Daniel

Don’t expect The Martian

Revisado: 02-16-19

The book is just not what I expected. Primarily, it just didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. A future where people pay with their handheld “gizmos” and still have voicemail? Also, the premise of the story is the main character wanting to be part of a guild so that she can give tours on the surface of the moon. Umm ever hear of robots? Wouldn’t remote controlled robots be more preferred and cheaper? Hmm.

There was also a lot of religious characters which while I have no problem with religion, it would seem to me that most people that chose a life on the moon would lean more secular. And my biggest eye roll was when the book states that Kenya became the powerhouse for private space flight by offering tax incentives. Ummm what? Nothing against Kenya, but when major corporations relocate, they don’t pick just the best tax incentives. Countries need to have infrastructure, need to be places employees and their families want to relocate to, etc.

And the main character? Wasn’t a huge fan. Too much profanity for profanity’s sake and overall just not an interesting or relatable character. There were also too many deus ex machina moments that always irk me. Or near the end when the main character convinced several other characters to do something highly illegal without so much as a single one of them saying no.

I digress. Overall I’d say it was entertaining, but not very memorable.

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Applaud the risks taken, but they didn’t payoff

Revisado: 02-04-19

The author took a few risks with this novel and I really applaud that. The story was original and interesting, but ultimately fell flat. I didn’t care for the narrative structure of the novel — essentially written like individual journal entries that spanned across multiple generations.

I felt like if the author kept the number of time jumps to just one, it would have allowed us to grow more attached to the characters and learn more about them. I also would have liked more description of the world they were on and the naming of the various animals with the names of earth animals was very confusing to me. Lastly, the final act was quite predictable and the conflict too quickly (and conveniently) resolved.

Ultimately, it’s an interesting novel with an original story, but, unfortunately, that’s not enough.

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What book did Spielberg read?

Revisado: 10-11-18

This was fantastic. I was hesitant at first as I was never a huge fan of this movie. The book is amazing. Better story, better characters, better everything. The movie cut out half of the characters and didn’t follow the story from the book at all with a couple similar plot points as exceptions. Lots of interesting science, action, and drama. If this were made into a movie today, it would easily pass as a completely different movie than 1997 version.

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Two incongruent ideas

Revisado: 08-10-18

This book really has two incompatible sci fi concepts running through it and they don’t mesh well. While I actually enjoyed the communication with dolphins concept, it was heavily underutilized in favor of the less grounded “aliens” storyline. The characters themselves were two dimensional and at times overly dramatic. The politics were incredibly “Hollywood” and lacked any sense of realism. The bad guys were all really bad and the good guys all really good. Even the ending was a bit too cliche for my tastes.

I will say that it was entertaining, maybe even worth a beach listen, but Michael Crichton this is not.

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Kind of everywhere

Revisado: 06-26-17

I didn't feel like the book was ever actually scary. Gory yes, but making you think about it after reading? Not really. The flashbacks were particularly annoying and often made what would happen next very predictable. The flashbacks also detracted from the story and authentic character building.

About a third of the book takes place in a flashback of the past in an attempt to explain the background and history more. The flashbacks, in general, felt more like attempts to extend the story longer rather than supplement it.

Finally, there were just too many characters, primarily due to the flashbacks. It made it harder to relate to the main characters since there was so much jumping around.

I did like the setting -- an underground hotel is quite unique. But I felt like the setting went mostly to waste and could have been better utilized to build atmosphere.

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Good survival tips. That's about it.

Revisado: 08-14-15

All the survival tips are really interesting, but the problem is the storyline is razor thin. The characters aren't very unique or interesting. The characters aren't very believable. The main character mentions a brother at one point but never again, even after the world ends. There is also virtually no conflict. Every person the main characters meet is helpful and nice and any real struggle is easily resolved.

The character development was lacking. Lots of dialogue was cut simply by the main character explaining what was said and there were very little physical descriptions. When the story ended, if it weren't for the timer counting down, I would have had no idea the story was about to end. The plot never really went anywhere. If you're looking for survival tips, this book has it. That's about it.

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Interesting...then meh

Revisado: 08-08-15

The idea behind a teleportation device was definitely intriguing, but the characters aren't as interesting as they think they are. The main character - "blessed" with the ability to remember everything and anything he sees - grows irritating when every other page he's "showing off" this ability to another person. It gets old. He can remember everything he sees. We get it.

The "group" mystery aspect leaves little character development for all but the main character. And while I get this is fiction, for a government run operation, there seems little oversight -- and, while I won't spoil much -- near the end one of the government employees simply doesn't seem to care that a death has occurred.

Then there are scenes where characters say things completely inappropriate given the situation they are in. After a life-changing event occurs, you would think they would be a little shocked for at least a few hours before cracking lewd jokes. And the dialogue. Well, it at times seemed too "planned" or forced and on more than one occasion added little to the development of either the character or the plot.

Ultimately, all of the above could be forgiven if the end didn't go off the deep end with the last few hours consisting of little more than scenes from a campy B-rated horror movie on Netflix.

I liked the narration, liked the premise, even enjoyed the first half of the book, but everything stated above, along with the illogical ending, definitely give me pause before purchasing the next book in this "series."

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Great but...

Revisado: 08-23-12

Really good book for those starting out in real estate or intermediate skill level. I wish it was a bit better organized - at times the order of the experts seems random. It's great that you get to hear the perspectives of many different types of experts - CPAs, lawyers, property managers, and even interior designers. The Donald Trump chapter, while a nice bonus, was really weak and contained very little substance. Also, some of the experts promote their own stuff a bit more than is comfortable (most of them are good about this, but some repeat their book name a few times). Overall, good buy. Won't be disappointed.

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