Charlie
Solid book. The main protagonist is very moody and this is conveyed via ponderous paragraphs of interior monologue. Those good be cut some. But there's a definite progression of character and it's well written. It's kind of an evil Harry Potter in a dystopian Martian fantasy scape. looking forward to book two
I was quite surprised how much I enjoyed this. It's not my usual fare but I got the sense it was truly written in his voice. It impressed me how honest he was about his faults and mistakes. And I think it's important people who care deeply about this kind of thing to hear his side, unvarnished. It can't be argued that he wasn't treated horribly and his family did not stand up for him in the way he needed. Very sad. Really good read.
I wanted to like this book. Really I did and maybe I would if I was not often tired and busy. But this is one of those hooks that is written in it's own kind if stole and it just didn't draw me in and was hard for me to follow. The writing was good, the author is obviously good at it, it just didn't grab me. A little too out there for me right now. Maybe some day
I like these books. This I've was a bit more convoluted than the first, but moved the story in a really interesting way. Looking forward to number 3
This book is too long by a third at least maybe even by a half. So much extra was put in just because the author enjoyed writing scenes that really didn't need to be there. There's pretty sketchy character development and the plot is only okay. It feels pretty hackneyed at this point. Plus, in the last couple hundred pages of the book, some of the language suddenly becomes pretty offensive for this day and age. Some very unfortunate use of accented English is used and there are definitely some words that would not pass muster today. Even if this may have been one of the first of the genre That doesn't necessarily mean it's still any good. For over 900 pages. I'd say skip it
Entertaining as always. Slower pace which generally worked. But the last few chapters dragged. By the end of the hunger games in this one, I was done, with about 50 pages to go. Still fine to read.
Really fun writing. Ready
Read it after I watched the show. Impressive how much it's like the show. Almost note for note. As fun and easy to read as the show is to watch.
This is so much more than a literary version of The Office. It is funny and touching and all about the life and relationships we have in our office lives, but it goes way beyond that. Even better, the voice is a very unique one and in fact , I would argue, is not just one. The trick though is that transition form one to the other is seamless. This was a great read.
You know I love sci-fi and that I love apocalyptic stories so I was excited when this book came in to the library for me. It's not a great book and certainly not a prime example of the end-of-the-world genere, but it's a quick, easy read and the author goes a few extra steps to try and explain why the super-smart AI that causes all the problems got out of control. In other words, it's not just the hubris of man thinking he can keep an AI under control.My problem with this book is that the story is told as a historical account of the war which is a method I've most recently seen done in [b:World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War 8908 World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War Max Brooks http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320398267s/8908.jpg 817], a seriously great book that accounts for the war against the zombies extremely well. Robopocalypse, unfortunately, tries to follow a similar pattern, but leaves one with only the faintest sketch of characters. I had no real emotion for any of them after I was through.Still, an entertaining and quick read.
Whoa. Quite a book. After an engaging start and some very impressive building, the ending was a bit too pay and fast. But well worth it and a surprising read.
I can't believe anyone likes this book or likes this writer (based on his writing in this book). I appreciate schlock as much as the next guy and love to take time off with brain candy. But this book was just poorly written. The language sounded stilted and forced and the plot was so painfully obvious that there was no mystery to what was going on or how it would turn out. Seriously, this story has been told a million times before but much better. Skip it.
On second read street 20 years It was good but definitely convoluted. I could see his desire to really expand his worlds and get into the details of massive political upheaval. But it wasn't nearly as finally tuned yet as it becomes in his later books. Entertaining but definitely a few storylines that sort of got lost in the shuffle and others that seemed to pop up out of nowhere and all of a sudden take over the entire book
So far it's not a bad book but it's not a great one either. It's an “eco-thriller” so I dig it because I am very interested in the environment. But because it's Neal Stephenson, it's more about the character than the environment and since the charcter's voice isn't terribly readable, this book isn't as good as his others. Still, I want to read it all the way through and am not bored.
This was a great book. It took me a few days to really get into it because the voice is different than most novels, but once I got into it's rhythym, I loved it. It was like spoken word on the page. Or a Jazz tune played by Thelonious Monk in his heyday. This book flowed and the main character reverberated in my head.
WBS is the story of a black boy who grew up in California and ends up being the voice of his people (I'm not giving anything away here. He says that on the first page of the book). We follow him from third grade through his early 20s from the beaches of LA to inner-city ghettos and finally, college. It's a dark fairy tale that requires a healthy suspension of disbelief, and one I was willing to give. Read this.
Quick, silly two day read during a bout with Covid. About what my brain could handle. In better hands, the idea could have been really well done. As is, it passed the time
I love Coupland. I own all of his books. But I know that a few of those are just sorta ok. This one is his best since a Girlfriend in a Coma (which is one of my top three books of all time). These tiny, interconnected character studies are bite sized moments of brilliant writing. So evocative. So fun. Surprising. Really refreshing read from a favorite author who can still do it!
Best book I've read by Stephenson in awhile. Like since Diamond Age. His early books were actual techno thrillers. As he's gotten older he seems to have settled into writing books that include a LOT more description than is absolutely necessary. This is one of those. However, for me, this one isn't as deadly as Seveneves which I gave up on. (That book's premise made it sound as if I'd love it but the pace was deadly.)
This book is set just far enough in the future that we are not there yet, but it's pretty clear that we will be. If not in the specific details, the general idea is spot on.
The characters are solid and interesting. I wanted to read about them which is what made the excess of description ok. That said, if I hadn't been stuck at home with Covid right as I started this, I might have lost the thread due to lack of time. There's a good 150 pages that could be cut right out of this book and we'd never miss it.
Among a few tediously “modern” stories, there's a few good stories in this book. The best are the ones where plot doesn't intrude and instead Vollman paints a picture of a time and place and lifestyle of a subculture of people.
Great characters, though they're a lot of them which is hard to keep track of for me. The writing is wonderful. I feel like the connections to get me and discovered made this book, but could have been done without one storyline being included. That just felt extraneous.
This is the case of three stars is too low four stars is too high. I like this book though I didn't think it was fun to read. It was a book that everybody had to read in my high school but in the year before I started. I can understand why it was designed and I'm glad it was but I feel the telling of the story has matured over the years thanks to other authors. That said it was an important book in the culture and should continue to be read because it introduced Western world to The narrative of the negative effects of colonialism
