Joel Hill

This is the best “not good” book that I actually wanted to finish. It's weird, it has all the ingredients of an awesome sci-fi story but it just kind of misses the mark.

The action sequences were not super well described, the sci-fi concepts were neat at a surface level but not well explored, and the murder mystery angle kind of just meanders along without a compelling conclusion. It felt like ideas, characters and plotlines were casually introduced and discarded and then the book ends.

It might click with other people, but if you're not super into it by the first chunk it doesn't really get better.

I'm a big fan of The Martian and I heard good things about this one so I was ready to fall in love with another sci-fi engineering thriller. It's good... But it has some flaws that I think drag it down:

1. Every character feels the same. They're all slightly different versions of the narrator, and I found the narrator to be kind of one dimensional.

2. The plot is a little lazy at times! I don't want to spoil much, but the author tends to wave a magic wand and solve problems for the main character when they become inconvenient for the story he's trying to tell.

I don't know... I liked it, but it feels unpolished or maybe a little rushed. It did have a lot of cool ideas and there are some unexpected plot points that are cool if you don't get them spoiled for you. Very solid 3/5 for me. Worth the read, but don't expect greatness!

This book was dense!

It's so difficult to sum up everything else the story covers. Gender and sexuality is front and center since the Gethenians are a human species that do not have a static sexuality and the author has done an amazing job of building two societies of people that are very different from each other and from us.

On top of gender and sexuality, it also takes place on an ice age planet with a drastically different ecosystem from our own, and the Gethenians have developed some really advanced technologies to cope with their climate, while also ignoring entire fields of study. It gives some really cool alternate history vibes that I really enjoyed reading about.

It's also one of the best examples (that I can think of) of a story where you can read it twice and have two different experiences. Gethenian politics and rhetoric is all about subtly and many of the early conversations will read completely differently after gaining a better understanding of shifgrethor (their honor system).

It's probably not for everyone... it's a slower read and I think very character driven, but if you can get through the earlier parts and get comfortable with the onslaught of new words and concepts it's very rewarding.

I'm really glad I read this book, and it's going to be an excellent source of conversation at book club!

Pretty great!! Loved the short story per chapter format and how each character's tale also unraveled more of the overall plot and details about the book's universe.

I'd like to read the rest of the series but it's a big commitment so I might take a break to read other stuff.

Hey look at me! I finished Frankenstein!

I almost don't want to rate this book. It's clearly fantastically written and an essential classic. Everyone should read it!

Having said that, I found myself pushing my way through the story at the end, and I really just hate Victor Frankenstein. He's a spoiled little jackass.

3/5 stars for me, but with a deep respect for the literature and with a full understanding of how this could be 5/5 for others. Glad I read it!!

As a near middle aged mediocre white man this book really spoke to me.

Seriously though, it did! Powerful and beautifully written. Cannot recommend enough for other boring dudes trapped in their own heads most of the time!

Hopefully this isn't too much of a spolier, but I really couldn't get past Billy's relationship with Alice. It didn't feel like a believable connection considering how they meet, and I don't think King wrote her as a well rounded character. It felt very much like she was a prop to make Billy a hero and at times it was even a little creepy.

Honestly I'm really confused as to how this book has so many high ratings. It's far from his best work. Not a bad book by any means, but not great either? It still had a solid ending though and I'm glad I finished it.

Actually read this a while ago and forgot to update my status. Also forget a lot about the book but I think I liked it?

What can I say? Ninth and final book in my favorite series. Such a bittersweet ending and a perfect final chapter.

I'm going to miss these characters

I don't want to spoil many of my thoughts since I'll be discussing in book club. I'll just say enjoyed it, but it did make some storytelling choices that really hampered my enthusiasm. Can't wait to talk about it. Might be closer to a 3.5/5?

I actually finished this a while ago and forgot to update Goodreads.

