blorgus

Flashback

Évalué le: 2023-07-07

This is a terrific love story on its own, but a huge wedge in the middle of the story of Roland's ka-tet, at least the one I was invested in. While written in that intimate language I love King for, sensibly paced with lively characters, they are all new characters I had to get reinvested in. It wasn't what I signed up for, and I had a very hard time finishing this book. If this was its own thing, a spin-off or prequel, I probably would have loved it, but it is neither. I would have skipped it entirely if the book didn't begin and end with the characters I actually cared about.

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Exciting

Évalué le: 2023-07-07

This book suffers from some of the problems I think King is known for, mainly too little happening over too many pages, but I can't say it was a bore.

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Love Jocko, but this book...

Évalué le: 2023-07-07

I have to admit, I enjoyed taking a break from "professional" authors to read this. Jocko's writing style isn't as polished. There's a lot of incomplete, clipped, or basic sentences. It's different, and I get that was sort of the point, that we were supposed to experience the words the way Jocko thought of the words, but I can't say it blew my mind. I didn't find the story all that original, either. A beautiful story of fraternal love, but it has been told before. The character's were also pretty unoriginal. Johnny: young adult with a rough start to life trying to find his in the world. Goat: the hispanic bad boy. Jessica, Johnny's loyal girlfriend... It was nice to see the cops portrayed in a way other than moron with a gun, but they were still pretty much you standard authority figure. Anyway, if you've been reading a lot of heavy lit stuff, this might be a good break.

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On the same track as the other books.

Évalué le: 2023-07-07

I guess so long as we're sticking with the ka-tet, I won't rate a DT book lower that the 4th, but many of the problems of the last books continue: too much filler, not a lot of story.

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We're here

Évalué le: 2023-07-06

We've made it to the Dark Tower in much of the same state as Roland's Ka-tet. And you know what? It has been quite a journey. I wasn't all on board with every single step, but it was the journey, not the destination, that I think made The Dark Tower series worth it for me. Only thing that keeps me from rating this book five stars is the beginning is long and introduces a bunch of characters that don't matter at all.
And that ending? Idgaf. It was great. The only way the series could have ended, imo.

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A return to first principles

Évalué le: 2023-07-06

While the end half of the Dark Tower series felt overwritten, like King was forcing himself to finish it, this is a more self contained and direct story that felt like it had a purpose.
This novel doesn't tie in to the original story in a meaningful way. It's inserted between Wizards & Glass and Wolves of the Calla and framed as Roland telling the ka-tet a story and then a story within a story (I guess Roland was just in a storytelling mood after arriving at Topeka) while the gang wait out a magical cold front/storm. He starts with a story from when he was younger, hunting a werewolf-like creature. In this story, young Roland ends up with a boy, and passes the time by telling the boy the title story. It isn't clear how this works in the frame narrative. Like, is Roland telling the Skin-Man story to his Ka-tet and then switch halfway to TWTtK? This structure doesn't work well narratively, either, since none of the stories impact one another in a meaningful way. The Wind Through the Keyhole story is told all the way through, and by the time I got back to the skin-man I had sort of forgotten the emotional stakes of that original story. The skin-man story was pretty good, but hung around the neck of the Keyhole story like two ball chains because of structure of the book.
But the story of Tim is a really good story. A mother doing everything she can to save her son and then the son going off into the dangerous wilds to save his mother is a really touching parallel. It's rife with lore from the Dark Tower world, as Tim encounters monsters, fairies, dragons, and mutants. Though, in true King fashion, the real monsters turn out to be the people, as our old friend Walter Padick is back with some tricks for Tim. Overall, this book fleshed out the Dark Tower world for me, and did so in a compelling, fairy tale way.

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Political intrigue meets fantasy.

