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An interesting story, and i liked the ending, but there are a couple of logic inconsistencies that are driving me nuts.
First, if the world is so over populated that humanity has to live as brains in jars, why is reproduction being mandated? Don't reproduce, population issue solved. Second, I see no reason why the subjects have to have what is basically virtual sex in order for that to happen. Get their consent for it to happen, allow them to choose who it's with if they care, and that would seem all that's needed.
I expect better of Sanderson.
Its not often I read a book where you get grabbed roughly in the first couple of paragraphs and then forcefully dragged along until the very end. Starting this on a Sunday afternoon meant I was missing some serious sleep on Monday morning. :)
I am an odd fan of horror, if you can actually call me that. The usual horror tropes I find to be dull, boring, unimaginative, and frankly an insult to my intelligence most of the time. I think its because they tend to lean too heavily on the tropes without adding any creativity to the mix.
Someone passing out or dying from fright because they are in a graveyard (yes I have read this!) makes me roll my eyes. I spent a good chunk of my childhood family vacations in county court houses and graveyards because my mother was into genealogy. I played games among the headstones. They are not scary or spooky. They are calm, peaceful, and somewhat sad.
Death and the dead do not frighten me. I have sat by too many death beds in my lifetime. I have held the hands of dead family members, kissed their cheeks before the coffin lids were closed.
I know exactly what the skin of a corpse feels like. Death is not scary, it is just sad.
I am not afraid of ghosts, goblins, demons, or similar. Maybe its my SF/F background where those very types of characters can be the PoV/heroes.
Monsters: if it can be identified, it can be defeated. Period. Maybe its the SF/F background again.
So yeah, assuming I will get all scared and similar because a demon popped up in the middle of the room . . . sorry ain't enough for me. My first reaction is, well is it going to do anything? Perhaps its its turn to buy drinks? In my opinion its a very lazy author who assumes something will be frightening or unsettling or spooky all by itself with no effort on their end.
Bird Box is NOT one of these books. Nothing is visible. Nothing is identified. Nothing is known. All we see are the effects, what happens to the people who see . . . something. Something which drives them utterly insane, to murder, to suicide.
Its the terror of the unknown. The claustrophobic environment. Keep your doors closed and locked. Keep your windows closed, blinds closed, drapes closed, blocked by cardboard and wood and beds and anything else that can be found. Keep your eyes closed.
Hunger, exhaustion, loneliness, fear. Terror of the unknown, the undefined, the unknowable. Now that can be scary, that can be spooky.
Now imagine being a mother with 2 small children all alone in this environment. That is terrifying.
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.
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.
While this is not my usual type of thing, I ended up really enjoying this one. The tone, the pace, it all seemed to be designed to be right up my alley.
Is the book verbose? Yes. I don't mind that if it works, and it does here.
Is there a lot of action? Given the world, the characters, there is surprisingly little, for which I am extremely grateful. Honestly, I am not an action oriented person, and I enjoyed the plot.
The funny thing, and I suspect one of the reasons this works so well for me, is that my guesses on where things were going almost always turned out incorrect in some vital way. And I'm honestly very happy one of my guesses turned out wrong near the end.
But, most important of all, this one pulled me along. I lost a lot of sleep and I suspect the next two will be the same.
I would have preferred more time spent on the experiments and less on circumstances around them.
Enjoyed the book, but the narrator wasn't a good choice and didn't do that good of a job. Add in all of the miss pronunciations, and I'd recommend sticking with print or ebook editions if possible.
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.
Honestly, I am not one for smut/erotica, but Oglaf is much much more. Its full of intelligent, irreverent humor and well worth the read. :)
This is a tough rating. This is more of an action thriller than science fiction. While it likely does a good job at what it is, thrillers are not exactly my cup of tea.
For those who like this kind of thing, consider the book a solid 4 stars.
Note: spoilers for Birdbox
What I loved so much about Birdbox was that out encompassed everything I like about horror. So much is unknown. We don't know what they are, how many of them there are, why they are here, where they came from, what are their motivations, do they even notice us or are we as inconsequential as a small ant on the wall? All that is known is that looking at them will cause you to go violently insane. That in my mind is horror. The mind goes wild imagining the possibilities, terror building at every second.
And, in the end, it ended like a good horror book should end. Perhaps safety, but no answers. If you've got answers, you lose so much of the terror.
This book, while good, was missing some of the magic of the first.
Olympia being immune seemed too convenient. Tom's mirrored glasses took away too much of the unknown. And the known just doesn't hold the same terror.
So yeah, I was a little disappointed. However the scene in the pit was downright excellent. I would be tempted to rate this as 3 stars, but that one scene brings it back to 4.
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.
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.
What's to say but yet another example of why I enjoy Terry Pratchett and everything we've come to expect from his Discworld series.