There were a lot of ideas in this book: multiple alien races, genetic luck, boosterspice to extend human life, and not to mention a giant Ringworld with a collapsed civilization...but everything is scratched on the surface. The majority of the story is Louis, Nessus, Teela, and Speaker traveling across Ringworld to discover how they can repair their damaged ship. The ending isn't quite satisfying with so many unanswered questions.The theme of genetic luck is interesting, but it seemed a bit far-fetched to me. It would seem that luck is a trait that is substituting for something else. One of the characters refer to it as psychic luck at some point. Makes me think that it's not so much escaping the odds as it is the ability to somehow control them unconsciously. I wish it were explored more!
There are really strong gender roles in this novel, especially by the closing with the introduction of two new ones. I would have preferred Teela to be more independent. If she was so lucky, why does she need a man to rely on?
Sanshiro is the story of the titular character's time in Tokyo as a university student and the relationships he develops. Sanshiro is a naive, country boy, out of place in the ego-centric, increasingly Westernized Tokyo. There isn't a particular plot that is tying everything together: Sanshiro is a bildungsroman. I enjoyed the subtly of Sanshiro's slow change over the course of the novel. He eventually understands the true nature other individuals in his life, Yojiro, Professor Hirota, and Mineko, when at the beginning he was truly bewildered. I think Sanshiro's experiences ring true for almost everyone and that is what makes this story so wonderful.
Sanshiro is less intense than Kokoro. However, the character development and their emotional interplay makes Sanshiro just as engrossing. Sanshiro is a self-assuming, lovable character, trying to understand his emotions and leave his rural heritage behind. Just as in Kokoro, the main character has self-doubt about the others around him.
I really liked Haruki Murakami's introduction in the edition I wrote insightful, so if you are a Murakami fan, you may want to read the intro to gain some perspective.
Paul of Dune falls flat and does little to add to the complexity of Paul's Jihad. The book alternates between Paul as a young boy, before Arrakis, and the beginning of his reign as emperor. The sections of young Paul are filled with action and provides the political backstory of Dune, whereas sections of Emperor Paul provide contrast with Paul and his father Leto.I thought the novel was overly long and to be honest, it doesn't leave any surprises because we all know what happens to all the characters later on. In that manner, the suspense is lacking. I think the novel would have been better if it focused only on young Paul, even though those sections were fairly simplistic and straightforward as to what would happen. Additionally, little was said or explained about Paul's prescience and future plans.
Fenring, Margot, and Marie were a snooze as the main "villains" and the ending was anti-climatic. I did like reading Irulan's perspective. I thought she was the most dimensional out of all the characters, although she wasn't particularly complicated anyway.
A potential reader would be better off reading a summary rather than sloughing through the text. There isn't much reward at the end. There was barely even time spent in the desert when the characters were on Arrakis!
Heavy Time begins with Morrie Bird and Ben Pollard, miners in the Asteroid Belt, who happen upon a wrecked vessel in space. Venturing inside, they find Dekker, who has been unconscious for days. He is barely alive and is completely disoriented, yelling for his partner Cory, who is no where to be found. The answer as to what truly happened is yet to be known. Dekker grapples between the slippery grasp on his memory, the mental trauma that has overtaken him, and the supposed reports from the ASTEX corporation.The ending of Heavy Time is worth a read, but it is a long journey to get there. Cherryh focuses heavily on character development. For some, parts of the book may drag or seem aimless due to this focus. For myself, I really enjoy the time Cherryh spends on making each character unique. I don't think there is ever anything that seems like fluff; all the scenes have a purpose. I thought Dekker's psychological trauma was well done, and I liked the distinction of the rab speech from the others.
Once any action scenes kick in, it is imperative to pay attention to every word because you just might miss something. However, this isn't an action-focused book - it is more along the lines of a mystery.
What I like about Cherryh's work is that she doesn't dumb anything down. She doesn't do long exposition explaining a world - she sets you right in the middle of things, just like you belong there.
