This is a children's book, right? Like, written for small people who aren't fully developed emotionally? And yet it kicks the ass out of anything I'veThis is a children's book, right? Like, written for small people who aren't fully developed emotionally? And yet it kicks the ass out of anything I've read in contemporary YA writing.
The plot is fairly limited--Will and his friends, having found sanctuary from the alien Tripods in book one, now join a mission to infiltrate an alien city to gather intelligence on their enemy. But the cities are built for the alien masters, with artificially boosted gravity, poisonous atmosphere, and stifling temperatures. The author makes you feel every bit of the misery our characters suffer as they try to remain undercover as mind-controlled servants of the aliens while also hunting for some bit of information that could potentially turn the tables against them.
I read some of Christopher's adult fiction in college, but man, I wish I'd found these when I was a kid....more
I enjoyed the first book in this series. I described the second as a misfire. This one felt like having a board swung into my face, over and over, forI enjoyed the first book in this series. I described the second as a misfire. This one felt like having a board swung into my face, over and over, for about two weeks.
McDonald has clearly completely lost whatever the plot was: if the first book is about a clan of lunar industrialists being laid low by their enemies, and the second is about the forgotten son of that family finding devious ways to fight back and restore his clan's hold on power, then this one is about...whether his son lives at home or not? Or maybe whether the moon turns into a big finance bro data center or remains a habitat? Honestly, neither of these plot lines seem to matter that much and it feels like the narrative centers on them in the end only by default.
There's plenty of incident over the interminable length of this book. There will be countless knife fights amidst barely-defined factions settling scores we never care about. There will be parties and board meetings and betrayals and affairs and none of it feels like it matters at all. There will be major new elements introduced (so, there's been a university of super advanced academic ninjas on the dark side of the moon that's only now being mentioned?) and old characters whose arcs wither away mysteriously (like the woman who left earth for the moon in the last book only to decide at the end to return home, and who in this book decides she actually wants to go back to the moon, only to last be seen on her way to blast off without ever paying off her decision.
Honestly, I read this while recovering from surgery, and it was far more painful than being cut open....more
I don't have that much to say about another adequate 'Slow Horses' book, but allow me to draw your attention to this bit of the plot summary blurb thaI don't have that much to say about another adequate 'Slow Horses' book, but allow me to draw your attention to this bit of the plot summary blurb that Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ uses: "There are bad actors everywhere, and they usually get their comeuppance before the credits roll. But politics is a dirty business, and in a world where lying, cheating and backstabbing are the norm, sometimes the good guys can find themselves outgunned."
Yeah, this is obvious AI shitput, and neither Mick Herron nor his publisher should be pleased at being represented this way.
NB: one minor addition: if you're going to spend seven books establishing Jackson Lamb as effectively omniscient, you're not then going to be able to mine much tension out of a setup that depends on Lamb overlooking something obvious happening under his nose. No one who's read one of these books before is going to believe he could make that particular mistake, so it's wasted pages trying to act like things are veering toward disaster....more
The most dangerous character to be in any Poirot novel is the brash, obnoxious loudmouth. Invariably that person is going to be secretly in line for aThe most dangerous character to be in any Poirot novel is the brash, obnoxious loudmouth. Invariably that person is going to be secretly in line for an inheritance, or they're going to trigger the wrong person's jealous rage, or someone is going to bump them off for sheer spite.
