Currently reading
Wolves of the Calla
(re)Visions - Alice
Progress:
129/220 pages
Blackout (All Clear #1)
The Well of Ascension
Children of Dune
Going Dutch
Full review at SFF Book ReviewWow! Thanks to Luke (of the SFBRP podcast) I gave this omnibus a try and I was just as blown away as he was. Hugh Howey creates a lot of atmosphere and makes characters come to life on very few pages.What's left of humanity lives in an underground silo and whenever somebody commits a terrible crime, they are sent outside into the toxic amotsphere, equipped only with a suit to keep them alive as long as possible and a few patches of wool - to clean the camera lenses, the only window to the outside world.I am still impressed by how much I came to care about these characters, how thrilled I was at times to see them succeed or find out a bit of imformation. I wanted to know just as badly what the hell is going on and how people ended up in that silo in the first place. Some of these questions are answered, most answeres left me with my mouth open and whispering "no way". I can't wait to start on the sixth volume in the series.This is definitely a highlight of the year for me.
Leviathan
Full review at sff book reviewI think I'm just not meant to understand hyped books. I've heard left, right, and center how great this trilogy is and how everybody loves it. It was cute, sure. But it was terribly lacking in character growth and even plot - so I don't see why people rave about it so much.Maybe I am simply too old for YA literature?That said, I did enjoy the second half of this book, when the story finally takes off, when we get to see more of the Leviathan, a great and original idea, by the way, that made the read well worth my while. Three stars only but I will read the rest of the series.
I Capture The Castle
Full review at SFF Book Review.I have a love-hate-relationship with this novel. I adored the style, I found the story just eccentric and romantic enough and I cared deeply about the side characters. I just couldn't manage to like Cassandra, the protagonist and narrator. She always felt too distant and a bit arrogant to me. Watching all the others, observing their ways and (at least I thought) considering herself a cut above the company. I do recommend this book though. It shows the craziness that is coming-of-age perfectly and offers some beautiful writing at the same time. 6,5/10 stars
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Novel (Flavia de Luce Mystery)
Full review over at the SFF Book ReviewWho would have thought I would develop such a regard for 11-year-old, pigtailed crime solvers with a passion for chemistry? But Flavia de Luce and her utterly charming and funny voice have captured my heart. I normally don't even read crime fiction and it wasn't the plot or the mystery that kept me going with this book (and, indeed, its successor) but the character of Flavia. Her eccentric family, her small town with all its inhabitants and her sense of humor have all convinced me that these little, light adventures are worth reading. Even when not on holiday.
 - Alan Bradley)
Cloud Atlas
Full review at sff book reviewSix intertwined stories that range in time, setting and narrator as well as style and theme. I can't say I loved all of the stories but I did love how cleverly they were connected, how some stories connected back to the previous two tales and how each story concludes. Overall, this was an enjoyable book even though I would have hoped for a more glorious, big ending.The most fun I got out of this was looking for all the little hints and clues as to how exactly every story connects to the one before and after. My favorite stories were Sonmi-451's and the Luisa Rey mystery. I did like most of Timothy Cavendish's story but with reservations. The other tales were harder to get through, either because David Mitchell chose a particularly difficult style (I'm not an English native speaker) or because I simply didn't care about the characters.Overall, I'd recommend this to people who like fix-up novels and don't mind committing to a larger tale. It was utterly gratifying every time another connection was revealed and while the ending disappointed me a little, I'm very curious to see this incredibly creative novel as a film adaptation.
I Am Legend (Sf Masterworks 02)
Full review at sff book reviewThis was surprisingly terrifying. The vampires didn't scare me as much as Robert Neville's utter loneliness did. Being the last man in the world who's not infected by the vampire virus? The idea chilled me to the bone. As short as the story was, I was stuck in that world for the duration of it. Highly recommended!
