Juraj
3.5* - I re-read the book to find out whether it still holds up now that I'm an adult. It doesn't, not entirely. While I admit it's a magical book (pun intended) I have big problems with the world building because it's sloppy and without a thought.
I've read crazy fantasy books with many paralel universes, crazy creatures and stunning original magic systems but they all made sense within their worlds. Harry Potter and the wizards don't, though. It doesn't make sense muggles don't know about them. It doesn't make sense wizards laugh at muggles' inventions while at the same time use many of them.
In addition this is indeed purely kids' book. While it's kind of refreshing that this series grew up with its readers, it's also very annoying for somebody like me, who enjoys adult books, to plough through first three/four books in the series ‘til I get to the better stuff.
Writing style is very good, though. Especially the sarcasm in the first few chapters is exactly as if written by me. Characters sometimes speak very weirdly and definitely not as 11 yo kids. It might be a translation problem but I doubt it.
All in all there are better series out there, imho. But HP was very important for my generation when we were kids. I have to admit I may not be such a bookworm if I hadn't read it 14 years ago and for that it has my thanks.
Žiadny “hustý nářez” to nie je, ale trocha to odhaľuje Gerhardovu históriu. Novela je však krátka. Buď to malo byť vydané v nejakej zbierke alebo ako dvojkniha spoločne ešte s nejakým príbehom z Bratrstva krve. Príde mi to ako cash grab, hoci Kotletu zbožňujem a uvedomujem si, že vydavateľstvá sú na tom dnes zle a chcú zarobiť ako sa dá. Veď predsa ako inak by si mohli dovoliť ten koks spomínaný v doslove. ;)
Kotleta nevyužil potenciál a chýbala mi nejaká kvalitnejšia akcia, nevraviac o tom, že príbeh je predvídateľný už od začiatku. Rád by som si niečo prečítal buď z ešte dávnejšej minulosti - napríklad povstanie proti Sangot alebo niečo s Herr Bezzemkom z 19., počiatku 20. storočia. Ak chcete zistiť čo je Kotleta za fenomén, toto určite nie je kniha s ktorou by ste mali začať. Skôr asi len končiť pre kompletnosť zbierky.
A poznámka pre autora/editorov ak si to nebodaj niekedy prečítate: nabudúce prosím vás píšte myšlienky postavy kurzívou a nie ako priamu reč. Je to zbytočne mätúce a strašne ma to iritovalo.
Short story set some time before the events of the first book. It has nothing to do with the Dark Tower series except for the main character and a small mention of the tower but it's a nice side story set in town called Eluria.
It's written very much like Witcher's short stories by Andrzei Sapkowski and that's the reason why I liked it so much. Especially the romantic ending. I wish this was included in The Gunslinger. That book would've been much better.
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed... very slowly.
I was really curious about this book. King's attempt for epic fantasy mixed with western? That sounds really interesting.
I have to say, though, that the last chapter saved the book. King said in the foreword that The Dark Tower should be considered one book split into seven volumes (currently nine). So I'm wondering why for Hood's roasted balls was this book released in this state. 240 pages is really not enough for a story like this. The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three should've been released as one book.
Whole book is about following the man in black across a desert and 1/3 of every chapter (except the last one) is dedicated to Roland's back story, which I thought to be boring and dragging.
The last chapter saved this series. Speech of the man in black and all the foreshadowing got me hooked and I'm curious about the Tower now. Story before their meeting wasn't very interesting, though. If King had thrown some of the scenes out and combined this book with the second I think the series would only profit from it. Or maybe this should've been part of some collection like the prequel The Little Sisters of Eluria.
He isn't able to make the story interesting only on 240 pages. The book suffers because it has to go through all five acts on a small space like that. I believe other authors might have handled it better but Stephen is used to writing 1000 pages long novels. I heard this book is the worst in the series, so I expect something better from the sequels.
