OYENTE

Lori G.

  • 95
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  • 9
  • votos útiles
  • 101
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Not quite what I was expecting.

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
2 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 04-22-24

A Door Into Time had a few ups and downs for me. I liked the overall concept of a future that has reverted to more of a stone age era. The prohibitions against technology provide some clues to the history of the group of people that Alex has found himself among. It does take a bit of time to understand whether this is a past or future world and where this world is located. I thought those were nice choices. Giving Alex a military background allowed the story to move forward in a reasonable fashion rather than giving him super powers of any sort. What I didn't like was the intro to the story involving Alex's daughter. Not that I minded giving him a back story, but don't go on and on about how he misses his daughter when nothing supportive of that occurs in the story. In fact, it was pretty much the opposite of that. The other big failing for me was the cliffhanger ending. I'm not a big fan of books that so blatantly use this type of ending. Give me a self-contained story and keep my interest through the characters or the world building.

This book was free in the plus section. There were a few issues with the recording for me. Narrator was fine for the most part but had a habit of dropping the volume when relating internal thoughts. Since I was listening in the car I had to do a bunch of rewinds in order to boost the audio level enough to hear him and then turning it down again when it went back to normal conversation. I'm talking that there was a major difference in the sound level and that was majorly annoying. Hence a 2 for performance instead of a 3. The names of the characters were also a bit difficult in that multiple names were very similar. It made it more difficult to grasp and keep straight all the different characters. Ultimately, I was able to figure out the most important characters and just kind of ignored the others with similar names.

I haven't decided whether I will continue the series or not. The story was intriguing enough that I might try the next in the series, but I still can't decide if it's worth the investment of time. I don't think I would purchase or spend a credit on the series, but I may check the book out of the library.

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Never shall I forget.

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-12-24

Such a heart wrenching read! I think I reread Wiesel's words "Never shall I forget..." twenty or more times. There is so much to absorb and process in these eight sentences. So much packed into little more than 100 pages. I feel that every word was chosen and crafted to honor the victims and the survivors of the Holocaust. There are so many individual moments in this novel that stand out. Mr. Wiesel is a very eloquent witness to terrible events, terrible crimes against innocents, terrible suffering of both those that died and those that lived. I think one of the things that I appreciated most is that at the end of this book, you are left with a haunting picture of a teen contemplating his reflection. We see the devastation that has occurred and that will impact him for the rest of his life. But in many ways, the reader also has been forced to look at this face. There will never be adequate explanations of why or how, but we can see this boy and read his witness account.

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Enjoyable read.

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-08-24

There were many things to like about this novel. There are many instances of beautifully flowing words and structure as well as interesting and for the most part, well-rounded characters. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the upfront revelation of the number of deaths that will occur over the course of events. It makes me feel like I've got something hanging over my head and I spend more time considering who will die rather than letting the story naturally unfold. The family dynamics between the two brothers and between Frank and his father were nicely explored. However, between the flow of music and the constant presence of the river and the railroad track, I thought at some point there would be a sense of "my life flows on in endless song..." but that connection never came. Some symbolism between the end of life by the river or returning to the river, but it wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be and that felt like a wasted opportunity to me. I found the story was really strong as a coming of age story and in an examination of family dynamics, but I didn't feel that the mystery aspect was as strong as I would have expected from an Edgar award winner.

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The series really takes off in this book.

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-07-24

This novel was a bit slow to develop for me. Initially, time is spent in Cordelia's integration into Barrayaran society. It felt a bit off to me that Cordelia is now relegated to attending parties, learning how to dress for her role, and in learning the customs and manners of her new home. A bit boring for me but a realistically a valid look at the expectations on Cordelia in her new life. I think it took about a third of the way through this book before it really took off for me. Action scenes are very well constructed. Court intrigues and power struggles really take center stage here. I think the best critique I can give is that it was very late in the story when I realized that these characters were not the main ones in this saga. This led to the disheartening realization that these characters will soon be left behind which made me realize just how invested I had become in this story. I must say that I am not entirely enamored with all parts of the story - I am not really a romance aficianado. Shards of Honor was more of a mature romance so it was a bit less cringey than the couple in Barrayar. While it does add a look at the cultural aspects of the society, I really just dislike romantic tropes. I feel like this might be included as a forerunner to whether and how Miles will be accepted into Barrayaran society. I'm also wondering if Cordelia's story is more about her impact on the culture than anything else. Time will tell.

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What to think? How to feel?