The second most dangerous person to be in any Poirot novel is the murderer, because nothing is more gauche than an accused killer being arrested, indicted, and tried. Inevitably you'll be given a moment alone with some cyanide, or a pistol, and the expectation is you'll do the necessary to ensure that you don't put everyone else though the embarrassment of a public hearing. Or you'll suddenly develop a heart condition that ensures you won't survive your first nights in prison. Either way, it's much more cricket than the justice system, wouldn't you say, old chap?...more
Read in coordination with the "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back." What an absolutely joyless Frankenstein's Monster of parts ripped off of better storieRead in coordination with the "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back." What an absolutely joyless Frankenstein's Monster of parts ripped off of better stories. ...more
Seventh time must be a charm, because Mick Harron's finally written one of these books that didn't make me want to pull my hair out by the time I'd fiSeventh time must be a charm, because Mick Harron's finally written one of these books that didn't make me want to pull my hair out by the time I'd finished it. He still has a weird tendency toward flowery language that can obscure the action he's describing, and as usual, every bad thing can be traced back to the government itself, but we get two different plot lines with clear action and some actual tension about the outcomes. And if it's a bit of a cheap payoff to things that were set up in the first book, it's nonetheless interesting what it might develop into in the next one....more
It's an unfair rating system that causes me to group "The Last Murder at the End of the World," which I did not like, with "Death in the Air," which IIt's an unfair rating system that causes me to group "The Last Murder at the End of the World," which I did not like, with "Death in the Air," which I hated enormously and which I think justifies the author being noogied mercilessly once daily for the rest of his life, but don't hate the player, hate the game.
I admire the big swings that Stuart Turton takes. He's clearly a creative guy and wants to bring something different to the mystery genre. In this book, though, I think there's excess of plot device that turns what ought to be an enjoying page-turner into a slog of world-building.
Spoilers follow.
(view spoiler)[A book with a colony of people menaced by a fog of lethal insects experiencing a murder that threatens to drop their defenses and kill everyone is sufficiently high concept without adding in a mind-reading AI helpmate. And machines that extract your memories by drilling a hole in your head. And magic memory gems that are made by the drilling machines (but also just produced naturally sometimes). And a secret doomsday bunker with sci-fi technology. And a collection of frozen people in tubes. And a race of humanoid worker bees with built-in expiration dates. And a plant that grows babies. And and and. It's too much. At a certain point it just feels like Harry Potter nonsense and it left me completely disengaged from the core mystery. (hide spoiler)]
I didn't hate, but I didn't like it, and it didn't make me eager for the next Stuart Turton novel, which is a shame, because I think he's a solid craftsman. Better luck next time, my man....more
As a connoisseur of nuclear apocalypse fiction and being fascinated by the idea of overwintering at the South Pole, I'm squarely in the target audiencAs a connoisseur of nuclear apocalypse fiction and being fascinated by the idea of overwintering at the South Pole, I'm squarely in the target audience for this book, but alas, I found it to be a bit of a stinker.
The premise is solid: a scientist in the midst of a marital crisis is called to participate in a vital expedition to the South Pole at a time of rising global tensions. While on a solo trek, she loses contact with the outside world except for a repeating BBC World Service bulletin indicating that nuclear weapons have been used against the UK and the extent of the damage is unknown. Our hero must then try to make her way to safety not knowing if her crew is still alive or if there's still a wider world left to save with the data she's gathered.
The execution is sloppy. There are errors in the science. The main character at times come off as a bit idiotic: when she arrives at base and doesn't find a full support team, she asks if they'll be coming on the next plane; when told they won't, she asks if they'll be coming by boat instead; she then asks how they'll be arriving, as if it wasn't already obvious that they are not coming. We're also told multiple times how she mouths the words of the BBC announcement every time it airs, which is probably meant to convey the effect of isolation on her psyche but becomes ridiculous in repetition.
And finally, the plot twists toward the end are beyond idiotic. It's obvious fairly quickly that the one surviving crew member who comes to rescue her is a villain hired to stop her research from getting out. His utterly insane plan involves poisoning one member of the team, allowing the expedition to continue when he was fully empowered to prevent it, and then...faking a nuclear attack so that he could drive one teammate to despair and suicide so he could pursue the hero and eliminate her at his leisure, despite this meaning he'll be stranded alone and without help in the harshest environment on earth for five months, at the end of which he'll have to account for how everyone else died.
Sheesh. Absolute nonsense. Not recommended....more
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