The ending of Dragonfly in Amber bumped it up a star for me. What a cliffhanger!However, much of the book dragged on, especially while Claire and Jamie are in France. Although the basic plot point is to stop Prince Charles from becoming King and to stop the Battle of Culloden, there weren't many minor plotlines that kept me entertained, and because of that, it seemed like the book took an extraordinarily long time for anything to happen. Additionally, I thought that Jamie and Claire's interactions with the French court didn't seem particularly thwarting or subversive. More like they kept going to dinner parties and discussing how they must keep showing their support for the Jacobites, but not doing anything directly. I had wished there was more involvement, more challenges and missteps in France.
I appreciated that Dragonfly in Amber feels more like historical fiction that Outlander, and I enjoyed Gabaldon's attention to detail. She does well interspersing little bits of historical fact when it comes to description of a room or clothing. However, I did get somewhat confused with the thread of the Jacobites and Charles, but I guess that is due to the fact that the characters were playing both sides.
I must not have paid attention to the intelligence of Jamie in Outlander because I was extremely surprised how cosmopolitan he is. I had always thought of him as all brawn! I have very little background in Scottish history, but I wonder how often someone in Jamie's position would have ended up studying in France?
I liked this better than Outlander. I didn't mind the beginning. I prefer that things aren't always easy and straightforward.
Maybe it is just me, but I can never seem to connect to Claire. She is intelligent, resourceful, and commanding, but she always is wound-up too tight, too restrained.
The Blithedale Romance is the story of Miles Coverdale and his summer living at the commune-like community of Blithedale Farm. They spend their days working on the small farm, hoping to realize the efforts of living simply without the involvement of society. He befriends three important characters, Hollingsworth, Zenobia, and Priscilla, and a love “square” develops. Hollingsworth is the natural leader of the community and greatly devoted to prison and criminal reform; Zenobia is wealthy and beautiful and unapologetically critical; Priscilla is gentle and mysterious. Miles cannot help but become intrigued by them, but he has promised to leave the farm at the end of the summer, as it is only an experiment for him.The Blithedale Romance seems quite mundane for the first half of the novel. The commune isn’t very exciting and there isn’t any devil-worshiping or satanic rites or some strange mystery occurring. That was difficult to get out of my imaginative mind because of some recent movies I’ve seen and the fact I kept expecting some sort of Nancy Drew plotline with a secret staircase.
Much of the story is dialogue between Miles and other characters, so it is easy to become bored and wonder where Hawthorne is intending everything to go. Remember, the focus is on the romance, not on the farm, which I kept expecting the latter to be of more importance.
Everything exciting happens after Miles leaves the farm when the summer ends. I won’t go into it because of spoilers, but then it becomes a page turner and things are reveled about important characters. The Blithedale Romance essentially is a book that gives you everything at the end, and makes you want to go back and re-read the tedious beginning to see if there was anything you could have picked up on. Although these sorts of stories are always interesting, it is difficult to become invested if the beginning was such a snooze.
I never found myself really enraptured with the story. The main character, Mori, is very likeable and her position as a social outcast with an intense love of books is endearing. However, the presence of the fairies and magic was very, very lightly involved. It makes me wonder why it was even there in the first place.Its references somewhat reminded me of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but in Among Others, it is much less intense. The majority of the books are science fiction classics, and if you don't have any experience with them, it would be hard to connect to the parts of the story which involve them.
I suppose this is magical realism, but there is barely any magic in the story. It is mentioned, but very haphazardly and disjointed. Kind of like, what's the point? I think it may have been better off ditching the magic and sticking to the bookworm teenager, but then, that's already been done before.
I would have liked the magic to be more prominent. I thought the conflict with the mother was detached in the background, even though it was the main conflict that should have been driving the plot. Mori never gets into a difficult situations. Due to this, I felt a bit bored at times, as the book dragged on about the normal side of her teenage life, without getting particularly intense.
