Hari Gopal
If there's one thing I can't stand in books, it's when the plot is driven by the mistakes made by the protagonists.
Unlike the previous books in this series, it's difficult to root for the heroes and heroines at any point of time. You see them make so many mistakes that when their actions catch up to them, all you're left with is a feeling of crushing inevitability.
These mistakes are so bad that the only way out that the author could find was deus ex machina: the introduction of a literal, physical God.
For a series that did so well, so far, this is a disappointing conclusion.
I love Dune. According to Goodreads, I've read it five times - the last in 2013. After finishing its audiobook a few days ago, I couldn't figure out why I hadn't read the the rest of the series, and so picked up the audiobook for Dune Messiah - the second in the series.
I realized that I remembered the initial portions of the book, so I must have started it sometime in the past; but it quickly became clear why I had never finished this book, and hence never touched the rest of the series.
This book is pretentious, filled with flowery language for no reason other than to be decorative, and bogged down by a plot device that smothers all sense of excitement - the vision of the future that the protagonists possess. It's shocking how, towards the end of the book when Paul lets go of his future sense willingly, the book seems to come alive.
What this book lacks is everything that made the original great - world-building, real tension & conflict, a sense for the fantastical.
What a disappointment. :-(
Five stars, not for the quality of the writing, but for the courage required to put such an experience to paper. That is not to say that the writing is poor - it is well above average and I spotted no glaring errors. Her observations of the differences in lifestyle are, at times, humorous to read, and at others, disheartening, especially towards the end of the book, where events take a decidedly darker turn. I must also confess that, being a strong atheist, I felt it quite difficult to empathize whenever the author describes her feelings of spirituality, or closeness with God, which forms the basis for her life in India. I'd also like to note that while my mother, who read this book before I did, expressed mild shock at the revelations about the moral character of ‘Amma', I felt nothing of the sort - only some sort of inevitability - of what happens when adulation is showered on a person for no justifiable reason.
I spent most of the nights this week immersed in this tale. Having to work half-asleep is a chore, but for this book, it's totally worth it.
Something about Lynch's writing style makes it impossible for me to put his books down once I've picked them up. His whipcrack-stlye jokes certainly play their part, but this isn't a comedy, so that's not all of it.
The characters, Locke and Jean, are super easy to root for. While Locke is obviously the lead character, I find Jean to be more interesting, overall. I find it easier to understand and empathize with Jean's worldview. Sabetha, who we meet for the first time in this book, was a bit of a disappointment. She's a strong female character with few twists. Locke's infatuation with her is a a hard swallow. However, revelations towards the end of the tale shed a possible clue as to why he follows her around the way he does.
This books going straight into my favorites list, and I'm definitely going to pick up the next book as soon as it's released!
I was starting to think that picking up this book was a good idea.
But then the author decides to have the protagonist cheat in a game, a game he was sure to win anyway, when a character he knows is crazy supplies the opportunity.
And then he gets blackmailed for it, thus forming the reason for the story to get started. Pathetic. Lead character being an idiot and a cheater makes it impossible for me to consider continuing reading this one.
As the author admits in the Acknowledgements section, his writing is decidedly pedestrian. What's worse, however, is the spoiling of a good premise by shallow, naive characters who fawn over the protagonist for the silliest reasons. Readable, but nothing special. There's no ending either. While the author could have ended the book leaving the reader with a feeling of completion, he chose instead to stop right in the middle of an ‘incident', which begs the reader to pick up the next book in the series. It is, in fact, the first book I've read which ends with a ‘To be continued...'
This is a short review for ‘The First Law' series.
Gritty, gritty books. None of the three tell happy stories. Stay away if you want to read a book that'll make you feel unconditionally good, in the way the Harry Potter(s), or even The Name of the Wind does.
So why read these, then? Because the writing is top-notch. Because, at times, it's funny, or sad, or both, and it never feels awkward or out-of-place. And the grittiness, and oh-so-very obvious flaws of the characters who we follow, is a breath of fresh air. Heck, even the sparsely mentioned magic system is way grittier than most Fantasy novels I've read - the author easily manages to convey the idea of magic in this world being a chaotic / powerful force.
However, the reason that the last book is the one I've added to my favorites list is the ending, which I felt was perfect - the inevitable conclusion to a journey in a world that is decidedly unfair.