Évalué le: 2023-07-06

A good book that kept me going, but not really my thing. I am reminded of The Stand. I'm just not a fan of these political intrigue stories. It's a lot of talk about big scale problems that effect characters I can't really relate to because they were born princesses or lords or whatever, and politics make up about 2/3rds of Elantris. It's funny, in the foreword, Dan Wells is talking about how Sanderson's editor at the time told their writing group that a good fantasy book puts the universe in peril, and I'm here rocking back and forth, holding my head, and saying, "Nooo..."
What really kept me going was the mystery of Elantris. It was here that the book felt like a fantasy world, with its own magic and people. The stuff with Sarene and Hrathen, they might have been the problems of our world under different names.
I do have to talk about the characters, because of the three plots, my favourite was headed by my least favourite protagonist, and my least favourite plot was headed by my favourite character. I didn't like Raoden. He's kind of a Gary Stu. He's just this perfect guy who can find a solution to all the problems. But at least Raoden was doing some sick shit. Sarene seems like a bit of a problematic character to me. Her whole shtick is that she's smart, she's assertive, she's a princess, and is the third or fourth richest person in Arelon because she inherited Raoden's fortune after he 'died.' That's it. That's all that's supposed to distinguish her because all the women in the Arelon nobility are portrayed as stupid and only want to talk about clothes or sewing or be seen and not heard. But Sarene, she's witty and talks back to and humiliates men of power. We're suppose to like her because she... not a woman? Sarene's arc fringes on this idea that she wants to be admired by men (which I realize isn't very feminist, but hey, don't we all hope for someone to love us for who we are?), but since all men don't like smart assertive women, and since she's not the compromising type, this means she destined to be forever alone. This would be pretty swell, if Sarene's two character traits got her in any real trouble. Most of the men in the novel love her anyways. Now, to make this work with the arc, this admiration is framed as respect for Sarene as a friend, but this doesn't really hold water. The only character that really antagonizes her is Hrathen. But aside from one scene, they don't really come into conflict so directly again.
But Hrathen, Hrathen was awesome. He's physically intimidating and powerful, but also a master political manipulator. But he's not all powerful. Inside, he struggles.
On Sanderson's prose, it's pretty good. It is his first novel, and there are plenty of examples of amateurish writing (telling and not showing, that sort of thing). What Sanderson seems to have mastered early on is the concept of setup and payoff. It gives his novel here a sort of thriller feel and kept me wanting to read to the end. There is an immediatecy in his writing that put me in the story and made these high stake moments all the more suspenseful.

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Author's first book is amazing.

Évalué le: 2023-07-06

Empire of Silence is essentially everything I was missing from Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. It features a fascinating protagonist whose personal goals get tied up in the political intrigue he lives through. Hadrian is a good guy. Hadrian is ruthless. He's the narrator of this story and he knows what he is, agonizing over his mistakes like the dramatic character he recognizes he is. I was also swept away with the world building. It goes into a level of detail so unlike anything I've ever seen before. It original, yet eerily familiar, making me wonder if humanity will ever outgrow its weaker character traits. The narrative is flawless structurally, as well, keeping me engaged with moments of triumph and despair. The only thing that rung a little off to me was that Hadrian makes the same mistake at least twice. You think he would have known to do better after the first time, but I suppose that can be excused as negative character trait. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the other books.

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A fine story performed excellently

Évalué le: 2023-07-06

Neverwhere's a fine book, through and through. What's keeping me from saying it's great is the passivity of Richard, the main character. Richard function is to be the eyes of the reader as they take in London Below without doing anything remarkable. His "hero moments" are given to him. It isn't like he does something clever to solve a puzzle or win a battle. He gets lucky and the story moves on.
The plot is mostly tramping through London Below looking for people and things, which is fine. London Below is an interesting and creative place. To me, it's a great analogy for homelessness. And Gaiman is in his element here in terms of writing, describing everything in a way that feels very fresh and original.

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Great writing, simple characters

Évalué le: 2023-07-06

The big hang-up for me here are the characters. They're pretty simple. Jim and Will sometimes act like boys, and sometimes as more mature, depending on what the plot needs. They don't any intrinsic motivations, only reacting to the carnival, and the characters don't really interact in interesting ways. Some characters just disappear entirely and are never heard of again, like Miss Foley. I do have to admit, though, they did contribute greatly to creating the atmosphere of a small 1950s town.
Aside for some vague nods to the idea that boys want to be older then they are and of adults wishing they were younger, the story never seems to comment on its themes beyond saying that's a bad thing to want. The story will also take its deviations from that discussion, but I will say it is quite suspenseful and stays in the present moment.
Most of my appreciation for this book comes from the technical elements. Bradbury writes in a very clear, direct, and fantastical way. It's about 60/40 chance that the complex sentences hit or not, for me. What really amazes me is how Bradbury uses creative metaphors, similes, adjectives, and adverbs to create the magical, creepy, and poetic tone of the novel. I know his sort of language doesn't work for everyone, but for me it kept the story clear and wonderful. There is a lot of expository dialogue, though. Mr. Halloway's multiple-chapters' long philosophical rant in the library nearly made me put the book down for good.

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