Victor Hugo Kebbe
I really liked this new beginning. They're reigniting those old and gold grand Star Wars epic sagas from the Expanded Universe, and that's great.
The best part is when Vader finally kills Zed Six Seven, the most annoying droid in the galaxy.
This comic book reminds me why I don't like Star Wars comic books. This urge to connect all the dots of what happened in the movies is what makes these comics silly sometimes.
I just read #StarWars TIE Fighter, after reading Alexander Fred's Alphabet Squadron. It was a “cross event” marketing campaign by Marvel Comics and Del Rey, which I expected to fill some gaps regarding the book.
While Alphabet Squadron has an amazing story and it is such an amazing homage to X-Wing book series, TIE Fighter is quite dull and reminded me why I wasn't reading mainstream comics anymore (by the way, if you want to read some Star Wars comics, go to Dark Horse titles instead of Marvel; they did know what they're doing).
TIE Fighter has this story, it seems written with haste. It's impossible to feel connected or to sympathize with any of its characters, which is a shame. And I'm really sad to say this, but it has also an inconstant art, ranging from beautiful covers to low budget comic book publishers.
It is extremely upsetting when you finish reading a book so enjoyable as Aaron Mahnke's “The World of Lore” (despite its obvious flaws) and begin a book on the same subject that is dubious and is praised not only by the critics but also by academia. I can say that after three chapters, I find myself exhausted (if not annoyed) at reading Ghostlands. The succession of poor casuistic analysis to support a notorious skepticism depreciate all the interlocutors - already deceased - presented in this book. There is a clear pedantry in treating these people as victims of society or circumstances. At this point I do not even go further to discuss the existence or non-existence of the paranormal: even without resorting to supernatural explanations (because of his manifest skepticism), the author offers a reading that, although it is said to be multidisciplinary and in-depth, is contrastingly reductionist. When trying to debunk the paranormal discourses - seem here as cultural discourses only, socially constructed - the author does the same, creating a new set of cultural discourses which are equally socially constructed.
Re-read, a classic that says a lot not only about the Tea Ceremony and teaism, but Japanese Culture.
I do really love this setting. For me, Faerûn and Icewind Dale are almost the same thing. It was my second campaign there, considering the huge hiatus of 10 years between them (2006-2016).
It's an adventure module I adapted to be a whole campaign, which took 3 years to be finished (12/2019).
It would be great to DM this one again.
After several years I did return to the roleplaying games, especially, Dungeons & Dragons. One of my favorite campaign settings over there is Forgotten Realms, known because of its diversity and how it portraits the best of High Fantasy tropes (and, of course, its clichés). But of all Forgotten Realms, I've always liked Icewind Dale.
Icewind Dale has this name because of the unrelenting snow storms and the harsh life style at the faerûnian tundra. The Ten-Towns can be seen as the last bastion of human civilization in the end of the world, beyond the mountains of the Spine of the World and far from the luxurious and vivid cities of the south.
The Crystal Shard was the first time we get to know better Icewind Dale and its people, introducing a Dungeons & Dragons/Forgotten Realms adventure in a new way. The first time I read this book, I found it rather dull. In that time I found the characters hallow and superficial, with equally weak motivations. However, during my second reading of the series, I was able to have more fun leaving all those expectations aside.
The Crystal Shard is a simple, fast and plain reading, without great pretensions. Do not expect a great classic of the Fantasy genre, but rather a fun story that is able to entertain the reader for several hours, and maybe that was the author's goal when he wrote this classic in the 1980s.
We have the first appearance of Drizzt Do'Urden, Bruenor, Wulfgar, Regis and Cattie-Brie, characters well known in the world of roleplaying games. My impression is that the book has two main arcs, the first being the introduction of the characters, at a quite different pace than what happens in the second half of the book. Although loosely connected, the second part of the book presents an epic adventure to save the towns of Icewind Dale.
In this sense, I find problematic to read this book as a single story, because it is in the second part of the book that we have several elements of action that will unfold in the other books in the series. The way the author introduced the characters in the first half of the book might have been done differently.
However, The Crystal Shard entertained me a lot in the last few days, which was quite differently from the first time I read it, several years ago. If you're looking for a simple and fast reading Fantasy book, surely this is a good choice. I could clearly see that the narrative in this book is very similar to an RPG adventure, with its various heroes completing different missions (the adventures) for a larger purpose (the campaign).
