Turtle

Best of Ruth Ware!

Revisado: 11-22-23

I haven’t read them all, but this is my favorite Ruth Ware novel so far as I work my way through her oeuvre.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Some hits and some misses but read it for one.

Revisado: 10-11-21

There are some big misses in here, but who cares, it has "Gypsy" by Carter Scholz, the best sci-fi novella ever written. Buy it for that.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Not the bucket list read people say it is.

Revisado: 10-11-21

There's always a reason why fans of this book claim you "don't get it". Either you aren't a Catholic and therefore don't get the theological references, or you don't know New Orleans and don't get the cultural references, or you don't understand the antique nature of the verbiage. Well, I do understand Catholic theology and have studied Thomism. I have spent a lot of time in New Orleans and know the town, and I do understand that the verbiage is from a different age.

I still hate it.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

A good, weird book.

Revisado: 10-11-21

I like this one. It's weird and disorienting, but it's so nice that it is the result of the author trying to disorient you, instead of the usual way, in which you get disoriented because the writing is poor. This is well written and disorienting in a wonderful way.

It's a basic "canterbury" quest novel. The odd team is assembled and goes to visit the shrine. Along the way, things happen and tales are had. It's good fun.

If one needs to criticize, the concept of the journals is awfully unlikely and stretched. The environment is huge and lethal and unpredictable, and apparently thousands of iterations of our characters died before this story, but somehow the book remains, without ever being adequately explained. Boo.

But that's minor.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

An above-average YA novel

Revisado: 10-11-21

Pro: it's an above-average YA novel.

Con: it's an above-average YA novel.

Are we still doing YA novels? I guess. Anyway, YA novels fail because they are written by adults who are trying to remember what it was like to be a teen, and end up imagining something which is more akin to mental illness. If you can get past that, and the regular conveniences and deus-ex-machinas that sci fi falls into, then it'll pass the time adequately.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

On the contrary

Revisado: 08-23-21

I'll be the odd person out, I didn't like it.

I liked the Martian. A lot. Since reviews are written for people who haven't read this book, let me explain it, as if The Martian was written like this book:

Mark Watney is stranded on Mars alone, and has to survive. So, he grows potatoes. But the hab explodes and his potatoes are destroyed. So, in a fit of depression, he wanders around his room and finds a door he never noticed before. He opens the door and discovers a Subway restaurant. Munching on a footlong Italian BMT, he wonders how there can be a Subway on Mars, but decides that this is a question for another time, but there must be a really good reason for it.

Meanwhile, the crew of Aries, learning that Mark is alive, brainstorms a way to save him for almost 30 seconds, deciding that the only course is to invent a much better system of propulsion than humans currently have. They accomplish this in a few days, and return to Mars to pick up Watney.

While waiting, Watney discovers intelligent life on Mars, learns its language, and marries the Martian princess. Then end.


If you just want to hear space words, and you can turn off your brain to probabilities and contradictions, this is a fun story about an odd couple which has all of the fun tropes we all like from previous first contact stories, but none of the tedious reality. Or, if you think that an author saying something is reasonable automatically makes it so, then this is a good book for you.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Eh...

Revisado: 05-24-21

I consume a lot of sci-fi and generally like Greg Bear. This one missed with me. Arthur C Clarke pretty much own the VBT (very big thing) novel with the Rama series and I guess Bear felt like he had to make his even more fantastic to compete so he took a tantalizingly familiar level of tech which made this VBT interesting and just ruined it with The Way, the alternate universe hanging off the end of it.

See, if you once set up this “recognizable” level of tech in one end of the asteroid, then you need a progression to reach the “magical” level of the way. There basically is none. The people who built the asteroid appear to have leaped from teaching libraries to other universes without any intermediate stages. Boo.

Also, Rudnicki’s narration is clear and easy to understand, but it’s retro, like a 50’s sci fi radio drama, almost. Given the retro characterization of the tall, handsome, almost celibate male lead, it gives the whole thing an antique feel. Plus, when he tries to do accents it starts to blur...sometimes it seems like everyone is turning Russian.

Imma skip the rest of this series.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Fatal lack of payoff.

Revisado: 12-02-17

If you are going to write a deliberately obfuscatory plot, so that the reader is obliged to plow through a trilogy to understand books one and two, then the final act had better tie everything together. This is almost “Lost” level letdown.

Also, if you begin with the conceit that people are going to be known by their functions rather than their names because mysterious reasons, and then you introduce a character called “Control”, DO NOT then explain it as a childhood nickname. WTF.

Lastly, please, Blackstone, do not use this breathy chick to narrate anything but lesbian love stories and YA vampire novels. Her inability to voice male characters is really off-putting. Not all female narrators suffer from this. Bronson, you kicked ass as usual.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

As a sci-fi fan...

Revisado: 06-30-17

...audiobooks are almost too convenient. They allow you to get through the entire corpus of one of the great sci-fi authors in just a few months. After several years, you've listened to all the greats more than once. It's just not a big genre.

So, you troll audible. Every now and then, you see something worth taking a chance. Sure, there aren't any Clarkes or Asimovs operating right now, but occasionally, you luck into a book that passes your time and fires your imagination a bit, and keeps you from re-listening to the Rama series again. You know, a net positive.

This is not one of those books.

This is pretty terrible. You can almost take it, until you figure out that the engineer who is always trying to repair the engines and get back to full power is named....Scott.

Then it's over. You start to just laugh at it. When Hotbox, Dogtown, and Fishtail jump into their fighters and go dogfighting, you just sort of shake your head at the sillyness. When the captain goes into the radiation area to sacrifice himself, you start yelling at it.

Sigh. Back to trolling audible...

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Perfect summer read

Revisado: 06-01-17

I loved Boy on the Bridge as much as Girl With All the Gifts. Great story and storytelling. I totally disagree with the reviews that said this was not nearly as good as TGWATG, but make sure to read TGWATG first, even though this is a prequel.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña