sambora's reviews
314 reviews

This is a book so full of talent and splendor that it would be hard not to appreciate it.

Learning about the most influential SFF artists has been thoroughly engaging; seeing such fascinating people from all over the world creating art so full of passion and life... I have found it inspiring, even as a non-artist myself.

The art itself, of which there is a lot, is wonderfully presented in full colour on high quality paper.
Each chapter is also written in English, French and German, so there is less time spent reading and more time given to you for oogling at the awesome art.

This really is a brilliant piece of non-fiction and art history. Highly recommended.

The Hydrogen Sonata is the story of the Gzilt civilisation's last days - their final breath, as it were, before they ascend to a higher plane of existence, as a collective, via a process known as Subliming.

We witness the build-up to this event from a few perspectives, our primary protagonist though is a Gzilt musician called Vyr Cossant.
She plans on using the time she has left before the Sublime to attempt to master a notoriously difficult-to-play piece of music known as The Hydrogen Sonata.
She is interrupted in this endeavour by a huge last-minute political upheaval.
Vyr, alongside (and with the assistance of) the Culture ship "Mistake Not...", becomes embroiled in a quest to find the oldest living person, who apparently has answers about the Gzilt's unique and apparently mysterious place in the Galaxy.
All the while, other galactic species circle overhead, ready to pick over the bones of the civilization once her and the rest of the Gzilt move on.

With a story like this, the themes and metaphors are somewhat obvious, but trust me - the execution is masterfully performed.
There is humour, sex, religious skepticism, simulation theory, a ship mind group chat, and a few brilliant drops of silly nonsense that all weave into the action, painting a very well rounded and very "Banksian" reflection of an all-too-familiar species.
More importantly, however, it tackles the themes and concepts of long lives, forgotten memories, the legacy one leaves behind, coming to terms with one's own death, moving on, art... and leaving art feeling unfinished.

This was Banks' last Culture novel. At the time of writing this he was battling cancer.
He knew this was his farewell, and what a farewell it makes.
It is utterly brilliant and a fitting end to this incredible series.

An easy 5 Stars.

I think this book superbly bookends the Culture series, as almost the opposite to its first entry; Consider Phlebas.
Not only narratively, and perspective-wise, but also when comparing and contrasting the two, you see just how much Banks improved when it came to structuring his stories, because (however fantastic) Consider Phlebas has it's shortcomings, but this was flawless and truly fantastic.

I held off on reading The Hydrogen Sonata for a few years, not being quite ready to say goodbye to this universe, and having now done so, I suppose I'm still not ready to leave it behind, but alas.
I will without a doubt be doing a series reread many times in the future.

P.S.
Amazon... Please stay away. I don't like or trust you enough to have any faith in your interpretation of the Culture.

If I were to be kind it'd say this little novella is... Interesting.
As I am all for being honest, I shall tell you instead that Long Chills and Case Dough is just bad.
Note; not awful, but definitely bad.

A brief summary, kept spoiler-free:
A near-future Detective, who for ambiguous reasons, roleplays as a 1920's ex-cop, accepts a case from an apparently murderous cyberpsycho lady, and is charged with proving her innocent despite all high-tech evidence being against her.
Meh. It's so-so as a premise, but it's far from the worst element of the book. Thus...

The writing, the language and character.
All of it.
Just - ugh.
Even if some of it is intentional, as in playing up the idea that the main character is pretending to be from a different era and is deliberately using this horrible vernacular, calling all women "skirts", "doll" or "babe" for example - it doesn't sit any better just because the character is playing a role, it's still embarrassing, and it's relentless. Sheesh.

The action scene at the end felt so misplaced and forced and was over so quickly that it felt as though I had missed a page.

Also, so many small elements of this short story just... Ended, without anything to really be learned or taken from. Conversations and confrontations and revelations... All just kind of got cut off and we were moved along.

This book's only saving grace really is that it's interesting to see the places that the mighty Sanderson came from. Where he started, his growth and the evolution between his works then and now.
In my opinion, if you want to read a better Sanderson story that does a few of the same things as this, I'd actually recommendThe Original. While not being perfect itself, the writing is much better, the story more interesting and the character is more unique and far, far less cringe.

So yes, Long Chills and Case Dough gets a low 2 stars from me.

Thank you for reading my review. I hope you are enjoying your current reads!

A fantastic piece of non-fiction, superbly written.

Grann's The Wager captures extraordinarily well not only the tone and atmosphere of life at sea, but also the clearest and seemingly most honest interpretations of the complex (and somewhat muddied) events that transpired on board the warship known as the Wager and the island that later inherited its name.

The real people through which this story is told are as engaging as any purpose built character. From the struggling Captain Cheap to the young and loyal midshipmen Bryon; from Admiral Anson to, almost most importantly; the Wager's gunner, Bulkeley, who chronicled so much of what happened and played such a key role in the turn of events... All of them and more were given such voice, through both their own writings and what was known of them afterward, that wherever we were in the history, I was thoroughly engaged.

