Alan Black

Inspiration meets social insight

Revisado: 02-22-24

I've been a big fan of Rob Henderson since I first saw a conversation he had with Chris Williamson on luxury beliefs. I was excited to read his first book, but was a little confused by its premise being far more personnel and far less academic than I had expected of him. The book is fascinating—the majority of the book is a retelling of the tragic childhood Rob had, but the last hour or so focuses on his insights into social class that he gained from moving up from the bottom of the social hierarchy all the way up to the prestigious place he eventually got to. My childhood was far from idyllic, but seeing what extreme adversity actually looks like was an inspiration that I could relate to, but that put my own childhood into perspective. Rob's insights at the end into social class and luxury beliefs were as thought provoking as I've come to expect from his work, but hit home all the harder for having heard his personal experiences prior to getting to hear the conclusions he draws. Would highly recommend—particularly for people who had a happy, sheltered childhood and have never experienced life on the other side of the tracks.

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Full Metal Panic! is back, and better than ever

Revisado: 02-07-24

Love this series, and I love audiobooks. I've been pleasantly surprised by the recent wave of light novels getting audiobook adaptations recently, and when I saw that FMP! was one of them, I knew I had to listen. They've done a fantastic job—great performances by Luci Christian and Chris Patton—and this is a great story deserving the audiobook treatment. FMP! does such a great job combining the humor with the heavy subjects, and the characters are all excellent. Stellar action, compelling dialogue, and great pacing—FMP! has it all and definitely deserves your credit.

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Full Metal Panic! is back and better than ever

Revisado: 02-07-24

Love this series, and I love audiobooks. I've been pleasantly surprised by the recent wave of light novels getting audiobook adaptations recently, and when I saw that FMP! was one of them, I knew I had to listen. They've done a fantastic job—great performances by Luci Christian and Chris Patton—and this is a great story deserving the audiobook treatment. FMP! does such a great job combining the humor with the heavy subjects, and the characters are all excellent. Stellar action, compelling dialogue, and great pacing—FMP! has it all and definitely deserves your credit.

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Interesting, but shallow

Revisado: 02-07-24

After binging the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, I was eager to try another LitRPG and seeing Jeff Hays name again peaked my interest. What you get here is an interesting premise—reincarnation as a totally uncharismatic creature—the humble ant—in a fantasy world. The progression and evolution of the ant is neat to watch—the powers the MC unlocks are neat and fit in with the ant premise totally. On the other hand... all the humor fell flat for me (it is mostly ant-based puns) and it is odd the way the MC is totally jazzed to be an ant and seems not to care at all about his old life. While it's nice to have a character with a can-do spirit, I can't help but feel like Anthony (see what he did there, ANThony—that's the kind humor you get to enjoy all the way through) is totally unrelatable, undeveloped as a personality, and while the ways ants live are interesting... It is hard to care about them the way one does humans—with feelings and dreams and whatnot. I'm 3/4th done atm, and will update if anything major happens to change my opinion, but as of now I'd only recommend this if you think ants are the absolute coolest, or just really love the simple satisfaction of watching a character level up in a fantasy setting, without being bogged down by pesky abstract ideas or deep moral considerations. Narration is great—Jeff Hays always delivers.

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Shockingly Disappointed

Revisado: 12-07-23

I consider Rothfuss one of my favorite writers of all time—and I don't even blame him for taking so long to release book 3... the man is a genius and presumably wants the third book to be perfect—if he needs a few decades to do that, I can wait.

But I was blown away (in a bad way) by the gender and sexuality virtue signaling that was shoe-horned into this. Nearly every single character as far as I can tell has been re-written to be gay, bi, trans, etc—to include the children. I really wish I was exaggerating. So the setting becomes a medieval fantasy village that is 90% composed of gay, bisexual, or trans villagers. The original book was not like this, making it feel like an insincere afterthought to score points with a very specific and niche audience. Nothing wrong with having gay characters, but this doesn't feel like him writing compelling characters who just happen to be gay—it feels like him beating you over the head with how virtuous he is.
As for the rest of the writing... Pretty good—Rothfuss's poetic writing style is as beautiful as ever, and I do enjoy returning to a world I love. It is a little... underwhelming, considering how much anticipation there is for another main-line book, but that's okay.

