**spoiler alert** As a friend said: If you’ve read one, you’ve read them all. The main reason for me to read through was to see if the alien question **spoiler alert** As a friend said: If you’ve read one, you’ve read them all. The main reason for me to read through was to see if the alien question gets answered, but it doesn’t.
The writing doesn’t get any better. All the flaws from the previous books remain. The characters are fleshed out a bit more, but they’re still comically indifferent to all the deaths and warfare at times....more
Good: Military SF - I don't read much of that. Distances are in light-travel-times.
Bad: Warfare itself, while a core part of the book - is given a shaGood: Military SF - I don't read much of that. Distances are in light-travel-times.
Bad: Warfare itself, while a core part of the book - is given a shallow treatment, beyond the "formation' aspect (ala Ender's Game?). There are 3 weapons (across an entire fleet with hundreds of ships) - which are described very vaguely. Same goes for ship classes themselves. Character development was meager, and most characters only stood as minor antagonists propped up against our revered Hero. It felt like someone wanted to write a more accurate treatment of Battlestar Gallactica - the constant chase felt quite similar.
Bad: The opposing faction (Human, Syndicate/Syndics) are given such a weird one-sided portrayal that it felt eerie.
Bad: Character Motivations. For plot reasons, we don't get to know why the war is being fought, or judge for ourselves if the dispute is worth a century of war in any way - that makes it "fighting for the sake of fighting", which feels odd for a century of war. Not knowing what motivates the fleet also feels like a hole in the story, because the characters feel that much unreal - they don't really have motivations to fight.
And finally, on the science side - this book has FTL. As the saying goes - FTL/Relativity/Causality - you can only have 2. This book keeps relativity in the spotlight (all battles and engagements have relativistic distortions featured), FTL at bay (there's slow and fast jumps via specific jump points) - but handwaves the causality concerns that this FTL brings (or rather ignores it entirely). The ships themselves only go up to 0.2c, so the time dilation doesn't impact causality that much beyond the time-delay and that gets covered decently....more
There are some interesting ideas in the book, and I liked it overall. It was fun to listen to two of my favorite authors together, in a way. There werThere are some interesting ideas in the book, and I liked it overall. It was fun to listen to two of my favorite authors together, in a way. There were a few places where the character/world-building disconnect was interesting to note - both definitely come from different authors.
I have a feeling that writing this helped Brandon somewhat in the character development for Rhythm of War, but that just might be wishful thinking.
World-building/setting: There were a few places where I chuckled because of the clear parallels with Aadhaar (and other digital ID systems) based surveillance. It wasn't intentional, but being a "checkout" (the in-universe equivalent of being without an Aadhaar) it made the setting more fun to explore, in a way.
Character: Full props to the authors. Loved Holly's thoughts, very well done - you do get in her head over time and _really understand her motivations_.
Plot: There's some obvious foreshadowing and twists, but I guess that's expected from a short book.
This has made me interested in near-future-SF that tackles ID systems (or government surveillance). If someone has suggestions, happy to hear. Would like to pick up something along those lines in 2021....more
**spoiler alert** Loved it. Spoilers are for all cosmere in this review.
1. Rysn is at the Third Heightening! (Or maybe fourth?) 2. Chiri-Chiri will bec**spoiler alert** Loved it. Spoilers are for all cosmere in this review.
1. Rysn is at the Third Heightening! (Or maybe fourth?) 2. Chiri-Chiri will become a full-sized larkin! Yay! 3. New Oathgate - interesting implications, but its gonna be pretty hard to transport armies via that, since the naval fleet isn't doing well. 4. I loved how Rysn's trading skills were put to use, both throughout and for the climax 5. Nikli is gonna be interesting to watch out for. 6. Wondering how the Sleepless communication works. Do they all have connected gemhearts? 7. Cord getting a shardplate is yay! 8. Rock was bearer of the Bow? For some ancient ritual. How come this has never come up before... And Cord mentions a pact that prevents Gods from hurting her.. interesting. 9. The Dawnshard was moved to Roshar via the Purelake. I'm guessing this was from either Yolen or Nalthis (given the effects of the Dawnshard on Rysn) 10. Someone get Rushu next to Khriss please. 11. I liked Rysn's portrayal with her disability and I think Brandon handled it pretty well, giving her viewpoint proper care. 12. I hadn't realized that the voidlight radiant was a Lightweaver. 13. The ship fabrials sounded amazing (weight-stabilizers built inside the hull, and the automatic pumps for keeping water off the deck). Wonder how they were charging the gems for those. 14. I love when obvious solutions are used/accounted for old problems. Like Lopen suggesting he could just fly more grain. Or Lopen sticking the captain's foot to the Deck. 15. I figured out the Mandra/luckspren bonding with Chiri Chiri connect before Nikli explained it - so nicely foreshadowed.
