Cather

Five stars for the book, seven for Pinchot

Revisado: 02-20-24

When I was in the seventh grade, my father handed me a copy of Double Star, and told me it was time I started reading Heinlein. I read the first sentence, blinked, and sat down in the spot where I was and started reading until I was done. It started a love of the author's work that continues to this day, but I've always thought that Double Star was an outlier-- Heinlein's work generally is powerful in that it makes you think, exploring concepts critically, but beyond the fun and excitement of science fiction, Heinlein's strength was the worlds he built and the concepts he explored, rather than the feelings he evoked.

That's not what Double Star is. Double Star is a character piece. And man, Lawrence "The Great Lorenzo" Smith, is a character, in every sense of the word. Lorenzo is Heinlein's most fleshed-out character in all of his work. He's a self-involved pompous jerk, and this becomes immediately obvious despite the fact that he's telling the story and has no awareness of it. He takes this job out of ego, and rapidly gets in over his head. And then, slowly, he comes to realize he's doing a good thing, and little by little, he gets invested. And it changes him over the course of the book.

(Of course, there's the political world building, the aliens that aren't just human in funny suits, and the things that seem like predictions until you realize that to some extent, politics has always been Like This.)

It's not perfect. There's exactly two named women in the book, and one of them is a teenager who's briefly encountered and never mentioned again. The other is... not portrayed without sexism. Certainly not Heinlein's worst example, but he was (alarmingly) much better with that sort of thing that rest of his generation, and he TRIED.

I've read this book in print probably twenty times. This is the THIRD audiobook version of Double Star I've listened to; I've probably done the Lloyd James one two or three times. I bought this because I saw there was a new version of it and I'm kind of a sucker that way over this book.

I think I enjoyed listening to this version more than I enjoyed reading it for the first time. (It helps that much of the things that make it great are more apparent on a second reading.) Bronson Pinchot really brought the characters to life, and added a lot of nuance that brought the EMOTION of the book to life in a way I was not expecting.

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What did I just "read", and why did I love it??

Revisado: 12-15-20

I picked this up on recommendation from a friend, who did not properly prepare me for the madness I was about experience. This book is funny-- I laughed a lot-- but this is not a humor book. This is contemporary fantasy and the primary reason it's funny is because the protagonist is a snarky bastard, and there's just enough silliness to keep things fun for the reader despite the fact that the characters are in a horror novel.

Imagine an IT guy who finds himself in the James Bond role-- except his agency is on a tight budget, and he has to deal with terrors that Bond never had to face. Monsters. Demons. Occult Nazi Plots Gone Horribly Wrong. And worst of all? Office Politics. Tropes are inverted, subverted, violated, terminated, reanimated, and then put to work filing form 6-ZZ-A-9/GL.

The author does an excellent job of building the world very quickly without getting bogged down in the origin story that often slows down the first entry in a series. That origin story is there, don't get me wrong, but it's handled so expertly that by halfway through the book I sort of felt like I was reading the second book in a franchise where I already knew the universe and was thoroughly invested in the characters. I'm also impressed with the way that the author can simultaneously paint in broad strokes and fine detail, sometimes at the same time.

Between the excellent reader and the well-crafted story, this turned out to be surprisingly immersive.

One thing-- this book is actually a novel AND a novella, so "The Atrocity Archives" wraps up much earlier than expected if you're watching the time on the book. All of the above commentary applies to both.

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A Slow Burning Hand of Glory

Revisado: 10-23-19

Seanan McGuire builds worlds in a way that few writers can.

Middlegame's world is pretty clearly sketched out from the beginning, but our characters-- Roger and Dodger-- think they're the only odd things in a normal world, and for a time, each isn't even sure the other exists. Over two decades, their paths meet and diverge, and slowly... meticulously... they begin to understand what they are to each other, and to the mad alchemist who created them. They begin to understand what they can do. We meet them as children, as teenagers, as college students, and as adults. You can almost forget that this book has a plot, while still enjoying it wholeheartedly.

When the plot manifests in totality, the slow burn becomes a house on fire.

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Nothing about this didn't work.

Revisado: 03-20-18

This is unlike any zombie story you will read or watch. Where most zombie stories fall into the category of fantasy, this is sci-fi. (The author made someone at the CDC very nervous checking her facts.) Most zombies take place in a world where nobody has heard of zombies; the lead character in this story is named after George Romero, who is hailed as a hero in this world because his work prepared humanity for survival.

The Rising was a couple of decades ago. This is a story set in a world where everything fell apart, but humanity has put mostly everything back together, and now we live in a world where things don't stay dead, and that's the New Normal. But it's an entirely different normal, as every aspect of life has changed. The world the characters inhabit is very well thought out.

The characters? Also amazing.

The story? ALSO amazing. And while this is the first book in the series, it's a self-contained plot, wrapping up all of its major threads while leaving the world open for the sequels.

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Nothing You'd Expect

Revisado: 02-22-18

I suppose I should not have been surprised that the creator of Marvel Zombies wrote a novel about zombies. (The word is never used, but... they're zombies. C'mon.) But... I was not expecting it to be this. I was expecting a fun ride. Instead I got... a rollercoaster.

