Jeremy Clark

Great book, I can see why it's a staple of the cyber-punk / hacker genre. Stephenson does an amazing job weaving together sci-fi/hacker culture with mythology.

I picked up this book last year, but it took me a couple of restarts to make it through. Not because the quality of the content was poor, but because the book hit me so hard emotionally. Like Walker, my son Avery was born with CFC (Cardio-facio-cutaneous) Syndrome, which has left him disabled and developmentally delayed in a number of ways. And like the author and father of the book, Ian, I often struggle to find meaning in challenges life seems to so often present to my son.

The way that Mr. Brown speaks so frankly and openly about his life and his relationship with his son was extremely moving to me. Raising a child with a disability can cause your mind to run through the entire gamut of emotions, but we live in a society where it is often difficult to express those emotions without judgement. The most wonderful thing about this book is that it provides the perfect window into the life of a parent entrusted with the care of a child with a disability. The constant search for value and meaning in the daily struggle of care can be a difficult journey, but in between the difficult moments lie tiny nuggets of life lessons that are endlessly deep and profound.

I realize it is probably a bit self serving, but I would still urge everyone to take a look at this book and consider picking it up (the first few chapters are available on Amazon).

This book is a pretty short read, but I think it ended up being the perfect length given the pacing. Barnes does an excellent job of bringing you into the main characters frame of mind so that you begin thinking in the same way he does. The book does a great job of illustrating how we shape our memories and perceptions into our own convenient narratives.

I enjoyed the book, but the way the story takes such a dramatic shift after part 2 was a little jolting at first. In the end, the way I feel about Stranger is similar to my feelings on Starship Troopers. The overall message of the book contains some excellent points about religion, faith and morality, but I can't say I buy into the entire message.

False Gods picks up a few months from where Horus Rising left off. While Horus Rising did a good job of laying down information about the main characters and their personalities, I found it to be a little too slow paced for my liking at times. False Gods picks up the tempo and does an excellent job of making Horus' gradual slide into treason seem believable and understandable.