Jason

Very realistic

Revisado: 05-05-24

This was the most realistic depiction of a necklace war that I've come across. The fictional quotes from survivors are indistinguishable from real quotes one sees in the news. I noticed not technical classes at all. a fascinating work well grounded in historical events.

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Mediocre. I think? Still not sure what happened.

Revisado: 04-02-24

As I waded through the 14 hour book, I kept expecting to understand what was going on and to start to like the characters. Neither really happened. Understanding the plot likely requires very close, repeated reading. The characters are relentlessly, monotonously tragic and/or evil. Each character has just a single trait, which they each express without variation. The emotionless kid who wants to be a computer never has more complexity than that, and he never does anything other than to pursue that single goal. Same for the woman who wants to take care of the child, or the ripper doc who wants better tools, etc.

The plot is very confusing. It's hard to understand why any of the characters do what they do. You get small glimpses at their motivations, but not much more. It's impossible to concoct goals for the people pulling the strings such that the scheme they hatch would be the simplest and most effective way to accomplish those goals. The plans they come up with are absolutely insane.

Also, I apologize if I just missed it, but it seems like multiple point of view characters just drop out of the narrative without explanation, as if the author got bored of them.

Cherami Leigh reads a huge portion of the book in quaver voice, as if the characters spend perhaps 1/3 of the book on the verge of tears. She's very skilled with a great voice, but quaver voice is very tedious to listen to.

Incidentally, I have no idea what the cover of the book is depicting. I don't know what characters any of those people are supposed to be, nor why the two women are so close to each other that their shoulders would intersect, nor why someone is strangling a blue transparent guy. Nothing like that happens in the book. If you're looking for a book about blue transparent guys getting strangled, you're going to be badly disappointed. I think the cover is perfect for the book though - it has the appearance of meaning, but even after finishing the book remains utterly inscrutable.

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I should have skipped this one

Revisado: 08-21-22

I have a love hate relationship with Dennis E. Taylor and Ray Porter.

I read his books because the subject matter and plots are usually really interesting (Von Neumann probes, upload AIs, etc.) Plot holes are kept to a minimum and he clearly has some understanding of science.

I hate his characters and dialogue though. Taylor seems to be one of those people that thinks referencing a funny work of art is humor. His worldbuilding is never detailed or innovative. The extent of his worldbuilding is "they're vulcans but different". His idea of banter in this book is for his characters to playfully bicker through poorly timed, irritating joke insults.

In some ways it's hard to fault Ray Porter for the way he reads the books. The continual over-emphasizing he does while reading is true to the writing style of Taylor. It's like nails on a chalkboard to me though. His voice is lively and pleasant otherwise.

Unfortunately, this book is very light on the interesting subject matter and plots, and very heavy on the irritating characters and incessant, grating references.

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false advertising, waste of time and money

Revisado: 08-17-22

Almost none of the book is about the p t extinction. most of it is filler including a history of geology, a history of paleontology, a lengthy diatribe about environmental problems today, and biographies of researchers. When he does actually get around to explaining what it would be like to experience the events of the p t extinction he bizarrely claims the massive, global events take a couple of weeks. lastly, He never even mentions the fact that the Siberian traps erupted through a massive coal bed.

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fascinating but confusing

Revisado: 07-27-22

The subject matter was fascinating, but the story was very complicated and the presentation did not make it easy to follow.

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forgettable and intellectually insulting

Revisado: 07-24-22

The writing is mediocre. The protagonist is forgettable and just feels like a place holder, "generic professional American male". He had a somewhat unusual upbringing by his super genius mother, but none of that imprinted itself on his bland personality.

This holds for the other characters too. One character that is supposed to have superhuman intelligence demonstrates how sophisticated she is by owning paintings by a famous painter. It's a lazy, shorthand way to write.