One particular thing I couldn't shake whilst reading this was the resolution and strength of men, of which there are many examples throughout history, but here - to suffer and prevail through the most dire sicknesses, the depths of starvation, to wilt and fight and lose and watch those they consider brothers around them crumble, to see men they admire turn against them... To pull it back, to stumble onward through it all - it really is inspiring just how far these people made it. That any survived at all is incredible, and wilder than almost any fiction.

This is a story that, told this way, I believe I will remember for a very long time.
That this is an albeit small piece of history that I was completely unaware of prior to this book's release is quite remarkable, but that might speak more to the shame of our British history, which is very possible.

All of that said; if you are looking for a face-paced, enthralling and oftentimes brutal slice of history, with great voice and interesting "characters", then I would highly recommend giving The Wager a try. I learned a lot.

4.5 stars

I went back and forth on my opinion a bit whilst going through Anathem, but I eventually settled on it being a very well written story, that may be a little too sophisticated for my tastes, at least at the moment.
To clarify; I enjoy intelligent stories. I like reading and learning about science and philosophy. I can also fully appreciate Stephenson's ability the craft such clever characters and a plot that used their individual characteristics so effectively, but this book lost me in a few key places.
There were some truly amazing sequences, some complex but just about followable scenes, some very dry a tedious dialogues... You get it; this was a real mixed bag for me.

Two of the elements that I particularly enjoyed were the initial world-building as well as the use of language as world-building tool. What Stephenson does here with his etymology is a difficult thing to explain in so many words, but it's both rather meta and very impressive.

The story of Anathem... I liked? I question this deliberately because, again, I am afraid some of the nuances of the plot went over my head. There were multiple times that, whilst enjoying the immediate happenings and being fully engaged, I felt like I was somehow missing some key context, or that I had forgotten the reasons behind what the character were doing or reacting to. I'm not sure if this was simply me being somewhat dim, or if there were certain narrative signposts I was expecting to find where there were none.

I am aware my criticisms are very much based solely upon my personal understanding of the text, and I am certain that if a future version of me were to reread this, he would take a lot more away from it than I, and without a doubt follow the plot with a great deal more clarity and appreciation.

For now, an impressed but somewhat bewildered,3 stars.

I've read a few of Stephenson's book now, Snow Crash, The Diamond Age and Seveneves, (maybe more but I lose track) and this one is by far the most complex and intriguing of them all, and definitely the one to justify a reread the most.

I'll try to keep this short; I adore Firefly, but these novels really don't scratch the same itch.
This one is short, simple, the twists predictable, quite a few frustrating plot decisions and a handful of just straight up mistakes that really should have been noticed in editing.

I wish this series had just been left in the hands of one author, preferably James Lovegrove, so that a continuity could be created - thus allowing for references to previous books, rather than just to the show - because that is so overdone here. For example; Shepherd Book's mysterious past was alluded to 8 separate times in this pretty short novel, all without adding anything we don't already know. Just mentioning it. Book wasn't even a primary character in this story! So dull and played out.

I will say, the tone of the story was good, the dialogue was strong and the setting was very Firefly... But it's strengths really were dwarfed by it's shortcomings.
Wash was written like a complete simpleton, Browncoats were written to be lowlife scumbags, the Alliance was painted as if with the words "they're not all bad" and the main bloody character (and the only first-person perspective) wasn't even part of the crew, which just left me to feeling like it was an author insert, or just mediocre fan-fiction.

I won't say more. This was a disappointment for me personally and I really hope the series doesn't end on this low-note.

2 stars.

Thank you for reading my review. I hope y'all are enjoying your current reads <3

This is a wholesome and touching little story. The prose is undoubtedly lovely, as is almost always given with Rothfuss, but there were also some rather predictable and oftentimes very on-the-nose passages that had me rolling me eyes... which is also not unheard of with Rothfuss.

Bast is an interesting character that I'm glad got a short story of his own.
The majority of the characters in the book, besides Bast, are children and they are well written as well. Smart, inquisitive and annoying, but with enough depth to them that they feel utterly believable. I was impressed.

The art is good. A little overdrawn for my personal tastes - I think less is more sometimes. But it's still nice work and it adds to the experience of reading.

3.5 stars.

That's what I have to say whilst staying unbiased.
This, without effecting my rating of the book, I feel should be followed by my vehement dislike of the repackaging an older short story (even with the heavy revisions) and reselling it as a very anti-consumer move. Particularly at the price point it's at. (I am grateful that the publisher sent me a finished copy for review because I would have refused to purchase it myself.)
All this while we know Rothfuss has certain obligations, both contractually and for charity, still outstanding.
Even as someone who isn't a huge fan of the Kingkiller books, I am sad to see the state this franchise is in, and I feel sorry for those that rightfully expect more from it's primary creator.
I know some will disagree with me and defend Rothfuss and his actions, that's fine. But I would have felt it wrong to not mention my distaste for the disregard he has shown for his core fanbase.