Clemens
“At the end it is just a Neal Stephenson book”
And that's it.
Except this one is a bit different. For once, I enjoy most of the writing and never felt this “why is it written like this” feeling. But on the other hand this book very much lacked a good editor because there are a lot of parts where rambling goes on for 10 or more pages that has absolutely nothing to do with the story, or any characters or pretty much anything. Something that could be written in 2 pages.
The other, and usual, complain is the ending. This is pretty much expected that a book by him just ends so abruptly that it feels like ran out of ideas and therefore a proper ending. It feels rushed, like in three pages we are done, while other things take 50 pages to explain.
Still, this is the first book by him where I can give four stars without feeling bad, because even though with all my complaining I really enjoyed it.
Where do I put this, how do I rate this. While I really enjoyed the story and the writing, I utterly detested the main protagonist. I detested his point of view, his action, his “nose up in the air” “I am so much better” bullshit.
So, there it is, 3 stars, no more, no less. And I am not sure if I would recommend this or not.
Neuromancer is one of those Sci Fi books that should be read by pretty much everyone. But because I am me I haven't even read a single Gibson book until a view months ago when I read his newest one “Peripheral”. I really liked that one and so I thought it is about time I read this one. What a great book, although there are parts that have not really aged so well (comapny names for products) it is on the other hand written pretty much timeless. Highly recommended.
Much better than the first part. And the best thing is, they are only loosely connected, so you can actually skip the first one and read this one instead.
While it starts of a bit weak and whiney it really gets good after about 1/4 of the book. I was utterly impressed because the first part read like a mediocre hollywood trash b-sci-fi-movie. I would recommend this one.
The first Hemingway I read and it has to be about WWI. Well, besides this, it didn't really impact me a lot. Some parts were written very well, other parts felt like a big page filler. Overall it felt like a good book, but not more than that. Still, it gave me an interesting in reading more from Hemingway, so from this point of view not all was lost.
The counter book to “Nothing new on the western front”. An extremely impressive first person view of the war by someone who was enthralled by the war in itself and still saw death and destruction everywhere.
I really highly recommend this book to everyone, BUT it is really necessary to also read “Nothing new on the western front” to get both views.
Oh my, what an awesome book this is.
And it all started when I read about the follow up book on the web and that this author wrote the original Rambo novel. I was like, there was a novel to this movie? Oh well, that must be trash literature then (thought the first Rambo movie was great).
Anyway, so I bought this book, because you can't judge without having read and I am glad I read it because I absolutely enjoyed it from the first to the last page. My fear that this will be some steampunk crap was luckily extinguished early on. It is a classic detective story, playing during the Victorian time in London.
I am now really looking forward to the next book in this series and I am also intrigued by De Quincey “Confessions of an English Opium-Eater” and want to read that too.
Well that was a surprising fun read. Didn't expect that at all from a fantasy novel. In general I stay away from most fantasy as I am not really into this kind of fiction, but this one was a very good read a laid out a good base for the next book. Let's hope it does not get fucked up like in a lot of 2nd books. Thumbs & Recommended even if you are not a fantasy reader in general.
Mediocre, although interesting, just mediocre. It seems more and more this series ends will end up in episodic books where the main cast all survive somehow magically and nothing really happens. But lets hope for something better in the next book.
Do� I recommend it thought? If you really liked the other ones and have nothing else to read then yes, else no.
Imagine you would not know about the first world war or about Lawrence at all. This book would be like this amazing war novel that just sounds a bit too surreal to be real.
Well, this book is based on the real story of Lawrence and what he did in the Middle East during the first world war. It is just beyond amazing what happened during this time and I realize that my own WW I knowledge is just very limited to the western front only.
I really highly recommend this book to anyone, to get a deeper view into the Middle East and what ground stones were laid back then that makes this area so messy right now.
Imagine a 90s B-action-movie.
OK, you got the story.
My main issue with this book is the writing style which is nothing else then very short sentences next to very short sentences that are followed by even shorter sentences. If you can get into the flow you will stop noticing it, but then from time to time you just can't and will start tripping like you would walk in pitch black night deep in a even darker forrest.
That and the fact that is just strange someone can go around murder a shit load of people and just walk away. That is just a level too much ‘Murica' for me.
Nice as a brain clearing reading, but not something I could do all the time.
Still, I will try to read one or two more from this series, just to see if it goes on like this.
Let's say it as it is. Big disappointment all the way. The third books series that plays in the Commonwealth Universe this is also the by far weakest and most boring one.
Simply put, it just plays in the Void universe. All of it. There is outside/inside interesting development going on. There is actually no development going on at all. It feels like reading the same “Void Trilogy” Edeard stories just with a different character. Nothing interesting at all.
While it is still written very well and it is still a page turner, it was just not enjoyful at all. This is not a Hamilton book as I was expecting it.
The ending is a nice cliff hanger, but the most shocking thing for me was “So what, don't really care how it goes on”.
Four stars, but with a bit of hesitation. It just doesn't reach the quality of the third book and sadly has some stretches of boredom and cliché talk. Also the characters somehow felt a bit more cliché than in the last book.
Still it is a very enjoyable read from start to finish, especially if you like sci-fi pop-corn style books.
What a strange collection. So there are three books which I would divide into one and the second and third as one book together.
While the first was all together not that bad and interesting to read, it still was borderline stupid from time to time.
Sadly the other two books are just one cliché next to another one and I was glad once I was done.
Altogether I give it a three star rating, but it just barely reaches it. Not really highly recommended. And if, then just read the first book and don't bother with the other two.
This is my second book from Neal Stephenson and I liked it much more than the first one, Snowcrash. But still I can't help myself that it feels a bit unbaked.
While the basic idea is really great and it starts of very well, it then seems to loose course, drive a long on many paths and at the end gets rushed to a finish that is inconclusive in a view pages.
Still I quite enjoyed this book, but I can't really give it more than three stars. Thought I will read other books from him, because in a basic they are really very enjoy full reads.
There are some authors that can just write and it reads like it is made out of the best silk you can buy. This is one of those books that just read like this.
Not only this, but it also gives an amazing view into the Vietnam war from the point of view of a reporter. It shows very well how completely fucked up everything was down there.
Highly recommended, almost a must read.