I think my comprehension of the plot has fallen from my 75-80% confidence from The Quantum Thief to perhaps only 65-75% in its sequel. Well, not really, I’m experiencing a bit of a peak-end rule cognitive bias. So. Um. Plot. It’s…uh…complicated. I think, basically, they have to steal the original code of a post-human who … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Book review
Book review: Thinking, fast and slow
I imagine if you’ve been to the airport or any bookstore that has best seller lists, you’ve come across Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, fast and slow. You might think it’s one of those easy pop-psych books that you can read in the plane, but it’s rather more tough than that. It makes you think and then … Continue reading
Book review: The quantum thief
I think I understood about 75% (maybe 80%) of what the hell was going on in this book. About 25% I can sort of infer or just assume “SPECIAL THING THAT GOES BOOM”. Saying that, it was very enjoyable. It did take about reading 40% of the book to really get a grip on the … Continue reading
Book review: The power of knowledge
This is not a book for the faint of heart. My version is a giant hardcover that runs at 412 pages but feels more like 800. It is big. It is long. However, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t interesting. Or at least, large parts of it. The central thesis is that the accumulation of … Continue reading
Book review: Ancillary Sword
Well I am inconsolable because I no longer have that book to read. IT IS SO GOOD.I think there are three main reasons why I love this series: I love the preciseness of all the rituals and formalities I love the artificial intelligences that populate the books Breq is such an awesome character, she is … Continue reading
Book review: A slip of the keyboard
I remember I bought this book when out adventuring in the Lake District. It is the kind of book you buy on holiday. I have read so much Terry Pratchett. I think I’m only one short of reading all of the Discworld. If there was a literary character that I could somehow make real it … Continue reading
Book review: Aurora
I really wanted to like this book. But in the end, it seemed like there were three interesting stories and none of them were told particularly well. The three main points being: the third generation of space voyagers are nearing the end of their journey they arrive, encounter many problems, some decide to stay, some … Continue reading
Book review: The Stand
What a bunch of bullshit. So the plot starts out as plague wipes out humanity and then turns into some mystical bollocks about a show down between good an evil. Perhaps if I wasn’t an atheist I would find it less awful, but as I am an atheist, I found the anti-intellectual, anti-progress, anti-rationalist twaddle … Continue reading
Book review: Way of Kings
Well. I didn’t hate it has much as Final Empire which was the other book on the list from Brandon Sanderson. But that isn’t saying a whole lot because I REALLY didn’t like that book. OMG. I just found out that the Stormlight Archive, the series that Way of Kings is a part of is … Continue reading
Book review: Sword of Shannara
I am very close to writing off most fantasy novels. Only Sunshine has saved the genre from a complete trashing. It is books like the Sword of Shannara that make me throw up my hands and want to give up. Perhaps I am being unfair, maybe something written lately will be better. Maybe. In priority … Continue reading
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