Great fun! All those Codas stuff, it is just ok, but the main plot, awesome. Great fun, nice homage to Star Trek, amazing plot twists. Yeah!
It was certainly an enjoyable reading experience. The main and side characters are all lovely (maybe except for that Ambrose) and I must confess I was in love with Fela (I hate you, Denna, ahah!). Kvothe, with the help of the Chronicler, has lots and lots of stories to tell, all dense, some of them lovely, some of them quite sad.
Patrick Rothfuss has a beautiful prose, what made me feel hooked since the beginning. It's not a five star book to me because of the “excess” of the magic system. I know it's because of the writer's background and I know there are lots of fantasy fans who loves these articulated magic systems, but I think there is something wrong when you're having Chemistry classes in a Fantasy book. Not because I find it boring (that's me; I respect those ones who likes it and I admire a lot Patrick Rothfuss), but because it tries to make a fantastic world/reality more cartesian and rational such as ours, inputing a way of seeing the world that is quite particular to our one, with artificial rules and abstract laws of understanding/comprehending the Reality (or realities, if I may tease you).
Also, the boundaries that defines Fantasy and Science Fiction are quite well known because of the scientific approach and, well, I'm not reading a Sci Fi book... Thinking about Todorov's words on this, I find it quite problematic, especially when the reader are not becoming amazed, sometimes shocked and entangled with the Fantastic. What is and where is the Fantastic after all?
Despite this review (which I find pivotal, if not harsh, when discussing the Fantastic), I did have a great time reading this book. I found myself singing the songs all the way! I already bought the sequel, anxious to read it. Well done, Patrick!
Ok... Just ok. If you wanna know a little bit more about Laura Palmer's personality and some of the, reasons prior the events of Twin Peaks, ok, it's a book for you. But I must warn that it's totally unnecessary... Gladly, it's a short book, it took 3 hours to read.
I totally forgot that I did read this book once, two years ago. That's bad, because it showed me how this book did not affect me regarding the Star Trek TNG lore. It has a good storyline and Vornholt knows how to make the reader engaged, but it's not enough... Unfortunately, it's just like a regular episode of the TV series, not one of those important that we remember for years and years...
[b:Assassin's Apprentice 45107 Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1) Robin Hobb http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320339497s/45107.jpg 171715] is definitely one of the best books I read this year. The narrative does not depend on any commercial appeal such as several known titles... Finally, [a:Robin Hobb 25307 Robin Hobb http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1205023525p2/25307.jpg] knows how to lead the story of a very elegant way. Despite being written in a slow pace, [b:Assassin's Apprentice 45107 Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1) Robin Hobb http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320339497s/45107.jpg 171715] has richly drawn characters in a captivating storyline. Awesome, definitely one of my favorites.
It was an interesting book, introducing an important jedi character in the same way they did with Mara Jade, Kyp Durron or even with Kyle Katarn. Now we have the honor to meet the starfighter ace Corran Horn in his journey to become a Jedi Knight. To do so, he must find his wife, Mirax Terrik, who has disappeared on a secret mission. By the way, this book follows the events of Kevin Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy, but from the perspective of Horn (which is nice, for the remembrance).
I think there are several similarities between Horn and Katarn: they aren't jedi at the beginning and they must find and deal with their inner selves to finish their jedi training. Katarn is the most independent character I've ever seen (he doesn't even need the aid of Master Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi; his hero's journey is quite odd and very interesting in the same way)... Corran seeks Luke at the beginning, but becomes quite dissatisfied with his jedi training: he's desperate to find the missing Mirax... by the way, such a cool name, uh, Mirax?
It's not the best book I've ever read, but it's quite entertaining and well written (a fast read and definitely better than the Dark Forces comic book/audiobook trilogy, if you want to compare with Katarn's journey). Written in first person, it seems a jedi pupil personal diary (without being tacky), which is... unusual if we take all the other Star Wars books by comparison, but introduces new dynamics and possibilities for the reader to understand the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
When talking about Star Wars books, well, I must confess that Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole are ma favorites, so... But anyway, nice read, lot of fun.
Spoilers ahead!
