by H.G. Wells (120 pgs)
Rating: 3
The time traveller travels into the distant future and returns to recount his experiences to his astonished friends after a dinner party. His tale is of a dichotomous society degenerating as a result of an inherent imbalance. As proof, he has only a couple of crumpled flowers and a few scars on his hands. Touching at times, and stereotypical of works written in the same period, The Time Machine is a intellectual musing of the distant future of man kind.
It's a fast read and probably deserves its status as a science fiction classic. The commentary on human nature and where Well's sees it leading us is interesting although I don't necessarily agree with his conclusion. The themes make it apparent that it is coming out of the onset of the industrial age.
Generally recommended. It's short and it's a classic...what do you have to lose?
Showing posts with label Rating 3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rating 3. Show all posts
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
17. Myth-ing Persons
by Robert Asprin (208 pgs)
Rating: 3
Skeeve and Aahz, newly ensconced in a 'humble' dwelling in the Bazaar at Deva have developed a reputation. Skeeve, at least, is learning that there are both pluses and minuses to having one. When three fugitives use Skeeve's back door to make a hasty escape, Aahz and Skeeve find that the Devan business association is holding them personally responsible.
Myth-ing Persons starts out promising but quickly bogs down. I'm not sure exactly why this one doesn't come off as well as the previous books, and I've thought about it quite a bit. It might be a flaw in the setting (Limbo) or it could be that the plot twists didn't fit together as well. On a certain level, I feel that there was a general lack of character development.
Still recommended as a part of the Myth series but I think generally it could be skipped with very little resulting confusion.
Rating: 3
Skeeve and Aahz, newly ensconced in a 'humble' dwelling in the Bazaar at Deva have developed a reputation. Skeeve, at least, is learning that there are both pluses and minuses to having one. When three fugitives use Skeeve's back door to make a hasty escape, Aahz and Skeeve find that the Devan business association is holding them personally responsible.
Myth-ing Persons starts out promising but quickly bogs down. I'm not sure exactly why this one doesn't come off as well as the previous books, and I've thought about it quite a bit. It might be a flaw in the setting (Limbo) or it could be that the plot twists didn't fit together as well. On a certain level, I feel that there was a general lack of character development.
Still recommended as a part of the Myth series but I think generally it could be skipped with very little resulting confusion.
Monday, January 29, 2007
8. God Emperor of Dune
by Frank Herbert (432 pgs)
Rating: 3
Leto II has inherited his father's empire but he inherited it hundreds of years ago. The consequences of his decision at the end of Children of Dune has extended his life and warped his body. With the long view of the nearly immortal, Leto has truly tortured his subjects economically among other things and has earned himself the title of tyrant. But being an Atreides, there's always a reason and it's always for the greater good.
God Emperor of Dune picks up after a significant lapse in time covering an economic crash and recovery. The plot is pretty straight forward but interesting. The writing style is a little dry. I did find it an interesting treatment of a nearly immortal character which strikes me as being fairly difficult to write. It's about as good as the previous book and worth reading if one's been following the series.
Recommend to those who are following the series
Rating: 3
Leto II has inherited his father's empire but he inherited it hundreds of years ago. The consequences of his decision at the end of Children of Dune has extended his life and warped his body. With the long view of the nearly immortal, Leto has truly tortured his subjects economically among other things and has earned himself the title of tyrant. But being an Atreides, there's always a reason and it's always for the greater good.
God Emperor of Dune picks up after a significant lapse in time covering an economic crash and recovery. The plot is pretty straight forward but interesting. The writing style is a little dry. I did find it an interesting treatment of a nearly immortal character which strikes me as being fairly difficult to write. It's about as good as the previous book and worth reading if one's been following the series.
Recommend to those who are following the series
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
7. Children of Dune
By Frank Herbert (416 pgs)
Rating: 3
Paul Muab-dib's twins are now children wise far beyond their years. Like their aunt Alia they were awakened to multiple lives of Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers before birth. Leto and Ghanima must face their grandmother Jessica and also struggle to maintain their identities to avoid being labeled Abomination. And all this while sidestepping the machinations of those around them, both well meaning and not.
Children of Dune follows the twins through the crisis of direction left by the death of their father and also through their crisis of identity. Each of them must fight the battle to remain human and themselves. It's a good book but not a great book. It's not as good as Dune but it is better than Dune Messiah. The continuation of the story begins to look like a Roman imperial saga but I still enjoyed it.
Recommended for Dune fans.
Rating: 3
Paul Muab-dib's twins are now children wise far beyond their years. Like their aunt Alia they were awakened to multiple lives of Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers before birth. Leto and Ghanima must face their grandmother Jessica and also struggle to maintain their identities to avoid being labeled Abomination. And all this while sidestepping the machinations of those around them, both well meaning and not.
