Straight up, I did not like this book. It’s not quite worthy of the one star treatment, though, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because the actual construction of his sentences, the literal writing, is not bad. Second, because the underlying story remains one I think interesting to explore in book form. And third, because I truly believe that one star ratings should be reserved for books that really go beyond the pale in their awfulness, not just slapping that on there because I didn’t happen […]
On second thought, let’s not go to Camelot. ‘Tis a silly place.
Fun fact: the ‘doom’ in ‘doomsday book’ has little to do with the word ‘doom’ as in ‘gloom and doom’, but comes from the Latin ‘domus’ or house. I have to admit, though, that it sounds wonderfully creepy, which I suppose is the only reason Connie Willis chose it as the title to her novel as it has nothing to do with the early medieval document. It’s not even set in the same period of time. The year is 2055, the place is Oxford. Historians […]
Lois Lane, never change.
So on the Batman/Superman divide, spectrum whatever you want to call it, I’m on the side of the Man in Blue. Have been since the fifth grade when Lois & Clark was my favorite TV show and my mom let me put Superman’s shield on my retainer. Also, the dark and broody thing has never really done it for me. I’m pretty much in agreement with John Green on this matter (“Batman is just a rich guy with an affinity for bats who is playing […]
My skepticism comes first
Disclaimer: I received this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I believe many people are familiar with the meme (courtesy of South Park) that more or less goes: Step One ??? Profit! Well, the minds behind Consilience/Positron in this book have adopted that mantra as a lifestyle and business model. The proposal is this: crime is bad, and in a recession — particularly an extended one as has befallen the world — crime rises, and the jails become overpopulated and create an […]
I Can’t Come In Right Now, Mom; the Planet Wants Me to Play
Nemesis by Isaac Asimov (1989, 386 pages) – Sometimes I forget that the Grand Master did more than give us social psychologists predicting the far future and robots finding themselves. He was also a wizard at creating characters you really care about. In this science fiction novel, independent from all his others, we see the colonization of an unknown nearby sun, appropriately called Nemesis, through the eyes of a family. The mother, a driven scientist from one of the orbiting Earth settlements who discovers Nemesis, […]
Tho’ much is taken, much abides
On a frozen world far outside of civilised space, Breq is distracted from her self-appointed mission of vengeance by a face from her distant past. Seivarden was the sole survivor of an assassination attempt on the Lord of the Radch a thousand years ago, a period in Breq’s past which becomes more and more relevant as the narrative weaves on. Breq is the last remnant of the troop carrier Justice of Toren, lost to all parts of herself and cast adrift two decades previously. She […]
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