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Catch-22, by Joseph Heller. I started literally 3 years ago and loved it, thought it was hilarious, and then I put it down about halfway through I think and never picked it up again until yesterday. Found where I left it at and just marathoned it and loved every brilliant, dark, horrifying page. Definitely plan on rereading it at some point!
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Oct 28, 2018 00:30
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The Warded Man / The Painted Man I really dug it at the start, and was fully onboard til about halfway through, when it devolves into self-insert wish fulfillment and has some extremely out-of-nowhere violent misogynism that is handled in the most embarrassingly crappy way. Really disappointed because the world and concept is super cool but oh my god do the characters become garbage v quickly
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Mar 4, 2019 00:39
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IbrahimSom posted:Last year I embarked on the "Hyperion" quartet, and I finished the last one (The Rise of Endymion) a few weeks ago. A gripping and enjoyable series that truly went places. I've moved on to more Dan Simmons -- I'm currently reading his suspense/horror novel Summer of Night. Hey, I've been meaning to post that I finished Hyperion and never did, and now I feel less alone! Finished Hyperion like a week ago, and I genuinely loved it. It helps that I'm an absolute sucker for the kind of...I'm not sure metanarrative is the right word, but having the main thread of the plot be broken up by related short stories that expand on the characters etc just delights me. The standout parts for me were the Scholar's story which is one of the only things I've read in recent years that's moved me to tears - it's so low-key and ordinary in how devastating it is, compared to normal sci-fi excess, and the Consul's the whole sequence of him revealing his betrayal had me grinning like a madman at how wonderfully it tied the other stories together, and expanded on the world (e.g. surprise, the Ousters aren't just space barbarians!). Just a great read all round. I'm about halfway through Fall of Hyperion right now, and really enjoying it. It doesn't have quite the same tone/pacing as it shifts into a bit more of a "standard" sci-fi progression, but still keeps a lot of the mystery and wonder, and the political/military intrigue makes up for the variation imo. [edit] And now I've just finished Fall! Still think it's great overall, definitely a good successor. Just a few minor niggles which may be just me losing focus/being tired at the end - the endgame seemed to teeter under the weight of all the plot threads resolving and I definitely had to go reread some parts to try to make sense of what was happening, and even then there were some small bits I just gave up on and hoped all would become clear later on. Nothing that put me off though  I've heard really mixed things about Endymion on here so I'll probably not go straight on to it now. Annoying protagonists are a massive hate but if the overall writing and story can compensate for it it may be worth. Might try reading something that isn't scifi next as my last 4 or 5 reads have been! Not the Messiah fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Oct 21, 2020 |
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Oct 20, 2020 12:46
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Finished Perdido Street Station! I'm...not sure how I feel about it? I love the weirdness and detail of the world, but I feel like that was pulling me along more than the plot and characters were. I really felt myself struggling to jazz myself up to keep going at points and a lot of the characters just seemed super flat and directionless I think - the prose being periodically impenetrable really didn't help. That said it still kept me going to the end, so it's not *too* offputting. Kept wavering between a 2 or a 3 star rating on goodreads but settled on a 2, where I think it shall remain. Also the way it ends is pretty garbo. Highlights because I don't want to seem too down:I adore the Weaver and want an entire book of him getting up to shenanigans. I was also weirdly fond of the small sections focusing on the leadership of the city - I'd have liked some more of that, like a dark universe Vetinari from Ankh Morpork dealing with all these bizarre races. The little glimpses of the society in general I liked - the city and its inhabitans feel complete in makeup for lack of a better word. Infiltrating the cactus Glasshouse was great - I'm an absolute sucker for heists and intrusions into hidden societies/places. Lowlights: Lin being drummed out halfway through and her ultimate fate. C'mon. Isaac didn't seem to have much character I? didn't think. The endgame as I mentioned seemed garbage - a lot of revelations and twists and deus ex machina pile up into a big set piece that just sort of...happens? Like oh I guess we're betraying now out of nowhere, and the other characters don't comment at all and are just a-ok with this. Shrug. It also feels way too long and the pacing is wacky. Just take out like half of the lead up to the plot starting in earnest i beg of you Unrelated but that's my third book I've finished in as many weeks, after a long time of just not reading regularly. Feels good to be back
Not the Messiah fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Nov 3, 2020 |
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Nov 3, 2020 00:07
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Finished Tuf Voyaging - enjoyed it overall, with my only comment being that it's very obvious it's a series of short stories written at different times (I don't want to read about the main character's background at least once in each story please), but that's not much of a complaint really - just a bunch of fun wee stories. Wish there were more socially-oblivious crazy cat man/God tales!
