Cats, good books, AI, and religious walking in the city of Sofia
The Fourth Monkey is a serial killer thriller where a psychopath avenges the past by murdering women. A team of dedicated police officers races with time to save a teenage girl who was kidnapped. Objectively, it’s a good serial killer horror thriller, although it’s unlikely that I’ll dare to read the sequel.
Here’s the TL;DR of the story and an honest ranking:
An exploration spaceship returns from a distant star with a 200-year delay. They find the Earth and the Moon in shambles. Earth is inhabited by stupid people, and the Moon has a smart but unsustainable population, suffering from radiation, depression, and a shortage of oxygen.
Zajdel explores how climate and genetic manipulation can destroy Earth. Humans decided to replace trees with machines, and it didn’t work very well. They also decided to resolve the overpopulation crisis by changing the DNA so that very few girls were born. That also didn’t work well.
Both disasters are overshadowed by the impact of AI. Robots do everything and people don’t need to learn how to count. They communicate with 50 words and don’t develop even basic feelings. It’s a utopia modern people can imagine – the world ending not because of a war or climate change but because of obedient robots doing all the work.
4.5*/5
Some writers start with a bestseller, then it’s all downhill. You’re lucky to get the same bestseller repeated a few times with a slightly different plot. Others get better book after book. Michael Connelly is in that group, and Janet Evanovich seems to be there as well. Takedown Twenty was one of the best from the Stephanie Plum series. There were exploding cars, a bit of grimdark comedy, and a stray giraffe but it was balanced and Stephanie did well.
Stephanie should’ve been 50 by now. Technology ages but she stays 30. Other than this little glitch in the Matrix, it’s a great series.
Looking back, it has to be one of these 3:
Pippi was one of the books that hooked me to reading, Winnetow introduced me to adventure books – pirates, Wild West, and such. The top choice, however, must be The Three Musketeers.
Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D’Artagnan are unlikely friends, united by their shortage of money and willingness to duel. They are all extreme in some way and represent a few distilled qualities that complement one another. Their paths briefly cross, create beautiful moments of courage and bravery, and drift apart because of tragedies and traumas. It’s written in small chunks, chapters that have their own merit as short stories. This made it a good book for a 7 or 8-year-old with a limited attention span.
I’m not sure if I read The Three Musketeers more times than Pippi, Winnetow, or the other 4-5 books I would read each summer break but it aged well. The last time I got it in my hands and read a few chapters, they were captivating and great. It was less than a decade ago.
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
Veselin.blog 