What I didn't like, or could have been done better:
1. The sailors. Their characters fell a bit flat, mostly due to a lack of screen time. 3 died, and we didn't even get their names 2. No Hoid (I think). I needed more Yalb. 3. The fake gems. Aimians could surely have done gotten real ones, no? ...more
There were some good ideas in this book, but a lot of it falls flat: the characters are less than cardboard cutouts, there 1.5 stars, rounded up to 2.
There were some good ideas in this book, but a lot of it falls flat: the characters are less than cardboard cutouts, there is too much forced philosophy, which doesn't even align well with the characters; and some of the SF is just implausible.
In SF, its always nice to go deep into your premise and consider all (from economic to sociological to long-term) consequences of the changes you've made. However this book keeps changing the premise and tries to cover too much ground with its laundry list of SF ideas. As a result, all of them get a shallow treatment, and the most interesting ones get sidelined....more
Read this on a whim. Highly impressed with the research that must have gone into this, and deeply troubled by the findings and implications.
In a nutshRead this on a whim. Highly impressed with the research that must have gone into this, and deeply troubled by the findings and implications.
In a nutshell, it reveals the real story behind the Indian generic drug industry, and how it managed to fool regulators across the world, while having rampant corruption, shady manufacturing practices , outright fraud, and very little consequences.
Some of the undrawn parallels with the Indian software boom are interesting to ponder about: Our BPO and IT boom happened for very similar reasons: cheap labour, little oversight by regulators, and a government that protects corporate interests above everything else. However, the drug industry has a few facets that make it stand differently:
1. The blast radius for, say a IT consultancy screwing up is much lower. It will be limited to a few companies at most. Lives are rarely at stake, with very few exceptions. 2. It is easy for a small-sized change in drug quality to have a large impact down the road. This is hard to understand at first, but makes complete sense once you understand the importance of quality in the drug industry.
Drugs are the cornerstone of modern healthcare. In order for us to be able to trust the healthcare system, we need to be able to trust our drugs, and that means a high quality reliable drug manufacturing pipeline. Doctors need to be able to trust that their prescriptions will work. Even if one out of every hundred batches of a medicine is faulty, the whole system breaks down. If your clinic gets a bad batch - all your patients are screwed.
What Ranbaxy (and other indian manufacturers) did resulted in patient deaths across the globe, and doctors losing trust in the drugs themselves, such was the shoddy quality of the same. In the race to the bottom for profits, Indian Pharma puts its morals on fire and sells everything.
Another aspect that the book covers is how tied up the FDA itself is, and how badly underfunded and under prepared it was throughout the crisis. Despite having evidence going back to 2005, it took them more than half a decade to take any action at all. The Indian regulators are still on the side of the pharma companies.
By the end, I was hoping for a lifeboat of sorts, against all odds, to see some changes. Sadly, that's not the case.
The book reads like a thriller, and reminds me the most of Bad Blood in a way. Except that the impact here was so much higher, and yet there ends up being no criminal action against any of the executives. The only minor nitpick I had was regarding superfluous callbacks to people who were already well introduced.
Highly recommended, and I'm gonna go read news reports from the time, that I somehow completely missed back then. ...more
3 stars for the actual book, and adding a half star for the "Author's Notes" at the end.
While it has some great ideas, the story itself is v3.5 stars.
