Avery
I wasn't sure what things would be like going into this one, but there ended up being more going on than I expected, which was nice.
I wasn't a huge fan of the constant family drama though. Made it feel like things took a long time to progress. The stakes really feel lower right now.
The way that abilities are described has improved a lot from the previous books, far fewer repetitive stat blocks (still reading the audio book so it makes a big difference).
I think some of the economics stuff has improved. Still enjoying many of the characters.
Some complaints are probably a result of listening to this as an audiobook. I like Heath Miller's narration. The voices are differentiated but not over the top, and it's generally very easy to listen to. I also appreciate that full character-sheet level stat readouts are very uncommon.
Unfortunately, every time anyone uses any ability, the entire description of the ability gets read out. This gets a little painful, as the clearly tabular style doesn't read very well while being pretty repetitive, especially where there are like 4 levels of nested effects being defined. Of course, the fact that abilities (especially Jason's) have pretty vague names means that I frequently DO end up needing to listen to the description.
That said, I don't think all the blame lies with the format. Jason's ability set causes to his fights to be super predictable so far. 1) Give afflictions (yes, even a scratch is enough), 2) do damage scaling with afflictions, 3) absorb the afflictions to deal more damage and set up 4) execute. Like, I get and that's fine, but you don't need to explain it to me every time.
The fight predictability gets a little better near the end, and thankfully they start to be described in a little less detail. We'll see if it continues to improve in book 4 (which I guess I'll be reading next)
Still entertaining, and I've just started the third.
That said, there are a few annoying things.
Everyone keeps talking about how Jason just is who he is, and some people like it and some people don't. That's true, but it feels convenient that most of the ones that like Jason tend to be more powerful and influential than the ones who don't. It would be nice if there was some meaningful interaction where his attitude results in a bad outcome, otherwise it starts to feel rigged.
I also don't really get the deal with the awakening stones. Who cares that it's a high rarity stone if you don't know what it gives? It's not like it will be more powerful, as is often repeated. It ends up feeling like a meaningless choice that conveniently works out well in cases, but there's a lot of talk of which one to pick.
Related to the relatively unexplainable purchase of expensive stones, the economy feels super broken. It feels like the main characters can buy just about anything without saving up or making tough choices. Jason's gold coin looting seems way too powerful, considering it basically lets him buy the best gear he can use. Hopefully this will stop being the case if they move on to a larger town.
Some really cool ideas grounded in (as far as I can tell) real biology. I wasn't expecting it to focus so much on the political angles involved in an important scientific discovery, but that was neat too.
I did feel like it dragged at times and could have maybe been a bit shorter -- apart from the cool ideas, not much important happened plot-wise.
Definitely preferred the first, though I probably won't abandon the series. Felt like not much happened and what did was somewhat convenient or meaningless.
I'm a fan of Travis Baldree's narration but the constant French(?) accent on this world was painful. I sure hope there's less of that going forward.
This installment continues to ramp up the stakes satisfyingly, similar to the last book. It's pretty impressive how much mileage Stross is getting out of the general setting/premise while keeping each book feeling fresh.
I feel like either the constant re-explanations that frustrated me with the previous books have gotten less common (or I've learned to tune them out).
What's kinda neat about this one is that its political commentary moves beyond "civil service is clunky and inefficient" to "but it's probably better than the alternative", while remaining true to itself. Definitely some ideas in this one that can still be useful in a world without (mathematical) eldritch horrors.
The book is much less dark than the synopsis made it seem. The reader is reminded a few times how much the protagonist is a dark and twisted hero, which seems.. really not to come through in his dialog and behavior?
That said, the friendly vibes don't bother me either.
I love the idea of grounding the cultivation/soul concepts within a very concrete (literal) structure. It makes the mental "work" and decisions they're making easy to visualize and provides a great framework to (again, literally) build upon.
Solid intro, interested to see where the series goes next.
I came across this book and thought "oh, neat, I didn't know Ray Bradbury wrote mystery novels". I was wrong -- one way or another, everything he writes is a "Bradbury novel". Romantic, meandering, no complaints.
Creative take on some fantasy tropes mixed with the series' typical computer science lovecraft math (which is my favorite thing).
I miss Bob, almost dropped the book at first but I'm glad I circled back a few months later.
Quite enjoyable. Most of the characters are very likable, which is nice.
One weird bit was how the nomadic group is almost treated as subhuman, especially given how thoughtful and forgiving Jason is with everyone else.
Always love these Bradbury stories. The missing star was probably on me not reading it in the right setting – nothing will ever beat reading Dandelion Wine at summer camp.
Similar enough to the first that I'll keep going. Felt a bit.. themed but at least it was somewhat justified by the plot.
They're reminding me of Charles Stross' Atrocity Archives in format and pacing, though I will say those get bonus points for the computery lovecraft vibes.
Felt like it took a bit for this one to get rolling after the last-book-induced moping. It ended up being an interesting enough little detective story, though for some reason I couldn't keep any of the faerie characters straight.
I continue to enjoy the series. Halfway through this book, I swapped to the audiobooks, read by James Marsters, which I'm also happy about. I'll probably continue listening rather than reading.
I really liked Michael as a character in this, though found the way he (and the plot) were introduced pretty jarring. I second guessed myself several times, thinking I had skipped a book.
Some of the writing is a little weird (idk how many times he mentions “the tips” of some character's “firm breasts” but it's definitely several times in the space of a few hundred pages..)
This book felt dated in a lot of different ways. First of all, it carries a refreshing optimism about humanity's ability to cooperate and put war behind them, which most modern sci fi has a hard time doing. Second, is the occasional reference to specific technologies or companies – “The DEC minicomputer in the nose made contact with its IBM big brother [...]”. The third is the degree to which outdated ideas of gender roles (and smoking) permeate much of the book.
