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It's hard to write good fantasy that manages to be deeply cynical in a way that feels realistic rather than grimdark; this book hits the mark with aplomb. Interesting characters, and the writing manages to communicate their POV and worldview not just by describing their thoughts, but through what they say and do. A very enjoyable read.
A very enjoyable Stephen King - Richard Chizmar collaboration that feels like it belongs in the same universe with the first novella. Not quite as good as the first one IMO, but it feels like a neat little vignette in Gwendy's life and I still enjoyed it. As horror goes, it's a very light touch.
Note: Spoilered section contains spoilers for Wind Through the Keyhole as well as the Gwendy series.
I really enjoy how King seems to be making a lot of his villains more interesting - between Maerlyn in the Wind Through the Keyhole and perennial badguy Walter/RF in the Gwendy series, it's kind of neat to see King continuing to build on these time-honoured characters.
Featured on an episode of the delightful if at times very smugly snotty podcast “I Don't Even Own a Television”, Slow Bullets is a nice little soft sci-fi novella about a prison ship in a very dire situation. Alistair Reynolds enjoys his grimdark stories and this is no exception, but it's a short and enjoyable little glimpse into a world in great peril. There's a bit of a smug anti-religiousness that some people might find grating, but I felt it was tempered by having characters observe that there were positive things brought to the table by the "believer" faction as well. On the whole, if you enjoyed Revelation Space this is worth a quick read. If you've never read anything by Reynolds though, I'd suggest starting with something else.
I find Charles Stross' works to either be very good, enjoyable and thoughtful (Eschaton #1, the Laundry series, etc), or very much not my thing (Accelerando.) This work falls, fortunately, into the former category. Stross spins up a believable, well-fleshed out post-human world ruled by a very believable form of future capitalism run amok, and takes the reader on a journey that contains some genuinely enjoyable twists and turns. All in all, a very enjoyable read.
A very good end to a very enjoyable series. I think it says a lot that this book doesn't come to a grand, satisfying ending - that would make it clear it's a story. Rather, you're left with a somewhat unsatisfying realism, a sense that the saga continues to play out long after we've stopped peering into their universe; after all, nothing really ends. It's hard to build a universe that does that, so my hat's off to Ann Leckie.
The most enjoyable sci-fi book I've read in a long time. I love Alistair Reynolds, and Chambers is the opposite of him - but in the best possible way. Another reviewer described this as “feel-good sci-fi”, and I couldn't agree more. Well-written, entertaining, superbly paced, funny and touching in equal measure. I was very happy to find out this won't be a one off.
As many here have said, a hard read. It cannot be denied that Ms. Mayo would be, by the standards of our time, considered a bigoted woman, and a racist. She writes with the self-assurance (some would say smugness) of someone who is absolutely sure of the broad superiority of her own ways over those of others. That said, this is not a bad book. For the sociologist, Ms. Mayo's proto-feminism (in deed if not in words) contrasting with her strongly orthodox views makes for a fascinating bit of subtext for the modern reader to consider. For the historian: While the author obviously feels very strongly about the subject, she cites wherever possible sources - Indian sources - to back up that yes, much of the awful words she puts in the mouths of Indians did in fact issue from their mouths as she said it did. Read it as a historical curio. That said, many Indians here note that Mayo was not entirely wrong, and that many of the complaints she levels against what was then the Hindustan still hold true today. It's quite the book if it can make you feel simultaneously uncomfortable for its tone as well as for the accuracy of some of its content!
It's a timeless classic and a cornerstone of the genre. While elements may seem cliched, it is the originator of many, and the popularizer of others. You'll see into a lush, fleshed-out world that seems genuinely alive, and that's both frustrating and wonderful all at once. I read this for the first time as a young teen, and found skipping the essays at the beginning rather useful for my first go-around.
Pretty damn good. Interesting theology, engaging story, and Piers managed to write the women in it less horribly than he usually does. I don't see myself reading much further in this series if at all, but if that's so then this was a good place for me to bow out.
One of Pratchett's finest. Moist is a thoroughly enjoyable character and you get a decent helping of Vetinari to round everything else. If you're a computing history nerd, you'll find the entire phreaking/hacker culture/Bell Labs nods and metaphors to be enjoyable as well.
Some enjoyable characters and a good feel, but the means of the murder felt too fantastic to not beleaguer one's suspension of disbelief.
Like most of Piers Anthony's books, it varies from interesting/amusing/funny to cringeworthy, often in the same paragraph. I find the series fractionally more enjoyable than it is off-putting, but if you aren't very tolerant of “dated” writing it's probably not for you. Forums have risen and fallen debating Piers Anthony's outlook on sex and I'm not going to go into it, but suffice it to say that his depictions of heterosexual sexuality range from strange to rather reductivist/misogynistic. Additionally, in this book the main characters are all women, and Piers Anthony is definitely not especially well-suited to writing believable female characters. If you can look beyond the imperfections, this is a perfectly serviceable light afternoon read, but many readers will probably want to give it a miss.
Simply wonderful. I love RF and this is one of those books that makes him ever so much more complex.