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review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained
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copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions.
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Title:
Guards! Guards! Series: Discworld #8 Author:
Terry Pratchett Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre:
Fantasy Pages: 259 Words: 98K
One
hundred percent better than when I read this back in 2007 (link at
the bottom of the review). A lot of that is that I’ve read enough
of Discworld to know now that it’s not all madcap silliness, like I
was expecting back then. It also helps that I’m reading these in
publication order and keeps me from getting tunnel vision on one set
of characters (Rincewind, the Witches, Death, etc) and hitting a wall
when a book is about a different set. I am really liking reading
these this way because it feels more well rounded and Discworld as a
setting is fleshed out more by the various characters instead of
being seen from just one perspective.
I
had forgotten just how broken Vimes is at the beginning. In many ways
this is a redemption story and yet, it’s not. I can’t put my
finger on it exactly, but part of it is more about Vimes himself
pulling himself up by the bootstraps than any redemption. Vimes (for
some reason I always want to say “Grimes”) is a very humanistic
literary character and I can see why Pratchett chose to create him
and why many readers of Discworld identify with him. There’s
nothing of the supernatural intruding into Vime’s life to make him
question life’s basic questions. There’s just crime and grime and
apathy. He can overcome those things on his own with no help (as thus
enable the reader to feel that they can too). I have a feeling that
is one of the reasons I didn’t care for The Watch sub-series as
much before.
I
still don’t like that direction, but having interacted a lot more
with people of no faith in the last 17 years has given me a broader
and hopefully more sympathetic feeling towards those who would feel
like Vimes does. They are wrong, but I’m not so likely to shake my
finger at them and lecture them for 30 min. I cut that down to just
10 minutes now ;-)
The
story was fun. Rogue magic user politician wannabe takes over the
city and gets in WAY over his head. Vimes and the Night Watch help
figure things out while the Patrician sits back and lets things play
out. It was a relatively light story with only Ankh-Morpork at stake
and not the whole of Discworld. Grimes, blast it, Vimes, has enough
Everyman Banal Thoughts to make those not used to thinking for
themselves feel like they are reading something deep while the rest
of us can safely roll our eyes and think about kicking Vimes in the
pants to get him out of his funk.
Now
that I’ve read the first of The Watch books again and enjoyed it so
much, I am looking forward to the rest of them. I really wasn’t
before, but I think that reading the books in publication order is
going to continue to make a night and day difference for me.
Cheers
to that!
★★★★☆
From
Wikipedia.org
A
secret monastic order plots to overthrow
the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork and install
a puppet monarch under the control of the Order. They
summon a dragon to terrorise the city and plan to have the
puppet "slay" the dragon and claim to be the lost heir of
the defunct royal house.
The
Night Watch, which is generally seen as both corrupt and incompetent,
starts to change with the arrival of idealistic new recruit Carrot
Ironfoundersson, a human orphan raised by dwarfish parents. When
the Librarian of the Unseen University (an orangutan)
reports a book of magic stolen, Vimes links the theft to the dragon's
appearances. The Watch's investigation makes the acquaintance of Lady
Sybil Ramkin, who breeds small swamp dragons, and gives an
underdeveloped dragon named Errol to the Watch as a mascot.
At
first, the plot works flawlessly. The Patrician is ousted in favor of
the new king, but the banished dragon returns and makes itself king,
demanding gold and virgin sacrifices, and
prepares to wage war against Ankh-Morpork's neighbours for the
further acquisition of both (which the citizenry generally seem to
approve of).
Vimes
confronts his old childhood friend, the Patrician's Secretary Lupine
Wonse, having figured out that he is the Supreme Grand Master, and
responsible for the dragon's appearance. Vimes is imprisoned in the
same cell as the Patrician. Vimes escapes with the help of the
Librarian and runs to rescue Sybil, chosen as the first sacrificed
maiden. After the remaining Watch fail to kill the king through a
'million-to-one chance' arrowshot, Errol fights it, and knocks it
from the sky. The assembled crowd closes in to kill the king, and
Sybil pleads for the dragon's life. Carrot arrests it, but Errol lets
it escape. The dragon is in fact female, and the battle between them
was a courtship ritual.
Vimes
arrests Wonse, as he tries to summon another dragon, telling Carrot
to "throw the book at him". Wonse falls to his death after
the very literal Carrot hits him with a thrown copy of Laws and
Ordinances of Ankh-Morpork.
The
Patrician is reinstated as ruler of Ankh-Morpork, and offers the
Watch anything they want as a reward. They ask only for a modest pay
raise, a new tea kettle, and a dartboard. However, since the Watch's
original station house was destroyed by the dragon, Lady Ramkin
donates her childhood home at Pseudopolis Yard to serve as the new
one.
This
review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained
therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to
copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions.
Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted
Permission
Title:
Monster Hunter Legion Series: MHI #4 Author:
Larry Correia Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Genre:
Urban Fantasy Pages: 361 Words:
139K
Aaaaaaand
we’re back to Owen Z Pitt, sigh. I’d really prefer somebody else
be the main character, but I know that isn’t the case for the
series over all and so I just need to accept it. But I won’t,
because that’s how I roll.
I
sure have forgotten a LOT of this story in the last 12-13 years. I
vaguely remembered it taking place in Las Vegas, Special Task Force
Unicorn manipulating everyone and the dragon. This time around, the
references that are made about Project Nemesis make total sense
instead of being a big fat mystery like on my original read. I
actually found knowing to make for a more enriching read. Which is
yet another reason why RE-READING is so important!
Thankfully,
there is enough gun toting action to keep any MHI fan happy. And we
get real good look at STFU and just how despicable they are. They
make for a wonderful bad guy/s and are just despicable enough that
they make even the Government MCB (Monster Control Bureau) people
look like angels. It’s awesome!
I
just had fun reading this, even with “Z” being front and center.
We also get a good look at other Monster Hunter companies and how
they operate and under what parameters. We’ve only seen monster
hunting through the lens of MHI and it’s good to reminded that
while they are considered some of the best, they are not the only
game in town. It helps us as readers not to get tunnel vision.
If
you like big guns, good good guys and evil evil monsters, then this
is the series for you. I recommend it without hesitation with those
caveats.
★★★★★
From
MHI.Fandom.com
When
hunters from around the world gather in Las Vegas for a conference, a
creature left over from a World War Two weapons experiment wakes up
and goes on a rampage across the desert. A not-so-friendly wager
between the rival companies turns into a race to see who can bag the
mysterious creature first.
Only
there is far more to this particular case than meets the eye, and as
Hunters fall prey to their worst nightmares, Owen Zastava
Pitt and the staff of Monster Hunter International have
to stop an ancient god from turning Sin City into a literal hell on
earth.
Plot
When
the International Conference of Monster Hunting Professionals is
targeted by a nightmare demon, MHI and the other hunters at the ICMHP
conference must work together to protect the innocents trapped in
the Last Dragon Casino while Owen Pitt takes on
the Nachtmar.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Gambler Series: (The Russians) Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky Translator: CJ Hogarth Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic Pages: 221 Words: 60K
When I first read The Gambler in 2010, I came away more confused than not. I wasn’t used to the Russian naming conventions and the nicknaming scheme they’ve invented is worse than Cockney rhyming slang.
Now though, well, I feel comfortable with Alexei Ivanovich as much as I am with John Smith. I had no problem navigating the maze of names and who was who and who was doing what. This was really complicated. It doesn’t help that “The Gambler” refers to almost every person in the story. There are also layers of unspoken assumptions.
For example, Polina did love Alexei, the main character. But why did she never say so? Why did she treat him like dirt, like a lackey, like he didn’t matter? She ends up having a physical and partial mental breakdown and I do not understand at all why. He had confessed his love to her so it wasn’t like she had to worry about rejection. There was obviously something else going on, but I didn’t have the cultural understanding to know what I should. It would be like a guy claiming to have gotten to third base and leaving it at that. Knowing what that meant could convey a whole paragraph of information AND it could be used to convey something else without ever saying it explicitly. It’s frustrating, that’s what it is.
