Victor Hugo Kebbe
First read - March/2013 - Astonished. Speechless. It was the best fantasy book I've ever read.
Second read - February/2014 - Once again, definitely, the fantasy book I've ever read.
Definitely one of the best in The Witcher saga. In this book we meet Cirilla, Princess of Cintra and a special girl who has an amazing power. It was good to see Ciri's early years before The Witcher 3, being a good way to become more immersed in the saga.
Not thrilling as the first installment of X-Wing book series. It seems it could take lesser pages to tell this story, filled with tie ins and explanations of things that happened in the first book. Again, Imperial ranks are composed by the biggest cardboard characters ever made... But it's ok, not the best, but ok.
I really like this book. It is one of the best analyses about Shinto that exist today and deserves to be side by side with the reading of Toshio Kuroda, John Breen, Mark Teeuwen and Bernhardt Scheid.
[b:Dark Tide II: Ruin 320357 Dark Tide II Ruin (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #3) Michael A. Stackpole https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1331429816l/320357.SY75.jpg 1134103] brings us the direct continuation of the events that occurred in the first volume of the Dark Tide duology. [a:Michael A. Stackpole 17739 Michael A. Stackpole https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207602690p2/17739.jpg] manages to keep the pace of the narrative steady, but intense.In this book we have two new interesting points to be added to the political tension present in the first volume. Firstly, we have a growing distension within the Jedi, largely motivated not by divergent philosophical or religious thoughts, but by ego and naivety. Kyp Durron leads a more individualistic and short-sighted faction of the Jedi, while Luke takes a more moderate and cautious stance.One of Durron's followers, Daeshara'cor, ends up being motivated by revenge against the Vong, threatening to build a powerful weapon like the Death Star to put an end to the alien invasion. For those who know the reckless Kyp Durron from [a:Kevin J. Anderson 4845 Kevin J. Anderson https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1215310030p2/4845.jpg]'s Jedi Academy trilogy, the only and best thing I can say is: “like master, like apprentice”.I would like to say that “for the first time our heroes have some secret or McGuffin capable of defeating the Vong”, but that is the constant of each book in the series. Our heroes always manage to contain (at least for now) the invasion, but the costs are extremely high. However, how they do in this book gives us a great sense of satisfaction.The ending, which in turn involves Senator Elegos A'Kla, is quite tragic and, perhaps, one of the darkest moments in Star Wars so far, perhaps comparable to what happens with Chewbacca in [b:Vector Prime 192214 Vector Prime (Star Wars The New Jedi Order, #1) R.A. Salvatore https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412181316l/192214.SX50.jpg 2799032] (in my honest opinion, what happens to A'Kla is even worse).I don't need to say that this is a duology and it only makes sense to read both books to have a better reading and entertainment experience. [a:Michael A. Stackpole 17739 Michael A. Stackpole https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207602690p2/17739.jpg] doesn't disappoint and I guarantee it's hours of frantic fun.
One of the best books I read in 2016. It has everything, and it was an amazing coincidence with my latest post doctoral research on the Japanese ancestor worship. It's a beautiful tale, beautiful.
Another excellent book by [a:Ursula K. Le Guin 874602 Ursula K. Le Guin https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg]. Here she brings a more adult Ged/Sparrowhawk to the narrative, a fantastic unfolding of what she accomplished in the previous two books. You can notice the growth of the character Ged, now in his winter and on the edge of the land without sun.In a similar manner to the second book, [b:The Tombs of Atuan 13662 The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2) Ursula K. Le Guin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1166571534s/13662.jpg 1322146], Ged gets to the aid of another character, the immature and passionate Arren/Lebannen, teaching him important lessons about life and death. The end of the book is impressive, showing how [a:Ursula K. Le Guin 874602 Ursula K. Le Guin https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg] knows how to keep the pace, style and the raise an amazing climax such as seen in the previous books, [b:A Wizard of Earthsea 13642 A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1) Ursula K. Le Guin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1353424536s/13642.jpg 113603] and [b:The Tombs of Atuan 13662 The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2) Ursula K. Le Guin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1166571534s/13662.jpg 1322146]. A classic, and a must read for all fantasy fans.