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Nov 29, 2020 02:10
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Finished Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth over the past week. Had a good time overall, but definitely a lot warmer to the first than its sequel. (edited caveat that I was a bit brain foggy when reading Harrow, which may have colored my opinion a bit) Gideon: this was just a lot of fun - I really dug the way the plot unfolds and the sense of mystery from the setting. My main concern going in was that it would be a bit too YA for my tastes but didn't seem like that at all - tonally it was nicely balanced between shenanigans and more serious horror/mystery stuff. Really fun and nicely thought out characters as well. A good read! Harrow: far more mixed feelings, and maybe some disappointment? I'd read some impressions saying it was very different and Bold and Unique etc in storytelling, which it certainly is - only problem is I didn't feel it helped the story out and actively confused me most of the time. The foreshadowing feels less like hints that make you go "hmm" and more bits to reward you for rereading, if that makes sense. So a lot of the story beats/reveals just seem to come out of nowhere. The new characters just didn't grab me at all, and even some existing ones felt just flat and lacking. My final complaint that I'll say here is that the meme references got increasingly obnoxious and really bashed my immersion over the head. On the plus side I did finish it so it's not that bad - there's a good story being told (eventually) and two absolute standout scenes (soup bomb and matthias nonius' cameo) that were just joyful, but it's a lot of effort to get to parts where the plot starts actually being meaningful. Not the Messiah fucked around with this message at 13:25 on Mar 14, 2021 |
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Mar 14, 2021 13:07
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Finished two books in the past few days, Blood Meridian and All Systems Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) Blood Meridian: slightly hesitant to review this just because of how I read it - I basically read half of it last year then put it down for ~7/8 months and I've only just read the other half. I feel like I'd have loved it if I read all at once, but the time skip combined with my current brain fog made it a lot harder to reconnect with it in the same way, so my overall feelings are a bit mixed. Still a great read, mind - everything people say about it is true pretty much, and it gave me the feeling (pre fog) of being swept up in it, like I was being drawn in and experiencing words rather than reading a book. Or something like that - people more talented at both words and reading than I have said everything that needs to be said abojt the book before so I won't go into it. McCarthy remains just an incredible writer and unmatched at evoking that epic, biblical feeling. Probably will come back in the future and try to read it without a half year gap in between half's, see if that makes the full picture better. All Systems Red: bought this after seeing it referenced a few times here and that it got some awards - and also, it was cheap! I'm always down for robots and murder, so it seemed like a safe bet - (incredibly mild spoiler r.e. tone) imagine my surprise when Murderbot turns out to be a total nerd and not at all a ceaseless killing machine lmao. This was a nice read - an engaging wee sci fi adventure with a bit of mystery, good characters, and engaging plot beats. And super short so I cranked it out in ~2 hours! This brings be up to 9 books this year in total, although All Systems Red is more of a novella so I'm not sure that counts. Way ahead of schedule for reading 24 books this year!
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Mar 21, 2021 02:34
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Finished Artificial Condition (Murderbot #2)! Much the same as the first one, fun little story that scratches many itches. "Cosy" is definitely a good word to describe it. My only real criticism isn't so much about the book but the pricing - I got this for ~£4 (combination of a discount and some Google survey funbux) which feels a touch too high for a short novella, but to go on with the series (and with my fake survey money now gone) they're each ~£6.50 (discounted, £10 normally) for 2-3 hours of reading which feels...really high. Which is a bummer, as the first entry is £3 which was A Good Price. Might just hold off for a while and see if an omnibus ebook collection comes out before I go on!
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Apr 10, 2021 22:43
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Just finished Bridge of Birds I adored it completely.
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Apr 26, 2021 01:26
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TommyGun85 posted:Theres no ebook version? It's available in ebook form on Kobo US - https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-chronicles-of-master-li-and-number-ten-ox Only on the US store - I had to go through some gift card region switching nonsense to get it. Discovered this after I'd read about a third from a  version I downloaded because I couldn't find it legally here new, but I loved it so much I felt compelled to buy it by any means necessary.nonathlon posted:That whole series is awesome. Just a perfect little creation dropped into our hands. I assume that it didn't do well at the time of release, or we'd be seeing Volume 17 and spinoff series. Yeah, reading about it is a bit sad - apparently the author initially planned to do seven books in the series but got so fed up of publisher incompetence that he gave up on it (although he did later say he'd pretty much written all he could of it and just had no other big ideas). Bridge of Birds won the world fantasy award, which is something I guess. Just a shame its remained a cult classic all this time and that the series are the only books Barry Hughart wrote - the prose and storytelling is just so utterly beautiful and effortlessly charming it really feels like it should be a total standout, and I would've loved to see what else he could do. As it is he only ever wrote the three books in the series and he died in 2019, so this is all we'll ever get 
Not the Messiah fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Apr 26, 2021 |
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Apr 26, 2021 18:09
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Finished The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. It was...okay? Enjoyable enough and I had a good chuckle in places, but didn't really do much for me really. Felt quite academic/overwrought in prose sometimes in a way I find hard to verbalise. Lil bit disappointed as I was hoping for great things, but hey ho!TommyGun85 posted:Just finished this and it was one of the most fun and imaginative books Ive ever read. Fantastic. It's just so fun and lovely
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May 9, 2021 22:38
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A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. Really enjoyed this - a fun read that was surprisingly breezy to get through while still having enough good political intrigue and space drama to keep me invested! I kept getting a kick out of Teixcalaan being very aztec influenced - makes a fun change from space empires always being imperial rome/space Democracy flavoured. Definitely not as ~serious~ as I was expecting it to be, but it's nice having a 'fun' space opera - kind of Culture-y in a way.
