Brit in Canada. 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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qntm has been writing science fiction for most of this millennium. His works start from …
Not as miserable as the SCP stuff, mind. Some of the short stories are either too smart for me or finish like a twist is resolved but it's just a short story.
qntm has been writing science fiction for most of this millennium. His works start from …
Need another Malazan break
The sword cares not who it cuts.
Many years ago, Sir Aelfric and his nine …
Eagerly picked up a new Hanrahan book as I'm enjoying his Iron-Gods-Is-Not-A-Trilogy. However this one is as grimdark as The Iron Gods, but with no joy in it at all. This is some years after a successful vanquishing of the Big Bad Evil Guy, and it's everything slowly going wrong. It's not written badly, but it's certainly less funny, the characters are mainly arseholes, and I'd rather have read a book about the events before this book.
Also a little unfair, but it feels too much like a D&D campaign in a book. I'm sure ironically it will turn out to be one of the few fantasy books at the moment that isn't "based on our cool campaign in university" but the descriptions are literally thieves, wizards, barbarians, etc. And a lot of healing potions.
Considering I didn't actually like Hyperion, ahaha. But a lot of the book is a bunch of people travelling to an alien crash site, while telling a tale each about their lives.
The great surprise for me though was that there's not much sex in this PFH book! He's finally settled down a bit. He does still like a tech leader who's now basically a benevolent dictator. And at the back of this book he basically says the one in here is Musk. Looking forward to the next two though.
The sword cares not who it cuts.
Many years ago, Sir Aelfric and his nine …
Really struggling with this. Everyone's less likeable than the Iron Gods books
Great comic, mainly but not exclusively about a fishing trip in Gaspésie, and the earlier events in the character's lives that they recount.
This isn't a full Canterbury Tales type thing, it's just a slice of someone's life. However the book gets pretty dark, with some detailed coverage of their attempts to have a child. Fair warning, not just about fish!
So, there is a girl called Echo Désjardins, who is Métis and in Winnipeg Middle School. She seems entirely depressed and detached from her life. She is interested in her history lessons, but daydreams in them, and then enters the actual past of how the colonials treated the Métis (spoilers, not well at all).
So half the book is telling this story from the roughly 19th century, and the other half is Echo wandering around being confused. She gets a bit happier, I think, but I'm not sure why. And then the omnibus finishes. Now in general one can say that true life doesn't have a neat beginning, middle, and end; but the historic parts told a much better story to me than Echo. I certainly hope the girl has had some character growth but it was difficult to tell.
The artwork of the book is nice, and I appreciated …
So, there is a girl called Echo Désjardins, who is Métis and in Winnipeg Middle School. She seems entirely depressed and detached from her life. She is interested in her history lessons, but daydreams in them, and then enters the actual past of how the colonials treated the Métis (spoilers, not well at all).
So half the book is telling this story from the roughly 19th century, and the other half is Echo wandering around being confused. She gets a bit happier, I think, but I'm not sure why. And then the omnibus finishes. Now in general one can say that true life doesn't have a neat beginning, middle, and end; but the historic parts told a much better story to me than Echo. I certainly hope the girl has had some character growth but it was difficult to tell.
The artwork of the book is nice, and I appreciated the timelines and other historic sidebars, e.g. what is pemmican and how was it made.
Difficult to review in detail without spoilers, but all the things I like about the first one. The characters still manage to find some time to have a lot of sex but do calm down a little. Still a very horny future. I'm sure billionaires now read it and love it, as basically the plot is "the billionaires get together to sort out all the problem" in a similar manner to fantasy books where the kings and queens do it. The myth of competence is reassuring.
After a break of reading PFH, I've started reading some of his books again. I still absolutely love Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained. I really liked his previous long space opera (Night's Dawn) but this universe feels a bit more fleshed out. Cars and trains (oh, the trains) have models and people clearly have preferences. There's discussions about sports and brands and TV and paying attention to some of it now rewards later on, but not in a major way.
The action is good, the science is fun, but unlike his next trilogy in this universe, it doesn't feel cartoonish. The Void Trilogy to me feels like a lot of technobabble and deus ex machina. Book 1 here starts well.
But it's difficult to ignore the sex. Everyone is constantly horny and having sex with at least one other person. In fact it is stated in the book that after …
After a break of reading PFH, I've started reading some of his books again. I still absolutely love Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained. I really liked his previous long space opera (Night's Dawn) but this universe feels a bit more fleshed out. Cars and trains (oh, the trains) have models and people clearly have preferences. There's discussions about sports and brands and TV and paying attention to some of it now rewards later on, but not in a major way.
The action is good, the science is fun, but unlike his next trilogy in this universe, it doesn't feel cartoonish. The Void Trilogy to me feels like a lot of technobabble and deus ex machina. Book 1 here starts well.
But it's difficult to ignore the sex. Everyone is constantly horny and having sex with at least one other person. In fact it is stated in the book that after a human goes through medical rejuvenation, there are whole planets for no-strings sex. Unlike previous books, PFH has calmed down a bit and we don't get a shopping list of positions every single time.
From the master of the space opera comes a dark, mind-bending adventure spread across time …
If I described the plot it would sound like a classic SF novelette and barely push 70 pages. It's a credit to Reynolds that the 300 odd pages here feel very short. It starts slow, and each time I start thinking "okay you've made your point" it speeds up the exact right amount. So it repeats, but not in a bad way.
I enjoyed the gentle humour as the grown-ups put up with Anne but when she's young, she's bloody irritating. Very glad I read it before doing the mandatory tour of "her house" which is set out with a large number of references to the book (shattered slates and all).
The book suddenly speeds up in the last quarter and a few years pass, before the conclusion of the book slows down again. Honestly can't guess the tone of the next one.
Asterix and the Picts is the 35th book in the Asterix series, and is the …
Honestly could barely tell this wasn't by the original authors, the writing and graphic styles are both on point. The main difference I noticed was that there's (a bit) more diversity in the speaking roles. Very welcome.
Syd Dallas is responsible for pop culture’s greatest hero: THE DOMAIN! But his sons Miles …
Fundamentally I think there's not much entertainment I'm getting from a comic about the copyright dues of comics. Some good jokes, but even a whole trade seemed like a lot to devote to this, and it keeps going.
Needed a break from Malazan
Yes yes very cynical indeed
