2017: And the great 2017 dystopian re-read continues!
2009: I can't believe I hadn't added these before. This is definitely one of my top 10 comics of 2017: And the great 2017 dystopian re-read continues!
2009: I can't believe I hadn't added these before. This is definitely one of my top 10 comics of all time. It's disturbing as hell, but fantastic and thought-provoking and funny and pretty much everything you want a story to be....more
This series isn't a trilogy so much as it is a single book (Sabriel) and a two part sequel set 20 years later. I was not as thrilled with this book asThis series isn't a trilogy so much as it is a single book (Sabriel) and a two part sequel set 20 years later. I was not as thrilled with this book as I was with the first two. Maybe it felt a little predictable within the framework set up by the previous two books. My favorite part of this series is that it is a strong twist on the standard fantasy setting. The universe is familiar to fantasy readers (a magical land alongside a non-magical one) but it's handled in a way that feels fresh.
Maybe some of the problem here is that the villain doesn't really exist until the very end of the story, so the sense of urgency suffers. Plus the stakes are a little too high and the twist too predictable. The freeing of an ancient God so evil and powerful it will destroy all life on the planet is a plot that pretty much has one ending - one of the good guys sacrifices themselves so that the good guys win against impossible odds. I liked the way it was executed and the mythology itself felt well realized, but about halfway through I knew pretty much what was going to happen and I wasn't very far off....more
So Zoe's Tale was the last of the Hugo Nominated books I read this year. I haven't decided which I'm going to vote for yet, but I'm fairly sure it wonSo Zoe's Tale was the last of the Hugo Nominated books I read this year. I haven't decided which I'm going to vote for yet, but I'm fairly sure it won't be this one. I did like this book, but it didn't jump up and grab me until more than halfway through. It's a stand alone YA book set in the Old Man's War universe. The story takes place at the same time as the third book in the OMW trilogy, Last Colony. I ended up reading the first OMW book first, then this book, then the second two books in the trilogy. Although this story does stand alone, I'd recommend either reading it before the trilogy or after reading all three.
The first problem was that this book just isn't as good as the trilogy. Seeing as OMW was one of the best books I've read so far this year, that's not an entirely bad thing, but it did detract from my enjoyment of the book, as I couldn't help comparing it to OMW. Most of this is the concessions made to this being a YA book, I think. So many of the details that make the universe great were left out (the political and military intrigue, the sex and violence, the technobabble) and that disappointed me.
The second problem is that in spite of the stand alone label, I actually liked this book better after having read Last Colony. There were a couple of holes in Last Colony that were filled in very nicely in Zoe's Tale. I'm not sure that it really needed to be its own book, or that it should have been YA, but it made for a good follow up to the trilogy, and was a fun read....more
I feel like I need to reread this a couple of times to really appreciate it. I'm floating between three and four stars because the plot left me behindI feel like I need to reread this a couple of times to really appreciate it. I'm floating between three and four stars because the plot left me behind in a few places, but I'm not sure if that's because there was so much going on that I missed things, or because the plot was a bit sloppy. Possibly both. The setting was amazing though - one of the most creative imaginings of the future that I've ever read....more
I picked this up the day it was released for the Kindle, and read it over the next couple of days. Like "Your Hate Mail May Be Graded" much of it is eI picked this up the day it was released for the Kindle, and read it over the next couple of days. Like "Your Hate Mail May Be Graded" much of it is excerpts from blog posts, but unlike Hate Mail, the excerpts are tied together with commentary and form a coherent narrative. I really enjoyed it.
One thing that sucked though was that the formatting was all goofy. The introduction had page break issues (nothing was cut off, thankfully, but lines were duplicated across pages) and there was no formatting at all separating the blog entries from the commentary, which made some of the transitions confusing. If I'd previewed this before buying I might have waiting to see if a better version was released....more
Finished this yesterday. It was a tough book to read and I'm wavering between a three star or four star rating. Some of why it was so tough was the suFinished this yesterday. It was a tough book to read and I'm wavering between a three star or four star rating. Some of why it was so tough was the subject matter, and the fact that Doctorow writes in a very straight forward, evocative style that reminded me of Stephen King, and the fact that the news has been full of discussions of torture recently, all combining to make reading this sometimes terrifically uncomfortable. That's not a failing in the book, of course, and is maybe a strength, but doesn't make me wish I'd read it a different time.
