Category: Books

Wool & Shift by Hugh Howey

~ Veselin ~ 8 Comments

The two big books from this small pile are Wool and Shift. I still don’t have the final, third book about The Silo.

It looks like I’m altering between post-apocalyptic books and fantasies about necromancers. Could it be me or just that writers are currently only succeeding if they imagine a future with simplicity and grave destruction? In the Silo trilogy, humans have obtained the technology to end the world and it was race for who does it first. When rather than if. The second part gives details about the technologies used to destroy the world, and they’re already a bit off from the modern trends.

The main protagonist is Juliette, a 34-year-old master mechanic with a free spirit. Most of book 1 is dedicated to her and it is fantastic – she solves one problem after another. However, book 2 chooses another path. It is about a bunch of secondary characters from book 1 and explains what happened in the past. Although this might be important to completely understand the story, some of the story lines are not pleasant.

Overall, the first part was a solid 5*/5 for me, and the second was a mixed bag of great and not so great stories for an average of 4*/5. Juliette is featured, which is probably the best part of the book.

My May in Books

~ Veselin ~ 6 Comments
Wrapping up the month with 8 books.

Best

  • Dragonfired by J. Zachary Pike – rich in ideas, full of intelligent creatures, and an epic conclusion of the trilogy about the dark profits. It has cobolds and everyone is greedy, except maybe Gorm Ingerson.
  • Silo by Hugh Howey – a mechanic has to survive in a plausible post-apocalyptic anti-utopia where all remaining humans are stuck in a bunker and tied in lies. I should’ve blogged a book review about because I really liked it, it had this Andy Weir feel I love in books. However, I never got to it. Maybe I’ll write one once I complete book two, which is already at home.
  • Necromancer by Gordon Dickson – I awarded 3 stars to it but it has an AI that kills all human creativity. It was a great visionary idea for a 1960s book I was surprised to find there, between the future full of old tech. It is one of the main risks I see for humanity when adjusting to the LLM boom.

Worst

  • Think Twice by Harlan Coben – after my repeated failures with Lee Child, I start wondering if I outgrew the entire genre. Jack Reacher turned into Steven Seagal, and now Myron Bolitar and his buddy Win are turning to Paw Patrol. I can’t read another one that silly and think about getting rid of my Harlan Coben shelf like I did with Lee Child. It will open space for gems like the next one.
  • Don’t look back – a gamebook that got a well-deserved average of 2* on Goodreads. It was silly in a very disturbing way.

Both books had a moment where the main protagonist just enters a room, kills 3-4 NPC characters, and leaves the room without ever mentioning that again. I should’ve awarded both with 1* for being disturbing and 0 for their editors, if they had any.

Other

  • The Golem and the Jinni, Diablo, and Bion 3 were fine. I may read the continuation of Diablo because it may have necromancers, the continuation of Bion to support the publisher, and would not read the continuation of the Golem and the Jinni. I think the story concluded well and should remain like that in my mind.

Julie Kagawa in Sofia

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

I had the opportunity to get a signed copy of Julie Kagawa’s The Immortal Rules. It’s very rare to see a popular writer here in Sofia and I’m thankful for the opportunity to see her for a few moments in person.

She’ll also be giving autographs tomorrow afternoon at the Pro Book booth. It is the first tent looking from the pylons of the National Palace of Culture.

Think Twice by Harlan Coben, Book Review

~ Veselin ~ 5 Comments

Even the best thriller authors have bad days. There must’ve been a day when Harlan Coben decided to use the trope of the incredibly smart serial killer who chases our main protagonist by doing weird circles. This choice wasn’t great.

The killer manages to be very successful with a variety of strangers and then turns silly in the presence of Myron Bolitar. Meanwhile our superheroes talk and talk. And talk.

Think Twice was a miss for me. It’s readable but I had a very good idea what will happen and it mostly happened. I hope the next book is better. Harlan Coben doesn’t have many bad books, he’s usually consistently good.

2*/5

Spring Book Fair, Part 2

~ Veselin ~ 2 Comments

The weather was much nicer today, although I somehow messed up the photos and they all look like there was a fog. I visited most of the tents I couldn’t last time. There’s room for one final visit, hopefully for Julie Kagawa’s book signing during the weekend.

Got myself a fourth book. I showed much restraint, I was close to impulse buying books I didn’t plan to read.