3 stars for the actual book, and adding a half star for the "Author's Notes" at the end.
While it has some great ideas, the story itself is very incoherently told. I'm a huge fan of the 1995 film, and while the book has a lot of additional content - I'm gonna stick to recommending just the film for now. (Seriously, if you haven't seen it you're missing out)
If you're planning to read it - make sure you read the "Author's notes" alongside the main chapters. I read them at the end, and reading them alongside would have helped a lot with improving readability.
There are 2 main issues with the book that I faced:
1. The art isn't coherent. It is very easy to lose track of what's happening in scenes. This isn't always the case - there's a lot of beautiful panels in here. But the bad ones are so bad, they act as confusion goalposts.
2. Too much of the world-building is in the author's head. What we're told is usually just-enough for the scene to make sense, and sometimes not even that. These are better explained in the author's notes at the end, but it doesn't feel adequate. I can tolerate being thrown into a world, but the ambiguous understanding that we get of the world ends up muddling the author's intent.
For all its faults, it is still a very prescient story. Here is just one of the many interesting notes (from the Author's Notes section at the end):
In talking about what is right or just, whether with regard to groups or individuals, Muslim society or Christian society, etc., the different concepts of what is right lead each to view the other as evil. This makes the whole concept of right or wrong seem rather antiquated. If a consensus of the majority is all it takes to determine what is right, then having and controlling information becomes extraordinarily important.
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. Overall: I liked the book, but I found it the weakest in the series so far. The frame structure of the series (flashback c3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. Overall: I liked the book, but I found it the weakest in the series so far. The frame structure of the series (flashback character per book, tight plotting within each book) are things that usually make each of these huge tomes great and fun to read. And even if some aspect falls a bit short (I wasn't a fan of the Alethkar plotline in Oathbringer, but the flashbacks more than made up for it). In this book however - neither the main plotline (Urithiru-under-siege) nor the flashbacks caught me right.
It's still a good book - just not as good as the previous ones.
Minor spoilers for the book. If you've read Part 1, you should be good. Don't click behind the spoilertext unless you've finished it.
What I liked:
1. Interesting setup in Part 1. I liked how the frame structure was changed, and the first part rushed through. 2. Navani doing science. I think it might have been a bit too overwhelming for usual readers at times, but I liked the change - you rarely get to read a book about scientists figuring out things, and its superbly done. From Accidental discoveries to discoveries causing accidents - its all in there. Navani's on her not considering herself as a scholar felt a bit too much at times, but the journey was worth it. 3. Adolin's character arc. His undying optimism gets to you. 4. Mental health depiction, for the most part. Characters in fiction are often thrown into situations where anyone would be scarred for life - this book tries to take a realistic approach to that - showcases PTSD, and contrasts what is possible if people are willing to listen. 5. The chess-piece ending. (view spoiler)[How the next book is going to be 10 days. How Taravangian ascends to Odium, and the whole Ishar side-plot. (hide spoiler)] 6. The who's-the-spy stuff that Shallan fights in Shadesmar. I really liked the resolution.
What I didn't like:
1. The whole Urithiru-under-siege plot. The climax didn't feel like the right ending (except for maybe the (view spoiler)[Kaladin bits - wohoo! (hide spoiler)]). The whole idea of a singer invasion being so benevolent that barely anyone dies doesn't feel right in a large-scale war. The setting had too much plot armor for me to ever be worried about Hesina/Lirin/Rlain/Dabbid/Lift. 2. Kaladin's (view spoiler)[PTSD at times. It felt like barely a barrier at times where Kaladin just gets up and becomes amazing and basically says - I can deal with this later. Felt like a cop-out. (hide spoiler)] 3. The Shadesmar plot - mainly because it disappears for too long in the book, and the consequences are not directly in this book. 4. The Venli/Eshonai flashbacks. This was my most boring part of the book, for some reason. I wasn't interested at all in the Venli/Eshonai dynamic. Maybe I shouldn't have skipped (some of) their parts in my re-read? I'm not sure - but they felt nowhere near as impactful as the flashbacks in the previous books. 5. The Leshwi/Raboneil/Venli politicking. Wasn't too much of it, but I spent some time confused as to why Venli has a new master.
