Awesome coolness<–---------->Meh<-––-----–>OMGWTFBBQ

See that continuum? I was all over it as I read The Prince and the Program. Several trips back and forth from one end to the other and I think I ended somewhere around "meh". The last 20% of the story was confusing, convoluted, and introduced plot elements that had nothing to do with the first three quarters of the book. Unfortunately I don't happen to like zombies, gruesome descriptions of slime and mutating eyes, non-linear dream More...

3.5 stars
Review Summary: A book that hit so many of my buttons I should have LOVED it, but it didn’t quite work for me, even as it did, which made rating it challenging.

Review: It was the best of books, it was the worst of books. Okay, that's a bit hyperbolic in both directions, but the fact is there were a lot of ways this book really worked for me and several in which it didn't. It variously fascinated, confused, and bored me. You might want to get a drink and get comfortable, this is going to More...

2.5 stars.

The last 25% percent of this book got so bizarre that I couldn't follow it anymore, and I couldn't even summon up enough energy to care. The first 75% wasn't exactly easy for me to understand, but at least I could attribute some of that to the fact that I'm a dunce at math and couldn't program my way out of a paper bag. The first 75% at least had a semi-logical storyline which could be followed. But it all fragmented and fell apart at the end. It was really disappointing, because I lov More...

3 1/2 - 4 Hearts

First published at MM Good Book Reviews

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Mori (Mordred) is desperately seeking work. He finally gets a job working at a small start-up tech company, but his problems are only just beginning.

Well, what can you really say about a book like this except…damn? How do I explain what this book is like without making my own head explode? It has got to be one of the most interesting, humorous, slightly wacky, Oh My God what just happened there? Books More...

What a TRIP!!! This is not your average m/m romance. Make sure you read the blurb carefully because there is no gentle lead in to this story, no explanations, no info dump... You just sink or swim! The author has created a unique, funny, totally amazing, compelling and often confusing world that is impossible to categorise.

Mordred (yes, THE Mordred) has been banished to Earth and stripped of his magic. He gets a job as a Software Engineer at a cutting edge start-up company and slowly begins a s More...

Context. I need to give context for this review because while I didn't like this book, I DID like the author's writing and I don't want to deter others from giving his work a chance.

How is it possible to like the writing but not the book? Let me explain. There are authors whose words fall totally flat for me, an example of which is Stephenie Meyer. I read the first book in her series and I hated the story and her writing. The story concept interested me but the words just lay there. One day I pi More...

I think this has to be the strangest book I have ever read. It reminded me slightly of Kafka on the Shore, in the way it gave me a headache trying to figure out what was going on.

I am geeky and love math so I did pick up a fair percentage of the references, but many of them also went way over my head. But while you could see the world was well-developed and conceived in the author's head, he never fully explained the rules in the pages of his book. There was no introduction, no exposition, just More...

Let me start by saying what this book is not. Some of the issues readers have had, I believe, might have been headed off by adjusting expectations. I know this is a Dreamspinner title, so people walk in with certain expectations. Please leave them with your shoes at the door. We've just had the carpets cleaned.

First - this is a book for grownups, but it's not erotic fiction. Second - there is a romance or at least a desperate romantic longing as a centerpiece to the story, but it is not a tradit More...

Title: The Prince and the Program (The Mordred Sage, Book 1)

Author: Aldous Mercer

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Rating: C list


Blurb: Mordred Pendragon, the Bastard Prince, has done a Bad Thing—again. Exiled to Canada for seven years, he has to find a job to pay his bills. For reasons he refuses to reveal, Mordred decides “Software Engineer” has a nice ring to it. And though experience with “killing the Once and Future King, my father” and “that time in feudal Japan” makes for a poor résumé, he is More...

The weird thing is, I'm not entirely sure why I like this book so much - half the time I barely understood what was going on, but at the same time I could not put it down, wanting to know what happened next, and I already know this will be added to my re-read list.

Mordred is a fun narrator, and the story has lots of things I really like - magic, tech, Arthurian legend, romance and humour. Even cyborgs and zombies. Well, sort of. All the coding and engineering stuff was definitely over my head, More...

What can you say about a book that has as its main characters Mordred Pendragon and Alan Turing, is set in the present, skips from a small computer company to an inquisitional bureaucracy to the Sunless Planes and all points between, makes immortals via a diverse-genetics-hungry Symbiot, and features demons, robots, cyborgs, souls, Tom Thumb, Baron Samedi,and, well, you name it. With a sci-fi twist on faerie and a mystical twist on Artificial Intelligence, this novel takes science, myth, and leg More...

Warning: if you're looking for just hot mansex, this book will sorely disappoint. However, if you're like me, a reader seeking something completely out of the ordinary, then The Prince and the Program is for you. I went into this expecting one thing and being taken for an Alice down the rabbit hole ride that skillfully and brilliantly blends cyberpunk and urban fantasy in a way that I've not seen in a long time. It's what would happen if Guy Gavriel Kay Charles De Lint and William Gibson sat dow More...

I can honestly say I've never read anything quite like this before. Good writing, fascinating concept--a peculiar blend of science fiction and urban fantasy. I can't say that it will be to everyone's taste, but then again most works that skirt the cutting edge won't. It's different. Neal Stephenson, Michael Chabon, Roger Zelazny different. The writer's not yet in their class, but I expect good things of him.