It was also depressing to see everyone get caught up in gambling. It’s one of the reasons I don’t gamble. The only gamble I take is when our national lottery gets to 1 billion dollars, then I’ll buy one $2 ticket, once. I’ve seen the mess people make of their lives in real life and a story like this one only emphasizes such caution in regards to gambling.
Earn your money, there are no short cuts.
★★★★☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – click to open
The first-person narrative is told from the point of view of Alexei Ivanovich, a tutor working for a Russian family living in a suite at a German hotel. The patriarch of the family, The General, is indebted to the Frenchman de Grieux and has mortgaged his property in Russia to pay only a small amount of his debt. Upon learning of the illness of his wealthy aunt, “Grandmother”, he sends streams of telegrams to Moscow and awaits the news of her demise. His expected inheritance will pay his debts and gain Mademoiselle Blanche de Cominges’s hand in marriage.
Alexei is hopelessly in love with Polina, the General’s stepdaughter. She asks him to go to the town’s casino and place a bet for her. After hesitations, he succumbs and ends up winning at the roulette table. He returns to her with the winnings, but she will not tell him why she is in such need of money. She laughs at him (as she does when he professes his love) and treats him with apparent indifference. Alexei only learns the details of the General’s and Polina’s financial state later in the story through his long-time acquaintance, Mr. Astley. Astley is a shy Englishman who seems to share Alexei’s fondness for Polina. He comes from English nobility and is very wealthy.
One day, while Polina and Alexei are on a walk on the Schlangenberg (a mountain in the German town), he swears an oath of servitude to her. He tells her that all she has to do is give the word and he will gladly walk off the edge and plummet to his death. Polina dares him to insult the aristocratic couple Baron and Baroness Wurmerhelm, whom they have just seen, and he does so. This sets off a chain of events that explains Mademoiselle Blanche’s interest in the General and gets Alexei fired as tutor of the General’s children. Shortly after this, Grandmother shows up and surprises the whole party of debtors and indebted. She tells them all that she knows all about the General’s debt and why the Frenchman and woman are waiting around the suite day after day. She leaves the party of death-profiteers, telling them that none of them are getting any of her money. She asks Alexei to be her guide around the town, famous for its healing waters and infamous for its casino; she wants to gamble.
Grandmother plays at the roulette table and wins a large amount of money. She briefly returns to the hotel, but she has caught the gambling bug and soon returns to the casino. After three days, she has lost over a hundred thousand roubles.
After sending Grandmother off at the railway station, Alexei returns to his room where he is greeted by Polina. She shows him a letter where des Grieux says he has started legal proceedings to sell the General’s properties mortgaged to him, but he is returning properties worth fifty thousand roubles to the General for Polina’s benefit. Des Grieux says he feels he has fulfilled all his obligations. Polina tells Alexei that she is des Grieux’s mistress and she wishes she had fifty thousand roubles to fling in des Grieux’s face. Upon hearing this, Alexei runs out of the room and to the casino where, over a few hours, he wins two hundred thousand florins (100,000 francs) and becomes a rich man. When he gets back to his room and the waiting Polina, he empties the gold and bank notes from his pockets onto the bed. At first Polina accuses him of trying to buy her like des Grieux, but then she embraces him. They fall asleep on the couch. Next day, she asks for fifty thousand roubles (25,000 francs) and when he gives it to her, she flings the money in his face and runs off to Mr. Astley (Polina and Mr. Astley had been secretly meeting; she was supposed to meet Astley the night before, but had come by mistake to Alexei’s room). Alexei doesn’t see her again.
After learning that the General won’t be getting his inheritance, Mademoiselle Blanche leaves for Paris with her mother and seduces Alexei to follow her. They stay together for almost a month; he allows Mlle Blanche to spend his entire fortune on her own personal expenses, carriages and horses, dinner dances, and a wedding-party. After getting herself financially secured, Mlle Blanche, desiring an established social status, unexpectedly marries the General, who has followed her to Paris.
Alexei starts to gamble to survive. One day he passes Mr. Astley on a park bench in Bad Homburg and has a talk with him. He finds out from Astley that Polina is in Switzerland and actually does love Alexei. Astley tells him that Grandmother has died and left Polina and the children financially secured. The General has died in Paris. Astley gives him some money but shows little hope that he will not use it for gambling. Alexei goes home dreaming of going to Switzerland the next day and recollects what made him win at the roulette tables in the past.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Sanditon Series: ———- Author: Jane Austen Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Unfinished Novel Pages: 79 Words: 24K
I really enjoyed this unfinished novel. Thoroughly enjoyed it, as it had all the hallmarks of a good Austen novel with all the stuff I love about her writing.
But it’s unfinished. I had barely gotten started when it ended. I was eating the salad, could smell the lasagna in the oven, then the restaurant owner came over, unceremoniously kicked me out of the restaurant. While I was still hungry. Oh the humanity!!!!
This is yet another unfinished novel that I would like to get my hands on a co-authored finished product. Some day!
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
The novel centres on Charlotte Heywood, the eldest of the daughters still at home in the large family of a country gentleman from Willingden, Sussex. The narrative opens when the carriage of Mr and Mrs Parker of Sanditon topples over on a hill near the Heywood home. Because Mr Parker is injured in the crash, and the carriage needs repairs, the Parkers stay with the Heywood family for a fortnight. During this time, Mr Parker talks fondly of Sanditon, a town which until a few years before had been a small, unpretentious fishing village. With his business partner, Lady Denham, Mr Parker hopes to make Sanditon into a fashionable seaside resort. Mr Parker’s enormous enthusiasm for his plans to improve and modernise Sanditon has resulted in the installation of bathing machines and the construction of a new home for himself and his family near the seashore. Upon repair of the carriage and improvement to Mr Parker’s foot, the Parkers return to Sanditon, bringing Charlotte with them as their summer guest.
Upon arrival in Sanditon, Charlotte meets the inhabitants of the town. Prominent among them is Lady Denham, a twice-widowed woman who received a fortune from her first husband and a title from her second. Living with Lady Denham is her niece Clara Brereton, a sweet and beautiful yet impoverished young lady. Also living in Sanditon are Sir Edward Denham and his sister Esther, nephew and niece to Lady Denham by her second husband. The siblings are poor and are thought to be seeking Lady Denham’s fortune; Sir Edward is described as a silly and very florid man, though handsome.
After settling in with the Parkers and encountering various neighbours, Charlotte and Mr and Mrs Parker are surprised by a visit from his two sisters and younger brother, all of whom are self-declared invalids. However, given their level of activity and seeming strength, Charlotte quickly surmises that their complaints are invented. Diana Parker has come on a mission to secure a house for a wealthy family from the West Indies, although she has not specifically been asked to help. She also brings word of a second large party, a girls’ school, which is intending to summer at Sanditon. This news causes a stir in the small town, especially for Mr Parker, whose fondest wish is the promotion of tourism there.
With the arrival of Mrs Griffiths at Sanditon, it soon becomes apparent that the family from the West Indies and the girls’ school group are one and the same. The visitors consist of Miss Lambe, a teenaged Antiguan-English heiress, and the two Miss Beauforts, English girls just arrived from the West Indies.[3] In short order, Lady Denham calls on Mrs. Griffiths to be introduced to Miss Lambe, the sickly and very rich young woman that she intends her nephew, Sir Edward, to marry.
A carriage unexpectedly arrives bearing Sidney Parker, the middle Parker brother. He will be staying in town for a few days with two friends who will join him shortly. Sidney Parker is about 27 or 28 years old, and Charlotte finds him very good-looking, with a decided air of fashion.
