Valerie

I let myself get way too behind in this series. Catching up in time to keep being devastated by this brilliant, vivid, emotionally wrecking series.

I have never not enjoyed a Pratchett book. This one isn't going to the top of the Pratchett mostly because it has a heavy focus on the Wizards and I prefer the Witches and Watch books a bit more, but it's still a great read and manages to make football/soccer interesting to me which ... well, no one has ever made football/soccer interesting to me before.

I wasn't sure about this book at first, but it grew on me very quickly and leaped into that five star slot. I've been hearing wonderful things about this series for ages, but I thought I've just read too many similar titles to really love it. Lynch takes the idea of he Thief King and runs with it in directions I didn't even know existed. The whole thing has a very Medieval Catch Me If You Can vibe that I found downright charming.

Let me start with the worldbuilding. Lynch's world is almost science-fictional with the populace living amongst the wreckage of a unknown elder civilization. It's a world where alchemy, magic, and questionable medical practice all function according to a strict set of rules. Camorr, the main setting, is almost a canal city with the ocean (and its denizens) playing a huge part in the story telling. While the setting is similar to a medieval Earth, it's different enough that this doesn't feel like Fantasy Stock Setting #6.

Then there's the characters. Locke Lamora is a brilliant anti-hero with a perfect team. He's the thief who just likes thieving, and has since he was old enough to grab. He's balanced out by a string of flaws which are clearly flaws but don't make him any less likable. Locke's team is just as engaging, and Lynch really knows how to twist a person's heart in a way George R.R. Martin never really has for me.

The antagonists are just as engaging, and no one in this story is particularly in the right. We side with Locke because it's told from his viewpoint, but this could just as easily be told from the Gray King's perspective, and I would side with him almost the whole time (up to that murdering business...). The Salvara's were a prize. They could so easily have been stock nobility without any depth or will, but Lynch makes them understandable, forward-thinking, and capable. Sophia is a great addition as a background female scientist/alchemist. There aren't many ladies in the foreground, but I think having them in the background is almost more important in this kind of setting. Lynch makes a point of mentioning female guards, female soldiers, and female townsfolk in every scene. I assume Sabetha has a large part to play later in the series, but even with a boy's club of heroes, women are still movers in this story, and that's always been of great importance to em.

The writing is solid, and while the beginning dragged on a bit, once the Gray King storyline started moving, I couldn't put it down. The dialogue snaps, the action pulses, and I'm very surprised this hasn't been brutally murdered as a feature film by now. It seems so perfect, I just know it would be screwed up royally.

I have a few books with deadlines to read before I can pick up the rest of the trilogy, but I will definitely be doing so. Recommended to anyone who likes a clever action fantasy.

I think I've been too harsh on this series because I'd already watched the drama. Now that I've passed the point of HBO, I find the story a hundred times more compelling and two hundred times more frustrating.

The most frustrating aspect about this installment was just how close the characters are at every turn, at every bend. They just need to take one step further to be reunited with their loved ones, to find a true ally, to achieve some goal. Sometimes they physically are that close, but they are stopped by pride or foolishness or blatant misunderstanding. Bran is so *close* to Jon at the wall, Brienne is so *close* to Arya on the road, Sansa is so *close* to Tyrion who could be a real, true ally. I just wanted to smack characters together and say, “She's RIGHT THERE!” a thousand times.

This frustration is only compounded by Martin's love of killing people which I'm going to say is worse than Joss Whedon's. He sends me into a frantic state of mind whenever the novel turns hopeful or peaceful. Any time things seem to be going well, I know someone is going to die, probably horrifically. I was a bit sad about Robb though more because it felt like dropping the plot than any actual caring for him. He lost that right when he got married for no reason. I see why HBO changed that plotline up. Catelyn I was almost happy about because I found her chapters the hardest to read. Interested to see what that sequel is going to mean. I'm sure I was singing "Ding Dong Joffrey's dead with the rest of the crowd, but that was compounded by knowing my happiness at one thing spelled someone else's doom. Sure enough, Tyrion. Oh my Tyrion. I hope there is more in these books for you. They don't actually "say" that he died yet, but I flipped through the chapter listing of "Feast for Crows" and he's no longer narrating. That is sad enough for me. Likewise I know Lysa dying, sweet as that was, probably spells Sansa's doom.