I'm not sure traditional romance readers will appreciate it, but if you like snarky, edg More...

So, I literally had no idea what was going on half the time but I still enjoyed it. Sharp, witty writing and an insanely imaginative plot. Which is the reason for the aforementioned WTF experience of much of the novel. Still, it's one of those things, like great science, that you know you don't get at all but it still terribly fascinating.

I think my one real problem with the book is that the romance didn't feel real to me in its inception and early stages. Mordred said he was falling for Alan, More...

This is certainly one of the most amazing books I have read in a while. It is imaginative, has some brilliant characters, made me laugh, had lots of computer-geekiness which I adore, the tension was exquisite, the questions asked profound, and I was only disappointed when it ended –much too soon. This story will make your head spin with its implications on multiple levels. Even if you read the blurb (which I didn't do a very good job of, I admit), this book will still manage to shock and surpris More...

This book made my brain explode. At most, I understood half of it. Maybe I shouldn't have tried to figure out all the math and coding stuff. This was a bit of a difficult read since the author throws you right into the story with no background or explanation, which is immediately confusing. Read the blurb if you want to keep up even marginally!

Oh, and if you value your sanity, don't try to figure out how time is actually tracked in this book. Cuz it ain't through 24 hour intervals!

I give this a More...

Хотела бы я сказать что-то хорошее про эту книжку.
У автора было слишком много очень хороших идей. Тут и производственный роман: бессмертные маги в офисе, демоны в компьютерах, много-много кода и остроумные отсылки к артуриане. И рабочая модель создания искусственного интеллекта. И концепция эээ... межвидовой любви тут тоже есть? И психоделика про постсмертное существование, зарождение жизни, человеческую душу. И зомбиапокалипсис через интернет-мему. И киборг-Инквизиция. Канадская киборг-Инквизиц More...

Okay this is really a weird, unique story!
At first the main character Mordred instantly pulled at my attention. He was truly an enjoyable person. His dedication to get a job was genuine and comical. I liked him. And even his new job and new co-workers, everything was pulling, comical and well written. But between Mordred getting to know about Alan secret and fighting demons, I kinda felt lost.
And now at the end I'm a bit disappointed. This end was truly depressing. So I hope that a next part wi More...

How can I resist?

I had to think for a long time before I wrote the review. This book touched some raw nerves and brought up very painful things. I was laughing and crying (more crying than laughing by the end). This one line brought it all home "I had hoped it would be different. With you. For me." It allowed me to let go and understand.

I would be very surprised if Mr. Mercer not have direct experience of a loved one's Alzheimer's. He does not hit you over the head with it, he lets you experience memory and ide More...

This book is impossible to describe, completely crazy, absolutely awesome.

Not what I would expect from a Dreamspinner Press' title, it's not a romance novel, but there are romantic elements and it's very well done and believable. And it wasn't a given. A budding romance between (view spoiler)[the ghost of (hide spoiler)] Alan Turing and Mordred from the Arthurian Legend while they both work for in a start-up. It sounds weird and cracktastic but it's so well done I didn't doubt any second they're made for each others.

She was

More...

This started out really well for me, loved the excerpt, and I was really excited about reading it, but I got about 20% in and just can't push myself to read it anymore, and I'm tired of seeing it in my currently reading shelf when I know I don't want to go back to it.

It's possible I'm just a dumb-butt or don't have the patience that this book calls for to really enjoy it. I don't normally mind when little is explained--I'm fine with being thrown into the pool and asked to sort things out from t More...

The book is just too weird... There is a higher literary form and there is odd. This book falls in the latter category.

And it's inaccurate. The first person to break the Enigma was Marian Rejewski in 1932, seven years ahead of Alan Turing starting to work on the cipher. Please get the facts straight before confusing your readers.

I really enjoyed this story. Even if there were definite times when I had no clue what was going on. If you stick with it (and don't even bother trying to figure out what time of day things are), it really is a fun ride. And Mordred. Love him. And felt so bad for him at times (not like weepy bad, but like damn he can't catch a break bad).

3.5

So now I completely understand how people have a difficult time rating this book because I feel the same way!

So this is a bottom line type of review...I loved Mori as a character and his dry humor completely amused me...I will definately read the next book.

Yes, the pacing had some issues, yes I was lost at the end many times. But bottom line again, I love Mori :D (view spoiler)[ although I almost dispised Mori with what he did to his familar, it had me in a rage until I learned what his familar really was (hide spoiler)] More...

This was a fascinating read. The world and such is very unique. The last 1/3 of the book, however, required rereading. It's....complex and strange in some...odd...ways. I may have to read the whole thing again to get it all. I look forward to more.

After reading that book I have to say I was a lot of time confused about the story plot, also the way it was written did not help to understand what was happening and the ending is strange.

So much potential in this book! But like most of the readers, I was losing it by the last 30%. Would probably read the sequel just to find out what happen between Mori and Alan. I love their dialogues.

I was blur after the first chapter and was in the midst of DNF but thought maybe it gets better. Sad to say I am still blur even when I am at the finish line.

Spectatuclar work. Hat off to Mercer. Genius.