The book fragment ends when Mrs Parker and Charlotte visit Sanditon House, Lady Denham’s residence. There Charlotte spots Clara Brereton seated with Sir Edward Denham at her side having an intimate conversation in the garden and surmises that they must have a secret understanding. When they arrive inside, Charlotte observes that a large portrait of Sir Henry Denham hangs over the fireplace, whereas Lady Denham’s first husband, who owned Sanditon House, only gets a miniature in the corner – obliged, as it were, to sit back in his own house and see the best place by the fire constantly occupied by Sir Henry Denham.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Pyramids Series: Discworld #7 Author: Terry Pratchett Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Fantasy Pages: 253 Words: 88K
This is the first “standalone” Discworld novel. By that I mean that none of the characters in this book ever return as main characters nor do we ever go back to the country the main character is from. This is simply a “Discworld” novel. While having read the previous six books will give you a slightly better overall view of Ankh-Morpork, not very much of the story actually takes place there and a better knowledge of that city will not actually affect your enjoyment of this book. But just like I stated in the previous book, Discworld “should” be read in the order that Pratchett published them. It “can” be read in almost any order, but it is just better the other way.
I was hoping that more of the story would take place in Ankh-Morpork, mainly because I wanted to see more of the Assassins Guild. That didn’t happen. So I pinned my hopes that when Teppic went back to be king that I’d get assassin guild hijinks then. Still didn’t happen. Teppic sneaks around a bit, but that’s the extent of we see of his years of training. I was disappointed. Pratchett seemed more focused on taking his bile out on religion in general in this novel than in telling a fun and engaging story. It was still a fun story, but if he’d written more like some of the earlier books (the Death books in particular, where he tackles a controversial subject, but without coming across like an angry jackass), this could have been so much better. I suspect the acolytes of Scyenze would like this more, as that is/was Pratchett’s pet godling.
Now that I’ve vented MY bile, do I have anything left? That’s a good question. It colors every word in this review. Huh, just like the novel! Amazing, hahahahahaa.
I would not recommend this as a starting place for Discworld even though it is a standalone. The writing isn’t as on point, the humor isn’t as funny and this gives you a glimpse of the author Pratchett would fully turn into near the end of the series. Spare yourself. At the same time, it’s still fun, it’s still entertaining and I don’t feel bad about re-reading this. I do know I would never choose to read this for a third time on it’s own again though.
★★★★☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
The main character of Pyramids is Teppic (short for Pteppicymon), the crown prince of the tiny kingdom of Djelibeybi (a pun on the candy Jelly Baby, meaning “Child of the Djel”), the Discworld counterpart to Ancient Egypt. The kingdom, founded seven-thousand years ago and formerly a great empire which dominated the continent of Klatch, has been in debt and recession for generations due to the construction of pyramids for the burial of its pharaohs (primarily on prime agricultural land) and now occupies an area two miles wide along the 150-mile-long River Djel.
Young Teppic has been in training at the Assassins Guild in Ankh-Morpork for the past seven years, having been sent to bring in revenue for the kingdom. The day after passing his final exam by chance, he mystically senses that his father, Pteppicymon XXVII, has died and that he must return home. Being the first Djelibeybian king raised outside the kingdom leads to some interesting problems, as Dios, the high priest, is a stickler for tradition, and does not actually allow the pharaohs to rule the country.
When plans are being laid out for the old pharaoh’s tomb, Teppic (now Pteppicymon XXVIII) mentions that his father did not wish to be buried in a pyramid; in reaction to Dios’s rejection of this idea, Teppic ends up ordering the construction of a pyramid twice the size of the largest one previously built in Djelibeybi. Whilst the pyramid-building Ptaclusp dynasty work out how to build the pyramid within budget and on time (eventually taking advantage of the unfinished pyramid’s premature temporal distortions), the late Pteppicymon XXVII spends his time observing the embalming of his mortal remains and taking an interest in the lives of his embalmers, Dil and Gurn.
After numerous adventures and misunderstandings, Teppic is forced to escape from the palace with a handmaiden named Ptraci, who was condemned to death for not wishing to die and serve the late pharaoh in the afterlife (effectively on Dios’ orders since Teppic wished to pardon her). However, during the attempt, Dios discovers them and decrees that Teppic has killed the King (as the King is only recognised whilst wearing the Mask of the Sun and Dios reasons that Teppic’s actions to save Ptraci would not be those of the King) and should be put to death. Meanwhile, the massive pyramid warps space-time so much that it “rotates” Djelibeybi out of alignment with the space/time of the rest of the Disc by ninety degrees.
After Teppic and Ptraci manage to escape Djelibeybi, they travel to Ephebe to consult with the philosophers there as to how to get back. Meanwhile, pandemonium takes hold in Djelibeybi, as the kingdom’s multifarious gods (many of whom occupy the same roles, such as Supreme God, God of the Sun, or God of the Djel) descend upon the populace, and all of Djelibeybi’s dead rulers come back to life. Also, the nations of Ephebe and Tsort prepare for war with one another, as Djelibeybi can no longer act as a buffer zone between the two.
Eventually, Teppic re-enters the Kingdom and attempts to destroy the Great Pyramid, with the help of all of his newly resurrected ancestors. They are confronted by Dios, who, it turns out, is as old as the kingdom itself, and has advised every pharaoh throughout its history. Dios hates change and thinks Djelibeybi should stay the same. Teppic succeeds in destroying the Pyramid, returning Djelibeybi to the real world and sending Dios back through time (where he meets the original founder of the Kingdom, thereby restarting the cycle). Teppic then abdicates, allowing Ptraci (who turns out to be his half-sister) to rule. Ptraci immediately institutes much-needed changes, Teppic decides to travel the Disc, Death comes to ferry the former rulers of Djelibeybi to the afterlife, and Djelibeybi’s former embalmers and pyramid-builders adjust to life without the pyramids.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Neuromancer Series: The Sprawl #1 Author: William Gibson Rating: 0.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Cyberpunk Pages: 251 Words: 84K
Because this might be seen by more than the usual suspects, I spoil my reviews. So read at your own risk. But if you’re reading Neuromancer, you deserve whatever you get. No sympathy from me. This is a rage fueled hate re-read of this book and I plan on venting my spleen at John Wick levels, and I have pencils. You have been warned.
PART I Chapter 1 – In which Bookstooge meets some Main Characters, and Hates them.
Having read this once before, back in 2011 (2011 Neuromancer Review) I was passably familiar with what I was getting into. My review back then left a lot to be desired, even by me, someone who is usually pithy and pointed and rather economical with my words. However, it bloody well sums up this whole first chapter to a flipping Tee. Maybe my pithy pointedness was more spot on than I realized.
We are introduced to Case, a drug addicted hacker who stole data from the wrong people (those employing him, dumbass!) and they burnt out his nervous system so he could never jack into the system (here called The Matrix. Hmmmmm, sound familiar?) again. Case is 24 and on such a downward trajectory that he’ll commit suicide by risky job within a month.
Everyone who Case knows, or comes into contact with, is as much a junkie and a loser as himself. We are talking scum of the Earth here. Case’s dealer is trying to steal from him, his ex-girlfriend lies to him to steal 3megabytes of RAM (oh, did I laugh out loud at THAT!!!). Case is so strung out that he can’t function without drugs.
Speaking of drugs, Gibson for sure was a damned junkie himself at some point. His use of terminology and slang is way too prolific to have been learned using a dictionary and thesaurus. I HATE drugs. They destroy the very essence of a person and leave them a shambling wreck that only causes pain and ruin to those around them. As far as I’m concerned, drugs are the physical embodiment of spiritual evil. And our main character Case has deliberately placed himself within that web of evil.
Rage fueled hate read? Oh, game on!
