Nik
The Big Bang theory. chuckle I read some of the Discworld books, years ago. I remember liking them, but don't really remember them. I begin the journey anew, then, and with the greatest of eagerness. The only reason The Colour of Magic gets three stars is because I'm certain that there are four- and five-star books in the series.
Well, that was interesting. As a whole, this is the best book of the trilogy, but the second half of Weapons of Choice is the best half-book of the trilogy. But time-wise, I liked the bit right after the Transition/Emergence the best, which is the second book, Designated Targets. So basically, it's all pretty good. Not amazing, but pretty darned good.
I really liked [b:Weapons of Choice 72989 Weapons of Choice (The Axis of Time Trilogy, #1) John Birmingham http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170826475s/72989.jpg 70652], but found parts of [b:Designated Targets 977145 Designated Targets (The Axis of Time Trilogy, #2) John Birmingham http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179952409s/977145.jpg 962041] a little boring. Looking forward to Final Impact, though; I'm kind of ready for this series to be over.
Well, I've been whining about how [a:Chuck Palahniuk 2546 Chuck Palahniuk http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1264506988p2/2546.jpg] keeps saying the same thing in different ways, about how it got old after I read [b:Invisible Monsters 22290 Invisible Monsters Chuck Palahniuk http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1210989634s/22290.jpg 849507]. Pygmy is different, and this makes me happy. The thing being said is really not all that different at all, but the delivery sure is. Maybe growing up in a home were English isn't our mother tongue gives me a bit of an advantage here, but I flew through this book. And that's kinda funny, ‘cos it's the first Chuck Palahniuk book that I haven't raced to finish.
My rating system is a little weird. You have to consider it in context. When I rate a film, it's not against every film I've ever seen, it's against similar films I've seen. Within the [a:Chuck Palahniuk 2546 Chuck Palahniuk http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1264506988p2/2546.jpg] context, Snuff is good. I was getting quite tired of reading his work and never really finding anything different. Snuff stands out, y'know? It's not a bad story, all things considered, and it's told differently. It feels less, I dunno, standoffish? distant? maybe.
I might have enjoyed reading this book's reviews more than the book itself. It's kind of funny how they're all over the map. Controlled chaos, minus the control, seems to be the name of Chuck Palahniuk's game. Anyone who thinks that Choke isn't preachy couldn't have read the same book I did. It's the same story with different words and different people, and it's getting old.
This book merits four stars because I'm kind of at a loss for words. I was expecting more of the same from Chuck Palahniuk, writing-wise, and that's what I got. I didn't have any expectations of the story. This, I think, is a good thing and worked out well for me. Invisible Monsters is horrifying and its author certifiable, or at least capable of playing it on TV. That said, I had to keep reading to get my next “WTF?!” fix. Now that I'm done with the book, I'm jonesing; I might have to start watching Lost.
I'm reading Palahniuk's novels in the order they were published. The first thing I noticed about Survivor is that the writing style is exactly like Fight Club's, as it this part of my notes: staccato sentences, mired in small details, repetitive. The story made the style work in Fight Club, not so much in Survivor. I thought it started out pretty well, but about three quarters of the way into the book, I kind of lost interest. I expected to be somewhat disappointed by the time I finished reading, and sadly, my expectations were met.