Reviews and Comments

Wayne

geodesic_grammar@ramblingreaders.org

Joined 1 year, 2 months ago

Usually reading sci-fi, fantasy or horror.

Also, social.musgrovegreen.co.uk/wayne

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Becky Chambers: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (EBook, 2021, Hodder & Stoughton) 4 stars

With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The …

Great holiday read

4 stars

Well that was quick - three days from start to finish while on holiday! Largely nothing much happens in this book but that's kind of the point. Becky drops you in an alien place with alien people and you just enjoy being there and finding out about the world you're now sharing for a few tens of hours. Great holiday read in the best sense.

Bruce Sterling, William Gibson: The Difference Engine (2011, Gollancz) 3 stars

1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines. …

World over story?

3 stars

I will usually grab any SF Masterworks book I find in second hand book shops because so far every one I've read has been brilliant. Unfortunately The Different Engine has broken that run by coming across as confused and mediocre.

There's interesting world building (maybe more "world describing") at play, and quite a pacey, engaging story thread that pulls you through the middle of the book. Either side though almost feels like completely unrelated tales that never really join up with everything else.

Great idea but executed in a way that didn't do it for me. Read a review that suggested this would have been a great short story or novella if trimmed down, and I think they've got it spot on.

Steven Erikson: The Crippled God (Hardcover, 2011, Bantam) 5 stars

So that's it, the tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen complete. After spending a few years working through the series this is certainly going to leave a bit of a hole.

I'm definitely going to get to the other related series (Tales of Bauchelain & Korbal Broach!), but I don't think I'll rush. The MBotF feels like it needs some settling in time now that I've made it to the end - not a feeling I often have when completing a series, and that speaks of what Steven Erikson has managed to achieve with this.

Bleak, hopeful, often brutally uncaring about favourite characters yet full of moments of human connection and compassion, and flagrantly leaving so many questions unanswered - it's a malazan book through and through.

Becky Chambers: Record of a Spaceborn Few (Paperback, 2018, Hodder & Stoughton) 4 stars

Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a …

No thrilling mysteries, no pacey plot, but that's kind of the point.

I enjoyed just spending time in a different world being shown a different worldview, and see the characters own view of that world change. Did a really good job of quickly giving you the feel of a place.

reviewed Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (The Expanse, #1)

James S.A. Corey: Leviathan Wakes (EBook, 2011, Orbit) 4 stars

When Captain Jim Holden's ice miner stumbles across a derelict, abandoned ship, he uncovers a …

Another series I've got to read now!

4 stars

Came from watching the series so there was always the chance of not getting on with the books. Shouldn't have worried though I found this to be a great step up from the series (which I still really like). Lots of extra depth here about what's going on in the story, and I especially appreciated the extra time spent getting to know Miller.

Definitely looking forward to the next one.