The compelling part though is that I don't think an author has ever made me wish so hard for the wrong thing. Most of the times when reading a story, you see the protagonist's choice clearly outlined with an easy choice and a right choice. They are crystalline and the hero is obviously going to make the write choice. Martin regularly presents his characters with a wrong choice and a worse choice. Melisandre is a good example. Martin spends half her descriptions convincing me she's is soulless, pretender harpy. Then he spends the rest of the time making me wish she wasn't. I end up as confused as Davos and Stannis, and I think that's brilliant.

I'm not sure how people made it half-decades between books. I'm very pleased with the next move for Arya, Brienne, Bran, and Jon, whose chapters are finally becoming interesting. I'm deeply saddened that Sansa cannot catch a break, but I look forward to seeing what happens next. As for the Lannisters... what can I say about the Lannisters? Debts! Debts to be repaid all around, I think. Also zombies. I look forward to lots more zombies.

I realize I've about forgotten about Dany, just like the rest of Westeros. I think that's also part of Martin's intention, saving her for book five. Then again, Martin never does what I think he's going to do, so why do I try?

My husband has been recommending this to me for ages, and I finally got around to reading it. Tartt's writing is beautiful and vivid, literary without being pretentious. The story itself challenged me to look at it from so many different levels, and I found my opinions of characters and the terrible things they do shifting from chapter to chapter, even page to page. This is a story about consequences, and about people used to living consequence free suddenly crossing line after line. It's about privilege, perspective, and possibly too effective Dionysian rituals. Highly recommended to anyone who loves a murder mystery where the murder itself is not the mystery.

I have to admit, I was really disappointed when I realized this book was a prequel and I wasn't going to get to see how Juliette's plan was working out at all. The first two books were pretty heavily tinged with this disappointment, but the third book turned the whole series back around for me.

Shift splits between several different timelines including the origin of the Silos and the stories of several members of the various uprisings that are hinted at in Wool. A lot of it felt unnecessary at first, but again the third book made it clear why the reader suddenly needed this knowledge of the people that began this project. It's very hard to discuss without spoilers, so prepare for a large chunk of spoilerific review below.

Donald is a character I liked at first, but had a hard time sticking around with. He keeps being vouched for by smart people in positions of power, but I never quite understand why they like him so much. His descent into madness is well-written, but not quite what I was looking for when I picked the book up. Still, once I realized that he is the other end of Juliette's phone call, that really the previous 400 pages existed to set me up to sympathize with the guy on the other end of the phone, I had to respect Howey's craftsmanship. He brought us into the Evil Empire and took the Evil right out. Definitely makes me look forward to Dust.Mission's chapter I enjoyed while reading it, but I can't say it stuck with me.This is probably due to the fact that Jimmy/Solo's chapter was so heart-wrenchingly good that the previous books faded from memory. I figured out that Jimmy would become Solo pretty quickly, and wow does Howey do a great job of guiding us through that transition. I will say that all books featuring animal death should have a warning sticker, though. I knew Shadow was doomed from the moment he showed up since he isn't in Wool, but I still found myself clutching my own cat who was quite annoyed at my failure to live up to my status as heated sofa human.

It isn't as strong as Wool, but the information here feels vital for Book 3 which promises a return to the original timeline. I will definitely be finishing the series up soon.

I was nervous to re-read this book.

See here's the thing: Once upon a time, I was thirteen and perfectly willing to read any book with a dragon on the cover. My Dad had (and I assume still has) a large collection of McCaffrey's works and I plowed through them during my formative years as a reader. I don't remember them too well, but I remember a series of female heroines kicking ass and riding dragons. I was nervous to go back and look at these books with grown-up eyes, and some of those fears were founded.

