I've liked Anthony Ryan's previous books, but am plagued by the same problems as those books. I love the story, don't like the characters. Everyone isI've liked Anthony Ryan's previous books, but am plagued by the same problems as those books. I love the story, don't like the characters. Everyone is one-dimensional, none of the main characters change much. Everyone is just doing things and moving fast, which makes the story fun. But when the pirate/thug character has the same dialogue style as the linguist/school girl, and they speak the same as everyone else, dialogue and narration seems wooden. That made sense in a previous series where the narrating characters were siblings and had the same upbringing, but here it's glaring and frustrating that each chapter feels the same. A fun story, but not my favorite style.
**I received this book from NetGalley, this is my honest review....more
A weird writing style that I now love, the story of a man told in snippets, like sips of wine. A day, an event, we see our hero once every eight years. The day in his childhood when everything changes, a day when his adoptive family gets his heart broken, World War II, Civil Rights movement, everything moves on in between. Some days are dramatic, once-in-a-lifetime tragedies that we've all experienced, some are regular days that are so meaningful they help explain a life well lived.
I'm reminded of the lyrics to "Time Marches On" (https://genius.com/Tracy-lawrence-tim...), we see a photograph in the movie on life, and can guess how we got from Point A to B. The style allows a lot of flexibility that I didn't know I would appreciate so much.
I appreciate how things happen "off screen" but influence everything about our characters. Things from years ago still matter, sometimes. Sometimes we never get over that loss, that hurt, that triumph, and dwelling on the past can hurt so good sometimes. Sometimes those days are what defines us, and Yates does a good job finding those days for his characters. The events are a bit dramatic (several natural disasters), but the characters, they make the story. The love, the family they find and make and chose, make the story as wonderful and gentle as this.
A story read for the characters, the writing style breaks down any "plot" into something weird and squishy. But I'm a fan, and of course I'm wondering what days define my life.
**I received this book from NetGalley, this is my honest opinion....more
I think too much is lost in translation for me. The character wants a thing, then the thing happens, then this other thing, the plot feels more like aI think too much is lost in translation for me. The character wants a thing, then the thing happens, then this other thing, the plot feels more like a checklist of actions than a story. Reads like poetry, great writing, but not for hundreds of pages....more
A short read, feels like a series of blog posts, but in a good way. Easy to follow and understand, this is an introduction to several controversies abA short read, feels like a series of blog posts, but in a good way. Easy to follow and understand, this is an introduction to several controversies about American Education. A good place to start for parents and anyone looking at policy....more
Some of the heaviest ex deus machina I've seen but still enjoyed. The story is linear but manages to go absolutely everywhere. A different take on a mSome of the heaviest ex deus machina I've seen but still enjoyed. The story is linear but manages to go absolutely everywhere. A different take on a murder mystery.
**I received this book from NetGalley, this is my honest review....more
A beautiful and poetic prayer celebrating nature and the wildness of life. Like two hippies living in a commune, the found family of Jansson and PietiA beautiful and poetic prayer celebrating nature and the wildness of life. Like two hippies living in a commune, the found family of Jansson and Pietilä help them build and strengthen a life of freedom.
**I received this book from NetGalley, this is my honest review....more
Languages are a significant part of the story, and audiobook narrator's accents are not the best, besides that, audiobook is fine.
The story is fast, bLanguages are a significant part of the story, and audiobook narrator's accents are not the best, besides that, audiobook is fine.
The story is fast, but I think the novella format doesn't help. A lot of character decisions happen too fast because there's just no time to develop the story any more.
**I received this book from NetGalley, this is my honest review....more
A heist story when the heist is halfway through the book. I think this tries to be too much. A good heist story and a good story about finding your plA heist story when the heist is halfway through the book. I think this tries to be too much. A good heist story and a good story about finding your place in a complicated universe, finding where your beliefs can fit when everything is wired against you, just too much going on for one story. Ender's Game split this idea into two books, I think this story would have benefited from the same treatment.
**I received this book from NetGalley, this is my honest review....more
A great idea, and mostly well done, but endings are hard.
