Ryan Wenneker
There were some really honest stumbling through deep concepts and a recycled back on some of these themes and Nick further refined, or re-defined his position... it was remarkably engaging.
In chapter 2 there was a horrifying statement - that Grief is an expression of God's nature. That there is a transformative force it evokes.
I fought this concept on a visceral level - as I was at the time challenged by the upcoming anniversary of a death of a dear friend, of long relationship, the effective loss of those friendships -and the paradox of the creation of spaces for vibrant new relationships.
I have since checked out the Red Hand Files and finished the book and I'm not sure I WANTED to share that view of God, but at the same time... it cannot be refuted in the context of his experience and in his sharing and talking through his thoughts, the power of such brought me to at least understand his position, and even wish to work towards incorporating some of that into my own coping tools.
While I find myself wondering if this would be helpful for those themselves grieving and I cannot say “yes this will help you process and understand grief”; I can say this explores topics around grief, creation, loss, and spirituality in a way that, ultimately, adds a language scaffold to grieving that can serve as a building point for a conversation (internal or external) around such loss.
A touching, and hopeful book.
This reads like a long-form CV for Omarosa.
I give her FULL CREDIT for the way she's handling the rollout of the book, but its hardly worth the work up to hear that - in the end - she thinks Diet Coke has made the President susceptible to Dementia.
Its also rather excessively obvious she has a bone to pick with General Kelly.
There was cheap shot taken about his son's death. I think that was unfortunate and didn't need to be put in there.
Beyond that - its not really all that much of an expose or revelation.
It is part of the narrative style to move about between story time line events, its relective of the group's nature.
I however found that the last part of book seems to be a luge of sorts, with a slowing towards the end.
While I understand it's purpose, I was left with a problem with the pacing - it was a bit too forced.
This really rather interesting.
The translation is HORRIBLE. I'm surprised by how poorly they've done with it.
HOWEVER: the idea behind the story has merit, and remarkably the Engrish (yes, look up the term) in this at times works. Its soooo bad its like dubbed kung fu, humorous by accident while still entertaining.
I'm looking forward to the next book.
It is rare to have a series that becomes ‘better'.
Perhaps it's that I've had very mixed experiences of other authors in the LitRPG genre.
I must say Gank took this series to a new level. Usually, a series explores the character's inner truth, develop their morality and explore ranges of such.
This... well, it moved beyond the confines of the books narrative to a literal ontological analysis of reality. (That's overstating it a bit.)
However when you start the series with a protagonist that apparently will - by luck or happenstance bed or attempt to bed everything... well, your expectations are not going to move beyond that familiar “God, I hope the author doesn't drag this past puerile and attempt eroticism.”
Thankfully it did not. In fact, the often campy, witty, engagements are truly wonderful character interplay. Skyler does a great job with character dialog and voices. The trope-ishly bombastic characters face a true crucible, and show that the series name wasn't' just slapped on but reflects a considered and well executed plan of development.
I thought that Kong held the kingdom in LitRPG - and I must now acknowledge and seek out Skyler Grant's other works in other genres.
A bit campy and as I'm now into the 3rd book in as many days, I'm more comfortable with the tongue in cheek hypersexual Paladin.
While I've not read many in the LitRPG Genre now, this is rapidly becoming my favorite series in the clever dialog and hyperbolic characters.
Satirically self-lampooning in a wonderful way. ... I'm slow. It took me awhile to get that wasn't just bad writing - as I've said, I've been reading several LitRPG authors and Skyler and Kong to this point are the best of breed in this Genre - Kong for his use of the RPG mechanics, Skyler for character development, dialog and making the series not take itself seriously in a wonderful way.
Man, I REALLY wanted to love this book.
It held the canon elements of LitRPG. Dislocated protagonist who must save a civilization.
This time, the civilization is comprised solely of women... and I expected this to slide into non-stop tropes of desperate women living without men.
BUT, for a long time, it maintained a balanced approach with empowered women who were community and family focused...
then in the very last pages it all kinda slid off track, or perhaps INTO the ruts of such.
The LitRPG genre has had a tendency towards rather puerile or angsty hormonal content.
Pluaristic relationships with vapid poorly structured supportive characters, Might makes right, and a focus on serialized obvious goals.
I'm happy to say this doesn't.
In fact the protagonists make efforts to avoid the tendencies of NPC driving plots. Where as most LitRPG feature man vs enviroment in the concept of the gamespace, monsters or BBEGs.
The book features a more nuanced approach to such, and a wonderful surprise around the main protagonist that sets its apart from most of the genre I've read to date.