In a lot of ways, this book and Pern in general are popcorn to my fantasy-loving heart. They have all the tropes 13-year old Valerie devoured. You've got a clever heroine constantly kept down by The Man, you've got attacking sci-fi Thread things, you've got massively confusing time travel arcs, and DRAGONS! FREAKING AWESOME TELEPATHIC DRAGONS. Reading it was like sinking into an armchair so ancient it's permanently molded to your body. When I settled back to just enjoy the dragons, I had a lovely time.

I still love Pern. I love the concept of colonizing a Dragonworld, and the Threads remain a unique antagonist in the genre. I like the complexity of Pern's politics, even within the Weyr, and the different personalities and roles for dragonkind. It's a wonderful world to revisit and her skill with settings is my absolute favorite part of McCaffrey's books.

Lessa was more of a problem for grown-up me. She keeps secrets in not-smart ways. She gets annoyed with people for not telling her things when really she could think her plans through for herself. She's a bit too 60s Strong Female Character for me to really enjoy. However, when I step back and think about McCaffrey's perspective, I see a stronger allegory that makes me more forgiving of Lessa's character. The whole concept of “Queens don't fly. Because.” echoes from all the modern male characters, and it takes the Thread battle to find out Queens actually fly quite well if you stop tying them down. Lessa is tamed as much as Ramoth by her time period telling her she should be barefoot in the Weyrkitchen. She tries to do something about it, but she's often ineffective because she's denied information. This is the cause of all her recklessness, and only a kind author makes sure she comes through her spontaneous schemes all right. I don't like Lessa much, but I think she's a character very reflective of the novel's themes.

Speaking of themes, it always shocks me to reread my favorite middle school books and discover they were filled with sex. Did I just ignore those chapters as a kid? I must have. The sex in this book, particularly F'lar's relationship with Lessa, makes me deeply uncomfortable, though. The idea that they are a couple because their dragons mate and neither of them really gets a say in the matter is unsettling. Still, I could roll with that and a relationship growing out of it if F'lar didn't essentially admit to raping Lessa when they weren't dragon-linked. Yet she never seems more the coquettishly annoyed with him, and accepts their relationship as part of her duties. I don't remember this part, and it put a definite damper on my enjoying the novel. It's mostly glossed over, and we're left to infer most of their feelings, but I found their relationship even more confusing than the time travel.

I'm not going to go into the time travel. It always hurts my head, but I enjoy it anyway.

I can't say I love it as much at 30 as I did at 13, but I can say that it was still thought-provoking all these years later. Also, telepathic dragons are always awesome.

Lois McMaster Bujold is an elegant writer, and I often just enjoy the way her words flow over the page. Paladin of Souls continues the universe of The Curse of Chalion. However, it references Cazaril and Iselle only in passing, instead following the Dowager Royina Ista into her life post-madness. Ista is a forty year old former madwoman whose widowhood is dominated by her late mother's overprotective court. She has never been in love and, having experienced her ultimate failure at age eighteen, has striven to leave no mark upon the world.

With the curse's lifting, however, Ista finds herself aching to escape her kindly prison and undertakes a false pilgrimage literally just to get out of the house. She is a unique hero in that she is neither young, strong, nor beautiful, and that is what makes her interesting and relatable. This story would not work if the main character was Iselle. It's about a grown woman with a grown woman's perceptions and priorities within the world. That is just far too rare in this genre.

The world itself also plays to my favorite theme of what happens when the Gods are just real. No faith necessary. Miracles, saints, and demons are all perfectly apparent and certain people are elected to play certain roles by ineffable but difficult to deny deities. Quintarian theology is explored much more deeply especially the nature of demons. Sadly, this means that a lot of the lovely ambiguity from Chalion (what's demon and what's a tumor?) is missing. It's all clearly Gods' work. For me, Chalion was superior in weaving mortal and divine together, but there is still a place for Paladin in this school.

Like Chalion, this book also took quite a while to get going. The slow start is worth it, and while the ending is a bit cheesy, it's also still quite appropriate. I've already picked up Hallowed Hunt, so I'll be finishing off this trilogy soon.

