Mer Barr

The book is fairly old at the time of my reading; I wonder how much has changed? Can someone still do this type of stopping just anywhere for the night? Have a good conversation without concerns for safety?

It reminds me of something I read decades ago, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, which I didn't like at the time. Maybe I didn't appreciate the wandering, and appreciation of the moment and who we might meet or what we might learn, at any moment.

Incredibly rich world building, alot of aliens to consider but the main characters are not what I would consider hanging out with and the situation is pretty bleak; even dark and gruesome at times.

I don't think I'll be continuing in the series.

Consistently with the prior four books with interesting plot and science, surprises, interesting characters, story, and movement. I did find it hard to keep the alien races separated towards then end when they were all in the chapter together.

The storyline is well written, it keeps moving and the author doesn't wander down non-essential paths, but it doesn't grab my interest.

Too much young adult angst and plots that are way too predicable for my taste.

I really enjoyed this story. Characters that draw you in early, storylines that move along, changes in perspective and/or storyline is called out with a chapter heading, the author doesn't spend words taking you on tangents, and a bit of mystery that lasts thru the majority of the story are the hallmarks of my favorite stories.

The fact that the mysteries didn't involve gruesome murders was a pleasant surprise. It's nice to know these do exist! And I also enjoy the haziness that comes with stories based in 'the real world' with some magic thrown in and the storyline moves back and forth to create a blurry, dream quality. I believe it's this latter quality that I found in another of the author's books which put this book on my TBR list.

This series is nonexistent in the library systems I have access to, I had to request this and the 3rd book in the series via interlibrary loan. I received this book after the 3rd.

I didn't enjoy this floor as much as I did those in the 1st and 3rd books. The story took place in just 1 town and there weren't as many battles, I don't think. Which is strange because the hardcopy is incredibly thick and not alot of white space on the pages. There should be a really long story here but there's not.

The characters continue to be interesting in all 3 books, however Mordecai is a bit weird in this 1. Either I missed something in the 1st book or there was a drastic change in how the character related to this floor, with some settling in by the 3rd book.

There's still a lot of technical and political information mentioned and I just zoned out on most of that, choosing to "go with the flow" rather than try to memorize something I'd forget by the next book.

This was my second attempt to read this book this year and neither time did I make it past 25% complete. I just couldn't get interested in the characters or the storyline.

The author continues to d a great job of world building.

Light hearted and fun to read, like the author's other series Spells, Swords and Stealth, this particular books is a set of 3 small adventures that are relatively back-to-back.

The audiobook was especially good if you're a fan of foley work.

Wow, for being book number four, the books are still well written and enjoyable to read! Beginning to look for book number five.

At the time of my reading, Goodreads and Hardcover don't have the Known Space set of books sequenced chronologically. This book falls between the original discovery of Ringworld [I've not yet come across that book] and the original book in the series, Ringworld.

Some interesting concepts to contemplate while reading like dismembering individuals for various reasons [usually members of the lower class], keeping their body parts for the elites only, and psychic abilities.

This particular book does a good job of bringing a reader into the Known Space timeline very well but like the Planck, the storyline drops off the cliff into parts unknown. Are there books between the 'Protector' and this one? What book might come after this one? What actually happens to the Planck and its 'crew'?

The release of the story is quite old now but not too outdated in how its told. Still good storytelling, no veering off onto tangents [which I don't like at all] or bogging down the movement with unnecessary information [something else I don't like].

So happy to be enjoying the banter of Vann and Shane again as well as a complex, technical mystery.

I stopped at about 3 hours. That SHOULD be long enough to get a sense of where a book is going and if it draws you in and yet the author was still describing his main characters [in 3 different storylines no less].

Also the author would tangent now and again to topics that had no relevance, in my opinion, to moving a storyline forward.

Just too verbose of an author for my taste.

Very good book for someone who's not a scientist. Linear storytelling, lots of personal stories including the mysterious Walter Reed of Walter Reed Hospital that the US Presidents were taken to for health-related issues when I was young.

Sorry author! I scanned the title and didn't catch that the word 'life' intended a memoir aspect. I was looking more for a biography of the sea creatures.

