Highlights and Lowlights - October - December 2023
Highlight - The Houses of Iszm - Vance and/or a re-read of Network
Effect - Wells
Lowlight - This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Maxsnip
Gladstone
Now Reading:
Long work - Inhibitor Phase - Reynolds [Revelation Space #5]
(++ 1/2) Translation State - Leckie [Imperial Radch universe]
Good/fine - Very slow starter, but got pretty interesting once all three protagonists were in the same place. A lot of the plot centered on what
it means to be human — which for me is an over-used and over-done theme these last several years — but Leckie does it well. We learn a lot more about Presger Translators, and the human protagonist Enae was pretty
solid throughout.
November
(+ - -) This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone Meh - very much not my thing. While it was surely well-written,
intricate, filled with flowery prose, creative, and packed with all
kinds of references, it was also dull as dishwater (to me). It’s
basically a love story with time-travel trappings.
for the end sections prompting/promoting book club discussions of the
book and how to otherwise enhance your book club experience via this book.
Highlights and Lowlights - October - December 2023
Highlight - The Houses of Iszm - Vance and/or a re-read of Network
Effect - Wells
I enjoyed the early murderbots more, the novelty gradually wearing off.
Lowlight - This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Maxsnip
Gladstone
Now Reading:
Long work - Inhibitor Phase - Reynolds [Revelation Space #5]
I will be interested in your thoughts when finished. Moriarty enjoyed
it. I was disappointed.
(++ 1/2) Translation State - Leckie [Imperial Radch universe]
Good/fine - Very slow starter, but got pretty interesting once all three
protagonists were in the same place. A lot of the plot centered on what
it means to be human — which for me is an over-used and over-done theme
these last several years — but Leckie does it well. We learn a lot more
about Presger Translators, and the human protagonist Enae was pretty
solid throughout.
I have this but haven't started it yet. (Sidetracked by Le Carre and
even better, Mick Herron, also espionage though principally MI5 infighting.)
November
(+ - -) This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone >> Meh - very much not my thing. While it was surely well-written,
intricate, filled with flowery prose, creative, and packed with all
kinds of references, it was also dull as dishwater (to me). It’s
basically a love story with time-travel trappings.
My impression was the same. I can't remember if I finished it.
Minus 10,000 points
for the end sections prompting/promoting book club discussions of the
book and how to otherwise enhance your book club experience via this book. >>
This is not in my copy.
On 1/3/24 8:30 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
In article <un2p5h$33j2g$[email protected]>, Titus G <[email protected]> wrote:
On 3/01/24 08:09, Tony Nance wrote:
Highlights and Lowlights - October - December 2023
Highlight - The Houses of Iszm - Vance and/or a re-read of Network
Effect - Wells
<much snippage>
I believe the Vance is the only one I've read this time around. An ACE double
iirc.
My copy is half of the Spatterlight Press version that duplicates the
ACE double.
Just a few days ago I read Nopalgarth (aka The Brains of Earth, and
usually listed as "Nopalgarth #3"), and I now understand -- or at least >speculate why I think I understand -- why Sons of the Tree and The
Houses of Iszm are called Nopalgarth 1 and 2, respectively. Since it's a >small spoiler for "Nopalgarth", I'll mention it below.[1]
Small spoiler for Nopalgarth (aka The Brains of Earth) below.[1]
Tony
teeny
tiny
bit
of
spoiler
space
just
in
case
Burma Shave
[1] We find out part way through Nopalgarth (aka The Brains of Earth)
that "Nopalgarth" is an alien term for our planet Earth. The first two >stories labeled Nopalgarth 1 and 2 also specifically involve Earth, and
my retro-speculation is that Vance and/or his publisher tied them
together as some sort of marketing idea. For example, isfdb mentions a
1980 DAW release called "Nopalgarth: Three Complete Novels". I could
surely be wrong, and it's surely not very important one way or the
other, either.
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