Karsa Orlong
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Posts posted by Karsa Orlong
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In memory of Yes bass guitarist, Chris Squire, who passed away on Saturday.
Legend. R.I.P. Chris
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Random Acts of Senseless Violence - Jack Womack
This is set a short time in the future in New York. Society is slowly starting to break down, with Presidents being assassinated on a fairly regular basis, curfews are in place and the army has taken to the streets to impose control.
Lola is a nice, well-adjusted 12 year old girl, living in a slightly privileged area of New York, with her mum and dad, and younger sister. She is a typical 12 year old, who fights with her younger sister and bickers with her friends about silly unimportant things. On her birthday, she gets a diary, and this is how the story is told, through her writing about the events happening around her and impacting on her life.
When money becomes tight, they are forced to move to a less prestigious part of the city, and as Lola starts to mix with different local kids she slowly starts to change.
This was so well told through Lola's diary entries, and the changes that happen are so subtly done. You can't put your finger on when it changes as it's so gradual - Lola's voice - but the Lola from the end is very different from the Lola from the start.
This is definitely a character based plot, with Lola being the key person obviously, but her interactions with her new friends and old ones, shows the contrast between her old comfortable (yet deteriorating) world and this new one she is now living in. I thought the end was quite chilling, though it was not all that surprising. It was a very realistic depiction of society crumbling, and there were many small changes happening over a fairly short space of time, and before you knew it, it was full-blown chaos.
Recommended, but I wouldn't classify it as science-fiction - which seems to be the genre it is marketed in.
4/6
Glad you enjoyed it in the end, bobbly
I guess they class dystopian as a sub-genre science fiction 
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The Legacy of Heorot - Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Steven Barnes
Ooh, this was a brilliant book.
The story is centered around a group of colonists who have been sent to an island on Avalon, a planet that has taken them approximately 100 years to reach. They are mostly reknowned scientists, and have been tasked with determining if human life can survive on Avalon. However, due to the effects of such an extended Hyper-Sleep, they have lost a great deal of their intellectual capacity. In fact, some haven’t woken at all.Among these colonists is Cadmann Leyland, who is sort of the odd-man-out, as he isn’t a scientist, but rather he is in charge of security. From the start, he has an uneasy feeling about Avalon, and senses something is off about the islands ecology.
For the first few months things are peaceful as the colonists start to settle into their new home. Their only fellow inhabitants are fish – called samlon – and some large birds. The colonists have brought over cows and chickens, and are planting their own crops, and all seems to be going nicely. Then something begins to hunt their animals and cause damage to their camp.
I thought the story was told brilliantly. It was real edge-of-your seat material. There weren’t any concepts that were difficult to grasp, and it wasn’t heavy on the sci-fi; instead it was more of a story of survival. The ‘enemy’ is very well developed and detailed, with a great explanation about their life-cycle and biology in a way that seems believable. The chapters told from their point of view added an extra level of interest.
I thought I’d reached the climax of the story about half way through, and couldn’t figure out why there was so much of the book remaining. Then when all is revealed and you realise things weren't as simple as originally thought........it’s such a great moment!
There is a sequel, which I bought a few days ago. Hopefully it is just as good as this one.
Hugely recommended!!
5/6
Aha! Late to the party but found it eventually
Yes, it's brilliant, isn't it? I remember buying it because I thought it sounded like Aliens, then being so thrilled because it was like Aliens and yet different, too. So tense and exciting. A real thriller, full of the edge-of-seat stuff I love. Also, that twist in the middle, that was ace. Like you, I was wondering how they were going to fill the rest of the book
Hmm, you've really got me tempted to take Beowulf's Children off the shelf now. Brilliant review
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On the plus side, I really liked the two C J Box books that I read, and I'm enjoying the hell out of the James Rollins book, and I'm going to read at least two more of Vince Flynn's (cos they're sitting on my Kindle . . .
), so it's all good so far. I'm going to get several of the books recommended up-thread, too. Just waiting for the month to tick over in case any turn up in July's Kindle deals . . . -
I did see someone suggest that the Lionesses should be renamed the "England Football Team" and the other lot should be the "England Mens Football Team" (think there should be an apostrophe in there somewhere, but can't quite place it
)Well at least they can't lose on penalties to Germany in the semi-final . . .
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oh yeah, shouldn't be recommending any series to you, sorry
I seem to have started three or four more series in the past couple of weeks, so I wouldn't worry
But yeah, Deaver's been on the radar for a good few years now, so I'll definitely be giving him a proper go
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I read the first book - The Legacy of Heorot - last year and loved it, so hopefully this one is just as good.
Did you?