Povinné čítanie pre všetkých, ktorí si myslia, že za komunizmu bolo lepšie. Dnes tu možno máme obrovskú korupciu, no tá tu bola aj pred 50 rokmi, len lepšie ututlaná. Avšak v rovnakej miere na vysokých postoch. Nevraviac o tom, že dnes sa “prekážajúcemu” človeku môže v najhoršom prípade stať, že ho vyhodia. Vtedy si vykonštruovali proti takýmto smoliarom procesy a šli sedieť. Je to všeobecne známe, no mám pocit, že niektoré ovčie stáda sú tak zaslepené nenávisťou voči nefungujúcej demokracii, že totálne ignorujú zverstvá čo sa tu diali pred jej nástupom.
Sadly, I have to give it 3 stars. First half of the book is awesome but when Cujo, the dog after whom the whole book is titled, shows up, the quality goes down. More than 100 pages of the drama in the car was “a bit” of a stretch.
King excels in creating relatable characters and that's why I was so excited when I started reading this book. Marital conflict was handled brilliantly.
But in the second half he focuses more on the dog and drama of survival. Rabid dog just isn't enough for me, though. Few pages could be considered a prequel to legendary It, but it's only in the beginning.
I think this book should be shorter and released as part of his novella collections. Maybe even part of Skeleton Crew because many of short stories there felt like writing exercises and nothing more.
Iconic terror... I agree with the latter but this book definitely isn't iconic.
Červenák má dnes už pomerne dobrú reputáciu a tak som si povedal, že sa konečne skúsim ponoriť aj do jeho diela. K mytológii mám kladný vzťah už od detstva a tešil som sa, že toto je čistokrvná slovanská fantasy.
Po cca 50 stranách však boj s touto knihou vzdávam. Príbeh vyzerá byť fajn, dokonca tu bolo aj niekoľko zaujímavých momentov, no ten archaický štýl, ktorým je to písané je neznesiteľný. Slová ako “sliepňať, huňa, žrec” atď. si mohol odpustiť. Opisy tiež pôsobia neprirodzene a je tam priveľa prirovnaní. Navyše ide o druhé vydanie a sám autor tvrdí, že ho dosť upravil. Nechcem si ani predstaviť ako to vyzeralo pôvodne.
Príbeh je inšpirovaný Sapkowskeho Zaklínačom a podobnými osamelými vlkmi, takže skutočne pochybujem, že prídem o veľa. Uvedomujem si, že je to jeho prvotina, no jednoducho mi chýba motivácia pokračovať, pretože podobné veci som prečítal už niekoľko krát a v oveľa lepšej forme. Myslím, že zostanem u tvrďákov od českého KKK týmu - Kotletu, Kopřivu a Kulhánka. V rámci česko-slovenských stredovekých fantasy u mňa ostáva Holomráz neporazený.
Sanderson creates amazing worlds. His inner dialogues and the humanity of the characters is almost unmatched. You can really believe they're real. The uncertainties, decisions, failures, feelings, successes... All of it is believable and compelling.
However, here's the catch with this series. It's a young adult fantasy. I wasn't aware of this when I bought the trilogy. All I knew was that it's an awesome series set in a huge universe of so called Cosmere with a unique magical system. I was intrigued. I believed Sanderson to be one of the greatest fantasy authors of this era. I still believe it, I'm just a bit disappointed.
Luckily, it's not like Hunger Games. The YA aspects are very carefully laid through the book and they more than less don't stand in the way of the real story. But that's probably part of the problem. They don't even feel necessary here!
The Final Empire had only Elend and the love plot was... alright. But here we have annoying love triangle that actually isn't even a triangle. It is stretched throughout half of the book, not all of it, which is good, but I still feel like the story would have been better without it.
The main plot is about a siege of Luthadel. Some may not like it because it's kind of dragging but I enjoyed it. It's not as compelling as the plot of Final Empire but it has its moments. However, some aspects don't feel thought through and seem a bit naive. Maybe I'm being too harsh with it. I don't know. Maybe it was really aimed for younger audience and I, as a more experienced reader, am giving it a hard time.
Nevertheless, I think Sanderson polished his craft and wrote the characters even better than in its prequel and that's why this book gets 4 stars instead of three. The YA aspect could've been way worse than it was.
When I started reading this I didn't expect the story would go this way and that so many main characters would die. And others somewhat become alive again...
Erikson continues to amaze me with every page turned. I have to admit, though, that there were way too many POV characters and sometimes, when he returned to them after 400-600 pages I had to think hard about who they were and what was going on.
