Friday, March 13, 2015

Book Review :: Gardens of the Moon (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1) by Steven Erikson

Gardens of the Moon (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1)Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Now what do I say about this? It's difficult to talk about such a large piece of work when you've only peeked in through the door of what it's all about. The Malazan books of the Fallen is a ten book series with many other short stories, novels and novellas based in the same universe.

The character count goes into thousands probably and it's a completely different universe. Completely different rules, a unique magic system, characters that will haunt your dreams, politics that has more twists and turns than a hill road, it's just mind-boggling and tiring to even think of writing about the Malazan series.

Many people do not like the first book, which is this, Gardens of The Moon. They find it confusing and lengthy because of the lack of world building and hand holding, but why should there be something like that? We're all mature readers, and the Malazan books push you to stretch your imagination and figure things out.

There are no answers in this one. It's just a big awesome thing that has been put in your hands, maybe like a 2000 piece jigsaw with no image given to you and you solve it as you go.

In one word, I'd call this book beautiful. And be warned, it's not for everyone.

If you like your stories simple and easy, give this a pass, but if you like strange and wonderful and badass things, pick this one up today with the rest of the nine books and forget reading about anything else for the rest of the year.

because i am not reading anything else for sure.


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Book Review:: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player OneReady Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There were many reasons why I liked this book. The story take some time in getting no start3d but once it does,  it rolls along pretty nicely.

All in all,  it's a pretty believable book because I felt it's a satire on times of today and the way we live our life,  always looking at one screen or the other. Our world has become our OASIS. The dystopian tinges in the book reminded me of 1984 and even though I missed on the video game nostalgia, I still get the sense of where the author was coming from.

The points that I didn't like in the book were: the lack of an evil figure and how easy it was for the main character to go through loss and problems presented to him.  He had a solution for every problem. Like,  God's hand on his back.

I'm basically looking for another blade of tyshalle.  Where the bad dude was super bad and the good dude was ample evil too. That book spoiled every future book for me. It set the bar too high in my head.

Anyway,  if you live video games,  read ready player one.


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Book Review :: The Painted Man :: Peter V. Brett

The Warded Man (Demon Cycle, #1)The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was an entertaining book, on the whole. The whole idea of wards to keep demons (corelings in the book) out and the hints at a larger world than what was depicted in the book were all interesting in a very nice way.

The book moved at a solid pace, nice storyline, and it really sets up the stage for the further books to come.

The fight scenes were really well written, but tried as I could, i could not picture the corelings or the so called demons in my mind's eye. When it comes to imaginary monsters, Jim Butcher does a really great job, but a harry dresden book, this is not. So anyway, as with many other books, there was on directly evil monster or character in the book, just men vs an evil that had no solid origin, just a core.

Too many questions in my mind after reading this.

The things that irked me about the book were that it took too long a time to build up properly. The titular painted man doesn't even show up till half of the book. And when he does, he is the alpha male kind of dude whose personality just doesn't shine through enough in the 200 pages given to him.

BUT, even with all these tiny niggles, the book was not boring. The minor characters were amazingly developed and if this book didn't have all the demons, but it was just a book about the minor characters going about their life and dealing with daily shit, it'd still be a very readable book.

I'd definitely be reading the next book in the series, The Desert Spear.


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Book Review :: The Great Zoo of China :: Matthew Reilly

The Great Zoo of ChinaThe Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When you read a Matthew Reilly book, it's like jumping on a moving roller-coaster while it's wheels are flying off the rails and everyone is screaming for their life.

This book is no different.

I loved this for multiple reasons. The dragons were brought into the narrative in a very believable manner, and the whole myth and science of them was explained extremely well.

The chases, the explosions,  the close shaves, the booms and the bangs and did I mention explosions? It's all there and the book is jam packed with it all. After reading the disappointing dark defiles, this was a much better change of taste, refreshing and as popcorn as its meant to be.

This should totally be a movie.  Reilly is sitting on a goldmine of movie material books and it would be really soon that we'd one of his books made into movies.

The great zoo of china has that potential.


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Book Review: : Personal by Lee Child

Personal (Jack Reacher, #19)Personal by Lee Child
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've often said that reading Jack Reacher books is like eating your favorite dish where all the ingredients have been changed just a little, but the taste of the dish has an undercurrent of everything you like and then something different.

Personal sees Reacher settling an old score because the army has called for his services as an old sniper has cropped out of the woodwork. The problem here is that it was Reacher who put him in the jail in his old life as a military policeman.

Things get interesting when the sniper takes a shot at the French president and Reacher gets involved in the mix because he knows about the way the sniper thinks.

There are lot of good thinking scenes and good fighting scenes. The last fight scene is exceptionally written and Lee Child's understanding of how fights take place and the mechanics of every street fight shine through just as they've done in the last 15 or 16 Reacher books.

In all, you get an excellent scheme unraveled by Reacher, great dialogue (I said nothing), Reacher's inventiveness and the way he shreds every problem presented to him. The hallmarks of the folding toothbrush, buying only one set of clothes, thinking things through, everything is there in the book.

If you've liked Reacher books in the past, you're going to love this one and if you've never read a Reacher book, this is the best time to start.

For ofcourse, Reacher is, Sherlock Homeless.


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Book Review :: Kill Baxter by Charlie Human

Kill BaxterKill Baxter by Charlie Human
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

THIS IS THE MOST AWESOME FUCKING BOOK I HAVE READ THIS YEAR AND YES THIS IS ALL CAPS CUZ I WANT TO SHOUT AT PEOPLE AND MAKE THEM READ THIS FUCKING BOOK.

FUCK YEAH, BAXTER!


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Excitement aside, i read this book last year and since then i've had some time to think about it and it's indeed a masterpiece for a strange kind of literature which doesn't hold anything back. This is a world where there is pain, there is heartbreak, this is the world of Baxter which is more real than the make believe and fantasy world of others like harry potter.

Potter doesn't hold a light to Baxter who seems more real because of his imperfections. And how real is he? He could be your friend, or mine. He could be the guy you knew in school, but never paid attention to, and maybe there was much more to the guy than what was visible.

In all, a cracker of a book, a fun read and if there is going to be a part 3, Charlie Human can take my money right fucking now.