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
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This series is growing on me. There's a calmeness to this slow cultivation even in the midst of battles. It's cozy.
Sanderson can't help but create these worlds and systems of power. They flood him and he blessedly has the ability to share them with us..I really enjoyed this beige l brief visit in Perfect State. It's a reality that raises questions, teases at morality. The choice to show it in a vignette kept it feeling fresh and protected it from a possible exhaustion. It's worth a few bucks and a couple hours.
This was my favorite book of the series so far. It has a great blend of action and introspection, relationships, and war.
During a luxurious pleasure cruise down the Nile aboard a lavish vessel populated with wealthy …
This story took an unusually long time to build up to the crimes, by which point we had thoroughly developed all the players on the stage. That is probably why I felt confident about the outcome and was ultimately proven correct! This is only the second time I've figured it out before the reveal, so I'm quite happy about that.
The setting was interesting and played well into the story. I also liked how the book referred to some of the earlier works here and there.
Jill and friends were at it again with a new WTF attacking her city. Things I liked: competence in the protagonist, respected by peers, some cool action. Things I didn't like: too many "why is he helping?" moments that weren't followed up on, mysteries solved offscreen with info we didn't have.
Most of the book felt stagnant but there are pockets of action that didn't quite work. The children, used to running amok on their adventures for the last two books, are suddenly chaperoned and yet continue to lead the efforts to address world-scale problems rather than have adults step in. They instead seem to be patiently waiting in the wings for their moment to step in and comment upon the children's work instead.
The main antagonist devolved into a characature in this story as well. Her previous tretchery as a long-time librarian stealthily working for her own aims is mentioned, but now she's cartoonish instead of subtle. Oh, and the entire plot revolving around the Motherbook is diminished and then basically forgotten despite it's build up in the last two books.
The actiony ending could have been stronger as well. This author is very good at writing character pieces, dialogue, …
Most of the book felt stagnant but there are pockets of action that didn't quite work. The children, used to running amok on their adventures for the last two books, are suddenly chaperoned and yet continue to lead the efforts to address world-scale problems rather than have adults step in. They instead seem to be patiently waiting in the wings for their moment to step in and comment upon the children's work instead.
The main antagonist devolved into a characature in this story as well. Her previous tretchery as a long-time librarian stealthily working for her own aims is mentioned, but now she's cartoonish instead of subtle. Oh, and the entire plot revolving around the Motherbook is diminished and then basically forgotten despite it's build up in the last two books.
The actiony ending could have been stronger as well. This author is very good at writing character pieces, dialogue, and introspection, but seemed less practiced at large scale action. There should have been a greater sense of tension, beats that pulled the story forward quickly, and descriptions of the daring action. Instead each build-up of threat was immediately balanced by telling us about the counter plans already in motion. Choatic scenes of fighting are interrupted by dialogue without urgency, and the heroic actions are generically referred to without zooming in.
Overall this was a bit of a disappointment after the strength of the first two books.
The structure of this work was unbalanced, launching with a lot of personal anecdotes and then the world's fastest survey of the field before moving to individual issues in brief. I respect the idea of tying ethics to practicality, but I don't think this actually achieved the goal. It was left somewhere in between, neither educating, nor bridging academia to everyday life in a satisfying way.
Another fun romp with a diviner and his band of misfits. The stakes felt pretty high in this one and there was a nice assortment of new and returning characters.
When a banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, she risks the …
This took me a really long time to finish. The slow pacing led me to take breaks throughout, inserting other audiobooks in between. The story is engaging and familiar, but the deep characterization and introspection carry it well, even in long stretches without any action or plot movement.
The feel reminds me of Song of Achilles but it is even more brought away from scene work in the narrative. As I mentioned, the pacing is incredibly slow as a result, but the writing is rich without being verbose, beautiful without being flowery, and accessible despite being about gods and giants.
DNF. Despite excellent narration from R.C. Bray, the story was just not there. It leaned into a good-guy / bad-guy vibe using an awkward political divide that harkens back to the 70s and 80s and which doesn't work anymore. Characters had no dimension to them and the humor was anachronistic.
Well that was a waste of time. Nothing happens.
I think the charm may have worn off on this gimmick. I find myself tuning out for passages and not caring enough to go back and re-listen. The direction of the story is interesting in theory, and the characters are all charming in their own way, but it just feels haphazard. I'm not really invested in what happens next and despite a lot of action there isn't much drama.
I'm not sure if there are more books in the series or not, but I think I'm done.
From Soviet-era research laboratories to the present, traces the history of Russian intelligence and surveillance …
Holy Moly! This book does a phenomenal job laying out the current situations the world is facing regarding Russia, whether that is the invasion of Ukraine, disinformation campaigns across social media, information filtering to the people of Russia, or the playbook we saw used in the Trump campaign and presidency. These two journalists take us on a journey back to the soviet area and back again up through the 2014 Russian involvement in Donbas with an emphasis on communications, eavesdropping, filtering, control, kompromat, and in some cases murder. Seeing the history laid out, the way the FSB has operated and continues to do so, and spending time reviewing Putin's history, goals, and actions over the years, it's really not hard to extrapolate what came next or why we are seeing what we're seeing. Even as I write this I'm learning that Novaya Gazeta has suspended service, shutting down the last …
Holy Moly! This book does a phenomenal job laying out the current situations the world is facing regarding Russia, whether that is the invasion of Ukraine, disinformation campaigns across social media, information filtering to the people of Russia, or the playbook we saw used in the Trump campaign and presidency. These two journalists take us on a journey back to the soviet area and back again up through the 2014 Russian involvement in Donbas with an emphasis on communications, eavesdropping, filtering, control, kompromat, and in some cases murder. Seeing the history laid out, the way the FSB has operated and continues to do so, and spending time reviewing Putin's history, goals, and actions over the years, it's really not hard to extrapolate what came next or why we are seeing what we're seeing. Even as I write this I'm learning that Novaya Gazeta has suspended service, shutting down the last independent voice in journalism in the country and ending a decades long effort to continue speaking the truth in a climate that values secrecy. Dark days are ahead for Russia.
Jamie’s dream was to hit the big time at a New York tech start-up. Jamie’s …
As Scalzi says, this is a pop song of a novel. It's three minutes of light hearted joy. There's bad guys and monsters and cool action and science, but its mostly just a joyful and silly read.
Before he ruled Ravka, before he was the Darkling, he was just a lonely boy …
A quick and vibrant vingette in the life of a migrant Grisha family.