Chapter 2 – In Which Bookstooge meets some other characters
At chapter’s beginning we meet Case’s new employer, an Ex-Special Forces military guy and his crazy teched out assassin girl. Who has Wolverine style fingernails. Case gets his matrix jockey ability back, has sex with the tech assassin, watches his ex-girlfriend get whacked by a former employer and is disappointed that his new mods make drugs of no use to him any more.
Wow, what a bunch of scumbags killing each other. I wasn’t sad about that at all. Case proves what a man whore he is and between that and his former drug use, if he dies I’ll be happy. When you hate the main character from the get-go, and that hatred only grows in the second chapter, it just doesn’t bode well for the book as a whole.
Gibson really throws around a lot of tech terms in this chapter. I don’t know enough to tell if he was using some real terminology or if it was just mystical mumbo jumbo garbage. I think it was all complete bullshit, but then I’m not exactly unbiased about Gibson.
PART II
Chapter 3 – In Which Bookstooge reads a metric ton of technobabble and rolls his eyes a lot
I seriously thought of giving up in this chapter. Chase gets his online mojo back, has a lot of sex with Molly the ninja/assassin/thingy and finds out that he is biologically boobytrapped to help him stay loyal to his employer. Then Gibson throws around even MORE technobabble, to the point where it didn’t make any sense to me and my mind just skipped over it. And I didn’t feel like it made one iota of difference to the story.
Chapter 4 – In Which terrorists help our protagonist to steal something from a library
Booo! Stealing from a library, booo!!!!!! I don’t care if it’s some super duper secret locked down online only library, it’s just plain despicable to steal from one. Even if it’s a digital version of Case’s old mentor who taught him every cowboy trick he knew (apparently Gibson didn’t foresee that Brokeback Mountain would be a thing in the future and that we could make endless jokes about cowboys). While the graphic sex scene happened earlier in the book, there’s still pornographic levels of description included. Bad people, worse people, and then people I don’t know how to describe other than plain and simple evil, doing bad things, doing worse thing and doing evil things.
Chapter 5 – In Which Bookstooge learns that AI are really pulling the strings and Case meets the digital version of his old boss
I have such issues with how AI are used in stories and in popular culture. Digital selves as well. It all springs from the idea that our minds are self-existing containers and as long as you scoop all the info-goop, you can dump that goop somewhere else and still have that mind. I call it the harddrive fallacy. We are more than just containers for data. There is a reason every human is unique. Genes, dna, bits of broken biology, etc. It all comes together to make the person. We are our minds, our bodies and our wills/emotions/spirits. Take away one and it changes everything. Plus, the idea that sentience can come out of non-sentience is so bullshit that how any intelligent person can give it credence in real life is ridiculous. Most of the time I don’t mind, because it’s just a plot line like “aliens” or superheroes. We all know the X-Men aren’t real nor can they be. But imagine if people actually thought they could be and started irradiating themselves. And a whole culture lived that way. It would be madness. And our culture is descending into madness and the promise of “AI” is just one step down along that path.
Chapter 6 & 7– In Which Bookstooge just gives up.
I’m reading the rest of the book, but it’s not worth any more commentary than these blasted 1000 words I’ve already given it. Pure trash. Drivel. Garbage. Filth.
There, that’s three pencils in Gibson’s eye! I hope it hurts, a lot.
PART III
Chapter 8 – In which Bookstooge keeps writing
because that’s what I do. I don’t do drugs, or whore around or kill people. I write. So if I have to suffer this wretched book, then I’m going to make sure you suffer as much as I possibly can make you with my words. In fact, you are simply:
USELESS
LOSER
SCUMBAG
UNLOVABLE
WASTE OF SPACE
INSIGNIFICANT
STUPID
GULLIBLE
FAT
UGLY
STINKY
DIRTY
There, did I manage to hurt your feelings at all? I hope so. Now you don’t have to read this book and hurt your brain.
Chapters 9-16 – In Which Bookstooge wishes he was dead
This book is only 250 pages and it feels like I have spent a veritable eternity here. It’s horrible, just horrible I tell you! This is the book that simply will not end. No matter how much time I spend reading this, it just keeps going! It’s like I’m stuck in some sort of horror themed Dr Who episode where terrible things are happening just offscreen but the terror is palpable.
I guess, let me put it this way. Last month I had a needle stuck in each of my eyes. I would rather do that again than continuing this. But I am so tough, so macho, so manly and totally a man’s man that I’m going to cry like a little baby and keep on reading!
~strikes macho pose
Don’t even think about questioning my utter hatred of this absolute piece of moldering, maggot infested tripe. I hate this enough to finish it.
Chapters 17-End – In Which Bookstooge proves that nothing is more implacable than him.
I finished this. I finished this disgusting piece of shit and I feel bad. I feel terrible. I feel terrible that I wasted my time. I feel terrible that a person can exist whose mind is even capable of writing utter drivel and dreck like this. There is NO justification for this novel or it’s influence on Cyberpunk. But it explains why I’ve always hated cyberpunk. I probably blocked out the details of my previous read but my subconscious kept the truth just out of focus, but still there.
This is the exact scenario I imagine when I don’t listen to my gut and a read goes disastrously wrong. I knew I was going to hate this, based on my original read from years ago, but I had no idea it would be this bad. I know I haven’t given you analytical details. But when your eyeballs have been gouged out and your entrails are sliding out of your sliced up stomach, will you really tell someone “Oh boy, this really hurts. Gibson just scooped my eyeballs out, cut my abdomen open and is in the process of ripping my guts out.” No, you’d be screaming and clawing and too busy dying horribly. That is my experience with this book. Melodramatic? Absolutely! Is this is horrible book? Even MORE absolutely.
I have serious regrets about re-reading this book. It sucked all the joy out of reading for me for weeks on end. It has burned out my desire to write reviews and I don’t know when I’ll recover. But as I view the wreckage that is my literary self, I can cross my arms in satisfaction, KNOWING that I was tougher than this book. I beat it. I finished it. AND I BLOODY WELL WROTE ABOUT EVERY EXCRUCIATING EXPERIENCE. I am scalped, I am gutted, I am sliced to pieces but I stand here, screaming out into the internet, I STILL STAND!!!! I am tougher than this book. I am more determined than Gibson ever could be. I am victorious because I beat this book to a bloody pulp and it’s not getting up and walking away from this, while I am.
This was a crucible experience and now I am on the other side. Let the healing begin.
This post was brought to you by SciFiMonth2024 and hosted by various individuals. I’ll hold Bookforager responsible this time though 😉
✬☆☆☆☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – click to open
Henry Dorsett Case is a low-level hustler in the dystopian underworld of Chiba City, Japan. Once a talented computer hacker and “console cowboy”, Case was caught stealing from his employer. As punishment, Case’s central nervous system was damaged, leaving him unable to access the virtual reality dataspace called the “matrix”. Case is approached by Molly Millions, an augmented “razorgirl” and mercenary on behalf of a shadowy US ex-military officer named Armitage, who offers to cure Case for his services as a hacker. Case agrees, and his nervous system is repaired, though sacs of poison are placed in his blood vessels. If Case completes the job, Armitage will have the sacs removed; if not, they will burst and cripple him again.
Armitage has Case and Molly steal a ROM module that contains the saved consciousness of one of Case’s mentors, legendary cyber-cowboy McCoy Pauley.
Case and Molly discover Armitage’s former identity as Colonel Willis Corto. Corto was a member of “Operation Screaming Fist,” meant to disrupt Soviet computer systems. As his team attacked a Soviet computer center, EMP weapons shut down their flight systems. He and a few survivors escaped over the Finnish border, but their helicopter was shot down, killing everyone except for Corto. After months in a hospital, Corto was visited by a US government official, who returned him to the United States to receive psychotherapy and reconstructive surgery. After providing what he came to realize was false testimony, misleading the public and protecting corrupt military officers, Corto snapped, killed the official who contacted him, and disappeared into the criminal underworld, becoming Armitage.
