Kyle Erickson

This book was pretty boring honestly, and was just Maltin jumping around at various points in time and discussing various run ins and interviews with celebrities in very minute detail. He has had an interesting life, but he didn't format this book in an interesting way, and it just amounts to a person who tells you about every time they've ever met a celebrity. I run into these times a lot when I'm on set, and it's extremely grating, so maybe I'm a little biased from that. Regardless, I would skip this one unless you're really interested in Hollywood in the 70s-80s or you're a Maltin superfan.

As always, thanks to Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, Stevie Van Zandt has led an interesting life and did a lot of things that I had no idea about! He comes off as a little arrogant and jaded in this, but he also comes across as thoughtful, wistful, and introspective at times. I greatly enjoyed this. The stuff with Bruce Springsteen was VERY superficial, and I get the impression that he has a complicated relationship with Bruce that he doesn't like talking about. Still, the stuff about his solo work, politics, and acting career were varied enough to keep me constantly interested. I wish there was a little bit more Sopranoes stuff, it seems like Stevie wanted to skim past the two things he's most well known for to highlight some other stuff he wishes he got credit for. Like for instance, helping Nelson Mandela get released.....by recording a song? I get what he was going for but maybe his self-importance got in the way here. I do recommend this memoir, though, if you like Van Zandt or like rock/actor memoirs!

DNF at 70%, but I started skimming at like 40%

I don't have any problems with this book, I think it could work well for a lot of people. Early Jamestown colony dealing with a monster and early contact with the indigenous peoples, plus the MCs dealing with bigotry from the colony. It's a good set up.

But I just could not force myself to care about anything going on, or wanting to continue at all. The writing style is very minimal and I kept being confused about where we were in space and time (because there are intermittent flashbacks) not necessarily because the book itself was unclear, but because the way it was written made it easy to miss these details.

I did not like this book at all. It felt like Fat Joe just talked into a recorder while kinda tipsy and then that was transcribed into a book. His life is clearly interesting, but it was told way too casual to be impactful - he did things like say “waaaaayyyy” and “sooooooo” which I don't think I've ever seen a person do in a book before, that wasn't dialogue of some sort. And he just kept skipping around all over the place - there was absolutely no cohesion to this book whatsoever. He mentions the Terror Squad and random stories about them throughout the entire book, but doesn't actually explain the origins or what this group comprises of until 80% into the book. That's crazy. I vaguely knew, from my own knowledge and context, but you still should give a reader context to what you're talking about at the time in which its relevant.

Also, Joe just seems like an asshole, which never helps make a book more readable.

“game's the same, it just got more fierce.”

This was easily my favorite of the Three Kingdoms Chronicles books so far. Dynasty Killers picks up where Heroes of Chaos left off, and it's adapting some of my favorite parts of this history. Wu does a fantastic job mapping the various political factions and situations when China was perhaps at its most split; things started to coalesce at this point. And that could provide a big hurdle, because there is a lot of important material to get through, and I think it was handled pretty well.

We continue to follow Liao Hua (called Chun still) and by now, Hua is an adult in both timelines. Which means he is fully capable and willing to be in the thick of things, but it also means his flaws are full on display. There are times when our protagonist is deeply unlikeable, there are times when I think he pushes his luck with his lord Cao Cao to an unbelievable degree (real Uhtred/ King Alfred energy), and there are times where Liao does the right thing and you're rooting for him. I think that makes him a pretty complex character.

The prose is better in this book, particularly I thought the dialogue was noticeably better, and there were a few scenes with minor, non-historical characters that were really affecting.

The proceedings in Dynasty Killers has Cao Cao dealing with foes in all directions - Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Lu Bu, Zhang Xiu, Liu Bei, Sun Ce. This period of years is where Cao Cao really EARNS his reputation and becomes the “hero of chaos” and I love it so much. Cao Cao and Liao Hua's changing relationship in this one was very good, as Liao realizes that power continuously corrupts. If I'm nitpicking, I think the political situation leading up to the battle of Wan was not given enough time in relation to how monumental the results had on the rest of TK history. The battle itself was really good though. DK also featured a lot more concerning Lu Bu, and while I realize it would be tough, I just wish there were more chances to give Bu some page time. Lu Bu traumatized me as a kid and nothing can truly get across just how scary he was in Dynasty Warriors 3, haha.

The reason this book is not a full five stars is because there is a very jarring, dark scene involving rape, necrophilia, and pedophilia that comes out of nowhere about halfway through the book. The girl is not given a name or any character, she exists just to scandalize the main character, and the scene just felt very out of place to the relatively tame “action-adventure” style we had gotten for the last 2.5 books. For additional context, I had just read Dark Age by Pierce Brown shortly before this, and that book has pages and pages of some the darkest, most heinous shit I've ever read, and I didn't dock that book for it, because it felt tonally appropriate and was handled with care. I just can't get behind the ratio of “dark” to “necessary” in this case. It also continues to make Xiahou Dun a monster, which...hey, I like Xiahou Dun, stop it

DNF @28%

This was such a chore. I love Spartacus but the writing style of this book was very tedious - third person present - and it had an insane amount of POVs. At first, I thought it was not repeating any pov characters but then we started getting repeats so we were just left with an absurd amount of POV characters that I couldn't differentiate from each other.

