Nomad Scry
I like the world, the interpretation of vampires and half-breeds. I don't like suddenly finding myself in the midst of a BDSM scene while I'm eating lunch at work. Yet another reason I need to stop reading paranormal romance novels. (To be fair, I didn't realize that this was PR instead of UF.)
I enjoyed just about everything about Consider Phlebas, except for the utter lack of an ending.
I'm not sure why, exactly, but this is my favorite of the Culture. Maybe it's the challenging structure or the unfolding secrets or just characters themselves.
I LOLed several times and the ending left me grabbing for the next volume, so I am well pleased with the series.
There is a lot to like here, but the best part is the fantastically satisfying way that Carey wraps things up. I love a good ending and this has one. Yay!
When I originally read this in 2020, I thought it was fun. I enjoyed it, so I gave it 3 stars. Oddly, I am becoming more fond of it in hindsight.
Damn, this was good. What a terrible disgusting sad world, and what fantastic characters. There are some elements that put me in mind of “Finch.”
I'd like to give credit to the narrators for trying to give each character a different narrator... Except that someone forgot to tell the one narrator that her character has an Australian accent.
On the one hand, very good advice for sincere decent folks. On the other hand very good advice for malicious manipulative people (think: used car salesman.) And on the other other hand, a big fuck you to Autistics not interested in roleplaying as a bubbly and effervescent neurotypical.
There's a lot going on here. The book starts with a kid who then only shows up twice more, and is 99% irrelevant to the story being told. There is a bit with a poem by Poe that seems to just be there ‘cuz it's fun to have real world connections. The main pair are internally inconsistent with their own supposed characters. But the world is so WIDE. There's a lot of story to be told here, and a lot of mysteries to unravel. It's kind of disappointing because it could be amazing instead of just meh.
This is a monster of a book, packed and over packed with information and ideas... It's gonna take a while to digest this Thanksgiving dinner.
(I listened to the audio version and, through no discernable fault of the narrator, had difficulty staying focused. For some reason her voice kept turning into a white noise, relaxing but void of meeting.)
I think I would have liked F451 more if it hadn't been overhyped, if my expectations hadn't been so high. All in all, an odd little story that doesn't deserve a 1/4 the praise it gets.
Based on the synopsis, I thought I would detest this one, but my only complaints were with the slightly condescending tone and the ending... But, I tend not to like anyone's endings, so take that with a grain of salt.
I am recommending The Giver to my 12 year old.
Except for where the narrator sacrificed understandability for textual accuracy, damn this was good. The story is complete in this one book but I would love to listen more in this world.
For someone involved with bringing down the Mafia, Comey ends up being hopelessly naive when dealing with Mafia-wannabe Trump. Then there is his bizarre over-thinking that led to the last minute Clinton email curfuffle. I end up feeling conflicted, like I should feel sorry cuz this guy played himself by trying to figure out what other folks were gonna do - and was wrong.
The language and world are too inventive for any story to keep up with. Despite that, the pieces are well woven and a satisfying conclusion is reached.
I think this might have been excellent if I'd read it on paper. As an audiobook, I was just lost. I couldn't keep track of who was who under the changing names. :(
Sometimes, a miserable story can be a worthwhile slog. I want this to be one of those but...
At the beginning, Ivy promises she's a liar who's going to tell the truth. This, in combination with her subtle ability to see magic could have made for some very interesting situations. Unfortunately, the only outcome of it is that Ivy gets herself into a very gross dating situation by “pretending” she went to magic school with her twin.
Speaking of her twin, what a waste. Why be twins, something really cool and uncommon, but it doesn't matter in any way?
60% of the story is miserable misery pointlessly PIing, followed by a quick explosion of WHOA THAT'S COOL, and rounded out by a conclusion of more maudlin mope-ery.
I'm not sure if I liked the fragmented style of writing, which is faintly ironic because it is how I do it when I'm writing for my own amusement. Other than that, I thought the city and world and characters and, well, everything was deep and interesting and puzzling. I didn't realize that there are other books set in this universe, but I suppose that makes sense, consider just how multilayered everything in Finch was. The ending was somewhat nonconclusive, in my opinion, but that seems in keeping with the kind of story being told. I will always prefer a “make my skin crawl” concrete ending, but the story of Finch is complete, so I shan't complain. Heh.
I really didn't think that the story would live up to the hype but I was wrong. I enjoyed the way that the “bad guy” kept flip-flopping around to be different characters depending on how the on-going events were interpreted. My only complaint would be that I wanted more time with the thieves and I guess having a whole series of books following after will have to satisfy me. (Heh!)
I read this as a child, so while I recall enjoying the book, I have basically no memory for the characters or plot.
I originally encountered the Runaways much later on, so there was a bit of mental confusion encountering the group in what turns out to be a prequel (for me.) I like how Alex is the least powered but most leader-ish.