Minor spoiler. If you don't get the reference, don't worry about it.
An immortal, but not inA great idea, and mostly well done, but endings are hard.
Minor spoiler. If you don't get the reference, don't worry about it.
An immortal, but not invincible, man is being studied by the US Government because we also want immortal super soldiers. The man has perfected the ennui that some teenagers strive for, doing literally whatever he wants while the Department of Defense tried to tell him what to do.
This leads to an interesting drama I've seen before, when someone is going to do what they want so their boss tells them to do it, to make it seem like they wanted it to happen, when everyone involved knows better. I saw it a few times working for a construction company, when the crane operator with the required and hard-to-obtain crane license would go off and do what he wanted, and the foreman would pretend to tell him to do that, so he didn't look useless. The crane operator was basically unreplaceable, so as long as he didn't kill anyone, he was unfireable. We all knew it, and watching the boss try to give him orders was hilarious.
Now imagine that power struggle, with a being thousands of years old and super speed and strength and even if you do manage to kill his body, he will be reborn in a cocoon of magic and come hunting for you again.
The story follows the man as he helps a secret Special Forces team do Special Forces things for poorly explained reasons. He's bored, I guess? And if they study him enough, they'll be able to tell him things about himself?
The plot is fine, it's acceptable for what we're doing. And what we're doing is the characters. The people are well done (most of them) and give a good look at what people do in situations beyond their control and understanding.
The deus ex machina runs a little hard the last few chapters, moving the plot into the right place for the final twist of fate, but the Evil Deadpool was hilarious (if you haven't read that comic, then you might not see that coming).
The only glitch I had was accidently reading the main character's lines in a Keanu Reeves voice. That's my fault. ...more
Mal is a free-AI, a conscience being who's more human than 99% of the humans I've met online. He hacks into the brain augmentation of a dead mercenary on a battlefield, because of reasons he fails to explain in the story, and finds a little girl traveling with the body he's meat-puppeting around. He gets cut off from the Internet and can't leave the body, and the rest of the story works like that, uploading himself from one augment to another until he can get back home.
The story follows the little girl and adds characters one at a time until the small group must travel for safety in the start of another American Civil War.
The logic of the story expands slowly, then in bursts of chaos.
I appreciate how realistic things move forward, like, sometimes someone does stupid stuff and things happen because of that, which is how real-life happens too.
I appreciate how everyone has a motive for doing what they do, some more long-term oriented than other, like real people do, Ashton does a great job making characters relatable. Even for child murdering rednecks, I can appreciate their goals even while celebrating their heads exploding.
My only real critique is the hand-waving around some of the logistics (the augmented Special Forces guys have motors in their tongues and eyeballs???) in an otherwise pretty hard-science story, but it serves the purpose of making everything believable. Characters get a realistic and believable ending (not all of them happy) and we get to decide which side of the human war we think is worth fighting for.
**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley, this is my honest review....more
If Kafka wrote about robots. I've never felt this frustration or pity for a computer before.
Our protagonist is a valet robot, a butler for the rich. WIf Kafka wrote about robots. I've never felt this frustration or pity for a computer before.
Our protagonist is a valet robot, a butler for the rich. We see into his logic tree, and are introduced to the running joke that humans are inefficient; his Master told him to check for travel plans every morning, and though his Master hasn't traveled for over 700 days and checking for travel plans are the last thing done each night, the valet continues checking for travel plans after noting how inefficient this task is. This trend of cycles of illogic are funny for a particular kind of nerd, similar to how "The Martian" was appealing to a certain kind of engineer. I found the jokes repetitious but realistic and honestly funny at times. If you like xkcd.com, you'll like the logic of a robot trying his best with his built-in AI fails to predict the next decision tree.
