Bronwyn Knox

A Christopher Moore book is always good for a few laughs. Mostly, the writer is a lot of fun if you're looking for an easily readable story with light but entertaining characters. This is a nimble Shakespeare-inspired adventure with a brave, underdog antagonist, the titular Fool. Like a Shakespeare play there's lots of intrigue, violence, and sex (TONS of sex) and a little bit of clever wordplay. It's a tribute to pretty much all of Shakespeare, not just King Lear.It was a page-turner for sure. I was dying to see just how Fool was going to get things to work out for his friends and allies. There was a lot of dark stuff, torture, murder, attempted suicides, maiming–you name it. Fitting for the Shakespeare theme. I would have liked more creativity in the wit and fewer sex jokes, but maybe I'm not the intended audience for this. Nothing wrong with it, except that after a while it's not as funny. Subtle and/or unexpected use of dirty jokes is more effective because you either have to think about it for a bit, or it jolts you into laughter. I can't help but compare this to my favorite comical Shakespeare tribute, [b:Wyrd Sisters 34504 Wyrd Sisters (Discworld, #6; Witches #2) Terry Pratchett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1275974472l/34504.SY75.jpg 1494222] (Discworld). Fans of that book might enjoy this one as well, and vice-versa.

I've been trying to figure out what it is that I don't like about this book. Since it has been so wildly popular with other readers, I feel like I must be from another planet.

There were some details that didn't sit right with me, as well as bad dialogue and underdeveloped characters. There seemed to be no reason to set the story in the 1960s other than to not have to deal with cell phones or a more robust social work system. Certainly the time period wasn't used in the story.

However, if I was really into the story, I think I would have overlooked all of that.

At the beginning of the book, when Kya's mother walks out on the family, I was really invested in what was going to happen to her. As the book went on, I felt that most things were getting resolved pretty quickly. She solves all of her problems with relative ease and there is never any intense moment when her life is really in danger due to the swamp/environment. She is a “social outcast” but gets boyfriends and her social skills seem fine when she needs to pull them out.

I think the problem for me is that the writer wants us to sympathize and even worship Kya. Owens bends the events of the story around her, rather than let the story happen to Kya and see how she might deal with it. As a reader, I wasn't feeling any deep connection with this character and was really only reading to the end to see the resolution of the murder mystery. I think Owens expects the readers to think even the murder is justified. (Not legal, but justified.) Kya can do no wrong and there is no moral conflict and no risks taken that we won't like her.

This has remained a consistently entertaining series for me. I love how real Peter Grant and many of the other characters feel for me, as well as the realistic blending of police procedural with the magic and fantasy element. I also like the way that Grant is the narrator but he's not the most powerful and important character. The author has left him plenty of room to grow. The tidbits about London architecture and history are a nice bonus.

This one in particular was a bit distracting for me because of some repetitive scenes. Not once, but three times Grant is involved in major action scenes in combat with Chorley. It starts to feel like filler after two in my opinion. It is also a bit anticlimactic that Nightingale wasn't involved in Chorley's death. Unless of course he's not really dead. Always a possibility in this type of series.I also found Grant's kidnapping to be pointless. It introduces Foxglove, but otherwise took up a lot of time that I assumed was going to have a payoff in the overall plot. So far it didn't but again, this is a series so maybe the reason for it will be coming down the line.

That is unusual for this series though. Despite the ongoing Faceless Man/Leslie May thread, most of the time a story completely wraps up in each book. That's one of things I like about this series.

Gods of Jade and Shadow reminded me very much of American Gods, only with a gentler touch and more romantic overtones.

It's not classified as a YA book but I think that audience would enjoy it. It's about a young woman who has been dealt a bad hand but is suddenly touched by fate. She has to leave the home she knows, explore a new world, learn the rules, make choices and learn consequences, etc.

I knew very little about Mayan mythology so this was a nice little mini-exposure to it. The Mayan Gods provided the supernatural elements and gave the story a fairy-tale-like feel.

