Nomad Scry
Despite the anachronistic treatment of women, this really is a great example of the way genre can be used to simultaneously push a particular framework while telling a moving story. There's a lot of heavy preaching here, but at the end I had that fantastic gulp of sadness when I have to leave the fictional world behind.
Also, I'm REALLY interested in how my beloved [redacted] can be so influenced by this book without getting whiplash over how blasphemous it is to their faith!
I didn't realize this wasn't a fantasy, so I kept waiting for a twist that never came. (Almost like the first Game of Thrones.) Despite my disappointment that no one turned into dragons, this was a well put together historical romance.
The genre bending is even stronger now. We've got something like a lazy epic fantasy tossed together with some Divergent-style future distopia and... I have no idea how good or bad the next book will do with tying everything together but it'll be a wonder if it can.
Very strange mishmosh of heroic fantasy and future distopia. Almost in the same vein as... well, nothing, really. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of genre bender.
Terrifying, brilliant, and moving, this is the author's autobiography in truth, if not in reality. If you aren't already a fan, well, whatever, but for the rest of us, I cannot recommend The Ocean enough.
Perhaps I should have seen it coming but the ending caught me off guard when I first read it 13 years ago. I'm mixed on the rest of the series, but this one is highly recommended.
Clinton still doesn't get it. It wasn't her turn, woman or not. Comey's ridiculous last minute interference probably did cost Clinton the last few percentages she needed... But that's entirely missing the point. It shouldn't have been a contest. She reiterates over and over that's she's a pragmatist. But that's the thing - I don't think we wanted a pragmatist. Personally, I see Democrat's pragmatism as a fancy name for “corrupted by the status quo.” But what pissed me off was her one break from pragmatism: when she wasted time “virtue signalling” to the coal mining communities in West Virginia. That was a waste of time, money, and energy that was patently doomed from before the start - and I'd argue may have cost the Clinton campaign as much as the Comey foolishness.
I'm mad at Clinton for being so selfish as to stand in progress' way and allowing Trump to win. She wanted her victory for women and, instead, everybody got fucked.
Disappointing.
Despite a niggling annoyance with some aspect of the style of writing, I liked the extremely fast pace. But then the book stopped. Abruptly.
Also, the formatting on my kindle was the worst I've seen yet. Something was wrong with the font sizing and layout and it was not ideal even after I blew the font all the way up.
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.
The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones
I know I'm the oddball here, but I just didn't find anything or anyone interesting enough to make me want to put up with another few hundred thousand pages. His world is peppered with fascinating little hints of the magic that used to be commonplace, and I love that sort of thing, but ... you have to give me something in the here and now too.
If he'd stuck to fewer POV characters, I might have come to care for someone, anyone. If he'd revealed something before the last moments of the last chapter, I might want to come back for more. But he didn't and I don't.
Instead of reading the text version, I listened to the audiobook of Timeless and really had a hard time letting go of how annoying it was to have the characters voiced the wrong way. Never mind that those voices had only been in my head, it was disturbing to hear Ivy ditzing about and Connell sounding like a blow hard. I wouldn't have followed through with the series if I had started with the audio.
That said, I really enjoyed all the bits with the baby Prudence. She is wonderfully precocious and reminds me of my own little soul stealers. And I hope that Carriger eventually follows up with more of Prudence's adventures growing up.
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:
Half a book. I've borrowed it from the library twice, thinking I've not finished and finding that, no, I have finished.
This is definitely one of the better dystopias that I read this year. I quite enjoyed the main character and liked the way that the past was hinted at and somewhat revealed as the story progressed. That said, the entire conceit of the different factions and the way the world is set up... ridiculous. Just don't think about that and everything is good.
Or do. It's all good.
Wow. The compare and contrast between Sandman Slim and Felix Castor are fascinating. For instance, I think Castor is much better writing, but Slim is a better character.
If it weren't for how distracting, annoying, and damn itchy present tense style I am sure this would be one of my favorite books this year.
This is my favorite of the Chronicles, though I'll sometimes mistakenly site Voyage of the Dawn Treader (His name is Useless!? Love it!)
This particular copy was published in 1974 by Puffin/Penguin and “For copyright reasons this edition is not for sale in the U.S.A.”
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.
The first part of the book is horrifying. Rovelli details how time does not exist. Them he turns around shows that time doesn't matter.
But the second half, where I guess he's trying to explain what that means for time or time sensing humans, is garbled philosophical ramblings. Maybe the meaning is lost in the literal translation, but I didn't find any comfort or meaning to account for how we perceive time passing yet time doesn't exist.
Aaarg.
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.