Blood & Iron (Elizabeth Bear)

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Blood & IronElizabeth Bear The first and second acts are lovely; the third falls apart a bit, as if disintegrating into fibres. This is probably a direct result of the way the first and second build up, giving you all this backstory about the Dragon Princes — my favorite scene, I think, is the one where Elaine is telling the Merlin about all the previous Dragon Princes, because it’s so much history, so tightly compacted. Because it seems as if the first and second acts are focused around Keith, as the Dragon Prince, and to a lesser extent, Carel, as […]

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (Douglas Adams)

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Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective AgencyDouglas Adams The thing I most admire about Douglas Adams is his ability to use nonlinear storytelling within a story that progresses chronologically (linearly) through time. That statement’s a bit of an oxymoron considering that a time machine features prominently in this book, but the scenes still proceed chronologically as the characters experience it. However, the story itself emerges nonlinearly — every page is filled with whimsical, seemingly random events that all end up linking with each other, a vast matrix created of many patterns. Like Dirk Gently, we must believe in the fundamental interconnectivity of […]

Dresden Files

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Watched a few episodes of the Dresden Files TV show online… decent by themselves, but when you know the books, they just fall very short. Too much of a crime show, not enough magic. It was probably budgeting issues at the ground level. It’s such a shame, because Paul Blackthorne really fits as Harry Dresden. And the ‘cover art’ with him holding up that little ball of bluish-white flame is gorgeous.

Owlsight & Owlflight (Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon)

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Owlsight; OwlflightMercedes Lackey &Larry Dixon This is not really a new book, but the last time I read it was when I was in 9th grade. My general impression of it hasn’t changed, however — I still have no patience for the way the characters stand around gabbing endlessly to themselves, mental soliloquies like woah. At one point Darian says to Tyrsell, a dyheli who can actually hear this mental roundabout, "I’ll stop woolgathering." It’s about a book and a half and a hundred thousand words too late. If it was an infodump, that would be one thing, because at […]

The Cracked Throne (Joshua Palmatier)

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The Cracked ThroneJoshua Palmatier I liked Cracked a lot better than Skewed. The style flows a bit more smoothly, you get some fascinating new insights into the way the Sight and the Throne work, and Varis seems much less of a wet rag. I like the personalities of the original group who created the throne, how they’re saner than the other voices, and present as a guide to Varis — it’s a believable way to teach her certain things that she needs to know but would take far too much time to discover herself. That’s always a problem when you […]