User Profile

Stephen

tinheadned@ramblingreaders.org

Joined 2 years, 4 months ago

I read when I can't sleep, so yes there's a lot of books here. Nearly all SF.

he/him

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2025 Reading Goal

31% complete! Stephen has read 14 of 45 books.

TJ Klune: Under the Whispering Door (Hardcover, 2021, Tor Books) 4 stars

Welcome to Charon's Crossing. The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead …

Nice but verging on saccharine

3 stars

It's another TJ Klune book. I didn't like it as much as the House in the Cerulean Sea. The protagonist is supposed to be "bad" but not-really-a-spoiler, redeems himself. Except unlike Cerulean, where there's a slow change of someone discovering themselves (albeit with a lot of foreshadowing), in this one we have one scene of Wallace being bad, then a few chapters of being dead and confused, and then he's nice.

reviewed Head On by John Scalzi (Lock In #2)

John Scalzi: Head On (2017, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom) 4 stars

Hilketa is a frenetic and violent pastime where players attack each other with swords and …

Another great thriller

4 stars

And again without being "too" funny. Scalzi has reached a good balance now and it's a treat. I didn't like the start of this one though, as it begins with a news account of a match and it just doesn't really read like a news account at all. I realise it's there for worldbuilding but I found it weak and jarring. The rest of the book is much better though.

reviewed Lock In by John Scalzi (Lock In #1)

John Scalzi: Lock In (2014, Tor Books) 4 stars

Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the …

Good, with a bit of disbelief

4 stars

I think if I'd read this in 2014 I'd believe a lot more that the world economy would change to support survivors of a pandemic. The one described here is much worse than COVID, and there's also a bit of cynicism about how it affected the wealthy, but still now I think society would prefer to forget.

However it's a great thriller, with some interesting ideas although some of the tech and biology doesn't stand up to much scrutiny. The characters are funny without being "too funny" which I think Scalzi has strayed into before.

reviewed Skyward, Vol. 1 by Joe Henderson (Skyward, Vol. 1)

Joe Henderson: Skyward, Vol. 1 (Paperback, 2018, Image Comics) 3 stars

Beautifully drawn, nonsensical comic

3 stars

This is a lovely piece of art, really enjoyable to look at. But the plot doesn't make sense. Gravity is off. And it has been off since the protagonist was a baby. And she's barely 20. But lots of people have forgotten what gravity was like. And you can zip off if you fire a gun down, which isn't really how momentum works.