Iain Bertram
Solid fantasy with extremely good world building. Understands that continent spanning conflict does not depend on the actions of a few or a chosen one. Likes spiders....
This is probably the weakest book in the series. One strike, the next one better be better or Reacher may need to look for a retirement home.
A very good account of the state of the Oceans. Well written with some very catchy phrases. A touch too much repetition of facts made some sections a little hard to plough through.
Overall the most depressing thing I have ever read. A must read!
I learnt a lot about the contributions women made to the Manhatten Project which was great. Unfortunately the second half was too sketchy and there was just not enough detail. Maybe concentrating on a few stories and noting the interactions would have led to a more developed read.
Delighted to have learnt a lot on a topic I have read a lot of in the past.
Another powerful and visceral depiction of African fantasy from Marlon James. I listened to the audio book with a very strong performance by Bahni Turpin who does a stupendous job of bringing Sogolon to life. In this story we follow the life story of Sogolon (the Moon Witch in [b:Black Leopard, Red Wolf 50608676 Black Leopard, Red Wolf (The Dark Star Trilogy #1) Marlon James https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579618622l/50608676.SX50.jpg 48215793]) and here ongoing struggle with the Aesi (one half of the Spider King). While technically a sequel to [b:Black Leopard, Red Wolf 50608676 Black Leopard, Red Wolf (The Dark Star Trilogy #1) Marlon James https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579618622l/50608676.SX50.jpg 48215793] the book goes back further in time and neatly swallows it whole. The change in point of view from a gay man to a woman dramatically changes the context of the book and the themes the book explores . Moon Witch's story is the struggle for self determination and the freedom to make her own decisions and the slow realisation of her power and agency. She is a power and often unlikeable character. I enjoyed the book in spite of its profanity and challenging scenes. There are a lot of situations that are hard to read (sexual and non-sexual violence and coercion, slavery). The story does a good job of dealing with difficult topics without being exploitative (in my opinion).
This is the grand finale of the extended story by Genevieve Cogman (who lives in the Northwest of England where I lived for 21 years and got to hear talk at a Literary festival in Lancaster).
The world and characters have been well established by now and all act within character. the denouement is driven by the various sub plots and interactions that have gone before and is in keeping with the powers displayed in the book so far (Dragons must be lawful, Far are narrative driven chaos demons and Librarians will do anything to get a hold of that one book). A nice narrative driven story with appropriate pay off for all of our characters.
It seemed a bit flat but I think that is mostly due to the gap in my reading between this and the previous instalment. This episode doesn't really introduce any new plot elements, just ties up everything that has gone before.
My one nit pick is that Spoilereveryone is far to cavalier about the destruction of multiple worlds with I assume billions of people dying, although that is in keeping with stories usually not caring about the background population.
Reviewed in memory of Jenny Colvin
The author writes a story where he (or a thinly disguised version of himself) saves more than one world by sciencing the shirt out of stuff. Unfortunately they ignore the simple stuff making it quite shit science.
I did like the alien communication.
Sweaty McSwearface and his fearsome band of Australian neerdowells pretending to be people of different nationalities rampage through space simultaneously fighting nazis and the class war. Great beach read with foul mouthed and competent heroines kicking armour played arse. Like Neal Asher but with a sense of humour.
This is a curates egg. Good in parts.
I really enjoyed the introductory sections on how constraints effect the form and content of music. The how to guide on recording is also fascinating.
Unfortunately it gets metaphysical and sucks quite a bit towards then end. Worth picking out the good bits.
Slightly astonished to see Lovegrove being compared to Ballard.
This book has some good ideas. Unfortunately the plotting is formulaic and the dialogue is abysmal. The characters are stereo types of the worst sort.
Avoid.
This book has two things going for it. A great premise and CERn (the protagonist was on D0 + 1 star).
Unfortunately the writing is poor. Far too much time is spent exploring the philosophy and cod physics of the flash forward and not enough exploring the characters and the impact on their lives. As for the ending. Bleachh.
An entirely fitting end to the first main story arc of the Rivers of London series. Just enough story seeds sprinkled around to get the next arc going. Looking forward to the next book.
A ripping yarn but a bit sloppy. Not one of his best. Too many loose ends and padding that turns out to be irrelevant.