Fantastic story of one year in the life of a 12-year-old boy. It's touching, exciting, scary, and funny. It reminded me quite a bit of Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.

There are elements that are realistic, like bullies in the schoolyard, family money troubles, and racial tension. Then there are the elements that are way out there, prehistoric creatures, vengeful monkeys, spiritual powers, etc. There's also the overall theme of a town that is on the cusp of the changing society in America in the 1960s. McCammon does a great job of combining these elements with warmth and humor as well as keeping the reader on the edge of their seat.

Sometimes the fantasy elements are a little over the top and in a way that breaks the spell of immersion a bit. But I liked it so much I certainly wouldn't dock a star for that.

I've had a lot of fun reading this series and I'm sorry to see the end of it. I love this heroine and her quirky, offbeat family and friends. Every book has provided humor and entertainment and lots of literature and pop culture related jokes. Kind of nerdy, but I liked it.

This was a fine conclusion to the story (for now?). I love how the quality of these was maintained throughout the series.

Boy, am I bored of zombies. And the Apocalypse. And zombie apocalypses.

The Girl with All the Gifts could be the book to change my mind about that. Carey focuses on a bright little girl called Melanie and immediately incites your curiosity about her situation. (Why is a little girl locked in a cell, etc.?) It just keeps getting better from there as Melanie and a few others, who are hostile or frightened of her to varying degrees, are forced to take a road trip together.

This is a Horror story of nature taking back the planet from humanity and how the few uninfected humans left try to carry on or fight against it. It's a unique take on the usual zombie-virus thingy that really fed my imagination.

What I appreciated the most was seeing the story from the view of each character in the small cadre. They've all been forced out of their reasonably (under the circumstances) stable existence and each has different goals and perspectives as they hope to get to a safer place.

First there's Melanie, child genius. She's been kept in a cell so long that she knows little about the world, where it's been or what it's like now but she learns quickly. All her knowledge comes from the limited education she received in her childhood confinement.

Helen Justineau is Melanie's teacher and mentor and the object of her affection. Her relationship with Melanie gives the heart and soul to the book. She's also a kickass heroine.

Leading the troop is Sergeant Parks, who along with Justineau is old enough to remember the world before the zombie virus hit. He's the usual tough-guy type, there to get the job done. He goes through the greatest character arc especially in terms of seeing Melanie as first monster and then ally.

Gallagher is the soldier under Park's command. Like Melanie he was born post-apocalypse and can't remember the world any other way. Probably the true innocent of the bunch, he is also the least judgmental of Melanie.

Last in the travel party is Doctor Caldwell, the antagonist to Justineau and especially Melanie. She's even less capable than Parks of viewing Melanie as human. Everything is about intellectual vanity and ego as well as knowledge and information for its own sake. She changes less than anyone through the story but she's also the catalyst for most of the action and the answers that come to light. As you're reading, you're not sure if she's going to be the salvation or destruction of all that's left of humanity. She's so crazy it could go either way.

The story has many unexpected twists that are exactly right: surprising and yet they feel inevitable. Melanie's destiny was clearly always to be the road between humans and the new merged beings but it's still interesting to see how we get there. Wonderful horror and suspense with good characters and conflicts.

I was expecting (based on the promotion on the back cover) a modern Agatha Christie. Not even close. I don't recall Christie ever wasting this much time getting to the point. It took three-quarters of the book to determine if there even was a murder at all. The writer avoids anything interesting happening to set up for a “big finish.”

This novel is more akin to a V.C. Andrews story with a young woman at the heart of a “deep, dark” secret. V.C. Andrews was never this boring, however. Melodramatic and cheesy, maybe. But it was good cheese and never boring.