I remember you saying it sounded interesting when I re-read it last year but I completely missed your review of it 
But yeah, it's a fantastic book 
I haven't read Beowulf's Children yet, despite it sitting on the shelf for ages, so really looking forward to hearing what you think of it. Hopefully it'll be good! <<Heads off to look for bobbly's review>>
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My top five are pretty much set in stone, the other five are more changeable
Patrick O'Brian
Alastair Reynolds
Bernard Cornwell
Vernor Vinge
David Gemmell
Joe Abercrombie
Steven Erikson
Guy Gavriel Kay
Ray Bradbury
H G Wells
Honourable mentions for Richard Matheson and Hilary Mantel - I've only read two books by each but they've been among my favourite reads of the last few years, and for Lois McMaster Bujold.
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Listening to Death Descends on Saturn Villa by M.R.C. Kasasian (The Gower Street Detective Series) .. not enjoying it as much as the previous two
With you there, Kay - I reviewed it a few weeks back and thought much the same - it's the weakest book of the three. It does pick up towards the end, though, so hang in there!
I'm currently 324 pages into Sandstorm by James Rollins.
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Congrats Laura
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England are through to the semi-finals!!!!
Fantastic win over host nation Canada, which I think I heard was watched by a staggering 54,000 spectators in the stadium. Now we have to face reigning champions Japan in the semi final next week, who just managed to beat Australia in their quarter-final by a single goal, three minutes from the end of the match. Come on the Lionesses!!!
I stayed up to watch it. I was only going to watch the first half but then Canada scored just before half time and it all got rather tense
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More Ray Donovan.
Also the first episode of the new SyFy series, Dark Matter. Didn't really do a lot for me but I'll give it a couple more episodes to see if it picks up at all
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Ooh, thanks Michelle!
I think this is the first competition I've ever won
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The price must have gone up.....it's £6.33 for Kindle now. I was going to buy it if it's only £0.99, even if it seems a bit silly.
That was my thinking at the time I bought it
One of the books, The Third Option, is still available in the June monthly deals I think I replied to your other thread about a decent thriller....I'd highly recommend I Am Pilgrim.
Thanks, bobbly. I did download I Am Pilgrim and read the first 70 - 80 pages. It seems good but I got distracted by James Rollins. Not him personally - one of his books
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I'm not 100% sure if this one fits the bill, but I'd recommend A Tap on the Window by Linwood Barclay: "When Cal Weaver stops at red light on a rainy night while driving home, he ignores the bedraggled-looking teenaged girl trying to hitch a lift. Even when she starts tapping on his window. But when she says, 'Hey, aren't you Scott's dad?' and he realizes she's one of his son's classmates, he can't really ignore her. OK, so giving a ride to a teenage girl might not be the smartest move, but how much harm could it do?" (There's more to the synopsis on the Amazon link, but you can go with just the few details in the text I've copy+pasted in this thread, too.)
Thanks Sari, I shall add that one to the wishlist
I seem to have settled on James Rollins at the moment, recommended to me by someone on the Malazan forums
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I even forgave him for Heartstone
I didn't!
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - Susannah Clarke - an absolute joy, this one. I just loved the pastiche of Austen meets Terry Pratchett. A delightful read.
Marvellous book, glad you enjoyed it
The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch - the first of his Gentleman 'persons of dubious parentage' series. I think I might have fallen in love with Locke just a little bit.
I thought it was great, kind of like a fantasy version of Hustle
I've yet to read the others in the series, but you'll find a couple of big fans of them around these parts -
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I'd like to seconf Little Pixie's suggestion of Desmond Bagley. Running Blind was one of the best of his that I have read - also The Tightrope men & Landslide are pretty good too.
That's two recs for that one so I really must give it a go. Thanks, Ian
One downside to David Baldacci, you can become addicted to him and there are a lot of books to read if you are only starting to read him.
Yeah, I noticed that
I do seem to be starting off a lot of new series, so stand alone stories are always welcome Have you read Dan Brown`s Deception Point ?
Must admit I've only read the obvious one of his, and it kind of put me off reading any more
I've read a few of the Nelson DeMille books, and especially liked Plum Island and Night Fall featuring the character, John Corey. I'm pretty sure I still have Mr DeMille on my shelves. If you are interested I'd be happy to send some to you to give them a try.
Oh that's very kind of you Chrissy, thank you, I might take you up on that at some point, but only if I can send you a book in return
I'll probably give Mayday a go. I'm highly tempted to read whilst I'm on the plane to Calgary just to see how much it freaks me out I don`t know if you`d like these, Steve. The Kill Artist is the first of the Gabriel Allon series ( they`re big on research into Middle Eastern issues ).
