Karsa Orlong Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 It was the Will Smith one I kinda liked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 I've heard good things, but it sounds too complicated for me . I'd describe his work like Chuck Palahniuk meets Hunter Thompson. Then he has some waaaay out there stuff like...Ubik. Spell check does not like 'Ubik' It is an unusual title . And I bought it with you!! I look forward to read the book, though I might read one of his other books that I bought, first. I guess it will depend on my mood. It was the Will Smith one I kinda liked Haha ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 It is an unusual title . And I bought it with you!! I look forward to read the book, though I might read one of his other books that I bought, first. I guess it will depend on my mood. I am trying to talk myself out of the Valis trilogy... did you buy that one as well? It sounds like quite the ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 I am trying to talk myself out of the Valis trilogy... did you buy that one as well? It sounds like quite the ride. I did! But only book 1, they didn't have the others. To be honest, I didn't know it was a trilogy until I got home and looked it up, as the book didn't say much on the subject if I'm not mistaken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 I am trying to talk myself out of the Valis trilogy... did you buy that one as well? It sounds like quite the ride. I did! But only book 1, they didn't have the others. To be honest, I didn't know it was a trilogy until I got home and looked it up, as the book didn't say much on the subject if I'm not mistaken. I just looked up the first book in the Valis trilogy and it sounds interesting... but I don't know if I'd like it. Hmmmmm. Might try borrow a copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 #69 The Legacy of Heorot - Larry Niven and some other guys Synopsis: The colonists from Earth have spent a century in cold sleep to make the first journey, one way, to settle a planet in another solar system. Avalon seems perfect, a verdant, livable world still in its prehistoric age. The biologists and engineers who busy themselves planting and building scoff at the warnings of professional soldier Cadmann Weyland until a large, unnaturally fast and cunning predator begins stalking the colony. Learning how to kill the beast is only the first step, for they must then reevaluate their entire understanding of Avalon's ecology.*** Review: I don't want to write a review for this one. I don't feel I can give it a fair review as it's not a genre I am too familiar with or like easily. I suppose I will preface my review by saying this is a highly subjective review, and not in any way an attempt at evaluating the book objectively.I decided to give it a read because I had heard about the 'creature' around which the plot revolves, and I wanted to find out what it was for myself. The book is well-written enough that even though the story was largely not my thing, I was fairly content to read through the whole thing. I will admit to skimming a little for time (mostly action scenes). I thought it started out pretty well, but given that I wound up with a rather comical mental image of the creature based on a pre-story note from the author, I couldn't take it seriously. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to find the creature scary or just biologically fascinating. It was neither. I felt telling parts of the story from the view of the creature really demystified it and took a lot of intrigue from the novel.There is a twist, and it is a very good twist. I kicked myself for not figuring it out, but it was quite an awesome 'oh balls' kind of moment. From there on, I really found it difficult to care precisely how they came to the inevitable conclusion, and I didn't really like the reason why the team biologists didn't figure it out themselves.The characters were okay. I preferred some to others but largely didn't care who lived or who died. Honestly the most fascinating part of this whole novel was the brontosaur-sized animals living on the mainland. Which we never see, because the book is set on an island. I want to read about those animals. All in all... yeah. Not even remotely my thing, but if you're a fan of sci-fi action survival stories, you might enjoy this. I guess. I feel like even if you're into that, this should still be a fairly mindless bit of entertainment, not a seriously worthwhile read.Rating: 3/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Not even remotely my thing, but if you're a fan of sci-fi action survival stories, you might enjoy this. I guess. I feel like even if you're into that, this should still be a fairly mindless bit of entertainment, not a seriously worthwhile read. Ouch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 8, 2015 Author Share Posted July 8, 2015 Ouch I'm sorry but like I pictured a giant frog. A giant frog hopping around. And as for the samlon... like, did it not occur to anyone once they had a corpse to think about reproduction? And then to think about where the babies where, and how amphibious babies tend to be quite different to adult amphibians, including a lot smaller, and oh look, tadpole-esque fish. 