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bbbhltz

bbbhltz@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 1 month ago

Hard Sci-fi, Dystopia, Space, High Fantasy and Speculative Fiction are my drugs.

I like to make lists and write stuff on my blog.

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Master of the Revels (The Borough Press) 4 stars

In this brilliant sequel to The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.—an enthralling, history-bending adventure …

Surprising suspenseful

4 stars

Hard to put down. I was deep into plot and characters. The story is absurd, but that was what I needed.

As a fan of dystopia and speculative hard sci-fi, it was great to have a lighthearted read like this. I like history, but am not a history nerd. I thought Shakespeare was fine as a student, and I am an English professor, but I am not at all a Shakespeare nerd. History and Shakespeare are two main themes here and it didn't bother me one bit to learn some interesting tidbits along the way.

Sure, I wouldn't have read the first book in the series had Neal Stephenson not been the coauthor. I admit that. I am certainly glad that the story continued on here.

Hope to read another absurd story in this series someday.

Upgrade (Hardcover, 2022, Ballantine Books) 3 stars

“You are the next step in human evolution.”

At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if …

Very good, but not his best work

3 stars

What began as a story similar to others that I have read quickly transformed into an interesting read. As usual, Crouch's timing and pacing is great, as is the character development. I would have liked it to have been a little longer.

Overall, I prefer some of Crouch's other works.

La nuit du faune (French language, Albin Michel) 4 stars

Au sommet d’une montagne vit une petite fille nommée Astrée, avec pour seule compagnie de …

Petit Prince revisité

4 stars

Qui sommes-nous ? Pourquoi sommes-nous là ? Où allons-nous ?

Ce n'est pas « Dessines-moi un mouton » et il n'y a pas de planète d'ivrogne, mais le concept est similaire. Un voyage à travers l'espace et le temps rempli de philosophie.

Sea of Tranquility (EBook, Knopf) 5 stars

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled …

Absolutely Meta

5 stars

Fantastic to a point I did not expect. Very meta, and covers aspects that took me by surprise. I rarely read the descriptions of books written by authors that I have read before, and here it totally paid off. If you have read the previous two works by this author, you will like where this book takes you.

Termination Shock (Hardcover, 2021, William Morrow) 4 stars

Termination Shock takes readers on a thrilling, chilling visit to our not-too-distant future – a …

Great, but that was to be expected

4 stars

Ever since Snow Crash, Stephenson has had me hooked. So, I can say only good things about this book. Great story, great characters, etc., etc.

I do feel that in a few years, we might (very strong might) find ourselves speaking about this book the same way we speak about the aforementioned work: as some sort of prophetic vision of the future and how we will come to deal with climate change.

I also have to say that the author sneaks in some current affairs. There are things mentioned that may require future readers to check Wikipedia, and there are a few nuanced opinions too.

I took off one star because I feel like the story wasn't quite ready to end and it all rapped up nest and tidy in the swiftest way possible.

Project Hail Mary (Hardcover, 2021, Ballantine Books) 5 stars

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity …

Pure entertainment

5 stars

I think this will be the book I recommend the most this year. It is entertaining from beginning to end. If you like sci-fi or space stories, read it. If you don't, read it anyway because you will laugh. It is very rare that I tear through a book in the span of a day, but, and I apologise for the cliché, I could not put this book down.

Digital Minimalism (Hardcover, 2019, Portfolio) 3 stars

Digital minimalists are all around us. They're the calm, happy people who can hold long …

Common Sense and Anecdotes

3 stars

If I had finished this back when I started (2019) I would have lived it. Now, in 2021, a lot of what Newport talks about seems like common sense. Beyond the advice, the anecdotes of the digital minimalists that he encountered while preparing this book are à propos and well-chosen to highlight the underlying call to action: quit faffing around on your phone, stop with the constant Facebooking, put your phone down and do something else that keeps your hands busy or puts you in a social situation.