Nick S.

This Did Not Age Well

Revisado: 08-06-24

I remembered loving this as a kid, which is what prompted me to revisit the novel so many years later. I struggled to get through even half of it due to poor writing and extremely dated themes. All the “good guys” are white, square jawed and Christian. Women apparently have no place in this future society - the one female character is treated as a curiosity for being educated. Hereditary monarchy is held up as a good thing. The single brown skinned human character is a horribly offensive clichéd villain. Bear in mind that these themes and depictions of gender and ethnic relations would’ve been dated when the novel was published in the 1970s. It’s beyond retrograde and reads like something from two or three decades prior. It doesn’t help that the characters are paper thin and the story is dull as dirt. There is a unique hook/reveal that could’ve been dynamite in the hands of better writers.

I’m far from a social justice warrior. I enjoy Heinlein. I own firearms. I’m a straight white guy who’s into “dude” related stuff. I’m not one to demonize masculinity. The novel doesn’t work because it’s set nearly a thousand years in the future, yet looks back fondly to what most will agree was an ugly past.

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Poor Effort Overall

Revisado: 07-28-24

I was turned on to Luna years ago when I read her first novel for a production company that was considering adapting it. Serious as a Heart Attack is fun, inventive and gritty. Sadly, Luna’s latest work is conventional and downright dull. The writing is loaded with fat, including detailed step-by-step descriptions of how to send a text message and other mundanities that appear to have been included to pad it out. The main character is frustratingly laconic, and something of a cardboard cutout of a “tough girl.” The central mystery is disappointingly slight
and the digressions into exploring the world of white supremacist gangs are completely lacking in nuance or surprises. It’s all so predictable and facile. The narrator, who does a fine job, deserved better.

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Recycles Every Cliché in the Book

Revisado: 10-31-23

I’m honestly mystified by the positives reviews - both here and by professional outlets like NPR. Blacktop Wasteland isn’t only a rehash, it’s also poorly written. Let’s start with the tropes - “honest” thief in financial difficulty pulled in for one last job? Check. Main character chooses to work with criminals who couldn’t pull off a popsicle heist without doing something stupid? Check. Unwittingly stealing from the wrong people? Check. Criminal main character with unresolved daddy issues? Check. The main character is obsessed with vintage muscle cars and runs a struggling garage yet the author can’t get those details right, either. Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of auto maintenance will know it’s a “CV joint,” not a “velocity” joint and that cars have more than one “fuel injector.” It’s like Cosby spent ten minutes googling and called it good. Then, there’s the writing itself, which is loaded with malapropisms, awkward turns of phrase and an almost obsessive use of purple metaphors that fall flat more often than not. I sort of enjoyed My Darkest Prayer because I read it with the understanding that it was Cosby’s first and was bound to be raw. Sadly, Blacktop Wasteland shows little improvement. I won’t be trying a third novel from this writer.

On the plus side, Lazarre-White’s narration is on point. It’s loaded with the right sort of emotion and does a good job of conveying the writer’s intent. He deserves better.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Loose, Rambling, Terrible

Revisado: 04-02-23

I’ll start by saying I’m a Banks fan and love most of his Culture novels. Use of Weapons is one of my favorite books by any author. Sadly, the Hydrogen Sonata is something of a turd. Rambling, unfocused plot lines. Characters we don’t care about with goals that are unfocused, with low or unrelatable stakes. I’ve tried three times and have finally decided to walk away from it for good. Major disappointment.

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Incredibly Boring

Revisado: 02-22-23

The Murderbot series has been an exercise in diminishing returns. The first couple were a lot of fun. Murderbot’s wry takes on human fragility we’re fun to experience. Same goes for the character’s reluctant journey from alienation to belonging. However, plots were always on the rudimentary side. This one reads like a middling Law & Order episode and is not helped by the fact that most of the story is conveyed via telling rather than showing. Save your credits for something more engaging.

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Tedious Narration

Revisado: 09-22-22

Cool concept. Engaging mashup of alternate history and hard boiled fiction. Unfortunately, the ennui and disaffection of the main character appears to have been taken perhaps too literally by Peter Riegert. I’m a fan of the actor but here, he seems exhausted and uninterested in the material, like he’s reading without emotion or understanding. As a result, I found myself disengaged.

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Dry and Disjointed

Revisado: 12-29-21

I'm a fan of ancient history and was sucked in by the overwhelmingly positive reviews but found the work to be choppy and the reader's delivery to be dry. This is more a list of events - often told in non-linear order - than a compelling work of popular history. Any sort of mounting tension or rising action that might have been achieved is undermined by the author's penchant for jumping from location to location and character to character in a manner that comes across as more than a little chaotic. He's done the research and assembled the information but has not figured out how to present it in a compelling manner.

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Meh…

Revisado: 11-15-21

The performance was a little overcooked but worked reasonably well with the pulpy story. The real problem was the story. It’s standard issue genre fare and pretty much disposable. Don’t get me wrong, I love genre but LOST PLANET HOMICIDE brought nothing new to the mix.

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Fun Story Marred by Campy Narration

Revisado: 12-19-19

This is a fun piece about the Culture but Kenny overdoes it with campy, overcooked character voices.

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Production is a Hot Mess

Revisado: 12-09-19

First off, it's worth pointing out this is closer to a radio play than an audio book - the production takes many liberties with the original text. The production itself is absolutely terrible. For some ridiculous reason, multiple voice actors are used to play a single character, which results in obvious confusion and is extremely distracting. This is especially true of the Baron Harkonen character - his "thoughts" are voiced by one character and his dialogue (or at least most of it) is voiced by a second actor, who happens to be much better. Next, the voice of the main character - a fifteen year old when the story begins - is voiced by someone who's obviously a senior citizen. Not sure what was going on here but it deserves a do-over.

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