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First Substantive Post of 2014!
Feb. 22nd, 2014 04:45 pmNot much has been happening to me, in the middle of the winter blahs, made even blah-ier because of the Olympics. I'm doing my usual competitive "watch as little as possible of Olympic footage" (I'm still holding strong at 0 seconds, at least of actual footage... coverage I'm doing less well at!), and a lot of other shows are taking time off. I've also finished up watching Leverage, which I'd been getting into over the last several months. But now it's gone. Oh, Leverage, I'll miss you, Parker with your adorable awkwardness, Hardison with your age-of-the-geek, and Eliot with your improbably recognition of organizations (it's a very distinctive reference!). Plus random Doctor Who references (and other geek stuff).
Speaking of Doctor Who, I now apparently own a TARDIS hoodie. My stepmother went to the states and that was her gift for me. Which is nice of her, since I probably wouldn't have bought one myself.
Otherwise, TV's rather sucked with the exception of the return of the Walking Dead, and GoT is coming soon. So that's something to look forward to.
In movies, I watched Catching Fire, which I enjoyed, and it mostly kept to then novel, Ender's Game (don't worry, I got it through magic, rather than paying anything for it!), which aside from having a few all-too short scenes in the Battle Room really seemed to miss the point in a lot of ways. I was expecting some changes to make it a movie, but most of them were awful. It was okay, but if they're going to make a movie of that in the first place the least they could have done is a better one! Anyway, there are other books by better and less-problematic authors to ruin with a movie adaptation! Also watched Thor 2, which was decently enjoyable. Guardians of the Galaxy also looks pretty good from the trailer recently released (though I'll have Hooked on a Feeling running through my head for a while), and it gives me a bit of a Farscape vibe, in a good way.
And upcoming movies also includes the Veronica Mars movie, which will be released worldwide not just in select theatres but in various on demand services to everyone, not just backers, on March 14th. That's pretty unusual. I'll be getting a free copy because of my Kickstarter contribution and won't be going to theatres due to my hermit tendencies and not liking to be around people.
We'll end up with Book Foo. I read the whole Newsflesh series by Mira Grant, spoilers for the first book should really be avoided, so, what I'll do is review the first book in order and then save the other two, which contain spoilers for the first, at the end (even though I've read a couple books since), so anyone who may be reading these that doesn't want those spoilers can just skip that. As usual all book reviews will only contain very minor spoilers, usually on the level of back of the book descriptions, and sometimes the feel of a book/ending which might be indirectly spoilery, but unless stated otherwise, that's it. And mostly the reviews are copy-and-pasted from Goodreads. (As to comments, I can't speak to the level of spoilers that may come there...)
Finished: Briarpatch, by Tim Pratt
Darrin's life's been going downhill since his girlfriend Bridget left him for no reason. Six month later, he sees her again... right as she jumps to her death off a bridge. Trying to make sense of this tragedy, Darrin begins to discover there's more gong on... not just in his life, but in his relationship and the whole world. There are pathways people can learn to see that lead to other worlds, fantastic, improbable, and occasionally dangerous. Some people call it the Briarpatch. And what happened to Bridget is wrapped up in it... as is, potentially, a chance to find her again.
I'm generally more of a science fiction guy than a fantasy, but when I do like fantasy, this is one of the types I like. ( Read more... )
Finished: Feed, by Mira Grant (Newsflesh, Book 1)
It's been over 25 years since the zombies rose, and humanity has survived. So have the zombies. Large areas of the country are written off as unreclaimable due to zombie infestation. But the threat isn't just still out there... it's in every living person. When they die, they will rise, hungry for flesh and kick off a whole new apocalypse. But people can get used to almost anything, and, with stringent precautions and regular small-scale outbreaks, life goes on. Georgia and Shaun Mason, two orphans of the original Rising, were raised as adoptive brother and sister, and now medium-sized players in the new, post-Rising news media, largely dominated by independent bloggers. They, along with their technical expert nicknamed 'Buffy', have just been chosen for a great honor... to be the only bloggers on the campaign trail of leading young candidate Peter Ryman. But as they follow the campaign, tragedy begins to strike, and the group uncovers a conspiracy.
I'd heard good things about this series from others, and judging by this first book, I can see why. ( Read more... )Highly recommended for zombie fans, and maybe even if you're not.
Finished: vN: The First Machine Dynasty, by Madeline Ashby
Amy Peterson is a vN, an intelligent robotic life form that looks human, but isn't. They can't eat the same food, they are much stronger and faster, and, when they consume enough, they automatically reproduce. vN might be a terrifying plague, if not for one fact... they suffer extreme pain and even die if they even witness a human being hurt. It's a failsafe. Except, when Amy's grandmother appears, she's violent enough to kill a human child without remorse, and Amy has to eat her to save her mother. And then Amy realizes that she doesn't have a failsafe either, which means humanity wants to study or destroy her. And her evil grandmother is now living inside her head.