The realism level is inconsistent. I get the impression that the story is supposed to be very realistic and based on current science, but much of the effects of the biotech is cartoony and nonsensical. Alteration of genomes in full grown adult humans had sweeping, systemic effects that manifest in just a few days. Biotech firms catalog genes that have a statistical correlation with useful traits like intelligence or strength. Then a mad scientist inserts those genes into full grown adult humans and they develop abilities far superior to any abilities natural humans have ever manifested.

The fundamental philosophical conflict that the book centers on is stupid and childishly simple to resolve. The book implies the only two options are to do nothing and let all of humanity die, or to modify the genomes of every human on Earth without their consent. The book also just asserts that being smart makes you an unfeeling robot, reinforcing the tired and idiotic trope of emotion vs. rationality being opposites when they're obviously independent variables. One can easily be emotionless and stupid, or highly emotional and intelligent.

The entire conflict would be solved by offering voluntary genetic modification (even if it had to be administered illegally, via the black market) because this would solve all the problems neatly.

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Entertaining study of an eccentric misanthrope

Revisado: 07-24-22

The narrator was utter perfection. The way she portrayed both the Narrator and her friend (the two characters with almost all the speaking lines) could not be improved upon.

To enjoy this book, you will probably need to have a fascination with enormously dysfunctional characters. Most of the book is a study of these characters. It's not really a plot-oriented book.

The writing is skilled and confident. The only place where I was not in love with the writing was the ending, which drifts into excessive ornamentation. Much of the text takes the form of lists of objects, with a heavy emphasis on brand names. There was just a touch too much of this for my taste.

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Amazing premise, but melodramatic writing

Revisado: 06-13-22

The setting is has such promise! It's a post apocalyptic icy world where a comet impact has blotted out the sun, allowing vampires to run wild. Narration uses multiple skilled voice actors for the characters.

I'm a fan of vampire fiction, and a fan of post apocalyptic fiction, and a fan of impact scenarios.

Unfortunately the melodramatic writing and narration was ultimately just unlistenable. The characters make decisions based on what would be the most over-dramatic choice rather than what makes any sense at all for their situation. Consequences are telegraphed miles ahead, and then the reader just has to sit there, annoyed, waiting for the book to deliver the inevitable. Rule of cool is used as justification for lazy writing. Despite the novel premise, the story itself breaks no new ground.

I ultimately had to stop listening and delete the book.

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The title started to seem like a threat

Revisado: 10-28-21

The main story arc:

The part of the book depicted by the famous movie had its ups and downs, but was fairly coherent, and had a story arc. After that point the story meanders. Neither Bastion nor the child-like empress have any discernible goals. Little of what Bastion does (or has happen to him) matters in any way. I kept wondering why the author chose to include scenes in the book. The very ending of the book is a good one, but it just makes clear that all those scenes which seemed pointless at the time actually were pointless.

Dated writing style:

Some aspects of the author's writing style felt really dated in a way that's very odd for something first published in 1979. Often the book felt like it was instead written in 1909. Several sentient animal characters who befriend humans immediately declare their human friend to be their "master". It's a very odd thing for any sentient being to do.

The world is full of fairy tale like rules and declarations of uniqueness. For example, a character who can never see the day, or another who is the only being in all of fantastika who can't visit a certain body of water. This works in the context of a short fairy tale, but after several dozen of these rules and absolutely unique traits, it just grows tiresome.

The book also feels preachy and lecturing, but it's hard to discern exactly what doctrine it's trying to instill beyond maybe "Love is good"? A considerable part of the book seems to be aiming for "Power corrupts." and another part loudly preaches "Imaginative stories are vital but are misused by people who want to spread lies." but then the book seems to grow bored with these messages and meanders in a different direction. Honestly though, I think the real message of the book is "Hire an editor and respect their advice."

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so much filler

Revisado: 10-11-21

The book is very light on engineering details about the actual plane. Instead it's crammed full of filler about the biographies of the parents of the pilots and excruciating detail about every aborted mission. The narrator inserts pauses into quotes making them sound like they're supposed to be punchlines. The quotes selected are meaningless and boring. I didn't learn much from this book.

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