I've just finished Jack McDevitt's Engines of God... it's such a remarkable book (and the first installment of Priscilla Hutchins book series) and I was appalled from the beginning to the end, especially the finale. I came across a list of books similar to the Mass Effect series and was extremely interested in the work of McDevitt. It predates Mass Effect in so many years and it's quite intriguing.
A beautiful tale, bringing an engaging story from the beginning to the end. Ursula Le Guin proves again to be an experienced writer... I loved the mention of Clay on who taught him wizardry...
It's an interesting adventure, considering that we don't have no new Deep Space Nine stories for a long, long time now. I'd like to see something more epic, like the Dominion, Cardassian, Klingon or Romulan plots than this one about scoundrels coming from all over the place to DS9. I did like the artwork, but some facial expressions are too exaggerated sometimes. I did never see Sisko with a bloodlust face... but it was nice, to read a new DS9 adventure...
It was a very enjoyable reading experience, and a great piece of entertainment .But only that. I was hooked since the beginning, most because Scalzi has a fairly straightforward writing style, fluid and his sense of humor is very funny.
After the disappointment I had in reading Star Wars Aftermath (Chuck Wendig) I decided to move my eyes to one of the classic novels of the Expanded Universe, X-Wing Rogue Squadron (Bantam, 1996) by Michael Stackpole. Today the book belongs to the LEGENDS brand and, despite not being canonical anymore, it has an engaging story.
I'm talking about the most famous starfighter squad of the Rebel Alliance. These heroes were present in the decisive moments of the Alliance battle against the Galactic Empire, as in the clashes of the First Death Star, Hoth and Endor.
Michael Stackpole led this series of 10 books (in partnership with Aaron Alston). For the first time in the history of Star Wars we had books not focused in the heroic axis Leia- Luke-Han. The proposal was to bring adventures such as in that Top Gun movie, without the political discussion of the episodes I, II and III (at that time still in embryonic stage) and without the fantastic-religious motto of the Jedi, the Force and the Dark Side. X-Wing tells stories about regular guys dedicated to the elimination of the evil Galactic Empire, as fighters and defenders of Freedom and Justice.
In this book Commander Wedge Antilles rebuilds the famous squad for the New Republic (six years after the Battle of Yavin), now having to consider the political importance of the group to the newly aligned planets. Sponsored by Admiral Ackbar, Antilles requests the aid of former squad member, Captain Tycho Celchu. Quickly he meets starfighter aces such as Corran Horn from Corellia and Gavin Darklighter from Tatooine.
As a Symbol of the Rebel Alliance and now the New Republic, the Rogue Squadron is always assigned to the main (and most dangerous) missions against the Empire, now in the hands of Ysanne Isard. Isard chooses the intelligence agent Kirtan Loor to track and destroy the squad throughout the first book.
Despite being a book that tells the story of the squad itself, we have as protagonist the former agent of CorSec (Intelligence Agency and Corellia Security) Corran Horn. Well written and with a very dynamic pace, the reader is presented with numerous fantastic maneuvers, and various adventures set against the Empire.
Focused on action, in Rogue Squadron we can observe the perilous political landscape of the New Republic, now in the hands of influential leaders such as the bothans Borsk Fey'lya in the Provisional Government and General Kre'Fey in the military. The shattered Empire continues its powerful incursions and attacks in the galaxy, being a huge threat to the new order.
Very engaging and a must-read for any fan of Star Wars, Rogue Squadron unfortunately suffers the same disease from almost all of the saga books (with the exception of Timothy Zahn): a “cardboard villain” Syndrome. With the aforementioned exception of Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade, both characters created by Zahn, Ysanne Isard and Kirtan Loor play the roles of bad guys just because they're “bad”, without any depth and more interesting motivations. These characters are not Sith or Force sensitive to the dark side to be evil “evil”, but only people with a thirst for power and, in the words of Han Solo, with delusions of grandeur.
However, Rogue Squadron is a very entertaining book, keeping the same spirit of episodes IV, V and VI. I read the books in the series in their respective release years and this re-read brought me a lot of nostalgia.
Neuromancer is one of my favorite books, which I have read and reread over the past two decades.