I instantly liked the book as I began. ( Read more... ) Flaws aside, I did really like it... it's probably on the low end of 4 stars, but it qualifies nonetheless, and I do want to see more, so I definitely plan to check out the sequel, iD.
Finished: Nexus, by Ramez Naam
It's 2040, and there's a new club drug making the rounds... it allows those who take it to share short-range telepathic experiences with other Nexus users. But it's not a chemical, it's nanotechnological. And technology can be hacked, improved on. That's what Kade Lane has been doing with some colleagues... he's found a way to make the Nexus effect permanently, and extend it, providing an interface to the human brain.
To the US government, such tinkering is highly illegal, because they're afraid of where the technology can go. But when they bust Lane, they offer him a deal... the charges against him and his friends can be reduced, if he helps them take down a Chinese scientist working in similar areas... with potentially much more catastrophic results. But things aren't so simple, and Kade must find his own path through a dangerous situation that could affect billions of lives. ( Read more... )I'll be rereading the book for the ideas, over the story or characters... but I'm sure I WILL be rereading it, because I really enjoyed it. I'll also be checking out the sequel, Crux.
Finished: Deception Well, by Linda Nagata
The city of Silk hangs in the sky 200 miles above the planet Deception Well, a planet full of biological complexity believed to be fatal to anybody who descends the space elevator. And yet the citizens of Silk can't got anywhere else, stranded there for generations.
Lot is the son of a charismatic prophet who went down to Deception Well, hoping to find communion there rather than death, and many of his followers still believe he's down there and will return. Lot doesn't know what he believes... but he does know that he has the same ability to influence minds and that something needs to be done.
This is set in the same universe as The Bohr Maker, although a significant amount of time later, and you can read it alone if you wish to, although it may help to understand a few of the concepts, and the ending has a little more resonance having read the earlier book. I also didn't like this as much as The Bohr Maker, so maybe it'd be a good idea to start there for that reason alone. ( Read more... ) I will be continuing to the next book in the series, Vast, eventually, which I've heard is much better.
Finished: Deadline, by Mira Grant (Newsflesh, Book 2)
Cut entirely for spoilers of previous book. Short version: Liked it a lot but not as much as the first.
( Read more... )
Finished: Blackout, by Mira Grant (Newsflesh, Book 3)
Cut entirely for spoilers of previous two books. Short version: Not as good as the previous two, but still worth reading.
( Read more... )
Started: Coyote, by Allen Steele
Started: Limit of Vision, by Linda Nagata
And that's all!
Speaking of Doctor Who, I now apparently own a TARDIS hoodie. My stepmother went to the states and that was her gift for me. Which is nice of her, since I probably wouldn't have bought one myself.
Otherwise, TV's rather sucked with the exception of the return of the Walking Dead, and GoT is coming soon. So that's something to look forward to.
In movies, I watched Catching Fire, which I enjoyed, and it mostly kept to then novel, Ender's Game (don't worry, I got it through magic, rather than paying anything for it!), which aside from having a few all-too short scenes in the Battle Room really seemed to miss the point in a lot of ways. I was expecting some changes to make it a movie, but most of them were awful. It was okay, but if they're going to make a movie of that in the first place the least they could have done is a better one! Anyway, there are other books by better and less-problematic authors to ruin with a movie adaptation! Also watched Thor 2, which was decently enjoyable. Guardians of the Galaxy also looks pretty good from the trailer recently released (though I'll have Hooked on a Feeling running through my head for a while), and it gives me a bit of a Farscape vibe, in a good way.
And upcoming movies also includes the Veronica Mars movie, which will be released worldwide not just in select theatres but in various on demand services to everyone, not just backers, on March 14th. That's pretty unusual. I'll be getting a free copy because of my Kickstarter contribution and won't be going to theatres due to my hermit tendencies and not liking to be around people.
We'll end up with Book Foo. I read the whole Newsflesh series by Mira Grant, spoilers for the first book should really be avoided, so, what I'll do is review the first book in order and then save the other two, which contain spoilers for the first, at the end (even though I've read a couple books since), so anyone who may be reading these that doesn't want those spoilers can just skip that. As usual all book reviews will only contain very minor spoilers, usually on the level of back of the book descriptions, and sometimes the feel of a book/ending which might be indirectly spoilery, but unless stated otherwise, that's it. And mostly the reviews are copy-and-pasted from Goodreads. (As to comments, I can't speak to the level of spoilers that may come there...)