Definitely one of the finest Star Wars books... but I believe I like the continuation most. I like Zahn's new characters, such as Talon Carrde, Mara Jade and Garm Bel Iblis and I believe he's did a great job with Fey'lya.
Nonetheless, I think that Zahn could have killed someone or put the Empire in advantage at the end of this book, just like the Empire Strikes Back, to motivate the reader to continue the reading... You know what happens with the Katana Fleet, C'Baoth is gaining power and Thrawn loses an Imperial Star Destroyer... and what else? Where to go? I'm not suggesting a rehash, but I think it lacks that nice cliffhanger at the end...
An amazing book, indeed. All that issues regarding the power of naming people, animals and things were just amazing, hiding a powerful message about the language and Linguistics. In a land where the real or true names are so precious, the “magic power” only can be the power of... naming the world around us, giving meaning to our surroundings from the moment we are born until we die! That's awesome, somehow and indirectly a beautiful homage to the Levi Strauss' Structuralism or, perhaps more important, a beautiful homage to the Language itself.
Spoilers ahead!
A fine beginning, but that's all. After reading it a lot of times, I feel quite disapointed with the first book, maybe because Zahn is almost building a “new Star Wars trilogy” and is introducing the new characters (despite being a lot of times better than the new movie trilogy...). I definitely prefer the third book in this book cycle, “The Last Command”.
This is definitely one of the best Fantasy books ever written... It is a beautiful homage to [a:J.R.R. Tolkien 656983 J.R.R. Tolkien http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1329870573p2/656983.jpg]'s [b:The Lord Of The Rings 15369 The Lord Of The Rings (Radio Collection) J.R.R. Tolkien http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1166672332s/15369.jpg 3462456], showing how amazing and powerful is the Guy Kay's knowledge on Mythology, Fantasy and Tolkien's works. [b:The Summer Tree 104086 The Summer Tree (The Fionavar Tapestry, #1) Guy Gavriel Kay http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348810485s/104086.jpg 3238632] has not the same flowery prose as seen in [b:Tigana 104089 Tigana Guy Gavriel Kay http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348738842s/104089.jpg 1907200], but Guy Kay certainly knows how to write in a beautiful way.I confess that it took a while to be hooked. At the beginning it's a little bit hard to believe in the five main characters, the university students Paul, Kevin, Dave, Kimberly and Jennifer. But as soon as we see the narrative being brightly woven, we can also observe the amazing growth of these characters. Guy Kay knows how to touch the reader who wants, for a while, to be a fantasy hero in a different world. Well done, well done, Guy Kay... now I'm getting ready for the next book, [b:The Wandering Fire 104088 The Wandering Fire (The Fionavar Tapestry, #2) Guy Gavriel Kay http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348816263s/104088.jpg 1136221].
It was an interesting reading, but I was struggling to reach the end. I don't know, but after more than 1000 pages, I was becoming quite exhausted with Kay's style, lengthy, lengthy... I was gladly hooked again at the end, a fine conclusion for the saga. It's a must read for those interested not just in epic fantasy genre, but because it is a beautiful homage to Tolkien legacy.
Mind blowing – I’m still seriously thinking about this book. It was clearly a long journey, brightened with several very impressive ideas. Perhaps this is the great merit of Revelation Space, that of bringing an almost infinite succession of impressive ideas in stunning and richly detailed and imaginative scenarios. If I keep thinking about the book, even after it’s finished, I think it’s a quality to be noticed.
However, the book is also marked by the author’s truncated writing. For me it was clear that Reynolds likes to “show and not tell”, which seems like an interesting idea (and very overvalued these days). However, Speculative Fiction books (such as Fantasy and Science Fiction) still depend a little on a more traditional approach, just when the book brings so many innovative ideas. For many and over again I saw myself rereading some excerpts and wondering if I had lost something in the middle of the way.
Some readers complained that the author is long-winded and that the book could be smaller in relation to the number of pages. I don’t consider this a problem at all. However, the author could have been a little clearer and more direct in presenting some of his ideas, but I understand that it is a matter of style.
