Aaron
The Clockwork Giant is an interesting tale of a steam punk Victorian city consumed by engineering, divided classes, and a girl trying to navigate it all. Petra is an interesting character with a mysterious background that draws you in pretty quick. Brooke Johnson's visuals and world building are fantastic and I could easily picture the city as a real place.
While I found the plot a little thin for a novel-length work, I do keep in mind that this book is aimed at younger readers and that's where it's ideal audience can be found. Each character felt real and they were interesting enough to care about. I would've liked to see more of the mysterious guild or an exploration of the engineers, but this is a love story more than a technical story.
The Clockwork Giant may not be for everyone, but it's an original idea with good characters and a lot of promise. I can see younger readers loving this, while it's entertaining enough for adults.
I know that Ender's Game is supposed to be one of the pinnacle science fiction titles out there, but I wasn't drawn into this book like others. Perhaps it was build up too much by friends. I found a lot of the story to be drab and I lost interest during all scenes except during the battles. While this book features mostly children, I could not envision them as kids. They spoke and acted much older than kids who were 6 and 7. It did pick up in the final chapters, but I don't think I'll be continuing this series.
I know that Ender's Game is supposed to be one of the pinnacle science fiction titles out there, but I wasn't drawn into this book like others. Perhaps it was build up too much by friends. I found a lot of the story to be drab and I lost interest during all scenes except during the battles. While this book features mostly children, I could not envision them as kids. They spoke and acted much older than kids who were 6 and 7. It did pick up in the final chapters, but I don't think I'll be continuing this series.
The Frontiers Saga starts off as a fascinating book with a strong opener dealing with United States and then galactic politics. Unfortunately the first chapter is where the good stuff stops.
In Aurora: CV-01, Ryk Brown makes wild attempts to borrow pieces from all the space science fiction out there. Unfortunately the blend of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, and countless others fails hard. Paper-thin characters offer nothing for us to feel invested and I couldn't care less if someone's life was on the line. Shallow dialogue and lack of any plot development further derail Aurora. It is only because of the central plot that I kept trudging through this book, but it's at nowhere near a level to entice me to read the rest of this series.
I would have given this book three stars but the nail in the coffin is the lack of editing and gratuitous amount of stylistic errors littering this book. I must ding Aurora: CV-01 a whole star because of this. Sentences repeat themselves as if banging readers on top of the head to get a point across. Ryk Brown also breaks a cardinal rule over and over with multiple point-of-view changes mid-scene. One moment you're in the mind of Captain Nathan, the next it's the thoughts of some random person you don't care about. Whole paragraphs make no sense and others drag on. I was relieved to know at least Ryk Brown ran a spell check on this book before self-publishing it.
Aurora: CV-01 is a textbook example of what is wrong with the self-publishing world today. It is glaringly obvious that Ryk Brown did not have an editor or anyone with writing / critiquing experience edit the book. I would bet good money that he typed ‘The End' and then ‘Publish' on Amazon five-minutes later. No editor would allow a book with this many stylistic errors be published, even as a self-published title.
Ryk Brown does himself a great disservice by not having this book edited because the main concept was interesting enough to keep me reading. Unfortunately a lack of editing, borrowing too much from Star Trek (I could envision the entire story taking place on the Enterprise), and offering a story with no depth is what ultimately sank this book. While I won't read them, I can only hope these issues were resolved in the other installments of the Frontiers Saga.
Super Mario is a fast-paced history lesson on the world of Nintendo and how they entered the video game market at a time when it was company-suicide. The origins of the famed plumber begin with a failed game that needed a quick conversion to a radical new game: Donkey Kong. Mario was born and the rest is history.
Ryan does a good job taking us through the different Mario games and video game eras of the 80's and 90's while keeping the content light and interesting. While I would've wanted more about how Nintendo dealt with becoming a behemoth with the NES, the focus never strays far from Mario himself. A solid book for anyone who even has a passing-interest in video games.
This book is one of the best on Steve Jobs for two reasons: 1. It has all the insider information into how Jobs was thinking about projects and how he attacked issues. 2. It pulled no punches when showing him in a negative light. In the end, the book is very open about his life, the right and wrong things he's done, and an honest introspective into one of the greatest CEO's of the 20th century.
I figured I'd give the Jack Reacher series a try with Killing Floor and I'm glad I got to see Lee Child's work. The book isn't anything amazing by far but it's a well-built story that works.
There are times where the story seemed sluggish and areas where improbable things happened too much but Child ran to the other end of the spectrum with page-turning scenes that made the book very enjoyable.
Most of the ‘gotcha' parts of the plot are easily seen ahead of time but Child doesn't pull any funny-business and keeps it simple. There's no twist out of nowhere that caused me to put the book down.
My main issue with Child's writing is his lack of full sentences. At least 30% of the book has fragmented sentences that are too casual and distracting from the flow. I also felt there was very little given into the history of Jack Reacher.
Overall, the book is a good read if you're looking for something slightly serious and if you're willing to slosh through the slower portions. Overall, not too bad.
The Eight is an alternate-history book with a puzzle as the main focus, just like Da Vinci Code or other books of the genre. While there are portions of the story that flourish and keep you turning the page, there are twice as many parts that made me groan or just not care.
Katherine Neville LOVES to name-drop famous historical people. It got to a point where I actually yelled ‘oh come on!' when Napoleon was introduced. This was not the first nor the last of famous people in history that the characters encounter. It took away from the story.
Unfortunately this book also falls into the same trap as all the other puzzle-based books: the end sucks. There is a ton of build-up and no payoff. The Eight is no different and collapses under the weight of its own legend. I give Neville credit for keeping me engaged in the book enough to finish it but I highly doubt I'll pick up the sequel The Fire.
Ready Player One is a gratuitous trip through the 80's, complete with tons of video game, movie and pop culture references. While mixing it with a Matrix-like system that keeps the book high-tech, Ready Player One is a welcome trip down memory lane. I didn't think I'd like it as much as I did and I applaud Cline for sending me back to the 80's. Well done!