In Istanbul, the team recruits Peter Riviera, a sociopathic thief and drug addict. The trail leads Case to Wintermute, an artificial intelligence created by the Tessier-Ashpool family. The Tessier-Ashpools spend their time in cryonic preservation at Freeside, a cylindrical space habitat which functions as a Las Vegas-style space resort for the wealthy.
Wintermute reveals itself to Case and explains that it is one half of a super-AI entity planned by the family. It has been programmed with a need to merge with its other half, Neuromancer, and has recruited Armitage and his team since it cannot achieve this goal by itself. Case is tasked with entering cyberspace to pierce the software barriers with an icebreaker program. Riviera is to obtain the password to the lock from Lady 3Jane Marie-France Tessier-Ashpool, the CEO of the family’s corporation.
Armitage’s personality starts to revert to the Corto personality as he relives Screaming Fist. It is revealed that Wintermute had originally contacted Corto through a computer during his psychotherapy, creating his Armitage persona. As Corto breaks through, he is uncontrollable, and Wintermute ejects him into space.
Riviera meets Lady 3Jane and tries to stop the mission, helping Lady 3Jane and Hideo, her ninja bodyguard, capture Molly. Under orders from Wintermute, Case tracks Molly down. Neuromancer traps Case within a simulated reality after he enters cyberspace. He finds the consciousness of Linda Lee, his girlfriend from Chiba City, who was murdered by one of his underworld contacts. He also meets Neuromancer, who takes the form of a young boy. Neuromancer tries to convince Case to remain in the virtual world with Linda, but Case refuses.
With Wintermute guiding them, Case goes to confront Lady 3Jane, Riviera, and Hideo. Riviera tries to kill Case, but Lady 3Jane is sympathetic towards Case and Molly, and Hideo protects him. Riviera flees, and Molly explains that he is doomed anyway, as she had spiked his drugs with a lethal toxin. The team makes it to the computer terminal. Case enters cyberspace to guide the icebreaker; Lady 3Jane is induced to give up her password, and the lock opens. Wintermute unites with Neuromancer, becoming a superconsciousness. The poison in Case’s bloodstream is washed out and he and Molly are profusely paid, while Pauley’s ROM construct is apparently erased at his own request.
Molly leaves Case, who finds a new girlfriend and resumes his hacking work. Wintermute/Neuromancer contacts him, claiming it has become “the sum total of the works, the whole show” and is looking for others like itself. Scanning recorded transmissions, the super-AI finds a transmission from the Alpha Centauri star system.
While logged into cyberspace, Case glimpses Neuromancer standing in the distance with Linda Lee, and himself. He also hears inhuman laughter, which suggests that Pauley still lives. The sighting implies that Neuromancer created a copy of Case’s consciousness, which now exists in cyberspace with those of Linda and Pauley.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Monster Hunter Alpha Series: MHI #3 Author: Larry Correia Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Genre: Urban Fantasy Pages: 402 Words: 148K
When I originally read this back in 2012, I remember loving it. Nothing changed in the intervening 12 years 😀
This was non-stop werewolf action. The main badguy werewolf ends up with a magic doohickey that allows him to become a 20foot tall werewolf. How awesome is that? It’s pretty awesome, that’s how awesome it is. Throw in the snow shredder scene (where Earl and one of the Good Town Folk literally harvest a crop of werewolves with it) and man, this was just awesome. Are you getting the idea that maybe I really liked this book? Good. Because I did!
For those of you who might not know what a snow shredder is, I’m including a picture so you can visualize it chewing through a whole pack of evil, insane and psychopathic werewolves.
I had forgotten this is where we are introduced to the werewolf who is supposedly now the love of Earl’s life. I can’t remember if she makes any more appearances after she’s whisked away by Special Task Force Unicorn at the end of this book. Another reason to do re-reads.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun reading this and it was even better than my previous read and everything here only firmed up my resolve to keep up this re-read. The series is fun monster killing and I thoroughly enjoy it from beginning to end.
★★★★★
From MHI.Fandom.com
Synopsis – click to open
Earl Harbinger may be the leader of Monster Hunter International, but he’s also got a secret. Nearly a century ago, Earl was cursed to be a werewolf. When Earl receives word that one of his oldest foes, a legendarily vicious werewolf that worked for the KGB, has mysteriously appeared in the remote woods of Michigan, he decides to take care of some unfinished business. But another force is working to bring about the creation of a whole new species of werewolf. When darkness falls, the final hunt begins, and the only thing standing in their way is a handful of locals, a lot of firepower, and Earl Harbinger’s stubborn refusal to roll over and play dead.
Plot
Earl Harbinger lost some of his memories during his encounter with the demon he nicknamed “Rocky” at the end of Monster Hunter Vendetta so he started writing them down in the form of journals in order to learn the extent of his loss. This book contains the third of the journals which focuses on his experiences as a werewolf. We also learn more about how the Alpha is designated and what it means to be the Alpha werewolf. Monster Hunter Alpha opens with Earl going off on his own to take care of personal business with Earl’s backstory interspersed.
Earl meets with an old handler from his time in Vietnam and learns of the presence of an old enemy, Nikolai Petrov, in Northern Michigan. It turns out that Nikolai is not the only issue in Copper Lake, MI however. There is another person who is angling to be the Alpha and he has some extra help in the form of a magic amulet and then some.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Mostly Harmless Series: THGttG #5 Author: Douglas Adams Rating: 1 of 5 Stars Genre: SF Pages: 148 Words: 64K
In the first book, I stated that the philosophy of Hedonistic Nihilism portrayed by Adams disturbed me. That got some good comments going.
Well, I feel flipping vindicated. The book ends with the Vogons destroying every version of Earth on every possible space/time continuum. And Arthur just sits back and enjoys the thought of the coming total nonexistence coming his way.
I cannot state strongly enough how abhorrent I find that attitude.
★☆☆☆☆
ps,
Two sub-2star books in a row is a REALLY BAD WAY TO START THE MONTH!!! Just saying…
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – click to open
Arthur Dent plans to sightsee across the Galaxy with his girlfriend Fenchurch, but she disappears during a hyperspace jump, a result of being from an unstable sector of the Galaxy. Depressed, Arthur continues to travel the galaxy using samples of his bodily tissues/fluids to fund his travels, assured of his safety until he visits Stavromula Beta, having killed an incarnation of Agrajag at some point in the future at said planet. During one trip, he ends up stranded on the homely planet Lamuella, and decides to stay to become a sandwich maker for the local population.
Meanwhile, Ford Prefect has returned to the offices of the Hitchhiker’s Guide, and is annoyed to find out the original publishing company, Megadodo Publications, has been taken over by InfiniDim Enterprises, which are run by the Vogons. Fearing for his life, he escapes the building, along the way stealing the yet-unpublished, seemingly sentient Hitchhiker’s Guide Mk. II. He goes into hiding after sending the Guide to himself, care of Arthur, for safekeeping.
On Lamuella, Arthur is surprised by the appearance of Trillian with a teenage daughter, Random Dent. Trillian explains that she wanted a child, and used the only human DNA she could find, thus claiming that Arthur is Random’s father. She leaves Random with Arthur to allow her to better pursue her career as an intergalactic reporter. Random is frustrated with Arthur and life on Lamuella; when Ford’s package to Arthur arrives, she takes it and discovers the Guide. The Guide helps her to escape the planet on Ford’s ship after Ford arrives on the planet looking for Arthur. Discovering Random, the Guide, and Ford’s ship missing, the two manage to find a way to leave Lamuella and head for Earth, where they suspect Random is also heading to find Trillian. Ford expresses concern at the Guide’s manipulation of events, noting its “Unfiltered Perception” and fearing its potence and ultimate objective.
