This left me breathless. 14 year old son Peter narrates and Peter conveys all that is on his mind, nearly as soon as it comes to mind, narration like a tide that at times you wonder when you will be able to catch a breath. This is a wonderful coming of age story filled with action, adventure, mysticism, and world religion, the still quiet voice within and what lies beyond the loneliness one can feel in a room full of people one loves and of course, the Elephant in the room. Stunning, funny, thought provoking, and sweet. I think I'll carry it with me for a while.
So much fun!
1044 pages that grab on from the very beginning and simply will not let go. If you are familiar with Stephenson's other work, particularly the Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon, there are some familiar themes, however (money, adventure, family, and romantic relationships that blossom at an awkward place and time), there are amazing new ones as well.
The Russian Mob meets a Chinese teens computer virus designed to attack via the app installed on the Microsoft software the users a massively multiplayer online role playing game use to schedule game time with friends, results in a kidnapping (or two or three) and other mayhem.
Enter MI6, the CIA, Islamic extremists, Pacific Northwest survivalists, chartered planes and helicopters, highjacked fishing boats and one character whose golden eyes just might save the day .... the list of players and adrenaline rushing episodes goes on and on and the story is woven in an fairly believable way - other than the extra ordinary luck of a certain extremist to grab the right person at the right place and the right time and to do so completely blind!
The last 200 pages could be an action adventure movie in their own right and as I read to the final showdown I marveled at it all (and laughed out loud as I pieced together most of how it might all end). Cryptonomicon meets Snow Crash with a dash of Zodiac, and through the online play of T'Rain, a pinch of the other worldliness of Anathem.
1044 pages that grab on from the very beginning and simply will not let go. If you are familiar with Stephenson's other work, particularly the Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon, there are some familiar themes, however (money, adventure, family, and romantic relationships that blossom at an awkward place and time), there are amazing new ones as well.
The Russian Mob meets a Chinese teens computer virus designed to attack via the app installed on the Microsoft software the users a massively multiplayer online role playing game use to schedule game time with friends, results in a kidnapping (or two or three) and other mayhem.
Enter MI6, the CIA, Islamic extremists, Pacific Northwest survivalists, chartered planes and helicopters, highjacked fishing boats and one character whose golden eyes just might save the day .... the list of players and adrenaline rushing episodes goes on and on and the story is woven in an fairly believable way - other than the extra ordinary luck of a certain extremist to grab the right person at the right place and the right time and to do so completely blind!
The last 200 pages could be an action adventure movie in their own right and as I read to the final showdown I marveled at it all (and laughed out loud as I pieced together most of how it might all end). Cryptonomicon meets Snow Crash with a dash of Zodiac, and through the online play of T'Rain, a pinch of the other worldliness of Anathem.
My favorite Dan Simmons book yet. Just my favorite yet, and I hope I don't give too much away.
Although I do not have the same political slant this book takes to events that are very much a part of today (I read the book the weekend Obama, the Senate and the House were deciding whether or not to raise the debt ceiling), the projected outcome is one that I could easily imagine (and that in and of itself is a bit terrifying).
Flashback, a drug that allows the user to relive a memory (good or bad) over and over again, and relive with all the emotions and physical responses, has solidified the downward spiral of the US after two decades of economic downturn. The Chinese, Japanese and a new Muslim State have taken over as the new world superpowers. Texas & Hawaii and 4 other states have ceded the Union, and a large portion of California may end up as part of Mexico.
This mystery set in a not-so-distant future filled with body armor and electric cars, is really just a simple story of a man who has lost his wife and who in the aftermath gives up everything, including his son and then surprises himself (along with a few others).
This is the best book I've read so far this year, including beating out 2 books by my favorite author and solidifies Dan Simmons as an author whose books will be have a place in my oh-so-precious shelf space.
Although I do not have the same political slant this book takes to events that are very much a part of today (I read the book the weekend Obama, the Senate and the House were deciding whether or not to raise the debt ceiling), the projected outcome is one that I could easily imagine (and that in and of itself is a bit terrifying).
Flashback, a drug that allows the user to relive a memory (good or bad) over and over again, and relive with all the emotions and physical responses, has solidified the downward spiral of the US after two decades of economic downturn. The Chinese, Japanese and a new Muslim State have taken over as the new world superpowers. Texas & Hawaii and 4 other states have ceded the Union, and a large portion of California may end up as part of Mexico.
This mystery set in a not-so-distant future filled with body armor and electric cars, is really just a simple story of a man who has lost his wife and who in the aftermath gives up everything, including his son and then surprises himself (along with a few others).
This is the best book I've read so far this year, including beating out 2 books by my favorite author and solidifies Dan Simmons as an author whose books will be have a place in my oh-so-precious shelf space.
