Finished/stopped reading: The Last Election by Kevin Carrigan
I started reading this & realised I had already read it. It was crap the first time and even worse the second time. So I stopped reading it. I have heaps of other books to read so am moving on!
The characters are neither likeable nor believable and quite frankly that the President of the USA could go that crazy without some kind of intervention was just not believable!
Started: The Bunker Book 3: Virginia by E.J. Camacho
After I have finished this book I will be going back to real paper books for a while. The new Alastair Reynolds book is out and I also have a stack of about 10 other books waiting to be read. Yay!
Friday, 27 September 2013
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Book Bloggin' 25th September 2013
Finished: The Big One by Kevin E Ready : So close.. so close. 95% of the way through this and I was going to say this was a stellar effort.. until the author used my pet hate word "drug" - minutes do NOT drug on, they drag or in this case "the mintes dragged by". ARGH I hate the misuse of this word!!!!
Apart from that one monumental error, this book was very well written and researched. The information at the beginning of each chapter was extremely informative and also tied in nicely with the chapter. The realism of the events made you feel like you were there and it made me think of all those classic Big One movies that I loved as a kid.
Overall I would give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to any disaster buff. It's a very accurate portrayal of what could happen when the big one hits Los Angeles.
Started: The Last Election by Kevin Carrigan
Monday, 23 September 2013
Book Bloggin' 23rd September 2013
Finished: The Yellowstone Conundrum by John Randall
Describing the ripping open of the caldera as a being like a hymen splitting on a virgin? Really? You couldn't come up with a better analogy?!! Yep, that's right, the author of this book described the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano as a hymen being ripped. I mean, seriously, if you were writing a book, why would that analogy even come into your head? I am dumbfounded. Add to that, the numerous pictures (what are we 5 years old? Does our interest need to be kept by pretty pictures? No! Stop patronising your readers). And don't even get me started on the reduced font sizes for when people are speaking quietly, or the bold italics(or just plain italics) for a flashback, incase we couldn't tell that's what we were reading. Then ofcourse there are the characters whose names randomly change - is it Frohling or Frohming on this page/ in this paragraph? Be surprised!!
It's hard to be positive when there is literally so much wrong with this book. It is actually a miracle that the author managed to keep me interested. But amazingly, the concept of this book is actually pretty solid and apart from the quite frankly shit editing(it's called spell check - try it some time!) and analogies, he has handled it fairly well. This is only the first book of a planned series, so don't expect resolution in this novel. Hopefully the next one comes out sooner then his last few books (there are very sizable gaps in the books he has published - try decades) as I would like to see what happens/how the author handles it sooner rather than later.
In the postscript by the author he mentions that all his books would make great movies - I am sure they would, but to be quite frank the potential is lost as the writing is so shit. Invest in an editor as it will end up being worth the cost! And additionally - stop writing as if you were writing a movie script - it would go a long way to explaining the odd style of writing and also the pictures.. but not far enough.
Oh & where was the conundrum? I would have though there wasn't one.. flee or die.. no real conundrum there..
Started: The Big One by Kevin E. Ready
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Book Bloggin' 17th September 2013
Finished: Solaris Rising: The new Solaris Book of Science Fiction Edited by Ian Whates
Well, this was an interesting collection of short SF stories. And I unfortunately don't mean it in a good way. There were some stellar authors in this collection - among them my personal favourite Alastair Reynolds, which was one of the best stories in the collection (bias may be a factor). But in all seriousness, there were stories that literally made my head spin.. and not in a good way. I actually ended up skipping one story because it literally made me feel like I was on the recieving end of one of Antonio Cesaro's spinny thingos and he wasn't ever going to stop! Not good.
Having said that, there were several excellent stories and those, I enjoyed immensely. Hats off to you, Alastair Reynolds, Dave Hutchinson, Richard Salter & Paul di Fillipo!
Started: The Yellowstone Conundrum by John D Randall
Let me just say, despite some clunky writing (did we really need the name of EVERY drug that US vetrans may be given?!) However, in the space of a few pages the author has completely out written Harry Turtledove in his descriptions of the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. THIS is what disaster geeks (like me) want when reading these types of books.. not the drivel pumped out by Mr Turtledove. Looking forward to the rest of the book!!
Well, this was an interesting collection of short SF stories. And I unfortunately don't mean it in a good way. There were some stellar authors in this collection - among them my personal favourite Alastair Reynolds, which was one of the best stories in the collection (bias may be a factor). But in all seriousness, there were stories that literally made my head spin.. and not in a good way. I actually ended up skipping one story because it literally made me feel like I was on the recieving end of one of Antonio Cesaro's spinny thingos and he wasn't ever going to stop! Not good.
Having said that, there were several excellent stories and those, I enjoyed immensely. Hats off to you, Alastair Reynolds, Dave Hutchinson, Richard Salter & Paul di Fillipo!
Started: The Yellowstone Conundrum by John D Randall
Let me just say, despite some clunky writing (did we really need the name of EVERY drug that US vetrans may be given?!) However, in the space of a few pages the author has completely out written Harry Turtledove in his descriptions of the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. THIS is what disaster geeks (like me) want when reading these types of books.. not the drivel pumped out by Mr Turtledove. Looking forward to the rest of the book!!
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Book Bloggin' 10th September 2013
Finished: The Devil's Garden by John Schettler
So this was supposed to be the last book in the Kirov saga. Fast forward to the end of the book & you discover that in fact it is not(sorry for the spoiler). The author includes a note apologising, but apparently the story just needed more.
Now don't get me wrong, this was another brilliantly researched and well written book. However, reading it, you get the impression that the author really isn't sure how to end it. Or even if it should end - there are new characters introduced and at this stage in a series, should we really be getting new characters? Especially ones who make it feel like the story won't be concluded in the next book either That rather the author has opened up an entirely new rabbit warren which he can explore.
Seriously I hope he manages to wrap everything up in a neat package in the next book, because I think this is what this series deserves. It does NOT deserve to carry on like Lost - completely Lost and coming to an entirely unsatisfactory please God let it be over, tacked together ending.
This edition sees Federov retrieve Orlov from 1942 and the Kirov under Karpov upset the apple cart even further in 1945, before mysteriously(ok not so mysteriously) catapulting even further back in time! It is revealed that it is in fact Karpov who is the source of this whole mess.. or is he? Stay tuned for the (hopefully)final installment titled "Armageddon".
Started: Solaris Rising: The new Solaris Book of Science Fiction Edited by Ian Whates
So this was supposed to be the last book in the Kirov saga. Fast forward to the end of the book & you discover that in fact it is not(sorry for the spoiler). The author includes a note apologising, but apparently the story just needed more.
Now don't get me wrong, this was another brilliantly researched and well written book. However, reading it, you get the impression that the author really isn't sure how to end it. Or even if it should end - there are new characters introduced and at this stage in a series, should we really be getting new characters? Especially ones who make it feel like the story won't be concluded in the next book either That rather the author has opened up an entirely new rabbit warren which he can explore.
Seriously I hope he manages to wrap everything up in a neat package in the next book, because I think this is what this series deserves. It does NOT deserve to carry on like Lost - completely Lost and coming to an entirely unsatisfactory please God let it be over, tacked together ending.
This edition sees Federov retrieve Orlov from 1942 and the Kirov under Karpov upset the apple cart even further in 1945, before mysteriously(ok not so mysteriously) catapulting even further back in time! It is revealed that it is in fact Karpov who is the source of this whole mess.. or is he? Stay tuned for the (hopefully)final installment titled "Armageddon".
Started: Solaris Rising: The new Solaris Book of Science Fiction Edited by Ian Whates
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)