The story follows the pattern of "The Odyssey", our robot must leave his Master's mansion and go into a world collapsed, moving from trial to hopeful solution to another soul-crushing trial. He looks for employment at neighboring estates, but overgrown gardens and boarded up windows force him to keep moving. Society has collapsed recently, everything is falling apart, imagine the world of Wall-E right before the rocket took some people to space and we get to see what's left behind. We meet some Mad Max survivors, a historical reenactment with conscripted service, and manage to recreate the Wizard of Oz from first principles.
Tchaikovsky continues to impress with excellent writing. His ability to instill feeling in the reader is impressive. I found myself pitying a robot with the saddest last words I've heard, and later scared of a Five Nights at Freddy babysitter that would murder your soul while reciting nursery rhymes. Tchaikovsky has a knack for the right amount and timing for creepy and darkness.
Lots of references and Easter eggs that kind of distract from the story. There's no date or year, but the technology feels a few decades from now, but references from Lord of the Rings, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that "footprints in the sand" poem, make everything feel very close to today. I didn't mind them until a robot made a Hitchhiker's Guide reference that ruined the immersion in the story... that it happened in one of my favorite scenes in the story didn't help
The book ends with a heavy-handed criticism of capitalism that isn't easy to disagree with. We've AI'd and Chat GPT'd people out of work, but still value people for their output. What do we do with the people we've made obsolete? The secondary battle between Stoicism (This thing isn't good or bad, just a thing that happens) with humanism was there, I didn't notice it until reflecting on the story later... it's not subtle, but there's a lot going on near the end of the book.
Overall, highly recommend.
**I received this book from NetGalley, this is my honest review....more
The idea for the story is fun and had so much potential. A young man, disgraced by a single moment of hisThis book suffered from too many side quests.
The idea for the story is fun and had so much potential. A young man, disgraced by a single moment of his entire life, finds his father was murdered. A cryptic note, written by his dying father in his own blood, starts a quest to find out why. The "why" is in a box in a vault no one can open except a condemned pirate in an inescapable prison.
I'm going to stop there and just say I'm already not liking this story. People don't do this. If his father had left a will with "Tell my son this when I die", fine, that's fine. If Dad had a letter in his desk with the son's name on it, ok, acceptable. But if something is THAT DAMN IMPORTANT, you don't keep it a secret and hope you don't have a stroke in your sleep. The drama is already annoyingly close to a soap opera.
So we're off to a stupid start, whatever. Next is an excellent scene that shows how well Logan can worldbuild. Our main character has a conversation with a deaf "mute" girl, and she hasn't been introduced. She's just in the mix and we roll with it, the pirate is believable, the threats of violence are scaled right and believable, honestly, just an excellent scene that shows the potential Logan brings to this story.
The book then proceeds to piss in my Cheerios by having our intrepid young swashbuckler run into every side quest like a D&D golden retriever chasing squirrels. I understand you have to set up a plot and then change something to build drama, but this is like a Spinal Tap of bait and switch, everything is cranked to 11.
The book is still well-written, Flea is an excellent character, most of the others are weak but whatever, the story is moving, it's fine, until the end. Logan, no, bad author. Really, the dying wish was for his son to open the box and find something so stupid it hurt my feelings? I'm trying to not spoil anything, but really?!?!
I want to read the sequel just to see how Logan evolves as a writer. And this book has so much potential, I hope he brings the 11 down to a 9 and I bet I love that book.
**I received this book for free from NetGalley, this is my honest review....more
Cowboy Bebop vibes, with character and plot beats feeling familiar but well done.
A man with a variety of things wrong with him catches up with his ex-Cowboy Bebop vibes, with character and plot beats feeling familiar but well done.
A man with a variety of things wrong with him catches up with his ex-BFF and hilarity ensues. A lot of violence but not a lot of death, a lot of this story is flashbacks and characters admitting mistakes as they continue to make the same ones like people in Stockholm Syndrome with their past. I don't like that Sagas makes this mistake-repetition a virtue instead of letting them learn from more mistakes, but there is some learning somewhere in the plot.
Ending sets up a sequel but still ends on a solid plot beat. Characters are all realistic, believable for the most part.
If you like Cowboy Bebop, this will feel familiar in a good way.
**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley, this is my honest review....more
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