Nomad Scry

I guess I don't get it. While I've certainly read books that I enjoyed more, I've also read books that I disliked a lot more. So, I don't understand the hubbabaloo over this book.

Sure, Edward is a creep, but this is a romance novel and, from what little I've read of the genre, all the little things he does that scream out “danger” are all stock traits of the male protags. He's dangerous! It's exciting! She can tame his rage! Whatever. I can't fault one author for the weirdness of an entire genre.

But vampires don't sparkle! I used to say that the only problem I had with Twilight was calling the faeries by the wrong name. After all, I had read (somewhere) that Myers admitted to knowing nothing about vampire mythos. Except, it seems pretty clear to me, based on the text itself, that she's done some research. And really, as ridiculous as sparkling in the sunlight might be, the idea that they are the ultimate predator because the prey is attracted to them is really quite brilliant.

But Bella is such a klutz! I don't remember thinking of myself as clearly clumsy as she does, yet every time she -was- clumsy, it resonated for me because I had the same things happen to me throughout my childhood. Even now, I tell people that I don't fall down because I've had so much practice tripping. Maybe it was a bit Mary Sue, but that doesn't make Bella weak.

As for the writing itself, it wasn't bad. In fact, I found several moments throughout that made me smile at the humor that (I felt) Myers expressed as the narrator. For contrast, I tried to read another Myers book, The Host, and was too bored to bother. (Yes, I “lemmed” it.)

Anyhow, I enjoyed Twilight. I will probably continue with the series as some point. It wasn't “OMG” for me, but it wasn't worthy of the vitriol either.

I was really surprised at what an ass Ron was, in general, but specifically towards Hermiene. I was even more surprised at how cruel all three of the main characters were to Hagrid.

Other than that, I was surprised near then end when poor Neville makes the difference. It made my hair stand up. =)

I read this in the children's library at the Eric Carlisle Museum days before my wedding. It was so emotionally evocative in a vague complex way that I instantly made a mental note to add it to my library, so I could share it with others. Of course, in the excitement of the succeeding days, I forgot all about The Arrival until just a few days ago when Christian Heilmann tweeted some images of the art. And now, I will have to find some shelf space for this wonder.

As I understand it, early science fiction tended to be heavily plot driven and very light on the characterizations. Triplanetary seems to take that a bit further and is heavy on action scenes, technophilia, and ultimate descriptors. The characters are overblown to the point of being amusing but the ideas in here... very very nifty.

I primarily chose to read this because I think that “Doc” Smith is one of the classic early sf writers, and I'll continue to read the series for that reason alone. If I were to find out that Triplanetary was written yesterday, I wouldn't bother reading further.

I really liked the setting. The history and the Children are very cool and I'd really like to see something more in an epic vein set in this world.

On the other hand, the mystery of who killed Greta didn't draw my interest as much. I couldn't have possibly guessed, ahead of time, who the secret villain was and I think that was a let down. Oh and I really didn't understand what the secret visitor in Arames' head was on about when he disappeared at last. That seemed like a really cool idea that was given short shift because it had little to do with the mystery story.

Bennett is one of the best multi-voice narrators I've heard, right up there with Cayenne Chris Conroy. Because of that, it is a bit hard for me to say how much of my enjoyment was for his writing and how much was for his reading. Either way, this was some damn good old-school-with-a-fresh-twist vampire action.

I am somewhat bored with the story at this point, which is one of the dangers of reading an epic fantasy. I knew that the little boy would become the hero and defeat the bad guy, so... sometimes it gets tedious waiting for it to happen.

And I really wish that Polgara was more to this world than just a powerful sorceress. It seems to me that her mere presence over the past 6000 (or so) years should have resulted in a lot more gender equality. Instead, Polgara, who is wise and powerful and compassionate, is temperamental, bitchy, and is not seen as evidence that women can think. Fine, it's a story, but it doesn't add up to me and has been bothering me since book one. Thank goodness the other main female character isn't also temperamental to the max. Oh, wait. Nevermind.

But I liked the story anyhow, at least enough to look forward to finishing this arc with the next book. Just don't ask me what it was that I liked.

It's probably just me, my interpretation of how the secret agent would act, but there are two scenes near the end of the book where she sat idly on the sidelines while an important fight took place and I just could not believe that she would do that. It felt wrong, and kind of ruined the little enjoyment I was having.

My other main issue is possibly due to listening to the story, rather than reading it. Basically I don't understand the ground rules of the world. Tavi is unique because he has no furies. But that means that the Knights, the Legionaries, and Cursors all have furies. So... what's the difference? The Knights Aeris (spelling guess?) can fly around but the others cannot? Maybe? The Legionaries act like none of them are able to call the furies. But that would make Tavi no longer unique. I just don't understand the rules here. And that confusion was annoying, which made me simply annoyed with the story.

I'm disappointed because I quite enjoy the Dresden Files, and this is no Dresden Files.

My only complaint is that the story is too short. Good thing there are more books in the series!

I'm ready for whatever comes next for the crew of the Jenny. I didn't fall in love with any of the characters but the story never went where I was expecting and I can't believe the speed of the read. I'm talking McCaffrey fast.

I wish more folks would read Gamblin's writing so I could get more of his creations to read.

I'm torn on my rating here. Do I give 2 stars for “I didn't like it” because of the romantic elements/tropes/genre or should I give 3 stars for “I liked it” for the nifty blending of psyops, were-animals, and magic? Ugh. I really thought that Liu did a good job of capturing both aspects of a paranormal romance, despite my personal annoyance with romance parts.

