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Book Reviews
- Thread starter Brick
- Start date
osubuckeye4
Well-known member
I also enjoyed it, but it felt more like a 'side quest' than a complete novel/novella.
My one real gripe with it is was how unexplored Three's actions (and the potential consequences of those actions) were. Given the page count I wasn't expecting a huge sprawling story like Network Effect... but I did think there was more than enough runway for 25-50 more pages where they got back to Preservation and Mensah filled Murderbot in on the extent of Threes actions and what it means going forward.
Wells has said that she's only contracted for one more Murderbot novel. I think just a little more at the end of this one could have set up an epic final book... which we might still get, but I feel like the first 25-50 pages of it are going to be what should have been the end of this one.
It was a fun short read though and I enjoyed it quite a bit more than System Collapse (though not has much as Network Effect)
I tend to agree; I thought the whole extraction escapade would be the first third to a half of the book and set up something else, but it was the entire book.
Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Set in 1950s Mexico, a pretty Mexican wealthy socialite living a party life in Mexico City gets a disturbing letter from her cousin, who has married into a once prominent but faltering (and slightly off) family in the countryside, so she ventures out to their dilapidated mansion to help her cousin, although help her "with what" she isn't sure. Has all the "Gothic" elements of the title; countryside/creepy manor, dashing strangers, weird happenings, isolated location, misty cemeteries, etc. Very well written story, it starts out quick and keeps up the pace as our heroine tries to figure out what is going on. Supernatural occurrences? Scientific explanation? Or are we just hearing from an unreliable narrator? Good novel and satisfactory finish (won a bunch of awards). I'll probably return to this author at some point.
It was slightly odd, though; I reviewed What Moves the Dead (Ursula Vernon) last year, which was a retelling of Poe's Fall of the House of Usher in which Vernon attempts to layer in more concrete explanations for the paranormal activity that Poe leaves largely unexplained. The odd party is that Vernon and Moreno-Garcia land on virtually identical causes of the strange happenings. Seems at first blatant plagiarism (Vernon's book came out after Mexican Gothic), but as it turns out it was a coincidence, and Vernon was half-way done with What Moves when she learned about MG and almost shelved her project because of the similarities, but instead finished and published and chose to address the similarities head-on and explain the coincidence. I tend to believe her.
It was slightly odd, though; I reviewed What Moves the Dead (Ursula Vernon) last year, which was a retelling of Poe's Fall of the House of Usher in which Vernon attempts to layer in more concrete explanations for the paranormal activity that Poe leaves largely unexplained. The odd party is that Vernon and Moreno-Garcia land on virtually identical causes of the strange happenings. Seems at first blatant plagiarism (Vernon's book came out after Mexican Gothic), but as it turns out it was a coincidence, and Vernon was half-way done with What Moves when she learned about MG and almost shelved her project because of the similarities, but instead finished and published and chose to address the similarities head-on and explain the coincidence. I tend to believe her.
Tosh
There Can Be Only One
I have this book on my short list, planning to pick it up on the weekend. Appreciate the insightful review.
Cancel Me if You Can, David Portnoy. I'm not a Portnoy/Barstool guy, but I knew enough of his story to get me interested in at least the business aspect of it. Basically, he started a free newspaper on his own from a basement, slowly grew it into a content empire, sold it to Penn National at a $650 million valuation, then bought it back like two years later for $1. Pretty amazing. Some interesting stories in the book, but quite a bit of it is clearly geared toward Barstool "insiders" with references to podcasters and influencers that I've never even heard of but he describes as being the biggest things ever (Pardon My Take? Call Her Daddy? I guy who goes by the actual name "PFT Commenter?" No idea who any of these are). A pretty easy, interesting read overall.
Essential Poker Math: Fundamental No-Limit Hold 'em Mathematics You Need to Know, Alton Hardin. Got this for free via some digital credits with amazon. Not a whole lot knew here for those who have studied this subject; pretty much every poker book has a section on math that covers most of these topics. Still, a good refresher on some things. Poker math is criminally underutilized by most casual players and is a source of huge edge for players like me, so it's always good to keep this particular knife sharpened.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson. Written in 1962 shortly before her death and considered to be her greatest work (you might also have heard of her from The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House, both of which have been adapted into other media several times), this is a gothic horror novel set in Jackson's contemporaneous timeline (seems like the 50s/60s) in the U.S. Three surviving members of the Blackwood family live in seclusion in an old, once-great house; Uncle Julian and his nieces, Constance and Mary Katherine. These are very odd and eccentric folks, and early exposition tells us that four other family members died of arsenic poisoning six years earlier, with Constance being tried but acquitted resulting in the family being shunned by the rest of the village. Another cousin comes sniffing around eventually, and the story goes from there. Really, really good stuff; this was a great read.
Essential Poker Math: Fundamental No-Limit Hold 'em Mathematics You Need to Know, Alton Hardin. Got this for free via some digital credits with amazon. Not a whole lot knew here for those who have studied this subject; pretty much every poker book has a section on math that covers most of these topics. Still, a good refresher on some things. Poker math is criminally underutilized by most casual players and is a source of huge edge for players like me, so it's always good to keep this particular knife sharpened.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson. Written in 1962 shortly before her death and considered to be her greatest work (you might also have heard of her from The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House, both of which have been adapted into other media several times), this is a gothic horror novel set in Jackson's contemporaneous timeline (seems like the 50s/60s) in the U.S. Three surviving members of the Blackwood family live in seclusion in an old, once-great house; Uncle Julian and his nieces, Constance and Mary Katherine. These are very odd and eccentric folks, and early exposition tells us that four other family members died of arsenic poisoning six years earlier, with Constance being tried but acquitted resulting in the family being shunned by the rest of the village. Another cousin comes sniffing around eventually, and the story goes from there. Really, really good stuff; this was a great read.
mrducks
Blue Wing
You are a very proficient reader. I don't know how you do it, but I'm a little envious.
Ulf Murphy
Old Man Yelling at Clouds
Easy. Retire.
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells. Written in 1895, this is the first novel of Wells' prolific and visionary writing career (Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, War of the Worlds, etc.), this was an early classic of science fiction and far ahead of its time (see what I did there). Set in Victorian England with some early steampunk vibes, a group of aristocrats gather at an inventor's house where he claims to have invented time travel (indeed, it's claimed with this book Wells invented the very term "time machine") and shows them a small working model, which promptly vanishes, presumably into the future. The next week, they all gather again and a disheveled and wounded inventor tells them he's been on a journey through time. The bulk of the book is him describing to his skeptical audience his experience in the future, first at 800,000 years ahead, then much further, and the resulting state of the world and humanity. There seem to be some underlying commentaries by Wells about the growing divide between have and have-not (Wells was a commie), but that is easily ignored in favor of just focusing on a good story. Very quick read; would probably be classified more as novella than novel by modern standards.
Did you read The Time Ships (1995 Novel) by Stephen Baxter? It's a direct sequel to Wells novel. He wrote it with the agreement of the Wells estate to celebrate the 100th anniversary ot The Time Machine. I really liked it. Read it a bunch of times actually.
No, I hadn't heard of that one. I wiki'd it and looks like it was pretty highly regarded; unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be available in my library system, which is odd for such an award-winning book.
Yeah! Highly regarded but so different. A LOT of meat around the bone this time.
Not available on paper or do you use an e-reader? Because I have the EPUB if you want it.