Random
Such an enjoyable book and so pleasant to read. I can't believe this is the author's first book. I hope to see more from her soon. She's definitely one of my favorite authors now. :)
As far as ratings go, this is more accurately a 4.5 than a 4, but I didn't choose 5 for one reason.
(Mild alluded to spoiler below)
My only complaint is the ending. I feel the afterward was unnecessary and too blatantly hinted at something I feel was best left with a lighter hint. This is a minor nitpick, but I tend to enjoy things better when I feel I have caught the neat trick at the end instead of having it tossed in my face. The ending prior to the afterward was the neat trick, but the afterward tossed it into my face.
Even with my minor nitpick above, this is still an excellent book and I recommend it to everyone.
-edit-
I have since reevaluated my rating. While the mentioned nitpick is still a nitpick and the 4.5 rating accurate for my opinion, I feel it is unfair of me to down rate it for such a minor reason. Looking at the other books I have rated 5 stars, this one is every bit as deserving as the rest.
-end edit-
I should also add, I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did an excellent job and was so fitting for the subject matter. If you enjoy audiobooks and are considering Redemption in Indigo, go for the audio.
Reread. This book is actually better than I remembered. Since I've been having a marathon of the series from first to present (publication order), I'm realizing how much I missed the first time around (I initially read these as they first came out). The concepts in the two halves are an interesting mirror/contrast to one another.
While many of the Skolian Empire books seem to be stand alone, you miss so much depth if you haven't read the other books. I don't recommend reading this without having read The Radiant Seas at the least.
Somewhat torn on this book. I feel for something which claims to focus on composition, it spends too much time talking about large amounts of expensive photography equipment.
While ISO, aperture, depth of field, etc have a part to play in photography, the author spends a lot of time on these subjects and not very much dealing with lines, form, color, texture, point of view, and other elements of true composition. And while these elements are spoken of, we often get a voodoo answer of “you just get it when you get it”. The book never really covers the exact elements of composition. They are alluded to, but we're never really told what they are. The author mentions that sometimes its ok to break the rules, but we're never really told what the rules are (other than don't stick the horizon in the middle of the picture) and other than a couple example pictures, we never really learn anything about when and why it is a good idea to break the rules.
I do have to add, the author did spend a good amount of time discussing point of view/position and how moving the camera, even just a little bit, can make a significant different in the quality of an image.
A pet peeve of mine on most books on photography, even the ones aimed at amateurs, is that everyone has access to not only a semi expensive DSLR, a myriad of expensive lenses, and often not just one but multiple bodies. In this specific case, composition is a subject that can be used and explored with any equipment, be it the simple camera of your phone to professional grade DSLRs.
Overall, this isn't a bad book, and many of the photographs are lovely, but I really came away with very little new knowledge. As an amateur, I should be able to walk away with more than I managed to get.
As with all short story collections, you're bound to enjoy some more than others. My favorites, which I consider to be 5(+) star reads, are Tower of Babylon, Story of Your Life, Seventy-Two Letters, and Hell is the Absence of God.
I did find one of the main character's reaction in Divide by Zero to be annoying enough to detract from what was otherwise a fascinating concept.
Even though, these are all excellent examples of why I love science fiction so much. Not only is there a lot of imagination, but every one of them causes you to think, to look at things from a different perspective, and you find yourself thinking back to the ideas and concepts long after you've finished.
I won an ARC copy in a FirstReads giveaway and I'm glad I did.
While set in the same world as the previous books, there are new characters and pretty much a new story. Overall it was a fun adventure. While not deep, the characters were enjoyable and the story managed to keep me glued to the page.
I don't normally go for alternative histories or historical fiction (which the books share along with Steam Punk) but the author has managed to use these elements in such a way where I find it fascinating.
Now that we're a few books into the series I suspect we're starting to see an arc which might eventually tie everything together. I plan on keeping my eye out for new additions, it should be fun to see what all happens.
I had entered to win this book through the giveaways on a bit of an impulse. The premise sounded interesting, though once I had won the book I want back through reviews and started to regret it.
I'm not one for action, I prefer things to be a little more intellectual, and the descriptions of action, gun fights, etc had turned me off. I'm glad I had waited to read the reviews until after I had won the book.
Sitting solidly in the cyberpunk/dystopian sub genres there is action and there are gun fights, but it is far from the core of the story. Things do move a little slowly at the start, but given this if the first book in a series, it is to be expected.
The world is interesting and grows on you as the story moves on. The same can also be said of the main character. My only real complaint is the frequency in which the main character states how tough and hard assed he needs to be in order to survive in the world. It breaks the rule of showing instead of telling and becomes a little too repetitious.
The last third of the book was quite gripping and overall I found I was enjoying myself. It ends in such a way that I'm very curious as to what is going to happen next. I will likely pickup the rest of the books in the series so I can satisfy that curiosity.
Reread 2/19/2015
I first read this book over 5 years ago. I rated it 4 stars, and in that time I have never stopped thinking of this book. It improves with a reread, and details and concepts I missed the first time stand out well in the reread.
Downside to this book is that I get so caught up with the concepts raised that I can easily spend more time thinking about about them than actually reading.
I'd also call this a very fine example of what I love about science fiction.
What this book is not:
This is not horror. Granted, it can be creepy as hell, but not for reasons most people would consider horror.
This is not and action or adventure. Don't expect lasers or battles. This is a book about concepts.
What concepts you may ask? Well I leave that up to the reader to discover. It is the discovery and realizations which are half the fun. :)
Meiville has managed to create a fascinating city (I can't say world since anything outside is only vaguely referenced). His language may seem pretentious to some but I think I have to disagree. I get the impression that he is trying to continue the mood not only using what the words mean, but with the words themselves.
His characters, however, suck. I just can't seem to get myself to care about them one way or another. They seem very flat and unimaginative. Descriptions are neat, externally they are well developed. However, they all seem to be lacking actual character, some quality that actually makes me care about what might happen to them. I was never even able to get myself to even dislike the bad guys. By the end of the book there was only one scene (between 2) that caused me to care anything and sadly one of them was a minor and short lived character.
The author spent so much time trying to convey how the city and everyone in it were so corrupt that there's a scene near the end where you have two separate groups attacking the “hero” snort group while they are in the process of getting rid of the horrible creatures that everyone has been trying to get rid of. It's like “Oh no, they're trying to help us! SHOOT THEM, they're defying our power/domination/authority! We're all so incredibly stupid that we can even think to our own self interest!”
Oh, I do have to mention. In all of this, near the end of the book a character who we've only heard mentioned very briefly and just once, shows up (don't ask me how he knew what was going on) and actually showed some enlightened self interest and assisted the hero group. We never find out why he did it or even how he knew what was going on.
As for the story itself, I think the book could have been well improved with some serious editing. The first half was long, descriptive and tedious. The second half was trite and unimaginative. Oh, did I mention tedious?
I forced myself to finish this book since so many people seem to rave about it. I can't honestly say I hate it. The imagery was well done, if a bit over done. However I can't say I liked it either.
If we could, I'd give it 1.5 stars. I think 1 is a little low, but I wanted to separate it from other books in which I feel more neutral.
I don't recommend this book. There are too many better ones out there. If you do choose to read it, borrow or get it from the library. I wish I had.