Dave J. > Recent Status Updates

Here we go, the big one. The classic of all classics. This translation is said to be one of the best, and I hope I've chosen correctly.

Been looking forward to this one for a while. Hopefully it will deliver.

Excellent introduction. Very strong, evocative writing style, which was unexpected but welcome. There's even hints of fantasy-like things here and there, which I like a lot.

It's been many years since I've read TMBS, and I'm not the least bit disappointed by my belated return to the series. Now that I know certain things about the world, this book comes across a great deal darker than it did when I'd first read it in '07, and that's the beauty of it, I suppose. I was more focused on the exhilaration of adventure and danger when I was young, but now I can see and value a great deal more.

Glad to hop back into this. Crazy good stuff. I'm still amazed that this was written just before the 21st century began. What a wild thing this is with its punchy, slang-slinging, mile-a-minute writing style. A real page-turning thriller.

Hoo boy, this book is addictive. Can't put the thing down, but put it down I must.

I'm liking this book a lot so far. Anderson's style of language is vivid and poetic, and the story itself borrows from the epic tradition of stories like Beowulf to create a tale that is ceaseless in action and intrigue. Quite the breath of fresh air compared to most fantasy fare within recent years.

The crescendo arrives. It's clearer now than before that there is no coxswain--all main characters inevitably become enraptured by the beyond.

A terrific Foreward.

Mirrors: an indispensable story-telling tool of Clarke's. Reflections, too, provide a wealth of startling or wondrous moments. To lose oneself in their own reflection, hmm...

Getting back to finishing this is akin to getting back in touch with a dear ol' friend. Clarke displays more excellent comedic timing and flowing descriptions in the chapter entitled "The King" than I recall when I first read the novel a few years ago--I think it's one of my favorite chapters now.

For a book of such popularity, the density of its language came as a welcome surprise. There is a sense that Herbert knows exactly what he's doing with his world, and is pulling it off with aplomb. Already seeing the ways in which Star Wars was given life because of this story.

Oh magic, magic, magic...you enrich this tale in startling, beautiful ways...

If only more modern fantasy authors wrote in this vein, why, the genre would be more extraordinary and less predictable. But I suppose the state of things makes me appreciate Clarke all the more.

Just bought a Kindle, and this is the first book I'm reading with it :P

I had no idea that the Bronte sisters and their brother Branwell had early experience writing about imagined worlds that they shared. Very neat, looking forward to the rest.

I'm beginning to find it criminal that such a writer as Clarke was able to imbue her story with such passion, such realistic variance and authority. She not only suspends my disbelief, but holds it in enchantment.