Bob Shacklock
loved the nostalgia of this book. Anyone that loves video games or ever played D&D will get a smile from reading this book
More of Locke's past is revealed in this book but the more we learn the more questions pop up. This is the weakest of the three books so far but ends up setting the fourth book for what I hope is going to be really good
Them of Us read much like Dog Blood, slow and steady till the end. If you read the first two books in the Hater series it's worth finishing up the seriew with Them or Us, otherwise there is not much to see here.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe follows the adventures of Zaphod Beeblebrox, Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian, Marvin after Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy ends. This book is still witty and fun sci-fi, but not quite as good as Hitchhikers was.
Penn Jillette is a nut, really he says it several times throughout this book. Penn is outspoken and has non-traditional views. God no is a nice glimpse into those views all presented through stories of Penn's life. Penn is also not trying to convert anyone to atheism but instead points out many entertaining facts about faith, science, and god as well as a fun look into show business.
I found this book funny and entertaining but have to warn people that there is a lot of foul language and sexual content throughout the book.
I just finished reading Red Mars and was so disappointed. This book had so much potential going into it, but in short the characters suck. The main characters in Red Mars are all part of the first 100 people to colonize Mars. You don't get to meet all 100 of them (thank god), but out of the ones you do meet there is not one of them that is likeable. This lack of any characters to get attached to or even like a little makes reading Red Mars a painful experience. There are some good ideas about Mars, the technology to live there, and ways to terraform it all presented from characters that are just not enjoyable.
The Name of the Wind by Patick Rothfuss is a story within a story. The main character Kvothe tells the story of his life to Chronicler who writes it all down. From early childhood and on our protagonist Kvothe excels at everything he does. If it takes a normal person a year to learn something, he does it in a week. Kvothe is so good and smart you just want to punch him in the face. Everything works out for him in the end and he always has the answer. Combine this character with the epic length of book you would assume you have quite a bit of adventure happening. Wrong epic length is matched by its epic slowness leaving readers with a huge amount of time put into reading the book and very little coming out of it. Now I'm not saying Patick Rothfuss is a poor writer, I'm just saying The Name of the Wind is not the great story everyone keeps talking about in the fantasy book community. The world Rothfuss has created is a little on the plain side and at times may be boring to read about. Readers beware you are in for a long ride, this is only the first book in the series and there seems to be a lack of a feeling of closure when you finish this book. I would only recommend this to diehard fantasy readers.
Slow getting started. Lots of world building setting up the rest of the books in the series.
The Lost Symbol is the third Dan Brown book about the character Robert Langdon. Dan Brown books seem to follow a pattern in the Style they are written. Because of this, if you enjoyed The Da Vinci Code you will probably enjoy The Lost Symbol. The chapters are short making it easy to read the book in small chunks one chapter at a time. What is lacking is the surprise of the other Robert Langdon stories. Many of the twist and surprises are predictable. The central focus in The Lost Symbol is Washington D.C. and The Masons. After finishing 1/4 of the book I had already figured out who the villain is and where The Lost Symbol was hidden. Many of the problems with this book are the same problems the movie versions of the last two Robert Langdon stories and I think that was Dan Brown's intention in order to make the book more movie script friendly. Even though I enjoyed The Lost Symbol, I only gave it three stars because I felt it could have been better if a movie version had not been thought about while writing the book.
