David Hunter > Recent Status Updates

Finally crossed the halfway mark!

OMG! I can't believe this POS was ranked higher as a fantasy novel than Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun. Everyone must have lost their fucking minds.

For Mieville, everything is vile, putrid, fetid, rancid, fecal, mucal, or some other nasty adjective. If it is not one of those, it is unreal or strange. Who actually thinks this is good writing???

Massively overrated.

I can't say I'm at all impressed anymore. Really bad characterization, ridiculous jumble of ideas. I don't get it.

Getting close to half way.

Very interesting so far. I wish he wouldn't use so many borrowed English words - capiche, Guinea, shekel, etc. These really break the immersion.

TBH, I'm more than a bit disappointed with Diamond's discussion of Japanese forest management. He completely ignores the studies of Elinor Ostrom regarding how many Japanese villages effectively self-governed. I see that in Diamond's eyes, this appears to be a case of bottom-up, but I'd argue that Ostrom presents it more as an alternative to market-driven and government-led initiatives.