One of the problems is that Ware wants us to be in love with her protagonist, Hal, but she doesn't give enough reason to feel that way. Yes, she is impoverished and an orphan I can feel sorry for, but like her? Hal is deadly dull. Ware keeps trying to tell us about her qualities without showing any examples, and she wants to have it both ways. Hal cons a family, but we can't hate her because she feels guilty about it. She seems mousy but is secretly “strong” underneath. Complex characters that act one way and feel another are great and what I want as a reader if only the writer is bold enough to go for it. Show the character doing a few bad things. Show how the character is conflicted and give some development about their past to add depth.

As for the story itself, there's not much to it. You can see most of the “twists” coming from the setup. Every character is so bland, and I don't know any more about them than I did at the start. Hal doesn't change or grow during the story. She gets new family members and a solution to her financial problems without sacrifice.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway feels like an early draft of a story that was underdeveloped.

Fun if you like Waters, his films, and his sense of humor. The most interesting part of the book was the real life hitchhiking trip and seeing how it was a) hard to get a ride and b) most people were quite nice and decent to him once he did finally get a ride. He even made a good friend! Someone he probably wouldn't necessarily have met otherwise.

That is only one-third or less of the book though. Most of it is Water's fantasy's/nightmares about what might happen to him on this trip. Of course, they are extreme and frequently gross/raunchy. They start out almost believable and then amp up to utterly absurd. Some chapters are quite funny. Some are a bit much.

I am a fan of Waters and like the way he writes. It's hard to imagine who to recommend this to outside of other fans though.

I'm not in the YA age range this book was meant for, but I can't imagine giving this didactic book to my YA-aged daughter for entertainment or a challenge. The obvious freedom and individuality vs. comfort and safety argument that Lowry makes leaves you no room for complex thought.

I believe that 12-18 year olds can find something better. An older middle-schooler/high schooler is going to see right through this very quickly. In high school, our class read Brave New World, which has similar ideas and then some and is a much more interesting and entertaining book. In other words, kids can handle a lot more than The Giver has to offer.

The most interesting concept is the Giver himself, but this story doesn't strike me as being (as described) about memory. The Giver is a (not at all subtle) device to show the terrors and wonders that this society gave up for their secure life.

Certainly, it kept me reading because first, it's incredibly easy and didn't waste much of time and second, as the world was revealed, there is a compulsion to see how bad it really is. By the time the Giver's purpose is revealed and the main character makes some kind of choice for himself, the book is basically over. Just when it seems it should be getting started.

This is one of those books that leave me undecided about whether I like it or not. (I'm giving a three-star to be generous.) I loved the idea of an alternate universe where the silent movie era is coupled with space travel. Wonderfully imaginative idea, I thought. It's Georges Méliès-inspired like the Scorsese film, Hugo. I would have enjoyed a straight-forward narrative but I'm open to experimental styles too, if there's something intense or profound or even humorous for me to grab onto. Lines like this made me think there would be humor throughout:“She is dead. Almost certainly dead. Nearly conclusively dead. She is, at the very least, not answering her telephone.”But that was the only time I got a little laugh.Valente offers a pastiche of media styles. Each individual chapter is inspired by any number of styles such as: Classic Hollywood, children's animation, commercials, film noir, documentary footage, celebrity gossip columns, gothic tales, science fiction, steampunk, not to mention fairy tales and mythology. She has a distinct prose style that's almost lyrical or poetic. It's not enough to make me fall in love with the book, but I can see how it stands out from the ordinary. There are a lot of broader concepts that the author touched upon. First there are the characters like filmmaker Percy and his daughter Severin who cannot exist without having their lives recorded on media. Percy even goes so far as to have events, such as Severin arriving as an infant in a basket, restaged so he can catch them on film. There's also characters who mix their fiction with reality, embodied by actress Mary Pelham, who tries to emulate the film detective she plays on screen to solve “real-life” mysteries.Beyond individual characters, the world of Radiance has Imperialism in the form of Earth nations that have now taken over solar system planets. There's also the propaganda to influence the masses with the product Callowmilk. Along with this is some environmental commentary about using animals for their products. Then there is the conspiracy with the disappeared civilizations and people on the various planets. That's a lot of things for Radiance to be about, and it doesn't take any of them very far. The novel goes wide but not deep.Throughout, Valente makes meta comments about story types and the nature of stories. The main takeaway is that stories don't have endings. “There is no such thing as an ending. There are no answers. We collect the pieces where we can, obsessively assemble and reassemble them, searching for a picture that only ever comes in parts. And we cling to those parts.”What I'm looking for is for each of the parts to be interesting on their own as well, if parts is all we get. With the exception of the mythology of Anchises, most of the mini-stories didn't engage me. An example of fiction done in a meta style that did work for me was Auster's [b:The New York Trilogy 431 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924429l/431.SX50.jpg 2343071]. I recognized it for what it was but I was also very involved with the stories.Radiance reminds me of a film beautiful to look at, something like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which had innovative and amazing effects for the time. After watching for a while, I realized that the characters and plot were just not that intriguing. Years have passed, and all I can remember is the visual style.

