Chris

tooooooooo much

Revisado: 04-20-11

A great BIG slice of galatic life. The author has DEFinitely created a very interesting world and is intent on showing it off through the eyes of the many, many, many characters that he has also created. I don't mind a couple of viewpoints and tying it all together at the end... but at some point it just gets to be too many and too much and you have nothing to attach to.... you're just on some big ol' merry-go-round that won't stop. The story described on the book page is just one of many, many... and SOME of them obviously tie together ...but... The author really is SO interested in detailing EVERYTHING that tension and character building are kind of left in the dust. I don't know, I only got 20 hours into it ....when ANOTHER character was introduced and my patience just QUIT on me. I kind of wish the author had taken one or two of the very interesting plotlines and just developed them in...detail. LOL. Anyway. Very well written...if you are into a tremendous amount of creatively imaginative detail and don't want to get bored with just one storyline. The creative muscle was FLEXED here...I just wish the storytelling muscle had seen similiar action. Again with the "anyway". My opinion, hope it's helpful :)

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esto le resultó útil a 12 personas

Very entertaining. Sam Spade + magic. A fun book.

Revisado: 02-16-11

Well written. Self deprecating humor. VERY Sam Spade(ish). Not deep, but a pleasant interlude between deeper droughts. Entertaining.

I read a couple of reviews from others who seemed to have a similiar take on books and found: An unexpected pleasure.

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Simply beautiful.

Revisado: 01-19-11

Bardic. Mythological. Philosophical. Musing. Heroic. Masterful storytelling. Simply...... beautiful. I find it difficult to say more.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Which story are YOU looking for?

Revisado: 08-30-10

I was looking for the story about the souless red raiders, the mystery of the fool who saw the future (and the nexus), the fable of the elderlings, the different magics, etc. etc. Unfortunately that is only about 10% of the storyline. The rest of the story is extreme character development to the point that the story is more focused on the 15 year old falling in love, the "bad" boy prince throwing his brother under the bus, the king being slowly poisoned by his son, AND...the burning question: is the serving woman (ex-candlemaker) going to get pregnant (?), ...and all those soap opery things that seem to sell fantasy books nowadays. Don't get me wrong...very interesting characters ...but. If you enjoy George RR Martin....this is a simpler offering along those veins. Fiction in reality but thinly disguised as sci-fi/fantasy. AND, "No" I did not finish this book. I got 20 hours into and said, "Enough". AND, I feel fine giving a review regardless... because this is about a product that I bought and paid for and did not finish due to lack of enjoyment. Not to say you won't enjoy...just saying I enjoyed it to a point...and then got REALLY tired of everything else while waiting for the story I was waiting for ...to develop. I gave up. I really LIKE character driven stories.... but not so driven by character that they are JUST about characters. This is only sci-fi/fantasy because of the token elements that are probably resolved at the very end. More than 80% of this storyline is ...soap opera. Too big of a price (in my book) for what is probably only a token pay-off. Even if the pay-off is HUGE ... at this point...I Just Don't Care. Anyway.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

...entertaining....but?

Revisado: 05-05-10

Author is decent, story has possibility (really a fantasy goth read?) ...but, unfortunately the tale waivers a tad as the author attempts to pull it off. Hmmmm. Still. It IS an unusual angle. Fingers crossed, expectations not too high.

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Shadowplay off another story..

Revisado: 02-02-10

I kept feeling like I was a block away from Oryx & Crake... It's been quite a while since I read that one and I kept getting the feeling that this story would be much deeper and more interesting if I remembered more of O&C. BIGtime. At least that story seemed to be going somewhere, this one kinda rambled a bit. The characters are kinda interesting but not terribly so. It just seemed like a shadow play off O&C. And the songs were terrible. IF they had been hummed or sung by the appropriate character (a more traditional approach), it would have fallen within the context of the story. As a fully realized musical production however.... it was very jarring and off-putting. I fast forwarded through every one after the first (which kind of defeats the author's intent). Anyway. Not terribly interesting but not horrible, just ok. I feel like I should re-read Oryx & Crake now (which I DID enjoy quite a LOT :)

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

very well written, absolutely awesome :)

Revisado: 01-15-10

It is SO nice to read a writer who KNOWs how to develop a character without resorting to an internal, rambling and somewhat naive soliloquy. One who knows the art of creating AND developing Interesting Characters. LOTS of them ...but who doesn't have a NEED to tell you EVERY SINGLE (completely irrelevent) detail. Someone who can tell even tell WHICH details ARE needed to suggest a story in your mind. An author who knows HOW to use setting to set atmosphere within the piece. An ARTIST who knows how to develop the drama :) That being said, onto the: WOW. What a strange story. A tale written with beautifully ironic and poetic strokes. Can you tell that I REALLY liked this one? Form your own opinion... this is just mine :)

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esto le resultó útil a 11 personas

Entertaining/pleasant

Revisado: 09-03-09

Character driven to the point that atmospheric and descriptive details are almost non-existent ...but there's enough to drive the story along. A bit better than expected.

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It made me laugh in all the wrong places.

Revisado: 06-17-09

A well drawn comic book. Depth of character and story are replaced with an array of quick character snapshots spread across a LOT of people. Easy to see hooks and dialogue driven action move the story along (albeit very slowly). It should make for an excellent movie as it was quite visual. It's a BIG shame, because the true novelty was the fact that here was a VAMPIRE book ...that wasn't just a soft porn novel disguised as liberated romance.

This focus on individual stories supports the author's statement to the effect that there is no god and good and evil are in the hands of man. BUT.... that's a big statement for so little depth. The author's explanation of vampirism as a disease WAS quite interesting and definitely added to the overall (growing) vampire mythology. Anyway.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Simple in comparision.

Revisado: 05-07-09

The Hyperion books were more... philosophically complex and interwoven, a LOT of it YOU had to figure out for yourself. Clues were slowly released and layers woven beautifully into one whole. It was the very act of discovery that made the books so VERY nice. This book is more of a straightforward adventure story. All of the complex philosophical stuff is laid out in an easy to understand and easy to follow format. Unfortunately the revelations are just that: obvious and straight up (or at least comparitively speaking). It feels like the author's head is in a different space here.

It's funny but there are a lot more groups and a lot more political intrigue and a lot more characters and a lot more scenery and a lot more.... of everything....BUT the book feels smaller somehow.

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esto le resultó útil a 13 personas