This was a reread for me of a book I listened to a few years back which then got picked for my book club, and it was great to go back to it. I think genre murder mysteries are some of my favorites, and the complications of cloning and generation ships elevate this far above the average whodunnit. The writing is sharp and snappy, the characters are great, especially Joanna who is as a bonus great representation for people thriving with disabilities. Highly recommended.

The Hallowed Hunt continues on in the same world as Curse of Chalion and Paladin of souls, a world that Lois McMaster Bujold has crafted with a skill that makes me seethe with jealousy. While Chalion investigated the Gods of this realm and Paladin focused on the demons, Hunt delves into the theology of tribal shamans who existed before the “modern” times of the story. Just being able to use the words “delves into the theology of tribal shamans” kinda makes me feel like I'm back in a religious studies course only far more interesting.

If you love Bujold's worldsmithship, you really need to continue this series. That said, I was a little sad that none of the characters from previous books, not even Ista or Cazaril make so much as an appearance. Indeed, this book is set outside of Chalion in a completely different province. I can't really find fault in the characters, but for some reason I just didn't bond with them as easily as I did the other two leads. I think if Hallana's character had been replaced by Ista, I would have enjoyed the book a lot more. We would have had to shift some of the other character's godly alignments, but it would have been completely worth it to have Ista back.

Hunt is still a better book than many I've read this year, but in the end, I'd sooner return to the earlier novels for my love of their protagonists. Still, I don't think I'll ever get sick of Bujold's intricately detailed worlds, and for that alone it deserves four stars.

I really really really really liked this book. It gets for really's. For real, guys.

It's surprising because I expected this one to be something on the mid to lower end of my fantasy scale. The summaries I read made it seem like a story I've read before. A rambunctious young princess (or Royesse) shoved into the care of a returning soldier/scholar... oh the shenanigans! But her house is cursed and political drama ensues. I am notably bored with political drama and rambunctious young princesses. I only decided to read it because I'm compulsive about lists, and this is next on the book club list.

Lois McMaster Bujold makes politics interesting. She makes theology interesting. She makes everything interesting. I read this book thinking, “A lesser author would have x,” but Bujold always goes to y or q or all the way back to b.

A couple examples. A lesser author would have made Iselle into a terror. He would have spent chapters with Cazaril calming Iselle instead of a couple odd sentences where he helps shape her character while he has a chance. Iselle is not perfect, but she is not conventional either. She is as righteous as any sixteen year old, but she is also politically ruthless, which makes sense considering her upbringing. She plots out her marriage contract to her political advantage, not her romantic inclinations, and her anger at her betrothal to Dondo is rooted more in the fact that Chalion gains nothing by it than that he's a repulsive person. Maybe Bujold plays it a little safe with her relationship with Bergon, but I don't mind Iselle getting a little slack because the rest of her life is so very awful. A lesser author would have made Iselle fall for Cazaril instead of pragmatically planning her future.

A lesser author would have used magic. Bujold uses Theology. Capital T theology. By the end of the book, I thought I understood the basic premise of Quintarianism, the characters of the five gods, and their peculiar version of scale when it came to witnessing human events. There is no magic in this book, but a series of miracles and men attempting to perform miracles to the gods' displeasure. I've never read a book (outside of mythology) where the gods' presence is just a fact of life. This is a fascinating look into a world where theology is a practical study in addition to a philosophical one, and the conversation about tumors with the physician was particularly unique and entertaining.

A lesser author would have made Cazaril dull. Someone once called Caz “too perfect.” Normally, that is my first criticism of high fantasy heroes. They are flawless, or their flaw is a virtuous one like stubbornness or pride. Cazaril is just a good guy. He's a grown-up, and he's thrown his childish tantrums behind him. He has seen evil in the world, and now he just wants to stay away from it and die quietly in bed of old age. The gods don't let him do this, but that's his whole motivation. He has a strong moral code, but that doesn't mean he throws himself at danger when there are other options, only when those are all used up.

A lesser author would have bogged this book in politics. Obviously, there's a ton of it, but never at the expense of story. I'd be just as caught up in the acts of political sabotage as the violent ones. It's extremely well plotted, and the villains well-cast and diverse if a bit mustache-twirly. I would have liked a little background into who dy Jironal was before the curse started working him, but I'm satisfied with the explanations Bujold gives.