This is certainly an exciting story. I love Holly so it was great to see her again.

I did feel that this is all ground that King has covered before, specifically with Desperation, The Dark Half, and the Bill Hodges book.

With as many wonderful books as King has written, I can't expect it to be unique every single time, but it did distract me with this particular book, how much it reminded me of others.

Holy Fire explores possibilities of the unnaturally long or never-ending lifespan. What if humans finally beat the aging process all together, staying healthy and youthful forever, etc. Sterling demonstrates the possible drawbacks of this for the young.

Mia, a 90+ year old, participates in a rejuvenation process that reboots her brain and hormones, allowing her to be artificially young again, regaining sex drive, energy, and a youthful body. Instead of sticking around to be monitored and protected under medical advice, she heads for Europe.

Mia creates a new identity called Maya and becomes the reader's tour guide through the world. She is homeless and relies on others for shelter/money etc. All the young people are living like this unless they inherited money from older relatives. The older generations who stayed healthy enough to work, like Mia did before the transformation, have all the financial security, while the young are in a hopeless struggle.

The story isn't about the technology that allows people to live longer and healthier lives, but rather about a stagnant society blamed on the elderly. This is a pop culture phenomenon my husband refers to as, “Youth is cool. Old is stupid.” Even the older characters think aging is bad and they use medical technology to fight it, but they don't consider consequences for the future generations.

The successful people Maya meets are over 100 years old and still the top in their field. The twenty-somethings have no way of getting experience and moving up when old-timers refuse to step down. One aspiring fashion designer says of a 121-year-old one:

“He has everything, and he's going to keep it forever. There's just no way to challenge him.”

The effect of this Gerontocracy is that everything in the world is heavily controlled by a “benevolent fascism,” free from guns or plagues or other dangers that the older set survived. This would also lead to a lack of risk. Isn't taking risks what creativity comes from? All this security protects the elderly but harms the twenty-somethings.

“You see my darling, in order to make this world safe for the very old we have changed life for the young in ways that are truly evil.”

This is a highly thought-provoking and engaging novel as we observe Maya's character arc, and she takes us through the polarized world of youth vs. experience Sterling created.

Fun supernatural mystery with humor and a likeable main character. I look forward to reading more of the series!

Update 10/22/23: I'm not big on audiobooks but I decided to “reread” this with the audio version because I'd heard good things. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is absolutely the perfect narrator for the series. I love it when they get it so right.

I loved the way this began. Tris's uncertainty about who/what she is and her desperation to hide it was genuinely chilling. Her little sister made a fine foil, threatening to wreck Tris's fragile sanity. I really felt for her and her experience was terrifying. (This first half was like a photo-negative version of Coraline,, and like Coraline, was a dark fantasy book for kids that adults could also enjoy.)

My second favorite thing was how skillfully Hardinge blended family issues—sibling rivalry, parental possessiveness and abuse, death of a loved one—with changes to society stemming from WWI. Among these changes are dealing with the emotional and economic aftermath of soldiers who didn't return plus women's greater independence and new role in the world's economy. These add depth and resonance to the fantasy elements.

