Geofferson

Finishing up:

hanshotfirst1138

Gone Girl- Gillian Flynn's, the laid off EW writer turned screenwriter who's living all of our dreams, giant controversial blockbuster, a massive, twisting potboiler mix of plot twists (though few as surprising as the author seems to think), epistolary interludes, and unreliable narrators. An examination of marriage, a malevolently dark social satire, a dark thriller, a twisted psychological examination, and a character study from hell. The prose is very much in the blockbuster Stephen King mold: a little flat, slightly vulgar, and very, very pop culture drunk. It's a great page turner, even if the plot doesn't stand up to much scrutiny. For all of its thematic underpinnings, it's basically all surfaces, plot twists and cliffhangers, though there's a dark satirical edge if you look. Too many characters are thinly sketched of just plot devices, and too many of the narrative implausibilities don't feel like they're part of the thesis as much as just shock twists. Basically a twisted slice of pulp before it's anything else though, and it gives you lots to chew on. If nothing else, it's a hell of a good argument for staying single.

DJLinus

I'm on vacation this week and that's when I tend to burn through books. Finished:





Just started:

PAG

Just finished:

writer106

Ginwen

EEz28

Finished:


Holy shit I loved this book. It was a great beginning to a trilogy and I will pre-order the next 2 as soon as they become available. Definitely check it out if you're into alternate history sci-fi or even if you're not.

Started:

Nth Power

Started on the Amber series a little while back. On the second book now:

wishbone

PAG

Just finished:

Geofferson

Neitzl

Just finished two:

and


Great books. Really tore right through them. Supposedly becoming a Tim Burton movie. I hope he doesn't ruin it, but I can see how this is right up his alley.

Next:

I think.

brainee

Finished:



Probably my second favorite of the series after the first (Patient Zero). Dragon Factory felt like it was trying too hard to throw in everything but the kitchen sink, and came across overblown and ridiculous to me at times. King of Plagues was surprisingly mundane ... a mostly generic anti-terrorist thriller with very little of the "weird" that the first books led me to expect the series would deliver.

Assassin's Code got back to the "Jack Bauer versus monsters" style that I enjoyed about the first two books. The thousand-year back story explaining an alternative history to the Christian-Muslim conflict was interesting. And I liked that Joe Ledger seemed more human (he actually gets his ass kicked in hand-to-hand combat a couple of times).

movieking

Finally finished the Southern Reach trilogy, and it was not enjoyable. I'd recommend staying away from it. It had some moments, and I wanted to see how it all ended, but really disappointed in it.



Might try this next:

Jason Bovberg

That's a bummer to hear! Lots of press around those last year. I've got 'em waiting for me on my shelf, but you've definitely lowered my expectations...

Matto1020

Finally picked up a Kindle Paperwhite and one of my resolutions this year was to read more.

Just stared:

DJLinus

Started last night:

PAG

Just finished:

writer106

Greg MacGuffin

Finished:

Ginwen

I think I'm going to read this next

brainee

Maybe it was a mistake to dive right into this after finishing (and really enjoying) Assassin's Code. The ingredients were all there for this to be really good. UFOs, aliens, conspiracies, alien-human superpowered hybrids, Men in Black (with ray guns that make people explode with a single shot) ... all against threats of WWIII with China, aliens kidnapping the POTUS, and a super-tsunami that could kill a billion people ... it sounds like a great story to pit Joe Ledger and the DMS against. Yeah, this was fast-enough reading. But by the end I felt a bit let down. The villains would alternate from acting like super-geniuses to complete dumb-asses to move the plot along. And while it was telegraphed from a mile away, I didn't appreciate Maberry making the final "boss" fight into a joke (and a joke ripped off from a much better action-adventure story at that).

Nick Danger

Tom Kratman - A Desert Called Peace.



I downloaded it for free after hearing about the Sad Puppies / Rabid Puppies fight at the Hugo Awards.

It's not very good. It has a political agenda, and any plot or characterization takes back seat to that. Muslims are irredeemably evil. The UN and other international organizations want a one world government with the ultimate goal of making us slaves. The villains, if they're weak are homosexuals, and if they're strong are heterosexuals. The military solution always works if the damn civilians stay out of the way. If 30,000 of the best people Earth has to offer -- people who are psychologically stable, PhD educated, and eager to explore space -- if they are put into an interstellar colonization ship, within a few years they will exterminate each other in religious wars. And if Tom Kratman had been in charge, the invasion of Iraq would have been finished in a year.

movieking

Ginwen