Sci-fi reviews mostly

The first novel by Ernest Cline it is described as dystopian sci-fi. I’m not sure it fits that description but more about this later. An interesting bit of trivia is that the audiobook version is narrated by Will Wheaton who actually makes a cameo in the book. I did not have expectations from this book. I have seen the movie “Battleship” and I heard they were making one based on “Tic Tac Toe” so my faith in entertainment(and humanity) is already low. I believed this to be an attempt at a book in that spirit. I was surprised as I saw some friends which I knew read a lot of sci-fi give good grades to the book on Goodreads so I eventually grabbed a copy for my kindle and decided to try it. I was pleasantly surprised. The book is very well researched, either that or the author is incredibly passionate about 80’s pop culture. Way too passionate, like creepy stalking waiting all night outside your apartment levels of passionate. The world is gripped by an energy crisis made worse by glob...

By the way, that’s a shitty cover. I mean the book deserves better, this makes it look like a soap opera. I mean look at that shitty sword, no way the badass sword(Nightblood) you'll read about looks like that polished piece of crap in the cover. A fantasy book written by Brandon Sanderson “Warbreaker” it is the first of a series. Well kind of, there is no sequel yet but the author has repeatedly mentioned that he wants to write one. “It was strange, how easily and quickly protection could cause destruction. Sometimes, Vasher wondered if the two weren't really the same thing. Protect a flower, destroy pests who wanted to feed on it. Protect a building, destroy the plants that could have grown in the soil. Protect a man. Live with the destruction he creates.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker I read the ebook version and the author had an incredibly original idea. He added at the end of each chapter an explanation of what he was trying to achieve and of how he views the cha...

“The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. If he finds other life—another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod—there’s only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It’s the explanation for the Fermi Paradox.” ― Liu Cixin, The Dark Forest What do you get when you combine hard sci-fi written by someone as smart as Asimov with the cultural revolution and the chinese culture? Yes, you guessed it correctly it’s this book. At places this reminded me of Asimov, but a more pes...

“The personal, as everyone’s so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture ...

“Most people who have failed miserably in life itself have one last resort left available to them. They become politicians.” It took a while but I finished it. I really liked about 85% of the book. It’s smart, the sci-fi and the way the species have evolved make sense. And I’m probably an asshole but I really did not appreciate the ending. Don’t get me wrong, it all ties down really well, the plot points and characters are finally converging but that’s it. It’s like going to a restaurant that looks really good, the food you ordered has a very nice presentation and the waiter is nice only to realise that it tastes the same as some fast food diner around the corner that sells it 5 times cheaper. Also the plot twists felt kind of expected. Makathran is a good exception as is the statue of the Lady. Again back to the ending that I could not get over. I will not go into details but I was underwhelmed.Ilanthe is a shitty ass villain. The Cat is good, but Ilanthe seems really lame by com...

“Stars are better off without us.” Leviathan Wakes is a 2011 science fiction novel by James S. A. Corey (pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). This science fiction mistery is a part of the Expanse series of books written by James S.A. Corey. The following books have been published: The Butcher of Anderson Station, Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War, Abaddon's Gate ,Cibola Burn, Nemesis Games and Babylon's Ashes that appeared as soon as December 6, 2016. 3 more books have been announced so this is a pretty big series. The Butcher of Anderson Station was written after the first 2 books so you can read it first or you can read Leviathan Wakes directly. Getting down to the nitty-gritty of it, this is not your ordinary sf book, as it mixes space opera ,noir and horror elements. I'll admit I was attracted by the space opera, but I found myself enjoying the detective story most! “I don’t believe war ever does. It’s a madness that’s in our nature. Sometimes it recurs;...

“This is the breaking point in a human life, right here. This is waking up on an operating table to find aliens peering down at you, this is hearing the audible voice of God telling you the date the world will end. This is seeing a family of bigfoots in the forest and being without a camera. Welcome to freakdom, Dave. It’ll be time to start a website soon.“ John Dies at the End is not a sci-fi classic, it's not even sci-fi it is actually a combination of horror and dick jokes.But mostly dick jokes. If the Culture Universe is a well matured wine, kept at the proper temperature for 20 years to be enjoyed while having a veal steak enjoying great conversation with your educated friends - great taste and all the excitement of a root canal, John Dies at the End is the cocktail that mixes half the alcohol the bartender finds that you order after doing 3 shots - all the excitement in the world, followed by a splitting headache the day after when you might not even know where you wake u...