I did wish the supportive characters were not as flat and were more developed, but all in all it was redemptive for the genre's focus on virility and overt sexual prowess as a core component of most protagonists.
I've just entered into reading into the LitRPG genre, and while the idea is novel, and the repetition of information necessary for the mechanics for the genre. It's also annoying.
I'm getting annoyed by the shifting formatting between books, and the poor editorial oversight and errors that seem to be more and more common as the series has progressed.
Also, while I suspect nobody would be jumping into the series at book 3, 4, or 5. I've noticed a tendency to not do the more traditional ‘recap' of characters/features/events that are appearing for the first time in the next book. Perhaps that is the nature of the LitRPG schema/genre - if so I'll certainly need to consider that in the future I should make sure I read other works in the Genre them back to back so that the character's gear, their very personas have not faded from memory and I'd thereafter have to pull up the past books or Google to refresh my memory of the character/equipment or system features.
A good showing, and wonderful idea, but it would be nice if it got a final polish and the whole set was revisited for consistency, and that as the story gets more complicated and the skills/talents/quests are completed purchased or listed a purchased or available, it would be nice to have an appendix or site link to the skill web/talent path/features/quests to see the progression between each book.
An even better book than Steelheart.
Though, if you are expecting Sanderson's more sophisticated writing, don't.
This is an ongoing exploration of first personal narrative of the main character, its over done in its clumsiness, but then, that is why its so YA demographic attractive. Its relate-able, awkward and comfortingly so.
Well done Brandon. You've shown breadth in your multiverse's themes and in your own writing style.
This is the book I wish I would have written.
Deep fried in 80s culture, this was a walk through my childhood.
I'm sure it didn't hurt that the internet archive released over 700 Jmame compatible browser games, and that I was doing spring cleaning and found my old notes on Zork I, II, and III.
Ah, I want to read this to my children and go the arcade with them.
A simply wonderful book for those who grew up in the 80s.
I was advised to get the Audiobook version, which is read by Wil Wheaton, which I have to say was a perfect choice. It only added to it to hear Ensign Crusher talking about a Star Trek and the current Oasis player presidency.
I'm about a quarter of the way through the book, and I'm struck dumb with the volume of supposition and tedium of Dr Greenblatt's writting style.
I normally enjoy a narrative in the historical fictionalized view of events. However; this book left me more often with one eyerowing seeking to climb my furrowed brow with conjecture after conjecture and no way to confirm the suggestions Dr Greenblatt suggests. Including some extrapolations from the data than I'm unsure if its accurate.
This makes me wonder how much extrapolation is factual versus fictional in an attempt to make the content more personable.
That is the problem. I don't I know, and not enough citations exist to outside confirm such.
So the book's narrative voice, drags you down. Dr Greenblatt, is clearly a gifted researcher and assimilated a vast ocean of data and has woven it together in this book.
I just wish it didn't have such a pacing issue. Get coffee and bear down. Can I finish this book?
I think I can. I think I can.
Nerd Rage.
You know that slightly perverse experience of driving by an accident and wondering “how bad?” [it didn't happen to me - thank GOODNESS!]
How about when you go to comedy club and watch a heckler be eviscerated? Meet Ben Goldacre - from his online CV “a doctor, academic, campaigner and writer whose work focuses on uses and misuses of science and statistics by journalists, politicians, drug companies and alternative therapists. ...”
What this book does is turn a wonderfully critical (and comical) eye toward various pseudo scientists, self proclaimed therapists, the media, and big pharma. In a way that is so delightful as to wrinkle your nose in guilty pleasure of the epiphany of concrete evidence of some of the things that have likely been bothering you for DECADES.
At times, much like the guilt of rubbernecking, the book descends into a tête-à-tête with various figureheads and UK ersonalities, issuing challenges, questioning competency, and laying out a fusillade of points that I would truly cherish being able to see in a debate format.
As he says - its more complicated than that.
Well done, Dr Goldacre.
When the world as we know it is suddenly subjected to a slight but meaningful modification of natural laws - that explosive chemical reactions are retarded.
The world falls into a unexpected distopian path. Renewed feudalism.
Well written and enchanting.
As a bonus it works you through European history, Wiccan rituals, celtic lore, and armorer skills and their lexicons.
A wonderfully spun tale of the alternate history US.
Weaving the Norse mythology into modern culture so subtly that even the closest work I can imagine Neil Gainman's work, American Gods, isn't an apt comparison. I am impressed. I don't want to oversell the book, but in a sea of teen lit fiction bristling with partially diluted and poorly researched mythology based fantasy, Gratton has made herself stand out.