Reporter Tricia McMillan is a version of Trillian living on an alternate Earth who never took Zaphod Beeblebrox’s offer to travel in space. She is approached by an extraterrestrial species, the Grebulons, who have created a base of operations on the planet Rupert, a recently discovered tenth planet in the Solar System. However, due to damage to their ship in arriving, they have lost most of their computer core and their memories, with the only salvageable instructions being to observe something interesting with Earth. They ask Tricia’s help to adapt astrology charts for Rupert in exchange for allowing her to interview them. She fulfills their request and conducts the interview, but the resulting footage looks so fake that she fears it will destroy her reputation if broadcast. She is called away from editing the footage to report on a spaceship landing in the middle of London.
As Tricia arrives at the scene, Random steps off the ship and begins to yell at her, mistaking Tricia for her mother. Arthur, Ford, and Trillian arrive and help Tricia to calm Random. They remove her from the chaos surrounding the spacecraft and take her to a bar. Trillian tries to warn the group that the Grebulons, having become bored with their mission, are about to destroy the Earth. Random disrupts the discussion by producing a laser gun she took from her ship. Arthur, still believing he cannot die, tries to calm Random, but a distraction causes her to fire the weapon, sending the bar into a panic. Arthur tends to a man hit by the blast, who drops a matchbook with the name of the bar – “Stavro Mueller – Beta” – and Arthur realizes that this is the scene of Agrajag’s final death. He sees Ford laughing wildly at this turn of events and experiences a “tremendous feeling of peace”.[1]
The Grebulons destroy the Earth, believing that their horoscopes will improve if it is removed from their astrological charts. It is revealed that the Vogons designed the Guide Mk. II to achieve their desired outcome by manipulating temporal events. As a result, every version of the Earth in all realities is obliterated, fulfilling the demolition order that was issued in the first novel. Its mission complete, the Guide collapses into nothingness.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Wyrd Sisters Series: Discworld #6 Author: Terry Pratchett Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Fantasy Pages: 210 Words: 85K
I really enjoyed this. I do wonder though if in another decade the references that Pratchett makes to such people as the Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy and Charlie Chaplin will be as meaningless as references to Britney Spears. A grasp of Shakespeare, while not essential, will make the read much fuller.
The humor, while not laugh out loud, felt genuine and actually funny, unlike in Sourcery. The humor of the witches is earthy and natural and springs from human nature itself. Which is why I think it feels so genuine each time and not forced like with Rincewind. That’s important for a series of book built on humor, even if elements of the sardonic are involved.
The inclusion of Nanny Og and Magrat help offset Granny Weatherwax as an irascible old woman. Nanny Og is an old nympho and Magrat is the sad sack meant to generate sympathy. Each has her strengths and weaknesses and they fit very well together as a unit. It provides a much wider variety of situations for Pratchett to work with and I think his writing will be the better for that.
People always ask where to start with Discworld. I used to give my favorite books as a starting place but this deliberate series re-read has made me realize that people need to start at the beginning and just work their way through the series as Pratchett wrote them. Sure, you will get some books you don’t enjoy as much, but you’ll also get the full Discworld experience and THAT is more important than your enjoyment of an individual book. Think of Discworld like Communism and Pratchett as Chairman Mao and you’ll get the idea 😉
Hail Comrades, may the New Order Enlighten you!
★★★★☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
Wyrd Sisters features three witches: Granny Weatherwax; Nanny Ogg, matriarch of a large tribe of Oggs and owner of the most evil cat in the world; and Magrat Garlick, the junior witch, who firmly believes in occult jewelry, covens, and bubbling cauldrons, much to the annoyance of the other two.
King Verence I of Lancre is murdered by his cousin, Duke Felmet, after his ambitious wife persuades him to do so. The King’s crown and child are given by an escaping servant to the three witches. The witches hand the child to a troupe of travelling actors, and hide the crown in the props-box. They acknowledge that destiny will eventually take its course and that the child, Tomjon, will grow up to defeat Duke Felmet and take his rightful place as king.
However, the kingdom is angry about the way the new King is mistreating the land and his subjects. The witches realise that it will be at least 15 years until Tomjon is able to return and save the kingdom, but by then irreparable damage will have been done. Granny Weatherwax, with help from the other two witches, manages to cast a spell over the entire kingdom to send it forward in time by 15 years. Meanwhile, the duke has decided to have a play written and performed that portrays him in a favourable light and the witches in a negative light. He thinks this will cause the witches to lose their power, and the people will like him. He sends the court Fool to Ankh-Morpork to recruit the same acting company that Tomjon was given to, which now resides in the Dysk Theatre on the river Ankh.
The company make their way to Lancre, and perform the play for the King as asked. However, Hwel, the playwright, maintains that there is something wrong with the plot of the play, something that just doesn’t feel right. The witches cast a spell in the middle of the play that causes the actors to portray the killing of the king truthfully, and the audience sees that the Duke and Duchess are guilty of killing Verence I. Felmet finally succumbs to insanity and stabs several people with a retracting stage dagger, before tripping and falling to his death in the Lancre Gorge. The Duchess is imprisoned but manages to escape, only to be killed by a collection of various forest animals who want revenge for the poor treatment of the land.
Granny Weatherwax explains that Tomjon is the rightful king, and he is due to be crowned. However, Tomjon does not want to be king; he is an extremely talented actor and wishes to continue his career with his adopted father, Vitoller. Instead Granny Weatherwax tells the town that the Fool is in fact the king’s son from another mother, and Tomjon’s half-brother, and he is crowned King Verence II of Lancre. Later on, Granny and Nanny reveal to Magrat that the previous fool is actually Tomjon’s and Verence II’s father. The status of Magrat and Verence II, who have been awkwardly courting throughout the story, is not fully explained at the conclusion.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Monster Hunter Vendetta Series: MHI #2 Author: Larry Correia Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Urban Fantasy Pages: 412 Words: 169K
I read my review from 2012 before starting to write this one. Honestly, I felt almost exactly the same as 12 years ago. Ballz to the Wallz action that never let up and shooting and blowing stuff up that just didn’t quit. It was exactly what I wanted this time around from this read. I did laugh at my old review saying how I was looking forward to the wrap up of this “trilogy”. Ahhh, to still think that authors have moral rectitude.
This had a TON of cosmic horror elements in it. I didn’t pick up on them last time because I was of the uninitiated, but now that I have taken the first steps towards becoming the Chartreuse Emperor, I understand. But unlike the Harrison Peel books, which tried to BE cosmic horror and still have a surviving hero, MHI (Monster Hunter International) simply takes the pieces that it wants and does its own Urban Fantasy thing. I think it works out great because I get a Hero and some terrible things but they are able to co-exist without me spluttering and ranting like I did with that goober Harrison Peel. For goodness, I get a story where some gun junkie accountant goes to the Other Side, along with Frankenstein (Agent Franks) and they kill an equal of Cthulhu with a magic stone. It. Was. Awesome! So while it had the elements of Cosmic Horror (Shoggoths anyone?) Correia was able to stay this side of that line quite admirably.
On the negative side, and I suspect I’ll be dealing with this in each book, and it will be why these won’t go above 4.5stars, I also saw a lot more Mormon philosophy behind the story. I didn’t know about that stuff when I originally read this book and not knowing didn’t detract from the story. But now that I do know, and since I disagree with it just like I would with a story based on Islamic or Hindu theology, I can’t unsee it, as it were. False religions aren’t something to treat lightly.
Overall, I am once again quite pleased with how this re-read went. It has all the action and guns and horrible bad guys that my little heart could ask for and that just makes me happy.
★★★★✬
From MHI.Fandom.com
Synopsis – click to open
Accountant turned professional monster hunter, Owen Zastava Pitt, managed to stop the nefarious Old One’s invasion plans last year, but as a result made an enemy out of one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Now an evil death cult known as the Church of the Temporary Mortal Condition wants to capture Owen in order to gain the favor of the great Old Ones.