I think the audio file I listened to was cuckoo for cocoa Puffs because the middle of this book was somehow utterly incomprehensible to me and I don't see why it should have been; I think some chapters were out of order. And then seemingly 25% of the book is a single fight with a lion. And then just when the ending of the book is good, the audiobook just....finishes....and the book isn't over. It was the middle of the final fight!! So weird.

Anyway the book was fine

This memoir had some good stuff going for it. I think Heath is good at setting up the horrible childhood she had and the way it impacted her. I really felt for her and her desire to have to her family be whole and not understanding what her dad's issue was. Unfortunately, this book is just too short. Most of it she is very young, and then it skips forward to her being an adult and then it ends, with barely any reflection or how her childhood impacted her. An extra 40-50 pages with some more depth would have gone a long way.

7/10

Okay, here goes:

I read this book last year and gave it two stars. One star for the book, and one star for Will Wheaton managing to make it sound semi-interesting on audio. Then recently I stumbled across a podcast called “372 Pages I'll Never Get Back”, where the hosts read this book chapter by chapter and discuss all the nonsense. It made me realize the book is actually a zero and Wil Wheaton's narration bumps it up to one. It also inspired me to write a review, because the rating on this book is staggering.

This is the worst book I've ever read. I struggle to comprehend a book that could be worse. The characters suck, the story sucks, the background of the world makes no sense, it's...you know what? Just assume everything is negative. The thing that grated me the absolutely most though is this 17 year old kid that is evidently some sort of unspoken time-lord that, every few pages, has entire lists of things he has memorized, watched every episode of 50 times, read the entire bibliography of an author multiple times, memorized every word of a band's discography, all while playing video games “16 hours a day” and, later, “working ten hours a day”. Even the most lazy, haphazard math would render all this impossible. I can accept stupid- I've liked greater than zero Transformers movies. But some things are just too stupid.

And lots of people like this book, and fine, I don't get it, but people are allowed to like whatever they want. But you really shouldn't. This book seems to be written for nerdy gamer kids, and yet as a nerdy gamer who was once a kid, I find the whole thing outrageous. It's almost offensive to gamers, nerds, maybe even to kids. It's like a 13 year old just wrote some shit in two days and immediately published it. Where was an editor for this book? What could an editor possibly have taken out of this book to improve it? I would really like to know.

I don't mean to be a hater. I specifically didn't write a review of this book originally because I knew I would foam at the mouth just thinking of all the “classic” references to “classic” nerd stuff and how fucking cool this book is. So gnarly. So classic.

But this book is just too well received to remain silent. If you liked it, great, all the better for you. I only wish I could be right there with you, that the idea of this book didn't send me on an immediate Google search for ways to self-lobotomize. I'd like to meet Ernest Cline and just ask him a bunch of questions, starting with “How dare you?” And ending with “This is a big joke, right?”. Then I'd give him a big handshake for somehow gaming the system and making millions off this and his love for video games. Because no matter how bad I think this book is, no matter how much I want to bathe my eyeballs (ears?) in gasoline and strike up a match, Ernest Cline is an inspiration to us all that your dreams really can come true.

Idk guys this is the hardest won four star of my life. Robbie Jords and I see the world in fundamentally different ways but dude also made me want to know what happens despite not caring if 97% of these characters all immediately died. I'd really like to finish this series but people always point to this one as the bee's knees, the farmer's factory, the fish's foundry, the bobcat's catbob, whatever the kids are saying these days. They tell me it's the best. And it didn't feel like the best of something. Mostly it felt like the same but also with plot. And “Same but also with plot” might not get me through.

One of my new favorite books of all time. Top four, for sure. I'm sad my journey with these characters has come to an end.

Finally, finally, finally....I have finished my first Abercrombie book!

People are always shocked I haven't read Abercrombie. ASOIAF is my fav series and I generally enjoy grimdark. So how could I miss out on Lord Grimdark himself??

Long ago, in a reader far far away, I finished ASOIAF in 2011 and was looking for something to fill the void. I may have acquired the First Law trilogy through sailing the high seas of piracy

9/10

This is the First Law standalone that I was most anticipating, and I'm really glad to say it mostly met my expectations!

The Heroes follows a three day battle from both sides as they fight a battle over...some hills known as The Heroes. And it has all the things a three day battle would entail- pointless death, the tedium of campaigning, violence, pointless death, politicking, commander hubris, great duels, pointless death.

Because without a doubt, Abercrombie has some things to say about war in this book. And for a book that is, on its face, about battles, it is certainly pretty critical of the whole shebang. The commentary on war was some of my favorite elements of this one, and what elevated it over Best Served Cold for me.

The character work was also, as always, excellent. Abercrombie was able to make me invested in several new characters - Craw, Whirrun, Finree, Beck- as well as several returning characters from the original trilogy that are expanded here. I also think The Heroes has some of his most “good” characters - most of (all?) the characters in the last four books are various levels of trash bags, but several characters in The Heroes I would describe as atleast mostly good people. It was refreshing.

