Tom Merritt

I love this book most out of the peripheral Dark Tower books. Of course I've been a fan of Peter Straub since High School, and I can see his touches here, but it's an excellent journey from simple mystery into Dark Tower madness, that works even if you haven't read the Talisman.

In the tradition of Stanislaw Lem and Italo Calvino to my mind. These are two of my favorites. And while I enjoyed Yu's clever insights and playful way with concepts, I still don't think this book quite achieved their level.

Colfer shocked me. His capture of the Adams voice was good and his grasp of the characters was even better. Granted at time I felt a bit like I was listening to an impressionist, but I never got overwhelmed by that. And I rarely if ever thought that a character was acting in an entirely unexpected way. Hitchhiker fans should feel safe to test these watersz. Some may object that it's an uncanny valley of similarity, but overall I felt that the spirit was there and rather enjoyed it.

I was a bit surprised at how satisfied I felt at the ending. I didn't like it so much as felt done. Which is very rare. I know some other of Abercronbies books take lace in the same world, and I look forward to that. I really enjoyed being in this world. But unlike some series Enders I didn't feel ripped off or hungry for another volume. I really felt oddly done.

An excellent concept adequately done. I didn't feel the representative towns were the best choices, and I felt some oversimplifications in some of the journalistic conclusions. But overall I think the sociological framework developed is quite useful.

I think this book does exactly what it intends to, which is to explain the very surface of the current physics and what it means. I know a lot of people have tried to depict it as saying God doesn't exist. It does not say that. The book states that we do not need to use any kind of religion to explain the universe. In the same way that we do not need to use religion to explain the so many things. That does not mean that religion is unnecessary. But I see why so many get uncomfortable. It's the Sam discomfort that acknowledging that the sun is that the center of the solar system caused. At first it feels as if all of theology is threatened.

But if you set that aside you get a very good overview of cosmology, something Hawking is the world's thought leader in.

I definitely see hints of George r r Martin in this book. The world is vast and sprawling and we know we're only seeing a hint of the whole story. I was compelled to get the next book he second I finished this. I'm also quite entertained by the paralell universe aspect. Angland in the north being the most obvious. It's certainly not Earth but the place names and situations have a nice distant familiarity without being straight parody.

This is Heinlein at his best and worst. Alongside brilliant concepts executed with an unerring acknowledgment of the physical realities involved, you get tedious political expositions and casual sexism. In other words, you get Robert Heinlein.

But I found the book well worth it. My only real criticisms were the occasional indulgences in more obvious symbolism. Some of the prof's speeches were unbearable, especially the one where he combined snatches of Churchill, Jefferson and others in what was a clumsy bit of rhetoric, to me. The snide self-righteousness was outweighed a bit by the cleverness of some plans Prof made, but as often as not it came off like attacking a straw man. Would the FN reps have been that one dimensional? Would the Authority have been that obvious in their actions and reactions?

Perhaps.

So why did I enjoy the book so much? The characters of Manny and Mike. Both well-developed. Both more realistic and more self-aware than pretty much anyone else. Both believable in their accomplishments and their foibles.

I also appreciate some of the good future predicting Heinlein does. Some of it is obviously wrong, such as the continuance of SovUnion. Or the fact that Mike has to take up so much processing power to create video. But most of the wrong bits are forgivable. A slow degradation of imagined sovereignty into a loos federation of world government seems as plasuible as not. And the idea of a harsh mining/agricolony on the Moon populated by criminals and their descendants seems perfectly likely.

As for the sexism Heinleign , as usual, makes great overtures toward treating women as more than equals, while still crediting them with allthe stereotypical weaknesses of the Victorian age. It only showed me that Heinleign really wanted to treat women as equals but had little understanding of them.

Still, if you can bracket off some lame political rhetoric and the sad state of gender affairs, you get some real gems within. It's a world richly painted that you can live in and a fight worth witnessing. The revolution is painted as a real hypocritical and far from noble enterprise carried out against the exigencies and realities of the time, with all believing the ends justify the means. That's true of any revolution and Heinlein seems to lay that bare.

Most definitely loved this book. Could not put it down. The elegance in which the war was recast is impressive. And the subtlety with which Tregellis balanced the blurred lines of right and wrong were impressive. Plus as a fan of wartime Britain novels, he did a more than fair job of capturing the essence of that time as I have seen it related in books from the era. Well worth the read.

I agree with many others who read this that it takes a bot of work to get into but I think it largely pays off. The world Bacigalupi creates is unique and intriguing. The setting in Thailand is quite exotic to my US-raised self, but I feel like I get an authentic taste of it. And the characters are captivating in the end, especially Emiko and the Captain.

I didn't get my standard Coupland vibe of cultural gestalt from this one. I'm talking about those moments when you nod in understanding and agreement when a character does or says something that you don't expect in a book but really captures your current everyday experience. It's there in thin layers but this book went somewhere else.

The storytelling at the end seems to be a modern day Canterbury Tales. The tales almost seem a parody of earlier Couplan works. Gen A actually tries to pull a deeper meaning out of those stories. And it almost succeeds. But when I finishe this book I didn't have that experience of thinking I just read something that captured and added to my understanding of our world.