Timeless (The Parasol Protectorate, No. 5)
Full review at: sff book reviewSadly, this book was, again, only meh. While the style is as fun and whimsical as ever, Gail Carriger doesn't really give us anything new. Literally everything we see here - except for Prudence, maybe - has been there in the previous books. And while I enjoy falling into her novels and enjoying her silliness, it's just not enough for me.
Stranger in a Strange Land
Full review at sff book reviewI liked this book a lot, but for different reasons. While other Heinlein's gripped me for their story line as much as for the ideas and the way they're integrated into the plot, this one mostly convinced me because of its ideas and the character of Jubal Harshaw. If I judged purely for plot, I wouldn't rate it this highly because, honestly, it felt a little stitched together and I was missing a driving force in the plot. Altogether, this was a great novel that deserved its Hugo award and I understand why it is still so widely read and loved.
The Giver
A small, impressive book that shows us a world which could be a utopia. Like Jonas, the protagonist, we learn at what cost this society has been created. Lois Lowry teaches the importance of free choice, of memories, and of being allowed to have feelings - all without preaching. I personally wasn't a huge fan of the ending but I think this book is a good choice for all those who are currently suffering from the YA dystopia craze. Readers are not treated as morons, the language is concise and the story written so well that people of all ages can enjoy it. For a full review go to SFF Book Review
The Kingdom of Gods (The Inheritance Trilogy)
If I had to rate this trilogy by how much I liked each book, it would go like this:1. The Broken Kingdoms2. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms3. The Kingdom of GodsHowever, this does not mean that this is a bad book. Far from it. It was beautifully written, had incredible character depth and development and a great ending. It's just that the plot was kind of all over the place at times. You didn't know which thread to follow or whether there even was a thread, other than Sieh's journey.I liked this book a lot and will read anything N.K. Jemisin writes in the future.For a full review, go to SFF Book Review
 - N.K. Jemisin)
Stormdancer
It's probably one of the most anticipated books coming out in September 2012. And I recommend you buy and read it. While it wasn't perfect, I did fall in love with the world Jay Kristoff has created. I look forward to the second book in the series and hope the author will show us more of this original world and bring us closer to his heroine. Read my full review on SFF Book Review
Year Zero
What a joyride. I haven't laughed this much since Douglas Adams and Jasper Fforde. Rob Reid really hit a nerve with this one, poking fun at copyright law, coming up with creative and hilarious alien culture and just sweeping us away in a laugh-out-loud story filled with footnotes, one-liners, and a Rickroll (I'm not forgiving him that). Read my full review on SFF Book Review
The Assassin's Curse (Strange Chemistry)
Wow. What a painful reading experience. If it hadn't been a e-ARC I wouldn't have finished the book at all. Following an incredibly stupid protagonist around as she and Naji try to break a curse might have been interesting. But the author's amateur writing style, the lack of plot and story arc made this no fun at all. Plus, there is no ending to this. The story stops mid-plot and nothing that happens has any impact on anything... what a waste of time!Read a full review on why I hated this so much over at the SFF Book Review
 - Cassandra Rose Clarke)
The Broken Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy)
Wow. I did not expect this. While I really liked book one, there were a few things that botherd me. This was pretty close to perfection. Oree is an incredibly compelling narrator, I fell in love with the characters (especially the ones where I least expected it) and the plot took me by surprise several times. Mostly though, I adored this for its originality. I can't remember reading anything like this, and in such beautiful language. And the ending was bittersweet perfection!Read my full review over at the SFF Book Review
Redshirts
It may have been on purpose to demonstrate how meta John Scalzi can be, but personally, I don't see the point in reading (or writing!) a bad book with the most cardboardy characters imaginable. The codas were okay but the main story was just rubbish. And rubbish on purpose is still rubbish.Read my full review over at SFF Book Review
Dark Tower
And he blew my mind again. While only about 10% of this book further the plot and the rest is a flashback into Roland's past, I wouldn't have wanted to miss a single page. What an amazing (and surprisingly romantic) story within a story. There was one passage that felt a bit too long but other than that this book was perfect. 9/10 points. Read a full review at the SFF Book Review