Two of my favorite characters from the original trilogy return in this one, and one is utilized excellently and one is, unfortunately, just around for a cameo or two. The fight scenes were once again excellent, especially the more intimate fights. The chapter “Casualties” is one of the best chapters Abercrombie has written, showing a bunch of regular soldiers during battle. The humor was outstanding, once again. Genuine laugh out loud moments. The cheese trap!!! Now that's progress.

My only criticisms of this book is that one POV, Tunny, is just a waste of page time. I think the book would have had better pacing if he was cut. I also think Abercrombie got a bit too into his whole “there are no heroes” bit. We got it, Joe.

I'll leave you with a piece of wisdom by this book's real Hero, Whirrun of Bligh: “Armour is part of a state of mind in which you admit the possibility of being hit.”

9/10

Reread-

This book is fine. It's fine! I don't really get why some people swear by this book. I'm glad for them but most of it was just barely interesting. I'm glad I reread because it did confirm to me that Butcher did not somehow inflict me with Stockholm Syndrome over the course of many books. They really do just get much, much better in every way.

I did enjoy this book more this time, if only because I didn't realize how many important characters, organizations, or concepts are introduced in it the first time. Michael, Thomas, Justine, the red court, Leah...the list goes on. But it's still Butcher-in-Training writing these characters. Michael might be one of my favorite characters in fiction, but in this book he's just a beta version of the real deal.

Also yes this book's male gaze is just insufferable.

Goddamn, I am a believer. Dresden is a great series.

“I don't care whose DNA is recombined with whose, when everything goes to Hell, the people who stand beside you without flinching, they are your family. And they were my heroes. “

We have reached the crux where Butcher's prose has noticeably leveled up- there were multiple beautiful or introspective passages that I appreciated for the first time- and also having the world and characters fleshed out enough that this entire book is just superb character development and growth for half a dozen or more characters. This was the first Dresden book where the entire second half I just wanted to not be doing the other stuff I had to do, and instead wanted to be reading Dresden. I will be reading White Night immediately, after usually waiting ~a month to continue the series between books. I finally understand where people are coming from when they call this one of, if not their favorite series. I do think the plot of Dead Beat was better, but the character development and character moments in this book, and world development was way more gripping and emotional for me in Proven Guilty.

Alas, Butcher couldn't help himself. “Let's constantly sexualize a 17 year old and make Harry seem so damn MATURE for not succumbing” because he needs a gold star for being able to not act with his penis when around teenagers. Honestly, the second half of the book made me almost forget how often Harry thought about a teenager's chest in the first half, but then there's a scene I hated near the end and I cannot give five stars to a book that has that scene in it. Maybe book 9 can refrain from shooting itself in the foot with this kinda thing.

8.5/10

Roman Epistolary historical fiction as it OUGHT to be written!

10/10

Man, I really thought I would enjoy this story. But every single thing about it bored me; I could not find a single route into it that would make me interested. I recognize it's a product of its time and that it influenced a lot of sci-fi, but I guess my tastes in the sci-fi genre have moved past this story. I wouldn't dismiss anybody for enjoying this novella more than I did, but definitely did not work for me.

Introverts should read this.
Extroverts should read this.
Ambiverts should read this.

Lots of great information here about how people are different and require different things, and how allowing those people to meet their needs in a way suitable to them will benefit everyone. Extroverts really do love running rampant around everyone else, haha.

This book also convinced me I'm probably more towards the introvert side of things. I'm definitely in the Ambivert range, but I hit almost every marker for introversion too.

Did you guys know Lewis was a Christian? I managed to read between the lines here!

Anyway, this book was mostly boring and I did not enjoy the end at all. Should have stopped at Silver Chair.

This book was awesome. So many great scenes, such good character development and moments for every character. I read most of this book in two days because I just couldn't stop. It would easily be a 10/10 but the last chapter is one of the dumbest things of all time and even being spoiled on it early didn't stop me from hating it.

So 9/10, Robert Jordan shouldn't have been allowed to write romances by legally binded contracts

“Ayo, sexism”

“Indeed”

This book was surprisingly excellent! The writing was beautiful and the dialogue was great. The world and magic was enchanting. LOVED all the magical creatures. Honestly it's length works against it, in my opinion, because expanding out some of the conflicts would have been great. But I think she was very intentional with how long she made it.

My only issue is how much the second half focused on romance. It was still well done but for how short the book is, I would have liked a little more focus on the mother/son dynamic.

Still an excellent book that holds up very well.

9/10

So ends the longest soft DNF of my life; I read the first two stories when this collection came out over a decade ago. Put the book down to read something else and woops, never finished it. Decided to remedy that.

It feels weird rating this five stars when it's been so long since I read the first half, but what I can tell you is I vividly remember loving the first two stories - I can remember them pretty well even still. And the two I just read, A Fair Extension and A Good Marriage, were completely fantastic. This collection is a mixture of the style that King has transitioned to in his later years, with some of the creepy horror of his early years. Definitely recommend.