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-06-24

This series is certainly evolving. While there have always been meaty subjects at the heart of this series, this was the first book that really felt weighty to me. I think the others felt lighter when Murderbot was still in control and functioning at optimal performance. This book, Murderbot begins to "redact" his thoughts from the reader. It's not that the outside threats have suddenly become harsher or more imminent, those threats have always been there. The stories deal mainly with big corporations that overstep their bounds. They take over civilizations, collect slave labor (oops I mean contract employees), destroy the environment, and kill without conscience. However, this time around the issues of mental health come much more to the front. We've seen this before when other characters subjected to trauma are encouraged to address their emotional/psychological issues with counseling. On its journey of self-discovery and self-determination, Murderbot must also deal with some rather inconvenient feelings. Part of me doesn't want to go down this road. I was happier when I didn't have to think about where Murderbot's journey was headed. However, I am also hopeful that there will be brighter days ahead. Still love the series, but this one left me more melancholy than the others.

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Not for me.

Total
2 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
2 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-27-24

This book was written in the late 1800s and definitely for a young audience. I felt the action scenes were fairly well-written. The book gives a good look at the harsh realities of medieval society. The author sets two contrasting worlds for what ends up being a moralistic tale. The castle is set as the rough, lawless world where robber barons rule with cruelty and without any checks other than other robber barons. The monastery is set as the calm, organized world where literacy, morality, and innocence is valued. These two worlds are set up within view of each other. Otto must exist in both worlds and is impacted by both worlds. I found it interesting that the two main focuses of suffering were on the inhabitants of the castle once Otto's father ceases his career as a robber baron and on Otto when he returns to his father's world. It felt more like individuals were doomed to suffering when they tried to reform their lives. That is unless you were always living a good life at the monastery. Maybe I am dissatisfied because this was more aimed at a young audience, but I have read a lot of children's books that resonated much more with me than this.

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good but not great.

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-26-24

Travel by Bullet was an enjoyable read, but I feel like this outing will end up being dated by the inclusion of a pandemic. I can't remember if Covid was actually mentioned by name, but due to release date it is very obvious. Will crypto currency age well? Maybe. I do like that Scalzi reflected on how a pandemic added a twist to the use of a dispatcher, but other than that, it didn't feel like there was much expansion or growth in this concept. Which is a shame because that's a really intriguing idea. I've been trying to go back and think about which book I liked best in this series. I think this book was a close second to The Dispatcher (#1) and a little better than Murder by Other Means (#2). I enjoy Scalzi's writing and the pacing is quite good. If there was a book 4 in the series, I don't know if I would read it. It feels like plots are getting a tad repetitious and I think I'm ready for something new.

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Good Sequel.

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
4 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-22-24

I quite enjoyed this follow up to Sleeping Giants. Couple of new characters are added to this novel and the main characters return, one in a very reduced capacity which made me wonder at the character's inclusion at all. This novel takes a much darker turn than the first. Sleeping Giants was filled with these wonderful moments of discovery. This novel, which occurs about 8 years after, is missing that feeling of awe and curiosity. However, I do like that the author takes a realistic approach about where the characters are at this time. Kara and Vincent appear rather bored with how their lives have turned out. They have done the publicity circuit and I think they too are missing the infusion of excitement that enveloped them in the initial stages of the discovery of Themis. Rose feels a bit lost in this entire book due to incidents in the first book. Her reflections and her struggles are an interesting development of her story though it dragged on a bit. I wasn't fond of the addition of Eva. I thought the idea of who this character is was interesting, but I feel the author made some missteps in how he developed the character. Overall, I thought this was a well-written sequel and pacing and tension were well executed.

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Middle of the road for me.

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-22-24

This was Scalzi's second book in The Dispatcher series. More time is devoted to the many "other means" of murdering someone. I thought this was probably the most interesting development of the original premise. There was a bit of a detective feel to the first book in this series and this one leans even more heavily in that direction. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. I think I wanted more exploration of the world rather than another downtrodden detective novel. Not that I mind that trope, but I don't know that having that noir detective meshed with sci-fi entirely worked for me in this instance. It was still good, it just didn't quite excite me as much as the first book did.

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Hmmm....

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-13-24

While there are elements that I appreciate in this book, overall I think I disliked it a bit more than I liked it. I liked some of Alice's adventures and others I found very off-putting. I believe I read that Lewis Carroll had written this to amuse a child who was hospitalized - I'm not sure if that is true or not. If it is true then it would seem to me that the book is purely meant to be silly and amusing. I do appreciate the use of words and poetry to create a fantastical world. However, many parts of the book venture into absurdity. That's where I think it loses me a bit. While all adventure books have elements of danger in them, this felt over the top to me for a light hearted bit of amusement. Alice's adventures and encounters are so random that the story feels disjointed and without a point.

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