Mer Barr
I vaguely remember reading The Left Hand of Darkness and thought this might be a continuation but looking at Goodread's series page, this is not the case. It's set in the same universe but not related at all.
Ignoring this confusion, the first bit of the book is world building and a bit of character building, not much going on but then the storyline comes in and you get to see the interactions between individuals and groups.
A good story that's worth a read but not the mind bender [for me] that Left Hand was.
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.
The author chose women in a variety of locations and duties which gives a good perspective on the happenings. She presents the sciences is understandable terms and nicely syncs the town doings with the world outside.
What I didn't enjoy was the repetition of several ideas over and over and over. I can understand repeating the impact of secrecy and presenting many scenarios of that impact but to repeat the same scenario over and over is frustrating.
I'm glad she brought the story up to fairly current day, however much has changed since she mentioned potential preservation projects in 2015 and today [2024]. It'd be nice if a new edition updated the epilogue.
I skipped the first several chapters, too much detail on the abuse of women for my taste and in hindsight didn't really add to the storyline other than providing 'See how much better her life is now, compared to the start?'
For most of the first half of the book I kept seeing hints at veering off to a focus on young adult trials and tribulations but was pleasantly surprised to see the plot didn't go too far down those roads.
Good action, interesting characters, some interesting concepts to stretch my view, overall an enjoyable read.
This book takes place decades down the road from Sabriel and I found it rather confusing how the female main character was related to the prior book. The male character was easier to place but still, I wasn't quite sure what he had to do with her story.
Both story lines move along nicely and the switching between the 2 was nicely done as well, none of the frequent doses of confusion for minutes at a time waiting for something to clear things up, found in other authors' books.
I like this and the prior book so well I picked up the next book in the series Abhorsen immediately.
My sense of humour tends more towards the British because if I can rapidly guess the punchline or the 'humour' is really demeaning and / or mean, it's not humour it doesn't rate a twitch of the cheek muscles let alone the lips or eyes.
This was really really enjoyable, probably because I loved DnD in college, the two main characters are written well and have great interactions, the announcer is incredibly creative, and the action just keeps going.
The narrator is incredibly talented with his voice. I'd swear the female voices [Princess Donut for example] doesn't sound like a male voice straining at its audible limits. And he does a fantastic job interpreting the announcer's dialog!
If you enjoyed this book give Drew Hayes' NPCs https://hardcover.app/books/npcs a try.
I want to keep reading, sadly none of the library systems I have access to have the book and interlibrary loan doesn't include audio since the '00s when the government started cutting back on funding for the arts and libraries had to cut costs somewhere.
It's been decades since I first read this book and loved it. So much so that its title has stuck in my mind all this time. I thought, should I ever find a library with a copy in it, I would reread it and so...
My tastes have changed considerably since I was in school and not yet in the world. Maybe it's the need to understand human nature and the complex technology we have to day that has me amazed at the simplicity of this story now, I don't know. I find it more.. interesting.. than enjoyable. Not awful, really... but not something I can savor.. or reread.
The story line is not a traditional smooth flow but more like the mind following random thoughts that just happen to be chronological, sort of. It shares alot of pain and the transitions from one perspective and/or time to another is not readily called out so sometimes there's a bit of confusion until a word is shared to get you caught up.
I felt like I was sitting in a car with square tires on; alot of shaking and bouncing of my comfort level and expectations but reminding myself to take a breath and relax, made it worthwhile.
A really great read.
The next book in this series was recommended but I like to start with the first book in a series. After getting in a ways, I realized I wasn't being drawn in by the story or the characters because murder mysteries are not a genre I like to read.
I'm giving it a 3 because the story, writing, pace and characters are all done well.
I'm always so excited when I find a good, hard science, science fiction story. I can count on this author to provide a good story the same way Isaac Asimov and Michael Crighton do.
Great new ideas, not too much stalling to present the underlying theories, some humour, some education on bias, and the murderer not revealed too early.
It was good to be so interested in turning off the tv to read text.
The author refers a lot to Ms. Walters' biography, which has me wondering what the author can contribute that Ms. Walters didn't already say in her memoir?
And I'm scratching my head as to why there is so much time spent on the father's biography when the subtitle only mentions his daughter. Does she feel they're that tied at the hip so to speak? I mean, it seems she was heavily involved in pulling him out of his own messes but does it justify this much of Ms. Walters' biography?
Otherwise, for those of us who didn't read the memoir, this book provides a lot of details of her personal life and thought processes that I wasn't aware of. Granted, I was still fairly young when I saw her on 60 Minutes and doing interviews with famous people, and not all that interested in knowing more about her, or reading about her in papers.
Like some comic book series we know, a character is bumped off and the authors find an interesting [or well known] way to bring them back, to continue on. Glad to see it.
I'll rant again about how there needs to be a 'previously on The Dresden Files' section. This is too far in for me to read all the prior books to stay up on the references held in a book. BUT I'm not going to let this stop me from reading on.
This storyline is better than some of the other books in the series, not sure if it's me or the author that had a slump at some point that showed thru.
I'm not a big fan of novellas so not happy that I have to walk thru several 'books' to get the complete story. To its credit, in this instance it appears the series may have started out as a podcast, and is an independent publisher.
The plot is intriguing because it's the 'old' west in the future, as Stephen King's Darktower is. And the audio presentation has a similar feel to another podcast called 'Old Gods of Appalachia', which I like to listen to.
Gave up 21% of the way in the 1st time around as well as the 2nd.
Just too disjointed on the story, what was present, past, alternate reality, real, not real. I can't even tell if 'now' has even changed locations or if this is a 1-scene story; it all seems to occur in a recovery room.
What's with the eyes???
The plot moves along, not any side tracking or focusing on subjects that don't contribute to the story or bog the movement down.
It has characters that seem interesting, including some of the spirits that share the world with humans.
And the author does a great job of providing information to show the perspective has changed from one character to another; either by calling out the new character's name or starting a new chapter.
