Ethan Poole
I know that people love this book, but I did not. At too many points in the book, I was confused about what was happening. There are too many characters, most of whom have no depth. As for the plot, things just kinda happen, especially with the gratuitous sex scenes. The reviews that I've read praise the book's exploration of “identity” and “memory”. As far as I can tell, the characters only cared about the name of their destroyed kingdom and the fact that magic prevents them from uttering it. Is that identity? Memory? There is nothing contentful in the book about the kingdom's culture or people—the things that one might want to save or preserve. I had to force myself to finish it.
This was my first Murakami book. Undoubtedly, it was too long. However, I found the storytelling style calm and immersive—really, unlike anything I've read before. It was a unique reading experience, which I enjoyed.
This book had a lot of potential, but I found the plot too thin and the characters too unlikeable. The protagonist didn't seem to undergo much development over the novel, despite the many opportunities for him to grow.
Started off somewhat slow, but picked up and was then hard to put down. Very different from the first book, but I liked it!
3.5 rounded up to 4. Much better than the first book both in terms of plot and writing style (i.e. it was easier to follow along). I liked the character of Duiker in particular. The book could have been much shorter though; the plot did not justify 800+ pages. The prose is (still) turgid.
The writing is beautiful in this book—vivid imagery, almost lyrical, really bringing the setting to life. Admittedly, the plot was somewhat thin, and the characters predictable, but it worked well enough with the broad story. It reminded me of a movie in this sense.
Great plot. I found myself making time to listen because I wanted to know what happens next. I wish there were more POV characters though. I was looking forward to Avasarala (who I remember from the first season of the TV show), but she hasn't made an appearance yet! The juxtaposition between Holden and Miller was a bit too on the nose at times.
Honestly, it was a bit of a letdown based on my expectations for an Agatha Christie novel. The setting felt somewhat forced and awkward. I also had trouble remembering the large cast of characters.
This book perfectly sets up everything for the finale ending! A few more storylines are resolved, especially involving Perrin. It wasn't as fast-paced as The Gathering Storm, but it was still a page-turner with some great plot twists.
It was fine. Very confusing most of the time. If I were going off just this book, I wouldn't feel compelled to keep going with the series. But, I'm trusting the Internet that the first book is an outlier and committing to reading the next two books. We'll see.
I really enjoyed this book. It is a very different kind of book from [b:Ender's Game 375802 Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1) Orson Scott Card https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408303130s/375802.jpg 2422333]. In many ways, I think that it is better, even if it lacks the action and suspense that made Ender's Game a page-turner. The character development is richer, and the story full of more mystery. The incorporation of Brazilian Portuguese and Catholicism gave the story an anchoring to the present and made the characters feel more tactile.
A fantastic ending to this epic series! At times, this last book was unrelenting and way darker than I had expected. As a series, it was well worth sticking through from start to finish. It feels bittersweet to be done with it now, overwhelming in a way.
A perfect blend of humor and tragedy—depressing, but in an enlightening way, if that makes any sense. The Martian Chronicles presents a very dim view of human society and how we are hellbent on destroying ourselves, which I think has retained its relevancy up to 2019, hence the enlightenment. My favorite story from the collection was “The Earth Men”. As one can expect with Bradbury, the writing and storytelling is phenomenal.
I've been meaning to read BK for a very long time. It was one of the few Russian classics that I hadn't read. Overall, I liked it—I guess for the big ideas. The prosecutor's speech and “après moi, le déluge” in particular really resonated with me. However, BK is not very good fiction: bad pacing, turgid dialogue, horribly unrealistic women characters, and not much plot given the absurd length. There is also a lot of religious dribble, especially in the first half, which I really struggled through. In the end, I'm glad I read BK, and I would generally recommend that people read it at some point, but I doubt I'll ever pick it up again.
Re the translation: I read the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation. I appreciate that they're going for a more literal translation of the Russian. However, I found it annoying that this often resulted in English sentences that are simply ungrammatical (in the formal linguistic sense; e.g. illicit argument structure for the given predicate, violations of the anti-that-trace constraint). Why?
As a reader (or listener in my case), The Way of Kings is a commitment, but it pays off. I would recommend this book to anyone who reads epic fantasy or to anyone who has enjoyed other Sanderson books and can readily place faith in the author to deliver a good story. The plot is incredibly slow at many points, but I found that this slowness made the ending more thrilling and exciting. It feels like a solid foundation for an incredible series, so I look forward to reading the next two published books. Sanderson is a master at world building and creating interesting characters, and these skills show in this book. I particularly enjoyed the storyline with Shallan and Jasnah, a female tutor-advisor relationship, which we don't get to see often in fantasy. I found the character Dalinar a bore at first, but grew to like him and his storyline.
Great novel. It's of course ironic that it's *this* novel that made John Irving famous.
Very thought-provoking and engaging in a way that no other book I've read is. It took me awhile to read it because the prose is complicated and requires undivided attention (a meta-theme of the book). After finishing, I did go back and reread the first chapter (as many blog posts suggested), which really cemented my desire to reread the whole thing (the narrative is chronologically out of order)—but maybe in a year or two. Overall, I'm really, really glad that I finally tackled this book!
Outside my academic work, I almost never read nonfiction, so I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. The essays were interesting and funny. I enjoy DFW's writing style—it's unlike anything else. “Authority and American Usage” was my favorite of the essays, despite categorically disagreeing with some of the arguments re linguistics. Both “Up, Simba” and “Host”, which concern American politics in the early 2000s, are—unfortunately—eerily prophetic.
The premise behind the Helliconia trilogy is interesting and original, but there is very little plot to any of the three books. Aldiss includes detailed notes about the celestial mechanics and the biology of Helliconia, but I wish he would have devoted some of that energy to adding some concrete plot. I found this last book in the trilogy to be the hardest to finish, though it was a great sleep aid.