Gabe

Having watched his YouTube channel the Nerdwriter for years, I wasn't sure how much of what I enjoyed would translate over into only written works, but I am happy to say that it was just as interesting, potentially even more so, due to the connected nature and references to previous essays that I had just read.

I really enjoyed Evan's perspective on everything he had to write about, and will certainly read whatever he decides to put out next.

I am a very big fan of both this book, and Glenn McDonald himself. Getting an insider's insight into how the algorithms that shape out listening experience are created, maintained, and fixed/replaced was very interesting. As someone who is interested in both software and music, this was a perfect crossover.

Some reviews I've seen weren't fans of the tangents and stories he would go into in some of the chapters, but I very much enjoyed getting that extra insight and backstory of either how something came to be, or how it impacted someone's listening.

My biggest takeaway that became increasingly clear at the end of every chapter, and also the book itself, is that Glenn McDonald loves music with all his heart and wants as many people to be able to listen to and love music as possible - and that's a message I can get wholly behind.

The consecutive nature of one short story showing a problem, solving it, and then introducing another in the next story was very interesting. I like the historical style of looking back at the history of robots. I will definitely be reading more about them!

After hearing so much about the series, I had to give it a go.

I very much enjoyed the concepts and ideas explored, but my biggest issue is that it's hard to get attached to characters that are here one chapter, and in the next, they've been dead for 50 years and won't be seen again, except in mention from characters later in the series.

I understand that the draw of the series is the sci-fi, the politics, the concepts, the galaxy-scale plot playing out over the course of millennia, but it did take a minute to get into that mindset and really get into the series.

I can't believe I resisted starting this book for as long as I did. Reading the description and learning what a LitRPG was didn't help with wanting to read it, but after seeing all 7 of the books on the top 10 or 15 trending on this site consistently month to month, I figured it had to have done something right. Even a couple chapters in, the RPG elements started out slightly off-putting, but I kept going and oh my god am I glad that I did.

This is now quite possibly one of my favourite series, and it only gets better as the books go on.

If you're skeptical of the format, give it a chance - read it to the end before making any judgments, and you will very likely be surprised.

A very entertaining blend of absurdism, humor, action, and surprising emotional depth.

This books was such a lovely vibe to listen to all the way throughout, and I would highly recommend the audiobook version. I'd imagine that re-reading the chapter titles, names of the rooms, and all the repetitively named elements might have grown old if I'd read the book, but they actually added to the feel and character of the story and location in the audiobook.

I'm glad that I read online that I don't need to pay attention and try to map out the location of the halls, because that would have been difficult, but Chiwetel Ejiofor made it such a pleasure to listen to.

Bundling my review of all 3 volumes because I listened to them all back to back and forget what happened in which book.

The story is fine, but somewhat predictable, and the characters felt like they didn't stay consistent to themselves, and their abilities and competence fluctuated greatly throughout. Some decisions and dialog felt like they were added to extend the length of the books, much to the detriment of the characters.

Another detractor is the fact that I listened to the dramatized audio, which I have yet to enjoy one of them in this format. The sound effects of feet on sand got old almost immediately into the first out of 3 books, and continued throughout, and the accents for the characters felt exceptionally cheesy.

I'm not sure how much of what I didn't like was due to the adaptation from comic to dramatized audio and how many of the decisions were made by GraphicAudio vs. Brandon Sanderson himself, but aside from the magic systems and world building it felt very much unlike the rest of the books I've enjoyed by him.

Perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I had read the comic, so I'll have to check that out at some point, but I'll probably wait until the proper prose novel is released before revisiting.

This is a family favourite book in my house! It must be enjoyed as an audiobook, since Arte Johnson does such a good job I can't imagine consuming the story in any other way.

Probably over a decade since listening to the story in the van during a road trip, it remains quoted almost weekly with my family.

I knew that Facebook was evil, but not until reading this book did I understand just how bad it actually was. I'm horrified.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy Skyward as much as I did, but I should have expected Brandon Sanderson wouldn't tone down any of what I love from his writing just because it's a Young Adult series (especially because I enjoyed his Alcatraz series so much, and that's targeted to an even younger demographic - even if that's the age I read it).

Some elements were predictable, but I very much enjoyed the development of all the characters, and was very quick to start book two after finishing this one!

While still remaining absurdist and amusing, I struggled to keep up with this book, which I did not with the first. It felt a lot more all over the place. Will be continuing the series however!

This is one of my favourite books from the Cosmere. I love Hoid's narrations, especially how whimsical it was in this book. The meta-commentary on storytelling reminded me very much of Brandon's Alcatraz series, which I really liked (was obsessed with) when I was a lot younger.

Now I want to know more about the moons that the spores come from! And dragons! I don't want to wait another 30 years to learn about everything opened up by this novel!

I quite enjoyed this short book, it felt very different from the rest of the Cosmere. A new perspective foreshadowing the potential consequences explored in later books!

This was such a fun introduction to the huge universe that is the bobiverse!

Exploring the perspective of a conscious Von Neumann probe is a very cool concept, and Bob is an entertaining character to follow along.

I like the humor, and the predicaments he has to deal with, along with the explanations while he's figuring everything out.

I'm so glad I finally chose to read this! It lived up to everything I'd heard about it over all the years before reading it myself.

I love the absurdist humor, the crazy situations that are accepted as normal, and there are so many quotable phrases!

Very engaged read, left me very curious as to snow was alluding to had happened to him previously - which I have recently been informed is the plot of the previous book, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - so I'll have to read that soon!

The only thing I wasn't as much of a fan of was Haymitch's very repetitive lament about "my darling". I completely understand where he's coming from, of course, and the content itself was fine, however the audiobook experience got somewhat annoying hearing the phrase repeating as much as it was. Perhaps I wouldn't have even noticed if I'd read it instead of listened, but alas I did not.

Exploring new ways to keep being Murderbot, more ART, and a longer, novel-length book? What's not to like!

Very enjoyable to see Murderbot in new scenarios and making new friends, but of course I missed ART.

I LOVE ART!!

The addition of a new, powerful personality for Murderbot to get to know is perfect.

I LOVE MURDERBOT!!!

I don't think I can say this enough, I've told as many people to read this as I can.

Amazing book! I loved the methodical manor of problem solving, discovery, and coming to terms with the memories that Grace keeps recovering as the book goes along. I was thoroughly engaged the whole way through.

If you've only seen the movie, the book is a must-read. There is a lot more development of the characters, so a lot of their decisions and actions make a lot more sense if you've read the book. There is also a lot more science, which I was a big fan of! A lot of loose ends that the movie left open were also closed up by the book, so it's definitely worth reading after watching.