I love to read and sometimes write. I'm active on fedi mostly as @tomasino@tilde.zone. I've been using Goodreads for the past bajillion years and will try to transition here. I run cosmic.voyage and a bunch of fun projects like @SolarpunkPrompts@podcast.tomasino.org
Review of 'Zen in the Martial Arts' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This short volume packed in a lot of key zen lessons through anecdotes, quotes, and examples. Like many books on the subject there's a lot of time spent explaining what the book is not. Even so, there's a wealth of lessons worth learning.
If you're a student of Zen this may bring you a new perspective or help give clarity to certain topics. If you're new to Zen but enjoy martial arts there's a nice introduction to the topic and broad overview. If you know of neither there's some interesting anecdotes that makes for good storytelling. If you are a student of both disciplines this is an inspirational read that will help you refocus on your inner path.
I was just completely bored with this story right from the start. It's incredible since I was really into the first two in the series and I even pre-ordered this with the expectations of wrapping up a really good series. The choice to take the action into the Nowhere and thus decoupled from the realities of the settings so far erased my connection to those settings. The nonsensical nature of these fragments and the way they shuttled past one after another made me uninterested in developing any connections to what was going on. The new character in that setting was likewise swept up in the wave of irrelevance. I don't think I made it even 25% of the way into the book before I realized I had no idea what was going on because I'd stopped paying attention.
This is the first utter failure of a Sanderson book I've …
DNF.
I was just completely bored with this story right from the start. It's incredible since I was really into the first two in the series and I even pre-ordered this with the expectations of wrapping up a really good series. The choice to take the action into the Nowhere and thus decoupled from the realities of the settings so far erased my connection to those settings. The nonsensical nature of these fragments and the way they shuttled past one after another made me uninterested in developing any connections to what was going on. The new character in that setting was likewise swept up in the wave of irrelevance. I don't think I made it even 25% of the way into the book before I realized I had no idea what was going on because I'd stopped paying attention.
This is the first utter failure of a Sanderson book I've run into since Elantris. I hope it's a one-off.
Review of 'Fated\r\n \r\n Probability Mage Novel' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Pretty strong start to this series. It has some rough spots but also the hallmarks of a world that's going to get more clear and interesting with each book. I'm going to enjoy tearing through these.
Lakesedge was a really interesting debut novel from Lyndall Clipstone. As a YA book about "monsters and the women who like to kiss them" this is clearly her wheelhouse. The setting was colorful and characters unique enough to stand out clearly. The magic of her world was vague, but felt like there was a depth there beyond the hand-wavey. All of that was for the good.
My issues with the book are mostly about the main character's motivations. When we meet her, we quickly learn that Violeta will do anything, even give up her own life, to protect her brother. She will sacrifice everything she has to protect him, endure physical and emotional trauma, anything. This is who we're cheering for through the entire book when suddenly it all changes.
This next bit is spoiler-y, so I'm using spoiler tags:
When Violeta decides that saving Rowan is worth surrendering the …
Lakesedge was a really interesting debut novel from Lyndall Clipstone. As a YA book about "monsters and the women who like to kiss them" this is clearly her wheelhouse. The setting was colorful and characters unique enough to stand out clearly. The magic of her world was vague, but felt like there was a depth there beyond the hand-wavey. All of that was for the good.
My issues with the book are mostly about the main character's motivations. When we meet her, we quickly learn that Violeta will do anything, even give up her own life, to protect her brother. She will sacrifice everything she has to protect him, endure physical and emotional trauma, anything. This is who we're cheering for through the entire book when suddenly it all changes.
This next bit is spoiler-y, so I'm using spoiler tags:
When Violeta decides that saving Rowan is worth surrendering the memories of her family for all eternity it just didn't make any sense. It was so entirely against her character that it threw off the rest of the book for me. Once the Lord Under specified that her brother was included in that, and that she'd never remember him, any chance of a better rating went out the window. Honestly at that point of the book it felt like the author forgot that Violeta had a brother at all as she spun up the romance plot, which, in retrospect, was far weaker of a connection to reality than her familial love. No, were I her editor I'd have told her to kill the romance angle completely and have her sacrifice her safety at Lakesedge to save the world, but leave the brother in peace. That fits her character more and avoids the trope.
Sacred Valley has been saved…at least, what’s left of it.
With his home finally secure, …
Review of 'Reaper' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
The main story progression is still working but it's becoming increasingly difficult to follow the action clearly as battles take on more and more epic scopes.
Review of "Please Don't Tell My Parents I Blew Up the Moon" on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
What a let down. After the surprise awesome of the first book in this series the tale took an exciting turn as the kids head out into outer space. Except, that is exactly the problem. The dynamic that made this interesting was that of late-middle school kids hiding their villainy from super hero parents, dodging school responsibilities, and getting home in time for curfew. Now with an excuse covering their absence they're galavanting around in space ships with alien technology, planetary wars, and other scary dangers. There's no more kid dynamic at play. There's really not even a secret identity component. Without that it just felt flat.
The author is a community manager for Ásatrú on Facebook and this book benefits from her experience. It is well organised and approaches the subject logically without trying to persuade. I’ve no complaints. I feel better equipped to have conversations about Ásatrú and engage with practitioners here in Iceland.
