Read
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Off to Be the Wizard
Finished
Quick and entertaining. A simple and interesting premise. Pretty funny. Picked it up on a whim. Mostly listened to the audiobook, which was well-done. Bought the sequel immediately. I’d recommend it, for something light.
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Allegiant
Finished
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The Magician's Land
Finished
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The Martian
Finished
It’s between 3 and 4 stars. I enjoyed it pretty thoroughly. In the end, it was more of a fun experience than a great book, so I went with three. It’s kind of how I felt about the movie Gravity: the actual plot, and anything they tried to do with it, wasn’t great. But the way they made you experience it was still really fun. Maybe I’m trying to describe hollow fun? But I don’t think this was quite hollow. Just … it leaned toward glib, when its subject matter could’ve been a lot more thrilling. It favored procedure over storytelling (“here’s how I’ll construct this tool” rather than any of the potential fear/introspection/character work that could’ve happened). The glibness made it entertaining – I laughed a lot as I read it – but maybe detracted from the end product.
I don’t know, mixed feelings: I really did enjoy it, start-to-finish, and I’d recommend anyone read it . But once it was over it felt a little shallow for what it could have been.
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Sabriel
Finished
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Directive 51
Finished
A lot of interesting ideas that then sort of wander and fizzle. I enjoyed it, but as a piece of fiction the structure and resolution (or even lack thereof) falls short.
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The Sparrow
Finished
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Trapped
Finished
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Divergent
Finished
I really enjoyed this. I spent a lot of the book trying to figure out where it was going, and what its political motivation is – dystopian futures rarely lack some political motivation. So far, the only messages I can tell are basic, moral, principles, not political ideologies. Which I like. I think there were hints dropped earlier on that in retrospect were intentional red herrings as far as the intent/plot of the book. I was trying to turn it into The Giver, or something along those lines, and trying to determine the moral lessons I should be learning from all of the factions, which ones were good and bad, etc, and while it shared some themes with overt allegories like The Giver and 1984, it’s definitely its own thing and a lot more than it initially appears to be.
I also found the love interest plotline seemed to be a much more convincing version of Twilight’s. I only read the first Twilight, because it was a garbage book, but it seems to me (as a straight man, obviously not the main target here) that this book did a much better job of a similar thing: the characters are obviously drawn to each other. There’s a lot of noticing of clavicles, and tensing of muscles, etc etc, but the characters are a lot more fleshed out and even the attraction feels a lot more convincing. I enjoyed it, and I also enjoyed that (like many other YA/children’s series with love stories) it wasn’t all about that. It played a part, and did a good job, but it didn’t detract from (or attempt to distract from) the larger plot.
I’m really looking forward to picking up the next one.
== Spoilers ==
The ending felt like it didn’t live up to what the book had put together – it felt like I, Robot (the movie) or any number of other sci-fi plots, when the book had developed a pretty interesting world and a unique economy and political system. Not only did the whole mind control thing feel like Will Smith battling robots, but the themes were echoed in the lead Erudite doing it all seemingly in the name of logic, and a number of other things. I hate to keep using a Will Smith mis-adaptation of Asimov as an example, especially since I know I’ve seen this storyline before, but it’s all I’m coming up with right now. I’m fine with that plot, mostly - I enjoyed the movie, too, mostly – I just felt like the book set it up for more. Beyond that, the book seemed to fall apart a little for other reasons here: you have trouble controlling divergents, and you decide the thing to do is send one you’re probably controlling to be like the only guy in charge of your quest for Chicago domination? I don’t know. I still liked it, and I’m excited to see what happens next, but I do think there was a lot of smarter stuff in the book before Roth had to conclude the first story arc.
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The Legend of Eli Monpress
Finished
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The Spirit Thief
Finished
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Finished
I didn’t read all of Coraline (I don’t own it - I picked it up at my parents’ house and never finished it), but this had a lot of the same feel as the film (which I do own). I like both a lot, and the way he plays with what happens to a child’s world when adults aren’t on the child’s side echoes government conspiracy plots in a unique and more personal way, but I do feel like there were a lot of the same sort of things going on in each book. Ursula felt a lot like the Other Mother. So while I did enjoy it, I just think I might’ve enjoyed it a bit more if it were a bit more its own thing.
You should definitely read it though if you haven’t. It’s short and it’s worth spending the time on.
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World War ZAn Oral History of the Zombie War
Finished
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The Magician King
Finished
Really enjoyed it. I think the claims of sexism were unfounded. But I am a man, so, who knows. The main female character, Julia, does go through a lot (a lot), but if anything that serves to highlight some of the worst of what women can experience in a male-dominated world. I think the same goes for some of Quentin’s naïve misogyny – that’s part of the story. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean it’s being endorsed. Quentin is kind of a dick, we know this.
Anyway. Great adventure, great personality, great imagination, I really enjoyed this. Very readable as well.
A thought about the end contains vague spoilers:
— I guess I should’ve expected that sinking feeling as I read the ending – it’d been foreshadowed the whole time, and the last book was almost as bad, but the last book wasn’t quite as bad (he still got to have a lot of what he wanted; really, the sacrifice was on Alice, not him) and I found myself swept up in the heroic adventure so when the ending came, I was disappointed. At the very least, I wanted (still want) to know what happens next. And (probably like Quentin) I’m still trying to figure out if there are any loopholes or ways to get to Fillory or the new world.
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How Soccer Explains the WorldAn Unlikely Theory of Globalization
Finished
Decent book. Found that it was more anecdotes about the world surrounding soccer than any sort of explanation of the soccer world, let alone the world as a whole. Interesting stories, though. Mostly compelling - frequently saddening, with all the useless, irrational hate and violence, and not a ton said in favor of a sport the author clearly cherishes.