I went in with low expectations, not mamy people consider this book as a highlight of the series but it really surprised. Is it better than MoI or TB? Definitely not, but it has its moments. Just like DG and MoI, it can crush your heart.
The last thing I'm gonna say are Quick Bens words:
“Don't you pity him, Fid. You understand me? Don't you pity him!”
Pretty big disapointment for a second King's short stories collection. Third of it felt like writer's exercises, third of it was boring and the rest couldn't make up for more than three stars.
The first really good short story is The Jaunt about a crazy scientist and his invention.
I don't like the Mist and rest of stories before Jaunt felt like lazy and/or too long writing.
Best story is definitely Survivor Type about an insane castaway.
Other stories that stood out were The Wedding Gig and The Raft. And that's it. Gramma and The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet had great writing but some aspects of the story and their endings just didn't make them appeasing enough.
If you want early King's short stories you're better off with Night Shift.
The whole story except for the ending is exactly the same as in movie adaptation - which I didn't like much. It's a solid story, although maybe a little predictable. The thing that pissed me off most is that some of the characters flat out refused to believe their own eyes. King explains it by their realities being shattered but I still couldn't get my head around it. It's just ridiculous.
The characters are bland and there's nothing that surprised me.
If you're thinking about reading it, just watch the movie. It'll save you time. I'm usually not the guy who's satisfied with movie adaptations of books but this is an exception.
I had struggled with this novella several times before and just now made myself finally finish it, since it's part of Skeleton Crew and I finally wanted to read these short stories.
This book is the reason why King is considered one of the best horror/thriller writers out there. Unfortunately since I had seen the movie, the finale of the book wasn't so thrilling as I'd like it to be. Even despite the fact that the movie changed quite a few things.
However, the first half of the book was amazing. I've never read something so good and at the same time feared it as much. I suppose that's a very personal thing, though. Danny and I had similar parents... As a whole it's a damn good book and it was hard to stop reading it. It's a modern classic and every fan of horrors should read it.
I heard there's a lot of controversy around this book but I guess the people talking about it read only fairy tales. Seriously, there are so many other grittier series. Even A Song of Ice & Fire has more violence in 100 pages than this one in 300.
The main character is a 14 year old boy filled with anger on a path for revenge. The age was my biggest problem. He doesn't think or act as he should. It would've been more believable if he was at least 16 and even then I'd have a problem comprehending why his brotherhood follows him. So what if he's a psychopath? He's in his early teens!
The writing gets better and better and by the end of the book it's... good. The story feels rushed but at the same time drags way too much in some places. The lack of description makes it sometimes difficult to understand and imagine the scenes.
The world setting is interesting though I really don't understand how could society return to medieval ways so much. Also, what the hell is with this “Jesu” and “fecking” thing? Seriously, does Lawrence really think people would distort those words into these forms while still reading Plato without any problems?!
All in all it's a book with great potential that wasn't achieved. But it's also authors first book and by the end of it you can see he has improved. I hope the King of Thorns will be better. The reviews suggest it will... but sadly we're living in a world where crap like Twilight and Shades of grey rule the selling charts.
What a stunning ride. It's unbelievable but this series is only getting better. It took me long to finish this giant but not because I didn't want to read it. With these books it's like with the best wine you've ever tasted - you just can't drink it in three mouthfuls and be done with it. You savour the taste and enjoy all the 1200 pages (sips).
Love for this series is as much beyond my comprehension as love for McCarthy's The Road (and other stuff he wrote).
I actually made a pole in FB fantasy/sci-fi group whether I should read Earthsea or Hainish Cycle first and overwhelmingly, like 95 to 5 Earthsea won. What?
I liked the first book a lot actually. Second book was still decent but I wasn't a big fan. It got better as it progressed. Third book was utter garbage and when I was deciding whether or not to continue I read reviews for fourth only to learn it's even worse, making Ged, the greatest wizard who ever lived, a useless moron to make the main character shine oh that so much more as Mary Sue.
So I'm DNFing. I don't even like Hainish Cycle much, tbh, but it's better than the latter two Earthsea books I read. There's so many other series I want to start or continue with that I'm not going to bother and forcing myself through more of this knowing I'll hate it.