Blackout and All Clear aren't sci fi. They're literature, the kind that makes your heart soar and sing and despair.
Yes, I could nitpick. All Clear doeBlackout and All Clear aren't sci fi. They're literature, the kind that makes your heart soar and sing and despair.
Yes, I could nitpick. All Clear doesn't even begin to stand on its own (and Blackout ends in midstory). Surely there was a better way to organize the pair.
I spent half of All Clear confused about who was who and when and why. But that's intentional. And it didn't really make me love the characters any less -- I just didn't quite get it for a while.
Both books are probably too long. There's a lot of what turns out to be redundant plot.
But the thing is, none of that matters. The fact that I refused to put down All Clear to pick up the book-club book I have to have read in 72 hours does. The way I've been staying up way too late to get in another chapter or two. The feeling of puzzle pieces finally starting to fit together, the picture finally becoming clear.
And the simple truth that I cried tears of absolute joy (which aren't even my thing, honestly) for the final 50+ pages. That I was touched and cheered and saddened and enthralled.
I lied above. Blackout and All Clear are sci fi. No two ways around it -- they're set in both the future and the past. But if you're foolish enough to avoid them because of that label, I feel as sorry for you as I do joy at having found them myself.
Some fun behind-the-story bits here. There's not much to it, and it's more than a little distracting that the artist changes with each story (so the cSome fun behind-the-story bits here. There's not much to it, and it's more than a little distracting that the artist changes with each story (so the characters look different). ...more
I usually adore Christopher Moore. But I'm very, very glad to be able to say he's grown since this first book.
It's still clearly Moore, with the dip iI usually adore Christopher Moore. But I'm very, very glad to be able to say he's grown since this first book.
It's still clearly Moore, with the dip into the supernatural, the trademark snarkiness, the almost unlikeable characters. But the supernatural here is pretty darn silly, the snarkiness damn close to mean (and sometimes crossing way over that line) and some of the characters are pretty intolerable.
I don't mind having paid $6 at Half-Price Books to add this to my Moore collection, but I won't be loaning it out anytime soon. Or recommending it, period. ...more
Finished this a week ago and haven't had time to post, but ...
Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan's foray into the vampire genre is INCREDIBLY satisfyiFinished this a week ago and haven't had time to post, but ...
Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan's foray into the vampire genre is INCREDIBLY satisfying. It's unlike anything out there (or at least anything I've read), looking at vampirism as a disease spreading through NYC. It's as much suspense as supernatural, though I could pinpoint which plot points were from each author (though I'm fascinated by how writers do a joint project like this one).
Can't wait for the next one. Exactly what I needed....more
This probably would've been a better read had I read the previous Kenzie and Gennaro books. Though it's more predictable and less dark than his non-seThis probably would've been a better read had I read the previous Kenzie and Gennaro books. Though it's more predictable and less dark than his non-series novels, it's still Lehane, though....more
It's almost the antithesis of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Instead of the president slaying vamps, eThis isn't fine lit. But it's a damn fun romp.
It's almost the antithesis of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Instead of the president slaying vamps, every commander-in-chief since Lincoln's death, starting with Andrew Jackson, uses one as his own personal weapon -- yes, against the terrorists and the dictators, but also to combat the things that go bump in the night.
The main plot of this one doesn't really matter. It's just setup for a series that should be one of the better ones in this subgenre of late. It's different, it's funny and it's a fast read. Enjoy. ...more
I was one chapter from finishing Mop Men yesterday when my condo flooded -- burst pipe from next door leaking thousands of gallons of water into my hoI was one chapter from finishing Mop Men yesterday when my condo flooded -- burst pipe from next door leaking thousands of gallons of water into my home. As I sucked up all I could with a ShopVac, all I could think was, "At least it's not blood." Alan Emmis and his subjects, Neal Smither and Crime Scene Cleaners, had me seeing the bright side.
Which is funny, because the book is simultaneously about the gory and the light, the lost and the hopeful. The folks who do these jobs are both hardened and sympathetic, thorough and wickedly, wickedly funny.
Alan, a journalist who met Neal for a magazine article and went back for more, gets a little lost en route sometimes. Mop Men is as much about him and his changing views of death as it is the company and the cleaners. It veers off track a little (with cryogenics and morticians) and feels just a bit like he was trying to fill enough pages to make it to some word count. But the rest of the stories are good enough that it doesn't really matter.
I'm a huge fan of Mike Rowe and Dirty Jobs, and now I know there's a job much, much nastier than he's ever tackled. And I'm pretty damn thankful there are folks out there who do it....more
I struggled with the first 900. Well, actually, struggled isn't quite the right word. Kings is well-wThe last 100 pages saved The Way of Kings for me.
I struggled with the first 900. Well, actually, struggled isn't quite the right word. Kings is well-written, and it's world is as interesting as any Sanderson has created. Given the length of the book, there's perhaps TOO much world (grasses that retreat as they are walked on, trees that bend before approaching storms, hermit-crab-like creatures as packhorses, spirits that gather to reflect human emotion and chemical change and so on and on and on). It's all interesting and neatly woven into the plot, but there's perhaps too much. Too much everything. Except perhaps plot.
There are four or five main narrators/physical locations of the book, and I could see pretty early on how they'd end up fitting together. Some random standalone characters narrate short,interspersed chapters and quotes introduce each section, and I get how they're showing us how the world around us is reacting to the turmoil we see inherent in the main locations.
But 900 pages is just a hell of a lot of exposition, interesting as it may be. At times, I felt like the book should be broken in half, but there's barely enough plot arc to fill one novel, much less two. And even though I enjoyed the writing and the world, I wasn't compelled to hurry on with the story the way I usually am, so it took me nearly a month to read. I had to nearly force myself to pick it up a few times.
I've really loved almost everything Sanderson has written, though, and it's not like Kings was a chore to read. It just took a damn long time to get to the point. I honestly think you could chop 300-400 pages out of backstory and character development out of the book and lose nothing.
Now that I blazed through the last bit, though, and have an idea of where the series is going, I'll be sure to pick up the next one. I'm just hopeful, now that we're at the meat of the story, that it's faster....more
As a long-time reader of dooce.com, I had mixed feelings about this book. I "witnessed" a lot of it, via blog post, as it happened -- and those posts As a long-time reader of dooce.com, I had mixed feelings about this book. I "witnessed" a lot of it, via blog post, as it happened -- and those posts were often much funnier (and more real) than what she's distilled into these pages. But it's also got some big-picture perspective that's missing when you read the day-to-day minutiae.
The biggest problem, though, is that it doesn't feel like a cohesive story. It's often hard to figure out why she chose one specific anecdote over another, and I spent half the book waiting for a punchline or a revelation that never came.
It's not a bad read. And, were it my first glimpse into the Armstrongs' lives, maybe I'd have enjoyed it more. But I suspect I'd have gotten bored even more quickly.
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