Not my thing. Good solid characters, and the whole "living on the ground of the ocean evolving into something else was alright". The only part I really liked were the headcheese (erm, neural nets), and the fact somebody figured out which genetic side they'd take by asking one if it preferred Chess or Checkers. That was neat.
Started off as five star book, ended as a three star book. I found the religious … themes very jarring, much less low-key than in Diane Duane's books. The descriptions and characters were great, the story and pacing a bit lacking.
I liked the premise of one person (well. -ish) changing the world via dreams, inclusing heavy retroactive changes. I liked the characterisations, and the overall themes, even if the pacing was a bit off. I even agree with the (Taoist) philosophy shown behind it, but I don't like being shown philosophies forcefully in books, and this felt like it. Not even close to horrible Narnia levels, but … tending to a bit Philip-K-Dick style storytelling. Didn't enjoy the last third for that reason. A good book, for sure – but not close to my favourite Le Guin books.
Well, this was just plain funny. Great storytelling, great pacing, great everything. I caught myself looking up if William Goldman really had a son. He hasn't, thank god.
I probably should go and watch the movie now.
This is what I wanted Merchant Princess to be. We see Rita do cool stuff without being too Mary Sue-ish, we get background, we get development, we get politics, and all that without being one giant economics textbook. Moar!
As opposed to most Le Guin books, this one did not work for me. Maybe I was too distracted by the different species on the planet, or the odd pacing, or … I don't know. The ending nearly raised the book to 3/5, but not quite.
I liked the non-male focus on regular lives a lot! Tenar and Tenahu are both really cool. But the story was weird … pacing, content, it felt irregular and all over the place for me. Story 2/5, setting 4/5.
I definitely fell in love with this book. The only critique I can think of right now is that in the beginning the dialogue (and narration) felt a bit off, like it was more meant for the screen than for paper. But it's really really good regardless. This is how I like my fantasy. And also, finally somebody does four teenager teams right. Sunny and her friends are just lovely.
Thoroughly enjoyable urban fantasy, Dresden style. Dialogue felt a bit stilted/lacking rhythm at times, but the Hell vs Heaven vs third party vs potty-mouthed gunslinger protagonist worked well.
Very YA. Good YA! But … too YA for me atm for a five star rating. Much better YA than most things I know, though.
HPMOR, only for superman. Makes Lex Luthor out as a semi-sensible person.
Very odd one - had me laughing out loud some of the time, and nearly bored at other times. I think the pacing threw me off. Very stunning ending, though, totally worth it.
Brilliant fun! Take this mostly horrible scifi concept of an all-female planet, reverse it to an all-male planet, then take it seriously. This poor protagonist doctor, sent out into the hostile and horrfyingly feminine universe, meets the brilliant Ellie Quinn of all people. It was SO MUCH FUN.
(Also, we get a gay happy end, in a way? Awwwww.)
Woah. Unendlich viel besser als Ready Player One oder Epic. Richtig richtig gute und gruselige Fassung eines KI-gesteuerten RPGs, das Auswirkungen auf die echte Welt hat. Hnnng.
Very nice scifi about an intergenerational conflict on a multi(think >100) generational spaceship, focussing on music, both the people keeping old music alive, and the younger people rejecting history. I liked the setting and world building and characters, but it fell a bit flat, all things considered. You can find it online here: http://sarahpinsker.com/wind_will_rove/