Lapo
It started well, but then it devolved into a boring survival story tinged with political and sociological pedantry. The triffids barely feature in the story.
A breathtaking account of a calamitous expedition on Mount Everst to which Krakauer took part. Very well written and engrossing. In the old journalist list, it attempts to be fair and not biased in the portrayal of the other men and women who participated and died in the expedition. Also, very informative regarding the extreme psychological and physical conditions in which men operate at such altitude, impairing their judgment and physical skills. A great read.
Or how a selfish and horrible family kills their son. Or how a spineless cockroach doesn't even master the will to get out of his room to save his life. A story that doesn't go anywhere, literally, and whose message is muddled if it is even there. Existential in the worst possible meaning of the term, although technically well written. It's a pity, because it starts with wit and irony, but it soon devolves into boring nothingness.
The writing in terms of engaging the five senses is very good and enjoyable, but the character and plot aren't great. As a narrative device, the author keeps on having him don't go get all his magic stuff or abandon it somewhere just to have him on more jeopardy and that's plain stupid.
Meh. The book started out much better than the movie and seemed to be heading toward a much better development, but then it kind of flopped for me. It takes too many narrative shortcuts–I know you'll protest that this is a children book, but that is no justification for me. The Hobbit was a children book too and it was perfectly written. It also suffers from shifts of tone in my opinion–it seems to want to make fun of all Norse mythology and Viking lore, but then it adheres to it most strictly for its climax, which in my opinion is thoroughly underwhelming and honestly not very imaginative. It's a pity, because I was really looking forward to reading it. It's not a bad book, but not good either.
Fairly boring. Never read so much classification in my life. I enjoyed “Voyage to the center of the Earth” much more.
Didn't particularly enjoy it. Too fragmentary, too silly and childish. I read that much like Harry Potter, it gets more serious as it goes on. I don't know if I have the patience to read the next one, but maybe I'll try.
Dickens had a great talent for characterization, but like most writers with that talent, had no sense of plot. Passive characters, meandering scenes, endless dialogues about nothing and a plot so wrapped in mystery that I stopped caring about it halfway through.
A great book about critical thinking. Sagan is very thorough, to the point of being pedant at times, but he examines so many things and in such detail that the overall effect is fascinating and mind expanding.
It could have been written better, since the author keeps on boasting about extensive research, but she narrates everything and doesn't let the characters speak their own stories. Nevertheless it is an eye opening book about the violence women commit and how they participated in genocide.
It starts well, but then becomes a series of grocery list adventures. The love interest also starts well, but soon becomes unbearable and she is only introduced to give a fake moral dilemma to the Captain.
First quarter of the book is really good: funny, witty, creative. Then the story devolves into stereotypes and boringness. The bit in Wall Street... Really!? Then our detective pulling out the ending without the reader knowing anything about it–seems really ham handed. Not to talk about the religious ending–pure bs.
Awful female voice actors.
Dracula is a masterpiece, but the narrators are another story. The male voice actors are fine. Some are great, others are OK. Unfortunately most of the material is read too fast, which takes away from the experience. The real problem are the female voice actors. They are simply unbearable. They read in an monotone drone that sounds like a flight attendant announcement, plus they make the stupidest voices when they try to imitate men. I was incredibly excited to read this full cast version, but the female voice actors just ruined it all for me.
Whoever cast the female voices should be flogged. They are the worst narrators I ever heard so far. Whoever supervised this recording should also be flogged. Somebody should have told the narrators to slow down.
A book long Deus ex Machina that is boring and forgettable, infused with oriental fetish and technical terms that want to make it sound smart, but don't scratch the surface. Characters are flat and without personality–they go along to whatever they are told to do, with no personal goals, no drives or interests. The AI is boring too. Heinlein's AI in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is waaaay more captivating and interesting.
More like Dr. Douchebag. I thought the main character in David Copperfield was ineffectual, but at least he didn't do any damage. This guy on the contrary has no character whatsoever and does terrifying damage to the people around him. And I don't mean that he is weak or something, no I mean that he is purely a device, an empty point of view for Pasternak to describe the living condition of Russia during the revolution. At three quarter of the book Zhivago gives up the woman he is supposedly in love with for no reason at all–there is no need for it, no danger, no external or internal pressure, nobody is obliging him and he gives her up to the only man she really fears–and she ends up badly. All this just to drive the book toward a gratuitous boring as hell ending (you that when a writer writes, “and now all we have to do is describe the last eight years of Zhivago's life,” nothing good can come of it). Throughout the book you have no idea what Zivagho is thinking or feeling on any important issues. You hear a lot of bs about politics, the landscape, the revolution, Jesus Christ, food and so on, but then you actually have no idea how he feels about Lara. In fact at a certain point you suddenly discover he is in love with her, with absolutely no warning whatsoever. The only thing that is good is Pasternak's ability to describe a place or landscape, which is remarkable. But basically the whole book is a long tedious description. What a downer.
The greatest celebration of gullibility and lack of any ability to discern or investigate I have ever read. Also, poorly written.
Strangely entertaining. The voice actor was great. At first it was hard to get used to the slang and the Russian accent of the character, but then it was pretty good. I still much prefer Heinlein's short story “Starship Troopers,” to this, but it was an interesting read.
