Stephen's updates

Stephen's updates http://www.goodreads.com/user/updates_rss/716805 en-US Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:04:18 -0700 60 Stephen's updates http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 31906887 Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:04:18 -0700 Review11049343 <![CDATA[Stephen added 'Sandstorm']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11049343 Sandstorm (Mass Market Paperback) by James Rollins
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 24470783 Thu, 08 May 2008 19:02:47 -0700 Review11049536 <![CDATA[Stephen added 'Soul of the Fire']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11049536 Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth, Book 5) by Terry Goodkind
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 20055275 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:52:51 -0700 Review11051156 <![CDATA[Stephen added 'The Harvest']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11051156

to: The Harvest by Robert Charles Wilson
I loved this book. It was awesome. It enthralled me from start to finish which was a surprise to me because no one recommended it to me. I found it on my own. What made it so good was the deep question it posed. Do you say yes to immortality without pain and suffering but it costs you your individuality? There were times that I cheered for the humans who said no but at other times I could see the suffering leave those who said yes. A very well written book. ]]> 20055029 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:47:05 -0700 Rating229095 <![CDATA[Stephen Fordyce voted on a review]]> http://www.goodreads.com/

Stephen read and liked Alex's review of The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time #1):

"THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES BY ROBERT JORDAN: I tried. I gave it over two years of my life and I still couldn't keep going till the end. Of course, the real end will probably be book fifteen or twenty or, heaven forbid, twenty-five and up. I'm talking a...more THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES BY ROBERT JORDAN: I tried. I gave it over two years of my life and I still couldn't keep going till the end. Of course, the real end will probably be book fifteen or twenty or, heaven forbid, twenty-five and up. I'm talking about Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Currently there are eleven books in the series, the latest, Knife of Dream, came out last October. The first book, Eye of the World, started out really well and I felt like I'd discovered a great new epic fantasy series similar to that of Lord of the Rings. The first book proved this and I thought it was great; I was also very excited at the notion of there being so many books in the series, with the story still incomplete. The second book, The Great Hunt, while not as mind-mashingly great as the first book, was still a great read, as was the third, The Dragon Reborn, where we find out that the main character is the guy prophesied to save the world, essentially. Eight books from th ere and the big showdown still hasn't come, while Jordan has continued to drag out into the hundreds and thousands of pages scenes, descriptions, and characters bickering at each other about the same thing while repetitively employing their annoying habits, to the point where I feel like I'm reading a children's nursery rhyme. Then there's the whole deal with the main character, Rand, having his undeniable love for three of the women characters, which he is okay with, and which they are okay with, apparently, and are quite willing to share him amongst themselves. I may have kept sloughing through the series better if there'd been a lot less purple prose and books four to ten had been condensed into say books four to six, which would've made more sense and made the stories move along better. Around book five I began spotting the routine the books go through: a few hundred pages of sitting around talking, explaining and regurgitating what's happened in the past books, bitching at each other; then about four hundred pages of people painstakingly crawling from a starting point to a destination (and bear in mind that these people can "travel" through vortexes real fast), and then the last hundred pages is a big action scene. At book seven, Crown of Thorns, halfway through, I decided I'd wasted enough time on Mr. Jordan and his wordiness, so I employed a slow speed-reading method which got me through them a lot faster. In about three days I reached the end of book nine and decided I'd had it and it just wasn't worth any more of my time. At this point I'd been able to summarize each book into three or four sentences, and I'd decided that if I can do that, maybe it's just not worth it and I should put my reading time to something more important that I'd enjoy reading more.

So here I am Mr. Jordan, signing off on your series that held so much promise and crashed and burned like a planet falling into a sun. Oh, and you know what, I'm not the only one who thinks this way. There are other people I know who've given up earlier than me, and others who've not even bothered to start because they know it's going to end bad.

On the plus side, I get to sell all my Robert Jordan books and make money off him!

Sayonara.