Once the book was halfway through, the subtly creepy and disturbing story became a fast-paced kid's fantasy/adventure story. It was almost a different book, a little less intense and engrossing for me because the tone from the opening half lightened up.

Cuckoo's song is imaginative and unusual. Hardinge created a set of uncanny, intriguing creatures and characters and I remained invested in the protagonist and her allies. I do wish she had kept some of the mood and emotions from the first half and taken them even deeper but this wasn't a dealbreaker for me in enjoying the book.

A man born and raised on Mars comes to Earth. He learns about Earth customs and a few people learn his more advanced ways. He believed he could improve the state of the world, but disguises his project as a new religion. He starts a commune/cult that includes a partner-swapping good time!

The Martian/human offers innocence and purity, as well as freedom from negatives like fear and illness, guilt and hate, material greed, jealousy, and violence. Of course most of the world doesn't understand and wants to destroy him or lock him up.

Somehow it's not as exciting as it sounds. There is a LOT of philosophizing, discussion and theorizing by the characters, more telling and exposition than showing. No real tension between characters, not many obstacles to face or any antagonists, and not a lot of plot. It starts off really well but doesn't pick up any momentum.

There's an article here on Tor.com that defines this and some other issues with the book.

I feel obligated to give three stars for “liking” the book, since it's a sci-fi classic and it is noteworthy that Stranger in a Strange Land finally earned some respect for the sci-fi genre in general.

It's just not speaking to me intellectually or emotionally as a reader. I gather it was a huge deal when it was published in 1961 and credited for some of the counterculture ideas from later in the 1960s.

Tragic story of Blaze who has such bad luck. There's a bit of a supernatural element and a tribute to Of Mice and Men.

The events of Blaze's life are so dark: brain-damaged by his father, hated by the head of the orphanage, placed with an abusive foster family, tricked out of a good home by cruel fate. How much could one man take? People taking advantage of his size and slowness right and left. You can't blame him for falling into a life of crime or anything he does because he's a true gentle giant.

“Bachman” really got to me with this one. Blaze's story is frustrating, tragic, compelling, and inevitable.

One seemingly small thing that stood out for me was the irony of the child Blaze fathered (but never knew about.) The son is similar in size and temperament. He's adopted by a presumably good couple, plays high school football, and goes onto college. The implication that Blaze could have had a similar life, but for all bad that happened, really hurts.

This is a beautiful celebration of the future and the hope and possibilities of what progress and technology could be. Not to mention a love story between a man and a cat.

I don't always love Heinlein books that much; he seems to be one of those authors you're required to respect if you're into science fiction. This book was a different story (so to speak.) Somewhere between a third and halfway through I thought, oh this is just a revenge story and he's showing his usual superficial handling of female characters. By the end, I realized I was dead wrong and this was a fun and uplifting book.

When years pass and I've forgotten the details of this story, one thing I'll always remember is the expressive meaning of the title and the picture in my mind of Pete who was always looking for the door into summer.

Fun, well-constructed mystery novel, especially enjoyable if you like the character and the show. Everything is here, characterization, dialogue, tension, story. It's just as satisfying as any episode of the original series ever was.

The only thing that keeps me from giving it five stars is, it doesn't go beyond the show. It doesn't offer you much that you don't get from the series, other than that she's in her adult years now.

Rock and roll will never die. Seems like a good subject for a Death sub-series book. Plenty of opportunities for pop culture jokes that Pratchett excelled at. It's also a fine introduction to my favorite Goth Disney Princess, Susan, Death's Granddaughter.

I was always a little wary of these Discworld books that blend our modern world into the timeless fantasy of the Disc though I'm not sure why. Men at Arms, Moving Pictures, The Truth etc. are all fine books. I view this one as akin to Moving Pictures because of the pop culture and the effect the phenomenon has on the citizens of the Disc, causing them to embrace showbiz/music biz with all their manic hearts. Of the two, I prefer this one, as there is more opportunity to get attached to the characters if you've been reading the full series. Susan is Mort's daughter and, if you read Mort, you get to see her make the same mistakes her father did.

