Lukas
It's fascinating how little has changed in two thousand years since Marcus Aurelius was himself alive. There are more quotes I'll remember but this one particularly will stay with me for a long time.
“Give yourself a gift: the present moment. People out for posthumous fame forget that the Generations To Come will be the same annoying people they know now. And just as mortal. What does it matter to you if they say x about you, or think y?”
Zajímavý náhled do hlavy a hlavně nevšedního života autisty. První polovina knihy se čte sama, problém nastane, když autor začne filozofovat o povaze a samotné definici autismu v polovině druhé. I přesto však jde o svěží čtení, které vám pomůže uvědomit si, že se svým OCD na tom společensky nejste zas až tak špatně.
Občas se objeví dobrý vtip a nová postava tetičky na chvíli vnese osvěžení, ale už je to potřetí to samé. Hlavně první polovina krátké knížky se dost vleče a přináší situace, které jsme tu už měli dvakrát.
Pokud bych mohl, dám 3,5/5, jelikož se druhý díl čte lépe než první. To je ale způsobeno i chabou délkou 100 stránek. Stále si stojím za tím, že vydat Aristokratku na dva díly po 200 a 100 stranách je tak trochu podvod na čtenáře.
When I haven't found any likable characters in the original Dune novel, I've had no idea it could get so much worse. This book was real pain for me to get through. Since I didn't like Bene Gesserit, Tleilaxu or omnipresent Duncan Idaho ghola in previous books, novel which revolves strictly around them just wasn't for me I guess. Next installment looks basically the same, but I'll push through and finish what I've started.
Slightly better than Heretics of Dune but still a mess. First three quarters of the book are pain to read, where nothing happens. It's in its last part when the book finally starts to be interesting, just to end in the middle of the plot.
Disappointing conclusion of the series filled with Deus Ex Machinas and unimaginative plot.
I've meant to read this book for a long time but I always put it back for some reason. I guess it's the cheesy sci-fi cover? Premise of some strangers on a pilgrimage telling stories to each other? Oh, how wrong I was. This is one of the best sci-fi books I've ever read!
It took me many years to force myself to read the Mars Trilogy and I don't regret a minute now. Even though I haven't give any book the full 5/5 rating, the trilogy (including “The Martians” short stories) as a whole deserves it. It's one huge continuous story spanning two centuries after all.
Kim Stanley Robinson spends a lot of time describing the different changing landscapes of Mars before, during and even after the terraforming process that can bore you a little during the first book but it gets to a point in Blue Mars and The Martians (which I've read alongside the final chapters of Blue Mars) when you feel you are on Mars yourself. Or at least you want to be. Because you want to be sitting next to Valles Marineris rim and watch sunlight shine from below, spent weeks climbing the enormous Olympus Mons, live in Odessa on the rim of the Hellas See and take a boat trip through the The Grand Canal.
But as much time as he spends with world building, Robinson spends with the characters and their struggle to make Mars and it's society better. It can be a little idealistic in some aspects and therefore less realistic but so is the terraformation of Mars in 200 year time itself. I fell in love with many characters, hated some and couldn't stand one particular French...
All in all the Mars Trilogy will be one of my favorite book experiences and one of those you never want to finish. I regret only one thing: that I'll never be able to visit Mars myself.
P.S.: Thank you KSR, I consider myself an expert in Martian geography now.
Almost everything I loathed about the movie is done right in the book. It made me smile, made me cry and also made me mad about human stupidity. But overall it's a great statement about human ingenuity and spirit, we are unaware most of the time. Simply said, Carl Sagan is genius.
After three books I have to admit I don't like Dune series. I've got my hopes up slightly with Dune Messiah, which was shorter and therefore more pleasant to read than the original, but here in Children we are back to complicated plotting which takes ages to come to fruit and even more god-like characters with the main character even really gaining superhuman speed and strength. Really?
It's not a good sign when you hate most of the characters and root for the comet instead. There's so many POV characters here that I just lost count at one point and had to skip some of the flashback chapters to finish (it helps that the book's not that long). More interesting characters and plot points just disappear in the middle of the book and you are forced to read about who ends up with whom.
The real Effort was to finish it.
It has some interesting ideas on familiar things about multiverse theory, but the story was really predictable. First one third was painful to get through, since the reader is always one step in front of the main character.
Also, author writes in very short sentences. Like really short. Sentences. Yes, he does. Like this.
Nice two hour novella, that acts like a proof of concept for audiobook first release. Zachary Quinto is great narrator and Scalzi is as good writter as always.
This is one of those books which you can't just put down. Great conclusion to a wonderful trilogy and an amazing hard sci-fi story. It brings so many new ideas to the genre, mostly because of it's Chinese origin, that you will not want it to ever end.
Enjoyable and well written short story from the world of “Ready Player One” by the author of “The Martian”. It gives you a bit more background for one of the main characters in the book and Ernest Cline even considers it to be canon.
Short but entertaining book, offering interesting insight into, sadly, not well known part of the history of astronomy, works of Albert Einstein and other notable astronomers including sir Isaac Newton. Great listening material for a long flight.
If I had to review this book in two words, it would be Seveneves Light. It shares a lot of similarities but the writing itself is not on par with Stephenson's. Dialogue is too cheesy sometimes almost to a point it felt like some kind of fan fiction.
But overall it's an entertaining book ideal for your summer vacation.
Velice zajímavý pohled na období konce první a druhé republiky z ne příliš známého pohledu, který se snaží vyvrátit klasický pohled na hrdinný národ, jemuž byla odepřena možnost bránit se. Dle autora byla politická situace jiná než si my po skoro osmdesáti letech, v jeho případě mnohem méně (polovina knihy je psána v roce 1989, druhá v letech 1968 a 1969), uvědomujeme. Jistě se mu nedá odepřít snaha jít proti proudu, ale kniha samotná by dle mého názoru zasloužila zkrácení, jelikož se, hlavně v druhé polovině složené z Tesařových článků, často opakuje.
I've really enjoyed the book and I think it will stay amongst one of my all time favorites. Unlike many others I've really enjoyed the third part and all the descriptions of the life in the distant future.
The only let down was, in my opinion too rushed down ending. I think there might be much more stories to tell in this world, which I'd read happily. Instead Neal Stephenson leaves a lot to readers imagination.
Ve třech slovech: čekal jsem víc. Poslední aristokratka se ze začátku jeví jako svěží a vtipné čtení, které ale rychle sklouzne k opakovaní svých vlastních vtipů a recyklaci absurdně nalinkovaných postav. Ve své druhé polovině pak už ani příliš nebaví člověk ji dočítá čistě z povinnosti.
Jako čirý podvod na čtenáře pak vidím neexistující konec krátké knihy, která pokračuje v dalším (ještě útlejším) díle za plnou cenu.