nothing.
[image] "They always came in the ships of the old ones, those artifacts; they always raised their hands in surrender; they always won. This could no[image] "They always came in the ships of the old ones, those artifacts; they always raised their hands in surrender; they always won. This could not be happening."
King wrote this scifi novel longhand with a fountain pen, sometimes by candlelight, while recovering from his car accident. Well, if you call a car hitting you while you are walking a car accident.
I thought he did a good job of coming up with some very alien aliens. Unless I'm reading a sexy alien story I prefer it when the universe comes up with greater differences than pointy ears. I also liked that so many things went wrong for the aliens. Not because I was taking sides, it's a books let's be neutral, but because complicated things often do go wrong. Crossing galactic blackness, landing, surviving, conquering the locals: each and everyone of these things is a potential fuckeroo.
Basically this is a messed up, funny, gross, alien invasion story with a little ka-tet thrown in. I'll give it a solid B....more
This is going to be quick review because it's been a few months, the library digitally reclaimed my copy, and I'm almost done with the next book, SongThis is going to be quick review because it's been a few months, the library digitally reclaimed my copy, and I'm almost done with the next book, Song of Susannah. I'll fix it up the next time I read the series - yes I'm already sure there will be a next time.
Now DT5 was my favorite of the series when I read it but being almost done with DT6 I think that will be the new favorite. Damn fine thing in a series when books get better as you go.
So what did I enjoy? I loved the inclusion of a character from a previous work of King. [image] The more you read of King the more you enjoy any allusion to another work of King.
I loved the badass Women of Oriza who defended Calla Bryn Sturgis. [image]
I loved the way King knit together so many fantasy references with ease. [image]
Lastly, I loved that praise Jesus we were moving forward! Thank you big-big. After DT4s looong and absolutely enraging flashback sequence, The Ballad of Roland & Susan, I was ready to move on. Note - most people feel the series peaks with DT4 which just goes to show that one woman's trash is another's treasure.
This has defiantly become one of my favorite novels though it's hard to explain why. The meat of the story is about two retired Texas Rangers w[image]
This has defiantly become one of my favorite novels though it's hard to explain why. The meat of the story is about two retired Texas Rangers who decide to leave their south Texas ranch and drive cattle to Montana. As there are no ranches currently in the wilds of Montana this is both an opportunity for financial gain and adventure for two restless older men.
Lonesome Dove is a multi-character driven tale told in many POVs and short flashbacks. Mostly it's a medley of stories of unrequited love. Really, I dare you to find a book with more unrequited love. Add to that the whole book ending in a twenty page John Mayer song and I have to admit if I read this review I would not have picked up this book. Oh, there are also plenty of gunfights, brutal deaths, and humor, but none of the aforementioned would have caught my interest.
Thankfully, I went into it blind on a whim to read a Pulitzer and I am so glad I did! The writing is effortless and engaging, I could have happily read fifty pages of Lonesome Dove every night for the rest of my days.
This was my first full on Western, and likely has spoiled me for the genre, but has me very interested in other Pulitzers. I generally ignore Man Booker winners as that seems to be the prize for Most Depressing Book of the Year.
Whatever your main genre you must read Lonesome Dove, it's worthy of every single accolade. Five Fat Happy Stars.
Special thanks to Vicki Willis from Horror Aficionados who gave this to me for Christmas! Goodreads friends are the best!...more
Nightmare Inducing I don't have coulrophobia so I did not waver in picking up this book, but the horror of IT was so much more than a scary clown. WhatNightmare Inducing I don't have coulrophobia so I did not waver in picking up this book, but the horror of IT was so much more than a scary clown. What the mind succumbs to is the unrelenting wheel of tension, fear, and forboding mixed with humor and nostalgia. By the middle of the book I was waking in lock jawed stress from unremembered nightmares, gladly unremembered. [image] You'll find the book itself offgasses anxiety. The last ten percent was a frenetic coke fueled nightmare of knife fights, mad chases, deadlights, an obsidian interdimensional void, a fifteen foot spider, a dead galactic turtle, and a preteen sewer gang bang. I couldn't have made IT up, I will never forget, and I will never reread.
*its been over a year and I'm ready to forgive this book for living up to being as scary as advertised. I took off a star for what happened in the sewer, and you're never getting that one back, but I'll give back the star for traumatizing me. Besides, it was some of his best writing. I highlighted the heck out of IT....more
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