'hibernation instability'. They would have figured it out in no time if it wasn't for this vague concept that conveniently blurred out that possibility. I'm not a biologist, I had no reason to figure it out, but I feel like earth's brightest minds should have. But no! 'Hibernation Instability'. Too forced, imo.And once everyone was aware of it, it just became mindless action which really only works if you're invested in the characters who die along the way. I only felt sad about all the dogs dying. I dunno. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 No need to apologise, I was just amused when you said an SF fan wouldn't find it a worthwhile read when you know one who did I actually liked the idea of hibernation instability, thought it added some depth to a couple of the characters in terms of their frustration. It's quite a common theme in SF novels I've read that involve cryo-sleep, that something goes wrong along the way. I've come across worse plot devices, for sure. Whether or not you're invested in the characters is another matter entirely, of course. I enjoyed the action scenes and found it a genuinely thrilling book. It never occurred to me that the note at the start might lead one to imagine a giant frog. If it had turned out to be that I probably would've hated it I guess that should be a lesson to authors who put those sorts of notes at the start of a book Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 8, 2015 Author Share Posted July 8, 2015 No need to apologise, I was just amused when you said an SF fan wouldn't find it a worthwhile read when you know one who did I actually liked the idea of hibernation instability, thought it added some depth to a couple of the characters in terms of their frustration. It's quite a common theme in SF novels I've read that involve cryo-sleep, that something goes wrong along the way. I've come across worse plot devices, for sure. Whether or not you're invested in the characters is another matter entirely, of course. I enjoyed the action scenes and found it a genuinely thrilling book. It never occurred to me that the note at the start might lead one to imagine a giant frog. If it had turned out to be that I probably would've hated it I guess that should be a lesson to authors who put those sorts of notes at the start of a book You are but one! My reviews are aimed at people in general. I can't say people who like Sci-Fi will DEFINITELY like it, that would be a lie. They MIGHT. See how I cover my potentially awful recommendations? It was just a little too convenient for me. It was pretty much the only thing preventing them from realising it much earlier. And if someone says 'frog' and then talks about a big amphibious creature.. I'm gonna think frog! This is why I'm not a writer, I lack imagination! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 You are but one! My reviews are aimed at people in general. I can't say people who like Sci-Fi will DEFINITELY like it, that would be a lie. They MIGHT. See how I cover my potentially awful recommendations? It's okay, you keep right on digging It was just a little too convenient for me. It was pretty much the only thing preventing them from realising it much earlier. And if someone says 'frog' and then talks about a big amphibious creature.. I'm gonna think frog! This is why I'm not a writer, I lack imagination! No comment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 8, 2015 Author Share Posted July 8, 2015 It's okay, you keep right on digging No comment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 It's okay, you keep right on digging I'm now quite intrigued by this one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 8, 2015 Author Share Posted July 8, 2015 I would honestly be surprised if you liked it, Michelle. But I could be totally wrong. I think I made up my mind about it quite early on and it never stood a chance of changing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie H Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey Synopsis from Amazon: Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn't remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognizable - or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger. But there's one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, to leave it alone, to shut up, Maud will get to the bottom of it. Review: Overall, absolutely worth a read, but I would recommend it on the basis of the writing, rather than the story. 3.5/5 Great review , and another book on my TBR pile thankfully ethereal ebook TBR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 (edited) Nice review of The Legacy of Heorot...shame you didn't enjoy it all that much though. I liked the concept of Hibernation Instability, and it features a lot more in the second book. I thought it was a nice touch and not something I had come across before, but I don't really a huge amount of SF. I like SF movies, but sometimes SF books take a lot of effort to understand (for me, anyway ). Edited July 9, 2015 by bobblybear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 Great review , and another book on my TBR pile thankfully ethereal ebook TBR Hehe hope you enjoy it! Nice review of The Legacy of Heorot...shame you didn't enjoy it all that much though. As Steve said, it's not really one for people fairly new to sci-fi. If it had been a horror tale moreso than a sci-fi based action/thriller, I probably would have liked it more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 #70 Wayward Pines #1: Pines - Blake Crouch Synopsis: Secret service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, to locate and recover two federal agents who went missing one month earlier. As the days pass, Ethan’s investigation into the disappearance of his colleagues turns up more questions than answers. Why can’t he get any phone calls through to his wife and son in the outside world? Why doesn’t anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what is the purpose of the electrified fences surrounding the town? