I just finished this book last Friday and instead of adding it to my ever growing stack of books to be reviewed, I thought I move it up in my queue because of today’s finale of Game Of Thrones season 6. The World of Ice and Fire contains information about the novel series, however. Martin’s co-authors, Elio M. Garcia and Linda Antonsson, are the people behind the fan-site Westeros.org; they even advise Martin on lore when he becomes stuck. He actually approached them about the […]
And the ending resembles a fart
Hyperion is a very, very good book. The sequel might have been equally good if Dan Simmons would have not whiffed the ending. It so lacks in imagination that it made me angry. But let start at the top. Disappointments all around We left our band of intrepid pilgrims before they stepped down into the Valley of the Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion. They expected to meet the Shrike and die, except for one who – according to legend – would be offered a […]
This is only the beginning
This is another classic science-fiction novel, and the one with which I started my ‘quest’ for an expanded horizon in literature. Because I recently acquired The Fall of Hyperion, I felt that I had to re-read the first book of the Hyperion Cantos. It was worth it. Not only had I mostly forgotten the plot, the book is a joy to read, even if is unusually structured. Step out into the galaxy Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos is set in the 28th century. Mankind has expanded […]
Land of Mediocrity
It has been a while. I keep reading and writing reviews but I can barely find the time to edit and upload. That is why this review is about a series of books. So. RPG literature. I thought that when everyone else writes about “kissing books”, I can review “adventure books”. There certainly is an abundance of crappy fantasy and SF literature available, but novels set in the worlds of roleplaying games are something special. Often enough, they reach such low standards that they are […]
The Spice Must Flow
Dune … Arrakis … Desert Planet Dune has been one of my favourite movies for a long time, despite all its flaws, so I was intrigued to learn how it holds up against Frank Herbert’s novel. As it turns out, it does not do so well. On the surface, Dune deals with the impact of political intrigue on a noble family, the Atreides. The Duke Leto Atreides is tasked by the Galactic Emperor to take over the administration of the desert planet Arrakis, the only […]
How Do They Rise Up?
The following contains minor spoilers. Wading through ash “What if the Dark Lord won?” is the tagline of The Final Empire, the first book in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series. The Lord Ruler rules the Final Empire as a god-king, immortal, immensely powerful and all-knowing. According to legend, he vanquished the Deepness, an unknown evil which would have destroyed the world otherwise. As it is, the battle resulted in massive volcanic eruptions that changed the environment to an ash-covered waste with little vegetation that is barely […]