However, what I did read was a lovely merging of biography of the sea creatures and your memoir, like watching kelp forests swaying back-n-forth.

Say it with me 'feral goldfish'.

Has a great summary of things to-date as the opening chapter so it can stand on its own.

I'm very familiar with the Pern universe so not sure how this would be at portraying the world building on its own. And this is written by Anne McCaffrey alone so the writing is excellent.

A great mix of character-building and action. Bad-ass nuns and an opening sentence up there with The Gunslinger.

It didn't age well. The philosophy and language is really outdated for me.

I'm not familiar with the real life individuals of this story but I appreciate the author calling this a fictional story, level-setting how I interpret the characters' thoughts and feelings.

Very nice character building, the story moves along nicely, and there's a nice level of romance.

A really great book for folks to understand part of the current conversation on equity and equality.

The first 90% of the book is definitions and examples, hang in there because the last 10% are next steps to get one moving towards new ways of thinking and speaking. Worth it to cut back n forth from the 90% to 10% and back, as well as reread the whole book every few months to revisit topics and make changes.

I think the author does a great job of building the world but I'm always interested in the storyline and the people.

At the 25% mark, there isn't a storyline with progression, it's like watching several 1-act plays where a set of people are interacting in a location. There were several different groups but I had no clue as to why they were all mentioned in this book; no storyline or progression.

And some of the characters were interesting but there's no mention of why one person is the main character of a particular 1-act play.

Great book for understanding the Civil War battles held in Georgia, up to and a bit beyond the Battle of Atlanta. A mix of high level information about the battle going on for the page, some personal recollections from both sides by individuals in the current battle, some artifacts and photos, and some really great drawings of which brigades/armies were where for the current battle.

A bit confusing because both sides were called the Army of Tennessee, thankfully the editor / author distinguishes the sides either by Federal, C.S, or Confederate so you don't get too lost in the details.

It doesn't do a good job on the battles IN Atlanta at all which, based on the title one would assume would be here. Barely 2 pages! Most of the book is up to the battle called the Battle of Atlanta and the battles just following the city bombing itself. Nor is there a map showing where the fortifications around Atlanta would be so I can compare to a modern city map. A better title to summarize is The Battle for POSSESSION of Atlanta.

What's not here is also the infamous 'March to the Sea' and scorched earth policy of Sherman but the goal for taking Atlanta had already been accomplished so its exclusion makes sense.

I first read this back in high school and found it an eye opener, 1 page in particular. I'm glad I was able to find it again to revisit that page to see what a more mature me would think of it.

I find the overall structure of the sentences a bit immature [how old was the author at that time? was this their first book?], the mixing of the storylines a bit confusing, and that 1 page still fascinating!

The overall story of the older race I found intriguing when comparing it to today's technology, and the differences between the 2 countries mentioned, similar to the differences of the US's politics today. I also enjoyed how the final situation circled around, leaving nothing for the current peoples to benefit from in pretty much every aspect whether on premise or watching on the tv.

I wonder how much of the overall discontent of the current peoples was a result of the author being in Europe during the middle of the Cold War when the threat of nuclear destruction seemed inevitable?

None of my library systems seem to know about this series, I had to resort to interlibrary loan which means a hardcopy. This sucker was over 400 pages big!

Normally it's a month or so to finish a hardcopy book of this size but this was SOOO good it took me 6 days. And I didn't receive the 2nd book in the series before this one but that wasn't really an issue. Yes, there probably were references to things that went on in the 2nd book but considering the complexity of this floor and the warning made by the author up front, I was already level set to just 'go with it'.

Let's see how easy it is to get the 2nd and 4th now.

I just couldn't get interested in the subject, which is strange because I love books and nonfiction. I'll put it down to alot of Latin words and Italian names and getting lost in who the subject of the book actually was.

It seems to be well-rounded on subjects related to anyone and anything to do with the books and people of the time period.

I had to work hard to remember how this was related, if at all, to the first book and I eventually remembered enough.

The story is slow at the start, more world and character building, then the pace begins to pick up. I had a hard time keeping track of who was who towards the end.

Overall a story with interesting, unique to me, elements.