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the world he thought he knew, from the man he thought he was, until he must face a horrifying fact—he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive.*** Review: I loved this book. I really did. I'm torn between giving it a fantastic rating which reflects my fantastic enjoyment of how fantastically silly it is, and being fair to the other books I've rated highly with good reason. I'm rounding down from 4.5 to 4, because for all my enjoyment, it's not an amazing novel.Pines is fun. It's a lot of fun. It's silly. It occasionally makes no sense. There's literally nothing original anywhere in this book, it's a mishmash of several famous movies/scenes combined into a semi-sci-fi mystery crime thriller thing. But that doesn't mean it isn't a whole load of fun. The mystery behind the town was very compelling, I couldn't wait to find out what was going on, and honestly while none of it really makes any sense, I still loved it. Admittedly, the novelty starts to wear off once you've finished reading - a few days after reading it (and now having also watched the corresponding episodes of the tv show), I know I liked the book but I struggle to recall any noteworthy good qualities.The characters are pretty good, if a little generic. I disliked quite a few of them (some people seem to like Pam, but while I appreciate her character I don't actually like her) and the Sheriff was pretty annoying. But Ethan himself, ready to run, climb, and fight (sometimes simultaneously) at any moment, makes for a pretty good rebel charmer. Even if his idea of logic is to visit the house of a woman he met the previous night for aspirin, instead going to the Sheriff's office to pick up his wallet to buy some aspirin. That in itself I think sets the standard for the novel - you won't just need to suspend your disbelief for the fictional plot, but if you're willing to do that, it's a good laugh.Rating: 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 16, 2015 Author Share Posted July 16, 2015 #72 The Silence - Tim Lebbon Synopsis: In the darkness of a vast cave system, cut off from the world for millennia, blind creatures hunt by sound. Then there is light, there are voices, and they feed... Swarming from their prison, they multiply and thrive. To scream, even to whisper, is to summon death.Deaf for many years, Ally knows how to live in silence. Now, it is her family's only chance of survival. To leave their home, to shun others, to find a remote haven where they can sit out the plague. But will it ever end? And what kind of world will be left?*** Review: This novel takes a few classic horror premises and twists them into something pretty fresh with a solidly original spin - one of the narrators is deaf. This in itself makes for an interesting and unique narrative viewpoint but even more than that - it provides a sensible reason for this family (of all the families in the world) to be picked as the focus of this story. It also means that those who survive for as long as they survive (I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say the odd person dies in this novel!) have good reason to - they have the advantage of communication by sign language over a significant portion of the population, as well as a master of silent existence to guide them. This spin, combined with the creepy credibility of the monsters - they're just animals, among which humans can survive or even live, so long as it's in silence - makes this a pretty distinctive novel.The pace is steadily calm throughout and the events localized to Ally's family, but by way of contrast, each chapter begins with a social media snippet, relating the state of affairs worldwide, which prevents it from being too insular. I would have liked a little more on the social media side of things, though. Well written, and with largely likeable characters, this is a pretty quick and easy read. I have to admit, one of the characters whom I had not thought much of previously actually made me cry towards the end. In a lot of ways, the characters snuck up on me quietly and it was only towards the end I realised how much I wanted them all to survive.I am knocking it down to a four, largely because I found the ending dissatisfying. There was also one plot point that only turned up fairly late in the novel and which I found a little hard to believe in the midst of such an otherwise credible novel. But the main kicker was the ending. I get what the author was going for, but the limitation which results in the ending had not been a limitation at any prior point in the novel; most identifiably in that Ally's father also narrated events, to nobody in particular through no particular medium. It would have