For real magical realism, there are better authors who weave the fantasy and realism together more expertly. I got the feeling in Among Others the fantasy and reality were very separated.
I could not get into this story. I thought the narrator was very detached from the whole purpose of the novel, which is supposed to be a satire, or at least a commentary on the British businessman. I don't think there are really any profound statements that occurred and it made me think that Wells was attempting to write literature in the style of his contemporaries and didn't quite measure up.I thought the romantic relationships were misplaced. They didn't seem to fit into plot well, almost like an afterthought to show the true nature of the narrator. The beginning was long, cumbersome, and didn't add much. Tono-Bungay would have worked well as a short story. It just seemed to keep going on and on and on.
I wasn't impressed. I don't think it was like Dickens at all; these characters aren't particularly memorable, in fact it reminded me of the cumbersome "The Way of All Flesh" by Butler, but far less poetically written.
I don't think it is a particularly great commentary, although the ending is depressing. Tono-Bungay has a hint of science fiction, but it seemed as if Wells was attempting to write something that he had a half-hearted interest in, which is reflected in George, whose emotional reflection is rather narrow. Simply compare this book to all the other British literature of the same time period and ask yourself, does it really measure up? After recently reading the Forsyte Saga, published not long after this, Tono-Bungay is exceedingly dull.
Although I really enjoyed Bridge of Birds, I thought that some of the magic had gone with The Story of the Stone. The motivation of the characters in Stone is shallow, and they're acting like detectives in a rather simplified story compared to the predecessor. The emotional connection of Number Ten Ox to the story is missing. There isn't the personal link that drove the characters to every crazy situation and mishap. There is less inspiration.The secondary characters weren't so full of personality. Even the characters that end up being very important, never caught my eye until the last few pages. Most of the scenes take place in the same area, there is less travel.
The expedition into Hell was confusing and seemed rather unnecessary, and it drove the plot out farther.
I was disappointed by Stone, and I don't think I am going to read the next one, as the reviews for that say it is even weaker than this one.
After finishing Merchanter's Luck, I was interested to see how Rimrunners would turn out. Bet Yeager is a really different character and I found myself rooting for her right from the beginning. She is a former Mazian marine that ends up on Thule after the disastrous events occurring at Pell Station in Downbelow Station. She is tough and determined, full of pride - pride that is starting to wear down, after many homeless nights and scarce food. She ends up on the merchanter ship Loki, an odd ship that doesn't have the typical family crew. The story continues her relationship with the crew and the events that unfold over Loki's true intentions.I would recommend this book to someone who is looking for a sci-fi set in space on a ship that is more focused on character interaction and social situations rather than action.
My biggest issue with Rimrunners is that is doesn't read like a developed story. It is more like a very long short story. Much of the plot is focused on Bet and NG, the latter being a character I never really understood, and I often found him annoying. However, I thought it was interesting that Bet was immediately attracted to the outcast. Although at the very end some intriguing events play out, the middle is a lot of fluff, and makes you wonder what Cherryh was getting at. However, I enjoy Cherryh's excellent character development, and her take on social interactions. As I mentioned before, NG was an enigma to me. Did he have some sort of PTSD of some sort? Anxiety attacks? Cherryh always has been quite elusive to giving all the details.
I would like to see Bet in some future stories. Particularly ones with a stronger plot more in terms of Downbelow Station.
I didn't like this as much as Dragonsong. Menolly is finally at Harper Hall, beginning to learn music. There isn't too much of a plot or conflict, other than the difficulties of fitting in when you are the new person, and other girls being jealous. It is a quick, easy read. I was kind of hoping for a larger conflict in the world of Pern overall that Menolly would become involved in.
