I think I converted to Bokononism. It's the most honest fake/real religion ever. It admits it's all lies and jokes but gives mostly good advice.
This book makes me want to drop my readthrough of Earthsea. I'm yet to decide. If I ever read Tehanu it seems like it's gonna be more of a hate read than anything else since reviews say it's as bad as this one only with 1000% more of “THE MESSAGE” and it completely ruins Ged's character.
This one is pretentious. There is nothing happening for 98% of the time and when there finally is something it's so extremely vague that even the metaphors she tried to put in there sound dumb. No tension. No sense of awe even though they are traveling through half of the world. It's all dull and vague. And I HATE her style of writing where she spoils the ending at the beginning. I know this is a children's book but god damn it why?!
I really liked first book and second one was passable, admittedly better as it went, but this book is jaw-droppingly poor compared to it. I cannot even fathom how this book can have average rating above four stars.
Originally I didn't know whether to first read Le Guin's sci-fi or fantasy novels so I created a poll and Earthsea completely obliterated Hainish Cycle. Can someone for the love of all good books explain to me how that's possible?
3.5 stars. Saw the twist the moment she sniffed garlic. Did not like the ending, though I have to admit it fits well with the story. The dog... did not expect that, especially since he had him since the beginning in 00's movie adaptation if I remember correctly.
Overall I missed some more introspection. It was well written but it was missing soul. That may be on purpose as main character thinks he's the last man on Earth and so loses his humanity in drunken horny stupor but I do think that contemporary authors would enhance the story with some psychological stuff and make the characters deeper, their decisions more impactful.
I feel like I read my book of the year within the first two days of 2022. It's exactly the type of sci-fi that I love. S-tier masterpiece.
Villeneuve said he wants to make it into a movie after he's done with Dune and while Dune is one of the best books within the genre I feel like Rama would translate onto screen much better. Another hit like Interstellar, Martian, Arrival.
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