I hope Ruthfuss reprioritizes compelling story writing over political statements in time for his eventual completion of book 3—I'd hate to see every character in this beloved series retroactively decide they were born into the wrong body, or have sudden revelations about what sex they're actually attracted to.

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A wonderful surprize

Revisado: 09-20-23

I wouldn't normally have gone for something as pulpy and light in subject matter as this, but the 4.9 star reviews peaked my interest.
I'm glad I did—the story reads something like a cross between the Hunger Games and A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with videogame mechanics thrown in—to surprisingly good effect. Carl is less your typical nerd living out a power fantasy I'd expect, and more a blue-collar every-man trying his best to make it, and Princess Donut is a standout hit of a character, dipicted as a spoiled princess with a kind heart hidden underneath. Carl is also NOT a pervert at all, which I am glad to see, not because that is inherently bad for a character, but because it's been overdone recently and it is nice to see something different for a change.
The humor is great—I laughed out loud on multiple occasions—and the world building is deep without slowing down the pace. The Narration is a real stand out as well, they really pulled out all the bells and whistles.
Overall, a highly original, highly enjoyable, good time—I'll be buying the next in the series as soon as I finish writing this sentence.

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A wonderful surprize

Revisado: 09-20-23

I wouldn't normally have gone for something as pulpy and light in subject matter as this, but the 4.9 star reviews peaked my interest.
I'm glad I did—the story reads something like a cross between the Hunger Games and A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with videogame mechanics thrown in—to surprisingly good effect. Carl is less your typical nerd living out a power fantasy I'd expect, and more a blue-collar every-man trying his best to make it, and Princess Donut is a standout hit of a character, dipicted as a spoiled princess with a kind heart hidden underneath. Carl is also NOT a pervert at all, which I am glad to see, not because that is inherently bad for a character, but because it's been overdone recently and it is nice to see something different for a change.
The humor is great—I laughed out loud on multiple occasions—and the world building is deep without slowing down the pace. The Narration is a real stand out as well, they really pulled out all the bells and whistles.
Overall, a highly original, highly enjoyable, good time—I'll be buying the next in the series as soon as I finish writing this sentence.

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A must read for parents and their daughters

Revisado: 06-13-23

Parents can set rules, make demands, and try to control their children all they like--but teenagers will inevitably rebel IF they are not won over, heart and mind, as to why it is in their best interest to listen. Louise Perry makes the argument in a logical, non-judgmental, and secular way, as to why sexual liberation/disenchantment hurts women in the long run, because even with reliable birth control, sex has serious consequences for people's long-term well being. When I have daughters entering their teen years, this is one book I will make them read, in the hopes they proceed with caution and don't have to learn the hard way that the popular culture does not have their best interests at heart when it comes to sex, dating, and marriage.

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Hard Sci-Fi at its best

Revisado: 06-13-23

I greatly enjoyed this one--it was an epic story about one man's race to save mankind, that plays out as a series of scientific problems the main character must use solid science to overcome. There are numerous plot twists that prevents things from ever feeling predictable. There is also an amnesia plot device at play that is used to slowly feed the reader background information and to answer the story's various mysteries--which is a little cliché--but it is executed and explained well by the end, so I don't begrudge Weir for using it. My only complaint is the humor--it can be a little cringe worth at moments... But even that feels like it was an intentional reflection of the main character's personality--he is a nerd, a bit of a wimp, and unflinchingly good-natured. His dad jokes and lack of spice fit that perfectly, even if it failed to ever seem funny to me.

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The Red Pill Everyone Needs

Revisado: 04-28-23

Murray expertly lays out all the ways popular culture has been re-written so effectively, that most people take concepts for granted as truth, that are anything but true. This includes things like the allegedly self-evident truth of the patriarchy, the rejection of biological sex, the panic over rampant racism in society, etc. Murray brings his usual humor to the subject matter, and cuts to shreds the blue pilled arguments of the mainstream that put identity politics above all else.

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