My only real criticism is the ending. It's a little too pat for me. All the virtuous get their happily ever after and Caz starts 'leaking poetry.' I get that he's god-touched now and his character has grown amazingly, but everything at the end is still a bit too perfect to be believable. Then again, there are two more books in this series, so things can't stay perfect forever, and this cast has earned some peace.

I'm definitely continuing this series, though it'll be a bit because I don't have the whole thing. Highly recommended for people who like a few gods and demons in their heroic quest.

I received this book as part of the First Reads giveaways and was very excited to read it. The book wasn't exactly what I expected, and I'm not sure I agreed with everything Barrat proposes, but it did make me think about AI in a way I never had before, and that was, I believe, at least half his purpose. The book is an easy read for a layperson, and a brilliant foundation for a science fiction writer. Mostly, the book made me want to write about a superintelligent machine race that has been steadily taking over the universe, but that could just be me. The book itself is more concerned with the machine race evolving possibly right under our noses.

Barrat starts by immediately addressing Asimov's Three Laws. Thankfully, there are scientists out there who remember that A) Asimov wrote fiction and B) he invented the Three Laws as plot contrivances and C) Most of his plots revolve around robots finding ways around those three laws. From there, Barrat talks about his Busy Child Scenario of an artificial superintelligence that quickly outgrows humanity and finds better uses for our molecules.

The main points I agree with are that if a Singularity does occur, it's going to occur in the military where the research is happening behind closed doors. Artificial General Intelligence is not going to be created by a group of ragtag scientists looking to build a better world, but by corporate military looking for new ways to kill people. With that foundation, the idea of an intelligence explosion is pretty terrifying.

I'm still a bit lost on the idea of an ASI's drives. Some of them seem to be anthropomorphizing robots in exactly the way Barrat cautions against. That said, I could see a lot of those drives being programmed in with the best of intentions, and then running away with the future. I have no trouble believing that humans could accidentally create a learning machine without failsafes that would keep it from disrupting the power grid or financial markets. These are the scariest parts of the book, and the ideas that need to get to the people at the center of the action.

I'm not at the center of that action, so I am not entirely sure what to do upon finishing the book. Siri may be the most advanced piece of AI ever in a suburban home, but I still have to repeat myself to her six times to be understood, so from my vantage, ASI is a long way away. That said, humans have a history of messing with forces beyond our ken and thus causing horrific accidents. While I'm not convinced an accident on the extinction level Barrat proposes is the most likely outcome, I do think that letting the machines literally do all the thinking could have grave and immediate consequences. I hope that this book and its sources are required reading behind those closed doors where the Singularity is a real, achievable goal.

There's a lot to love about Scott Lynch's series, and I'm particularly excited that the direction this is taking is exploring the mysteries of the world which have served as backdrop to Locke and Jean's adventures. This book delves just a touch deeper into the world of the Bondsmagi and the nature of the Eldren, hinting at books to come. Those books, I was disappointed to find, do not exist yet. Boo.

Locke and Jean remain great if severely flawed characters and the fun of watching them plot, fail, improvise, re-plot remains throughout this novel. There's a bit more melodrama on Locke's end (I could use a lot less romantic whining, but the teenage flashbacks made that impossible), but they are still solid. Sabetha is nice new edition although I do occasionally want to shake both her and Locke and tell them to just talk. So many stories would be so much shorter if the two romantic leads would have a lousy conversation instead of leaping to conclusions at every bend in the road.

So yes, the series still holds. My favorite part of Lynch's writing however has nothing to do with his characters, plot, or dialogue, but with his background. I've probably said this before but Lynch builds the most diverse and believable background for his novels. Women are everywhere in both menial and powerful position. Lady cops and henchman alike abound to thwart and be thwarted. This book makes the first mention, I believe, of racism with Jerena's ill-treatment, and uses the nation of Syresti to supply some much needed color to the fantasy world. While Sabetha and Jerena could both be seen as SFP archetypes who don't really do bad things, there are a number of complicated if not goodly characters of all types. Even homosexuality is treated with normalcy with couples making out in the bushes just as likely to be members of the same sex as different ones. While the main cast remains pretty much white and male, it's really nice to see the fantasy world expand to include diversity as a natural element.