He's done it again! I am completely blown away. I honestly don't know what to say. I was lost for about a hundred pages, but I know that he always makes hanging in there worth it - and when I was able to let go and drop myself into this premise of a disappearing giant squid and an evil under-lord who resides in a back tattoo...
So many authors assume their readers do not have the mental capacity to follow them and as a result dumb down their own brilliant minds. Mieville either trusts you will understand or just doesn't care (I haven't decided which and I've read every piece of his fiction work and about half the non) and you join him on a ride through dark cities and unionized familiars.
Yet again, he challenges his readers to stretch preconceived ideas of what we can see and are comfortable with and what resides just beyond the streets on the map, and I so love him for it.
So many authors assume their readers do not have the mental capacity to follow them and as a result dumb down their own brilliant minds. Mieville either trusts you will understand or just doesn't care (I haven't decided which and I've read every piece of his fiction work and about half the non) and you join him on a ride through dark cities and unionized familiars.
Yet again, he challenges his readers to stretch preconceived ideas of what we can see and are comfortable with and what resides just beyond the streets on the map, and I so love him for it.
Like most joint efforts of two favorite authors, I begin the read with such high expectations. My own fault really. I should know better and just relax and enjoy the read.
Although classified as "young adult", this story is one for readers over a certain age (over 12 or 13) but for any over that age. This is the first book to make me cry (out loud, with an "OH NO!") this year. Unfortunately, to tell you much of anything, is to give too much of the story away. I wonder where the stories this powerful and simply written were hidden when I was growing up.
I was recently at a reading where Mieville made it painfully obvious how much spoilers displease him and how, with that said, that he had to spoil this book in that it is a completely different book than many of his others. I disagree. Although the delivery is different, in that this is more of detective story in the noir of Maltese Falcon, this is very much a China Mieville story.
Mieville has an ability, seen in all of his fiction works to create a character of the city the stories themselves are set in. The cities he creates become their own narrators. He has disclosed that in his writing process the city comes before the plot, he has continued to do so here.
I enjoyed this story, a breakaway from the usual, yet still familiar with separate internal stories of revolution and socialism and what happens when capitalism breaches socialism. And keeping in mind this was a labor of love, to give his mother the gift of a story she could read, the story becomes very sweet indeed.
Mieville has an ability, seen in all of his fiction works to create a character of the city the stories themselves are set in. The cities he creates become their own narrators. He has disclosed that in his writing process the city comes before the plot, he has continued to do so here.
I enjoyed this story, a breakaway from the usual, yet still familiar with separate internal stories of revolution and socialism and what happens when capitalism breaches socialism. And keeping in mind this was a labor of love, to give his mother the gift of a story she could read, the story becomes very sweet indeed.
And now for the comedy stylings of Christopher Moore!
Nice light read, read during the day while in between laundry and finally has the answer you didn't know had a question... how to Vampires deal with the day to day stuff that can usually only be done in daylight? Loved the self help group. Already started on You Suck (lots of laundry today).
Nice light read, read during the day while in between laundry and finally has the answer you didn't know had a question... how to Vampires deal with the day to day stuff that can usually only be done in daylight? Loved the self help group. Already started on You Suck (lots of laundry today).
Includes story "All Summer In A Day"
This is a book that will take your breathe away. What if instead of the Plague killing 33% of the population in the 14th century, 99% are killed? The entirety of Europe, and all of Christianity, is decimated, leaving Buddhism and Islam as the most influential of the practiced religions.
I have to say I loved this book, every step of the way Robinson created a believable, possible history with the same family of souls telling their collective story again and again, each time with a little more progress on their journey.
The end was a disappointment to me at first, yet, the more I have time to dwell on it, the more appropriate it is.
I have to say I loved this book, every step of the way Robinson created a believable, possible history with the same family of souls telling their collective story again and again, each time with a little more progress on their journey.
The end was a disappointment to me at first, yet, the more I have time to dwell on it, the more appropriate it is.
This was my first introduction to both Gaiman and Pratchett. I loved it! Laugh-out-loud-punny, these authors, together, reminded me much of Robert Aspin's Myth-Adventure series. At no point did I ever feel as though I was missing out on some giant cosmic inside joke. Perhaps one the greatest, judge-a-book-by-it's-back-cover selections I've ever made.
I've moved on to many more of the Gaiman novels and a few of the Pratchett and highly recommend this as a starter to both of them.
I've moved on to many more of the Gaiman novels and a few of the Pratchett and highly recommend this as a starter to both of them.
The story I've heard around this particular book is that King wrote it for his daughter, whom he would not allow to read the stories like Carrie, Christine, and Firestarter. As King's only real foot print into Castle, Princess, and Dragon Fantasy realm, I feel it holds as an excellent example of a writer moving outside of his normal comfort zone. There are shades of the Gunslinger worlds within this story and darker than a Disney Princess, King's Eyes of the Dragon, gives us a Fantasy kingdom more in the shades of the Brother's Grimm.