Avery
I think some of the economics stuff has improved. Still enjoying many of the characters.
Some complaints are probably a result of listening to this as an audiobook. I like Heath Miller's narration. The voices are differentiated but not over the top, and it's generally very easy to listen to. I also appreciate that full character-sheet level stat readouts are very uncommon.
Unfortunately, every time anyone uses any ability, the entire description of the ability gets read out. This gets a little painful, as the clearly tabular style doesn't read very well while being pretty repetitive, especially where there are like 4 levels of nested effects being defined. Of course, the fact that abilities (especially Jason's) have pretty vague names means that I frequently DO end up needing to listen to the description.
That said, I don't think all the blame lies with the format. Jason's ability set causes to his fights to be super predictable so far. 1) Give afflictions (yes, even a scratch is enough), 2) do damage scaling with afflictions, 3) absorb the afflictions to deal more damage and set up 4) execute. Like, I get and that's fine, but you don't need to explain it to me every time.
The fight predictability gets a little better near the end, and thankfully they start to be described in a little less detail. We'll see if it continues to improve in book 4 (which I guess I'll be reading next)
I think some of the economics stuff has improved. Still enjoying many of the characters.
Some complaints are probably a result of listening to this as an audiobook. I like Heath Miller's narration. The voices are differentiated but not over the top, and it's generally very easy to listen to. I also appreciate that full character-sheet level stat readouts are very uncommon.
Unfortunately, every time anyone uses any ability, the entire description of the ability gets read out. This gets a little painful, as the clearly tabular style doesn't read very well while being pretty repetitive, especially where there are like 4 levels of nested effects being defined. Of course, the fact that abilities (especially Jason's) have pretty vague names means that I frequently DO end up needing to listen to the description.
That said, I don't think all the blame lies with the format. Jason's ability set causes to his fights to be super predictable so far. 1) Give afflictions (yes, even a scratch is enough), 2) do damage scaling with afflictions, 3) absorb the afflictions to deal more damage and set up 4) execute. Like, I get and that's fine, but you don't need to explain it to me every time.
The fight predictability gets a little better near the end, and thankfully they start to be described in a little less detail. We'll see if it continues to improve in book 4 (which I guess I'll be reading next)
Still entertaining, and I've just started the third.
That said, there are a few annoying things.
Everyone keeps talking about how Jason just is who he is, and some people like it and some people don't. That's true, but it feels convenient that most of the ones that like Jason tend to be more powerful and influential than the ones who don't. It would be nice if there was some meaningful interaction where his attitude results in a bad outcome, otherwise it starts to feel rigged.
I also don't really get the deal with the awakening stones. Who cares that it's a high rarity stone if you don't know what it gives? It's not like it will be more powerful, as is often repeated. It ends up feeling like a meaningless choice that conveniently works out well in cases, but there's a lot of talk of which one to pick.
Related to the relatively unexplainable purchase of expensive stones, the economy feels super broken. It feels like the main characters can buy just about anything without saving up or making tough choices. Jason's gold coin looting seems way too powerful, considering it basically lets him buy the best gear he can use. Hopefully this will stop being the case if they move on to a larger town.
Still entertaining, and I've just started the third.
That said, there are a few annoying things.
Everyone keeps talking about how Jason just is who he is, and some people like it and some people don't. That's true, but it feels convenient that most of the ones that like Jason tend to be more powerful and influential than the ones who don't. It would be nice if there was some meaningful interaction where his attitude results in a bad outcome, otherwise it starts to feel rigged.
I also don't really get the deal with the awakening stones. Who cares that it's a high rarity stone if you don't know what it gives? It's not like it will be more powerful, as is often repeated. It ends up feeling like a meaningless choice that conveniently works out well in cases, but there's a lot of talk of which one to pick.
Related to the relatively unexplainable purchase of expensive stones, the economy feels super broken. It feels like the main characters can buy just about anything without saving up or making tough choices. Jason's gold coin looting seems way too powerful, considering it basically lets him buy the best gear he can use. Hopefully this will stop being the case if they move on to a larger town.
Quite enjoyable. Most of the characters are very likable, which is nice.
One weird bit was how the nomadic group is almost treated as subhuman, especially given how thoughtful and forgiving Jason is with everyone else.
Quite enjoyable. Most of the characters are very likable, which is nice.
One weird bit was how the nomadic group is almost treated as subhuman, especially given how thoughtful and forgiving Jason is with everyone else.