If you liked Lies and Seas, you'll have no problem devouring Republic and being just as impatient as I am for Thorn of Emberlain's release.

This book was a lot of fun, much more than I expected it to be. It reminded me a lot of the kind of science fiction I read growing up, a very McCaffrey edge to the human/dragon relationship with personal bonds and practical application of dragons. The dragons themselves, though, are a very unique spin on the trope. At first I was a little annoyed by the dragons magically speaking English right out of the shell, but Novik provides at least a nod to explain that particular device.

The alternate history is probably what most people enjoy about this book, but for me that part is a little dry. What I liked watching was the different attitudes of humans and dragons and how they change over the course of the story. Rankin and Levitas are probably the most interesting example, and I wish they'd gotten more screen time. Laurence and Temeraire themselves are maybe a bit too perfect, but I think Novik manages to walk that line between “Soldierly Duty” and “Screw this” pretty well.

The dragons really steal the show and I was happy they never took second stage. I kind of wonder how humans got the dragons into a subservient role to begin with. These are hyper-intelligent creatures which most of the world is convinced are dumb beasts. Just... how does that work? The handler bond is Novik's explanation, but that can't be a biological/evolutionary advantage. Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but having just read Marie Brennan's “A Natural History of Dragons,” I really wanted to learn more about the breeds and how the dragon/human relationships came to be. I hope that we get more alternate science in later books, which I definitely plan on reading.

Overall, this was exactly the kind of book I needed after the slog through Stephenson. It's light and fast-paced with dragons. I am an easy to please creature.

Princeless remains one of my favorite Young Adult comics. It's easily appreciated as both a reader and an educator. Book 2 was a long time coming, but it features Adrienne “rescuing” her sister Angelica, a princess who embodies the ideals of allure and beauty, inspiring a community of artists around her tower. Whitley does a good job of presenting two very different young women exercising their power and identity in polar opposite ways, and while they judge each other ferociously (sisters), the reader is able to see that each option is a viable choice. Angelica is beautiful, but not shallow. Adrienne remains fiercely lovable. I'm excited to meet the rest of the family and hope that the next in main storyline volume is not far away.

I love Saga even when it breaks my heart. The last couple issues have been painful ones, but this installment has a lot more positive and heart warming moments than others. Alanna and Marko remain amazing, little Hazel is growing up, and our cast of side characters keeps the everything turning upside down whenever you think you know what's going to happen. If you're already reading Saga, I don't have to convince you to pick up the next volume. If you're not reading Saga, you probably should start.

Honestly, this book just wasn't for me. I read it for book club, but I pretty much knew from the premise I wasn't going to be into it. I'm not automatically against YA fiction, but the basic, flat characters, quick-developing relationships, and rapidly shifting tone and tense really exemplify a lot of the problems that develop when people write for that age range. The gender-swapping nature of badass Hester and milquetoast Tom is a nice touch, but mostly I hurried to finish so I could start something new.

I'm still giving it 3 stars because I think it could make an exceptional comic or anime. Visuals would immensely help this story, both giving it scale, making relationships believable, and playing the jokes as quick, visual Easter eggs rather than laborious references. I genuinely hope it gets picked up by Gainax, though probably not now that there's a film. I have no idea how a live action film will work, but my prediction is not great.

Look, I'll start this review by saying this book wasn't for me. It got picked by my SFF book club, but it's definitely a romance book with a fantasy setting. The setting itself is essentially just Pern meets the Hunger Games, but mostly just the parts of each of those that are most nonsensical and problematic. A military school where there's a focus on killing off the weak at home instead of sending them to die at the front lines and classmate murder is essentially encouraged? Why?

The whole thing reads like bad self-insert fanfic down to the main character with magical color changing hair and eyes. Also it's over 500 pages which is just ridiculous for how little story there is. I never go lower than 3 stars unless something is morally offensive to me, but ooh this one was not my cuppa at all.