The first book I read by Carrie Fisher was [b:Wishful Drinking 4961048 Wishful Drinking Carrie Fisher https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347698159s/4961048.jpg 5026857], a work in which she exposes herself in a very sincere and passionate way. From then on, I gained a deep admiration for the actress, realizing that she has faced good and bad times throughout her life.Because of her tragic death last year, I decided to read [b:The Princess Diarist 26025989 The Princess Diarist Carrie Fisher https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1482921522s/26025989.jpg 45949491] and, once again, I “met” Carrie Fisher in her rather intimate writing, not only revealing an old diary from her days in Star Wars IV, but also punctuating a few other moments of her trajectory as an actress and as the personification of Princess Leia Organa.The book is very interesting, being a very sincere and harsh telling of her life experience. Fisher acknowledges to have been quite insecure in the mid-1970s', a point that has affected her in subsequent years. As I began to accompany the actress on social networks, I realized that her long learning process lasted until the last day of her life. One of the last tweets of the actress was about the critics of the fans about her aging and the arduous passage of time.The book is very beautiful, especially when the actress shows her reflections about her aging, her relationship with her mother, her relationship with Star Wars fans and, most interestingly, her relationship with Princess Leia, always punctuated by several behind-the-scenes photos. The ending is quite sad, marked by another very emblematic photo of the actress's career.I was quite saddened by the end of reading, feeling that we all lost a great human being, very sensitive and who still had much to teach us much more about humanity.
Masterpiece
It's the definitive source for Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back. It's better than any DVD/Bluray Extras, with detailed information about the making of of one of the best movies ever made.
Unlike the previous book (Mass Effect - Revelation), it took a long time to be (loosely) hooked by this one, with such a poor plot. If in the previous book you didn't have to know the Mass Effect lore, this one unfortunately requires that the reader must know about what happened in the first game, showing an adventure that just touches some major events of the ME storyline. Sometimes it seems it was hastly written, showing that the pace and rhythm was not the same all the time. I was disappointed because I felt that sometimes the reader is required to complete the gaps by himself, or worse, forced to believe in very implausible hooks.
Such as “Revelation”, “Ascension” is loosely characterized as a sci fi book, without exploring - once again - all the possibilities of this huge scenario. It's just a detective/thriller story with spaceships and aliens, that's all.
I feel really sad finishing this book. It was a long journey, it was such a great book that now I'm feeling empty. Oh Jabber, oh gods.
My favorite quote:
“They had never been each other. They had never been doing the same thing. Perhaps it was only chance that they had traveled together so far.”
The third book in the New Jedi Order series was a very frustrating reading experience. As I had promised myself that I would read all the books in this arc, I ended up reading it after several attempts. I felt bogged down at several moments. It took a while for the reading to flow satisfactorily. Later I listened to the audiobook to remember some events to write this review.
Honestly, I have mixed feelings regarding James Luceno's writing. The verbose and encyclopedic writing style ends up becoming obstacles to a more fluid or organic narrative. At some times it seems that the author's concern is to talk about the origins of the “Corellian Bloodstripes” in Han Solo's pants instead of focusing on really important topics.
As I said previously, it is not and has never been the objective of Star Wars to debate serious topics, despite them appearing in the text and moving the narrative. The book presents the struggle of the New Republic (or rather, just a few people from the New Republic, like Ambassador Leia Organa Solo) to help the various waves of refugees from the war against the Vong. This is an urgent topic that is present in our real world.
This book also provides closure to Chewbacca's death. Finally Han Solo abandons his depressive stance and decides to embody something more nihilistic. He is our hero without purpose, however, he forgets his role as a father and husband and abandons his family at such a critical moment, which is the scenario of war.
This Solo narrative about the “need to find balance” is portrayed in the book in a controversial way. Leia is presented as the always compliant and understanding woman/mother, ignoring her own more pressing needs. This is a sexist reading and unfortunately quite common in the franchise's books during the 1990s (after all, the vast majority of these books were written by men).
Another problem with this book (but perhaps it was my expectation redirected to the wrong place) is that I imagined we would have a more in-depth presentation of the religious dimension of the Vong. I say this because the main villains in this book are Vong priests and acolytes. However, this is all presented shallowly and without depth (it was a missed opportunity).
To conclude, I read this book for the first time very recently, but I didn't remember almost anything that was written. I went to listen to the audiobook as if I were encountering this title for the first time. This feeling left me quite disappointed and says a lot about this installment.