Clemens
I have no idea how to rate this book. Or how to even write a review.
Never before did I go through a roller coster ride in a book like this.
At the beginning I wanted to throw this book out of the window (or rather delete it from my Kindle), burn it (delete from my computer) and write the most horrible review possible about this unreadable dreck.
Well, then after about 200 pages in it suddenly started to grew on me, the writing style, the stories that started to interact and I was really looking forward to the outcome.
And then it ended and I am like, so that was it? I felt a bit unsatisfactory. Like you can almost come during, sex, but right before ... it ends.
So, if someone looks for advice if this book is readable, I honestly can't. On one side I say, it was sure not worth the long time I read this book (good three months) and the amount of concentration you have to out into it. You just can't open that book and read it, you really need to concentrate on it. This is really hard work. But it can be really nice to read, and really interesting, but then it ends like this ...
And the footnotes. Good 400 footnotes. Oh and some of the footnotes have footnotes too. And then some of the footnotes footnotes have footnotes. Never before have I seen that in any book I ever read. And some of those footnotes are like full chapters long. You really need to read them. Reading them post the book is kind of awkward (that is what I did).
After all this, I just give it three stars. The first 200 would have been 1, then I would have given it 4, but at the end I will settle with three. Three is good. Neither bad nor outstanding. Good. “Befriedigend” as the german would get in school. Let's leave it at that.
Hmm, I don't know. Although in the end the book worked itself up into middle ground, I just don't think this is written in a style I much enjoy. It all feels like some long high school essay. Short sentences, simple words, cliches, etc. Somehow not even worth a filler book for me.
Reading these kind of books makes you always question the humanity.
Besides this basic fact this book is a true page turner. Fascinating from the first to the last page. Slight nitpicking I do have on parts where “Character X wears Y and her/his hair is Z” stuff is really not something I need to have in this kind of book.
Second nitpick is that it feels too short and with some unanswered or open questions.
I started to read this book around 2002 or so but for whatever reason I stopped reading it. Finally, after such a long time, I picked it up again and finished it and I can't really find a reason why I never finished it in the first place.
It is a wonderful alternative earth history story book following several characters interconnected through time. It has some a bit more dull places, but overall it is a very engaging story about a what if scenario. What if Europe was ravaged by diseases and therefore the middle east and china become the so called super powers.
Wonderful book, wonderful story.
Although it starts not really very well and the writing and conversation feels very wooden and clishe like after about half into the book the whole story picks up to a really nice finale.
Well that was a surprising fun read. Didn't expect that at all from a fantasy novel. In general I stay away from most fantasy as I am not really into this kind of fiction, but this one was a very good read a laid out a good base for the next book. Let's hope it does not get fucked up like in a lot of 2nd books. Thumbs & Recommended even if you are not a fantasy reader in general.
This is my second book from Neal Stephenson and I liked it much more than the first one, Snowcrash. But still I can't help myself that it feels a bit unbaked.
While the basic idea is really great and it starts of very well, it then seems to loose course, drive a long on many paths and at the end gets rushed to a finish that is inconclusive in a view pages.
Still I quite enjoyed this book, but I can't really give it more than three stars. Thought I will read other books from him, because in a basic they are really very enjoy full reads.
Fucking shit right here.
I loved to read it and then I hated to read it, then I loved it again, then I wanted to just stop reading it all together, then it got really good and at the end stumbled over its own feet and crash face on to the ground.
This book is like Harry Potter got really emo, goes on a everlasting binge drinking contest. It has a really good background idea, great story, but for fucks sake those characters in there are just horrible. Horrible because they are good written, horrible because so much bullshit is written.
No idea if I should love or hate it it. And really not sure if I want to read any other books from this series.
Can't say anything bad about this book, but also not a lot of positive either. Something in the middle. Not bad, not good, not very exciting either.
It felt I read something for kids or early teenagers rather than a book for adults.
Not really sure I would recommend this book, except if you are at a younger age, at where this would be a great start into other books from Neil Gaiman.
Boring and outdated. If I would have read that book 20 years ago when the time was still with West vs Soviet and I would have been younger I probably would have loved this book. But times move by and some stuff just feels antiquated and wrong. Not as horrible as the first book I read from him, but I can't even go up to a meh reading.
While I think it is not as good as the previous two books I read, I still liked it a lot. I really enjoyed the way the story is split out and interacts and how the whole thing comes together at the end.
And it is just really well written. I truly enjoy the writing style of Iain Banks.
Just read it.
This was hard to rate because I really liked the story in itself, but on the other hand it read a little bit strange. Like whole language used was just an edge too much hip or comic book style.
Still it makes me want to read more from Stephenson.
Would recommend that book
Tom Robbins tries to write like Kurt Vonnegut and utterly fails. This is just an overly complex collection of sentences with pseudo funny comparison words that border line on beer tent humor.
It was not unreadable, as in a level where would have to put that book down and away, but it was at a level where I say, I read one book from him, no need to ever read another one.
Neuromancer is one of those Sci Fi books that should be read by pretty much everyone. But because I am me I haven't even read a single Gibson book until a view months ago when I read his newest one “Peripheral”. I really liked that one and so I thought it is about time I read this one. What a great book, although there are parts that have not really aged so well (comapny names for products) it is on the other hand written pretty much timeless. Highly recommended.
A fascinating read about the time before the first western Europeans arrived in the Americas. Part of read more like an novel, others have a bit dry university in it. But overall really enjoyful.
What a surprising great book. Of course not perfect, but what book is, still an amazing read which I highly recommend.
A really great story, perfect sci-fi, overall really well. But you have to sometimes just “go through” some less then perfect writing style ... Still, if you like Sci-Fi books, this is a top recommendation.
Wonderful book, although written quite some time ago, the whole story can be perfectly applied to our current affairs worldwide.
Highly recommended.
I am sucker for sailing ships and I really liked the movie they made from these books. So I thought I gonna have to read them.
No idea how to judge this. I didn't hate it, I didn't like it, I enjoyed it, sort of at least. It was overall not bad. So I am going to read the next one, but not right now, this feels more like something I will read between other books to break up some writing type from one author, or get away from some too much read book type
What a spectacular ending, perfect from the first page to the last. By far the best and an amazing ending to this series
Oh well, what a nice read. Nothing spectacular or anything, but still a very nice easy read. Just one thing I take away, back in the 1920 EVERYBODY smoked. Really, there isn't a page where one of the characters doesn't light up a fag. Women, men, everyone smokes. Oh an drinking. Drinking and driving. Wild times.
Well, it was nice. But by far not as good as the first book. It started interesting, had a nice progression, but then it somehow dropped off and never really recovered and suddenly it was all finished.
Would I recommend this? Sort of, if you have time and nothing else to read. Else the first part is good enough and also has its own finished story line. So there is that.
Ah well, what should I say. One one hand it was an excellent read, as Christopher Hitchens is an amazing writer. Of course you first have to get into the fact the he will not spare you with difficult and obscure english words (thank you Kindle oxford dictionary) but once you get beyond this, it is a very fluid read.
Sometimes I think he rambles on a bit too much, and the other problem I had is, that I watched so many Hitches Atheist vs Religion discussions that most parts where a “I heard that before”.
Still, worth a read. Recommended.