Finished: Briarpatch, by Tim Pratt
Darrin's life's been going downhill since his girlfriend Bridget left him for no reason. Six month later, he sees her again... right as she jumps to her death off a bridge. Trying to make sense of this tragedy, Darrin begins to discover there's more gong on... not just in his life, but in his relationship and the whole world. There are pathways people can learn to see that lead to other worlds, fantastic, improbable, and occasionally dangerous. Some people call it the Briarpatch. And what happened to Bridget is wrapped up in it... as is, potentially, a chance to find her again.
I'm generally more of a science fiction guy than a fantasy, but when I do like fantasy, this is one of the types I like. ( Read more... )
Finished: Feed, by Mira Grant (Newsflesh, Book 1)
It's been over 25 years since the zombies rose, and humanity has survived. So have the zombies. Large areas of the country are written off as unreclaimable due to zombie infestation. But the threat isn't just still out there... it's in every living person. When they die, they will rise, hungry for flesh and kick off a whole new apocalypse. But people can get used to almost anything, and, with stringent precautions and regular small-scale outbreaks, life goes on. Georgia and Shaun Mason, two orphans of the original Rising, were raised as adoptive brother and sister, and now medium-sized players in the new, post-Rising news media, largely dominated by independent bloggers. They, along with their technical expert nicknamed 'Buffy', have just been chosen for a great honor... to be the only bloggers on the campaign trail of leading young candidate Peter Ryman. But as they follow the campaign, tragedy begins to strike, and the group uncovers a conspiracy.
I'd heard good things about this series from others, and judging by this first book, I can see why. ( Read more... )Highly recommended for zombie fans, and maybe even if you're not.
Finished: vN: The First Machine Dynasty, by Madeline Ashby
Amy Peterson is a vN, an intelligent robotic life form that looks human, but isn't. They can't eat the same food, they are much stronger and faster, and, when they consume enough, they automatically reproduce. vN might be a terrifying plague, if not for one fact... they suffer extreme pain and even die if they even witness a human being hurt. It's a failsafe. Except, when Amy's grandmother appears, she's violent enough to kill a human child without remorse, and Amy has to eat her to save her mother. And then Amy realizes that she doesn't have a failsafe either, which means humanity wants to study or destroy her. And her evil grandmother is now living inside her head.
I instantly liked the book as I began. ( Read more... ) Flaws aside, I did really like it... it's probably on the low end of 4 stars, but it qualifies nonetheless, and I do want to see more, so I definitely plan to check out the sequel, iD.
Finished: Nexus, by Ramez Naam
It's 2040, and there's a new club drug making the rounds... it allows those who take it to share short-range telepathic experiences with other Nexus users. But it's not a chemical, it's nanotechnological. And technology can be hacked, improved on. That's what Kade Lane has been doing with some colleagues... he's found a way to make the Nexus effect permanently, and extend it, providing an interface to the human brain.
To the US government, such tinkering is highly illegal, because they're afraid of where the technology can go. But when they bust Lane, they offer him a deal... the charges against him and his friends can be reduced, if he helps them take down a Chinese scientist working in similar areas... with potentially much more catastrophic results. But things aren't so simple, and Kade must find his own path through a dangerous situation that could affect billions of lives. ( Read more... )I'll be rereading the book for the ideas, over the story or characters... but I'm sure I WILL be rereading it, because I really enjoyed it. I'll also be checking out the sequel, Crux.
Finished: Deception Well, by Linda Nagata
The city of Silk hangs in the sky 200 miles above the planet Deception Well, a planet full of biological complexity believed to be fatal to anybody who descends the space elevator. And yet the citizens of Silk can't got anywhere else, stranded there for generations.
Lot is the son of a charismatic prophet who went down to Deception Well, hoping to find communion there rather than death, and many of his followers still believe he's down there and will return. Lot doesn't know what he believes... but he does know that he has the same ability to influence minds and that something needs to be done.
This is set in the same universe as The Bohr Maker, although a significant amount of time later, and you can read it alone if you wish to, although it may help to understand a few of the concepts, and the ending has a little more resonance having read the earlier book. I also didn't like this as much as The Bohr Maker, so maybe it'd be a good idea to start there for that reason alone. ( Read more... ) I will be continuing to the next book in the series, Vast, eventually, which I've heard is much better.
Finished: Deadline, by Mira Grant (Newsflesh, Book 2)
Cut entirely for spoilers of previous book. Short version: Liked it a lot but not as much as the first.
( Read more... )
Finished: Blackout, by Mira Grant (Newsflesh, Book 3)
Cut entirely for spoilers of previous two books. Short version: Not as good as the previous two, but still worth reading.
( Read more... )
Started: Coyote, by Allen Steele
Started: Limit of Vision, by Linda Nagata
And that's all!
