I quite enjoyed [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg|14863741] and it's almost-plausible-near-future setting that read a bit like a mix between Bruce Willis's movie "Surrogates" with a dash of "The Matrix" thrown in, and always like a bit of sci-fi.
Unfortunately, this fell flat for me.
I don't know whether it's because it's not as believable (and yes, I'm futher aware that I'm talking about fiction here) as [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg|14863741], or because I could tell where the plot was going within the first 100 pages or so - think "The Last Starfighter" meets "Ender's Game" with a bit of "BattleStar Galactica" thrown in for good measure, but - for me - this just didn't really do it.
Tricky second novel syndrome, perhaps?
N.B.: I did pick up on the numerous real-world sci-fi references :-)
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Coal House in Books
Nov 11, 2019
So begins Coal House, a suspenseful ghost story that slowly builds to a shattering ending with a chilling twist. Any ghost story turns on the ability of the author to conjure up locations and events that seem both ordinary and strange at the same time and Barton does this with ease, able to raise goosebumps with a few simple words.
The story is clever and interesting with several layers and with characters to match. Finn is initially a skeptic but as strange events happen in and around the house he must consider if they are real or just his imagination.
This is not a long book but does pack a lot into its pages. An excellent read
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Iron Angel (Deepgate Codex #2) in Books
Nov 15, 2019
As with Scar Night, Campbell's imagination creates some stunning characters and imagery; the Soft Men, John Anchor, a nightmarish journey through hell. The descriptions are extremely evocative, the whole having a sort of Gothic Steampunk feel to it.
This is, however, weaker than Scar Night, partly because there is just so much Campbell is keen to show us that the detail gets lost, and at times the story grinds to a halt for some lingering descriptions of something that although interesting has no real bearing on the story and just means momentum is lost. The result is unfortunately a bit of a mess.
Not a bad book by any means, but a case of an author's enthusiasm for their own creations reducing the focus on developing an interesting and coherent story
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Mort in Books
Nov 20, 2019
The story itself is a good one: Death takes on Mort as an apprentice so he can take a break. When Mort breaks the rules he causes a wound in space/time that needs to be healed. And the more Mort does the job of Death the more the job begins to take its toll on him.
There is so much to like about this book. The humour is spot-on with some great one-liners, characters and footnotes. The exploration of the mechanics of how Death really operates on the Discworld fits perfectly with the logic of how the rather unique world operates and is the first glimpse into just how complex and rich the series of books could be.
The Discworld was still evolving rapidly at this point and Mort represents a real statement of intent for the future.
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