There are two cardinal rules to a zombie story-- the first is that you don't explain what caused the zombies. The second is that it's not really about the zombies, but rather about the people.

Carey breaks both of these rules. With a precision hammer. Most of the point of view follows Test Subject #1-- Melanie-- who is a child... a "hungry"... and a genius. There are other hungry children who have their wits about them, and nobody knows why. The answer may hold a cure for the plague.

The five main characters are very well developed, and the story is so artistically developed that when you reach the end, you understand that it HAD to be this way.

Finty Williams' performance adds to the work immensely. You can hear the emotions of the characters in her voice, whether it is fear, excitement, joy, love... or heartbreak.

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Better than the podcast....

Revisado: 10-11-17

I suspect that following this book without listening to the podcast first is totally doable-- that feeling where you don't know precisely what the hell you're listening to, but you're loving it? You'll get that if you start with the first episode of the podcast or if you start with this book. And the book doesn't follow the storylines of the podcast; it's about entirely new characters who exist in the world of Night Vale.

Yes, for fans of the podcast, this book includes Cecil, Carlos, Erica, Old Woman Josie, Erica, Mayor Cardinal, and Erica. Also Erica and Erica. And these characters are given enough context to understand them within the book. One character-- The Man in the Tan Jacket-- is given MORE context than the podcast, as we finally find out precisely who he is and why he is.

Like the podcast, you will be completely unable to explain to your friends what makes this book so great.

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Interesting, but....

Revisado: 10-11-17

This book suffers from two problems:

1) It is read by someone other than Mr. Bryson. I don't know why that's a thing, since the author has read much of his own work, and he's an engaging reader.

2) It's an audiobook. Look, I'm an audio junkie... the titles I've reviewed are maybe a third of what I've gotten from audible alone... but in this one case, it would really help if one could actually see the words to follow what he's talking about.

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What if awesomeness came in audiobook format?

Revisado: 12-01-15

The book itself is of course based in its ridiculousness. "What if you had a mole (unit of measurement) of moles (small furry animals)?" But the science is fascinating, and the writing is equal parts funny and brilliant.

Then there's Wil Wheaton's narration. I don't recall exactly when Wheaton stopped being "SHUT UP WESLEY" and became a geek god, but it's clearly something that's happened. He is enjoying the heck out of the reading, and that comes through in your experience of it.

If you've read and enjoyed XKCD, you will enjoy this. If you haven't, go read 20 XKCD strips and you'll know if you will enjoy this.

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BLOWN. AWAY.

Revisado: 05-12-14

I kind of hate Orson Scott Card personally-- at least his public persona. His politics are odious. I mention this just to put context to the following sentence:

This book is one of the finest pieces of science fiction-- or any fiction-- I have ever read.

Top Ten. As much as I enjoyed Ender's Game; the book was pretty much setup for this, and-- compared to this-- fluffy and inconsequential. My favourite parts of Ender's Game were tangled up in the side story with Ender's Siblings, which is what set the stage for Speaker.

Read Ender's Game, then read this. You won't regret it.

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Not my favourite Savage, but still a must read.

Revisado: 05-10-14

Okay, let's start of by admitting that I'm an absolute Savage Fan. The thought process that went into buying this book was "Oh, there's a new book by Dan Savage available? I'd better pre-order it!!!"

And while the notion of exploring the seven deadly sins might seem a little... gratuitous... and might seem to serve only to promote Mr. Savage as a shameless hedonist trying to tear down the walls of decency.... okay, let's not kid ourselves. That's what it is, and that's what he is.

But... the entire point of the book is that our notions of "sin" and "decency" need to be re-evaluated, and there's nothing wrong with a little shameless hedonism. Not only that, but he doesn't go in the directions you'd expect.

For example, for Pride he talks about the Pride Parades... and whether he thinks they're relevant anymore. This is actually one of the two points I disagree with him on-- I think their meaning has changed and they are totally relevant.

I also did not think that "firing a gun" served well as Wrath-- it was more of a platform for him to attack the second amendment. And I'll freely admit I'm one of those people who gets bitchy when you attack the second amendment, and that it's my main complaint with Mr. Savage. This a review, not a rebuttal, so I'll just leave it at "if you're like me on the second amendment, you will have objections." Well, and I'll add that his perspective is still worth reading.... I certainly don't think he's wrong about every point he makes, I just think he doesn't accurately represent the views he's opposing (which is as much the fault of the NRA as his).

As always, the author is inappropriate, but as I believe he has said himself-- just inappropriate enough to get the job done. The books is, at different points, thought provoking, insightful, informative, outrageous... and real.

I'm very glad he read it himself-- it always irritates me when books by talented speakers are read by others.

That being said, there were some production issues; at several points he stops and starts a sentence over-- perfectly understandable, but should have been edited out.

If you haven't read a Dan Savage book, or listened to his podcast, or read his column, this is probably not the place to start.

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