Michael Cummings
I have never read a Jack Reacher novel. I picked up Killing Floor about a year ago, but never made it far. The context just wasn't right for me at the time. Someday, I may pick it up and read it in a sitting. It was the same time the first time I tried to read Foundation. I was 11 or 12, and it was the first time I think I tried reading a book that had such dramatic jumps in timelines. The fact that the protagonist for both parts of the book had the initials H.S. made it hard for me to follow. I don't know why. But a few years later I picked it up again and proceeded to read the entire series over the course of a week.
So why did I pick up Reacher Said Nothing? Because even knowing so little about Reacher, I am always fascinated by the process authors take to create. Martin's book delivered that, though a bit unevenly. To be fair, the book was never sold as only being about the writing process. My three stars are only because I found it uneven in representing the narrative. It was good, but it wasn't the best example of this kind of book. It does have the distinction of being one of the only I've seen that was written by an observer rather than autobiographical. It does add a slightly objective angle that can be lost – most folks don't write about all of their bad habits while creating.
Probably more interesting to Reacher fans, but still a decent insight into yet another writers process. Or lack thereof.
I loved the first book, and that is what drove me to finish this volume. The plot was fine, the characters ok, but I was constantly distracted by the seemingly infinite varieties of the word “wry” that the author used and the editor let through. I really do think Islington can be a great writer - but as tweeted, I hit a wryly wry threshold of wryliness that led me to screaming into the aether.
Subjectively, this just didn't work for me. I'm not the biggest fan of first person novels anyway, and for some reason I really hate any story where the narrator goes through the process of discovering words like “food” and “air.” I realize that in the context of this story it is appropriate, but it's a pet peeve (the only notable exception that comes to mind being the whale in Hitchhiker). I've always loved Bear's books, this one just didn't do it for me.
A great read! Felt like a missing chapter from one of King's other books, like an appendix to Needful Things or Nightmares and Dreamscapes. It had the vibe of his pulpier 80's horror stories. I realize this was a collaboration, but I had a hard time telling who's voice was which (ie, it was a success!)
Not my favorite. While it attempted to maintain a cohesive story, the original material's episodic nature made for a read through that felt stilted at times. Much of that was due to slight rehashing (for new readers when it was on Tor.com no doubt) and the need to reintroduce key bits repeatedly. Understandable in the original format, but in a collected “novel” I don't think it worked as well.
A curious entry in the autobiographical material of Asimov's life. If you have no other resources, or your only other resource is the slim “I, Asimov”, then you may find more enjoyment in this book. Personally, I found it to be a somewhat disjointed collection of excerpts from the longer autobiography that he wrote (I've read “In Memory Yet Green” and “In Joy Still Felt”, which covered 1920-1978). Unfortunately, this is about the best you're going to find these days, especially if you're looking for a digital book. Ye olde paper books are rare and out of print as near as I can tell, so this is the best of what you can find, but don't think you've found the best.
How do you describe “Dark Run”....it was like an episode of Firefly, but where the science wasn't all goofy (sorry, Browncoats, but what the hell, all of the habitable planets are in the same...solar system....? That's not even space fantasy, that's just crap)(I cannot believe I just took this time to rant on Firefly, a show I actually love).
But Dark Run - it's that. Firefly, better science, lots of quick action packed into a tiny space. Be careful with the analogy, though, because you'll find yourself typecasting characters from one to the other, and then you'll just have conflicts on how to feel.
Insomnia is really a Dark Tower novel. I takes about 500 pages to get there, but then you are smacked in the ka with a tower, a dark figure, a king with guns on his hips, and the meaning of the whole struggle of the book as a footnote in the levels of the world. A fun read even if you haven't read any of the Dark Tower, there are moments where it drags. But at 700 pages, that's not a shock.
Wow. One or two cases of losing the POV, as with many early King books, but Firestarter lived up to everything I had hoped for and more. If you liked the movie, you'll love the book. I realize it's a truism that the book is always better and more in depth than the movie that was based on it, and Firestarter is no exception.