The novel's themes are woven into both the story of the music taking over the Disc, as well as the personal family story of Death and Susan. Rock music as described here is something that acts on the non-logical bits of the brain, it moves you, makes you want to move, makes you feel young and rebellious etc. Susan is a character who loves logic above sentiment but is torn when she sees Death had an opportunity to save her parents from the accident which killed them.

There is also the element of rebellion in their part of the story. Death frequently shows his attachment to humans, adopting Ysabell, wanting to get to know baby Susan, etc., which goes against his role as the unstoppable force of death. Susan can't understand why she should not try to make the world better if she can once she has Death's powers.

This holds a place in my heart for my love of rock music but also because it is the book that got my teenage daughter interested in Discworld, giving us a shared pleasure in the books.

This is one of those books that feels like a guilty pleasure to me because it is, let's face it, a bit trashy. Everything is so sordid, twisted, and over the top. But it sure is entertaining. Each secret that was revealed surprised me.

I love the fact that Flynn is not afraid to write unlikable female characters. By which I mean, they do bad things and there is no excuse or apology for it. I feel like time after time I pick up books from a female character's point of view and that character is a victim we're supposed to feel sorry for or a female character that is SO perfect (brilliant, beautiful, strong, NEVER wrong). We want equality for women in literature, some women are going to have to be complex and even bad.

I hope Flynn never loses her nerve and continues to deliver the reader female characters that break out of the object/victim/Mary Sue/ mold.

One of the major themes in Sharp Objects is women doing terrible things to each other. Mothers to daughters, sisters to sisters, friends to friends, and in Camille's case to herself. The men in this book are mainly passive and ineffectual. If I'm a good little feminist, am I supposed to say, well these women are only behaving this way because they've been oppressed by men? I think Flynn is saying the opposite of that. Women need to take responsibility for their own behavior and how they treat each other. Part of being equal is already thinking that you are.

There are a lot of other interesting ideas in Sharp Objects that I could go on about but my main impression is that, while this does seem on the surface like a trashy, sensational story, there are so many complex issues, themes, and ideas that it brings to mind.

Eternally grateful that this book exists and launched my favorite fantasy series.

It is entertaining and worth it if you're familiar with a lot of standard fantasy tropes and want to have a laugh. I thought of it as a Hitchhiker's Guide for the fantasy set.

It is like a twisted game of D&D where the player characters don't know they are playing a game. It's really four novellas stuck together, telling the stories of Rincewind and his charge, Twoflower who are taking a tour around the Disc.

Twoflower is a clerk from “foreign parts,” desperately seeks to escape his office rut and have a little adventure in the metropolis of Ankh-Morpork, where the heroes and villains of his fantasies reside. Rincewind, would-be-wizard and academic failure of Unseen University, has to either keep Twoflower unharmed or incur the wrath of the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork. Of course the journey with Twoflower might also kill him.

It's interesting to see the genesis of some characters/elements of the Discworld: Ankh-Morpork, Octarine, The Great A'tuin, Vetinari, Death and so on. Also the Luggage, who is a horrifying monster, yet practical carrying device, and frequent deus ex machina for the travelers.

If you want to read some Discworld, it's not necessary (or even recommended) to start with the Colour of Magic. Most readers suggest going for a subseries and reading from there. Guards! Guards! or Wyrd Sisters are a great introduction to the Nightwatch/Witches subseries respectively. These are where I started. The characters in those books have a little more depth to sink your teeth into and the humor gets better as well. But Colour of Magic is still a lot of fun.

