Steve
DNF. An intriguing premise, however this feels very self-published. A session with a good editor would transform this from a nice idea to a solid book. As it stands, the prose is often torturous, so much so that I was frequently being thrown out of the story. I am at a loss to understand the number of 5 star reviews, however I guess some people have a higher tolerance for unpolished writing. There may well be a great story in here, but the entry barrier was too high for me. A generous 3 stars, since I feel there is something interesting here, it is just unfortunate that I couldn't discover it.
Sub-Becky Chambers musings on life and death, framed by a mission to discover clues to a mysterious world-ending terror. This felt very much driven by the musings, and less by the mission. A lot of the scenes were very under/badly described and I often found myself having to re-read sections in an attempt to picture what the author was trying to describe. Plus, the cat may be cute, but who the hell takes a cat on dangerous missions into uncharted territory? And let's not talk about the science (an asteroid is not a meteor, and an air tank being low on air does not leave you short of breath).
A bit more humour may have made this more satisfying, but towards the end I did start to read diagonally. Go read To Be Taught, if Fortunate instead.
If you've got this far in the series, you know what to expect: blisteringly-paced space battles. This one felt ever more kinetic than the previous ones. Personally I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes (although slightly concerned about how far the ante can be upped before it starts to really strain credibility).
Hmm. After reading and loving The Great Gatsby, I was looking forward to reading this, however I don't think it is coherent enough to reach those heights. Despite this, there are flashes of brilliance (hence the 4 stars) - I just wish it was able to maintain them throughout.
The first third of this book is an evocative portrayal of the life of a group of American upper and upper-middle class people on the French Riviera in the 1920's, at the cusp of it becoming a summer tourist destination (the implication being that these people made it the destination it became). The description of the interactions and dinner parties are enthralling.
After this however, it descends into a far less involving description of the evolution of the main couple's relationship. It also has a habit of switching through multiple viewpoints almost in the same paragraph, which is distracting. I also suspect that the language and context has not aged well, which makes some of the events that are meant to be important seem remarkably trivial (an alcoholic is largely signposted by their occasional faux-pas at parties, when a more modern reading would probably require something more significant). Most of the characters also seem deeply unsympathetic, which makes it hard to care about them.
I suspect you might get more from this if you are deeply familiar with F. Scott Fitzgerald's life story, since, after reading up further, it is apparent that this is obviously meant to be semi-autobiographical.
This is indeed better than the first one: slightly less unexpected violence, much better dialogue and more explanation. Having said that, it still seems on the slow side - there is a lot of wandering between the revelations. I am also now slightly concerned that the unfinished series is 4 books long without a conclusion in sight (book 4 was published 20 years ago!). This is giving GRRM vibes.
Still, the hook is enough to make me to add book 3 to my TBR. Fingers crossed book 5 makes an appearance by the time I get to book 4...
This is an odd book. On one level a fun, fantasy noir that's a quick read. On the other, a really odd writing style that feels more like instructions in a D&D game; very much “tell, don't show”. The story is such that I'm tempted to read the next in the series to see if the writing improves, but otherwise I found it a little off-putting.