I just finished the Sword of Truth series by Goodkind which left me asking if its author ever dated, but this book's honest and tender romance was exactly what I was hoping to see in such a work.
The protagonist, Soren, is a wonderfully darkly complicated moody teen angst but one with an utterly viable reason that makes you empathize while you cringe at his bouts within the coming of age journey.
Astrid - is my my hold out - I'll await the rest but I've had the initial impression of the cliche manifestation of various tropes archetypes.
Fenris is, in contrast, a character with which I'm looking forward to getting more acquainted. In a wonderfully unique reinterpretation of its mythos, she is a creature of appetites and truly comes across as Loki's kin. (I still think she may be Loki).I'm also curious on the shift between traditionally Dwarven roles being recast by Goblins.
I did not give this 5 stars, though it is an excellent book.
I love the concept, its execution, and the likely story arc; however, I feel Gratton hasn't stretched her literary legs fully.
I was told a quote from Gratton that shattered a paradigm of mine with effortless grace - and I'd like to see more of her insights in her work.
This is how I imagine the idea for this novel came into existence.
Agent: “Hey Terry, how are you doing?”
Goodkind: “[long exposition over self determinism and involving factual - but not helpful- review of cognition, flourishes on natural law]
Agent: “...“
Goodkind: “So, did Doubleday say what they are looking for in their next year's line up?
Agent: “Yes. What do you think about writing another Sword of Truth?”
Goodkind: “I wrapped up the series and I didn't really have any hooks in the series to try to build off. I ended it with pretty much with Richard recreating the world as he wanted it to be. Oh wait, I guess I could try to hook on the return of the Temple of the Wind!”
Agent: “Great! Let's do that”
GoodKind: “But.. hmmm... I need something moral theme to only quasi appear to have developed into a plot line.”
Agent: “You like man versus puppet murder-rapists-shells controlled by a master evil hook who seeks to remove free will based off a poorly developed moral/religious dogma. Oh, and just keep grinding that self determinism axe.”
Goodkind: I WILL!
?!?
Yes. Following a mechanically well executed series that was written for young adults or for lifetime subscribers to Newsweek, we delve back into Richard Rahl.
Richard is a dash of Dirk Pitt and Dan Brown's Robert Langdon (in those character narrative plot expositions and in writing style of “I have a plan and we don't have time to discuss it because even though we're in an effectively feudal state, and our primary means of travel is via horse (aka not fast) - we don't have time to discuss such! We need at least a weak cliffhanger chapter wrap to bring drama and highlight a character viewpoint switch”
Richard Rahl's other aspect seems to be a pulpit for dogma review. I suspect I'd enjoy and even agree with Goodkind's personal viewpoint and philosophy however I would have enjoyed throughout the series for Richard to have maintained his badass-ness. Less talky talky. More slicey slicey.
It is a better book than the last, but I find myself fumbling over the hypocrisy that Goodkind engages in with his protagonist, who continues to engage in the ‘righteous slaughter' of the those who do not share his belief that those who seek through violence to press their options upon on others are evil.
If this is the type of duplicitous thought process that he wanted to highlight as a analogy to real world conflict, then I commend him for such a message.
If however its not, then Mr Goodkind's expositions about logic and objective rationality may need to be revisited.
HOWEVER; I will say that the book indicates that the series' story arc was well thought out and that even over a decathalon of novels he's made efforts from the first to foreshadow and develop elements. So for the effort and as an example of success in such efforts, its still worth the read.
Super Scooby Doo Happy Ending. yeah.
Goodkind is apparently enamored with the gruesome depiction of War and violations of human rights.
If you find such depictions and discussions enjoyable...
You should buy this book,
and read it while sitting in the waiting room of a good therapist.
(There is SO much dogma in this, I feel it might need to be canonized.)
In its defense the last fifth of the book is better paced and therefore readable and helps advance the series' story line.
I'm impressed.
I'm not sure if the values and morality being exposed in the work are easily graspable by a younger audience, which I assume is still the target audience.
Since the Faith of the Fallen, the series has been a much more insightful and carries a message I think is being explored with effect.
I'm unsure what prompted this shift by Terry Goodkind, but its rapidly becoming a series that may well be one of the best treatises of natural rights cloaked in such a work I've come across.
Beyond that Goodkind has begun to reintegrate the characters from past books as accentuated points, in clever deus ex machina scenarios - versus the selective adherence to magic and story precepts.
The series is gathering its walking stride.