Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Thursday, February 08, 2024
Review: The New World
The New World by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The New World - Patrick Ness 12/31/16Nothing else was really grabbing me, you know? I saw an ad for the film Monsters of Men, which brought me to Ness and thinking it's been too long since I read it, because when I was recommending the series to Natasha as truly excellent sci fi, I couldn't remember much except lots of twists in the spaghetti. In fact, while I remembered that the series was Chaos Walking, I managed to choose the wrong title as first in the series three times in a row. There are only three novels in the series you understand.personal copy
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Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
October 29, 2010
The only problem I had with this book was Todd's way of talking. (I don't think first-person books should be written in dialect, because our way of talking always sounds both natural and neutral to us. It only sounds like dialect to other people.) Other than that, I loved it. The very best thing that Ness did, was deal with how the lies and ignorance lead Todd to doubt everything. Beautifully done. I'd recommend it to fans of The Hunger GamesAnd yes, I'm eager to get the sequels and find out what happens next.As an aside, according to the respective authors, both this and Feed come out of the same idea, the constant stream of info into modern lives. Very different books.Library copyThe Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
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Review: The Ask and the Answer
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Ask and the Answer - Patrick Ness January 3, 2017
July 17, 2014
As I was nearing the end I had to run out to the library for the next book, to have it on hand when I finished. Ness does an amazing job of showing how people are brought to make certain choices, and how they can be manipulated into certain choices. So yes, it's covering a lot of the same moral ground as The Hunger Games and it has that same adventure feel, and also the extremes of society between the haves and the have nots. There is also an overt division between men and women, tensions with the indigenous population and so much more.
Personal copy
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Review: Monsters of Men
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
12 April, 2010
That's a hell of an ending to the series. Ness pretty much manages to throw every possible event in there and keep it gripping and plausible. The tight focus on Todd, and Viola keeps the story from becoming too chaotic. There's even a helpful map. The whole good and evil issue certainly gets a workout, because Ness manages to make everyone's motivations understandable (if not clear). It's a great series, and this is the strongest of the three books. I would expect fans of The Hunger Games to love it.
7 January, 2017
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Review: Snowscape
Snowscape by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
7 January, 2017
26 July, 2014
I agree with Ness, don't read it until you've read the rest of Chaos Walking. It's disturbing.
Free online:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/141687602/S...
View all my reviews
Review: The New World
The New World by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The New World - Patrick Ness 12/31/16Nothing else was really grabbing me, you know? I saw an ad for the film Monsters of Men, which brought me to Ness and thinking it's been too long since I read it, because when I was recommending the series to Natasha as truly excellent sci fi, I couldn't remember much except lots of twists in the spaghetti. In fact, while I remembered that the series was Chaos Walking, I managed to choose the wrong title as first in the series three times in a row. There are only three novels in the series you understand.personal copy
View all my reviews
Review: The Wide, Wide Sea
The Wide, Wide Sea by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
July 18, 2014
Not too spoilery, but best read in its proper place after The Ask and the Answer
It's delightful when authors are as good with short as with long forms, and I really, really love that writers are filling in episodes and/or exploring other characters from their own books.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/141687258/T...
View all my reviews
Review: Monsters of Men
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
12 April, 2010
That's a hell of an ending to the series. Ness pretty much manages to throw every possible event in there and keep it gripping and plausible. The tight focus on Todd, and Viola keeps the story from becoming too chaotic. There's even a helpful map. The whole good and evil issue certainly gets a workout, because Ness manages to make everyone's motivations understandable (if not clear). It's a great series, and this is the strongest of the three books. I would expect fans of The Hunger Games to love it.
7 January, 2017
View all my reviews
Review: The Ask and the Answer
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Ask and the Answer - Patrick Ness January 3, 2017
July 17, 2014
As I was nearing the end I had to run out to the library for the next book, to have it on hand when I finished. Ness does an amazing job of showing how people are brought to make certain choices, and how they can be manipulated into certain choices. So yes, it's covering a lot of the same moral ground as The Hunger Games and it has that same adventure feel, and also the extremes of society between the haves and the have nots. There is also an overt division between men and women, tensions with the indigenous population and so much more.
Personal copy
View all my reviews
Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
October 29, 2010
The only problem I had with this book was Todd's way of talking. (I don't think first-person books should be written in dialect, because our way of talking always sounds both natural and neutral to us. It only sounds like dialect to other people.) Other than that, I loved it. The very best thing that Ness did, was deal with how the lies and ignorance lead Todd to doubt everything. Beautifully done. I'd recommend it to fans of The Hunger GamesAnd yes, I'm eager to get the sequels and find out what happens next.As an aside, according to the respective authors, both this and Feed come out of the same idea, the constant stream of info into modern lives. Very different books.Library copyThe Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
View all my reviews
Review: The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century
The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century by Martin H. Greenberg
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Just the other day I was thinking that I should give away my old Asimov's books, since I had no desire to revisit them. There are just too many new and tasty books coming out all the time. And too the newer works have fresh takes, richer characterization, more action, humor, or whatever I showed up for.
But I love time travel stories, or short stories, and it's fun to pick up an anthology then walk away with some new-to-me writers. I made it through the first two stories and that was too much. I'm guessing this is arranged chronologically, since I noticed an absence of female bylines until the last three.
And then the introduction spoke of Wells as the first sci fi novelist in English. Seriously.
So the first two stories take place in an alternate earth where there are only men. No women, no children. It was disturbing. Not even someone to ogle, or an unattractive woman who was over the hill and all alone and unloved. And the guys in the stories, they never noticed or commented on the weirdness.
Truly, I didn't expect it to be impossible to suspend my disbelief, since I grew up reading this stuff, and didn't have an assigned text by a woman until college. I'm sending this one back to the library.
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Wednesday, February 07, 2024
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