A bit of perspective on me to help you judge the review: I've been writing for quite a while, have some iNicely written. I liked the concise sections.
A bit of perspective on me to help you judge the review: I've been writing for quite a while, have some intent in the area, but have read little in it. My formal English education ended with my GCSE's (I veered towards the sciences, though I did well across the spectrum).
I enjoyed the tip about keeping a box of ideas on a particular subject (for some reason, though I tend to gather them in my head, or jot bits down, I never thought to conglomerate and file things in that fashion -- and a box makes it a bit more scrap-book like rather than filing, and so more fun). The inclusion about journalistic writing was nice too. I quite liked reading about his opinion on the `-' and a couple of other `small level' things too.
If you are an attentive reader (asking yourself as a writer what you can learn from what you read), and a free and critical writer with appropriate timing, and can take deal with criticism (if you haven't learnt that knack yet, then the section in this book on that is a good thing to read), I'd say that a good deal of the content would not be a surprise to you. That said, in some instances, even in such cases, it's still quite nice to read short sections on them as a means of reinforcement/giving you some short moment of reflection on those practices.
He self quoted himself, perhaps, a little too much at times (but you can't really blame him for being reflective or getting in the extra advert, I suppose!). But, he quoted a lot of other writers too as examples. Some I read, some I skimmed, some I skipped. When you are familiar with things, you really don't need to read the examples, unless they pique your interest for some reason. Most of the suggested exercises at the end of the sections are obvious extensions that come from the sections (though perhaps, wise inclusions, for the younger or `greener' readers with regards to self-motivated projects), although there were one or two interesting sounding ones. ...more
This is less a review and more a few random thoughts.
There were only a couple of things we heard of repeatedly (thankfully, because it annoys me when This is less a review and more a few random thoughts.
There were only a couple of things we heard of repeatedly (thankfully, because it annoys me when the writer keeps reminding the reader of things -- it's like the nagging of a well meaning wife or mother (not you, mum, of course...)) : Arasaki's lack of talent with a sword (that last mention was approaching the nagging level); Mara's temple etiquette/mental preparation. Upon finishing, it just occurs to me that we are never once told what exactly that latter is (we were given some quotation of advice offered to Mara by one of the sisters early on, but that's about it)! The writer/s simply liked to mention that it either was working or not working at any given time. I guess people more often than not might somehow take for granted sufficiently that a period of quietude and some sort of religious discipline -clearing head/meditation- would offer some aid to maintaining one's `cool'. And so, they would get away with it a little more easily.
Information with regards to culture is given just so that the enveloping of at least some of the plotting in the last two thirds of the book is not entirely obvious until you read it. The first third is a bit more hand-holdy (someone below mentioned the word `clunky', which is not an unreasonable description), or like that same wife as mentioned above in brackets meticulously making those mysteries of the female/an individual's like's excessively apparent after the fact as a reward. But, it's still by far terrible -- everyone after-all enjoys that self satisfied `i got that before it was mentioned' feeling every now and then.
There were a few nice wise-sounding quotes and opinions (which I did not bookmark so I can't divulge of an answer to) that weren't entirely unoriginal or were presented nicely, which always makes me happy. It makes one feel like one is getting something out of a book that is worthwhile -- or, at least, it makes `this one' feel so.
After reading many books that were not intrigue-y or of a machinating nature, I think I enjoyed this all the more. It's probably a 3-4 with the `clunky' beginning. I think it's likely some individuals giving it a 2 are probably more into louder, action-packed things (there is `action' in this by the way), over intrigue that takes development.
I think I personally liked the strong, capable female character. Although, most certainly in the first third (probably longer) she was appearing a little too capable to be believable. This, she was probably rescued from in other parts of the book more as a result of being put into situations where doubt arose, rather than this actually not being the case. But, it worked to halt the, `yeah right' impression, so that's fine by me, and, honestly, the ending of the book probably would have been very different if this were not the case given the nature of the `games of the council' and her initial situation. ...more
For me, this is between a 2 and a 3. It's perfectly well written - as one would probably expect from the author. The plot is quite simple; the `world'For me, this is between a 2 and a 3. It's perfectly well written - as one would probably expect from the author. The plot is quite simple; the `world' is more honestly `harsh'/rough than idyllic (unlike some fantasy stories, not that there is necessarily anything bad about this, just if you were after something a bit more `dreamlike' right this moment, this might not be the book to pick up), and there's not a huge amount to it (in terms of intricacy or quantity of information about it), though, the story itself is not feel like it's necessarily omitting or missing anything; there are a few nice enough bits of writing scattered to make you note them upon reading, but nothing really overtly uniquely or originally insightful; there were a handful of clumsy wordings that were a bit confusing, but they still suited the characters and the book.
It veres nearer 2 stars because the beginning, in the worlds honest roughness and simplicity of the story/plot, it feels a little wanting. Though, this might be biased by the fact that I started reading it being in the mood to get into a nice chunky multi-part epic, which, being a short novel, this most certainly is not. I didn't really start to grasp bits of a connection to the characters until later in the novel.
I had a couple of misconceptions in the story, which might not have helped: when it was mentioned about the main characters eye's, I thought that he was physically blind; even after the first reference to the fact that the main character was a he, my brain didn't quite want to accept it, because it had just adopted it for a `she' throughout the text. Perhaps both were due to me not reading it particularly scrupulously.
The author very clearly says this is not a non-fiction book, though some would choose to class it as that.
Some of the technical bits in it aren't quitThe author very clearly says this is not a non-fiction book, though some would choose to class it as that.
Some of the technical bits in it aren't quite fully correct, and there are a few small logical gaps. So, if you want to read it as a non-fiction book, it probably gets 1 star.
Whilst those niggles do seem to build up over the middle of the book, for the last part of the book he switches back to discussing more social/intuitive based subjects that people are less likely to be able to say he's wrong or not quite right. Thus, making one momentarily forget the build up of those minor irritations -- I would imagine that this was likely intentional on the authors part. Although, it should be stated, I personally didn't find anything particularly piercingly insightful in this bit: there were, however, a few nicely phrased bits.
I did enjoy the realisation of the basic idea of what `God' was in this fictional place. And I did enjoy some of the creative arguments, where there wasn't too many niggles to drag them down. And, that is why it gets a 3. To me, some of the best books are in some sense of the word (or at least for some part of it) `thought experiments', so, I'm not sure that spin of novelty is really justified.
To me, the ending is actually about a page before it ends in the pdf I had. And, I liked the finesse of it, except that, the assertion it left you with, isn't justified or explained to the reader and, didn't make any intrinsic sense in itself.
Potential readers might want to note that it is almost entirely just one long conversation, in one particular place, which may not be to everyone's tastes. ...more
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