The Condition is led by a fanatical necromancer known as the Shadow Man. The government wants to capture the Shadow Man and has assigned the enigmatic Agent Franks to be Owen’s full time bodyguard, which is a polite way of saying that Owen is monster bait.
With supernatural assassins targeting his family, a spy in their midst, and horrific beasties lurking around every corner, Owen and the staff of Monster Hunter International don’t need to go hunting, because this time the monsters are hunting them. Fortunately, this bait is armed and very dangerous…
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Lady Susan Series: ———- Author: Jane Austen Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic novella Pages: 85 Words: 23K
When I originally read this back in ‘13, it was as part of Austen’s collected “Minor Works”. As such, in my mind it was incomplete, because I was mixing it up with Sanditon. I assumed it was unfinished because it was so short. The reality though, is that it is a novella and reading it on its own this time, I realized it has a beginning, a middle and an end. It is also in the epistolary style (the story is told through letters written to and from various characters) and I have a weakness for that particular literary device. It just works for me, so I had a great time this time around.
Lady Susan, the titular character, is, to put it bluntly, a home wrecker. She’s recently widowed and on the prowl for her next meal ticket. She gets involved with a married man, because “he’s interesting” and then when that causes a scandal, removes to the countryside to live with her brother-in-law and his wife. The wife’s brother comes to visit and Lady Susan decides to play with him. While keeping the married man on the leash AND keeping an eye on yet a third rich young man, who she thinks should marry her 16 year old daughter. Lots of drama ensues between family as the story progresses and we get to see the true Lady Susan through her letters to a friend in London. In the end, the daughter of Lady Susan is set to marry the good rich young man and Lady Susan ends up with the third young man, who is rich as Croesus, but extremely stupid. No come uppances are anywhere to be seen.
I was amazed at just how brazen Lady Susan was in her letters to her friend in London. She tells her real thoughts on everyone around her, outlines in detail her schemes for herself and her daughter and generally shows just how terrible a person she is. I would have been ashamed to even write in my own private journal some of the things she casually and glibly writes about. To be frankly so self-centered and selfish with no concerns for anyone besides herself, well, I’d be embarrassed to admit even to myself that I was that kind of person.
I did have a little trouble keeping track who was who. With several people referring to each other by their titles and last names instead of their family relation or full name, I had to concentrate on who Mrs Vincent Godfrey the 4th was, or how they were related to Miss Emma Murray. Thankfully, I WAS able to keep everyone straight, even if they did just refer to each other as Mrs Godfrey or Miss Murray. Naming conventions and their usage is another one of those little time capsules that I so enjoy about reading older books, even if it does take work on my part.
Reading this by itself emphasized the ending and I was glad to see this as a complete story instead of the “fragment” I thought it was in my head.
★★★★☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
Lady Susan Vernon, a beautiful and charming recent widow, visits her brother-in-law and his wife, Charles and Catherine Vernon, with little advance notice at Churchill, their country residence. Catherine is far from pleased, as Lady Susan had tried to prevent her marriage to Charles and her unwanted guest has been described to her as “the most accomplished coquette in England”. Among Lady Susan’s conquests is the married Mr. Manwaring.
Catherine’s brother Reginald arrives a week later, and despite Catherine’s strong warnings about Lady Susan’s character, soon falls under her spell. Lady Susan toys with the younger man’s affections for her own amusement and later because she perceives it makes her sister-in-law uneasy. Her confidante, Mrs. Johnson, to whom she writes frequently, recommends she marry the very eligible Reginald, but Lady Susan considers him to be greatly inferior to Manwaring.
Frederica, Lady Susan’s 16-year-old daughter, tries to run away from school when she learns of her mother’s plan to marry her off to a wealthy but insipid young man she loathes. She also becomes a guest at Churchill. Catherine comes to like her—her character is totally unlike her mother’s—and as time goes by, detects Frederica’s growing attachment to the oblivious Reginald.
Later, Sir James Martin, Frederica’s unwanted suitor, shows up uninvited, much to her distress and her mother’s vexation. When Frederica begs Reginald for support out of desperation (having been forbidden by Lady Susan to turn to Charles and Catherine), she causes a temporary breach between Reginald and Lady Susan, but the latter soon repairs the rupture.
Lady Susan decides to return to London and marry her daughter off to Sir James. Reginald follows, still bewitched by her charms and intent on marrying her, but he encounters Mrs. Manwaring at the home of Mr. Johnson and finally learns Lady Susan’s true character. Lady Susan ends up marrying Sir James herself, and allows Frederica to reside with Charles and Catherine at Churchill, where Reginald De Courcy “could be talked, flattered, and finessed into an affection for her.”
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: So Long and Thanks for All the Fish Series: THGttG #4 Author: Douglas Adams Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars Genre: SF Pages: 224 Words: 44K
This was marginally better than the previous book but only because it wasn’t so stupid. It wasn’t funnier, the plot wasn’t more concrete (still alphabet soup mixed up with mashed potatoes) and Arthur Dent plays a much bigger role (given what a disgusting specimen of wimpiness he is, that’s definitely not a good thing).
But it felt like Adams actually tried to tell a story instead of just writing drugged out scenes that belong in a Monty Python’esque kind of tv show. Not high praise, but it was enough of an improvement that I’ll keep on reading the series.
★★✬☆☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – click to open
While hitchhiking through the galaxy, Arthur Dent is dropped off on a planet in a rainstorm. He appears to be in England on Earth, even though he had seen the planet destroyed by the Vogons. He has been gone for several years, but only a few months have passed on Earth. He hitches a lift with a man named Russell and his sister Fenchurch (nicknamed “Fenny”). Russell explains that Fenny, who is sitting in a drugged state in the back seat of the car, became delusional after worldwide mass hysteria, in which everyone hallucinated “big yellow spaceships” (the Vogon destructor ships that “demolished” the Earth). Arthur becomes curious about Fenchurch, but he is dropped off before he can ask more questions. Inside his inexplicably undamaged home, Arthur finds a gift-wrapped bowl inscribed with the words “So long and thanks for all the fish”, into which he puts his Babel Fish. Arthur thinks that Fenchurch is somehow connected to him and to the Earth’s destruction. He still has the ability to fly whenever he lets his thoughts wander.
Arthur puts his life in order, and then tries to find out more about Fenchurch. He happens to find her hitchhiking and picks her up. He obtains her phone number, but shortly thereafter loses it. He discovers her home by accident when he searches for the cave in which he had lived on prehistoric Earth; Fenchurch’s flat is built on the same spot. Arthur and Fenchurch find more circumstances connecting them. Fenchurch reveals that, moments before her “hallucinations”, she had an epiphany about how to make everything right, but then blacked out. She has not been able to recall the substance of the epiphany. Eventually discovering that Fenchurch’s feet do not touch the ground, Arthur teaches her how to fly. They have sex in the skies over London.
In her conversation with Arthur, Fenchurch learns about his adventures hitchhiking across the galaxy, and Arthur learns that all the dolphins disappeared shortly after the world hallucinations. Arthur and Fenchurch travel to California to see John Watson, an enigmatic scientist who claims to know why the dolphins disappeared. Watson has abandoned his original name in favour of “Wonko the Sane”, because he believes that the rest of the world’s population has gone mad. Watson shows them another bowl with the words “So long and thanks for all the fish” inscribed on it, and encourages them to listen to it. The bowl explains audibly that the dolphins, aware of the planet’s coming destruction, left Earth for an alternate dimension. Before leaving, they pulled the Earth from a parallel universe into this one and transported everyone and everything onto it from the one about to be destroyed. After the meeting, Fenchurch tells Arthur that, while he lost something and later found it, she found something and later lost it. She desires that they travel to space together, and that they reach the site where God’s Final Message to His Creation is written.