Not heard of him, off to have a look, ta
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I`ve read a couple of them - The General`s Daughter and Up Country - both excellent - and I have the first three in his John Corey series ( got them through The Book People, super cheaply ) . Erm, they`re not the sort of thing you`d want your maiden aunt to read, but he tells a cracking story with stand-out characters.
Okay, thanks - I'm quite tempted by a couple of his books so might give one a try sooner or later
This one's really appealing to me, but I don't think I want to read it before I go on holiday For instance, ` authors like Patrick Lee ` gets you some GoodReads and Librarything lists.
I actually tried that a few months back but it didn't prove very fruitful. Thanks, though! I do seem to be turning up some interesting ones by looking for a particular book on Amazon and then looking through the 'Customers who bought this also bought' links
I also think I may have to return to Richard Morgan's stuff and try Market Forces, which I already have on my Kindle as part of a collection of his books.
It seemed logical to me to start from the top of the thread, so I've taken bobbly's recommendation and started I Am Pilgrim
ETA: Ohhh, I am so tempted by this
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Titanic (which, I hasten to add, I always stop before Celine kicks off!)
Yeah yeah, of course you do
Punch it Bishop!
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My favourites so far this year have been all ten of the Patrick O'Brians I've read since the turn of the year, every one of them wonderful - though, if I had to pick just one, it would be The Reverse of the Medal.
Then there was Carter Beats the Devil, which was just a joy to read, and The City and the City by China Mieville.
Clunkers? Deathstalker by Simon R Green. Dreadful. Appalling. Dire. Unforgiveable. Stinky. Never. Again.
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American Assassin (Mitch Rapp Book #1) by Vince Flynn
2011 - Simon & Schuster ebook - 427 pages
Before he was considered a CIA superagent, before he was thought of as a terrorist’s worst nightmare, and before he was both loathed and admired by the politicians on Capitol Hill, Mitch Rapp was a gifted college athlete without a care in the world . . . and then tragedy struck.
99p on Amazon. That's why I bought this. Plus 4.5 star average from 150 reviews on Amazon, and 4.2 from 32,000 ratings on goodreads. Onto a winner, surely?
Well . . . not really. American Assassin is, for me, a fairly by-the-numbers thriller. For anyone versed in the ways of Jacks Reacher and Bauer, there's nothing really new here. Doesn't mean it's bad, but it's not quite the white-knuckle thrill-fest I was hoping for.
The most interesting thing about it is definitely its position as book number 1 in the series. At the time of Vince Flynn's sadly premature death from prostate cancer a couple of years ago, at the age of just 47, he had written thirteen books about Mitch Rapp, and this one plus its immediate successor, Kill Shot (also bought for 99p on Kindle!), were the 11th and 12th written - and both are prequels to the rest of the series. It left me wondering how difficult it was to go back and write about how this character's journey into counter-terrorism and assassination began, having written ten previous novels which must have included countless details relating to his as yet unwritten past. It must have been quite a challenge, I would imagine, given his fan base and the way they were probably picking through the continuity in minute detail.
In short, this novel sees Mitch Rapp, 22 years old and grieving for his girlfriend who died in the Lockerbie bombing, approached by the CIA who are forming a new team of undercover operatives to work outside the usual command structure. Plausible deniability and all that. This involves him going off for six months of training in the middle of a forest in Virginia, where he is trained by a stereotypically hard-assed ex-field operative before heading out into the field to carry out his first assassination and bring extreme right-wing justice to the rest of the world.
The book moves at a reasonable pace but there were a few issues that stopped it from becoming my 'next best thing'. For one, I found the writing a little clunky and the dialogue unconvincing, which I didn't expect considering it was the 11th book written in the series. For another, the enemies are laughable, jingoistic nonsense. Ivanov, the Russian secret service chief, is a vodka-swilling, prostitute-loving buffoon who we are given to believe is incredibly dangerous but actually comes across as completely incompetent. Worse, the terrorists, bar one, are all presented as a bit idiotic. The bar one is Sayyed, a Syrian to whom Flynn at least attempted to give a little depth, but only a little. Meanwhile, Rapp is perfect, makes no mistakes, immediately knows better than his superiors how to complete a mission, and naturally saves the day (there wouldn't be much point writing about him if he didn't do the latter . . . ). He's like a young Jack Reacher but without the edge, or the toothbrush.
It was an easy read, though, and quite entertaining at times. Less of the dodgy political views and more convincing characters than these cardboard cut-outs are needed, though. Give me Travis Chase or Sam Dryden ahead of this lot any day. Or Joe Pickett, actually. At least they're fully realised people.
My search for a really thrilling thriller continues
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Bobblybear's Book List - 2015
in Past Book Logs
Posted
I was looking at those a few days ago but managed to stop myself