Armamix

Starts out excruciatingly slow, and is marred by poor editing (Is the school headmaster Mr Tuffett or Ms Muffett?) It picks itself up a bit in the final third and becomes a nice but somewhat uninspiring read.

Mild spoilers:
Others have mentioned how their biggest disappointment is the relegation of Atticus from God Almighty to Regular Joe. I don't see that at all. All through Mockingbird I looked at Atticus as a decent role model for fathers and people in general, but felt very clearly that he was presented through the eyes of a child that adored him. This book only strengthens that view for me. Atticus is still as much a standout father, but with the obvious flaws that make him a mortal man. His handling of what can only be called a very delayed teenage rebellion seems to me to be nothing but a success. That he has views and opinions most people today probably do not have takes nothing away from that.

I went into this with low expectations, I figured there was a good reason this book was never published, before and there is. It appears unfinished and rather immature and would probably not have appeared at all (or at least not in this form) had it not been a guaranteed success. In conclusion, you certainly do not have to read this, but it's not all bad either.

Aller først, dette er en ny strålende bok om livet på Barrøy, denn gangen under siste verdenskrig. Deretter må jeg si at jeg likte den første bokas mer tidløse beskrivelse av livet og generasjonenes gang bedre enn denne. (Forsåvidt en av grunnene til at jeg hadde sansen for samme forfatters Frost.)Denne gangen (synes jeg) kommer den veldig spesifikke dateringen i veien for dette, selv om historien også nyter noen fordeler av å ha historiske hendelser å trekke på. Ingrid Barrøy er fortsatt like seig og sta og til tider irriterende, men personene rundt er kanskje noe blekere?

Og for den som er opptatt av hvordan det går til slutt tipper jeg det kommer mer. Det er i hvert fall få avslutninger i denne boka.

An assassin is contracted to kill God in a Blade Runner-ish millennial Los Angeles. Part noir, part scifi, part quasi-philosophical ramblings. I wanted to like this one for it's somewhat novel concept and a couple of very good future predictions, but unfortunately the rather bland writing style and uninteresting characters ruin the experience. The characters are particularly disappointing as they seem potentially very interesting at first, but then nothing happens. It's not a horribly bad book as this type of scifi goes, but it's nothing more than that.

One of few “American classics” I really get something out of.

A biography of Feynmans contributions to physics more than a biography of his life. This book requires some basic knowledge of physics to be interesting. Krauss writes well, but surprisingly I found his narration to be bland and somewhat boring. I've enjoyed listening to his lectures before, but here it sounds like he's not really all that interested. A little disappointing to be honest.

Den er nesten like god som Odinsbarn, jeg hadde bare en liten følelse av at handlingen gikk litt tregere og bipersonene var bittelitt svakere denne gangen. Det kan være at forventningene var i overkant høye, for det er fremdeles en av de aller beste norskspråklige utgivelsene jeg har lest i år.

This one was a bit slower and lacked a little bit of the sharpness of the previous two volumes. Still got plenty of food for though.

Re-read. Good, but not as good as first time as it's probably too dependent on the one plot device.

A small collection of stories, mostly short. Some are funny, some are thoughtful and a few provoking, and then there are quite a few that I didn't get anything out of. I suspect others may feel the same, but pick different favourites.

Dull, repetitive and pretty far from blissful.

It might very well grow into a four-star once I've digested it. Two-thirds through I was pretty much ready to write it off as something wanting to be a Vonnegut piece but without the sting. The story (stories) seemed to lack purpose and an old mans ramblings seemed like just that, an old mans rambling. However in the final third it kind of came together and I caught on to something that might be summed up by the following quote:

Why is life so horrible, Grandpa?
Because it is, that's all. It just is

I need to think on this one. I like it a lot. It's weird and it's creepy and it's got some fabulous writing in it, but there's something in there I'm not quite getting. Definitely worth your time though.

Faulks isn't Wodehouse but he makes a really good attempt, and the result is nearly as hilarious as the original.

Noe av det beste jeg har lest på norsk noensinne. Intenst, intelligent og rett og slett vakkert. Siri Pettersen unngår alle de klassiske fantasy-fellene men spinner likevel en fantastisk historie med rot i det norrøne. Denne kommer til å ligge i bakhodet og surre lenge.

Tidvis hysterisk morsom, tidvis faktisk spennende, men av og til litt repeterende og platt. God underholdning, særlig hvis du har forlest deg på Nesbø.

It got better, although it never quite got out of the crime thriller mould. I would've liked a bit more exploration of the alternate timeline, although I enjoyed the descriptions of the 2011 DDR very much. Now I'm hungry for a Wart-burger.

It's not an ending, it's THE ending and thank the dark one for that.

Sanderson pulled it off moderately well, although some choices were rather silly and felt contrived (Gawyn went after Demandred why exactly?)

Moby Dick meets Treasure Island on rails. Beatiful and cunning with a dash of Vonnegut-ish narration.

I really liked this one even if it was slow going at times. KSR has a writing style that's really demanding for inattentive people like me. Sometimes I wake up having read several pages without registering a single word because my mind caught on to some previous tangent and veered off into space (pretty literally in this case.)

This book continues exploring some of Robinson's previous themes such as climate change, alternative forms of government and solar system colonization. He also brings in transhumanism and AI among other stuff. As always he's more about ideas than plot, so don't expect a thriller. If you liked the Mars trilogy this is for you.

Fun, interesting and a little bit flammable.

Interesting and very well sourced, although a little drawn out. It could easily be two-thirds of the length just by providing all the example themes once, instead of repeating them every chapter.

Holden Caulfield is still a phony.

My first run-in with China Miéville and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last. This is a thrilling story of the power of language and a different look at first encounter (although the story is set well after the actual physical encounter.) The first part is all getting to know a well thought out future world, while learning of the upcoming conflict. While there are heroes and villains and conflict present, this is not space opera. There are no epic space battles or huge galactic civilizations clashing. I still found it remarkably exciting. Well worth the time.

Some interesting tales, lots of chaff.

Pretty cool concept, even if this book feels a little bit like a prequel or a setup for the next.