Some really cool ideas grounded in (as far as I can tell) real biology. I wasn't expecting it to focus so much on the political angles involved in an important scientific discovery, but that was neat too.
I did feel like it dragged at times and could have maybe been a bit shorter -- apart from the cool ideas, not much important happened plot-wise.
Some really cool ideas grounded in (as far as I can tell) real biology. I wasn't expecting it to focus so much on the political angles involved in an important scientific discovery, but that was neat too.
I did feel like it dragged at times and could have maybe been a bit shorter -- apart from the cool ideas, not much important happened plot-wise.
Answered a promptWhat are some books that messed with your mind?
At a surface level Challenger is a history of the engineering issues faced by NASA up until the eponymous disaster. A little deeper, it ends up being more of a look into failures of project management when it comes to the space missions.
When it comes to the individuals involved, the book is almost universally positive in its depictions (with the possible exception of a few execs/politicians).
When it comes to the bigger picture though. Higginbotham describes a flawed system of government bureaucracy. Hours to get approval to remove a bolt and simultaneously failing to listen to a clear warning of danger.
Its no push for privatization though -- we also see a systemic ignoring and rationalization of a clear (admittedly more so in hindsight) problem. Sweeping life or death issues under the rug when they don't fit business objectives is hard to watch.
As someone in the software industry, we frequently joke about not being "real engineers". While I imagine that's still pretty accurate, compared to the rocket engineers working on the space shuttles, it was eerie to see some of the same patterns of engineering dysfunction. The promotion of a fluke error to the status of "longstanding bug", by virtue of the fact that nothing seemed to break catastrophically, gradually moving the line of what is acceptable risk. Treating designed systems as black boxes and inventing terms or concepts to explain away their idiosyncrasies.
Obviously no project management effort is going to be immune to failures, and NASA also made some pretty huge achievements along the way. Still, it seems like a good reminder to keep an eye out for these "Fifth Risk"-style dysfunctions, and remember that an organization filled with exceedingly competent and kind-hearted individuals has the potential to make bad decisions.
PS -- OK confession time -- I had to get halfway through this book before remembering that Challenger and Columbia were different shuttle (disaster)s. I didn't know much about either story going into this book, so thought it went long, I appreciated all the context. Also, I'll be lucky if I remember three names out of the hundred (more?) people talked about throughout the book.
At a surface level Challenger is a history of the engineering issues faced by NASA up until the eponymous disaster. A little deeper, it ends up being more of a look into failures of project management when it comes to the space missions.
When it comes to the individuals involved, the book is almost universally positive in its depictions (with the possible exception of a few execs/politicians).
When it comes to the bigger picture though. Higginbotham describes a flawed system of government bureaucracy. Hours to get approval to remove a bolt and simultaneously failing to listen to a clear warning of danger.
Its no push for privatization though -- we also see a systemic ignoring and rationalization of a clear (admittedly more so in hindsight) problem. Sweeping life or death issues under the rug when they don't fit business objectives is hard to watch.
As someone in the software industry, we frequently joke about not being "real engineers". While I imagine that's still pretty accurate, compared to the rocket engineers working on the space shuttles, it was eerie to see some of the same patterns of engineering dysfunction. The promotion of a fluke error to the status of "longstanding bug", by virtue of the fact that nothing seemed to break catastrophically, gradually moving the line of what is acceptable risk. Treating designed systems as black boxes and inventing terms or concepts to explain away their idiosyncrasies.
Obviously no project management effort is going to be immune to failures, and NASA also made some pretty huge achievements along the way. Still, it seems like a good reminder to keep an eye out for these "Fifth Risk"-style dysfunctions, and remember that an organization filled with exceedingly competent and kind-hearted individuals has the potential to make bad decisions.
PS -- OK confession time -- I had to get halfway through this book before remembering that Challenger and Columbia were different shuttle (disaster)s. I didn't know much about either story going into this book, so thought it went long, I appreciated all the context. Also, I'll be lucky if I remember three names out of the hundred (more?) people talked about throughout the book.
Definitely preferred the first, though I probably won't abandon the series. Felt like not much happened and what did was somewhat convenient or meaningless.
I'm a fan of Travis Baldree's narration but the constant French(?) accent on this world was painful. I sure hope there's less of that going forward.
Definitely preferred the first, though I probably won't abandon the series. Felt like not much happened and what did was somewhat convenient or meaningless.
I'm a fan of Travis Baldree's narration but the constant French(?) accent on this world was painful. I sure hope there's less of that going forward.