I am going to go read the back cover blurb for the next book in the series. If it is billed as a romance, I'll pass on it. Otherwise, I'm going to look forward to the further adventures of Dela and Hari, which is why, ultimately, I'm going with the “I liked it” 3 star rating.

P.S. “Kissing like mates”? :eye roll:

Seth is awesome.

I don't know exactly why, but I didn't enjoy book 3 as much as the prior two.

I was worried, at first, that I wasn't going to like The Way of the Black Beast, because I had some trouble just getting into and understanding the story. For instance, when the character of Fawbry is first introduced, I read and re-read that sentence multiple times trying to decide what the heck was going on. “Fawbry, she had said, was a minor nuisance in Terrgar.”Maybe it was just me (I know I can be a mite dense sometimes) but I just didn't get that Fawbry was a character name, not a place name. I read it as a city that was causing trouble for a country, but knew that couldn't be right (contextually speaking.) I am glad that I stuck with it though, because it wasn't much past 6% into the novel when the story started to resonate for me. It wasn't until much later that I realized that I felt much the same about this story as I had when reading C.J. Cherryh's [b:The Morgaine Saga 57040 The Morgaine Saga (Morgaine Saga, Books 1, 2, and 3) C.J. Cherryh http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170461551s/57040.jpg 55568]. And that's a pretty good compliment, in my opinion. Malja is one of those cool and conflicted characters that, like Drizzt Do'Urden, probably isn't very realistic and probably wouldn't be fun to hang out with in reality, but she sure is a blast to read as she slices and dices her way through the men and beasts standing in her way. The fact that she isn't invulnerable physically, just makes the stakes that much more interesting. Oh, and her damned-to-fail attempts to protect her mute ward from using his special skills, yeah... so sad. So fun to read.So, basically, if you like moody, ambient fantasy/post-apocalyptic smashups, then this is right up your alley.

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 feel conflicted about Majesty's Offspring. There were aspects of the story that I enjoyed, that kept me turning pages, and there were others that annoyed me. For instance, it is totally petty of me, but I hated the idea of some sort of gravity streams surrounding the pirates hidden base. I'm sorry, but gravity doesn't flow, flux, stream, or change directions. That's not something that a far future device can fix either, because the proposed gravity streams were supposed to be some sort of semi-natural phenomenon. The final kicker, though, is the way the book ends. It just stops. Though this is merely the first book in a series, there is no wrap up or conclusion of any kind for any of the characters throughout. The book just... stops. And that really annoys me.

(I believe the accepted wisdom is that the things that most annoy you in another person's story are the same areas that you are weakest at. In this instance, I'm quite sure it is true.)

Old school epic fantasy with the boy from the farm who is the only one who doesn't know that he is to save the world.

It's Donaldson, so the storytelling is nearly brilliant and the story itself is brutal and disturbing. Despite how this book sets up the pins that the rest of the series knocks down, it is really just too much for me to recommend.

It isn't quite fair, but Haywire puts me in mind of the Fifth Element. It certainly isn't as goofy, but Haywire certainly has the same love of big action at a badda-boom pace. (And it has an actual ending!)

I had a bad feeling at the direction I thought the story was taking at the beginning of the book. I was right about the bad feeling, but wrong about all of the reasons I thought that Ishmael was damning himself. Instead, I had a heart-wrenching and heart-felt wrap-up of the series. Nothing quite happened the way that I anticipated and two events near the end made me gasp with shivers up my spine. Hell, the thing that he does at the very end still moves me. Fantastic job!

Perhaps this is/was a classic of science fiction, but today it is just dated in both writing and plotting. I'd only recommend it for a historical perspective on the genre.

It took me awhile to figure out what was really wrong with Heku. Right up front, it's pretty obvious that the writing would have strongly benefited from a good editor. The idea of “show, don't tell” doesn't seem to have been something the author understood or accepted. Now, that doesn't necessarily have to be a deal breaker. I mean, I've read some fanfic that was entirely engaging and never painted a picture of the goings on. This... not so much.

The real issue, I think, is that there doesn't seem to be a story here. Stuff happens, but it never engaged me. There might have been a villain, but he gets offed early on. The male lead is a bastard, but that would have been okay if he hadn't been one to the female lead, or if he had shown any character growth throughout the story. The female lead, well, I think there might have been some character growth, but it was so miniscule that I am not sure it actually happened.

There were an awful lot of words and unimportant things and very little story and I'd recommend skipping Heku.

Despite my initial annoyances with the narrator's voice, I really fell into the story. So much so, in fact, that I drove right past my street on the way home one night. I know that I'm at risk of being horribly disappointed with however Rothfuss winds up the story, but for now, simply wonderful.

I loved the way the early story is wrapped within the current story, how it points out mysteries of greater scope, and the great in-character humor.

Usually, when I hear how amazing a book is, I find myself disappointed (at best.) Instead, I found myself strangely affected by the father/son relationship. I was even happy with the ending, even though it did seem a bit magically coincidental. It isn't a long book, so I'd recommend it to pretty much any reader, regardless of genre.

I didn't realize this was NOT a stand alone, so when I was almost to the end of the book, with the story no where nearing any sort of resolution, I was pretty pissed off. Even beyond that, I was already annoyed with the ridiculous meanderings in the story, like the in depth recounting of dreams.

On the other hand, I appreciated the stupid way the boy “fell in love” with each and every female that caught his eye. It felt real to me, like the way I was stupid about “falling in love” every two minutes as a young teen. And once I realized what had happened in the water (or, at least, I -think- I know what happened), I became excited to find out where the story would end up...

Which is when I got pissed because I realized there wasn't enough book left to finish the tale. Heh.