I though Jaxom had the personality and mannerisms of a 12 year old, and I thought he was that age, until later on with the fieldgirl. So he is in his late teens, early twenties? I had the impression on Pern that most people grow up and mature rapidly because of the constant threat of Thread. The groaniest, whinest boy gets the smartest dragon of all Pern? I will give him credit for trying to do the right thing without the glory.Ruth as a dragon was very interesting, and was set apart from the other dragons, who all seem to be very similar in their thoughts and attitudes. I wonder what this will mean for the small eggs in the future? Will they be broken open to be hatched?
I liked the appearance of Menolly, who I thought seemed completely different from the Harper Halls books. And the romantic interest with Robinton? I got kind of weird thoughts thinking about how Menolly came into maturity around a lot of older men and few women. She seemed a lot more forceful and facetious.
The book lost some focus after the plot with the Oldtimers was resolved. The ending was really, really intriguing and I wish they would have explored this more, instead of leading a cliffhanger for the next book.
Compared to Dragonflight and Dragonquest, Dragonsong is more young adult oriented. I think McCaffrey does much better in this style because she focuses on the emotions and motivations of the main character, Menolly, rather than being caught up with the plot.This is a great book for teens because it features a protagonist that has a deep passion for music, but is ostracized by her family and community, and must practice in secret. I think this is something most teens and young adults can relate to - really wanting to pursue something but having others stand in your way and put you down.
Menolly is pragmatic and hopeful. I enjoyed her character immensely. I thought it was realistic the range of emotions she went through, and she did grow throughout the story. I think it's unrealistic for a young character to be constantly defiant. At some point everyone gets downhearted and depressed when the odds are stacked against them. I also liked how there wasn't a romance story or a boy that was interested in Menolly. I think that would have detracted from Dragonsong because the book is about a young girl finding her place. A girl can always do it on her own. Doesn't always need a boy!
Dragonsong takes place in the same time as Dragonflight and there are some references to one of the hatchings in Dragonflight. Other than that, if you are following the main Pern storyline, missing this book isn't going to confuse you later on.
The Smallest Dragonboy is a short story by Anne McCaffrey in the Dragonriders of Pern universe. It is truly a very short story, there isn't a lot that happens, but it is a heartwarming story of Keevan, who wishes to be a dragonrider. Reading this short story isn't integral to any of the plotting in the Pern series. The only thing that you would need to know if you wanted to skip this, is that dragons don't always pick a rider if no one is suitable.
It was nice to read something that was character driven, and shows McCaffrey had been improving since the original Dragonflight. I hope Keevan comes up again later on in the series.
I have finally reached the end of the Forsyte Saga, after taking a bit of a break 2/3rds of the way through. Although the novel spans different generations and characters, the true main character is Soames. The focus on a character who is obsessed with property and privilege, thinks everyone is wronging him, and has limited emotional capacity, is an intriguing angle. Although Soames is deplorable, his persistence to be loved and admired is endearing. He doesn't do anything to warrant love and is constantly in conflict as to what is wrong with other people. Soames is blind to his own emotional handicaps. As much of the other Forsytes suffer from the inability to express themselves, Soames never admits he has a problem throughout the whole book. Galsworthy portrays Soames in a sympathetic manner, however. I should have disliked him, but I was engaged by his character.
The full circle from the Old Forsytes to the newest generation shows the how the family gets over its fixation on property and things, and moves to the real backbones of life: love. It's no coincidence that Jon and Fleur are opposites of their ancestors. Galsworthy does well in showing the transition.
The writing is very beautiful, especially anything nature oriented. I never found any portion of the story meandering or boring. All the parts fit in nicely and were purposeful. Galsworthy gave much thought and personality to all of the characters in the Forsyte Saga. There are many characters in the beginning, but it is not too difficult to keep them straight after awhile, as only a few are focused on.
I thought it was interesting that even though Irene had such a large part in the story, she did not much perspective from her end. Galsworthy really did stick to just the true Forsytes. I also liked how Fleur was a great anthithesis to Soames's character.
The Forsyte Saga is a great classic because it is dynamic. The main conflict is the family. Everything else is a backdrop.