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May 12, 2021 19:01
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The Martian, by Andy Weir. I enjoyed this a fair bit more than I was expecting! Really easy to read through and the tone is fairly light throughout - felt kind of trashy/pulpy in a way since everything is made incredibly explicit - no subtext allowed. If I wanted to put on my critic hat the lack of any real characterisation beyond the main character is a bit meh - everyone else seems pretty interchangeable, and you don't get a real sense of who the characters are beyond their name and a single identifying trait. Given the kind of book it is, I didn't find it too much of a problem though!
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May 14, 2021 14:42
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Firewalkers, by Adrian Tchaikovsky A novella that I found a pleasant way to spend a few hours reading, but I have very mixed feelings about it. The premise and setup is pretty strong and the first half or so of the book is a fun enough apocalyptic road trip, and then the second half and the ending in particular is just...weird? Abrupt? I'm not sure why exactly teaming up with an evil AI to mass murder rich people and colonise space was a way for the story to end, especially as it was all over and done with in 2 chapters when that feels like a lot more ground to cover But hey, it was interesting enough while it lasted and the prose itself was engaging! tetrapyloctomy posted:I just read Project Hail Mary and the narrative voice is just about identical. Totally worth the quick read. ScottyJSno posted:I was going to say the same thing. I just read them back to back. The main character in The Martian might as well be the same person in Hail Mary. Cheers! Yeah I read the excerpt from Artemis (his middle novel I guess) at the end of the book and again the tone/voice was v much the same. Might keep Project Hail Mary in the back pocket for when I'm in the mood for some fun schlock! My current struggle is that I'm trying to read more ~literary~ stuff, but sci-fi/fantasy is just more fun to decide to read. 16 books in this year, gotta get something of note in there at some point 
Not the Messiah fucked around with this message at 21:47 on May 19, 2021 |
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May 19, 2021 01:08
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Things Fall Apart, the heartwarming tale of a dude who is simply incapable of making the right decision. Also, yams. After having it on my radar for years I was surprised by how readable it was - it seems like all the sentences are super short which pairs well with the direct/spare narration. I definitely enjoyed the first two thirds or so a fair bit more than the last - as well as ruining the villages, the missionaries started dimming my enjoyment.
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May 28, 2021 00:43
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Finished Piranesi and This Is How You Lose The Time War this past week. Thought both of them were great - Piranesi was just magical and a lot of fun to unpick and speculate what was going on, and TIHYLTTW was just a blast to run through - really fast paced and a lot of fun sci fi vignettes to run with alongside the main ~romance~ framing device. Immediate edit: finished Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City a week or two ago as well! Again, a lot of fun to run through and discover stuff - I remain a sucker for competence drama, and the storytelling was consistently interesting and surprising at points. Not the Messiah fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Jun 30, 2021 |
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Jun 30, 2021 19:17
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The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson Not really remarkable for me, but a good enough read! Some fun stuff with the world and setting, but the characters all seem kind of flat and the writing and plot feel basic, for lack of a better word. Did the job nicely, but not really feeling any urge to read on with the series any further
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Sep 14, 2021 13:20
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Armauk posted:She flared pewter. he Pushed over the guard and Pulled on a window frame, and Pushed a coin towards the ground To give him credit the writings better than Elantris and apparently his later books are better still, but yeah - the constant wall of magic is happening! made my eyes roll more than once
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Sep 14, 2021 23:14
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Finished Between Two Fires, by Christopher Buehlman. What a fantastic book! Wasn't sure how I'd get on with it as I've never really read anything that's explicitly marketed as horror (except for some Steven King) but it absolutely gripped me - it was a brilliant mix of horror moments mixed with a more "standard" low fantasy plotting underpinned with constant threat. The writing itself was fantastic as well and the characters were so fun to watch grow. Really really glad I picked it up! Spoiler stuff - I had to put it down in the introduction to the last act just because of how perfect it was I every way. The Lord made answer.is such an incredible way to kick off the ending sequence after everything that's come before.
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Jul 13, 2022 20:39
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MartingaleJack posted:It's been brought up a lot recently, but yes, this is a fantastic book. Ha, I've not checked the thread in a while but the last time I did was probably the last time it was mentioned a lot that prompted me to put it on my list! I think it was when the Blacktongue Thief came out so there was probably renewed discourse - it's been on my list for a while (ie far too long) Not the Messiah fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Jul 13, 2022 |
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Jul 13, 2022 21:29
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