I had a harder time getting through this book than the first one, possibly due to a distinct lack of Lobsang. It takes him ages to show up, and the pacing until he gets there is pretty slow. I still find the concept of the book fascinating, and this one allows for more in depth exploration of the sapient races as well as the potential of areas like The Gap. If either of those peaked your interest, definitely continue on with this one. It also has an excellent sense of scale both within the universe and the universes, something that feels very timely.

I love the big themes it addresses, and that is enough for me to finish off the trilogy, although it will probably be a while before I'm ready to dive in again.

Certainly I understand why the book has the reputation it does. It is certainly a more enjoyable and comprehensible way to process vast historical movements than any textbook that was ever thrown at me. That said, the serial nature of it makes it harder for me to really bond with the story. I'd just start to like a character, and then boom it's 70 years later and I have a new character to process. I think the sacrifice is worth it for the amount of ground Asimov gets to cover. If the book were today, I'm sure it would have an epic length to go along with its themes, and honestly I prefer a more stream-lined read.

Appreciated as the series of connected short stories as it was originally published, I loved it. Collected as a novel, I just wanted to get to know everyone a little bit better.

Do you want to annoy your DM by sidequesting your D&D party into creating a coffee shop using vaguely medieval methods? This is the book for you. Otherwise, I'd skip it. There's no real tension, the characters are basic cut-outs, and the writing is just fine. It made me miss Terry Pratchett because it's a very Discworld concept (the super modern thing in a high fantasy world), but if Sir Terry wrote it, it would also be a witty but scathing indictment of colonialism. This is just a side quest that for some reason lasts over 200 pages.

Still good. This volume really worked on emphasizing the diversity of Raven's ragtag crew. It's a little obvious sometimes, but for a teen comic, I'd rather diversity statements be obvious than missing. Certainly ever girl can find someone on this crew with whom to identify, and YA lit desperately needs that.

Wow that was a long read. It was complicated by my return to the working world, but still I've rarely felt the uphill struggle of the protagonist mirrored with my own reading like that.

I liked a lot of this book. I adored the idea of “Narratives” and our subconscious desire to belong to one. I loved the “math” and the challenges living within and outside of one. I loved the Geometers and the ambiguity surrounding exactly who they are, the subtle nods and misspellings to earth culture. I loved representing the foundations of physics and mathematics in subtly different but parallel means. All of these made this book a fascinating read.

Personally, as someone with very little math/science background, I struggled a bit through the various expostulations of thought and technical details, but I was impressed at how Stephenson keeps the Story going through these technical parts. It seemed like you could just yank an entire philosophy textbook out of the book and still have a coherent story.

The ending did leave a lot to be desired for me , and I had trouble with finishing on a wedding. For such an epic piece to end on something so cliche brought me down. Ala and Raz's love story is so secondary to the real plot, that it felt a bit of a downer. I also am still working to understand the idea of alternate Narratives, how Jad could be alive and dead at the same time, how Raz could live all these concurrent lifetimes. Maybe if I'd seen more of that leading up to the ending, I'd have felt less brain-snapped by the whole thing.

Larry Niven is one of the first sci-fi writers I ever read. He is one of my dad's favorites, and my dad gave me all of the Man-Kzin Wars books when I was twelve or thirteen. My memory of them is very vague, but I remember really loving klingon tigers. Since that time, I haven't really gone back to Niven's works until now, and I've never read any of the Ringworld saga.

I started out enjoying the book a lot. Niven has a great sense of humor and the dialogue never ceased to entertain me. I love his aliens, especially klingon tigers. The cautiously coward puppeteers are also a unique species, and one I had fun envisioning. I got a little bit lost in the science, which is not unusual for me, but for the most part, I enjoyed the journey, which seems to me the main purpose of the book.

The idea of breeding for luck was an intriguing one although I found it similar to time-travel or clairvoyance as far as the confusion factor went. It's not something I believe would ever be possible, but it gives a kind of fantasy element to a science fiction book which I don't necessarily dislike. Niven seems to treat the 60s/70s attitude toward mind-altering psychic powers as a possible fact, which isn't all that believable, but it makes for a neat plot device. I had to think through events and their implications for Teela as often as Nessus or Louis did. It hurt my head in a good way.

