Tag: reading

Le Cri (Sarah Geringën #1)

~ Veselin ~ 2 Comments

I somehow managed to read a book that’s only available in 6-7 languages, neither of which is English. The title says “The Scream”, and it got creatively translated to “Patient 488” because it starts with the death of a person who has the number 488 on their forehead. The crime scene looks like suicide but officer Sarah Geringën is not going to be fooled and will follow the lead wherever it goes. Unfortunately, some creep shows up who starts extorting her to add suspense to the book. That creep serves no other purpose and annoyed me for hundreds of pages.

The book comes with a subtle sci-fi element. It doesn’t target sci-fi fans, more conspiracy thriller fans, but nevertheless a sci-fi enthusiast could appreciate the absurd scientific theories. It’s unrealistic in the way the Three Body Problem is, which is not a bad book to be compared with.

All in all, I got tricked by the publisher’s “inspired by real events” on the cover and bought a book I shouldn’t have. I was upset that the detective abandoned her craft and started acting Commando very quickly, and I don’t think this is what should’ve happened.

3.5/5 – Not bad, may consider reading the continuation.

2024 In Books

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments

2024 was the first year in which I managed to go over 100 books. This was a major achievement for me and a result of several circumstances:

  • I reengaged with the gamebook community, which is full of voracious readers (and writers)
  • I discovered the Thraxas and Stephanie Plum series that are super interesting and each book is short, single-thread, bubblegum-ish
  • A few of my friends were inspired to read a lot this year so I was not alone on this journey
  • I ignored several of the latest books by Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Zachary Pike, J.K. Rowling, Liu Cixin just because they were too long. Maybe I go back to these works in 2025. Or 2035. Not soon. Ignoring enormous books by otherwise great authors seems to be a good strategy. TL;DR.

Here are the best finds from reading 111 books and 36217 pages:

Best Series

  • Thraxas by Martin Scott – a Pratchett-style comic fantasy series, which I completed entirely in 2024. There are some hints of exploitation in the first 2-3 books.

Top 5 books

  1. We Are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor – Bob starts exploring the galaxy and the opportunities are endless
  2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
  3. Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
  4. Conquer Yourself by Silvia Azdreeva
  5. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Best Gamebook

Trends

  • Kobolds are everywhere
  • AI is human and should be treated as a life form (yet to find a book say otherwise)
  • Pretty covers sell well

2025

I’m not sure if I’ll try to keep the pace for 2025 yet. I’ll set an official goal to read 52 books, or 1/week for the year.

The Overflow Shelf

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments

We don’t have lots of space for books and unfortunately I’m able to read and collect them at a pace that’s not sustainable and turns books into clutter. We are experimenting with an overflow shelf to resolve the problem. The way it works is that once I have no space to place a new book, I have to pull out an old one and add it to the overflow shelf for donation.

This is how the overflow shelf looks right now. The local library asked for more Lee Child books and will get some. I hope other people appreciate the latest trend with the Jack Reacher books more than I did.

In Too Deep by Lee Child and Andrew Child, Book Review

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments

I just completed book from Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series called In Too Deep. I rated it 3/5 but it’s more like 1.5/5 and got a 1.5 point bonus because Lee Child is one of my favorite writers.

So, I asked myself a question, is it just me, or the series becomes unreadable? This is the ratings I gave the individual books, and the red line represents the community ratings on Goodreads.

Up to book 18, the community gives a pretty consistent 4.1-4.2 rating, then it hovers around 4 and goes under. The latest books may go under once they gain sufficient ratings as well. But unlike the community, my last 4 ratings are 3s and 4s, and I’ve been very generous. Feels like the community keeps liking the series.

According to some Goodreads sources, Lee Child felt like he runs out of steam and offloaded the actual writing to his younger brother, Andrew. Perhaps I just don’t like Andrew Child’s storytelling. Spoilers ahead.

Book 29 is about some world-scattering conspiracy. Reacher, a retired 60-something homeless vet who owns no phone, car, or ID, would interfere, overwhelming all the three-letter agencies in the US. There are stashes of property left unattended and owned by “the Russians”. There’s a hot police officer vigilante who wants revenge. What there isn’t is anything that’s remotely believable.

Of course, the Jack Reacher series doesn’t need to make sense but it follows certain math. Bullets are faster than people. Knives cut. A person attacks Reacher, Reacher punches back before person even sees it. This math is violated. We’ll see Reacher withdrawing, not using his head, not finding the location of enemies, and winning with absurd constraints that shouldn’t have been enforced in the first place because of the math. This enters the territory of the Marvel movies where the story is first, and whatever doesn’t make sense will be filled with CGI.

Reacher Book 29 – 1.5*/5. It’s like a Steven Seagal movie. The only thing missing is a chair for Reacher to sit during the book.

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer, Book Review

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

We have to start imagining a world in which sentient robots exist.

We’ve had I, Robot and R. Daneel Olivaw. We now have Annie Bot. Lots of others in between. I read about a smart spaceship not long ago (We Are Legion). The main issue I have with all these books is that the robots are really immortal humans with some computer assistance.

Sierra Greer asks the question – what will a sentient robot be first used for? There are two obvious answers, weapons and sex toys. She starts her exploration with the unlikely choice. Annie Bot is a sentient sex toy. What happens is as likely as the movies with highly intelligent dogs. A sentient robot will not be that. However, an imprisoned human in a robot body can be that. We’ve had enough Mechanical Turks already – androids being remotely controlled by humans – to make that theory likely.

So is Annie Bot a a sentient robot or a human, imprisoned in a robot body? Sierra Greer leaves that question open to interpretation.

I give a 5*/5. The book is disturbing, it’s terrifying that this could be done one day.