Geoffrey

MC Inconsistency

Revisado: 08-31-24

I enjoy the overall team dynamic (although Maddie's bias towards her home country is given too much weight(, but too many choices and decisions seem flawed or foolish. For example, Orrin has a skill for writing things only he, another person with this rare skill, or the chosen targets can read. Why are they having a bunch of very important conversations out loud, instead of writing notes to explain what he can do. Instead, they're constantly discussing things in places I wouldn't trust.

Another example, it's established that Orrin's new skill book allows him to spend hours learning a skill without any real time passing. Yes, it's exhausting, but they've described days of down-time since he learned this, why not get through the task and then immediately go to bed. Also, he could use the time distortion to make plans without any real time passing. Instead, he spends much of the book both aware that his Combat skill has a ton of potential and not putting any effort into it.

I am not sure I will continue the series from here.

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Enjoyable, Approachable, Dramatic!

Revisado: 01-15-21

Fry's rendition of the Greek heroes was highly entertaining while also retaining thier depth and richness.

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Not as compelling as Phoenix

Revisado: 12-12-20

The Unicorn Project places an excellent programmer in an unfortunate position, but the primary challenge for the protagonist is whether she should stay at Parts Unlimited or go to green pastures elsewhere. With a who-needs-this-job-anyway attitude, she takes big risks and is consistently rewarded. Her biggest personal challenges were those of large group leadership and public speaking, and usually in a context where she is already a celebrated member of the group.

The book is too long and could have used an editor - where Phoenix was tightly paced with a clear narrative arc - Unicorn dribbles on like Jackson's Return of the King movies. Yes, Wes smashing servers with a sledgehammer is deeply cathartic and reminiscent of Office Space's photocopier scene, but it's doesn't need so much screen time.

Whereas Phoenix provided many great lessons on thinking of software development with a manufacturing mindset, Unicorn is more opinionated about smaller issues in the field and doesn't cleanly confront the disruptive forces of data competency till the third act, a pity.

I would recommend this book to specific people, but I would recommend Phoenix to almost anyone in tech or business.

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A Slow Start but a Great Finish

Revisado: 05-03-17

Alanson begins the book with a bang, but then after initial events (trying to avoid excessive spoilers) things take a turn for the tedium. Alanson's Specialist Bishop is a fun salt-of-the-earth protagonist, but the real star is Skippy. Skippy, who shows up about half way through the book, makes the story come alive and it seems pretty clear that Alanson wrote the earlier elements at least partially to give Bishop and Skippy a reason to meet (also, obviously, to set context). There are some editing nits, but the writing was clean. Alanson did not, himself, serve in the Army and at first I found his "army-isms" overdone but they both became less emphasized over the course of the story and much less distracting.

R.C. Bray is an excellent narrator with a wide variety of distinctive and consistent voices. I will enjoy listening to more of his work.

The third book, tentatively named Paradise, will, I hope resolve some of the questions raised by the first half of this book, such as the fate of the "Burgher-Meister". I have already purchased the second book in this promising series.

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An excellent blending of genres

Revisado: 05-13-16

Etherwalker is a delightful blend of genres, including dystopia, fantasy, mythic fantasy, and cyberpunk. Dayton presents a richly-imagined world where technology went awry but has not vanished. Gene-spliced monsters and assassin kill-droids walk the Earth, shrouded in mythic labels.

I loved the world, and I also enjoyed the story. However, there are rough spots. Some interesting character development and significant time chunks occur off-screen, jarring the reader with abrupt changes of circumstance.

An excellent yarn, looking forward to the next book!

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Archetypal Space Opera w/ a British Twist

Revisado: 05-22-15

Mr. Nuttall writes an enjoyable, if you don't think too hard, space opera on the abrupt change in fortune of a nearly moth-balled space carrier and its crew of dregs.

The aliens are interesting because, unlike Star Trek or most other SciFi, humanity has very few tools of understanding them. Nuttall does not magically make them understandable and thus defeatable in this first installment.

Women are primarily described based on their superficial attributes - it would have been better if there had been a female POV at least once in the story. That being said, there are women scientists and other engineering types, it's just unfortunate that the "surprisingly competent Midshipwoman" contributes very little beyond domestic duties.

My biggest confusion was the hostility displayed towards the press. Members of the press are, apparently, degenerates who have no idea what they're involved in. The vitriol seemed unnecessary, and the focus on the aberrant appearance of one clueless female journalist seemed odd.

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Beautiful story told exceptionally well

Revisado: 12-19-14

Cosham's narration of this classic is superb, especially his telling of the rabbit legends, Rowsby Woof and the Fairy Wogdog is a delightful story all on its own.

Simply wonderful, will listen to it again and again.

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An excellent Nero Wolfe

Revisado: 12-15-14

Wolfe breaks his most important rule to beard the murderer in his den. Classic Stout.

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Many threads lead to a desperate stand

Revisado: 04-21-13

Academ's Fury focuses on a single desperate period during Tavi's training at the Imperial Academy. Tavi's dream while tending sheep, he has not found the academy to be everything he hoped, but he has grown in both capability and maturity. Tavi, still green, has learned how to fight and has honed his wits, and is clearly a person trusted by his friends and leadership.

Allusions, from other reviewers, to Hogwarts are, I feel, overblown. Yes, the action begins by focusing on a few school-oriented episodes, and a final exam plays heavily in one chapter, but the Hogwarts books are written to take place over an entire academic year. The entire course of Academ's Fury takes place in about 1 week. His small knot of friends, with one exception, are not regular mainstays of many chapters. Tavi is the very opposite of a "Chosen Hero" to his classmates and teachers.

Tavi is a likeable protagonist, and his interactions feel genuine, interesting, and heart-warming. There is frequent humor. Amara and Isana are less well-drawn as decisive and powerful women; they are continually rehashing old arguments with both themselves and others, mostly focusing on matters of the heart. Jim Butcher's effort to make alien races likeable while still alien is successful. The battle-scenes are well-done and action-packed, conveying desperation in tactics and actions even when the protagonists succeed.

On a technical note, this Audiobook is marked with a chapter mark for each book chapter, which is a lovely touch that makes rapidly finding your place again in the book easy. However, there are some duplicate chapters (as of April 21st, 2013). Audible Chapter 21 (Book Chapter 20) and Audible Chapter 22 are identical, both readings of Book Chapter 20. More distressingly, Chapter 41 and 42 (Book Chapters 39 & 40) is originally misplaced as well as duplicated. Audible Chapter 43 is Book Chapter 38, so simply skip Audible Chapter 41 and 42.

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Delightful Vignettes

Revisado: 03-29-13

These stories give insight into Mr. Stout's genius, and the method of story-telling in these efforts can be seen refined and shaped into the cohesive universe of the later Nero Wolfe books. Each story presents a character with a quandary, and characters approach their quandaries with emotional depth. Mr. Stout's political interest in World Federalism, which occasionally surfaces in his mysteries, is starkly outlined in the first of these stories.

Although a proto Wolfe/Archie relationship can be found, one can be very grateful that Mr. Stout continued to refine from this first effort. I can hardly imagine an Archie who says to Wolfe, "You're a terrible lawyer, Sir.", although one can see the beginning of the impudence necessary to Archie's character.

These stories, on their own merits, are interesting, engaging, and often quite funny. To someone who enjoys the larger canon of Rex Stout's work, this is a valuable tour to the way he thinks. To everyone else, these stories are simply quite good.

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