Other stuff: I had less of a sense of who the main character was than I might have liked, I would have liked more explicit discussion of the racial and social issues (the character is a middle class white male) and how it's considered more acceptable when certain groups are mistreated, and some of the discussions of technology went on a bit long such that they distracted from the story.
This was one of those books that I'd had sitting on my shelf for a long time. I bought it because I keep meaning to read more Diana Wynne Jones, but tThis was one of those books that I'd had sitting on my shelf for a long time. I bought it because I keep meaning to read more Diana Wynne Jones, but then it just never jumped out at me until a few days ago. That said, once I started reading I really enjoyed it. The story starts with the action and never slowed down, the exposition was minimal but I never felt lost in the world, and the story was different enough from other things I've read that I was surprised more than once. I wasn't knocked out of my chair, but I definitely enjoyed it.
Last read: Jan. 25-29, 2010.
8/11/11: I've giving this one another star on second reading. I flew through this and was sorry when it was over. I love the hook - there's a magical world, and it's been turned into a theme park for fantasy nerds. It's not like I've never seen this before (I'm especially reminded of Matthew Stover's Overworld series or the end of Pratchett's Witches Abroad) but it's still well done. I'm really going to have to read more from DWJ....more
The writing gets four stars, the collection gets three stars. The book is a collection of blog posts, and felt like it. Maybe it would have felt diffeThe writing gets four stars, the collection gets three stars. The book is a collection of blog posts, and felt like it. Maybe it would have felt different if I'd been reading it in book form rather than on the Kindle, but in any case, something about the format just didn't work quite right. That said, I'd recommend the blog itself (http://whatever.scalzi.com/) to anyone, great stuff there. I especially like the annual reader request posts....more
2/26/10: I'm floating between three and four stars for this one. I found that in hindsight I liked each book in the trilogy a little bit less than the2/26/10: I'm floating between three and four stars for this one. I found that in hindsight I liked each book in the trilogy a little bit less than the one before, I didn't notice this while I was actually reading the books, so it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story. There's some great twists in this book that tie together the fairly stand alone stories of the first and second books. I honestly did not see the ending coming, which was a nice change from more predictable books....more
2/23/10: The second book in the Old Man's War trilogy-plus-one, I did not love this book quite as much I loved the first book in the trilogy, but it w2/23/10: The second book in the Old Man's War trilogy-plus-one, I did not love this book quite as much I loved the first book in the trilogy, but it was still a really good read. The first and third books are narrated in first person from John Perry's perspective, while this book is third person and follows Jane Sagan and a new character with a really awesome back story that I won't go into here because it's just too cool to spoil....more
A friend loaned me this trilogy when I was in college and I've been looking for my own copies for a while. I'd owned a copy of the second book for a wA friend loaned me this trilogy when I was in college and I've been looking for my own copies for a while. I'd owned a copy of the second book for a while and yesterday found a copy of the third. I'd heard the first book in the series mentioned a few times in writerly circles, both as an example of very good YA and also as books with a female protagonist that could appeal to boys.
So I reread the second one in one of those marathon sessions that went from maybe 10:00 last night until 2:00 in the morning, then finished it during the first couple of hours of being awake today. As I remember I liked the first book the best, but this one was also very good (not quite good enough for four stars, but I'm a jerk that way). I love the world building - on the surface it sounds like a fairly standard fantasy world, but it's done with great detail that makes it feel very real and solid.
The characters are interesting in that they border on unlikable - Lirael comes across as fairly whiny at the beginning and she's also extremely shy. Sam has a really good first scene then he becomes frightened and yes, whiny. Either way, they make great flawed human heroes and I'm absolutely rooting for them, even when I want Sam to shut up and grow a pair.
11/11/11: This one didn't stand up quite so well on this reread. Some of it was the comparison to Sabriel, which is a really well put together story. Some of it may be my getting older and not having as much patience for the angstyness of the characters. Either way, still a good one....more
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