Favorite Bits (non-cosmere stuff)
1. Navani - (view spoiler)[Journey before destination, you bastard (hide spoiler)] 2. Kaladin - (view spoiler)[I AM DEATH (hide spoiler)] 3. (view spoiler)[Maya - MY SACRIFICE! (hide spoiler)] 4. (view spoiler)[Chiri Chiri - EAT VOOD! (hide spoiler)] 5. I loved the mutual admiration between (view spoiler)[Sibling and Navani once they bonded (hide spoiler)]. They do get each other. 6. All of Wit's scenes. 7. Jasnah being a badass. And still learning. And still finding time to be a scholar. And (view spoiler)[THAT DUELING SCENE (hide spoiler)]. I find it weird when she quotes contemporary research - who are these scholars researching societal changes in war v/s peace times in Roshar?
**HEAVY SPOILERS FOR COSMERE FOLLOW. DO NOT SCROLL UNLESS YOU HAVE READ ALL COSMERE**
Interesting Cosmere stuff:
1. Thaidakar=Kelsier confirmed. 2. Taravangian is new Odium. This is gonna be very interesting. Taravangian understands Dalinar, and has the best chance at actually beating him. 3. Shallan has a Seon 4. Did Wit get tricked at the end? How many breaths did he lose? Will he notice at the end of the day? 5. Cultivation's vessel is a Dragon. 6. The Wit/Jasnah dialogue was so interesting. 7. Raboniel's mention of Raysium. She doesn't mention how they get it, but I'm curious - what happens to it now that Taravangian is the vessel? 8. The Tones of Roshar. Apparently, its a cosmere wide thing. Going to be interesting how it plays into more things 9. No signs of Azure, but Zahel fixes his classification system. 10. The madness cure that Ishar mentions is going to be interesting - I can think of far more implications than just Ishar getting cured temporarily. 11. I have a feeling something is up at Purelake (Cultivation's Perpendicularity), due to Rock's absence. 12. Cultivation is apparently playing some long-game. 13. How cosmere aware was Gavilar? How did he (view spoiler)[make those spheres? (hide spoiler)] 14. After seeing how much (view spoiler)[Harmony manipulated Wax (hide spoiler)], I'm wondering how much effort did Cultivation have to put in getting this done? 15. So many more SHARDS NAMED. We got Invention/Mercy/Valor/Whimsy. We're at 14/16 now. 16. The Dalinar/Odium negotiation was amazing. 17. Ishar's house-of-horrors. AARRGHH.
I've played a bit of Witcher 3, watched a friend play a bit more, and then saw the TV Show (season 1). 80% of the content for season 1 comes3.5 stars.
I've played a bit of Witcher 3, watched a friend play a bit more, and then saw the TV Show (season 1). 80% of the content for season 1 comes from this one book, so it helped clear a lot of issues I had with the show (mainly around the pacing, and chronology).
Some of the chapters that were not adapted were quite refreshing. (view spoiler)[Especially the one about the Devyl's origin. (hide spoiler)]
Things I liked:
- Interesting worldbuilding. A lot of it adapts tropes, myths and sometimes subverts tropes in unexpected ways. Since a Witcher exists to kill monsters, we get to see lots and lots of monsters, some mythical, lots made up, and a few monster-like but not really monsters. - Witcher's internal monologue. - Weird comic interventions. Often by characters doing non-genre stuff. - One other unexpected finding was how "scientific" the book's viewpoint is. Witcher magic is fairly systematic, and Geralt is a staunch atheist, despite living in a world (view spoiler)[where he meets a God, and sees minor miracles via priests (hide spoiler)]. There was also a really interesting tidbit about greenhouses, UV rays, and genetic mutations play a big role in the storyline.
Things the show did better:
- Using Jaskier instead of Dandelion as the name. Dandelion is what the english edition uses, Jaskier is apparently the polish edition - and works better I think. - Music. I don't think Jaskier actually sings anything long anywhere in the book, but having Jaskier sing in the show makes for a much more lively tone....more
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