At times I liked the detail with which it explored the resolution of the various mysteries, but the dedication to avoiding hand-waving frequently led to the clues or solutions feeling really improbable.
The book is wholly dedicated to this mystery-solving premise, to the exclusion of much plot, character development or relationships. If you happen to guess the solution ahead of time, you're in for a lot of predictable exposition before you can move on to the next thing.
It might be a coincidence but this is the (audio) book I've fallen asleep to the most so far this year.
I was interested in this book but never expected to find a new potential favorite hard sci fi author to put alongside Greg Egan and Peter Watts.
Talk about a masterclass in complex exposition. The author manages to introduce countless fascinating new ideas, mostly involving transhumanist societies (similar to the previously mentioned authors) but, unlike some, manages to make it flow so beautifully with the story that you barely notice.
I'll readily admit, as is normal for me in this genre, that I didn't follow every twist and turn in the story. The nature of the exposition almost encourages this, starting in the middle of the action, barely explaining any of the crazy neologisms (many based on valid science) that it uses. What a ride!
Had the occasional briefly interesting thought but felt so unbearably smug that I wouldn't have been able to finish the book had it been any longer.
Seems to be written for an audience who wants their confirmation bias stroked. I had hoped for more.
With all the AI news these days, I've been thinking about how everyone seems to expect a human-level intelligence to sprout, fully formed, from some startup's churning data centers. Of course, no thought ever goes into the personhood of such a being - it's always about how it will be useful as a kind of product-slave.
It was refreshing to read this novella, which explores an alternative future. What if we end up with basic intelligences that we have to raise as if they were children? As a parent of a toddler, this felt pretty realistic. Of course, once you've built a relationship like this, you start to think of this “software object” as a real person...
Continues to give me my RPG “number go up” fix. I continue to get disproportionally excited about fictional loot drops and new abilities. I like that most abilities have multiple options when granted, so I can try to guess the best one before the character picks.
I appreciated meeting some other characters that had personalities other than “I hate you for buying all the head start slots”. The main characters also gradually get less annoying as the series goes on.
I think I had hoped that the Renown stat would end up as something other than just another leaderboard/experience counter. The fact that it's usually granted at the same time as experience makes them feel very similar. More of an effort could have been made to separate these mechanics. Maybe a low level high renown player.
Very recommendable! Light fantasy vibes while feeling very unique. Interesting world building without feeling heavy or hard to ramp up on. Loved all the characters - they feel deep and well-rounded. Much is hinted at during the story without being immediately explained, which gives a feeling of mystery without getting heavy with exposition or requiring too much reading between the lines.
Parts of the book felt like a perfect D&D campaign, where a hook leads you off in one direction, but then stuff happens and you end up doing something completely different.
It wasn't particularly thought-provoking, but easy, fun and different. Refreshing <3
I was into the setup and first quarter or so, with the old residents trying to fight against the invading billionaire trying to buy up the land. Unfortunately then it ended up going more gory than creepy, with an emphasis on describing dissolving body parts. I was hoping for a different ending but felt like it pretty much ran on rails, and ended up relatively predictable.
For some reason, the writing in this book felt rougher than in the first. Several adjacent sentences that contain exactly the same phrase, feeling jarring. There's no shortage of more generally repetitive content as well – reading the whole character sheet, going through all the quest entries every time there's an update.
Compared to my recent read of The Ripple System, the upgrade and skill options are much less interesting. With only one or two exceptions, there is always one obvious choice which is usually overpowered compared to the “normal” ones. This makes the process of reading through all the options predictable and feel like filler. It also contributes to the feeling of Jake already feeling overpowered.
It would be one thing if Jake had a single great ability, but the combination of mind-blowing bloodline ability, infinite will power and pain tolerance, improbable levels of luck, high intelligence and physical abilities... It would be nice if there was at least one thing that he struggled with. Instead, he feels consistently lucky. Pretty much everything he tries works out, when he does “fail” at something it never seems to matter, and he has seemingly infinite time for meditation, sleep, waiting out potion cooldowns, crafting.
On the upside, the dialog involving the M. Viper is entertaining, which is a nice change. Especially when compared to similar interactions with super/god-beings in Cradle (hard not to with Baldree narrating both).
Will probably take a break from litRPG for a book or two.
A short fun read with a similar trying-to-put-the-genie-back-in-the-bottle plot to the author's other recent releases. I found the final resolution more satisfying than I expected.
Not sure what it is about this genre that makes me feel “meh” in the first half and by the end be looking forward to see what happens in the next one.
I do wish that the stat blocks weren't so long and repetitive. I've been listening this whole time, I know what skills you have! It's especially painful when listening to the audiobook, which is otherwise great.
The main villain in this one starts off as a pretty cliched archetype, but it seems like this might be improving, fingers crossed.
This book was more than I was expecting. It does a great job describing the reasons one might want to abandon Christianity, without pulling any punches. It does an alright job at giving some reasons to stay.
What I wasn't expecting was the inspiring message in the third section, describing the possibility of a more open, all-encompassing view of how we could live, whether as Christians or not.
The book doesn't necessarily deliver mind-blowing revelations in every chapter, and some passages flow better than others, but the author was able to find ways to clearly articulate feelings that I've felt for a while. I found myself remarking at, and making note of several lines per chapter, which is pretty good as far as I'm concerned!
I only wish there was a version of this book written for an audience that didn't grow up in the Christian church, so that I can share this vision of the world with my friends from a more secular background!