Sam Messer
An enthralling introduction to Roland and the world of the Dark Tower.
I'm very interested in where the story goes. The man in black's commentary on size is fascinating. I really like the raven Zoltan for some reason.
The Dark Tower will see me trying my hand at reading an entire series back-to-back, and I'm excited at the prospect.
This book was excellent, but not my taste.
Very interesting concepts and fascinating political maneuvering, but written in a largely inaccessible style for a significant part of the book. Le Guin introduces Gethenian concepts and doesn't explain them right away, leaving me very confused a lot of the time.
Cool concept, execution wasn't for me.
Entertaining, but I need more information.
This book was pretty good but incredibly confusing. Erikson introduces so many components of his world and proceeds to explain none of them. Despite the confusion, I was entertained. I have heard that this is the worst of the series, and if that's the case then I look forward to reading the rest.
Very interesting discussion of experimental economics.
This book is decent. Some chapters were more interesting than others, and it really feels more like a collection of essays than a cohesive book.
I appreciate the fact that the authors are not directly prescriptive other than to say one should experiment before big decisions. Too often in “pop” econ books the author lets his/her political views dictate the economics (looking at you, George Mason economists) rather than letting the economic theory speak for itself.
I'm interested in seeing how some of the longer term work described in the book turns out, and would honestly enjoy seeing the chapters on discrimination rewritten to better reflect the current political environment.
A beautifully written reflection on mortality.
Bradbury trades a story-long plot for several shorter stories that are connected in some way to Douglas as he explores his life and mortality. Ultimately not the sort of book I would normally pick up, but nonetheless a very striking portrait of the fleeting nature of time.
“The first thing you learn in life is you're a fool. The last thing you learn in life is you're the same fool”
Incredible story, incredible character development, beautiful writing.
The biggest detractor from this book is how uncomfortable the escape from Its lair was to read. It makes sense in the context of the book and justifies the inclusion of some earlier passages (Beverly's father/Mrs. Kersh), but I can't help but think there was a less disturbing way to do it.
Also, a significant chunk of the Patrick Hostetter story did nothing but make me uncomfortable.
Took an absurd amount of time to read, but I found it worth the investment.
Incredible.
This book was everything I wanted it to be and more. Less broody Rand and more of Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne being badasses. Of course Rand and Mat are wool-headed at the end thinking it's all over (there are still 11 more books!)
I'm really starting to like Perrin, and I'm looking forward to how he evolves in the next books.
Very excited to read book 4.
This is probably my favorite book.
King made me feel so much with this one. Every emotion that he put to the page felt real and I really felt for the characters at all times. I cried and laughed the whole way through. I've heard that King doesn't do endings well, but that absolutely wasn't the case with Duma Key.
A completely satisfying read that I truly loved.
An interesting read on mathematical references in the Simpsons and Futurama.
This book was okay. It's written very accessibly, which unfortunately makes it very slow if you have some level of familiarity with the underlying concepts. It feels like a watered down Mathologer video compilation, but it does touch on some really neat stuff.
Dan Brown has done it again.
Brown weaves together characters that don't behave like real humans, dialogue that is decidedly unnatural, and absurd amounts of pointless information (in not-so-cleverly placed info dumps) into a paradoxically engrossing thriller. Every chapter ends with a cliffhanger because for some reason every character wants to hold onto every last bit of information until the last possible second. One thing that I will give Brown credit for here is that the female lead is not there just for Langdon to ogle, and so she actually is a useful character.
As always, Dan Brown writes utter garbage that is impossible to put down.
An entertaining story that just begins to touch on a seemingly boundless universe.
I really enjoyed Dune. The story was paced well and the underlying themes were woven into the fabric of the tale seamlessly. I feel like I'll need to read this again at some point to fully understand what's going on, and for that reason I can't give it 5 stars.
The world is developed beautifully in this book, with some really interesting ideas for alien races (novel to me, at least). The figments, kitsen, and dione are really neat and I like how Sanderson develops the history of the universe so that a lot of the first book becomes clear.
Incredibly entertaining read, and the only thing I don't like is how long I'll have to wait for the third book.
A fulfilling conclusion that made me cry several times.
Incredibly exciting action and politicking, though bits of it felt unnecessary (Boreas Mun chapter). I like the ambiguity of the ending, but it was achieved in kind of a strange way. I wish the narrative style had stayed consistent throughout the series. Nimue and Condwiramurs are interesting storytellers and it would have been nice for them to be involved from the beginning.