worked perfectly if the social media guru was the sole narrator, but in the absence of this, the ending ultimately felt like a cop out. Shame, but I would still recommend giving it a read because it's largely very very enjoyable.Rating: 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 16, 2015 Author Share Posted July 16, 2015 #73 Unravelling Oliver - Liz Nugent Synopsis: Oliver Ryan is a handsome and charismatic success story. He lives in the suburbs with his wife, Alice, who illustrates his award-winning children's books and gives him her unstinting devotion. Their life together is one of enviable privilege and ease - enviable until, one evening after supper, Oliver attacks Alice and beats her into a coma. In the aftermath, as everyone tries to make sense of his astonishing act of savagery, Oliver tells his story. So do those whose paths he has crossed over five decades. What unfolds is a story of shame, envy, breath-taking deception and masterful manipulation. Only Oliver knows the lengths to which he has had to go to get the life to which he felt entitled. But even he is in for a shock when the past catches up with him.*** Review: This was an extremely unusual read. For the majority of my time reading it, and for the couple of days after, I have to admit to having no idea how I feel about this novel. I believe the reason for this is that, while I love what the author was attempting with this book, I'm not entirely convinced by its execution. Honestly, I think that even the simple re-arrangement of a few chapters -and the order in which we learn about Oliver's life - would have made a significant enough difference for the novel to succeed more fully. It is narrated from several viewpoints by people who recount their significance in Oliver's life, which is a fantastic way to approach this novel, but unfortunately they started divulging facts before I had had time to come to care about Oliver at all. This made the initial few chapters somewhat of a chore.As Oliver's backstory was revealed, I did come to sympathize with his plight somewhat, and I do think that with slightly better writing and structure, it could have been a perfectly credible path from past to present. Unfortunately it is simply too convoluted from the outset, and any emotional response the reader might have to Oliver is stunted by the task of... well, unravelling him. That said, there were quite a few characters I liked (Laura, Michael, Father Daniel, Barney, and Alice herself) and I loved learning about the connections between them. There were also characters I cared nothing for (Moya, Veronique), who dampened my enjoyment. Also, the inclusion of the names Dax and Jean-Luc made me wonder if the author isn't a fan of Star Trek - every single time I read either name.I'm still a little unsure about this book - there were moments when I connected with it and so vividly saw scenes and complex characters beautifully illustrated, disjointed from moments when I found myself repeatedly checking the page numbers to see how much further I had to go. As this is a debut novel, I'm willing to overlook the elements of this novel which I felt jarred, and will happily read whatever the author writes next. And while Unravelling Oliver is a little undercooked, I still firmly think it's worth reading.Rating: 3.5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Nice review of The Silence. I have yet to review it. What was the plot point which turned up at the end of the novel, that you didn't find credible? And which part of the ending did you not like? Is it because it's so open ended? Or because Ally's iPad ran out which effectively ended the story? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 Nice review of The Silence. I have yet to review it. What was the plot point which turned up at the end of the novel, that you didn't find credible? And which part of the ending did you not like? Is it because it's so open ended? Or because Ally's iPad ran out which effectively ended the story? Well, nearer the end than the start - the cult of the Hushed people and the phone thing. Was a bit much. And I don't mind open-ended if there's a good reason, but yeah Ally's ipad running out annoyed me. Her father's thoughts were never anything to do with the ipad, so that dying wasn't actually a good reason to end his narrative. If the whole story had been documented in blogs or something by Ally, THEN it would have made sense, but without that it felt like a cop out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Oh yeah, I know what you mean about the phones, when the Hushed started throwing them in the house. I thought that was silly. I also didn't think the Hushed Cult was very plausible. I mean, you can still make a noise even if you cut out your tongue!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 Oh yeah, I know what you mean about the phones, when the Hushed started throwing them in the house. I thought that was silly. I also didn't think the Hushed Cult was very plausible. I mean, you can still make a noise even if you cut out your tongue!! In fact, I'd imagine a lot of people would make quite a lot of noise AS their tongue is being cut out - and not survive much longer after that with all the Vesps landing on em! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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