That said, reading this as a modern adult left several things irking at me. Aside from the dated science ideas (tapes, anyone?) which are excusable, Niven falls right into the female character trap. There are only two women in this book, both of them are defined by their sexuality, and one of them needs a good slap upside the head.

Teela is thoroughly unlikable. She takes all the fun out of the hereditary luck hypothesis in that I spent most of the book wishing for her luck to run out. Niven seems to try and make her a human by excusing her behavior and attitude with the luck hypothesis and regularly stating how smart she is, but he never actually gives her an opportunity to demonstrate her intelligence besides finding a tourniquet. Louis Wu, age 200, falling for this 20 year old vacant trophy girl is also straining my disbelief. Luck may affect circumstance, but how could it affect another person's emotions? All the probability goes out of the theory at that point. Also, he more or less admits he only wants her to come along for sex. Did I mention he's 200 years old? I can't get past these things even in far future where age is really just a number.

Then Teela gets separated, which would be a great time for her to develop a character, but instead she finds a handsome barbarian (whom I kept envisioning as Kevin Sorbo... sorry) to take care of her and he's the love of her life because that's how lucky she is. Oh and it's fine if Louis Wu sells her to him. She has no problem with that at all if it makes life easier. It was such a let-down. I love the premise of Teela being a girl who can't be hurt, so she needs to learn what being hurt is like, but she never really does. She just watches other people get hurt, and it doesn't seem to affect her on an emotional level at all.The other female character, Halrloprillalar, is a similar problem. Immediately, we find out she's a space-whore. And ... that's pretty much it. She has a flying castle, but we don't get much in the way of character development. But she'll join us in the end because earthlings need to learn to have better sex.

Let's not even get into the non-sentient sexes. The aliens presented are uniformly presented as “he's,” so these non-sentient sexes are presumably female. I can't imagine an evolutionary advantage to this arrangement, and Niven never provides one, so it's just there to irritate me through the whole book.

I'm one who usually gives books some leeway based on their publication date, but things like this suck a little enjoyment out of the book for me. It doesn't overshadow any of the great fantastic-journey style adventures of the book, but it does diminish them a bit. I read somewhere that Niven is a “big idea” man and story/character are secondary to his writing. That's certainly true of Ringworld. The ideas are all there, but the lack of character made it harder to enjoy the ride. Might continue with the series someday, but not immediately.

In “Dawn,” Lilith wants a choice, and it is denied to her at every opportunity. She has to live with that, and we as readers have to decide if her captivity is morally acceptable. We are as human as she, and we share her conflict.

In “Adulthood Rites,” Akin wants a chance and has to fight to allow that Human part of him its expression, its freedom. Akin is a construct, and while we obviously side with him, we are given a deeper understanding of the Oankali morality.

In “Imago,” Jodahs wants a challenge and must take an active role in self-fulfillment. As an ooloi construct, it is our first window into truly Oankali thinking. For once, we are sympathizing with the Oankali perhaps more than the humans. We feel the needs and pressures that its Oankali nature presses on it, and we can't help but sympathize even as it does really reprehensible things like binding unsuspecting humans to it. We watch, like Lilith, hoping it'll succeed and wondering what that says about us as humans. Jodahs is the fruit of the Oankali mission, and Imago is fruition of this trilogy. It is a thoughtful and thought-proving look at human nature and morality, continuing to make the reader question themselves, their choices, and their suddenly ambiguous values.

I'm very glad it's summer vacation and I could just devour this trilogy in one go. Butler's prose is a thing of beauty and regularly pulls on your emotions enough that setting the book aside is pretty much impossible. The book both stands on its own and provides a solid conclusion to the series, something that is not at all easy to do or common in modern trilogies. To be fair, all three books suffer a bit from abrupt endings, but this was the first one that disappointed me because there is no story to follow. Still, I can see why Butler would leave that prediction up to the reader. Even without more to read, it is a story that will stay with me.