Tag: book-blogger

The Nebula Collection by Artline

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

Publishing books with covers that are all part of the same image is still a relatively uncommon practice in Bulgaria. There have been some nicely designed series over the years, but not many that build a consistent visual identity across multiple titles.

This is the Nebula sci-fi series, featuring titles like Murderbot, Silo, and others. I’m curious to see how long this publisher plans to keep the style going. Something with the perspective feels limiting, as if it should end within 2-3 books.

And here is my success with the books, green are those I already read, red are those I did not start or did not finish. Overall, very solid books so far, mostly 5/5 with a rare 4/5 here and there.

For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

In the second part of the Bobiverse series, the self-replicating Bob probes have now reached dozens of star systems, and their mission has grown far beyond exploration. With Earth in a nuclear winter, the Bobs take on the monumental task of coordinating humanity’s evacuation. In book 2, Earth isn’t the only place in trouble. In the nearby stars, two other civilizations face extinction, and the Bobs can’t help but get involved.

Meanwhile, a new threat threatens to end humans – the aliens called “Others.” Although their presence remains mostly peripheral, it’s clear that they will have to be dealt with.

The challenge that this book faces is that we now have lots of bobs and neither gets enough spotlight to make a difference between them, except maybe Bob 1. But Bob 1 doesn’t do anything interesting.

5*/5, I liked the book very much and recommend the series. My copy is part of the Nebula series, which has matching. Bob sits next to the Murderbot and Silo.

Jane Harper’s Force of Nature

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

When I write book reviews, I often mention the level of realism. Imagine a scale from 0 to 10. 0 is complete BS, things that can’t happen, heroes that can’t exist, and a path from start to finish that’s like a fairy tale. 10 is a boring autobiography by a boring person who doesn’t lie to put themselves in a good light. Realism is not required to have fun, a good story can be 0 or 10 on the scale.

Let’s rank some pop culture on the realism scale.

  • 0: Avengers: End Game – a complete disconnect with reality, written entirely to be like that. The characters are only visually human
  • 1: Star Wars Episodes 4-6 – a complete disconnect with reality but some of the characters make sense, like Jabba the Hutt. I’d put here most of the fantasy I read like Thraxas, Joe Abercrombie, Raymond Feist, the LOTR universe, Robin Hobb, Brandon Sanderson, Harry Potter
  • 2: Matthew Reilly, often featured here, writes about cars flying at a speed of 700km/h and crashing with no harm. Not far off from F1, although the characters are inhuman. I feel like he deserves the number 2 spot for himself.
  • 3: Stephen King plugs in plausible humans and outcomes in impossible fantasy settings. His work is incredible and diverse work but let’s average it to 3. 3 would be fantasy with a possible story or with possible characters but maybe not both
  • 4: The Foundation, Andy Weir – the classic sci-fi where the people look real and the events could eventually happen
  • 5: Song of Fire and Ice – lots of that happened in medieval times, or at least people imagined it did. Not the dragon eggs but the other stuff that fills 95% of the pages. Realistic fantasy, dystopia
  • 6: Alexandre Dumas. The Three Musketeers has a solid foundation in reality and the characters are likely based on real humans, perhaps from later periods
  • 7: Cinderella. That probably happened and was later decorated with some magic
  • 8: OMG ❤️, Stephanie Plum, Harry Bosch’s universe, Harlan Coben, the true crime stories
  • 9: Historical fiction, books like Wolf Hall that are as connected to the real events as they could be, autobiographies with some level of commerce
  • 10: Boring autobiographies

On that scale, Jane Harper enters the territory of boring autobiographies. There’s “No way” and “Oh, that’s why, yeah, damn”. Reading it is like reading the continuation of Cinderella, the happily ever after where the prince turned into a king, and the king was drunk and cheated.

So, I won’t tell you what the Force of Nature is about, but it’s sad and depressing in a beautiful way. Do not touch if you want an orthodox crime story.

4.5/5

Peledgathol – The Last Fortress

~ Veselin ~ 2 Comments

I read a gamebook that’s not on Goodreads. It is, however, available to download in English for free here, most likely submitted by the author. From what I understand, the only paper edition is in Bulgarian.

It’s beautifully made in Bulgarian, with original illustrations by famous illustrators. Dimo and Ivanchev are credited.

The story is about Middle-Earth-type dwarves who are running away from an invading army. You’ll have to navigate through a brief maze of episodes and find a few keywords, one of which is particularly difficult. There’s no way to read that from the first time. It’s only 100 episodes but the way it’s made, the success sequence is specific and hard to find. I didn’t attempt to fight the battles and only tried to find the codes, which was difficult enough.

Overall, a good book, about 4/5. The artwork, translation, and editing of the Bulgarian edition is 5/5.

Thraxas and the Dance of Death

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

It’s not common to read a book that’s not on Goodreads but this particular edition is unknown to it. It’s tiny and hard to hold. You have the feeling it will break if you press it too hard. It’s a fragile jewel, worth the read. The first page-turner for me in over a month.

Thraxas and a bunch of powerful wizards are after a green jewel that makes people kill each other and slip away. The story is good and has no villains, which is quite impressive given the large number of dead people.

Makri is accused of theft and wants to resolve the accusations her way by rolling heads. She’s surprisingly civil for a gladiator champion with ork blood this time.

Both cases somehow manage to connect. I couldn’t predict most of the stuff that happened. The only guarantee is that it’s a good read.

5/5