Children of Dune follows the twins through the crisis of direction left by the death of their father and also through their crisis of identity. Each of them must fight the battle to remain human and themselves. It's a good book but not a great book. It's not as good as Dune but it is better than Dune Messiah. The continuation of the story begins to look like a Roman imperial saga but I still enjoyed it.
Recommended for Dune fans.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
4. Dune Messiah
by Frank Herbert (331 pgs)
Rating 3
Paul Muad'Dib is emperor and working to avert disaster for the human species. His mistress and love, Chani, is unable to conceive. Alia becomes more and more strange. There is a conspiracy a foot. And all of it, virtually every moment of it is foreseen by the emperor Paul. What if there were blind spots though? What if they found a way to get around the prognostication problem?
Dune Messiah is a continuation of Dune. Like Dune, it improves with rereading mainly because Herbert's writing style is so dense. The culture around Paul develops into a high tech cross between ancient Egyptian and Imperial Britain which is an interesting flavor. The story picks up very quickly after the end of Dune. There are a number of somewhat cynical religious themes and and great deal of character development.
Recommended if you liked Dune, if you didn't, you certainly won't see this one as an improvement.
Rating 3
Paul Muad'Dib is emperor and working to avert disaster for the human species. His mistress and love, Chani, is unable to conceive. Alia becomes more and more strange. There is a conspiracy a foot. And all of it, virtually every moment of it is foreseen by the emperor Paul. What if there were blind spots though? What if they found a way to get around the prognostication problem?
Dune Messiah is a continuation of Dune. Like Dune, it improves with rereading mainly because Herbert's writing style is so dense. The culture around Paul develops into a high tech cross between ancient Egyptian and Imperial Britain which is an interesting flavor. The story picks up very quickly after the end of Dune. There are a number of somewhat cynical religious themes and and great deal of character development.
Recommended if you liked Dune, if you didn't, you certainly won't see this one as an improvement.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
2. Timeline
by Micheal Crichton (512 pgs)
Rating 3
Quantum physics allows an unscrupulous billionaire to develop technology that allows time travel. Time travel specifically to feudal France. There are problems though and a archaeological team gets sent into the past to retrieve their mentor. It's not as simple as it seems though. Feudal France was not an easy place to survive in.
Timeline is a pretty typical Crichton book. The plot line was interesting, the characters were plastic, and the science sketchy...at best. That being said, I don't regret reading it. The history was very enthralling and seemed to be fairly well researched. If the characters were a little two dimensional, they were also quite plausible. The end is a little jarring but ties things together fairly well.
Recommended only if you have time on your hands. Not recommended as science fiction.
Rating 3
Quantum physics allows an unscrupulous billionaire to develop technology that allows time travel. Time travel specifically to feudal France. There are problems though and a archaeological team gets sent into the past to retrieve their mentor. It's not as simple as it seems though. Feudal France was not an easy place to survive in.
Timeline is a pretty typical Crichton book. The plot line was interesting, the characters were plastic, and the science sketchy...at best. That being said, I don't regret reading it. The history was very enthralling and seemed to be fairly well researched. If the characters were a little two dimensional, they were also quite plausible. The end is a little jarring but ties things together fairly well.
Recommended only if you have time on your hands. Not recommended as science fiction.
Friday, December 15, 2006
The Ratings
To make life easier for me I've also devised a rating system. Every book gets a rating of 1-5 and here's what it means. (adapted from it's original form from the beginning of last year.)
5 - I loved it, I'm going to own it, I am in fact going to buy multiple copies and promote this book by handing them out for free at church socials and company picnics.
4 - I liked it. I definitely want to have a copy in my library and recommend it to most people.
3 - I liked it well enough, if I see a cheap used copy of it I'll snag it for my collection. I would recommend this book to some people or for specific reasons.
2 - I didn't hate, didn't like it either. I wouldn't generally recommend it to most people.
1 - I hated it or severely disliked it. There has to be a serious problem with the writing or the subject matter for a book to get this rating. In the last 2 years I've only run across 2 or 3 of these. The likelyhood that one of these will appear on the blog is pretty low since...why waste time on something so bad?
5 - I loved it, I'm going to own it, I am in fact going to buy multiple copies and promote this book by handing them out for free at church socials and company picnics.
4 - I liked it. I definitely want to have a copy in my library and recommend it to most people.
3 - I liked it well enough, if I see a cheap used copy of it I'll snag it for my collection. I would recommend this book to some people or for specific reasons.
2 - I didn't hate, didn't like it either. I wouldn't generally recommend it to most people.
1 - I hated it or severely disliked it. There has to be a serious problem with the writing or the subject matter for a book to get this rating. In the last 2 years I've only run across 2 or 3 of these. The likelyhood that one of these will appear on the blog is pretty low since...why waste time on something so bad?
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