Instead of a really great fantasy story, with the undercurrent of the power dynamics between men and women and lots of food for thought, I read a book where the social commentary took precedence. This leads to a lot of sometimes dull, sometimes insufferable characters who exist mainly to fill their role, rather than engage my empathy and curiosity. Intellectually I was left cold as well. The central idea I pulled from this was that men are naturally violent abusers at worst and out of touch/out of control with their emotions at best. But when women are violent it''s because some man has pushed them into it, one way or another. There's some lip-service to women taking responsibility for their actions but that's not the overall vibe. I can't help but compare it to [b:The Stand 149267 The Stand Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1213131305l/149267.SX50.jpg 1742269], which also featured a virus and a large cast of characters. That book was entertaining, filled with people who did incite emotions, negative or positive, and I was interested in learning about their fate. The end of The Stand didn't thrill me but at least I enjoyed the ride. The only interesting Sleeping Beauties' character was Dr. Flickinger, meth addict and plastic surgeon, who had very little to do with the story.Evie, the supernatural center of Sleeping Beauties, does not inspire the same level of fear/excitement as Randall Flagg. Somehow such a powerful being spends all her time locked in a cage. Where Flagg was free to roam, Evie's role is to manipulate in place. She wants two sides of men to fight over her body; there's Frank's group that wants to take her apart (for medical/scientific purposes), and Clint's group that wants to protect her. About half way through this incredibly long set-up to the finale, I was wishing it was over. The men are left to cope without their women, which they do to varying degrees. The ultimate outcome is left to the women, but the men can't do anything to affect it either way, so I'm not sure what the point was, especially as it turns out exactly the way you think it would. No new thoughts or surprises offered.

“Go then, there are other worlds than these.”

I enjoyed most of this series, but unfortunately King lost me by the final book. The 2nd and Third books were my favorite, where we get to know the main characters and the mystery of the multiverse was built up.

It's just a shame that these stories promised so much and became so anticlimactic in the last book. My first problem is with King making himself a character in the series. A little too smart-ass meta for me. It wasn't really that kind of series. If it was intended to be surreal or funny that device might have worked but I didn't get that impression.

My second disappointment was Mordred. They spent so much time building up his conception and birth. He turns out to be a were-spider that lasts five seconds in a battle, mostly defeated by a dog-like pet. I love Oy but this was an unsatisfying turn of events. (King really loves giant insects.) I figured that with all the time spent setting up Mordred there would be a bit more of a conflict.

Unfortunately, because The Dark Tower was the conclusion, it really colors my impression of the entire Dark Tower series. Ah, well. I did enjoy it most of the time.

Angelmaker was a joy to read, so much fun. As with Harkaway's previous book [b:The Gone-Away World 3007704 The Gone-Away World Nick Harkaway https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328322676l/3007704.SX50.jpg 3038235], it's a big epic story, a bit over the top but not pure fantasy. Speculative fiction might be a good term but Angelmaker is unique. The focus is on Joe, a clockmaker trying to avoid falling into the same path as his professional criminal father, Matthew. His circumstances change greatly when he's asked to repair a mysterious device and finds himself part of an apocalyptic conspiracy. There's an exhilarating backstory with Edie, best described as a super spy, who was the first hero to face the master villain of Angelmaker, a dictator, drug lord, and scientific genius in his own way.The backstory and character development were handled very well. Harkaway's style is so entertaining you would miss out if you didn't read all the little details. He's got a way with words, something we hope all authors have but it isn't unfortunately always the case. Every one of the rabbit holes he goes down pays off; no bit of history is wasted. Angelmaker has elements of action, pulp fiction, steampunk, family drama and romance. Harkaway writes with wit and adds humorous dialogue. He reminds me of two favorites, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, but he's not a pale imitation; definitely has his own unique take. It's a bit sexier than either of those two for sure. As with Goneaway World, Harkaway uses a Doomsday device as a method of touching on themes of identity, bravery, and friendship. There's also the idea of Uncertainty and what it means to us as human beings, the role it plays in keeping life alive (so to speak) and worth living. Every character strikes me as having a kind of magic. Not as in “magical powers” but the magic of being so good at what they do. Part of the journey for Joe is learning to find his whole self, and all of the things he can do, not just what he's decided is acceptable.