The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
3.5 stars
I had set myself up to read this with expectations set firmly low. The book had so much hype that I did not want to be cynical, but I did want to be realistic. It was a good page turner that I felt ended about sixty pages before the book did.
This has some spoilers so click the Read More to finish this review
The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Rise of Endymion
The fourth and final book of the Hyperion Cantos was more epic and more information latent than any of the first three books. It does bring many story lines to a close and the scale and scope of the story is huge.
The four books of this series are a thick, rich world and I find the beginning and ending volumes the most satisfying. I still think Hyperion stands head and shoulders above the others, but this is a very satisfying read. The story of Aenea and Raul comes to a full conclusion and begins to bring in some fantasy elements that enrich this literary science fiction tale.
The scope of this volume is huge but I think Dan Simmons does a better job in this work dealing with it than he did in Fall of Hyperion. I felt Fall of Hyperion became quality space opera but lost the uniqueness of Hyperion. I fell the opposite way about Rise of Endymion. The focus is really kept much tighter even though grand things are happening all around. I found that much more satisfying. Basically the characters caused the plot, the plot did not happen to the characters. I really feel like the plot is what overwhelmed books 2 and 3, but in books 1 and 4 the characters were the highlight. Their story was the plot.
Dan Simmons
There are a few times when there are massive “information dumps” that are done as dialogs that go on and on. Is the information all necessary or is it author-with-awesome-research powers showing off? Not sure I can answer that as thoroughly as I want. But I wish there were a few of these that were better integrated.
The performance by Victor Bevine was excellent – again. Really a treat to get the same actor to do the recording for all 4 volumes. I know they had to be good – I listened to all 4 of them in a row!
Orphans of Chaos by John C. Wright
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I have had this sitting on my shelf for a while and decided on a fantasy novel as my next read. What I got was a book that comes across as a combination of the author’s very poor and immature opinion of women and some version of a reality that he envisions.
I did not get far enough to rehash the plot, completing about 60 pages. In what is presented as an interesting concept, 5 orphans in a boarding school discover their have super powers, turned south very fast. The narrator is one of the two girls in the orphanage. In the sixty pages I read she was forced to ground by another and “liked it”, had a secret communications system with the boys that involved the boys drilling a hole into the girls showers (ala Porky’s ) and told the tale of her nightly inspection that had to be in the nude. There was also a large amount of discussion of the other girl’s physical shape and curves. The children do not know their ages but guess they are between 16 and 22. So all this could be about young girls. This is all in the first 60 pages.
John C. Wright
The Osiris Ritual by George Mann
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Osiris Ritual is the second book of the Newbury and Hobbes Investigations, which has become a series. This book is an improvement on the already enjoyable Affinity Bridge.
The tale follows Newbury at a high society event that features the unwrapping of an ancient Egyptian mummy. At the same time, Hobbes begins her investigation into a series of disappearing girls. The two investigations in themselves are devious and clever, but the unfolding is great. The two enemies we meet are more sinister in this story verses the Affinity Bridge and the action turned up a notch. I am hesitant to say too much as I do not want to reveal too much.
The story is fast, very fast. We have a series of story lines flying around and characters that do get introduced very fast. I never felt lost and very much just wanted to keep reading.
Newbury and Hobbes are better rounded in this book, this makes sense as a series. They have vices and guilt but are still “action heros” so don’t look here for emotional depth beyond what is required to make a great hero and a great story.
These stories are steampunk through and through. Steam powered cars, dirigibles, automatons – the works. Be fore warned if you are not a steampunk fan!
George Mann
I am truly turned on for the third installment, The Immortality Engine, which should arrive in the fall. This should conclude the first trilogy of the Newbury and Hobbes investigations . I read that there will be a second trilogy as well. George Mann also has another book (already pre-ordered) called the Ghosts of Manhattan (Steampunk in Manhatten with superheros!) coming in early May.
Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Ever since I completed my NaNoWriMo novel (heck, since I said I was going to do it!), my family has been very supportive of my creative endeavor. For Christmas, my brother got me a copy of Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod.
The book is a very fast read and reads like a series of short essays or blog posts. Hugh came to fame with his cartoon on business card thing and his blog, gapingvoid.com. His philosophy is based around hard work and doing something that you “own”. His hard work philosophy is interesting. Basically boils down to “while you are busy doing something else, the other guy is at home working on his version harder than you, so get to it.” Not a revolutionary statement by far. Basically it is built around “you need to put in the time, the energy and stamina to make it happen”.
Hugh MacLeod (dude kinda looks like Erik Mitchell)
Some people will not like this because it is less inspirational and at times raw and blunt. It can be a bit circular but he is witty but also cynical and at times the essays transform into rants. But they are fun to read. Plus the cartoons are great.
All of this is based on a free download he has on his web site called How to Be Creative. Cool stuff on his site.
Cool Video made from his writing
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories by Michael Chabon
Assassin's Quest (Farseer Trilogy, #3) by Robin Hobb
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