I really like the cyberpunk genre of Science Fiction, with Neuromancer being one of the fathers or founders of “the movement” (I can't leave Mirrorshades aside, nor other seminal Gibson tales that are there in Burning Chrome...).
Neuromancer has it all. A lot of younger people don't like or even don't understand the vision we had of the future in the 1980s. The Matrix and Cyberspace were just some of our fantasies of the future. It is “curious” that nowadays any child has access to this universe on a tablet, accessing the Matrix while sitting on the sofa in the living room.
Gibson's writing is incredibly vivid. The way he play with words has, in my opinion, its apex in Johnny Mnemonic, earlier work, but Neuromancer also contains these characteristics.
I also like the characters and how they live in this nihilistic madness so characteristic of cyberpunk. Call me nostalgic, but that's the truth.
For Science Fiction lovers, Neuromancer is a must-read. Gibson reset those old sci-fi standards. Contrary to what many can say, cyberpunk remains very relevant and far from dead. Long live the Neuromancer.
I just finished rereading Star Wars – The New Jedi Order: Onslaught. I don't know if it's because I've read this book several times in the past, but it definitely brings a warmth in the heart. I really like the way [a:Michael Stackpole 19077986 Michael Stackpole https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] writes and makes us feel at home. I really like the way he approaches the main characters and makes the reader feel connected with the Solo brothers.It is worth saying that, despite being a small book, a lot happens! There are several scenes and adventures and all equally important. [a:Michael Stackpole 19077986 Michael Stackpole https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] has always known how to balance and tell the narrative in an agile way. It's no surprise that he's one of the big names in the Expanded Universe, mainly due to the books in the X-Wing series.One of the main points of the book is about the political tension involving the New Republic. Despite having lived alongside the great heroes of the Rebel Alliance, the current politicians presented in this story seem much more concerned with personal agendas than with the political stability and security of the new government. Apparently, pettiness and smallness still haunt the world enough for people to forget the atrocities done by the Empire (it's a very current issue in our real world, considering I'm writing this in the beginning of the XXI century).I really liked Luke Skywalker's initiative in creating reconnaissance missions led by cells of Jedi Knights. Each group has its own adventures and series of difficulties, but gathering information that will be important in the end. Of these, I really like Luke's trip with Jacen Solo to Belkadan, when they really begin to realize the size of the problem and the threat that the Vong are. Bioengineering was one of the major themes of Science Fiction in the 1990s and is very well represented here.It is a book that has no philosophical depth. Despite touching on sensitive topics (environmental issues, our current relationship with technology, recurring family issues, etc.), it does not promote any deeper discussion about any of it. That is not and has never been the goal of any Star Wars movie/comic/book, but it is a fun book after all.
I read [b:Coraline 17061 Coraline Neil Gaiman https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327871014s/17061.jpg 2834844], [b:Neverwhere 14497 Neverwhere Neil Gaiman https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348747943s/14497.jpg 16534], [b:Stardust 16793 Stardust Neil Gaiman https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328433738s/16793.jpg 3166179], [b:The Graveyard Book 2213661 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1303859949s/2213661.jpg 2219449], [b:The Ocean at the End of the Lane 15783514 The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351914778s/15783514.jpg 21500681] and [b:Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch 12067 Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch Terry Pratchett https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1392528568s/12067.jpg 4110990] before [b:American Gods 4407 American Gods (American Gods, #1) Neil Gaiman https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1258417001s/4407.jpg 1970226] and, definitely, this one is the best. Its similarities with Sandman make this book even better than I expected, full of sophisticated discussions that I missed in his other books. I enjoyed a lot the use of Mythologies, one overlapping the other, showing the complex tapestry that is the human mind.
I've read other titles from the Cyberpunk 2077 series, released by Dark Horse Comics, and I definitely have my favorite. Your Voice has a broken, fragmented narrative, however, a connoisseur of the Cyberpunk 2020 RPG and its other iterations such as Cyberpunk RED and the videogame Cyberpunk 2077 will be able to recognize iconic characters and references in this volume.
What caught my attention the most was the impressive artwork. I've read several comic books that call themselves cyberpunk, but this is one of the few, alongside Ghost in the Shell, that manage to bring graphic, aggressive (PUNK) and incredibly beautiful art. It was definitely one of the surprises of 2022.