Wow. Just wow . The first three books were very good. This one was was incredible . I'm amazed at how well Weber switched what was, until now, a military / space-combat series into a character-driven thriller. Of course the characters mattered before, but in this book, they're always in front, and it's written so well, I just didn't want to put the book down.
IMHO, it's worth the time you'd spend reading the first three books in the series, just to get to this one, even if you're not interested in military sci-fi. 5 stars, and looking forward to reading the rest of the series!
As far as I can tell, the only time I had any fun while reading this book, were the rare moments when Nix managed to knock a good joke into the narrative when I least expected him to.
I'm at a loss to explain the popularity of this book. Most everything I've read this year has been leagues better than this... tale. The lead character is, at best, boring. And there are only two other characters (noteworthy) in the story - yeah, a grand total of three main characters. The cat was interesting for a while, but then it was made obvious that his story wouldn't be told in this book, and he / it became a decoration, for the most part. The third guy is the obligatory romantic interest for our just-out-of-school heroine - another flat and uninteresting character whose story never really gets explored.
And then there's the weird, and frankly senseless magic system. Charter magic which... er... comes from these huge stones (??? never really explained) and is somehow seen as wriggling glyphs once they're in place. Oh, and ringing bells, and whistling that controls another form of magic (??? again, never explained) Or are they both the same thing? I wondered at one point why, if the basis of their magic system was that elementary, more people in the story didn't know it (at least a little). Sabriel's world has the most quixotic magic system I've encountered in (my short-term) memory.
In other words, skip this one, go re-read Harry Potter. Or delve into Bartimaeus's tales. Heck, even Percy Jackson and his merry band of demigods is a better bet.
Am somewhat surprised that this book was voted Goodreads' favourite book of 2011. Only somewhat, since it serves to confirm my suspicion that the Goodreads community population is heavily skewed towards teenage girls.
The plot is paper-thin, the writing is mediocre, and the romance is... girlish. None of it was boring - I read this book in one day, but no part of it strikes me as being particularly good, either. Therefore, 2 stars.
One of the books that I consider to be top-tier is the recent sensation, The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. This book, The Lies of Locke Lamora, was published a year before The Name of the Wind and the two are, in my opinion, equals.
Both are typical, in that they weave the story of a charismatic (flawed genius) hero. What sets both apart from a sea of similar books is the quality of the writing, and how engaging the story is. The Lies of Locke Lamora is a much grittier tale than The Name of the Wind, but it also had me laughing out loud a lot more often than when I read the latter.
What attracted me to The Lies of Locke Lamora, at first, was a review which mentioned it as being “Ocean's Eleven in the middle ages”, and I think that that's about as good a single-phrase description can get. So if you liked Ocean's Eleven, and you liked The Name of the Wind (how can you not?!), then pick this one up, A.S.A.P.
After a second read-through, Eldest felt like a better book than Eragon - this was not how I'd remembered it. It seemed to me that Paolini's writing had become sharper. The introduction of Roran's viewpoint helped somewhat, though it would have been better if the two characters had been a little different, the fact that they're (foster) brothers notwithstanding. They're basically twins as far as character is concerned.
This was my second time reading this book, and I remember that I loved this book the first time through. Now, however, after having read quite a few master-class books (Patrick Rothfuss comes to mind), I'm forced to downgrade my rating and say that Eragon is merely a good book. An easy, fast read - it nevers gets boring, and the characters and mostly believable. However, Paolini steals ideas from other books in the genre willy-nilly, to the point that there's very little in here that's original. To his credit, all the concepts mesh together really well, and make for a great read! Three stars!
I hate to think of the amount of time I spent on this, well, worthless book. My problem with it lies in how I kept hoping the story would start making some sort of sense - and it doesn't. I got to see a guy named Shadow take a ridiculous trip across America meeting some weird people and getting into some weird situations. At the end of it, I can't see what the point of it all was. Maybe its because I'm not American? I'm not so sure. There's something fundamentally wrong about this book. I can't say what it is though.
A must-read for anyone who desires a greater understanding of stock markets, and how regular people can make money outside of speculative actions on the market. This book clearly defines boundaries between stock market speculation, and stock market investment, which is probably the most important lesson that wannabe investors should grasp.
Graham's writing is often hard to chew and digest. The presence of commentary on each chapter by Jason Zweig, however, ameliorates the difficulty by providing well-written, often funny, insights into how Graham's teachings still apply to the stock market.