That said I enjoyed the story and it did pull me along enjoyably.

I was skeptical that Suarez could recapture the utter immersion and fascinating construction of Daemon, but he did. I think one of the main ways he did so, was turning from an emphasis on technology to an emphasis on the socio-political themes that began to emerge in Daemon.

In the tradition of Brave New World and 1984, Freedom(TM) serves as a warning by exaggeration. It's not that the events and revelations of Freedom(TM) are accurate or even prescient, it's that the elements that could cause them to happen all exist right now.

The confluence of events that could make the world just like the one in Freedom(TM) are certainly unlikely, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention to the warning.

These books are interesting. But they're not nearly as well written or deep as Frank Herbert's and frankly there are inconsistencies with the main Dune books. That shouldn't be, since the only reason for these is to flesh out the back story.

Very Tolkien-influenced. Somewhat lighter than Tolkien but more weighty than C. S. Lewis. Teh Aes Sedai remind me of the Bene Gesserit.

Well I feel a fool for holding out on this one for so long. An intricate plot woven deftly and very much told in art as well as text. I was very impressed at the way meaning was layered and mirrored from the superheroes to the newsagent's corner to the comic book pirate story.

I liked this book but unlike Pattern Recognition I didn't get sucked into it. The short chapters were interesting but I think it kept me from building the kind of immersion I expect. But a lukewarm experience ina Gibson novel is still hotter than most books.

Excellent read. I left my laptop at home accidentally during a trip to the Sierras and bought this for something to do when not hiking around or eating. So glad I did. Cayce has become one of my favorite characters of all time. The central mystery was compelling and kept me going. Gibson does good as usual.

A fantastic journey. Stephenson's alternate world is compelling, realistic and interesting. His device of moving you through many different aspects of the world continues his tradition of changing scenery to keep the story compelling while characters maintain their consistency.

Anathem deserves a whole wiki devoted to understanding the rich world Stephenson created. I was slightly let down by the final stage of the story, but not much really. No spoilers so I can't really go into why, but part of my let-down might be that it had to end.

Incredible. It was described to me by a co-worker, Laurence Campling, as something to read when you're ready to grow up from Harry Potter. He was underselling it.

His Dark Materials is an incredible exercise in physics, fantasy, philosophy, and above all, storytelling.

The alternate worlds are breathtaking in their specificity as if Mr. Pullman has been there. The thoughts and motivations of the characters are deep and real. The situations and decisions faced are never easy and never simple. There are no “happy endings” but not all endings are bad either, rather they are the real mix of good, sad and real that we experience in our lives, however still writ large enough and fantastical enough to be much more interesting to read than our own mundane daily diaries might be.

I highly recommend this series as a thought-provoking challenging and entertaining way to wile away the hours.

Overall an outstanding read. The end sections actually brought asmall tear to my eye.

Brooks does a very good job creating the idea that this is really an oral history. Writing from the perspective of so many different people, and keeping them with authentic voices is tough. Occasionally a voice doesn't ring true, or feels stilted, but not all that often.

Also the complicated matter of trying to execute a history through bits and pieces of recollections is well done too. I didn't find any glaring inconsistencies. This is a monumental task.

The only major criticism I might express, is that some of the ‘moral' lessons still seem a bit trite. Brooks obviously has a perspective on politics, religion and morals that seeps through. It doesn't detract from the overall value, but it does show that he's writing it rather than having it seem like a true history all the way through.

That said, the problem doesn't really distract you, only popping up in a few comments here and there that seem like they might e out of character and very obviously pointed at he pre-Z War audience. Overall I LOVED the book and highly recommend it to zombie afficionados and zombie newbies alike.

Incredible. I believe Ms. Rowling outdid herself. Exciting from the start. Very few draggy bits you know you need but have to slog through. Excellent call-backs to all 6 previous books to really reward you for paying attention. And a story that jerks you beats you throws you down and picks you back up again. In other words fantastic.

Book 7 makes it worth reading all the other books even more. Even the parts I didn't like about the other books all make sense in light of book 7.

I especially commend Ms. Rowling on not avoiding hard choices, even though she is essentially writing a fairy tale. This is no sugar and spice children's story. It's hard-hitting and gritty, or at least as much as children's story can and should be.

Well done.

Disappointing. I really wanted end of the world stories, of which there were several. However the editor chose to define apocalypese as any revolutionary change. Fair enough, and certainly led to including some very interesting stories. But it's just not what I signed on for.

The early part of it was worth reading, even for a coffee table book. Excellent look into how the story developed with great extracts from actual notes and scripts. Would love to see more of that!

This tale is very slow to get into. It bears a lot of similarity to the version included in previous partial publications. The opening chapter is very dry like the Silmarillion. I like this part of Tolkien's work but I felt like I'd read it, and was expecting his son had worked it into more of a story.

After the first few chapters, it does get into more of a tale, and less of a historical record, however it only occasionally gains the personal presence of the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings.

All in all I found myself compelled to pick it up each night by the end, and so feel as if it was worthwhile. The magic of Tolkien is preserved by his son, and I give it a 4.

I liked this a lot better on the third reading.