Queku

EVEN BETTER THAN THE FILM

I've come to know the story from watching the movie a few years back, but let me say that it was a mistake to watch the movie instead of reading the book.
This novel got me hooked from the start with its amazing characters and story. I've found myself geeking out while reading the book with all its 80s and video game references. An absolute blast for us geeks. I also found myself rooting for the main characters and cheering aloud whenever they accomplished something awesome, something any other book has never accomplished in me.
This book also got me thinking about the consequences of absolute absorption from social media in the future and what it may suppose for us as a society. Something to be aware of with the rise and social media and the imminent era of the metaverse. This book takes place in a not-so-distant future where humans have destroyed the earth and hide from this awful planet by login into virtual reality. Society has completely isolated itself in the virtual world to the point, that people never leave their homes in their entire life, which sounds too plausible and scary in my opinion.

All in all an awesome read for us geeks or the perfect gift for your geeky friends.

A good story, but not Andy's best one.

Andy Weir is known for his realistic science-fiction novels. This one is no exception, but I felt the science was left behind on this one.
The novel is set in Artemis, the first lunar colony, where we follow Jaz a low-rank smuggler. She imports many contraband goods, but this is not enough to cover her expenses, so the book turns into a heist story when she is presented with a life changing job. Which I thought was a great idea, but it turned the book into a science-fiction heist novel. In the other book, Mr. Wear has realized the main character has a great knowledge of science and applies it to solve the presented problem. But this time the only idea Jaz comes up with is blowing things up.

I am also not convinced about the ending of the book. In my opinion, was the last chapter a little unnecessary and I would have ended the book with the one action (if you have read the book you know what I am talking about, but just in case I will make my review spoiler free). It is true that the last chapter gives us closer to the open threads, but I would have done it differently.

The review up until now has not been as positive as my score... that lies in the fact that the story is great, but it is not a great Andy Wier novel.

All in all, it is a great book, and would recommend it to everybody, this book is clearly more compatible with the general audience than the other book that Andy Weir has written. But if you liked this book, please check the other book by Mr. Weir, you will love them.

Stephen King is always a win.
This is a very simple book exploring a very simple concept, but it still got me captivated and on the edge of my seat until the very last page.
This book is about a bestselling author being kidnapped by his number one fan in order for him to write her a novel. A very simple premise and the hole story takes place in a single bedroom. But somehow it works. At the beginning I was skeptical on the premise, it sounded cool but I could not imagine how to maintain suspense and avoid it becoming repetitive and boring. And it did get more interesting as the book went on. On the one hand we have the main story line, then we get a peak at Paul's writing and finally we slowly discover about Annie's backstory.
I must admit at the end of the book the whole novel subplot became a little distracting, it felt like reading the first chapters of a book and then the last ones without any additional context (because this is precisely what happens) . In retrospective totally necessary, because Paul projects into the story and then the story projects back into Paul, and there is a parallel between one story and the other, but it felt confusing.
This book explores the impotence and sense of defeat when you are trapped and there is no viable option out. You are clinging to a very thin edge of hope, but as time goes on you slowly give up. This is masterfully represented with the character of Paul.
I loved the metaphors presented through the book in order to materialize Paul's feeling, the stone pilings(as pain), the hole in the page (as coping mechanism) and the African bird (as this feeling of being trapped until the end).
I must admit it is very visual, but that is King's specialty. I wouldn't it is specially scary but there were some scene which were unsettling. But more in the disgust direction than actual fear.
All in all a great starting point for King's novel, you get a taste of what he is good at without the nightmares and it is a short novel you will power through without even realizing it.