This is honestly such a hard book to boil down to a simple number. I found the plot to be slow and maybe even a little uninteresting, however the plot was almost irrelevant though since most of what was interesting in Sufferance was Jeremiah's perspective on the world. He had cynical and sarcastic view that I found to be mostly really funny but also incredibly depressing at times. I didn't care what happened next, but I was always looking forward to seeing what Mr. Camp thought of it.

Not my favorite book and I might hesitate to recommend it to others, but I REALLY want to read more from Thomas King.

I feel bad ragging on a book club pic and a story about a holocaust survivor... But damn, this really isn't a good book. The writing is bland and somehow manages to suck all emotion out of what could have been an engaging story.

If you want a holocaust story look somewhere else

I actually finished this a while ago and forgot to update Goodreads. Good book and great bookclub discussion followed!

It might be a 3/5 but the description of the characters learning about the concept of reading was a 5/5. Read as a part of a book club and it was an amazing book for creating great discussions.

It's not perfect, but if you're a fan of dystopian SCIFI you should give it a shot!

I'M DONE. FINALLY.

This book was my white whale this year, it took me so long get through and I almost didn't finish in 2020. I really enjoyed it though!

If you liked the Way of Kings then you'll also really enjoy this one. The cast of characters is amazing, there really isn't a single person that was a drag to read about. The story also keeps an excellent pace and actually ties up a number of lose ends from the first book.

The only issue with Words of Radiance is essentially what was “wrong” with The Way of Kings: it throws a ton of lore at you and you need to be okay with not knowing what the big picture is. Once you're invested in the characters and their adventures you'll be pulled through the bits that don't make sense or maybe go over your head.

Damn, this really was a great book!

Out of the 4 stories, I loved one of them (Rat), really liked another (If It Bleeds), and found the other two to be just alright. They all held my interest well though.

Word of warning, your milage may vary with this collection if you have not read The Outsider or Mr. Mercedes. If It Bleeds, the longest of the 4 stories, is a sort of continuation of those books.

Overall, yeah it was fun :)

This was really great! The first volume appears to be not much more than an introduction to the world and a few of the characters, but it was a wild ride and not quite like anything else I've read in a while. Looking forward to the next volume!

An interesting start to what could have been a great evolution for the Turtles. But then it goes in a weird direction....

Peak ninja turtles right here.

Bad turtles book. Just.... bad. Bad bad bad.

The writing is not great. The art is not great. At this point I was still interested in where it could go though.

If you like comics and you like ninja turtles then this is a must read. I picked up the first issue for a friend and read it myself before delivering it and now I'm totally hooked. 90's nostalgia helps, but I think it stands on it's own as well if you didn't grow up with TMNT.

Okay, I'm all in on David Foster Wallace! I actually went in to this set of essays with little to no knowledge about Tennis and very little interest in the sport. Despite my previous indifference the author kept me invested from cover to cover.

I don't know if I'd recommend this to everyone. It's not exactly thrilling, and it's dense with facts and footnotes that were sometimes overwhelming.

Overall I'd say this collection is like a long road trip with the author. He takes you on a journey through a place he loves and points out all the important bits along the way. Parts of it are a slog and you just need to get through them because you have a destination he wants you to get to, but overall the journey is something you look back on fondly and really there was no other way to get where you were going anyway.

Anyway, yeah, 5/5 and I want more.

Its so hard to sum up why this book is 5 stars for me, I just loved it.

I need time to think, and if I have more to say later on I'll add it here.

Quite agreeable!

Its an excellent story and it deserves all of the praise it receives. I'm glad I'm in a book club that put this in front of me because I never would have read it otherwise! I've now read the book, watched the movie, and watched the BBC series and it's all great.

I've rated it on the low end because as good as it was, I REALLY struggled to get through the book. There's a language barrier akin to reading Shakespeare, and I eventually had to abandon the written text in favour of an audio book. I enjoyed it, but it was work.

All in all, I'm a fan of the story but I don't think I'll be diving into other Jane Austen works any time soon.