Ryan's profile

36 ratings | 17 reviews
avg rating: 3.75
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Ryan's bookshelves

read (36)
currently-reading (2)

to-read (13)
scifi (11)

nonfiction (8)
memoirs (4)

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Ryan is currently reading

	07/09 Ryan is currently reading: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (Hardcover) by Mary Roach bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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	07/02 Ryan is currently reading: A Fire Upon The Deep (Zones of Thought) by Vernor Vinge bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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Ryan's recent updates (rss)

July 09

Ryan gave

to:
Strip Tease (Paperback)
by Carl Hiaasen

my rating:

recommended to Ryan by: Rachel
read in July, 2008

1 comments

July 06

Ryan gave

to:
A Dirty Job: A Novel (Hardcover)
by Christopher Moore

my rating:

read in February, 2008

Ryan said: "Even though the end was a little predictable, I still really liked it. One of his best. "

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Ryan gave

to:
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal (Paperback)
by Christopher Moore

my rating:

read in November, 2007

Ryan said: "I don't know why, but I didn't like this as much as his other books. That's not to say it wasn't good. "

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July 04

New comment on Mary-Beth's review of Perdido Street Station

Ryan wrote: "Where you stopped is really the last acceptable part of the book IMHO. Everything that was importan...more "

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Ryan gave

to:
Perdido Street Station (Mass Market Paperback)
by China Miéville
bookshelves: scifi

my rating:

recommended to Ryan by: io9.com
recommended for: fans of steampunk
read in June, 2008

Ryan said:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

"A story about a rogue scientist trying to harness unbelievable powers to help a de-winged birdman fly again. This should have been awesome. It wasn't. Plot lines get mashed together, or abandoned all together. It ends as a vastly different story ...more A story about a rogue scientist trying to harness unbelievable powers to help a de-winged birdman fly again. This should have been awesome. It wasn't. Plot lines get mashed together, or abandoned all together. It ends as a vastly different story than it started. I wanted to like this book, I really did. But now the more I think about it, the more disappointed I am.

The story is so off the wall you'll never know what's coming next. Sometimes story elements are introduced and won't make any sense until 20 pages later. This is acceptable, but the story has A LOT of superfluous elements. Things are discussed and never spoken of again. Two prominent concepts on the back cover synopsis of this edition, weather patters that destroy reality and the ambassador of Hell, come up only once and have NO bearing on the story. Several brief passages lead you to suspect that the mayor is a serial killer that steals people's eyes for his own use. But, of course, it's never spoken of again. Some of this is really interesting stuff, but just gives way to the more mundane monster hunt the book degrades into.

The writing started to get to me after a while. It's so overly descriptive that you can easily miss things. It's downright annoying if you have to re-read sentences frequently to dig through the dressed up language. It gets to the point that the interesting imagery looses its charm, and that's a shame.

I do know this though, I did not care for the ending. I'm not one that believes the ending always has to be happy, but this one was sooooo depressing. It just turns out terribly for all the characters you've been rooting for... for no good reason. The Garuda's new found determination feels so forced. Like the author just couldn't come up with a fitting end. The truth about Yag's crime was so... dumb. It's like the author wanted to make you like the character, and then pull the proverbial rug out from under you for kicks. Lin gets tortured half to death and ends up massively brain damaged... WTF? Motley doesn't get his comeuppance, neither does the mayor.

Apparently, The Scar picks up the author's narrative about the world of Bas-Lag. Perhaps I'll read it at some point. If you really like steampunk/neoindustrial stuff you may want to read this for the imagery alone....less "

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Ryan marked as to-read:
Cryptonomicon (Mass Market Paperback)
by Neal Stephenson
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

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Ryan marked as to-read:
Neuromancer (Paperback)
by William Gibson
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

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Ryan marked as to-read:
The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time (Mass Market Paperback)
by Douglas Adams
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

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Ryan marked as to-read:
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (Mass Market Paperback)
by Douglas Adams
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

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Ryan marked as to-read:
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (Mass Market Paperback)
by Douglas Adams
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

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