For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit www.alexctelander.com....less "

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]]> 20054986 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:45:58 -0700 Review11051339 <![CDATA[Stephen added 'No Opportunity Wasted : Creating a List for Life']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11051339

to: No Opportunity Wasted : Creating a List for Life (Hardcover) by Phil Keoghan
A very good book. I don't hand out five stars to just any book. I think this one lived up to my expectations big time and not just because I like "The Amazing Race". I think everyone should make a list of things to do before they die (made popular now by the movie "The Bucket List"). This book is like a manual to doing that. I sat down and made my own list while reading this book. Of course, I promptly lost it but...um...that's part of the adventure! ]]> 20054676 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:39:16 -0700 Rating229091 <![CDATA[Stephen Fordyce voted on a review]]> http://www.goodreads.com/

Stephen read and liked Rubina's review of Excavation:

"After "The De Vinci Code" - this was one book that I really could not put down - I was actually running with the characters!!! By the last chapter I "was feeling" a little let down - for it was sounding so unreal - BUT by the tim...more "

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]]> 10939210 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:53:10 -0800 Review11049319 <![CDATA[Stephen added 'Excavation']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11049319

to: Excavation (Mass Market Paperback) by James Rollins
Yes this book was unbelievable and yes it did have parts that were hokey but what about "The WIzard of Oz" and "Alice in Wonderland"? It's no more unbelievable than those. I'm kidding of course.

I thought his first book was better. I liked the traps in the temple and the huge snake that was closing in on them (Rollins books seem to have oversized creatures in his novels) but yet I did get thrown off by the implausibility of some parts. Like the Aztec king who got his head cut off but came back alive because of the regenerating gold stuff that made up his whole body. Come on.

That's why I only gave it three stars. I didn't love the book, but I did like it. ]]> 10890412 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 06:37:01 -0800 Review11050708 <![CDATA[Stephen added 'Marlfox: A Tale from Redwall']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11050708

to: Marlfox: A Tale from Redwall (#11 (Firebird Paperback)) by Brian Jacques
I've only read two Brian Jacques books so far and this one was the lesser of the two. I didn't like how the author built up the foxes to be like these mystical and accomplished ninja foxes who could disappear and reappear at will, and then they were so easily killed off in the end. Anyone who read the book will remember. Did the Marlfoxes kill any of the important good characters? When they weren't killing each other, they were getting their mystical heads chopped off.

If you are going to imply the competency in the skills and intelligence of your villains, you have to follow up on that implication by displaying their prowess. Anyway that was my biggest problem with the book. I did like the character of Song and the little mole too. I was cheering them on. Turns out I didn't need to. The incompetence of the Marlfoxes proved to be their own undoing. ]]> 10889793 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 06:27:22 -0800 Review11050723 <![CDATA[Stephen added 'The Long Patrol']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11050723

to: The Long Patrol (Redwall, Book 10) by Brian Jacques
I've only read two Brian Jacques books and this one was the better of the two. It was extremely realistic in that major characters in the story died. It was extremely unrealistic in the fact that the animals walked and talked and made hotcakes.

The Long Patrol made a valiant stand for Redwall but they couldn't have done it without Cregga and her company. The rapscallion rats (or were they shrews?) proved to be not very organized and did not fight well. They only proved a threat because of the sheer number of them.

All in all I recommend the book although I have not read all the Redwall books. Eulalia!!!! ]]> 10888906 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 06:11:52 -0800 Review11050821 <![CDATA[Stephen added 'Riptide']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11050821

to: Riptide (Paperback) by Douglas Preston
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child prove that the field of engineering can be fun! And that's hard to do! Not as good as Ice Limit, this book is still a good adventure. I gave it four stars because after it's slow beginning, it picked up exponentially and drove you to keep reading it.

I am not sure I liked the ending. There was some kind of radiation involved that threw the story off. Were they trying to run away from the radiation before it got them? How do you run away from radiation?

Fans of Matthew Reilly and James Rollins will like this story about pirate's treasure and booby traps. The whole book is like the first 20 minutes of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". I recommend it. ]]>