Ford Prefect discovers that the Hitchhiker’s Guide entry for Earth has been updated to include the volumes of text that he originally wrote, instead of the previous truncated entry, “Mostly harmless”. Curious, Ford hitchhikes across the galaxy to reach Earth. Eventually he uses the ship of a giant robot to land in the centre of London, causing a panic. In the chaos, Ford reunites with Arthur and the two of them and Fenchurch commandeer the robot’s ship. Arthur takes Fenchurch to the planet where God’s Final Message to His Creation is written, where they discover Marvin. Due to previous events, Marvin is now approximately 37 times older than the known age of the universe and is barely functional. With Arthur’s and Fenchurch’s help, Marvin reads the Message (“We apologise for the inconvenience”), utters the final words “I think… I feel good about it”, and dies happily.
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Title: Sourcery Series: Discworld #5 Author: Terry Pratchett Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Fantasy Pages: 197 Words: 79K
Unfortunately, this is what most people think of in terms of humor when they think of Rincewind the Wizzard. This was slightly amusing but not really funny and almost kind of sad. I didn’t dislike this story, but I really didn’t enjoy myself like I have with some of the previous Discworld books. It was like Pratchett had an off week and churned this clunker out during that time.
If I was just a teeny bit lazier, I’d end this review and not hide the synopis and call it a day. But I’m not quite that lazy, yet. I’m getting there though.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a food comparison for a book, but I think I have the perfect example for this book.
The Setting:
The Wilds of the Freest State in the United States of America
The Characters:
Two manly men who have worked hard all day doing Big Important Survey Things that you wouldn’t understand even if I explained it to you.
The Story:
After a hard day’s work where thousands of calories were burned doing Very Important Survey Things, McStudley and MacManly were driving back to the office. They were starving. In fact, if they had been soccer players, chances are one of them would have doused the other in bbq sauce and devoured him on the spot. Thankfully, for our story, they drove by a Wendy’s fast food restaurant. MacManly decided to get a Biggie Bag, because it had the word “Big” in it and his hunger sure was big that day. It was advertised as a double cheeseburger with bacon, fries, chicken nuggets and a drink. The chicken nuggets weren’t crispy at all. The fries were lukewarm at best. The icemachine wasn’t working so his diet vanilla coke was room temperature. The bacon was limp, the burgers overcooked, the lettuce was wilted and the bun looked like a sad clown. All in all it was a pathetic excuse for a “meal”. But MacManly still devoured it because he was starving.
The Lesson:
The ingredients can all be there but if they are not prepared right, it doesn’t matter because I was starving and I would have read a cereal box. Ok, so I mixed up my metaphors there, sue me. But you get the idea.
Faaaaaaaake!
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
Death comes to collect the soul of Ipslore the Red, a wizard who was banished from Unseen University for marrying and having children. Bitter over his exile and the death of his wife, Ipslore vows revenge upon the wizards through his eighth son, Coin. As the eighth son of a wizard who himself is an eighth son, Coin is born a sourcerer, a wizard who generates new magic rather than drawing it from the world, effectively making him the most powerful wizard on the Disc. At the moment of his death, Ipslore transfers his spirit into his wizard’s staff, which is passed to Coin, preventing Death from collecting Ipslore’s soul (since damaging the staff to do so would kill Coin) and allowing Ipslore to influence his son.
Eight years later, Virrid Wayzygoose, the Archchancellor-designate of Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork, is murdered before his induction by Coin, who then forces his way into the university’s Great Hall. After Coin bests one of the top wizards in the University, he is welcomed by the majority of the wizards. Rincewind, The Luggage and the Librarian miss Coin’s arrival, having fled the University shortly beforehand after the foreboding departure of all of its magically-influenced pest populations. While they are at the Mended Drum, Conina, a professional thief and a daughter of Discworld legend Cohen the Barbarian, arrives holding a box containing the Archchancellor’s hat, which she has procured from the room of Wayzygoose, and which possesses a kind of sentience as a result of being worn by hundreds of Archchancellors. Under the direction of the hat, which sees Coin as a threat to wizardry and the very world, Conina forces Rincewind to come with her and take a boat to the city of Al Khali, where the hat claims there is someone fit to wear it.
In Ankh-Morpork, the wizards are made more powerful due to Coin’s presence drawing more magic into the Discworld. Under Coin’s direction, the wizards take over Ankh-Morpork—transforming it into a pristine city and turning the Patrician, Lord Vetinari, into a newt—and make plans to take over the world. Elsewhere, Rincewind, Conina and the Luggage end up in the company of Creosote, the seriph of Al Khali, and Abrim, his treacherous vizier. The trio are eventually separated; Rincewind is thrown into the snake pit, where he meets Nijel the Destroyer, a barbarian hero in training. Conina is taken to Creosote’s harem, where the Seriph has his concubines tell him stories. The Luggage, having been scorned by Conina, runs away and gets drunk, before killing and eating several creatures in the desert.
Coin eventually declares Unseen University and the various wizarding orders obsolete and orders the Library to be burnt down, claiming that Wizardry no longer requires such things. A group of wizards then attack Al Khali, with the sheer amount of magic created by their arrival temporarily putting Rincewind into a trance and enabling him to use magic, allowing him and Nijel to escape the snake pit. They join up with Creosote and Conina, the latter immediately falling in love with Nijel, and they encounter Abrim, who had put on the Archchancellor’s hat hoping to gain power from it, only to be possessed instead. Having the experience of many previous Archchancellors, the hat proves an even match for Sourcery-empowered wizards, fighting off a group of them and enlisting others to its cause. As this takes place, Rincewind, Conina, Nijel and Creosote find a magical flying carpet in the palace’s treasury, and use it to escape the palace as it gets destroyed by the possessed Abrim building his own tower.
With the orders no longer around to keep the wizards in check, wizards across the Discworld go to war with one another, threatening to destroy the world completely. Upon hearing Creosote express anti-wizard sentiments, an angry and humiliated Rincewind abandons the group, taking the flying carpet and making his way to the University, where he learns that the Librarian has saved the library books by hiding them in the ancient Tower of Art. The Librarian convinces Rincewind to stop Coin, and he goes off to face the Sourcerer with a sock containing a half-brick. Back in Al Khali, the Luggage, blaming the Archchancellor’s hat for everything it has endured, forces its way into Abrim’s tower. Distracted by the Luggage, the possessed vizier is killed by the Ankh-Morpork wizards, with the tower and the Archchancellor’s hat getting destroyed in the process.
Despite his victory, Coin becomes concerned when he is told that wizards rule under the Discworld Gods. He traps the gods in an alternate reality, which shrinks to become a large pearl, unknowingly causing the Ice Giants, a race of beings who had been imprisoned by the gods, to escape their prison, whereupon they begin strolling across the Discworld, freezing everything in their path. Rincewind confronts Coin soon after this. The Sourcerer is amused, but unthreatened, by Rincewind attempting to fight him, prompting Ipslore to try to force Coin to kill him. Rincewind eventually convinces Coin to throw the staff away, but Ipslore’s power is channelled against that of his son. The other wizards leave the tower as Rincewind rushes forward, grabbing the child and sending both of them to the Dungeon Dimensions while Death strikes the staff and takes Ipslore’s soul. Rincewind orders Coin to return to the University and, using his other sock filled with sand, attacks the Creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions as a distraction to ensure Coin’s escape. The Gods are subsequently set free, stopping the march of the Ice Giants. As the Librarian helps Coin escape, the Luggage charges into the Dungeon Dimensions after Rincewind.
Coin returns the University and Ankh-Morpork to the way they were before he came. After Conina and Nijel travel to the University looking for Rincewind, Coin uses his magic to make them forget him and live happily ever after together. Recognising that he is too powerful to remain in the world, Coin steps into a dimension of his own making and is not seen on the Discworld again. The Librarian takes Rincewind’s battered hat, which was left behind when he went into the Dungeon Dimensions, and places it on a pedestal in the Library. The narrator states, “A wizard…will always come back for his hat”.
